Sanosuke
In the dining car, Sanosuke once more wolfed down a massive dinner as Megumi looked on with gentle disapproval. As the hours of his travelling with her went on, he wondered more and more about her – and the way that she had dodged all his previous questions about her identity and his purpose made him wary. But she did not seem like a bad person to him. Maybe a bit weird, very decisive and bold – but noting bad.
He remembered the single quicksilver tear that ran down her cheek after he had told her Yahiko's story. Her blank face with such expressive eyes – her perfectly straight posture and her hands curled into fists, clutching at the fabric of her skirt. Yahiko was not the only one whose life had been torn apart by drugs obviously – a smart lady like her knew that – he knew. But when you put a name, a face on the 'suffering masses' you can't help but feel something. And she had felt so much, he wondered if she was kind of like Yahiko or something. And it hit him.
I don't know nothing about this lady. Hell, as far as I know, her name might not even be Takani Megumi, she might not even be a doctor, heck, she's probably not even twenty-seven! But even so… I'm trusting this lady. What the damn is wrong with me.
He hadn't realized that his eyes were boring into her until she smirked. "Something on my face?"
Sanosuke jerked back, hitting his knee on the underside table and his back on the back of the chair, almost falling over backwards and taking the table with him. "Uh… No. Your face is fine." He grinned quickly. "And when I say fine, I mean fi-ine, Fox-lady."
Megumi shook her head and began to eat daintily, long fingers grasping the fork and knife so perfectly she could've been posing for a 'Correct Table Manners Pamphlet'. Sanosuke began to zone out again. Her fingers were really nice. Long, elegant, the fingernails in a perfect, slightly pointed oval shape and painted an alluring red. The hands themselves looked smooth – but the kind of smoothness that comes from wear and use. There was a writer's callouse on the middle finger of her right hand and very faint white lines of scars drawn across the backs of her hands.
"Hel-lo…! Rooster-head…!"
He blinked again and cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah?" Witty, Sano, real witty. She's practically falling over herself for your charms.
She snorted, shaking her head. "I was asking you, if you wanted a second portion." She said, not quite meeting his eyes. "Don't make me repeat it again."
Sanosuke stared at her a little. "What's up, lady? You never-"
Clearing her throat a little, Megumi took a sip of her drink and still didn't look him in the eyes. "It's just…" her fingers tapped on the edge of the table. "You said that you don't always know where your next meal is coming from – or something like that. …And I'm the one paying for you so I feel responsible- I, no, that's not- I mean, if you're still hungry, I can afford to get you more, you know."
"Fox-lady…"
Megumi's fingers stopped tapping. "…But… But that's no excuse for bad table manners!" she said, meeting his eyes.
"Don't worry 'bout me Fox-lady." He said gently, his eyes softening. "I'm not hungry." Was it just his imagination or did the porcelain skin of her elegant cheekbones have a slight pinkness to them? Wait. Hell, I've made tons of women blush. Literally no woman can resist my many charms. But… Porcelain skin? Elegant cheekbones? Where do I even know these words from? …And why in relation to her. Sure she's hot but- Yeah. She's hot. And smart. And super… Super… I dunno. Just super. Shit. Stop thinking like that. He forced a carefree grin. "Thanks…!"
She began to eat again. "…Just so you know – the offer stands for the entirety of this trip."
Sanosuke smiled. "Thanks." Damn… I'm an idiot. …This lady… I've fallen – hard. And it's only been what? Two days?
Lost in thought, he did not hear the clearing of a throat behind him, nor did he feel the tapping of a gentle hand on his shoulder. Only when a cold glass of ice water was pressed to the back of his neck, making him jump up and swear loudly, did he notice the person standing behind him with an innocent expression and a glass in his hand. "Sano… This one needs to talk to you." Kenshin said, and Sanosuke noticed a slight worried tilt to his eyebrows and a tight set to his jaw.
The two men nodded to Megumi, Kenshin with a gentle smile and an apology – and Sanosuke with a grin and a witticism. They stepped out of the dining car and Kenshin's face became serious. "This one…" he said with a deep breath. "This one has reason to believe that I will be targeted, as well as Kaoru-dono and the children."
"What the fuck?" Sanosuke cracked his knuckles and neck with a growl. "Who is the guy? We'll go beat him up!"
Kenshin took a breath. "It's… Not that simple, indeed it is not."
"Huh?" Hell, one punch from me, and the guy'll be begging for his life! And Kenshin… He's on a whole 'nother level!
"This one… Told you about Tomoe, did I not?" his voice was quiet. "How I caused her death and how she gave me the scar…" as if instinctively, the red-haired man's hand went up to draw a horizontal line across his cheek where the scar in question was. "I told you, I remember, that she had a younger brother. Enishi is his name. He… Deeply resents this one for what I had done – and has had so for the ten years that I had been anonymous – Himura Kenshin the vagabond, not Battousai the gunman. …He's on this train and he wants to kill this one – it does not matter to him what or who stands in his way, for he will destroy it."
"…What the fu…" Sanosuke wanted to hug his friend, to beat up everyone who messed with him. Ugh, fuck this guy, whoever he is! I don't care even if he's a woman, I'm gonna punch him!
Kenshin continued. "He is not alone. Now, as far as I know, he has something to do with organized crime rings and he has subordinates with him, indeed he does."
Sanosuke shook his head. "Jesus Christ, this train is a mob fest…" he muttered under his breath. He looked at Kenshin. "You know me." He said. "Gimme the word and I'm your man." He raised a determined fist.
Smiling sadly, Kenshin nodded. "I was not this one's intention to get you involved, Sano… But I cannot do it alone, indeed I cannot and you are the most reliable man I know." He raised his hand, curling it into a fist, bumping his knuckles gently against Sanosuke's.
Grinning, Sanosuke nodded. "Alright! Let's go smash some heads!"
"Subtlety." Kenshin said.
"Huh?"
"It's what we're going to need here, indeed it is." Kenshin said. "This one… Does not want to draw undue attention to myself." He sighed. "But in case things get to the worst, I am prepared." He opened his jacket and Sanosuke's eyes widened.
"Is that…?"
"…An old acquaintance named Saitou gave it to me." Kenshin said. "He owes me from ten years ago so now he seems to be looking out as a payback, indeed he is."
Sanosuke slowly nodded. "…So what now?" he asked. Wait. Saitou? Wha-at?!
Before Kenshin could say anything, the door of the dining car opened and a young man with shiny black hair and blank sky-blue eyes stepped out. He smiled. "How do you do." He said. "My name is Seta Soujiro."
Sanosuke noticed Kenshin stiffen as he looked at the boy, so Sanosuke decided he didn't like the guy either. "Yo." He said. "Name's Sagara. Sagara Sanosuke." He curled his upper lip and stuck his hands in his pockets, approaching him. "You need somethin'?"
Soujiro did not seem at all intimidated. "Oh no!" he laughed. "Nothing like that, Sanosuke-san, Himura-san." He smiled even wider, his eyes curving into arches, giving him a slightly reptilian appearance in Sanosuke's opinion. "I came to have a chat with you."
"A chat?" asked Kenshin slowly. "This one is afraid I do not catch your drift, Soujiro-dono."
Nodding, Sanosuke stretched his neck, earning a good few cracks that would've sent anyone sane running to save their skins. "What're we gonna chat about with you, huh, Seta?"
"Oh, and here I was, thinking that you may find this very terribly interesting, Sanosuke-san. I mean, aren't you so interested in your, ah, what is it you call her…" Soujiro smirked, his blue eyes flashing up at Sanosuke's. "…Fox-lady?"
He stiffened. "What do you know about 'er?" he growled.
"Ju-ust a li-itle more than you, Sanosuke-san!" Soujiro almost sang. "…She really isn't who you think she is, at all."
"Everyone's got some secrets." Snarled Sanosuke. "I might be dumb – but I'm smart enough to know when not to poke my nose into other people's business. …Seta."
Soujiro shrugged. "You don't want to hear?" he asked. "Not even about how she's as far away from being a doctor as she possibly can be? How she's a lot more criminal than even you are, Sanosuke-san? You're not even curious about her past? You don't want to know what she has to do with all this? You don't want to know how much she's been lying to you all this time…?"
Sanosuke sighed. "…Right now, you're really annoying me, Seta. I might have this overwhelming urge to punch you right in that smirking face of yours." He said, first starting out in a bored tone which soon devolved into a growl. Then he took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. "There's only one thing that I care about. …She got anything to do with Yukishiro?"
Shaking his head, Soujiro smiled. "She has a great deal to do with others! …But not him in particular."
Sanosuke sighed. "Then that's fine."
Kenshin looked at Soujiro, stepping in front of Sanosuke to face the young man. "Soujiro-dono. This one wants to know one thing, indeed I do. Who is pulling your strings?"
As he flashed a smile, Soujiro flicked his eyes to Kenshin's. "Mostly, I pull my own strings, since Shishio-san gives me free reign."
"Shishio Makoto?" asked Kenshin incredulously.
"Yep!" Soujiro said with a look of happy innocence on his face. "That's the one!"
Sanosuke's eyes widened. Shishio Makoto… Oh shit. If he's involved, then things are gonna get bloody. He's ruthless and cruel, not like Boss Shinomori. Shinomori might be ruthless, but everything he does is for one goal – the betterment of the Oniwabanshu. Shishio's a crazy pyro who doesn't give a shit if his own men live or die. He likes to watch shit burn – but while being occasionally random he's super smart and ridiculously rich. He tried to take over Vegas but the others, Oniwabanshu's last boss, Okina among them didn't like that. So they all betrayed him (the only time the major Mafia bosses worked together) and turned on him. He was supposed to die when they set him on fire but somehow he survived – and now he's back. I don't think that 'oh shit' covers it.
Soujiro preformed a mock bow. "And now, gentlemen, my act is over, my goal complete." He smiled. "I actually said a great deal more than I meant to." He opened the door to the dining car. "Bye for now!"