This fan fiction is based on the Rurouni Kenshin manga. Rurouni Kenshin characters are the property of creator Nobohiro Watsuke, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Sony Entertainment, and VIZ Comics. This is a non-profit work for entertainment purposes only. Permission was not obtained from the above parties.
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Recovery: Chapter 5 - A Circuitous Route


by Haku Baikou ::: 08.Mar.2003


The repairs at the Aoiya were progressing well, Megumi decided, as she caught her first glimpse of the place since her arrival in Kyoto. The noon sun shone brightly through the gauze curtains of the carriage causing her to squint and shade her eyes with her hand. She was happy. After being closeted off in her work, first at Dr. Gensai's clinic in Tokyo and more recently at the Shirobeko, it was a nice change of pace to have some free time and be truly out on the town for the first time in months.

The young police officer seated across from her opened the carriage door and hopped down, eagerly extending his hand to help her out. She rewarded him with a bright smile as she stepped out of the carriage. She'd almost forgotten that most men tended to trip over themselves in petty attempts to impress her. It was nice to know that she still had it in her. Even if the men closest to her (hmph, the fools) never seemed to notice her natural beauty, it was good to know that she could still sparkle if she made the slightest effort, and that other men, normal men, could at least appreciate it. Aah, to dream again. She was being silly, and she didn't care. It was nice to be silly for a change.

She breathed deeply, enjoying the sounds and scents of the city. Standing in the dusty road before the Aoyia, she felt wondrously alive, almost as she had in her young and carefree days, before the destruction of her family, before her life had fallen apart. The dark memories were easily brushed aside this sunny day as she turned around and had her first good look at the building while waiting for the young officer behind her to bring out the rather large and weighty lunch basket she'd brought for her friends.

"Hey, Megu—All right! Food!" whooped an enthusiastic Yahiko, as he slid down the roof, deftly catching the edge with his hands, and swinging briefly before landing on his feet. The boy scampered over, watching intently as the officer set the basket down on the porch. "What did you bring?"

"A little bit of everything," said Megumi cheerily.

"Oi! I thought I smelled food out there!" said Sanosuke, his spiky head popping out from a hole in the rooftop. "Someone get the kid away from there before he eats everything."

Megumi turned and gave the young police officer another smile and a friendly "arigatou" as he blushed and retreated quickly back into the carriage. He gave a brief wave as the carriage pulled away.

"How come they never offer me such rides?" asked Makimachi Misao as she walked over to inspect the contents of the basket.

"It's 'cause you're not pretty enough," said Yahiko casually, face already half stuffed with a pork bun. He grunted as Misao growled and swatted his head, then continued eating, his pace undiminished.

Yahiko and Misao. They were still children, thought Megumi. They reverted to their normal selves when away from the Shirobeko. Well, she couldn't blame them for their energy and enthusiasm. Not on such a beautiful day. And she was, to a point, impressed with their efforts to be on their best behavior when they were near Kenshin's room at the Shirobeko. They'd all taken pains to speak in soft tones and tread quietly whenever they were there in an effort not to disturb the sleeping rurouni. It was getting more and more difficult for them to do, though, Megumi knew. And when they were here at the Aoiya, away from the sick room and out in the sunshine, their rowdy natures resurfaced with a vengeance. Megumi rolled her eyes, amused. They tried, at least. She really couldn't fault them for slipping now.

"Thank you for bringing lunch over," said Kaoru as she walked out of the Aoyia, untying the sleeves of her kimono.

Megumi searched the girl's face for any signs of distress. Kaoru looked a little tired today, but otherwise seemed no worse for the wear. Megumi hadn't seen Kaoru since she'd run off last night. The girl must have stayed out fairly late since Megumi had gone to bed and never heard her come back in.

Kaoru noted her questing glance and looked down, embarrassed. "Daijoubu, Megumi-san," she said softly so that only Megumi could hear. "I was a fool last night. I don't know what came over me."

"You had us worried," said Megumi. "Where did you go?"

"Not far. Just down to the riverside," replied the girl. She looked up at Megumi. "I know it was only a memory. He was just reliving the past...." She shook her head. "The day he left Tokyo.... It wasn't the very worst day of my life, Megumi-san. But it was up there. It was definitely up there. And I couldn't stay in that room. I didn't want Kenshin to see me fall to pieces. Not when he needs me to be strong for him."

Megumi shrugged, having nothing to say to that.

"How is he today?" asked the girl.

"Still confused, but doing better, I think. Your company seemed to help," she offered, her small attempt to boost the girl's spirits.

Kaoru's large blue eyes brightened. "I'll go back early today, then. Help you with his dressing changes, if that's all right."

"Hey, Megumi!" called Yahiko, breaking into their conversation. The boy had little bits of ohagi on his face and was munching away happily on more. "You want a tour of the place?"

Megumi laughed at the boy's enthusiasm and nodded. She allowed herself to be ushered from room to room by the boy, past Oniwabanshu members busy at various tasks. The progress really was quite impressive considering the extent of the damage, from what she was told. She hadn't seen what the place looked like initially, but Yahiko had insisted it had been pretty much flattened by the giant, Fuji. She had had difficulty imagining someone that large, and had at first been skeptical of Yahiko's descriptions, suspecting the boy guilty of gross exaggeration. But when the Oniwabanshu members' descriptions matched that of the boy's, she began to believe otherwise.

She sat down after the tour and finally had some lunch herself. Sae's cooking really was phenomenal, no surprise considering the talents of her twin sister back home. Megumi rested contentedly after her meal, enjoying the warm feeling of being surrounded by friends, the satisfying feeling of having a belly full of good food on a warm summer's day.

She had to get up eventually, though. As much as she would've liked to stay forever, she had things to do. She decided she'd walk back to the Shirobeko rather than wait for the police officer to come back. It was too lovely a day to be sitting confined in a carriage. She wanted the feel of the sun in her hair.

"I'll come with you," Sanosuke offered when she'd announced she'd be walking back. Yahiko made some snide comment about the Rooster Head shirking his duties, but Sanosuke ignored the boy's taunts and said that Megumi had ordered him to rest. He had to if his hand was ever to recover.

Megumi smirked. Yes, she had said something to that effect, she had to admit, but she suspected Yahiko was right. The big idiot probably just wanted a break from work.

She allowed him to lead the way in this unfamiliar city, trusting—hoping—that he knew how to get them back to Sae's. They walked in silence for a long time, Sanosuke with his hands in his pockets, and Megumi quietly people-watching. It was the way they'd always walked, a habit developed from the days when Sanosuke had accompanied Megumi and Dr. Gensai's granddaughters home from the dojo. It was a comfortable silence, both of them enjoying each other's company far more on these quiet walks when they didn't have to speak, when they didn't end up annoying or insulting one another by saying the wrong thing.

"There's a short cut this way," Sanosuke said suddenly, turning into an alleyway that looked suspiciously deserted for this busy time of day.

"Are you sure?" she asked, disbelieving. "You're just going to get us lost again."

"Trust me." His grin had a feral edge to it which unsettled Megumi's nerves. He wrapped his good arm around her shoulders, and Megumi was just about to protest the rudely familiar act when he whispered into her ear, "There's someone following us. On the rooftops."

Her heart skipped a beat. She fought the urge to look up, and instead, went along with Sanosuke's act.

"Oh ho ho ho," she giggled loudly, playing the flirt. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely!" he said with mock hilarity, as Megumi's blood ran cold at the thought.

Someone was following them. Who? Followers of Shishio, came the thought springing immediately to mind. But could they be sure? Perhaps it was just a common thief or bandit. Or perhaps it was a member of the Oniwabanshu, keeping watch over them. Megumi highly doubted the latter. Whoever it was, Sanosuke seemed to feel threatened, and as moronic as he could be in other matters, Megumi trusted his fighter's instincts implicitly.

She carefully looked upwards, and suppressed a gasp as she saw a black-clad figure traveling silently on the roof tiles. He kept his head low and was barely visible. Megumi doubted she would have ever noticed if Sanosuke hadn't said something.

"Oh ho ho, and what are you going to do?" she said, ruffling his hair.

He feigned a kiss on her cheek and whispered, "Will you be all right if I go after him? I'm pretty sure he's alone."

She nodded and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. "Sanosuke, I can't find my bracelet!" she pouted loudly. "I must've dropped it somewhere. Can we go back and look for it?"

"You're kidding," he said with impressive irritation. "You're not kidding? Oh hell, wait here."

Sanosuke pressed something into Megumi's hand and turned as if to look for her lost trinket. He ducked under the awning of a nearby store, making himself invisible to whoever was up there. He headed toward a stack of straw baskets, and then he was off, climbing one-handed up the stack towards the roof, giving chase as quickly as he could with one arm out of commission.

Megumi looked down at her hand and gasped when she saw that the object he had slipped her was a small blade. Since when did Sagara Sanosuke start carrying hidden blades on his person? It wasn't the man's style as far as she knew.

She looked up at the rooftops, hearing the sound of footsteps, but unable to tell where they were coming from. She felt horribly exposed, unable to see anything. She heard a startled yell, then the scuffling sounds of a brief struggle. Sanosuke must have caught up with the man. She hoped he'd be able to fight well enough one-handed.

Then suddenly, they fell without warning, the two men tumbling in a jumbled heap off the ledge behind her. Megumi cried out in spite of herself, and jumped to the side to avoid being crushed. They landed with a heavy thud. Sanosuke gasped, cradling his right hand tightly towards himself. The other man, realizing his enemy's weakness, grinned suddenly and kicked the younger man in his injured hand. Sanosuke screamed, collapsing in a heap.

The man in black moved quickly, far too quickly. Megumi barely had time to register what had happened, when she suddenly found herself held hostage by the man, his arm around her neck, and a knife point digging into her throat.

"Stay back," he hissed, as Sanosuke, who had been getting to his feet, suddenly stopped moving. The man backed away from the street fighter, dragging Megumi along with him. Sanosuke watched silently, his eyes burning with anger, unable to do anything lest the man harm her.

Megumi's heart raced wildly as she slowly unsheathed the blade Sanosuke had given her. Sanosuke's eyes widened a bit, but he gave no sign otherwise. He kept his eyes locked on the man, making sure the attacker would not look down and suddenly see what Megumi was up to. She raised her arm, ready to plunge the blade....

And froze in bitter despair, unable to use the weapon.

Takani Megumi was a healer, not a fighter. She wouldn't—couldn't—use the blade to harm another. Only once in her life had she ever raised a weapon with the intent to attack, and that one time had been under extreme circumstances at a time when she had nothing to lose and everything to gain. But she had been forestalled that time before she could act, and later, when she'd replayed that moment over and over in her mind, she didn't know if she would have ever actually killed her intended victim if Hannya of the Oniwabanshu hadn't been there and stopped her.

"Megumi!" Sanosuke said urgently. She knew he was asking her to use it, to distract the man and hopefully give him a chance to attack. But she couldn't do it. She couldn't for the life of her move her arm.

A green blur suddenly flew into view from the edge of her vision.

"What the—" The man holding her never got to finish his sentence.

Megumi shut her eyes tightly, ducking instinctively as something shattered behind her, and her attacker's grip suddenly loosened. The world seemed to slow to an interminable crawl as she felt the sickening slide of the knife across her neck as the man behind her slumped and folded to the ground.

She felt herself falling to her knees, and she swayed, the ground rushing up at her, when a strong arm pulled her upright, steadying her as she was gently led away from the attacker. She looked back to find the remnants of a shattered vase that had apparently slammed into the face of the man. He lay still, rivulets of blood springing from a large gash on his forehead. His eyes were open. The impact must have been impressive, a small detached portion of her mind thought, for him to have died from such a seemingly insignificant wound.

"Megumi. Megumi!" The voice came across to her seemingly from a great distance. She felt someone shaking her, but the movement was sluggish, as if they were under water. She blinked, finally managing to pull her eyes away from the ghastly sight of the dead man at her feet. She looked up into a pair of intense brown eyes filled with worry. Because of her, she realized. They were worried about her.

"Megumi! Look at me!"

"Daijoubu," she managed finally, as the world speeded up to its normal pace again, and the strange floaty sensation in her head faded to a dull ache. "Let go, Sanosuke, you're hurting me."

The iron grip released in an instant, and the street fighter backed a step with a hastily muttered "gomen". Megumi hesitantly brought a hand to her neck and was relieved when she felt the wound to be fairly superficial. It was bleeding more than she'd like, but who was she to complain? She'd escaped the situation intact and relatively unharmed.

"Kisama! Fucking asshole!" Sanosuke yelled.

It took her a moment for her stunned mind to realize his words weren't directed at her. She followed his gaze and turned to see Hiko Seijurou calmly approaching them as if he were taking a leisurely stroll on a fine Sunday morning.

Hiko looked at Sanosuke for a long moment before deciding the young man wasn't worth his trouble. "You're welcome," he said ironically, and walked past them towards the dead man.

"You could've got her killed!" Sanosuke's good hand was clenched in a fist. He was a bundle of coiled rage that looked ready to go off at any moment.

"I calculated my throw to make sure he'd fall in the right direction. Megumi-sensei would only have a shallow cut at the most. She was never in any danger. I wouldn't have allowed that."

Sanosuke bristled incoherently at the arrogance of the man.

Hiko knelt down and picked up a shard from the ruined vase. "A pity," he said, simply. "I worked on this thing for hours."

"Why you—"

Hiko looked at Sanosuke and frowned.

"Forget it, you two. It's over and done with," Megumi broke in before things got ugly. "Hiko-san, thank you for saving my life. Sanosuke, please, I'm fine."

Sanosuke looked at the tall swordsman with narrowed eyes, but remained silent.

"What are you two doing in this part of town?" asked Hiko, mildly curious.

"What do you mean? We're heading back to the Shirobeko," said Megumi.

Hiko smirked. "Might as well start over then. You're nowhere close."

"Huh?" asked Sano suspiciously.

"You didn't get very far. You're still near the Aoiya. It's just down this street," said Hiko.

Megumi threw Sanosuke a searing look. She'd heard that he had a bad sense of direction, but really....

"I was on my way there to drop off a small gift," continued Hiko. He looked at the shard in his hand. "No point in going anymore." He nudged the dead body with his toe. "So. Who's this?"

"A follower of Makoto Shishio, I suspect," said Megumi. "Your help was greatly appreciated, Hiko-san, but I wish you wouldn't have killed him. It would have been nice to question him," said Megumi, her mind clicking into analytical mode, a defense against the gnawing hysteria that threatened to overwhelm her. She had nearly died. She'd had a knife to her throat....

Hiko's eyebrows went up at that. "If Shishio's followers are spying on us, they might know about the Shirobeko by now."

Ken-san, Megumi thought with a sudden fear.

She knew Sanosuke was thinking the same, for the younger man suddenly lost all signs of animosity toward Hiko, too concerned to bother with petty squabbles. "But if they don't know yet, then they'll soon find out. All they'd have to do is follow one of us back from the Aoiya," he said. "We have to warn the others!"

"Take Megumi-sensei back to the Shirobeko," said Hiko calmly. "And I'll go warn your friends."

"No. No, I can't fight well enough," said Sanosuke looking grimly at his ruined hand. "I wouldn't be much help if we were attacked again. You take Megumi back, and I'll go warn the others."

It pained him to admit his weakness, Megumi saw, but Sanosuke, despite appearances, was no fool. And amazingly, he could swallow his pride, for once, for the safety of his friends. Megumi could barely believe the change in the man. The Sanosuke she knew could never have admitted to weakness, could never have agreed to having Hiko escort her back. Something had happened to him in his time here in Kyoto. Megumi promised herself that when time allowed, she'd find out what had caused this change.

She smiled encouragingly at him. "Go then, Sanosuke, hurry. From now on, we'll all have to take a circuitous route when we return from the Aoiya."

He looked uncertainly at her.

"I'm fine, baka," she assured him. "Now go."

With an almost apologetic nod, he turned to go, breaking out into a quick run.

"And be careful!" she called after him.

He waved his hand briefly, but didn't look back.

Megumi took a deep breath. "Well," she said to Hiko. "I suppose we'd better move."

He nodded somberly, then took her by the hand and led her through a maze of unfamiliar streets. Their journey was a blur to Megumi, her thoughts tumbling one over the other at the implications of what had just happened. She allowed herself to be led without paying much heed to her surroundings. Just concentrated on moving her feet as quickly as she could, trying not to slow Hiko down too much. Before she knew it, the surroundings began to take on familiar form, and she looked up to see the stands and store fronts of the marketplace near the Shirobeko. They had made their way to the restaurant without difficulty.

All seemed well at the Shirobeko, Megumi noted in relief. She had half expected to arrive and find the building ruined, burned, or destroyed in some ghastly fashion.

"Where is Okina-san?" Megumi asked Sae as the small proprietress opened the door for them, her smile dissolving into concern when she saw Megumi and Hiko's faces. "We have to speak to him immediately."

The elderly Oniwabanshu agent appeared within moments, the lines in his face deepening in concern as Megumi related the day's events. The three of them discussed matters briefly before Okina sent several of Sae's staff out on secret tasks that Megumi could only guess at. The Oniwabanshu had contacts all over the city. Their information network was vast, and Megumi was sure that if anyone could find answers, Okina's people would be the ones, and they'd do so with speed and efficiency. Okina had also sent some messengers to the police station. Hopefully, they'd be able to spare some officers to come stand guard in the Shirobeko.

Hiko also left, stating that he had questions of his own that he wished to investigate. Megumi had hoped the warrior would stay at the Shirobeko for a while. His presence made her feel more secure. But he'd assured her that he would remain in the area, and that he'd come if any trouble broke out.

And so, left alone while everyone else went about their plans, Megumi decided that she would serve everyone best by getting herself cleaned up and then seeing to Ken-san's care. She took a much needed bath and changed into a fresh kimono, one that was blessedly free of blood and dirt. She then padded softly into the sickroom where the rurouni was sleeping quietly, unaware of all the tension and controlled chaos around him. People were moving, hunting for information, preparing for a possible attack on the Shirobeko... and Kenshin slept on peacefully, blissfully unaware.

It was her sole consolation, thought Megumi, as she seated herself next to the small swordsman. Ken-san didn't need to know of any of this. He'd given too much of himself already. It was only fitting that he was spared any worry, that the rest of them helped him for a change.

She noted with clinical detachment that her hands had begun to shake. How very odd, considering she was perfectly all right now. The danger was long gone, the threat to her life over. She'd faced death today and escaped with only a small scratch to show for it. Nothing, really, compared to what her brave friends had faced time and time again.

She was safe and sound. And she had plenty to do. She should change Ken-san's dressings. And mix a fresh brew of tea for him. And cut some new bandages. And damn, but her cowardly hands wouldn't stop shaking.

She had a hundred little chores that she should have been doing. Instead, she began to cry. Not now, that little clinical part of herself scolded. Please, not now! But her body refused to obey her, and the tears began to fall uncontrollably.

Takani Megumi curled up beside Ken-san on the floor, body wracked by soundless sobs, as she covered her face with her hands, and wept herself silently to sleep.

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