Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Separate Lives ❯ 1 ( Chapter 1 )

( I don't know exactly how much time elapsed between the end of the Kyoto arc and the end of the Jinchuu arc but for this story I'm making it about a yea. (the reason will be evident pretty early on.) Also playing a big part in these fictional events is the tiny bit at the end of one of the anime scenes when Megumi is checking Kenshin after he recovers from the battle with Shishio. She gets a bit "touchy feely" and then the scene abruptly ends. Also, This isn't a song fic but I think the lyrics to one of my favorite songs fit and besides it make a good title.)

Separate Lives

by

Barbara Sheridan

Well you have no right to ask me how I feel

You have no right to speak to me so kind

Someday I might find myself looking in your eyes

But for now we'll go on living separate lives

Yes for now we'll go on living separate lives

~~~Phil Collins-"Separate Lives"

Dawn had yet to break the horizon but two people were awake at the Kamiya Dojo. From rooms on opposite sides of the building they emerged, unaware of the other, yet they soon found themselves reaching the kitchen at the same time.

Aoshi stood aside and motioned for Megumi to enter. She reached for a kettle to boil water for tea while he took the cups and other supplies and placed them on a small lacquered tray.

"So it's true that history repeats itself," Megumi said, setting the water kettle on the fire. It was no surprise that Aoshi remained silent and she offered him a slight smile in response to his vaguely questioning glance. She had to admit that he was an incredibly handsome man and perhaps, in another time and place... No, that was just foolishness. True, they shared a brief moment in time once but to dwell on it was foolish. As foolish as the dreams she'd so often had about Ken-san.

Megumi cleared her throat and sat on the floor across the low table opposite the stoic ninja. "I was just thinking how familiar this was. Do you remember-"

"Those mornings at Kanryuu's. Yes," he said completing the sentence. "Evidently we still share the same penchant for sleeplessness."

"Evidently," Megumi said, watching as the flickering yellow light from the small lantern nearby cast light and shadows upon Aoshi's face. "What time does your train leave for Kyoto?"

"In just a few hours. We're catching the first one out."

Megumi nodded and tried not to remember similar stilted conversations they'd had back when he was her guard and she his prisoner for Kanryuu. They sat silently until the kettle whistled. Megumi took it off the heat quickly so as not to wake anyone else. She set the kettle down and allowed Aoshi to take over as he'd done back then.

It was as strange now as it had been then, the two of them alone in a house of people, two outsiders each with a role to play on opposite sides, yet drawn together as if by some odd unspoken alliance. Two solitary people, joining in quiet communion, alone yet not alone.

Megumi sipped her tea, her mind blank, her concentration focused only on savoring the warmth of the tea as it slid between her lips.

"You never told Himura, did you?"

Caught off guard, Megumi coughed as the tea hitched in her throat. "Told him what, about his physical deterioration?" She pretended not see the knowing glint in the former Okashira's icy blue eyes.

She took her cup and walked outside to watch the rising sun she told herself. Though she did not hear him approach she could feel the powerful presence of Aoshi Shinomori closing in behind her. His velvety voice reached out and caressed her.

"I didn't mean to pry. It was just something I'd wondered about now and again since the time you came to treat us after the Shishio affair."

Closing her eyes a moment then taking a deep calming breath, Megumi finished her tea before turning to face him. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, making sure to give her chin a defiant tilt.

Aoshi nodded then peered down into his own cup which he swirled lazily in his large hand. He looked up at her, his gaze locked onto hers. "As I've said before we Oniwabanshuu have trained ourselves to have acute hearing. It's second nature to listen to our surroundings and focus on the unusual. I assure you that I quickly went about my business when I realized exactly what the sound coming from Himura's room was that day."

Oh, Kami no! Megumi's mind screamed. He couldn't know, it wasn't possible. It simply wasn't. She held her breath when he reached out and gently prodded her chin so that she had no choice but to meet his uncompromising stare once again.

"Your secret is safe with me, Takani-san, though I can see how the weight of it has worn you down." He gave her a formal bow then turned to go back inside.

"I had to dye his hair," Megumi whispered. Aoshi stopped but did not turn as if he sensed that to do so would secure her humiliation. "He was born with a full head of that damned red hair. Dr. Oguni had a patient, a woman alone who died in childbirth along with her baby. He told anyone who inquired that the baby was hers and that I'd taken it upon myself to adopt it since I knew how it was to lose one's entire family..."

Megumi's shaky voice trailed off as she took several breaths to contain her emotions. She expected Aoshi to walk away but he came back and stared down at her for an endless moment. He took the teacup from her quaking hands, his fingers lingering on hers, his eyes doing the same. He said nothing but she knew that this secret was as safe with him as was her other secret, the one that undoubtedly kept him from killing her that day he'd come looking for Kenshin just after he'd left for Kyoto.

As he turned and walked back towards the dojo for good this time Megumi wondered if perhaps he felt guilty. After all he was the one who took her virginity when she was being held at Kanryuu's. It was he who brought forth the first taste of arousal that being near Kenshin Himura intensified to the point that it made her act so rashly that day when she changed his bandages in Kyoto...

If only she could go back to that day. If only she'd just changed the bandage, if only she hadn't leaned upon his strong back, if only he hadn't turned and taken her into his arms. He'd only meant to comfort her, to see what was troubling her, she knew that and yet, things simply...happened.

Tears of regret slid down her burning cheeks and Megumi shut her eyes to contain the sobs that so desperately wanted to escape as they sometimes did when she was alone and feeling so very lonely.

****

Aoshi closed his eyes soon after the train departed the station in Tokyo and willed the sound of Misao's chipper voice to fade into the background. In his mind's eye he could still see Megumi Takani standing in the rear courtyard of the Kamiya dojo after she'd made her confession, hands clenched into fists at her sides, her back rigid as if she were struggling to bear a great weight upon her slim shoulders.

He'd felt the unaccountable urge to return to her side and try to ease her pain but of course he contained that emotion as he always did.

With the one glaring exception of course...

It's all Hannya's fault, he thought wryly remembering his fallen friend's weak spot for orphaned children. He would have made an excellent father had he taken a different path in life. As it was he used his natural paternal instinct to help raise Misao and then much later after they were under Kanryuu's employ he took it upon himself to look out for the Megumi once Kanryuu had forced her to live on his estate and concoct the opium he used to finance his illegal arms trade.

Yes, Aoshi thought again. It was all Hannya's fault that he escorted the forlorn Megumi into downtown Tokyo that night to see the festival.

"If it's so important that she has a pleasant diversion to ease her miserable existence then you take her to the festival."

"I would, Okashira, but what beautiful young woman would want to be seen in the company of a monster like me?"

"Hannya..."

"Please, Okashira. I'm afraid for her. I see the look in her eyes whenever Kanryuu badgers her and I'm afraid that she might lose so much hope that she will harm herself. Let her have a few hours in the company of a handsome young man who wants nothing from her."

Aoshi sighed to himself as Hannya's last words repeated themselves in his mind. He hadn't wanted anything from her he hadn't even wanted to be anywhere enar her, but he'd gone along with the idiotic plan and ended up giving in to Megumi's request that he allow her to try some fine sake.

He should have refused. Better still he should never, never had been reckless enough to break his usual abstinence.

They'd both been pleasantly tipsy as they made their way back to the estate in the middle of the night and he'd seized her in his arms and pulled her into a shadowy corner when Kanryuu unexpectedly strode down the corridor.

If he'd been completely sober, if he'd only forced his usual self control to take over then perhaps she wouldn't have looked so beautiful in the faint moonlight slipping in the nearby window. Perhaps if they'd stayed away from the blossoming sakura trees she might not have smelled so lovely. If she hadn't been so young perhaps her skin wouldn't have been so soft, so smooth, just begging for him to brush his fingers across her cheek. Perhaps if he hadn't been such a fool he wouldn't have had the desire to take that first impulsive step and kiss those full, red lips…

Aoshi ground his teeth together and shoved those memories away as he had for so long. He opened his eyes when Misao jostled him.

"Aoshi. Aoshi are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he said flatly. "I was just thinking."

"She grinned that sweet girlish grin of hers. "You're always thinking. You think too much. You need to stop it and just be happy for once."

"Perhaps one day, Misao. Perhaps one day."