Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Separate Lives ❯ chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5

The train depot was in chaos. The contents of a loaded freight car had shifted, unbalancing the car, causing it to tip and trap a number of men beneath it. People were running, shoving, barking suggestions on how to free the trapped men. Aoshi took hold of Megumi's hand and thrust his way through the agitated crowd. He and dozen others assisted in lifting the car enough so that the injured could be pulled free and once they were, he stood back and watched the two doctors work.

His admiration for Megumi grew tenfold as he watched her tend the injured. She tore strips off the hem of her fine kimono to bind a tourniquet to a leg that spurted blood, she deftly amputated a hand that was crushed beyond repair, she gently held and tried to comfort a dying man whose internal injuries could not be treated. It was well past midnight when the doctors had done all they could and Oguni had accompanied the patients too hurt to go home back to the clinic.

Megumi insisted on going with him but he told her that she wasn't needed till morning. Reluctantly she let Aoshi take her home and was surprised to find him waiting in the main room for her after she'd bathed and put on a simple yukata for bed. He'd washed as well though he still wore his now torn and soiled western style suit.

He was preparing tea and motioned for her to join him. "I'm quite impressed by what I saw tonight," he said handing her one of the delicate white cups. "You are quite skilled."

"I've learned a lot from Oguni-san. He is a born healer." Aoshi nodded and sipped his tea. Megumi continued. "You were rather impressive yourself. I think it was your effort alone that finally lifted the car enough for us to get the men out."

Aoshi shrugged. "I did what I could, nothing more."

"You did what many men obviously wouldn't," she said referring to the crowd of onlookers who hadn't done a thing to help. She reached over and touched his hand, her heart wishing the accident had happened at any other time. That perfect moment they'd shared earlier was gone and she doubted that they would ever get it back.

Aoshi gave her hand a squeeze, finished his tea then stood. "I should be going. You need your rest and I have to get back to Kyoto in the morning."

Megumi nodded and stood, accompanying him to the front door. She blocked his exit, not quite ready to let him go."Thank you. I had a lovely time earlier--the dinner I mean."

A touch of a smile played upon Aoshi's lips and he reached out to cup her face in his hands. "The pleasure was mine, very much mine."

He kissed her again, this time with restraint and Megumi fought hard to contain the urge to throw herself at him when he pulled away far too soon.

"I may be back this way in a month or so. I'll let you know."

"All right," Megumi said with a sigh. She stepped away from the door and allowed Aoshi to open it. He surprised her by giving her a swift parting kiss and caressing her cheek before disappearing into the cool black night.

In her dreams that night and for many nights to follow Megumi relived their interrupted encounter as well as that night of passion that had happened so long ago. And though she knew it was foolish to do so, she found herself eagerly awaiting to hear when Aoshi would return.

True to his word he was back within six weeks and again he asked her to join him for dinner. This time it was in the hotel diningroom and afterward they went to hear a musical performance in the hotel's ballroom.

Though there was no passionate encounter this time or during his next visits, Megumi enjoyed Aoshi's company very much, especially the way he allowed that cold, controlled facade of his to slip just enough for her to glimpse the charming man beneath. She even caught him laughing again, once when they took Kae to a fall festival and he tried to chase and catch a number of feather light paper cranes that were dropped from a building top and took "flight" on a gusting evening breeze. Aoshi allowed his amusement to show once again when the first snowflakes fell and little Kae ran merrily through them, delighting in the feel of them on his face and hands.

However, the expression on Aoshi's face turned serious once more when he spoke. "There's snow already on the ground back in Kyoto. I don' t think I'll be coming back this way regularly until the Spring."

Megumi felt her happy mood grow heavy. "It can't be helped."

"No, it can't."

She turned to look in the direction where her son was still chasing the snowflakes.

"I will miss you, Megumi."

She looked up. "Will you really?"

"Yes."

Aoshi took hold of her hand and brought it to his lips, softly kissing her palm. He gazed into her eyes, his own eyes betraying nothing of the thoughts or emotions he so deftly concealed. "Misao tells me that Himura will be a father."

"In about six months according to the letter Kaoru sent me."

"Are you still in love with him?"

Before Megumi could answer, Kaemon came running to her, crying because he'd been so caught up in his play that he'd wet himself. She took him back inside the house to clean him and feed him some of the soup Sakura had left them for dinner. Megumi was glad that Aoshi accepted her invitation to join them though their conversation was stifled, uncomfortable and far too much like the sterile interchanges they'd once shared at Takeda Kanryuu's.

That changed however when Kae began to grow tired as he ate and Megumi put him to bed. Aoshi watched as she tucked her son into his futon then followed her back to the table where they shared a pot of green tea.

"Are you still in love with the Ba--Himura?"

Megumi set down her cup and stared at Aoshi's infuriatingly impassive face before pouring herself some more. Just what was going on inside that head of his?

"Jealous?" she teased as she stirred a bit of sugar into her tea.

"Yes."

Her head shot up. He was joking, he had to be. But no. There was definitely an angry gleam in those icy blue eyes of his.

"I care for Ken-san," Megumi said after admitting to herself the feelings she'd been trying to deny for the past few months. "But I know now that what I'd felt along was nothing but an infatuation. I think I knew it after the day Kaemon was conceived, but I didn't want to admit it. It was a stupid mistake to seduce Ken-san the way I did. I suppose I never thought he'd respond, but once we kissed it was as if neither of us could stop ourselves."

She breathed a sigh and looked down. "It was a terrible mistake and if I could go back..." She looked up, tears glistening in her eyes.

Aoshi rose and came around the small table. He stood before Megumi, holding out his hand. She took it and he pulled her up, stepping forward until they were separated by a hair's breadth. He cupped her face in his hands, tenderly brushing the trickling tears from her flushed cheeks with his thumbs. "You have no reason to feel ashamed. You are a beautiful, passionate woman. It would be next to impossible for a man to walk away once he'd taken you in his arms."

It seemed as though Aoshi was debating with himself on whether or not to kiss her and Megumi was unable to remain impartial in the matter for her heart screamed what it had been trying to tell her since that day back in Tokyo following Kenshin and Kaoru's wedding. Aoshi Shinomori was becoming a fire in her blood that she craved more and more each time they came together. It was a fire that would surely consume her over the course of the approaching long winter.

She placed her hand on his left wrist and kissed his fingers, giving in to the desire he aroused within her and tracing circles in the center of his palm with the tip of her tongue. Aoshi tried to stifle the groan that rose in his throat, but she heard it and gave him a wicked grin.

"Kae will sleep till morning. Sakura is spending a few days with her daughter."

"We shouldn't," he whispered, the hungry glint in his eyes daring him to conceal it. "You'd never to be able to explain another 'found' child."

"It's all right," Megumi said. "Oguni-san showed me how to prepare an elixir to prevent conception."