Voices Carry
                        by Takani Megumi X

Instrumental

    "Maybe I should go after her?"  Kaoru looked uncomfortable at the thought, but she wasn't going to let the other woman out alone in her state. 
    "Let me," piped up the normally retiring Tsubame.  Although her confidence had increased over the course of her relationship with Yahiko and his friends, she was still by far the shyest of the group.  She smiled at everyone's shock.  "Well, I know you all think I don't know her very well.  You're right, I don't.  But I do know what it's like to be scared and alone and confused."  She looked almost embarrassed.  Certainly it was one of the longest speeches she'd made about herself.
    "What's the point?  The Kitsune is gone.  And she ain't comin' back."
    "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Sano.  She's more scared of you than you are of her."  Kenshin couldn't help grinning at the utterly befuddled expression on his tall friend's face. 
    "While you all sit around and explain to him what a fool he's being, I'm going to go find Megumisan."  The youngest woman of the group rose and followed the path Megumi had taken. 
    She didn't have to go far to find her quarry, a fact which relieved her greatly.  Considering that she was far and away the least tactically trained of the group, she didn't doubt that if she'd had to actually search, she would have gotten hopelessly lost.  The small park triangle down the block, however, was in easy view of the bar, and the lone weeping figure on one of the benches easy to discern from her even less fortunate neighbors.
    "Megumisan?"  As she approached the doctor, Tsubame wondered what she was going to say, exactly, to the lovely older woman.  The whole situation wasn't really her business, she felt, nor was it really her place to interfere -- but to leave it to one of the guys would be disastrous.  And the very thought of Kaoru actually going out of her way to talk to Megumi when she was married to the man Megumi had loved from the first made the softhearted Tsubame shudder.  Granted, Megumi had had time to work past it, and seemed to have done so admirably.  Still, some things Just Weren't Done.
    The sound Megumi made in response was more of a whimper than anything else, a strangled sob that made her wince even as she looked up at the younger woman, not even trying to hide the tearstreaks that marred her features. 
    "May I sit?"  When the older woman nodded, Tsubame did so, close enough to talk low and be heard but far enough to maintain a comfort zone.  "I'm not going to ask you to talk to me if you don't want to, Megumisan, but you shouldn't be alone."
    "I appreciate that," the doctor said, a trace of a smile managing its weak way through her tears.  "Although I'm wondering if I shouldn't finally admit to myself that it's possible I've been alone too long..."
    That rueful statement caught Tsubame's attention as nothing else could have.  Takani Megumi was not known for being forthcoming with her personal feelings.  Other than those which she had harbored long and fruitlessly for Kenshin, of course, she was largely an emotional enigma to even her close friends.  And yet, here she was on a park bench, exposing a part of herself that most of them had probably never suspected. 
    "But Megumisan, you're almost never alone!"  The words were out of her mouth before the implications hit Tsubame.
    The beautiful, talented, and much-loved doctor was lonely.  It was true that she was almost never alone in the literal sense, Tsubame reflected briefly.  Between the busy practice she now shared with Dr. Genzai, the frequent visits to the dojo and many other friends she had made over the years, Megumi was still very much a woman, with the same basic wants and needs of any other woman her age.  It was surprising that such an accomplished and capable woman, who was so obviously loved by many, wanted for love.  The problem, the young girl decided, was that the love she was receiving was not the kind one looked for. It was not what she had found with Yahiko, or what Kaoru had with Kenshin.  That was what Megumi needed -- and could have it, if she wasn't so busy running away. 
    For indeed, that was exactly what was happening.  This whole night so far had been entertaining, certainly, but more importantly it was revealing quite a lot about the friends with whom Tsubame had been growing closer since her friendship with Yahiko had begun blossoming into something more. 
    Sanosuke's choice of a song had apparently had a deeper effect on Megumi than anyone had realized.