Part VI - Never Say Never

    The train started pulling out of the station; Kenshin was not with the group waving goodbye from the platform.  It hurt, though she wouldn't admit it aloud.  After he'd come all this way, for him to have missed seeing her off was a pretty harsh blow.
    Someone had just taken the seat next to her.  She opened her eyes and started to smile, distantly but politely, until who it was registered.
    "Did you really think we'd let you go alone?"  He smiled even as he shook his head gently.  "You know better than that.  Besides, the train is going to Tokyo.  If you really don't want me here, I can leave then."
    She said nothing.  Once she got over her initial shock, she felt unsure.  She looked down at her hands, folded in her lap.  It was a hard question.  On the one hand, it just made more sense for her to go alone and not to drag her friends into it.  If all went well, then she would be happy to share the news; if not, she would also be open to their offers of visitation and return.  Still, it was good to have support, especially if it wasn't as she hoped.  Then, too, the nature of her company left her torn: Kensan, who was married to Kaoru.
    Some arguments were unwinnable.  "Oh, if you must stay, at least stay out from underfoot," she said loftily, affecting indifference as she closed her eyes.
    He looked away, smiling.  She was so predictable sometimes, he mused.  He'd also seen the conflict within her heart at his offer.  Apparently, the whole situation was more difficult than he'd thought.  She might have felt less conflict with Hiko Seijuurou at her side for the trip.  That would have been interesting to see, those two in a head-to-head confrontation.  He wondered who would win in a verbal showdown between his shishou's monumental ego versus Megumi's utter self-confidence and scalpel-sharp tongue.  He let Megumi sit in silence as his mind wandered off on that track.  When he looked over at her a little while later, she had tear tracks on her sleeping face.
    He'd heard her crying, though she'd been quiet about it of course.  She wouldn't have much privacy on the train at all and he felt it was the least he could do to afford her what he could.  It was hard to say how she felt about anything.  The one thing everyone was sure even without asking was that the self-confident, competent, beautiful lady doctor was as lost and confused as any scared young woman who had been through hell.  The problem came when one wanted to help.  An overt offer would be rejected violently on principle; with Megumi one had to be subtle about certain things.  It was her way, after all.  Thinking about that led him back to the dilemma that Aoshi had put him in.  Kenshin wondered how he was supposed to let Megumi know how Aoshi felt without actually telling her outright.
    All too soon for his tastes, they arrived in Tokyo.  He woke her and they disembarked.  She insisted on carrying her own bag as they walked towards the coach that would bring her and several others the rest of the way to Aizu.  Kenshin wondered if he would be among that group but Megumi said nothing about it.  Perhaps that was the only thing she could say in order to spare both their pride and their friendship, he thought as he helped her up into the coach.  If she'd conceded the point, it would have cost her too much; to have told him to go home would have cost him.  Her tacit acceptance reassured him; she'd be okay with it.  Eventually.  He hoped.
    She was quiet through most of the ride, as were most of the other passengers.  It wasn't like her to be this introspective, Kenshin mused, and he noticed she seemed paler than usual.
    "Kensan?  What if it isn't him?"
    "Oro...  I suppose we'll go back.  Or you can start up your practice, if you still want to."
    "Uun.  But... Kensan?"
    "Eh?"
    "What if it is?"
    "Oro?"
    "What if it is my brother, and he doesn't want anything to do with me, after we've talked?  What if my dishonor is too great?  I still hate what I did.  I wouldn't blame him if he did too."  She was barely whispering, and the small, dark wet spot that appeared on her jacket beneath her bowed head explained why.
    He fought the urge to hold her, instead cupping one hand gently beneath her chin.  "Megumidono, listen to me.  Do you remember when we first met, the lengths you were prepared to go to in order to escape that dishonor?"
    He had brought her chin up to face him, and she looked hesitantly through her bangs at him, making a small sound of assent.
    "Forget it."  With a gentle smile, he continued, "It won't accomplish anything helpful.  And I seem to remember a certain young doctor promising me to do her best to help people, to make up for what she'd done.  Do you remember that?"  She nodded again.  "Good.  I don't like broken promises," he said softly, and though he was smiling, a little of that old Battousai flash passed his eyes.
    An answering flash of pride in response to his challenge crossed her own features.  Without realizing it, she'd just promised him what Aoshi had wanted.  Kenshin nodded to himself and let go of her chin.
    "I'm glad."
    Now she looked bewildered.  "Glad?"
    "That you're going to be okay."
    "Of course I'm going to be okay!  I think you spend way too much time around that silly county girl," she grumbled.  It still hurt, losing him to Kaoru.
    The horses clopped on, oblivious to the little slices of life going on behind them.  Sensing the end of their journey, they moved a little faster, eager to drink and eat and relax.
    "We'll be there soon.  Aoshisan said he'd have someone meet me here," Megumi said nervously.  "Apparently it's changed some since I left."
    "Not to mention it would help if you knew where to start looking for the person they've found."
    "And because he wants to keep an eye on me."
    "Oro?"  Kenshin didn't have to pretend to look startled.  Everything he'd heard had indicated that Megumi didn't really know of Aoshi's interest.
    "Kensan, I'm not so oblivious as you think," she said derisively.  "It isn't as if the entire Oniwa Banshu is trying to throw him at me," she said.  It was hard to tell how she felt about it -- so he asked.
    "He's not...  That is, he's a good...  He's very...  He isn't...  It's just that he's...  They're only concerned for him because...  Orororo..."  Kenshin got himself tangled up in his own words and blushed.
    "He's the same man who locked me in a tower with a knife so I could spare myself from dishonor."
    Then she knew what he'd done, and why.  "You understand, then?"
    Megumi nodded.  "I do, now.  I didn't then.  Now, I'm more afraid for myself.  What Kanryu thought didn't matter..  though I can't say that his actions had no impact on me."  It went without saying that, if her brother had been found, what he felt mattered very much to the little sister who had been estranged for too long.  "When Aoshisan left me there, I had a lot of time to think about many things.
    "Sometimes he called me Memichan.  When I was born, he couldn't quite get my name right, and even when we were older, Memichan stuck."  She smiled, a painful smile.  "He was old enough to leave to fight when the time came though.  I hope it is him.  Even if he doesn't want to know me, at least I'll have seen him again."
    Kenshin nodded.  Closure was an important part of moving on; his own confrontation with Enishi had proven that.  His first love's little brother had had no closure; neither had he, until that point.  Reaching that point had done him worlds of good and allowed him to marry Kaoru.  Megumi needed to move on just as much -- if not more.  He remembered painfully that she still loved someone she could no longer have -- and would probably never have the same chance at closure, even though she had been at the wedding.
    The coach pulled to a stop and they disembarked with the other passengers, stretching gratefully.
    "Cross-shaped scar, red hair...  I know that description," a droll voice said.  It was deep but mellow, very pleasant to hear.  Together, they turned.  Megumi saw at once that the owner of that voice was every bit as easy on the eyes as his voice was on the ears.  Of course, the Oniwa Banshu uniform he wore accentuated the positives of his build, and the doctor also noted just how very many positives there were to BE accented.
    Kenshin noticed, too, though not as enthusiastically as Megumi, and made a mental note to himself to keep up his regimen.
    "You must be Himura Kenshin and Takani Megumisensei.  I'm Aigawa Yoshio of the Oniwa Banshu," he said with a sweeping bow.  "Shinomori Aoshisama said you'd be coming as soon as you heard.  I hope," he said, turning stunningly black eyes on Megumi, "That it works out for the best for you."  He was taller than Sano and towered over the other two, so when in a very European gesture he kissed her hand, she blushed, all but giggling.  Kenshin tried to convince himself that he was jealous solely for Aoshi's sake.  It must be the stress, he rationalized to himself.  Megumi was simply not that frivolous.  It HAD to be stress.
    His hair was almost as long as Megumi's had been when she'd first joined the Kenshingumi, and he wore it loose and flowing like she did.  One might think upon seeing them that they were related -- cousins at least, Kenshin decided.
    His own thoughts made him blink.  "Oro?"
    The others turned to him. "What is it, Kensan?"
    Embarrassed, he shook his head.  It was neither the time or the place to voice his questions.  "Ah, nothing, Megumidono, Aigawadono.  Suman de gozaru..."  With a nervous smile, he scanned the crowd, pretending to be solely focused on examining his surroundings.
    "Is he okay?" the tall young man asked with a wry grin.
    "Kensan?  Very rarely," Megumi replied with an answering sparkle.
    She was positively preening, and both men responded to it -- but Kenshin's protective reaction hardly put off Yoshio's interested one.
    "Hnn.  I see.  Well then, shall I take you two to get settled in?  It isn't far, and I know you've been traveling since very early."  Yoshio indicated the road they needed and began walking.  Kenshin offered to carry Megumi's bag, but not only did Yoshio beat him to it, but he took Kenshin's bag as well.  "Let me carry these for you guys.  I know you must be tired.  It's a long trip, I know, and frankly I'd just as soon not carry luggage if I were in your shoes.  Have you eaten?  I know that Shurasama will be happy to feed you, if you're hungry."
    "Shura...  I know that name," Kenshin mused.
    "Oh, yes, Shurasama mentioned she knew you briefly, years ago before she came to us.  She's not really here often, but when she is she's got great stories.  She sort of runs the ocean branch of the Oniwa Banshu, if you will."
    "Ocean branch?" Megumi echoed curiously.
    "Oh, yeah, it's a pretty new thing.  She used to be a pirate or something, following her father's footsteps, and when her crew mutinied she abandoned them to their fate and found her way here, for some reason.  Anyway, she said she had a mission and needed a new inland base of operations, contacts and the like.  She mentioned Himurasan's name in Amayasama's hearing -- Midorioka Amaya is our cell leader, or whatever you'd call us.  Anyway, Amayasama had heard of Himura through Aoshisama, and here we are with an ocean division," he said.
    "Now isn't that interesting, that she should show up again after so long," Kenshin mused.  "She said she would, the last time we saw her, but we never did hear from her again."
    Megumi nodded.  She hadn't been there, but when Kenshin, Yahiko, and Sanosuke had decided to get themselves jobs on a boat as security personnel, and Kaoru had turned up working that same boat as a maid and cook, it had turned into one of the Kenshingumi's usual episodes.  The pirate that had caused so much trouble had turned out to be a woman -- the very woman who was now apparently running the oceanic division of the Oniwa Banshu.
    "Small world, isn't it, Kensan?" Megumi said drily.
    Yoshio smiled at her.  "Here we are," he said moments later.  "The Midoriya."
    "What, do you name all your restaurants for colors?"