Part III -- To Face the Music

    Megumi closed the door to the clinic and turned go to back to her apartment.  Fubuki Taro had been gone for a month, and she knew he would never return.  She had made all the arrangements he had asked her to, done all he had asked until three days ago when the man in the white trench coat had come to her clinic and waited for closing.  He had not come inside; instead he had simply spoken a few words to her as she closed the door.
    "Your Fubuki Tarosensei is dead.  You are requested to come to Kanryu Takeda to continue the work being done.  You may have one week to prepare."  The man had not waited for a reply.  He seemed simply to vanish.
    Now, as she closed the door once more, there seemed to be no way around it.  As she turned around, she was surprised by someone standing there -- the last person she had ever expected to see.
    "Mujihi Akirasan."  Her nod was stiff, her voce flat.  She had not seen him since the night before her birthday, nearly five months earlier.  She had sent, from herself and Fubukisensei, a formal note of congratulations to his family when his engagement to Kamome Kimiko had been announced.
    "Megumi, please go gently with me."
    "Do not be so familiar with me.  You hardly know me, after all."
    "Megumi, please understand.  I only heard about Fubukisensei this afternoon.  I wished to extend my condolences, to see if I might be of aid to you."
    "Hyou, indeed.  They call you panther for your looks and also for your cruelty.  I have no need of your games.  You may leave me alone now.  If you need a doctor, there is always --"
    "But Megumi, please, hear me out!  The only doctor I need  is you!  My family has arranged this marriage, but Megumi, my heart, my soul, every ounce of my being is yours!  You will not marry me.  Will you at least be my beloved always?"
    Megumi stared at him in mingled horror and disgust.  Her hand connected very sharply with his cheek.  "You.  Filthy.  Rat hearted.  Dog!  How DARE You!?"
    The slap echoed, and though her words were potently delivered, her voice was scarcely even a whisper.  "How DARE you ask such a thing?"  She was waiting until she had married, he knew that, he had known that every time he had pressed her to lie with him.  "You disgusting jerk, get out of my face!  Go away, get out of my life, get out!"  By the end of her tirade, she was screaming.
    Shocked and dismayed, Akira didn't listen.  "But Megumi, please --"
    "If you are not gone in three seconds, I am calling the police."
    "Megumi, please, my heart, don't, please hear me out, what I have to offer --"
    "POLICE!  Help!  Someone help!"  Megumi's voice carried quite well, and heads popped out everywhere as a uniformed police officer showed up at a dead run as Akira threw himself at her feet.
    "What's going on here?"  The officer looked irritated, concerned, and authoritative all at once.
    "This...  man...  was... he was trying to...  to force his attentions on me."  Megumi was trembling.
    The officer grabbed at Akira's shirt and hauled him to his feet.  "Mujihisan!"  His surprise was brief.  "Is this true?"
    "It wasn't like that at all!  I am engaged, and I was offering her a position..."  His poetic flair failed him as he stumbled for words, knowing that anything he said could easily be misconstrued.  Megumi was well liked and a skilled doctor; his own standing was not quite as bright.
    "Get home, Mujihisan.  Consider this a warning, next time i won't be gentle."  As the stricken man shuffled away, the office turned back to the doctor.  "Takanisensei, are you all right?  You're still shaking."
    "Hai, I'm fine.  I'll be all right.  I'm just upset."  She smiled weakly and tried to still her trembling hands.  "What with everything that's happened lately, I've had a lot to take in.  I think it's time I moved on.  There's a good doctor in town.  I think perhaps I shall leave you under his capable care and try to find my family."
    The officer blinked.  "You mean you're going to leave?  But, Takanisensei, so many people rely on your gentle care!"
    "Yes.  Yes, I'm afraid I do mean it, and I must leave.  In fact, I'm leaving as son as I can.  I regret what I must leave behind, but I will be glad to be with my family again.  And if I don't find them, perhaps I will come back."
    That would be nice, for you to return.  You will be missed, and you will always be welcomed back gladly.  If you ever need assistance, please feel free to ask.  "He had walked her the ten steps to her own door and she laid an impulsive hand on his arm.
    "Thank you.  Please give my best to your family."  He nodded as she slipped inside.
    "An officer and a gentleman," she said to herself as she closed the door.  Not like that jerk Akira!  "Of all the nerve, his mistress!  He wanted me to be his mistress!"  She leaned against the door, still shaking.  "In the morning, my usual routine, but tomorrow night I begin packing in earnest!"
    The next morning, Megumi was not surprised to find Michiko waiting by the clinic.
    "Oh, Megumi, is it true?  You're leaving town?
    "I'm afraid so.  If you've heard that, then surely you've heard about --"
    "About Akira?  Yes!  You mean t's all true?  Is that why you're leaving?  Oh, Megumi!  This is even more horrible than when --"  She cut herself off.
    "Than when he got himself engaged to Kimiko?  Yes, I suppose it is pretty disgusting."
    Michiko blinked at her friend.  "You really don't want to talk about it, do you."  Michiko wasn't stupid by any means, but even she would admit there was little she loved more than gossip, and she did tend to run off at the mouth a bit.
    "I'd really rather not.  I have to plan what to pack, and what to do about the clinic.  Fubukisensei's friend only has that small room.  I suppose he'd love to have the clinic, especially since it's already set up and I won't be taking very much with me.  I'll have to travel light, I suppose.  Michiko?"  Megumi turned to her friend, her expression making her look far younger than her 21 years.  Michiko had never seen her usually calm friend look so utterly lost.
    "What is it, Megumi?"
    "I'm afraid."
    Michiko said nothing, nodding and putting her arms around the other girl.
    Before long, there was a knock on the clinic door.
    "Oh no!  I'm not -- the clinic isn't ready yet!"
    "Megumi, you do what you must, and I'll clean and get what you need."
    Megumi straightened up and fixed her smock.  "You're right.  There's a job to be done."  She smiled at Michiko and opened the door.
    Fortunately, it was a quiet day, but Megumi informed all who came of her impending departure.  None of her patients was glad of the news, but all wished her luck and hoped she would come back someday, bringing her family with her.  One of the little boys even ran home and came back with his favorite toy, which he offered with a solemn face.
    "You have to take it so you can give it back when you come," he'd said, and Megumi swept him into a hug.
    "I will try my very best," she told him.  He bragged for weeks afterwards that he was the one who had made her promise to come back.
    "I hope I can keep that promise," she told Michiko.
    When the sun had set, she closed up the clinic, and Michiko offered to help her pack.
    "I appreciate it, but I'm afraid I must decline.  I need to be alone, if you don't mind."  Megumi felt suddenly very tired.
    "Of course!  But if you change your mind, at any time, you come right over and tell me, all right?  Any time, and I mean it!"  Michiko would not leave until she had Megumi's word.
    The doctor could barely bring herself to look around the apartment.  She didn't have much, and a great deal of that was probably better off donated to those in need.  Besides, she had three days before she had to leave.  A whole three days.  Only three days.  And then the strange, sullen man would take her off to Kanryu, who had held her own teacher in thrall.  How had he done it?
    Did it matter?  Fubukisensei was dead.  Megumi had loved and respected her teacher and wanted to follow in his footsteps, but not into death.  She supposed he would agree with her, too.
    The next two days went by quickly.  Megumi gave the shop to the quiet doctor who had learned alongside her own teacher, saying farewell to all her patients, and giving away much of what she could not take with her.
    The last night came all too quickly, and with a heavy heart, Megumi closed the clinic up for the last time, bringing her last few belongings -- her own surgical kit which had been a gift from Taro, and a few quick herbal remedies -- to her apartment to pack.
    The strange man waited for her.  "It's time."
    "I will close up my home, and go.  I only need a moment."
    He looked as if he would contradict her for a moment. "Very well.  But only a moment.  We are expected, and I am not alone."
    Megumi nodded, understanding the implied threat as well as the sensitivity of his words.  She went inside, leaving the door open as she swept the room and packed her medical supplies in the small sack she needed, laying the carved wooden horse the little boy had given her on top.  There was very little she had left for herself; all of it could be easily carried.
    She paused at the door, looking back only briefly at the room empty of all but the furniture , the room she had called home for these few blessed years.  "All good things must come to an end..."  She sighed and turned to the man.  "Is there something  might call you, since it seems I am to know you?"
    "I am Shinomori Aoshi."
    "Well, then, Shinomorisan, I suppose there is nothing left for me here."  Takani Megumi closed the door.