Part II:  Another Megumi?!

    The three skidded to a halt just outside the door, entering quietly to see the woman looking at them.
    "You're not..  the ones I know, are you."  Her voice was weak and tired, but she seemed determined to understand.  "And yet, you look so like them."  She trailed off, closing her eyes briefly.
    "She even sounds just like Megumisan!"  Kaoru whispered, not quietly enough.  The woman's eyes opened again.
    "I am Megumi."
    "Oro?"
    "But --"  Kaoru stopped herself.
    "Megumisan's at the clinic with Genzaisensei!"
    The patient's eyes fixed on Yahiko.  "Then I really am lost," she said.  "And yet, how could I be?"  She looked so afraid, every bit as lost as she thought.  "You're not... Kennii, are you.  Or the Yahiko and Kaoru I know."
    "We already have a Megumi!" Kaoru blurted out, and flushed.
    The woman's eyes closed again, and Kaoru noticed just how pale she really was.  The scar stood out, a livid X against white flesh.
    "I.. I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have said that.  This is all very strange for us too," she said quietly, eyes downcast.
    The woman smiled faintly.
    "You need to rest.  Yahiko, would you please bring, ahh, bring Megumidono some soup?"  Kenshin smiled as Yahiko ran off and turned back to the woman lying in front of him.  "When Yahiko comes back, you can have a little broth and get some rest.  The important thing is for you to heal, and then we can help you."
    Megumi smiled again sadly.  "What makes you think I can be helped?"
    "Oro?"
    "Kenshin can if anyone can!" Kaoru said hotly.
    "For once, the ugly toad's right," Yahiko said as he returned with a bowl.
    Kaoru favored Yahiko with a glare that spoke volumes, but instead turned to their patient.  "Would you like help sitting up?"
    "I'll go get extra pillows," Yahiko said as he vanished outside again.
    "Why's he being so helpful all of a sudden?" Kaoru mused.
    "Oiy, what's all the racket?  Can't a guy get any sleep around here?"  Sanosuke appeared in the doorway, glaring around until he saw the woman leaning on Kaoru, sitting up slightly.  "Oh, so Sleeping Beauty is awake, ne?"  Sano was not a morning person, but for some reason he seemed crabbier than usual.  However, he did stand a little straighter, and cleared his throat before speaking again more quietly.  "Gomen ne.  So what's your story?
    "Her story is, she's going to eat and get some rest without any interruptions from you!" Kaoru flared, not leaving her patient's side.
    "Maa, maa."  Kenshin held up his hands.  "Can't it wait?"
    Yahiko returned just then with several pillows.  I brought out all the extras.  I saw Sano left without making his bed so I took his too."  The older youth growled and Yahiko smiled merrily as he began putting the pillows carefully behind the convalescent.
    Kenshin looked at her and forgot what he'd been about to say.  The expression on her face was so full of m mixed emotions as she looked at Sanosuke that he himself had to quell the urge to ask about it.  There would be time later, he reminded himself.  For now, she had to rest.
    "Yahiko, since you're up, why don't you start practicing, and Sano, please go tell Genzaisensei that Megumisan is awake?  No, wait, just tell him that the woman we found is awake.  We'll tell him the rest later."  Kaoru suddenly took charge of the situation.  "I'll be along soon, Yahiko, so don't let me catch you slacking off!  Kenshin," Kaoru looked at him and he nodded.
    "Go ahead, Kaorudono.  I was going to go shopping this morning but I can go later."
    Kaoru nodded.  "Are you comfortable?"
    Megumi was siting with a tight smile against the pillows, holding the soup bowl and sipping from it slowly.  "Hai, thank you.  I'm all right."  Kaoru nodded, glanced up at Kenshin and left quietly.
    "She doesn't like me."
    "Oro?"
    "Kaorusan.  She doesn't like me."
    The redheaded rurouni did a double take and looked away nervously.  "It's only that, when we first met Megu-- that is, the Megumidono we know, they didn't exactly get along and I think Kaorudono's nervous about a similar conflict."  Kenshin ducked his head to hide the slight blush creeping up his face.
    The scarred woman smiled ruefully.  "The Kensan I know is like a brother.  He is my brother, in  way."  She sighed.  "Not that I sometimes wished otherwise, but after my marr- after everything, I thought it might be too awkward.  Besides.. I'll never see them again."
    "Oro..."  Kenshin blinked.  "We'll find a way to get you back."
    "Kensan, what makes you think I want to?"  Her eyes closed and she turned away, letting the empty bowl fall into her lap.
    "Oro?"
    "You say that a lot."
    Kenshin blushed.  The situation kept getting stranger by the minute, and even he was beginning to get overwhelmed.  "I'll take that," he said, reaching for the bowl, "and let you rest now."
    As he spoke, Megumi stifled a yawn.  "Hai, that's a good idea."
    "You can tell us more about it later."
    As she slept, Kenshin resumed his post at the doorway, idly playing with the soup bowl.  His own eyes were closing when Kaoru approached.
    "Kenshin, she's covered in scars.  Absolutely covered!  Some of them are newer than others, but they're all hidden when she's dressed too.  It's like someone tortured her for years!"
    The former hitokiri looked up at the distraught young teacher s she sat next to him and took a deep breath before continuing..
    "Kenshin, some of them are just cuts -- nasty ones, but simple.  And some of them are words!  There was a name, Kanryu's name, across her stomach, and on her...  On her bosom, she has the kanji for prostitute!"  Kaoru's voice was an embarrassed whisper and her face was red with varied distress.  "And there's one mark that Genzaisensei said was the letter 'A' in the Portuguese alphabet.  He said it's supposed to be from a book, something from England or something, about a scarlet sign that means adulterer!"  Kaoru was getting more upset by the minute and Kenshin felt a familiar rage begin to boil within -- all the more futile since the woman lying asleep was from a different world, even if it was the same in many ways.
    "If there's a way to make someone pay for this..."
    Kenshin looked at Kaoru and sighed.  "If there were a way, Kaorudono, it would be seeing the one who did it take to prison for life."
    "Hopefully with a mean guard!"
    "Kaorudono, there is nothing we can do to avenge her.  Yes, it is a tempting idea, but the important thing is to help the woman herself, now, while she needs us."
    Kaoru sighed again.  "I know you're right, but I still wish there were something else we could do for her."
    "Me too,"  Yahiko said as he walked over to them.  Neither he nor Kaoru noticed that she didn't scold him for not practicing.
    "Yahiko, all we can do is help her get better.  She's not from the Tokyo we know. Where she's from, I think she's been married."
    "Really?  Married?  So how'd she end up here?"
    "It sounded like she was going to say something about marriage, and then changed her mind."
    "Married?  Was she...  Was she married to that...  To that.."
    "Asshole?" Yahiko supplied.
    "Yahiko, I will NOT have you using such language in my dojo!"
    "Maa, maa, enough yelling.  We don't want to wake her up again!"
    "Sorry."
    Kaoru glared at Yahiko a minute longer.
    "Was it Kanryu?"
    "She didn't say," Kenshin replied, "and we are not going to push her for details.  When she's ready, she'll tell us."  He remained firm on that point.
    After a long silence, Kaoru spoke again.  "There was only one large fresh wound on her at all."  She stared at the ground; obviously this was something that troubled her immensely.
    "What?" Yahiko asked as the silence stretched on.
    "It was the kanji for 'mother' -- stabbed through.  Right over her womb."  She rose wordlessly and went towards the gate as voices grew nearer.
    Kenshin and Yahiko sat in stunned silence.
    "Oiy, jouchan who die--"  Before Sanosuke could even finish, the old doctor started to run towards the dojo.
    "No, no!  She's asleep again, but she's all right...  I was just telling Kenshin about her wound."  She looked forlornly at her old friend who nodded understanding and rested a hand briefly on her shoulder.
    "I'll stay here for a while.  Megumisan can cover at the clinic, and can send for me if there's an emergency, but I think we should wait before introducing her to our patient."
    Sanosuke wandered over to Kenshin and Yahiko.  "What wound is she talking about?"  He looked at his friends in bewilderment.
    Kenshin told him what Kaoru had just imparted, and Sanosuke went pale.
    "What kind of asshole could do that to another person..."  He cracked his knuckles, clearly itching for a fight.  "There's gotta be some way to find this shit head and make him pay!"
    "There isn't."
    "Believe me, if there were  I'd find it and kick the guy's ass myself!"
    "Get in line, kid!"
    "Who are you callin' a kid?  I'm a Master of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, Tokyo Samurai Myoujin Yahi-itai!!"
    "Shush!  You two idiots better not wake her!"  Kaoru glared at Sanosuke and Yahiko who returned the favor in kind but said nothing else.
    "We can't keep calling her, 'her' all the time.  She has a name," the doctor said reasonably.  "The only problem is, how do we differentiate between Megumisan -- our Megumisan, that is, and our patient?"
    "We could call her 'Juujiko' (child of the cross {shape}) or maybe 'Ekkusu' (X), ne?"
    "We could, but would she answer?"  Kaoru looked at her student with a bemused expression.
    "Seizonsha (survivor)?" Genzaisensei blinked, then shook his head at his own suggestion.
    "Amaya?"  Kenshin looked up.  "Megumidono would like it, I think, and if this one's anything like the Megumidono we know, she might as well."
    "Eh... I like it.  And it is rather appropriate," Kaoru smiled.  The idea of calling this other Megumi "night rain" smacked of appropriateness.  She had effectively fallen on them during the darkest hours of night, a refreshing change like a spring rain after a dry spell.  Kaoru was torn between resentment and relief for the same reason.  Kenshin had a new damsel in distress now for whom he could play the hero, which might boost his flagging spirits.
    She didn't envy the woman, though.  Not the way should would have only months before.  It was impossible to envy the circumstances she'd had to endure, the way her body was scarred spelling out years of horror.  Kaoru was amazed that their patient was alive at all, and all the more so that she had woken up so soon.  To have undergone such treatment for years, probably alone, was a miracle in and of itself, but what Kaoru hadn't told the others and couldn't be sure they understood, was that the newcomer, the Takani Megumi of another place, had been pregnant.  The new kanji and the stab wound on the woman's abdomen had claimed the life of her unborn child.
    The thought made Kaoru sick all over again and she feared she might faint, or worse, as she stood.  Yahiko and Sanosuke hadn't noticed her silence as acutely as Kenshin had.  Kaoru hadn't noticed when Genzaisensei had gone inside to check on his patient, until a voice interrupted her thoughts.
    "Oiy, jouchan, we're in Tokyo, not on the moon!"  Sano looked exasperated.  "Oiy, did she o deaf?  JOUCHAN!!"  By the end he was almost shouting in her ear.
    "Eh?" She looked so startled that Sanosuke almost regretted his abruptness.  "Ah, gomen ne.   I was just thinking about Megumisan.  Amayasan.  Our patient."  In addition to her initial surprise, she looked flustered and chagrined.
    "It's all right Kaorudono.  There may not be much we can do now, bu--"
    "No, Kenshin, you don't understand!  That's not what I was thinking about!  I mean, not getting to whoever did that,  Kenshin..."  Kaoru's voice trailed off, and she looked at the man who had once been hitokiri with wide eyes.  "Kenshin, for her to have survived in the condition she's in, she'd have to...  to..."
    "She'd have to have a constitution and will like yours and Sanosuke's, possibly combined," finished the old doctor as he emerged from the building.  "I assume Kaoruchan told you of most of her injuries."
    "Most?"  Kenshin asked, though he suspected he understood.
    Genzaisensei nodded.  "My guess is she doesn't know she's lost the baby yet, so you'll have to --"
    "Baby?  She was gonna have a baby!?"  Sanosuke nearly fell over with shock, as Yahiko's own jaw fell open.  "Ehh???"
    "Oro..."  Kenshin whispered softly.  It was as  he had surmised, based on Kaoru's description of the kanji and the stab wound, her own reaction to it, plus the simple fact of its existence.  However, since she hadn't mentioned any baby, Kenshin had to wonder about the doctor's guess.
    "That's a good point.  If she didn't ask, then she may already know.  It's hard to say, since she's doubtless still in shock."  The old man looked thoughtful.
    "Sano," Kenshin looked at his friend, "I don't know if it's a good idea for you to be around her very much.  Does Megumidono need help at the clinic?" he asked, turning to the older man.
    The doctor shook his head.  "I don't think so, why?"
    "And why am I supposed to avoid that woman?"  Sano looked torn between curiosity and outright annoyance.
    Kenshin seemed to lose his nerve.  "Ah, well, it's simply that..."
    "Out with it!!!"
    "Oro?"
    "Just tell me dammit!!"
    "Shhh!"  KAoru's bokken met Sano's head.
    "Megu--Amayado looked -- when you came i, and she was awake, she looked even more lost."
    "Huh?"
    "What do you mean, Kenshin?"
    The rurouni looked at Yahiko.  "When Sano acme into the room, she looked scared, rather like a child in the market who had gotten separated from its mother in the market, and became angry when it found her again.  As though she'd been betrayed."  Kenshin looked up at last and Kaoru read his expression clearly.  Almost like I felt about Tomoe's death.  Not that Kenshin would ever say so aloud.
    "Please, Sano.  Just until she's stronger.  All you have to do is stay out of her sight until we know her story and can help her?"  Kaoru turned to the ex gangster.  "You don't have to avoid the dojo.  I'd rather you didn't.  Just please don't let her see you, ne?"
    Sano stared at the ground.  "I'll try," he conceded grudgingly.
    If only he tried harder, Kaoru thought, than he tried to pay his tab at the Akabeko.  Or, more accurately, to avoid paying it...