Part IV:  A Not-so-chance Encounter

    Sagara Sanosuke glared into the distance, itching to find this alternate self and kick his ass.  Slowly the full meaning of Amaya-Megumi's words sank in.
    "Your husband killed himself, and then Kanryu killed your baby."  Sano's legs slowly gave out beneath him as he went white with rage, then a step beyond into a cold calmness.
    "That's why you were so upset when you saw him, isn't it Megumidono?"  Kenshin spoke quietly from his post leaning against the gate.  Neither Megumi nor Sano had known of his presence, nor for how long he'd been there, until he spoke.
    "Yes, that's exactly it.  How much did you hear?" the pale woman asked.
    "Enough."  Kenshin's voice remained soft and calm, but his eyes told clearly of the pure anger he felt on her behalf.  "Forgive me, I did not mean to intrude, but I heard you talking."
    "No, it's all right.  I wanted to confront my ghosts.  Somehow I found it easier to begin with a man who looks like my dead husband."  She smiled wistfully at her own comment.  How ironic it sounded to her own ears, telling the story of her past to the mirror image of the man she had loved, dead of suicide now over a year.  Though now was a time for new beginnings, Megumi found it necessary to clear her own conscious completely and tell them everything.
    "What about the scars?  How did you get those?"  Kaoru stuck her head around a door post.
    "What, were you all listening or something?  This was a private conversation!"  Sanosuke looked annoyed, though he still sat where he had sunk to the ground.
    "No, it's truly all right.  I suppose I'd have had to tell each of you separately, if that was the case.  That would have benefited none of you, and made things harder for me."
    The ex-gangster studied the woman seated on the porch, mending forgotten in her lap.  She was still very pale, and the scarlet letter X on her cheek stood out violently against her nearly grey skin.  "Oiy.  You look ready to --" Sano hesitated, deciding that "croak" just was not appropriate under the circumstances.  "To pass out.  Get some sleep."  He turned abruptly and swaggered out of the dojo, turning into the road.
    Kaoru glared and followed after him.  Moments later, Kenshin and Megumi could hear parts of a lecture on manners, politeness, respect for guests, and tact, punctuated by yowls of pain and the heavy thwack of a hard bokken hitting a harder skull.
    "Some things never do change," the woman smiled wanly.
    Kenshin nodded, smiling nervously.  "Sano does have a point, Megumidono.  You do need to rest."  Even as the woman started to rise, Kenshin walked over to her and offered his arm in support.  She leaned on it gratefully and he walked her inside.  "Yahiko stopped by the clinic to talk to Megumidono."  The slight redhead balanced the groceries with one hand as he assisted the woman with the other.  "We thought she might be able to recommend something for you, since Genzaisensei is away."
    As if on cue, Yahiko's voice was heard in the distance.  "We promised!  Please don't -- Genzaisensei will -- Megumisan!  Hey!  That's my ear!  Who do you think I am, Sanosuke?  OWWW!!"
    "Unless I miss my guess, she insisted on coming along."  Amaya-Megumi smiled weakly.
    "Megumidono?"
    "Yes."
    "No, I mean, Megumidono, we need something else to call you, and while you were sick, we thought e might call you Amayadono."
    The woman on the bed made a face.  "Amaya?  It's a nice name, but I'd rather you didn't.  Call me Megumi Ekkusu, or even Ekkusu if you must, but my name is Takani Megumi."
    "I must say that's a lovely name," said a voice identical to the convalescent's.  Takani Megumi stood in the doorway, still dragging a very unhappy looking Yahiko by the ear, followed by a wide eyed Kaoru and a very bruised Sano.
    "It's like looking at someone looking in a mirror," Kaoru said faintly.
    "Only the mirror's broken."
    "Baka!"
    Yahiko rubbed his head, glaring at Kaoru and her bokken.
    "Genzaisensei told me we could pass for twins, but I admit I found it a little hard to believe," said the doctor in the doorway.
    The woman on the bed nodded.  "If not for this," she said softly, touching the scar on her cheek, "I suspect even I might be confused."  She smiled a little darkly at her own comment.
    The unscarred doctor approached her doppelganger.  "I don't see what all of you are staring at!  Out, all of you!" she chastised as she turned back to their audience.
    As the others all found something to do elsewhere, Megumi turned to Ekkusu.  "Genzaisensei will have a fit when he hears about this, but we'll just have to deal with it when it happens, hmm?"  She smirked, hiding her mouth with her hand as the other woman swore she could see Fox ears pop up.
    "Hai.  I've always wanted a twin sister.  I suppose this is better..."
    "No scheming until after you're well again!"  Suddenly the unscarred woman was all business once more, laying a hand on the other's forehead.  "Your temperature is a little up, and your color is off.  Have you eaten yet today?  Don't tell me those foolish boys didn't feed you anything."  Without waiting for an answer, she rose and stuck her head out of the door.  Kenshin was doing laundry with a little too much determination, Kaoru and Yahiko were practicing -- funny how it always looked the same, to her -- and Sanosuke was splashing around the tub, trying to look like he was helping Kenshin, who actually permitted the charade.
    Megumi smiled to herself and shook her head ever so slightly before letting a stern expression hide her amusement and love for these unique and strange people she was proud to call friends -- most of the time.  "Sanosuke!  Quit trying to look like something you're not and go bring some soup!  Did any of you even think to make sure my patient was looked after?  She hasn't eaten at all today!"  Pulling her head back inside, she shared a conspiratorial wink as Sanosuke walked by, grumbling about his role as a gofer.
    "I wish my world was more like yours," the convalescent said softly as the doctor rearranged her pillows and set her up to be able to recline as she ate.  "Where I'm from, it's just so much different."  Her pause gave away just how different it was.
    Megumi sat next to Ekkusu and looked at her with concern.  "Tell me about it, please."
    Ekkusu looked at her hands and sighed.  "You all understand each other so much better here.  Kennii -- that is, the Kensan I know, he and Kaoru are married but she abuses him constantly.  It's horrible to watch.  I don't mean she treats him all that badly, but she makes so many demands of him, treats him like he's a slave sometimes and tends to take out her frustrations on him with a bokken, or sometimes a shinai, or whatever else is handy."  She looked up as Sano walked into the room and brought the broth to the women.
    "That sounds like our jouchan, only she doesn't restrict herself to Kenshin."  Having handed the soup to Ekkusu, he rubbed his head, remembering several instances in the past few days alone where he'd been introduced to the bokken first-hand.
    Megumi X smiled.  "Some things at least are the same."
    Her physician smiled as well.  Turning to Sanosuke, she shooed him out.  "And don't let me catch you listening in either!"  As the tall man left, she turned back to the woman sipping slowly from the bowl.  "Not, of course, that they'll listen.  Genzaisensei tells me that the Kensan you know is your brother?"
    "Adopted, in a sense.  We exchanged a blood oath after my husband's death.  He swore he would protect my honor as his own sister, and that of my child."
    Megumi's eyes widened as she looked at her alternate self.  Though she was dying of curiosity, she hushed the other and bade her drink the soup.  "You need your rest, and you can tell me more later."  She sat with her patient, taking the bowl when she was through.  Megumi X's eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep in almost no time at all.
    "She's exhausted," Megumi told the others as she emerged.  "So when is one of you going to tell me what happened to her?"  She looked at Sano accusingly.
    "Oiy, Kitsune, why do I always have to be the one to tell?"  The ex gangster grumbled as he sat on the steps.  Megumi merely crossed her arms and looked down at him, and he beckoned her to sit next to him.
    "She didn't tell me much," the woman said.  "Only that her husband was dead, she'd an oath of blood with the Kensan she knew to become brother and sister, and she had a child."  She raised a sardonic eyebrow.  "No details, I'm afraid.  So what do you know?"
    Sanosuke looked up at the porch ceiling.  Slowly, he told the doctor what he had heard, and even as he spoke the desire to exact revenge consumed him.
    "I thought you promised Kenshin you weren't going to bother her," Kaoru said sternly.
    "She spoke first!"  Sano glared back at the young sensei.
    "Maa, maa.  It makes no difference now.  Besides, it worked out well.  Ekkusudono's finally beginning to tell her story."
    "And once we know that, maybe we can help her!"
    "What makes you think she won't stay?" asked Yahiko.  "Kenshin does have a way with women!"  He laughed raucously as Kenshin blushed, stopping only when both Kaoru and Megumi slapped him.
    "Ano, Kensan, why did you call her Ekkusu?"
    "She asked us to.  We suggested Amaya, but she hated it."
    "I can understand that.  It's a pretty name, but I wouldn't want it attached to me either."  Megumi shrugged.  "But as for her staying here, I think it's a wonderful idea.  If she has my medical training, it would be nice to have an extra hand at the clinic," she said wistfully as she looked down and played with her hair.
    "Is everything all right?  Is Genzaisensei well?"  Kaoru's sudden concern was shared by all of them.
    "Hai, he's fine.  It's simply that he wants to retire.  He isn't as young as he used to be."  Megumi looked up.  "His own words, you understand.  With all of you placing such demands on our medical skills, I'm not surprised.  I wouldn't mind retiring myself!"  The doctor smirked, mainly at Sanosuke, as she spoke.
    "Oiy!"
    "Enough.  Megumisan, about Ekkususan...  I know Genzaisensei has told you a little bit about her, but if she even wants to stay, do you think she'd be all right?"  Kaoru blinked.  "I mean, would she stay here or at the clinic?  And will she be comfortable?  After all, if she was married to Sanosuke, and Kenshin was her brother, where she's from, do you think she might find it difficult?"
    Kenshin looked at her before his friend could speak.  "Kaorudono, I don't think we have to worry about that just yet.  For now, she's staying here, and I think we should let her rest."
    Yahiko nodded.  "Even an ugly toad should know better than to scream outside a sick room," he smirked.
    "Oiy, kid, don't start now."
    "I'm not a kid!"
    "See, you're starting already."
    "Who's starting?  You jerk!"
    "Yare, yare."
    Megumi sighed as she slipped back inside and closed the door behind her, looking at her sleeping "twin" with mixed emotions.  What was the rest of this woman's story?
    And why in the WORLD had she married Sanosuke?