She looked up at him, and then back to the lean man near the door as the girl who could only be Tsubamechan ran to Yahiko.
     "You are Battousai."  The croaking whisper held a note of some strange emotion as a memory came back to the shattered woman.
     Red hair fell long and thick in a ponytail down the back of the young man she spotted as she looked around the room and threw herself, quite literally, at his mercy.  A plea for help, followed by thugs to prove her point, and suddenly the sweet-looking guy became a hardened warrior.
     The look on his face was much as it had been then.
     "I was Battousai.  I have not been Battousai for a very long time."
     "Yes.  You said it once..."  Her eyes went to Myoujin Yahiko and Tsubamechan, who were watching the older two with evident curiosity.  Himurasan looked at her.
     "Oro?"  Yes, she remembered that.  He had said it a lot, even in the all too brief time she'd known him.  Some things never changed.
     "I was.. Takani Megumi."  How strange it was to say it now, after so many years.
     "Oro?"  Himurasan was stunned, but after the initial shock, Myoujin was angry.
     "Why did you leave like that!  How could you do that!  We thought you –"
     "Yahiko, wait."  Himurasan had been quick to recover.  "Taka– iie.  Megumidono, why do you say ‘was'?  Is that no longer your name?
     It took her a moment to answer.  No one, before or since, had called her Megumidono.  It was a name that had meant a lot.  She had not thought to hear it again.
     "I am no one now."  It was very hard to accept that her slavery was at an end.  Her eyes drifted to Takeda Kanryu's unmoving form.
     Those violet eyes studied her a moment, studied the scene.  "Yahiko, take Tsubamedono home.  I'm going to help Megumidono."  Himura Kenshin walked over to her as the younger man nodded agreement.  "Can you get up?"
     The moment of truth.  She gathered her strength, leaned up against the wall, pulled herself up.  The young couple had already left wen she raised her head at last.  "Yes.  I can."  She did not say that she did not think she could stand on her own.
     Kenshin took one look at her and caught her up easily, carrying her gently out of the room.  "Do you have anything you want to take with you?"
     She shook her head.  She wanted nothing of this place.  It was almost too much to think about; realizing that at last she was free was itself too much for her.  She sunk into darkness that was only partly sleep.
     The place she woke up in was familiar.  The faces around her were familiar.  So many memories rushed in, mostly of dreams and fantasies, but this was REAL.
     The older man leaning over her she'd only seen once, briefly, but she knew who he was.
     Genzaisensei looked at her comfortingly.  She felt that she'd been here before, in another life, another time, another reason, but there had been these people with her in this place.
     "You've been through a lot, young lady."  The doctor's eyes were kind.  "Just rest for now, and when you're feeling better you can tell us what happened.  For now, I want you to drink this.  It won't taste very good but I'm sure you know that means it's good for you."
     He helped her to sit up and gave her small sips of the bitter brew.  "It won't cure everything but it should help the pain.  I don't think I can fix your legs but I can at least try to make it less agonizing."  He looked back over his shoulder and called out, "Suzumechan!"
     "Yes grandfather?"
     "Bring me more hot water please."
     Moments later, a young woman with long brown hair and gentle eyes came over to the doctor bearing a kettle.  She was very pretty, and had to be about thirteen.  The supine woman blinked.
     "Yes, they have grown up in eight years," said another familiar voice.  Dark hair bound back by a broad blue ribbon fell around the smiling face of the owner of the dojo.  Kaoru, this had to be Kaoru.  She was pregnant?  What an odd idea.  Kaoru smiled.  "I'm sure you remember my husband, as well," she said, having seen where the older woman's gaze had fallen.
     Sagara Sanosuke leaned over Kaoru.  "Jouchan, leave her to rest.  You heard Genzaisensei.  Besides, I think it's time for your massage."
     Megumi blinked.  Sanosuke?  Now she knew this had to be a dream, she was back in the tower room, sick again, maybe Kanryu had beaten her again and left her to die this time.  Maybe she was already dying and would no longer be hallucinating like this.  Or maybe she'd accidentally taken some of the drug and was now under its influence?  The idea of Sagara Sanosuke marrying Kamiya Kaoru was too strange.  Sagara Kaoru sounded almost as strange as Genzai Megumi might.  It just did not seem natural.
     Kaoru read her expression.  "Well, we wouldn't have thought it either.  But it just goes to show, you never can tell."  She smiled youthfully and stood up slowly with her husband's help.  "I love this baby," she said, looking down at the older woman again.  "But I sure will be glad when this is over!"
     Now only the doctor's face loomed over her.  "If I had known in advance, I would have told them to take it easy on you."  He smiled again blandly, and Megumi heard footsteps that came to a halt near her feet, saw the doctor nodding, but with a sharp look.
     Himura Kenshin came into her line of sight, kneeling next to the doctor, who rose carefully and stepped away.
     "Megumidono, I know you want to rest, and we have much to talk about, but that will come later.  For now I just want to tell you that I understand why you left, but you're going to have to explain it to Yahiko.  When it all happened, he was only ten and had the temper to prove it.  Now that he's older, he's still angry but once he understands I know he'll forgive you.  He's a good man now.
     "And, Megumidono.  I also want to apologize for not going after you then.  I should have, even though I knew you didn't want us to.  But that was what stopped me.  You didn't want us to and I didn't know how to find you without making things worse for you."  He looked over his shoulder, nodded once.  "You rest now.  We'll talk later, when you're better."
     Suddenly he smiled again, looking as young as he had so many years ago.  For a moment, Megumi wished she too looked her age, that he might find her attractive, but she knew it was foolish.
     He fixed the blankets around her, stepped away and left the room.  She stared up at the ceiling for a long time until sleep claimed her.
     When she awoke, the room was bright with daylight and someone was sitting next to her.  The dark hair fell over his shoulder, and the Sakabattou that rested in his lap was not as worn as Kenshin's but also showed signs of use.
     "Myoujinsan..."
     "So you're awake.  Kenshin told me what happened.  But I had to hear it from you."
     "What did he say?"
     Yahiko was silent for a moment.  "You didn't want to drag us into what you thought was your problem.  You'd thought about it and felt bad, you didn't want to hurt us because you were starting to care about us."  He paused again. "That's not how he said it word for word, but the gist of it's there."
     The woman closed her eyes.  "Yes.  That's what I felt, what I thought.  I couldn't stay and hurt you."  She knew it sounded forced, even though she meant it.  Every breath was an effort, every word a chore.
     He nodded and rose.  Megumi sighed and closed her eyes.  Everything was hurting her.  She was unused to warm blankets and comfortable bedding.  She was almost asleep again when Kaoru came into the room.
     "Good morning, Megumisan!"  Megumi found it amazing how the girl could be so cheerful in the morning, in her condition.  She opened her eyes again and smiled.
     Kaoru sat next to her awkwardly, a bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other.  "Want to help me practice?"  She smiled and propped the older woman up with a pillow that had apparently been laying in reach but out of sight.  "Genzaisensei says this will help the pain more, and it doesn't taste as bad.  Kenshin made breakfast this morning, I've gotten better as a cook but he insisted."  She held the spoon out for Megumi, who sipped the broth slowly.  She was right, it was good.  "You know, I think he feels especially responsible for what happened to you," the younger woman continued.  "He was so angry when you left, that he couldn't go after you.  He was so distant, for days, and every time we tried to cheer him up he wouldn't bite.  Even Suzume and Ayame couldn't get him to play with them, even though he still did things around the house.  It wasn't until Yahiko met Tsubame that he was even able to get involved in anything again.  I don't think he ever really forgave himself for failing you though.  Maybe none of us did."
     "You didn't fail me.  I failed you."
     Kaoru looked at her.  "Don't talk.  Eat."  She coaxed another spoonful into Megumi as though the older woman were an infant.  "You have to get better so you can knock some sense into him.  The rest of us haven't succeeded yet."  She paused.  "I bet you think it's weird that Sano and I got married too, don't you.  I was so jealous of you and Kenshin right off that I wanted to kill you at first, and I ended up beating up on him."  She smiled at the memory, looking at the slight form before her.
     "I remember."
     "Good, now keep eating.  Well, everyone always thought Kenshin and I should end up together but then he told me about this girl he used to know, before he really became rurouni, and it bothered me.  Here was this absolutely incredible guy, and it bothered me that he'd had a girlfriend before.  It didn't matter to me that she was ten years dead by then, only that she'd existed.  That's when I started to realize that maybe what I felt wasn't love, but infatuation.  And there was Sano, who was everything I thought I abhorred in a man, you know?  So lazy and arrogant and irresponsible.  But he wasn't, not really, and we were always close, the four of us.  Kenshin never got married, either.  He never really seemed to be interested in anyone.  Seems every woman he meets tends to send him into a panic.
     "Oh no, I'm sorry, I'm babbling, I shouldn't be talking about this!  I talk too much," Kaoru said as she dropped the spoon into the now empty bowl.
     "Yes, you do, jouchan."  Sanosuke had come into the room and was looking at his wife with a mixture of exasperated amusement and reproach.
     Megumi looked at each of them.
     "Please forgive my wife for her thoughtless behavior."  A teasing light now came into his eyes.  "She can't help herself, being a woman.  I'm sure you know how it is, you women and your incessant chatter."
     "If I could get up, Sagara Sanosuke..."  Kaoru's eyes sparkled with humor despite her threatening tone.
     "You'd what?"
     "I'd show you!"
     "I bet you would!"  Sanosuke was smiling as he helped his wife to stand.  He looked down at the other woman.  "You should be resting, not listening to my wife's babbling.  I'll see if one of the girls wants to read to you or something."
     She smiled.  It sounded nice.  "I would like that.  Thank you."
     She faded off to sleep again.