This was probably going to be the hardest thing she'd ever done.  Even harder, she suspected, than leaving the first time had been.  Only this time would be the last.
     It took all of her willpower to open the door and make her way down to the dojo proper with a smile on her face.
     Genzaisensei had already arrived with his granddaughters when she went inside.  He looked up at her arrival and raised his eyebrows slightly in a quick, questioning glance, to which she nodded slightly.
     "Kaorusan, thank you for affording me that opportunity.  Yahikosan, how did you get the water to such a perfect temperature?"  Megumi stretched again for effect, smiling at the young fighter in serene joy.  "I can't remember the last time I've had a bath quite so relaxing."  She smoothed down the braid she'd put in her hair after her soaking and turned slowly.  "And Suzumesan, Ayamesan, thank you for this.  You both have wonderful taste in clothes!"
     "What I'd love to know is why my sister never applies her fashion sense to herself," Suzume teased.  Ayame glared at her and stuck her tongue out.  Suzume only joined in everyone else's laughter.
     "It does look very nice on you, Megumidono," Kenshin said admiringly as he emerged from the kitchen with a large tray of onigiri.  "Aren't you glad the girls talked you into a shopping trip?"
     "I suppose I am, at that," the woman mused as she took her seat.  It was easy to hide just how thin she was underneath the kimono, and almost as easy to hide the faint trembling in her knees, but those knees were growing tired.  She sat with all the grace she could manage.
     "Oiy, jouchan, I've picked up what you asked me to.  And I also picked up this."  Sanosuke strode in and thrust a package at his wife.  With his other hand, he produced a large bouquet from behind his back which he presented with a flourish to Megumi.  "From us to you, my lady."
     Megumi blinked.  Everyone was looking at her and smiling.  Somehow she managed not to burst into tears, smiling and thanking them quietly.
     "I'll go put these in water for you, Megumisan."  Kaoru smiled as she picked up a vase.
     Megumi nodded, her head buried in the gathering of irises and lilies amidst ferns and baby's breath.  "They're beautiful."
     "Beautiful flowers for a beautiful lady," Genzaisensei smiled at his patient, yet there was something in his eyes that challenged her.  As if he knew that she did not plan to stay once she had confessed her condition.
     Kaoru emerged just then with the filled vase in one hand, eating something with her other.  "Gomen ne," she said around a mouthful.  "Pickled salmon.  It sounds awful, I know, and if I weren't pregnant I'd probably avoid it like the plague."  She smiled apologetically at the others as she held the vase out to Megumi.  "Here, put them in here and we'll trim them properly later.  Kenshin, is dinner ready yet?  I'm starving!"  She stuffed another bite of salmon into her mouth.
     "My poor suffering wife.  Our hearts break for you."  Sanosuke grinned and put his arms around her with a lazy grin.
     "Oh, don't be cruel to a heart that's true," Kaoru pouted at him.
     "You two are disgusting."  Yahiko made a sour face as he walked in with a large covered tray and Tsubame in tow.  "We have another guest; she brought dessert."
     As the laughter died and the food and people made their ways to the table, Tsubame mentioned that Taesan sent regards and regrets that she would not be able to join them that evening.
     "She also wanted to know about Kenshin's love life.  She says you've been playing bachelor maid for far too long, Kenshin."  Yahiko grinned at the man who had once been a hitokiri.  "She thinks you ought to get a girlfriend.  She says she knows several women looking for a sweet, stable man who knows how to cook and clean."
     "Kenshin, Taesan's right.  It's not good for you to be alone so long, and it can't be easy for you living with us like this."  Kaoru looked sympathetically at her friend, who was not only red-haired but red-faced by now.
     "Let him be.  I'm sure Kenshi-- Kensan is perfectly capable of finding someone for himself without you all pushing and shoving at him!"  Megumi smiled gently at the slight red figure who threw her a relieved glance.  It was a sore spot for him, and in the two years since Kaoru's marriage to Sanosuke, they teased him mercilessly about it.  Kenshin simply hadn't found a woman he could love.  Not since Tomoe, nearly twenty years earlier, had he met a woman that could bring him out of the shell he'd built around himself.  Then, her death had caused him to fortify that wall.  Kaoru had won a special place in his heart, but certain things were simply not meant to be.  More than once, Yahiko had teased him with such lines as, "With girlfriends like that, who needs enemies?"
     And now that Megumi had come back, strong in her own way as Tomoe had been, he'd thought there might be hope.  Yet now, with something obviously weighing down on Megumi's mind, he suspected that his time with her, too, would be brief.  At least this time, he was forewarned.
     He shook his head to clear it as he sat at the table, having brought out the last of the food.  "Well, I'm glad I made enough for all of us!"  He smiled brightly, not allowing himself to dwell on the negative train his thoughts had been aboard.
     "It looks delicious, Kenshinsan."  Tsubame smiled shyly at the red-haired rurouni.  He smiled, knowing that was no small praise coming from one trained in the management and food preparation of a busy and popular restaurant.  Especially someone as shy and reserved as Tsubame was; associating with Yahiko had done very little to open her up over the years.  Then again, it hadn't done much to tame him either.
     "Yes, it does.  I think I could even manage to take a bite or two myself," Megumi teased.  The laughter was forced; they'd all noticed how little she ate.  There was silence for a little while after that, when everyone became engrossed in the food.  Kenshin's culinary skills had improved even more, and though the fare was simple, it was as delicious as Tsubame had noticed it looked.
     Megumi did eat well, though, as did everyone else, and little was said beyond the sprinkled "Please pass the onigiri" and "Can I have the cakes" comments.  She even had room for the dessert Tsubame had brought over.
     That was a surprise to everyone: chocolate cake.  "I made it myself.  We don't make it often, but Yahiko told me there was to be a big dinner tonight and I insisted."  She blushed delicately, a beautiful young woman and rightfully proud of her creation.  Kenshin handed the knife to Megumi.
     "Please do us the honor of cutting the cake, Megumidono?"  He smiled hopefully at her.
     "But you do it so much nicer than I could," Megumi countered.
     "Oiy, don't chicken out on us," Sano teased.
     Yahiko grinned at the taller man.  "You're the chicken head around here."
     Sano took it in stride.  "Always have been, always will be."  Megumi wondered how long it had taken him to become as nonchalant about it as he had.
     Megumi took the knife with only a little reluctance.  It was a beautiful cake, after all, and she'd only had chocolate once before, long before she'd been chained to Kanryu's opium empire.  The memory was a pleasant one.
     She made sure that everyone had a piece before she took some for herself, but even after seeing the delight on the others' faces she was not quite prepared for the unique sweetness of the cake.  Tsubame was definitely someone to stay around; if she made this only once a year she would have devoted friends for life.
     Megumi said so, and the young woman blushed.
     "I'd like you to teach me to make this cake, please," she said, and both the Genzai sisters nodded in agreement.
     "Us too!"  Ayame chimed.  In an aside to her sister, she added, "This is a surefire way to catch a husband!"
     Suzume rolled her eyes in exasperation.  "Is that all you ever think about?  We're too young for husbands!"
     "That isn't true and you know it!"  Ayame was indignant.  "I am so old enough to get married if I want!"
     "Not quite, Ayamechan.  Marriage is a lot more work than it looks like," Kaoru chided gently.  "It's a lot of compromise and cooperation.  Having a husband does not automatically grant you freedom.  If anything," she continued with a teasing look at Sanosuke, "It's more like being a slave!"
     "Ha!  You think you've got it bad!  'Honey, get me this!  Honey, I crave that!  Would you be a dear and do this for me?  I can't reach this, darling, could you please...?'"  Sano's falsetto complaints set everyone off again.
     "Some jokes just never grow old," Genzaisensei sighed.
     "Who's joking?"  Sano blinked back innocently.
     It wasn't long before the cake was gone; it hadn't been very large but it was rich, and no one quite wanted to get up after the filling meal.  Conversation lulled as everyone drifted off into their own thoughts.
     It was time to tell them, Megumi knew, hating that she was about to spoil the mood.  She cleared her throat softly.
     "What is it, Megumidono?  You look like you have something on your mind."  Kenshin looked at her closely.
     She looked at the older doctor and nodded slightly to his questioning look again.  She looked back down at the floor.  "Forgive me."
     "Megumisan?"  Kaoru looked as confused as they all felt.  Except, of course, for the old doctor.
     Megumi caught his eye with a pleading glance.
     "Would you, please...?"
     He held her gaze for a moment, and a moment longer, before he nodded.  "As you know, I examined Megumisan today.  She's suffered through a lot under that Kanryu's treatment, but she felt there was something more and asked that I double-check her suspicions."  He looked back at his patient.
     Megumi took a deep breath.  "He did, and confirmed what I had thought."  She paused, trying to control her emotions.  "I'm very sick."  It sounded rather lame when she said it.  "I don't want to be a burden on you any more than I have to, and I've heard of a clinic I can go to where they look after those with illnesses like mine."  Her gaze was locked on the floor again.
     "Isn't there something we can do?"  Kaoru's own expression was desperate.
     Megumi said nothing, so her physician took over again in a quiet voice.  "I'm afraid not.  If we'd had several more months' warning, we might have been able to try something, but her condition has progressed too far."
     "I don't want to be a burden on anyone, so I'll be leaving within a day or two at the most."  Megumi was barely audible, even in the profound silence.
     "Oh no.  You're not going anywhere this time."  Sano's voice was low and hard.  "You ran eight years ago and look where it got you."
     "But I --"
     "No buts."  Kaoru's voice was as determined as her husband's, even as her hand rubbed her pregnant abdomen worriedly.  "You can't run away this time, Megumisan.  If you need help, that's what friends are for."
     "I did warn you, Megumisan," the old doctor smiled gently.
     "Please.  I'm only going to get worse.  It won't be pleasant for any of us.  I don't want to be a burden -- you have the baby coming -- I can't possibly ask --"
     "Then don't."  Kenshin looked up through thick red bangs at her.  There could be no questioning him, based on his intensity, but Megumi's was no less.
    "I will not ask you to care for me that way.  I'm dying."  Megumi looked up at last to meet Kenshin's eyes.  No one else spoke; the issue was suddenly and exclusively between them.  "I'm going to die, Kensan, and it will be a slow death.  I will not be able to do things for myself.  I will not be able to feed myself, or take care of myself, and I cannot ask you to take up that burden.  Especially with a child on the way.  Will you ask that child to be born into a house where there is already sickness and death on the horizon?"  Megumi looked ready to cry.
    "I will not have my friend leave when she is most in need."  Kenshin looked up and Megumi saw he would not beg, but he would not allow her to go.  She saw why in the desperation in his eyes.  "Let us have the time that we have.  And then, when the time comes, we will speak again."  They all knew there would be no further discussion.
    Megumi bowed her head.  Kenshin reached across and took her hand in his.
    "Domo arigatou gozaimasu."  Their eyes met again.  There was nothing more to be said.  Sanosuke and Yahiko quietly began to clear the table as the others silently drifted outside to leave Kenshin and Megumi to their silent communication.
    "I'm worried for him," Kaoru admitted to the others.  "When she's gone, it could break him."
    Yahiko looked at her with an expression she had not seen in years, and then only on the face of a twenty-eight year old hitokiri turned rurouni.  "Until then, she may help heal him.  And then, he will be able to find himself."
    It had the sound of a prophecy.  Kaoru shuddered.
    Megumi and Kenshin sat silently a long while.