“Aoshi!”
His gaze. Somehow it was very much like before. Something about the way he looked at her locked her feet to the ground.
She felt a brief flash of fear, which was then replaced by another feeling that had always eluded her. It was a feeling that in every circumstance somehow kept her from running away from him. It was the same feeling that she had back at the time when she had woken in the tower of Kanryuu Takeda’s manse to find him standing there waiting for her to wake. There, he had given her the knife back, the one like the kodachis he often carried. That feeling had told her to sit there and listen calmly to the choice of an honorable death which he was offering back to her.
The rain was soaking into her hair and her kimono now, but she focused solely on him as he purposefully walked towards her. Purposefully, like the time she had found him in the Kamiya Dojo and he had told her he would kill her if she did not tell him Kenshin’s whereabouts.
Her head knew now he wasn’t here to threaten her. The ghosts of the Oniwabanishu were peacefully laid to rest -- but she trembled anyways as he stopped in front of her and extended his hand just as he had then -- coming slowly to her face and pausing.
“Aoshi-san?” she averted her head, and his hand dropped as quickly back at his side. “ What are you doing here? Has something happened in Kyoto?”
“No.”
She sighed then, not just because of her relief for the Aoiya, but to push aside that strange feeling inside her. The tension of the moment gone, she brushed past him and opened the screen door to her home. She went inside, and slowly he followed her as she looked about for something to dry themselves with. “If you could break into the gate, at least you should have waited inside.” She forced herself to sound irritated, still wondering what was going on at that very moment. “Breaking in and then standing there in the rain like that! You men are always completely senseless. You’ll catch a cold and …”
“You should take better care of yourself, Megumi-san.” He refused the cloth she offered him with a simple wave of his hand. “Your home is not well guarded. You no longer have the Kenshin-gumi to watch out for you.”
She gave him a dark look. “I still carry a knife. If I absolutely had to – I would have used it.”
The answer seemed to placate him a little. That she carried a knife showed that she hadn’t grown too soft in this day and age. “You’d have been overpowered soon enough.”
Megumi turned away. “You gave me back that knife long ago for a different reason. If it came down to that –“
She would kill herself? He frowned and grasped her arm in order to turn her to face him. “I should have never left you here. You are becoming a shell Megumi. One that follows the path of atonement that Kenshin set out for you, but inside, you are bitter, choosing to follow that path far from Tokyo.”
The look that crossed her face captivated his attention – the look of anger boiling beneath the surface. “I’m not bitter!” she answered shrilly. “I am here in case my family return!”
“Are you?” he answered . “Your family would have found you easily enough if you had stayed in Tokyo instead of hiding here."
“I’m not trying to hide from anything.” Yet the way she hid her eyes under her bangs contradicted her own words.
“Is it Sagara then?” he asked coolly. “Perhaps you linger here to wait for him.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she gasped out. “That man left to wander around like a reckless chickenhead. What stupid woman would wait that long for someone to make up his mind to come home?”
But as soon as she had spoken those words, they both knew it was a lie.
“Megumi.” The words were not kind, but not harsh either. Obediently, she looked up briefly into his face.
“Come to the Aoiya.”
Her eyes widened slightly. What was this man saying to her? “I was planning to in the spring, after I went to Tokyo.”
“I don’t mean for a visit, Megumi. We need you.”
She closed her eyes, avoiding his gaze which seemed to always paralyze her thoughts and actions. “You have good doctors in town. Surely I can’t be that useful.”
“Useful--” he grimaced slightly at those words. “We want you there, Megumi. Obaasan heard from Mrs. Morimoto that they are moving to Tokyo to be closer to their daughter.”
“Aoshi-san,” she laughed sarcastically. “So you’ve come to pity me have you? The life I’m living now may be a quieter one, even a lonelier one, but it is still the one that I chose. I have no regrets about the life I chose for myself after leaving Kanryuu behind. I do not resent the Himuras for their happiness!! I do not cry at the Morimotos leaving. And I do not have to explain Sanosuke Sagara to you!!” Her breath continued in short angry gasps. “Furthermore, how dare you come here and frighten me by breaking into my clinic and then lecture me like I’m a stupid child , then expect me to come with you to the Aoiya this very moment!! Just because you think little of the path I’ve chosen for my life –“ she covered her face then with both her hands, trying to cover the tears that had spilled over and down her face.
His hand came up to her face then, but did not pause as it did before. He placed his hand over one of her own to help calm her. In the course of less than half an hour, she had swung wildly from the extremes of fear, irritation, humiliation, anger and then bitterness. Slowly he allowed her to come rest against him for support as she cried into his shoulder, the tears of years of suppressed emotion mixing with the water on his coat.
After a few minutes, when she had calmed herself, she turned away. “I’m sorry.” She was sorry not for just her outburst, but for also for denying the very fact that he had been right about her to begin with.
Finally, he spoke. “If you are truly content here, then stay, but don’t bury yourself in your work.”
“My work is all that I have. It is the one thing I can do to make people happy.”
“Come to the Aoiya,” he stated again. “Come and help me build Kyoto into a better place. Help make others happy again, but be happy yourself. Come be part of a family again.”
“A family—“she repeated softly. She considered it seriously for a moment, but then she turned and gave him a lopsided smile. “Aoshi-san, the offer is very kind. I would like to finish my year here and then perhaps then –"
“Megumi,” he stepped forward to take her hand. “Do you not understand? I want you to come with me. Not next year, but now. Not for the Aoiya.” The fingers of his other hand gently touched her cheek. “I will not let you run away from life’s choices because you are afraid. You are a much stronger woman than that, Megumi. ”
“Aoshi—"
“Obaasan said that the thing you wanted the most was a family, Megumi. You can have the Aoiya be your family, but in time – when and if you’re ready -- I want to offer you a family of your own.”
“Aoshi—“ she stopped shaking and searched his eyes. The offer to live and work at the Aoiya was one thing, but the second -- she wasn’t quite sure she had understood him right. An offer of protection for now, with that future offer of marriage -- it sounded impossible to her. He and she both knew that inside they both were still broken – from the deaths of loved ones, from disappointments . But she knew instinctively that what he offered was no lie. Even from their first encounters in the Kanryuu home, she knew that while his strength was terrible – his motives were never hidden. He wanted for them both to pursue a different course in their lives -- one where she and perhaps he would find their contentment with one another.
“I do not do not yet fully understand but – I will come with you now.”
“Now?” he repeated, with a look that she interpreted as amusement.
“Aren’t you the one who hates to wait?”
She knew from his expression that it was in fact the truth. But did that really matter in this very moment when they suddenly realized together that they would no longer be alone in this world?
He leaned down and cupped her face with his hand. “I think the morning will be fine enough.”
~
The sight of the man known as Shinomori Aoshi around her home that morning caused a stir among her neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. Morimoto came over to warn Megumi.
Instead of looking indignant, she merely laughed. “Let them talk, I won’t be here to listen to that annoying prattle.”
“Megumi-san?” they both looked at her surprised.
“I am leaving with him this morning for Kyoto,” Megumi’s eyes danced with delight. “I’ve already sent word to the other two doctors in this area. Aoshi-san has taken care of the rest. My things will follow in a month’s time when you and Mrs. Morimoto have gone.
“Megumi-san!” Mrs. Morimoto looked confused. “What is this all about?”
Her eyes gleamed mischievously, “He’s made an offer which I have decided to accept.”
They were shocked into silence. If a man as powerful as Aoshi Shinomori had made any kind of offer to their doctor, and she had willingly accepted it, they would not argue further. When Aoshi had returned a few minutes later with several horses, they treated him respectfully. He nodded and apologized that they could not linger. They would leave without too many formalities since the ride was long.
“We will send news for you about the wedding,” Aoshi said as the two of them mounted on their horses.
“I don’t remember anything about a wedding,” Megumi breezily commented, “I’d said I’d run off with you, but that was all.”
As the other three blushed slightly, Megumi just laughed, her hand over her mouth.
“Megumi-san.” Aoshi warned from his horse. The Morimotos were giving the two of them very suspicious looks.
“Goodbye!” she ignored him and waved to the Morimotos. “Remember to tell our neighbors what I said.”
As the two of them rode off, Mrs. Morimoto finally shook her head. “I knew that man wasn’t to be trusted so.”
Morimoto just laughed. “Our Megumi is not some kind of easy prey. That poor man is going to find out that soon that no one out-foxes the fox!”
