From: L X Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin doesn't belong to me. It belongs to its respectful owners . Standard disclaimers apply. SPOILER ALERT: I don't think there are any, but if anyone finds one, please let me know and I'll put on it. Thanks! ^-^ VINDICTIVE SPIRITS by lily-dono -------------------------------- Chapter Three: Accident makes the heart grow fonder -------------------------------- Kenshin had left ten minutes ago. He had comforted her and she decided she had better open up the clinic soon. Megumi had quickly washed her face, rinsing away the tear stains. She then tidied up and opened the clinic for the day. She accepted the invitation to Yahiko's birthday party and he had left to talk to Dr. Genzai and Sano. She wasn't surprised that he didn't show up at Kaoru's dojo or at the clinic. She had heard the hurt in his voice and he was probably blowing off his anger or getting drunk. 'He'll be back with a broken hand or a rib or a...' Megumi thought as the little voice in her head completed the thought for her. 'A broken heart?' Megumi quickly dismissed that thought as she refused to go there again. Her first patients of the day were coming. More would follow and Megumi would have to concentrate on her work. Lives depended on it and she was going to have to think about the baka roosterhead later. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Morning had long came and Sano was exhausted. He had spent all night chatting with his captain. He was overjoyed that his old friend had finally returned from beyond the grave. It had blown his mind at first. Perhaps it was because it was the anniversary of his death, but now he didn't care. His mentor, his friend, was back, and that was all that mattered. He had shared his apartment with Souzou, sleeping on a spare futon on the floor. He rolled over. There was no way Sano could sleep. He got up and began to quietly fish for some never used pots and pans. They were old, but usable. He decided to make some soba since he had all the ingredients. Sano started a fire and ran out to fetch some water. Souzou waited until Sano left the apartment. He sat up quickly and a fine violet mist enveloped him. The disguise of Captain Souzou melted away at the mist's touch to reveal his true demonic form. The mist left as quickly as it came and it concentrated into a sphere before it. Shishira's face appeared. "How is everything going, Heinken?" she said in a feigned sweet voice. "Fine. Everything is going like you said Shishira and you'd better keep up your end of the bargain," he snapped. "I will. Don't worry. As soon as it's over, you'll be able to return to your human form and live with your precious Rebekah. That is if you don't screw up." "I won't screw up any chance to be reunited with her ever." "You already did. Or else you wouldn't be in this situation. Didn't you know better than to try to trick the devil?" "That was then, this is now. I've learned from my mistake and I will not make the same mistake again. I will not screw up!" "Good to hear that. Sano's coming back. Hurry and remember, only he must kill himself." Shishira's face disappeared and the mist enveloped Heinken again to transform him into the form of Captain Sagara. As soon as the last of the violet mist dissipated, Sano's cheery face appeared. "Ohayou Sagara-san." "Do you mean me or you?" he chuckled, "Maybe you should just call me Souzou." "Ok, Souzou. I hope you like soba." "It sounds good to me," Heinken said, wracking his memory trying to figure out what it could possibly be. He can't believe Shishira chose the spirit of a German soldier turned demon, because he thought he could outsmart the devil,to play the role of a Japanese scapegoat. He hoped that whatever soba was, it wasn't raw fish. 'Yuck. I hate raw fish.' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shinomori Aoshi was walking briskly in the market place. He listened to the women haggle for food and the shopkeepers yelling for customers. It was so normal and nostalgic. He lifted his head up to get a good whiff of the morning air when he smelled it. It was the faint scent of burning wood. Aoshi was glad that the scent of burning flesh did not accompany it. The scent was getting stronger as people around him began to notice. A dark black cloud appeared on the other side of town, the same direction he was going. 'Well, I might as well go check it out.' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Out! Get everyone out of here now!" Megumi ordered. Thick smoke had already filled the little clinic. Her first concern were the patients. She and her assistant were ushering them out. Now, she had to save her instruments. "Megumi-sensei!" the young assistant, Kiro, yelled, "Aren't you coming?" "After I get my instruments!" she hollered back and crawled towards the operating room. She had left her medicine chest there with all her instruments. Most were still on the chest. Apparently, a delirious patient had knocked over a lamp and ignited a pile of bandages. The fire spread quickly, engulfing every part of the clinic it came upon. 'Just a second. I just need a second to retrieve my medicine chest and I'll be out of here.' She coughed again. Though she was crouching on the wooden floor where most of the clean air was, the smoke still got to her. Her eyes watered and she fought her way to the room. Megumi groped around before her fingers landed on the handle of her medicine chest. Not caring if some were still on top of it since she knew she didn't have time to unlatch it before the fire started, she pulled it towards her and began to look for a way out. The smoke had gotten to her and everything looked alike. She could not tell which way she had taken to get here. 'Well Fox, you're gonna hafta pick a direction.' She pointed one way and started off towards there when a flaming beam fell in her path. 'Ok...maybe not that way.' Megumi crawled another direction only to be blocked again. Her strength was ebbing as the smoke overwhelmed her. 'I'm gonna die here.' Tears rolled down her face from the smoke and the fact that she was going to die in a burning clinic. 'At least the patients and Kiro were safe. They'll find someone to replace me.' She was slowly losing consciousness. It wouldn't be long. More tears coursed down her face. 'I don't want to die. Not yet.' But she couldn't hold on and she knew that. As she was going to finally succumb to the smoke, she saw a flash of dark blue and felt herself being picked up. She was quickly taken out of the burning building and before she knew it, smoke no longer filled her nostrals, but fresh air. "Sano?" she managed to whisper, barely audible. Then her earlier realization hit her. She saw a flash of dark blue, not white so it couldn't be Sano. Then who was carrying her? He didn't hear her. As her vision cleared, she realized that she was right. He wasn't Sano. Sano hadn't save her, but Aoshi had! He was leaning over her with worried eyes. "Are you ok, Takani-san?" "Hai," she croaked. A new sensation swept over her. She didn't know what it was and from the look in his eyes she knew he felt the same thing. She loosened her fingers and heard a thump. Megumi carefully raised her head to see a blackened medicine chest. "So I saved it after all, ne?" She managed a weak smile. "I guess you did." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kenshin ran into Kaoru and the others when he returned from the clinic. "Ohayou minna!" he exclaimed. "Ohayou Kenshin!" the others exclaimed. "Is Megumi coming?" Kaoru asked. "Hai. She'll be there. I'm going to go to Dr. Genzai and then Sano. I just came back to get the address to Dr. Genzai's friend's place." Misao suddenly noticed a scent in the air growing stronger, and glanced towards the clinic. Her eyes bugged out at what she saw. "I sure hope Megumi's alright." "Why what's wr--" Kaoru began as she looked over at where Misao was looking. A tall column of smoke was coming from the direction of the clinic. Kenshin turned around to see the smoke. "What are we waiting for, let's go help them!" Okina shouted and all four sprinted to the clinic. They arrived at the clinic huffing and puffing, trying to catch their breaths. The clinic had pretty much burned itself out after many people had pitched in to help put the fire out. The patients or those hurt from the heat were lying at a fair distance. Among them was a dingy looking Megumi still tightly grasping her medicine chest. Beside her wiping her brow with a wet cloth, sat Aoshi. Even more surprisingly there was a smile on his face. A small smile, but a smile nonetheless. Okina, Misao, Kenshin, and Kaoru facefaulted. The couple looked up to see the four sprawled on the ground from shock and blushed. "Oro!" the four exclaimed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So how's...uh...heaven?" Sano asked between mouthfulls. "Ano...heavenly," Souzou responded quickly. "Ok..." "Um...any special ladies in your life?" Souzou asked with a smirk. Sano's happy expression fell. "I guess not." "She just dumped me..." Sano sniffled, blinking back tears. "Oh...I'm...uh....really sorry." Sano tried hard not to cry, but it looked like he was losing the war. Souzou feigned a sigh. "I'm not supposed to do this, but you look like you really have to know." "Nani?" "In...uh...heaven, I saw your future and I have to warn you. This is just the first of many downfalls." "Oro?" Souzou sighed as he saw the confused look on Sano's face. "In simpler words, you life sucks. Really sucks." "It won't get any better?" "Nope." Sano looked gloomier. "Is there anyway I could change that? A way out?" he asked. "Well...there is one way out." "What?" "Death." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ___________________________________________________________________ Why pay more to get Web access? Try Juno for FREE -- then it's just $9.95/month if you act NOW! Get your free software today: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- Register now and you could win a Volkswagen New Beetle at LiQ.com! Click below, 'cause it's going fast! While you're at it, check out our great entertainment products at fantastic prices! 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