Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ A Certain Clarity ❯ 13 ( Chapter 13 )

Title: A Certain Clarity (13/30)

Author: Franzi Dickson

E-mail: fdickson@ix.netcom.com

Archive: The SxSAS Archive, fanfiction.net and others (eventually). If you want it on your site, just ask.

Rating: NC-17 for wet dreams, sex, drugs, violence and other badness.

Warnings: m/m sex, lemon, assorted bad things in this part and future ones

Disclaimer: They don't belong to me. I'm just doing bad things with them. Don't sue me.

"Megumi! Megumi, open up!" He pounded frantically on the gate.

"Sano? What…"

"It's Saitou. I think it's the poison!"

Her face was white with shock. "Come in. Quickly!"

He managed to maneuver the increasingly unresponsive man indoors. Damn you, Saitou; how could you let them sneak up on you. What happened to the paranoid psycho cop he knew? Thank god they had been so close.

"Over here."

He lowered Saitou gently to the pallet.

"Hold him upright please; we don't want him losing consciousness. Saitou, can you hear me?" She turned his face towards her.

"Doctor Takani…"

He could feel Saitou's heart racing against his chest. Damn it, Megumi, hurry up!

"How did this happen?"

"I think it was in his food."

Her face was set in a tense frown. "Saitou, can you tell me what you're feeling right now?"

He made a feeble gesture at his head. "Hurts… I guess you have an opportunity… to examine one of the victims now."

"God damn it, Saitou; that wasn't funny!" He tightened his grip on the older man.

"Ahou. Do you want to squeeze me to death."

"This is serious!"

"I thought I told you before: I've gotten through more of these situations than you."

Just like the other time. "Damn it, Saitou!"

Megumi returned with a bowl. "Here, drink this."

Sano held his head up as he swallowed whatever it was.

He retched. "Are you trying to kill me, woman?!"

"It's an emetic. We need to get the poison out of your system."

Sano held him as he vomited into the bowl. There wasn't much. Megumi frowned.

"What have you eaten today?"

"… had to skip lunch and breakfast."

Nothing but a bowl of soba all day? Damn it, *he* ate better than that! Didn't the old guy take care of himself at all? He noticed Megumi's expression. "Is that bad?!"

"With less in the stomach, it will have entered the bloodstream more quickly." She handed him a damn cloth. "Let me see what I have here. We're working against time." She moved away.

He gently wiped away the traces of vomit.

"I am not a child."

"You also aren't capable of doing this yourself!" Where the hell was Megumi? She was taking too damn long. He remembered when Yahiko… He'd been sweating, and his eyes… Sano shuddered.

"I can lend you my jacket if you're cold, ahou."

"You bloody moron! How could you let them get to you?"

"I was distracted." The tone was amused, detached. "I saw her leave, and I thought she looked familiar…" He panted.

"What? Who?!" He'd kill them!

"Ahou."

"What?"

"Nothing. It was the assistant from the herb shop. She's a pale girl."

He didn't fight girls. He'd make an exception!

"Tell Chou: The shop is about three storefronts down from the restaurant where you saw the cult. It opens in the afternoons."

"What are you talking about? You can tell Chou yourself."

"She wouldn't have been acting on her own. The owner of the shop is an old woman. She claimed to know something about the cult…" He coughed. "I thought that she was lying, but now I'm inclined to believe that she was telling the truth."

"Well you can go arrest her then! I'm not doing your errands for you, even if you are sick!"

"Ahou."

He looked around for Megumi again. Where was she? "She'll be making the antidote." Everything would be fine.

"There isn't one," the older man said, dryly.

"There has to be!"

"Ahou, I looked it up earlier, and that's assuming she identified it correctly."

"Well then it might have a cure!"

"You'll make me go deaf."

He blushed. He was glad Saitou couldn't see it the way they were sitting.

"If she doesn't know what it is, she has even less chance of coming up with an antidote."

He looked up. "Megumi!" He looked at the blanket she was carrying. "What?"

"His skin felt clammy. We have to keep him warm." She avoided his questioning gaze.

"I'm right, aren't I doctor?"

She tucked the blanket in around him.

"You heard us talking, didn't you."

She nodded.

"Megumi?"

She looked at him. "It's all a matter of constitution… He's very strong." She looked away.

That was good, wasn't it? So why did her voice sound like that?

Saitou was pawing weakly at his jacket, pulling the blanket away.

"What are you doing?"

"I want a cigarette."

So matter of fact. Damn it!

"My pocket…"

"What, you want to add more poison?"

"Ahou."

"Actually, you could warm him more effectively without the jacket. Unless you'd rather leave it on, Saitou?"

He looked surprised, but acquiesced.

He was so fucking weak. They could barely get the damn thing off. Sano mentally cursed as he lit a cigarette.

"Could you fold it, please?"

Megumi smiled, but she folded the jacket.

"How the hell can you think about something like that now?"

"Are you going to give me that cigarette, or are you just trying to burn a hole in your hand?"

"Sorry." He hoped Saitou was still coordinated enough to keep it in his mouth. He'd end up setting them on fire, otherwise. Fire.

Megumi quietly left the room.

The other time had been a fire. More appropriate somehow… The wolf of Mibu deserved fire and battle and… something better than growing cold with no one but a stupid ahou like him there to see it. No! He'd beat it! Fire… "Saitou?"

"Hmm?"

"How did you do it, the other time?"

He managed to remove the cigarette himself. "In Kyoto, you mean?"

"Yeah… I can hold that."

"No, I don't want it anymore. Could you put it out?"

He stubbed out the smoldering end, mentally cursing. How could he be this weak?

"He had a lot of escape routs."

"Huh?"

"Shishio. He always left himself a way out. I just followed the smell of fresh air."

He snorted. "It can't have been that simple… Hey, you were smoking one of those gross things then too! You didn't smell any fresh air! What's the real story?"

"Ahou."

"What? I want to know."

"Some other time."

"But…"

"I said…" He broke off, the act of breathing too much to permit speech. "It's a long story."

Oh. Yeah. "Some other time then." His cheeks felt wet. Was he crying? He buried his face in Saitou's hair.

"You'll mess it up."

Damn it. He didn't change, even now… "Damn it!" He sat for some time, listening to the labored breathing. Megumi was wrong. He wasn't warming him at all. The skin through his thin shirt felt colder and colder against Sano's chest. He held him tighter. Gradually the breathing slowed. "Saitou…"

No response.

"Saitou?!" He set him down. "Damn it, you bastard! You can't die on me!"

"Sano?" Megumi appeared in the doorway.

"Wake up, you old creep."

"Sano, please calm down."

Fuck that! "You can't go! We have unfinished business." He pounded on his chest.

"I'm sorry. I think it's over"

He wasn't paying attention. "You bastard! I never told you… I never had a chance to…"

"Sano?"

"Fuck!" He smashed his hand into the floor. Pain was good.

"Sano!" She caught his hands. "Please stop before you hurt yourself."

Like that would help. "You bastard!" He couldn't let himself cry.

"Sano…" Whatever she would have said was cut off.

"Doctor Takani! Doctor Takani!"

They looked up.

A disheveled man burst through the door. "There's been an accident. They're hurt bad. There's blood everywhere. Please!"

She stood. "Sano; please wait here." She collected her bag.

She must always leave it ready, Sano thought.

"Stay here. I'll be back as soon as possible. Don't do anything." And then she was gone.

What the hell did she think he'd do? He laughed unhappily. What was there to do? They'd gotten *him* and Sano couldn't stop it… No, he couldn't stop it, but he didn't have to live with it either. He'd put it right. He felt the comforting burn of anger. He'd pay them back. All of them! "I won't let them get away with it! You'll see." He traced Saitou's jaw. "I'll avenge you, and I won't screw up either." He was crying freely now. "I'll show you." He couldn't stay here with the body anymore. He'd go insane. The anger was what was important now. "I'll see you in a little while, ok?" He bent close to the cold face. "I want to hear about Shishio's. I'm holding you to that." He brushed the lips in a quick kiss and stood. Tomorrow he'd make them pay. Tonight… Tonight he had other plans. Sorry Megumi. He went out into the night to numb the pain.