End of A Weary Day--Formating Revised 12/21

A/N: I apologize for the lateness of this update. The last 3 weeks have been kind of heavy I guess you could say. Anyway, Last Monday (March 1) My Father-in-law finally lost his battle with cancer and died in my home. This week has been very difficult for me and my husband. Difficult for me because I was his caregiver for over six months. I am an RN professionally so it is setting rather hard on me at the moment... for many reasons. I also loved him very much as his daughter-in-law. He and I spent most of our days together as my health was not the best and I do not work very much anymore. Anyway, he had gotten very sick very fast in the 2 weeks previous, and I just did not have much time on my hands. I have been working off and on on this chapter for about 2 weeks.
I apologize if there are places that are choppy or don\'t quite make sense. I have proofed it a couple of times, but can\'t seem to concentrate... so decided to just post it instead of keeping everyone waiting any longer. I hope it is at least somewhat enjoyable.
Thank you all for your patience.


Glossary: Itoshi=Pretty/Lovely, Koishii=Dear/Darling, Saiai=Beloved, Onegai=Please, Sho-ji=Outside door, Fusuma=Inside door, Sensei=Teacher, Aishiteru=I love you.


Chapter Eleven

In The Mists, There Be Visions


The wispy web of evening mist was quickly gathering as the rain grew from a drizzle into an all out down pour saturating everything from the ground up to the leaf heavy branches of each and every tree. Thousands of dirty waterfalls gushed from rooftops creating even larger muddy rivers as they conjoined and roiled down the gutters on their way toward the already dangerously swollen river. As the level of the stream turned river rose, an unfortunate catastrophe occurred in one of the small closely knit neighborhoods, and it would, in turn, set into motion a string of unforeseen consequences that would affect the lives of most, if not all, of the inhabitants of this area of Tokyo, but mostly, it would create everlasting changes within the lives of at least six very unique people.

Himura Kenshin and Kamiya Kaoru.

Sagara Sanosuke and Takani Megumi.

Alexander Whitman and Matika Kazuio.

Megumi stepped back inside out of the pouring rain pulling the sho-ji closed behind her as she re-entered Sano\'s room...

Kenshin and Kaoru snuggled together beneath a pile of fluffy warm quilts cuddling closely to each others body warmth as the wind and the rain suddenly picked up...

Xander tenderly reached out beside him and pulled the warm softness of the beautiful
brown-haired woman in his bed back against his chest... And as all of these things occurred simultaneously, the laws of nature seized a hold of the reins of control, and lashed out into the dark of the night with the great whip of its power wrecking havoc in its wake as it unleashed a terrible storm of tremendous proportions upon the unsuspecting inhabitants of the City.

A deep rumbling not unlike the sensation of a mild earthquake shuddered along the upper east end of the swollen river, and as a bright flash of lightening snaked across the sky illuminating the raging white capped waves that heaved and rolled over boulders and fallen trees as they thundered their way along the shifting track of the widening trail. As the burgeoning body of water tried to make its way around what had once been a gentle turn, another bolt of lightening lanced through the mist covered rainy night and struck with the force of ten thousand sledge hammers againsmanmmanmade levee built years before to hold water back for irrigation usage by local farmers causing it to explode in a blast of flying dirt, splintered wooden beams, and tons of rock and stones. As the breach was opened, the already overflowing reservoir poured violently forward escaping the confines of its once sturdy restriction and surged down the sharp incline to eagerly join the already
burgeoning river nearly doubling its size in the space of only a moment and turning it into a monster of such destructive proportions, the end results could only be imagined.

\"What the hell are you doing?\" His voice was raspy and full of angry frustration as his eyes narrowed into slits of fury and disbelief. \"I told you to get the fuck out, or don\'t you remember that?\"

\"I-I remember.\" As a sharp breath caught in her throat, Megumi tentatively approached the angry thing that was Sanosuke. He was beginning to resemble a raging wolf the way his face was all twisted up into that look of snarling fury, and as she her more timid gaze rose to meet and lock with heat of his glittering one, she felt a shiver of fear as it jolted through her quivering vitals. ‘Oh Kami...\' She whispered deep inside of her most secret soul, ‘he looks like he is about to lose his mind... did ‘I\' do this to him? Am ‘I\' responsible for ‘this\' terrible look of angry pain on his face? Am I?\' As her heartbeat quickened to a near breathless pace, she finally accepted the truth of the matter at hand... ‘I am responsible... he feels this way because of ‘me\'... because he... he wants me.\' \"Sano...\" Slowly and with great care, she reached a hand out to him, but he snorted and cursed viciously under his breath.

\"Get the fuck out Megumi...\" Suddenly his back was to her and he was reaching out for one of his ever present sake\' jugs. \"I don\'t want you here tonight, Ok? So, go home before the weather gets so bad you can\'t.\" A long pull on the jug did nothing to calm to his senses. He could still ‘feel\' her behind him, and he knew if she did not get away from him, he really would rape her, and then he would never be able to live with himself.

\"No, Sano.\" Softly spoken, but firm none-the-less.

\"What did you say?\" Slowly he turned around and fixed her with a disbelieving and incredulous stare. \"I don\'t think I heard you right. Did you just say ‘no\'?\" Low, dangerous... threatening.

\"Yes. That is exactly what I said.\" She raised her chin in defiance and faced down his obvious anger as if it were nothing to her even though inside she was still trying to deal with her racing heart. ‘I am not afraid. I am not afraid.\'

\"That is what I tho I h I heard you say, Kitsune, but I didn\'t think you were that big of a baka.\" He sneered into her pale face.

\"I am not a baka.\" She spat back at him wondering why he was being so mean to her.

\"No, then why in the hell are you still here when you KNOW what will happen to YOU if you don\'t LEAVE?\" He roared in frustration over her stubbornness.

\"Because,\" Stepping tentatively once more in his direction brought her close enough to him to see the hint of vulnerability in his eyes that he was desperately trying to hide behind his angry attitude and words. \"I-I do not w-want to leave...\"

\"Oh God, Megumi, you don\'t know what the hell you\'re talking about, Kitsune... you don\'t know... you just don\'t know...\" Sano groaned and started to turn away from her again, but she had made up her mind that this was it. This was the night, the moment of truth. Either she loved Sano or she did not, and if she did, she could not leave him like this when it was because of her he felt this way. And it was because of her and the stupid high standards that she somehow always expected him to meet that had brought them to this moment. High standards... just exactly what was she expecting him to become before she let him love her? A high class businessman of some sort? A reputable sensei like Kaoru? A Samurai like Kenshin? A Policeman like Saitou? A doctor? What did she want out of him? What was he supposed to be? Why could she not accept him for what he already was? A man with a good soul, a sense of right and justice, and a heart that loved her?

To her bewildered shame, Megumi realized within her own heart and soul that she had been waiting for Sanosuke to evolve into the kind of man her Father would have approved of had he stillbeen alive and their family Myo had still meant something important to the country of Japan. But those days were long gone, long dead, and her Father with them. Now her life was her own to do with as she saw fit. There were no marriage contracts to honor, no family names to dishonor for she had done that already during her time as an opium producer. So what made her think that Sano had to prove himself worthy of her? Perhaps it was more properly the other way around. Perhaps, Megumi needed to prove herself worthy of Sano. Maybe that had been the problem all along only she was too blind and too self centered to see it, let alone admit it, but now was not the time to linger on the matter. If Megumi still wanted Sano\'s love and all of his heart, she needed to be prepared to give him the same in return. So, with that thought in her frantically beating heart, she rushed forward from where she stood and, reaching out with one panicked hand, grasped the trailing sleeve of his jacket and pulled him back around to face her.

\"Wait.\" It was a tiny cry from the depths of her soul. \"Please wait...\"

\"Megu...\" Only part of her name was spoken before he stopped and caught his breath as his anguished brown eyes met the frantic pleading brown of hers. Then, as if someone had pulled the plug out of a tub of old wash water, the anger within him just seemed to drain away, and he reached out to touch the anxious lines that were creasing her lovely face. \"What?\" He spoke it in choked voice. \"What do you want me to wait for, Kitsune? What?\"

\"Me.\" Was the small simple answer as she lifted her hand to caress the lean contours of his face. \"Wait for me, Sano. Onegai, Saiai... do not leave without me...\"

A small ironic sounding laugh escaped him as his eyes closed and he shook his head in defeat. \"Where would I go, Megumi?\" He asked in a voice that sounded as defeated as the look on his face. \"Where can I go? What can I do? I am bound to you almost as tightly as if we were the same person... and I hate it. God, I hate it.\" Suddenly his hands were resting on her hips and he was wearily pressing his forehead against hers. As his emotions began spiraling out of his control, Sano felt the breath in his lungs thicken, and a lump form in the base of his throat. \"Tell me what to do, Megumi.\" His voice cracked on a sob as a trickle of tears began to slide down his lean brown face. \"I don\'t know what to do anymore... I don\'t know what to do... so, please tell me... tell me what to do, Kiobito because I am all out of ideas.\"

Small gentle hands tenderly cupped and then set about stroking his damp cheeks as Megumi took the last step she needed in order to be close enough to him to feel his body heat through her kimono, and then she began pressing soft, feather light kisses across his face. His eyes, his nose, his cheeks, his chin. Each and every feature of his handsome face was touched by the silk of her lips, and it seemed all Sano could do was stand still as stone with his eyes closed in astonished wonderment as he basked in her loving ministrations upon his person. It felt so good, he was afraid if he moved she would stop or he would wake up and find out it was just a really good dream, and if it was a dream, he did not want to wake up.

As her lips trailed a path of moist heat along the edge of his jaw, Sano\'s breathing quickened and his hands tightened around her lower ribs pulling her a little closer to him. This, in turn, brought a small gasp of surprise from her as the fullness of her breasts came into contact with the hardened muscles of his broad chest. She had not been prepared for the changes in sensation perception her body was going to go through as her sexual awareness started to grow with kissing and touching she was giving Sano, but as her hardening nipples pressed into him, a tingling thrill of heightened nerve endings sent her befuddled brain a clear message of pure pleasure and... desire? Was this desire?
This breathless heated feeling that was telling her she wanted to get closer to him... much, much closer?

Huge rounded pools of heated earth opened and looked up into Sano\'s face reaching into his mind looking for and finding a long dormant primitive link that lured him into her world of newly awakening emotions and feelings, and, with his hand carefully cupping the back of her head, he gently leaned down to her and parted her full ruby red lips with the tip of his tongue, and then slid it deftly inside her moist heat even as he molded the softness of her mouth beneath the firmer contours of his own. It was the most deliberate, tender, careful... loving? kiss he had ever giving to a woman in his adult life, and as he listened to the deep hoarse moan that got trapped inside her throat, he knew why he had never done it before. He loved Megumi. It would not have been the same with anyone else. It would not have been right. Only his Kitsune deserved to be kissed like this... only Megumi. Only Her.

\"Aishiteru...\" He breathed against the moistness of her lips as the slender strength of her arms wound themselves around his neck and shoulders thus bringing her upper body into full contact with his and causing another series of moans to echo from deep within her as pleasure quaked though her system. \"Aishiteru Saiai Kitsune.\"

\"Saannoo...\" Megumi\'s head became a heavy weight in his hand and he allowt tot to drop slightly so he could bury his mouth against the creamy smoothness of her throat where he found her throbbing pulse. A gentle nip against the highly sensitized point brought a violent shudder to her small frame, and then he opened his mouth and devoured the same point sucking and licking on it until her hands were fierce claws digging into the tight muscles of his shoulders. \"Kaammiiii....\"

A careful but urgent hand was at Megumi\'s back, and she could feel it loosening the knot of her obi, and although she knew that for one reason or another she should tell it to stop, she just did not want to anymore. The rush of sexual desire was running hot and wild through her veins now, and the awakening woman within her wanted to know where this incredible feeling was going to lead to her. Being a doctor, Megumi was no innocent to the act of intercourse between man and woman... especially since the day she had inadvertently caught Kenshin and Kaoru in the act, but the thought of being in ‘that\' position herself had just never really crossed her mind. Oh, she had THOUGHT about it, even fantasized about it, but, to actually consider doing IT? NO, she had not quite allowed herself to go that far. But as her hands wound themselves through Sano\'s thick brown hair, and his mouth continued its sweet torture along the heated flesh of her exposed throat Megumi knew that she was escalating far beyond any fantasy here, and by the time dawn\'s light broke through the clouds she would belong to this man... body and soul.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was the deafening roar and the sound of a thunder neither had ever heard before that brought both Kenshin and Kaoru clamoring out from under the warm haven of their bed each reaching automatically for their weapons, and then with sakobatou and boton in hand, they rushed out the fusuma of their room and into the pouring rain and mist filled night.

\"Ken-shin?\" Kaoru called out to the Rurouni who was running several steps in front of her as they flew out of the gate and into the street. Upon hearing the anxious quality to her voice, Kenshin pulled up long enough for her to catch up to him and then took off again.

\"What is hap-pen-ing?\" She shouted at him through the driving downpour as they raced
down the wet slippery road toward the river bridge.

\"If I am not mis-tak-en,\" He shouted back to her as he threw her a quick worried glance. \"I think th-that ter-rible noise we heard was th-the bridge be-ing washed a-way.\" Kaoru looked at his drenched stern profile in horror and quickened her step to match his as they flew like two white ghosts through the storm filled night.

‘The bridge... gone?!\' She thought in horrified anxiety. \"That would cut the city in half... Oh Kami... Yahiko! Sano! Tae! They are all on the other side. Oh no... we would have to go clear to the higher end of the bluffs in the central city to find another way across, or on the other side of the shipping docks... its miles and miles either way... Oh God...\' Her throat constricted painfully as worry and fear mounted within her. ‘Please let Kenshin be wrong this time... please let him be wrong.\'

But, sadly... he was not. As they approached the curve in the road that led to the gentle incline that took foot travelers over the old stone bridge that had crossed the river and connected the Marketplace with the ting ing neighborhoods on the other side for so many long years, there was nothing there to greet them but a 50 foot wide empty jagged space where the bridge had been and the biggest swell of water either of them had ever seen.

\"Kenshin... Oh no.\" Kaoru\'s wide blue eyes gleamed with sudden tears as a fierce anxiety seized her. \"What will we do now? What will any of us do with the bridge gone?\"

Kenshin stared at the devastation the flood had wrought upon their only meof cof connection with the west side of Tokyo, and felt the rising despair of worry and deep concern fill his soul as he realized the river was high enough to wash over its bank further downstream and could cause even more damage to the poorer residents who lived on its banks. Images of devastation, bloated drowned bodies, and the horrible disease stricken aftermath that could potentially strike the lower west side flashed across his mind as he tried to anticipate the possibilities of what this tragedy could bring.

\"I do not know, Koishii...\" Lavender eyes filled with anguished worry gazed thoughtfully at Kaoru\'s stricken face. \"All we can do now is wait until the morning and see what the Sun brings. There is nothing else we can do.\" He watched as she nodded solemnly then turned her sober gaze back to the roiling waves of the swollen river. The roar of the enormous amount of water rushing past them sounded more like the thunder of one of those new steam engine locomotives as they streaked by on their iron rails. It was so loud, and the rumbling of the large stones and broken trees that tumbled beneath it\'s surface could be felt in the unmistakable vibrations emanating through the ground beneath their feet. Suddenly it felt as if they were the only two people left alive in the entire city... perhaps the entire world.

Kenshin moved to Kaoru\'s side and wrapped his arm around her rain soaked shoulders and hugged her to his side. Almost automatically her head drooped down into the curve of his neck. Gently he pressed a kiss against the wetness of her forehead, and then pulled her with him as he turned and began to walk back to the Dojo through the pouring rain.

\"Yahiko... Sano... They are on the other side, Kenshin.\"

\"I know.\"

\"We cannot get to them unless we go clear to the docks or up East.\"

\"I know that too, Saiai.\"

\"What will we do for food? The Market place...\"

\"Kaoru... stop, Koishii. We will think of something, but right now is not the time. Right now we need to try and stay calm and not let our worries cause us to panic or lose sight of what is more important.\"

\"What is that?\"

\"WE are all right, and we are still together. We did not get caught in this tragedy... it did pass us by for the most part. Think of the people who live down on the lower west end... they may lose their homes, and some may even lose their lives.\"

\"Oh Kami... I had not thought of that. There are so many of those small huts and lean-to\'s built along the riverbank down there... Oh Kenshin... this is awful.\" She started to cry softly and wrapped her arm ad hid his waist so she could press her face against his throat.

Kenshin just kept walking as the rain dripped off his shaggy bangs and ran down his cheeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The morning after the monstrous flood dawned cold and misty, the air showed each frosty breath of the stunned and frightened Tokyo inhabitants as each one began his or her struggle with the aftermath of natures devastation.

Uprooted vegetation and mounds of mud covered most of the usable paths and roads, and the torn branches from ravaged trees were littered across yards, roofs, some were even poking out from broken windows. Shutters and awnings were torn free from the buildings they once graced, and many sho-ji\'s were damaged beyond repair. Vender stalls within the Marketplace had been demolished beyond recognition, their goods blown far and wide and long since unuseable.

Some of the smaller homes with their rice paper walls, were so badly damaged, twoulwould have to be rebuilt before they would be inhabitable again, and the homeless were wandering thestreets crying and looking for what belongings they could salvage. But this tragedy was mild when compared to the crisis that was occurring beyond the docks.

Women and children were huddled in what was left of the streets sobbing and clinging to each other while men raced back and forth screaming the names of those they could not find. Mountains of mud and stones as big as their huts covered the areas these people used to call home. Where a shack or hut had once stood, there was now only debris, mud, and sometimes scraps of clothing. Everywhere lay the bodies of the dead. Those who had been sucked beneath the fast moving current as it jumped over the low bank and flooded through the poor neighborhood crushing and swallowing everything in its path. Only those who had managed to make it to higher ground, or already lived on higher ground had survived the deadly night killer that had come to ravage them in the dark. Now, all that was left in the wake of that unrelenting killer, was grief and death.

No one had been spared. No one was immune. Men, women, children... the very, very
young, and the very old... each and everyone had given a sacrifice to the raging torrent of death that had swept through their midst, and many of those beloved sacrifices would never be found.

This was tcenecene Kazuio and Xander wandered into as they rode on mounted horseback into what was left of the lower west end of Tokyo. Because Xander\'s house was East of the Mid-city bridge, they had decided to take a ride further up the eastern side and have a closer look at all of the damage. It did not look very bad to them, so they crossed the Upper East bridge and then turned South-west heading for Ganko-san\'s to retrieve some of Kazuio\'s personal effects, but the farther south they traveled, the worse conditions became, and it was not long before they realized that the storm had caused greater, even catastrophic damage to the inhabitants downstream from them.


\"Oh Xander... look at them.\" Kazuio\'s clear green eyes filled with tears of grief and anguish as she gazed around at the devastation that had once been her home neighborhood. \"How will they ever recover? How will they ever be able to go on after this? There are so many dead? Just look at them... Oh kami-sama... what will they do?\" The tears slid down the fairness of her pale face as she turned to look at her lover as he pulled up next to her. His own face was pale as fresh milk, his jaw clenched tight with a muscle working frantically in his cheek. Blue eyes, the color of the azure blue sky, narrowed in fierce denial of the scene before him. He had spent enough hours down here in pursuit of his more basic pleasures that he had become quite attached to many of the people who lived their simple lives here, and now many of those people had not only lost the means to pursue the lives they had led, but their lives themselves.

\"I do not know, Itoshi.\" His raspy answer did nothing to alleviate her pain or anxiety, and felt a modicum of guilt over that fact. That was something he had promised her when he took her into his life. That he would always be there for her. That he would always take care of her. That he would make certain she was happy, but this was something that he just could not help her with. He was not even sure he could help himself with it.

\"We have to find Ganko-san, Xander. We have to see if she is all right.\"

\"I know, Itoshi, I know we do, but you have to try and be prepared for the fact that she may not be... you know that, don\'t you?\" Sympathy and affection filled his eyes as he turned to regard her worried tear streaked face. \"Kazuio? You know we may find her dead, or not all don\'t you, Itoshi?\"

\"Yes,\" The smallness of her voice jerked painfully at his heart as did the sorrow in her round frightened eyes. \"Don\'t leave me alone, will you?\"

\"Never, I swear it.\" Reaching across the gap between their mounts, he grasped her
trembling hand and squeezed it reassuringly. \"I will never leave you, Kirei. I will always be beside you... always.\"

\"Aishiteru, Xander.\" Once more her voice was small and Xander had to strain to hear her as she spoke, but as the words fell from her deep red lips, his eyes grew wide and bewildered and began to search her face earnestly.

\"Wh-what did you say?\" He asked in a tight emotional voice as he pulled her towards him ever so slightly making sure not to unseat her.

\"Aishiteru... Alexander.\" Tear filled green eyes rose to meet shocked pale blue and Xander could read the truth of her feelings within their shimmering emerald depths as they caressed his face.

\"I-I... I love you too.\"

A watery smile curved her mouth from a brief moment and she gently squeezed the strong hand that held hers bringing an answering smile to the lean handsome face before her. \"Let\'s go look for Ganko-san, Itoshi, and then let\'s see what we can do to help the others... All right?\"

\"Yes, Xander. Let\'s go.\" He released her hand and they carefully nudged their mounts into a walk and began leading them gingerly through the clutter and debris that covered the streets. The people reached out to them in entreaty as they passed crying out for assistance and mercy for their plight, and Xander\'s mood became more solemn with each one they passed.

\"There are so many.\" Kazuio looked around them at the dozens of homeless families and sobbing women clutching the dead. \"How can we help so many?\"

\"There are always ways to help those in need, Kazuio... even when there are so many. There are always ways it is just a matter of getting through the grief and panic and reaching those who are still rational. Once that is done, then order can be restored and plans and organization can begin.\"

\"Can you do that?\" She asked with wide eyes.

\"I don\'t know... We shall see. If I can\'t, then we will look for someone whom can.\"

\"What do you mean, ‘someone who can\'?\"

\"We will find someone whom these people will trust... someone they will li to, to, and then with his or her help, we will begin to help these people recover. It is the only way.\"

\"I think I know someone they would trust...\" Xander looked over at his lover and saw a
thoughtful frown knitting her otherwise flawless brow.

\"Who?\"

\"He used to be a fighter for hire around here, but he went respectable a year or so ago and we don\'t see him very often anymore; however, I did run into him the other night in one of the bars son I know he is still around.\"

\"You know him personally? This man?\" A touch of jealousy could be heard in Xander\'s
voice as he thought of Kazuio with another man... for any reason.

\"No, I never actually knew him... I just knew ‘of\' him and enough about him to recognize him if I ever saw him... but I never knew him.\" She smiled a little to herself as she watched the tenseness leave Xander\'s shoulders when he heard her explanation. ‘I didn\'t know you\'d be jealous lover.\' She thought to herself with anr smr smile. ‘I think I like that.\'

\"So, what is his name... this fighter?\"

\"Sagara... Sagara Sanosuke.\"

\"Hmmmm... I have heard of him. He used to be called ‘Zanza\' because he once carried one of those huge swords... Yes?\"

\"Yes. Not a lot of people know that. How do YOU know that?\" Her eyes narrowed as she watched Xander\'s profile.

\"Because I hired him once myself a year or so ago to do a... ah... job for me. He was not successful.\"

\"What was he supposed to do?\" She was not totally sure shntednted to know since Xander\'s face had become an icy mask of hatred that was completely foreign to her.

\"I hired him to kill a man. He didn\'t.\"

\"Kill a man??\" Green eyes blew open wide as Kazuio became acquainted with a part of
Xander\'s personality she had yet to meet. \"What man? Who?\"

\"The Battousai.\" His voice lowered to a growl and Kazuio flinched as it grated along her
flesh. \"I hired him to kill The Battousai.\"

\"I-I thought the Battousai died during the Bakumatsa.\"

\"No... He became a rurouni... a wanderer. He showed up here in Tokyo about 2 years ago.\"

\"He... He did?\" She was incredulous.

\"Yes.\"

\"Is he still here?\"

\"Yes, he is.\"

\"How do you knowt?\"

\"Because, Itoshi, The Battousai is Zanza\'s best friend now... Zanza the Fighter watches his back and battles at his side. The are... brothers.\"

\"I-I....\" She did not know what to say.

\"Perhaps you haven hen heard of the Battousai without knowing it, Itoshi. A swordsman
who carries a reverse blade sword... flaming red hair and a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek.\"

\"I... don\'t know.\" She stammered.

\"He lives in a Dojo with a woman teaches Kenjitsu, and he is always found in the middle of a fight trying to save someone. He wears a laughable pink gi, and white hakama.\"

\"Himura....\" The name fell from her lips in a tight whisper as the image finally formed
inside her mind. \"Dear Kami... Himura is the Battousai?\"

\"So, you do know of him. I thought you might.\" Xander\'s voice became flat and bland as he considered the ramifications of this unexpected revelation. Could he go to these men for help hating them as he did? Could he approach either of them without killing them? Xander drew in a deep breath trying to steady the thundering beat of his heart and then turned his icy stare onto the woman who rode next to him. She was pale as a ghost and bewildered beyond explanation. If he killed those men, what would happen between him and his beloved? Would he lose her?

‘Yes,\' He thought. ‘I would.\' At that moment a war began inside of Alexander Whitman\'s heart, and as the fierceness of soul and spirit fought, he felt himself being torn in half. A decision of tremendous proportions lay in front of him, and depending up which choice he made, his life was about to change forever, and there was every chance in the world that someone was going to die.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was morning and Sano woke up feeling sore and yet quite relaxed. At first he was a bit confused as to why he should feel either way considering the way his life had been working out lately, but when he tried to roll onto his stomach, he had a sudden meeting with reality and a rush of very clear memories from the night before.

Laying in a quiet slumber, with her dark head pillowed upon his chest, was his kitsune. Her face was glorious in the early morning light filtering in through the shutters, and Sano found he was holding his breath as his eyes tenderly caressed the fine features that were tilted up toward him. Soft puffy red lips were slightly parted and he could feel the gentle ‘puff\' of her breathing as she slept, and her thick silken ebony hair lay spread out over the arm holding her and the pillow beneath it. Her skin was warm and smooth against his, and he could her long shapely legs entangled with his beneath the deep covering of blankets he had pulled over them last night after they had finished.... finished.... Dark brown eyes blinked twice and then flew open wide in stunned realization as to exactly what they had done and finished the night before.

\"Kuso!\" Sano swore under his breath as image after image came flooding back to him in finite detail. The initial memories had been of holding her and kissing her... of trying to get her to leave, but these... these were not just kissing and holding. They had... he had... she had let him... \"Oh God...\" He moaned quietly and let his head drop back down onto the pillow. The image of Megumi naked upon this very futon materialized in his mind\'s eye, and the sensation of burying his face between her silken thighs so he could ravish her virgin\'s flower quaked through his being.

\"So sweet... so beautiful...\" The musky scent of her had sent his mind out of control, and his grip on any further rational thought or action had been lost as his tongue had delved deeply... longingly... lovingly... over and over until he had her thrashing wildly and whimpering in aching need upon his bed. But he had not been ready to take her just yet, there was so much more he wanted to show her... to give her... and he had.

With the enormous amount of slick wetness that had poured from her quivering sex, Sano had taken his long finger and slowly, ever so slowly slid it into her virginal hole deliberately twisting it from side to side as he went. This action had brought Megumi\'s hips up off the futon while it caused a violent clenching of her deep inner muscles as they fiercely gripped around that pleasure giving finger. Grinning with satisfaction, he had slowly pulled the finger out only to return with two to insert them with the same deliberate slow twisting motion. Again the violent clenching of Megumi\'s inner muscles gripped at his fingers, but this time Sano did not remove them, instead he began to move them around inside of her. Long languid rotating motions that pressed against the moist walls of her vagina stretching them even as he plunged her into an even wilder frenzy of sexual need and awareness.

As he had begun this initial preparation of Megumi for the coming sexual contact between their bodies, Sano had leaned over her body and pulled each of her hardened nipples into his mouth where he could suck, nibble, lick, and gently bite them, and with each new sensation he showed her, Megumi became more and more aware that this was something she should have let him do to her a long time ago. Her voice had risen to a high pitched thin scream of agonized pleasure when Sano finally began to do more than just rotate his fingers inside of her. He began to move then in and outcreating a rhythm and a feeling of needing to push up against him that she knew was pure instinct. She also knew that what she was wanting to push up against was NOT his fingers, and it was not going to be long before his finger were not going to be enough anymore.

But still, Sano was not finished with his Kitsune. There was still more he wanted to give, to show, and he wanted her to have it all. He wanted to watch her have it all, and as he pulled his cum covered fingers free from her soaking wet sex, he leaned down and drove his tongue back deeply inside of her once more bringing a long groaning cry from her as her thighs clenched around his head.

She could feel him working his tongue in and out of her as well as sliding it along each dip and fold of her virgins slit, and it was pushing her over the edge of insanity because she knew she needed something. She could feel ‘it\', but ‘it\' remained elusive to her and she could feel her flesh screaming for the release ‘it\' could give. But Megumi did not know what ‘it\' was, she only knew she needed ‘it\' and Sano was going to have to give ‘it\' to her. \"Saaannnooo.... ppllleeeaassee....\" She was begging without really knowing what she was begging for. \"Pllleeasse....\" And then she felt something completely new. A new sensation, a new pressure... a new pleasure, and it seized her by the soul and she violently arched her back and cried out as a pre-climatic spasm shuddered through her rectum.

Gently, but with determination, Sano was worming one of his fingers up her beautiful tight ass, and she was going completely wild. As the inner muscles of her sex as then began to spasm with her first orgasm, he responded by thrusting his tongue in and out of her at a quick rhythm to heighten the pleasure. It was then that he knew she was ready for ‘him\', and he carefully positioned himself above her while his knees parted her thighs wide.

\"I love you, Kitsune.\" As he lowered his hips between her thighs, he bent down to her and covered her panting mouth with his letting her taste the sweetness of herself off of his own lips. She gasped brokenly when she felt the heat of his swollen shaft press against the puffy wetness of her vulnerable sex, and her wild passion glazed eyes searched out his dark hungry look.

\"Sano...??\"

\"It\'s all right now...\" He whispered and buried his lips against her throat while one hand
slipped beneath her buttocks and lifted her hips up to him, and the other slid between them to guide the tip of his member into the beginning of her. \"Trust me, Kitsune.\"

\"I-I do...\" Her arms rose and wrapped around his back and then slipped upward so hands could grip the strength of his shoulder. \"I do.\" Then with the greatest care, Sano had eased himself into her virgin\'s body an inch at a time until he came in contact with the barrier he knew he would find, and then with one quick sharp thrust he broke through and sheathed himself deep inside of her. Megumi cried out and went ridged with the pain of losing her innocence, but it was such a fleeting moment that it was gone almost before it had fully registered. Then Sano was moving within her and he was creating sensations and causing the ‘need\' to rise again, and Megumi found herself lost once more to the world of Sano\'s body and what he was doing to her\'s.

The orgasm he gave her was enormous. The spasming contractions of her vagina around his pulsing manhood had pushed him into a fierce orgasm of his own which had left him sweating and panting on top of her for several minutes before he was able to move off and pull the blankets up over their naked bodies.

\"I-I never knew...\" She had whispered huskily into the curve of his neck. \"Oh Sano... I
never knew it was like that... I never knew.\"

\"It\'s not, Kitsune... not always anyway.\" He had replied then pulled her close for a soft
moist kiss.

\"It isn\'t?\" She had looked very confused, and it had made him laugh softly. \"Why isn\'t it?\"

\"Because, silly woman... there is a big difference between having sex and making love... having sex is fun... but making love... well, there is nothing quite like that.\"

\"Have you ever...\"

\"No, I haven\'t.\" He cut her off before she could finish her question. \"You are the only one I have ever felt this way with, Kitsune... the only one.\" Brown eyes met brown eyes, and he gently ran his thumb over her swollen lips. \"I\'ve never made love with anyone but you... and I never will with anyone but you. I love you.\"

\"Oh Sano...\" She hugged him tightly as tears washed her cheeks. \"I love you too.\"

They had fallen asleep after that, and now Sano was laying awake wondering what she was going to say and do when SHE woke up.

\"I\'ll never forgive myself if she hates me for this.\" He muttered to himself. \"Why didn\'t she listen to me last night and just go? God, but she\'s stubborn.\"

\"Does th-that mean you reg-gret what h-happened, Sano?\" Megumi\'s quiet but clearly
distraught voice floated up to Sano\'s keen ears, and as he heard what she said, he mentally began kicking himself in the ass.

\"God no, Honey.\" He rushed to say as he quickly looked down to meet her worried brown gaze. \"I just... I... Oh hell... I\'m just afraid this is going to turn out to be something YOU are going to regret, and then you\'ll end up hating ME for it...\" His eyes filled with distress as he tightened his arms around her and pressed a kiss against her forehead. \"I don\'t want to lose you, Kitsune... especially not now... I can\'t lose you now.\"

\"What do you mean ‘now\'?\" She sounded confused.

\"What do I mean ‘now?\'\" He repeated, \"I mean not now because now I truly know what I have to lose... and I\'ll be damned if I\'m gonna give it up without a fight.\"

\"You\'re talking about what happened last night, aren\'t you?\"

\"Yes, I damn well am.\"

\"Oh.\" She sounded very shy and unsure of herself all of a sudden and Sano felt a tender tug at his heart strings as he put a finger beneath her chin and tipped her head back so he could look into her bewildered face.

\"Did you like what happened last night, Megumi?\" A dark red blush rose to stain her pale cheeks and she bit her bottom lip in consternation. \"Well... did you?\"

\"I... ummmm....\" She tried to look away but he held her fast and refused to let her break eye contact. \"Yes...\" Her voice was small and timid sounded and her face flushed and even darker red.

\"Are you angry with me that it happened? I want the truth, Megumi... are you upset?\" Her eyes finally saw the worry and distress for what they really were. He was not worried about about losing a lover because of the sex they had had together. He was worried about losing HER because of the SEX itself.

\"Oh Sano...\" Her heart wrenched in her chest as she realized that he really did love her, and it was not about the physical. It never had been. He had tried to make her leave because he knew how much he wanted her, and how much he did not want a physical relationship, but she was the one who had chosen to stay. She had pushed him beyond his limits... and now he was worried she would not want him anymore. What a fool she had been... and for such a long time too. \"Can you ever forgive me?\" She whispered in a broken voice as tears filled her gentle brown eyes. \"Can you forgive me for not ever understanding anything... for never even trying to understand anything? I am so very sorry, Saiai... so sorry.\"

\"Megumi...\" Sano looked at her in horror not understanding at all why she apologizing to him. \"What are you apo...\" But she cut him off with a hand over his mouth and a shake of her head.

\"Don\'t,\" She said and tenderly caressed his confused face. \"I love you... I have for such a long time now... I\'m so sorry I didn\'t trust you too be good enough to love me the same. Please, please forgive me. Onegai Saiai Sanosuke... forgive me for not believing in you.\"

Suddenly understanding dawned in Sano\'s mind and his face became very serious. He knew what she was talking about finally. It was all about status and social class. Or at least it HAD been. Maybe she had finally gotten over all of that and could see him at last for what he was. Just a man trying to do the best he could to be the best man he knew how to be. Maybe she was ready to take him just the way he was without trying to change him anymore.

\"Does that mean I\'m good enough to marry you now, Takari-dono?\"

\"Yes, it does, Sagara-san.\"

\"It\'s about time.\"

\"That it is.\" Sano\'s lips closed over Megumi\'s soft parted ones as he rolled her beneath him, they could talk about details later.... much, much later.

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Thanks for reading this humble offering. I hope it was enjoyable.
Please review and let me know how it was. Thanks.
Remember, you aspiring artists... the Kissing gallery contest. Go check out the rules on my webby.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~poof* Kanzen ne Tsuki