Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

Some love stories are grand, and beautiful, taking place in rich castles with kings and queens and princes and princesses. Others are dirty, secret love stories, involving passionate love affairs. Then again, others are tragic love stories, with two people who were never meant to be. Others are just ordinary stories, with two people meeting each other by chance and eventually falling in love.

Every one of these stories is beautiful in its own way, but the one that breaks our heart the most is the one that is dubbed as an "overlooked story."

An overlooked story is a story that has just as much love and drama as other love stories, but in a way, is a lot more painful than any tragic story could be. For with an overlooked story, it is simply ignored, and buried underneath other more romantic, popular stories.

And... the fox-doctor realized this with a smile, it seemed that her story was the most overlooked of them all.

And who could she blame? Her story wasn't as passionate or dramatic as Kenshin and Kaoru's, or as cute as Aoshi and Misao's, or even as innocent as Yahiko and Tsubame's. Everybody wanted to know the story of how Battousai finally settled down, or how the icy-cold exterior of the former Okashira was melted by a young, chipper girl, or how two young people fell in love and faced the world together. Nobody wanted to know the story about the fox and the rooster. It was no surprise that their story had been overlooked.

Her story wasn't ordinary. But it was nothing special, either.

To her, however, it was special, and she would always treasure it in her heart.

Because it was their story.

---

She was a doctor who had stumbled onto the wrong world. Kanryuu had made sure of that. He had personally made her life a living hell. Before she met him, she thought that the only way out was to kill herself. And she would have. On that dark, bloody night, she had fully intended to stab that knife through her heart. But instead of her heart, the blade met his hand, and it left a scar that would never truly go away.

The scar served as a reminder of their first meeting. It was something she could never avoid, not when she had to bandage up his hand so many times. He never seemed to mind it.

But it haunted her.

It reminded her of the past she wished she'd never had.

And sometimes, she wished that she had gone through with it, and killed herself.

She remembered, it had been a month after she'd started living in Tokyo, he had come to her with his bloodied hands, requesting for her to treat them.

"What --?" she'd cried in disbelief. "This is the third time this week!"

"You're a doctor, aren't you?" he'd scowled, holding out his hands, "you don't need to ask questions. Just fix it up, dammit!"

She had scowled as well, but she gestured to one of the chairs and had gotten out the necessary supplies she needed to treat his hands.

Upon unwrapping the blood-soaked bandages on his right hand, she'd frozen when she saw the deep scar it left behind. Sanosuke seemed to realize this, and he pulled his hand out of hers, frowning.

"You still feeling guilty about that?"

Of course, she had denied it. "No! I was just surprised that it was so bloody!"

He'd stared her down, brown eyes meeting hers, "God, you're a crappy liar."

She'd glared at him, yanking his hand back so she could clean the wounds and twisting it deliberately at the wrist. She smirked at the howl he let out.

"...and a crappy doctor, to boot!"

She dropped his hands and let them dangle limply from his arms. "Do you want me to treat these or not? And, are you going to pay me?"

He averted his eyes.

"Idiot." She took his hands back and began dabbing at them with the antiseptic. "When are you going to learn to stop getting into these stupid fights?"

"What are you, my mom?"

She'd ignored him. "If you keep this up, your hands could be damaged beyond repair. I won't be able to fix them anymore. What if you break them off? Somehow, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened to you."

He frowned. "I'm not that stupid."

She'd snorted. Actually, his hands weren't as bloodied as they could have been. She took a clean cotton ball and wiped gently at the blood. She took care to look away when it was time to rinse the blood from the scar.

"Seriously. You have to stop thinking about that."

She looked up in surprise. "About what?"

He shifted uneasily. "About Kanryuu."

Megumi flinched instinctively at the name. She cringed. He had obviously noticed her sudden movement.

"I don't care about him. He was a bastard. And I'm glad he's gone." Her voice was like steel.

"How can you tell?" She challenged him.

"You can't look me in the eye every time you see the scar."

So he'd noticed after all. Inside her, she wondered how he had been able to notice. He was obviously a lot more observant than she'd given him credit for.

"...." Damn, he had won this round.

"I don't get why. You're a doctor now. You're helping people. That's what you wanted, right?"

She closed her eyes. She couldn't stop talking. "Sometimes, I wish I'd died."

"What?!" His voice was rough and angry. She opened her eyes, almost backing away in fear. "Don't you ever say that!"

She should have stopped speaking, but her tongue was almost like her master at times. "Why shouldn't I? I killed dozens of people with the opium I made. I deserved to die. I should have died."

His eyes were blazing. They had gotten into arguments before, silly little fights, but she had never seen him so angry before. "And then what? The people you killed won't come back to life just because you died, will they? It wasn't your fault. It never was. It never will be. That's why I stopped you from killing yourself. Because believe me, if it had been your fault, it would have been damn fine with me if you died."

She saw that he was extremely and thoroughly infuriated. She did the only thing she could -- she took his hand, slightly damp from the medicine, and squeezed it gently.

"Okay. Okay." She smiled slightly, the first time she did so in so many years. "I'll live my life, and I won't look back. All right?"

He seemed embarrassed by his outburst, and he leaned back against the chair. "Che. Do what you want."

And as strange as it sounds, that had been the first time she had ever truly seen him for what he was: A kindhearted nineteen-year-old man, hidden underneath the hotheaded exterior.

---

She wondered what her life would have been if instead of pretending to love Kenshin, she'd come out and told the truth. Would he still be here? Or would he have left her, anyway?

She cared for Kenshin, okay. That's why she had shed tears for him after his battle with Shishio. She didn't want to see him push too hard and die at the age of twenty-eight. He was like her crutch. He had been a crucial factor in saving her, and she admired the way he lived his life.

He was living happily with Kaoru now, after a simple, yet in so many ways, grand ceremony. Kenji was their pride and joy, and Megumi was proud to have been the one to birth him. Kenji was a mix of Kaoru and Kenshin... He had Kaoru's stubbornness, and Kenshin's quiet strength.

Even Aoshi and Misao had eventually gotten together. It was an odd relationship, to say the least, but it was obvious that the two of them were very happy together.

Then... Yahiko. He was going steady with Tsubame, after all the jeers he'd had to put up with. It was a little odd, seeing the loudmouthed boy with the quiet girl, but she'd smiled, knowing all along that this was what would have happened in the end.

Yet, sometimes, seeing Yahiko was more painful than anything else. Yahiko, for all he said about wanting to be more like Kenshin, was really almost like a younger version of Sanosuke. They both had kind souls buried far beneath their rash, foolish layers. They both rushed headfirst into things, yet usually had a way of getting themselves out of trouble. And Yahiko continued to wear the small "aku" character, sewn on all of his shirts, as a reminder of the man who had never truly left them.

She remembered the day Kaoru had told her that Sanosuke had suddenly left, after being hunted down by the police for some other stupid thing he'd done. She'd tried not to care...

"Ugh. That rooster-headed idiot always had it coming to him," she'd scoffed upon hearing the news. "Always doing that kind of thing. It was only a matter of time. Plus, he didn't seem like the kind of guy who could really stay in one place. I always knew he would someday just leave, get out of here."

"But, Megumi-san..." Kaoru frowned, "are you really all right with this?"

"Well, of course!" She laughed, "Truthfully, I'm glad that rooster-head is out of my hair. Now I won't have to deal with all the stunts he pulls. Like getting his injuries treated for free."

Kaoru still looked dubious. "I don't know, Megumi-san. He might not come back for a long time."

Her heart constricted upon learning this. "It doesn't matter to me," she answered, a little softer, "It's not like we were very close to begin with."

"Really? I thought you two were pretty close." The dark-haired kenjutsu instructor smiled. "You two were always bickering over the silliest little things, like an old married couple."

The reference caused a dark blush to slither over the doctor's cheeks, but she quickly shook it off. "Well... it doesn't matter to me, if he's here or not."

"Are you sure?" Kaoru wouldn't give up, would she? "Won't you miss him at all?"

Megumi also would not give in so easily. "It won't be the same without him," she conceded.

Apparently, that was good enough for Kaoru. "It won't be the same without you, either," she told her, switching subjects, referring to the fact that Megumi was soon going to open a clinic in Aizu.

"Yes, well..." How to say that the only reason she was going to Aizu was so that she wouldn't have to be haunted by all the memories of him here? "I'll visit. I promise."

"You'd better," was all Kaoru had said, still smiling widely.

That night had been one of the loneliest nights in Megumi's life. At least, when that rooster-head had still been here, in Tokyo, there had been possibilities, no matter how slim they were. But now, with him going off to who-knows-where, and her, running away to Aizu, everything was falling apart.

Her feelings were all tangled up into a tight knot. And no matter how hard she tried to pull at them, the knot would loosen, and in a knot they stayed.

---

He was an ex-gangster. He was a troublemaker. He was always getting into fights, and that was why he always showed up at her clinic, bleeding and bruised. And that was why she was always worried about him.

She never really understood him, and she regretted that she never got to know him too well. She'd asked Kaoru about his past one time, and she'd given him a fuzzy picture.

"He was part of the Sekihoutai," she told her. "They were believed to be this fake government army. But in reality, they were being framed, or something. They were all wiped out, and Sano and his friend Katsu are the only living survivors."

That did little for her. Apparently, he'd had some kind of traumatic past as well. She never had a chance to ask him personally about it, but one day, she'd asked Kenshin.

"Sano had a bit of a tragic past, too," he answered, "What Kaoru said was right. But Sano had a father figure, a role model, someone he loved greatly. He was the leader of the Sekihoutai. He was killed, but Sano took his last name from him."

Megumi didn't know what to feel. So he'd lost someone that was very important to him. The picture was coming together slowly, but with him gone, it was doubtful that the picture would ever be complete.

She realized this too late, but Sagara Sanosuke was a man with many sides, each more complex than the last. Although he seemed to be a simple person, Megumi found that she could not figure him out.

And she would never forget the time he showed up at her clinic on that starry night. It had been on Tanabata, to boot.

"Hey, you in here?" His knuckles rapped on the paper door. Megumi flinched. Just when her last patient had left, here came the stray. She considered pretending she was out, but, knowing him, he might have gotten into a big fistful of trouble.

"Yes, yes, come in." She glanced up briefly at him. From what she saw, he didn't seem to be injured. But why else would he be here?

"Hey." He gave her his two-fingered greeting.

"Hey, yourself." Now, she gave him the full once-over. "You're not bleeding. There are no broken bones. There are no bruises." She frowned. "Why are you here?"

He tentatively raised his hands. "Change the bandages?"

"....." She didn't say anything, but her eyes had instinctively narrowed. She was fully aware that he was capable enough to change the bandages himself. "...okay. Sit."

He complied, and she grabbed a roll of fresh gauze. He held out his hands to her, and she neatly unwrapped the already worn bandages.

Midway through her work, she couldn't help but ask, "Why are you here?"

He chuckled. "So eager to get rid of me, are you?"

An annoyed look flitted over her features. "But why? It's Tanabata. Couldn't get a girl?"

He laughed again. "Something like that. Kenshin and Kaoru are having dinner at the Akabeko. Yahiko went somewhere with Tsubame. And I wandered over here."

There was heat on her cheeks. She kept her head bent down so he wouldn't notice.

"I still don't understand," she said. "Why here? It's Tanabata, for crying out loud. It's supposed to be a romantic holiday. Spending your time here with a doctor, getting your bandages changed, is hardly romantic."

"Because I want to be here," was the simple reply. It was so plain, yet Megumi could not find a reply to that. "Anyway," he added, "this is the only way I get to spend time with you, you know?"

When she looked up into his eyes, intending to ask him just exactly what does he mean by that, she found herself lost in those orbs of deep brown. And a little voice in her head whispered, quite audibly, that maybe, just maybe, this is what being in love feels like.

---

When the letter arrived, in Yahiko's hands, Megumi had frozen. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, thud, thud, thud, and the final paragraph sent shivers down her spine.

"I'll be here for awhile... but then I'm coming back to Japan. So get a big bowl of rice and miso soup ready for me, okay?"

He was coming back.

He was coming back.

She closed her eyes, sinking into the picnic blanket spread out across the grass. Was he really coming back? After all this time, he was really coming back?

When she opened her eyes, Kenshin was holding out the letter with a smile. With slightly trembling hands, the fox-doctor accepted it. She allowed her eyes to roam over the wrinkled paper, taking in the familiarity of his handwriting.

"He's coming back," she repeated.

"He is," Kenshin answered.

"But..." She frowned, the happy feeling dissipating a little, "it says he'll be there for awhile."

"Yes. But if Sano says he will come back, he will. I'm sure." Kenshin's voice was reassuring.

Megumi smiled in relief. "Yes. You're right."

---

Four months. It had been four months, and there was still no sign of the damned rooster-head. Megumi sighed, tugging at her hair. Had it been too much to hope that he would really come back?

And... She grimaced. Even if he did come back, who was to say that he was still single? Hell, he'd probably slept with dozens of foreign women. Maybe he'd even found someone that he'd fallen in love with. And all this time, she had stayed here, a single woman who was not getting any younger, politely declining all her suitors, all because she had been waiting for him.

"If he dares bring home a woman," she muttered, "I'll be sure to give him hell."

It was Friday, and her anxiousness upon reading the letter Sanosuke had sent to them all had drained considerably. Four months had passed, after all, and he was still gone.

She had taken to making the trek to Tokyo every weekend. But it wasn't something she couldn't afford. She had plenty of patients at the clinic in Aizu, and she received more than enough pay.

She supposed it had been too much to expect, that nobody would pay attention to her weekly visits.

"Come on, Megumi-san," Kaoru had teased, "You don't expect us to believe that you really just want to see us, do you?"

Megumi glanced around at the dojo, where Kenshin was chasing Kenji around, and Yahiko had accidentally hurt himself, and Tsubame was making a big deal of the lump on his head.

"You got me there," she'd replied dryly.

Kaoru laughed. "Just hang in there, Megumi-san. He'll come back."

The carriage drew to a stop about a block away from the dojo. Megumi smiled and thanked the driver, handing him the payment. She daintily got off, and checked the skies.

"A little cloudy," she murmured. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'll make it to the dojo before it rains."

She always got off a block from the dojo, so that she could take the time to walk there herself. There were so many memories here. She wanted to be able to see them clearly, to be able to remember.

In her hands, she clutched some of her home-made ohagi. She knew how popular they were, compared to Kaoru's cooking, so in case they were unable to stop the dark-haired girl from cooking, at least they had her ohagi to look forward to.

Somewhere in the distance, she saw someone walking calmly to the dojo, as well. She squinted, but she couldn't make out exactly who it was. Judging from the build, it was a man. A pretty tall man. He was alone, so that ruled out Aoshi, since Misao tagged along with him wherever he went. And plus, his silhouette didn't look anything like Shinomori Aoshi's. She frowned. Was it another friend Kenshin and Kaoru had invited?

As she drew closer to the dojo, she drew closer to him.

And when she did, she found that she was unable to move.

Their eyes locked on one another. He seemed surprised to see her.

"Fox..." he trailed off.

It was him. There was no doubt about it. Unable to move, she could only examine him with her eyes, to see how he had aged over the years. His hair was longer and it was unkempt and shaggy, and he'd grown whiskers.

But it was him.

Her body was finally able to move, and in the heat of the moment, Megumi found herself rushing into his welcoming, outstretched arms. To hell with her cold demeanor, her cool, calm, and collected front. She clutched him tightly, and his lean, muscular arms embraced her smaller frame to his chest.

"God, I missed you," he told her huskily.

"I missed you, too," she said, the words somehow getting stuck in her throat. And, just because, "you stupid rooster-head."

He laughed, a deep rumbling that she felt in his chest.

Some love stories are grand, and beautiful, taking place in rich castles with kings and queens and princes and princesses. Others are dirty, secret love stories, involving passionate love affairs. Then again, others are tragic love stories, with two people who were never meant to be. Others are just ordinary stories, with two people meeting each other by chance and eventually falling in love.

Every one of these stories is beautiful in its own way, but the one that breaks our heart the most is the one that is dubbed as an "overlooked story."

An overlooked story is a story that has just as much love and drama as other love stories, but in a way, is a lot more painful than any tragic story could be. For with an overlooked story, it is simply ignored, and buried underneath other more romantic, popular stories.

And... the fox-doctor realized this with a smile, it seemed that her story was the most overlooked of them all.

And who could she blame? Her story wasn't as passionate or dramatic as Kenshin and Kaoru's, or as cute as Aoshi and Misao's, or even as innocent as Yahiko and Tsubame's. Everybody wanted to know the story of how Battousai finally settled down, or how the icy-cold exterior of the former Okashira was melted by a young, chipper girl, or how two young people fell in love and faced the world together. Nobody wanted to know the story about the fox and the rooster. It was no surprise that their story had been overlooked.

But... the fox-doctor smiled into his chest, relishing the feeling of his arms around her body, ...overlooked stories have happy endings, too.

end

[[smiles]] Waaaai! [[gets hearts in her eyes]] I rather enjoyed writing that. Who doesn't enjoy a big bowl of fluff every now and then, hm?

This story was written as a thank-you to all of you SanoMegu fans, and to whoever it was that nominated my first SanoMegu one-shot, "A Smile" in the 2003 RKRC awards in the one-shot category. I was deeply honored -- and gosh, you should have seen the HUGE smile on my face. But.. I was shocked to see that in the one-shot category, my fic was the only one that was a SanoMegu! [[gasps]] Come on, all you SanoMegu fans! Let's get nominating! Or.. [[coughs]] you could vote for my story! [[coughs again, a little louder]]