To See with Eyes Unclouded

Chapter 4: Far Off Gaze

Sango-sama

Disclaimer: Don’t own Kenshin. Don’t own Sano. :sobs:

Thanks to Susan, Emiri-chan and Arashi for reviewing.

IT LIVES!

...barely. I’ve spent the past week or so playing housemaid for my family and attempting to unpack my stuff from college, assembling an archeology lesson plan for my mother, and also trying to work a 40 hour work week. On top of that I’ve been puzzling out how to characterize Sano and Megumi in this one. --

Revisions made 5/16/02…not perfect, but it’s better….

“You can’t see at all, can you?” The elderly doctor’s eyebrows had furrowed, his voice dropping its usually jovial timbre. He had suspected that the young man was having trouble seeing just by looking into his eyes. The rich brown depths had a glazed and far off look at about them, completely unable to train their focus.

Just as soon as he had dropped the Genzai-sensei’s fingers, Sano’s fists balled up, trembling with an unusually quiet anger. He slumped back down onto the mattress, only to promptly slide off onto the hard ground.

“Kuso,” he muttered under his breath. Jaw clenched tight, he twisted back around, arms outstretched and searching for some sort of clue of where he was headed. His arms jerked aimlessly through the air until his fingers finally fell upon the soft futon. The hand traveled back and forth across the smooth fabric, identifying the head and foot of the bed before he struggled to settle himself back upon the mattress.

It was so frustrating being suddenly unable to see. The simplest of tasks would now take him so much longer. Even all of his physical strength seemed for naught. Sure, he could walk wherever he needed to, but he’d be sure to end up running into something. Gambling was out. People wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage…not that it would change his luck significantly. Even cooking has its hazards, for the few chance occasions where he was forced to make food for himself, he’d always manage to cut himself.

Would he have to depend on someone to help him? At least until he could see again…

He heard the softest of footfalls approaching and tried to keep himself from taking in a sharp breath as a cold, delicate hand rested on his forehead.

“Still a fever…” she mumbled to herself.

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but the Kitsune’s voice sounded…odd. Quiet and unsure, it was a far cry from her usually confident, often brassy personality. There was something else there too…something in her wavering voice that he couldn’t place a name to.

Before he even had the time to chance a guess, soft fingertips brushed across his skin, pushing the errant silken strands up off of his forehead.

He felt a light heat rise to his cheeks under her careful attentions. It was no secret to any of the Kenshin-gumi that Sano, in fact, did care quite deeply for the female doctor. She was always the one there to patch up his many wounds, with a lecture on how he ought to take better care of himself, always just a bit louder than the time before.

He took a certain masculine pride out of the fact that he was the only one who seemed able to cause such anger from one so usually calm and collected. Her cheeks would flush the palest pink as sparks danced in her eyes; one could hardly tell that she was blushing unless they looked hard enough.

Silently, he cursed his lack of sight.

The compress was resettled on his forehead

“Go back to sleep for now, Tori-atama.” Although slightly forced, she regained herself enough for impatient tones as she stepped through the door. “I can’t let you leave while you are completely helpless.”

A sharp snap signaled her exit.

‘Che. Helpless, she says.’

Sullenly, he let his eyes slip closed.

Once outside the rice paper wall, Megumi bit her lip.

The sharp pangs of guilt were gnawing away at her insides. If only she had caught him before he had gone and explained, this never would have happened.

“Megumi-kun.” Jolted from her thoughts, her eyes met with the solemn face of her mentor. “You know it’s very likely that he’ll never recover his sight.”

Silently she nodded.

With a small smirk touching his lips, he continued. “To be truthful, I worry about the boy. He’s in here all the time to be patched up. If he has that much trouble when he could see, I would hate to see what sort of condition he will come in with now that his sight is gone.”

Megumi’s face darkened. ‘That idiot probably will still get into fights. And with that sense of direction, he’s bound to run into absolutely everything.’

“So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask him to stay here in the clinic.”

Thanks to Arashi and Gypsy-chan for the suggestions…I promise I will address Sano’s condition soon. Really, I will!