[RuroKen Week] [Fanfic] A New Beginning
Set A: Day 2 - Canon Divergence (Change one event of circumstance from canon)
Title: A New Beginning
Characters: Takani Megumi
Words: 1591
A NEW BEGINNING
A cool breeze blew past the busy harbour as the passengers disembarked from the big ship who had docked minutes ago. A young woman with black hair put her hand on her neck when the wind ruffled her long tresses, playing lightly with them, as she looked around after a few steps on the wooden wharf, following the crowd. She had never been to Tokyo before, and, at first sight, apart from far more people and and a beautiful wide bay, it was not as impressive as she had thought.
She had always heard people talking about Edo... Tokyo, she corrected herself, and Kyoto as the most amazing places in Japan, with their history, temples, monuments and palaces. However, they had forgotten to mention the crowds and the strange smell in the air, probably because of those steamships that she had seen here and there during her trip.
It was true that her hometown, Aizu, was in a terrible state, half destroyed by the war, and that the citizens who had not migrated to the north escaping from starvation and the harsh treatment their new government was giving the city were suffering the opression and the stigma of being labelled as traitors. But, even though the fateful Aizu Battle had happened ten years ago, she still could remember the beauty of the place, its magnificent buildings, the Tsuruga Castle standing proud over the city, the cherry blossoms in spring and the blinding snow covering every single corner in winter... She sighed wistfully, already missing her home.
And as the rest of the citizens, her family had suffered hardships too. From being a prestigious clan which held the honor of treating the Daimyo, they were reduced to living with whatever their many patients were able to pay them with. If they had anything. And many times, they had been forced to take care of high rank government officials for free, because it was their “duty” as the losers of a war they did not fight.
She had seen many of her relatives die of starvation in great misery, she had lived in a hut with only one tiny room for her mother, her brothers and herself, eating whatever they could. But little by little, they had overcome poverty and, though they could never get back to their position, they owned a modest clinic where they continued treating people according to the old ideal of the clan: all patients were equal to them.
And when they thought they could finally lead peaceful lives, something surprising had happened. Behind their backs, her mother had written a letter to a doctor from Tokyo, a friend of one of his father's colleages, after hearing that he needed an assistant. She was the only one of the three siblings who was still single, to her mother's dismay, and the woman had decided that her daughter deserved a better life than the one she was leading in Aizu. In Tokyo, she would have many more opportunities to grow as a doctor, and maybe, find somebody for herself.
Megumi sighed, as she arrived to a wide street, filled with even more people, carts and ricksaws, and could not help but wrinkle her nose in disgust. And in response, someone bumped her on the shoulder and a second later, she was pushed. Why would her mother send her to such a terrible place? She was very happy having a small office and not giving account to any man. Not that she was against marriage. Sometimes, she had yearned for it, and she was sure that if the war had not happened, she would have got married a few years before. But she had been too busy helping people and trying to build a new life together with her family, and when she had achieved it, she was already twenty-two. Many men had died during the Bakumatsu, so it was not like there were many suitors either. She sniffed, trying to put those thoughts away, and, stepping to the side, near a shop that sold traditional sweets, she put her hand in her kimono sleeve and picked up the letter which had arrived days before, gladly accepting her offer, where the clinic address was written.
The gears of her practical mind started to work, fast. First thing, she had to know where she was, and if her destination was far from there. She turned her head, watching the curtain adorned with a crest and the name of the shop. It was a good place to ask as any other. And she had to buy a present for the doctor... A small smile drew across her lips, secretly delighted, and she made her way inside. A young woman dressed with a deep green kimono and an apron greeted her.
“I'd like one of these, please” she said pointing at a box which contained a dozen of daifuku decorated with spring motives.
A few minutes later, she had finally got out of the busy road and could stop for a moment to gather her thoughts. The shop assistant had told her that the neighbourhood where she was heading was a bit far from there. It was possible to go on foot, but she was not sure she wanted to spend more than an hour walking, getting lost, asking for directions and carrying her suitcase and the sweets around. She looked for her purse and, making sure she had more than enough money, she turned right, where the woman had told her she could find some ricksaws.
The city passed by fast. They had just left behind another packed street, filled with restaurants and shops from which the people went in and out, making business and purchases, and now, traditional houses and western buildings mixed together in a strange hotchpotch that was not really of her taste. She hoped the neighbourhood where the doctor's house was, was not like that one. The man turned at the corner of a narrower street and she found herself in a completely different world. The road was lined with traditional houses surrounded by walls, behind which she could see the pointy tiled roofs, one or two of them having wooden plaques stating they were dojos of some sort. Her mood lightened and she breathed deeply the air filled with the smell of the flowers just opened at the beginning of that spring. So familiar, so nostalgic. For a moment, she felt the adventurous thrill of being in a new place and she had to supress a girly giggle biting her lower lip. Maybe, just maybe, she could get used to live there.
A few minutes later, the ricksaw stopped at the door of a quite a big house at the corner of a crossroads. It was surrounded by a tall fence made of wood, and at the door there was a big sign which stated that the place, a clinic, belonged to doctor Oguni.
She paid the journey and thanked the man, who nodded, turned and got away down the street. She eyed the place before stepping through the main gate. It looked like a really nice well-looked after place, and, she noticed, with a small pang of sadness, bigger and much better than her family's office. Well, she breathed deeply, trying to drive any pessimistic thoughts away, it was the price to pay for being traitors...
Drawing a small confident smile across her lips, she went to the open door.
“Hello? Doctor Oguni?”
Instead of the greeting she was expecting, what reached her ears was laughter and a surprisingly loud banter.
“What did you say!?”
“Now, you've really done it, Yahiko!”
“But that's the truth! It's her fault I've got a stomach-ache!”
“Well, I suppose that the salt and the sugar having the same type of jar is a problem...”
She took off her sandals and slowly, curious, made her way to the voices.
“No, the problem is that she is a terrible cook” she heard a horrified gasp and some mumbled words. “Kenshin, don't let her-”
The scene unfolded to her eyes when she reached the door of the waiting room left her speechless. A boy was about to be strangled by a dark haired young woman who was held by the arms by a short thin samurai. Beside them, a man dressed in white was laughing, and a few meters behind, by another door, an old man dressed as a doctor and a lady with a baby in her arms were watching them with mirth.
The physician was the first to catch sight of her, and made a friendly sign for her to enter the room. One by one, the rest of the group noticed her presence. The samurai, a red haired man with a scar on his left cheek, smiled warmly and the girl blushed deeply, embarrased, before nodding in her direction. The boy was too busy trying to regain his breath, though he spared a glimpse at her, and the other man, taller than the rest, had put his hands in his pockets while he smirked, alternating his glance between her and his friends.
The old doctor went towards her with a warm smile, his eyes full of wisdom and a mischievous spark that amused her greatly. It seemed that it was going to be fun living there.
“Good afternoon” she said with a confident expression, taking a few elegant steps into the room. “I'm Takani Megumi, your new assistant.”
THE END
Title: A New Beginning
Characters: Takani Megumi
Words: 1591
A NEW BEGINNING
A cool breeze blew past the busy harbour as the passengers disembarked from the big ship who had docked minutes ago. A young woman with black hair put her hand on her neck when the wind ruffled her long tresses, playing lightly with them, as she looked around after a few steps on the wooden wharf, following the crowd. She had never been to Tokyo before, and, at first sight, apart from far more people and and a beautiful wide bay, it was not as impressive as she had thought.
She had always heard people talking about Edo... Tokyo, she corrected herself, and Kyoto as the most amazing places in Japan, with their history, temples, monuments and palaces. However, they had forgotten to mention the crowds and the strange smell in the air, probably because of those steamships that she had seen here and there during her trip.
It was true that her hometown, Aizu, was in a terrible state, half destroyed by the war, and that the citizens who had not migrated to the north escaping from starvation and the harsh treatment their new government was giving the city were suffering the opression and the stigma of being labelled as traitors. But, even though the fateful Aizu Battle had happened ten years ago, she still could remember the beauty of the place, its magnificent buildings, the Tsuruga Castle standing proud over the city, the cherry blossoms in spring and the blinding snow covering every single corner in winter... She sighed wistfully, already missing her home.
And as the rest of the citizens, her family had suffered hardships too. From being a prestigious clan which held the honor of treating the Daimyo, they were reduced to living with whatever their many patients were able to pay them with. If they had anything. And many times, they had been forced to take care of high rank government officials for free, because it was their “duty” as the losers of a war they did not fight.
She had seen many of her relatives die of starvation in great misery, she had lived in a hut with only one tiny room for her mother, her brothers and herself, eating whatever they could. But little by little, they had overcome poverty and, though they could never get back to their position, they owned a modest clinic where they continued treating people according to the old ideal of the clan: all patients were equal to them.
And when they thought they could finally lead peaceful lives, something surprising had happened. Behind their backs, her mother had written a letter to a doctor from Tokyo, a friend of one of his father's colleages, after hearing that he needed an assistant. She was the only one of the three siblings who was still single, to her mother's dismay, and the woman had decided that her daughter deserved a better life than the one she was leading in Aizu. In Tokyo, she would have many more opportunities to grow as a doctor, and maybe, find somebody for herself.
Megumi sighed, as she arrived to a wide street, filled with even more people, carts and ricksaws, and could not help but wrinkle her nose in disgust. And in response, someone bumped her on the shoulder and a second later, she was pushed. Why would her mother send her to such a terrible place? She was very happy having a small office and not giving account to any man. Not that she was against marriage. Sometimes, she had yearned for it, and she was sure that if the war had not happened, she would have got married a few years before. But she had been too busy helping people and trying to build a new life together with her family, and when she had achieved it, she was already twenty-two. Many men had died during the Bakumatsu, so it was not like there were many suitors either. She sniffed, trying to put those thoughts away, and, stepping to the side, near a shop that sold traditional sweets, she put her hand in her kimono sleeve and picked up the letter which had arrived days before, gladly accepting her offer, where the clinic address was written.
The gears of her practical mind started to work, fast. First thing, she had to know where she was, and if her destination was far from there. She turned her head, watching the curtain adorned with a crest and the name of the shop. It was a good place to ask as any other. And she had to buy a present for the doctor... A small smile drew across her lips, secretly delighted, and she made her way inside. A young woman dressed with a deep green kimono and an apron greeted her.
“I'd like one of these, please” she said pointing at a box which contained a dozen of daifuku decorated with spring motives.
A few minutes later, she had finally got out of the busy road and could stop for a moment to gather her thoughts. The shop assistant had told her that the neighbourhood where she was heading was a bit far from there. It was possible to go on foot, but she was not sure she wanted to spend more than an hour walking, getting lost, asking for directions and carrying her suitcase and the sweets around. She looked for her purse and, making sure she had more than enough money, she turned right, where the woman had told her she could find some ricksaws.
The city passed by fast. They had just left behind another packed street, filled with restaurants and shops from which the people went in and out, making business and purchases, and now, traditional houses and western buildings mixed together in a strange hotchpotch that was not really of her taste. She hoped the neighbourhood where the doctor's house was, was not like that one. The man turned at the corner of a narrower street and she found herself in a completely different world. The road was lined with traditional houses surrounded by walls, behind which she could see the pointy tiled roofs, one or two of them having wooden plaques stating they were dojos of some sort. Her mood lightened and she breathed deeply the air filled with the smell of the flowers just opened at the beginning of that spring. So familiar, so nostalgic. For a moment, she felt the adventurous thrill of being in a new place and she had to supress a girly giggle biting her lower lip. Maybe, just maybe, she could get used to live there.
A few minutes later, the ricksaw stopped at the door of a quite a big house at the corner of a crossroads. It was surrounded by a tall fence made of wood, and at the door there was a big sign which stated that the place, a clinic, belonged to doctor Oguni.
She paid the journey and thanked the man, who nodded, turned and got away down the street. She eyed the place before stepping through the main gate. It looked like a really nice well-looked after place, and, she noticed, with a small pang of sadness, bigger and much better than her family's office. Well, she breathed deeply, trying to drive any pessimistic thoughts away, it was the price to pay for being traitors...
Drawing a small confident smile across her lips, she went to the open door.
“Hello? Doctor Oguni?”
Instead of the greeting she was expecting, what reached her ears was laughter and a surprisingly loud banter.
“What did you say!?”
“Now, you've really done it, Yahiko!”
“But that's the truth! It's her fault I've got a stomach-ache!”
“Well, I suppose that the salt and the sugar having the same type of jar is a problem...”
She took off her sandals and slowly, curious, made her way to the voices.
“No, the problem is that she is a terrible cook” she heard a horrified gasp and some mumbled words. “Kenshin, don't let her-”
The scene unfolded to her eyes when she reached the door of the waiting room left her speechless. A boy was about to be strangled by a dark haired young woman who was held by the arms by a short thin samurai. Beside them, a man dressed in white was laughing, and a few meters behind, by another door, an old man dressed as a doctor and a lady with a baby in her arms were watching them with mirth.
The physician was the first to catch sight of her, and made a friendly sign for her to enter the room. One by one, the rest of the group noticed her presence. The samurai, a red haired man with a scar on his left cheek, smiled warmly and the girl blushed deeply, embarrased, before nodding in her direction. The boy was too busy trying to regain his breath, though he spared a glimpse at her, and the other man, taller than the rest, had put his hands in his pockets while he smirked, alternating his glance between her and his friends.
The old doctor went towards her with a warm smile, his eyes full of wisdom and a mischievous spark that amused her greatly. It seemed that it was going to be fun living there.
“Good afternoon” she said with a confident expression, taking a few elegant steps into the room. “I'm Takani Megumi, your new assistant.”
THE END