"Hmph," she replied and scooped up her pile of items and notebook before storming off.Enishi sighed and turned back around. ‘Enishi?’‘What?’‘That woman wants to know about you,’ Tomoe chastised lightly.‘She’s a pest. I don’t know why I didn’t take her along with that Kamiya brat.’Tomoe radiated disapproving. Enishi moaned mentally and concentrated on his letter. He was going to have one hell of a time explaining this to Heishin. ‘Hi, I’ve fallen in love with a woman and want to spend the rest of my life with her but she’s been brutally kidnapped and now I have to enlist the help of my worst enemy to get her back which is why I won’t be back for at least another few months.’ Yeah right.

A larger brick sailed through the air towards his head. He grabbed it out of the air and tossed it aside as he turned on Megumi, busy writing notes. "Would you stop it already!?" He yelled furiously. Megumi stared at him in facination. "What’s so interesting?"He froze as Megumi lifted a hand up and brushed it against his cheek. "I can see exactly where the nerves lay. How facinating!".Otomi tenderly reaching a hand up and brushing a smear of mud off his cheek Iida making his face smile when he was upset Otomi’s lips, light as a feather, as they brushed against hisUnconciously he reached his hand up and took Megumi’s. She gasped and tugged futily agaisnt him. "L-Let me go, Enishi!".

On the other side of the dojo Sano looked up at the sound of Megumi’s panicy voice. "Megumi? Hey! What’s going on over there!?" He leapt up and dashed around the corner of the house in time to see Enishi staring vacantly at Megumi as he touched her lightly under the chin. "Let Megumi go, you bastard!" Sano yelled as he leapt at Enishi.The face before him slowly came into focus. The eyes were too light, the face too pale. She was too tall to be his beloved Otomi. "No!" Enishi cried in anger, lashing out at Megumi. She cried out in surprise and pain as he tossed like rag doll away from him. She collided with Sanosuke and the two of them fell into a heap at the feet of Kenshin, Kaoru and Yahiko."What the hell was going on over here?" Yahiko demanded as he stared first at Sano and Megumi, then at Enishi.

The young man grabbed Yahiko by the front of his shirt and pulled him up to eye level. The boy was confronted by a pair of staring angery blue eyes behind dark tinted glasses. "Where is Iida?" Enishi snarled with barely contained fury."He’s at the Akabeko, down the street," Yahiko manganaged to say around his fear.Abruptly, Enishi dropped Yahiko and dashed out of the dojo. The three unfortunate people on the groud slowly pulled themselves together. Sano sat Megumi up and quickly looked her over while he said worriedly, "What’d he do to you?"

"He, I don’t know." Megumi shook her head. "I was testing him to see how his having those amazing nerves affected him. He got a little angery and I could see how they lay under his skin. I reached up to touch his face I guess, and then he looked at me funny." Her eyes unfocused as she remembered the look on Enishi’s face. "The way he saw me then, I don’t know what came over him. I would have sworn he was in love!" She finished as she returned her gaze to Sano’s.

"Hmph, I bet," Sano said angrily. Megumi glanced at him in surprise."Why are you so worried anyway, Sano," Megumi asked suspiciously."Geez, can’t a guy look after his own friends?" Sano snarled at the doctor. Yahiko gave Sano and Megumi an amused look as he brushed himself off. This was going to be interesting."Enishi-san! Irasshaimase!" Tae said happily as she set down her tray. "What can I help you with today?""I’d like to see Iida," Enishi said in a flat voice."O-of course," Tae replied. "Iida-kun. Iida-kun, Enishi wants to see you."The smiling, rosey-cheeked boy popped out of the kitchen with a happy cry, "Nii-chan!"

"Hey there, Iida," Enishi said with a forced smile. He picked the boy up and headed toward the door. "I need to talk to you. Let’s go to the river.""Okay! I really wanted you to come, Nii-chan! I caught a frog down at the river yesterday! It was so big I had to hold it in two hands, like this, see?""Hmm.""Tsubame wouldn’t touch it and made me put it back. I think she doesn’t like frogs."The rest of the walk down to the river was filled with the chatter of Iida’s past few days. He had done so many things. ‘I never did any of that as a boy,’ Enishi recalled sadly. ‘I always had something else more important on my mind.’

‘You grew up too fast, Enishi’ Tomoe whispered to him sadly."Nii-chan, what did you want to talk to me about?" Iida asked as the two of them sat down next to the river. From where they sat it wasn’t much of a river. More a little stream out of the way behind the houses and streets of Tokyo. Grass grew along the gently sloping banks and tall water grasses hid part of the foot-wide beach from view."Your sister," Enishi replied, leaning back."You mean Otomi," Iida corrected sternly. Enishi glanced at him in surprise."Why do you want me to call her Otomi?"

"Because you’re going to marry my sister," Iida responded as though there were no other alternative."Wha-?" Enishi stammered with a slight blush."You have to marry her, Nii-chan!" Small tears began to leak out of Iida’s eyes. "She’s never been so happy before. She used to cry every night. After you came she was happy again. You can’t go! She loves you! She loves you!!" Iida grabbed Enishi’s sleeve as he insisted stridently.

"Iida, you don’t know how your sister feels," Enishi said gently after a long moment. ‘She loves me? I was hoping so,’ Enishi thought with a light heart. ‘There’s a huge difference between loving somebody and sharing a bed with them. To her I could have just been another boyfriend. But she loves me!’ Tomoe beamed.I do so!" Iida cried. "She told me! I asked her how long you were going to stay and she said she would never let you go again because she loved you too much!" Enishi looked in shock at the boy’s bent head. Tears were falling steadily on his hand, covered in faint scars from battles he fought long ago. "I think I think she even loved you… more than me."