Chasing Lights 2: Anatomy of a Romance

by lawless

Inception.

Sano took a train to his hometown the next morning. He told friends he had a few things to take care of and would be gone for a few weeks.

Megumi kept herself busy. She was at the most intense weeks of review for the medical board exams. A make-it or break-it schedule of group study sessions, practice tests, and clinical hours occupied so much of her days (and nights) she had little time for anything else.

After weeks of denied dates and missed calls, Koichi finally officially broke it off with her. Megumi was relieved. The breakup was par for the course, and she could no longer afford the distraction of maintaining a relationship that she was never really invested in the first place. She left a few things in Koichi's apartment though – not least of them were her lecture notes on gross anatomy.

Megumi was in the middle of a study session with a couple of friends when she received a text. It was sudden enough to cause her to pause mid-description of lumbar laminectomy. She glanced at her phone and started at who it was from.

'Hey, I'm in town. Staying at Katsu's. Catch up later this week?' – S.

She smirked. When did he get a cellphone?

"Please tell me that is not Koichi," Himari muttered, wrinkling her nose. "I thought you got rid of that guy." She never did take to Megumi's latest boyfriend and was one of the more vocal of her friends about it.

Megumi blinked and re-oriented herself. Right. They were describing complicated medical procedures by way of review. Ignoring Himari's comment, she glanced down at the flash card she was holding instead and continued, "…most commonly performed to treat lumbar spinal stenosis symptoms. During this procedure, the lamina at one or more segments is removed with the goal of alleviated pressure on the spinal cord or nerves."

"Uhm," Kaito hesitated. "Spine fusion surgery?"

"No, but that's sometimes necessary in order to achieve adequate decompression of a nerve root," Megumi said.

Kaito just gave her a blank stare and said despairingly, "I'm gonna fail."

"Come on," Megumi urged. "You know this."

Himari made a jubilant sound and exclaimed, "Lumbar laminectomy!"

"And you are right." Megumi tossed her flash card into the pile in the center of the table. She sent Kaito a sympathetic smile before saying to Himari, "Your turn."

It was almost evening by the time they were finished. Kaito and Himari were going in the same direction so Megumi had to make her way to the station by herself. She got on the train without much hitch and occupied her time by reading her notes for general pathology. As the train moved, her mind drifted towards Sano's text and remembered that she didn't reply. She got her phone out and swiped the screen open. It didn't take long for her to find his message. She tapped her lips with a slender finger before she started typing:

'So… you found another sucker to torture with your snoring.'

A few seconds passed, and then the message tone of her phone sounded. 'I don't snore, you know.'

Megumi chuckled at her screen and typed, 'Sure. How was home?'

''Same." There was a pause and then Sano texted, 'I brought sansai. I'll bring some over.'

'I love sansai." She hit sent, thought about it, then added, 'Are the kids okay?'

The response was quick. 'Uki will murder you for calling her a kid. They're doing well. Got a few things to take care of in town.' There was a brief pause, and then the message: 'Wanna catch up?'

Instead of answering directly, Megumi posed a question of her own. 'Is this your number? Saving it.' She looked out the window, watching the city's neon lights blur with movement.

'How long are you in town for?'

'Dunno yet. Are you free Saturday?' Sano texted.

She would be on-call all through Friday evening but she'd be out by 6:00 a.m. on Saturday. She typed, 'Breakfast. I'll be in scrubs and probably half dead.'

Sano did not respond anymore and Megumi slipped her phone back into her purse.

Friday evening turned out to be a nightmare. A head on collision between a private tour van and a truck in Mita Dori resulted in multiple trauma victims rushed to emergency hospitals. The teaching hospital where Megumi trained was one of the closest to the site of the accident so its ER department had its hands full. Megumi found herself assisting on at least two patients and scrubbed in for a twelve-hour laparoscopy under Dr. Yamazaki. By the time her shift was finished, she really felt like she was half dead.

The smell of coffee energized her somewhat as Sano placed a steaming mug in front of her. She grabbed it gratefully, smiling, glad to see him.

"You weren't kidding about the half dead thing," Sano said, arranging their plates: waffles and bacon for Megumi and salted salmon, rice and miso soup for him. "You look..." He gestured in her general direction as he took his place across the table.

Megumi groaned. "Don't say it. I just got off a thirty-six-hour shift." She pushed her hair behind her ears self-consciously.

"Shit, that's brutal."

She nodded, suppressing a yawn as she placed her cup down and picked up a fork. "I've got to get my things out from Koichi's apartment."

Sano broke apart his chopsticks and dug into his salmon with gusto. "I'll help," he offered casually.

Megumi watched him for a moment, then sighed. "I'll never know how you can work out an appetite this early in the morning."

Sano paused long enough to take a huge gulp of his miso soup. "I'm a growing boy," he reasoned, placing a piece of salmon in his mouth and looking at her almost challengingly. "And I stay fit."

Unconsciously, Megumi gave him a once-over, noting the lean, athletic build he had kept all these years. His trainers were a bit muddy, informing her that he'd gone on a run before coming to meet her. Of course, the sheen of sweat over his muscled forearms should have told her that if she were paying attention, which she was. She did not know when exactly she first noticed it but Sano was very fit and attractive in a rough-and-tumble kind of way.

When Megumi finally raised her eyes to Sano's, he had a shit-eating grin on his face. At once, she felt her cheeks twinge at having been caught staring but hid her embarrassment behind a nonchalant tone. "Yeah, you're not half bad," she agreed, running a hand through her hair.

Sano just raised his eyebrows. At her shrug, he guffawed and said somewhat cockily, "You're not half bad either." He scratched the side of his face where unkempt stubbles darkened his already tanned features.

Megumi smirked, eyes glinting. "Are you trying to grow a beard? Or did you just forget to shave this morning?"

That drew a chuckle from him and he gave her a knowing look, then said, "Did you want to get your things now?"

"Yeah," was her answer as she moved to stab a waffle with a fork. "I mean, if you're free. And willing. And able." She waved her fork around before taking a bite of her waffle and chewing slowly.

He was grinning, clearly challenged. "I'm free. And willing. And able." He slanted an eyebrow suggestively and Megumi had to suppress a thrilled laugh before rolling her eyes at him.

"I thought you're not here for long?"

Sano shrugged, sat back in his chair and stretched his legs. "Not sure yet," he said, still faintly smiling. "I ran into Hiro-san the other day and he wants me to come in on Monday."

Megumi reached for her mug with both hands. Hiro-san was the owner of an office build-out company. Sano had worked for him as a day laborer two years ago but quit when he had to leave for China. It always puzzled her how anyone could just up and leave things undone just like that.

Sano was putting his hands together, signaling that he was finished eating. He glanced at Megumi's half-full plate and raised an eyebrow.

Megumi shrugged again, suppressing another yawn. "I'm too tired to eat."

"Try the bacon," he suggested.

"Are you trying to make me fat?"

"No," he said. "Seriously, you need to eat. You're way too thin."

She shot him a funny look but obliged. "So… are you taking the job?"

"Thinking about it," he replied, watching her place a piece of bacon in her mouth. "Is Koichi the guy who came to your apartment?"

"Yeah. We broke up." She reached for her coffee.

"You mean, he dumped you."

"Technically, I dumped him first," she pointed out, putting her cup down.

His grin widened. "Yeah, and then he dumped you."

Megumi narrowed her eyes at him. The beginnings of annoyance. "We dumped each other."

"Technically," he clarified.

"Technically," she echoed.

"So technically, you're single now," he baited, tilting his head to the side.

Megumi just yawned into her hand and sat back, apparently finished eating. "I'm running on fumes, Sano." She stared at him, eyebrows arched expectantly.

Sano's grin never faltered, but he looked at her almost empty plate and yielded. "We should get going then."

The bus ride to Koichi's neighborhood was brief. The visit even briefer. Koichi had already packed her things and placed them near the doorway so that all that Megumi had to do was return her keys and pick up her stuff.

Sano grappled with the heavier pack while Megumi shouldered a backpack.

"Geez, what the hell are in this thing?" Sano muttered under his breath.

"Textbooks and clothes," Megumi answered promptly, pretending not to notice Koichi's thunderous glare as she turned to him for the last time. "Thank you," she said.

"Goodbye," Koichi returned, closing the door in her face with a final click.

Later, on the bus ride home, Megumi fell asleep. Sano had to gently shake her awake when they reached their stop. On the landing to her apartment, she thanked him and promised to take him out for drinks later. Sano just wiggled his brows at her and made a suggestive comment about post-breakup celebrations. Megumi just scoffed and shooed him away, claiming that she had to catch up on some sleep. However, after he left, she found herself lazily wondering, as she drifted off to unconsciousness, whether he was suggesting what she thought he was suggesting.

TBC

AN This is the sequel to Chasing Lights, which I've uploaded here before but currently reworking. The reworked first part is up on AO3. I'll probably re-upload it here sometime. Anyway, you'll notice soon that Part 2 is more straightforward in terms of narrative chronology.

Writing this to while away time (when I have it) and largely for my own entertainment, but I know there are a number of people here who also enjoy this couple, so this is for you, too.