I took a wad of money from my parent's room and decided it would be best to change my appearance once I left the castle. I'd have to get a job and get a place to stay and buy everything I needed. And I knew I would have to change more than my appearance.

And plus...I wouldn't be just taking care of me in a few months...

No one knew I was pregnant yet...but I knew they would find out soon enough. The only way they wouldn't know is if I ran away. I would probably hurt more than my mother and father by doing this. I would probably hurt Sanzo.

I picked up the scissors and looked at my long blonde air for the last time. Oh well.

Snip, snip, snip,

It was a pattern that didn't last very long...and anyone could tell. My hair was jagged and uneven. It looked cool though.

Now to dye my hair. I dyed it black and gave it some brown highlights just for fun. And since my eyes were pretty bad I stuck in my blue contacts no one knew about.

When I looked in the mirror, I didn't see Ami. I saw some one totally different. No crown, no jewelry, no big, thick makeup...just a normal person.

I grabbed my bag and jumped out the window. I wouldn't miss this place or anyone in it. Why would I? All that was there was a future decided for you.

I probably walked a gazillion miles because I was far, far, far away from the castle. In the village tough, people were happy and they did what they wanted. Following very minor rules though. I could get used to this...

Plenty of times I asked myself where would I go, but I knew I had nothing to worry about. People smiled at me when I walked by. People...stared at me...like right now...

"Hey girly girl. Where ya headin' to?" This drooling fat guy asked.

"Um...no where..." I said as calmly as I could. I started to walk off but he grabbed my hand.

"So you wouldn't mind coming over my place would you?"

"Of course I would...now will you let go!" I screamed as I tried to pull my hands out of his. "Let go!" Damn he was persistent. What if he had some kind of STD?

I don't know what happened but the next thing I knew, fat guy was on the floor knocked out. I looked up and I saw this amazingly hot guy with red hair and red eyes smiling at me. His arms were in a position showing that he had just punched the fat guy.

I don't know what came over me but I started to cry and I threw myself into his arms. Was I on drugs? What king of girl would do that to someone they didn't know.

He started patting my head and said, "Come on...I can't stand it when girls cry."

"But I'm so ha-ha-ha-happy...!"

"Hey, I'll take you back to your place. Where do you live?"

Dammit! I never considered such a question...maybe I could tell half the truth. "I ran away from my...aunt!"

"Why? What happened?"

I suddenly found ourselves walking. "I guess you could call it abuse..."

"Hmmmm...sounds like some bad shit. So, what are you going to do?"

I shrugged I response. Then we stopped.

"Well...this is the hotel I'm staying at. I'm staying with three other guys. Were with the Sanzo. He's supposed to marry some chick of a princess."

I swallowed hard. I wanted to see what this Sanzo looked like...

"Hey you want to come up?" he asked.

I stared at him for a while. "I don't even know who you are."

"Oh. Sorry. My name is Gojyo. Nice to meet you."

"Well Gojyo I'm Am...Amanda...?" that was a close one...

Well we walked up to his room, and when we opened the door the smell of cigarettes nearly killed me. I actually had to lean against the wall for balance. Gojyo took my hand and pulled me across the room. "Ok, that's Hakkai, Goku, and look, Mr. Sanzo. You can kick him if you want. I glared at him for a while. He glared back at me. I felt this surge of hate towards him. He was the reason I had to break up with my boyfriend that I'll never see again, even though he was the father of my child. He was the reason I ran away, (that's good but still.) and he was the reason I almost got raped. You know what I did want to kick him. But not just any where... I wanted to kick him strait in the balls...

So I did.

Next thing you know there's a Sanzo rolling on the ground in pain. Yay!

"I wasn't serious..." Gojyo said in between laughs.

"Well he deserved it." I mumbled.

Everyone stopped laughing and looked at me. The only thing you could hear was Sanzo rolling on the ground.

"How come?" Goku asked. "You never even met Sanzo...right"

"No, but...he nearly killed me with the smell of cigarettes!"

Sanzo then stood up. "if you don't like it then why are you here?"

"Well she's got nowhere else to go. She ran away from her abusive aunt." Gojyo cut in. "And I was thinking maybe she could travel with us until we came to a town that she might like to stay in..."

"And you're hoping by then that she'll be begging to stay with you right?" Hakkai laughed.

"Wow how'd you know?" Gojyo questioned.

"It won't happen." Sanzo firmly declared. "I already have a wedding to cancel."

"Well I want her too!" Gojyo yelled.

"And I don't!" Sanzo screamed back.

This went on for a while until Hakkai said that the decision was up to me. (Since every one but Sanzo wanted me to come) I wanted get this Sanzo really pissed so I said that I wouldn't mind tagging along.

Sanzo gave me some king of hateful look but who the hell cared. Not me.

The next day we jumped into Hakkai's jeep. I was curious as to where we were going. So I asked.

"The castle. We're already two days late." Hakkai said.

The castle...but...I thought they already went... Dammit!!!!!!