Yuki is Meg's knight in shinning armor in this chapter xD not literally. She explains to them why she moved into the tree house, and they invite her to live w. them, so weither you want to read it or not, it's your choice, not mine.

Recap:

"Ohayo Meghan" Yuki said, nudging the man next to him, who Meghan saw was his uncle, as he looked from one to the other, a smirk on his face. "May I ask what brings you by?"

Chapter 12: The Promise I made

"Oh, I live around here…" she said softly, their eyes widening. They looked at each other then back at her, their gaze softening.

"We see" said the uncle. "Oh, and I am Sato Avalon, I don't believe I said the last time we met" he said, bowing.

"I should be getting to work… I'm late as it is" she said, bowing. "I'll see you tomorrow Yuki" she then started at a run, realizing she'd be late. She stopped as she reached the end of the hill; she'd forgotten her cell phone in the tree house. She started running quickly back towards it, not aware she passed a dog and a mouse on the way. They started to follow her, as she jumped into a tree and started climbing up, all the way to the top. They watched, rooted to the spot, as she jumped down, flipping before she hit the earth. She landed in a crouching positon, sighing to herself.

"I can't believe I forgot my cell again…" she said, looking up at the sky. "… and I can't believe Yuki lives so close" she said, shutting her eyes, letting herself fall against the ground. "Oyyy. I'm gunna be in so much trouble for missing work…"

The dog and mouse/rat approached her, looking down at her a little shocked, yet with envy. "Oh, hello there!" she said, shooting up and petting both of them. She took the rat in her hands and looked at him. "You remind me of someone" she smiled, laughing slightly. She stood up, and started running again, towards the end of the hill, having put the rat back down.

It was late at night; she'd have to say at least 10, when she started back, towards the tree house. She was walking on the right side of the street, not seeing the group of men in front of her.

"Hey doll" one of them said, grabbing Meghan by the wrist as she passed. She spun around, trying to hit him, but one of his friends caught her wrist. "We like them feisty" the man smirked as they pushed her to the ground in the ally they'd been blocking. One of the flicked out a knife as he towered over Meghan, fear freezing her to the spot.

He placed the knife at the top of her blouse, then pulled downward, causing her to scream; the knife sliced the buttons off her blouse, a wind blowing by causing it to blow backwards. The man leaned over her, his hands flying towards her breasts.

Yuki, who had been walking back from a resturaunt, heard her scream and ran across the street, recognizing it. He pulled the man off of her, slamming him against the wall, punching him. He grabbed Meghan and started to run down the ally, but they were cornered. Meghan hopped onto the trashcan next to them, holding out a hand towards him, her legs shakey. They started to climb up a fire escape, until the reached the roof, in which they started to run across them, jumping to the next and so on. They looked back, seeing the man and his gang chasing after them, suddenly stopping as they came to the edge of the last one.

"Do you trust me?" Yuki asked her, holding out a hand. She nodded, taking it and they both jumped, down into the river that flowed benieth them (xD) They plunged into the ice cold water, the moonlight shinning down at them. They floated down the river, until Yuki started swimming them both over to the shore. Yuki was bent over, coughing as Meghan lay on her back, looking up at the sky, having coughed her share already.

She looked over at him, then slowly crawled to his side. "Yuki? Thank you for saving me" she said, kissing his cheek. His eyes widened in shock, surprised she's just kissed him on the cheek. There was a sudden puff of smoke as Yuki disappeared from beside her, a rat appearing in his place.

"Oh no! What've I done!" she said, histerically looking around for Yuki. She stopped, her eyes wide as she looked down at the rat. "I saw you earlier…" she said, cradalling the rat in her hands again. There was a another sudden poof of smoke as Meghan blushed, turning away as she saw a male form towering over her, a certain area showing up in her face. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" she said, as they laughed; I know that voice she said, turning around, looking up at the face, ignoring the rest of the body in front of her

"Yuki!" she said, shocked.

He quickly put his shirt, boxers and pants back on. "Well, the cat's out of the bag Meg. For the both of us huh?" he said, leaning down next to her. He looked into her eyes, piercing her gaze as she silently gulped as he scooped her up.

"Hey! Put me down Yuki!" she said, flustered.

He mearly laughed, then looked down at her. "Not until this is all explained"

They reached the house not to long later, to find Sato on the pourch looking up, and then suddenly his eyes widening as he saw them approaching, Meghan held in Yuki's arms. "Do I need to know something?" he said, clambering up.

"No!" they both said, as Yuki let her down. She started to spin on the spot, before falling against Yuki, this time he was ready. He caught her, then sighed. "She has a cold I think" he said, feeling her head.

He took her up to his room, where he laid her on his bed, getting a shirt from his closet and placing it over her, leaving her bra attatched, but tossing the rags of her shirt. She watched him, her vision blurry, flushed.

"Y-Yuki?" she said through the cover which he'd pulled just to under her nose, her hands on the edge of it. He turned to her, smiling. She blushed, glad that there was already some so it didn't show. "I wanted to t-thank you… for s-saving me. And th-this" she said, smiling from under the covers. He smiled at her as well, leaning down and kissing her forehead.

"Anytime. Tomorrow though, you're going to start explaining why you live in a tree house" he said seriously. She nodded as her eyes started to close slowly, Yuki's figure still leaning next to her.

Her eyes slowly opened, the chirping of birds filling her ears and the sun shinning in her eyes causing her to squint. She sat up, rubbing her eyes as she remember last night.

"I see you're awake" said a voice from behind her; Yuki was sitting against the wall, reading a book.

"Y-Yuki!" she said, blushing slightly. "Thank you again" she said, bowing as she looked away from him. He smiled as he got up and sat down next to her.

"So, time to explain Meghan" he said, an eye brow raised up as he looked to her. She hugged her knees to her chest as she looked over at him, blushing still. He put an arm around her, forcing her to lean against him, although she wanted to. She started to explain how the cousins were having a child, so they had to renovate. She then said how she couldn't burden them, and so decided to live on her own, after finding the tree house one day while trying to get a bird back in it's nest.

That would explain why she's been working twice as much he thought. "But Meg, it's no burden at all!" he said, looking into her eyes. She looked away, as he continued "in fact, Sato and I have decided you should live here with us, after of course he finished laughing about seeing you live in a tree house… but on the condition that you add a woman's touch to the place" he smiled as she looked up at him.

"Thank you Yuki. But that doesn't explain why you turned into a rat yesterday!" she said, sitting up straight.

He knew it was his turn to explain and just sighed. He started to explain that his family was under a curse of living the lives of the thirteen zodiac, although he had to explain about the cat. She nodded as she started to understand, although she asked "Then, why did you change last night, but never before when I hugged you or anything, if you react to the opposite sex?"

"It's because it only happens when I'm caught off guard. Last night, you kissed me out of no where, which shocked me, causing the reaction. The rest of the times though, I was on full alert, so it didn't surprise me at all each time you hugged me and stuff" he said, running a hand through his hair.

"I see" she said, nodding her head. "but still, I can't except your offer. I would be a burden, I know it" she said, looking away.

He looked at her, disappointed. "No you wouldn't Meghan. You just have to be yourself, and it's not like you wouldn't be 'paying' to stay. We'd give you shelter, for your cooking and cleaning. It's a fair deal. And besides, I promised both your grandparents I'd protect you before they died" he said, taking her into his arms. Her eyes widened in shock. She weakly nodded her head as she leaned against him, hearing Sato singing downstairs, causing them both to laugh. "Well, we already brought your stuff here. Their in a spare bed room down the hall" he smiled, picking her up.

He carried her to her new room where he placed her on the knee-high bed which had already been in there. They'd taken the liberty of taking her pink sheets from the old house and placing it on the bed, so it looked like the last one. She smiled at him as they looked at each other. "So, where do I begin?"

While Yuki and Sato left for the day, to go see someone, Meghan was left alone to clean the house. She sighed as she started taking out the garbage that filled the kitchen, then scrubbed and swept the rooms, until each was sparkling.

"Wow. I never knew our house could shine like this" Yuki said from the kitchens doorway, smiling at Meghan as she began stirring something. She smiled at him as he walked towards her, kissing her neck lightly, causing her to blush.

"Where's Sato?" she asked, noticing he hadn't come in.

"He just had to stay back for a while" Yuki said, looking around. "I never knew we even had pots and pans. Guess it was buried under all this?" she nodded, as she said dinner was ready. They sat down at the table, as they began eating in silence. "I've only tasted your lunches, but I have to say Meg, you're a good cook" Yuki smiled.

"Th-Thanks" she said, blushing. He smiled as they continued to eat.

A/N: Comments, Questions, Concerns of any kind?