MEGUMI

I was blissfully dreaming about my kiss with Sanzo when I heard the door open. Being a heavy sleeper I normally wouldn't have noticed it but, with kana being sick…I stayed closer to reality that usual.

"Kana-chan? Is that you?" I asked rolling over.

"Yeah it's me" she said. "I just went to get some ice for my throat"

"I was just gonna suggest that, you sound awful"

"pee-sha!" kana waved her hand like she was rich. We both laughed as she crawled back into bed. She snuggled under the covers and looked at me with her big, brown eyes. No matter how old she got her eyes where always as big as baseballs.

"What's- or should I say- who's on your mind megu-chan" she said pulling the blankets over her shoulder.

"I'll give you one guess -" I smiled.

"Does he just happen to be asleep in the room next to our own?"

"Mmm-hm!" I blushed slightly. Kana giggled and closed her eyes. "Tired?"

"Nya" she sighed and fell asleep. I couldn't help but let my mind wander to the night we met…

"I WILL NEVER MARRY HIM!" megumi yelled as she slammed the door in her step-mother's face. She was like Cinderella. An evil stepmother and 2 evil stepsisters. After her father's death, the evil stepmother had made it very clear that Megumi must have a fiancée by the time she graduate's high school. She had picked out the biggest jerk in all of Japan. Megumi ran away the night after she met him. It was cold and raining that night, and she had barely mad it two blocks from her house when she heard the faint sound of crying in an alley as she walked. She stepped into the alley and asked if someone was there.

"Hello? Are you alright" she asked taking a few more steps into the alley. Despite her better judgment, she walked to the back of the alley. The whimpering continued

"wh-who's there?" a small, shaking voice asked. As her eyes began to adjust to the lack of light Megumi saw a small girl with BIG brown eyes. She examined the girl and saw that she was only wearing pj's and was covered from head to toe in something red.

"Don't worry" Megumi said softly, leaning down to try and help the girl "I promise I wont hurt you"

"Who are you?" the girl asked again. She was shaking so hard the rain barely had a chance to stick to her skin.

"I'm Megumi. What's that on you?" Megumi took a tissue from her bag and tried to wipe off the red stuff, but the girl pulled away.

"No don't touch me" her eyes seemed to get wider, if that was possible. "It'll stain your hands" her voice shook with each word.

"What's your name?"

"k-kanaka" a t this she started to sob. "It's all my fault" kanaka cried into her hands. For some reason a new broadcast Megumi had seem that morning. 2 people, a father and his son had both been killed a day before.

"You're Kanaka Kusanaki, aren't, you?" it was now Megumi's turn to be shock as the girl nodded

"Please don't take me to the police, please" she begged.

"I won't, you've been through enough"

"h-how do you know?"

"- let's just say, I have a gift"

Megumi took kanaka with her to a near by hotel, where they both took a long, hot bath, ate and fell asleep. Megumi would later tell kanaka about her brother's ghost and from there, things only got better for the two.

I woke up the next day to bright sun and the smell of coffee. Kana was no where to be seen, but I could hear slight conversation in the next room.

"You're finally up"

Megumi rolled over and saw Sanzo sitting at the table by the window; reading his paper and indulging in a coffee and a morning cigarette. I sat up groggily and pushed back the covers.

"Have you been watching me sleep?" I asked

"More like listened to you sleep, you snore louder that Goku"

"Nnnnnn that's only when I start to wake up."

"Hm, get over here and have some coffee" he demanded

"And if I don't want to?" he paused, looking skeptically over the rim of his glasses.

"I'll go get Gojyo and-" I was up and out of bed, sitting across from him before he could finish the sinister sentence. I sipped the coffee and it warmed me up. After setting down my cup I looked over at Sanzo. He was looking out the window, and I noticed he had his hair pulled back into a little pony tail. I stood up and walked behind him.

"Uhm, what are you doing?" he asked

"It's not my fault that you fun to annoy" I said as I played with his hair