a/n: it's wednesday! which means update! which means u better review! or there won't be this weekly update! okies, this chapter is a part 1 to the blind date, because, well the whole thing was just too much and i wanted to make u wait, tee hee...

disclaimer: standard discalimers apply

Chapter 9: Blind Date? (Hidden Camera; Weasel Vision)

Sano stared at Kaoru in utter disbelief. She was on his phone, talking with Misao. From what he gathered, she was going to be the arranger.

"Great! I need it to be sometime this week, maybe Friday? I know that it's kind of short notice, but can you do it?"

Sano didn't want to know the answer. Either way he knew it was going to be a disaster. This was supposed to strengthen their relationship, not kill it, but he thought that was exactly what was going to happen. He heard Kaoru give a shriek of joy and knew that it was done. He had a date Friday night. He vaguely wondered if Megumi would react to him when she saw him the same way that she had at the club. He was going to try not to argue with her, but… she always provoked him.

He shook his head and shut out the rest of the conversation and headed towards his room and shut the door with a soft click. He flipped on his PS2, and thought about the whole situation as he looked through his enormous collection of games. He knew that he and Megumi were not on best terms when they were actually together, but when she had no idea who he was, things went great. Finally pulling out Resident Evil 4, he replayed what he'd heard of Kaoru's conversation with Misao. Blind date. The word was no where near foreign to him, seeing as he'd been on plenty in his days, but they'd never been successful. He unwound his controller as he sat down.

He could still hear Kaoru's loud voice as he giggled about something that Misao had said. He rolled his eyes and continued with his game until he heard her put the phone down rather hard in her excitement. She was at his door, hand poised to knock when he opened the door. She squealed happily and danced in place. He took it that Misao had said yes. She dragged him into the living room to explain before she left.

"Okay, here's what's going to happen," Kaoru started, "Misao's gonna force Megumi to go on this date. And then, you're going to hit off, and it'll all be great!"

"I don't know… I mean, it really isn't a blind date if we know each other is it?"

"It is if you don't know who it is you're going with! I've been set up on blind dates with both Kenshin and Aoshi, but… Aoshi met Misao the next day and Kenshin, well he just isn't interested in me…"

"Um…" He didn't quite know how to respond to that one.

"Doesn't matter! You! Let's pick out clothes for Friday night!"

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Misao was so giddy she could barely contain her giggles as she drove over to Megumi's place; it was a lot easier to convince Megumi if you could give her the puppy eyes. Her radio was blasting as she tapped her fingers on the steering wheel to the beat at a red light. She closed her eyes in total excitement and it wasn't until the car behind her beeped it's horn that she jolted back to reality and sped off.

She ran all the way up to the steps once she got there and proceeded to ring the door bell more times than was necessary. She was met with a disgruntled fox lady who looked like she'd been trying to catch up on the hours of sleep her job cost her. She threw the door open and signaled Misao to come bouncing in. She grabbed Megumi's hand and raced over to the couch, dragging her friend after her.

"Misao! What's the big idea!" Megumi demanded.

"You've got a date! Friday night!"

"What!"

"That's right! I've arranged a wonderful blind date for you on Friday!" she informed her happily.

"No! Absolutely not!"

"It's already arranged though!" Misao whined. "Do you want to stand you're date up?"

Megumi stared at her, thinking of earlier how she'd stood up 'Mr. Right.' She shook her head and reluctantly agreed.

"Great!"

"Is that why you're over here?"

"Yup yup! I got to go now, but I'll be coming over later to coordinate your outfit!" Misao sang as she danced out the door.

Megumi shook her head and shut the door behind her. A date, huh? She was stupid to accept she thought, but that damned guilt trip Misao put her on… It wasn't fair! She headed back to bed and tried to get a few more hours of sleep before she had to go in for her night shift. The hospital rarely requested that she work the night shift, so she'd said she would. She yawned and slept away her free time…

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"Misao!" Kaoru yelled, running over when she saw her. "What're you doing here?"

"Megumi has nothing to wear," she explained. "So I had to drag her here."

"No way… Because that happened with Sano… and…" The two looked over to the food court in the spacious mall to see them arguing.

"Why do I always have to run into you!"

"I'm sorry! God, I didn't mean to walk into you! It was an accident!" Sano was trying to apologize over Megumi's shrieking.

"Yo-You're sorry? As in, it wasn't a purposeful act meant to piss me off?"

"Positive."

"Megumi!" Misao called, trying to distract her, thinking that they were still arguing. "Look who's here!"

"K-Kaoru," Megumi said, jogging over to get out of her uncomfortable position with Sano.

"I can't stay long… I, uh, have to get home. I'm expecting a call." Kaoru fumbled for an answer without giving herself away.

She waved behind her as she took off towards the nearest exit, nodding to Sano as she did, meeting his eyes briefly, trying to tell him that she'd meet him in the parking lot. He nodded his head and she hoped that he would use a different exit than she did because if he didn't, Megumi might figure it out; she was weird like that. She sighed in relief when she saw him go in the opposite direction. Checking the exit sign, she groaned when she realized she'd parked in the opposite lot. Sano would get there a lot faster than she would.

"Where you been, Jou-chan?" Sano asked her when she arrived fifteen minutes later at her car.

"On the other side of the building," she shot back, ushering him into her car. "This time, we're going to a less popular mall, but one with good stores, non the less, so we don't run into Megumi and Misao again."

"Right." He'd learned that it was just easier to agree with whatever she said, because every time he argued, he ended up doing what she'd intended anyway.

They drove in silence, Kaoru's radio having been ripped out of her car last time her little brother had ridden with her as a result of too many eighties songs being played on her favorite station. Kaoru watched as Sano absently stared out the passenger window while they waited at a red light. She sighed, wishing he would say something; she had a hard time dealing with the quiet. She desperately wished that Yahiko hadn't torn out her radio after she'd been singing along rather loudly to The Buggles. Now the radio star really was dead… at least in her car.

"So…" she started, needing conversation. "Do you have any idea what you're going to say to her to break the ice?"

"No. Maybe something like… Fancy meeting you here! Misao must really hate us!"

"No! Come on, you're trying improve this! Not kill it!"

"We'd have a good laugh, though," he pointed out.

"I forbid you. Start with something like… How lucky I am, to have a date with such a pretty girl. Or something like that! Make sure you flatter her," she advised.

"Like she wouldn't know that it was just a bunch of pretty words," he muttered sarcastically.

"I'm telling you, she likes to be told she's pretty. I guess it's her way of knowing she's still got it." Kaoru shrugged.

"I'm not going to open up the date with that!"

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"Well… would you look at that? I sure am a lucky guy! I get to dine with such a gorgeous woman," Sano said as he pulled out Megumi's chair.

"Y-You? And… you think I'm pretty?"

"Ever since I saw you," he confessed quietly. She stared at him for a moment before flipping her hair over her shoulder. She laughed haughtily and then chose to respond.

"Ohohohoho! Gorgeous, am I?"

"More than you know."

"Ohohohoho!"

Sano silently thanked god that he'd taken Kaoru's advice on how to open up the date because it seemed to be working. They hadn't argued once yet and they were already five minutes in. Megumi was still laughing as he picked up a menu and casually looked over. Everything was so expensive… and Kaoru was making him pay. Good thing he'd brought he wallet… or did he? He frantically patted his pockets and dumbly realized that he'd left it at home when he had been in such a hurry to leave.

He glanced at Megumi in a panic, hoping she hadn't noticed. If he could just get home real fast… He excused himself to go the bathroom while her laughter died down. He stood up and tried to calmly walk to the restrooms, but he failed miserably as he kept shooting nervous looks around the room.

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Kaoru smacked her palm to her forehead as she sat hiding behind a large plant with Misao. She pointed to Sano as she explained what had likely happened, knowing Sano and his habits.

"You saw how he was checking all his pockets, right? As if he was looking for something? I bet he left his wallet at home and you know that that is a major no-no when on a date with Meg…"

"Oh boy… Listen, I'll ambush him on his way out of the bathroom and give him my credit card, just make sure that you get it back from him," Misao said, searching through her purse.

"Go get him…"

Misao managed to get up unnoticed by Megumi as she made her way towards where Sano had disappeared. She leaned casually against the wall beside the exit as she waited for him to exit. After about three minutes of waiting in extreme boredom, he emerged. She grabbed his arm to stop him from walking right by her and shoved the card in his hand.

"You're lucky we're looking out for you, rooster! This is only a loan, so you'd better give this back to either me, or Kaoru!" she snapped, shoving him off towards his table. "Now get back to your date!"

Sano stumbled back, not really sure what had just happened, only knowing that he now had a way to pay for dinner. He gave Megumi a broad grin as he sat down again, observing her for the first time really. He'd already complimented her beauty, but he hadn't really thought of it at the time. She always looked beautiful to him. It was perhaps the first time he'd seen her with her hair up. It was pulled up into an elegant bun with soft curls falling around her face creating a sort of ebony frame. Sure she'd had her hair loosely knotted off at the ER, but it wasn't like this. She was more than simply 'pretty.' She was stunning. Her lips were the same ruby color that they always were, but it was accompanied this time with a light coat of blush, just enough to draw attention to herself, but not enough to be overkill.

She gave him a smile as well, trying her best not to scold him about his red headband. She decided that it wasn't exactly the best way to show him that she was trying to be on her absolute best behavior. She'd secretly fallen in love with his eye color, but had chosen not to say anything, lest she give him false hope; she only saw this date as something to improve their social skills when around each other. She liked 'Mr. Right' and she didn't want to ruin that by having Sano think she was really dating him.

She picked up her glass of wine and sipped it delicately, watching as he tried to figure out what to order. She gently suggested that he should just get the fish fry as she was and promised that it was excellent for she'd had it before when she had went there with Kaoru. He'd given her another bone melting smile before agreeing. She really didn't know what was wrong with her and decided to make things right by asking about the headband finally.

"Why did you wear that ratty old thing?" she asked, pointing to it.

"This happens to be something that my older brother sent me before he went off to fight in the military," he answered somewhat detached. "Souzo was a good brother… he was all I had."

Immediately she felt awful for asking after he'd vaguely implied that his brother was no longer of this world. She looked down at her black pointed toe heels before turning the conversation away from that subject, although she did utter a small 'I'm sorry.'

"You know Misao, then, of course… how?"

"Through Kenshin, of course," he told her. She sighed. Everything was through Kenshin.

"She's been doing this to me ever since she started dating that guy who plays guitar. I don't know his name, just that he's a total ice block."

"You mean Aoshi," she said lightly. "He's been dating Misao since last spring."

"That seems about right… That's about when she started harassing me about it," Sano agreed.

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Misao smiled wickedly, stealing a glance at Kaoru who had her own grin in place, as she pulled out a small, portable camera.

"It's show time…"