MadiSano: I'm back! Nothing much to say here except that...well...yeah...read and review, I suppose!

CHICKEN LITTLE (continued)

Reluctantly slinking back over to the side of the futon, Megumi again got down on her knees. A moment of silence followed, before Megumi (it'd be the lie of the century to say she wasn't shaking) began to untie Sanosuke's pants.

"Oi! What th'Hell do ya think you're doin'?"

Megumi nearly hit the ceiling in fright when she heard Sanosuke speak. Indeed, the fighter had opened his cloudy brown eyes and was now looking suspiciously at the doctor. "First ya make a fool outta me, hire Kenshin and Yahiko to kidnap me and drag me here—through the rain, it look's like—and now you're stealin' my clothes? Vixen!"

There was surprising anger in his voice. Megumi simply stared at him; Sanosuke glowered right back.

Trying to regain her dignity, Megumi replied, "I'm simply preventing you from contract hypothermia. Of course, a perverted Rooster wouldn't know the difference."

"Well, a Fox wouldn't know the diff'rence between a piece o'the sky and a figment of a Rooster's imagination, ne?" Sanosuke spat, narrowing his eyes in rage.

Megumi fell silent, standing and retrieving thick blankets from a shelf. "I did that for a reason," she said softly, turning around and giving Sanosuke a monotonous look.

"Oh, really?" growled the Rooster, "And that was…?"

Megumi clenched her jaw, unfolded the blankets and flinging them over Sanosuke. She aimed poorly; Sanosuke was covered from head to toe in the fabric. He had to wriggle out and push the blankets downwards with his feet so that he wasn't smothered.

By this time, Megumi had already pulled out a thermometer and jabbed it between Sanosuke's teeth. "There you go," Megumi said, with a rather sneering smile. "Best replacement for a fishbone. Shut up and keep it there for a while, yes?"

Sanosuke wasn't to be evaded. "Answer my question, Kitsune," he growled, with surprising firmness. While waiting for her to reply, Sanosuke played with the thermometer and tipped it upwards so that the little bulb at the end tapped his nose.

Megumi scowled. "I lied because I don't want to deal with the sky right now, okay? Even if we did happen to alert everyone that the sky is falling, there's nothing we can do. Nothing. It would just make more people miserable, Sanosuke, because the world's going to end! All because you got hit in the head by a falling chunk of cloud! That's why I didn't tell Sir Ken, that's why I've changed my mind about helping you. There's nothing that'll do except for ruin what peace Japan has."

Sanosuke continued tapping the bridge of his nose with the thermometer. "B'what if there is somethin' we can do, Kitsune?" he asked softly, amid the device in his mouth. "Somethin' we don't know about?"

"There isn't," Megumi insisted angrily. "The great Sagara Sanosuke can't stop the sky from falling!"

"He can't?" Sanosuke asked, smiling slightly.

Megumi slammed her palm down onto the hardwood floor, glaring at the idiot Rooster-Head. "No. Why, do you have something in mind?" she hissed, looking irate.

"No need t'get so upset, Fox," Sanosuke said, raising an eyebrow. "All's we gotta do is contact them lil' blue elves up there and ask 'em to fix the hole."

Megumi sighed, putting her hand over her eyes in exasperation. "You live in dreams, Sagara Sanosuke. Because of that, you'll never—" She stopped suddenly, stood, and turned on her heel to leave.

"I'll never what?" Sanosuke called after her, gnawing on his thermometer.

Megumi turned to glare at him angrily. "You'll never amount to anything." Megumi then slammed shut the door; causing Sir Kin and Sanosuke to visibly wince.

A little silence ensued, until Sanosuke casually asked the golden fish in the glass of water, "Where'd you come from, anyways?"

Sir Kin glared.

"Ya look like a mean lil' fish." Sanosuke remarked, cracking his neck.

Sir Ken raised a fishy brow.

"S'no wonder Megumi keeps ya as a pet. You keep her most hated patient from ever goin' t'sleep, ne?" commented Sanosuke, snuggling down into the futon.

Sir Ken grinned.

Eyes wide, Sanosuke took a double check to make sure that he really saw what he thought he did. I'll be damned, Sanosuke thought, shocked. That fish is grinnin' at me.

Then Sir Kin began to chuckle.

Sanosuke made a frightened squeaking noise, eyes expanding in terror. Diving beneath the covers, Sanosuke made to hide from the evil, grinning, chortling goldfish. But when it became apparent that the fish was progressing into an evil cackle, Sanosuke screamed in such excessive panic that only a Rooster could perform:

"M-M-M-MEGUMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Megumi was inserting medicine inside a vaccination when she hard Sanosuke's scream. She nearly injected herself when she jumped, but managed to avoid it. Flinging down the shot and the medicine, the rest of her stuff on the table toppled over into one big mess.

"Oh—!" Megumi groaned, hesitating, before turning, and running to Sanosuke's room. This had better be good!

She found Sanosuke huddled under his blankets, trembling excessively. Megumi ripped the blankets from him, and snarled, "What? What? What is it?"

"T-The fish…" was his weak reply, pointing to Sir Kin.

Megumi looked to find Sir Kin glaring back at her with his usual, expressionless gaze. Turning back to Sanosuke, she asked, "What about the fish?"

"It…smiled at me…"

Moaning, Megumi's hands tightened into fists. It took all of her self-control not to smack Sanosuke to the oblivion, and so she said, grinding her teeth, "You screamed like a banshee because a fish smiled at you?"

"Well, yeah." Sanosuke said, frowning at her like Megumi was an idiot.

"YOU FOOL!" Megumi roared in his face. "You know very well that fish DON'T smile! You—You're just doing this to infuriate me! Stop it! Shut up! Go to sleep!"

And with that, Miss Megumi stalked out of the room.

Sanosuke lie there for a few moments, stunned. He was quite shocked by Megumi's outburst, and decided that he'd better do something about it.

"I'd better leave," he mumbled. "I feel fine, now; so…"

Getting up, Sanosuke put on his sopping wet shoes and jacket. After a moment of listening to see if Megumi was nearby, Sanosuke scowled at Sir Kin and said to the fish, "I know you smirked at me, you double-crossing little…thing! Yer comin' with me, 'till I find out how to fix this mess."

Grabbing the fish's jar, Sanosuke leapt out the window in his room, into the freezing rain.

Megumi came into the room seconds after Sanosuke had jumped out his window. Spotting the tail of the white jacket slipping off the sill, Megumi rushed to the aperture, crying, "Sagara Sanosuke! What're you doing?"

"Leavin'!" Sanosuke replied, grinning at the doctor over his shoulder. "See ya, Fox!"

"Get back here!" Megumi howled. Damn it, she thought crossly. Now, I'll have to go and get him!

Megumi rushed out into the main room, grabbing her coat and an umbrella. Before racing out the door, Megumi saw the vaccination she had been working on minutes before. An idea formed in her mind, as a foxy smile spread across her lips.

"Hohohoho," Megumi mumbled, quickly inserting a certain liquid into the injection. She then put the needle into her purse, and, grabbing the umbrella, ran out the door.

It took a few minutes for Megumi to find Sanosuke's trail, but the footprints in the mud were clue enough. She hurried along, fully aware that the pelting rain would diminish the tracks soon.

At last, Sanosuke came in sight, strutting along in the rain like it was the sunniest day of the year. Megumi waited until she was about six feet behind him before yelling, "Chicken Little, get your sorry behind back here before I catch up and kick it!"

The fighter jumped in surprise, halting and turning around to find himself face-to-face with an enraged doctor. "Oi…Kitsune! Ya shouldn't sneak up on people like that."

Seizing his ear without comment, Megumi began dragging the howling, squirming Sanosuke back to the clinic.

"YAAAAAH! WHAT THE FLIP ARE YA DOIN' TO ME, LADY? LEGGO! YER HURTIN' ME! LEGGO!" Sanosuke yelled hysterically, twisting and writhing in Megumi's hold.

Megumi scowled, barking, "You darn well deserve it, and you know it. Shut up."

"LEGGO O'ME, OR I'LL DROP THE FISH!" Sanosuke snarled.

Megumi halted, spotting Sir Kin in his jar, captured securely in Sanosuke's hands. "What? You kidnapped my fish!" Megumi yelped. "Give him to me!"

In attempt to take back the kidnapped goldfish, Megumi released Sanosuke's ear and began grabbing at the jar. Sanosuke held it over his head where Megumi couldn't reach, smirking victoriously.

She hopped up and down, trying to seize Sir Kin. "Stop messing around, you stupid Rooster! Give me Sir Kin!"

"Ya named it, too!" Sanosuke chuckled. "Sir Kin, eh? Your dream boyfriend's a fish?"

"SHUT UP AND GIVE ME THE FISH!" Megumi snarled, closing her umbrella and slamming it over Sanosuke's head with amazing force. The kenkaya blinked in surprise, accidentally dropping the jar.

"NO!" Megumi cried, diving forth and catching the fish in mid-fall.

"MEGUMI!" Sanosuke roared, eyes wide as he leapt to catch the plunging doctor. Unfortunately, the Rooster was unfamiliar with the rule of never trying to catch a fox in the rain when one's shoes are slick with mud. Amid catching Megumi, he slipped and fell flat on his face along with her.

In Megumi's mind, all seemed to go in slow motion as she fell face-first into the mud, grasping Sir Kin's jar firmly in her hands. A sickening squelch echoed in her ears when her torso hit the sludge, and Sanosuke's thunderous yell echoed seconds before his left arm looped around her waist to stop her. His feet fell out from beneath him, and in less than ten seconds—

Sanosuke had fallen right on top of her.

Megumi screamed, gripping Sir Kin's unbroken jar like it was the last solid, trustable thing on the planet. "SANOSUKE NO HENTAAAAAAAAAAAI!"

"Oops…" Sanosuke flushed, quickly getting off of the enraged doctor.

Without thinking, Megumi whirled around, in one swift motion, retrieved and stabbed Sanosuke in the shoulder with her vaccination she had put in her purse. Sanosuke howled in agony as Megumi pushed the medicine in with wicked savor.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Wrenching the needle from Sanosuke's flesh, Megumi was about to make a victorious remark, when she realized that she was no longer holding Sir Kin's jar. "Sir Kin!" she cried, alarmed. "Sir Kin? Where's my fish!"

Turning around, Megumi was horrified to see her fish rolling away down the lane. "MY FISH!" she screamed, beginning to run after it.

However, before Megumi could begin the chase, Sanosuke grabbed her arms from behind, holding her back. "Let me go, you idiot!" Megumi snarled. "I've got to go save my fish!"

"What…did you stick me with?" Sanosuke panted, clutching his arm where he had been speared.

Megumi paused, replying, "Tranquilizer. I hope."

"WHAT?" Sanosuke shouted, horrified. "YOU STUCK ME WITH TRANQUILIZER, WOMAN?"

Scowling, Megumi said, "Are you deaf or what? That's what I just said! Now let me go, I have to save Sir Kin!"

"If I don't get back to the clinic, I'll fall over right here in the street!" Sanosuke objected. "Then you'll have to carry me back, and I don't see how that's possible! I weigh more than I look, y'know."

"Then run back to the clinic by yourself!" Megumi ordered. "You'd better be lying asleep on your futon when I get back, or I'll pluck your tail feathers, Chicken Little!"

She then took off after the amok fish in the jar, leaving Sanosuke in the mud.

"KITSUNE! W-WAIT!"

Sanosuke stood in the rain, slack-jawed as he watched the muddy doctor flee from his sight. She's gone…

Feeling his vision waver, Sanosuke turned around to stumble his way back to the not-so-far clinic.

MadiSano: Hehehehe...that was fun...I feel bad for Sanosuke, though...stuck with a needle with such evil force...(shudders)...actually, had he been stuck with tranquilizer he would have conked out immediately. Ja ne!