D/C: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

Hello! I'm back! Sorry for the long wait but I had exams and I absolutely couldn't write a thing! Two months of exams! Can you imagine that? Well, anyway, school's over now and so…no more long waits! YAY! Anyway, I'll shut up now and let you get on with the story, okay? Enjoy!

Chapter 7:

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep!

Megumi pulled the bed sheet over her head in order to block out the shrill beeping of her alarm clock, but it was no use. The beeping was particularly drilling a hole through her head. She blindly reached out for the clock.

She found it. 'Shut up already!' she snapped, slamming her hand down on the button. The alarm fell silent. Feeling disgruntled, she raised herself up in the bed. 'I hate mornings.'

'Really? Mornings happen to be my favorite time of day…why do hate them?'

'Well, because they basically tell me to get the hell out of…' Megumi said, and paused. She looked around and saw Sano lying on the bed next to her. 'EEEEEEK!' She grabbed her pillow and started whacking him with it. 'What the hell are you doing in my bed? Get out! Out!'

'But, Miss Takani!' Sano whined, blocking the pillow with his arms. 'I came to you at night and asked if I could sleep next to you because I was really scared…and you said yes!'

Holding the pillow tightly against her chest, Megumi blinked. She had just remembered that this was not the 21 year old Sano she was talking to. 'I…I did?' she said, confused. 'But…I don't even remember!'

'I swear I'm not making this up, Miss Takani! I had a nightmare and came to your room and I asked you if I could sleep next to you…and you said yes! Twice!' he said earnestly. He was looking really frantic now.

'Well…maybe I did,' Megumi agreed. She massaged her temples. 'But the thing is…Sanosuke, it's wrong for the two of us to sleep next to each other…I mean, I know you're a kid, but your body…um…it's just not right, okay?'

'I'm sorry, Miss Takani,' he murmured, his head bent.

Megumi smiled and ruffled his hair. 'It's okay…but don't do it again, alright?' she said, and he nodded vigorously. He was smiling again. 'Now go freshen up a bit so we can have breakfast together, okay?'

'Okay!' he said happily. He scrambled out of the bed and hurried out of the room.

Megumi didn't get out of bed. She just couldn't seem to relax her grip on the pillow. Even though she knew that this wasn't really the Sano she had fallen in love with, that didn't change the fact that he still had his body…and to have him sleeping next to her on the bed. Megumi's face flushed red with embarrassment as she tried to imagine what she might've possibly acted in bed last night. She hoped against hope that she hadn't held him or something. Sighing in exasperation, she climbed out of the bed, pulled on her robe and shuffled in her bare feet to the bath room. She studied her image in the bathroom's mirror.

'Don't I look absolutely peachy?' she mumbled as she scowled at her messed up hair and at the creases which covered her hair. Muttering under her breath, she grabbed her tooth brush and paste…and stuck the brush in her mouth. She was almost about done when Sano burst into the room.

'S-sanosuke, what's wrong?' she said, her voice muffled due to the all the foam in her mouth.

'Miss Takani! It's eight thirty now!' he cried frantically. 'I'm late for school!'

'Wha…?' she said. This was going to be a long day…

-

Sano stirred the contents of his cereal bowl with his spoon for a while, before looking up at Megumi, who was sitting across from him at the table, drinking coffee as she read the morning paper. 'So…I don't have to go to school?' Sanosuke asked doubtfully.

Megumi laughed and put down her paper. 'Of course not,' she assured him. 'You're not really a nine-year-old, remember? You're actually twenty one…and people of your age do not go to junior school.'

'So…where do I go, then?' he asked. 'University?'

'Yeah, that's where big boys like you go,' she told him.

Sano became excited all of a sudden. 'So, you mean, I can go to University? Can I go now? Can you come with me? Which University do you go to?' he asked her all this in a rush.

'Whoa, easy!' Megumi exclaimed, holding up her hands as if to ward him off. 'First of all, no…you can't go to your university at the moment because the things they teach there will be too difficult for your understanding and you'll end wasting your time there…or maybe worse…second, even if you could go, I wouldn't be able to come with you because my university is different than yours…and more importantly, I don't go there anymore because I'm working at the moment, remember?'

'Yeah!' he exclaimed. He smacked his forehead. 'You became a doctor, right! How could I forget? But…what kind of doctor did you become?'

'Why don't you go ahead and make a guess?' she asked him.

'Did you become…a children's doctor?' he asked slowly. Megumi smiled and nodded. Sano's face immediately lit up. 'Really? That's great! So, this means, if I get sick you'll be able to treat me?'

Megumi cocked her head to one side. It was true that he was a kid at heart, but his body was that of an adult. 'I really don't know if I could…' she murmured, and Sano's face slightly drooped. '…but I'll try my best, so don't you worry!' Sano beamed. 'Now, how about I finish my coffee so we can go to work?'

Sano's eyes were as wide as tea saucers. 'I can come along?' he gasped.

'You sure can!' she assured him. 'You didn't think I was going to leave you here all by yourself, did you? Now finish your cereal…you don't want me to be late, do you?'

Sano shook his head before starting to gulp down his cereal. Megumi smiled.

-

'Okay, here, I wrote down a prescription and you can take it to the hospital's pharmacy. You'll be able to find the medicine there.'

'Yes, thank you, Dr. Takani.'

'It was my pleasure. Take care of yourself, Jimmy!'

Smiling, Megumi waved the father and his son out of the room. She picked up her notepad and jotted down some notes about the case she had just dealt with. She left the examination room. She looked down the corridor and spotted Sanosuke, sitting on a chair outside some room. Amused, she watched as the nurse standing next to him flirted with him. Sano looked really embarrassed. He wasn't even looking at the nurse, and only responded to her by shaking or nodding his head. Finally, she decided it was too much for him and headed to his rescue.

'There you are, Sanosuke!' she exclaimed, causing both the nurse and Sano to look around. Sano jumped at her sight, looking absolutely relieved. 'I was looking for you.'

The nurse was watching them closely. 'A friend of yours, Dr. Takani?' she asked casually.

'Yes, Sano is a really good friend of mine,' Megumi replied, smiling. 'Now, if you'll excuse us, Kim, I promised Sano I'll have lunch with him today.'

She offered the nurse a small wave, then she grabbed Sano's hand and dragged him down the corridor. When they were a good distance away from her, Megumi burst out laughing.

'It's not funny, Miss Takani!' Sano protested. 'That woman was creeping me out! Why was she talking to me like that?'

'Well, maybe you haven't taken a good look at yourself in the mirror, Sanosuke, but you are quite good-looking,' she told him. 'She was talking to you like that because she liked the way you looked, you know?'

'Did that happen with me all the time…I mean, before I lost…my memory?' Sano said quietly. It seemed to really bug him that he wasn't able to remember anything.

Megumi squeezed his arm affectionately. 'Of course! I mean, I don't know for sure, but I don't think any girl would be able to take a look at you and not at least say that you're cute or something.'

Sano blushed. 'Um…and what about you, Miss Takani?' he asked softly. 'What did you think when you first saw me?'

Megumi blinked. 'Uh…me?' she replied. 'I…of course I thought you were good-looking…I'd be lying to myself if I said otherwise.'

Sano smiled. 'Thank you,' he murmured. 'Um…I think you're really pretty, too, Miss Takani.'

It was Megumi's turn to blush now. She looked up at him. 'Thank you, Sanosuke, that's very sweet of you to say,' she said. She realized she was staring and looked away. 'Um…we've reached the cafeteria.'

'Let me get the door for you,' Sano offered. He hurried to the hospital's cafeteria's door and held the door open for her.

Megumi raised her eyebrows slightly. 'Why…aren't you the perfect gentleman!' she said, bemused. Sano blushed again. Megumi walked in through the open door. 'Thank you.'

Sano nodded his head and went in after her. They found themselves a table and moments later the waiter brought them both menus. Megumi studied her menu carefully, while Sano went quickly over his. Finally, Megumi put her menu down.

'Okay, so what shall you order, Sano?' she asked.

Sano hesitated for a moment. 'Um…don't they have burgers here or something?' he asked timidly.

'Oh, did you want burgers for lunch today?' she asked him, and he nodded. 'Well…we can fix that. I'm afraid the burgers they serve here aren't that good…but tell you what? There's a very good fast food restaurant next to the hospital…why don't we go there?'

'Really?' he said. 'But I don't want to trouble you, Miss Takani…'

'No, it's no trouble at all,' she assured him. She got up from her chair. 'Okay, let's get going before my lunch break is over.'

'Okay!' he exclaimed happily.

They got up and left the restaurant together. Megumi took Sano's hand in hers and led him down the corridor and to the exit. Sano was silent the whole time, but she could still feel his eyes on the back of her head. She wondered what was going on inside his mind at the moment. Was he wondering about her? Was he wondering about them? Megumi looked around at him and caught him staring. He flushed a deep shade of red and looked away guiltily. Megumi smiled.

'Hey, we got to the restaurant,' she told him after a while. They went into the restaurant and headed to the counter. 'You can order anything you like…as for myself, I'll have a beef burger.'

'Really? That's what I was going to choose! It's my favorite!' he exclaimed.

Megumi smiled at him. 'Alright then,' she said, and turned to the waiter behind the counter. 'Can we have two beef burgers, please?'

'Will you eat here or do you want it as take-away?' the waiter asked.

'We'll eat here…is that okay with you, Sano?' she asked him, and he nodded.

'Okay…that will be…nine dollars in total,' the waiter informed her.

Megumi started to pull her purse out of her pocket. 'Okay…just a second, let me just…' she said.

'Here you go,' Sano suddenly said, and Megumi looked up to see him handing the man a ten dollar bill.

'No! Sano, you don't have to pay, it's okay; I'll pay for both of us!' she said quickly. She couldn't have a nine-year-old pay for her lunch…that wasn't right!

'But I want to pay for this lunch, Miss Takani,' he replied. 'I want do something for you…paying for your lunch is the least I can do.'

'Here's your change,' said the waiter.

Sano took the change from him and turned to Megumi. 'Shall we go find a table now?' he asked her.

Megumi couldn't help but feel that she was slowly getting the old Sano back.

-

'Well, we had fun today, didn't we?'

'Yup!'

Megumi smiled as she took off her coat and hung it on the wooden peg next to the door. It was nine o'clock now and they had just returned home. It had been a good day. Sano had been exceptionally sweet the whole time; everyone at the hospital loved him. Of course, Megumi had explained his condition to anyone to save him from another run in with a young nurse.

'Well, you don't mind if I go take a shower now, do you?' she asked.

'No, of course not,' he replied, shaking his head. 'I'll just watch some TV until you finish.'

'Right…and when I'm done we'll have dinner together, okay?' she said.

'Okay!' he agreed.

'I promise I won't take long!' she told him, before turning on her heels and heading for the staircase.

She went up to her room, slipped her clothes off of her and went into the bathroom. She turned the hot water on and got into the tub. It felt so good to just sit there in the water and wash off all the day's work. She would've stayed in the tub a lot longer if it weren't for a nine-year-old Sanosuke sitting down in the living room waiting for her, and she didn't like to keep him waiting.

She got out of the tub and dried herself. She put on her PJs, ran a comb quickly through her hair and left the room. She headed downstairs.

'Sano!' she called. 'Sanosuke, I'm done showering!'

To her surprise, he didn't answer her calls. Frowning, she headed to the living room. She popped her hand inside. 'Sano, listen to this, maybe we should order…' she started, but stopped when she realized Sano wasn't there. 'Sano?'

Frowning, she looked down the corridor. 'Sano?' she said. That's when she noticed the light coming out of one of the open doors down the corridor. 'Sanosuke, are you there?'

She headed catiously towards the room. She got to the room and looked inside. She gasped. There, propped up against the wall opposite the door, was a mini shrine…for Sano's dad. But what made her gasp was the fact that Sano was kneeling there in front of the shrine…he was kneeling there when he wasn't even supposed to know that his father was dead. He was supposed to think that his father was away on a business trip.

'Sano…' she said softly.

'There was nothing on the TV…all the cartoon channels were gone…so I decided to check out the rooms in the house…and I found this room,' Sano choked. He turned to look at Megumi with a tear-stained face. 'Why didn't you tell me my father was dead?'

'Oh, Sano! I didn't want to make you feel upset! I'm sorry!' she cried, hurrying to his side. She wrapped her arms around him. 'I'm sorry…I didn't mean to hide it from you…I'm so sorry, Sano…'

'You lied to me,' he choked.

'No, Sano, I didn't lie to you, please don't say that...I just didn't want you to get hurt,' she said, pleadingly. 'Sano…please stop crying…please…it hurts me to see you crying…'

'My father's dead,' he sobbed.

'Sano, look at me,' she said softly. She cupped his face between her hands and turned him towards her. 'Listen to me…I know your father's dead and I'm sorry about that…but you're a big boy; you shouldn't cry…'

'But…' he choked.

Megumi wiped his tears away from his face. 'I know, Sano, it must hurt like anything; I know because I, too, lost my family,' she whispered. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck. 'But what you should know is that…no matter what happens…you have to know that I will always be there for you…I will always be by your side…you don't have to worry about being alone…I won't leave you…because I…I really love you, Sanosuke.'

-

A/N: There! I'm done! Wasn't it sweet? Well, anyway, I don't feel like writing a note so will you please just review? Wait for my next chappie!

- S. N. B.