Don't forget this is placed 20 years in the future, so all claims I make is totally justified ;] can you believe I even forgot I started a new fic until like just now? O.o it's so unlike me, but then again I am currently writing like 5 diff fics too, so yeah…

Enjoy!

I was assigned the most hated task of all, one all Target employees hated: cleaning. But today I found the task strangely enjoyable as it required little brain power, thus giving me ample time to toss my situation around in my head.

I'm getting pregnant.

For a woman who is hailed as the 'medical genius of our time'.

And she's paying my way through med school.

Now this last thought really confused me. Why would she bother herself with the expensive fees? Surely she cannot be made of money! Yes, Sano and I were struggling to make ends meet, even though I had my regular afternoon jig at Target and he was working full-time at the Akabeko, but we were coping. Kinda. Sure, our electricity was cut off a couple times because we would 'conveniently' forget to pay for it (makes me really want to invest in solar panels like everyone else in the world, but that was a high initial investment). Med school was definitely the most expensive, but I somehow could not give it up, and Sano won't let me. I had worked so hard to get where I am now. I had not skipped all those grades depending on my brains alone, but through sheer determination and force of will.

A buzz on my wristwatch stopped my musing. I pressed the top right button, and instantly Megumi's face appeared on the screen.

These handy little watches were all the rage now, quickly replacing cell phones. They allowed for video calls, the face of the watch acting as both a screen and camera, and the voice recognition made it very easy to just say the person's name you are trying to contact while holding down the bottom left button. Naturally, it was from Mac, the little apple symbol above the face of the watch.

"Kaoru, come outside, I have something to discuss with you." I frowned in annoyance; she dared to order me about? However I still looked up, and sure enough I saw her black hovercar waiting for me outside. I sighed and without even replying, I pressed the bottom right button thus ending the call.

I marched outside to the sleek black number, and I saw the same Japanese man from yesterday, the one Sano was sizing up, was driving and the familiar figure of Dr. Takani in the backseat of the Porsche. I bent down so my head was in line with the back window. With the air of a Duchess looking upon her subjects, Megumi rolled down her window regally. "Hop in." I frowned-I hated her treating me as if I were a child!-but I did what she told. I walked to the other side of the car (Kami forbid should she scoot around so I could hop in!) and yanked open the door and clambered in.

The disorienting feeling of floating made my stomach hang in limbo for a few moments, deciding whether or not to dispose of my hastily eaten ham-and-cheese-sandwich-on-rye or not. Deciding better against it, my stomach calmed down and lowered to where it was supposed to be instead of in my throat.

However, when the car actually started to move, my stomach started to question the wisdom of that decision.

"Um, Megumi, I am working…"

"Oh, I already called your superintendent already and he excused you. Nice man, that Saitou." I frowned. Saitou Hajime was far from a nice man; gruff, strict and a hater of all things pleasurable was a more accurate description. She was looking through a stack of folders on her lap, her perfect brow furrowed in concentration.

"You and Sanosuke-"

"Sano," I corrected quickly.

She rolled her eyes. "Sano, are twins, ne?"

I nodded-duhhh didn't I tell her this yesterday?

"You don't look like twins."

"Not all twins do."

"No, but some share similar characteristics. You have black hair and blue eyes, he has brown hair and brown eyes. He looks more like the youngest-Yahiko, ne?-than you. I just find it very...interesting."

"The two boys look like our father. I look like our mother."

"And what happened to your parents?"

"They died."

Megumi paused in her interrogation. "I'm sorry to hear that." And she actually did sound sorry-as if she understood my feelings. "So the three of you live alone?"

"Yup. Mom and dad died in a car crash last year, and Sano and I were already eighteen. We got the house and since we were of legal age already we just...kept...Yahiko, raising him on our own. It's been a tough year. Sano had to leave his university, but he never allowed me to quit med school." I laughed, remembering fondly the argument we had over that-the few arguments we had, actually. "He said since I was the one with the brains, I had to use it to my advantage. He always says I'm the brains, he the beauty."

Megumi's smile was genuine, but her dark eyes seemed almost distant. "So by allowing me to pay off your school bills must be taking a great load off your shoulders."

I nodded. "Why did you offer to pay?"

"Because you remind me of myself when I first started."

For some reason, her simple statement touched me more than her heartfelt condolences earlier. To be honest, I always admired Megumi in the same way a teenage girl admires her favorite pop star. However, when my professor just continued to praise her every move, he started to turn me off of her. To hear about her every single achievement in modern medicine kinda got boing after a while.

Suddenly business like, she started handing me the thick folders one by one. I opened the first one to see a picture of a young man, not much older than myself, with blonde hair that shot up in the sky and bright blue eyes. He was grinning into the camera, a confident and cocky grin that I immediately disliked. I hated the arrogant types. I looked at his information, and saw his name was Cho.

"What's this?"

"Sperm donors. I looked through all that I thought appropriate and choose the few in front of you. Now I want you to choose two or three so we could interview them personally."

"Why me?"

She leveled her dark eyes at me. "Because, ultimately, you are going to be the biological mother of this child. So the choice of the father is completely up to you. And me. But mostly you."

I was shocked at this revelation. I was going to choose?

Then another thought occurred to me, and I found myself asking, "Did you say interview?"

She nodded. "The last men that you choose we would interview. I want to meet these men personally before choosing; don't you?"

"How are we going to interview them? I mean, aren't these records confidential?"

Megumi smiled a sly smile, and I was instantly worried what her answer would be. "As a doctor, I am...privy...to such information. And to answer your first question...have you ever been on a blind date?"

I gulped. I was in deep doo-doo now, and I could find no way out.

So I did the only thing I could under the circumstances; I looked through the files.

I rejected some men on the most absurd reasons. For example, Shishio was too creepy looking and Kamatari was gay...the list went on and on. Throughout the whole elimination process, Aoshi (the driver/bodyguard/Megumi's best friend since elementary school) drove away from the city into the country side where he finally turned into a dirt driveway that twisted and turned all the way up to a huge mansion set in the rolling hills. It was very picturesque, and great timing too; I had finally finished going through the stack of files, and I always found myself coming back to only two men.

-x-

Megumi walked me through the house and giving me a tour as if to rub it in my face: haha you don't have this, but I do, before setting me in front of her fireplace and asking me what were my final choices. I squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze. Suddenly I wasn't so sure in my choices.

Wordlessly I handed her the two files I had chosen. The first was Soujiro Seta, whose bright smile and friendly blue eyes drew me to him continually. The second was Kenshin Himura, who, no matter how many times I told myself his red hair was just a tad bit too bright, I always found my hand reaching for his file. So I shrugged mentally and went with what my instincts were telling me; choose the red head. Also, I loved his strange violet eyes.

I waited in tense silence as Megumi looked through their files. I was so certain that she would reject them, tell me to choose again, that when her reply finally came I had her repeat it, just to make sure I heard right.

"Great choices Kaoru. These were also my top two." She shot me a bright smile, one so blinding I felt the retarded instinct to raise my hand to shield my eyes.

"So, when do you want your date?" I thought about it and shrugged; what the heck? The only things I do these days was med school in the morning, and work in the afternoon. My evenings are free. However to seem as if I actually had a life, (no-one my age is at my school and my fellow colleagues are jealous, so I have no friends) I hesitated and tapped a finger on my chin to seem as if I was thinking hard of when I was feee. "I think this Saturday works out for me."

"Great! So we could each have our date on Saturday and compare notes."

My blank stare must have said more than words can express. She rolled her eyes. "Didn't I explain it to you?"

I shook my head, saying, "You just said that I was going on 'blind dates' with these guys."

"Oh, I'm going on dates with these guys too." She replied with a mischievous glint in her eye. "I want the redhead."

"No fair! I wanted him!" In all honesty, I didn't, but I was getting sick of her ordering me about as if I were a child.

She smirked at me. "Too bad. I have dibs on him."

I groaned and sat back in my chair. "Fine." I said, a bit sullenly.

She looked at her watch cell, and in a clear and precise voice said Kenshin Himura's name. With these watches, if you say a name that is not in your phonebook, a list of 'Kenshin Himura' would show up with pictures of each one. From there it was a simple task of finding the right one; like searching a friend on the old Facebook.

I sighed and said Soujiro Seta's name, and quickly scanned through the entries until I found the familiar smiling face of one of my potential donors. I pressed on his entry and immediately saw I was calling him. All I had to do now is wait for him to pick up.

I saw Megumi get up and move to the next room, supposedly to have her own conversation in private. Before I could contemplate it, my screen went blank for a fraction of a second and then it was filled with the image of Soujiro Seta.

"Good afternoon." He said, his eyes guarded.

"Um, hi." He waited patiently for me to continue, and I panicked. What was I supposed to say? I so didn't plan this, and it's not like I could just say, 'hey I want you to be my baby daddy but first we got to go on a date.' NO. I racked my bran for a plausible excuse while I looked at where he was. A flash of inspiration struck; in his resume (I guess is what you can call it) it said he worked as a part time instructor at some dojo.

"I want to join your dojo." I blurted out, and by his smile I assumed I said the right thing. I released a sigh of relief.

"Sure, practice times are everyday at five 'til seven. You're free to drop in any time." He flashed me a brilliant smile, then seemed as if he was going to hang up.

"Wait!" I sounded slightly desperate, but I had to keep him talking. "Um, when you say everyday do you also mean Saturday?"

He nodded.

"Um, ok that's great 'coz I only have free time on Saturday, and I was worried you won't have it on Saturday, 'coz I'm busy the rest of the week and my only free time is-"

"Saturday." He finished for me with a chuckle. I blushed, realizing I was babbling. "What is your name?"

"Kaoru Kamiya." I answered, my cheeks still pink.

He gave me a bright smile. "I can't wait to meet you, Kaoru." I nodded and hung up myself.

Sitting back in my chair I tried (and failed) to not think about what a stellar impression I just left him with. Knocking my head against the back of the chair, I groaned.

Megumi burst into the room, her eyes ablaze. "He has a girlfriend." She spat, whirling around into her chair.

"Well, now we can be normal and just ask for an interview." I retorted.

"Where's the fun in that?"

Any thoughts? Comments? Criticisms? Like it? Hate it? Love it?

R.e.v.i.e.w.

Please?

;]