"What should I say?" I was slightly panicked, my breaths coming in short gasps. I was dressed for my date with Enishi, in a short blue dress and a black shrug with black ankle boots. I nervously fingered my black earrings as I paced in front of Megumi and she snorted at my antics.

"Just tell him straight up what you're being paid to do, raccoon girl."

I shot Megumi a sharp look at her nickname for me then sighed. "I'm getting pregnant for his sister's boyfriend so you may have a baby. I don't think that's gonna go over well."

"Don't mention the father, idiot! Just say you don't know who the father is. Plus, you made this agreement with me before you even met him. Do you even like him?"

"Yes. No. I don't know!" I pulled at my hair with my hands and collapsed on my favourite chair, my weight causing it to bob up and down. "He's really hot, but also really considerate even though he is a prick to Kenshin but he was such a gentleman with me…"

Megumi sighed and sat next to me. She placed a hand on my shoulder and I brought my eyes up to meet her dark brown orbs. "Kaoru, you'll be fine. It's just a date. It does not mean that you will fall in love with him, or that you'll be married with him in the future or anything. It's just a date." She said, enunciating the last sentence. "What, never been on a date before?"

I stared at her, my eyes wide. I clutched at my chest, trying to control my breathing.

"Oh my God, you haven't, have you?"

I shook my head. "Why? Does that make it worse for me? Kami, I'm going to mess this up! Oh geez, oh geez, oh geez," I got up from the couch and started pacing again only to be stopped by Megumi's hands on my shoulders.

"Kaoru, breathe. In. Out. In. Out." My breathing regularised and Megumi nodded slowly. "Good. He'll be here in a few minutes. Where's that rooster head brother of yours?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Megumi's eyes glazed over for a second, then cleared, and she sighed. "Doesn't matter. Now, raccoon girl, it's the first date. Don't go home with him, even though you have slept with him already. It's a first date. You get to know him a little better, but you must tell him that you will be unavailable for the next nine months. I've scheduled the appointment for next week Friday. Honesty is he best policy in this case. You don't want him thinking that he got you knocked up the first time, right?"

"Right." I echoed, nodding my head. Right. No sex. I could do that. Just talk. About me, getting pregnant. Oh, this is not going to go over well. Before I could start to panic again, Yahiko rudely barged in, his hands on his hips.

"Your boyfriend is here, ugly."

"He's not my boyfriend! And don't all me ugly, brat!" I shouted back at him, a vein throbbing in my forehead.

"Why, ugly?"

Faster than lightening, I punched him in the face, sending him flying into the wall. He sat there with a dazed look on his face, a large, red bump quickly forming on his head.

"Remind me to never get you angry." An amused voice said behind me, and I spun around to see Enishi with a smirk on his face. He was dressed in plain jeans and a white button down. A pair of circle sunglasses was perched on his nose and I resisted the urge to laugh at them. I had seen an old-time singer wearing those once, some singer that mom loved. What was his name again? Elton something…

Lost in my thoughts, I failed to notice his walking towards me in his long strides, and before I could react, his lips were on mine. I gasped against his mouth, but he was jerked back as a familiar rooster haired brother pulled him away, murder in his brown eyes.

"That's why I wanted to know where he was." Sighed Megumi, placing her head on her hand.

"Sano, let him go!"

Before my brother could even process my demand, Enishi's hand grasped his and Enishi expertly flipped my twin over his shoulder. He gave my brother a self-satisfied smirk and Sano jumped up, his eyes wary but no less enraged. Yahiko joined him, and I sighed in exasperation. I grabbed the two hot-blooded males by their ears and dragged them to their room, slamming the door on their faces. "Stay!" I yelled through the door, ignoring their screams of protest. Wiping my hands, I walked back to the main room and flashed Enishi a quick smile, looping my hand through his. "So, where are we going tonight?" I don't know if it was the fact that my stupid brothers showed up and got rid of my nervousness, or Enishi's actual presence that calmed my nerves, but I was suddenly calm and my normal self again.

He was giving me a strange look, but he led me outside nevertheless. Megumi followed behind us, and I turned to her to give her a quick hug. "Keep an eye on my brothers please," I whispered in her ear.

"I'll keep them in line, don't worry." I swore that I saw a pair of fox ears pop up on her head, and shook my head to relieve it of that hallucination. I was suddenly worried for my brothers' safety.

Enishi led me to his hovercar, a sleek, black number with beige leather interior. He opened the door with a mock bow, his eyes still looking amused, as well as another emotion I couldn't name.

"What?" My tone was sharper than I wanted, but Enishi had continued to shoot me those looks throughout the whole car ride.

He chuckled. "You're an interesting girl, Kaoru."

"Gee, thanks."

He laughed outright at my sarcastic tone, and ruffled my hair in response. I growled at him, but I had a smile on my face. It's a good thing I don't spend much time on my hair; either it's loose around my shoulders or in a high ponytail.

"So, what's so interesting about me?" I twisted my hands on my lap, refusing to meet his eyes. Did he mean interesting in a good way or a bad way?

"I can't figure you out."

"That's all?"

"You also remind me of someone close to me."

I waited for him to elaborate, but he never did. Tired of waiting, I just blurted out, "Who?"

He refused to answer, instead pointing to a building we were quickly approaching. "That's where we are going for dinner."

I gasped, delighted. "That's my favourite restaurant!"
"The Akabeko?" He had a note of surprise in his voice, and I grinned.

"Yes, I used to work there for a while. The owner's daughter is my friend."

"Excellent food."

I nodded in agreement, a wide smile on my face. I haven't been to the Akabeko since mom and dad died, as it was too lavish for our budget and I sincerely missed Tae. Even though she was a few years older than I, we had bonded quickly over my short period of employment there.

When we walked in, a smiling, brown haired woman enthusiastically greeted us. Our gazes locked, and a wide smile broke out on her face. "Kaoru!" Her faint Texas accent was always emphasised when she was excited, and at the moment one could definitely tell she was a Texan.

"Tae!" We embraced, and Tae looked over my shoulder at Enishi.

"Who do we have here, eh?" There was a twinkle in her eyes that reminded me slightly of Megumi. I backed away and took Enishi's hand in mine, but allowed him to introduce us. I didn't really know what to call us.

"Enishi Yukimoto, I have a reservation for seven."

Tae's smile was understanding, with a hint of mischief and I inwardly screamed. Yes, I loved seeing my friend in over a year, but on my first date ever? Awkward.

She showed us to our seats, and with a twinkle in her eyes she announced that our waitress would be with us soon. Enishi and I sat in awkward silence, both of us fingering the menu with feigned interest.

"So you did-"

"How did you-" I started at the same time.

We both grinned at each other, and indicated the other go first. I shook my head. "No, you start first. My question wasn't that interesting anyways."

Enishi gave me a small smile. "So you did some kind of martial arts? That punch you threw at your brother was in perfect form."

"You know something of martial arts?"
"I travelled to China in order to better study the ancient arts." He replied simply, as if it were no big deal. I merely gaped at him.

"Well, my training wasn't as professional as that. My father owned and ran a dojo at the corner of our street. My brothers and I used to train with him every afternoon after school. Sano became bored and tried other forms, but Yahiko and I have been content with out father's style." I explained quickly, twirling the ice in my glass of water that our waitress – a small, mousy girl – had placed before me sometime in our conversation. "Actually, " I continued thoughtfully, "Yahiko has been spending a lot of time at the dojo lately, training with the older students. I think he's trying to get stronger. I also now he's started training the smaller children more regularly."

"And yet you were still able to throw him into a wall." Enishi added, a bemused smile on his face,

I gave him a triumphant grin. "Just because he may be getting stronger doesn't mean that he's stronger than I."

Our waitress came back and politely asked us what our order would be. I gave mine quickly and so did Enishi, but his eyes were on me the whole time. It made me shift uncomfortably in my seat, bringing to the forefront of my mind the topic I desperately, and at the same time really wanted to avoid, talking to him about.

"Um, Enishi…" I didn't really know how to continue, so I just blurted it out in a quick succession. "''mgoingtobehavingababy."

"What?" For a hopeful second, I hoped that he had misheard me and I could easily brush it off, satisfied that I told him even of he didn't understand me, but the fury in his dark eyes made me instinctively shrink into my seat. I forced myself to sit up straight and meet his eyes.

"Yes. The implantation is scheduled for next week."

Enishi's hands were gripping the table to hard that I feared that his hands may gouge the ancient wooden table (wooden tables had long ago been replaced by the more modern glass-and-steel types, but the Akabeko was a restaurant that thrived on it's old ways; that was why we had a waitress and not a tablet from which we ordered our food and have it delivered to us through a section of the table). "You're going to be pregnant?" I heard the barely constrained anger in his voice.

"Yes."

"And who is this person you are having the baby for?"
"The respected Dr. Megumi Takani."

"The father?"

"Someone randomly selected from the pool of sperm donors." I held his gaze, daring him to make a scene. If he wanted a fight, he will get one.

He leaned back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair. "Why are you telling me this?"

"So that if you saw me showing signs of being pregnant, that you won't feel that you got me knocked up last night." I answered in a calm tone.

"We used protection." He answered in the same calm voice.

"Accidents happen."

He sighed, but before he could say anything more our young waitress brought our food for us. She placed the bowl of steaming rice before me as well as a selection of cooked vegetables and beef. Enishi had ordered the soup, and we both elapsed into an awkward silence as we ate our food. I was measuring his reaction, and found myself slightly disappointed. I had hoped that he would take it more calmly, and that we could talk about it. He had shown to me tonight a side of him that I never expected: that he was hot-headed and slightly irrational. I felt resentment start to build in me as I realised he had no reason to get so angry, that I was still my own woman and could make decisions on my own. Also, why would he even get angry? We were barely dating! He should not have taken such offense at my statement. So what if I was getting pregnant? I was not his to order and to covet. As these thoughts progressed, my previously happy night soon turned sour in a matter of a few minutes.

By the way, if you couldn't figure out what Kaoru said when she confessed to Enishi her whole being-a-surrogate-thing, she said, "A couple weeks ago I agreed to have a baby for someone so I'm gonna be a surrogate mother, but this was before I met you and I think you are a cool guy and all but I just want to tell you I'm going to be having a baby."

Ok, vote: do you want Enishi to be part of her life anymore or not? I can make the story swing either way, but I can't seem to decide whether to keep Enishi or not. Plus, there's that sick love of his sister that always gets in the way…Just say in your review what you want.

Hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!

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

r.e.v.i.e.w.

please?

;]