Hi everyone! I'm soooo sorry! I'm so horrible to you guys-I barely update anymore! And it's not like I don't have the time, I do! It's just that I get so addicted to manga . Forgive me?

I spent most of the week swinging from blind panic about the procedure to anger to Enishi's response to pure puzzlement as to why Kenshin kept popping up in my thoughts. My brothers were not happy with me.

"Kaoru will you just sit down and eat?" Yahiko was glaring at me as I paced the length of the room, fuming.

I ignored him. "How dare that bastard judge me like that? He doesn't know the half of it! What gives him a right to act that way to me?"

"That's it! I'm gonna beat his ass," Banging his hands against the old time wooden table, Sano stood and started to march out of the kitchen. I quickly blocked his way.

"Wait, no Sano! I have my operation tomorrow and I don't want you to leave me! Please?" I clung to his shirt, tears starting to brim over. Those damn hormonal pills Megumi has me taking has me going from one extreme to another. I am not a happy woman.

Sano huffed and sat back down and didn't slow down his eating at all. I whacked him on the upside of his head, causing him to spit out the few spoonfuls of soup he had just ingested. "What the heck was that for?" He yelled, glaring at me.

"You're eating too fast!"

"I'm hungry, and if you would just sit down and eat instead of interrupting us and agonising what you have to do tomorrow then I won't be so hungry!"

"Fine!" I plopped down on my chair and stared glumly at my cooling soup. I sighed and started stirring it around, wishing that I had steak. With fries. And chocolate. And lobster. And...but I can't. "I hate this!" I screamed, pushing the soup away from me and stalking away.

I collapsed on my bed and cried. I hate this. I hate drinking soup because all we could afford was meagre amounts of ingredients so the only thing we could make was soup. I hate having to get paid to get pregnant so I can continue my education. I hate working at Target. I hate that my parents died.

I felt someone sit next to me on the bed and a warm, comforting hand started rubbing calming circles on my back. "Kaoru, I know this is hard for you. If you really don't want to do it, then we can call Megumi and politely decline. It's not too late."

I sniffed and looked up at Sano. "Really?"

He nodded, his face unusually solemn. "I know how much you hate this lifestyle, Kaoru."

"I told you, I can just drop out of medical school and work full time-"

"And I told you that I was not going to allow that. Kaoru, you're a genius. And this is your passion-I can't allow you to give that up. You won't be happy if you're not doing something that you love. We'll make it through with or without Megumi, don't worry about us."

"Sano…"

He chuckled and ruffled my hair. "C'mon Kaoru, don't look at me like that,"

"Like what?" I asked, indignantly wiping the remainder of my tears from my cheeks.

"Like if I'm the best brother ever." He winked. "Of course I am…"

"Oh, you're impossible!" I threw my hands in the air, but smiled at him. I quickly leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Sano."

"Hey, what are brothers for?"

"To annoy the living daylights out of me." He laughed, but conceded the point.

"You gonna call Megumi or not?"

I thought about it. Megumi paying for my school bills has already helped us out a bit. Now we have a few more dollars to pay our electricity bills and other necessities, so really I'm acting like a spoiled brat. "Nah. I was being stupid. I'm going to do this."

Sano nodded, satisfied with my answer. "When you get that look in your eyes, I know that you will do it." I smiled at him, and he ruffled my hair again. "Now get some sleep, lil sis."

"By twenty-three minutes!"

He just grinned and closed the door.

The next day, Aoshi came and picked up Sano and I. We left Yahiko home; I didn't want him to see me. I don't know what the procedure requires and how I'll be after, and I really don't want Yahiko to see me like that. I had also protested to Sano coming too, but he insisted. Like me, when he gets an idea in his head, it's hard to shake him from his conviction.

When we pulled up at the clinic, Megumi was already there and waiting for us. She gave us a friendly smile, and the white overcoat she was wearing made me a little jealous. I can't wait to wear one myself.

As we were walking through the hallways of the small clinic, I finally gathered enough courage to ask, "Who is doing the procedure?"

Megumi chuckled, and I thought I saw a pair of fox ears appear. "Me of course!"

I stopped. "You're serious?"

"Why not?"

"I thought you were specialised in another area…"

"I am. I mainly deal with critical and strange cases where I would have to discover a cure. Most times my patients die. I just want to try to create life for once." Her expression was so melancholy, it reminded me of the first time I saw her. She had seemed so lost then too. Now that I know her better, I realised that the first day in Target was an off day for her. To be honest, I had come to see Megumi almost as a friend.

She led me into a sterile, white room with a large chair in it. She closed the door with an ominous click, and I closed my eyes.

I'm not going to describe it to you; I don't know if I can describe it myself. All that remained after was a throbbing pain in my lower regions, and instructions by Megumi to check in only if I started to show symptoms of a regular pregnancy within a month or so.

A month passed, and I went about doing my normal business. School in the mornings, work in the afternoons. Life had regained its normalcy. Yet, instead of thinking of when I could get out of work quickly or agonising what I should attempt to cook that evening, my thoughts revolved around my baby. Technically, it's Megumi baby, but it is my egg. And thoughts of my baby caused me to think about its father.

Which is probably why I'm standing in front of his front door, my hand poised above the doorbell.

A little FaceBook stalking and Megumi's access to his medical records gave me his private address, where he lived with his adoptive father and sister. When I finally got the courage to ring the bell, I only had to wait a total of three seconds before a very enthusiastic girl answered the door.

"Hello!" She was a little shorter than I, with her hair in a long braid and gleaming green eyes.

"Misao…?" I think that was her name.

"Hai. How can I help you?"

My mind went conveniently blank. It has been about a month since her birthday and since I last saw her brother, and I had no viable excuse. What was I doing here?

Misao's eyes went from welcoming to suspicious. "How do you know my name?"

"My friend and I were…invited…to your party last month." I said tentatively.

"Oh. Ohhhh. You're the one who was friends with that really tall guy with the serious eyes, ne?"

"Yes, that's Aoshi."

She squealed. "Come in! You have to tell me more about him! Ever since I saw him, I couldn't get him out of my mind!"

I allowed her to drag me into her house, and I gaped at the sheer size and grandeur of it all. Even though there was nothing to suggest that they were rich, there was a certain…aura about the place that spoke of them being wealthy. The decorations were simple but tasteful and elegant. As Misao dragged me from into her house and up the stairs to what I assumed was her room, she sat me down on her bed. "Now, tell me everything."

"About Aoshi?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yessss."

"Um, he's the silent type. And strong. And…he doesn't speak much."

"Really? Well I speak more than enough for two people, or so dad tells me. What else?"

"He is much older than you."

She waved her hand dismissively. "I've had enough with the jerks my age. Plus, Kenshin usually scares them off."

I perked up a little at the mention of his name. "Kenshin?"

"Yeah, my over-protective older brother. Wait, I never caught your name. What's it again?"

"Kaoru Kamiya."

"Huh. I don't know you, yet you were at my birthday party…which was invitation-only."

"Yeah, well, a friend wanted to come and she didn't want to come alone…"

"The one in the red dress?"

I stared at her. "How the heck do you remember that?"

She tapped her head. "I have a great memory. How else can I be a ninja?"

"…What?"

She laughed. "I have been obsessed with anything ninja since I was a kid, and dad and Kenshin have their samurai thing going on."

I stared at her incredulously. "Really?"

"Yup! So anyways, what are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighbourhood."

"And you wanted to stop by?"

"Yeah. My friend gave me your address and I wanted to meet you since I did kinda crash your party…"

"Why haven't you come earlier?"

"I've been busy with school and work…" Lame, lame, lame! She'll see through me in an instant!

"Huh. Well. How about you stick around for dinner? It's a Saturday and dad and Kenshin should be back from their practice soon."

"Practice?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. They have this habit of sneaking out into the woods and practising their samurai skills. Sometimes I follow them to see if they notice I'm following them, but I always get caught." She pouted.

"They won't mind?"

"Why would they? You're my friend, and I think dad would be happy to see that I can make serious friends!"

"How do you know I'm serious?"

"You said you were busy with school and work, right? That's serious."

"If you say so…"

"So, tell me more about Aoshi!"

I sighed. Dinner couldn't be further away.

I don't know how long I spent there answering her questions about Aoshi (of whom I had minimum knowledge, so we ended up FaceBook stalking him. That turned out to be a dead end because he had the most private profile I have ever seen. So I added him and Megumi…strange that I didn't add them before. But, then again, what is the protocol for this? Do I add her while I'm pregnant with the baby, then un-friend her after she adopts him or her? Hmm, I have to think about that.) While we were on FaceBook, Misao had me add her as well and she showed me all her friends and gave a million anecdotes about them. She was also fascinated that I was in medical school four years early.

"I even stayed down a year, and you skipped four! Amazing! You're now my best friend! Isn't there a saying that if you hang out with smart people, you will start being smart too?"

"I don't think it works that way…"

Completely ignoring me, she continued, jumping up and down on her bed in excitement. "Oh, and I can also get a job with you! Wouldn't that be fun? We can work together!"

"Misao, I don't know…"

My protests were cut short when we both heard the door slam shut. "You bakka desshi, you still have a lot to learn!"

"Hai, Shishou."

Misao sighed as she stood and left her room, me following meekly behind. "Excuse my father and idiotic brother. They sometimes lapse into Japanese." Never mind that I heard her speak a couple words of Japanese herself...

I barely heard her, though, for at that moment Kenshin came up the stairs. His gi was open slightly to show his chest and he had a katana in his hand. We froze when we saw each other.

"I know you from somewhere…"

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