This chapter is dedicated to Takani-sensei's Nurse and The Clawed Butterfly for following this story. Knowing that I have you wonderful readers waiting for this encourages me to push through and keep writing. Arigato gozaimasu!

~n

It was two days later when Megumi was hit with a profound feeling of déjà vu upon entering her home. Sanosuke sat on the loveseat with his head laying against the back, his long legs stretched out and disappearing under the coffee table. He was facing away from her, tossing a tennis ball above his head and catching it just before it hit his face. The coffee and side tables in the room were all holding vases of flowers in varying shades of purple and lavender.

"Wha—"

Without looking over at her, Sanosuke greeted, "Kitsune."

"What's with the flowers?"

"They're your favorite color."

"But what for?"

He caught the ball one last time and sat up. "A present for my older woman."

Megumi stomped furiously over to the loveseat and stood over Sanosuke. "I am only four months older than you! Don't make it sound like I'm a cougar!"

"So you admit you have feelings for me?" He wagged his eyebrows at her, moving over to pull her down to sit next to him.

Megumi dropped into the seat without resisting. "You just love getting on my nerves don't you?"

"I'd like to get on more than just your nerves.

"Stop it! Does everything have to be about sex with you?"

"I didn't say anything about sex. I could'a been saying 'I'd like to get on your good side.'"

"You're heinous."

"And yet you're still here."

"We need a plan."

"And what's in it for me?"

"Excuse me? You're the other half of this equation. It would benefit you just as much as it would me!"

His voice dropped into honeyed tones. "You forget, Megitsune, I'm not against marrying you."

Megumi didn't see him move but in the next moment she was pressed against the back of the seat with Sano's face barely an inch away from hers. His chocolate brown eyes held her cinnamon ones mesmerized for a breath then just as suddenly he was on his end of the seat again. "But then again, who wouldn't? You're rich, not terrible-looking, your body's okay. Not a bad deal." Before Megumi could even respond he was sauntering out the door with a two-fingered salute. "Later, Kitsune!" Megumi grabbed a throw pillow and chucked it at his departing back.

~O~O~O~

Her parents were away on a business trip so she hadn't been able to speak with them about this so called marriage everyone seemed to believe was really happening.

She wanted to marry for love. As the only child of the filthy rich Takani's, she would be careful whom she ultimately chose to marry, but she knew she wanted to at least choose an acceptable candidate for whom she had feelings – not someone being forced on her whom she felt nothing for but irritation!

Fourteen years ago, when they were both eight, their parents had agreed that they would be betrothed to each other, uniting the Sagara's ancient and noble name with the Takani fortune and influence. It was a match made in social heaven. The children had shrugged it off when they heard, not putting much thought on their parents' antics. Now, after more than a decade of not hearing or discussing anything about the arrangement, it was back on the table and ready to be implemented! To make matters worse, she was the only one who was against it. Deep down she knew that if she put her foot down, her parents wouldn't force her to marry but it was upsetting to think that she had to insist so vehemently on her own wishes.

It's not as if I'm being a brat to go against my parents like this. It's my life and my future happiness! They seem to think Sano and I will be happy together. I know they're wrong. We are next to nothing to each other – we're like cousins who endure each other's company because we have to. It's not like we're really even friends…

Unbidden, memories of Sanosuke came to her. Play dates, visits to the ice cream parlor, seeing their first stage play and later, opera side by side, and even a summer or two spent abroad. It shocked Megumi to realize that she had known Sano for all her life but she really didn't know him. He, on the other hand… He had given her flowers in her favorite color. How did he know?

They had each been sent to exclusive private schools and had not seen much of each other once they started in high school. They hadn't kept in touch. Now they were graduating from college in a few months. Sanosuke was graduating with a degree in business, though he was minoring in architecture. Apparently that was where his true inclination lay. She knew this from what she overheard from her parents. She never actively asked for information about her fr – what was Sano to her? Was he a friend? After almost two decades he was more than acquaintance, surely. But she didn't know enough about him to really consider him a friend, right? Why didn't she? She grew up with him. Why didn't she know anything about him? I never paid him any attention, she realized. Shame flooded her then. What kind of person was she to just ignore a boy she grew up right next to?

That night she went to bed troubled by her self-reflection; distressed by the fact that she had been so dismissive of Sanosuke all these years. Even if he was an ass now, it didn't excuse her not knowing anything about him. She lay in bed and eventually drifted off into a restless sleep, a bouquet of purple flowers the last image she could see as she closed her eyes.

Yey! I'm so happy I was able to spin out another chapter! I was actually panicking last night because I didn't have a very clear idea where I was going with this story when I posted the first chapter yesterday. This chapter pretty much wrote itself as well.

I beg your indulgence in suspending your disbelief here and not kicking me for making Megumi so dense about Sanosuke as they grew up. I don't even know if that's actually possible. Although, I think it might be since I, myself, grew up with a bunch of cousins but hardly know anything about most of them… Hmmm… I'd enjoy some commentary on that.

The manga I was referring to in the synopsis goes off into a supernatural direction so I'm not following that storyline but I zoned in on the premise of the couple being pushed into an arranged marriage with the guy being okay with it but the girl not being happy about it.