Hisui took the train to Kanzai with a scold on her face. How difficult could it be to find a pregnant little boy? With triplets? If the babies were a little like their father then Ayase must be huge by now. And why did the mission was only assigned to her and her mother? Akihito she could understand, but she herself…
-Flashback-
"Why me?! Let mom go alone, I can help you gathering information from here!" she screamed at her brother and father, that apparently didn´t want anything to do with the mission apart from being the command.
"Hisui… imouto, try to understand" excused himself Nozomu. "I… don´t know a thing about babies and father didn´t exactly fair well after we were born" Takaba nodded, remembering how his husband couldn´t even prepare a baby bottle at first. "For a female like you motherhood should be natural… and mother is already experienced in that"
"That´s just bullshit! I don´t know a word about babies and I have never thought about becoming a mother myself! I just want to be powerful!"
"Please, Hisui! Someday you will marry and have your own children!" said Asami, more worried about the future of his last name than anything else.
"Says who?"
"Sweetie" started Akihito. "what your father and brother wanted to say" he glared at the two before continuing. "is that while pregnant the female company could be more… relaxing. And in a mission like this the presence of men their constitution could be a little suspicious. Ayase would have his eyes open for Kanou´s men, who do you think he would hide from? Tall men in suits like them or a mother and his daughter?"
"That actually makes sense, especially since he is pregnant and will probably like advice from someone that experiences that before…" she thought seriously. "Okay, I will go. We will call you once we are there" she exited the room and waved her hand. "Bye"
"Well, that was easier than I thought" sighed Asami, but a look at his spouse´s face told him that the lithe man was mad at him too.
"You… don´t know how to talk to a Lady, no?" and he followed his daughter without another word.
"Even like that, it could have been worse" tried to soothe him his son, seeing that now the mafia boss was having serious doubts about the continuing of his bloodline. "And don´t worry about your lack of descendants, you can always count on me… and Mei Lin as a last resource"
"Mei Lin… I think the Liu last name will die with her. The same goes to your other sister"
"Yeah… they are not exactly the maternal type"
-End of Flashback-
Now, she heard what her twin said by accident, but really? Can´t her father trust her for something so stupid as that? She will have children when she deemed it as necessary and she will take care of them. That about Mei Lin being a genetic death end she could pass and even laugh, but that comment about her lack of maternal skills. She could be very kind and warm hearted when she wanted to be! She has been for most of her life!
"I´m better than Mei Lin!" she practically screamed, lifting from her seat. Her mother looked at her with concerned eyes.
"What´s going on, sweetheart?" asked Akihito.
"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about something dad and Nozomu said about me and Mei Lin being similar on… something" she sighed and sat down quickly. "I´m nothing like that demoness of a woman and definitely I don´t lack maternal skills"
"Of course you don´t" smiled Takaba. "But you have to understand that there are some similarities between that girl and you, after all you are sisters"
"Half sisters… and she takes more after her mother" answered the girl.
"That I couldn´t argue"
-In the airport-
Fei Long and Mei Lin were getting out of the plain, the former one nervous about something. In the last hour or so of flying, he thought he made a mistake putting his daughter in charge of finding out the boy, after all she could be a little bit… special when dealing with difficult persons, like babies… well, mostly babies. She didn´t seem to find them pretty or something like that, and she lost her patience easily with their cries. The young woman noticed her mother´s distress, turning around to face him.
"It´s something the matter?"
"No, nothing, it´s just that… maybe the plan we traced in the plain wasn´t okay and you were right about you being better at tracking Kanou…"
"Why? Are you doubting my skills? Because I can tell you, mama…"
"It has nothing to do with your skills, it´s more like… your lacking in a certain department" Mei Lin looked at him confused and he looked back. The Dragon knew that his little girl thought she was perfect, but nobody in this world can be, not even his beloved child. "Let´s just say this in a way you can understand: you have the maternal skills of a rock"
"Hum…" this was a huge shock to the girl, her own mother was telling her she was not perfect. "What are you talking about? I can handle everything"
"Baby, nobody is perfect and you should know it" said the man. "Let´s face it, okay? You can´t handle pregnant people or little kids… in fact I was beginning to worry about the continuation of the Liu last name and wondering if I should have another child for…"
"NO! You don´t have to worry about that, I will have children when I want!" she blushed. When did she… oh, now she remembered. "Are you talking about the incident when I was eight? Because it was long time ago and I´ve grown up a lot since then"
"Well… it´s not just the incident when… you nearly threw a baby to the floor like a ball because it pulled your hair" Fei Long swallowed, remembering that. He never thought a girl would do that, didn´t she played with dolls? Later he found out that all the dolls he gave to her ended up as her target practice. "It is that… let´s face it, dear, you have never been maternal"
"Says the man that has problems saying that a pregnant belly is pretty and even managed to be maternal with me" she retorted. "Look I was very young when that happened and don´t want any little twerp pulling on my hair, so I did what most of…"
"It´s not just the incident, is the baby dolls target practice… and the drowning in the bathtub and the time I throw a surprise party last year and you managed to scare all the attendants, make the babies cry and…"
"What´s your point?"
"Baby, maybe I would be the best at dealing with someone like Ayase, as I have been pregnant before…"
"You clarified that when you were pregnant with me, you were on jail, not on the run" she crossed her arms and frowned. "And I can be maternal when I want! I just didn´t know why I have to do so with some stupid dolls and babies from other people! You don´t… have to worry about me not continuing the line, because… seriously, I won´t leave Baishee without an heir when you retired"
"I know you will be responsible, but…"
"I will accomplish this mission, there´s nothing I can´t do" she continued her path towards the car. "I will be expecting your call telling me that you locate the Bible and Kanou in case something goes wrong. Bye, mama" and she left.
"Should have known she would say that" he face palmed while Tao, behind him, smiled in a nervous way. He didn´t like the odds.
"Well, at least she is willing to prove herself to you" he tried to calm his boss down, but Fei Long wasn´t buying it.
"Fei Long-sama, the car to take you to the hotel is here" announced someone and the Baishee leader walked straight to it. He too has work to do and the sooner he finished it, the sooner he could help his baby with her own task.
-In Kanzai-
Once there Mei Lin nearly collided with Hisui and her mother, who were there too, searching for the little escapee. Lucky they didn´t saw her, but it was difficult not to notice her between the people with the formal clothes she wore. They were dressed in normal clothes, as if they were not related with the mafia. She quickly looked at herself… yeah, definitely they were going to notice her sooner than later in those garbs.
"He isn´t in this zone, shouldn´t we search for where the cheap hotels are?" talked Hisui, still without seeing her hated half sister. "He would want to keep as much money as he can for his kids, so we can be sure wherever he is staying is cheap."
"Well, seeing it that way… but this is the cheapest shopping center in the town. Three babies need a lot of things and he would like to be prepared before he is so big he can´t move, so let´s stay in this place and search a little bit more around. I think we are still missing some shops he could be in."
"Okay, okay, let´s go" and they left.
"Ah, miss?" one of the employees of the mall called her, making the Chinese heiress jump a little. It has been a long time since someone managed to sneak behind her without her noticing. The woman put an arm on her shoulder. "I think you may be lost, the shopping center for the upper classes is in another part of the town. I could take you."
"No, I´m I the correct place" she said, shrugging the hand out of her shoulder. Then she noticed all the people was seeing her in a strange way. She felt like yelling, but then remembered about Akihito´s and Hisui´s presence. So she calmed down. "I want to feel like a normal person. Do you know where normal people buy their clothes?"
"Yes, my sister and I have a shop just right there" she signaled. It was old and a little bit dark, but for some reason Mei Lin considered it worth to take a look. She looked inside and found some really outdated clothes. "Sorry about the clothes" apologized the woman. "We… haven´t had many buyers lately and…"
"It´s okay" the teen that was in the cashier looked up when she saw someone unknown enter the shop.
"Who is she? Is she lost? Because rich kids never come here" asked the girl.
"N…no, apparently she wants to feel like a normal person" whispered her older sister.
"Then let´s help her!" said her in a more amused tone, eager to use a woman so pretty like a dress-up doll. "I´m Sachiko! And my sister is Sanaka! You want some normal clothes? I can give you plenty"
"Thanks…"
-In the dresser-
"Wow, the quality of this clothes is amazing and they are really pretty too" Sachiko said, admiring the textures. Then she looked at the necklace "This is so pretty too!"
"Don´t touch that!" Mei Lin realized she screamed and then quiet down again. "It´s something my mom gave me when I was little, so I would like you not touching it. It´s special…"
"Oh…" Sachiko looked at it more. "This seems like a real jade, not like the imitations I have seen. Your parents must be very wealthy if they can afford to give you this…"
"My mom is, I don´t have a father" it was strange for Mei Lin to be talking to someone, but if she was accompanied while searching she would attract less attention. "He left us when mama was pregnant with me and now has a new family"
"Oh… ah… sorry I mentioned that" the teen tried to change the conversation. "Ehhh, where are you from? You really don´t look like the Japanese type…"
"China"
"What´s your name?"
"Wei" she lied after she finished putting on the clothes, Mei Lin looked at herself in the mirror. She looked nothing like her usual self, but there was something bothering her… "Mama was right, traditional clothes are the best"
"Oh? So your family is traditional?"
"Not really" she fixed her hair in a half ponytail so she looked even less like herself, but then noticed something. She looked exactly like her mother when he was travelling, even if Fei Long wore a complete ponytail. "Can you help me with my hair? With this look I´m like a copy of my mother"
"Sure?" Sachiko undid the ponytail and grabbed some bangs from near her ears, using a hairpin to secure it. "Ready, how about that?"
"It´s okay" she said and grabbed her clothes, paid and left. She walked in the streets, stopping when she heard someone running towards her.
"Wei!" called Sachiko. Mei Lin looked back and noticed that Akihito and Hisui were close, so she grabbed the girl and hide. "Hum? What´s happening?"
"Shhhh" the heiress signaled towards them. "It´s my father´s wife and my half sister. I would like to avoid them if I could"
"Oh, okay" said the girl when she was finally let go. "Oh, and my sister says you could visit us whenever you like. I can even show you the city and stay at our house… well, maybe you have and hotel and everything, but…"
"That could be a good idea, I am a genius when it comes to get lost" she smiled. This idiots were making things easier for her. "Are there baby shops here? Because I need to buy some things for… one of my mother´s employees and she specifically told me that she didn´t want anything expensive."
"Well, there are a lot in here, but they are not so good. If you want quality and a good price, I know of an establishment few blocks from here. I can take you"
"Okay" both females went to the place and Mei Lin was surprised to see her target admiring some baby clothes, smiling as if they were the cutest things on earth. He had a prominent stomach even if he was not that far along. The mafia heiress smiled, she got to him first. "Hello, Ayase"
