You'd think that for a big return, my big return would be a tad…well, BIGGER.

I've actually disappointed myself a little bit, that I've been gone for some two months now and have only a few things to upload. Which is bad, of course, because if I'm not satisfied with my performance, I'll have trouble thinking other people are, then since I don't really believe I'm entertaining anybody (myself included) I stop writing, then I'd be gone forever. Then out of all the folks on this site, there'd be like three who would be able to keep in contact with me without my going "who are you again?"

And that would be awkward for both of us, whoever you are ^_^

"Alright," Kaguya started, standing in front of both of her parents with Mokou right next to her. "Mom, Dad, this is Fujiwara no Mokou; she's going to be my study partner for a school project. She's going to be visiting us a lot for the next month and a half, so don't mind her. A lot of the time, I'm just going to bring her right to my room to start working on the project, and I'll have Michael drive her home at about dinnertime. Okay?"

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Houraisan," Mokou said, bowling slightly in respect before the two. Kaguya wasn't kidding around when she said that her family was rich. The butler (this Michael that Kaguya mentioned) driving the two home kind of helped tip her off. The mansion looked big enough to fit about fifty trailers the size of the one Mokou lived in, and Kaguya had said that its price ranged in the billions of yen. Kaguya said to not ask about her father's work, though it paid well enough that her mother didn't have to do anything. Judging by his general look and feel, and the amount of wealth he had, Mokou had a haunting feeling that Kaguya's father was the head of Tohohana's local yakuza or something like that. With that impression, she'd certainly not ask. Mokou didn't want to be swimming with the fishes, especially when she didn't know how to swim and was deathly afraid of water thanks largely in part to that fact.

"We'll just be going now," Kaguya said, grabbing Mokou by the arm and dragging her away. "I want to show Mokou around a little; I'm sure she isn't used to this kind of wealth being around her." As Kaguya continued down the hall, once she was certain she was out of earshot from her parents, she said "My father runs the yakuza in town, so don't ask him things about his work, no matter what you do. If my project partner dies and he gets linked to it, I'd get questioned as well, and I can't be bothered with that kind of hassle. And over here," she suddenly said in a much louder voice, probably with the intention of being heard back at the entrance. "Over here we have our wonderful hot tub! I could sit in there all day long, but then I get all wrinkly like a prune, and you could imagine my skin looks bad that way."

"You can't be serious," Mokou whispered. "He runs the yakuza?" It wasn't that she didn't believe it or anything; he was exactly the kind of person Mokou would expect for that kind of thing. Natural air of power and charisma, cunning and subtly cutthroat personality, et cetera. What Mokou didn't believe was that her first guess was dead on the mark. Worse still was that Mokou's own father was a police officer - poorly paid though he may have been - and lots of his recent assignments involved the yakuza. Was this how the rivalry started? Even if Mokou didn't want to believe it, it wasn't impossible that the rivalry between herself and Kaguya was sparked by a second conflict; that of the Tohohana police force and its local yakuza. Officer Fujiwara, whose only child aspired to be a detective, and Yakuza Boss Houraisan, whose daughter was raised with underworld values and money. Worst of all, if Mokou really did become a detective, she'd been in contact with the head of the yakuza and knew his occupation thanks to Kaguya. If that happened, Kaguya simply uttering the two words "Mokou knows" to her father could get Mokou shot and killed. As Mokou and Kaguya began ascending up a staircase, Mokou's fear became equally elevated. "W-Well, it's a lovely mansion! I only wish I could live in a place like this. Your father must be a r-really hard worker, Kaguya!"

"I don't see you having a home like this. My room's right up here," Kaguya noted as she started leading Mokou up another staircase.

"The whole third floor?"

"No, dummy. This part is walled off from the rest of the third floor, and it has my bedroom, a bathroom, one of three guest rooms, and a view of the front yard."

"Pretty classy, huh?"

"Of course. Only the finest, right?"

"For you, maybe. Some of us don't have your family's kind of support."

"That's true, I suppose. What's your father do, then, if you have no money? Is he like a janitor or something?"

"Detective. He's probably the best damn detective in Tohohana, but he isn't all that lucky. Lots of times, he gets cheated out of his money by some of the more crooked cops in the department, or has to pay a debt to somebody in the park. Even though he's getting paid well, we don't get all that much."

"Oh, I forgot to ask. How long do you plan on staying?"

"Mind if I have dinner over here? All we've got back home is canned crap nobody wants to eat."

"…"

"Can't think on an empty stomach, can I?"

"Fine. But once you're done eating, it's straight back to your trailer park."

"It's nice that we're on the same page. I don't wanna be here any longer than I have to, comprende?"

"Com-huh?"

"It's Spanish. It means do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll make sure Michael's ready to send you home as soon as you're done eating. I'm sure you have some alligators to shoot or something."

"…I'm not even going to comment on how mind-numbingly stupid that sounds."

One study session later…

"It's decided," Mokou said. "We'll each take one topic alone, and tackle the third together. I think I'll take the legendary phoenix." Phoenixes were Mokou's favorite animal since she was a little girl, even if she knew they were just myth and folklore. Their color and the majestic appearance Mokou always had in mind when she envisioned them, plus their knack for fire. That was another thing Mokou always enjoyed; a good fire. "How about you?"

"Phoenix."

"No, screw you! I'm taking the phoenix!"

"Then I'll take Izanami. Or…was it Izanagi? Which one's the wife, again?"

"…you'd better look it up. So, what subject are we going to tackle together? It should be something easy so we don't have to cooperate much."

"Oni," Kaguya said without skipping a beat. "They're horned drunkards who wear leopard thongs, carry spiked clubs, and like to get drunk and kill folks. And they come in red and blue. Problem solved." Kaguya looked mighty proud of herself for making such a daring assessment of oni. As far as she cared, though, that was all there was to any form of oni. They were folks who loved alcohol, power, honor, and doing things their way. Now that it was put into those terms, though, the summary sounded awfully familiar to her…bearded warriors and dragons came to mind.

"Might as well hand you the A now," Mokou sarcastically quipped.

"Do you mind? I'm busy trying to learn more about Iza-somebody."

"With the computer off?"

"Yeah."

"And the TV off as well?"

"Uh-huh."

"And…pretty much everything else off?"

"What're you getting at?"

"Look," Mokou said, reaching for the power button on Kaguya's computer. Before she could touch the machine, however, something quick and unexpected tackled Mokou from the side, throwing her straight onto the floor with a resounding THUD! Upon looking at the surprise attacker, the Fujiwara girl was most surprised and impressed to find Kaguya staring right down at her. Which still begged one question. "What the hell was that for?"

"Sorry. Reflex."

"You've got a reflex to tackle somebody when they try to touch your computer?"

"Yep."

"…seriously? How dumb do you think I am? You're using it as an excuse to tackle me to the ground, probably in the hopes of sparking a full-on fight that would get me kicked out of your house before dinner and would cause your father to send a powerful threat my way. If things would go as I think you were thinking, I would have told my own father that yours runs the yakuza because I wanted revenge for provoking me, which would lead to the untimely death of Detective Fujiwara and my becoming an orphan. At that point, you'd throw out an unexpectedly sweet-sounding offer to adopt me, which you'd probably hope I'd begrudgingly accept so that you could torment me for the rest of my days here, slowly killing me from the inside out with a combination of mental torture, emotional distress, and horrendous cooking."

"…"

"How dead-on was that?"

"I-It was…wrong! All wrong! How could you even think up something that complex by winging it like that?"

"Daughter and only child of the city's best detective, remember? That and I watch lots of cop shows."

"Deathnote?"

"Yes, actually."

"How about that L?"

"What about him?"

"Wouldn't you go for that?"

"I kind of liked Light better."

"Wh-WHAT? You're a KIRA FAN?"

"Why's that such a big surprise?" It was just a character, right? Kira, L, what was the difference? Both were staggeringly intelligent, and both were constantly trying to pry their way into the other one's head. Of course, only until-

Beyond the fourth wall…

"Omitted due to spoilers," UnendingEmpire declared. "Plain and simple. I encourage the readers here to watch Deathnote, because it is an awesome wonderful anime, and L and Kira are two of the badass-est cop show characters ever. Suck on that, Law & Order. Okay, this is getting awkward now; back to the Houraisan mansion~"

Back at the Houraisan mansion…

"Okay, Kira-fangirl, what's your take on Near?"

"Hate him."

"Me too! He's just a replacement L so that L fans have somebody to hate."

"I know, right?"

"…"

"…"

"So, when's dinner again?"

"You tell me; it's your house!"

The Deathnote bit was actually something I made up on the wing of the moment, but it was a cute little spark to at least crack the ice between the two. I was also going to have a scene with Kaguya sharing her plan with her father, which was pretty much exactly what Mokou said it was. So, in a bizarre sense, Kaguya and Mokou are like lower-level girl versions of Kira and L. And they both hate Near, as do I =w=

And if I didn't say this yet (pretty sure I did, but better to be safe) I'm starting another fanfic similar to this one, but with the KogaSana pairing instead. And probably another still with KogaNue pairing. And then there were my two Kogasa fics, and that one that crack-paired her with Rumia…

Kogasa is the new Sanae.