Shigeru shifted and sighed. That bittersweet dream had returned after several years. Someone was holding her so closely that their bodies were plastered together. His head was using her breasts as a pillow. She moved her arms to pull him closer and caress his hair. But instead of tight curls she found smooth soft waves—Yuzan?!

Her eyes popped open. Sure enough, the faint gleam of the bathroom's courtesy light confirmed his identity. And he was on the opposite side of the bed than the one she had put him in…and almost completely undressed. What the—?

She contemplated the shadows on the ceiling as she tried to sort it out. Okay, so he heeded the call of nature and then climbed back into bed on the side closest the bathroom. While he was away, she must have rolled over so that he didn't even know she was there. Oh well, he was still asleep. She stroked his hair fondly, snuggled closer, and let herself drift back to slumber.


A couple of hours later she knew the instant he awakened and realized their position. His arms had clenched and his body froze. She rubbed her eyes open then smiled seductively at him before kissing him. "Good morning, lover."

Gazing at her in panic, he asked, "Shigeru, did we—?"

She laughed out loud. "No, of course not."

"Then, why are we in the same bed?"

"Because," she allowed her mouth to glide over his slightly rough cheek. "Rui only has one bedroom in his isolation villa. The one down the hall is a music room, and I wasn't interested in sleeping on top of the piano."

"Shigeru," his voice deepened, "are you trying to take advantage of me?"

Her lips on his neck lifted. "I thought we might take advantage of the situation." She rubbed her lower body against his. "It doesn't appear that you are exactly averse to this activity."

"Ju-just so you know, I don't know too much about it," he began.

"Oh, Yuzan," she laughed, "you don't have to tell me that! And it's not a competition. Let's just take this time to enjoy each other."


"I hope eggs are okay with you," Shigeru said into the open refrigerator. "My culinary skills are practically nonexistent."

"I usually have a couple bowls of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs for breakfast," he admitted from the doorway.

She shot him a look. "I doubt if Rui even knows what that is, since I certainly don't. Scrambled okay?"

At his nod she set a skillet on the stove and began cracking eggs into a bowl. She heard him move close to her and felt his hands on her waist. "You're so…normal this morning," he said.

"Well," she took a deep breath, "I don't know exactly how to act so that you won't run and hide on me again." She managed a small laugh. "I guess I don't do 'morning after' too well."

His arms enfolded her. "As long as you don't leave, you're doing it excellently well."

She let out a long sigh." Stupid! You'll have to kick me out now." She poured the eggs into the pan and shoved them around with a spatula. "Can you find a plate somewhere in those cabinets?"

As he searched for the dishes, she heard her phone ring. Pulling it from her back pocket she answered it one-handed, "Yes, Tsukushi? Any word yet?" After a pause she turned to Yuzan. "She wants a video chat." He nodded and took the spatula from her and stirred the eggs. "Okay, give us a couple minutes until breakfast is ready," and then clicked off. She turned to see the eggs sloppily piled on one plate and Yuzan holding up two forks proudly. "Oh, well."

They walked into the office and Shigeru opened the video app. She turned to Yuzan who had followed her and said, "You can pull up another ch—what?!"

He pulled her out of the large executive chair and sat down, then tugged her into his lap and handed her the plate just as Tsukushi's face appeared.

"Good, you're both there," Tsukushi began then added, eyes widened,"and so close together."

"Yeah, yeah," Shigeru answered, blushing in spite of herself. "So what gives?"

"Okay," Tsukushi's eyes looked away at her notes. "Did Rui tell you that the supposed dinner is now a binding betrothal meeting?"

"Yes, he did," Yuzan answered as he shoved a forkful of eggs into Shigeru's mouth. "Do you have anything new?"

"Well, so far we haven't seen that your father is in any financial bind, although a couple of interesting transactions have popped up."

"Such as?" he managed before Shigeru returned the favor and filled his mouth.

"The Shirase family has recently doubled the amount of money to be managed by YoshidaEnt. That could be seen as an investment in their soon-to-be son-in-law. However," she drawled out the word suspensefully, "your stepmother's allowance has also been increased substantially."

"What?" Yuzan exclaimed. "She already gets an obscene amount as it is. What else does she need it for?" His outraged face lost a little bit of intensity when Shigeru picked a piece of egg off his cheek and put it in her mouth. "Who taught you table manners?"

"What's the matter?" she asked. "Your skin's clean. You showered this morning. I was there, remember?"

"Yes, but—"

"Shigeru, stop distracting him," Tsukushi scolded. "Yuzan, this looks like some sort of hush money given to your stepmother. Is there any reason that for her to object to the marriage arrangement?"

"I don't know why it would be any of her business."

"Unless she has regretted failing to seduce you that one time," Shigeru offered helpfully.

Tsukushi stifled her laughter at the expression on Yuzan's face. "O-o-o-kay, how long ago was that?"

"No, no, that can't be it!" he protested, waving a hand in denial.

"Don't worry!" Shigeru set down the now empty plate and hugged him exuberantly. "I won't let her have you now!"

"Will you be serious!" he shouted, trying to dislodge her.

"Children, behave!" Tsukushi snapped. "Even though I'm younger than either of you," she muttered. "I'll hold off on investigating that…interesting bit of Yoshida family history unless Akira and Sojiro come up with nothing. They were both attending some late evening affairs and should call shortly before retiring. I'll be back with any new information as soon as I get it. Shall we agree that we will get together again at 6pm your time tonight?"


"Die, you bastard, die!" she shouted as she maneuvered the remote control.

"Damn it, Shigeru, why do you get to be Luke again?" Yuzan complained.

"Shooting down Darth Vader never gets old," she smirked at him.

As his TIE fighter exploded once more (and why would there be all that fire and smoke in space anyway?), he commented, "If you were actually part of the Rebellion, Lucas would have had to stop with the first movie."

"Damn straight!" she laughed as they both fell backwards onto the large pillows scattered on the floor. "Hey, I'm wondering something," she spoke as she pressed buttons on the controller to turn off the game system.

"Yeah?" he asked, one arm over his eyes.

"What's so great about this Rika?"

"Huh?"

"When your father called, he knew good and well that I was the one with you, right?"

Interested, Yuzan propped himself on one elbow. "I think that's a fair assumption."

"Well, he told you to dump me (and insulted me in the bargain, I might add) so that you can get engaged to this girl. By most people's judgments, I would be the better candidate, right?" Seeing him grin at her, she swatted him. "I'm not being egotistical. I'm richer and my family is more influential."

"You're prettier too," he teased.

"Don't try to flatter me," Shigeru gave a short laugh. "Something else is going on. Hey!"

He grabbed her and rolled her beneath him. "You're number one in my book." He kissed her lips briefly. "Even though I'd love to know what the big mystery is, I have every confidence that your friends will get to the bottom of it." He let her go and sat up. "Do you want to explore some outside? We can see if there are boots that fit you."

She tugged him back down. "I'd rather explore some more indoors. If you get my drift." She raised an eyebrow.

"You're right," he grinned at her. "The outdoors is way overrated."


"Listen," Tsukushi warned them, "we have some interesting items of information, and I need your full attention in trying to make sense of them."

"You have it," Yuzan said. For this session he and Shigeru had moved a second chair behind the desk and sat next to each other, holding hands.

"First, our decoys were 'made' when they deplaned in Los Angeles. Your father must have had suspicions that you would not return willingly and had already dispatched agents to ensure you did. Apparently they followed our substitutes to the hotel and tried to rough them up."

"Hey!" Yuzan exclaimed, half rising.

"No, no," Tsukushi gestured at them, "they're all right. They are Domyoji-trained, after all," she added with a gleam in her eye. "However, I believe we can conclude that Daddy Dearest now knows you have dropped off the face of the earth. We will be alerted as soon as his operatives locate you on the Atlanta flight. When that happens it will only be a matter of time before they discover that a Domyoji private jet flew out of the secondary airport. I'm confident that we can snatch you out of Nevada before they can get that far."

"It would be a lot more entertaining if this was a thriller movie we were watching instead of real life," complained Shigeru.

"That isn't the worst of it." Tsukushi looked grim. "Sojiro hasn't been able to get near Miss Shirase, but he has wined and dined a few of her friends."

"That's pretty impressive for just twenty four hours," Yuzan commented.

"Don't even think about taking lessons from him," Shigeru warned.

As if the byplay had not occurred, Tsukushi continued. "They mentioned that the young lady has been dating someone in secret for the past six months. She wouldn't say who he was, just that he was tall, dark and handsome and an 'absolute dreamboat'." She wrinkled her nose at the hyperbole. "However, she has been feeling under the weather for the past couple weeks, primarily in the mornings, if you get my drift."

Yuzan collapsed backwards. "Oh, God, no!"

"Yes, and Akira reports that with enough alcohol, your stepmother can go on quite a rant about not stepping aside just because that 'expletive-deleted expletive-deleted not having the sense to wrap up his expletive-deleted expletive-deleted.' And that he should have kept to his previous history of 'expletive-deleting people not of their own social class'."

"Is she saying what I think she's saying?" Shigeru asked Yuzan, who was now leaning forward, elbows resting on the arms of the chair.

"Rika Shirase is pregnant with my father's child. She wants to marry him but Micheru is standing firm. Her parents can't be bought off with money or favors, so…"

"...in order to give the child the Yoshida name he will force you into marriage with her," Shigeru concluded for him.

"And probably continue the affair," Tsukushi added calmly. When they stared at her she shrugged. "I did a lot of research on your father, sweetheart. I don't see how he can be seen as a catch in anyone's books."

Visibly shaken, he said, "I knew he saw me as only a tool to advance the family, but this—!"

Shigeru tightened her hand over his and turned to Tsukushi. "So what can be done? They can't have the yuino without the groom, right?"

"Logically, no," Tsukushi answered. "The best thing you can do is wait it out."

"How long will that take?"

"With the resources of the F4, we could hide you until your little brother or sister is in kindergarten, if necessary. However, that would not be in your best interests."

"Right. A lousy way to live, with no future to speak of," he muttered.

"Give us a little while and let us see if we can come up with a counter-measure to his machinations. Meanwhile, try not to worry too much tonight. I'll talk with you tomorrow."

"Easy for her to say," Shigeru remarked.

"My exact thoughts," Yuzan agreed.

"Wow," she sighed. "Now both of us have had parental interference in our search for wedded bliss."

"Hmm," he said bringing her hand to his mouth. "But your parents seem to be much more reasonable than mine. Well", he hopped up, "let's go see what other meals are available in the freezer, and find a matching wine. That's probably all the information we get for the day."

"Sure thing," she agreed.


They uncorked a nice Argentine vintage while the prepared meal was in the microwave. A dinging sound interrupted them in the middle of the first glass. "That's not the microwave," Shigeru said, puzzled.

They followed the sound back into the office. "Already?" They looked at each other. "This can't be good."

For the first time since their flight began, Tsukushi's legendary temper appeared to be fraying her calm. "Sorry for interrupting you again so suddenly," she began, "and I hope that wine isn't for celebration purposes."

"What do you mean?"

"Yuzan," she looked straight at him, "I just heard from your sister-in-law."

"How is Shizuku involved in this?" he asked.

"She's the one I talked with yesterday…today…damn, I can't keep the days straight with so many time zones. Anyway, she and your brother have heard from the main house that the betrothal ceremony has been delayed for three days."

"But isn't that good?" asked Shigeru.

"Not really. Shizuku has heard that the Yoshida lawyers have been discussing the use of a proxy groom in the yuino. In other words—"

"—I don't actually have to be there to end up publicly engaged," Yuzan completed.

"Yes," she replied tersely. "And there's no guarantee that the proxy will still not be used, even if you show up to repudiate the contract."

"But they don't have your power of attorney, right?" Shigeru queried him.

"Of course not!" he snapped.

"It looks more sinister from my viewpoint. He may be working to have you declared incompetent in some fashion, which will also allow him to take possession of your financial accounts."

"Taking over Haru's and Mitsuyoshi's funds, plus destroying any future political plans that I may have. Even successfully fighting it would cause a scandal too juicy to be forgotten. Damn!" Wine splashed out of the glass as he slammed it to the desk.

"Is there anything we can do?" Shigeru asked her friend anxiously.

"Well, short of Yuzan being ineligible by already being married, I don't know what else can stop them in their tracks," Tsukushi offered.

"That's a rather drastic solution," Shigeru pointed out.

"I'll do it," Yuzan suddenly spoke.

"What?!" Shigeru swiveled around quickly.

"Is that a proposal?" Tsukushi asked with a grin.

"Do you mind turning your screen away for a moment?" Yuzan asked politely. When all that was visible was a bookshelf full of law tomes, he turned to Shigeru. "It's a little sudden and a whole lot unromantic, but would you do me the honor…?"

She blinked rapidly. "You mean, to stop your father's nefarious plot? Of course."

"No, I mean for real. I never thought I'd be able to be this close to a woman, much less one that suits me as well as you. You admitted it earlier, you're the better candidate."

"Using my words against me—!"

"And you also said that you like excitement. On our first dessert date, remember?" He leaned in for a quick kiss. "If going undercover across a continent and fighting plots worthy of a tawdry novel isn't excitement enough, I'll see what else I can scrounge up."

"But at that time you said that you prefer peace and quiet. That's absolutely not a definition of my life."

He laughed. "And you think mine is? I'm usually pulled in fourteen directions daily just on spin control, thanks to my dad. Marriage to you will be relaxation compared to that. So?"

"All right! We're engaged. Tsukushi, you can come back now," she called to the monitor.

"Great. Congratulations. Now, let's see how we can manage this without your father sticking his oar in."

"I suppose he's watching all the arrivals in Japan?" Yuzan hazarded.

"We'd never make it to a government office without being caught," Shigeru lamented.

"Guys!" Tsukushi clapped her hands to regain their attention. "Are you forgetting what state you are located in at this time? Shigeru, remember my bachelorette party? Our karaoke duet?"

They stared at the screen and slowly Shigeru smiled. She turned to Yuzan, stood and swiveled her hips as she sang, "Viva…Las Vegas!"