Kyo woke to the sensation of movement on the bed. Sei was standing over him, pulling a blanket over him. "I'm sorry I woke you," she said.

"It's all right. How long was I asleep?"

Sei sat on the edge of the bed. "Not-" She yawned. "Not long."

"Do you want to lie down?"

Sei arched her eyebrows. "Why, Kyo! You are a brave one."

"What I mean is-" he stammered.

"No, I know what you meant. No, I'm good. Can I get you anything? We have beer, wine, sod-what am I saying? You shop for us. You know better than anybody."

Kyo started to get up. "I should-"

"No. You stay right where you are. You've done enough for one day. I'm going to take care of you for a change. After all I make you put up with, I think I owe you something. Seriously, what'll you have?"

"Um, a little red wine would be nice, please."

"Red wine? That's your first choice? At your age? Never saw that coming. Not only an expert cook but a man of taste and refinement. I like you more and more all the time." She got up and stretched; Kyo found it difficult to ignore how her curves strained against her clothing. "All right. Red wine it is, but at a price: You'll be my plus one whenever I go to a wine and cheese party."

"Um, in that case, maybe-"

"No, no, it's decided." She backed up towards the door; Kyo squirmed as she looked at him hungrily. "Oooh, I can't wait to see what Henri can do with you. You'll look good enough to eat." She bit the air in front of her, then turned and went out the door.

Kyo lay back on the bed and put his hand over his face. "Memo to self: Next time a beautiful woman in a sports car calls you from across the street, run out the back door."

"What was that?" Sei's head appeared in the doorway, a smile on her face. "You think I'm beautiful? Why thank you, Kyo, that's very nice of you. You're very handsome yourself."

"Uh, thank you, Sei." He winced inwardly - he'd forgot how compact the trailer's living space was, and apparently, it had fantastic acoustics.

"Flattering the boss is not the way to go if you want to lose a job. I'm just sayin'." Sei's head disappeared and reappeared. "Oh, and Kyo? I've been trained by the best bounty hunters in the world, so you can't get away from me just by running out the back door. But you're welcome to try." She vanished again.

"You'd probably just send Jo to get me."

"Nope, wouldn't need her," Sei's voice came back. "In fact, let's try this: One day I'll call you from outside the school, and as soon as you hang up, you make a run for it. I'll give you a twenty minute head start. If you can evade me for….three hours, say, I'll let you out of this job that day and pay you everything I owe you plus extra."

"And if you catch me?"

"You'll be my love slave forever."

"Uh…no, Sei, this job is fine, thanks."

Sei came back with a bottle and two glasses. She'd let her hair down, and leaned on the doorframe, facing him in profile, her head tilted to one side. "Are you sure you wouldn't want me to be your sugar momma, Kyo?" she cooed. "You have no idea the things I'd introduce you to. You'd learn so many things good little boys never even imagine, and I'd pamper you to within an inch of your life."

"Uhh…."

Sei laughed. "I'm sorry, Kyo. I shouldn't tease you like that. I just get antsy when I'm waiting for Jo and Meg to check in, and I don't have Amy here to distract me with non-stop techno-babble. So I'm taking it out on you. And I'm afraid I can be a real tease when I let myself. Please forgive me."

"Uh, it's ok, Sei."

"Tell you what: Friendly drink, you and me, no terms or preconditions. Ok?"

"No wine and cheese parties?"

"Not unless you wanted to go."

"Well…I actually like wine and cheese parties."

"Oh, really? Oh…um, if something came up down the road, would you at least consider going with me? It's not a condition of your employment, but I took Leo to one once … ONCE… need I say more?"

"Yeah, I can see the problem. Uh, well…would there be extra money in it for me?"

"You little whore! Maybe I was too quick to call you a good boy. Nope, no extra money. But you'd have me on your arm for an evening. That fact by itself would be worth it. Trust me."

"Well, I…."

"It's something we can talk about some other time if you want. I just…I'd like to go to one of those things with someone who (A) knows how to behave himself, and (B) whose company I enjoy, and at the moment, that is a very short list. No pressure, just…" She let it hang.

"Well, I guess I can think about it."

"That's all I ask." She handed him his glass, sat on the edge of the bed, and started to work on the cork. "What else do you like? What's your favorite kind of music?"

"Jazz. It's the best kind of music on the planet."

"A man after my own heart. Do you go to any of the clubs in Tokyo, Kyo?"

"What, Japanese jazz? Are you kidding, Sei? That's like an American samurai movie. Yuck! No, the only place for real jazz is where it came from, America. The first thing I want to do after I establish myself as a pastry chef is go to a real jazz club in New Orleans. I daydream about finding some little hole in the wall the French Quarter: Brick walls, low light, smoke, a jazz quartet playing all night…"

"I know a place exactly like that, in the French Quarter, except for the smoke. Tobacco is a controlled substance in the States."

"Oh, yeah, that's right."

"Uh-huh. But the place has everything else. And guess who has unlimited access to Bailan's corporate suborbital jet?"

"Hmm, that would be Tokyo to New Orleans in 45 minutes?"

"Thirty…air time. Taxiing and customs are the longest parts of the trip."

"So you can go to New Orleans, listen to some sets, and be back here by dinner, and no one would be any the wiser."

She nodded. "And next time I go, I might want to have my personal chef with me in case I wanted any of his heavenly snacks along the way. And he would have to accompany me to the club; I wouldn't want to go anywhere without someone from my staff, and if it was just him, he would be it."

"I don't have a passport."

"Seriously? But you want to go abroad!"

"I was going to take care of it this summer."

"No, I'm going to take care of it tomorrow. You'll have it by the end of the week."

"Thanks, Sei."

"You're welcome…Seriously, Kyo, is sneaking off to listen to a few sets with me something you would be interested in doing? See, I realize I have made you put up with more crap than any chef in the history of…cheffing - if that's a word - more crap than any other chef has had to deal with, and I think I owe you something for your trouble, a little token of my appreciation and respect. And I consider you a friend. That's where all this is coming from. I'm brainstorming."

"Even the love slave stuff?"

"Ah, just ragging on you…though if you don't like the idea, don't keep brining it up. I'm not responsible if you tempt me too much."

Kyohei winced. "Ok. Still….New Orleans? Run there, run back, act like nothin' happened?"

Sei nodded.

Kyohei smiled slightly. "Yeah, sure, yeah, I could do that. It might be fun. Yeah, Sei, I'd like to do that - if it's no trouble."

"No, trouble at all, Kyohei. It would be my pleasure. You couldn't - damn, is this cork welded in? - you couldn't tell the others about it, though. I'd insist on that."

"Actually, Sei, that sounds like the best part of the idea, having one over on them."

"I know. You're being a bad influence on me. All right then, I'll see what I can do. I can't promise a chance will come up - things have been ludicrous lately, haven't they? - but if it does, I'll take you. And if it doesn't, at least you'll have a passport, which you would have needed anyway. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Good." She finally got the cork off. Sei poured his glass. "Only a little for you - I want you able to drive home. I do not like paying DUI fines. You do not want to know how much I don't like that, trust me." She started to pour for herself.

"I was just thinking, Sei - with some kind of crisis going on, should you even be drinking?"

"There's always a crisis going on around here, in case you haven't noticed, so I might as well snatch little pleasures when I can. Don't worry about me, Kyo. I can drink sumo wrestlers under the table. I was totally hammered the second time - was it the second or third? - no, the second time we took this rig out. I'll be ok. But thanks for asking." She finished pouring for herself and put the bottle and her phone on the floor. "Cheers."

"A votre sante." They clinked glasses and sipped their wine.

"You just reminded me," Sei said, "have you learned to speak French?"

Kyo smiled. "I already speak French quite well," he said in French. "Thank you for asking, Mademoiselle Sei."

"That's very good," Sei responded in kind. "You continue to impress me, mon ami. How did you learn? You can't tell me it was in public school."

Kyo shook his head. "My maternal grand mother." Back to Japanese: "She's half French. Everyone on my mother's side speaks French half the time. It's part of the reason I want to go to France; being a pastry chef is almost an excuse. I just fell in love with the place the more I learned about it, the history, the food, the culture. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah."

They took a couple more sips.

"Kyo, can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure, Sei."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

He almost panicked.

"What I mean is," Sei said, "will you be leaving anyone behind when you go to France? I can't help but think that you've won the heart of an aspiring domestic diva, and she'll cry a river when you go."

"No, I…I don't have the time for a girlfriend. And my last date didn't go very well."

"It wasn't because of us, was it?"

"No, it was before you hired me. We went to this restaurant and as I read the menu, I wondered aloud about how they had made everything. Then the chef came out. Turns out he graduated from my school a year before I started. We talked shop for half an hour."

"Oh, no."

"Oh, yeah."

"How did your date take it?"

"When I turned back to her, she was gone."

Sei laughed. "I'm sorry," she managed. "I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time…"

Kyo laughed with her. "No, it's all right."

"Did you call her up? Try to explain?"

"I couldn't. I'd completely forgot her name!"

They howled.

"What about you?" Kyo asked.

Sei shook her head. "There's no one. I don't think I can have room in my life for a long term relationship, never mind a husband and children, not with what I do being so mind-numbingly dangerous. I couldn't… No sense planning for the future when you may not be alive tomorrow. My parents could live with the risks, but I haven't learned how to, not yet, anyway. I have gone out. There was one guy, a month or two before I hired you, who I really liked, but I had to stand him up a few times too many. Last time I tried to call him, he was blocking the number I was calling from." She shrugged.

"Couldn't you have explained to him?"

"No, I-" Sei broke off, then turned and moved a little closer. "Kyohei, what I'm about to tell you stays between us. You can not under any circumstances breathe a word to anybody. I zealously guard my privacy and I do not want any one of the others to know this. But I think I can trust you. Ok?"

"Ok, Sei. Your secret is safe with me."

"All right," Sei said. "I have several safe houses in Tokyo, each one tied to a different false identity. And every one of them is a complete make over, from head to toe. I could adopt one of my aliases and sit this close to you and you would never know it was me."

"Wow."

"The only way I can have any alone time without leaving Japan is to be somebody else, literally, even if it's to see a movie or have a drink. That's why I had to stand up my date. He thought I was somebody else. And I will go to any lengths to keep some things in my life separate from…this, no matter the cost."

"What if you had got serious with him? Would you have told him, ever?"

She looked down. "Don't ask me that, Kyo. Please don't ask me that."

"Ok. I'm sorry."

"It's all right. You're a sweetheart." She squeezed his shoulder and smiled. "Anyway, that's also part of why you're here. One of my safe houses …. It's no use telling you where it is - you'd never find it unless I took you there - but you have to drive past your culinary school to get to it. That's how I know about it. When Amy started scouring cooking schools for a new chef, I 'casually' dropped the name of it. Told her I'd heard nice things about it. Actually, I knew nothing about it, but I hoped we'd find someone who was a good cook and a trustworthy person; the girls need someone who won't just see them as guns with legs, but who could care for them, or at least not take advantage of them. And we got you, made to order almost. And the girls like you."

"No, they don't."

"Yes, they do. They're just…socially challenged. You just don't know what they did to the last chefs; two of them are still in therapy. But if there's any doubt in your mind, you can take this to the bank: if anything happened to you, whoever did it would have a mountain of sugar-and-estrogen powered whoop-ass coming down on his neck, and he'd be lucky if I didn't get to him first. Depend on it."

"Gee…Thanks, Sei."

"You're really adorable when you blush like that, you know that?" She looked between him and her glass a few times before turning serious. "Kyo, can you promise me something?"

"Anything, Sei." He was surprised that he said it, and that he meant it.

"When the time comes to leave us, don't look back. Follow your dream; get on with your life. Meet a nice girl and go someplace where you can be happy and raise a family."

"'When it's time to leave'?" Kyo cried. "What are you saying? Are you firing me? Do you want me to go?"

She looked at her glass and her voice shook when she turned back to him. "Go, Kyohei? If I had my way, you'd never leave my side. But that would be wrong. This life isn't safe for you. I'm not safe for you. I'm the last person on this Earth you should have anything to do with. You never should have taken this job. I'll get you killed if it serves my purposes and not shed a single tear even when I'm dying inside. I really am a horrible person…"

"No, Sei, don't say that about yourself…" He put his hand on her cheek; he thought she was going to cry. "If you were all bad, you would never have been nice to me."

Sei looked into his eyes strangely for a second. "Kyo…" And then she was on him, kissing him hard as she pushed him back down onto the bed. Kyo tensed - amazingly, he didn't spill his wine. He thrashed a little in surprise, then started to relax. He found he was starting to like it. He wanted to give in to Sei, especially if she needed him. For a moment, he wanted to do anything she asked of him … anything…

But only moments after Sei had thrown herself on Kyo, her phone rang. She ignored the first two rings, but on the third one she pushed herself off Kyo, cursed, picked up the phone, read the caller ID, cursed again, and answered it: "WHAT NOW!? This had better be good ….You caught me at a bad time…That's none of your concern. Talk…What? …. Well, where is… Meg, wait a … But … How-? …. When… slow down…yeah…But…Where … Back up, who's the …. .Meg, take a breath for g- what?… say that again?…uh-huh…hang on a minute…" She ran out of the room.

Kyo lay on his back and took a deep breath. He found himself hoping Jo would just blow up whatever it was, then Sei could come back to bed and…and….

'What are you thinking?' he asked himself as his head seemed to clear. 'She's your boss, and you hate this job! That was a sexual assault, you idiot! You should leave now while you can. Quit and don't come back.' But the thought of saying, "Sei, I quit," - somehow, it was unbearable. The urge to run quieted inside him almost the moment he had it.

Sei reappeared in her door. "Kyohei, I'm sending you home now." She was all business, as if they hadn't almost… almost …

Kyo got up. "What's wrong?"

"Things are going to get a little dicey, and I want you out of harm's way."

"'Get' dicey?"

Sei allowed herself a slight smile. "Diceyer, then."

She walked him to the trailer's door and said, "Just one thing, Kyo. I'm terribly sorry about forcing myself on you just now; I don't know what came over me. As I said, I consider you my friend, and I wouldn't want to do anything to tarnish that friendship. I would completely understand if you decided you no longer wanted to…" She trailed off.

"No, it's ok, Sei, you were hurting and you made a stupid mistake. And…" He blushed. "…I kind of liked it."

"I could kind of tell. But will you be all right? Do you want some time off? With pay. Ask and you shall receive."

"No, Sei, I…I'll be all right. And while I'm not sure about his job sometimes, you're helping me save money for Paris, so making sure you guys are fed well enough to get through…whatever is the least I can do."

"That's very sweet of you. And you're very brave, Kyohei, for putting up with us for as long as you have. A lesser man would have run out of here screaming months ago, but you're toughing it out. I will always admire you for that."

"It's nothing, Sei."

"Don't sell yourself short. Being in the middle of all this when you're totally unsuited for it? You're the bravest man I've ever known, and don't let anyone tell you different."

"Ok. What time do you want me back tomorrow?"

"That's a tricky question. You have classes tomorrow?"

"No."

"All right. You get as much sleep as you need. If this part of town isn't a blast crater, I won't expect you until dinner, though I'll pay you for the whole day."

"And if this place has been blown to smithereens?"

"Don't look back. One more thing: are you busy a week from Saturday?"

"No. Why?"

"Tokyo Fortune Island will be opening, and I think we could all use a break."

"That's invitation only."

"And I can get us some invitations."

"Meaning you already have."

"Yes, Kyo, and yours should be in the mail today. But you don't have to accept it."

"Do you always get what you want, Sei?"

"I got you, didn't I?"

"Uh…"

"You don't have to come," she said, "but could you come anyway, please? It would mean a lot to me."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world…Am I going to regret saying that?"

"Probably."

"Talk about an occupational hazard. But yes, Sei, I'll come."

"I'll look forward to it."

She pushed the door open and they stood there, facing each other. Kyo wasn't sure what to do or what to say; he didn't even want to move from that spot. He knew he had to go, but he didn't want to leave.

A loud 'THOOM' echoed in the distance.

"I think I should go now," Kyo said.

"Yes, you should," Sei replied. "I'll see you at dinner."

"Want anything in particular?"

"I will have whatever my esteemed personal chef recommends. Surprise me."

Kyo headed down the steps. "I'll try not to disappoint you."

"I know you won't, Kyo. I know you won't. You never do. Now get out of here."