Tanargue wants to know where Booth's tattoos came from. I thought that might make an interesting story. I hope you like it.

A/N: I've never been to Japan; so, if I've made any mistakes then I apologize. I did do some research; but, that doesn't mean that this story is error free. I do have hopes that it is though.

I don't own Bones.

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Booth had been sent to Japan as part of an exchange program between the FBI and the Kanto Regional Police Bureau. He and two other FBI Agents had been sent to the Kanagawa Prefecture to exchange ideas and methods to fight organized crime.

Booth had joined the FBI three years earlier; so, as far as Booth was concerned he was still learning the business. When they had arrived in Japan, Booth, Tomlin and Barnes had been introduced to three officers that they would be shadowing during their stay. The first few days were spent in meetings. The meetings had been organized so that the two sides could talk about organized crime in each other's country and what they were doing to combat it.

The officer that had been assigned to Booth had been a little surprised that his guest barely talked. Ken Nakamura, a police officer in the Criminal Investigation Bureau, thought that Agent Booth was polite enough; but, his silence was a big surprise to him. He thought Americans were supposed to be more boisterous and out going. Certainly Agents Tomlin and Barnes seemed to fit the stereotype. Their attitude towards their hosts was a little condescending if not insulting. Instead of exchanging ideas, Tomlin and Barnes seemed to be more interested in telling their hosts how to handle their organized crime problem and didn't seem very interested in how the Japanese were actually dealing with the problem.

During their meetings, Booth would sit silently and listen to everything that was being said. He had a notebook and he took numerous notes in. He took any paper given to him and read it then folded it and put it in the back of his notebook.

The three days set aside for the meetings had slowly come to a close and the next day, each FBI Agent would start shadowing the officer they had been assigned to.

Towards the end of the meeting, Inspector Fumio Sato had looked at Booth and said, "Agent Booth, you haven't said very much during these meetings. Do you have any questions or comments?"

Nodding his head, Booth said, "How would you gentlemen handle our organized crime problem?"

A little shocked, all eyes locked on Booth who sat with his hands resting on his notebook. Impressed with Booth, Inspector Sato had smiled and then proceeded to go over the methods they used to try to handle the Yakuza, the Japanese version of the American Mafia.

While Tomlin and Barnes had rolled their eyes, they had listened none the less. Booth, interested in what Inspector Sato had to say, had taken notes and had asked the occasional question.

After the meeting had broken up, Ken had invited Booth out for a drink. Much to his surprise, Booth has accepted. Ken had extended the invitation out of politeness and had not considered the fact that Booth would actually accept.

Trying to be a good host, Ken had taken Booth to the Tommy Bar in Yokosuka. The bar had a reputation for being friendly to American sailors; so, Ken thought Booth would appreciate the gesture. They'd had a fairly interesting evening. Ken had found that once Booth was away from Tomlin and Barnes he was downright friendly and very outgoing.

The next few days, Booth had shadowed Ken as Ken did his job. He stayed close to Ken without crowding him. He listened, observed and took notes. At first, there had been a lot of sly comments made to Booth in Japanese that the commenter's had thought were amusing; but, to their surprise, Officer Nakamura had not.

After a few days working with Booth, Ken realized that Booth may not understand what was being said to him when someone talked to him in Japanese; but, he still seemed to understand that some of the comments made to him were less than friendly. When anyone insulted Booth using a friendly face to do it, Booth would smirk at them and then write something down in his notebook. Curious, Ken had eventually asked Booth what he was writing in his notebook and Booth had showed it to him. Most of the notes were about police procedure; but, some were observations. Some pages had notes such as "short tech with the glasses = smart ass" or "store owner = prick". Embarrassed, Ken had decided to nip some of the comments in the bud. The officers and techs that worked with Ken soon learned that it was better to keep their comments to themselves.

When the first weekend came, Ken had invited Booth to come home with him. Booth hadn't wanted to be a bother; but, Ken had insisted that Booth was more than welcome. Ken had planned to drive up to see his parents and his little sister and he didn't want to leave Booth by himself for the weekend. Booth, appreciating the kind gesture had accepted Ken's offer. Ken's parents had liked Booth and Ken's sister, Sachi had hung around Booth and Ken so much that his parents had started to worry that their guest might consider her a pest. Booth had just told them that he loved children and he didn't mind Sachi's incessant questions.

Booth and Ken had gotten along so well that Ken insisted that Booth move out of his hotel and move in to his apartment for the next two weeks. Booth had been grateful and had let Tomlin and Barnes know where he'd be. Tomlin and Barnes had thought Booth was going overboard giving up his hotel room; but, Booth hadn't really cared what they thought.

The next week Ken had caught a murder and Booth had been interested in Ken's investigative style. He'd asked questions and Ken was flattered that Booth had taken notes. The murder had been fairly straight forward and the murderer had been tracked down in three days. The murderer had turned out to be a jealous boyfriend who had decided to get rid of a possible rival, permanently.

When the next weekend came, Booth and Ken had been drinking beer and watching a ball game on TV when Booth had asked Ken about his tattoo. Booth had noticed it since Ken was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and wanted to know what it meant. Ken had explained that the tattoo meant family. Intrigued, Booth had asked Ken about tattoos and why have them. After listening to Ken, Booth had decided that he wanted a tattoo. Making sure that Booth understood that it was permanent and not to be done on a whim, Booth had assured Ken that he wanted one.

The next day, Ken had taken Booth to get his tattoo. While Booth was talking to the artist, Booth had found two symbols that he liked and couldn't make up his mind which one to get. After mulling it over, Booth decided to get both tattoos, one on the inside of each wrist.

The next week, Booth and Ken had investigated another murder and towards the end of the week, Ken had taken Booth out on a stakeout on a police boat in Uruaga Harbor. They had stayed on the boat for hours and had finally shut down the operation at dawn. They had been unsuccessful; but, Booth and Ken hadn't thought the time was a total waste. They had spent hours talking about their past and their hopes for the future and had drunk some saki. Booth didn't normally drink on the job; but, Ken had brought it along to drink when they ate some sandwiches during their long night. Booth had gone along with it.

The following Monday, Booth had met up with Tomlin and Barnes at the airport. It was time to go home. Ken had come with Booth to the airport and had given Booth a bottle of saki to take home. Booth had let Ken know he'd had a great time and had learned a few things that he hoped to use on his job at home.

After arriving back in the U.S., Booth had gone back to work and had a fairly light week. The next weekend he'd had free, Booth had gone over to his grandfather's house to check up on him. Hank had been happy to see his grandson and had wanted to know all about Booth's trip to Japan. Booth had been talking to Hank about Ken when Hank had interrupted Booth to ask him about his tattoos. Pleased that Hank had noticed, Booth had explained that each tattoo had a meaning, one meant soul and the other destiny.

Laughing, Hank patted Booth on the shoulder and said, "At least you hope that's what they mean."

Smiling, Booth said, "Yeah, you're right. It would be bad if they meant stupid and idiot."

Laughing, Hank said, "The smart thing to do is to not find out. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss."

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Hope you liked it.