Author's Note - *sneaks in edits of chapter all throughout busy 10-hr work day, so chap can be posted sometime this week* XD

Hope you all enjoy! 8D


One week had passed since Kruger came into everyone's lives, and the Kugas and Fujinos had decided to enjoy a day out together, to take their families out on a small picnic. The place they chose to enjoy their picnic was located in a small park area, that overlooked a high and wide guardrail-protected cliff.

Kumiko and Hiro sat at one of the two picnic tables, that were placed at the top of the cliff for people to utilize. They had lunch that consisted of different types of sandwiches, soda, and tea already set out on the table.

At the next table sat Saeko and Ryo, both looking slightly uncomfortable to be placed at the same table. Kumiko and Hiro hid small, sneaky grins at their seating arrangements. They had managed to convince Saeko to invite Ryo to this little outing, by telling the emerald-eyed woman that this would be good 'family time' for all of them. Placed between the two exes was a tray of gooey chocolate-fudge brownies, that would serve as dessert once everyone had their fill of sandwiches.

"Tag, you're it!" Natsuki cried out as she tapped Nao on the shoulder, from their spot not too far away from the adults.

"What! Why do I have to be it!" Nao exclaimed, with an unhappy scowl.

"Because I say so of course," Natsuki answered with a sly grin, as she stared at her younger sibling with her hands on her hips in a triumphant pose.

"You two have got to be kidding me. Tag? We're going to be playing tag? Just how old do you think I am?" Kruger demanded as she mimicked Natsuki's hands-on-hips pose, while scowling at her younger sisters.

"Oh, stop being a baby, Kruger. Tag is fun. Now stop being a stick-in-the-mud, and come play with us," Natsuki exclaimed, as she raised her arm and waved her hand towards Shizuru and Viola.

Kruger huffed loudly, as she crossed her arms defiantly over her chest.

"I refuse."

"Ugh, you are so annoying! Just play the game with us already," Natsuki growled, as she faced off against her twin. Natsuki then felt a gentle touch run down the side of her arm, and small fingers twine themselves gently with hers. Natsuki looked over to her right and saw Shizuru giving her a calm, sweet smile that reached all the way up to her scarlet-red eyes.

"Please calm down, Natsuki. It's okay if Kruger doesn't want to play tag with us. I'm sure she has a very good reason for not wanting to. Maybe she would rather do something else. Is that right, Kruger? Is there something else that you'd rather do?" Shizuru asked, as she turned her intense gaze towards the other Kuga twin.

Kruger shifted uncomfortably, as that gaze landed directly on her. She opened her mouth to reply, when she felt a light poke against the side of her cheek. She rolled her emerald-green eyes over to the side, to see a mischievously-grinning Viola looking back at her.

"So why don't you wanna play?" Viola asked, as she idly poked Kruger's cheek a couple more times.

Kruger lightly cleared her throat as she tried to ignore the slight tingling sensation, that had passed through her body at having Viola poking her cheek, and standing so close to her.

"I just have a better idea of something to do to pass the time," Kruger replied as she averted her eyes, and tried to hide a blush from Viola's cheekily-grinning face.

"Oh? You do have a better idea? Good. I don't wanna play tag, and I don't want to be it," Nao spoke up, as she glared hard at Natsuki.

Natsuki threw her hands up into the air and let out an aggrieved sigh, before she pointed a finger first at Nao and then at Kruger.

"You both fail. Epic fail," Natsuki proclaimed as she dropped her hand, and folded her arms across her chest, while jutting her lips out in a small pout.

It was now Natsuki's turn to find herself on the receiving end of a finger poking her in the face. This time it was Shizuru poking lightly at her pouty bottom lip.

"You know if you keep your lips like that, they'll stay that way forever...though it is a pretty cute look," Shizuru said with a teasing smile and giggle.

Natsuki felt her cheeks instantly heat, and then felt her blush grow hotter, as Nao laughed loudly at her expense.

Natsuki let out a soft growl as she turned her face away, and tried her best to ignore all the teasing laughter.

Shizuru and Viola looked at each other and exchanged amused giggles, at how fun and easy it was to to tease both Kuga girls.

"So Kruger, you gonna tell us what you wanna do that's so much more interesting than playing tag?" Natsuki asked, as she glared at her twin.

"Just follow me," Kruger said with a small, secret smile as she turned around, and headed towards a small stand of trees that partially hid the small park from view. Beyond the trees the Fujino's car was parked beside Saeko's, in the small parking lot that was provided for the cliff-side park.

Ryo had arrived on his bike which was a sleek, black Ducati with bold, midnight-blue trim, and he had decided to push it into the small stand of trees to park it there, instead of the parking lot. So now Kuga led Natsuki, Shizuru, Viola, and Nao towards the bike.

"Hey, ah...Mom! We're just going to go look at Ryo's bike for a bit. We won't be too far," Kruger called out to Saeko, who she had noticed had looked over in question at her departing children. Kruger still found it a little difficult to call Saeko 'Mom' after not having the opportunity to do so for most of her life, but she was quickly getting used to it. And she did enjoy seeing the quick, warm smile that would grace Saeko's lips every time she called her Mom.

"Hey! Why don't you ever call me Dad? Or even Papa. Come on, Kruugy. Call me Papa just one time," Ryo cried out plaintively towards his eldest daughter.

"Never!" Kruger exclaimed, as she led the rest of the girls towards the trees and Ryo's bike.

"No respect. No respect at all," Ryo grumbled, as he slunk down low on the picnic table bench and pouted.

"If you pout like that your face will stay that way," Saeko said with a light twinkle in her eyes.

Ryo let out a small grumpy sound which only caused Saeko, Kumiko, and Hiro to laugh loudly in amusement.

"No respect at all," Ryo groaned, with a small smile twitching up the corners of his lips.

"So what's so exciting about looking at your Dad's bike anyway," Nao asked in a completely bored tone as she, the Fujino girls, and her older sisters all stood around Ryo's bike a couple minutes later.

"Ryo's bike. The day that I call him Dad is the day that all the mayo in the world runs out," Kruger replied, as she began fishing around in her pants pocket.

"Never!" Natsuki cried out in horror, as the mental image of a world without her favourite condiment filled her mind.

"You like mayo too?" Kruger paused in her pocket searching, as she looked over with a slightly-raised eyebrow at her younger twin.

"Of course! It's one of the main food groups," Natsuki replied with a sharp, affirmative nod of her head.

Kruger let a wide grin spread across her face, as she held her hand up high for a high-five. Natsuki immediately returned the grin, and raised her hand to enthusiastically give her big sister some skin.

"You Natsuki, are my kind of twin," Kruger exclaimed with a smirk, as she finally pulled the object she'd been digging for out of her pocket.

Natsuki tried to keep a slight blush off her cheeks at Kruger's compliment, and of course knew she hadn't succeeded when Shizuru hid a light giggle behind her hand. Natsuki stuck her tongue out at her best friend, which Shizuru immediately returned with a poked-out-tongue of her own.

"Yo, so what's that you just pulled out of your pocket?" Nao asked impatiently.

"This...this is the key to Ryo's bike," Kruger said with a small, sly grin.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just how did you get that, and more importantly what are you doing with it?" Natsuki exclaimed, with a deep scowl leveled at her sister.

"How? Well that's for me to know, and you to never find out," Kruger answered with a smirk, as she twirled the key around on her finger by the metal ring it was on.

Natsuki let out a low growl, bunched her hands into fists, and took a small step towards her aggravating sister as she replied, "then what the heck do you think you're doing with it! I'm sure Ryo didn't just hand it over to you."

"Well duh, of course he didn't. And you want to know what I'm going to do with it? I'm going to start up his bike, and let you guys see and hear how sweet this ride is," Kruger said with a reckless gleam in her eye.

"Cool! You make a much more interesting and entertaining older sister," Nao exclaimed, as her bright-green eyes lit up with excitement.

"Kruger, I don't think you should do that. When our parents hear you start up the bike, they're just going to get mad at us," Viola said, as she gently laid her hand on Kruger's arm.

Kruger looked over at Viola, and gave her a cocky grin as she answered, "it's okay. I'm only going to turn it on for a few seconds. Ryo won't mind because he's let me start up his bike tons of times before, when we were riding across country towards you guys. Mom...yeah she might get a little mad. But I'm sure Ryo can talk her outta being too mad, and besides it'll only be for a few seconds. Come on, where's your sense of fun and adventure!" Kruger exclaimed, as she placed her free hand over Viola's.

Viola looked down at the hand lightly resting on top of hers, before looking over with a worried expression at her sister. Shizuru returned her worried stare with a helpless shrug.

"Well, I think this idea is stupid, and you're only going to get all of us in trouble," Natsuki stated with a very displeased frown on her face.

"Bah, you're no fun, brat. You obviously haven't 'lived it up' much in your life. You've been way too sheltered," Kruger answered, as she stepped away from Viola's hand, and walked over to Ryo's bike.

Natsuki's frown deepened, as her clenched fists tightened further in growing anger and frustration.

"Hey, why don't you cool down, and stop being such a wet blanket," Nao said in passing to Natsuki, as she followed Kruger over to Ryo's bike. "This is the first really interesting thing we've done all day. And besides I won't be getting into any trouble, cause she's the one messing with the bike. I'm just wanna see and hear how 'cool' this bike is when she starts it."

"I won't get into any trouble. As I said, it'll only be for a few seconds, and besides I can't get into any trouble. What do you think they'll do? Punish me? Get real. I've been through a dozen foster homes, and no one has ever been able to punish me. Just because Ryo...and Mom...are my actual parents this time doesn't make any difference," Kruger said in a voice that had harden momentarily, when she spoke of her former foster homes. Kruger then climbed onto the seat of the bike, which was way too big for her as her feet could barely reach the kickstand.

"I don't care what you say! We're gonna get into huge trouble for this, and I'm not hanging around with you to get punished," Natsuki exclaimed as she began walking away, and she made sure to grasp onto Shizuru's hand, to tug the chestnut-haired girl along with her.

Shizuru looked over at Viola helplessly for a second, and communicated to her twin through her eyes that she needed to try to talk Kruger out of this.

Nao just leaned up against the side of a tree and watched, what was to her, pure entertainment of the highest order.

Viola gave Shizuru a firm nod, as she opened her mouth to tell Kruger that all of this really wasn't a good idea, when the sound of a bike motor roaring to life filled the air around them.

Immediately all the adults at the picnic tables looked up, with Saeko and Ryo rising to their feet with duel expressions of shock and disbelief on their faces.

Ryo quickly began digging around in his pants pockets for his bike key, and groaned out loud as he realized that Kruger had somehow managed to swipe it from him again.

"I'm really going to have to have a long talk with that young lady about touching other people's property without their express permission to do so," Ryo grumbled loudly as he, Saeko, and the Fujinos began making their way towards their children.

"And I'm going to have to have a looong talk with you about our daughter being so comfortable around those unsafe machines, that she makes it a obvious habit of climbing onto yours and starting it up," Saeko growled with a deadly glare at Ryo, as they continued making their way towards their children.

Ryo let out a nervous laugh, as the sound of Kruger revving the bike's engine grew louder.

Suddenly though, there was a loud shriek and the Ducati came bursting out from behind the trees, with a terrified-looking Kruger hanging onto the handlebars for dear life.

Saeko let out a shocked gasp, that was echoed by the rest of the adults around her. They then watched in horror as Kruger and the bike sped wildly and uncontrollably, towards the guardrail separating them from the edge of the cliff, and the sharp-stone filled waters below.


Hope you all enjoyed this chap~ ;3

Please review and let me know what you all thought of it~ ^.^