14AmyChan: I don't own anything~! *^_^*

Train: *still brain dead*

Rinslet: *pokes Train* is he still alive…?

Sven: *busy making weapon* it takes more than a conversation to kill him.

Eve: please continue reading this story for enjoyment.

Saya walked into the small hotel room with two shopping bags in hand. Rinslet followed with multiple. Train was in the middle of a nap, Eve was reading, and Sven was still working on his new weapon. Saya bit her lip at the silence, not knowing what everyone would say to her split second decision, but she hoped that everything she put Rinslet through would make up for it.

"Eve-chan!" Rinslet instantly went to the reading girl and glomped her from behind. Sven looked up from his weapon to see what the commotion was all about. "I missed you soooo much!"

"Um…" Eve looked at Sven for help. All he did, however, was chuckle at Eve's misfortune. Sensing that she would receive no aid from anyone, she simply glanced back at her book, Manners for Idiots, and said "Thank you" to Rinslet. However, instead of letting go—like Eve had hoped she would—the reaction Eve got was simply a more crushing hug.

Saya had to laugh at the situation. Rinslet was a highly known thief, and she fit into this little band of Sweepers perfectly. Saya wondered if Rinslet had ever thought of becoming a Sweeper herself. Then we wouldn't be in situations like this… Saya thought mournfully.

"Okay!" Rinslet said, finally unhanding Eve. Eve, in return, walked over to the next couch over to make sure she wasn't grabbed again. "Saya and I got something for everyone!"

Eve's eyes narrowed suspiciously just as Sven's did. Train slept on.

"What's in this for you, Rinslet?" Sven asked, temporarily placing his new weapon aside. He eyed the mountain of shopping bags on the counter, vaguely wondering what lay inside. More of his concern was on the price tags that lay inside.

"Does something always have to be in it for me?" Rinslet asked, feigning hurt. "I thought we were all friends here…"

Saya, Eve, and Sven looked at each other and rolled their eyes. While Sven and Eve knew nothing of the bargain between Saya and Rinslet, they were sure that whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"Rinslet wants Train and I to go to a party with her" Saya admitted. She kept an eye on Train in case he woke up during this confession. He didn't, but Sven nearly blew a gasket.

"Saya, tell me you didn't say yes" Sven begged. He knew that Rinslet was trouble, and he knew that she could be manipulative, so it was a far cry on deaf ears as far as he was concerned.

"She did, and she almost broke my wallet doing it" Rinslet busied herself with the number of bags beside her. "I had to get something for everyone, but I really need them there."

"And what is it you want to borrow?" Sven asked, glaring at Rinslet and Saya both. As far as he was concerned, now they were both culprits. He only had a miniscule amount of pity for Saya, who—he believed—had been manipulated.

"Do I have to want to get something to attend a party?" Rinslet asked, still digging through the bags.

"Yes" came the simultaneous answer from the Sweepers. Train slept on.

"Well, I didn't have to get all of you this stuff" Rinslet, seeming to find what she was looking for, grabbed three of the bags and walked over to Eve. Eve didn't scoot back, but she did tense a little bit. She had expected another fierce hug, but what she received instead were the three shopping bags. Eve looked on the side of the bags to note that it was from a book store. Now curious, she opened the bags and peered inside. They were packed to the brim with children's books and mystery novels and autobiographies. It looked like Rinslet had just bought whatever books she could get her hands on. Eve grabbed an autobiography on some woman named Mary Kay and dug in.

Great… Sven thought as Rinslet went back to the mountain of shopping bags. She's got Saya and Eve… Hopefully Train will stand with me on this one… He returned to his weapon so he wouldn't have to look at what Rinslet had gotten for him.

Rinslet rifled through the bags, looking for what she had gotten Sven. It was something that she had seen and instantly thought of him for. Well, because Saya was forcing her to buy something nice for everyone there, she had been on the lookout anyways. Aha! she thought, her hand diving for two bags, side-by-side.

Saya sat back and waited for Rinslet to hand Sven his gift. She had helped Rins pick it out, but only because she wanted her to flop on at least one gift. One of the gifts was a dud to get Sven outraged and prevent Train and Saya from attending the party, the other was something he might actually like.

"Sven~!" Rinslet pulled the two bags out and placed them right next to his workplace with a loud thump. He didn't look up from his work, he was too immersed. Rins sighed as she reached into the first bag. "You know, I thought you would enjoy this… it's a chemistry kit."

"And why…" Sven began with slight strain in his voice. "…would I need a chemistry kit?"

"Why do you like making new kinds of bullets?" Rins asked, picking a small brown bag off the table and peering inside. "I heard about the whole Gyanza thing. And I mean the whole thing. Sounds like your test bullets really saved the day."

"Those weren't the testers" Sven said, attempting to lead her off-track. He continued to not even look at the seemingly expensive chemistry set. His hope was that she'd take the hint and return all of the materials back to where they came from.

"Oh, then that means that you had to work to perfect the formula for those freeze bullets" Rinslet's voice wasn't menacing, but it dripped with sarcasm and double-meaning. "Something like this could help you make new bullets…"

"I don't need it" Sven rebutted her, cutting off the rest of what she had to say. "Take it back."

"You don't even want this new outfit?" Rinslet tried switching gears and pulled the other bag closer. She pulled a black and red outfit out of the bat, complete with red wig, black headband, and matching eye patch. Saya had convinced her to buy it, saying the eye patch made it destined for Sven.

Sven looked at the outfit for a fraction of a millisecond before returning to his work. Even Rinslet could see the fumes from his face and could tell he was not happy with it at all. Knowing she could not win this battle, she silently scooted away, placing her bets on the majority vote.

And the remaining vote remained with the cat sleeping on the couch.

Rinslet placed Sven's rejected gifts off to one pile and resumed digging through the bags. Saya watched as Sven began cooling off, but not so much that he looked like he would forgive her anytime soon. Sven just continued working on his new weapon. Eve kept reading on.

Rinslet grinned as she pulled out her secret weapon. Setting four different boxes on the table, she stood behind them, making sure that any smell would reach the couch. Reaching over, she opened all the boxes at the same time to reveal four piles of any kind of gourmet dish you could think of. Succulent steak, buttery mashed potatoes, fish grilled to perfection, the works.

Instantly, Train was up. Literally up. He wasn't awake or anything, his head was just off the arm of the couch, sensing a delicious meal (or four). Everyone just stood there for a second, then Saya, getting an idea, walked over to the boxes and closed them all. Doing so sent Train's head back onto the arm of the couch where he continued his rest.

Rinslet opened the boxes again to see Train sit straight up. Again, he could sense the food that was calling to him. Saya shut them all at once for Train to lay down and continue his luxurious nap.

Open. Up. Closed. Down. Open. Up. Closed. Down. Open. Up. Closed. Down.

"Why are you two doing that?" Eve asked, having put her new book aside for a moment to enjoy the women's teasing of Train's senses. Although the sight was amusing, and believe that it was amusing, Eve couldn't help but wonder at the motives for doing such a thing.

"Because it's fun" the girls said simultaneously without skipping a beat. While Eve pondered that new tidbit of information, the lump that was known as Train got up with the boxes of food being closed.

He actually woke up for real this time.

He was only half-awake, but it still worked. Groggily, he stretched and got to his feet. Even Sven put down his weapon to watch as Train attempted to make his way to the kitchen. He only bumped into the wall once on his quest for milk to wake him up fully. After downing a bottle of milk, he was awake enough to know that everyone was staring at him.

"What's going on?" Train asked, oblivious to his being played with like a cat's toy just a few seconds beforehand. He placed the empty glass of milk on the countertop and looked at all the serious faces with their gravitas eyes on him. "Is there something on my face?" he asked, his humorous tone making a flailing attempt to lighten the mood.

Saya felt Eve give her a gentle nudge and knew that it was a cue to give Train a clue. "Uh…" Saya spoke up and instantly all eyes were on her. Rinslet looked in apprehension. Eve in mild concern. Sven in a condescending manner. Train just looked at her in curious expectation. "Rinslet wants us to go with her to a party…"

Train was a little shocked, but came on guard. What kind of party? What business did she have there? "Why?" was the question that found its way out of Train's mouth first. He knew that everyone was watching, and he knew that would probably hinder what Saya wanted to say, but he saw no way to get her out of that room so they could talk in private.

"uh…" Saya stopped at this point. Then she mentally berated herself. That was exactly the question that she should have asked first. 'Why?' If she had, then she wouldn't be in this mess.

"Okay" Train said, taking it that Rinslet had manipulated her with something. After all, they had just gotten back from shopping. Hadn't they? "So what do we do?"

"You just show up, look cute together, eat some food, then leave unless there's another gate crasher" Rinslet swooped in to save Saya. Granted, it was fun to watch her get grilled like that, but there was a limit to how much torture she could inflict on someone like her.

"Look cute together?" Sven picked the words out before anyone else in the room. Well, he was the first to say it, Train and Saya were too busy blushing furiously and trying to keep their eyes away from each other, but Sven—being emotionally unattached as he was—simply stated the obvious connotation of the statement that Rinslet had let slip. And he knew she let it slip because the second he reiterated it she covered her mouth as if that would take all the words back into her mouth and erase them from existence. "What do you mean by that, Rinslet?" Sven was especially cold because part of his Sweeping team had gotten coerced into doing something that wasn't even fully explained.

"Well…" Rinslet looked from Sven to Train to Saya. Eve marked her spot in her book and waited patiently for an answer from the nervous thief. She was beginning to see the "fun" in watching others under pressure. "My identity is kind of the younger sister of a young capitalist from Loire province…"

"Then why do you need Saya, you know she wouldn't sell anyone out to get something she wants" Train asked, also pointing out one of the things that he liked about her. She was loyal and stubborn and—

"I always told them that my brother and his wife were away doing something else…" Rinslet admitted. "I tried to get in that way, but this time, they want an older brother and his wife."

"But Train's not married" Sven pointed out quickly, knowing where this was going, not liking it, and trying to avoid it if at all possible. It had been hard enough to keep the two Sweepers' relationship down before, what would happen after this?

"He doesn't have to be, he can just fake it" Rinslet rushed to answer. She really needed them there this time. Any other time she would have skipped, but Madame Freesia was said to have a surprise this year. And Rinslet loved surprises. "They just need to show up, introduce me as their little sister, eat some food, then leave if they haven't found anything interesting."

"Sounds like you're hiding something" Sven pointed out. Rinslet considered herself to have an abundance of patience, and it was draining quickly.

"Fine!" Rinslet shouted, tired of trying to keep up with the crabby old man. "Some of my sources tell me there's going to be a meal ticket for you four at the party. I'm not the only one who sees Freesia as a target."

"Why didn't you just say that outright?" Sven asked, extremely annoyed that she went this roundabout way to coerce Train and Saya to go with her to a party.

"Because it's more fun this way" Rinslet said, going to walk next to Saya. "And I wanted to get her some real fashion sense."

"Real mature, thief…" Saya's eyes were hard like coals long since died.

"All is fair in love and fashion" Rinslet stuck a tongue out at her female rival.

"You would know about that" Saya jabbed back.

"Ow, you hurt me" Rinslet made an over exaggerated motion to protect her heart from Saya's words. "Besides, we did get something for Train, too."

"I don't think he'll notice right now…" Eve piped up. The three adults looked over to where Train was standing, and it didn't look good. It looked like his brain was broken. Well, that's what it looked like because Eve was poking him repeatedly and he didn't move a muscle. "Did you guys kill his brain?"

Saya instantly walked over to Train and put her hand on his arm. It was stiffer than bad hairspray (something she was certain a particular thief was wearing…). She then shook the arm a little bit and received no response. "Train-kun…" Saya called and saw a flicker of life return to his confused eyes. "Hey…" she shook him some more.

"What?" Train asked, and Saya breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad they didn't—as Eve put it—"Break Train's brain". Then he continued. "You mean Saya and I have to-?"

"You two were the closest thing I could get to a real couple" Rinslet said defensively. Then she went into crying mode. "I-I mean…you two—of all people—should be able to help me out… this one time…" Rinslet's false tears overcame her face. Train's panic was evident.

"D-don't cry! Don't!" Train's panic led him to awkwardly crab walk to the back of the room. Rinslet remained motionless, letting the rivulets of tears come down. After a few soggy hiccups, Train collapsed. "Fine, we'll go to your stupid party, just STOP CRYING!"

As Train began mourning his defeat, Saya helped him and Sven muttered "that's pathetic, Train…" under his breath. Rinslet's now water-free face bore an elated grin.

"So, how hard should it be to get that hair of yours under control?" Rinslet asked, digging back into the mountain of bags. Everyone else in the room fell under the depression of defeat.

14AmyChan: Okay, that's this chapter. *^_^*

Train: STOP CRYING!

Eve: oh look, his brain isn't broken anymore

Rinslet: oh, Eve, you are so cute~! *glomps Eve again*

Eve: -.-

Saya: lol!

Sven: do you have a reason to laugh right now?

Saya: *under blanket of regret*

Train: *goes to comfort Saya* *to Sven* What happened to "gentleman's code"?

Sven: she sold us out!

Train: for a party. It shouldn't be that bad…

Sven: *clearly angry, goes back to weapon*

14AmyChan: okay~! Hope you liked, hope you review, and hope you have an awesome week~! *^_^*

Train: why not just an awesome day?

14AmyChan: because a day is just too short. So have an awesome week. *^_^*

Train: o…kay? R&R, people. *hugs Saya*

14AmyChan: *faints of fangirlism* *^_^*