A/N: Sorry for the delay, yet again! Would be fair to tell you that the updates will take a while...mostly because I'm still stuck with a writer's block. Don't worry, though...if I can't update this story I will surely update "One Little Zombie" to make up for it. If possible. Until then, see you! And thanks for reading!

28 / Dorami Club for Lost Girls

Saki tried not to grumble as she and the other girls hid in the shadows watching as Sakura tried to calm the panicking young man with her brother offering his brand of uncaring support all the way; he seemed to be just as annoyed by this mess as Saki was.

The ex-biker still can't believe she actually agreed to this crap. If anything, she should have just said screw it and thrown the guy out to fend for himself in the street and she's willing to bet Sakura's brother would have let her. Not that he could do anything about the whole zombie situation. The guy would probably try to avoid them out of fear, and besides, who'd believe him if he squealed?

Unfortunately for everyone, Sakura was just too soft-hearted, too nice, too...caring.

It wasn't fair, really.

Saki had had a reputation for being tough, she was a legend after all but when it came to her friends, she was a complete pushover. Reiko had taken advantage of that particular weakness to get her way a couple of times, especially when it came to picking places to get dinner with the rest of the gang (even Reiko got tired of chicken everyday). And not to mention Susan's mutt. Goddammit. The pooch would just look at her with his beady little eyes after he had already peed all over the place and Saki would forgive him in a heartbeat. Not that it stopped Saki from yelling at Susan once in a while as she and the other girls cleaned the dirty tires.

"Nothing a little water couldn't fix," Reiko used to say.

Except in their case, water seemed to bring them the worst kind of luck possible; Shades should have bought them some freakin' waterproof makeup by now, all things considered and no, that fucking shoe spray didn't count.

Saki can still remember how lucky she and Ai had been during that storm; Ai had been in a state but at least no one had seen them, everyone busy trying to avoid the rain to care. Big sis and the Shrimp had come after them after the worst of the rain had calmed down, carrying a pair of jackets and hiding under an umbrella. Sakura herself had gotten soaked somehow while she went to get Junko to come back home.

Nothing a little water couldn't ruin, really.

It was always water. Water, freakin' water. And maybe Shades's bullshit, too. Most definitelyー

Saki's eyes suddenly widened. "...oh...shit…" Ai and Yugiri glanced at her, their red eyes blinking with confusion.

"...what's wrong?" Ai whispered back as silently as she could but before Saki could answer, the door of their room is flung open, slamming hard unto the wall causing Sakura and the strange boy to almost jump, and in comes Kotaro, marching, already yelling.

"HELLOOOO, LADIES! HOW ARE YOU TOー" He stopped short finally taking notice of the young man, who's staring at Kotaro, wide-eyed. Genji's glaring at him as Sakura was already placing a hand on her face, suddenly realizing that everything has become much more complicated. "...who…? ...whaaattt…? WHAAAAATTTTT!?"

On impulse, Saki jumps out of the shadows, followed by the rest of the girls. The young man, Renoir, turned to stare at them. His face pales even more, and his mouth is half opened as if he wants to scream. Genji turns to face them and raises an eyebrow. Ai returns the look with a pathetic shrug. Yeah, they got nothing.

Kotaro quickly turns away from Renoir and frowns Genji's way. "You!" Genji blinks, turning to face Kotaro. "What is wrong with you!? Was this your doing!?" Sakura tries to get between the two, trying to calm the older man.

"Tatsumi! Wait, heー"

"I knew it! I knew you'd be trouble from the start!"

Genji scowls. "As if this whole mess wasn't your fault to begin with."

"Hah! As if! You're the one that's inviting strangers into this house! You're the one that's putting my idols in danger!"

"I'm not the one who's going around reviving the dead!" Genji growls back, making a move to get up and meet Kotaro's remarks with his fists.

"Tatsumi! Genji! Stop this!"

By now, Renoir is staring at the arguing pair in disbelief, the suddenness of the argument had seemed to have taken the fear out of him, somewhat. Nearby, the zombie girls themselves were also staring; Lily's holding unto Junko's skirt while the latter is holding unto Ai's arm, afraid of the obvious brawl that's about to ensue. Ai's standing still, unsure if she should interfere as Sakura's trying in vain to stop the two young men from hurting each other. Tae, for her part, is just standing there, blinking, unsure of what to make out of the argument.

"I KNEW YOU WOULD BE TROUBLE THE MOMENT I MET YOU, YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTHING YANKEE!" Genji actually stands up, glaring. Saki has to move quickly, try to beat some sense into Shades and Sakura's brother but she feels an arm on her shoulder. It's Yugiri. She's shaking her head, staring to the side at Sakura.

Sakura was calm when moments ago she was nervous. There's a cold, almost lifeless look in her eyes and that's saying something.

"TATSUMI!" Sakura yells, distracting the two men from their argument to stare at the pink haired zombie. Genji actually flinches when Sakura turns her cold look at him, as if he was reminded of something from the past. Kotaro actually gulps.

Sakura was pissed.

If looks could kill, both of them would be dead twice over.

"We brought him here...it was my idea," Sakura said calmly, her eyes glued on Kotaro. "Genji had nothing to do with it. Leave. Him. Alone." That last part is not a request, it's an order and Saki has to stop herself from whistling.

That's a different kind of backbone Sakura's showing alright. Nothing like that time she got upset at Saki during their rap battle or during their camping trip or when she was being a moody bitch.

This was somehow different...as if Sakura was trying to emulate a different person and succeeding.

Everyone is silent for a couple of seconds, Kotaro turns to look at the side, and takes a deep breath. Genji just glances away from Sakura's gaze. Renoir for his part, is still staring, wide-eyed at the scene and he lets out a breath, catching Kotaro's attention.

Their manager suddenly kneels in front of Renoir, with Sakura blinking the coldness away, not really expecting that. Genji glances at Kotaro but says nothing. Kotaro stares at Renoir for what seems like minutes before he stretches his hand. "Good morning," he begins as if nothing had actually happened. "My name is Tatsumi Kotaro, manager of Franchouchou," he went on. "How are you? How are you? Sorry for that poor display in manners…" He leaned closer and whispered, a little too loudly, "He's new." Genji glared at him before rolling his eyes. "So?" Renoir gulps as Kotaro leans even closer. "If you reveal what you saw today, I won't hesitate...to BURY YOU IN A DITCH, TROUBLEMAKER!"

"ACK!"

"Tatsumi!"

"What!?"

Despite everything that's been happening, Saki just places a hand over her face and groans as the other girls give Kotaro flat stares, minus Tae who's groaning.

Genji sighs, and quickly helps the young man up before Kotaro screams at his face again. "Okay, this isn't working at all." He turned towards the rest of the girls. "He's coming with me...I'll see if I can explain things properly outside away from the moron, over here." Saki nods, seeing his point.

Kotaro was hot and cold all the way and even with Sakura giving him the evil eye, she doubted he'll take it easy with someone else knowing their secret.

Sakura sighed, shaking her head as she watches her brother push Renoir away, the young man still shaken. Kotaro walks up to her side and says as Genji and Renoir leave the room, "And remember, little punk! If you say a word aboutーOOUCH!"

Saki can't help but let out a gasp as Sakura stomps Kotaro's foot, hard, as Genji closed the door behind him. Next to her, Yugiri is covering her mouth, trying not to laugh.

/…..

Genji smirks as he hears the loud yelp as the door closes behind them.

(jackass deserved that)

Renoir is still shaking, unsure of what he had seen was real, turning around to see Genji, holding him still by the shoulder as he calmly pushes him away. "Di-did...did that...are they...they?" He can't even form words. Genji sighs.

"Yes, they are real, and yes, they are dead, and no, they're not dangerous," Genji explains, still pushing the young man, calmly but quickly towards the exit.

Once outside, Renoir blinks at the sunlight, unsure of what to do next; Genji's still holding his shirt tight, as if afraid he might bolt but Renoir is just too tired to run. He looks around, noticing the rather large mansion, with it's gates and dried weeds and trees and bushes. He blinks. Oh. Oh boy...it's...it's that old mansion! The one that...that's not...abandoned.

It's inhabited by zombies...he thinks, gulping.

Then, he hears barking. It sounds like a small dog, the barking is actually cute and all. Did it wander around here? Is the zombie mansion it's territory orー

Renoir almost collapses when he sees the little poodle dog; it looks like it's stretching, it's eye is bulging out of its socket, and those bloody fangs, oh god!

Genji holds him firmly by the shoulder as the dog barks again, obviously happy to see them. It sniffs Renoir's shoes, leaving behind some saliva that sticks like glue on Renoir's shoelaces. Renoir felt a little faint but Genji kept on pushing him, clicking his tongue at the dog in a friendly manner. "Go on, get back to the girls...you might need to bite someone." The dog barks, circles around them once, and disappears behind a bush. Once the poodle was out of sight, Genji says, "Yeah, the dog's dead, too. Let's go."

/…..

Renoir breathing normally now; the two young men are seated on a bench, not too far away from the zombie mansion. Genji already has a cigarette in his mouth, smoking it to his heart's content. He glances at Renoir once or twice, trying to gauge him out.

"So...feeling better?"

Renoir nods. "...yeah."

Genji grunts, blowing out smoke. He's silent for a few seconds, just smoking. "They're not dangerous, you know? They're just girls that got brought...back from the dead for a stupid reason."

"St-stupid…?"

"Yeah...to save Saga...can you believe it?" Genji shakes his head. "Fucking bastard."

"...uhm...so...so...how did you…?"

"Find out?" Genji finishes, as the other young man nods. "That girl...Sakura...she's really my sister…" The young man suddenly smiles, the cigarette dangling in his mouth. "She did eleven years ago, now...got run over." Genji shakes his head. "And now, she's saving Saga...pah…"

"Saga...huh?"

Genji says nothing as he finishes his cigarette; he glances at Renoir. "You can do whatever you want...no matter what that moron says, the girls won't dare hurt you, trust me. But…" Genji doesn't outright say it but it's obvious he doesn't want Renoir to talk about the whole zombie business. Renoir's willing to keep that a secret, besides, who would believe him? And who's to say that crazy guy won't go ahead with his threat? But then, he begins to think about what One-no, Sakura and her brother did for him. How they saved him from those punks, how they kept him out of harm's way. Sakura seemed like a nice girl...but she was dead. That was the problem. She was dead...she was a corpse, she was a zombie.

Renoir says nothing as he stands up and walks away. Genji doesn't try to stop him as he gets himself a new cigarette.

Reiko let out a loud sigh as she finally finished with the dishes; how could three people make such a mess of dishes in just two days, she never knew. At least the housework kept her busy while Maria was at school and her husband at work.

Yesterday, Susan had called her, inviting her out to have a drink while the husband and kid were at work and school respectively. It was rare for Susan to invite her for anything, instead preferring phone calls and the occasional reunion at the local malls. Whenever Susan called to invite her anywhere, it was usually to make small talk about certain things that Susan kept hearing about, to give Reiko a head's up in case it involved her and old Dorami. That Souta girl had made a really big mess when she killed that biker chick and Susan had worried that the other gang might try to retaliate against Reiko and her family, and she wasn't the only one. Most of the old gang called, too; they all went out for drinks, talked about the old days, and kept in contact for the holidays.

No one had come calling for Dorami's head, much less hers.

Reiko would have been happy if Dorami had stayed dead and buried but then, her daughter found out about her past and the rest was history. Literally.

The woman sighed, and looked around.

How did such a small house become dirty so quickly, anywー

A knock on the door stops Reiko's musings. She blinks, gets up, brushing her apron and walks, quickly, towards the door.

Opening it up, Reiko is greeted by a pair of strangers, a man and a rather familiar-looking woman with short blue hair. Reiko blinked. "Umm...yes? May I help you?"

"Ms. Kirishima?" the man asks and Reiko's eyes widened slightly before she glares.

No one calls her Kirishima unless it's the police, her old folks or…

"...who are you?"