As long as she avoided having Joker walk in on her while she was bathing and then she didn't do the same thing and then have a heartfelt conversation about being equals as male and females everything should be fine. Even if the way her parents fell in love wasn't quite so romantic and that it was very unlikely to happen the same way to her, she did not want to take any chances what so ever.

Not that Lucina was in love with Joker, she'd only known him for a few days, and most of the time he pissed her off. He was just so unnecessarily show-offish, reckless, intense, good looking, brave, skilled, and. "Gods"

"You okay Lucy?" Ann asked looking up from the clothes rack, her long blond pigtails reminding her of her aunt Lissa. And the same helpful attitude. Ann was just much taller and looked less like a small child. "You're not homesick are you?"

"No, well, a bit, but it's nothing really, I'm just uhh not used to so many people is all." She hated lying, but there was absolutely no way that she was ever going to admit to anybody that she thought that Joker might be attractive, or even remotely bearable. "And I've never seen so many clothes before."

Makoto nodded, glaring at Ann "I still don't understand why you decided to have a shopping trip on the busiest day of the year."

"I don't think it's so bad." Haru, the delightful young woman with light brown hair that was another member of the phantom thieves - apparently the only one she hadn't met so far was a Yusuke - she was a bit like Maribelle but actually bearable and completely non-judgemental. "I've heard people get in fights over good deals."

"That doesn't really happen you know." Ann sighed. "And I picked today because its when we're all here! Haru has another week before she goes back abroad, you'll be busy with school all week, and who knows how long Lucina will be here. Us phantom thieves girls gotta stick together."

"And by that, you mean shopping together?" Makoto rolled her eyes pulling out a simple top.

Phantom Thieves huh, she never would have considered herself a thief much less a phantom. And yet here she was a member of an organization that she hadn't any clue what they did. At least with the Shepards, she had known what they did. But with the Phantom Thieves, they were just kind of kids. And Joker was the only one that she'd seen fight.

And apparently, they beat a god?

"I've been meaning to ask you guys," She grabbed a white top that was paired with a red skirt that ended in frills, ruffles went down the middle of the blouse before the large belt-like section of the skirt cut it off it was probably the waist where two large black buttons rested. It even had a black dress collar, the kind that her father would hate! She wanted it! Oooh, and this black sweater looked good too. A bit plain, but warm and comfy. It almost made standing so close to Joker worth it!

"What is it?" Ann asked, beaming as she yanked out a shirt.

This was going to be an odd conversation. "What exactly do you guys do as the Phantom Thieves? I mean I understand that you traveled to another world, and I don't think you're bad people, but," she shrugged trying to find the right word for it. "Thieves?"

"Oh, Makoto hasn't told you?" Ann blinked, turning to look at their friend. "You haven't told her?"

"I've been busy with classes! And it hasn't really come up in conversation before then." Makoto huffed, turning her head to the side. "We mostly just watch movies and gossip."

"I'm not sure if I should be offended that you two are having movie nights without me." Ann, turned back to the rack sliding down the rails and grabbing something else. "But, as for the Phantom Thieves-"

"Umm," Haru interrupted, "perhaps we should talk about this somewhere private? Why not at my home? We can even have a movie night. I did just renovate the theater room, and the gym as well."

"A gym? As in a place to train?" She hadn't swung Falchion at something in a long time! And just pretending to mentally stab Joker with it when he did something stupid just wasn't quite the same. Not that she'd actually stab him. She was not that violent. "Do you have a place to train with swords?"

"Oh certainly! I was taught fencing by one of my tutors, I believe I could even arrange a sparring partner for you." Haru absolutely beamed tossing on a wide-brimmed hat and striking a pose. "Or perhaps you'd like to try facing one of us."

The other girls burst out into a fit of giggles.

"Oh! We should bring the boys, and Futaba too!" Ann perked up, a puzzling smile on her face. "It's a shame Yusuke isn't in Japan, otherwise we could have a reunion party."

"That sounds like an excellent idea!" Haru beamed, pulling out her phone. "I shall make the preparations at once."

A chance to use her Falchion, another movie night and another chance to hang out with her new found friends, and find out what exactly it meant to be a member of the Phantom Thieves. Despite being stuck in this world with the way home still closed she was rather happy with this world.

The wonderful clothes, food, company, and lack of world-ending threat helped.

The only downside was how often she had to see Joker. And, how often she wanted to see him.

She glared at the skirt in her hands, it was the same red as Joker's gloves. An idea popped into her head, one that brought a smile to her face. "Do you think Joker would be willing to be my opponent?"

XXXX

Normally he would have been somewhat impressed by Haru's home, despite having been inside of it several times. It was the quintesential rich person home, complete with a kitchen that was the size of LeBlanc, a swimming pool that was bigger than LeBlanc, a gym that was bigger than LeBlanc, and a home movie theater that was bigger than LeBlanc. The whole complex could easily fit at least forty Leblancs in it. Easily. Maybe. Math was Futaba's thing.

Well not math, she could actually barely do Algebra. She was just smart.

Futaba stood next to him, a bag over her shoulder, her tank-top had some nerd lingo on it that he barely understood and her mother was open, looking up at the building in raw amazement. "I always forget how rich Haru is, do you think I can ask her for a new computer." Futaba looked down shaking her head. "I bet she has like some super high tech AR set up!"

Right, this was her first time here. "There's a game room. She has a pool, air hockey, a dancing game, and like one fighting game, that's about it. No Tron stuff."

"How is it that you know what Tron is but you call a DS a Gameboy?"

He could all but hear her smugness.

Instead of acknowledging her he kept his eyes forward, locked with a certain blue-haired princess that had been glaring at him from the entrance of Haru's home. She was wearing a white frilly looking top that bloomed out into a red skirt just under her chest. That sword she tried to carry everywhere was sheathed and held in front of her both hands on the hilt posing like she was in some anime. Cute but equally ridiculous was his favorite way of describing Lucina.

"A challenger awaits!" Futaba shouted, finally looking down towards Lucina. "You know I'm starting to think she's a Tsundere."

Judging by how easy it was to make her blush like a school girl anime character? That was more than likely. He should probably not tease her so much, but it was so much fun!

"Joker!" Lucina called from her perch. Yep, she was in full anime mode right now. She swung her sheathed sword around and leveled it at him. It was a good thing nobody thought it was strange that her nickname for him was the same as the leader of the Phantom Thieves. "I challenge you to a duel!"

He walked up to her bag on his shoulders and turned his cocky smile up to eleven. Time to set her off. "Have you been waiting here the whole time just to challenge me?"

Queue blushing blue-haired princess. She scoffed at him, turning her head. "Most certainly not! I was just-"

"You just got excited at the thought of seeing me again." He leaned forward, just close enough whisper into her ear. "And now, you don't know the way back." He could feel her squirming under his words. She was so much fun to tease, and, she looked really cute with that blush, and when she was mad at him. Maybe there was something to this. "Well, am I right?"

"Most certainly not!" Lucina spun away from him glaring at him like he had just walked in on her changing. "I just simply wish to challenge you to a fight because I consider you a decent fighter. When you're not showing off!"

"Ohh?" He turned his head towards her, not moving from his spot as he raised a subtle eyebrow at her. She knew that he knew that she was full of shit. "Well then, lead the way."

Pride, the downfall of nations.

"V-very well!" Lucina squeaked, looking around the entrance. She picked a direction - the wrong one - and stomped away. "Uhh, follow me!"

"Hey, why you going to the pool?" Futaba bounced next to him, pointing in the right direction. As expected of their navigator. "The Gym is that way! More importantly the Arcade too!"

"You know if you wanted to show off your swimsuit all you had to do was ask." That one earned him a redfaced glare from Lucina and a swat to the chest from Futaba.

"Shut up," Lucina growled, marching past him and towards the gym.

"You know she's going to make you pay for that right?"

"It was worth it."

XXXX

It was not worth it.

Without his persona, he was an okay fighter and an okay shooter.

Lucina had a sword, sure it was made of wood but she was a great swordsman. And wood freak'n hurt!

"You got your ass kicked!" Ryuji said loudly - just a bit too loudly for his Lucina induced headache - despite the fact that both of them had at least one Ice pack located somewhere on his body. "Man, she really went all out on you."

"Didn't you get your ass kicked by Ann?"

"I got to see her and Makoto up close and personal in a sports bra," Ryuji smiled taking the ice pack off his black eye. "Totally worth it, all you got to see was Lucina in her normal clothes kicking your butt in a sword fight."

AN: Short chapter, going through life stuff, having problems finding my stride with this atm. Next chapter should be better. Sorry!