Lesson 6: A SLIGHT TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM

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"Ryuko..." Yuki started. "Why are there pink, lacey bows in my hair?"

"Hand-me-downs. You like 'em?" Ryuko asked, trying not to laugh.

Shuichi looked around for a little bit. "I think they bring out your eyes!" he blurted out.

He glared at the two bakas. He felt like kicking them out. But Shuichi would bug him once he let him back in and Ryuko would howl all night about how she was related to him and how he was being a bad host. Plus he was exhausted. And it would be extremely and annoyingly quiet without those two. And he knew it. So, he didn't.

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About a week later, Ryuko found herself waking up on Yuki's couch over her sketches. Something had woken her up, but she could place it. The phone rang. Oh, so that was it.

She stood up and stretched. It was apparently in the Uesugi gene pool to fall asleep anywhere. "Hello?" she asked, then realized this wasn't America. "I mean, moshi, moshi!"

"Ohayo, Ryu-Chan," Hiro's voice came from the other line.

"Morning, Hiro-Chan...what's the matter?"

"We have a slight transportation problem."

"What is it?"

"K's other four sisters are at the airport and they want to see him. Is there any way Yuki-San could be of any use?"

As if on cue, Yuki walked in. "Whatever it is, the answer is 'no'," he said rather flatly as if sensing someone wanted a favor.

"He said he'd love to, Hiro-Chan!" Ryuko assured her friend rather cheerfully. "Ja!" she said, hanging up the phone.

"What did I just agree to?" Yuki asked.

Ryuko ran her fingers through her extremely messy hair, trying to think of how to answer. "A slight transportation problem." With that, she went off to her room to get dressed.

"Ryuko, what is your definition of a 'slight transportation problem'?" Yuki asked after she got dressed and everyone was sitting in the kitchen having breakfast, compliments of Ryuko.

"Yeah, Ryu-Chan, what's the matter?" Shuichi asked.

"Four hyperactive blondes with a sniper's temper are waiting at the airport for someone to pick them up to see their brother and sister."

Shuichi suddenly went chibi, but before he could start having conniptions on the thought of four K's, Yuki put a hand over his mouth. He gave a sigh. "I know you like to be evil in the morning, Ryuko, but please put that in more specific terms..."

"K-Chan's other four sisters need a ride."

"...No."

"Aw, but Yuki, I wanna meet K-San's sisters..." Shuichi whined.

"No."

"Please?" a now chibi Shuichi asked.

Yuki gave a smirk. "If you want to meet them that badly..you know what you have to do...are you willing to do it?" before Shuichi could answer, the writer's head met a frying pan.

Ryuko hefted the pan on her shoulder and gave her cousin a smirk. "Ecchi."

The doorbell rang.

"I'm going back to bed," Yuki said, rubbing his head.

"Oh, no you're not!" Ryuko said, pushing him to the door. "Open it!" she said with a cheerful smile.

The writer gave his cousin a confused, annoyed look and opened the door. "Bai, bai, we'll see you later, Eiri-Chan!" she chimed before he could object. She closed the door and crossed her arms feeling somewhat accomplished. Then blinked as she heard a knock.

"Gomen, Hiro-Chan," she apologized as she opened the door. "Why are you staying, though?"

"We figured Cassie-Chan's sisters would need a familiar face when she came to get them and hopefully there would be enough room in Yuki-San's car," Hiro explained.

"Hiro!" Shuichi hailed. "Do you know how many nights I stayed up watching 'Seven Days' with Ryu-Chan?"

"No..."

"Neither do I...."

"I lost count after three," Ryuko said with a yawn.

Hiro was about to ask Shuichi about lyrics to a new song when a certain pink bunny peeked through the door. "Ohayo, no da!!"

"Sakuma-San!" Shuichi exclaimed.

"No, it's Kumagoro-Kun, no da!!"

"Kumagoro-Chan!" Ryuko said with a smile. "How are you? I haven't seen you in a week. Are you taking good care of Ryu-Chan?"

Kumagoro nodded. "Are you taking good care of Yuki-San and Shuichi?"

"Hai, hai."

"She's having a conversation with a stuffed animal," Hiro said to Shuichi with a sweat-drop.

"Kuma-Kun! How's life with Sakuma-San?" Shuichi asked.

"You do realize you're both talking to an inanimate object, don't you?" Hiro asked.

"Kumagoro-Chan isn't inanimate!" Ryuko said defensively. A sudden smile spread across her face. "He's Ryu-Chan!" she said, grabbing Ryuchi's arm and dragging him in.

Hiro shook his head and rolled his eyes. It was still hard to believe that the person making the rabbit talk was over thirty and the person who thought it was a game was almost there.

"Aw, you found me out..." Ryuchi whined. "Shuichi, how are liking Seven Days?"

"Shouldn't Ryu-Chan be asking that?" Hiro pondered.

"I love it! It's great! What's the end theme going to be?"

"It's a secret!" Ryuko and Ryuchi said in unison with a wink.

"That's just freaky," Hiro said with a face-fault.

"Ano...how's Cassie-Chan since the dinner party fiasco?" Ryuko asked with a slightly guilty look.

"She's gotten over it, it's okay."

"Sorry about that, Tatsu-Chan sort of took over and didn't tell me where we were going."

"No, no, it's okay. By the way, I keep trying to find the fifth volume of Seven Days and all the bookstores I go to say they're out."

"I've got all twelve!" Shuichi chimed in.

"My editor sends me a copy every time they publish a new one," Ryuko explained. "I guess you have your choice of English or Japanese."

"Or both!" Ryuchi continued, holding up a few DVD's .

About thirty minutes later, Shuichi heard a knock at the door. "Hai?" he asked, opening the door.

"Cassie, you're right! He's adorable!!" Hiro heard as English, although Shuichi had no idea what the girl had just said. Before he could ask, though, the newcomer took him up in a bone-crushing hug. "Aw, how cute, he's got pink hair! I didn't think a guy could pull that off!! Your boyfriend's to die for!!"

"Actually," Yuki said, coming up. "He's MY boyfriend."

"Oh," the girl said, letting go. "Gomen...ne sai. Did I say that right?"

"Yes, you said that right. But, please Becca, try not to suffocate my friends..." Cassie said walking up, followed by three other sisters.

"What's everyone saying?!" Shuichi demanded.

"Gomen, Shuichi-Kun," Cassie said with a sweat-drop. "These are my sisters Becca, Belle, Anna, and Carrie."

The remainder of the Winchester sisters waved.

"It's nice to...fit you?" Shuichi half asked.

"Um...I think he means nice to MEET you," Cassie explained.

"There's one thing I don't get," the oldest of the sisters, Belle said. "If he's not the guy that answered the phone," she added, pointing to Yuki. "And he's not the guy that answered the phone," the continued, pointing to Shuichi. "Then who...oh," she said, nodding. "Him, huh?" she asked, pointing to Hiro. "Sorry, the long hair threw me off there for a minute."

"Yup!" Cassie said with a smile. "That's Hiroshi Nakano. Or just Hiro."

"He's so cute!!" Becca squealed, she started to run forward, but Belle caught a hold of her collar.

"That's enough hugging, Becca. You're engaged, 'member?" Anna said with a smile.

"This is all your happy little family, Cassie?" the quiet one, Carrie asked.

"This isn't my apartment, Carrie...and this isn't everyone that lives here. There's...where's Ryuko-Chan?" Cassie asked. looking around.

"I think I know," Yuki said, walking to the kitchen, and going out the back door (AN: ano...if you haven't noticed, I'm just making up Yuki's apartment....gomen.) "Ryuko?"

"Ja, Ryu-Chan!" Ryuchi's voice echoed up to where Yuki was standing with his cousin.

"Ja ne, Ryu-Chan, Ja, Kumagoro-Chan!!" Ryuko said, waving goodbye as the singer rode off with his rabbit. "Hello, Eiri-Chan. What's the matter?"

Yuki put on a smirk. "You know what he's after, don't you?"

Ryuko quirked an eyebrow. "Since when are you such an ecchi?!" She unexpectedly blinked. "G-gomen, I shouldn't have brought that up..."

"Who told you?" he asked.

"Tohma told Mika...then Mika told me...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. I'll just go inside..."

"Hey, Ryuko-Chan," he said as she turned around. She stopped and turned around. "I'm over it, it's okay. Mostly thanks to a certain pink- haired baka," he said with a smile, putting a hand on her shoulder. He blinked and shook his head. "That was unusually sentimental."

"Yeah, Shui-Chan brings out the best in people," Ryuko said with a smile as she walked in.

~~~~~~

"Oh, more K-Chan clones!" she said as she walked in to see Cassie and her four sisters.

"Ryuko-Chan, you mind if you switch to English?" Cassie asked. "We're from Los Angeles. These are my sisters: Belle, Anna, Becca, and Carrie."

"Ryuko Uesugi," Ryuko said with a smile. "Pleasure to meet you," she said in English.

"Wait," Belle said thoughtfully. "You have an accent but I can't place it."

"Say that again?" Anna asked.

"Pleasure to meet you?"

"I still can't place it," Becca said with a shrug

"I'm from Texas," Ryuko said with a sweat-drop.

"You're from Kyoto," Yuki corrected, walking in.

"I'm from both!!"

He turned to the sisters. "I've told the airport where to leave your luggage. You owe me a favor," he added in Japanese to Cassie as they walked out.