Disclaimer: I don't own Cyborg Soldier 009. It is owned by Shotaro Ishinomori (or whatever his real name is), TV Tokyo, and some very rich people.
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RISING SUN: Chapter III
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One red eye stared up at the ceiling, the other one hidden behind brown hair. Sighing again, Joe closed his eyes and threw his right arm over his forehead.
"Mmm…what's wrong Joe?" asked a sleepy voice.
Joe turned his head to the left to look down clear cerulean eyes. Smiling, he hugged her closer and shook his head slightly. "Nothing."
"Really? Then why do you keep sighing?" The blonde moved her left hand from his shoulder down to his waist, snuggling closer and burying her face in his chest.
"I just…have this weird feeling…"
"Is it something bad?"
"I'm…not sure," Joe admitted. Ever since he woke up an hour ago, he hadn't been able to sleep because he had a nagging feeling that something was going to happen today.
"Maybe…" Françoise began, moving her head up a little to place a kiss at the base of his neck, "it's because Jet and Albert are still here."
Joe smiled happily when she kissed his neck, but then grimaced when she mentioned the other two unexpected residents. "Oh, don't remind me. They were horrible last night. Imagine what they are going to do this morning. And then there's the other three too!"
Françoise giggled, lifting her head up to look at him. "Well, 006 and 007 have probably left already."
"I wish," Joe grumbled. "It's Sunday. 006 only cleans the restaurant today, so 007 will be here…unfortunately."
"Aw, you don't mean that."
Joe sighed and moved so that he was lying on his side, his left arm now propping his head above the pillow, the right arm now softly gripping her hip. "Well, 007 can be a bit nosy at times." He lowered his face toward hers and her eyes closed slowly.
"Hey! 009!" The two broke apart as they heard the shout and pounding.
Joe groaned, grabbing Françoise closer to him with his arms and burying his head into her hair. "Why now?"
"009! Come on! Open up!"
Françoise smiled to herself, patting Joe on the back. "There, there…I think 007 wants to talk to you." Her answer was a soft whine, which made her giggle quietly.
"009! WAKE UP already! 003 is missing!"
Joe moved his head out of Françoise's hair and looked at her. Missing? he mouthed, giving her a confused look, but she just shrugged. "Didn't you ask 002 or 004?" Joe finally shouted.
"Oh, now you're answering. And I thought you would burst open this door when I told you that," came the sarcastic reply. Joe rolled his eyes and Françoise buried her face in his chest again, hiding her silent laughter. "But yes, I did ask 002 and 004," GB said.
"So then why are you bothering me about it?" Joe asked in exasperation. "I'm sure 002 must have told him about us by now," Joe whispered to Françoise.
"Well, 002 told me to tell you," GB answered. "And are we just going to continue arguing through a door or are you going to come out and help me find her?"
Joe sighed. "Can't you just leave me alone?"
"Aren't you at all worried about 003? Or did you not here what I said? She's missing. MISSING!" GB shouted through the door. "What is wrong with you, 009? Don't you care about her at ALL?!"
"What the hell are you shouting and waving your arms about?" came a second voice.
"002! 009 won't come out of his room to help me find 003!" GB turned back towards the door. "Damn it, 009! Get your butt out here!"
"Huh?" Joe was already out of bed, dressed only in black boxers, and staring as Françoise stretched, her oversized T-shirt riding up her thighs. Françoise had noticed his stare and slowly walked towards him on her knees, as she was still on the bed. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she slowly pulled him down for a kiss, which he happily obliged to, their lips meeting softly like the night before.
Jet shook his head and knocked on the door once. "Yo, 009!"
"Hm?" came his muffled replied.
"Breakfast is ready…although I'm sure you're already enjoying yours in there," Jet added wickedly.
Joe and Françoise broke up, both blushing slightly. "Baka," Joe mumbled.
"HUH?! 002!! How can you be thinking of breakfast at a time like this?! 003 is gone! She could have been kidnapped. Or worse, she might be hurt!"
Françoise moved away from Joe and pulled on her sweatpants, which she had taken off last night—Joe's bed was much warmer then hers, especially since there were two people in it. "I think we should go out now," she whispered, although she didn't need to as GB was still shouting outside. Nodding, Joe grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt out of his closet and quickly put those on.
"And they could be using her as hostage to—" GB cut off as the door opened. "009! FINALLY! We have to…" he trailed off as he saw Françoise standing next to their leader. "Eh…I see you…found her…in your…bedroom…"
Jet rolled his eyes. "Finally. I was ready to punch him."
Joe scratched his head. "Sorry. Guess we overslept." He and Françoise then moved out of the room.
"Sleep? You sure that's all you were doing?" GB, who had gotten over his surprise, grinned slyly at the new couple.
Françoise blushed, but Joe glared at the other man. "Yes, that's all we were doing."
"That's not what you said yesterday morning," GB sang out.
"Yes, well, they were trying to shut you up," Jet answered for them.
GB ignored the American. "Oh come on, I know you guys were doing something. Why else would she be in your room?"
Joe groaned. "You just don't give up, do you?"
"We were just talking," Françoise explained. "And we fell asleep."
Looking at her calm face, GB narrowed his eyes. "So that's it?"
Joe and Françoise nodded.
GB sighed. "Aw…this place is so boring."
"And how would anything that 009 and 003 do be of any interest to you?"
"Something to gossip about."
"Not much gossip there, as 004 and I already knew."
"EH?! And you guys didn't tell me?! How rude!"
~
"Mou…why are we doing this again?" Joe asked. He hadn't really wanted to come if Françoise's blushing face was any indication of what was in store, but Jet and Albert had insisted. So he reluctantly agreed, as he was a little curious, although he started to regret his decision when Françoise refused to go with them, all the while hiding her face and not making eye contact with him. Then he got really nervous when GB started to laugh so hard after Jet and Albert explained where they were going. Luckily, GB was still laughing too hard to get up and follow them out of the house. But poor Françoise, left to fend against GB's taunting by herself.
"Because it's unbelievable that you have a girlfriend and you don't know what Victoria's Secrets is," Jet explained patiently.
"If Victoria has secrets, I don't think that it's right for us to pry."
Jet slapped his forehead as Albert rolled his eyes. "009," Albert began, "you are so hopeless."
"So where are we going anyways?" Joe had given up arguing with them by now.
"Have you not been paying attention?" Jet asked irritably. "Victoria's Secrets."
"Yes, I know that, but where is it?"
"Right here."
Joe looked in front of him and his eyes widened, his face turning red. "He-here?!"
"That's right, boy." Jet smirked at the younger cyborg's flushed face.
"But—but, we can't go in there!"
"Why not?" Albert walked past the doorway as if to prove his point. "See? I got in."
"No! That's not what I meant!"
"What? Is the all-powerful cyborg afraid of a little lingerie store?" Jet taunted.
"Actually, this place is pretty big," the silver-haired cyborg remarked. Jet shot him a dirty look, which the other cyborg just shrugged in reply.
"I mean…it's not right for us to walk into a store for…women!"
"Bah!" Jet grabbed Joe's arm and pulled him into the store with him. "You're shopping for a woman, so you have a right to be in here."
"Look," Albert pointed. "Half the store is full of men."
"Yah, and you can clearly tell that their girlfriends dragged them in here," Joe mumbled. The other two pretended not to hear him.
"So what color do you think she likes?" Jet questioned, looking around the store.
"I don't know. I've never exactly seen any of her underwear," Albert replied sarcastically.
"You better not have," Joe growled.
Jet smirked. "Although she would look good in a red thong."
"What an imagination you have," Albert commented. Joe glowered at the two of them.
Jet slapped his arm around the glaring man. "Oh, loosen up 009. We're here to buy your girl a Christmas present, so at least join in helping to pick something out."
"If you like this store so much, why don't YOU buy her something then?" Joe retorted.
"Don't mind if I do," Jet answered. "Maybe I'd get to see her in it too."
*SMACK*
"OW! What the hell was that for, punk?" Jet rubbed the back of his head gingerly.
Joe ignored him. "I was actually thinking more along the lines of jewelry for a Christmas present."
"Where is your sense of excitement?" Albert asked, shaking his head in dismay.
"I've had enough to last me a lifetime, thanks," Joe answered dryly.
"Oh, this looks nice!" Jet held up a red thong.
Joe sighed and slumped his shoulders forward. "I will choose ONE item. Then can we get out of here?"
~
Two hours later, Joe finally ran out of the store with a bag in his hands. "I said ONE!"
Albert shrugged. "But all of five of those would look good on her."
Joe scowled at him. "And you would know?"
Albert put his hands up in defense. "I was just saying!"
"Relax, man," Jet said, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. "She'll like those."
"I can't believe we spent two hours in there," Joe moaned.
"Well, now that you'll most likely be spending all of your time with 003, I think it's only fair that we get you to ourselves for now," Jet reasoned.
"This is torture," was the answer.
"Oh come on. We're helping you out here. You should be grateful," Jet said.
"…"
"I must say," Albert spoke up, "009 was right in thinking that jewelry would have been a better Christmas gift."
"004!"
"Thank you!"
"You should learn from him, 002," Albert continued.
"004…"
"Well, you still have time," Albert went on. "The jewelry store is right there. We could get that girl of yours something."
"She'd probably just throw it back at me," Jet replied dejectedly.
"Not if you choose it correctly," the other retorted.
"You sure do know a lot about pleasing women," Joe commented, grinning at Albert.
"Well…" Albert rubbed his head in embarrassment.
"And it's only fair," Joe said turning to Jet. "You were so nice to help me, so now I am going to help you."
Jet glared at the other two men. "Fine. But we are only going in there for five minutes. Or I'll fly out of here!"
~
Another two hours later, the trio finally came out of the jewelry store, heading towards the forest that would lead them back home.
"I didn't know you had good taste in jewelry, 002," Joe said as they walked down the street.
Jet shrugged. "Me neither."
"It's too bad you couldn't be as tasteful in actually knowing what kind of gifts to get a girl," Albert mumbled.
"What did you say?" Jet threatened, rolling up his sleeves.
"002, calm down," Joe said, holding onto the mad cyborg's shoulder.
"Tch." Jet shrugged off the hand and tried to cross his arms, only to find the little bag in his hands in the way. "Damn necklace."
"Trust me," Albert assured the frustrated man. "She'll like it."
"And you would know?" was the angry reply. Albert just looked away.
Noticing the sudden tension, Joe quickly cut in. "Why don't we go back now? It's Sunday, so 006 will be back tonight to make dinner."
"I am hungry…" Jet said, not wanting to admit that his missed the short man's food.
"Ah…and I miss his cooking," Albert added.
Joe smiled. "You know, 002, you should really learn how to cook from 006. It might be useful."
Jet glared at Joe and turned his head away. "Tch. I don't need to learn how to cook. I can take care of myself just fine."
"That's why your place is full of junk food."
"Why you…" Jet's muscles tensed, ready to pounce on Albert.
"004…" a soft feminine voice stopped Jet from jumping. All three cyborgs turned to look in front of them, and saw a shadowed figure holding on to a tree.
"Who's there?" Albert held up his right hand, squinting to see the figure in the shadows.
"004…" the mysterious figure whispered, slowly pushing herself away from the tree and towards the trio. "Albert…"
Albert's eyes widened slowly in recognition and his hand lowered. "No…it can't be…"
"Al…bert…" the figure murmured before falling forward. Albert ran forward to catch the girl before she fell. Slowly, he turned her so that he could see her face more clearly.
"004! Who is…" Joe trailed off as he and Jet came up beside Albert, eyes wide in shock as they looked at the girl in the cyborg's arms.
Jet shook his head. "But…that's…she's supposed to be dead!"
~
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please." –Mark Twain.
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oOo…cliffhanger! Mwahahahahah! *ahem* Sorry, Tora got loose again. And I thought it would be a good idea to try my "cliffhanging" skills. Haha. And you all thought that this was just going to be 009/003 fluff and mayhem for 009. Well, you're all wrong! Mwahahahahhahah!! It seems as though Albert will be reunited with…uh-uh, sorry. You'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out who it is…although I just gave you a clue with the previous sentence. And once again, thank you all for your lovely reviewers and lots of love to all of those that are reading this story!!!
Queen of Duels: Yay! You updated! Your story is my inspiration for humor. ^^ And I can't wait for your two new stories (although I'm more looking forward to the 009/003 one, of course).
cy-kamen: Glad you liked the chapter. Hehe. And I've never seen Speed Racer (although I know what it is), but I'm going to go look that up. You can email me if you want, silverstarr52@hotmail.com or aznangelpupx@yahoo.com (My hotmail account has this tendency to just randomly delete some emails…weird, I know).
|-Steph-chan-|: From your review, I see that you've only read the prologue and chapter I. But see? They kissed in chapter II, and a little bit here too. Hehe. Hope you enjoyed!
Wolf Princess: You are crazy. LOL. That was indeed a long review…and lots of "mou." ^^ Yes, and it's a shame he doesn't blush much in the series. But now that he and 003 are together, I think that calls for a bit more blushing. Mwahahhah. And uh…thanks for beta-ing…although I need to train you in that department.
meiji: *jumps up and down, waving arms* I wrote more! I wrote more! Hope you like it!
Lady Ruby Dragon: *blushes* I'm ashamed to say that I made a mistake. What a horrible author I am to get the nationality of a character wrong. *smacks head* Bad me. Thank you for catching that! And I changed it. Thanks! *hugs and kisses* I hope you'll keep reading and catch all of my other mistakes!
Orphan: Lots of fluff, lots of love, lots of humor, lots of mayhem, and lots more to come! Enjoy!
SayinAngelPrincess: Sorry that there wasn't much detail into what 002 and 004 did to 009. I wanted to add that fluff in the beginning, but I also wanted it to end with that cliffhanger. Now I can get the actual plot started in the next chapter. ^^