Sarah entered her room and froze. A dark figure was bent over her suitcase. "What do you think you're doing with my suitcase?"

"I'm picking it up," a voice responded smoothly, "it fell over."

"The water has been calm," Sarah said folding her arms. It hadn't occurred to her yet that the voice sounded familiar, until the figure turned around. "Yohji!"

Yohji grinned. "So, you're my roommate after all. I never forget a lady's name, especially one as radiant as you my dear. You truly rival the majesty of this cruise ship. Can I be your sailor?" His grin widened.

Sarah was in shock. This was the last person she expected to see and she inwardly wondered if there would be any more surprises. "The cabins were supposed to be same gendered pairings."

"Yaoi and yuri?"

"Not those kinds of pairings!"

Sarah sat on the bed and Yohji sat beside her.

"I do have a rather androgynous name," he said. "The ship workers must have looked at my name and assumed it was female."

Sarah said simply, "in other words you bribed someone into being convinced that your name was female."

Slipping an arm around her, "of course. After all I'm here as an entertainer and I'll make sure your scholastic cruise is as educational and as entertaining as possible."

"Oh really?"

"Hai," Yohji said with a sly smile. "Lesson one. . ."

Alex and Kristi wandered around the cruise ship. It was hour four and they had found everything but Sarah's cabin.

"We're close," Kristi said with determination.

"That's what you said an hour ago," Alex said. A flash out of the corner of her eye caused her to look around in confusion.

Kristi paused as well, and then shook her head. "Well, we're closer than before."

"If you say so," Alex said.

They reached a crossroads of sort in a hallway and read the signs. "Pool to the left and lobby to the right. Okay, I'll take the lobby and you take the pool. Let's meet back here in five minutes."

Alex nodded, hoping that Kristi's navigational skills would wake up. Shame that they only really worked with a map. She walked toward the pool and smiled. She was a water baby and always liked being around it. While the ocean outside these walls was an appealing sight, the memories of friends in swimming pools always did make her smile.

She approached a worker and swallowed nervously. His shirt was off and a slight sheen of sweat glistened under the artificial lights. The humidity of the heated pool caused beads of sweat about her brow and caused the worker's pants to cling about his form.

"Excuse me?"

The worker turned around and his mouth dropped. "Alex!"

Alex froze; the heat must have been getting to her. She felt faint and reached for a pool chair. Ken rushed over to her and eased her into the chair. He ran a hand through his hair and steadied her.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, you just caught me by surprise," Alex said.

Ken dabbed her forehead lightly with a towel and smiled shyly. "You took me by surprise as well; a surprise for which I am happy. What are you doing here?"

Alex shifted. "Kristi and I stowed aboard to follow Sarah on her Semester at Sea program. We split up to look for her room."

"Sarah is on the ship as well," Ken said thoughtfully. He absently wondered why Yohji was so anxious to head to his own room.

Alex nodded. "Why are you here?"

"To work," Ken said.

Alex blinked. "The others are here as well?"

"Yes," Ken said, "and we should find them. You've stowed aboard a dangerous ship." He pulled on a shirt and then took her hand.

"I'm supposed to meet Kristi," Alex said. Another flash caught the edge of her vision and she blamed it on the heat.

Ken nodded. "Then let us meet up with her as well."

Kristi walked into the lobby, into a sea of chaos. Students of all ages were everywhere and there were various teachers trying to separate them. She decided to try and help the teachers, her brown nosing tendencies coming to light.

Omi was desperately trying to help Aya keep the students in line. Aya plus children was never a good combination, but he managed to keep several of them in line by promising them a sword demonstration later.

Omi blinked at a woman in the crowd. "Aya-kun. . ."

"Not now Omi, I'm busy."

"But Aya-kun. . ."

"Save it for later Omi," he said in a hardened tone. He exhaled a hidden sigh of relief when the students were separated and turned to acknowledge the person who helped them.

Kristi stared at Aya in shock and he did likewise.

Omi poked Aya's arm. "That's what I was trying to tell you about."

Kristi closed her eyes and opened them again. She wasn't dreaming and when he walked over to her, she poked him.

"Why are you poking me?"

Kristi didn't stop poking him. "I'm making sure this isn't a dream. You tend to visit them quite often."

"I see," Aya said hiding a smile. He wasn't about to admit that he dreamed of her as well. He grabbed her hand and escorted her to the hallway. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I. . ."

Aya folded his arms. "You have that guilty look Yohji has sometimes."

Kristi explained to him what Alex and herself had done to get aboard the cruise ship in an effort to join Sarah. "I have to meet up with Alex. We were heading to Sarah's room, number 29. Do you know where it is?"

Omi looked to Aya who had a knowing look on his face.

"Number 29?"

Kristi nodded to Aya's inquiry.

"Fourth floor? Inner cabins?"

"Yeah," Kristi said suspiciously, "how did you know that?"

"She's not alone," Aya said simply.

Kristi looked to Omi and put two and two together. "Oh good lord."

Ken and Alex met with the others at the 'crossroads' and they headed to the cabins. Kristi took note of Ken holding Alex's hand and flashed her a smile. Of course, Alex hid a chuckle at the fact that Kristi didn't realize that Aya still had a hold on her hand.

Yohji was in the process of teaching Sarah some educational tips when a knock at the door jarred his attention. "Damn, I forgot to put up the 'Do Not Disturb Sign.'"

The door swung open and dark figures created a silhouette at the entranceway.

"Kristi? Alex? Guys?" Sarah was in shock. She wasn't sure how many more surprises she could take.

Yohji sighed, "damn."

"Yohji," Aya said measuring his words, "why are you in Sarah's cabin?"

"I was assigned here," Yohji said with a grin.

Aya stared and Ken gave him a stern look. Omi naively looked around the room and contented himself to examining Sarah's stuffed Tigger.

"Hi Sarah!" Kristi waved enthusiastically, while Alex waved sheepishly.

"How did you get here?"

Yohji started answering, "when a man and a woman-"

Sarah hit him with a pillow, looking pointedly in Omi's direction.

Kristi entered and explained to everyone how they got the paperwork from their colleges, convinced their families it was for educational purposes, wrangled cheap plane tickets, got onboard, stowed away in a lifeboat, and got lost.

"So you did this slightly illegal thing, just for me?" Sarah was in awe. She knew her friends were capable of such an operation, but she never thought they'd actually go through with it. Truth be told she was looking behind the ship because of Kristi's bold statement saying, 'We'll follow the cruise ship in a lifeboat if we have to!'

"Yes," Alex said with a shrug, "and it seemed like a fun idea at the time."

Kristi nodded. "Yep yep, I even negotiated my financial aid money and got a scholarship to pool the money together to fund the endeavor should we get caught."

Alex looked to her in shock. "You did?"

"Uh huh."

"You scare me sometimes," Alex said huddling closer to Ken.

Aya grabbed Yohji. "In that case you are not staying here. The girls will be staying with Sarah from now on. We have to get them jobs or else there presence here will be suspicious and that would not do. Anyone who draws attention will gauge our target's attention."

Sarah asked nervously, "Target?"

Aya explained about the drug lord, knowing they would find out anyway.

Ken looked to them all. "I'll speak with the ship director about work study occupations. But for now, it is best for Alex and Kristi to stay in this room."

"We'll be back in a few days," Aya said. "Do not leave this room." He looked pointedly to Kristi who nodded.

Yohji sighed, gave Sarah a kiss much to the surprise of the guys and the smiles of the girls, and then pulled Omi out of the room.

When the guys left, Kristi turned to Sarah and asked ever so innocently. "So, you had some alone time with Yohji eh?"

Alex played along. "I bet you guys had a nice conversation."

Sarah smiled. "Of course, the conversation of silence."

Alex's jaw dropped and Kristi burst out laughing.

Sarah looked to them. "So, looks like we've stumbled on another adventure."

"We're just lucky like that," Alex said with a grin.

Kristi leaned back onto the bed. "Our main luggage is in the cargo hold. We'll have to get that somehow."

"Aya said not to leave the room," Alex said in a warning tone.

"I know," Kristi said with a sigh, "and with my luck he'd know if I left the room."

"You'll get it eventually," Sarah said. "I'll have to smuggle you guys some food between classes. And besides, it looks like you had the foresight to pack a small bag of essentials."

Alex nodded and yawned. "That we did."

The girls settled down for the night. Alex and Kristi shared a bed, while Sarah shared a bed with Tigger. She planned to take many interesting photos with the stuffed animal.

The men of Schwarz met together before they settled down for the night. Farferello was content to slumber in the engine room, much to the disturbance of the other workers. Crawford was reading a newspaper when Schuldig walked in and dropped some photographs on a table before him.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Crawford looked to the pictures with a smile. They were pictures of the females Kristi and Alex, along with the men of Weiss. "Because I knew you would take delight in finding out yourself."

Schuldig dropped into a chair beside Crawford. "Yes, I could hear their thoughts before I even took the pictures of them."

Crawford smirked. "Everything is going according to plan. We are to protect Nagaharu Kaito until told otherwise, however if we were to lure the men of Weiss into a trap our trip would be much the sweeter."

"I know how to make it much sweeter," Schuldig said licking his lips.

"In due time," Crawford said setting down the newspaper.

Nagi clicked away at the computer. "I have them on surveillance. They're all in the same room. When shall we infiltrate?"

"They will come to us," Crawford said simply.

Schuldig grinned. "Yes, I'm sure we can arrange that." He tried to pry into Crawford's mind, but alas the American still held a strong mind barrier.

"Patience," Crawford said simply.

Schuldig sighed, but was inwardly glad. That would give him more opportunities to photograph his prey.

Author's Note: For the record Sarah is not as easy as she appears (she's not slutty, I just want to state that)…in fact I'd say she's giving Yohji quite the challenge, being a capable, intelligent woman…:continues praising:. And mwhuahaha, beware the photographing Schuldig!