DISCLAIMER: I don't own Lupin III, but I can dream…

Hey!
Well, after a long wait, here is the next chapter. Hopefully with Spring Break coming up, more chapters come out quicker…. Is it sad to say I already can't wait for Summer Vacation? Well, it's safe to say that this is the last time I'll ever start a story in the middle of the school year—I haven't been able to update as much as I like due to time constraints… Someone's learned their lesson, that's easy to say…. Well, as always, please give me your thoughts and opinions… I received one review, asking for Veronica back, and although I never thought of that, it could prove interesting…. Thanks!

Fun Fact of Boredom: Ally was added as a Lupin Gang Character last-minute…. The purpose for this being the group would've been much too overrun with girls, and I needed a character who would fit the complete sociopath profile. Originally, Ally only gave help when needed, but mainly stayed with his parents at their shop.

'They say that everyone
wants someone.
So how come no one
wants me.
Then they say that everyone
needs someone.
So how come no one
needs me.'

—The Beatles, 'So How Come No One Loves Me' (Note-This is one of the more obscure covers the Beatles did, and not man have heard it, because it was made when they did radio shows for the BBC.)

Chapter Six

A Short Time Later: Phantom of Paradise

Jerusalem:

"I think I know where you learned to drive now!" Leo said as he gripped upon the dashboard tightly and tried to hold back his screams. Max made another sharp turn, and Leo continued to hold on for dear life.

"Heh, that's nothing! Just wait until rush hour!" Max laughed. He pulled up to a small household, and Leo nearly fainted upon the ground as he shakily stepped out of the vehicle.

"Who're we staying with, anyway?" Leo inquired as he leaned upon the car, regaining his breath slowly.

"A cousin of my mother," responded Max. He walked up to the household, touching the Torah in the box on the right of the door as he did so, and he rang the doorbell. A few moments later, and a blonde man answered the door, smiled, and embraced Max as he immediately recognized his relative.

"Nice to see you too, Joshua," Max chuckled as he broke out of his distant cousin's grasp.

"Max, it's so wonderful to see you!" exclaimed Joshua, a man who appeared to be slightly younger than his mother, and much younger than his father. He was blonde, just like most of Max's family on his mother's side. "You should visit more, you know…"

"Heh heh… Yeah, I know," Max muttered as he embraced his distant cousin. "I understand you know the circumstances…"

"Yes," Joshua nodded. He looked over Max's shoulder and smiled, "Ah! This must be your friend! Mister…"

"Eh, just Leo, please," Leo responded quickly with a handshake.

"Well, are you two just trying to get some fresh air, or would you actually like to come in? Come on… It's as hot as the devil's frying pan out here!"

"Then why do you stay, Josh?" inquired Max.

"Eh," Joshua shrugged, "It's interesting. I'd get bored anywhere else. Come on, I'll show you both your room…" He led them through the small house, into a guest room, simply decorated, with a closet, bed, dresser, lamp, desk, and rug.

"My daughter used to live with me, but she's off in the military now," said Joshua with slight pride as he adjusted the bed sheets and fluffed the pillows upon the bed.

"Why am I not surprised she went into the military? She always used to beat the crap out of me when we were little…" Max mumbled with a roll of the eyes.

"She's saying you're dating a Catholic now, Max. Is this true?" Joshua inquired with some interest.

"Catholic?" Max looked to his right at Leo. It dawned on him. French population 99 Catholic. He moaned and slapped his forehead, "How in the hell do these rumors get around!"

"Heh…" Joshua gave a small laugh, "Well, I'll let you boys get to unpacking. Help yourselves to whatever you find in the kitchen. I have to get off to work now, but I'll leave you a housekey, Max…"

"Thanks, Josh," Max nodded and laid his suitcase upon the bed, and went to unpacking. "Wow… This is the first time we've been alone without anyone trying to kill us in months, LeBlanc!"

"Nope, they're only trying to kill you…" Leo muttered as he seated himself at the desk and removed a heavy book from his suitcase.

"What are you doing?" asked Max as he looked over Leo's shoulder with wonder.

"Studying," Leo muttered. Leo was more than a little shocked when Max lifted the book from the desk and threw it under the bed, "What the hell did you do that for?"

"You're too high strung, even by my standards," muttered Max in response. "Your ass is going to have a good time tonight and like it!"

"How are you any authority over me?" Leo countered, rising from the desk, "I'm older, taller, and—"

"Have mild hypertension," Max added. "You're going out tonight, LeBlanc…"

"Max, I'm sorry, you're a nice guy, but I have no interest in dating you."

"Why is it if I want to do something with you, you immediately think the only reason I'm doing it is to get in your pants?" Max asked with disgust. "And you wonder why I didn't tell you I was bi for all of those months…"

"Look me in the eyes and tell me I'm wrong," said Leo severely.

Max paused, "You're the one who—"

"As a safety maneuver!" snapped Leo, "I did it to save your damn life! Don't make me regret doing it, Zenigata, please… You're the one who freakin' assaulted me!"

"Te, something you're used to by now, the way you let Cecilia keep you on a leash for over a year and a half…" mumbled Max, leaning against a wall and crossing his arms.

Leo's glared, "You bastard, Zenigata…"

Max was slightly taken aback by this, and blinked once or twice in surprise, "Leo… You know it's true… You let her use you like a box of Kleenex… You're delusional if you deny any of it."

"I finally stood up to her, though! I'm the reason you got your job back!" Leo yelled angrily.

"You're the reason I lost my damn job in the first place!" Max took a step forward, and poked LeBlanc in the chest with his finger, "She threatened to come out about you if I didn't pack my ass up and head out to Eastern Europe—Which may I say is one of the most depressing places I've ever been in my life! I left to protect you!"

Leo sighed, and turned away from Max, "I didn't know that those were the circumstances…."

"Well, they were," said Max sternly. "So ya wanna go out?"

"…Sure," Leo smirked, nodded, and walked out of the tiny room with Max.

Hawaii:

"And rumor has it that this very domain is still haunted by the ghost of an angered Japanese samurai, who was an ancestor of one of the plantation owners!" said the tour guide cheerily as she led her group through the historic dwelling. What she did not know was that her group also contained the infamous Lupin the Fourth gang.

"So, you still think it's a bunch of bull, Fuji?" inquired Ryo in a whisper.

"Yup. Even more so now than usual," Fuji nodded. "This crap about ghosts is all a bunch of BS, and I'll prove it… I just need a ghost…"

"Hey, what if these things really are real, huh? You wouldn't want to piss it off by sayin' that crap, would you?" snapped Yukiko.

"Yuki, you of all people! Please tell me you don't believe in these things!" Ryo said with a small chuckle and roll of the eyes.

"Hey, you never know… All I'm saying is these things aren't good to be playing with…" Yukiko warned as she cautiously walked down the hall, keeping Toshiro close.

"There is nothing to fear here," said Odori reassuringly with a small humoring smirk. There was a croaking noise, and Odori jumped back in horror as she laid eyes upon the frog in the corner of a hall. "Aya! Heiji! Get that thing away!"

"Heh, women…" Heiji mumbled as he picked up the frog and tossed it into a potted plant. "Look, Dori, bad froggy gone now…"

"I'm sure if father were here and you were able to see him on some of his medication, you'd have a similar reaction, Heiji," snapped Odori, folding her arms and scowling at him.

"Hey, could we just enjoy the tour?" Fuji asked tiredly. "Hey, um… Anyone see where our tour guide ran off to?"

"I knew we should've left breadcrumbs," Ryo murmured.

"Odori would've probably eaten the bread before you would've even started…" said Heiji.

"Hey!" Odori snapped as she removed a granola bar from her gi and opened it, "Just because I am with child does not mean I've been eating like a pig!"

"…Riiight…. Heh, well, three ways to go now… Left, right, and straight…" said Fuji.

"How's about back?" asked Ally with a hopeful smile, pointing over his shoulder at the darkened back wall.

"What hallway?" Fuji inquired.

"The one that—" Ally turned a bit, "What the hell? That wasn't there before…"

"In a few moments, it won't be there anymore, again," responded Odori as she finished off the last bit of the granola bar. She unsheathed Zantetsu, and cut through the stone wall. It fell to the ground in a pile of rubble, and Odori sheathed her blade, and stepped over the rocks with a small bound of satisfaction.

"Does she even realize she just defaced a national monument?" inquired Ryo.

"Does she even care?" Fuji snorted, and hopped over the rocks, and allowed Odori to lead. Odori smirked as she came upon another wall, but this time when she went to cut the wall in half, she was horrified to find her sword chipped upon impact. She blinked a few times in horror as she studied the blade, and looked up at the group, "We're screwed…."

"Not yet," Yukiko quickly drew her gun, and fired a few shots. Everyone went running for cover as the bullets ricocheted off of the walls, one bullet in particular smashing open a potted plant Fuji had taken refuge behind.

"It's okay… It's all okay… Those bullets didn't leave a scratch in that damn wall, but we're okay…" Fuji said slowly.

"Hey, does it usually get foggy in Hawaii?" inquired Ally as he noted a gradual buildup of mist within the room.

"Um… Not as long as I've lived here… And it's never been purple…" Heiji muttered.

"Hee hee… Purple haze…" Fuji chuckled. "Ow!" she exclaimed as Ryo smacked her on the back of the head.

"Well, there's a way back out; there's got to be!" said Toshiro as he rose and bounded forward, "Yeouch!"

"Toshiro, what happened!" Yukiko asked worriedly.

"I was walking forward, and I hit a wall… I think I've got a nosebleed…." mumbled Toshiro in a strange, stuffed-up voice.

"Now what?" asked Ryo.

"Who dare disturbs the grave of the great samurai warrior?" inquired a shaky voice suddenly.

Jerusalem:

"Hey, LeBlanc, think fast!" shouted Max.

"Huh?" Leo looked up, and quickly caught the basketball, and began to run down the court, the boys in black uniforms running after the considerably taller Asian. Several cheered as Leo scored a basket, and Max even yet out a small cheer, although he was on a different team.

"Okay, guys, that's enough!" Leo panted in Hebrew to the boys, who let out a groan of dissatisfaction.

"Don't worry, guys, we'll be back!" Max added in one of his native languages to the rabbi-school children. They smiled and cheered in response, and Max gave another small chuckle, and tossed Leo his purple jacket as he picked up his own brown one which he had discarded upon a chain link fence.

"For a guy with asthma, you play a good game," said Max.

"Are you kidding? Each time they went chasing the ball I was sucking on my inhaler like it was the breath of life!" Leo admitted with some embarrassment.

"Well, you're good with kids; that you can't argue," said Max as he walked beside Leo down the city street.

"Yeah… I'd love a couple of them, actually!" Leo admitted.

"That'd involve you getting over that fear of women, first," Max pointed out.

"Well, I could always adopt… There's more than one way to skin a cat, Zenigata!" Leo said cheerily. "We both adopted Dakota, remember! Well, you did, but I like to think of myself as her father, too…"

"Hm… I want to take a trip, all right?" Max asked.

"Yeah, sure… Hey, I'm getting the grand tour!" Leo chirped.

"Boy you're in a good mood…" Max mumbled.

"I don't know… Maybe it's the air…" Leo shrugged.

"Well, come on, I'll drive," Max said as they walked to their rental car. Max drove Leo to a large wall, where many people stood outside of it.

"It's called the Wailing Wall… It's the only wall left of an ancient synagogue…" Max explained as he led Leo up to the wall, "You're supposed to put a piece of paper in one of the cracks of the paper; a wish… Something you want so badly you know G-d's the only one who can come through for you with it…"

"And what's your wish?" Leo inquired as he looked above his reading glasses and studied Zenigata's expression.

Max paused a few moments in thought before resuming his walk towards the wall, "It doesn't matter…"

"Sure it does! What is it, Zenigata?" asked Leo, "That's it on the paper, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Max stopped in front of the wall, took a deep breath, and crammed the small piece of paper into the crevice, "…Please…" he muttered under his breath as he walked away from the wall.

Leo looked over his shoulder; Max was leaving. He looked back at the paper, and began to reach for it, but stopped himself. He removed a small bit of paper from his own pocket, a pen, and wrote a simple sentence on it, and left it beside Zenigata's.

"Hey, LeBlanc, hurry it up!" called Zenigata.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm coming!" shouted Leo, who ran from the monument back to his vehicle.

Max resumed their drive about the large city, Leo constantly keeping his firm grip upon the dashboard until they reached the small house again.

"Well, that was fun…" Leo muttered as he stumbled out of the vehicle.

"Hey, it's not over yet—The sun hasn't even set yet!" said Max with a smirk.

"Huh?" Leo turned back about to Zenigata and looked at him questioningly.

Max gave a rare smile, "This place has got an awesome nightlife…"

"Jeeze, um, I dunno, Zenigata, I…."

"Come on, LeBlanc, it'll be fun!" Max reassured him, "You don't know unless you try; plus you can try out your language skills when you order us drinks!"

"Oh, you mean like I did when you were under the legal drinking limit in Miami?" Leo snapped.

"I'm hardly a baby, LeBlanc… Besides, I was a week from turning twenty-one, anyway!" snapped Max in response.

"You got drunk off your ass and threw up in the cab…"

"So I can overdue the partying something," Max shrugged. "But I won't tonight, I promise!"

"Well, I'll go, but please don't take me to anything too freaky," Leo begged.

"Heh, just the usual weird," responded Max with a smirk.

Later that Night:

"Israel… The home of the Twelve Tribes, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed… And a million glow sticks…" Leo thought aloud as he entered the darkened, loud club with Max.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Max said with a smile as he nudged Leo.

"Oh, yeah… Cool… Those two guys just went into the bathroom together, and I don't think they're going to do what you usually do in there…" mumbled Leo with a slight tone of suspicion in his voice.

"Hey, let's go grab drinks!" Max shouted.

"This is your idea of fun? A dark, loud, tight, hot space full of a bunch of alcohol and cigarette smoke?" Leo yelped as they both seated themselves at the bar.

"Yep!" Max laughed in response. Zenigata ordered their drinks while Leo continually glanced back at a man about his age staring at him. The man approached Leo and seated himself next to LeBlanc.

"Est-que ce tu a danser (Do you dance)?" asked the man with a smirk.

'His French is awful,' thought Leo as he sipped his brightly colored drink. "Non; je ne danse pas… Mais, merci beacoup, Monsieur… (No, I don't, but thanks, man.)"

"Et leur copian (How about your boyfriend)?" asked the man, pointing to Max.

"My boyfriend?" Leo blinked a few times in surprise. He looked over his shoulder at Max and chuckled, "Non, c'est mon ami! (No, he's just a friend!)"

"What are you speaking?" Max asked as he rocked back and forth in his seat.

"I just wanted to make sure he was French… I like the French…" responded the man, "I was asking your friend for a dance…"

"Go for it, Leo," Max took a long swig of his drink and smirked at the pained Leo.

"B-But—" before Leo could protest any longer, he found himself out on the dance floor with the stranger, "I… I don't usually do with this…." Leo admitted.

"What? Dance?" asked the man with a chuckle.

"Well, um, not with guys… Or girls for that matter… But that's beside the point!" snapped Leo, "I…"

"Just try it… You might like it!" said the man as he took Leo by the hand and led him deeper onto the dance floor.

Hawaii:

Yukiko let out a shriek and grasped onto Toshiro, who fought to squirm out of her grasp, "Let go, Yuki! He's not real!" Toshiro choked, waving his arms madly in the air in an attempt to receive oxygen.

"What? How do you know that?" snapped Ally.

"How dare you defy the spirit of Nezumi Kozo!" snapped the samurai.

"Okay, enough with the dried ice… I saw Phantom of the Opera, too… God, makes me wonder if I'm the only freakin' one of the planet who think Andrew Lloyd Weber's a hack…" sighed Toshiro heavily as he rose and approached the heavily-clad samurai, "First off, Nezumi Kozo lived during the Edo period—You're dressed for the Meiji period, which was hundreds of years afterward! Secondly, you folded your kimono wrong—If you were one of the dead, you would fold the right over the left, because, well, you're a stiff. But you've folded your kimono left over right, signifying—"

"Dammit, dammit, okay, you win! Just shut up!" snapped the samurai, who lost his frightening voice suddenly. He threw aside his sword and folded his arms across his chest, "You win, all right? What kind of a freak are you, anyway?"

"A member of the Rat Clan and a member of the New York City Broadway Performers' Union," replied Toshiro.

"You're a member of the Rat Clan?" a woman's voice sounded now, and a teenaged Japanese girl appeared from behind a panel, "How so?"

"I'm the nephew of Rat Boy Jirokichi," explained Toshiro. "My mother was Haru."

"Haru? She's the leader now, isn't she?" the samurai tore away his kabuki mask to reveal he was about the same age as the girl.

"Yes," Toshiro nodded.

"And was her oldest son, you'd be the next one to ascend as head of the clan of the family," concluded the girl.

"Holy crap, Toshiro, she's right!" Heiji gasped with realization.

"I… I'm gonna be the Rat Clan leader….? Great…." Toshiro paled with horror at the thought of this, and the visualization of ruling over those heathens made him feel sickened.

"We prayed for this!" said the boy, "My sister and I, we both prayed day and night for an answer to our prayers! And now you've come, Goemon-san!"

"Goemon?" Toshiro choked.

"Well, he is your father, isn't he? So that must make the successor to both clans! We heard that someday there would be a person who would unite our clans!" said the girl.

Yukiko looked over towards Toshiro—He looked as though he were about to vomit from all of these realizations.

"Anyway…. What are you brats doing playing haunted mansion?" inquired Yukiko.

"Well…" the boy looked down awkwardly, "Sis, you explain…"

"A contractor wants to tear down this house!" said the girl, "We figured if we did this, they wouldn't want to come…"

"Why do they want to tear it down?" inquired Ryo.

"To build a WalMart," said the boy darkly.

"Well, that ain't new," mumbled Fuji.

"This is our heritage though! We have nowhere else to go!" snapped the boy.

"Listen," the girl took a step forward to Fuji. "They have the deed… We need it back…"

"And what's in it for me?" Fuji naturally responded with. "And undying gratitude doesn't count!"

"Well…" the girl paused, and thought to herself. She looked to her brother desperately.

"You get to spend twenty-four hours with me, Fuji… No holds barred," Heiji chimed in quickly.

"Wha? You… You're serious?" Fuji blinked with surprise.

"Uh-huh," Heiji smirked. "So it's your option… Either stay sulking on the beach and get a sunburn, or help out these kids, and get a handsome reward…"

"Very handsome…" muttered Fuji. "Okay, I'm in!"

"Hey, what about us? The opportunity to grope Heiji might be friggin' fantastic for you, but for some of us, we prefer actual payment…." said Ryo.

"Ryoko-sama!" gasped Fuji. "We aren't lowlifes! We're going to help out these poor, poor children, and I'm gonna have a little more than Scrabble to look forward to this weekend!" chuckled Fuji cheerily, clapping her hands together. "Okay, where do I start?"

"You owe me for this," Heiji said to Toshiro as he passed his older brother by.

Jerusalem:

Leo had been gone for a while… Max had found other people to dance with, so he wasn't in lack of a partner. Leo's extended absence did bother him, however. He excused himself from his male dance partner, and worked his way through the mainly male crowd. Leo wasn't hard to find; he was the one slumped over in a chair, sipping his drinking and chuckling.

"Leo? What are you drinking?" Max wondered aloud. "This looks like soda, but…" Max lifted the clear glass up, and looked upward at the bottom. He glared at the man seated at the table with Leo, and Zenigata soon found himself splashing the drink in the man's face.

"You dirty son of a bitch! You slipped him something!" screamed Max, "I'm gonna friggin' kill you, you bastard!" Max lunged over the table, and threw the first of many punches which were exchanged between himself and the stranger. Leo and Max were literally tossed out of the club onto the sidewalk. Max let out a moan and clutched onto the shoulder he had landed on, and Leo chuckled and looked upward at the sky.

"Leo, come on… That guy slipped you some sort of drug…" muttered Max as he lifted Leo up off of the ground and dragged him to the car.

"Ha ha! You kidding, Zenigata, I've never felt better!" Leo laughed.

"Oh, you won't be saying that in the morning…" mumbled Max as he cautiously helped Leo into the passenger seat and walked over to the driver's side, "Leo, I'm sorry… I was stupid, and I should've listened to you for once…."

"What, are you kidding?" Leo laughed, "I feel friggin' fantastic!"

"Yeah, Spanish Fly'll do that to you…" Max said to himself as he made a lane change and headed toward Joshua's house.

"Hey, it's really hot in here, isn't it? I'm really hot…" Leo said as he tugged at his shirt collar and unbuttoned the first few buttons. "I wasn't hot before… This is weird…"

"Leo, keep your seatbelt on…" Max said in a matronly tone as he concentrated on finding their temporary residence.

They arrived at the house, and Leo was well enough to walk into their room by himself. Joshua had long gone to sleep by the time the duo arrived.

Leo nearly tripped as he fumbled out of his shoes, and tumbled onto the bed. Max sat down on the opposite side and also removed his shoes.

"Ya know you're kind of cute without your glasses…" said Leo suddenly.

Max stopped, and looked back at Leo sharply, "You don't know what you're saying…"

"Yeah, yeah I do!" snapped Leo, "Quit treating me like a damn kid, Zenigata! I mean it! You're pretty good looking, for a guy… You know I don't usually go for guys, but hey, what the hell ever goes, right?"

"You're out of your friggin' mind…" Max sighed as he grabbed a pillow from the bed and removed a few blankets from the closet.

"Where are you going?" inquired Leo.

"The floor," snapped Max as he made himself a bed and lied upon it. Leo rolled over to the opposite side of the bed and then eased himself down next to Zenigata on the floor. Max stared at him gravely, "Leo, get to sleep…"

"I'm fine…" Leo responded, and grabbed onto one of Max's hands, and jerked Zenigata forward. He kissed Max, and Max had to force Leo away, "What the hell's wrong with you, huh? Chickening out of me now?"

"No, it's not that…" mumbled Max as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve, "I don't want you to do that unless you mean it. I'm a freakin' whore at times, yeah, so I'd accept it if it were anyone else, but you're special…"

"Oh, so I'm not good enough for you, huh?" Leo said angrily.

"No—You're too good for me…" replied Max quickly.

"Ya know… All I wanted was someone who loved me," Leo said after a pause. "You know… Someone I could take care of, bitch to, bitch at… But look at what happened to me… I totally screwed up with Ryo, Cecilia just uses me, and you're the closest thing I've got to a girlfriend, and you're a freakin' guy!... I'm gonna be thirty, for cryin' out loud!"

"I six years!" Max added, "Jeeze, don't worry about it… You're a nice guy… You'll meet someone…" Max said reassuringly, although this conversation was beginning to frighten him.

"I fear being even near a woman, and I'd just prove everyone right if I said I was gay!" Leo moaned.

Max held his head in his hand, and wondered if this was the reason why he didn't date women that often.

"Listen, Leo… You're a very nice person, with a lot to offer…."

"Like freakin' what?"

"Well, um… You know Dutch! Not many people know Dutch!"

"Great, so I'll know where to score the terrific weed when I visit the Netherlands!" Leo cried.

"Boys, is something wrong?" Joshua asked as he knocked upon the door.

"No! I'm going to die alone!" Leo said as he threw a pillow over his head.

There was a long pause from Joshua, "You two… Sound very busy… If you are hungry, there are bagel bites in the freezer…."

"Thanks, Josh," Max gave a tired sigh, and looked back on the bed at the crying Leo.

Hawaii, during the nighttime:

Toshiro had miraculously taken up smoking within the six hours he had been introduced to his new relatives, Kara and James. They were Asian-Americans, but kept many of the traditions from Japan.

"Heh, you're not even sneaky about it, either!" Yukiko said as she walked out onto the porch where Toshiro stood, looking out at the beach, "If I'm not mistaken… Didn't you make me quit these?"

"Sorry," Toshiro said quietly. "I was just thinking…"

"About the Rat Clan-Ishikawa Clan thing, huh?" Yukiko added, "Damn, nice view…"

"I spent years and years trying to get away from the Rat Clan… But then, my mother shows up a few years ago, and now these two…"

"Well, at least they aren't bastards, like the rest of that side of your family.

"Touché…. But it's just amazing…. I never even thought about being a Clan leader!" Toshiro said with a hint of worry.

"Hey, how do you think I feel? I'm the daughter of Daisuke Jigen, the superb gunman! The sad thing is, I'm even better than my dad, and all anyone sees is a girl who's tryin' to live up to daddy's standards! They feel frickin' sorry for me, like Dad made me do this! I want to though… I couldn't think of any other way to live! ….Well, I couldn't…." she turned away from the porch and placed her hands in her pockets.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Toshiro with worry.

"It means…" Yukiko took in a deep breath, "It means I think I could be… Um… I might be pregnant…."

"But, you'd have to be like a month along!" Toshiro gaped.

"Yeah, yeah, I know… Last time I give you a break on Valentine's Day…" Yukiko nodded numbly, "I took a test…. I'm waiting for the results…"

"We've got to learn to get separate hotel rooms when we're drunk…" said Toshiro with a sigh.

"Oh, I'm glad you think it's a freakin' joke!" snapped Yukiko. She spun around and glared at him, "If I am, that means eight months of me eating like a boar, looking like a whale and walking like a penguin!"

"Well, I'm sure you won't…"

"Look at Odori… She just ate an apple pie—The entire freakin' apple pie!" snapped Yukiko, "I don't like junk food!"

"Neither does Dori…" Toshiro said as he watched Odori pass by the glass doors with a bowl of ice cream. "How long before we get those results?"

"Ten minutes," said Yukiko as she looked down at her watch and back up at Toshiro. "What I am gonna friggin' do if I'm carrying a friggin' kid?"

"Well, we'll go get married," said Toshiro with a nonchalant shrug. "Odori's already good with swords, so I think it'd be okay if I took a break and stayed home while you went out and did your thing… I've got no problem with playing Mr. Mom…"

"You'd really do that, huh?" Yukiko said after a pause.

"Yep! Definitely! I love kids…" Toshiro nodded.

Yukiko sighed, "Well, let's go back inside… I've got to write up a list of things to say to my parents if it turns out positive…"

"You, too?" Toshiro chuckled as he led her back inside the beach house.