Ch 27

V 1.5

A/N 1 – While I was doing a reread of the entire Contract Labor story, I realized that the timeline and dates of this story are a little too haphazard and inconsistent. I was making up dates and times on the fly, and looking back at the story I decided it did not fit very well. So I sat down with my story planning outline and recalculated everything.

One of the things I had previously decided to do was not use actual dates. Mostly this is because with the crossovers there would be some shifting of some series from its canon dates, so that the characters would still be approximately the same ages they were in their stories while set in current time but not get nailed down to actual dates and days of the week. Unfortunately, this made for a sloppy and imprecise timeline.

So what I've decide to do now is calculate the story timeline from the start of the story, when Keitaro arrives at the Hinata-sou and becomes the manager and heir. I've designated that as Time Zero, with all chapters being counted from that time.

I've also decided to only use months as indicators of time (ie early March, mid May, late September). There will be very few times that will have an actual date, and so far I've come up with two; the Todai Entrance Exam took place Sept 15, and Keitaro arrived at the Hinata-sou from Thailand on Sept 1 the following year. So Time Zero will be Sept 1. The only other specific indicators of time will be used for holidays like New Year's Day, which is when this chapter is taking place.

Urashima House,
Tokyo, Japan,
January 1, 12:15AM
(Eight months before story start)

Keitaro carefully slid the door open, making sure that the wooden frame did not make any unnecessary noise in its track. Being that quiet was hardly necessary, as the sounds of the party, with its attendant chatter, laughter, and music would be enough to cover most noise up to the level of a gunshot, but he preferred being careful. Stepping outside into the backyard, Keitaro could feel the chill bite into his bare arms, but he did not mind. He did not intend to stay outside for long.

The New Year's celebrations at the Urashima house were always a joyous time, where family members and close friends got together to wait for the clock to strike twelve, to ring in the new year. Keitaro normally would be buoyed along with the good cheer of everyone present, but this year was different, for two reasons.

The first reason being that Keitaro had failed to make it into Todai. He was not used to being an object of pity, but the young Urashima could see that expression in one form or another on everyone's face when they found out about his low test score. It was not as though the Urashima could tell everyone that the reason that he had blown the test was that he had been involved in a massive nasty fight resulting in someone's death, and that he had been mistreated by the police before going to take the test the next day. All he could do is just give a self-effacing smile and say that he would study that much harder for the next test, and that he was certain to pass that one. What made it worse was that the pity in people's faces would only increase, as though he was merely denying the truth in failing to enter the most prestigious and exclusive university in Japan. And then there was Kanako hanging around him while all this going on, the look on her face showing that she was blaming herself for what happened, even if she did not actually say anything.

The second reason had been a private meeting he had with Granny Hina. He had not really seen her since she had rescued him from the hostile police interrogation after that fight, but she had been busy since that day. While the Urashima family was not what could be called wealthy, and they lived comfortably with the various businesses they all managed, Granny Hina more than made up for it with the influence that she could wield, as those two police investigators found out to their dismay.

When Keitaro had gone to the public prosecutor's office to do the official wrap-up regarding the fight at the train station, a lawyer that owed Granny a favor had gone along with him, not that he really needed one. The prosecutor had almost fallen all over himself to assure Keitaro and the lawyer that the young Urashima would not face any charges as a result of the fight, and as an aside mentioned that the lead investigator had been dismissed from the police department for misconduct, with an extremely negative review in his job history. The best job he could look forward to was maybe driving a truck for a company that was not picky about such things. The other investigator, because he had not been as abusive and was following a senior officer's lead, had been given a month off without pay and demoted to traffic patrol, with no chance for advancement to an investigative or supervisory position ever again.

This had been going through Keitaro's mind when he met with his Granny that evening in the formal tea room at his parent's house. There was not really anything that he could say about it, but seeing Hina kneeling on the tatami mat, a serious look on her face instead of the normal half-smile that was habitually there, really drove home how much she had done for him.

Kneeling into position before her, Keitaro had bowed and thanked her for all she had done for him. To his shock, Hina had bowed even deeper and thanked him for acting in such a honorable and protective manner in protecting his sister. Keitaro had protested, saying that it had not been his intent to maim and kill those he had fought, but Hina had dismissed those concerns, stating that he had done what was necessary to protect his family and himself.

Placing the oblong wooden box that had been beside her in front, Hina had taken the top off to show that it contained a blood red martial arts belt with the Urashima family crest embroidered in gold at one end. Taking it in both hands, Hina had bowed lowed and presented it to him, her words engraving themselves in his mind.

"The red belt is the highest symbol of our family style, Keitaro-kun. It is not a rank, nor a trophy. It is a reminder of the vows we swore when trained to protect ourselves and those who cannot protect themselves. It reminds us that we fight and spill blood, and sometimes take lives, so that others may live.

"Any person can give their life for a cause, but it is a greater achievement to save a life, especially that of their family. The red belt is given to those that have taken life to protect someone who could not protect themselves. The red belt with the family crest is given to someone who has protected a family member from deadly attack. For without our family and our honor, the Urashima would cease to exist.

"For protecting a family member from certain grave injury and death, you are hereby presented with this belt, to remind you of the duty you have fulfilled, of the duty you will carry out from now on, and the duty you will teach to our future descendants. May these words and our family never be forgotten."

Keitaro had covered the box and put it away in his room, but those words still stayed in his mind. He knew he had done the right thing when he rescued Kanako, but he could not stop wishing that it had not happened that way.

Once the clock struck twelve, everyone had cheered and started hugging each other. Keitaro had hugged all the members of his family present; Tou-san, Kaa-san, Kanako, Hina, and Aunt Haruka, who had come along with Granny. Keitaro had to quickly turn his face so that Kanako would kiss him on the cheek and not the mouth, but otherwise it worked out fine. Seta, who Keitaro had invited and whose hand he had shaken at midnight, had spent most of the night hanging around Haruka, who looked both slightly annoyed and pleased to have her former boyfriend so close to her.

Now that the new year had arrived, Keitaro had snuck outside to have a moment to himself. There were two other people that he wished had been there for their New Year's hugs, but given the unusualness of their… relationship, it had not happened.

Looking up at the clear night sky, Keitaro could hardly see the stars, given all the light and vehicle pollution. But he could see the three quarter moon, and now that he was concentrating, the streak of a shooting star was seen crossing the sky.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Keitaro made a silent wish to himself before opening his eyes again, his face still tilted upwards. Which made it rather impressive that he did not jump or scream like a little girl when a set of arms wrapped themselves around him from behind, a firm female body pressing against him.

"Hey there lover boy, whacha doing?" A familiar scent drifted to his nose, lavender mixed with the faint smell of cordite.

"Thinking to myself that if wishing on stars really works like it just did, I've got to do it more often." Keitaro craned his head around to see Natsumi standing behind him. "Where's your partner?

"I'm right here." Miyuki stepped up beside him. Leaning forward she kissed him lightly on the lips before breaking away, the slight scent of jasmine now apparent. "Happy New Year, Keitaro-kun."

"Happy New Year, Miyuki-chan, Natsumi-chan." Moving carefully, Keitaro was able to turn inside of Natsumi's arms so he was facing her, then leaned forward and kissed her as well. "Not that I'm not happy to see you two, but what are you doing here?"

"A little bird called us and let know that you looked to be down in the dumps even though it's New Years, so he gave us your address and suggested we come over. Just as we got here, he called us on his mobile and told us you had just stepped into the back yard, so if we wanted some alone time we should hustle." Natsumi lowered her head so her face was nuzzling Keitaro's neck.

Keitaro was now facing the back windows of his house, so he could see Seta peering through the curtains at them. Once he saw that Keitaro had noticed him, he gave him a thumbs-up and walked away.

"Well, remind me to thank that little bird." Seta was the only person that knew that Keitaro was involved romantically with Natsumi and Miyuki, and that was by accident.

University of Tokyo
Archeology Department Offices
Beginning of December
One month prior.

"Hey there Part-timer, what are you doing here?"

Keitaro looked up as Seta walked into the office. Their positions were reversed today, as Keitaro had come in at 7:30 that morning instead of his normal 9:00 AM. There was not really much for him to do, as he had already cataloged the various artifacts that had been laying around Seta's office. The only thing left to do in the office was to neaten Seta's desk, which was haphazardly covered with stacks of paper in no discernible order. However his boss had specifically prohibited him from doing so, claiming that he had a special organizational system that allowed him to find any piece of paper within 30 seconds, but Keitaro was sure it was more along the lines of 'dig until you find what you're looking for' rather than any actual system. But since he was here before his boss, and he did not have anything to do at the moment, he was sitting at his desk leafing through an old archeology magazine that had a younger Seta on the cover, wearing dusty field clothes and smiling widely for the camera.

"Had to get out of the house, my little sister is annoyed at me and she's been making me miserable. I didn't want to see her glowering at me over breakfast, so I came here early." Kanako had been nagging him all weekend as to where he had been the previous Friday night, and since he had refused to answer her beyond 'at my trainer's apartment', she had been following him around the house either randomly asking him in whatever sneaky way she thought would work, or just pouting at him. Once morning had broken on Monday, Keitaro had grabbed a piece of buttered toast, quickly drank down a cup of tea, and left early for Todai.

His tou-san and kaa-san had not given him as much trouble about his overnight stay, but then again, Keitaro had only told his tou-san where he had been, but only after Keitaro had taken him into the back yard and made sure that Kanako was not within earshot. His father's eyebrows had almost gone into his hairline when Keitaro had told him his trainers' names and he realized that they were both female, but after asking him if he was sure about what he was doing, his tou-san had decided to take a page from the US military handbook: don't ask, don't tell. That way there was less of a chance of him giving something away should Kanako decide to get too nosey. Keitaro had felt funny about the head nod and hand clap to the shoulder his tou-san had given when once they were done talking in the yard, since he was pretty sure that his father's wildest imaginings about what happened that night were actually close to the truth in this case.

"You know, Haruka-chan called me yesterday." Seta dropped his shoulder attache bag next to his desk and sat down in his chair. "She wanted to know how you were doing with your new job, but she also mentioned that your sister Kanako had called her asking for my number. She didn't give it to her, but she warned me that your little sis was sneaky and might get it some other way and to be careful." Seta leaned back in his chair, but kept his eyes focused on Keitaro. "You want to tell me what happened?"

Keitaro shrugged nonchalantly, or at least tried to. It looked closer to a shoulder spasm however. "Natsumi-san and Miyuki-san invited me to their apartment for dinner to celebrate my completing my firearms training. They both had a little too much to drink and it was getting late, so they let me stay overnight rather than me have to take the train and trolley late at night." Crime on the Tokyo mass transit system was nowhere near what it was in other cities such as New York, but given the number of drunken party goers and gang types out looking for trouble, it was not something to do lightly by yourself, even as a male.

"Really?" Somehow Seta was able to load a lot of innuendo and sarcasm into one word. "You just slept on the couch?"

"Spare futon, actually." Keitaro could feel sweatdrops start to form along his hairline over his forehead. "Their apartment isn't all that big. Just the living room and the bedroom."

"Uh huh." Seta sat up and leaned forward, his elbows on his desk and his fingers laced together in front of his nose and mouth, neatly concealing his face. His glasses gleaned ominously. "And since you have already stated that Natsumi-san and Miyuki-san had been drinking, did you drink as well?"

"Just a sip of sake and wine that Natsumi-san and Miyuki-san gave me. I didn't get drunk." The overhead light was somehow now reflecting off the lenses of Seta's glasses, making them opaque, therefore completing the Gendo Ikari resemblance in his trademark 'Bastard Position'.

"Since they were both three sheets to the wind, was it Miyuki-san that made the first move?" Seta's voice was even, with no inflection until the end of the question.

"Natsumi-chan was the one to…" Keitaro's voice trailed off as he realized that 1) he just confirmed that something did happen, and 2) he had just called Natsumi 'chan', which is a big deal with the person being referred to is a female who was not a relative.

"So Natsumi-chan made the first move?" Seta's question showed that he had caught Keitaro's mistake. "Since I presume that Miyuki-san was there, how did she react? Or were you sneaking around behind her back?"

"She didn't seem too upset when she saw it happen." Somehow, Keitaro was transfixed by the gleaming opaque spectacles on Seta's face, which along with his hands completely concealed all emotions on his face.

"Really? Did she then ask for her turn?" Emotion was starting to enter Seta's voice.

"Natsumi-chan was the one who suggested it…" Keitaro knew he really should shut up now. "I think that's all I should say."

Seta's hands dropped down to the desk top with a light smack. "Come on! If you leave it like that, I'm going to start thinking that you all engaged in some torrid threesome or something." Seta grinned at him, but the smile dropped off his face as he saw that Keitaro was blushing, and that the color was increasing. "You're kidding… you have got to be fucking kidding!" Keitaro did not say anything and looked away. "You kissed two hot older women and they invited you to stay the night! Tell me you didn't do more than that!"

"I didn't do more than that." Keitaro muttered, still not looking at Seta, which resulted in him giving a major start when he looked off and saw that his boss was leaning over his desk and was now less than a foot away from him face to face.

"Liar! I can see it in your eyes! YOU WERE WITH BOTH OF THEM! AT THE SAME TIME!" Seta did not quite scream the last part out as he jumped to his feet. "This is why your sister has been giving you a hard time, because you had a threesome!"

Keitaro flinched. "This is why I didn't want to tell Kana-chan anything, because no matter how you say it, it still looks bad, and in this case it happens to be true."

Seta collapsed back into his chair. "Tell me at least that you were not a virgin? No one can be that lucky, to have a threesome for their first time."

"I was not a virgin." Keitaro's voice was flat and sounded totally not truthful.

"Liar." Instead of shouting again, Seta's voice was flat as well. His head hit his desk top with a loud thump, but Keitaro was still able to hear his voice as he muttered in a low voice, "I so fucking hate you right now."

Urashima House,
January 1, 12:20AM

Once Seta had gotten over his wallowing in envy and jealousy, he had been rather helpful to Keitaro in concealing his relationship with Natsumi and Miyuki from Kanako. When Seta checked his voicemail that morning and heard that he had three messages from Kanako and about ten hang-ups, he realized that Keitaro was not kidding about his younger sister's determination.

When he returned Kanako's call, Seta refused to give any information of substance to the younger Urashima, merely stating that the two trainers were police officers and that he was not allowed to give out their personal information. Kanako had not taken that well, but Seta had been nothing but polite to the girl before he finally hung up the phone.

Given that most of the work in the office was now done, and all that was left were the various errands that needed to be run before the expedition left in the beginning of January, Keitaro had more time to spend with his two 'Lovely Ladies'. Using the excuse that there was additional training that he needed, Keitaro was able to spend weekends with Natsumi and Miyuki starting on Friday afternoon, doing tactical practice with both dummy and live guns during the day, and some more *personal* training during the evenings. By the time that Keitaro arrived home on Sunday morning, Kanako would be standing next to the doorway with her arms crossed and a scowling looking on her face, while his father would merely give him a thumbs-up, out of view of Kanako of course. But his sister had finally given up on bugging him about it, even if her curiosity was unsatisfied. Speaking of which, Kanako's sleeping incursions had increased to almost every night of the week, however, after Keitaro had stopped her from stripping him one night and told her that if she did that again he was banning her from his room, the aggressive seduction attempts had halted.

Keitaro had seriously considered inviting Natsumi and Miyuki to the New Year's party, but he knew that Kanako would grill the two women as to their relationship with her beloved big brother. So regretfully, Keitaro had merely wished the two ladies a Happy New Year when he saw them last before the holiday. But now that the two were with him in his back yard, Keitaro was feeling happier that he had felt for a while, almost to the same level as his first night with them.

"So what are you going to do now, Taro-kun? Going back to your cold lonely futon?" Natsumi was kidding, of course, since the party was still going on and would be for a while. But before the girls had arrived, he had been considering doing just that, even if he had his nightly visit from Kanako to look forward to.

"Maybe…" The two were now hugging him together, the girls side by side as they faced them. Natsumi still had her face in his neck, while Miyuki was rubbing her cheek against his.

"Well, to hell with that. Come home with us, I'm sure we can come up with a way to keep celebrating." Natsumi pulled away and was looking him in the eye, her expression serious even as there was a bit of humor and heat dancing in her dark eyes.

"It's a bit late to be going out, Natsumi-chan." Keitaro was more than a little tempted though.

"Just tell your dad that your girlfriends are taking you out on the town, I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that." Natsumi grinned at him.

"Keitaro-kun, we do want you with us tonight. Please, come with us?" Miyuki was looking both hopeful and turned on, and Keitaro was not able to say no to his angels when they were like that.

"OK, give me a couple of minutes to tell Tou-san and grab my jacket. You parked in front?" The girls nodded. "Be ready, I may come out in a hurry." Keitaro gave them both a quick kiss before reluctantly breaking away and walking toward the house.

Five minutes, with the blue Toyota convertible quietly idling , the girls saw Keitaro slip out the front door and head toward them, but he had barely reached the yard gate when the front door crashed open and a young female voice yelled out "ONII-CHAN!"

Keitaro immediately ran toward the car, dove into the back seat and whisper-shouted "GO GO GO!" Miyuki dropped the car into gear and floored it, the tires squealing on the pavement as they sped away, the teen girl chasing after them on foot around the corner, until the car got full traction after the turn and they managed to get away.

Narita International Airport
Chiba, Tokyo, Japan
Early January
(eight months to story start)

"Everything is good to go Seta." The pilot, a burly unshaven man named Nikolai, said in English with a heavy Russian accent. "We can leave as soon as you board."

Turning toward his subordinate, the Todai professor spoke. "This is it, Keitaro-kun." Seta's normally lighthearted voice was serious for once.

After nearly two months of preparations, it had come to this. All the bags and crates were packed and inventoried; all the lists were checked twice, catching two or three items that they had to scramble to acquire. The ton of equipment and materials going to Thailand were already on the chartered midsized propeller cargo plane. All that was left was his duffle bag and suit case laying at his feet, and the two bags that Seta was going to carry on himself. Most of his clothes were in the duffle bag, and while there were some t-shirts in the suitcase, it was mostly to wrap around the locked steel case containing the new tools of the trade he was now taking up. He had only taken full possession of them the night before from Natsumi and Miyuki, who had stored them at the SAT armory.

The Glock pistol and empty ammo magazines were placed in the case, a copy of the import permits for Thailand included, with the ammo in a separate case in one of the crates with another copy of the permits. Also included in the case was a kaiken tanto, only this was not the traditional Japanese bride's ornamental item. The 15 cm razor sharp blade had a non-reflective grey finish, and the handle grips were black wood, cross-hatcheted for a secure grip in wet conditions. Instead of the customary leather and wood sheath, this one was modern nylon and kydex, designed to be carried inside the waistband with a steel clip to hold it in place. The knife had been given to Keitaro by Granny Hina the same night he had received his red belt. It had been in a similar wooden presentation box, only this contained the tanto and a hand-lettered note written with ink and brush on rice paper. The note simply said, 'Sometimes one must take life to defend life,' one of the precepts of the Urashima martial arts style. The signature was simply the Urashima family crest. Keitaro had left the knife box containing only the note next to the red belt box in a dresser drawer in his room, silently hoping that he never had to use the knife for its intended purpose.

Also in the suit case was one of the two going away presents that Natsumi and Miyuki had given him the night before; a kydex holster set, rigged to carry his pistol concealed under even a light shirt, as well as a reinforced belt, a magazine carrier and a tactical flashlight carrier, complete with tac light. But the other present the girls had given him was literally and figuratively closer to his heart; a small wallet containing pictures of the girls.

The first picture had Natsumi and Miyuki together in traffic police uniform, the second picture had Miyuki in regular police uniform and Natsumi in SAT tactical gear. The third picture had Miyuki next to her blue Toyota convertible and Natsumi next to a racing bike, but while Miyuki was in a yellow sleeveless blouse and light green knee length skirt, Natsumi was in a skintight red and white racer suit that was partially unzipped, showing her dark purple bra through the opening. However, the last picture took the prize; it was of the two girls at the beach, with Natsumi laying on her front on a towel while Miyuki was about to spread sun block on her back. The problem was that while Natsumi's bikini top had been untied so her back would tan evenly, Miyuki had fallen on top of her partner and *her* bikini top had become untied as well, and the only thing holding it in place was the fact that her chest was pressed against Natsumi's back. The last picture had been a timer shot, but Miyuki tripped when she moved back to Natsumi's side, resulting in the amusing snapshot, both girls with embarrassed smiles on their faces.

Their leave-taking the night before had been bittersweet; for once, they had been together in the girls' apartment instead of a 'romance hotel' and they had been able to keep it relatively quiet, or at least to the point where the neighbors were not able to overhear them… much. They had had hushed sex, with the girls gasping and moaning softly, and while they had all enjoyed themselves very much, Keitaro's imminent departure had resulted in a feeling of melancholy to the evening.

Once the girls dropped him off at a corner close to home (and after almost five minutes of heartfelt goodbye kisses), Keitaro was able to pick up his bags and get ready to go to the airport. Seta was there in a school van to ride with him to the airport and a graduate student to drive it back to the campus, and Keitaro's entire family was there to see him off. Everyone received a goodbye hug, and when Kanako tried to kiss him on the mouth again, he intentionally did not turn his head all the way, so she caught the corner of his lips. She was still crying as he pulled away though.

After the young ronin gave Haruka a hug (and got a bop on the head for calling her 'aunt' again) he turned and looked down at Granny Hina. She was 20 cm shorter than him, but that did not stop her from grabbing his shirt and yanking him down so she could hug him properly. Pulling away slightly, she looked him in the eye and softly said, "Come back safe, Keitaro-kun. Whatever it takes. Promise me."

Keitaro smiled at his grandmother. "I promise, Obaa-sama." Taking a full step back, Keitaro did a deep bow. To his surprise, Hina did a matching deep bow as well.

Turning to the rest of his family, Keitaro bowed to them as well, and they returned it. After taking one last long look, he walked out the door and down to the van where Seta was waiting. Climbing into the middle bench seat (his bags having been loaded earlier), he turned as the van drove off and saw his family now watching from the porch as his house retreated into the distance.

Standing on the tarmac now, Keitaro took a deep breath, smelling the jet fuel and gas exhaust in the breeze at the airport. "Let's do this, Seta-sensei. 'Time to go to far off distant lands and meet unusual exciting people,'" quoting a poster he had seen somewhere.

"And hopefully not have to do the rest of it," Seta muttered to himself. He had seen an American Marine on leave in Okinawa in civilian clothes wearing a t-shirt with the complete saying, the last part of which was 'and kill them!'; he was rather sure Keitaro did not know the rest of the saying and would not want to do the last part. Picking up his bags, he watched as his part-timer did the same and followed him up the stairway into the plane, Nikolai bringing up the rear and locking the passenger door, ground crew pulling the stairway away. After a couple of minutes the cargo plane 's prop engines came on with a roar. The plane then turned and slowly started taxiing toward the main runway for takeout.

Tsujimoto/Kobayakawa Residence
Koto City, Tokyo, Japan
Two hours after dropping Keitaro at his home.

Miyuki was starting to look worried. Natsumi was staring at a cup full of sake, there was an open bottle next to the cup, and she had not taken one sip.

She had known that Keitaro-kun's departure was going to make them both depressed, as they had gotten to be rather attached to the young ronin. She was feeling dispirited as soon as they had dropped him off at his house, but her partner had hardly spoken once they got home, and for an hour she had been sitting at the table with her sake, and done nothing but zone out.

"I think we made a mistake, Miyuki-chan." With a start, the dark haired woman realized that her friend was finally speaking. "I thought we could get involved with Keitaro-kun and not get emotional. I was wrong. So wrong." Natsumi looked at her partner and Miyuki was surprised to see her eyes glistening. "It's only been two hours and I miss Keitaro-kun so much already. I don't know if I can handle it."

"We can handle it because we have to, Natsumi-chan." Miyuki knelt down next to her partner. "We have to be strong, and wait for him to come home. That is why we gave him those pictures, so he knows what he has waiting for him in Japan."

"I know, Yuki-chan. But it still aches here." Natsumi touched her chest next to her heart. Sniffling, she looked at her lover. "Can we go to bed, Yuki? I just want you to hold me close. Please?"

"Of course, Natsumi." Miyuki leaned forward and kissed her, but a few seconds after their lips touched, there was a knock on their door. They broke off the kiss and looked at the door; they were not expecting anyone, and most people would call before coming over. There was a second knock, and this was a solid rapping on the door, almost like fellow police officers did when they were serving a search warrant.

Moving away from the brown haired girl, Miyuki walked over to her purse and drew her combo taser/pepper spray gun. Seeing that her friend was now standing and moving to the opposite side of the door, the dark haired girl moved to the knob side of the door and peered through the angled peephole lens set in the doorframe, as there were quite a few people that had a door kicked into their face when a bad guy saw that a peephole set in the middle of a door darken, presumably because someone was looking through it.

Seeing that there was only an short elderly lady standing in the hallway, Miyuki unlatched the lock and with the combo gun behind her leg opened the door. "Can I help you, Ma'am?"

"You can if you are Miyuki Kobayakawa and Natsumi Tsujimoto." As the two women stared at her, the older woman smiled. "My name is Hina Urashima, Keitaro's grandmother, and I think it would be a good idea to talk. I have a proposition for you I think you both will like."

A/N 2 – This marks the end of the first great flashback arc (there will be at least two more, where one shows what happens in Thailand and another when Keitaro and his friends go to one of the worst cities in the known world to rescue someone and have to escape the hard way). The story will now pick up in current time after Motoko leaves the Hinata-sou and Keitaro's reaction to finding out the details. I can tell you he will NOT be happy about it, but there will be no violence as a result… much. *g*

Coming up in the next arc: a professor, his daughter, and a surprise guest will be showing up next chapter. Keitaro reuniting with our favorite police women. Our favorite ronin meeting an absentminded Todai aspirant with even better scores than he had. And of course, a peek into the life of a banished former swordswoman.

A cookie to whoever identifies the cross-over character (beside the YUA ones) who shows up in this chapter. I can tell you that the character is not the only one from that series that will be in this story (I've already given a hint to who the second one is in the beginning of the story, and don't limit yourself to anime/manga either).

As you all may have noticed, I alluded to at least two lemons that took place off screen. Since I got a lot of positive feedback for the lemon I posted on aff(dot)net and mm(dot)org, I am more than willing to write up at least the New Years lemon, it make take a couple of weeks to do so though, since I would have to do it alongside the next main story chapter. If there is enough demand for it, I think I can be persuaded to write the farewell lemon as well, or I can put it off to a lot later. Reader suggestions are welcomed. *grin*

Many thanks to PCH and AZ MII for all their assistance in betaing this story.

By now you guys should know the drill: replace the (dot) with the actual thing in the following links, copy and paste into the address window.

The Natsumi and Miyuki pics mentioned in the section are here: photobucket(dot)com/YUAWalletPics

The pictures of Keitaro's Glock 19 and the holster set that the girls gave him are here: photobucket(dot)com/ContractLaborGear

As of 08Jan12 0000 PST this story has had 126,379 hits, 254 Reviews, 26 C2 listings, 374 Favorite Story listings, and 350 Story Alerts. Thanks again to all my readers, especially the ones in the far off and unusual places, like Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Romania, Senegal, and the Aland Islands (another place I had to look up). *thumbs up*