Ch 28
V 1.0
Previously in the main time line story…
Sitting motionless in the darkened room, a single figure knelt on the tatami mat in the room facing the window, although she was not looking at any particular thing. The only sound was her breathing, the only light coming under the door from the hallway behind her.
A new sound became apparent, that of footsteps. They would not have been noticed otherwise, but the house was so quiet this night that they could be heard. The steps stopped in the hallway, there was the sound of someone lightly knocking on the door, and after a long moment it clicked open, partially illuminating the empty tenant room, the light reflecting off the window glass and onto the tears trailing down the face of Tsuruko Aoyama.
Keitaro Urashima stepped into the room and paused for a moment before he spoke, his voice even. "You and I need to talk, Aoyama-san."
Hinata-sou Dormitory
Hintata City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Metro Tokyo, Japan
Late November
early morning
(almost three months after story start)
Keitaro stared at the oak post in front of him, his fists clenched but down by his sides. He had spent the entire night trying to sleep, or failing that, calm down some, but he was still as angry now as he was last night. He had gotten up just before dawn to see his guest leave, then walked out into the back yard, winding up at the leather and cloth wrapped training post that his sister used for punching and kicking practice.
He could feel Kanako somewhere nearby. Normally, his sister would have to be relatively close for his sixth sense to pick her up, but right now he was so keyed up he could probably sense her at the bottom of the hill that the Hinata-sou was on. He could feel that she was behind him and that she was feeling a certain amount of concern for him, but then again, given the look on his face she had seen as he walked here, he could not blame her.
Feeling stinging pain in the palms of his hands, Keitaro brought his fists up in front of his face and opened them. Seeing the deep half-moon impressions that his fingernails had left in this palms, he frowned before letting his hands drop to his side and focused again on the post.
He had known things would go badly for Motoko after she had lost her honor duel with him. He had known that her family would punish her for her misuse of the family martial art, for the loss of her temper and her unjustified attacks. And while the punishment was not as bad as he was previously feared could occur, in some ways it was worse, as there was nothing being done to help the young Aoyama. Instead she was being shoved off to deal with her own problems on her own, with most of her family extending no help.
Feeling the anger thrum through his veins again, Keitaro closed his eyes, thinking back to how close he had come to hurting the one person that was looking out for Motoko now.
Hinata-sou formal tea room
the night before
"Aoyama-san, I regret I have to do this, but I have some questions about what happened tonight with Motoko-san." Keitaro was kneeling on the center mat, looking at Tsuruko, who was kneeling on another mat in front of him. The older woman was trying her best to maintain a poker face, but he could still feel that she was nervous, not that he would blame her. Not only was he asking about the internal business of her traditional family, Kanako was standing next to the door behind her in an 'at ease' position that was in reality a modified martial arts ready stance. With the upbringing that Tsuruko had, having someone behind them in a situation like this was a sign that they were not to be trusted. Having some inkling of what had happened with the younger Aoyama, Keitaro was not in the mood to be overly polite with their guest and let his sister stay in place rather than call her to his side. His calling his guest by her family name instead of her given name as he had previously was another sign of his displeasure as well.
"I will answer what I can, but there are some things that are family matters that I will not be able to talk about." Tsuruko looked as though she did not want to say the words, but did so regardless.
"Well, I will try not to ask anything too out of line." Keitaro was focusing intently on Tsuruko. "First off, why is it that Motoko-san left before you did? Is she not returning to Kyoto with you?"
Tsuruko barely kept from flinching. "Motoko-chan needed to make her way to her new residence before it got too late in the evening. I needed to stay behind to finish arranging to ship her possessions home."
"New residence?" Keitaro asked, his face emotionless. "Motoko-san will not be returning to Kyoto with you?"
"No. She will continue her residence and schooling here in Tokyo." Tsuruko was trying to stay emotionless as well, only she was not doing as well as she would normally.
"I hope you forgive me saying this, Aoyama-san, but I was under the impression that Motoko-san was going to be punished by your family for the events of the last few days here at the Hinata-sou." While the expression on Keitaro's face remained emotionless, his tone was noticeably cooler.
"Motoko-chan's punishment was already decided and ordered by the family council." Tsuruko gave a minute flinch as Keitaro visibly reacted to the statement.
"So if I understand what you are saying, Motoko-san is not returning to Kyoto and that is part of her punishment. Do you understand how that sounds?" Keitaro leaned forward, the temperature of his voice dropping even more. "The only reason I allowed the honor duel to occur is so Motoko-san's punishment would not be too harsh. Are you telling me that was in vain?"
Tsuruko was now sitting up straight, both from the tone of the Urashima's voice and the ice cold sensation she could feel going down her spine. At first she thought that Kanako was projecting her ki at her, but the sensation was all too familiar to her now. It was the same emotion she had felt when Keitaro had glared at her while holding his family's sword, the physical sensation of hostility, or as it had been previously known in martial arts circles, killing intent.
"Aoyama-san, I have to ask, what is Motoko-san's status in her family now?" Keitaro was now ramrod straight, his hands curled up and on top of his thighs, his eyes partially hidden by his glasses. However, the temperature in the room seemed to still be dropping, making the feeling of the sweat siding down her spine all that more uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry, Keitaro-sama, I cannot speak of that." Tsuruko could barely keep from cringing as his head tilted slightly, the light now gleaming off the lens of his glasses, making them completely opaque.
"By saying that Aoyama-san, I start thinking the worst has occurred with Motoko-san. Please tell me I am wrong." The Urashima's fingers flexed in his lap before becoming still again.
"I can certainly tell you that the worst did not occur, Keitaro-sama." Tsuruko could still feel the cold in the room, but at least it was no longer intensifying.
"But from what I understand, a member of your family with emotional problems and a history of acting out is not returning home and getting the help she needs, instead she is being effectively banished." Tsuruko could not help it, she had tried to not react to the Urashima's words, but the twitch of her eyebrow was seen by the man in front of her.
"You are not serious. Tell me that is not the case. Tell me you did not banish a seventeen year old girl from her family!" Keitaro did not quite yell the last statement, but it was a close thing. The cold temperature in the room suddenly, massively increased, almost to the point where their breath would be visible. Instead of responding to his almost-shouted words, Tsuruko instead looked down at the mat before her and keep silent. Behind her, Kanako cringed and almost took a step back at her position by the door, never having seen her brother this angry before.
"You really did it." Tsuruko's head rose up only to see Keitaro glaring at her, his eyes now visible now. "You have a family member with martial arts training and *weapons* that has anger issues, and instead of helping her with them, you send her to another city, only for her problems to get worse. And now that those problems have spilled over and affected the family she was boarding with, what do you do? You blame her entirely for the problem and throw her out! Out of sight, out of mind, right?" he snarled.
A long terrible silence filled the room, the three people motionless, the cold in the room reaching meat locker level, until softly spoken words broke the stillness. "I did what I could."
"What was that?" Keitaro growled.
"I said I did what I could." Tsuruko slowly looked up and at Keitaro. "Motoko-chan's punishment originally was to be expelled from the family, banned from using the family martial arts and left to fend for herself. I managed to convince them to reduce the punishment to temporary banishment and I arranged for financial support and lodging. If she stays out of trouble and sufficiently makes up for her misdeeds, she will be allowed back into the family at the lowest rank, and very probably not as heir again."
"And how did you convince your family to go along with such a merciful punishment?" Keitaro had noticed that Tsuruko had said nothing of the ban on using the family style being relaxed, and for someone like Motoko, that was a fate almost worse than death.
"I blackmailed them." Here Tsuruko looked into Keitaro's eyes. "I had threatened to refuse to retake my place as family heir and to walk away from the family entirely if Motoko-chan was expelled. Since my sister and I are the only full-blooded Aoyama of our generation left this was a threat they took seriously. They insisted on serious punishment for her actions, and finally we settled on the ban and temporary banishment. I am now supporting my sister with my own money, however."
Silence once again fell in the room, only this time the cold feeling started to decrease, the temperature slowly but surely returning to normal.
"Aoyama-san, I apologize for my harsh words earlier. I let my temper get the better of me, and I spoke angrily as a result." Keitaro performed a sitting bow, only to see Tsuruko do a deeper bow in return.
"It is I who must apologize, Keitaro-sama. It is though our family's inactions and decisions that this came to be, and our latest actions did nothing to help resolve them." Tsuruko straightened up, but her head remained tilted down, her eyes focused on the mat before her.
After another long moment, Keitaro was the one that now broke the silence. "Is there any assistance you need in shipping Motoko-san's possessions?"
"No. Everything is now packed in boxes and labeled, and a shipping company will arrive tomorrow to pick them up." Motoko's possession consisted mostly of training clothing and weapons. Her actual sword, Shishu, was going to go to Tsuruko's home, as she was secretly disobeying her family's order to destroy her sister's katana in the hopes of one day returning it to her. "If you do not mind, I am leaving the furniture we paid for. You can do with it as you wish."
"That is acceptable, Aoyama-san." Keitaro looked at the swordswoman for a long moment. "You will be leaving tomorrow morning after the boxes are picked up?"
"If you do not mind, I will leave first thing tomorrow. The shippers already have their instructions, and I do not wish to impose on you any longer. When they arrive if you could show them to Motoko's… former room… they will take the boxes and load them on their truck. I do not have to be here for that."
"Very well. As I've said before, I'm sorry it came to this, Aoyama-san. There is one last thing however." The Urashima watched as the Aoyama raised her head again, her eyes focusing on his now. "Tell your family that I will not forget what they allowed to happen here, and what their reactions to it were. I will also remember in the future who showed mercy and who did not."
Tsuruko's eyes widened at the statement. It was not an outright denouncement of the ties between their two families, but it was a near thing, one that her family would not be happy to hear.
"Kanako-chan will escort you to your room, Tsuruko-san. Have a good night, if that is even possible at this point, " Keitaro said, unmistakably dismissing his guest, who then came to her feet and left the room, his sister right behind her, the clan heir being left alone in the room.
the next morning
Tsuruko Aoyama left at the break of dawn, having called a taxi to come pick her up. Once the cab came up the access road to the rear of the house, the swordswoman loaded her roller bag into the trunk and then turned back toward the house, where the two Urashima silently stood next to each other. After bowing deeply and seeing the siblings return her bow, wordlessly Tsuruko unslung the bag containing her two swords and got into the cab, closing the car door behind her. The taxi drove off, and Keitaro turned and moved away the house, walking up to the training post in the back yard, staring at it for some unknown amount of time before he finally felt the presence of another person coming up behind him, easily identified by the smell of cigarette smoke.
"How bad was it, Kei-kun?" Haruka had to leave early the evening before as she had to help close and clean up the tea house. After it was all done, it was a little too late to come back to the main house, so she decided to wait until morning to get caught up with events.
"Pretty bad, Haru-chan. Motoko-san wasn't expelled from her family, but it was a near thing. Instead they banished her and banned her from using her family style. If she 'plays nice'," here Keitaro made finger quote marks, "they may let her back in. The good news is that her sister is now financially supporting her, so hopefully she won't end up on the street or worse."
"Damn." Haruka lit a cigarette, and even though Keitaro gave her a brief frown, he said nothing about it. She looked at her nephew for a few moments, finally turning her head away to exhale smoke before looking back at him. "You did all you could, Keitaro-kun." The older Urashima knew what he was thinking, not that her words made him feel much better.
"I know." Keitaro's words were somewhat lacking in conviction.
"You can't save everyone, Kei-kun." Haruka was being semi-facetious, so she did not expect the frown on his face.
"That is just an excuse people give. You do what you can anyway, because if everyone were to say that, no one even tries. There would not be much good in this world if it were always someone else's problem." Keitaro turned and focused again on the training post in front of him. "Kanako-chan snuck into Tsuruko-san's bag while she was in the shower and copied Motoko-san's new information for me. We'll be keeping an eye on her. If she gets into something too deep, we'll be there for her."
Haruka stood there silently smoking as Keitaro continued staring at the post. After finishing the smoke and tamping out the butt, the older Urashima finally spoke again. "What are you trying to do, break that post with your eyes?"
"I'm not at that level yet. I'm sure Granny could though." Haruka smirked at the observation. "No, I was close to losing my temper earlier, and I wanted to have something to punch in case I did." Keitaro raised his fist and lightly tapped the wrapped target area. "I did a punch like that once, and my chi wasn't properly set. Almost broke a knuckle."
"Live and learn, cousin." Keitaro turned his head and looked at his erstwhile cousin-turned-aunt.
"Or better yet, learn from other people's mistakes. It's a lot less painful that way." Keitaro turned and walked back to the house, Haruka following behind him.
Hinata-sou Dormitory
Hintata City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Metro Tokyo, Japan
Early December
late morning
(three months after story start)
Keitaro was frowning as he looked at the screen before him. Computer literacy was not one of his greater talents, but he still knew enough to get by. Unfortunately, setting up a laptop computer was not among his skills. However, Haruka had insisted in his leaving the technological dark ages and getting online with the rest of the world.
Keitaro had protested that he did not have the money to buy a new computer, only to have a laptop carry bag slap up against his chest. As the ronin juggled the bag to keep it from falling, his aunt told him that she had replaced her laptop with a new one. After wiping and reformatting the older but still serviceable computer, she had decided to give it to her 'favorite nephew'."
Sitting at the low table in his room, Keitaro was able to use the wireless access Kaolla Su had set up from the FTTH 10GB internet connection she had paid to have installed and maintained at the Sou for her research projects. Su allowed the residents of the dorm to use for the wi-fi as well as its attendant firewalls and antivirus programs for free, so it was a simple matter to download the email and browser programs that he was more used to. Certain browser systems were a little too blue-screen-y and vulnerable in Keitaro's experience, so he used the open-source Kyuubi browser instead.
Noticing the differences in the browser since he had gone downloaded it last, Keitaro opened the Instant Messaging and mail program that went with it and logged on. After seeing that the email account he had originally opened when he started to work for Seta was still in place after not using it for almost a year he imported the few contacts and set the preferences and alerts, which promptly informed him he had 157 new emails awaiting his attention.
Sighing, Keitaro opened the email program and looked at the various emails that had gotten past his spam filter, seeing that roughly a third of them were offering discount Viagra and Cialis, another third were asking for him to launder money for some deposed third world leader through his bank account, and the last third were offering access to free hardcore porn. Clicking and deleting his way through the list, going from the oldest to the newest, he finally got to the final screen and after deleting the obvious spam, he was left with four legit emails… including one with an email sending address that he belatedly recognized, with a title that caused him to halt in his tracks… 'Two Lovely Ladies Waiting For Their Hero', dated a week previous.
Opening the email, Keitaro quickly read it. His two trainers were apparently impatiently awaiting his scheduled return from Thailand at the end of the year, and were eager to hear from him as soon as he could. It was obvious that Miyuki had written most of the email, but she had changed the font for part of the message so that Natsumi could write her own message, one that caused Keitaro's cheeks to redden. Finally, the end of the message had a photo attachment that, after being automatically scanned by the email and anti-virus programs, produced a photo of the two girls that made Keitaro blush noticeable. After saving the email and the photo in a secure and innocuously titled folder, he closed the email program and the browser and started the shut-down process for the computer.
Tapping his fingers on the table as the laptop was shutting down, Keitaro pondered his dilemma. There was not a week that went by that he did not think of the two girls, but after he had arrived home from Thailand, he had been hesitant to contact them. Given what he had seen and done in Samui and Roanapur, he was more than a little reluctant to talk about it with the two policewomen. Even though the Thai government had ruled that he had acted in self-defense in most of his actions, there were some things that he had done that the Thais did not officially know he had done, even though they had at the very least suspected his involvement. But given that Keitaro had done what that the national police had previously said was impossible, the Thais were not about to rock the boat, instead arranging for the survivors of the expedition to be quickly sent out of the country for their protection.
However, time was running out for him to decide on what to do. Natsumi and Miyuki knew that the expedition had been scheduled to return the first week of January, which gave him a little less than a month to make a decision and act on it. Keitaro did want to reunite with his two lovers very much, and not just for the obvious reasons. The girls were the best friends he had ever had, even more than Shirai and Haitani, the two guys he had been friends with back in high school and were now also ronin.
Hearing the disk drive of the laptop come to a halt, Keitaro looked and saw that the computer was completely off. Closing the screen, he pushed himself up and away from the table. It was getting close to lunchtime, and he had a plate full of Shinobu's leftovers to look forward to, which even reheated were better than most restaurant meals.
Walking downstairs, Keitaro noted how quiet the house was. It was a week after Motoko had left the Hinata-sou, and the other tenants were still affected by it, most noticeably Su. The hyperactive foreign girl often made the swordswoman her reluctant playmate, as she was the only tenant strong and durable enough to keep up with her. Once Motoko had left, Su spent most of her days shut up in her outdoors lab building, coming out only to eat or sleep, acting like a shadow of her former restless self.
Naru and Kitsune had been acting somewhat nervous around him as well. They now realized that Motoko had very probably had been asked to leave the Sou due to rules violations, and they did not want to catch the manager's attention in a negative way.
Kanako had gone off for the day on her motorcycle, telling her brother that Motoko was apparently moving to a new residence. She was going to keep an eye on the former tenant to get the address and get a feel for the new location.
Just as Keitaro was passing through the living room, he heard the sound of a engine coming from behind the house. Given that Su's Mecha-Tama had a hybrid turbine engine with a completely different sound signature, that meant that a vehicle was coming up the rear access road. They were not expecting any deliveries or visitors, so his curiosity was naturally piqued.
Walking out the back door, Keitaro saw that the vehicle was a beat-up panel van, one that looked like it had not just been through a war or two, but driven underwater between those wars. Dented and rusted, the off-white colored van came to a halt at the end of the walkway leading to the rear house door, the engine sputtering and backfiring a couple of times before it finally shut off.
Standing at the end of the walkway, Keitaro could hear some metallic banging sounds come from the inside of the van before the double side doors finally crashed open. A blonde haired blue eyed girl fell out of the opening, nimbly rolling to her feet and looking around. Wearing a multicolored tee shirt and shorts, she looked to be in her mid-teens.
"You sure this is the place, Poppa?" The girl asked loudly in English. "This place looks too fancy for someone like the dork."
A older male voice responded from inside the van. "This is the Hinata-sou, I used to come here when I was seeing Haruka-chan."
Keitaro thought he recognized the voice, but his thoughts on the matter were interrupted by the blonde girl jumping at him, yelling "Keitaro! You dork, why the hell haven't you called!"
Barely able to keep his footing after catching the screaming girl, Keitaro moved his head to the side to avoid the swat the girl aimed at him. "And a good day to you too, Sarah-chan," he said as he carefully lowered the girl to the ground.
Sarah clenched her fists and looked like she wanted to take another swing at him, but instead she put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Don't give me that 'Sarah-chan' crap, you dork. Why haven't you come to see us or at least called!"
"I have been talking with your father, Sarah," Keitaro was not about to annoy the volatile teen by using honorifics again. "It was how he knew that I was staying here at the Sou."
"Yeah, well you didn't call to talk to me!" Moving toward Keitaro, Sarah wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing the side of her face against his chest. "I missed you, dork," she said in a lower voice.
"I'm sorry Sarah, things have been kind of hectic here." Keitaro ruffled the blonde teen's hair, which was worn in two long loose ponytails streaming from the top of her head.
"Hey there, Part-timer, how's it going?" Moving carefully, Noriyasu Seta stepped out of the driver's door, his right leg in a cast and two crutches in hand. Standing up, Seta put the crutches under his arms and hobbled over to where his daughter and friend were standing.
"Seta-sensei, it's good to see that you're better." Keitaro was telling the truth; the last time he had seen his boss he had been in a hospital bed swathed in bandages, recovering from a badly broken leg and gunshot wounds. "I didn't think you would be out of the hospital so soon though."
The lanky professor and explorer gave a half-grin. "Well, I heal really fast, which you need in my line of work. Plus the nurses in the hospital were all ganging up on me, so I knew it was time to leave."
"That's not a big surprise." A female voice came from behind the van, and Haruka Urashima walked around the vehicle, coming to a halt next to her former boyfriend. Staring at him for a long moment, she gave him a half-hearted swat to the head. "Idiot, you should still be in bed."
"Hey, hey, no beating up on the cripple! But if you want to make me go to bed, I can think of a couple easier ways to do it." Seta waggled his eyebrows at his former girlfriend, who swatted at him again, only to miss when he moved his head.
"Seta-sempai? Is that you?" A different female voice asked, and the group all turned to see the residents of the Sou standing at the rear door. Su and Shinobu looked curious, Kitsune looked surprised and somewhat worried, but Naru was wide-eyed, as though she was seeing a ghost.
"Hello Naru-chan, Kitsune-chan. Been a long time since I've seen you last." The grin on Seta's face slipped down to a smile, but he was still happy to see them. "I don't recognize the two young ladies with you though."
"Those are Shinobu Maehara and Kaolla Su. They are all residents here at the dormitory." Keitaro introduced the two younger tenants, and while Shinobu did a half bow when her name was spoken, Su merely bounced in place and smiled. "Girls, this is Noriyasu Seta, professor at Todai and my sensei." Seta gave a head nod in return. "And this young lady here is Sarah McDougal, Seta-sensei's adopted daughter."
"Ohayo, it is good to meet you." Sarah said in accented but understandable Japanese, pulling away from Keitaro to do a half bow like Shinobu had.
"You should have called and let us know you were coming, Seta-sensei. We would have had a better meal ready." Keitaro said. It was the weekend, and there was no prepared meal for lunch, merely leftovers and sandwiches.
Scratching the back of his head, Seta grinned. "To tell the truth, there is someone else here to see you, and I wanted it to be a surprise." He turned to look at the van, and everyone else present did the same as metallic banging sounds started to come from the rear doors. The double doors finally crashed open and what looked to be a ramp fell to the ground. After a long moment, a giant tortoise, about a meter and a half long and weighing about 300 kilos, slid down the ramp on its bottom shell, extending its legs and head once it was on the ground. Looking around, the tortoise saw Keitaro and started moving toward him, walking rather fast for such an unwieldy looking animal. Coming to a stop in front of Keitaro, who had dropped down onto one knee, the tortoise looked him in the face and, surprising everyone, chirped out a 'myuh!'
"Gidget! It's good to see you." Keitaro reached out with his hand and stroked the top of her head. The tortoise, rather than snapping at him or moving away, moved its head into the touch. Looking up at Seta, he asked "How did she get here to Japan?"
The professor smiled at his student. "She led a friend's boat to Osaka, then they made their way to the hospital I was at. Surprised the heck out of me when I went out for a walk in the garden one morning and Gidget here was eating the landscaping. Managed to keep the hospital from calling the animal control people once I offered to pay for the plants."
Keitaro frowned as he stood up. "Wait, she *led* a boat to Japan?" Giant tortoises were perfectly capable of traveling at sea, but Gidget had traits that were almost supernatural. "Where's the friend?"
"Right here." Everyone turned to see another girl standing next to Seta. Looking uncannily like Shinobu, the girl had a deep tanned complexion and waist length straight black hair, while also wearing a pastel tee shirt and shorts like Sarah. "What is the matter, Mista Taro? You don't recognize me?" The girl said softly in heavily accented English.
This time, it was Keitaro's eyes that widened. "Nyamo-chan? Is that you?" It was a rhetorical question, as no one else called him 'Mista Taro', but cleaned up and in feminine clothing, she did not resemble the ragamuffin that had helped him so much in Thailand. Moving over toward the girl, he was only slightly surprised that she hugged him, only with slightly less enthusiasm than Sarah. "How did you get to Japan?"
"My boat." Given her language difficulties, Nyamo tended to be a little laconic.
"Nyamo-chan, you have a little sailboat! That was thousands of kilometers!" Nyamo's boat was a one mast open hulled vessel, most certainly *not* meant for open seas travel.
"Gidget protect." The girl nodded toward the giant tortoise. "She catch fish, lead to islands with water."
"Gods, Nyamo-chan." Keitaro hugged the girl to him this time, astounded that she had made it through such a dangerous journey unscathed. "Why did you do it?"
The tanned girl frowned. "Much trouble when you and Mista Seta leave. Bad men come looking for you. They look for people who know you, so I hide. Gidget lead to boat, lead away from islands. We get to Japan, she lead to Mista Seta."
Keitaro looked up at Seta, who shrugged uncomfortably. His boss knew most of what had happened in Thailand, but the really bad stuff happened while he was recovering in a Samui hospital. It was still enough to convince him to shelter the girl rather than have her sent back to a country where bad people were looking for her.
"Keitaro-san, who is this girl?" Kitsune's question snapped him back to the present.
"This is Nyamo-chan, she is the granddaughter of a friend of Seta-sensei. She was helping him out on the expedition when we had our troubles, she helped save his life when he was hurt. She's staying with you, right?" Keitaro looked over at Seta, who had a semi-pained look in his eyes that he quickly concealed.
"Of course." Seta answered. "Can we go inside, I can't stay on my feet for too long."
"Of course, of course. Shinobu, could you make some tea? We're going to have some guests over for lunch and probably dinner as well. If you will follow me?" Keitaro gestured toward the door of the Sou, and everyone began moving toward it, Shinobu leading and Gidget and Nyamo bringing up the rear.
A/N – We are now back to the main story line, with new people appearing… with magical animals to boot. *g* Most of you realize that I also increased Sarah's age in this story as well, and the reason is that as bad as things go for her in Thailand as a 14 year old girl, it would be much worse if she were 9 years old as in canon.
There have been roughly 2K hits on the CL lemon I wrote, and so far no one has written 'youz suk dood', so I guess I did something right. *grin* I pretty much have the next lemon chapter plotted out, all I have to do is write it out now…
The winners of the chocolate cookies with macadamia nuts for correctly identifying the cross-over character in the last chapter are Yoshi en Verde, Chris Ganale, and kagehisa. There are going to be two more MW chars that will appear… they are the other contract laborers that Seta hired as security. Someone already correctly guessed who one is, you may be surprised by the other one.
This week's winner of 'most unusual place reading my story' is *drumroll* the Islamic Republic of Iran. Seriously, that's what the stats page told me. What makes it even more interesting is that *one* person/IP address read the entire story in one day. And then some more, not that I am complaining. The runner up this week is Botswana, where another person/IP address read the entire story in one day.
Once again, many thanks to PCH and AZ MII for all their assistance in betaing this story.
As of 23Jan2 0000 PST this story has had 136,426 hits, 272 Reviews, 27 C2 listings, 396 Favorite Story listings, and 361 Story Alerts. Thanks again, guys. *thumbs up*