Author's Notes: It's worth noting that I bumped the rating of this fic up to T (albeit a light one) because of this chapter. You have been warned.

--

It was smooth sailing for quite a while. There was no sign of Bismaru Elegant, but this made sense now that the nun piloting it was aware that he was being followed. Besides, actually seeing him was no longer necessary since the ninjas had already figured out where he was likely heading.

Ebisumaru opened his mouth wide and yawned rather loudly. "How much farther?" he asked as he scratched himself absently.

"Umm..." Yae studied a map that was displayed on the console in front of her for a few seconds. "It shouldn't be much farther."

"It sure is snowing hard around here. I can barely see what's going on in front of us..." Goemon observed. "I don't think I can see Bismaru even if he was just a few feet away."

No sooner had Goemon finished saying this than Impact was struck from above by a powerful force. Everybody screamed as they plummeted down to the earth, spinning as Impact came closer and closer to diving headfirst into the snow. Goemon tried his best to pull up out of this mess, but to no avail. Impact was falling too fast and had been hit too hard for the crash landing to be prevented. Seconds after landing on his head, Impact was on his back. Smoke and sparks rose from the now immobile mecha.

Meanwhile, inside the mecha, all five of its passengers had been thrown out of their seats and lay in a tangled heap at the back of the cockpit. Five distinct groans sounded from this disorderly mess, showing that each member still held onto life, even if it sounded like the grip was rather tenuous.

"Unn..." Goemon groped in the darkness in an attempt to learn more about his surroundings and solve the mystery of why he felt so uncomfortable at that moment. "What happened...?"

"Eek! Whoever just touched me there, do it again and you're dead!"

"Well, at least I know Yae's okay." He quickly moved his hand away, and just in time. The emergency lights came on at that moment and illuminated the entire cockpit, showing just how much of a mess everybody was really in. Among other contortions and entanglements, Sasuke's arm had three bends in it, Yae's leg was intertwined with Omitsu's, and the waitress's other foot had found its way into Ebisumaru's mouth.

It took several minutes for them to break free of each other and crawl their way through the maze of machinery to the emergency exit, namely Impact's mouth. Yae was the first to emerge into the outside world and was greeted with a powerful gust of wind that sent her hair flying right into Ebisumaru's face. The Ninja of Justice sneezed loudly and rubbed his nose. "I don't know which is gonna irritate my nose more: the cold weather or Yae's hair."

Yae turned her head to give him a dirty look for a second before jumping down to the ground below. She was almost immediately followed by Ebisumaru, Sasuke, and finally Goemon. Omitsu, on the other hand, whimpered as she peeked over the edge and looked at the snow-covered earth below.

"It's all right, Omitsu. I'll catch you," Goemon shouted. He held his arms out to give her a target to aim for.

This offer did little to calm Omitsu's nerves, however. She gulped, took a deep breath, shivered from both the cold and sheer terror, and then finally took another deep breath before hopping off of Impact's head.

Goemon moved forward slightly, just enough to catch Omitsu in his arms. "All right, gotcha." Omitsu looked up at him and they exchanged a quick but friendly smile before Goemon seemed to snap out of a stupor and set her down. Ebisumaru, meanwhile, was giggling to himself the whole time he witnessed this scene. Goemon was just about to walk up to him and hit him on the back of the head when Yae beat him to it.

The kunoichi wasted no time in scanning the sky after rebuking her friend. "It must've been Bismaru that hit us..." she mumbled in a tone so quiet that the others had to lean in and strain their ears to hear her over the howling wind. "There! Those blinking lights! That's gotta be him!"

Sure enough, pale blue lights flashed on and off near what was most likely the top of Mt. Fear. The heavy snow made looking at distant sights an arduous task. ""Right! Let's start climbing!" Goemon shouted before trudging towards the mountain slowly and alone. It took him a few minutes to realize that nobody was following him. "What are you guys waiting for? Let's go!"

"Are you insane, Goemon?!" Yae shouted back. "There's no way we can climb up there in this weather." Her nearby shivering companions nodded in agreement.

"Well, we obviously can't use Impact. What do you suggest we do?"

"There's a town not too far from here. I suggest we spend the night there." The same companions nodded again, though much more fervently this time.

"B-But, we might lose him...Achoo!"

"See? Even you're in no condition for hiking. I'm heading to Festival Village. Anybody who wants to come with me is welcome to." Yae made her way through the storm, closely followed by Ebisumaru, Sasuke, and Omitsu. It took some time for Goemon, standing there alone and shaking, to swallow his pride and head off in the same direction.

--

"I...I hear music..."

"That doesn't surprise me. I'm sure there's a reason they call this place Festival Village. I just hope we don't get dragged into one."

"Well, at least it's not as cold or windy around here."

An audial blast of various instruments greeted the ninjas as they stepped through the entrance gate of Festival Village. Every person they could see was laughing and either dancing or playing a musical instrument as if they didn't have a care in the world. Many were dressed in outrageous costumes. Ebisumaru and Omitsu observed the festivities with glee in their eyes and voices, while Goemon, Sasuke, and Yae tried their best to slip by without being noticed. "Come on, guys, let's find a hotel and get out of the way," Goemon said. Yae and Sasuke nodded in agreement, but no affirmation was received by the other two. "Eh? Oi, Ebisumaru! Omitsu!"

Both the Ninja of Justice and the waitress were excitedly talking to a man wearing a tall and ornate headdress that swayed gently as it balanced precariously on his noggin. This swaying intensified slightly as he shook his head at them, causing them to stomp in protestation and beg him for something which he was apparently withholding from them. Goemon and the others moved closer to get a better idea of the context of this conversation.

"But why not? Please let us join in, it looks like so much fun!" Ebisumaru pleaded. He noticed his companions walking up and quickly addressed them. "Don't you guys want to join in the festivities?"

Before Goemon even had a chance to shake his head, the man with the festive headgear spoke. "These are the friends you were talking about? Well, there's no way I can let all of you join in on the dancing looking like this, a'ight? Every single one of you is wet and covered in some sort of smudge, a'ight? On top of that, Chubby tries too hard, Shorty's got a messed up arm, and Spiky just looks like he isn't in the mood to dance."

"Spiky" wanted to teach this guy a lesson, but couldn't bring himself to attack somebody with such a friendly demeanor. After all, he had been called far worse things. "Chubby", on the other hand continued begging. "Please? Pretty please?" It didn't take him long to make with his patented puppy-dog, sparkly-eyed look.

"Aw, ya know, I can't say no to a face like that." The man wrapped one arm around Ebisumaru and another around Goemon as if they were all old friends. "You seem like good people, so I'll tell you what I'll do, a'ight? Why don't you guys go to the local onsen and take a bath? You know, relax, clean up, all that good stuff. My treat, a'ight? This party's gonna be going on all night, so take your time and join in the fun as soon as you're ready, a'ight?"

"You know, a bath really would feel good right about now. And as long as it's free..." Yae started.

"Fine, we'll go to the onsen," Goemon interrupted. "But I'm not dancing!"

--

In the calm waters of a hot bath sat Goemon, Ebisumaru, and Sasuke. On the other side, separated by a tall partition, Yae and Omitsu relaxed in a similar area. All five of them sighed happily as they lounged in their respective pools, grateful for this respite.

Ebisumaru decided to start a chat with the other man and the robot sitting with him almost immediately after getting settled in. "See, maybe it's not such a bad thing that we don't really have good weather right now."

"What the hell are you talking about, Ebisumaru?!" Goemon snarled back. "Bismaru isn't just gonna wait for us to catch up to him again."

"Maybe, maybe not. Still, you should try to relax now that we're here, Goemon."

"Ebisumaru's right, Mister Goemon," Sasuke chimed in. "We have no other choice at the moment." The Clockwork Ninja then dipped so low into the water, it wasn't too long before the base of his ponytail was the only thing above the surface.

Goemon tried to follow their advice and began sinking in as well. It was silent for a few minutes, save for some quiet sounds of shifting water and muffled speech from the girls' side. Ebisumaru was the first to break the silence. "So, is it true that Omitsu kissed you when you two were kids?"

--

Meanwhile, Yae and Omitsu found themselves enjoying the much-needed soak as much as Ebisumaru and Sasuke (and certainly more than Goemon). Both had untied their hair and let it float gently in the water.

Omitsu was chin-deep in warm water when Yae began talking. "You know, I was kind of irritated when I figured out that you and Ebisumaru were trying to convince that guy to let you dance. But if you hadn't, we probably wouldn't be sitting here right now, so I guess I owe you one."

Omitsu giggled before replying. "Well, you're welcome. I bet you're a great dancer, Yae."

"No, not really. I think I'd rather just watch you and Ebisumaru have fun."

"Oh, come on, Yae," Omitsu pouted cutely. "You're such a skilled ninja, I'm sure you're a phenomenal dancer as well. Don't worry, you have my permission to dance with Goemon if you want to."

"What? Goemon? No way, Omitsu." The waitress stared at the kunoichi with obvious skepticism. "Seriously, I'm not interested in him in that way. At all."

"All right, if you say so..." Yae wasn't quite sure at the time, but she thought she saw a small smile flash across Omitsu's face.

"By the way, what's the deal with you and Goemon? What happened to you two when you were kids that makes you want to join us so badly?"

--

"So yeah, I went in there, did my thing, and got my just reward from the grateful victim." Goemon had just finished retelling the story of when he and Omitsu had first met. "It was nothing, really."

Ebisumaru was leaning forward, listening intently with a dreamy grin on his face. "That's pretty romantic..." he mumbled. "So, she kissed you?"

"Yeah. Right here." Goemon pointed proudly to his cheek.

"And is that it? Have you two ever kissed after that?"

"What is this, Ebisumaru, truth or dare? Why do you want to know?"

Ebisumaru giggled. "Just curious."

"Well, I'm not exactly one to kiss and tell...

--

Omitsu blushed and turned away shyly. "It...It's kind of personal...and kind of dumb..."

"Oh, that's okay, Omitsu. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to." Yae also felt embarrassed for bringing this clearly touchy subject up.

"Are you sure? I don't mind, it's just that I haven't told too many people about it."

"Don't worry about it, Omitsu. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." Yae dipped her face into the water for a few seconds and quickly brought her head back up, gasping for air as she did so. "Wow! That felt great!"

"Really? I wanna try. Let me see here..."

--

A loud splash and a sudden inhalation, followed by one of the girls saying "Wow! That was great!", reached the ears of the male ninjas.

"Eh? What's going on over there?"

Seconds later, the other girl said "Really? I wanna try. Let's see..."

Ebisumaru could hardly control himself. "All right, I wanna see, too! Help me up to the top of that wall, Goemon." Still completely naked, he got out of the water and began scrambling his way up the barrier.

"Are you nuts, Ebisumaru?"

"You're the one who's nuts, Goemon. There are two beautiful, naked ladies just on the other side of this wall. Can't you help a friend in need get a peek?"

"But you're gonna get in trouble for this. Again."

Unfortunately, the excited Ninja of Justice had already reached the top and pulled himself up just enough to see over the edge. "Never mind, Goemon, I've got it."

--

Omitsu spit some water out as she reemerged giggling from the water. "You were right, Yae. That was really nice!"

Both women smiled and giggled, until Yae suddenly stopped and pointed up at the wall with a shriek. "Ebisumaru!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Huh? Eek!"

Yae reached for a nearby bucket, but before she could grab it, Omitsu was hurling it towards the Peeping Tom known as Ebisumaru. It sailed up and over the barrier, missing Ebisumaru's head by inches and hitting something on the other side with a loud thump.

--

"Ow! What the heck was that?!" Goemon rubbed his sore temple and looked at the newly arrived bucket floating next to him with disgust.

Ebisumaru dropped back down to the floor and into the water with a huge grin on his face. "Wow, that was amazing, you don't know what you were missing, Goemon! They were both smiling and laughing about something, and I just knew they would look even better without any clothes on! Say, what happened to your head?"

"Never mind that, I've gotta show them what it feels like to get such a nasty surprise. Let's see here..." Goemon searched around for a potential projectile. Not the bucket, it would be too childish to use their own weapon against them so soon. Then he found the perfect thing. "Aha! Sasuke, you're gonna help me out!"

"Wait, what?!" But before Sasuke could say anything else, he was already being picked up and hurled over the partition by Goemon.

--

"What the hell is wrong with that idiot?! I can't believe he would try to do something like that again," Yae snarled as she crossed her arms.

"Again? You mean he's done it before?"

"Yeah. Stupid pervert, I'm gonna kill him when this bath is over." By this point, Yae was breathing rather heavily.

"You're so tense, Yae. Why don't I scrub your back to calm you down?"

Yae nodded and turned around, but turned back to face Omitsu after hearing a screech, followed by a splash and the waitress screaming. Sasuke lay between them, bobbing up and down in the water and looking very disoriented.

"What the--?! Sasuke, what are you doing here?!" Yae yelled.

"It's not my fault, Miss Yae! Goemon tossed me over after he was hit with a bucket from this side." Omitsu turned red with embarrassment.

Suddenly, the girls heard a distinctive voice shout "Did somebody say back scrub?" Ebisumaru had once again managed to climb up the wall and was leering down at Omitsu and Yae.

"No, but you can have your robot back, you sicko!" Yae grabbed the protesting Sasuke by the arm and threw him as hard as she could without standing up. The Clockwork Ninja flew up and right into Ebisumaru's nose, sending both of them falling back into the water below with a loud splash. "Heh, you know, suddenly I don't feel like killing Ebisumaru anymore," she said with a smirk.

--

Goemon and the others came out of the onsen, feeling much more relaxed, and met the generous man with the precariously perched headgear from before. "Ah, see, I told you a bath would do you good. Uh, except for you, buddy, you've got a little bruise or something on your nose..."

Ebisumaru covered his nose in embarrassment. "So, does that mean we can dance now."

"Sure, that's a'ight. Go ahead and have some fun, a'ight? Here, borrow some headgear if you want." He pointed to several barrels overflowing with hats, crowns, masks, headdresses, and the like, enough to satisfy all but the most insatiable hat enthusiasts. Ebisumaru, who was never known to be very picky, immediately began digging through one of the barrels. Omitsu soon joined him.

Ebisumaru went through several transformations as he tried to pick a look that he felt suited him. He was a king, a court jester, an astronaut, a pirate. One minute he was at a French masquerade, the next he was on a tropical island wearing a mountain of fake fruit on his head. Finally, he settled on an aristocratic-style wig, complete with faux earrings and pearls, that curled round and round into a beehive hairstyle. "So, care for a dance, Yae?"

"Wha--?! Are you kidding?!" a shocked Yae burst out.

"I'll take that as a no. How 'bout you, Omitsu?" Ebisumaru asked as he batted his eyelashes.

Omitsu looked up from browsing. "Huh? Oh, no, I don't think so." She promptly went back to her search.

"All righty, I'll just go find a girl that does want to dance with this handsome devil!" Ebisumaru swaggered proudly into the crowd, stopping to talk with just about every young lady he passed by.

"The nerve of the guy, asking me to dance..." Yae scoffed.

"Great, so you'll be my date, a'ight?"

"What? Date? Oh, no, you see, I, uh, I don't dance, and--"

"Nonsense! You're so fine, you've just gotta be a great dancer. Let's go, a'ight?" Bath man, who was quite a bit taller than any of the ninjas, grabbed Yae by the arm and began dragging her towards the large group of people in the center of the square. "Oh, and you'll look good if you put this on, a'ight?" He grabbed the purple jester's hat that Ebisumaru had discarded earlier and placed it squarely on her head. It befitted the hopelessly confused look that was on her face. "Perfect!"

"Ack! Help me, Goemon!"

But Goemon, rather than paying any attention to her plight, remained right where he was standing and laughed at her misfortune as she was being dragged away against her will. His snickers were interrupted by a softer voice. "Umm, Goemon? What do you think of this one?"

"Eh?" Goemon turned in the direction of the voice and found himself completely speechless. Omitsu stood before him, a silver tiara with a large red jewel that matched her kimono resting perfectly on her ears. In order to accommodate this, she had let her hair down to flow freely. It went down to her waist, and some of the shorter strands hugged her cheeks and curled just past the base of her neck in front. Goemon stammered as he stared at her, but no comprehensible words came out of his mouth as far as either of them could tell.

"Hmm? How does it look, Goemon?"

If Goemon was being completely honest with her, he would have said that the tiara wasn't even close to being comparable to the person wearing it in terms of beauty. Instead, what he said was "Yeah. I-It looks good."

"Really? I'm glad to hear it." Omitsu twirled in place and then extended her hand. "So, shall we dance?"

"Uh, sure, Omitsu..." Though only there in a physical sense, he placed his hand into Omitsu's and let her lead him towards the sea of dancers. A dreamy grin was plastered on his face as he left a perfectly content Sasuke alone to sip from a cup of green tea.

Omitsu giggled when she had finally come to a stop. "You know, I can't believe I had to ask you to dance in the first place. But I also can't believe how easy it was for you to say yes." Omitsu held onto one hand of her dance partner, who was apparently still a bit overwhelmed, and put his other hand on her waist. "And away we go!"

--

Once Goemon had come back to his senses, he found dancing to be a lot easier and a lot more fun than he had anticipated. Omitsu ended up doing most of the work, and would give Goemon clues about what he should do next to make the dance flow or look impressive. She would whisper commands such as "Dip" or "Release" or "Spin" at appropriate moments, and it was Goemon's job to match his timing of the action with the music.

Omitsu leaned in towards Goemon as they swayed gently. "All right, Goemon, I think you're ready."

"Huh? Ready? Ready for what?" For the first time during the dance, Goemon felt rather nervous.

"We're going to separate...and then I'm going to run towards you. You have to catch me and spin in place a few times with me in your arms."

"A-Are you serious?! There's now way I can--!"

"Shh, it's time. The song's almost over." Omitsu released herself from Goemon's grip and gracefully spun away from him. She paused for a brief second before elegantly trotting back towards him.

Goemon, meanwhile, stood, fixed to the spot but shaking, and prepared to catch his approaching friend. The only thoughts running through his head as he held his arms out for her were along the lines of "Oh man, I hope I don't screw this up." She had placed so much trust in him, but would he be able to pull through for her? Would they really be able to do this? And would she be able to forgive him if he failed her?

"Whoa!" Goemon, who had been so absorbed in these thoughts, suddenly realized that there was a heavy weight in his arms that had provided more than enough momentum to cause him to spin without moving very far. It took all of his concentration to keep from dropping her. This final step in their dance coincided perfectly with the grand finale of the last musical piece of the night, a powerful meld of fortissimo tones, and a fitting conclusion drawn out for as long as the fingers and diaphragms of the musicians could manage.

Omitsu's hands were wrapped securely around the back of Goemon's neck and her legs were held up by one of his arms as he literally took her for a spin. She smiled up at him and pulled herself up a bit to whisper in his ear. "Thank you. I knew I could count on you, Goemon." After some hesitation, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and her heavenly smile was met with his goofy grin. They stayed like this for some time, despite the applause and whistles that had erupted from the crowd. Apparently, Goemon and Omitsu had caught the attention of quite a few of the other dancers. "Umm, Goemon? Do you think you could put me down now?"

"H-Huh? Oh, yeah. Here you go, Omitsu." He slowly and gently lowered her to the floor, and breathed a huge sigh of relief when she safely stepped onto solid ground again. "To be honest, I never knew you were such a great dancer, Omitsu."

Omitsu smiled and blushed a bit at the compliment. "Thank you, Goemon. It's nothing, really, I haven't danced like that in a long time. Plus, one dancer's only as good as their partner."

"Really? Wow, you must've been really amazing back then, huh?"

Before Omitsu could respond, they were interrupted by a loud and familiar shout. "DAMN! That was hot, you two! Makes me wanna do something else for you, a'ight?"

"Oh, no sir, please, you've done enough for us already..." Omitsu began.

"Naw, I ain't takin' 'no' for an answer. What do you say, ladies and gentlemen? We should give this hot couple a prize, a'ight? Am I right?" Even before he had finished this short speech, the crowd was showing their approval through applause.

"I think you were a little too impressive," Goemon whispered to Omitsu. "Now they think we're dating."

"Heh heh, dating...Wh-Where do you think they'd get a, a ridiculous idea like that..." Omitsu trailed off as she rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. "Does that mean--"

"Aha! I got it!" shouted the man who was ready to flaunt his generosity once more. "I'll pay for a Gold Suite at the local inn for you guys, a'ight? One bed and one hot tub should be perfect after a long night of dancing!"

Goemon's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. "One bed...? One hot tub...?" He could already feel the sweat forming on his palms and forehead.