Operation Code 15-1500

Okay maybe they were going to the best amusement park in the area. May be he didn't have to dress up like a penguin and have to keep his mouth shut out of the certainty that he would say something wrong. May be he wasn't going to pay for all the rides. But that didn't mean that 45 was looking forward to his 'group date' even if he was currently sitting on his bed unable to sleep. He kept running through his head all the tips Fox had given him as well as the limited information they had on the girls.

He just couldn't believe that the girl he and Spirit had seen was Yukina. Her hair and eyes were completely wrong but Spirit was adamant that the girl and Yukina were one in the same. If the dope had said that the other girl and Keiko were the same, 45 would have paused, considered, and then be left wondering if he was right. The girl with the tattoos had been eerily familiar to him. She had the same hair and eyes colour as Keiko but the girl was a complete goody-two-shoes. There was no way Keiko would have willingly gotten a tattoo, let alone one so visible.

45 frowned. There was that word. Willingly. He doubted that Keiko had done anything willingly since she had been kidnapped. Who's to say that the bastards didn't tattoo her to hide her from the cops? Who's to say that they didn't do worse things to her?

The thoughts made 45's blood boil. Learning that his best childhood friend had been kidnapped was bad enough. What was worse was learning that the coppers were doing nothing to find her. Sure they'd all say they'd tried but words were cheap. They'd all tilt their hats at her parents and say, "We're sorry but we don't have any more leads."

What a load of crap! 45's mother (who extorted money and information from a cop) knew right off the bat that Keiko's case had been thrown up on a shelf to be forgotten for all times. A fact 45 later learned during one of his mother's louder drinking rants. Speaking of which...

45 rolled off his bed and walked towards the door of his room. He inched it open and glanced out. A young woman, only 32 years old, with brown hair sat beside a large bottle. She was waving her arms with a paper fan in one hand and shouting at the TV where the news was being read. 45 thought he heard something about dynamite before he closed the door and returned to his bed.

"Three hours and still going strong," he thought.

He still wasn't sure what his drunken excuse for a mother used for dirt on the cop or how she had gotten it but 45 wasn't complaining. It kept his mom busy leaving him to get into street fights, earn a rep for himself, do something that completely undermined that rep, and catch Underworld's eye. So she wasn't the best mom when it came to being sober when he was growing up and she wasn't much of a cook. It only meant that 45 had to learn to look out for himself a little sooner that most kids. He still had a safe apartment and now a thriving business. If had to pick between a life with a sober mom and his drunken one, the drunk won every time and it wasn't because she had killer connections with the Yakuza.

Finally, 45 felt that he could sit in bed no longer. He got up and went to see his mom.

"Yusuke!" his mom shouted with a noticeable slur, suddenly happy and having forgotten her anger towards the TV. Her brown eyes were sparkling though they were dazed and her name "Atsuko" was written on the front of her shirt. 45 recognized it as the shirt his first grade teacher had forced him into making. Atsuko continued to smile as her son came towards her. "Sit down," she commanded. "I'm having a party."

45 rolled his eyes as he sat down beside his mom. He reached for one of the open cases of beer that were acting as a makeshift table for his mom's drinking snacks and a cup of ramen. Atsuko whacked him with her paper fan and he shook his hand in an attempt to stop the stinging.

"What was that for?" 45 demanded, although he knew full well what he had done wrong.

"When you're 18, you can drink," Atsuko announced before she pushed the bottle away from her. She knocked it over in the process and 45 picked it up. He went to put the bottle in the fridge. Once the bottle was safely capped and placed in the fridge, 45 sighed in relief. He would never admit it but he did worry about his mom.

After Keiko had left Atsuko was the only source of guidance he had that didn't try to change him. Sure she wasn't the greatest but it was better than being brainwashed or thrown into the foster care system. The fact that Keiko had been taken away had made him angry but it also made him afraid of losing the last bit of family he had. When he was little, he would try to take the bottle away but Atsuko was stronger than him and always got it back. Eventually 45 learned there was a better way and his fears dimmed. It was better to pretend to try to sneak a drink. Atsuko would then whack him and tell him no and – if she was sober enough – put the bottle away. The day she stopped doing that would be the day 45 would start to worry again.

He paused to make himself some ramen before he returned to the living room. There Atsuko had rediscovered her ramen and was eating it cold. She looked up when he entered and smiled.

"So," she slurred. "I've heard you got a date."

45 nodded as he ate and watched the news guy say something about another bar being destroyed because of a brawl breaking out and damaging a water pipe and causing flooding. There were also reports of snakes slipping around.

"Looks like Team Youki's been busy," 45 thought.

Atsuko didn't notice her boy's thoughts as she whacked him on the back. "That's my boy!" she shouted. "You show those ladies what you're made of."

45 groaned as he found his ramen spilt because of Atsuko's pat on the back. "It's a mission, mom. These girls might know what happened to Keiko."

At once Atsuko's happy disposition vanished. Her eyes narrowed as she gripped the makeshift table. "Be careful, Yusuke."

45 nodded as he finished his ramen. "I know, I know. Girls punch harder than male bodyguards."

Atsuko shook her head. "There's trouble on the streets. Demon World is planning something big and it's not going to be good."

"What sort of thing?"

Atsuko shrugged before a huge smile appeared on her face. "My Yusuke's finally going on a date!" She lunged at him and pulled him into a hug. "My Yusuke's gonna be a man!"

"Damn it, mom!" 45 shouted as he started to struggle. "Let go! You're messing up my hair!"

Ten minutes later, 45 was out of the house and rubbing his throat.

"Well," he thought, "can't go back in there until she sobers up. Might as well go see what Spirit is doing."

It turned out Sprit had been sleeping and was less than impressed to be awaken but he still climbed out of bed to talk to 45 in his backyard.

"Why do you always come annoy me at insane hours when you can't sleep?" Spirit asked as he tossed 45 a can of Coke. They sat down under the tree in Spirit's backyard and started to drink.

"Because I don't know where Dragon stays, Fox's mental status isn't so good when he is sleepy so Youko will try to kill me and you give me free pop?" 45 asked with a grin before he became serious. "Why are you so certain that girl is Yukina?"

Spirit shrugged. "I already told you. It's just a feeling. Sorta like that one made me stop Dragon from saying that code word that would have blown us all up."

"Like a sixth sense in those old movies?"

"Yeah, I guess."

The two were silent for a moment before Spirit spoke again. "What did they do to her?"

45 shrugged. "I don't know but I think we're going to find out tomorrow."

"That's the other thing I don't get. Why would Demon World just let them walk out now? It doesn't make sense."

45 nodded. "Any helpful dreams?" he asked.

Spirit shook his head. "I was just trapped in a blizzard and there was this girl crying. Other than that, nothing. You?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Maybe Fox or Dragon will have something."

45 could only nod.