Aoi: I'm baaaaack! Psycho theme plays did you miss me?

Akai: no.

Aoi: -_-

Eiko and Seto walked down the snow-covered street. It was January now and the two had fully recovered from their injuries. "Your birthday is coming up soon isn't it?" Seto asked as they walked. Eiko nodded,

"Five days from now," she said.

"You'll be turning 19," Seto noted. Eiko stopped for a moment,

"Huh, I guess your right." She looked up at the braches of the snow-covered trees.

"Is there something wrong?" Seto asked

"No," Eiko said looking back at him. "It just reminded me of my mom."

"Why?" Seto asked. It seemed like a strange thing to remember when thinking about your 19th birthday.

"Well I never told you this but," she shifted her body towards him. "She was 18 when she got married, 19 when she had my brother Akito." Seto looked at her with shock.

"That very young," he said looking down at her.

"Yeah, I always found it weird. My grandmother got married at 21 and her family was much more traditional than my mothers. My grandmothers marriage was arranged and everything. And yet somehow my mom got married before her." Eiko was quite for a bit. "I don't know why, but when I turned 18 I felt like y love life should have been more active you know. I had never gone on a date or even been asked to go on one…. And I never felt like a failure or anything, Akito and Hiro were pretty much in the same boat as me when they were 18, but I just made me wonder. I mean how the heck did my mom figure that my dad was the one at age 18? Compared to most ages of when people get married 18 is very young. Heck 18 is pretty young to begin with." Eiko shock her head, "I don't even know why I'm telling you this. Its not relevant anyway."

"I think it's interesting," Seto admitted. "Your grandmothers family must have a lot of family customs to chose an arranged marriage."

"Yeah, the Tsubaki's are a…. weird family…." She said her voice trailing.

"What do you mean by that?" Seto asked.

"Well," Eiko started to say. Suddenly her hone rang. She looked at the caller id. "What the?" she opened her phone. "Grandma?" she said into her phone. "Hey, what's up?... what? Tomorrow! H-how am I suppose to-? All right I'll see you then. Love you too, bye." Eiko shut her phone. "Crap! I got to get my apartment ready," with that Eiko started running towards her apartment.

"Wait, Eiko!" Seto said he started running after her.

Eiko shut the door behind her, "Damn it, damn it, damn it…." She muttered. She looked up to see Red, Blue and a girl with blackish brown hair looking at her from the couch.

"Something wrong?" Red asked looking at her strangely.

"Um, well…." she started to say; she looked more closely at the girl on the couch. Eiko had never seen her before, not in school or around the area. "Who's your friend?" she asked changing the subject.

"Oh, this is Mallory," Red explained.

"Hello," Eiko said walking over to the couch.

"Guten tage" the girl said. He voice had a strong German accent, and the look on her face screamed, 'I honestly don't care who you are.'

"She is a world renowned hit-man from Germany" Blue explained, sipping her tea nonchalantly. 'Well that explained the accent,' Eiko thought to herself. 'Wait a minute…'

"Hit-man?" Eiko thought allowed.

"Yup!" Red said cheerfully.

"We're thinking about hiring her to kill Kaiba," Blue explained further. 'W-what did she just say?' Eiko thought.

"She was actually just about to tell us what she planned to do," Red said looking up at Eiko from the couch. "You were saying Mallory?" Red said looking back at the German.

"Yes," Mallory cleared her throat and continued. "You said that there isn't much security jah?"

"Yup, Kaiba has guards during the day, but as soon as her gets home they scatter like files," Red explained.

"Good, good," Mallory said nodding her head. "First, I wait until house is dark. Then I sneak up on him with pipe-"

"Ok stop." Eiko said interrupting. Red pulled her close.

"Eiko, its not exactly a good idea to interrupt Mallory while she is talking. She might be German, but I hear she has some close ties with the Russian Mob." Red whispered in her ear. Eiko pulled away, she looked at Red and Blue disapprovingly.

"You guys thought it was a good idea to bring a hit-man to my apartment, to talk about killing my boyfriend? Are you two out of your minds?"

"Technically its your mind…" Red said. Eiko shot her a look.

"You said you would be out for a while, so we thought now would be a good time to talk to here." Blue explained, not bothering to make eye contact.

"Yes, I was going to be out for a while. With my boyfriend, who I happen to like very much." Eiko said a cross look on her face. "And I thought you didn't mind Seto much," Eiko said looking at Blue. Blue set down her tea,

"He's getting too touchy, and I cant help but wonder why he is always inviting you over for the night."

"That's because I'm babysitting Mokuba," Eiko said placing her hands on her hips. "And by the time Seto gets back it's eleven at night. And what do you mean by 'he's getting too touchy'?"

"Look, Eiko. Mallory is amazing! There is no way we'll be caught!" Red said smiling widely.

"It will cost you though." Mallory said clarifying.

"How much?" Red asked looking at her. Mallory thought for a moment,

"1000 euro," Mallory said crossing her arms.

"Deal!" Red said shaking Mallory's hand. "You don't happen to have 1000 euro spare do you Eiko?" Red asked looking up at her.

"Malo-chan? Is that you?" Eiko turned to her window. Standing on the fire escape was a girl with brown hair and matching brown eyes. Eiko recognized her as the girl who sold her cabbages at the market; she believed her name was Natalie. "Malo-chan! I'm so happy to see you!"

"You two know each other?" Red, Blue and Eiko said at the same time.

"Oh yes, me and Malo go wayyyyy back." Natalie said smiling. "How are Dian and Daniel?" she asked. Mallory's face twisted in disgust.

"I've had Brest reduction surgery thank you very much!" Mallory spat at her. Natalie's face was shocked,

"How could you do that to them!" she said covering her mouth with her hand. "You really are cruel Malo!" she yelled at her. Natalie started to resemble a chbi character while Mallory started to look like she was about to kill someone, one person in particular.

"That's it. All of you, out!" Eiko said. Mallory got up and headed towards the door. Natalie started down the fire escape. As Mallory left, she passed by Seto in the doorway.

"Eiko," Seto said as her entered the apartment.

"Oh, hey Seto,"

"Is everything alright? You kind of left in a hurry," Eiko sighed.

"My Grandma is coming," she said finally.

"Are you happy about that?" Seto asked looking down at her.

"Well, yeah but she is coming tomorrow and I need to get this place ready for her. Plus," she looked over at red and Blue. "I need to figure out what to doo with these two."

"You are not kicking us out," Red said standing up.

"Red, my grandma has known me for all of my life. She's going to get suspicious when she see's you too. And you if I keep you guys cooked up in my head you get restless and end up giving me mind grains."

"I would like to add that that is red, not me," Blue said finishing a sip of her tea.

"How rude!" Red said trying to bug her.

"Oh please, it not rude when it's the truth," Blue said getting up. "I'm going to be making tea, would any of you like some?"

"Could you make some green tea while I try to get this place ready," Eiko said looking around the room. "I could always just sleep on the couch…." She muttered to herself. Seto looked around the small apartment; he was surprised that Eiko could stand its size. Seto couldn't imagine living there by himself, let alone with two other people.

"Why don't you two just stay at my house," Eiko quickly turned to look at him,

"What?" she said.

"Blue and red could stay here, while you and your grandma stay at the mansion."

"Um, no," Red said her arms crossed.

"Why not?" Eiko asked. "It seems like a good idea to me." Red quickly grabbed Eiko's shoulders.

"Don't you get it? Either while you're there he'll try to seduce you, or afterwards you'll be saying 'oh how can ever repay you?' and then he'll turn you into he's little sex slave!"

"I'm right here!" Seto yelled at her. Red looked over at him,

"That's why I said 'seduce' instead of rape."

"Red!" Eiko yelled at her. "Y-you, S-Seto," Eiko stuttered. "Ugg! Where the hell do you get these ideas?"

"'Law and Order', fan fiction, the early show with NBC… I could go on." Eiko looked over at Seto.

"That would be great, actually my grandma really wants to meet you. Its one of the reasons that she is coming to Domino."

"You've told her about me?" he asked.

"Yeah, me and her are really close. We talk a lot, which is why I'm very annoyed that she didn't tell me she was coming till today." Eiko said her teeth clenched.

"Eh, she's old," Red, said shrugging her shoulders.

"She was on the train! For two hours!" Eiko exclaimed. Red shrugged again, "I'm going to go pack," Eiko said. She when into her room, Red walked over to Seto.

"Touch her, and I'll brake you," Red said lifting up a fist. Seto smirked,

"Oh really?" he walked into Eiko's room; he shut the door behind him. The room was quite for a moment.

"Damn his soul to hell." Red said angrily

"I'd better go; Grandma's train should be at the station soon," Eiko said, looking down at her watch. "Thanks again for driving me, Akina." She looked over at the secretary who was busy putting on her coat.

"No problem, Eiko," Akina said, smiling. Eiko looked back over at Seto, who was busy typing away at his computer.

"Please tell me you'll be done soon. My Grandma doesn't like waiting."

"I only have a few things to finish up here and then I'll be done for the day," Seto said, not looking up at his laptop. "I promise to be home before your grandmother gets there."

Eiko looked over at Mokuba, who was resting on the couch. "You'll make sure he leaves in time, right, Mokuba?" Eiko asked.

Mokuba grinned. "Don't worry, Eiko, I won't let him stay past five."

"Good," Eiko said, grinning back. Eiko walked out of Seto's office. "I'll see you two at the house." She waved to them.

Seto waited for a moment. He looked up to check to see if Eiko was gone. Then he quickly pulled out his phone.

"PK?" he said into the phone.

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba?" PK replied.

"Is everything ready?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. I'll be over in a minute." Seto quickly shut his phone. He looked over at Mokuba. "Let's hope this works."

Mokuba nodded and hopped off the couch. The two walked together through the halls of Kaiba Corp. Seto had decided that the mansion needed a little sprucing up. He had Akina design the room and PK and her team put everything in place. Seto opened the door to his red sports car Mokuba hopped into the passenger's seat.

Seto started up the car. "So the place is going to look all medieval-Japanish?" Mokuba asked as the car jetted forward.

"Akina said something about the Edo period," Seto recalled.

"You just want it to look more homely, right?" Mokuba asked.

It was true. When Seto had found out that Eiko's grandma was strictly traditional, he became curious. With the help of the Internet and his research team, Seto had found out a lot about Eiko's grandmother. She was in her late seventies and ran a temple up north. In her younger years she was a skilled Geisha and also trained new Geishas along with running her temple. From what he had gathered, she was religious and had quite a bit of power in the Tsubaki family. Seto was not religious in any way nor was he one for old traditions.

He pulled up to the house. As soon as he opened the door Kiba came running up. "Hi, boy!" Mokuba said, picking him up. Kiba happily licked his face. Mokuba laughed. Seto grinned; Kiba may have been a bit of a nuisance but Mokuba enjoyed his company. He couldn't help but remember when Eiko had convinced him to keep the puppy. Seto had to admit he was glad that he did.

"Hello, sir." Seto's thoughts were interrupted by PK who was walking towards them.

"Is everything in place?" Seto asked. He couldn't help but notice the stalks of bamboo that had been placed in the grand foyer.

"Yes, everything is in place for Mrs. Tsubaki's arrival," PK said. "Should I show you the sitting room?" She asked, gesturing up the stairs. Seto nodded and followed her up the stairs.

The sitting room was the family room more or less. When Seto wasn't working, he and Mokuba spent most of their time in there. Seto scanned the room. It looked almost nothing like it did when he had left it this morning. Traditional wall scrolls with Edo art hug on the wall. An electric kotasu was placed in the center of the room a basket of oranges was in the center of the table.

"We based it off of a traditional Japanese home," PK said, looking up at her boss. "Also, Akina should be here soon with Eiko and her grandmother. I received a call from her a few minutes ago."

"Wow, this place looks different," Mokuba said, entering the room. He set Kiba down on the floor; the pup ran around excitedly, exploring the room. "You really went all out, didn't you, Seto?" Mokuba asked, examining the room some more.

"I suppose so," Seto said with his arms crossed.

"Excuse me, Mr. Kaiba," PK said. Seto looked down at her. "I have to make sure a certain hit man doesn't come in the middle of the night and kill you," PK said while walking away.

"Wait," Seto said, calling after her. PK stopped. "Did you just say, 'hit man'?"

"Yes," PK said while looking back at him. "We believe it to be the notorious hit man, Mallory Beillschmidt."

"Why didn't anyone tell me my life was at stake?" he asked, his voice tense with annoyance.

"With all due respect, sir, we felt it was best not to tell you, for we don't have much information on her or how she plans to make her attack," PK explained. "However, we do know who hired her."

"Good. Make sure they suffer," Kaiba said, turning back towards the room.

"Um…sir, we really can't do that," PK said.

"Why not?" Seto asked, tilting his head to look over at her.

"It appears that Akai and Aoi Tsubaki hired her," PK explained.

"Red and Blue hired her?" Mokuba asked, suddenly interested in the conversation. He covered his mouth with his hand to smother his laughter.

"It's not funny," Seto said.

"Oh, it's pretty funny," Mokuba said, smiling.

PK walked down the stairs. She looked up to see a familiar face.

"Ah, Miss Tsubaki," PK said, walking over to her.

"Oh, hey PK," Eiko said smiling.

"You cut your hair," PK said. She hadn't seen Eiko since the Zigfreid incident. Since then she had apparently cut her hair. Her hair fell in short wisps that framed her face quite nicely.

"Yeah, I decided to go for a new look." PK was about to ask her when she meant, since she had not chose to cut her hair short, when she noticed a small figure standing beside her. Eiko followed her eyes down to the figure standing next to her.

"PK, this is my grandmother, Anzuma Tsubaki."

The woman wore a light pink kimono with a red sash and her silvery gray hair was put up in a bun. "Grandma, this is PK," Eiko said, gesturing towards her.

"Hello," PK said. Eiko's grandmother bowed respectfully.

"It is good to meet you PK-san," she said while bowing. PK was taken off guard. While it was proper to bow and refer to the person as –san when first meeting, PK didn't experience it much. She had worked at Kaiba Corp. for years so there was no need for formal greetings. And whenever she did meet someone new, they were usually from a different country where bowing was not the normal gesture. PK quickly improvised.

"I-it is also good to meet you, Tsubaki-san," she said while also bowing. As the two stood up, two maids came over to pick up Grandma Tsubaki's bags.

"When will we meet this boyfriend of yours, Eiko-chan?" Eiko's grandma asked.

"Seto should be home," Eiko said. She looked up at the staircase, "he's probably upstairs." She started walking towards the stairs while her grandma followed. PK watched as the two went up the stairs. PK remembered reading Anzuma Tsubaki's file, and how she had the most power in the Tsubaki family. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she didn't like Kaiba…She decided to follow the two. Eiko walked down the hall to the sitting room. "He's usually in here," she explained to her grandma.

Eiko opened the door. Seto and Mokuba were sitting at the kotasu, drinking tea.

"Hi, Eiko!" Mokuba said happily. Eiko's eyes were wide, her mouth was gaping open.

"S-since when did you two own a kotasu?" she stuttered.

"Eiko!" Eiko jumped at the sound of her name. Her grandma stood beside her, a stern look on her face. "Would you please introduce me to your boyfriend? He is here, isn't he?"

"Um... yes," she said quickly. Seto stood up from the kotasu; he walked over to Eiko and her grandmother. "Grandma, this is Seto. Seto, my Grandmother," Eiko said, smiling.

Seto looked down at the woman; she had a strange look on her face. It was as if she was waiting for something.

"Pssst," he heard a voice hiss. He saw PK peering through the doorway. "Bow," she whispered at him. Seto quickly did so.

"It's an honor to meet you, Tsubaki-sama," Seto said respectfully. Seto was now face to face with the woman; her face had a serious look. She seemed to be evaluating Seto. The room was silent; Eiko watched silently, not sure what was about to happen. PK and Mokuba did the same.

Suddenly Seto was jerked forward into a hug.

"Oh, what a handsome boy!" grandma Tsubaki said happily.

'W-what just happened?' PK thought in shock.

Grandma Tsubaki released Seto as she looked at him.

"I'm sorry. It's just so nice to meet you," she said, smiling. "Eiko told me so much about you." She looked up at Eiko. "You're right; he does have very blue eyes."

"G-grandma!" Eiko stammered, embarrassed. Grandma Tsubaki looked over at Mokuba.

"And you must be Mokuba. Eiko's told me a lot about you too." Kiba ran up to her and barked twice. "Ah, hello, Kiba," grandma Tsubaki picked him up. As Kiba licked her face she laughed. "Who's hungry?"

"Grandma, you didn't need to make dinner," Eiko said while sitting at the kotasu table.

"Nonsense. The maids took my bags and unpacked already. So I have nothing else to do." She set down three bowls of rice. "I'm going to go check on the fish." She calmly walked out of the room.

Eiko looked over at Seto. "I knew she'd like you," She said with a smile. "By the way, what's up with all the Edo period art?" she asked curiously.

"What? Do you not like it?" Seto asked, avoiding the question.

"I have nothing against it, but…." She looked around the room, "It's all kind of sudden. I didn't even know you guys owned a kotasu."

Seto remembered something he had wanted to ask Eiko. "Where are Red and Blue?" He asked, looking over at Eiko. "I have a bone to pick with them," he explained.

"I told them that they had to stay at the apartment while my grandma was here." Eiko explained. "PK and Akina may believe they're my sisters, but there is no way my grandma would believe it."

"Couldn't you tell her they're your roommates?" Seto asked.

"Yeah, sure. 'And these are my two roommates I never told you about! Don't mind the fact that they look just like me, except for the eyes'." Eiko said sarcastically. She had a point. Grandma seemed to know everyone in the Kaiba mansion, even Kiba. She would be suspicious about two roommates she had never heard of.

"I wonder what they're doing," Mokuba said through a mouth full of rice. "Red seems like the type that would get stir crazy."

"That's why she's staying in the apartment; better for her to get stir crazy there than in my head." It made Eiko think.

'What are they doing?'

"This is good garlic bread," Blue said, taking another piece from the loaf that her and Red were sharing.

"Yeah, I think garlic bread would have to be my favorite all-time food. I could eat it for every meal. Or just constantly, without stopping," Red said happily.

"Then you'd get fat," Blue said bluntly.

"No, why would I get fat?" Red questioned, taking another bite of bread.

"Because bread makes you fat."

"Bread makes you fat?" Red said sarcastically, opening her mouth wide so that Blue could see the half chewed piece of bread that she had bitten into.

"Now that's just disgusting," Blue said.

It had been a few days since grandma Tsubaki had come to Domino. Since then, she and Eiko had been staying with the Kaiba's. It was nice; Eiko loved spending time with Mokuba and her grandma. She was glad that her grandma liked Seto and thought he was a good boyfriend. Eiko walked out of one of the guest rooms; her grandma was waiting for her in the hallway.

"Hi grandma, what's up?" she asked, smiling.

"I spoke with your parents last night," she said grimly. Eiko looked at her with a shocked look on her face.

"Grandma… please tell me…."

Grandma Tsubaki sighed. "You can't keep them in the dark forever," she said.

"I can try," Eiko said defiantly, crossing her arms.

"What's going on?" Eiko turned to see Seto standing in the hall.

"Ah, hello Kaiba-san," grandma Tsubaki said nonchalantly. Suddenly Eiko's phone rang. She looked at the caller I.D. A grimace spread across her face.

"You should answer it; it could be important," grandma Tsubaki said. Eiko's face became solemn.

She answered her phone. "Hello?" she said emotionlessly. A loud sound came out of the phone. Eiko quickly pulled it away from her ear. "Dad, calm down," she said into the phone. "Dad, would you please-" Eiko's teeth clenched. She looked over at Seto; she pulled the phone away to speak. "I... have to take this." she quickly went back to her room, locking the door behind her.

Eiko's grandmother sighed. "Was that her father?" Seto asked.

"Seems so," she said, shaking her head. Seto grimaced; he's memories of the man were not the best. His were probably no better of Seto's. "I don't know happened between the two. But they can't stand each other. I wasn't surprised when I heard that Eiko left the second she got accepted to college."

"Is it that bad?" he asked.

She was about to speak, when "Just shut up! You don't know him and you never did! Stop judging him and stop telling me how to live my life!" Eiko's screams could be heard thought the wall. They answered Seto's question.

Grandma Tsubaki shook her head. "You should go talk to her," she told Seto.

"What?" he said. "I really don't think I should—"

"Seto," grandma Tsubaki said, calling him by his first name. "Go talk to her. And if she says to leave her alone, kick down the door." She walked down the hall towards the sitting room.

Seto looked back at the door and lightly knocked. "Eiko?" he said, loud enough for her to hear.

"Just go away…" Eiko said. Seto could tell that she was crying.

"Eiko, please let me in." Seto heard the sound of the door unlocking. Seto entered the room. Eiko sat with her back against the side of the bed and held her knees close to her chest. Seto walked over to her and he sat beside her. "I'm sorr—"

"Don't." she said, looking down. "Just don't."

The two were silent when Eiko looked over at Seto. "My dad is a jerk. That's not your fault."

The two were quite again.

"Your dad doesn't like me," Seto finally said. He already knew that was true but he wanted to know why.

"My dad doesn't know you. He thinks he does because he thinks he knows everything," Eiko said.

"He knows me some," Seto said.

Eiko's hands clenched, she rested her head against Seto's shoulder. "Can we forget about my dad? Everything was perfect until he called," she said hopefully.

Seto looked up at the ceiling. "Seto," Eiko said. He looked down at her; she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close. "My dad knows you from what I told him when we were kids. I told him how much fun I had with you and Mokuba and how you made me really happy. If he can't see how much I care about you, then to hell with him." She smiled. "You don't need to impress anyone. Not even me."

Seto smirked; he wrapped his arms around Eiko. "If Red finds out, she's going to kill me," he said. Seto and Eiko's lips mashed together in a passionate kiss.

A week later, Eiko went back to her apartment.

"Eiko!" Red said happily when she came back. "You're back! And—oh, you," Red said when she saw Seto. "Did you have to bring the ass with you?" she asked.

"Be nice," Eiko told her sternly. Red muttered some cusses as she walked back to the couch. "I just have to change and then we'll go," Eiko told Seto and ran off to her room to change.

"You two are going out?" Blue asked, glancing over at Kaiba from the dinner table.

"I decided to bring her out for her birthday. It was a few days ago but I thought it would be nice for us to just go to dinner alone," Seto explained.

"Great." Red said sarcastically, "Eiko comes back home and you take her out to dinner." She turned to face Seto. "You're just trying to piss me off, aren't you?"

"I thought everything I did pissed you off. You did hire a hit-man to kill me," Seto said in an angry tone.

"Yeah, well you can calm your pretty little head of yours; Mallory went back to Germany as soon as she saw Natalie." Red got up from the couch and headed towards the fridge. "I swear, they just don't make them like they use to," she opened the fridge and grabbed a soda.

Seto noticed something on the left side of her back. He had never really noticed it before, but he could see it now through the holes of her tank top.

"Is… is that a tattoo?"

Blue immediately spit out her tea.

"Excuse me?" she said, looking over at the two. She got up and walked over to Red. She quickly spun her around to see her back. "Eiko Akai Tsubaki!" she yelled at Red. "Is that a tattoo?"

"I'm sorry, mom," Red whined, sipping her soda. Seto looked at the tattoo more closely; it was dark red like dried blood, and was in a shape of a dragon. A very familiar dragon….

"I'm ready," Eiko said, coming out of her room. She wore a white wool dress with white leggings and white flats. She quickly grabbed her coat. "Ready?" Eiko didn't seem to notice Red's tattoo or the fact that Blue was lecturing her. He decided to let it slide.

"Yeah, let's go." The two walked out the door. Blue waited for a moment. She walked back to the table and continued to drink her tea.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you," she said calmly.

"Pff, you'll have to do more than that to embarrass me in front of Kaiba," Red said. She hopped back onto the couch and took another sip of her soda. "When will we tell her?" Red asked quietly.

"If we're lucky...never."

Aoi: to explain the whole 'early show' thing. We have a joke in our family that 7:30 is when they talk about the 'gruesome murder of the day.' Basically everyday they have a murder, and they talk about it. Every. Single. Day. For a month until a new murder comes. I would like to add that I hate it. It is very difficult to eat your ego waffles when you're hearing about the Kasey Anthony case for the 10th time this week -_- Well that's it for this chapter! See you next time.