Disclaimer: The SWAT Kats are owned by Hanna Barbera and the Tremblay Brothers. I own the OCs.
For those who crave a little bit of action, its in this chapter. These two can't seem to keep themselves out of trouble. I wonder if their kitten or kittens will inherit this trait?
MisaRae, you know how I feel about you and how you feel about me. Love you little sis! You had better be taking care of yourself or I will drive up there and take care of you! This is not a threat but a promise!
Welcome aboard Winged-Wolf-Tsuki. Please sit back and enjoy your flight.
Mark and Lisa's tour of Nikko started off without a hitch. They boarded the bus in Downtown Osaka and found a pair of seats mid-way back. After they sat down, they grasped each other's paws tightly.
An attendee walked down the aisle. She was dressed nicely in a navy blue suit, asking if everyone was comfortable and taking beverage orders. She came upon Mark and Lisa and noticed their shiny wedding bands. Completely in Japanese, she asked, "Are you two the Samuelson's?"
Since Lisa was able to grasp the Japanese language a lot better than Mark did, she responded, "Yes, I'm Lisa and this is my husband Mark."
"Welcome aboard, Mr. Saito requested that you both get the Royal treatment on this tour. My name is Mariko, if there is anything you need, please ask." She said with a smile on her face.
"Miss, are you Mr. Saito's son's ex-fiancee?" Lisa asked after she quickly remembered the name.
"Hai, I was engaged to Sosuke. After he was killed, Yoso, Natsume, Aya, and I remained close. The Saitos still treat me and Aya like family, even though we didn't marry their sons," Mariko responded.
"I'm so sorry for your loss Mariko," Lisa said as she pressed her left paw onto Mariko's right. "From what Yoso and Natsume told us, Sosuke loved you dearly."
"He most certainly did Lisa," Mariko said. "I still like to believe, Sosuke and Ushio are somewhere looking at down at us and still love us."
"That is a wonderful thought Mariko," Lisa said as she took her paw back.
"Yes it is, there is not a day that goes by where I don't think of Sosuke and the family we could have had together," Mariko said then wiped a tear away from her left eye. "I need to get back to work, please let me know if there is anything you both need and Natsume was right, you two remind me of them." She bowed in respect and continued on her path down the aisle.
"What did you two talk about, dear?" Mark asked Lisa since he understood about every third word.
Lisa rested her head against Mark's left shoulder, then said, "Mostly girl talk. Let's get some sleep, this is a long bus ride."
Six hours later, they arrived in Nikko. The bus pulled up to a terminal which was built to look like an old shrine.
Mark and Lisa stepped off of the bus and stretched out their backs from the trip.
"I hope you enjoyed your trip? Your private tour guide will be meeting you in front of the terminal in about fifteen minutes. Please enjoy your stay here in Nikko," Mariko said.
Both Mark and Lisa bowed to Mariko, then walked around to the front of the terminal.
They spotted a Tea shop off in the corner of the terminal and decided to have a cup while they waited for the tour guide.
Mark noticed that Lisa was in a little discomfort as she walked, so he bent over and picked her up in his strong arms and carried her over to the shop.
"What do you think you are doing Mark?" Lisa asked.
"You seemed to be in pain Lisa. So I decided to carry you," Mark answered.
"You don't have to do that. I can walk done on my own," Lisa said.
"No can do, the mother of my kitten deserves to be treated like a queen, and I'm going to be her humble servant," Mark said.
When they approached the tea shop, Mark shifted Lisa into his left arm so he could open the sliding panel with his right. He slid the panel open and entered the shop while still carrying Lisa.
A lone female with jet black hair done up in a tight bun wearing a white kimono with blue Irises adorning it and looked up from the counter. She suppressed a giggle as her eyes fell upon the large tom carrying the obviously pregnant she-cat into her shop. "Welcome, please take a seat, once you put down your wife that is," she said completely in Japanese.
Mark looked down at his wife, then asked, "What did she say?"
"She said to take a seat after you put me down," Lisa answered.
"Oh," Mark said as he gently lowered Lisa to the floor.
The couple sat down at a small table to the left of the counter. Then Mark reached across the table to take Lisa's paws in his much larger ones.
The female walked out from behind the counter and shuffled her slipper clad feet along the wooden floor. She stopped at their table, and asked, "May I interest you in our House Blend?
"Certainly, what's in it?" Lisa asked in return.
"It's a mixture of Oolong and Jasmine teas with a hint of Ginger," the female responded.
"Sound delicious, two cups please," Lisa said.
The female bowed to them before returning to the counter to make their tea.
"You amaze me Lisa. You were able to pick up Japanese instantly, where I can barely speak a simple phrase," Mark said.
"I have a minor in foreign languages Mark, of course I would be able to pick up Japanese more easily than you would," Lisa said as she stroked his paw.
"It's not just the language, look at you. You are pregnant, still teach dance as well as work as an Enforcer, and on top of that, you still go out on patrol as.." he looked around to make sure that no one could be listening. Not that it mattered since they were in another country that probably never heard of the SWAT Kats. "Pirouette."
"I like being active Mark," Lisa said. "I've never been one to sit and be still." She then rubbed her expanding belly as she continued, "Even with the little one on board, I can't seem to sit still more than a few minutes."
Mark took her paws in his again, then said, "You need to learn how to relax Lisa, I don't want our kitten to be hurt or worse because his or her mother can't be still."
"I don't want that either Mark. I want a healthy kitten, that is as strong as its father," Lisa said.
Mark was about to lean over the table and kiss Lisa, when the server returned with their tea. "Here's your tea," she said as she put a clay pot down in the center of the table. She flipped two small cups over, poured some of the tea into the two cups, then put the pot down as she said, "Enjoy."
After she walked away, Mark and Lisa sipped their tea. "This is real good, I wonder if I can make something like this back at home?" Lisa asked.
Mark lowered the cup away from his mouth, then said, "You will have plenty of time to experiment Lisa. Daniella is planning on putting you on bed rest during your last month."
"I know she is and I hate it already. Not only am I going to look like a beached whale but I'm going to have to leave the studio in Artemis' paws. Why did you have to knock me up the first time we made love?" Lisa asked.
Mark choked on his tea when he heard Lisa's question. He wiped his mouth with a white cloth napkin, then answered, "I wasn't the only one there Lisa. You could have told me to stop and I would have." He look deeply into her eyes and asked, "Do you regret getting pregnant?"
"No, not at all Mark. We wanted a family as soon as possible. I just wasn't expecting to start a family so soon," Lisa answered.
"Neither was I. Even though we are starting our family earlier than expected, I'm not going to love our kittens any less," Mark said before he took a sip of his tea.
"Mark, you are going to be an excellent father. Just look how well you get along with Sarah," Lisa said.
"Sarah is so easy to get along with and love, she is an amazing kitten, just like you are my dear," Mark said.
Lisa too a sip of her tea, lowered the cup back to the table, then asked, "Mark, I have a serious question to ask you."
"Go ahead and ask, there are no secrets between us Lisa," Mark said.
"What would you have done if I turned down your proposal of marriage and continued with my career as a dancer?"
Mark reached across the table and took Lisa's paws in his. He looked into the eyes that held his very soul and answered, "Lisa, I would have been devastated if you said no. I made my mind up as soon as our first date was over that one day, I was going to marry you. If you turned me down, I would have been a broken shell of the tom that I am today. I wouldn't have joined the Enforcers and I definitely wouldn't have joined SWAT. Knowing you loved me and were going to marry me, made me into the loving husband that I am today. However, your condition would have forced you to leave professional dance, at least as a performer so this conversation is completely hypothetical."
"No its not Mark. I might not have been able to perform on stage again. However, I could have gone into choreography and continued working alongside my fellow dancers," Lisa rebutted.
Mark never even thought that Lisa could have become a choreographer and never married him. He took a breath, then nervously asked, "Do you regret saying, yes?"
Lisa loved Mark with every fiber of her being and she knew he loved her so his question made her stomach lurch. She looked away from him towards a painting of a Koi pond and responded, "There is not a day where I don't think about why my life would have been like if I stayed with dancing. Being on stage and performing was something that I love dearly.
Mark felt his stomach drop as Lisa answered. He was beginning to think she regretted marrying him and having his family.
Lisa turned her head back to face him and noticed the pain in his face. She never once regretted saying yes to his proposal to their marriage or getting married to him. But the expression on Mark's face clearly told her that he was having doubts. She continued, "However, there is also not a day that goes by where I don't see you in my life as my husband and father to our kittens. The love I feel for you outshines the love I feel for the stage. Even though I still long to feel the stage under my feet again, I don't regret the day I said yes to marrying you or the day I said I do."
"I love you Lisa," Mark said.
"And I love you too Mark," Lisa replied.
They drained the pot of tea without another word spoken between the two. However, the tiny little touches and gestures the two shared spoke a thousand words of love and devotion between them.
The hostess returned to see Mark stroking Lisa's fingers with his own as he peered into her eyes. She picked up the empty pot as well as the two cups, placed them on a small circular tray, and said to Lisa, "You are a very lucky she-cat. Your husband is so in love with you, its clearly written all over his face and shown by those tiny motions of his fingers. I hope you both love each other this deeply for the rest of your days."
With that said, she returned to her position behind the counter and started washing the pot and cups.
Mark stood up and paid the check for the tea. He then walked around to the other side off the table, pulled out Lisa's chair, and offered her his assistance with standing up.
Lisa graciously accepted his offer, but when she was on her feet again, she kissed him nice and hard. She withdrew from the kiss, then said, "Don't you ever doubt that I wanted to marry you ever again! I love you more and more each day and now that we are married, I plan on loving you until the day that I die!" To accentuate her statement, she kissed him again.
Mark's body responded very favorable to her kiss. He pulled her tighter to his large frame, letting her feel how she affected him.
Lisa's eyes shot open for a second when she felt something poking at her expanding stomach. She withdrew from their kiss, then said, "Mark, when we return to the Saito's tonight, you are mine!"
Mark kissed her one more time before he pulled back and said, "For all eternity Lisa, shall we head out?"
Lisa slowly removed her arms from around his neck, placed them on his arms, while he removed his paws from her waist, and grasped his paws in hers. As she stroked his fingers with hers, she said, "I want to see this city."
They left the tea house, paw in paw. Looking like a pair of newlyweds and not caring in the least.
As they waited in front of the terminal for their tour guide, they heard a gun shot from the alley. The two heroes nodded in silent acknowledgment and ran down the alley.
Mark was the first down the alley. He encountered two young cats with slicked back black hair, wearing white t-shirts and black jeans. Both of them had ornate dragon tattoos on their arms and one was holding a small pistol. He grabbed tom's arm that was holding the gun and snapped his arm, not hard enough to break it or cause the tom harm, but enough to make him drop the gun. "Don't move!" Mark roared as he subdued the tom.
However, as the tom was being confined, his friend, pulled out a knife from his left boot. After he lowered the calf of his pants leg, he attacked Mark, slicing his left shoulder open.
Mark barely felt the blade slicing into his skin. But when Lisa saw the attack happen and the deep gouge in Mark shoulder, she screamed in fear for his life, "Mark!" Before she focused on her husband's assailant, and roundhouse kicked him in the right temple, sending him to the ground and knocking him out.
"Nice kick honey," Mark said right before the stinging pain from the wound kicked in. "He let go of the subdued tom, grasped the wound, then said through a grimace of pain, "This really hurts!"
Lisa was already checking on the victim and found out, he was dead. This is the second time she had seen a dead body and she would never get used to it. Since she was with child, her stomach betrayed her and she doubled over and lost it.
Mark was instantly at her side, shoving the pain he was in out of his mind. The only thing that mattered to him was his wife and un-born child. He placed his left paw in her left shoulder and asked, "Are you alright dear?"
Without moving, Lisa responded, "No, I'm not alright. This is the third dead body I've seen and I don't want to see another one as long as I live!" She then turned her head and noticed the amount of blood Mark was losing from his shoulder and said, "You are worried about me? Look at your shoulder! You need a hospital!"
"I'll be alright Lisa," Mark said before he really took a look at his shoulder. He removed his right paw from the wound and blood gushed out of the open cut. "Alright, I guess I do need a doctor," he said.
A pair of squad cars entered the alley with their lights on and sirens blazing through the afternoon's sky. The doors to one of the cars opened and an officer got out of the car, with his or her weapon drawn.
Mark and Lisa couldn't tell if the officer was a male or a female. Not that it mattered to either of them. All that they cared about was to get Mark to the hospital to get stitched up.
The officer quickly checked the dead tom's body before checking on the two perpetrators and finally Mark. As the officer crouched down to examine Mark's shoulder, her cap fell off allowing her long black straight hair that was lightly streaked with gray to fall down her back and over her shoulders.
Mark looked at the officer and could not believe what his eyes were seeing. As much as he loved Lisa, this she-cat looked like one of those porcelain dolls you would find in an Antiques shop.
The officer examined Mark's wound, turned her head to look over her left shoulder, and yelled in Japanese, "Call for an ambulance and bring me the Medic bag!"
The other officer who was standing by outside of his car, quickly ran to the back of his patrol car, opened the trunk, and withdrew a medium sized duffle bag with reflective strips on both sides of the bag. He quickly brought it to the first officer and set it down before removing the radio from his belt and calling for backup.
The first officer opened the bag up and removed three large gauze pads as well as some two inch medical tape. She ripped open the packaging for the gauze pads, letting the wrapping fall to the ground as she placed them over the gaping wound. Finally, she pulled some tape from the roll and secured the gauze to Mark's shoulder before she asked, "Are you two out of your minds? You are obviously not from here and yet you both took down two professional assassins!"
"Miss, we are both Enforcer officers from MegaKat city. We heard the shot and just acted like we would back home," Lisa responded.
The officer turned her head to face Lisa, then said, "That maybe miss,.."
"Mrs. Samuelson," Lisa added.
"My apologies, Mrs. Samuelson but you are in Japan. Things work differently here as you can quite imagine. There are still lots of cats that hang onto the 'Old' ways as you witnessed."
"Things are pretty much the same where we are from as well miss," Lisa rebutted. "Only the methods are slightly different."
The officer refocused on Mark's shoulder, checking on the bandage before she stood up, looked Lisa in the eyes, then said, "A pregnant she-cat shouldn't be charging into situations that might get her killed or potentially injure the fetus. What type of mother are you, Mrs. Samuelson?"
Lisa couldn't believe the gall of this she-cat, questioning the type of mother she was going to be. She scrunched her face, perturbed by the line of questioning from the officer, then she asked, "What's your name officer?"
"It's Saito, Aya Saito," she responded.
"Saito? As in Yoso and Natsume Saito of Osaka?" Lisa surprisingly asked.
"You know The Yoso and Natsume?" Aya replied.
"Yes, my husband and I are their guests while we are in Japan. Might I ask you a question?" Lisa answered.
"Go ahead," Aya said.
"They told my husband and I, their sons never married, why do you have his last name?" Lisa asked.
Aya heard the ambulance off on the distance. She nodded to her fellow officer, who was securing the two perpetrators in the back of his car, then said, "That story is not for public ears. I'll explain at the hospital. Mr. Samuelson, your ride is here."
The ambulance arrive just as Aya finished speaking. The two techs got out of the ambulance and got to work on Mark's shoulder. One of them questioned Aya as to what occurred while the other one attempted to assist Mark in standing. However, since Mark was much larger than a tom in Japan, he had great difficulty is assisting Mark in standing.
He eventually gave up and asked the other tech for assistance. Between the two of them, they were able to assist Mark with standing and onto the stretcher. Once he was secured, they pushed him over to the ambulance where he was loaded and the doors closed.
"Mrs. Samuelson, you will need to ride with me to the hospital," Aya said.
Lisa was watching the two techs load her husband into the ambulance when she heard Aya's voice. "May I kiss him before they take him to the hospital?" She asked.
"You may, but make it quick. He lost a large amount of blood already. I'm not a trained medic, but I do know that amount of blood loss would take out a tom half his size," Aya said before she returned to her car.
Lisa went over to the ambulance, opened the rear door, stepped inside, and kissed Mark before she said, "They are going to take good care of you. I'll see you at the hospital." She kissed his left cheek before she said, "I love you."
"I love you too Lisa, I'll see you at the hospital," Mark said as he laid his head down to the stretcher.
Lisa backed out of the ambulance and closed the door. The ambulance departed out of the alley and made a right turn, disappearing from her sight. She walked back to Aya's patrol car with tears of worry staining her cheek fur and when she got into the car, she asked, "Will he be alright?"
Despite her questioning Lisa's motives earlier, she knew what is was like to lose someone very dear to her. She grasped Lisa's left paw in hers, and answered, "He should be fine Mrs. Samuelson." Aya put the car in gear and as she followed long behind the ambulance, she continued, "You asked why I have the same last name as Yoso and Natsume earlier? The answer is before Ushio was killed, he and I made a kitten together, before we were wed. His name is also Ushio, named out of respect for his late father. Yoso and Natsume don't know they have a grandson despite us remaining close after we buried my beloved Ushio. I changed my name to Saito after Ushio was born."
"Aya, why would you deny them from knowing their possibly only grandson?" Lisa asked.
"Yoso is slightly old fashioned. I am not sure how he is going to react when he find out Ushio and I had made a child without being married first?" Aya answered.
Lisa covered Aya's paw with hers as she said, "Yoso is going to love being a grandfather to Ushio. Just this morning, both he and Natsume wanted to hear tiny paws on the floors again. Trust me, they are going to love Ushio."
"Perhaps," Aya said before she pleaded, "Please, let me be the one to tell Yoso and Natsume they have a grandson."
Lisa smiled for a second, then answered, "I promise, my lips are sealed."
End of Chapter