Inside the main entry desk area to the inner sanctum of Shadowlaw's main headquarters, Mrigranka, a powerful man waited.  This man was huge, towering an entire head's length over nearly anyone else.  His revealed chest had a massive scar on it, and the bald man's stature, hardened look, and eye-patch showed that he was definately a veteran of battle and even life, and had been hardened by its many hardships.  He was Sagat, one of the four lords of Shadowlaw, many of whom were by his sheer presence intimidated in an effect second only to Lord Bison's, himself.

Yes, any normal human being would have been intimidated by his mere presence.  What he was dealing with, however, was not a normal human being.  It wasn't even human at all.  It was a mere metallic dummy with a speaker on its mouth from which a normal human being could speak from the safety of far away.

Sagat walked up to the metal dummy in the chair and proceeded to talk to it.  "This is..."

"Helloooshi!!"  The speaker on the dummy yelled. "Who iiis it?

This is Lord Saaagat.  He who can not even defeat little steamroller giiiirls in random chaaallenges!!!

Lord Saaagat?  What do you waaant?  And why could you never beat Ryuuu or Makoooto?

I want to see Lord Biiison.  To tell him about this powerful steam roller girl!  And it's because I suuuck!!!

Why, thank yooou!  Good luck beating that young little girl neeext time!

Very weee-ell!  Arigaaatou!!"

The large man stared at the dummy in surprise.  He didn't even get to say a word yet.  He REALLY hated it when this particular high command secretary was manning the desk.  He was PISSED!  Damned coward didn't even have the guts to man it himself and always instead spoke his words out through the speaker on the dummy while he hid off and watched from the inner sanctum.  Insulted, Sagat stomped off angrily as the sulking scientist behind him indicated with her facial expression that she shared his pain for this particular circumstance.  Annoyed at knowing what response she would get, Janet walked with heavy footsteps to to the desk.

"I demand to see Lord Bison NOW!"

The robot was fast to reply.  "Who iiis it?

Tis Jaaanet!  I want to see Lord Bisooon!  Me see him nooo-ow to whine about Rose some more!

Lord Bison does not have time to see yooou!  He is a very busy man with better things to dooo!

I appreciate you telling me thaaat!

Thank yooou!

No, thank yooo-uuu!  Arigaaatou!!"

At this, Janet angrily grabbed the metal dummy by the neck and started shaking it violently.  "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T SEE LORD BISON?!?!  We go back a lot farther than YOU!  I..."

"Helloooshi?  Oh, Doctor Jaaanet!  What are you doooing?

Why, I am attacking an inanimate metal duuummy!  I must have severe anger frustration proooblems!

Might I suggest a psychologiiist?  You know where Doctor Irvine's office iiis!

That's a good ideeeaaa!  Arigaaatou!!!"

"ARGH!"  Janet pounded the desk in frustration.  She knew they were watching her, but she didn't care.  Crazy girl thought that she and Lord Bison 'going a long way back' gave her the right to own Mrigranka.  Lord Bison was a busy man who didn't have time to yabber to all these whiny fools.

"I swear, I think you get more and more snappish with those people every day."

Soldan Zeindrekson quickly turned around and away from the monitors to see his co-worker, Lauretta Terdizsh, behind him.  Only one of several secretaries stationed in High Command, the long haired blonde was perhaps the most beautiful one.  It was a rather insignificant trait, though, as she usually wore the formal suit which caused her to blend in with everyone else, since it was to everyone's advantage that Bison see them all as just a nameless collective of accountants for him, after all.  Everyone feared being singled out by the head of Shadowlaw's judgement.  Soldan also wore the generic secretary suit, and while he always thought he was rather good looking, himself, with his clean cut sleek dark blackish brown hair, he also tended to blend in, complete with glasses to make him look like just another nerdy paper-work manager.

"Really, Sol, should you be that mean to Doctor Janet?"  The beautiful blonde girl leaned back and shrugged.  "Bison probably keeps her close to reward her loyalty and long term committment.  You'd better be careful because she's rather intelligent.  The girl would have slept her way to the top if Cammy didn't come along."

"Rewarding Janet's loyalty?  Posh!"  Soldan scoffed.  "Really, I have a better word for it.  It's not a blood relation but to me it's god damn nepotism all the same."

"Ah, biased favoritism, but it's towards one who had the potential to be his lover."  Smiling, right hand on her hips, Lauretta waved one of her fingers of her left hand at Soldan.  "Now, I could tell you that..."

"Oh, I know the drill."  Annoyed, Soldan interrupted as he went into a Lauretta imitation.  "Hello!  Tis Laure-etta!

Why helloooshi, Laure-etta!

Let's have seee-ex!

Okay!!  I shall promote yoo..."

He quickly glanced at the really really pissed off woman, who remained silent yet still convinced him to quickly twist the imitation and self-conversation a bit.

"Shut up now or I'll kiiill you!!

Very well theeen!  Graciooo-us."

With that, he shut up.  Fortunately, it was good enough for him to avoid the bitch slap of doom because Lauretta decided to go off on another subject.

"Speaking of kill... you caught the latest Asia report, right?"  Lauretta rolled her eyes and sighed.  "Lord Bison will kill US when he hears about it."

"Oh stop it."  Scoffing again, Soldan looked off to the side.  "Lord Bison probably doesn't even know our names.  He has better things to do than worry about the messengers.  We can handle this.  What I want you to do is... well, what was the exact report in Asia again?"

His co-worker replied matter of factly.  "Shadaloo maintains satisfactory security of only sixty five percent of the primary objective landmarks for this quarter, but we only have sparse amounts of influence in about thirty-four percent of the rest.  There's also a one percent part which is being heavily contested right NOW."

Hmm.  That was pretty bad, especially since thanks to their last projections and forecast for the month, Lord Bison currently believed that Asia wasn't supposed to be a problem area for Shadowlaw at all.  Interpol must have either stepped up its actions there, the other local ruffians got inspired again, or they just happened to have come across a nasty string of bad luck and coincidences.  Hmm.  Better act fast.  Well, first thing was first.  Still calm from the lower-than-preferred number of fully secured areas, the man explained to Lauretta the solution.  "We'll include a disclaimer that this is mostly due to the... business cycle of crime."

"Business cycle of crime?"

"Of course!  All things are done in cycles.  Crime is no different.  Do you have any other reason that could explain why rival criminal activity there seems to be stepping up lately?"

"Not really..."

"See?  Now anyway,"  Soldan continued.  "Do we have any spare 'uber' units at all?  We need to dispatch a few to see if we can save that one percent."

"Soldan, we don't have the funds to get anymore at the moment!"  She protested as she took out some reports and looked over them.  "We had to use what little we could muster for this month!"

"What are you talking about?  Give me that!  Here, let me read this..."  The man angrily snatched away the paper and read through it annoyed, a little, before becoming wide-eyed with shock.  "What?!  This can't be right..."

Lauretta sighed.  "Yes it can."

"The Yoyo Yoshiba?"

"PETA has it."

"The Jarungagalamesh?"

"I think some hunters hired by Baxter Corp killed it.  It was getting too rowdy.  Maybe they did us a favor."

"Markoloso?"

"The Markoloso unit is off in another important mission and due to an encounter with Interpol, we really can't call them off."

"Death-Xlar?"

"Currently still following a mission given long ago by Lord Bison personally and thus off-limits to us."

"Barney the Purple Dinosaur?"

"Dealing with public television is a bitch.  And... when did we ever have Barney the Purple Dinosaur?  Stop that!"

"Oh screw it!"  Annoyed, Soldan snapped his fingers.  "Someone get me the closest available dolls!  Those two brunettes standing in the entry area right now should do.  It's risky but we need whatever we can get our hands on.  I hate this job."

Shadaloo Special Force Shock Troops under Lord Bison's personal command are designed for mass demolition.  Agent Juli and Fenrir, neither of whom are one of these, receive their next errand from High Command.

Find and retrieve the Special Force Shock Soldier, Yuki no Onna, the Snow Woman!
 

Another one already?  That was random.  No reprimand for REALLY fubarring her last few missions, no acknowledgement that she was even doing anything... she didn't even get to say "Hi" before she found herself slapped with a new order from High Command.

Why was Lord Bison asking her to retrieve that Yuki Onna girl?  Wasn't she ridiculously incompetent?  That's what Agent Juli heard from various talks among higher ups.  And yet, here she was, heading over to some random bath house where Yuki Onna was apparently located, according to Shadowlaw intelligence.

None of this was making any sense.  Juli was supposed to be extremely depressed and traumatized from that last mission as well as anxious about her punishment, but all she could be right now was extremely confused.  Of course, then again, maybe it was better that way.

Maybe recalling how the mission orders were stated might give her some clues as to what was going on.  Oh wait... yea, that was probably it.

"The fact that Bison called this an errand and not a mission must be him insulting me for fubarring the last one... guess I can't blame him though."  Somewhat depressed and looking at the floor, Juli continued to walk along, talking out loud to no one in particular, even though someone was around to hear it.  A very annoyed someone.  Juli's current 'partner' for this job wasn't very amused.

"That doesn't explain why the hell I'M here!  I didn't fail anything!  At least, not recently."

Looking up long enough to watch Fenrir rant to herself even more than Juli was doing, it slowly began to dawn on Juli that maybe, things weren't supposed to be this way.  Since when was she actually sent on missions with Fenrir of all people, anyway?  Heck, walking along with the bowl haircut Asian agent who just previously threatened Juli with death by the sword just felt really awkward.  Where was Juni when you needed her?  At least Fenrir herself was being rather easy on Juli at the moment, though, thanks to a favor Juli accidentally did for her.

"Why a hot springs sauna?"  Fenrir's ranting continued.  "I thought Yuki was supposed to be a legendary ice spirit of sorts.  Wouldn't she melt?"

"Guess she's not that kind of ice spirit."  Juli replied with a shrug.

"So, how did this stupid girl break free of control again?"

"Our mission... erm, 'errand' orders say she just stopped responding to psycho drive signals sent out by High Command for some reason."

"Well, guess we should look on the bright side, huh, Juli?"  Fenrir's current wavering between bitchiness and her newfound perkiness was sorta creeping Juli out too, though she had to admit she preferred it to the demon of death that Fenrir was like, sometimes.  "Look at where this mission takes place!  We get free passes to a bathhouse!  Mrigranka doesn't have any of those."

"Yea, really.  They said it was way out of the budget."  The brunette annoyedly muttered.  "Though... it's a bit out of our league, isn't it?"

"Juli, you seem a bit tense."  Fenrir's arm was around Juli again.  That was also disturbing.  And who was she to call Juli tense?  This was all just so weird.  "We should see this as an opportunity!  To relax, just take a break, and as a reward for everything great that's going on in life."

Oh joy.  One of her best friends who she practically fell in love with just recently tried to kill her and now she was supposed to... oh wait, Fenrir was right that a break was probably a good thing at this point.  Juli DID need to relax.

Hmm.  Fenrir's actually a rather decent conversation partner when she isn't bitching about you.  Before she knew it, Juli was already at the front gate of their destination.  Complete with gatekeeper to greet them.

"Welcome to the great Chinese Fat Monk Bath House!  Not to be confused with the also great Japanese Sumo Bath House."  The large fat bald-save-for-single-pig-tail loin-clothed man greeted.  "I am C. Toyota, a fat monk champion!  Ha!  None have defeated me except those that have defeated me!!!"

"Oh yea?"  Fenrir boasted as she countered with her most intimidating look and unsheathed her black sword.  "This is Stormbringer, sword of death which has devoured one hundred human souls!  You'd best stay back!"

"Oh, I know what it is! In fact, I have it's sister, RAINTAKER, sword which has GIVEN one hundred human souls!!"  C. Toyota happily countered as he whipped out a ridiculously pure white sword, the exact opposite of Fenrir's dark one.

"Raintaker?  What the hell?!?"  Fenrir stared at it wide-eyed in surprise.  "How the fuck does a sword GIVE souls?!?  WHAT is that supposed to be?  The magical sword of life?!?"

Juli simply showed the ticket to the guy, who barely noticed, and decided to use the distraction to pass by while Fenrir continued arguing with that weird person about all-powerful swords of life and death.  Knowing Fenrir and her love for her... um... swords, those two would probably be arguing forever.

The place WAS nice though.  Juli didn't even enter the huge pagoda based buildings yet and already the whole atmosphere (both the literal and the emotional) felt really soothing.  While she waited an eternity for Fenrir to get done with her sword contest, she might as well follow Fenrir's advice and enjoy herself.  Only, she didn't know where the heck she was suppose to go from here.

"There are you!!!"  A loud voice spoke in a dialect of Mandarin which Juli was just barely able to translate.  Unfortunately, when the pissed-off Chinese manager walked up to her, he began speaking a lot faster than Juli could translate.  All Juli could do was stare in confusion as the man continued to babble on faster than she could understand, but she did think she heard something about not being in the right place.

Hmm, he must have wanted her ticket.  Were all bath houses this rude to their customers?  It rather annoyed Juli that for the high price it probably had, the customer service was certainly atrocious.  She quickly handed the man the piece of paper she was given for the mission to get him to shut up.  Unfortunately, all it did was cause him to get angrier and shout at Juli.  The man was speaking incredibly fast and it was causing her head to hurt until she finally caught something about her being a 'stupid soapy girl.'

That remark earned the man a hearty bitchslap of customer anger.  Which earned Juli what was apparently a big burly escort by big burly bouncers off the premises.  Juli wondered if she should have just started beating up people right there but instead soon found herself forcefully shoved into a large private bath area.

The customer service there was really atrocious, indeed...

To regard the mountains of China, one may first think of the paintings on the walls of Chinese restaurants. Many people don't really care about them.  But it's another to actually be there.  Especially when one - rather two - are riding in a black limousine.

"Aah, travelling in style.  This is more like it.  Gotta love that little TV, too." Yun flipped through the stations and found nothing except static and nature documentaries in a dialect of Chinese he wasn't too familiar with.  He switched the TV off and reclined on his leather seat with a big sigh of contentment.

"Tell me again why we're here?" Yang asked.  He sat, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his chin resting on his hands.  That pensive look said it all.  "You never know should something happen while we're away."

"Nonsense!" Yun scoffed.  "We can't let these free tickets go to waste.  Face it, Yang, you're excited to be here too."

"Yes..."

"Then have fun!  Smile!" Yun grinned.

"Something still brothers me... How could a low-budget movie company afford free tickets and free accommodation to such... a place."  Yang bit his lip.  "Too suspicious."

Yun shrugged.  "No ordinary low-budget movie company can afford this stuff.  You knew that Fei Long got paid 3 million US - that goes without sayin'.  Those people go for style.  Every one of their kind do.  The least we can do is take up their offer.  It'd be a waste of big bucks and a fun time."

"Their kind... You make it sound as if we had absolutely nothing to do with them... And we're now just some honor-bound fight for justice, generic heroes... Things have changed."  Yang looked up at Yun and had the misfortune to picture his brother in a green communist uniform.  In the younger brother's mind, Yun's expression melted until it switched into a panic - "Oh no, Fei Long!  We're driving in an illegal limousine!  What do we do?"  And then, Yang burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Yun asked.

"N-nothing." Yang choked in between laughs.  "Nothing at all, Skippy."

Yun kicked his brother from under the table.  "Sure thing, Spikey.  'Oh no, Fei Long!  It was raining and my hair fell on my face and I can't seeeeeeee!  What do I do?'  'Use more hair gel, of course!'"

Yang returned the foot jab.

The window opened and Yun's curious eyes peered through.  "We're here!"  He yelled, beating the limo driver to the call.

The vehicle slowed to a halt at a luxurious pagoda in red and green, of which would perfectly finish the mountain painting.  Too bad Yun and Yang didn't have a chance to see much of it as their view was soon that of a lot of skin.

"Welcome to the great Chinese Fat Monk Bath House!  Not to be confused with the also great Japanese Sumo Bath House." The large fat bald-save-for-single-pig-tail loin-clothed man greeted. "I am C. Toyota, a fat monk champion!  Ha!  None have defeated me except those that have defeated me!!!"

Yun put his hands on his hips and cracked his neck.  "So then let me, the greatest Kung Fu fighter in the world, be one of those people who have defeated you.  It'll be over in 10 seconds - c'mon!"

Yang grabbed Yun by the arm.  "Not now!  We don't need a fight after we just got here!"

"I can take him!  C'mon, Yang, let me shave off a few hundred pounds from him!"

"Perhaps you could try after you put on a few hundred pounds!" C. Toyota laughed.  "I am 300 pounds more the man than anyone else except for the ones who are 300 pounds like me!!!"

"300 pounds and who's army?  The only army I need is - " Yun rolled up his sleeve, " - this!"

"Oh ho!  So you think that midget army can take on the great champion, C. Toyota!  Little boys like you are not worth my time!  I must go on to do bigger and brighter things, such as my great Japanese Sumo Bath House...!"

Yang shook his head and sighed.

A good half hour later, the verbal spar was finished and Yang finally managed to convince Yun to go inside.  C. Toyota was still rambling and would probably be there for awhile.

The front area was spacious with palm trees decorating every other side.  The man by the desk appeared somewhat frazzled but still nice.  He said something to them in a dialect of Chinese that neither Yun nor Yang were too familiar with.

"Yo, buddy!  You speak any Cantonese?" Yun asked.

The man gave him a weird look.  Apparently not.

"Then write down what you're saying.  Saves us a heck of problems." Yun continued, making a 'writing on paper' gesture.

The man only gave Yun more weird looks and continued to babble.  However, he held his hand open to show he wanted the tickets.  Yun handed them over.  The man looked at them, nodded, then continued to lecture in that same dialect.  Why the heck he was continuing to talk and not write things down when he knew they didn't understand a word he was saying, Yun didn't know.  They might as well have been watching those nature documentaries.  At this point, the elder brother was getting fed up.

"Do you speak-a any Eenglish?" Yun blurted loudly in heavily accented English.

The man gave him a weird look.

"I don't think-a so!  We only speak Eenglish!  Do you understand?  I want to tell you that your mother is a fat cow!"  Yun switched to Japanese.  "Japanese we too only speak!  Truly sorry!  I can't tell you any other way to say your mother is a fat cow!"  Yun switched to his native Cantonese dialect.  "There's as many dialects of Chinese as there are variations of Kung Fu, so there ain't no way we'll understand you unless we lived on this dinky mountain too!  This also means there ain't no way I can get you to understand that your mother is a stinking fat cow!"

Exasperated, the man simply gestured to the left.

"Thank you!" Yun waved and walked off.  Yang followed.

They barely walked a few feet before the man cried in English, "Fuck cow fat fry!"

Yun burst out laughing.  "I'm glad you noticed that about your mother!" he called back in English and continued on.

Yang chuckled as well.  'I'm glad to see big brother is back to his usual self.  It's almost like old times.'  His gaze went to the floor as he still continued to smirk.  'Grandfather praised us on learning English.  However, we couldn't tell him about us learning Japanese, considering grandfather was alive during World War II.  We only learned Japanese to deal with...'

"Hey, Yang.  How small is your towel?"

Yang glared.  "Decent length."

"Too bad.  So is mine."

Yang raised his eyebrow.  "Why ask such a thing?"

"No idea.  Just felt like it."

To the end of the hall were rows of small lockers and some bathrooms.  Yun and Yang placed their things inside and left the room wearing nothing but towels - and Yun still had his hat.

"You know..." Yun said as they headed down another hall.  "I'm glad we finally get to relax.  It's been a long month."

Yang nodded.  "It has."

"Yeah!  Baths, here we come!"

Yun slid down the wet halls as if he was on his skateboard.  He glided straight into the next room - an outdoor hot spring, tranquil and empty.  Yun pulled off his towel, tossed it in the air, and jumped into the water.  When Yang arrived, all he saw was a blue and yellow cap and a braid floating on the water.

"Woo-hah..." Yun exhaled as he stood, catching the towel with a free hand.  Strangely, neither his cap nor his braided hair were wet.  "C'mon, Yang.  The water's great!"

Yang walked in.  The water felt great, just like Yun said.  He felt his muscles slowly relaxing.

Yun leaned on a rock wall.  He folded his towel and placed it on his head.  Stretching his arms outwards, he heaved a sigh of contentment.  "This is the life, eh?  No more problems.  No more stupid morons who want to take over the town.  No more violent girls... and finally, no more training."

Yang sat next to Yun.  "When was the last time you were in training?"

Yun blinked.  "Huh?  Did you say something, Yang?  I think I got water in my ears."

"Grandfather won't be too pleased to hear you're slacking again."

Yun grinned in response.  He said not a word for half a minute.  Then, his hands suddenly sprung upwards along with a good dose of water, splashing Yang in the face.  "And right now, you're going to relax."

Water dripped down Yang's bangs which conveniently parted to one side of his head.  He looked blankly at Yun for a second.  Then suddenly, Yang locked his arm around Yun's neck and nearly shoved Yun's head under the water.

"Take that back!"

"Make me, Yang!  Blebbhhh..." Yun twisted out of the submission hold and returned the favor.  Now Yang's head was the one under the water.  "You're sounding more like an old man every day!"

"...... bllbhhff........"

"What did you say, old man?"

"Home... I love my home..."

Yun pulled Yang's head above the surface.  "See what I mean?"

Yang blinked.  "That wasn't me."  He had somehow heard that voice over the water, apparently.

"What the hell...?" Yun peered over the rock ledge behind him.  At the very top was another spring in which had gathered several old men.  Withered old men, mind you.  To the side, father down from the spring Yun and Yang were in, were even more old men.

"In my time, I used to go outside in bathrooms like these." crooned one.

"You still do, you know!  Where have you been?!"

A third chimed in.  "In my time, the greatest thing on earth was Doraemon.  Now they have that Hello Kitty something or the other."

"They're dissing Hello Kitty?" Yang muttered angrily only loud enough for Yun to hear.

Unfortunately, the old men on Yun and Yang's level noticed them before the twins were able to sneak out. "Hello there!  You two youngsters join us, you hear? Show some respect for your elders."

Yun and Yang waded to the old men's half of the pool, albeit very reluctantly.  "Comin' to relax like we are, huh?" Yun asked nonchallantly.

"Relax?  RELAX?!" spazzed one of the old man, nearly shaking his dentures.  "You boys should be out plowing fields or taking care of your folks!  Why in my days, I was a healthy young lad out tendin' the horses!  Not an easy job it was, nope.  But I had to do what I had to do!  I respected my elders!"

"In my time, I wish I was as young and healthy as the both of you.  I was a scholar.  A quiet lad who studied alone in Peking.  Then came the great World War II.  Nearly took my life and my left leg.  If I was strong and healthy, I would have had an easier time getting away from those enemy soldiers..."

"You young folk spend your days out partying or whatever hip-hop ruckus you all do.  But I'm telling you, if you continue, you're going to blast your ears off.  You youth think you're invincible.  But let me tell you - you're not!  Okay?  You're not!  Why, when I was a young lad..."

'Impossible to relax in a situation like this...' Yang thought.  He quietly muttered to himself and to Yun's earshot, "Stupid old men..."

One of the old men caught Yang's remark. "That's no way to talk to your elders!  Why, if I said that when I was your age..."

If there was one thing the Lee brothers had in common, it was sentiments for old men.  They both respected them to some degree - Yang moreso than Yun.  Preaching, babbling old farts were another story.  Yun decided that it was time to leave
before he got violent.  "So, old men.  We're going to be goin' now... have fun talkin' 'bout how much you want us to live your good ol' days."

"Wait a sec!  Come back here, sonny - we're not done talkin' yet!"

Too late.  Yun was already out of the pool with Yang on his heels.

"Where are we going?" Yang asked.

"Wherever." Yun put his hands behind his head.  "If this entire bath dump has nothin' but old farts then it's a total waste of time..."

As Yun spoke, somehow, the hallway carried on a more youthful atmosphere.  The walls seemed to become more pink but it was probably Yun's imagination.  More plants hung from the walls and ceilings, and along the way, they encountered some very happy men and some women.  The more they continued, the more they heard giggles of girls.  At the end of the hall was a lit room - where the giggles were coming from.  Pushing aside a pink hanging drapery which hung over the door, Yun was immediately met by a petite Chinese girl.  She was clad in a silk, see-through negligee.  And best of all, she was extremely pretty.  Tilting her head coyly, she smiled in a way that was both cute and alluring.

"Welcome, handsome x 2." she winked.

Yun's jaw couldn't be any closer to the floor.  ".... maybe not."

Welcome to Chinese Sumo Bath House.  No, monks.  It was monks.

Like monkeys!

Of course, there weren't any monkeys here.  And this was just a random reception area now.  There were still lots of pretty plants and a small marbled fish pool nearby, but Yuki wasn't allowed to touch either because there wasn't THAT much warmth to go around.  Right now there were two customers at the reception area.  The managers told her, 'Just do a good job, and they'll give you those shiny coins and that pretty paper with the pretty drawings that feels so good to touch.'  But the best part was how warm this place was in general.  It was a warmth everyone could share.  She missed her psycho feedback she got though, but it was blocked out by the warmth, and the warmth was better!

"Yuki no Onna?  We're here to take you back."

Psycho feedback?  It was two of them!  Those were two of the... um... teammates, was it?

How did they figure out it was her though?  The warmth allowed Yuki to maintain a solidity of her own, so she wasn't really too ethereal anymore, whatever that meant.  The managers told her she was beautiful, like that nice guy with the cap who helped her find this place such a long time ago.  And the managers even gave her this shiny bright light red kimono, with built in electric heat generators.

The youthful practically ex-snow spirit decided that she might as well start off like how she always did, here.

"Welcome to the Japanese Monkey Sumo!  We always... um..."

Why were they looking at her like that?  They looked confused and maybe slightly annoyed.

The brown haired one with the bun was speaking to the other.

"Fenrir, let's just get her and get out of here.  That jerk off gate guard called me a stupid soapy girl for crying out loud."

Two stupid soapy girls?  Ah yes!  Soapy girls!  Two stupid soapy girls!  Shadowlaw sent over two stupid soapy girls just for Yuki!  This would make her job much easier!  The other two soapland girls that were supposed to come didn't arrive yet, and the bath house needed more soft porn.  Yuki wasn't sure what soft porn was, but it was soft, so it had to be something nice.

"Your designated baths are baths twenty-three and baths twenty seven!"  Yuki even remembered where the two soapy girls were supposed to be assigned!

"Really?"  Bowlhead girl's turn to speak.  "Of course!  We'll be right there.  Hey Juli, did you hear..."

"I thought YOU were supposed to be the one forcing me to stay on track, Fenrir.  Not vice versa."

Uh oh.  The two soapy girls were arguing.  But they had to get to the baths soon!  When in doubt, freeze the dissenters, they told Yuki!

Zap!

Oh wait.  Or was that just something Yuki told herself?  People weren't supposed to know that she needed more warmth than everyone else.

"OOoookay, you just turned Juli into an ice block."

Uh oh!  What to say to the Shadowlaw soapy girl?  Um... Yuki suddenly realized that maybe she just had to repeat herself.

"Baths twenty-three and baths twenty-seven!"

"Whatever.  Juli, we'll figure out how to handle this girl at... erm, baths twenty-three and twenty-seven.  I'll take twenty three."

Oh!  There goes the ice block that Juli was in.  Yep!  This place was really really warm.

"Ack!  Um... yea, sure... right."

It was time for Yuki to wave to the Shadowlaw agents! "Bye bye, stupid soapy girls!"

It confused Yuki to see the soapy girl with the bun in her hair stopping, though.  "Can I kill her?"

"No."

Then the soapy girls were gone.  Ah well.  It was time for Yuki to wait for more customers.

Welcome to Chinese Sumo Bath House! Come in and soak all your problems away! We have baths for everyone of all shapes and sizes! We have a lower spa for old men who can't walk too far. We have baths for sumos of course, because it's the Sumo Bath House! We even have a soapland section for all you weary men and questionable ladies -

- if you have a reservation.

"I'm sorry, sirs, but I do not see a Y. Lee on the list. I do have a Wily but I do not believe you are one in the same." the slim girl chirruped.

Yun stretched impatiently. The smell of female pheremone was killing him so much that he couldn't get any closer. "So.... when you gonna have free room?"

"Let's see..." The girl shook the list free from its roll.  The tail fell to the ground and continued to roll down the hallway. "I can fit you in January of three years later if you wish."

Yun coughed. "Three years and I'll be 20! You really can't fit us in today? At this rate, I'll beat up the next guy who's got a reservation today."  He cracked his knuckles.

"Oh, but sir, you do realize this is not sex establishment!"  This girl didn't speak Mandarin too well.  "Soapland are girls who wear... lacy teddies and give you bath and a nice time.  There is no sex.  That is why young, handsome boy like you may enter."

"Oh, hey!" an airy voice called from behind.  "It's Mr. Yun!  Hiiiii!!"

Yun had only heard that voice once before, but recently.  And heavens forbid he forget a pretty girl's name in front of her!  "Yuki no Onna!" he waved.  "You took my advice after all!  How're ya doin'?"

"I'm doing fine!  Thank you."  Yuki glided along the floor - as if she was floating - towards thee Lee brothers.  The other girl moved aside upon assumption Yuki would be taking over the post.  "Who is that with you, Mr. Yun?  He has funny hair like a porcupine!"

"....."

"That's my brother - Yang.  Yang, this is Yuki no Onna.  We met during the battle of Jokuzetsu."  Yun gestured.

Yang nodded.

"I am glad we met!  Otherwise I wouldn't have known of this wonderful place known as hot springs!"  Yuki smiled.  "I work here now!  This is my new job!  I'm very happy to be here.  Are you two here for work, too?"

Yun waved his hand. "Naw, we're just here on vacation."

"REALLY???" Yuki exclaimed.  "Then I can help you too!  Oh, I know!  We just got two new girls today and they are free.  I think they're... um...."  She scanned her list, "twenty-three and twenty-seven."  She gave each brother appointment cards.  "It's only an hour but you'll have lots of fun!  Okay?"

"Ya sure?  This is great!  Thanks, Yuki." Yun grinned.

"Anytime!" Yuki waved.

The brothers walked in the large room.  It appeared to be one long hallway with multiple numbered doors, obviously where the baths where.  Yun whistled cheerfully as he gazed at his ticket number.

"I got twenty-three.  What'd you get?"

"Twenty-seven."  Yang muttered.

Yun slapped Yang's back.  "Don't look so uncomfortable. We're here to relax!" He paused.  "Oh, I know. It's because you're not into women, right?"

Yang jumped. "No! Of course I like women..."

"Then relax!" Yun waved and walked towards room twenty-three.

Yang glanced at his ticket again, then the door number.  Twenty-seven.  He hoped he'd get a decent girl like Rin-Rin since any other kind of girl makes him uncomfortable...

Room twenty-three.  Another room with one of those slide-door thingees.  Worked fine.  As Yun slid the door open, he caught a whiff of female scent and some other things he didn't want to think about - or care about for that matter.  The room itself was totally made out of wood and ceramic.  A giant bubble bath sat in the middle of the room and it looked great.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Yun called.

"So anyway, I can't believe they didn't make any accomodations for you." The girl, sitting at the far end of the corner, was obviously speaking to someone else.  On closer inspection, he noticed her - a pretty girl with black hair in a bowl cut - polishing a katana.  "Don't those idiots know you'll rust in the water?  I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay on the floor for now, but at least it looks like it was recently washed, I suppose." She set her sword to the side.

This has got to be his soapland girl.  She was cute.  Really cute.  And a sword lover too, most likely a warrior.  Made her even more attractive.  Since she wasn't paying any attention to him, he went to her.  "Hey there... nice sword ya got." Yun grinned.  "I can see you take real good care of it."

"Wha?" she quickly reached for her sword, then stopped.  "Hey!  Watch it.  You might have reasonably good taste in weaponry and know a great swordmaster when you see one, but that's only barely enough for me to forgive you for barging in on me like that.  Who do you think you are?"

"Who am I?  I am the Yun Lee - the greatest Kung Fu fighter in the world and all around nice guy, and your new charge." he tapped the girl's head with the slip of paper.  "Of course I know my swords.  Mine's grade A - wanna see?"

"Hey!  HEY!  What are you doing?  New charge?  ...Oh dear god, you can't be serious."

"Dead serious.  But don't worry.  I'm not the kind of guy to force myself upon a pretty girl like you."

"Whatever.  It looks like I'm stuck with this.  Very well, you can simply call me Fenrir.  Don't even think about reading into any dirty connotations for that.  Do I know you, though?  You look familiar..."

"It's a promise, Fenrir." Yun gave a two-finger salute.  "Of course you've seen me somewhere before.  I'm famous.  I was even in a movi-- I get around." he shrugged.

"Erm, thanks. A movie? ...That's right! I saw you before in a movie.  Some really horrible incredibly terrible piece of crap which if there was any justice in the world would never have existed... oh wait, I forgot that people don't like hearing about how much they suck.  Besides, I'm probably thinking about the wrong movie... no wait."  The truth suddenly dawned upon Fenrir.  "LITTLE SKIPPY!?"

"One in the same." Yun forced a smile with a sideways mutter - "Unfortunately."

"...damn.  DAMMIT.  Erm, I mean... wait.  Am I paid to lie and pander to you by saying I'm your biggest fan?  I never got to see my contract."

"Yep.  For one hour, you're gonna make me a happy man.  But, of course, if you're new at this, I'll give you a helping hand..." Yun put his arm around her.

Fenrir slapped his arm away.  "Back off, Little Skippy.  I don't need your help to know what I'm doing.  I've been trained and versed in all manners of stabbing, people being run through, and even know how to get a sharp sword crammed down someone's throat farther than you'd ever believe."

Yun whistled.  "Them's fighting words.  Is that a challenge?" He playfully put up his guard.

"Why, yes!  Let's play a little game!  Here, let me just..." Fenrir knelt and reached down but her hand brushed the floor.  Not what she was expecting.  "Huh?  What the?"  She looked behind herself.  "How'd my sword end up all the way back there?  I could have sworn that I put it right here..."

Yun tapped his foot impatiently.

Not good.  Stall for time?  Better.  "Heeeey!  I know!  Why don't you just take a dip and relax while I go prepare to give you a nice massage?"

The boy was a bit skeptical but shrugged.  "Sure.  Ah... I could use a good back massage." Yun slipped into the bath with a big "Aaaahhhhhhh...."

"I'll be right there, Little Skippy."  Fenrir cautiously slid back, grabbed her sword, then kneeled down to Yun.  "Now, this might sting a bit."  She unsheathed her sword quietly as to be indescreet and quickly slashed at Yun's back.  The second the blade connected with his back, there was a big flashy light which blinded Fenrir.

"That felt good.  Mm... a little lower, to the right..." Apparently, Yun didn't notice.

Fenrir was almost pupiless.  "Aaaah... hang on.  I think I just blinded myself... by your powerful back muscles!"  While still in shock, she reminded herself to disinfect her mouth as soon as possible.  'What the hell just happened!?'

Yun grinned, not looking at Fenrir.  "I'm sure a girl like you can handle me... rub here."  He gestured to a part of his back.

Still blinded, Fenrir plopped hand on Yun's hair.  Then on his shoulder.  Yun reached back and moved her hand to the right spot.  "Oh. Right."  She began rubbing with one hand randomly while holding her sword with the other and staring at it.  "Raintaker!?  What the hell?"

"Somethin' I can help you with?" Yun asked.

"Yea, you wouldn't happen to have a sword on you, would you? I mean, a really sharp powerful one. Known for sucking out the soul of whoever it pierces and glowing an ominous light whenever it stabs through its screaming victim."

"Haven't seen anythin' like it... You a Star Wars fan?"

"Hmm... well, I did like a particular scene where a villain in that movie got sliced in half, like this!"  Fenrir slashed at Yun.  And once again, a blinding light shone from the blade and nearly blinded her.  "...Okay, who the HELL made this stupid thing? Seraphim!?"

Yun thought, 'Some service - girls that try to kill you. Doesn't look like this sword does anything except blind her to death so it's no big deal.' he shrugged.  "In the meantime, wanna polish my sword?"

"How about my sword meet yours?" Fenrir grumbled a bit annoyedly to herself.

Yun overheard.  "My sword don't need any of that healing power of yours. It's already at it's full potential. It's unsheathing now..."

'Someone just shoot me.'

In the background, a water flowed down from several rocks, the miniature waterfall creating a constant splashing noise which more resembled the sweet smooth purring of a kitten than the roaring of Niagra Falls.  Soft bells and the tune of the lullaby echoed throughot the large marble room, as Juli made sure to turn on the music box that Folken gave her for this occassion.  The roof was almost higher than the eye could see it seemed, the task made all the more harder by the beautiful shine of the sun coming in from the glass circle above.  The water rippled gently, a slight dipping sound as she gradually put her foot in.  How was it supposed to work?  She decided to test it out a bit first, thankful that the fact that her 'uniform' was waterproof enough, even though perhaps a swimsuit would have been preferred.  A look around the area made Juli wish that Mrigranka had scenery like this.  She heard rumours of private sanctuaries within that were as great as the most luxurious of resorts, but they couldn't have been this good, could they?

She didn't speak the words, but she hummed the tune to herself.  Her 'voice' musically sounded throughout the walls, simply bringing back to her memories of a time when she didn't have anything to worry about.

And so, with that, she fully went in.

Springtime... forever...

Gloves off, her soft hands slowly reached back and undid the bun in her hair, which fast rolled down...

Forever now together...

The two hard plastic accessories hit the hard floor outside of the spring, and she slowly let the water from the waterfall run over her, her revealed back to the wall, the hum of her music still ringing throughout the area.

We'll be together forever...

If he didn't already see what was supposed to be the perfect setting, maybe it was there, now.  It wasn't just the lush scenery alone... the sound of the running water and the music flowing through the air, and the soapland girl... with her bare back to him... near the waterfall.

Yang stared for a long time in shock before quickly blurting out, "Forgive me!  I deeply apologize.  Nobody answered the door..."

He bowed in apology, albeit extremely awkwardly.  Juli didn't have time to pause in the awkwardness though.  When she reflexively turned around and saw the young man, she yelped and immediately dived behind the waterfall where he couldn't see her.  Her reply was somewhat embarassed, somewhat aggravated, and all confused.  "What are you doing here!?"

"I was sent here upon recomendation..."  Juli couldn't get a good view of him from her ducked position behind the running water, but she could tell he was blushing heavily.  Nervously swallowing, he continued before quickly turning around so he wouldn't be looking in the brunette's direction anymore. "Forgive my intrusion..."

"Well, yea?  You should have knocked first!"  Juli snapped, until she recalled that she probably was too distracted to have paid attention to a knock, anyway.  "...no, that wouldn't have worked.  Wait, why the heck am I hiding like this?"

Now that the instantaneous and shocked feeling from being stepped in on like that died down, Juli was quickly able to regain her composure.  A quick look at herself reminded her that all she took off so far was her gloves, anyway.  It was just that the doll uniform was open at the back, and the whole scenario made Juli curse inwardly that someone up high was probably playing a cruel joke on her.  She stepped out from behind the water fall to chastise the guy some more.  At least, as much as she rationally could.

"You really should have been more careful!  Because otherwise... bad things would have happened... or something like that."

"Yes..."  Staring at her, Yang paused, not even want to move any farther in than the door.

As Juli looked down at herself to see what was wrong, she gradually came to the realization and was really grateful that the material of her 'uniform' was both waterproof and reasonably thick... otherwise the water-soaked doll would probably would have been the epitome of a non-nudity hentai lover's dream.

"Erm... yea..."  The brunette decided to change the subject.  "Wait.  You were sent here on recomendation?  What for?  This is a private area."

"I'll leave if I'm wasting your time."

A piece of paper was handed to her as she stepped out of the pool.  Juli began to read the Mandarin over, slowly.

"You... best... soapy... girl... for you."

A pause.  Great.  It was bad enough to have some person trespass into her private bath at what could have been a very embarassing more privacy shattering moment than Juli could have imagined, but now she was finding out that it wasn't even HER private bath.  She frowned, before snapping out of her trance and remembering that that guy was still there.

"I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this Mandarin.  But... you really mean it?  I'm... just not in... the mood to give anyone a soap bath right now."  Thankful that the nice person gave her the option to make him leave, Juli shuddered at what she thought she was supposed to be doing as a 'soapy girl'.  Then she realized that the sheer fact that that guy offered that to her was interesting, in and of itself.  "Maybe I'm just reading into things, but you don't seem like the type of guy that would enjoy that, though.  How did you end up at a place like this?"

"My brother's idea."  He looked off to the side, before looking inquisitively at Juli again.  "... You're not a regular for this line of work, are you?"

All he seemed to have on really was a towel.  But it was nice to see someone who's upper body didn't have that horrible scars that the constantly shirtless Sagat had.  The hair was an interesting single forward spike style of sorts, though it's style was as neatly and combly done as the aura the young guy seemed to have.  His face, though calm and composed, still showed an energy of youth and determination.  One that wasn't insane and the eyes of a nut like most of the people back at Mrigranka.  It was nice... to meet someone else like that, even if there seemed to be a distant sadness in those eyes.

"I'm... new here, yea."  Juli finally answered his question.  "Your brother made you come here?  I sorta got dragged into this, myself, by an aquaintance of mine.  It happens to me often, whether it's a new friend who likes me suddenly for some weird reason, or my 'sister' of sorts.  And I guess thanks to it, I'm... supposed to be your soapy girl now.  Please don't take it personally when I sigh for a bit over this."

He was nice, but Juli still had her dignity.  Even if her outfit of choice was one that made her and the rest of the girls in her unit get dubbed 'Lord Bison's personal harem.'

"Hm."   He simply stood there in reply, or lack of, as if to say he didn't really care one way or the other, then looked down to the bath.  "You should be the one in there."

"Really?"  He was offering her the chance to go back...  "This is just... awkward for me.  Though... thanks, I guess.  But it's really your money that you're spending, isn't it?"

It was awkward indeed.  Too bad, since Juli realized that the scene began to remind her of her deceased friend.  Right then if she were there, Avelle would be thinking that this guy didn't look that bad, and would more than take the opportunity to 'share', assuming she didn't take the opportunity to give this person a soapbath first.  But even as Avelle's music box slowly finally finished its tune, Juli realized that she couldn't bring Avelle back to Shadowlaw or life even simply by acting like her.

"I'm sorry, you're nice enough to not dub me 'your soapy girl', so I should be giving you my real name.  I'm Juli.  A... part time... not-so-soapy girl."

"... Yang.  Yang Lee."  He gestured with his arm for Juli to enter the tub.

"Oh, hello then, Mr. Lee.  Or... erm... Yang.  That sounds better."  Juli was about to do something like shake hands, but it seemed too formal, and she finally noticed the gesture.  "And... thanks a lot for all of this."

She quickly ran back into the water then paused, waist high in the pool, and turned back to look at Yang curiously.  With a nod in reply, Yang sat by the edge and motioned to Juli to tell her it was okay to turn around.  Juli first reached over to rewind the music box, and the music began to fill the air once again.

It was just nice to be able to relax again.  So she turned around, and put her hand to the waterfall, letting the water fall through her fingers.  Then suddenly, hands grabbed her shoulders, but gently, as foreign thumbs rubbed circles on her back, untangling knots in her back and ..

Hmm...

Yang was thinking.  "Grandfather always says to take care of the ladies."  Massaging her shoulders, Yang took his own look at the music box.  "... Do you like that music?"

"Mmm... yea... it's a tune that belonged to a good friend of mine."  Juli softly closed her eyes as she continued speaking.  "It really didn't suit her rather flamboyant personality that well now that I think about it, yet... I guess the whole theme of relaxation is something everyone could appeal to."

Even someone as wild as Avelle, it seemed.  Something that apparently peeved off Avelle's pseudo boyfriend Folken to no end. But... inwardly, Juli sighed.

"But she's gone now.  A friend kept that music box in her memory, but recently it's fallen under my care.  There's just a part of me that doesn't want to let go of the past, I suppose."

"....."  Yang was quiet for awhile, lost in thought and trying to think of what to say before he finally replied, "... Some things can't be let go of."

Thinking to himself, Yang was reminded of his own history.

"Even Rin... or the past my brother and I share..."

He exhaled, but he had nothing left to say.

"It really is that way, isn't it?"  Someone who understood what it was like.  To lose people that you held very dear to your heart, but truthfully unable to do anything about it, even if you were there...  "I very recently lost yet another good friend of mine, too.  You could almost call him a boyfriend, but we were closer than that.  Yet... I still keep living on.  I still have other people who need me, though.  I suppose that counts for something, at least."

Yang didn't reply with his voice.  He simply moved his hands downwards to continue the massage.  To him, it was kinda like shiatsu, massaging using the good pressure points, slowly easing away the pain that cummatively builds up on someone's back as an eternal burden is being wiped away.  On his face, there was a slight smile, as the soft lullaby music continued to play on.

And on...

Until it was finally disturbed.

Fast footsteps echoed across the marble as Fenrir charged into the room.  "Juli!  We have to..."

Silence.  The lullaby continued as Juli and Yang both stared at the sword wielding girl with a look of shock as well as slight embarassment on their faces.  Fenrir's facial expression was the same.

"Juli.... what are you doing?  Or... rather, what are you having get done to yourself?"

More silence.  Juli blinked a couple of times.

"Hello?"

The brunette quickly broke into a nervous smile, though Yang managed to keep his composure.

"Why, Fenrir, I was just enjoying a friendly conversation with my new friend Yang here, heh!  It's... a friendly conversation!  Where we talked a whole bunch.  About things!  Friendly things!  But only friendly!"

Even more silence as the music box slowly came to a stop and Fenrir watched with raised eyebrow.  Juli decided to continue, hoping to get rid of the awkwardness as fast as she could.

"Erm, Yang, this is a friend of mine.  She seems to want to talk to me about something.  Could we have a moment of privacy?  Though it won't be long."

With an understanding nod, Yang stood up and left the area.  The nervousness gone, Juli shot Fenrir a semi-angry glare.

"Really, Fenrir, what's going on?  I was just getting to enjoy myself."

"Juli, I've been thinking... we need to get this mission over with.  It's been fun, but we really shouldn't be meandering like this.  For Shadowlaw's sake.  Um, yea!"

Standing up, the brunette put her hand on her hip.  "What's wrong?  I was enjoying being with that guy but... oh wait, let me guess.  You got..."

"I don't want to talk about it."

Juli sighed.  There wasn't any avoiding it.  Fenrir was right though.  They sadly couldn't be there forever, even though Juli kinda wished they were.  Just once she'd like to freeze everything so she wouldn't have to lose anyone anymore, but it looked like that wasn't happening anytime soon.

"Okay, Fenrir.  But how do you propose we take Yuki back to Mrigranka?  I'm still trying to figure out why we were sent, since we're not exactly supposed to be on the same league as those ubers like Yuki."

"She's not that powerful, really, Juli.  The crazy ignorant girl never trained to hone her abilities.  Look, once I figure out where Stormbringer is, I'll be able to 'convince' her to come with us soon enough."

"What are you going to do?  Stab her?  She's ethereal, remember?"

Fenrir glanced at Raintaker.  The sword wasn't her style, but it was a sword nonetheless.  It seemed like it was sharp, even though it couldn't really cut anything.  She wanted Stormbringer back.

"Stormbringer eats a lot more than just flesh, Juli.  We'll bring back Yuki's soul then.  I'll just have to remind Stormbringer not to digest it before it can regurgitate it.  All I have to do is nab back my baby from that idiot Toyota then give Yuki some of that impaling Freudian joy, then we're out of here."

That was... a rather mean thing to do, wasn't it?  What if Yuki wanted to stay?  To stay with normal people who appreciated her.  People who cared for her, or at least that seemed to be the case since Juli couldn't figure out why anyone in their right mind would otherwise hire that dangerous klutz.  But a job was a job, and Juli had to do it.  So she nodded.

"Right.  You're right.  Let's go."

Behind the door, Yun twirled his cap.  He heard everything.  "I knew something was up."

There wasn't any expectations of what would happen next.  Juli realized that Yang would respect her privacy.  He just seemed like the type of person that one could trust.  Of course, Yang's brother was a decidedly different person, and didn't know about what Juli asked Yang anyway.  While Fenrir fiddled with Raintaker, still trying to see what was up with it, the brunette stepped out of the room to look for her missing male companion, but spotted his capped brother instead.

"Oh, excuse me, have you seen... erm, a handsome guy who looked sort of like that anime character, um... what was the name?  Dual TaxWell?"

Yun shrugged.  "If you mean some teenybopper who looks like me, he went thataway." he gestured behind him with his thumb.

"Thanks."  About to take off again, Juli stopped to do a double take.  "Wait.  You... Yang's brother, right?"

Before Yun could answer, Fenrir was with Juli again.

"I found it!  Stormbringer was rusting behind the waterfall.  That idiot C. Toyota included a note with it asking if I found Raintaker to 'suit my needs' better.  Bah!"  Fenrir would have bitched some more about random irrelevancies, but she quickly noticed Yun right in front of her partner for the mission.  "Damn... why me?  Look.  Yun.  Go away.  Okay?  Awaaaaaay.  Come on, Juli, we have to get going."

"It's all right, I'm going." Yun waved and turned the corner.

When the two girls were out of earshot, Yun muttered quietly enough so only the person beside him could hear - "Told you something's up."

Yang stood there pensively.  He couldn't imagine that Juli would do such a thing.  But harsh reality killed imagination more often than not.  "What are you planning to do."

"Protect Yuki, of course.  Whatever they're planning, it ain't good." Yun replied.  "I just got a bad feeling 'bout this.  Yang, you go get Yuki.  I'll get Fenrir and what's-her-name Gun Damn Tsubasa fan."

"... Understood."

Wandering down the hall, heading back to the room of the snow girl, Juli wasn't having second thoughts, exactly.  Regret, perhaps, but she knew what she had to do.

"Fenrir, we're members of Shadowlaw.  It's an evil organization.  There's no denying that.  Sometimes, we have to do ethically wrong things, even if we try to follow whatever personal code we set for ourselves as much as possible.  So, we'll almost kill this Yuki girl without guilt, and rip her away from this place where she's so happy, because that's what we have to do."

Fenrir came to a halt, then glared at Juli.  "Mmm hmm.... mmmkay, why are you telling me this, now?"

Her glare made the brunette quickly look off to the side in order to escape it.

"I don't know."

"Right, Juli, right.  Hurry up."

Following the angrily marching Fenrir, Juli soon found herself back at the main lounge where they had met Yuki before.  Or would have, but the two found the two dragon brothers standing in their way first.  Unaware that they weren't there as a coincidence, Juli was rather relieved.

"Oh, Yang.  I was worried I wouldn't be able to talk to you one last time."

A cough was quickly thrown in her direction by Fenrir to hurry things up.  Inwardly, Juli sighed to herself then quickly finished things up.

"I... need to check out for the day.  Some urgent business came up in the land of soap.  This is really rushed, and I really did enjoy meeting you, but Fenrir and I have to get going."

Yang didn't reply.  Eventually, his brother did, though.

"But hey!"  Yun grinned as he put his arm around Fenrir.  "You don't have to go so soon, do you?  I mean, we just got here and the fun's just started..."

Fenrir was giving Yun the 'You're joking, right?' glare, but Juli was still attempting to take the opportunity to stay around longer whenever it presented itself.  She figured there really wasn't any rush, after all, and still wondered why Fenrir wanted to leave so quickly.

"Okay!  Sure!  We'll..."

"AHEM."

Really quickly.

"Dammit, never thought I'd see the day when I'd be telling someone, 'You're no fun.'" Juli thought to herself before looking at Fenrir and crossing her arms.  "Hmph!  You're no fun..."

Fenrir decided to just ignore her and finally shoved Yun aside.  "Move out of the way, Skippy.  I actually have a real sword now that could easily slice yours to ribbons."

The remark caused Juli to look at Fenrir quite awkwardly, wondering exactly what kind of exchange she had with Yun earlier, though Yun surprised her even more when he challenged Fenrir as he made a rolling-up sleeve motion, even though he didn't have any sleeves at the moment.

"I don't need a sword to beat on you, even if you are a girl."

Suddenly, the atmosphere immediately changed.  Tension appeared out of no where, and Juli was trying to figure out why as Fenrir began to draw her sword.  Before anything could happen, however, Yuki had noticed all of them and came up to them trying to figure out what was going on, herself.

"Um, excuse me.  Is something the matter?"

Even though she noted Yuki's presence, Fenrir was half-ignoring the ethereal kimono wearing girl in favor of settling whatever score she apparently managed to rack up with Yun in the short amount of time the two dolls were at that bath house. "Well well.  Little Skippy's buttons are easily pushed when the foreplay is proposed to be rough?  I'll gladly oblige.  Here, Juli, why don't you and Yuki go wait over there in that other room.  Things might get... nasty."

Yuki was the one to speak up, though Juli was still just as confused as she was, even if the brunette was concealing it.  "Huh?  I don't understand."

Whatever the case was, it was finally time to get out of dodge after all.  Juli wasn't sure if she wanted to see what was about to happen.

"You heard her.  There's nothing to understand.  Come on, Yuki.  Let's go while they... play around nastily.  You have that electric kimono turned on, right?"

Normally, Yuki was near untouchable, but if that kimono provided enough heat for even a girl who according to Shadowlaw data, killed others just by standing around them and sucking up all their body heat through sheer diffusion of temperature alone, it probably was good enough for Juli to drag the snow girl away by.

"Yea, but..."

"Good."  Juli immediately grabbed Yuki by the kimono sleeve and started dragging her towards the exit.  Which only caused the tension to snap, and Juli to suddenly realize that the situation was much more worse than Fenrir simply being ticked at Yun for what was probably a disturbing sword comment.  The brother in question quickly shouted after Juli before Juli could even get near the rice-paper doorway.

"You're not getting away!"

What did it matter if she 'got away'?  Why would they care?  Time slowed to a near halt, as suddenly Juli realized the only possible solution.  Of justice seekers and goodytushus, who just had to step into the affairs of others for no reason.  It was obvious that they knew what Juli and Fenrir were doing, and the mission itself was too spontaneous for Interpol to possibly know about.  They had to...

No, Juli couldn't believe it.  Even as Juli reflexively shouted the battle plan to Fenrir, her mind couldn't believe it.

Time resumed.

"Damn!  Fenrir!  Operation Human Shield, NOW!"

Fenrir didn't even bother to question Juli's command, either because the spur of the moment made her not realize she was following Juli's command, or because she just didn't care when there were much more important matters, throwing a nearby old man at Yun.

Operation Human Shield... Operation Human Projectile... it was close enough, except Yun simply punched the old man aside, causing the old man to scream as he flew through a nearby rice-paper wall.

Fenrir cursed.  "Damn, that didn't work."

"Try again! We have to bring Yuki back!"

Human projectile two was a random cute girl besides Yuki who came along and was also watching the show.  This time, it actually worked.

"Whoa...!"  Yun caught her safely, skidding on the floor, and giving Fenrir and Juli just enough distraction to escape from him.

"Sucker!"  Fenrir taunted as the two agents were about to get away, until Yang ran in front of them and quickly grabbed Yuki, himself.

"I'll be taking her."

"Oh!"  Yuki blinked.  "The Porcupine head!"

Juli didn't even offer any resistance as the snow girl was snatched away from her.  Seeing Yang go against her made her enter a state of shock again.  She was trying to rationalize why all of a sudden and how Yang could be doing that.  Even as Fenrir began to give her ultimatum,

"Okay, Little Skippies x 2, you're starting to get really annoying."

All Juli could do was watch as Yang took Yuki away... from her, and dashed back to his brother's side.

"Hand the girl over, or I'll be forced to use drastic measures!"

Didn't they know what they were doing?  Was Yun really doing all of this just for a girl?  Why was Yang going along with it?  Why was he going against her?

Fenrir unsheathed her sword.

Yuki No Onna, the snow woman.  She never even killed on purpose.  Shadowlaw simply directed her somewhere using the psycho drive and she'd kill everyone in that vicinity just by standing around as they all froze to death from her presence.  He was going against her for a girl.  HE was going against HER to help his brother SAVE a cute girl!

Fenrir entered her combat stance.

And it was a dangerous cute girl whom the only reason that she hasn't gone on a non-purposeful killing murdering spree was because this bathhouse happened to find a way to contain her first and now Yang was going to die because he couldn't even look past the need to help his brother because his brother was unable to look past his need TO SAVE STUPID CUTE GIRLS FOR JUSTICE and now he would die for it!  Because Juli was going to kill him for betraying her, just as she had to kill everyone else.  Because it was her JOB, and they were forcing her to do it!  Just like Bremare, just like Avelle...  Wait.  Yuki was the one that was going to kill them.  Juli suddenly realized that was her last hope.

Fenrir prepared to strike.

"Yang, what are you doing?  That girl's more dangerous than she looks!  She can kill you with a single touch!  I'm serious!  And entirely by accident, too!"

Fenrir stopped.  Annoyed, she turned to glance back at the brunette.

"Look, Juli, really.  You should leave the diplomatic approach to your partner.  She does it much better than you."

Juli simply stared back in silence.  The Asian girl not even noticing Juli's dismay finally was slowly dragging the other agent back to reality.  Things were already set in motion.  Time resumed, and it wouldn't be entering slow motion again.

Yang smirked, seeing his opportunity.  "Only if you can catch me."

With that, and with Yuki, he immediately did a kaihou dash with Yuki, grabbing her and becoming a speeding blur as he zipped away.

His brother was still hitting on the girl that was thrown at him, but had actually already caught on, himself.

"It's my turn already?  Damn."  Yun immediately hopped towards Fenrir with a lunging Zesho Hohou punch.  The girl quickly reacted and brought up her sword to slash Yun away, only to be blinded by a huge flash that sent her and Yun flying apart.

Fenrir leapt to her feet and glared at the pure white sword in her hands.  "Raintaker?  AGAIN!?  Where the hell did Stormbringer go?!"

In the background, C. Toyota happily waved the sword in question.  "Me like this pretty black sword I now have!"

Fenrir quickly grabbed it back as Juli made a sniping arrow kick towards Yun, which missed him by a mile.  It was actually Juli's intent to miss though, since the fast flying forward kick positioned her behind him, where she could run after Yang without his brother getting in the way.

Yun tried to Dakai Fenrir, but instead of opting to defend, Fenrir decided that the mission objective took priority and ran off.

"Yang!  Watch it!"

Yang dodged out of the way of Juli's next sniping arrow, and the doll landed in front of him, quickly turning around while trying to catch her breath.  "You're going to go through all this trouble just for this girl?!  Yang, I have to take her back.  Even if that means I have to beat the crap out of you just to do it."

Finally realizing the true reason why Juli and Fenrir were there, a look of fear crossed Yuki's face.  "Take me back!?  But... but  Mrigranka is so cooooold and I don't want to go home!!!"

Yang, determined more than ever, set Yuki behind him and entered fighting stance.  "You'll have to get through me."

So that was truly it then.  ....well, in the end, Juli was sadly used to it.

"I suppose we should finish this, then."

She quickly made her own lunging punch towards Yang with her spinning knuckle, and a large dustball ensued as the two assaulted each other with a flurry of punches, with Yuki caught right in the midst of it.  Until Yun calmly walked into the dustball, then walked out with the poor confused snow girl.  He grinned at her.  "So, you wanna catch a bath, Yuki-chan?"

Yuki could barely have time to stare at Yun with her confusion when a floorboard nearby popped open, and Fenrir popped out of it, quickly grabbing the girl then laughing at Yun.

"Yoink!  Ha!  You didn't think we actually came here without any information on the location we were going to, did you?"

Yang and Juli stopped dustballing each other as Juli took in what Fenrir just said, then stared at her questioningly.  "We did?  But we didn't even know we were supposed to be soapy girls..."

"Okay, so I found this passage by accident."  Fenrir shrugged.  "Juli, stop making out with Yang and get going.  I'll meet you back at base."

Juli stared in silence as Fenrir fell back through the floor with Yuki, and the floor panel closed.

The mission was accomplished.  What more was there to say?

There was one more thing.

There weren't any tears in her eyes.  Possibly not even any in her heart.  She only knew him for a short time, but even from that short time, she could already see that they could have understood each other.  She didn't know why he had to save Yuki, but she realized that he surely had his reason.  In the end, there could be nothing that could stop it.  So Juli turned to Yang, and saluted.

"Good... bye... Skippy."

Then she ran off.

"Every day I dreamed... that I wasn't me...  What did it matter?  What could I have done and how!?"

"Juli, I'm so sorry that I had to break up your discovering the joy of having a boy toy, but QUIT YOUR BITCHING, DAMMIT."

Which airbase were they at, now?  They all looked the same to Juli by then.  This one was actually a public airport which Shadowlaw happened to have some influence in, but... they still all looked the same.  Waiting for High Command secretary's plane to come, Fenrir decided to further try her own way of comforting Juli.  Or at least stop her whining because it was getting annoying.

"Juli, don't think I don't realize it.  For some reason, you're feeling some regret at that whole fiasco with Yang, aren't you?    Don't think that I haven't gone through worse.  You're just being really IDIOTIC right now."

She was being brutal, but honest.

"Juli, we live... in a world... of assholes, okay?  There are people, Juli, who are nothing but broken.  You think they understand you.  You feel that you relate to each other.  You think that you can trust them.  Then they turn around, and they stab you in the back."

That... was right.  Juli wasn't the only one that Bremare betrayed when he defected.  She needed to talk to someone about it.  There was no Avelle or no Bremare or no Yang anymore to ask.  In a way, Fenrir actually kind of scared her.  It wasn't long ago that Fenrir threatened her about what would happen to her if she actually succeeded in that mission to kill Bremare.  Fenrir was... well, not exactly insane, at least not by Shadowlaw standards.  But the determination of hate in her eyes was easy to see when Bremare ran away that day, and Juli really would never forget it.  Yet... she really needed to talk to someone about it.

"Fenrir, what would you..."

"Kill him."  Fenrir bluntly answered Juli's question before Juli could even finish.  "Juli, we have to keep fighting on.  We fight and keep trying hard, despite always being at a disadvantage.  Look."

Fenrir turned to the shivering and depressed snow girl.  Huddled in a corner, Yuki still had her electric kimono on, but she was shivering nonetheless at the prospect of being dragged back 'home'.  Looking at Fenrir, she slowly stopped then stood up, making one last vie for her freedom.

It was... less than dramatic.

"Why couldn't you just take back Shidoshi, instead!?  And then there was Sybuticus that cybersnake she-man!!!  S/he was niiiiice!!!  Why don't you just get more people like himher instead of dragging me home where I don't want to go?!?"

Fenrir ignored Yuki's question, instead asking one of her own.

"Yuki, tell me.  Where is Shidoshi now?  I hear she died at the battle of Jokuzetsu."

"Huh?  What?"  The snow girl blinked as an ethereal icy question mark appeared above her head, before it turned into an exclamation point.  "Oh!  Shidoshi!!!  Maybe, but she'll be back!  She has this odd way of coming back.  It's weird, and can I go back now?"

Not responding, Fenrir closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Do you see that, Juli?  How could I ever hope to outclass that?  Shidoshi... Shadowlaw's premiere special shock sword wielding soldier.  No matter how hard I train, I could never survive the damage I hear she went through at Jokuzetsu.  It transcends how much a person can improve themself without anyone else's help."  Fenrir's eyes opened.  "Bremare could have helped.  Imagine that... the power I could have had if he had just given it to me.  Shadowlaw had the resources.  Look at the cyborg Bruticus.  And yet, he denied it to me."

Fenrir drew Stormbringer and spun it around, then quickly turned her head to look Juli in the eyes.

"Do you see, Juli?  When the day comes, I will get my revenge on Bremare.  I needed him, and he wasn't there for me.  I will wash everything away... maybe with a little pain, and things will start over again.  I will keep trying, perhaps because I'm a fool who still thinks there's a possible way, but that's what I keep fighting for."

Juli didn't reply.  She couldn't.  Was that it then?  Simply KILL everyone?  She still didn't know why Bremare ran away and she still didn't know why Yang saw in his heart that he had to save Yuki, yet she knew they must have had their own reasons.  Avelle did, too, even if Juli didn't believe in them, herself.

As if Juli should have been the one to talk.  As the plane landed and a blonde lady member of High Command stepped out to meet the two dolls, Juli knew that in the end, she had done just that.  She killed Avelle.  She almost killed Bremare.  She would have killed Yang probably if she had the chance.  But... but it was her job...

"The mission was accomplished, I see."

No, it was her life.

Fenrir saluted with a grin.  "Yea, it was easy.  We have our ice princess now.  Mission accomplished.  Was there ever any doubt?"

Lauretta crossed one arm, and put out her other hand up and to the side.  "It's too late.  We ended up having to pull out of the sector where we needed her anyway.  Still, you accomplished your mission so Lord Bison won't hold that against you.  On the contrary, your efficiency reports shall be updated according to your performance."

Fenrir was actually happy to hear that, though Juli tended to see things at the bigger picture.  Dismayed at the pointlessness of everything, she smacked herself in the forehead as Yuki cupped her hands together.

"Can Mrigranka have some hot tubs please?"

Lauretta glared at the snow girl.  "We don't have the budget for any hot tubs!"

"You don't?  Well, I can pay for them!"  Yuki beamed.  "The hot tub people take money, right?"

Yuki's question caused the three others to look inquisitively at her.

"Of course they do."  Lauretta answered, managing to keep her composure despite the ridiculousness of the oddball snow princess.  "Now why are you asking this?"

"Oh, I have lots of that stuff!  That nice man that they call the employer gives it to me for helping out around the bath house!"

The blonde lady paused, then slowly asked, "Just how much money do they give you?"

Yuki reached into one of her pockets, then pulled out her employee terms and showed it to her.  Lauretta slowly read it over, then, her facial expression still unchanging, turned to the two agents.

"Agent Juli, Agent Fenrir, take Yuki no Onna back."

Juli stared in shock.  "Huh!?  But we went through ALL that and... Yea... yea, of course."

With a salute, the two grabbed Yuki and proceeded to bring her back, while Lauretta inwardly smiled.  It wouldn't be hard to find a way to get Yuki's paycheck transferred, and Shadowlaw's budget could always use a slight boost.  She actually wasn't the only one who was in a more cheerful state of mood, however.  Juli, while aggravated at the whole pointlessness of the errand, was actually in really high spirits as she and Fenrir arrived back at the bath house.  They could return Yuki!  She could tell Yang that it was just a joke, or something.  Then they could enjoy the remainder of their trip, and things would finally not be so bad, after all!

"Yang's not here anymore!?"

C. Toyota grinned at the flustered brunette.

"They finally left, of course!  Is there anything else?"

That really really really WAS it then.  Odds are she'd never see him again, and her chance was gone.  Dismayed, Juli turned back at the only other one around who remotely understood.  Fenrir had nothing but a simple nonchalant sentence for her, though.

"We keep fighting for that possible way, Juli."

Looking back at the happy sumo... erm, monk across the desk, Juli closed her eyes as she motioned to Yuki to go back.

"Oh yea, by the way," the happy tub of lard continued as the two dolls turned to leave.  "You can keep Raintaker!  It's good for really bitchy people to try something constructive for once."

"WHAT?!?!!?"  Fenrir immediately shot around, but Toyota wasn't there anymore.

"That was pretty cool, huh?" Yun stretched.  He and his brother were outside on their way back to the limousine.  Fully clothed, of course. "A ton better than sittin' 'round complaining about your life like those bunch of old folk.  Plus, we met some really cute girls and kicked some ass.  Aren't you glad you came, huh?" He prodded Yang.

"It... it was an experience, I admit..." Yang muttered.

"You still thinkin' 'bout your girl?"

"S-she..." Yang blushed.  He couldn't bring himself to agree because he knew Yun was making sexual implications.  The younger brother was thinking of Juli.  But not in the sexual sense.  He was worried about her.  She seemed like a decent girl with problems of her own.  Even though her actions seemed suspicious.

Yun was suspicious of the girls' actions too.  But he wasn't going to tell that to Yang.  It was more like a memory to store away until needed.

They returned to the limo.  Yun hopped in the back seat.  "Back to Hong Kong, Alfred.  And pronto!"

The driver didn't face them.  Time passed.  Yun wondered if this guy even listened to him.  "Hey..."

"I'm sorry, boys, but I have to kill you."  He produced a gun and made a giant show of loading the bullet in front of the twin brothers. "Think about it, young ones - Those tickets you were sent.... the whole movie outset was all planned by the Clan of the Underworld.  Do you think we would be so sloppy as to allow any outsider with knowledge of our existance to live?  I'm sorry, boys.  But you will be erased."

The driver lowered his arm to shoot them.  At lightning speed, Yang ducked and spearhanded the man's hand, knocking the gun away.  At the same time, Yun caught the man in a chokehold.  The driver shoved Yun back.  The elder dragon fell back, but used the momentum to backtoss the driver into the back window.

Yang grabbed the key.  The engine turned on.  The car screeched as the younger brother jammed on the accelerator and the limousine sped off down the road.  It wobbled violently from the struggle in the back seat.

"Alley-oop!" Yun cried as he tossed the man's shirt out the window.

"You little punk!" the driver punched Yun in the face. "I'm going to get you for that!"

"For what?" Yun asked as he tore off the man's pants with his feet. That garment, too, was thrown out the window. And a few seconds later, the man, made unconscious by Yun, was thrown out the window.

"What now?" Yang asked.

"Back to the village!  If the clan was responsible for making that movie, then Fei Long's in deep shit." the elder brother called.  "He's still gotta be hanging around nearby."

"All right."

Yun then reached for the cell phone and dialed a number.  He didn't realize he'd be calling them twice in such a short period of time.  "Yo!  It's Yun.  Where's...."  Pause.  "He's not in.  But listen.  I gotta ask you a really big favor.  Yeah, I promise to pay you back... on my honor..."