Crossover of Alsteem

It was a fairly peaceful day, for a change. Lately things were getting rather out of hand but today nothing was happening. Most things happened at night, however, so many people were rushing off the streets in hopes of making it home before the sun fell, in just less than an hour.

The streets of Lapuna were covered in their usual criss-cross of pipes and gears, working hard to keep the town's energy flowing. The lights were already coming on, even though the sun's light was enough to let everyone see fine. Policemen walked the streets, swinging around their batons in preperation to deal with any troublemakers on their level. Of course, everyone in town knew that the policemen in general were not to be relied upon. Bribes kept them at bay, and overpowering thugs tended to make the policemen little more than a simple waste of money. There were police that could fight well enough, but they just weren't as common as this town needed.

As things went, this town needed help. People who tried to help often caused as much trouble as they prevented, so something needed to be done...

----

Sokka was walking home from a weapons shop. He had made a nice find! He had lost his boomerang a week ago, and had been badly needing a new one. The one he found was really nice, and sturdy. It didn't have a single problem returning to his hand when thrown right, and one edge was sharp and the other was not. This setup was perfect for anything he'd need! It didn't cost him as much as he thought it was worth, so he had quickly bought it.

"This is great! Just perfect!" He rubbed the weapon to his face, adoring it like a child might do to a new puppy. He turned a corner and his house would be a little ways down the streets.

--

Kazuma was laying on a sofa at his and Kanami's house, snoozing at the moment. He didn't have anywhere to be until the sun set. He just felt like being lazy right now. And he didn't want to bother Kanami right now either.

--

Luffy was walking the streets, stretching out his arm. He was wearing his more comfortable red shirt with blue cut off jeans today. He just felt wild lately. Maybe it was the lack of anything happening. In any case, he was actually on his way to meet someone at a place that served his favorite meat, but also served nice shakes. Of course, Luffy was only interested in the meat.

He burst open the door to the place and shouted, making his presence known to the shopkeep, "MEEEAAAAAT!"

--

Gakupo was meditating, currently, in his eastern styled dojo basement. He sat in preperation. He could feel something brewing. If he weren't careful, he'd be caught off guard. This won't happen. He'll be ready.

The door to the basement slid open silently, barely a whisper in the air. A gloved hand softly creaked as it gripped the handle of a wakizashi and pulled it out of its sheathe with a quiet "sssshhhnk". Golden eyes watched it's target carefully as bare feet walked across the tatami floor, hands moving its weapon into an attack position.

A short pause... then Yuma attacked!

~

Nezumi was exhausted. His dress was a little itchy, he was disgustingly sweaty, and he was sure his make up was ruined. But at least the show was a hit. He certainly loved the theater, but he needed a break now. All the lights and rehearsals and crazy fans were getting just a little too much.

"MEEEAAAT"

Yuki turned her head to the all familiar exclamation. She smiled brightly, standing in her chair and waving the older male over, "Over here Luffy-Oniisan."

She called him that but he wasn't actually her brother. Rather, he was someone who had helped save her from some rather scary men. The girl came from a wealthy family and was quite the popular singer despite her age. The men were planning to kidnap her for the money, it was lucky Luffy came when he did. Even luckier that as it turned out, she was a Meister and he was a Gentry.

Sitting next to Yuki, a red haired teen was noisily slurping a can of oil with a straw. It would have been an even odder sight were it not for her robotic joints, marking her as a machine rather than anything human. This was SF-A2 miki. Yuki's bodyguard as well as android nanny. She had been with Yuki since she was an infant. She had been checked in for maintenance on the day of the attempted kidnapping.

------

"Hey, Kazu-kun, can you go to the-" Kanami had called from the other side of the room and walked around the sofa only to pause mid-sentence when she noticed the man was sleeping. She let out a sigh. That man seemed to have gotten lazier as of late. Well, she didn't mind so much. That was just the way her Kazu-kun was. Still, he could do more to help out. So she puffed out her cheeks and tried her best to look intimidating like those nice ladies at her job advised, "Wake up, Kazu-kun."

-------

"Princess Powerful saves the day again!" Molly said triumphantly, puffing out her chest and had one foot on the purse snatcher she just pulverized. Once again she had dragged her Meister along for another round of vigilante work. She even wore a ridiculous cape and mask. She even tried to get Ritsuka to wear a matching set and go by the codename Wonder Cat.

That didn't turn out as well as she had hoped...

Ritsuka stood off to the side, still looking annoyed at what had transpired earlier between him and his Gentry. Sometimes he wondered why he hung around this girl. Or maybe it was more why the girl hung around him despite his attitude. She reminded him a bit of Yuiko actually...

"Did you really have to pulverize him like that?" he asked the boasting girl, trying not to look like but feeling concerned anyway about the state of the thief. Sure the guy's a criminal but Ritsuka never liked seeing anyone getting hurt in front of him. Bad luck for him that his Gentry was someone who never really think things through...

"What are you talking about, Rits- I mean Wonder Cat," Molly said taking her foot off the groaning thief, "I was holding back."

Well that wasn't a lie, if she really wanted to pulverize him, he'd be more of a bloody mess and probably a few 100 miles away from them. Then again, self control and Molly were not two things that mixed very well. It didn't really help that she could probably snap a two by four in half with her pinky if she tried.

Ritsuka scowled, his nose scrunching up cutely. "Don't call me by that ridiculous name," he said, a touch of a blush appearing on his cheeks at the embarrassment. "Anyway, you might have been holding back, but you could at least control yourself from hurting him too much. He's just a petty thief. Save your strength for the bigger criminals."

"What now, Bonnibel?"

Princess Bubblegum frowned at the use of her first name. "Marceline, don't be so impatient. I'm trying to deduce which path we should take in order to bring forth the most beneficial outcome."

Now it was Marceline's turn to frown. "Whoa. Chill out, bubblebutt. We're just trying to get something to eat. You don't have to get all sciencey on me here. Can't we just choose a place and eat there?" The vampire queen smirked. "It wouldn't kill you to just have fun once in a while and forget analyzing everything."

Princess Bubblegum's face lit up in an embarrassed blush. "J-just what.. Bubblebutt?" she spluttered, trying to figure out exactly what she wanted to say in response. Marceline floated in front of her, saying nothing, but displaying an amused look on her face. "Y-you are so difficult! And do not call me bubblebutt again." The princess crossed her arms and began walking off in a random direction.

"H-hey, calm down. It was just a joke.." Marceline called weakly. Bubblegum ignored her. The vampire sighed and sank to the ground before following her quickly before she was out of sight.

---

Toph regarded the two girls curiously. 'Did one of them just appear out of nowhere? Maybe she's just an airbender, but I thought Aang was the last one. Eh, I'll check on that later. I don't have time to. I have to meet Sokka before he gets himself in trouble.' She brought her hand to her mouth to cover a yawn as she continued walking towards where she believed her friend would be.

Gakupo spun into a kneeling position, now facing Yuma, his sword clashing with the other's sword. Without any supply of power, it simply gave a light hum of beautiful music as he hit his mark with perfect precision, "Now, Yuma, what brought this on?" his eyes flashed a playful glimmer even as the rest of his face stayed serious. He may not seem to, and he'd never say so, but he found a sort of enjoyment in Yuma's occasional sneak attacks.

--

Luffy grinned brightly, "Hey Yuki!" he waved and made his way over, taking the seat next to Yuki on the opposite side of Miki, "Hey Android-san!" He gave a little laugh before turning towards the person serving. He was already bringing out a hunk of meat for Straw Hat wearing young man. He didn't even hesitate before immediately chowing down on it all at once.

--

"Hn..." Kazuma moved a little in his sleep, "Hm?" He opened his eye, looking at Kanami, "Oh, hi Kanami. What's up?" He moved his arms and made to get into a sitting position.

--

Sokka saw Toph walking towards the same house as him, and waved, "Hey Toph! How's your day been?" He was smiling because of his great new boomerang, but seeing his friend was nice too. More importantly though, he wanted to show off his new weapon, "Hey, check this baby out! Isn't it just the world's best boomerang or what?" he waved it at her as they neared each other.

A flash of annoyance crossed Yuma's face before he pushed his Gentry away and jumped backwards, moving into a standard defense position.

"Just have to make sure you're in tip-top shape," Yuma answered airily, not ready to admit that he seriously wanted to kick the samurai's ass. Ever since their first battle where he lost against Gakupo and was made his Meister as a consequence, Yuma always tried his best to catch Gakupo off guard and beat him.

Unfortunately that plan never works.

"Nezumi!" Shion ran up to his boyfriend and smiled. "That was incredible!" he said with awe in his eyes. He could never get over how great Nezumi was at performing.

---

"This seems like an adequate eating establishment," Bubblegum stated before pushing open the door. Marceline rolled her eyes and followed her inside.

As they looked around for a place to sit, Marceline smirked and pointed at Luffy. "Whoa, look how much food he's shoveling into his mouth!"

Bubblegum glared at her friend. "Marceline! It's not polite to stare!" She turned away, but paused for a moment to look a bit longer. It was by no means mannerly, but she had a hard time looking away. She'd never seen anyone eat like that before. She shook her head and sat down at a nearby table. Marceline sat down across from her.

---

Toph turned her head towards the greeting and walked over to her friend. "Hey Sokka. It's been pretty boring. You got a new boomerang? Seems pretty nice, but I bet I'll still have to save your butt in a fight." She smirked at him.

Honey ignored the odd looks she got as she wandered into the restaraunt. Her clothes were, at the moment, completely torn up thanks to her earlier fight with a four-legged lizard, firebreathing lizard woman. For most people, this would be a rather odd occurance; but to her, it was tuesday.

As she sat down, she noticed two other androids acrossed the room. Or at least, she thought the man in the straw hat was an android. Why else would he need to consume so much food?

She turned to the waitress, and ordered the largest thing on the menu. She needed to get some energy before her clothes dissolved completely.

Though she felt bad about leaving the scene of the fight; she hoped Na-chan wouldn't be TOO angry with her.

--

Aki Natsuko's eye twitched a bit as she surveyed the burning remains of the police station; which had been the site of Honey's most recent fight against the minions of Panther Claw.

It was probably the tenth time it had been destroyed that year.

Noone had been hurt in the fight (besides the monster anyway); and the destruction hadn't been entirely honey's fault. However, Honey had left the scene as soon as the fight had ended. This was not acceptable.

"Ryuho, get in the car, we have an android to track down!" she yelled to her gentry.

"You're no fun Ritsuka," Molly pouted slightly, crossing her arms over her chest, "You're like that lame-o Wolverine, just not as hairy or smelly."

Moving away from the caught criminal, she looked around for something to tie him up with. She eventually settled with a lead pipe she easily bent and wrapped around him, "Alright! Let's just leave this guy here and go fight more crime, Wonder Cat!"

-----

Yuki giggled lightly at the way Luffy was practically shoveling food down his throat. It had always been a hilarious sight to the small girl, she had been born in a more proper home so she had rarely seen people eat like that before meeting Luffy.

The child was taken by surprise when Miki suddenly reached over and grabbed herself some meat as well, "Hey! Don;t eat it all! Miki-chan wants some too!"

Now it had turned into quite the display with them both gorging on meat like there was no tomorrow. Yuki hoped this didn't devolve into some eating contest. She was wealthy, but not THAT wealthy.

-----

"Yes, Ma'am," Ryuho nodded, stepping into the car. He was not one to question his superiors. Besides, someone who had such blatant disregard for property damage should be held accounted for their actions. It was only a matter of time before innocence got hurt in the process. That alone was unacceptable.

-----

Kanami still tried to look stern as she addressed Kazuma. Though, the effect was kinda lessened by her small height and cute looks, "You need to stop lazing around the house, Kazu-kun."

"Anyway, I need you to come with me for grocery shopping," She continued, "We're out of milk and eggs and the pantry is near barren."

Gakupo stood, taking a more casual stance, his sword humming with every movement in a low melodic tone, "Oh Yuma, it hurts that you doubt my abilities so," he put his hand to his chest, making a hurt expression, "I promise you that my skills will not slip at such a crucial time," though he wasn't actually sure if Yuma realized that there was something about to happen.

----

"Hey, you don't have to save me every time we get in a fight! I can hold my own!" Sokka stated, and to punctuate his point he swung his boomerang around in what he assumed was an intimidating manner, "Just look at this bad boy! He'll easily take out a dozen men in just one throw, I just know it!" He let out a light laugh as he said so.

"But anyway," He opened the door to their home. It wasn't much to look at, but it was decent enough. Two bedrooms, essential rooms, some basic furnishings, "Wanna eat? I'm kind of hungry myself,"

----

Luffy didn't pay much attention to the people walking in. The three women that came in and ordered food didn't have anything to do with him, after all. However, Miki reaching over and taking food from him, this took all of his attention. With his mouth full of food, he demanded, "Hey, gif that bah!" even after saying that, he just put some more food in his mouth.

"Now, now," The man serving the food laughed, "There's plenty for the both of you. Share, Luffy!" Even as he spoke, he was actually preparing more food in the back. But he went on to ask the other customers what they wanted as well.

Luffy didn't seem to be paying him much mind as he stretched his arm out towards the meat Miki had taken, with it making a stretching sound.

----

Kazuma rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, I know I'm useless," he let out a nervous laugh as Kanami went on, "Ah, groceries, right! We'll go get some, no problems," he gave her a thumbs up. Surely it'd be ok just to go to the grocery store, even though it was getting late, "Milk, eggs, and our favorite stuff. Lets go for it," he started walking towards the front door. The two of them living together like this was pretty nice, even though it wasn't easy. Providing for each other has been their lives for a while, and Kazuma couldn't really complain. Even though he wanted better for Kanami, but he pushed that thought aside.

----

Elsewhere, just outside the town...

"Hey, hey, I hear this town is easy and ripe for the taking since the military left, huh? Hehehe," a big guy in simple clothing said, "Whoever hired use has a good sense to bring us here, we're pretty lucky huh?"

"Hmph. I'd prefer if you didn't refer to me so directly like that," the man he was talking to said. The man in question was wearing a red cape around him, and had an annoyed expression, "Anyway, it's about time I DID finally get to this city. A great name like GEORGE TATSUNAMI should be getting more attention," he let out a confident little laugh. The sun was setting behind them, causing them to appear as only silhouettes to the people in the city.

Yuma's eyes narrowed. He hated it when Gakupo teased him. It made him want to kick the samurai's face in.

"Doesn't hurt to make sure, eggplant," he said with a faint smirk, moving from a defense position to an attack position. He suddenly rushed forward, hoping to catch Gakupo off guard enough to get in an attack.

~

"Ah, Shion," Nezumi said, a smile gracing his lips. "Once again you disregard my warning. I told you that you shouldn't come to my performances."

Despite having said that, Nezumi didn't look all that irked. In fact, he looked almost glad that Shion was there.

~

Ritsuka thought of protesting against finding more criminals, but decided against it. He knew that he wouldn't be able to change Molly's mind, despite being her Meister.

Even Soubi was a more obedient Gentry...

Ritsuka brought that thought to a halt. Thinking about his previous Gentry was only going to get him into a depressing mood. Instead, he shook his head and moved to follow his current Gentry, muttering, "I told you not to call me that," all the while.

A small wave of guilt crossed over Shion's face. "Sorry, Nezumi. I just really like watching you perform," he said sheepishly. He hoped Nezumi wasn't mad at him. He didn't seem like he was.

---

Toph grinned. "Whatever you say, Sokka. And yeah, I'm starving." She walked towards him and entered the house. "What are you hungry for?" she asked as she moved into the first room.

---

"What kind of red food do you have?" Marceline asked the waiter. The man looked a bit confused at her question. "You know, just anything that's mostly red? Bonnibel, why don't you explain?"

Princess Bubblegum thought for a second. How exactly was the waiter, or anyone else in the restaurant, going to react if she said that her friend was a vampire and sucked the color red out of things? She coughed awkwardly and ordered the first red item she saw on the menu for the both of them. "Sorry for the confusion. My friend here is just.." She hesitated. A vampire. She couldn't say that. "She's dehydrated," she continued. "Could we have two glasses of water?" The waiter nodded and walked off.

"Aw, Bonnibel. Why didn't you explain?" Marceline picked up a red napkin and sucked the red out of that. Bubblegum hoped that no one would notice the change.

"I didn't want to cause any unnecessary panic. And would you stop that? What if someone sees?" the Princess whispered to her friend.

As Honey watched the other "androids" eat; she began to wonder whether or not there would be enough food left for her.

She sighed with relief as her meal arrived; and quickly began eating it. As she ate; her clothes started to restore themselves; as if they'd never been damaged in the first place.

However, the meal wasn't enough to restore all of her energy reserves, so she ordered some dessert. If she was lucky, she'd have most of her energy restored by the time Natsuko caught up with her.

--

Natsuko arrived at the restaraunt just as Honey's dessert arrived. She stormed into the restaruant; ignoring the other customers as she walked towards Honey's seat.

Honey turned towards her, and gave her a rather ackward smile.

"Oh, hi Na-chan!" she said. "Sorry for running off so suddenly; I was just really low on energy, and I needed to refill,"

Without a word, Natsuko grabbed Honey by the ear and began dragging her out of the restaraunt. Though the android girl was much stronger than her; she hadn't been expecting the sudden "attack"; and was thus rather easily dragged along.

"Ow, Na-chan! At least let me finish my dessert!" she said.

"But Wonder Cat is your super hero name, so I have to call you that," Molly explained as if it were fact. When really, she didn't actually have to call him anything other than his name. But it was no use telling the girl that. She was insistently stubborn about it.

"Hey Ritsuka, when's the last time we actually some supplies for the Hostel?" Molly asked, referring to the make shift home of her and Ritsuka's. She was pretty certain that the fridge in her parents old hideout was long empty by now. Which means they may have to resort to some five finger discounts. Hypocritical? Maybe. But Molly knew they'd have to do what they had to to stay alive.

-----

Kanami's stern expression quickly turned into a smile. This is the first time in awhile that her and Kazuma went somewhere together. She was actually pretty excited about this and it showed in her demeanor.

"Okay, wait outside Kazu-kun, I need to go get us some money," Kanami said running off to another part of the house. She didn't exactly trust her Kazu-kun with money so she had some hid away for safe keeping.

----

Ryuho waited patiently outside the restaurant for his Meister to get done with her business with this Honey person. He'd come immediately when needed, but it would serve better to stay outside the establishment, just in case the android tried to escape from his Meister.

-----

"Hey this is Miki-chan's!" Miki shouted, fighting back to keep her meat. Not that she actually needed it, but she was a highly advanced model capable of eating and tasting food. And it was obvious that she quite enjoyed doing so.

The little girl in the group sighed. They were gonna cause a commotion wt this rate. She just hoped the restaurant owner liked them enough not to ban them for life, "Come on you two, don't fight. Like the nice man said, there's plenty of food for the both of you."

When it didn't seem like that would be enough to stop the two, Yuki turned and looked around the rest of the room. She hoped they weren't attracting too much attention. That is... until something caught her eye. Did that girl just suck the color out of that napkin? That was not the weirdest thing she had seen... but it was certainly odd. Did that mean that girl was a Gentry? She hoped she was not one of those bad Gentries she heard about.

Gakupo nearly sighed as Yuma charged at him, as he swung up his sword once more to block Yuma's attack, the resulting clang being even louder than before. The soft hums coming from the sword were this time accompanied by a very soft glow in the air where the sword passed. Gakupo moved forward as their swords were connected, moving his face a couple of inches from Yuma's face, and said, "With you attacking me like this, I'd almost think you hated me," before Yuma could say anything in reply, Gakupo swung forward his palm, and assuming it struck properly, it would send Yuma to the wall behind him.

---------

"Well," Sokka said, licking his lips, "Just about any kind of meat would really hit the spot right now, don'tcha think?" he made his way to the kitchen, and opened up their fridge. He made an unintelligible grunt and messed with the stuff inside. Then he turned, "Did you get any groceries?" He asked, facing Toph.

---------

Kazuma shrugged and walked outside, "Geez, why doesn't she trust me with money?" he opened the front door and stepped out onto the cobblestone road. A car rushed by, a jumble of mechanical gears and pipes. Kazuma didn't pay it any mind, though it did make him think of his friend for a second, "He'd sure love a car like that I bet,"

---------

Luffy kept trying for the food. Of course, without help from his meister, he wasn't all that powerful. This didn't stop him from nabbing some of it and snapping his arm back to take bites, even while his other hand continues to shove food in his mouth.

He didn't really have anything to say to Yuki. He had to eat, right? Far as he was concerned, there was food in front of him, and he wanted it. That was that. If he ended up fighting with Miki for it, that was fine too.

The feel of their swords meeting made Yuma's blood roar in his ears. He may not look it, but he loved the sword, he loved fighting with it, he loved hearing that clang of metal against metal. He used to casually insult swordmen just so he could fight with them and win.

Gakupo, however, was the one exception.

With the other man's words, Yuma froze, his eyes widening at how close Gakupo's face was. He opened his mouth to respond, but he didn't see the palm heading towards him until it struck his chest hard, leaving him just a little breathless for a fleeting second. Then the force of the blow caused him to stagger backwards and roughly hit the wall, making stars pop up before his eyes when his head also made contact with the wall.

That was one thing that Yuma always forgot when he fought Gakupo. The other man didn't only just use his sword.

~

Nezumi smirked and shook his head. "Ah, doesn't matter any more," he said, turning around and starting to strip himself of his costume. "Somehow, after all this time... I look forward to you watching my performances."

The self-proclaimed rat reached behind him to undo the zipper of his dress, but he found himself unable to pull it down after a short, silent struggle. "A little help here, your majesty," he said, looking over his shoulder at his albino boyfriend.

~

Ritsuka opened his mouth to tell his Gentry off, but closed it a second after. There really was no point in arguing. Molly was just going to do what she wanted regardless of his input.

"About two weeks ago," the cat-boy answered Molly's question. "We still have some bottles of water though, if I remember correctly."

Shion smiled. He couldn't help it after hearing Nezumi say that he looked forward to him attending his performances. He watched his boyfriend curiously as he struggled with the zipper on the back of his dress. When he gave up and asked for help with it, Shion could feel a blush creeping its way into his cheeks. His fingers trembled a bit before he calmed himself down and pulled the zipper down with ease.

---

"Groceries? Sorry no," Toph said, too hungry to point out that sending a blind girl who couldn't read price tags to go shopping was not the best idea. "Did you spend all your money on that boomerang?"

---

The waiter returned shortly, and the two girls started to eat. Bubblegum frowned and wished that Marceline was more inconspicuous about drinking the red out of her food. Instead, the vampire leaned back in her chair, held her food up to her mouth, and sucked the red out of it in the most obvious way possible.

"Idiot!" yelled Natsuko, as she pulled Honey out of the restaraunt. "Do you know how much trouble you're in right now?"

"But Na-chan! The fire wasn't my fault!" said Honey.

"Do you know how much trouble I've gone through on your account trying to convince my superiors not to put out a warrant on you?" said Natsuko.

"You...went to trouble for me?" said Honey.

"D-don't get the wrong idea," said Natsuko, blushing slightly. "I only did so because you're a valuable ally against Panther Claw. Nothing more..."

Natsuko regained her composure, and went back to lecturing the android.

"Next time you do something this stupid; I'm going to kick your ass, and then arrest you! Understand?" said Natsuko, releasing Honey's ear.

"Sure thing, Na-chan!" said Honey, as she started to walk away.

"And stop calling me Na-chan!" said Natsuko, before getting back into the car. "Lets get out of here,"

It only took a moment for Kanami to grab the coat and some money before she was out the door. "Let's go, Kazu-kun," She said smiling up happily at the older male. You could tell she was really excited to go out with him. Anyone would think they were a couple going out on a date. Well, at least Kanami's co-workers seemed to think they were married, much to her embarrassment.

-----

"Then we'll need to head to the store," Molly said matter of factly, placing her hands behind her back as she did what seemed to be a cross between walking and skipping. She turned her head back towards Ritsuka, "Anything you in particular we should get? I know I want that new super duper chocolate cereal!"

-----

"You're not going to take her in?" Ryuho questioned. He was slightly concerned about his Meister letting that woman go with a little less than a slap on the wrist. She obviously wouldn't learn from her mistakes if she kept letting the vandal go.

-----

Yuki once again sighed, shaking her head slightly as she suppressed a grin. Those two were really something. She then notice Miki yank a piece of meat just a tad too hard. "Ah...!" Yuki stared as it flew out of Miki's grasp and headed towards the pair she noticed before. More specifically, towards the pink haired woman.

"Oops," The red headed android said placing a hand over her mouth. She could only watch in awe as the meat landed on the pink princess. When it finally clicked what she had done, she went into a bit of a panic mode, "Ah, ah ah! Miki-chan is sorrryyyyy~"

Gakupo sighed, "I think that's good enough for now, don't you?" He smiled softly, "You're a good man Yuma, you know," he put his sword in its sheath, the light hum of music echoing in the room before being accompanied by the *shiiink* of blade on sheath.

"Actually, we should get going. I get this feeling that something might happen tonight. You feel it too, don't you?" Gakupo asked. He may joke and tease with the other man, but Gakupo actually did very much respect Yuma's abilities. Actually, Gakupo would refuse any meister that he didn't respect. Yuma may not quite understand that, though.

-----

Sokka looked at his boomerang, then blushed as he shouted, "Sh-shut up! It was a good deal!" Of course, now they needed food. What were they supposed to do?

"Uh, do you have any money left?" Sokka asked, not exactly having high hopes of that.

-----

Kazuma put his hands behind his head, walking lazily, "So I heard that there's a sale over at that one store. We could go give that a look," he had heard such a thing from a guy called Kimishima. He wouldn't exactly declare him a friend, but the guy sure knew when there was a good sale going on.

-----

Luffy took this chance to eat moar meat!
Luffy turned towards Bubblegum, still eating the food that he was now not even looking at as he shoveled it down. He was staring rather intently in fact...

After a moment, he swalled hard, and asked, "Ah, are you going to eat that?", pointing at the meat that had fallen on her.

Yuma scowled lightly, but he relaxed his stance when Gakupo sheathed his sword. He rubbed the back of his head as he straightened, knowing that now that Gakupo had put his sword away, the fight will no longer continue. That sort of irked Yuma, but he accepted it anyway. Especially after what his Gentry said (though he nearly scoffed at his first few sentences).

"Yeah, I feel it too," Yuma said after a short pause. "Which was mostly why I wanted to see if you were up to snuff today."

He wasn't totally lying... not really...

~

Nezumi let out a sigh of relief at finally being able to breathe easier and getting rid of that scratchy corset. Honestly, why did he have to wear such a costume?

"Thanks your majesty," he said, throwing a wink over his shoulder at a red-cheeked Shion. He had to bite back a chuckle because the albino really was cute when he got flustered.

Still smirking slightly, Nezumi removed the whole dress, leaving him in only the pair of women's underwear and stockings and garter-belt he had on underneath. Well, he couldn't just wear boxers in that outfit now could he? Besides, when Nezumi becomes Eve, he becomes Eve (nearly) all the way.

~

Ritsuka gave Molly a slightly scolding look. "You should eat more healthy food and less junk food," he said, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat. "Maybe we can grab some rice and vegetables. Or even pickled plums. I can make some onigiri for us."

It's been a while since Ritsuka had something like onigiri. He usually loved to make them with Soubi...

Shion blushed harder. 'He's wearing women's underwear!?' He averted his gaze and tried to calm his overworking heart. It didn't help. He couldn't think of anything to even say to that, so he simply turned around, hoping that Nezumi would not attempt to get a sentence out of him until he had collected this thoughts. It was like his boyfriend enjoyed making him flustered.

---

"Yeah, a little bit." Toph pulled some change out of a pocket. It wasn't very much. "How are we supposed to get more money? And do you think this is enough to get something good to eat?" She held her hand out to drop the money into Sokka's hand.

---

"Marceline." The vampire looked up from her food. "Could you please be more subtle? We don't need to draw any unnecessary attention to oursel-" Princess Bubblegum was cut off mid-sentence as a large piece of meat hit her on the side of her head, clinging to her bubblegum hair. She suppressed a shriek and sat in her chair, frozen with a look of horror etched onto her face.

"Ah, ah ah! Miki-chan is sorrryyyyy~"

Bubblegum let out a sigh and turned towards the girl. "It is alright. It was an accident, right?" she smiled, though it looked a little like a grimace.

Marceline immediately let out a very loud cackle. "You should totally see your face, Bonnibel! This is priceless!" she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

Bubblegum glared at her friend, but before she had a chance to express her anger, a man pointing at her asked if she was going to eat the piece of meat that had landed on her head. She slowly turned her head to face him in shock. Marceline burst out into laughter again. The princess then slammed her hands on the table, shouted something in German, and stomped off to the restroom.

"Whoa, hey. I'm sorry," Marceline said, instantly serious. She got up from her chair and floated after the girl.

"Honey is an important ally against Panther Claw and the other criminal organizations in this city," said Natsuko. "And we still don't know how that lizard got into the police station to begin with,"

Over the last week or so; she'd been convinced that someone in the police department was working for Panther Claw. It wasn't exactly a shocking revelation; as half the police force was in the pocket of one criminal organization or another.

Still, she couldn't figure out what exactly Panther Claw expected to gain by burning down the police station. Perhapse a message not to mess with them? An attempt to cripple the police force? Somehow, she doubted it was that simple.

"We'd better get back to the police station," she said. "Maybe if we're lucky, some of the security footage survived the fire,"

"Is that so? Okay Kazu-kun, we can check there first," Kanami had to wonder how Kazuma even knew that. He definitely wasn't the type to keep up sales, especially the sales of a grocery store, "Do you know where it is?" She wasn't exactly sure herself. Unlike Kazuma, she didn't wander the city much. She stayed at home unless she had to work. She was far too young to be on the streets by herself. Maybe that's why Kazuma let her stay with him all those years ago.

-----

"Blegh, healthy food is for grown ups," Molly complained, making a disgusted face. She definitely didn't like the idea of eating anything green. Though at the mention of onigiri seemed to have caught her interest, "What's onigiri? I've never had that before."

-----

"I see. Very well," Ryuho said, not sure if he accepted that explanation so easily. If she wasn't the reason, then why blame her in the first place? He was beginning to realized his Meister was a very confusing person, "I hope we can find the perpetrator and bring them to justice. People who disregard the safety of others deserve nothing less."

-----

"Oh...." Yuki nearly winced at Bubblegum walking off as angrily as she did. She couldn't help but feel slightly responsible for not having a better handle on Miki and Luffy. Speaking of those two, Miki definitely looked guilty for her part in the chaos. Even her ahoge dropped slightly to match her mood.

"Did Miki-chan do bad?"

Yuki shook her head at the android, "No, no, it was an accident. But... I should go apologize anyway. You two stay here and please try not to cause anymore trouble." This was one the few restaurants that hadn't banned them out for some reason or another and she'd like to keep it that way.

She then pushed back her chair to get up and followed after Marceline and Bubblegum. Time to go do some damage control. She had a feeling this was becoming more and more of a common occurence since she got Luffy as a gentry. Though she didn't mind, in fact, it made things far more interesting.

Gakupo smiled unnaturally brightly, "I'm sure that's exactly why you did Yuma," his tone was also oddly bright, and it was clear that it was him teasing again. He then turned towards the stairs, his tone and face returning to normal, "Then we should go check things out. Lets go," He went up the stairs, making sure not to leave Yuma behind before heading out of the house as well.

---

Sokka grabbed the money and counted it. His eyebrow twitched as he looked at Toph, "I don't think this is even enough to buy some bread. But it's ok, it's not like I'd go buy something like this and not have any other money, right?" He walked over to a little jar that he kept money in. He opened it and looked inside, and found... nothing, "Oh, right, I used this money last week..."

Sokka's stomach growled, and was soon followed by him groaning. He wouldn't be getting paid for his job for a couple days. Did he have any hidden around the house? He began running around the house and searching under and around things everywhere, but didn't find more than a bit more change, a button, and some lint, "AGH!" He ran his hands all over his head in annoyance before falling back on a chair, "What do we do about dinner?"

--------

"Yeah, it's, um... probably this way," Kazuma said, pointing down the street, "Yeah, it's definitely that way," he said, more sure of himself. He then began to lead the way, before asking, "So, anything in particular you're hoping to get?" Kazuma smiled at Kanami as he said that.

-------

Luffy munched on some meat while staring off the girls. He didn't say anything.

Yuma was unamused with Gakupo's teasing, but he decided that I deserved it, at least a little bit. Though he wouldn't say it out loud.

With a small sigh the pink-haired swordsman sheathed his wakizashi and followed his Gentry out of the house. He was already anticipating a battle, since it's been some time since they had one. Hopefully their opponents will last more than three minutes.

~

Nezumi held in a laugh as he watched his boyfriend become flustered. Still, he didn't want the cute albino to faint from the blood rushing to his head, so the rat pulled on a robe and then sat down at his vanity to remove his make up.

"You can turn around now your majesty," he said as he tied his hair up and clipped his bangs back. "Honestly, it's not like you haven't seen me half-naked before."

~

"Onigiri is riceballs," Ritsuka answered, his expression turning happy. "It can be stuffed with meat, fish, vegetables, or fruit, or it can be just plain riceballs. It's really good. I used to make them a lot before."

Of course, he used to make them with Soubi and at the thought of his former Gentry, Ritsuka's happy expression dimmed. He really did want to find the older man again. Ritsuka missed him so much.

Shion turned back around with a bright red face. He tried to speak calmly, but ended up stammering instead. "I have n-never seen you half-naked w-with women's.." He was too embarrassed to even finish his sentence.

'How can Nezumi be so casual about this?' he thought wearily.

---

Toph was silent for a moment. An idea crossed her mind, but she wasn't sure how Sokka would take it. "Well," she started, trying to look nonchalant about it. "We could always just take something. You know, without paying for it."

---

Princess Bubblegum stood by the counter and angrily looked into a sink. Marceline came into the bathroom a few seconds later and sat down on the counter next to her. "Hey Bonnibel, look. I, uh, I'm not really good with mushy stuff like this, okay?" She held up her hands defensively at her furious friend. "I'm sorry. Okay? You're my friend and I care about you, alright. I didn't mean to make you upset."

Princess Bubblegum crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh, really? It seems like you're always trying to get a reaction out of me, Marceline." She let out a sigh and stared into the mirror. "After you gave me that shirt, I thought that maybe things would be different. That maybe you'd finally-" She cut herself off when she heard the door open again.