It was as normal as a day could possibly be for Shigure's household. Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru were sitting at the dinner table eating the dinner that Tohru had prepared for them. It was the beginning of summer break, and the three teenagers had several weeks to do absolutely nothing. What more could someone ask for? Shigure strolled in about an hour late for dinner.

"Daddy's home, kiddies!" Shigure shouted as he walked through the door.

"Oh, good afternoon, Shigure, I made dinner, but I think its a little cold right now, but I can make something fresh if…" Tohru greeted in her usual way.

"That won't be necessary, Tohru. It's my own fault for coming in late." Shigure interrupted.

"Why are you so late anyway?" Yuki asked.

"I had to go to the airport to pick up these." Shigure said as he flashed a handful of plane tickets.

"Plane tickets? For what?" Kyo asked.

"They're obviously admission onto a plane, stupid cat." Yuki said.

"I know that, you damn rat! I mean where are they for." Kyo said.

"Alright, I'll tell you. Drum roll, please!" Shigure said in a singsong voice.

"Just quit stalling and tell us!" Yuki and Kyo said in unison.

"Fine, we are going to…The United States of AMERICA!" Shigure cheered as little balls of confetti popped out of nowhere.

"America? Hm…I did a project on that country. It sounds like a very interesting country to visit." Yuki said.

"Isn't that the country where all the fat people are?" Kyo said.

"Now, Kyo, every country has people of all shapes and sizes." Shigure said wagging his finger at Kyo.

"Wait, Shigure, there are four tickets here." Tohru said counting the tickets in his hands.

"Indeed, Tohru. We could not possibly go halfway across the world without you!" Shigure said smiling.

"Eh?! Oh, um, that's very thoughtful but I couldn't possibly go halfway across the world I mean the house who will take care of it and you've already given me plenty I mean I live here and you provide what I need and I've already accepted too much and I know tickets are very expensive I mean I probably couldn't buy one on my own if I worked six jobs and worked every hour of every day and to accept one right now without doing anything…" Tohru rambled on for about another half-hour. The boys could have stopped her at any moment, but they just thought her rambling was too darn cute that no one bothered to stop her.

"…and I'm not worthy of such a privilege. " She finished, completely out of breath.

"It's alright, Tohru. It's a little gift from us, just because we care. Besides, we couldn't possibly have fun without you there." Yuki said as if speaking with shimmering purple eyes.

"Um, well…" Tohru's cheeks turned red.

"Yeah, and it's too dangerous for you to stay here on your own. We wouldn't want you to get hurt or anything." Kyo said trying to resist the urge to brush her cheek.

"Oh, ok, if you insist. I guess I'll go, if that's really what you want." Tohru said blushing.

"Wonderful! I'll pack your bags! Tomorrow we meet everyone at the airport and set off for the land of free and the home of the brave!" Shigure cheered as he pranced around the table.

"What do you mean 'meet everyone'?" Kyo asked. Shigure stopped prancing for a second.

"Oh, that's right! I forgot to tell you! All the other zodiac members are coming with us! Well, expect for Kureno and Akito. Unfortunately, Akito hates traveling, and Kureno…well that practically goes without saying." Shigure explained.

Tohru suddenly got very excited. It would be wonderful to go on a trip with the entire family! Yuki was relieved that Akito wasn't going. He might actually have air to breathe in America. As far as Kyo was concerned, he instantly thought of Kagura. Shoot! She would follow him everywhere! Hmm, but America is a big country; maybe he could separate from her at one point and get lost in a crowd.

The next morning, everyone left for the airport with all their bags packed to meet the rest of the family. Tohru told Arisa and Saki about the trip, and she promised to get souvenirs for them. She was ecstatic when she saw Rin sitting near the window in her leather boots and usual low-cut top. Although Rin probably wouldn't admit it, she was Tohru's friend. Both of them were striving to reach a certain goal, to break the family curse. Rin had tried on her own, but it only ended up in disaster. She might actually need Tohru's help, because every Sherlock Holmes needs his (or her) Watson.

That aside, that was not their focus here. Right now, they were trying to relax, especially Rin. She came because 1) Haru was coming and 2) it was a break from Akito.

Hatori had come because he could not possibly let everyone travel across the world with Shigure and Ayame as their "responsible adult guardians". Hiro came because Kisa was going. Now that our grouchy people have their reasons, it is safe to assume that our cheerful and nice people came because it would be fun.

As everyone boarded the plane, Kagura cheerily said,

"I read a book about American history! They had a long fight for independence in their Revolutionary War! It's a free country where you can do practically whatever you want!" Kagura broke the ice on the plane.

"Are you excited, Hiro?" Kisa asked to her cousin who sat next to her on the plane.

"Well, not really. I'm not entirely excited about visiting the country that bombed us to smithereens twice, and killed millions of our own people." Hiro said like the smartass he was.

"Hey, all is fair in love and war, Hiro. When you're fighting a war, it's perfectly fair to bomb other countries especially if you're trying to end World War II." Shigure rebuddled.

"Doesn't America get into wars frequently?" Yuki joined the discussion.

"Yeah, like every decade, and they practically win every time." Haru added.

"Actually, that's not true. The United States didn't win when they withdrew from the Vietnam War in 1973." Hatori argued. Suddenly, Momiji and Kyo jerked around in their seats.

"What's wrong, Kyo?" Tohru asked concerned.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. It's just I got this funny feeling. Like… I should like Vietnam." Kyo answered.

"Yeah, I got the same feeling, except it's telling me I shouldn't like Vietnam." Momiji said shivering in his seat.

"Oh, all this talk of war is making me so emotional! If it were MY decision, I take all weapons and throw them into the dark depths of the ever-expanding space-time continuum never to be seen AGAIN! THEN THE WORLD WOULD BE HAPPY AND WORSHIP ME IN ALL MY GLORY AND ACHIEVEMENT!!" Ayame gave his speech for every creature hundreds of miles above the ground.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I'm SORRY! All this time I couldn't bring ONE interesting thing to say into this conversation because I was so stupid as to head onto a plane for America without thinking of even stopping at the library to check out a book on the country's HISTORY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME AMERICA! I DON'T EVEN DESERVE TO SET ONE FOOT ON YOUR GROUND!! I SHOULD JUST JUMP OFF THIS PLANE RIGHT NOW AND RID EVERYONE OF THEIR TROUBLES!" Ritsu shouted as Kisa and Hiro restrained him for opening the emergency exit.

"Shut up, shut up, just shut UP! Do they have to scream so loudly? I swear sometimes I just wanna…" Rin said as she rubbed her temples at all the noise. Haru put his arm around her.

"Don't worry; we'll have a good time in America. I hear they don't care about what you wear, as long as you don't walk around naked. Even so, those people go hang out at special colonies." Haru said to calm down her nerves. Rin sighed. That did make her feel a little better, because she really didn't plan on covering herself up for any reason.

A/N: TRIVIA Q! Who knows why Kyo felt good and Momiji felt bad about Vietnam? I want to see how many people browse Wikipedia day and night like I do!