Disclaimer: I don't own Fatal Fury, King of Fighters or related characters. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Sorega Ai, Deshou?

Chapter Twenty-Five: Round About

Kazutaka appeared the next morning with a small duffle bag for Mai. He offered no explanation for why it took him a whole day to bring a few basic necessities for his daughter's stay. But he was limping. Favoring his bad leg that had been injured during the course at Hagi all those years ago and leaning heavily on the cane Andy hadn't seen him use in a long time.

Jubei looked him up and down. "I thought you didn't fight anymore, Kazu."

The younger man just looked tired. But there was a fire and energy of passion in his voice when he said, "Nobody talks shit about my baby or her mother!"

"Mm." Nodded the old Judo master as if understanding. Kazutaka was not a pacifist because he abhorred violence or disapproved of harming others. He was a pacifist out of respect for his late wife whom he loved dearly. She had been the one to abhor violence and disapprove of harming others. When she died, Kazu gave up Ninjutsu out of respect for her memory. But that didn't mean that he didn't still know how to fight and wasn't going to fight on behalf of his child. Jubei clapped him on the shoulder. "Come inside. You look like you could use a drink."

Kazu followed the older man inside.

They found Mai in the kitchen with Andy -apparently having a disagreement of some kind.

"For the last time, I have been cooking for Jubei-sensei for as long as I've been living here." Andy was saying. "I know how to boil rice."

Mai rolled her eyes at him and tried to push the blond man out of the way. "And I'm telling you, you might think you know how to cook, but last night the rice was soggy and now it looks like you're gonna burn it instead. Let me cook for you."

"I don't need you to cook for me." The blond argued back.

Kazutaka noted that she was not wearing the formal kimono she had on when she left home the previous day. Instead, she was clad only in the tunic of a white dogi with red flames. Not one of Jubei's. The design was something meant to appeal to a younger man. Something of Andy's then.

Making breakfast wearing only one of the young ninja's shirts. Kazu had to pause and also wonder how they worked out the sleeping arrangements in addition to the clothes lending arrangements. He didn't exactly disapprove of Andy for his little girl. And it wasn't like he held with outdated traditions that called for a suitor to ask for a father's permission before courting his daughter. But, still... it would have been nice if one or both have them had at least told him what was going on between them.

But he chose not to comment on it. Instead, clearing his throat, Kazutaka drew their attention to him. "Or. You could let me do the cooking while you-" he pointed a fan at Mai "-put some cloths on." He passed her the duffle. Then turned his fan to Andy, "-and you set an extra place at the table."

"Hai, Touchan." Mai took her duffle and obediently disappeared from the kitchen.

"Hai, Kazutaka-sama." Andy nodded and moved out of the way of the wood-burning stove to retrieve a fourth bowl, cup for tea, and chopstick rest.

Jubei smiled in amusement and sat down at the table, folding his legs under him and enjoyed not having to do anything for one morning. "I don't think I've had this many people in my house -ever."

Kazutaka wasn't paying attention to the older man. He was removing coals from the wood-burning stove. Mai was right. Andy had the fire to high and would have burned the rice if someone else hadn't taken over. Kazu had gotten rather good at cooking. Between being relived of his position as Hanzo's heir and becoming a single father, he certainly had plenty of time and opportunity to practice.

Andy finished setting the extra place for Mai's father, then turned to the older man. "Is there anything I can help you with, Kazutaka-sama?"

"No. Just sit and stay out of the way."

"I've always found it so funny that he's always called you '-sama'." Jubei commented from his own place at the table.

Andy flushed as he sat down at the table. He originally called Kazutaka '-sama' when he first arrived in Japan, didn't know the language yet, and didn't understand the culture very well. He was told that it was rude to address a person without an honorific but couldn't remember which honorifics were appropriate for what situations. When Andy first met Mai's father, he called the older man '-sama' because he didn't yet understand just how low his standing in the Shiranui clan was. By now, Andy had been using the honorific for so long, it felt strange to call Mai's father by any other honorific.

"Oh, let him be." Kazutaka waved off the comment. "If I hadn't been disowned, Chichi-ue would have abdicated already and I'd be head of the clan. Andy would be calling me Kazutaka-sama."

"That's be something." Jubei snorted. "An alternate reality where you're head of the Shiranui clan."

"I think you'd be great at it, Kazutaka-sama." Andy chimed in. He didn't know why, the older man always seemed to like the American-ninja, but for some reason he wanted to try extra hard to maintain the good opinion Mai's father had of him.

"Listen to that, already trying to curry favor." That snort turned into a proper laugh when Jubei said this.

"What? I'm not-!" Andy insisted, suddenly thinking he'd said or done something wrong.

"Relax, puppy." Kazutaka took the pot of rice off the stove and began portioning it out.

That was when Mai rejoined them, wearing her standard red gi with white trim. The front unable to close all the way so that her more than generous breast was all but bursting from the fabric. Twin tassels in red and white hung down to her ankles in the back, the only thing covering her backside. When she moved it was clear for all to see that she wasn't wearing anything under there but a single strip of cloth tied into a fundoshi.

Andy's tunic had covered much, much more than what she now wore.

Andy tried his best not to notice these details. A feat that proved very difficult when she decided to sit down right across from him, offering a full and mostly unobstructed view of her breasts. He decided to find his bowl of plain rice very fascinating.

A raccoon jumped up on the table next to Mai and sat down beside her bowl. It chittered expectantly, but did not take any food until she offered it with her sticks.

"Such a polite and well behaved young man." She cooed at the animal, scratching it behind the ears as it ate.

Understandably, seeing a wild animal at the breakfast table, eating his daughter's food, Kazutaka freaked out. He moved back from the table, into a half-kneeling position one could easily shoot up onto their feet from. One hand reaching into his sleeve for a fan. "What the hell is that?"

"Its a tanuki, Touchan." Mai blinked wide innocent eyes at him. "Tanuki-san say hello to my father."

The raccoon did glance at the new human, but seemed uninterested. Kazutaka was neither threatening him with a broom, nor was he giving him food. The raccoon had no time for him.

"I wanted Andy to get rid of it." Jubei explained honestly, although for Mai's sake he did not specify just how permanently he wanted the younger man to 'get rid of it'. "But then your daughter showed up with her bleeding heart and has decided to make the thing her pet."

Kazutaka blinked. She managed to tame a wild raccoon in less than a day? But that was not really the thing to focus on. As a single parent, and Mai being his only child, all of Kazutaka's questions were more along the lines of, "Is it safe? Has the thing had any shots? What if it bit her? What if it has rabies? What about fleas, or lice? Is it clean?"

"Touchan, you worry to much." The kunoichi scooped the raccoon off the table and set him in her lap, since his presence seemed to bother the men at the table so very much. The raccoon sat upright on her folded knees, its head framed perfectly between her breasts and Andy suddenly had an irrational hatred of the thing that felt suspiciously like jealousy.

Kazutaka did not seem convinced by his daughter's laze-fair attitude. "I'm not sure I want you keeping a wild animal as a pet." He turned to Jubei. "And you're allowing this? This is your house."

"You try telling her 'no'." The older man shot back.

"I tell her 'no' all the time. I'm her father. Its kinda in the job description. Watch this." He turned back to his daughter. "Mai-chan, you cannot keep a wild animal as a pet, and especially not in someone else's house. You have to release it back into the wild."

"But, he's hurt." Mai argued back. "He was caught in a trap yesterday and got all cut up. Can't we at least wait until he's better?"

Kazu shook his head. "No, kitten. If he was caught in a trap then he would have died anyway if you'd never happened by. That's nature. It sucks, and its sad. But that's the way it is." For a second it looked like she was about to argue back, so he cut her off before a protest could begin. "If it will make you feel more comfortable, Andy can go with you to take him back up into the mountains."

Because, while he was a little annoyed with them for not telling him that they were having an affair, he didn't exactly disapprove of their relationship either, and he more than understood the reasons for their secrecy. They wouldn't pass up a chance to take a stroll through the woods together unchaperoned. Kazu was basically setting them up on a date. Maybe after they came back they'd realize that he was on their side and come clean with him.

She looked across the table at the blond man.

He met her eyes and looked away. Speaking more to the paper screen than to her when he said, "They want me to make sure you actually let it go and don't try and sneak it back with you."

"Well, there's that too." Her father admitted. Mai could be a very sneaky child when she wanted to be. But then, most ninja children could be very sneaky when they wanted to. It was part of the lifestyle, ninja parents expected it.

Mai looked around the table. Three of the four most important men in her life, and they all wanted her to release Tanuki-san back out into the wild. If she didn't, then she'd never get a moment's peace from any of them. Well... maybe from Andy since he was just naturally inclined to keep quiet anyway. But he would give her disapproving looks, and that was just as bad. So, with a sigh, the kunoichi gave in. "Alright. After breakfast, Andy and I will take him back into the woods."

…

Watching Andy and Mai disappear into the trees, Kazutaka waited a full count of then after he lost sight of them to turn to Jubei and ask the question he'd been dying to ask since he first walked in and saw his daughter wearing Andy's shirt and bickering in the kitchen like an old married couple.

"Why didn't you tell me or Chichi-ue that my daughter and Andy were lovers!?"

The old Judo master only blinked at him in confusion, not understanding the younger man's question. "Because they're not."

He thought about elaborating to Kazutaka that it wasn't from lack of trying on Mai's part. That she had tried to seduce Andy and when that didn't work, offered herself to him plainly and bluntly so that there could be no misunderstanding of her intentions, and that he had rejected her both times. But Jubei thought better of it. Mai had never been a particularly shy child, but Kazutaka didn't need to know just how predatory his daughter could actually be.

"Well, they sure act like it." The younger man insisted.

Jubei sighed and decided to give the younger man at least some explanation. "Its not from lack of wanting." He said. "But Andy won't let himself look at a woman in that way until he's achieved his goal. He doesn't want the distraction. Mai understands this and respects it. She's waiting for him. His ten year deadline is almost up anyway. They're not lovers yet, Kazu. But after Andy comes back from avenging Jeff..."

The older man only shrugged. Time would tell.

Kazutaka looked back to the spot in the trees where the pair had disappeared. "I wonder if Chichi-ue foresaw their relationship, and how it figures into his ridiculously circuitous plan for the clan."

"And what is Hanzo-kun's ridiculously circuitous plan?" Asked the Judo master.

"I'm not entirely sure." Kazu admitted. "Its circuitous."

"Hm." Jubei groaned. Sneaky ninja and their sneaky plans.

…

Andy kept casting suspicious glances at Mai as they threaded their way between the trees in the general direction of where Andy and Jubei had first found the raccoon's den.

"Andy, you're not subtle." She told him, guessing at the reason why he kept looking at her. She moved the animal she was carrying to one arm to offer him a better view of her chest. "If you want to see them all you have to do is ask."

Her guess was a wrong one. But now that the view of them wasn't obstructed anymore, his eyes did travel down of their own accord to drink in a quick vision of them before the American ninja blinked. His face flushed a bright shade of crimson as he shook his head. "No. I wasn't trying to-" A pause. A deep breath to calm his suddenly frayed nerves. Mai always managed to wind him up so tightly with such little effort. "I was actually wondering -now that you're not engaged to Koinosuke anymore- are you going to ask me again?"

She cast a sideways glance at him, fluttering her lashes. "Do you want me to ask you to marry me?" But before Andy had the chance to consider an answer, Mai shook her head and continued. Not giving him the chance to speak. Her question was rhetorical. "Don't worry Andy. I know you like me. Maybe not as much as I like you yet, but you do like me. You just need more time. You've always been afraid of getting close to people. The idea of marrying someone must terrify you. So I can wait."

A shrug. "Maybe you'll feel different after you avenge your father."

He glanced up at that. Suddenly reminded of her grandfather's offer. After he avenged his father, he would come back as a full fledged Shiranui ninja and work for the clan. "Hanzo-sensei offered to adopt me into the Shiranui clan as a Genin. Did he tell you that?"

"No." Mai blinked at him. Then smiled. "So, you'll be coming back to Japan anyway, since you'll be one of us -for real."

"I..." He paused, suddenly unsure. "I haven't given him my answer yet. I- I never expected to be adopted into the clan when I came here, and Terry and Jeff are really the only family I've ever known..."

"The Shiranui clan isn't a family, Andy." Mai snapped at him suddenly. A trickle of bitterness that hadn't been there before seeping into her voice. "We might be related, but we're not a family. The Shiranui clan is a business. You're a very good fighter, Andy, and you're naturally quiet -you can keep secrets- and you're tactical. Its a smart business decision for Ojisama to adopt you into the clan and make you a Genin. You'd be a good asset, and -if the social climate of the clan were just a little different- you'd make a good Chunin too."

The American ninja never would have dreamed of actually being promoted within the clan. With the social climate being what it was, he imagined he'd be a Genin forever. But to be promoted to Chunin after a while, to be in charge of his own team... that sounded very nice. But that would only happen if Mai were head of the clan. Andy couldn't imagine Koinosuke or Shizune promoting him. He cast yet another suspicious glance at Mai. "And what would I have to do for you in order to be promoted to Chunin, Mai-dono."

"Ooh! Don't call me '-dono', it sounds so stuffy!" She tried deflecting his question. But Andy held her gaze with a hard glare. Mai sighed. "Preform admirably as a Genin. Do your job well. When a Chunin position opens up, that's all I'll need to promote you."

He was still suspicious. Andy knew she wanted him as a lover, or a husband, or both. But then again, she was also willing to wait -at least until he defeated Geese- before renewing her offers of marriage. So maybe she would respect the authority she'd have over him as head of the clan and not use it to pressure him into her bed either. In all honesty, he didn't know. Mai could sometimes be very hard for Andy to predict.

Perhaps he was silent a little to long, because Mai waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, Andy, look at you all gloomy all of a sudden." She laughed. "I'm not head of the clan, in case you haven't noticed. And if Uncle Nagare has anything to say about it, I never will be head of the clan. So stop worrying."

He would still worry. Mai had an uncanny habit of getting her way. The fact that she was no longer engaged to Koinosuke was proof enough of that. Instead of commenting, Andy changed the subject. "Here is good."

"For what?" She blinked at him, forgetting that their purpose in taking this stroll through the woods was to bring Tanuki-san back to his home.

"This is around the place it got caught in the trap." Andy informed her. He did not add that it was his trap the raccoon was caught in or that it was Jubei-sensei who told him to set it, or that he originally was supposed to kill the animal as practice for killing people.

"Okay." Mai hefted the raccoon in her arms, but made no move to let him go. "We should sweep the area for more traps just in case.

Suppressing a groan, Andy made a quick search for other traps he already knew weren't there. Then picked up the rest of what was left of his own snare. He turned back to Mai, hoping she was satisfied so they could let the thing go, return to the Yamada dojo, and he could get back to his training. While all these diversions certainly kept his life interesting, they did not help him achieve his goal.

Nodding, she set the raccoon down on the ground. "There you go, Tanuki-san. Back to your home."

The raccoon hesitated, fixing Andy with a suspicious glare. Then slunk back into its den in the hollow under the tree.

"I hope he'll be okay." Mai commented.

"He's a wild animal in the wild." Andy reminded her. "He'll be fine."

He started heading back through the trees to the dojo. Half the day was already wasted on this little excursion. Maybe if he was lucky he wouldn't waste the other half and could get in some decent training before the next little distraction threw a wrench into things. Maybe he should go back to Tokyo for a couple nights and compete in the underground fighting rings again. Sure, the police might have busted the last one, but Higashi-kun said that there were always fights. Andy just had to find them.

Kazutaka was still there when they got back, but he didn't stay much longer after that. Mai's father left before dinner, bidding his daughter goodbye with a kiss on the forehead. Before he left, the older man cast a meaningful look at Andy which the young ninja did not know how to interpret.

Then he left.

…

And the raccoon came back the very next day.

…