Chapter 20: New Home, San Francisco

We arrived in San Francisco at 8:00 in the morning on April 3, 1999.

"There's Alcatraz Island!" London pointed out on the bay. All I saw was a rock shaped like a very big boat.

"Doesn't look that special to me." I half frowned.

"Wait until you go there." London smiled at me. "You'll love it, Clara."

"Nothing to love about an old jail house."

"There's the Golden Gate Bridge right over there!" London presented, further away from Alcatraz.

"Huh?" Tokyo wondered. "I thought we were going to cross that bridge…what bridge are we crossing?"

"Bay Bridge." London answered. "The Golden Gate is on the other side of the delta. We'll drive on it some other time. Oh man, there's a lot of stuff you guys need to see here! Frisco is the best place on Earth!"

"We're not here to sight see!" Tokyo snapped. "Remember, we're settling here for a few weeks to see if Ghost has followed us or not. If not, we contact Kaguya-san and the others and they will come here. If so, we must make every attempt to kill him before he kills us."

"Yeah, we know." I nodded as we drove off the bridge and onto the city streets. "But to get settled in, we need to do some sight seeing to be more familiar with the city."

"And it's a big city," London added, "with lots to see and do. We could be here for weeks just looking around. So, let's kick back and live the city life, alright?"

"We'll be on our guard for Ghost, Tokyo." I assured. "That's for sure."

"I hope so." Tokyo mumbled. "It won't be my fault if Ghost killed you two while you were staring at the Golden Gate."

*******

"Wow…" I gasped, staring up at the enormous buildings around me. "This place is huge!"

"Not as impressive as Tokyo, Japan…" Tokyo evaluated with a smile, "…but I like it."

"Yeah, it's a nice place." London nodded. "Once you know the ropes, you'll feel like you're living the high life."

"Sounds nice." I sighed, imagining the three of us in a rich and fancy penthouse, wearing nice clothes, and living in luxury.

"So," Tokyo turned to London, "who is this guy again? 'Jeff Snow' was it?"

"Yeah." London nodded. "He has an apartment he'll lend us. We can live there."

An apartment of our own? I thought. Yes!

I was still fantasizing the filthy rich life, picturing marble floors, silk dresses, large bedrooms, and big fluffy beds that made you feel like you were floating when you slept on them.

Nothing like the high life.

*******

After traveling to the other side of town, my high life fantasy was shattered.

"Here we are." London answered, stopping by a tall, old apartment building. It didn't look like anything rich or fancy at all. It looked awfully plain, practically on the verge of being pronounced "run down." It didn't look too bad with its gray paint job, but still…

"Yuck." I dryly commented.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Tokyo looked at London.

"Yep." He nodded. "Jeff's on the ninth floor. We better park the bikes in the alley before we go in."

"Yeah."

"Park us where?!" Juunanogou panicked.

"In the alley." I assured him in annoyance. "Weren't you listening?"

His writing was in yellow, which meant he was scared of something…

"There's other cars in there. It's kinda like a parking garage."

"I'm listening." I assured, driving into the alley.

"Big city alleys are nightmares to us autos! Vandals everywhere! They'll spray paint gang symbols on us, or trash us, or..." Frowny face. "...strip us of vital parts and sell them in pawn shops or something!"

"Where do you think you are, New York City?" I glared at my bike. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. California monitors everything. They even have cameras in the bathrooms."

"They do?" He made a swirly-eyed smiley face as I put him in park in a parking spot.

"They do?" Tokyo and London looked at me in worry.

"What?" I wondered to them, looking between both of them. "Sure, they monitor the bathrooms. You've never seen those 'Caught on Tape' TV specials?"

They both fell over with annoyed groans.

*******

London found the intercom by the building's front door and pushed a button by the name "Jeff M. Snow." The button buzzed loudly as London quickly pressed it.

"Yeah?" a male voice answered.

"Hoye, Jeff!" London called, friendly like. "Ye ol mates here ta see yu!"

"London? Hey, London, my man! Come on up! Good to here your voice!"

"I'm bringing two other buds up with me. We need a place to stay for a while."

"C'mon up! Let's talk about it, bro!"

"Okay." London chuckled. "Here we come." London opened the complex door, and began up the stairs. Tokyo and I followed him up. We walked about eight flights before we reached the apartment door. London knocked, and the door instantly opened. Greeting us was a middle-aged black man with the biggest and widest grin I had ever seen.

"Hey man!" he greeted London with a laugh.

"Dude!" London greeted back as they slapped each other's shoulders. "Whazzup?"

"Iz cool! C'min! Let me meet your friends."

"This is Jeff." London introduced to Tokyo and me. I was alright with him, but Tokyo was turning a little pale in surprise. "Jeff, I dunno if you remember me talking about two other androids? Well, here they are."

"Well, hey there, you guys." Jeff greeted, then smiled at me. "Hello…what have we here?"

"Her names Paris," London introduced, "but we all call her Clara. She's our fembot."

"Hi." I smiled, offering my hand. He shook it with a very strong grip.

"Welcome, Clara." Jeff smiled back. "A pleasure to finally meet you." Then, he turned to Tokyo, who was still a little pale. "And this is?"

"This is Tokyo," London introduced, "Clara's boyfriend. Say hi, Tokyo."

"H…Hello." Tokyo said flatly, bringing a little color back into his face.

"Something wrong, Tokyo?" Jeff wondered, his smile shrinking a few sizes.

"Forgive me," Tokyo apologized. "I lived in Japan all my life, so I'm not used to…uh, colored people?" He was trying to be really polite about it. I guess Japan didn't like black people or something, I don't know.

"That's alright." Jeff nodded as he shook Tokyo's hand. "Welcome to the U.S., Tokyo. It's a pleasure to finally meet you and Clara."

"Thank you, sir." Tokyo faked a smile. It was clearly fake, even he knew it looked fake.

I felt embarrassed…so I hoped to God Tokyo didn't act like that around Jeff the whole time we were here.

*******

The apartment across from him was the rental apartment. Jeff's uncle owned the complex, so the deal was the three of us paid half and Jeff paid half too…

…which meant we had to get jobs!

Anyway, the apartment already had furniture and working utilities, but it was a little dusty. So, we decided to clean up a bit before we got settled down. I watched London bat some dust out of the couch pillows. He instantly coughed at the thick, white clouds.

"Oh jeez…" he coughed, quickly opening up a window and sticking his head out for fresh air. Big mistake. "OH GOD!" He quickly pulled his head back in and slammed the window down with a hacking cough. "I forgot about the pollution up here! We're probably gonna have to check our air filters every now and then, mates."

So, we left the door open as we dusted.

When we got to the bedroom, we began planning out our daily routine.

"So, who sleeps where?" I asked as I changed the sheets on the bed.

"I dunno." London shrugged as he slapped dust out of the pillows. "It's a small bed for the three of us…"

"So, two of us can share the bed," Tokyo suggested, using his obi to dust off a bed lamp, "and one of us can sleep on the couch in the living room."

"Sounds alright." I nodded, coughing in the dust cloud that floated my way. "London!"

"Pardon my dust." The Brit grinned.

"So who gets what?" I asked Tokyo as he fanned his obi out the window.

"London gets the couch."

"Huh? Why?" London objected, then an evil grin crossed his face as he stepped over the bed to Tokyo's side of the room. "Oh no you don't, you sly dog! I know what you're up to! You and Clara are not sharing the bed!"

"I'm not going to do anything to her!" Tokyo snapped at him. "You know me better than that!"

"Oh no…" I groaned. I made up my mind with a sigh. "I'll sleep on the couch if it'll end any arguments."

"I'm not sleeping with him!" London screamed, pointing at Tokyo. Tokyo responded by slapping London's hand with his dusty obi. "Ow!"

"How could you think of such things?!" Tokyo demanded. "I keep telling you, there's no shame in sharing a bed with another…"

"Oh yes there is! Two guys in one bed? Do you know how sick, gross, and disgusting that is?!"

They began to argue with culture clashing morals until I finally went to their side of the room, and put my blade between their locked glares. That promptly shut them up.

"London?" I began firmly. "Does Jeff have a sleeping bag or an extra mattress we can borrow?"

"Uh, I dunno…" London answered. "That's a good idea, though."

"Go ask." I ordered. London ran out of the room to Jeff's apartment. I sheathed my sword and dropped the cross attitude. "Tokyo, why did you want London to sleep on the couch in the first place?"

"Because I hate him." He answered, tossing his obi onto the bed.

"But that would have left you and me in the same bed."

"We're both responsible and mature. We know better than to engage in any se…"

"Yeah right." I doubted, putting my hand on my hips. "I know what you're up to, you naughty boy."

"God damn it! Not you too!"

"Admit it!" I teased, shaking my hips side to side and sang tauntingly: "You want to touuuuch me, you want to huuuuug me, you want to hooooold me, you want to kiiiiss me, you want to loooove m…"

Suddenly, he seized my shoulders so quickly that I was silenced with a gasp. He stepped a little closer to me and leaned his forehead on mine.

"I would never force you to do anything like that." He whispered to me. "I love you and I would never hurt you."

"And I don't wanna hurt you." I whispered back. "I do love you, and I want what's best for both of us."

"Yes…" He agreed softly, then he kissed me tenderly. I pressed a little harder into the kiss and put my arms on his shoulders as he hands came to a rest on my hips. We both relaxed and slipped into a blissful romance for a few precious moments.

"Hey in there!" we heard London call from the next room. "Are you guys making out or something?! I said I could use a hand in here!"

"Huh?" Tokyo and I wondered, looking out the doorway, then back at each other, blushing.

"I'll sleep on the couch." Tokyo volunteered, quickly letting go of me.

"Okay." I accepted, letting go of him.

Maybe we weren't so responsible and mature after all…

*******

"Whoo-hoo! Paydirt, baby!" London cheered as he carried in a deflated air mattress. "That was a great idea, Clara!"

"Alright!" I cheered with him as he dropped it by the couch. "Thank you, Jeff!"

"Now then," London sighed, rolling out the bed flat on the floor, "who sleeps on what?"

The three of us looked at each other, uncertain.

Fortunately, we peacefully came to an agreement: I got the bed, Tokyo got the couch, and London would be on the air mattress.

So, that was one mess we took care of, but we still had a few more left.

*******

God, I hate searching for jobs. We had a hell of a time searching through San Francisco on foot. Either we couldn't find a place that was hiring, or we did but we weren't accepted, or we didn’t like the job offer. I was ready to walk back to the apartment in frustration, but the boys encouraged me not to give up.

We found a "HELP WANTED" sign on a bookstore, and we walked inside to try our luck. The clerk was an old, balding man with his nose buried in one of the thickest books I had ever seen. When we made ourselves known, the man took one look at us and panicked. He pulled a pistol out from the counter and frantically threatened us to get out of he store. We nervously complied.

"Jesus Christ…" I moaned, waving my hand towards the shop window. "What is with that guy?"

"Maybe there was a 'No Teenagers Allowed' sign we missed somewhere?" London wondered, searching the door carefully.

"Maybe someone else took the job?" I shrugged.

"Maybe he's a dragonoid." Tokyo suggested.

"What?" I blinked. "Oh, c'mon! That can't be right!"

Suddenly, a shot rang out and shattered the shop window behind me. I jumped in surprise and turned around. The clerk was shooting at us and threatening to call the police. We started walking away, but the clerk fired at us again for leaving too slowly. So, as we ran away, I angrily shouted over my shoulder:

"Happy?!"

He shot through the window at us one last time. I shook my head as we rounded the corner.

"I feel sorry for that guy." I admitted.

"I feel sorry for that window." London joked. "Talk about being 'shot to pieces,' mate."

*******

We came back to the apartment later that night. The three of us were still jobless, even after looking through the San Francisco Chronicle's wanted ads. We were feeling pretty miserable and just wanted to go to bed.

"Maybe we can find a McDonald's or a Burger King…" London huffed as we reached the ninth floor. "They'll hire anybody…"

"Hey guys!" We heard Jeff call to us as he opened his door with a white ceramic bottle that looked like a tiny flower vase. "How about some Japan Town sake?"

"Huh?" the three of us wondered, blinking.

Jeff invited us into his apartment, and we sat by his coffee table. Tokyo gladly accepted a dish while London and I hesitated.

"I heard this stuff is strong enough to kill a man in two swigs." I frowned. Kaguya and Tokyo would sometimes drink over sake to have Japanese chats over, but Magus gave me advice not to try any.

"You sound like the old man." Tokyo chuckled, then sucked down a full dish of the alcohol. I took a seat next to him and picked up a dish of my own. London was very hesitant.

"The boys and I had this before, this… 'Sock-yee.' I didn't care for it, and the boys took a very long nap and were blushing for weeks."

"So, what's the occasion?" I asked before sipping my dish.

"If you guys need jobs, I got one for you." Jeff suggested. "I own a dojo, and I don't have very many blackbelts for sensei's. So I’m hiring some of the best martial artists I can find for teachers. I heard you guys are pretty good fighters and that you might be interested."

"Us? Teachers?" I asked. "Don't tell me we're teaching little kids how to punch and kick and how to tie on their belts…"

"That's not the kind of place I have." Jeff shook his head. "The dojo headmaster will only accept people over eighteen."

"But you said you own the place!"

"Yeah, but that's all I do. Morisato actually runs the place."

"Oh."

"Morisato… Is he the sensei?" Tokyo asked after swigging down a dish and pouring himself another drink.

"Yeah. And sometimes he gets nasty. He's the greatest martial artist I've ever seen, he's never lost a fight."

"Which art is practiced in the dojo?"

"Oh, all kinds. But mostly kick boxing."

"Psh." Tokyo sneered. "Child's play. Sure, I'll take the job."

"So, that's one down and two to go." I smiled, swigging down my dish. The sake went down the wrong pipe, and I hacked a cough.

"Whoa! Dude!" Jeff exclaimed in surprise.

"Kills men in two swigs?" London nodded. "How about two gulps?"

"Not so deep next time, Paris." Tokyo calmly advised as I calmed down. "Drink half a dish at a time. Get used to the flavor."

"Okay." I gulped, losing my voice.

Job searching didn’t resume until the next day…

…Because we were attacked that night.

*******

Jeff gave us a spare TV, so we plugged that in and watched an episode of Seinfeld. Afterward, we began turning in for the night.

"Okay, we wanna be up nice and early for the visit to Jeff's dojo." I announced. "So let's try to get to sleep."

"Yessir, General." London agreed, with a British salute. Smirking, I played along with his joke and paced back and forth in front of London like a drill sergeant.

"The maximum hours spent asleep should be exactly eight. Any longer than that, and you'll be getting a cold shower of ice water straight from the bucket. Do you hear me?!"

"Sir, yes sir!" London responded, sounding a bit more American.

"If you continue to sleep after that, so help me God, soldier, I'll kick your ass. Do you hear me?!"

"Sir, yeah, sir…" London squeaked in worry. The nearby Tokyo just shook his head.

"At ease!" I ordered. London started getting comfortable on the air mattress as I gave Tokyo a goodnight kiss.

"Sleep well." I wished him quietly.

"I will." He whispered back, then he gave me a longer, more passionate kiss goodnight. "Good night."

" 'Night." Then, I walked away from him as he started to take off his shirt. London smiled up at me as I walked past him.

"I can still remember the days when you and Tokyo hated each other." He beamed.

"Yeah." I laughed. "It seems like a long time ago."

"And now you're boyfriend and girlfriend…"

"Yeah. Funny how things work out, eh?"

"…and you wanna get it on!"

"What?" Tokyo and I growled through our teeth.

"Come ohn!" London cheered, hoarsely. "Let's gittit ohn!" Then he burst into song and dance. "Do a liddle dance…make a liddle love…giddown tonight! Giddown toni…AAAAAACK!"

He didn't finish his song because Tokyo and I pounced on him and tried to strangle him.

*******

It happened about two hours after I had gone to sleep. I heard the door slam open and a loud voice yell loud enough for the whole floor to hear.

"Alright punks, time for you to get yours!"

I quickly jumped out of the bed and got my sword.

"You idiots!" I heard Tokyo yell. "Don't start a fight with us here!"

Dragonoids! I instinctively thought. I ran out of the bedroom and into the living room. Three punks with pistols were standing by the door and Tokyo and London were standing on the couch with their swords drawn. On the punks' forehead were Royal Seals. Yep, they were dragonoids.

Tokyo flung three shuriken at them and sliced through their pistols, getting rid of the big problem. Then, the punks leaped for Tokyo and London, but the two androids jumped in the air, making the punks fall onto the couch. Tokyo landed feet first on two of the punks' necks while London canon-balled on the third's back. Tokyo positioned the point of his katana to a punk's back while London held the other two at sword and knifepoint.

"Okay, what's going on here?" I called into the room.

"Gatecrashers, that's what's going on here." London grinned at me.

"How did you find us?" Tokyo demanded from his prisoner.

"The book keeper hired us to get rid of you." The punk answered in a frantic stammer. "He doesn't wanna die!"

"None of us wanna die!" another announced in fear.

"Stay away from our gansho, murderers!" the last one ordered, scared to death.

I blinked.

"A what? What's a 'gansho?' "

"It's a dragonoid word." London explained. "It means 'gateway.' There's a way into the dragonoid empire from here somewhere."

"Well, well." Tokyo smiled. "Is that why there's so much dragonoid activity here? Sounds like the three of us could have some fun here after all."

"Please don't kill us!" one of the punks begged. "We'll do anything!"

"The dragons here are wimps." I pitied.

"Indeed." Tokyo nodded. "They're just commoners with no fighting experience."

"We better kill them." London decided. "They'll tell other dragonoids where we are. We have to be cautious here in Frisco."

"Wait." I stopped. "M…maybe we should let them go."

"HUH?!" Tokyo and London's jaws dropped.

"They didn't want to come and kill us. That bookstore guy was too chicken to come and fight us himself. They don't deserve to die, and we're made of better stuff."

Tokyo and London looked at each other, then back to me.

"Alright." London nodded, releasing his two prisoners. "If you guys rat out where we are, then you will deserve to die." Tokyo took his sword away, and the three punks ran out the door and out of sight.

"You're not even going to press charges, Paris?" Tokyo asked me. I shook my head.

"They don't deserve it, and I'm too tired. Are you guys okay?"

"They didn't even touch us." London assured. "So, 'we're made of better stuff?' I like the sound of that…"

"Let's get back to sleep." Tokyo suggested as London got off the couch. "And let's make it a policy to always take our swords to bed."

"Right." London and I agreed.

"I guess I'll go back to bed." I shrugged. "Good job, guys. I wish I got in on the fun too."

I felt Tokyo's concerned eyes on me as I went back to bed.

I didn't sleep at all the rest of the night.

Don't you just hate it when you get paranoid of people coming to break into your house?

I hated it.