Toshi blinked.

He just blinked for quite a while. It was a little difficult to process what he heard, "Excuse me, I thought I heard you-" She cut him off, "Marry me. I don't want anyone else. I don't trust anyone else. I am happy when you are around and I think about you when you aren't. I almost died tonight. I came so goddamn close to dying you have no idea." She pulled his hand closer, holding it over her heart, "This stopped when you fell off the stairs and you almost died. I keep thinking about how many times I came close to losing you and I can't take it. I love you."

"Marry me."

Toshi looked at the hand she held so tightly. It was so tempting to just say yes. He looked up into her eyes, "Are you leaving your family?" She tightened her jaw and said softly, "Eventually." He nodded slowly, "Will you go to your grandmother and tell her you aren't going to be a pimp?" She bit her lower lip, then looked away.

Toshi took a deep breath then let it out slowly, "I was terrified." She looked back at him, "When your grandmother called, I was so scared. I was ready to destroy everything that stood in my way. I was prepared to... uh... call in some big favors. I was going to find you and save you, no matter what." He squeezed her hand, "I think I love you too." He slowly let go, "But I can't be with you if you are going to be a criminal."

Naora rolled her eyes, "Owning a soapland is perfectly legal! This isn't like drug dealing! This is legitimate. Yeah, Gen is going to cheat, but I won't have one hand tied behind my back doing something I hate." Toshi sighed and looked at her with a flat expression, "And if you win, will you be able to make sure the family is totally legal? You are going to purge it of everything criminal?" Naora glared at Toshi, "Maybe. Eventually. Sure. Besides, I won't be in charge of the family right away. I'll just be designated the next in line, that's all. I won't have-"

Toshi cut her off with a snort, "What are you smoking? They're going to get you ankles deep in blood as soon as possible. You won't have TIME to make changes. Once you are in, you are in. There's no getting out." Naora pointed over her shoulder, "Grandma got out." Toshi leveled a flat glare at her, "And look how long that lasted." He stabbed a finger at her, "Do you really believe I can keep taking bullets for you? SOMEONE is going to get you, sooner or later! You can't keep sparing people's lives. Eventually it'll come down to you or Gen." He pulled away, "And I'm not going to marry a murderer."

Naora squeezed the bridge of her nose then shouted, "I KNOW! I DAMN WELL KNOW! I WANT OUT OF THIS AND I DON'T KNOW HOW!"

The car was silent.

Toshi sat there thoughtfully for quite a while. Just as he was about to open his mouth, a light shined in from the driver's side. A large, black maglight tapped against Naora's window. Toshi held up his hand to shield his eyes from the light. The tapping repeated and Naora rolled it down, "Yes?" A police officer stood there shining the light into Naora's squinting eyes. Her partner came up on the other side. The one by Naora asked, "License and registration?" While the second shined a light into the backseat of the car. Fortunately, there wasn't anything back there worth mentioning.

Naora looked annoyed for forced a smile, "Sure." She reached into her back pocket for her wallet. She gestured to the glove compartment and asked Toshi, "Could you get the registration?" Toshi nodded and did so as he started breaking out in a cold sweat, ~Oh crap Oh crap Oh Crap! I hope nobody recognizes me as a Kimoto. This gets back to mom, I'm totally screwed!~ The one officer took both and handed it off to her partner, then returned to looking inside the car. The partner took both back to the car to run them in the database. The officer leaned in to shine the light on Toshi, "Seems things were getting heated. You okay, little lord?"

Toshi hated that phrase.

'Little Lord', this world's version of 'Little Lady', was so... god damn... CONDESCENDING. It set Toshi on edge. He just wanted to punch anyone who called him a 'little lord' in the face. He realized it wasn't said out of malice. It was just a term of endearment here, but BOY did it grind his gears something fierce. Fortunately Naora could tell Toshi was winding up and tried to defuse things, "Oh, me and little pumpkin we're just having a discussion."

'Little pumpkin' being code for, 'Calm DOWN'

Toshi eyed Naora for a bit, then the cop, then flipped his hair as he turned away, "Don't little pumpkin me! I know you were looking at Kenko all night!" Naora blinked, "Huh?" Toshi kept his back to Naora, and the cop as well, as he continued, "Oh please! Here I am dressed in the latest Grunge Fashion that is all the rage in Seattle and I came here to show off my outfit and then Kenko shows up in the same outfit and you spend the whole night looking at his ass!" Naora blinked, "Uhhhh..." Toshi glanced at the cop, "Can you please arrest her for being a terrible date?" The cop straightened up and squinted, "Uh... no. No I cannot."

Toshi made a dismissive hand gesture towards the cop, "Then what good are you? My aunt who is the head of the Oh family should stop donating money to any police charities, that's what I think!" Naora finally caught on and started playing along, "Now now, Peaches, I wasn't looking at anyone's behind. You know you're the only one for me." Toshi kept his arms folded and made a 'HUMPH' sound. Naora looked at the cop and shrugged helplessly, then turned back to Toshi, "How about tomorrow I take you out to buy that new diamond studded watch you were looking at." Toshi carefully looked out of the corner of one eye at Naora, "The one with the blue sapphire inlay?" Naora nodded, "Of course, the blue sapphire inlay." Toshi took a deep breath then waggled his head slowly from side to side, "Welllllll.... maybe. Okay. I... MIGHT forgive you... a little."

Toshi kept facing away while Naora turned to the cop and looked helpless while mouthing the words, 'You know how it is'. The cop rolled her eyes and nodded. A minute later the other cop returned and there was a short discussion. The license and registration were handed back to Naora, "I think you both should be getting home." Naora nodded and smiled as nicely as possible, "Understood, officer. Right away." As the cops walked back to their car, Naora rolled up the window and both let out a sigh of relief. They spoke in unison, "That was too close." Naora started the car, "I'll get you home."

As they drove away, a little program in the main police database was triggered by Naora's license and flagged the incident report for review.