"Where are you going?"

Gambit looked over his shoulder as he secured his duffel bag to the Harley.

"Out.  Get some sleep, Cockerel.  We talk again in de morning."

"You're going out on a job, aren't you." Jinpei left the door to walk down the steps towards him.

"Maybe."

"Let me go with you, please.  I'm ready, I--"

Gambit turned casually away from the Harley to look at him.  "That is not your place to decide, boy.  You are not ready yet."

"I am so!  I--"

Jinpei ended his retort to the address of 'boy.' All his senses screamed at him that this was not the time to be glib.  He rocked back on his heels as the hazel-red eyes bore into him.  Eyes that seemed to burn like ochre fires in the pits of hell.

A total personality shift had taken place before him.  The bearing and manners had changed...  taken on a commanding presence that brooked no argument.  The Cajun had suddenly become cold... distant... intimidating.

This wasn't the Remy who brought him back two nights ago.  This wasn't the trickster, who laughed at the assassins even as he killed them.  This man held the carriage of a Commandant to a lowly private who had little or no say in authority.  This was the cold, professional Master Thief, Gambit.

A memory flickered in the recesses of his mind of another voice... another face who had used a similar carriage with him.  A voice, which would give commands that required his total obedience.  He looked down quickly to tear his eyes away from the intimidating visage.  He didn't even dare look up when he heard Gambit leave the bike to walk towards him.

A pair of hands griped his shoulders gently.  "There is no democracy in the Guild, Jinpei.  An apprentice must never question his Master.  It will be well that you remember this." The voice was soft, gentle.

Jinpei swallowed and nodded.

"Look at me, Jinpei."

He looked up nervously, to meet the pair of hazel-red eyes that no longer seemed to glow with an arcane energy.

"It is my judgment that you are not ready for this night's work.  But we see again t'morrow, neh?" Remy grinned as he tousled his hair.

Jinpei stayed on the porch as he watched Gambit ride off.  He was still quite stunned and off balanced over what just occurred.

"So, Cockerel, had enough f' de day?"

Andre's words shook him out of his reverie.

"Andre?  Is-I-What--?"

"Not so easy t' be a thief, is it, Cockerel?  Y' t'ink we tell y' of de rituals an' traditions o' de Guild, jus' t' hear our own voice?" Andre steered him back into the house.  "De Guilds are guided by tradition as much as by honor, Cockerel.

"Rules, protocol, discipline, an' respect... dese are all cornerstones o' de Guild.  Y' remember dat.  Y' *never* challenge y' Master's decisions.  If y' want t' ask y' Master f' somethin', y' use y' head an' ask it right."

"I... didn't know it'd be this... strict."

"Dat is de way o' de Guild, Cockerel.  We are not de common burglar.  Y' hear 'bout dem amateurs in de news an' de papers everyday.  No one hear e'en a whisper o' de Guild o' Thieves." Andre looked him over for a moment. "An' when y' leave us, Cockerel, y' not say a word t' a body 'bout us either."

"Andre, why won't you believe me when I tell you I won't leave Remy?"

"Cause I c'n see, Cockerel.  Y're a good fighter.  But y' never gonna make a good thief, or an assassin."

Jinpei bristled at the old man when he left him at his bedroom door.  As Jinpei entered his room, a smirk crossed his face for a moment as he contemplated following Remy.  Then the memory of the burning eyes touched him and he shuddered inwardly.

Another memory also appeared to him fleetingly, of a pair of sapphire blue eyes, which would look at him with much of the same expression that commanded obedience.  But whom did those eyes belong to?

He yawned mightily, suddenly aware of how tired he really felt.  Remy had given him a good work out after he had come back from the city, but it was the last few hours with the motion sensor that really did him in.

To be fair, Remy was probably right about his not being ready.  Considering all the time he wasted with the motion sensor...

~"It is my judgment that you are not ready for this night's work."~

Jinpei climbed into bed and sighed.  #Well, I'm going to work on it tomorrow.  I'll show him I'm ready for tomorrow night!#

As Jinpei drifted into sleep, a fleeting thought came to him.  #Must be mis-remembering it, but did Remy lose his accent?#

Ken chafed at the collar of his military dress uniform as he watched the official after dinner function with both caution and extreme concern.  Jun hadn't reported in at all, though he didn't expect her to do so.  He also had more than enough faith in her not to send Ryu out to check on her.

Ken continued to muse over Jinpei.  The kid deserved a good paddling for leaving his post, worse for vanishing altogether.  What was he going to do when Jinpei finally returned?  He *couldn't* overlook this insubordination.  Jinpei's absence affected the whole team...  Now it seemed his preoccupation had attracted the attentions of the man he was guarding.

The President dismissed several aides around him to take a breather and talk to Ken in a more private setting.  The man was always good to the Kagaku Ninjatai.  He was a big man both in size and in stature with a grandfatherly appearance.  The team enjoyed it whenever he came to see them at the ISO HQ.

Cain stopped for a moment before a big glass window, which Ken quickly made him step away from.

"Well, Commander?  What's next?  A steel box with a slit in the side so I can see?"

"Just thinking about your safety, Sir.  We can never be too careful where Galactor is concerned," Ken reminded him as he continued to look about.

Cain looked at the timepiece that hung in his shirt pocket before turning serious.  "Tell me the truth, Commander.  I've heard that there's been a few 'wild' incidents happening around us of late?  And there's been a certain unease in the air...?"

Ken frowned, momentarily thinking again of Jinpei's disappearance.  But this disappearance was only known within the team.  If anything, Cain was probably reacting to the nervous energy, born of inactivity, of the UN guards.

"Yes sir.  We've been running across things that just don't fit the Galactor MO at all.  I'm surprised they haven't tried something yet."

"And I think the whole lot of you are neurotic."

Ken coughed back his laughter as Cain's eyes twinkled at him.  "You *did* receive a death threat, sir."

The President rolled his eyes as he nodded.  "I was talking to the Mayor a while ago and he was telling me about the history of the Corsican Mafia.  They say Marseilles was the center of activity before they disappeared altogether.  There's rumors the organization never died out.  I thought you might need to know that."

"And should I now turn around and accuse *you* of paranoia, Sir?"  Ken smiled briefly.  "Nambu Hakase informed us that the Corsican Mafia is dead."

"But the Mafia was supposed to have a branch of assassins who were *not* apprehended."

"It might just be a distortion of facts, Sir.  We do know that Berg Katse has engaged Assassins who are rumored to be outside the Galactor Empire, but..."

"Such are the rumors...  Perhaps they are tales told just to add mystery and wonderment to the city."  Cain laughed, "But what else can old men do but to pass along the old tales, just for some excitement in our lives?

"Being on a hit list, has so far been rather boring, Commander.  Are you sure you can't hurry the Galactors along in making at attempt on my life?"

This time Ken couldn't stop the smile from spreading over his face.

"Ahhh, that's the lad.  No need to look so grim all the time."  Cain patted him on the shoulder before he turned to walk back amongst the guests.

Ken turned his attention back to his watch, affirmed in his determination that the Galactors would not take the life of this kindly man.  But his thoughts returned to his missing little brother.

#No.  Damn it, Washio.  The mission comes first.  You have to trust Jinpei's ability to take care of himself.  Cain needs you more than he does.  The Galactors will not take him down due to your inattention!#

His eyes turned again to scan the crowd and the surroundings.  But niggling thoughts of his youngest ninja remained within him.

#Jun, I hope you find him.  We can't afford this distraction.#

<Now what!>  Jun grumbled as she tried to make her way back to the motel in the late evening.

Even on the lighted but empty Chanse Valoet market street, she swore someone was following her around.  There were quick shadows coming and going into and out of view and focus so fast along the way, that Jun swore she was more tired than she thought she was.  Of course, it wasn't beyond her brother to pull such crazy jokes from time to time on her, out of spirit or spite.

There it was again.  A sudden but more slowly appearing shadow than before.  The image of a figure clearly discernible, yet without features as it stood bathed in darkness.

Pursue it?  Risky by any measure.  It could all be some carefully crafted Galactor ruse or just a stupid prankster getting his kicks off of trying to scare her.

Then came a laugh, a clear childlike laugh that Jun couldn't ignore and a tapping sound at her feet.  A rock dropped from above.  Jinpei would do the same thing, she was sure of it.  Then again... it could be another Galactor ruse.

<Shit!>  She cursed under her breath.  <Do or don't?>  She made the decision quickly. <Do it!>

It was a slow, very slow climb up the side of the small French apartment building towards the roof, where an open window beckoned.  Jun cursed her decision to wear that lovely skirt which Ken had bought for her.  It was definitely *not* made for the activity she was currently engaged in.

#Should have carried my regular gear with me for a quick change.#

Jun peek into the room for a quick scrutiny before she stepped in.  There was the laughter again.  Just ahead, near the center of the room, a small figure sat alone kicking his legs in the dark.

<Jinpei?  I hope you realize the trouble you're in!  Your running about has had us all-->  Jun left the window to approach the figure.

A big mistake.  Jun had just enough time to react and catch the knife-wielding arm that moved in front of her throat.   She flipped her attacker over her back and slammed him down before her, shattering his arm and breaking his windpipe with one smooth motion.

"All right son of a bitch!  Who are you?" she snarled at the stranger who definitely wasn't Jinpei.

The stranger laughed again as he rose from his seat.  Unfolding his long limbs, he revealed himself to be much larger than her original assessment.

"You should ask who you will be greeting, mademoiselle.  And it is mort, mademoiselle, Je suis la mort." he sneered as he waved his hand and brought forth his hidden team of assassins to surround her.

"As goes a well known Russian phrase, ma cherie...  'Das vadania!' May you go with God!"

Jun kept herself calm.  She was hemmed in from all sides and they looked determined to take her down *hard*.  In the crammed confines of the apartment, they had the advantage.  She needed space if she was to get out alive and there was only one way to get that space.

Her hands reached almost casually for the waistband of her skirt.  A strategic rip and it fell to her feet, exposing her slim and shapely legs to the eyes of the startled assassins.  That split second hesitation was all she needed.

She launched herself at the assassins on the right, even as her feet kicked the skirt at the other assassins, blinding them as they found themselves entangled in the billowing material.  The assassins were soon to learn how powerful those shapely and muscular legs were.  Jun used their lust and distraction to good advantage, guaranteeing some of the assassins their last vision of beauty as a stocking clad knee or heeled foot smashed into faces and bodies.

Jun crashed through the window to land in the courtyard outside the apartment.  She had the space now, but her danger wasn't over, the odds still not looking so good.  The remaining assassins were just as swift to follow her and again she was surrounded.

Jun cursed her decision to follow a lead while she wasn't dressed in her special civvies.  The bird style would have been very welcome now.  But they weren't supposed to let the Galactors know that the Kagaku Ninjatai were about and she knew she'd never have been able to pose as a tourist in those clothes.  She wasn't dressed for this.  If they'd just give her a bit of space, she'd have the time to send out an emergency bird scramble.

"So our little kitten... 'she wants to play ze chase.'"  That voice again.  "You have only made things more interesting for us, fille."

"I'd like to see you back that up." A smile touched Jun's lips, which did not reach her eyes.  Her yo-yo was in her hands, retrieved from the previously concealed thigh holster.

"Pah.  We have better things to do, mademoiselle.  So though it would be a shame to miss out on a physical grapple..." The slight figure held out a grenade.  "... you will soon make it up to us, no?"

Jun could not hold back her sudden intake of breath.  A gas grenade!  They could put her out for the count to do anything they...

"Arragh!"

The grenade fell to the floor unarmed, followed by drops of blood from a hand that was impaled by two cards.  The remaining assassins were on the alert.  For a brief moment, it looked as though they had forgotten about her.

"Playing cards?  Gambit!"

A soft laughter drifted from the alley beside the building they had so recently vacated.  The glow of a cigarette stood out in the darkness of the shadows.

"So, news o' m' presence precedes me, neh?  Y' Master's methods are not condoned by de Guilds, cochon."  A slim figure moved out of the alley, though he stayed shrouded in shadows.  "It got no honor.  And Gambit be here t' see it end."

"Our Master would be etre aux anges to see your end this night, thief.  Get him!"

Jun didn't know whether to be relieved or insulted.  It was as if the assassins had suddenly decided that she was some unimportant piece of the background.

"Hey!" Her yo-yo flashed out, slicing through their ranks in a spray of blood.

The stranger chuckled again as he spun a Bo into action.  "Messieurs, y' never been taught proper?  *Never* ignore a lady."

With this welcomed assistance, the odds swiftly shifted to Jun's favor.

The assassins were good, but they never had a chance.  Jun was relieved to discover that the stranger was almost as good as Joe or Ken.  He twisted and tumbled through the air, striking out with hands, feet, or Bo.  Each blow calculated and precise.

In her training with the Kagaku Ninjatai, Jun had been exposed to many fighting disciplines, but she couldn't pigeonhole the stranger's style.  He had a style and flair of his own...  More of an acrobat than a martial arts proponent, she realized, but no less deadly.

After a few heart-pounding minutes, the battle started to wind down and the swiftly dwindling assassins started to get desperate and careless.  The pair of allies found the focus of the assassins shifting again as they remembered their initial target.  Jun, however, was not an easy target to pin down.

Then the unthinkable happened.  The blood slick cobblestones proved to be Jun's undoing.  She had just dispatched an assassin with a sharp kidney blow when she landed wrong.  Her ankle twisted awkwardly as she fell with her victim.

"It is done!"

She heard the scream even as she saw the black blade come spinning at her.  Her hand reached up instinctively, but Jun knew that in her current position and in the dim lighting, she had no hope of judging the speed enough to catch it.  The most she could hope for was to deflect the knife and accept a minor cut in slapping it away.

Even as she made that decision, the need for the action was taken away as a black gloved hand caught the blade neatly and returned it to its origin.  A gasp and a gurgle greeted the arrival of the knife and the last of the assassins stumbled back into the light of a street lamp with the knife deeply embedded in his throat.

As swiftly as it had begun, the battle was over with that last death.  Jun stayed seated on the floor, staring at the assassin whose lifeblood gushed from the fatal wound.  She sucked in a deep breath as she studied the face.

"A--a boy, he--he can't be more than 16."

The stranger snapped his head towards her in surprise.  Jun started to feel incredibly foolish for that comment.  She had been in this line for so long, it was too easy to forget how old she really was.  She wasn't *that* egotistical to think that her special team was the only competent youths in training.

"Like you, if De garcon be old enough t' run with de assassins, he old enough t' take de consequence o' failure, petite." She could hear the grim amusement in his tones.

The black gloved hand appeared before her face, offering her a hand up, "Come, best get us gone, chere.  'Fore reinforcements show up."

"I--" She accepted the hand and let him pull her to her feet.

"Don't got t' walk, jus' hold on." One arm slipped around her waist and he held out a cable gun with the other to shoot a line up.

Before Jun could catch her breath, the recoil of the cable jerked her off her feet.  With little else said between them, she went flying up to the roof of the apartment.  Borne in the arms of the man the assassins had called 'Gambit'.

Jun stared in silent morbid fascination while the bodies were removed and the courtyard restored to its original ordinary appearance.

"What are you people?" She turned to the tall stranger, wishing that she could make out his face in the long shadows.

"Can' answer dat, petite.  Dis not y' concern.  Y' best leave while y' can."  He appeared to look down at her legs for a moment.

Jun could feel the heat of the blush starting to color her cheeks.  She couldn't see his face, but she could hear the smile in his words as he removed his trenchcoat and draped it over her shoulders.

"Y' got t' wear more dan dat, petite.  Y' givin' Gambit some ideas, but he got no time f' dat t'night."

Her protests were stopped by his mouth closing over hers.

When asked later, Jun couldn't really say why she didn't push him away and slap him for his audacity.  She only knew at that moment that it was a kiss that made her knees weak... a kiss of a type she yearned for Ken to give her.  She didn't want the kiss to end, wishing with all her heart that it was Ken with her now; that he would stop being so self conscious about their relationship and accept the love between them.

"He be a lucky man, chere." She heard him whisper.  Then he was gone.  And she was alone once more in the cool starless Marseilles night.

<Let me get this straight,>  Ken growled with ill humor in dim light of the room.  Jun pointedly ignored his sour countenance as she sat brushing her hair at the dressing table.

<You meet up with this short guy and a bunch of people who almost kill you.  You lose your skirt and then this suave looking stranger helps you to kill all of them, carries you off and kisses you... and you never thought to call for backup.  That's a wild story, Jun.>

Jun had never gotten mad at Ken before, though now she was quite ready to smack him for his grumpy tone of voice.  But no... violence was the exhaustion of intellect.  Words worked better.

<Oh... are we getting jealous, Washio?  My word, how you've become so concerned for my chastity all of a sudden.>

Ken almost fell of his chair at her words.  <Damn it, Jun!  I'm concerned for your safety!  Those bastards had plans for you.  And what if this--Gambit wanted more than a kiss?!>

<It certainly wasn't his intent, Ken!  I knew it, I felt it.  He had more elan and honor in his blood than viciousness.  He did take me by surprise though... the guy had a lot of gall, incredibly self confident and assured to say the least.  And he was a damn good kisser!>

Ken was hurt by that, she could see him fighting it.  She knew he loved her, but out of professional ethics he couldn't show it and it drove him crazy.  Jun moved to touch him, to give him an assuring hug that he hadn't slipped from her graces, that he still remained in her heart.

He looked into her eyes.  <If those bastards had hurt you... nothing would have held me back from seeking them out.  Nothing!>

Ken unfolded his arms and turned to leave.  <I've contacted Hakase and passed along our suspicions on the existence of the Guild.>

<Ken-->

<Sleep well tonight, Jun.  We'll talk more in the morning.>

Jun breathed out sharply in frustration as the door closed behind Ken.  For a moment, she forgot about Jinpei... the chill that gripped her when she realized how close she had come to being gang raped... the adrenaline pumping battle... the suave stranger...

All this was forgotten with the memory of the hurt in that pair of eyes.  The images of jealousy, pain, and torment which she had briefly relished to see in those sapphire blue eyes.  Then... the last expression of resignation and indifference.  That tore into her heart.

<Damn it, Ken.  Why do you have to make things so difficult?>  Jun turned back to the mirror and pulled the comb through her hair roughly.  #I was just teasing you...  I didn't mean it and you give up so easily.  Why can't you just accept me?#