Jade told the God of Luck, "We will be brothers if we both have Kit as our mother."
The baby made a noise that was neither a cry nor a laugh, and Jade replied, "I don't know, but Lin Hao is often referred to as my parent by criteria that would also make him yours, so probably."
Kit grinned impishly at Silvam and suggested, "We could make our family status official?"
"What?" Silvam asked blankly.
"Since the next expansion is supposed to expand the marriage system…" Kit began. Silvam took a quick step back, but stopped retreating when Kit finished her sentence with, "I think you should become the Emperor's first concubine."
"Er…" Silvam glanced beseechingly at ZipZing, but Danika could only shrug helplessly. "Why?" Silvam asked Kit nervously.
Kit questioned her gleefully, "You didn't turn yourself into a woman just to stalk ZipZing did you? You were curious? Right?"
"Yeah…" Silvam agreed hesitantly.
"When he first mentioned it, I felt really jealous about the idea of the Emperor having concubines, and was thinking of asking him not to even if he could. But when I imagine the Emperor kissing you… I kind of really want to see that," Kit explained laughingly.
Silvam just rolled her eyes expressively, until Shrubbery asked with interest, "Are you afraid of the commitment, or the kiss?"
"I am not afraid!" Silvam protested immediately.
The former King of Cats made a noise that sounded sarcastic without any translation. Jade said helpfully, "He says that you're just embarrassed to admit that you already tried it."
Silvam pointed at the baby and at Jade, and then demanded sharply, "You both stay out of this!"
Kit began to giggle, and Shrubbery said, "Wow, suddenly I'm tempted to try reincarnating as a guy if my character dies."
Danika couldn't help grinning, as she pointed out, "But if you did that, then when you and Nao1 went shopping, you'd look like you were on a date." Shrubbery started to smile, but then turned toward her and frowned. Danika apologized quickly, "Sorry, it was just an amusing image. I'm really not matchmaking you!"
Shrubbery held up her hands and protested, "You don't have to apologize. You're right, it's just, for a moment I thought 'that might be fun too' and then I felt guilty."
Kit's grin faded and she asked with concern, "Why would you feel guilty about thinking it would be fun?"
Shrubbery glanced at Silvam and shrugged without answering. Kit glanced at Silvam inquiringly. Silvam raised an eyebrow questioningly in return for their regard.
Jade said diffidently, "I am not certain whether or not this is part of what you commanded me to stay out of, but I think that someone should remind Shrubbery that it is okay to do fun things."
"It is!" Kit agreed quickly.
Shrubbery laughed and covered her face, so Danika added, "It's okay. You don't have to tell us what made you feel guilty!"
Shrubbery dropped her hands and grinned at her worried friends. "I'd better just tell you so that you all stop worrying about me. It's just, you know that Nao1 is also shorter than I am?"
"Yeah?" Danika agreed cautiously.
"It doesn't really bother me. The idea of it looking like a date while I'm standing next to her, or him…" Shrubbery explained. "I'm not saying that I want to date Nao1!" she added quickly. "I just feel kind of guilty that the idea of doing it doesn't bother me."
Silvam pointed to herself and asked with confusion, "What do I have to do with that? I'm not that much shorter."
"What do you mean?" Shrubbery asked.
"It just seemed like you didn't want to say it because I'm here?" Silvam replied doubtfully.
Shrubbery blushed and admitted uncomfortably, "No, I mean, I just… I can't forget that you're actually a guy the way I can around Nao1."
"Really? It's the opposite for me," Kit said with amazement.
They both turned toward ZipZing, and Danika quickly held up her little clawed hands and protested, "Don't ask me! I'm just a dragon!"
--
When she got a chance, Danika asked Naoki, "Have you ever considered dating Shrubbery? Or would you ever?"
"Why are you trying to get me arrested?" he complained questioningly. "She's still a kid."
She began to object, but he interrupted her. "I mean that literally," he insisted. "She's still legally a child, right?"
"Yeah," Danika admitted reluctantly. "Sorry… I didn't think about it like that." Naoki shrugged and after a moment she asked curiously, "Have you ever? Dated anyone seriously I mean?"
"There are only five people that I really trust in this world," Naoki replied seriously. "Six now I guess, maybe seven…"
She wasn't sure what that meant, but she took her time thinking about it before suggesting, "That's actually quite a few?"
He blinked and turned to look at her. After a moment he said, "No."
"Yes it is," she insisted.
"Silly little dragon," Naoki scolded. "I was answering your question. No, I haven't really dated anyone, and I don't plan to until I'm in my mid thirties."
"Why your thirties?" Danika asked curiously since he was answering personal questions.
"I think that's about when we'll slow down. When over half of us are over thirty, then we won't be able to call ourselves a boy band anymore, and we'll either have to disband or change genres. Either way, you'd better not be expecting to get more time with Shin until about then either," he instructed her.
She grinned back at him and he regarded her warily. "Okay," she agreed cheerfully. "I'll start looking forward to our middle age."
Shinichi leaned over her shoulder and announced, "I'm back. What are you two planning two decades out?"
"Two decades?" Kimitoshi asked.
"That's about when we'll be middle aged right? They are plotting something," Shinichi explained.
"I thought our long term plan was only reaching about ten years out so far?" Kimitoshi told Naoki questioningly.
Naoki just rolled his eyes, and Danika giggled and told Shinichi teasingly, "Apparently that's about when you'll have real vacation time."
"We are leaving tomorrow!" Shinichi insisted.
"You'd better be back in three days, and you only have two weeks to come up with another song so that we don't have to sing that awful unicorn song," Naoki warned.
Kimitoshi laughed and told Shinichi, "Don't worry, just have fun. I've got one we can use instead."
"Unicorn song?" Danika questioned.
Shinichi shook his head. Naoki shuddered. Kimitoshi grinned and told her, "Don't ask, it's too horrible to talk about. We aren't doing it."
Danika looked up at Shinichi and asked, "Are you sure you shouldn't…"
"We are going," he interrupted firmly.
Behind him, Naoki held up three fingers and silently mouthed, "Three days!" Aloud he demanded, "Go away already!"
Danika giggled.
--
Danika and Shinichi left as soon as the members of Underneath finished their recording session the next morning. Even though they'd been together for over a year, it was still their first opportunity to spend more than a day alone together, and they couldn't stop grinning at each other as they finally left the ground.