It was the last night of Carnival, also known as Mardi Gras. Yamato and Kosaburou had spent their week off in the Brazilian city of Rio De Janeiro, and were having the time of their lives watching the Samba Parade, dancing in the Street Carnival, going to Carnival Balls, and generally having a blast. Today was the last day of Carnival, though, and promised to be the best and most intense party yet.

    Yamato and Kosaburou decided to go to a Carnival Ball that night, and both donned their Hawaiian shirts, ready for the party. When they got there, the party had already started, and it was a wild one at that. People in very extravagant, and very skimpy, costumes were dancing to a Samba band, and the room was filled with noise. The two found their reserved table despite the chaos, and sat down for a drink.

    "You know, Kosa," Yamato said when their drinks came, "Going to Rio was a great idea. Sure beats my idea of sitting on our butts at the beach."

    Kosaburou laughed at that, and replied, "I figured you could use a little culture. Besides, here in Brazil, we don’t have to worry about anyone recognizing us."

    Yamato gave her partner a frown, but let it pass, knowing that he was only teasing. Besides, he was right about no one recognizing them. It was a nice change from everyone running in fear of them; or them running from the cops, for that matter.

    Just then, Kosaburou dragged Yamato out of her seat, and said, "Come on, let’s dance. We didn’t come all this way just to sit around and drink beer."

    Yamato did not offer any resistance, and the two were soon in the center of the dance floor, moving to the beat of the Samba music. The time flew by, as it usually does when people are having fun, and it was several hours before they had a chance to sit down again.

    "Hey Kosa," Yamato said when they had taken their seats, "I didn’t know you knew Portuguese."

    "Huh?" Kosaburou replied, obviously distracted by a woman in a skimpy costume who was dancing nearby.

    "Hey, you, lover boy, I’m talking to you," Yamato said with a touch of annoyance in her voice. She did not mind it if Kosaburou decided to go nuts over every semi-nude woman he saw, but he could at least pay attention to her when she was speaking.

    Kosaburou finally snapped out of his trance and turned to Yamato. "Sorry about that, what did you ask me?"

    "I said, did you secretly learn Portuguese or something?" her annoyance fading. "I heard you talking to some girls, and it wasn’t in Japanese, or English, for that matter."

    "Oh, that," Kosaburou said with a smile. "I learned enough to impress the natives."

    Yamato raised her eyebrows at this, and asked, "Oh really? What did you tell them?"

    "Ah, not much, other than I’m a smart, handsome man from an exotic place far away," Kosaburou replied with a grin.

    "Well, one out of three right isn’t too bad," she teased.

    "Oh yeah," he replied, "Who was the smart one who suggested that we go to Rio in the first place?"

    Yamato, knowing that she was defeated, decided to change the subject. "So, what were those girls like?"

    "Well, for one thing, they were impressed that I wasn’t from around here. Seemed like they were out to find the person who came from the most far away place." Kosaburou thought for a second, then added, "Generally speaking, they were friendly enough, but they were a bit too drunk for my tastes. That, and I’m pretty sure they were high."

    "I thought by now you wouldn’t care," Yamato said, sipping her drink. "After all, wasn’t your goal to get laid at least once while you were here?" She put her drink down, and playfully added, "You’re running out of time, Kosa."

    Kosaburou smiled at her remark, and proceeded to finish off the rest of his drink. When he put down the empty glass, he replied, "Yeah, I know, but it is against my policy to have sex with anyone who is too drunk or too high to know that they’re actually having sex. The morning after is such a pain in the ass."

    "So, is this from experience?" Yamato couldn’t help teasing.

    "No it is not," he replied with a grin. "Just my superior reasoning skills at work." Kosaburou then decided that this would be a great time to change the subject, and asked, "So, have you found anyone fun and exciting yet?"

    "Well," she replied, "Those guys in the lion costumes were interesting, until you ushered me away, that is."

    "That’s because I don’t think lions are your best bet," Kosaburou explained with a false straight face. "Now, had you started talking to those guys in the pink flamingo outfits, I wouldn’t mind a bit."

    "Ok, next time, go with pink flamingos. Gotcha." Yamato took another sip of her drink, and looked around her. True, Kosaburou was looking out for her, but damn, did he have to chase away every guy she looked at. She had no real desire to get laid herself, but it did annoy her slightly that Kosaburou was overly protective of her, especially since he was free to have as many flings as he wanted to.

    "So," Kosaurou began, "Did you want to take on the dance floor again, or are you pretty much worn out by now?"

    "Yeah, right!" Yamato answered, turning her attention to her partner. "You’re the one that said that we should sit down to catch our breaths!" With that, she got up, grabbed Kosaburou by the arm, and led him into the chaos, also known as the dance floor.

    Yamato had not been dancing long, when she met up with three American guys, who were also spending Mardi Gras in Rio. Although her English was mediocre at best, she did manage to converse with them and find out a few things about them, such as they were college frat students on spring break, and that they were obviously drunk. Yamato was right in assuming that they only had sex on their minds, and specifically, with her. Rather taking the risk of them ganging up on her, she decided that it would be best to leave now, before anything had a chance of happening.

    The guys, on the other hand, really did not want their best chance of the night to leave so soon, blocked off Yamato’s escape route, and started to get more forceful in their pursuit of her.

    "Oh great," Yamato thought when she found herself cornered, "Where’s Kosaburou when I need him? Damn it, the one time I actually need him to chase away the guys, he’s probably off hitting on some slut." She was not too worried about the situation, however, since she figured that if push came to shove, she could out-maneuver them, and get a few good blows in, if necessary.

    Things happened too fast for Yamato to do anything, however. One moment the guys were standing around her, the next moment, someone was grabbing her arm while someone else was grabbing her butt. The third guy was reaching for her breasts, but only managed to graze them with his hand before Yamato violently elbowed him away. With a few more well placed blows, she managed to get away, and immediately went to look for Kosaburou.

    Just as she had thought, Kosaburou was talking to some woman in a skimpy costume, with more feathers on it than a flock of geese.

    "Yes, being part of such an organization is dangerous, but it is also quite exciting," Kosaburou said to his fascinated listener, "For example…" He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Yamato coming over to him, and immediately noticed that something was wrong.

    "Come on, Kosa, let’s go," Yamato said in a harsh tone as she walked by him, not even bothering to stop.

    Kosaburou, who was now fairly concerned, turned to his now bewildered listener and quickly uttered, "Uh, she’s my partner," before he hastily followed Yamato out of the building.

    Yamato did not stop until she was in their hotel room, and when she got there, she sat down in a chair and waited for Kosaburou.

    She did not wait long; her partner came in soon afterwards, with a look of worry on his face. Normally Yamato did not just walk off like that, she usually told Kosaburou what was going on.

    "What happened?" Kosaburou asked as soon as he got in the room.

    "Nothing major, really, I just wanted to get out of there," Yamato replied.

    Kosaburou knew something else was going on, and would not accept her answer. "No, something happened at the party that upset you. What was it?"

    Yamato gave up trying to hide the incident from her partner, and let out a sigh. "I was talking to some guys, and they started grabbing me." She paused for a second before blurting out, "They grabbed my ass, Kosa, and were about to fondle my breasts."

    For a moment, Kosaburou just stood there as a wave of emotions overcame him. He was angry that anyone would dare do such a thing to his best friend in the world. He was troubled by the fact Yamato was upset. He felt guilty for not being there to protect her from the assault. Indeed, Kosaburou truly did not know if he was going to go down and kill whoever did this to her, or go over and comfort Yamato. Both choices seemed equally appealing to him at the moment.

    Finally, he walked across the room, knelt down next to his partner, and said, simply, "How are you feeling?"

    Yamato raised her head and looked at her partner. She refused to admit that this was bothering her so much; she was stronger than that. A little thing like this should not upset her. No, not her, not the hardened Yamato, member of the infamous Rocket-Dan, professional criminal and master thief.

    Kosaburou could see this struggle taking place inside his partner. He also knew that the only way for Yamato to get over this incident was to admit to her feelings and deal with it. Finally, he said, "I know this is upsetting you. Just admit it and get on with it." He then picked up her hand and held it before continuing, softer this time, "I know you’re a strong woman, and it takes a strong woman to admit her feelings, no matter how much she doesn’t want to. So, please, just tell me."

    Yamato knew she could not hold it in any longer, especially after what Kosaburou had said. She exhaled deeply, and leaned back in her chair. "Yes, it upset me, Kosa. I thought I could get away before anything happened, but I couldn’t." She paused before continuing, "It happened too fast. I was talking to them, then they started grabbing me. They were trying to fondle me, Kos. Who knows how far they would have gone." Yamato was now desperately fighting back tears, hoping Kosaburou would not see them. It was one thing to admit being upset, it was quite another to start crying over it.

    Kosaburou did not say a word about the tears that were now spilling over onto his partner’s cheeks. Instead, he simply leaned over and hugged her, and in return, Yamato started sobbing in her partner’s arms.

    It was not until several minutes later that Yamato’s crying slowed to a whimper. Even then, she just sat there in Kosaburou’s arms, not wanting to leave the comfort he was providing.

    Eventually, Kosaburou broke the silence, saying, "You know, if someone grabbed my ass, I’d be upset, too."

    Yamato smiled at the comment, and added, "But Kosa, women grab your ass all the time."

    Kosaburou had to laugh at this, and replied, "Yeah, but that’s because I want them to." He then let go of his partner, and asked, "So, you feel better?"

    Yamato nodded, and said, "Yes, I do. Thanks, Kosa."

    "Hey, that’s what I’m here for," he replied, with an affectionate grin on his face.

    "Well," she said, getting up, "I’m going to take a shower. Are you going to bed?"

    He stood up, and replied, "Yeah, I think so. It’s been a long night."

    Yamato agreed, saying, "Yes, much too long," before heading into the bathroom.

    Kosaburou stood there for a bit, thinking about what happened. It had been hard not only for her, but also for him to see her suffer like that. He was proud of Yamato for facing her emotions, though; she was now rid of the pain and did not have to hold on to it, where it could fester like an infected wound. Kosaburou shook his head to rid himself of the unpleasant thought, and put on his pajamas before climbing into bed.

    Meanwhile, Yamato was letting the hot water splash across her back. She felt relieved to get all of that out of her system. She was also thankful that Kosaburou lent his shoulder to cry on. Of course, he had always been there for her, but she still appreciated the gesture. She let out a sigh, and finished her shower. She still felt dirty about what happened, and it was therapeutic for her to wash it all off, even if it was just a mental cleansing. When she got out, she dried off and put on her pajamas, feeling the slightest bit of relief from no longer being naked.

    When she returned from the bathroom, Kosaburou was already in bed, although not asleep. He got up when he noticed Yamato enter, however, and asked her, "Is everything alright?"

    "Everything’s fine," she replied, while drying her hair. "Although I wish the shower heads weren’t low flow."

    Kosaburou watched as his partner crawled into the other bed and settled herself inside the sheets. It was good to know she was feeling better, but he still wondered if the whole affair was truly resolved. As if to change the subject, he said, "The plane leaves early tomorrow, so try to get some sleep."

    "Alright," Yamato replied, looking at her partner, "But only if you do. Goodnight, Kosa." With that, she turned around and stared at the opposite wall.

    "Goodnight," he replied, reaching over to turn off the light. With a click, Kosaburou sent the entire room into darkness, save for a sliver of light the window let in, created by the streetlights illuminating the ongoing party below.

    Instead of falling asleep, however, both of them lay in bed awake, listening to the sounds of Mardi Gras as it took its final hurrah. Neither of them could sleep, and both of them knew why. Eventually, Kosaburou got out of bed, and walked over to Yamato. Before he could say anything to her, however, she got up and nodded in agreement, indicating she was feeling the exact same way as her partner was.

    Yamato and Kosaburou had spent the early hours of the morning packing before heading off to the airport. Both of them were still tired from last night, but managed to get to the airport an hour before their flight took off. Kosaburou was reading the English version of a local newspaper, while Yamato was sipping coffee, watching the endless parade of people walk by.

    "You know, Kosa," Yamato began, "We could have booked a later flight."

    "Yeah, but the boss wanted us back as soon as possible," he answered, flipping to the sports page. "Besides, we can sleep on the plane. It’s a painfully long flight, you know."

    Yamato cringed at the thought of their twenty-five hour flight, not to mention the five hour overlay in New York City. She took another sip of coffee, and decided she hated flying.

    Just then their flight was announced, and the two of them got up and headed for the gate. Kosaburou handed the paper to Yamato, and said, "Here, you can read it on the plane. They have an article about what happened last night."

    She took the paper, and glanced at the front page before boarding the plane. In the lower section of the front page, a headline announced:

    "Tragedy at Mardi Gras: Three Americans Die In Fatal Car Wreck"