The neighborhood definitely seemed deserted, at the very least, so sneaking around wasn't an option forced upon the group.
"How far away is Yuriko's house? Tobi's feet are getting tiirreeddd," the masked child-like man moaned, his body hunched over as if walking was too much work.
"Shut up Tobi, we're here," Yuriko responded, eying him wearily. She didn't really like Tobi. She knew his secrets, and that was enough to make her want to stab him in the eyes with a fork.
"What did Tobi do to you?!" he cried, running around while flailing his arms everywhere. Yuriko just facepalmed, and walked up her paved driveway, inserting her key into the front door. Her house was just an average suburban home, nothing too overly special about it. It was just a normal shade of beige and brown, mixing together with the other nice-looking yet boring houses around her's.
Yuriko pushed open the door and stepped inside, the others collecting in behind her while they shut the door.
As the door closed, Yuriko's father, Eric Ackley, walked from one room on the left to the other in front of Yuriko. He was wearing pajama pants and a ragged t-shirt, his face buried in his newspaper as he bit a cookie.
Without looking up from his paper or stopping, he said, "Hey Yuriko," in a cheerful manner and then he entered the room to the right of the doorway.
She raised her arms in exasperation. "Dad," she said in an annoyed tone.
"What?" He poked his head around the wall with the cookie dangling from his mouth and gave Yuriko a little bit of an irritated look. Then when his eyes set sight on the cloaked strangers all huddled up in his doorway behind his daughter, his eyes went wide and the cookie slowly fell from his mouth to the ground. Eric stepped completely out from behind the wall and cleared his throat, trying to comb his dark bedhead hair with his fingers a little. He tried to speak, but noticed the cookie on the ground, and kicked it swiftly across the hardwood floor into the living room.
Pein stepped forward and held out a hand. "You must be Yuriko's...father, correct?"
Eric nodded slowly and just stared at Pein's hand, then back up at his face. "Yeah, and who're you?"
"My name is Pein. I am Yuriko's birth father, and this is her birth mother." He gestured to Konan, who then nodded with her usual bored look on her face.
"B--Birth father? Birth mother? Wait, what?!"
"Yeah Dad, what made you think they were Japanese hobos?" Yuriko inquired.
Eric's eyes shot open and he grabbed Yuriko by the shoulder, whispering in her ear, "Don't. Talk. About. That." He let her go then turned back to the group of strangers in his home, laughing nervously with an awkward smile. "Joss, come here please," he called up the stairs from behind him, not looking away from them all.
"I told you not to disturb me during my bubble bath time!" she squawked back down.
"We have company," he yelled back up through gritted teeth, keeping his awkward smile plastered on his face.
Silence. "Oh, sorry, I--I'll be down real soon!"
"Um, why don't you guys...uh...sit in the living room with me until Joss comes down? Any of you like cookies?" He made another nervous laugh.
They shrugged but followed the strange man into his humble abode. Yuriko just stood there with an annoyed look on her face. Konan stopped and turned around, looking directly at her.
"Are you coming?" she asked with a nice smile.
"Yeah, it's just...my parents are so embarrassing." She moaned.
