A/N: Okay, I got back from orientation at my college and it was… interesting to say the least. They had us do a lot of activities to get to know almost everyone there was to know at the orientation. But hey, I wasn't complaining! Except for when they wanted to keep us up as late as 12:00. But whatever. I had a good time, got along with my temporary room mate, and got my schedule all figured out! That's what really counts. So, with a few weeks of nothing but free and easy time, here's the next chapter!

Chapter 9: Stolen Property - Part 1

So Yuki let his persocon keep the job at the bakery and actually started coming their every day for breakfast to see how he was doing. Despite Yuji's reckless character, he took good care of Shuichi and made sure he had safe tasks around the shop. Which meant no more advertising in dresses. Yuki made sure of that.

Hiro also like to stop by for a pastry or two and enjoyed talking with the new employee at break time. He didn't speak all too well, but there was always room for improvement.

Basically, everything was all hunky dory for Shuichi and his owner. No troubles had arisen as of late, and life seemed to be treating everyone well.

Who knew how long that would last?

"Hey Shuichi! Do you mind taking out the trash for me? I've got a couple of customers up front." Yuji asked the pink-haired boy while carrying out a new batch of croissants from the oven.

"Yes!" He nodded his head, gathered the trash sack, and opened the back door to the shop. Outside was a small alley way where the garbage man who come pick up their waste on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Once in a while, Shuichi would catch him just as he was coming up the alley to get the garbage and greeted him with a friendly smile on his face. Usually, trash people aren't used to "hellos" from others since it was such an insignificant job, but Shuichi being who he was (and a persocon) didn't care either way. A person was still a person, and he greeted them all the same.

It was Wednesday so the trash man wasn't coming. Shuichi opened the lid of the trash can, laid the black sack inside, and closed it with the aluminium lid. But as he straightened himself to go back inside, he heard footsteps coming up the alley. Shuichi turned and saw a guy he'd never seen before in a garbage man's uniform. Maybe he was new? Well, whatever the case, he deserved a hello too.

"Konnichiwa!" The Chobit said cheerfully. "My name is Shuichi. I work in shop!"

"Hey, I'm Russell." He answered politely.

"You are here for trash?" Shuichi inquired innocently.

"No, no. Not quite. I'm actually here for something a little more valuable than garbage…"

"Hm? Nani?" The persocon tilted his head in confusion.

"…You." The garbage man then took out a taser and jabbed Shuichi with it.

The Chobit didn't know what was going on, but in a matter of seconds felt his world going dark.

The man caught the limp body of Shuichi and nearly fell over at his weight. "Geez! This kid is as heavy as a rhino! Does he eat cupcakes here every day?" He struggled to get him onto his shoulder, but it failed. Instead, the "garbage man" pulled out a human sized sack and stuffed Shuichi into that, dragging the persocon to a van waiting for him outside the alley. The stranger threw the boy into the back, closed the doors, went around to sit in the passenger side with his accomplice, and off they drove down the Tokyo roads, with no witnesses as to what took place.

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Back inside, Yuji had already finished with the customers he had to handle and was wondering what was taking Shuichi so long with the trash? The manager decided to go out and see what he was doing.

He went through the kitchen and the storage space, opened the alley way door, but saw no sign of Shuichi.

"Huh? That's weird. Where is he? All I did was tell him to take out the trash." He glanced up and down the alley and ran to the end to see if he was at the front of the store, but there wasn't a mop of pink hair in sight. "Shuichi? Hey, this isn't funny anymore! Shuichi!" Yuji started to sweat. "Okay, I get it. We're playing a game now are we? Well, how about we save it for after work?" He waited for a sound, a movement, anything that told him Shuichi was still here.

But there was nothing.

Shuichi was gone.

"Did he go home? Maybe Yuki came by to pick him up? No… he would have let us know first." He rubbed his chin. "Where is he?"

Hiro came out through the alley door and spotted his brother with a troubled look on his face. "Yuji, there's people waiting inside, just thought you should know."

"Oh, sorry. Can you tell them to wait a little longer though?"

"Why? What're you doing out here? Where's Shuichi?"

"That's the thing. I… I don't know."

"What do you mean? What do you mean you don't know?" Hiro was becoming spectacle at this situation.

"I mean he's gone. I can't find him! All I did was tell him to take out the trash for me and when I came out to see what was taking so long, he wasn't here!" Yuji started pacing in circles, a sign of worry for him.

"So he just left?"

"I don't know. You think he would've told me if he did."

"Did Yuki-san come by?"

"No. He already came by this morning. And Shuichi still would have told us if he were going with him."

Hiro thought long and hard about this sudden event, and with dread, started to think the worst.

"You don't think… that someone came by and… took him, do you?"

"Took him? Took him where?"

"I don't know. I mean, maybe he was… kidnapped?"

Yuji's face paled at this suggestion. "I… I wouldn't know. But if that's the case then… then…" He was at a loss for words. What if it was true? What if Shuichi was kidnapped in this very alley way outside their shop?

"Oh! Or maybe he went with the garbage man! You know how much Shuichi enjoys talking to him."

"Or maybe the garbage man is the kidnapper!" Yuji pointed a finger in the air, thinking he solved the mystery. But then his face fell in realization. "The garbage truck only comes by on Tuesdays and Thursdays…"

"Oh." Hiro nodded slowly. "Right." He furrowed his brow to match Yuji's and looked at the ground.

Inside the shop, the customers were happily eating their pastries and dessert delights while others were still waiting in line impatiently. It wasn't until they heard a rather loud…

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!"

… that they suddenly lost their appetites.

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Yuki, on the other hand, was wolfing down some strawberry cheesecake from Café Huzi Sachi while typing down new ideas for another book he had to work on. Not only did he go to the shop to check on Shuichi, but to get few sweets as well. Hey, being "related" to one of the employees meant free food. Why pass up the opportunity?

Shuichi's work day ended around 5:00 PM and that's when they closed the shop anyway. The boy had gotten used to waking up by 8:00 AM, getting ready, and being there by 8:30, which is when they opened. He didn't disturb his owner's sleep and was as quiet as a mouse when he left. Sometimes during Shuichi's hour and a half lunch break, he'd spend it with Yuki at home or out in the city. Sometimes they ate at the café. It all depended on what they felt like doing.

What scared Yuki the most was that he was becoming accustomed to doing things with someone else and living a perfectly normal… well, maybe not so perfect… life with another person. Was it going to be like this forever? Would Shuichi stay with him for as long as he was alive? It was a little… strange to think about. Did he even want this?

These foreboding thoughts were snatched away as soon as the telephone started ringing.

"Aw, damn. I thought I unplugged it last night…" The novelist stood up from the couch and grabbed the phone in the kitchen while shoving another fork full of cake into his mouth.

"Hello?" His greeting slightly muffled.

"Yuki-san? It's Hiro."

"Oh, the red head?"

"Yeah…"

"Great. What'd you want?"

"Uh, well… sorry if we interrupted you in anything. Yuji was supposed to make this call, but he's too chicken to do it." He said loudly enough for his cowering brother to hear in the corner.

"And? Get to the point."

"Right. Well, we have a problem, Yuki-san."

"Said problem is?…"

"… Shuichi's missing."

Yuki spit the cake out of his mouth like it was something from the garbage.

"Yuki-san? Are you okay?"

He heard a loud bang on the other side of the phone, which was Yuki slamming his fist down on the kitchen counter top.

"What… do you mean… he's missing?!" The author growled out resentfully.

"We can't find him! He went to take the trash out back and when Yuji went to check on him he wasn't there! Honestly, we have no clue what happened!"

"What do you… how can you?… What the hell?! He wouldn't just run off, you know!"

"Yeah, that's what we think too! So…"

"So, what?" Yuki asked harshly.

"So… we think someone might have kidnapped him."

"… You've got to be shitting me." The blonde said in a deadpan voice.

"To tell you the truth Yuki-san… no. It's the only explanation we can come up with. I'm sorry… we didn't know this would happen."

Yuki remained eerily silent for a while. "… And you have no idea where he is?"

"No… if we did, we would have gone looking for him by now." Hiro didn't know what else to say. It was such an unexpected disaster that… no one knew what to do.

Yuki bit his lip… did he really think this job thing was a good idea? A persocon, especially one like Shuichi, having the supervision of someone like that Yuji guy… how did he ever think it would work out? Good thing Yuji decided not to be the one that called him, otherwise Yuki would already have his hand through the receiver and wrapped around that foolish man's neck.

"I'm coming over. Keeping watching for Shuichi in case… he comes back." Yuki hung up right after that.

Hiro sighed tragically, and laid the phone down on it's platform.

Yuji came out from behind the counter, brushed himself off and asked, "Well? What'd he say?"

Hiro didn't speak for a second. "You'd better get behind that counter again. 'Cause he's coming over."

"What?! Oh crap!" Yuji jumped behind the table top once again. "So, I guess he's coming to find him? You told him we don't know where Shuichi is, right?"

"Of course I told him you idiot! He's just… really worried you know? He doesn't know what else to do… neither do we." The red head slumped down into a chair, putting his hand to his forehead and rubbing it. They closed the shop early today due to this unfortunate event. "What if he's hurt, Yuji? I don't why, but I feel really guilty now."

"… I know. And I was the one that asked him to go out there. It's pretty much all my fault." The owner sat down against the wall and shook his head.

"Don't blame it all on yourself Yuji. It was something that no one could have prevented."

"Yeah, but if I had just been there…"

"Yuji, listen to me." Hiro looked straight into his older brother's eyes. "It's no one's fault. Even Yuki-san knows that. He knows you didn't mean for Shuichi to disappear like this. You aren't supposed to be watching him 24/7. Don't worry. Yuki won't hold you responsible for anything."

At that moment, speak of the devil, Yuki came barging into the café, sunglasses on, dress coat hanging on his arm, one hand keeping the door open, a cigarette dangling from his lips. By the looks of it, Yuki was probably feeling a little tense.

Yuji's eye twitched.

This didn't look good for him.

The blonde marched over to the unlucky shop owner, picked him up by the collar and held him extremely close to his angry red face.

He had the sudden urge to go to the bathroom… really badly.

"Hello… Manager-san." The author said menacingly. "I thought that, as the head honcho of your store, you have to ensure the well being of all your employees. And I just have one simple question for you…"

Yuji trembled in Yuki's large, gripping hands, sweat pouring down his face.

"… why haven't you enforced that code yet?"

Before the manager could give Death his answer, he fainted into a puddle of petrified goo.

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Meanwhile, with our dastardly duo…

"The boss is gonna be happy about this."

"Yeah, for sure. But how'd he hear about this kid?"

"He said he ate at that shop one day and spotted the little jewel bussing tables. After that, the boss couldn't get the guy out of his head."

"Ah. He sure knows what he wants."

"Got that right." The driver nodded.

"But, he does realize it's a boy, right?"

"Yeah, but if someone peaks his interest, whether male or female, he won't stop until he has them for himself.

"Well, he's got one thing right. That kid is pretty cute. Just slap a bra on him and he'd look exactly like a chick.

"Then I bet our customer's will get a real kick out of him." He snickered along with his companion.

"He'll definitely put on a good show for them."

They drove the truck downtown to a shady area with a three story brick building, apparently the place where they did their "work". Both men had to carry the sack with Shuichi in it because of how heavy the boy was. After settling him down in the bedroom Shuichi would be occupying for their business, they took the sack off him and tried waking him up. Shaking him didn't work, slapping him in the face, making noise, nothing seemed to work!

"Geez, he sure is a heavy sleeper." The guy who drove said.

"I know. And he needs to lose some pounds too."

"How can a kid this skinny and slender be that heavy?"

"Beats me." His partner shrugged.

"How many volts did you put into him with that taser?"

"The same I do with everyone else we got."

"Well, unless he's sick, he's not waking up."

"Hey, I didn't kill nobody!" The guy asserted.

"Yeah? Well we'll see won't we. If he doesn't wake up within the next 24 hours, then expect to hear something from the boss." The driver walked out of the room.

His friend stood over the persocon and looked at him strangely.

"What the hell are those things coming out of his head anyway? I've been wondering that since I saw him."

He was referring to Shuichi's persocon ears. Unfortunately, Russell, being American, hadn't yet heard about this Japanese sensation before.

"Guess the kid likes playing dress up. Well, that's a good thing. 'Cause you'll be doing a lot of dressing up and dressing down for our customers." He smirked and added a regretful note to himself. "As long as you wake up… man, I hope I didn't kill the guy." The stranger rubbed the back of his head and closed the door behind him when he left.

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After some blood was spilt between Yuki and the unfortunate manager of the café (all the blood being the manager's), they decided to just split up and search for the persocon. Yuki went to the right of the alley where Shuichi apparently disappeared from, Hiro took the left, and Yuji's job was inform the police of a missing person's report… or in this case, missing persocon.

The novelist was still fuming about Yuji's irresponsibility and would do anything for a punching bag right about now but his focus was on finding Shuichi. It was too weird for the boy to walk off without consulting his boss first, so something must have gone wrong. It seemed like every day now that little ball of pink was worrying him up to grey hairs. He was beginning to think that this whole keeping a persocon was a bad idea. Why didn't he return the boy when he came in that package. But noooo. He just HAD to turn it on… or, turn him on… sounded awkward…

Snapping out of his inner ramblings, Yuki got back to the task at hand.

Operation S.O.S.

Save Our Shuichi.

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A/N: I wanted to go on with this chapter, but I've been gone a whole week at church camp and I wanted to update for all you guys asap! So there'll be a part 2 to this plot soon. I'll be uploading chapter 4 of my angel and demon fic soon too, so look forward to that!

DEAR REVIEWERS:

Annie loves it: I'll keep updating if you keep reviewing:D

Jade-t9: Well, if I pulled out anymore words in those particular sentences, they wouldn't have made sense and would've been hard for people to get what he was saying. I'll be sure to choose more wordy sentences for Shuichi to say next time though. I also noticed he was developing a little fast, but I couldn't help it… (nervous laugh)

Sayuri-girl: I like showing Yuki's other side sometimes, but not too much that he's OOC. So thanks for the compliment!

Patpat: Aw, thank you so much! I'll definitely be updating more and more!

DarkMetalAngel of Destruction: Yup! I procrastinate at the weirdest times… I'll try to stop doing that and keep writing!

Miaka: Um, don't pull out your knife just yet! I'll be updating lots I promise!

Francesca Akira89: Aw, thanks!

AznAnimeChick: Actually, I don't think they have default pastries… I just made it up to go along with the conversation or something. Sorry if I mislead you! (sweat)

ehmo: Oh wow! That's a true compliment if I say so myself! For that, you get a virtual pocky stick!

Miegyl phantom: Oh good! You've read my stories before? I love reviewers like you!

Nuriko Kurosaki: No worries! Review any time you want!

anna: Here's your answer. Enjoy!

MoonlitAngel007: Hey! Haven't seen you in a while! Thanks for all the compliments and support of my fan fic! I try to be as original as possible. And the thing about being 10 x's cuter as a persocon… I SO agree! Yes, the default pastries were to keep the conversation going… I could have come up with a better excuse, but I was too lazy to do so. I know there's no such thing. Sorry! I'll try to put more effort into my plot devices at times…

Anna: All Anna's are welcomed XD!! I could do a bathing scene with Yuki wiping off Shuichi's exterior… but who knows! I'll see if I can work it in somehow, just for you.

Roxy: Man, I hope I'm doing this correctly! AND DON'T WORRY I'LL UPDATE SOON SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE CAPS ON ME!! XD

Sanch: Yeah, I don't keep track of all the little details I mention in earlier chapters b/c I forget them sooner or later. Sorry if that bothers you. I'll try to keep up with the things I add into this fic. I was never good at math or the perception of physics… (Hate those subjects…)

CrymsonTear: Aw thanks for the compliment about my writing abilities! I already answered you on the sex question, so… be looking forward to more updates!!