Kurogane paced angrily back and forth in the hotel room while Melissa sat on the couch, clutching a pillow and biting her lip. Every now and then Kurogane would stop and stare at the phone as if willing it to ring, then mutter a curse in Japanese when it didn't- which Melissa would echo in English- and start pacing again. They had been like this since six in the morning, when they had finally gotten back from the police department. It hadn't helped that Melissa had dissolved into a nervous wreck on the way there and had barely been able to translate what Kurogane was saying. The moment they had left she had calmed down, though she still seemed worried.

Suddenly, Kurogane stopped and slammed his open palm against the wall with such force that Melissa jumped. "Kuso!"

"Shit," repeated Melissa blankly, and bit her thumb. "They aren't going to call. The police are useless."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" roared Kurogane, turning on her. "You already told me this city is too big to search!"

"By yourself," corrected Melissa with a shrug. Her meek demeanor had disappeared as quickly as it had surfaced. She looked Kurogane up and down curiously. "Fai… means a lot to you, doesn't he?"

For a moment, Kurogane froze, staring at her. But then his shoulders slumped and he slid to the ground. "Yes," he whispered. "Yes, he's… very important."

Melissa sighed. "Then I guess… I can help you," she muttered. She pulled out a small, sleek black cell phone, dialed a number with the expert speed that only familiarity brought, and held it up to her ear, waiting.

"Put Tomoyo on," she snapped, her voice heavy with an accent Kurogane didn't recognize, though she still spoke Japanese. He could just make out the voice on the other end.

"She's busy."

"You think I would call her if it weren't important? Tell her it is Me-me." (A/N: pronounced 'meh-meh', not 'mimi') There was a short pause while Melissa sat, perfectly poised, studying her nails. Then her eyes lit up. "Tomoyo, darling! It's been too long!" she said in English, then, " Как семья?"

"Хорошо, хорошо. А как ты, дорогая?"

Kurogane could not understand a word the two of them were saying but he thought he heard screaming through the phone. Melissa laughed.

"Чудесно, как всегда. Мне кажется, или я слышу крики? Что ты делаешь?"

"Просто решаю кое-какие дела. Почему ты позвонила? Я думала ты собиралась порвать с нами всякие отношения."

"Собиралась. Кое-что случилось. Окажи мне услугу," said Melissa, smiling. Kurogane stood up and started pacing again.

"Для тебя - все что угодно, Мэ-мэ. Чем могу помочь?"

"Пропал человек.. друг друга. Полиция не поможет."

"Конечно, не поможет. Ты думаешь это что-то большее, чем просто пропавший человек?"

"Да."

There was a long pause on the other side of the phone while Melissa waited for the response.

"… Посмотрим, что я могу сделать. Позвони мне через час."

"Спасибо."

(A/N: translation at the bottom)

Melissa snapped the phone shut and looked up at Kurogane, smiling.

"Two hours, tops," she told him. "And then we will search for your friend."

~X~X~

Kurogane was only mildly surprised when an exact duplicate of Princess Tomoyo strode through the door of the cheap diner they had moved to and sat down confidently next to him. She leaned across the table to kiss Melissa on each cheek and then settled down.

"So," began Melissa coolly. "What have you found? Speak in Japanese, darling, or he won't understand you."

"It is definitely a kidnapping," said Tomoyo, voice so heavy with an accent he didn't recognize that her Japanese was barely understandable. (A/N: Russian accent) Kurogane tensed. Kidnapping? But then again, it couldn't be anything else. Fai wouldn't have just left him.

"We've barely been here for a few days, what would anyone want with us?"

Tomoyo frowned at him. "You are familiar. You remind me of my brother," she told him, but then continued without waiting for his response. "Five weeks ago, a man was murdered. His name was Fai Flourite."

Kurogane's eyes widened, and Melissa frowned. Tomoyo reached into her purse and brought out a small 3x5 picture, sliding it into the center of the table for them to see. Fai stared up at them, eyes unseeing, blood smeared across his face. Kurogane looked away.

"That looks exactly like-" began Melissa, but Tomoyo held up a hand to silence her.

"He bears a remarkable resemblance to your friend, no? He is not the only one. Fai had a brother, Yuui Flourite. He was the only witness to the crime. They were twins."

"I've heard about that. Wasn't it a gang murder? Yuui is supposed to go on trial as a witness in a few days."

"Yuui knows too much. He is the only solid evidence they have to convict Fei Reed. This Fai must have been important for Reed to have gone after him himself."

"Who's Fei Reed?" demanded Kurogane. Of course he knew who Fei Wang Reed was. He didn't know who he was in this world.

"The leader of a rival gang. Let's say that he's… one of the higher ups, if not the boss," said Melissa.

Rival gang? So the Tomoyo of this world was a gang boss. Interesting. But what did that mean for Fai?

"The Serpent's Tooth cannot have their leader jailed. They will do everything in their power to keep him out of prison. If they believe that your friend is Yuui, and the key to convicting Reed… they will kill him."

~X~X~

~ Do you believe it? I actually updated. Holy crap.

I haven't done anything since school started. I'm really sorry. Really, really, REALLY sorry. Winter break is coming up and I'd like to say that I'll be working non-stop on fanfiction, but the truth is, I won't be. You see, as bad as I've been about my fanfictions, I've been neglecting my novel even worse. It really needs a friend right now. So here's my promise to you: despite the projects I have in all my classes, despite color guard practice (I'm practicing to make fall guard; I didn't make winter guard), despite my birthday coming up and the ton of books I should really get around to reading for my book club, I WILL write fanfiction. A LOT. I promise. Until winter break, this will be my sole purpose in life. During winter break, my novel will be my focus and I won't have time to focus on this. So sorry. But, hey- you've got two weeks of updates! *is shot*

Now, that means all my stories, not just this one. The Chocolate Shoppe in particular has been sorely neglected. But I'll try my bestest, I promise! :D

I would have liked to make this a bit of a mystery, and have them figure it all out bit by bit, but that would take too long and I'm sure you'd all rather skip to the plot and not have to read all that boring figuring-it-out stuff :P

Reviews make me write faster ;) ~

TRANSLATION:

"Tomoyo, darling! It's been too long! And how is your family?

"Good, good. And how are you, darling?"

Kurogane could not understand a word the two of them were saying but he thought he heard screaming through the phone. Melissa laughed.

"Wonderful, as always. Is that screaming I hear? What are you doing?"

"Oh, just… taking care of some business. Why have you called? I thought you planned to cut all ties with us."

"That I did. Something came up. I need a favor."

"Anything for you, Me-me. What do you need?"

"A man is missing, a… friend of a friend. The police do not help."

"Of course they don't. You believe there is more to this than just a missing man?"

"Yes."

"… I will see what I can do. Call me in one hour."

"Thank you."

~ Infinite thanks to Shutaka for accurate Russian dialogue~~~ ^^ ~