Summary: In a twist of fate, the roles have been switched: Hei is the Contractor, and Pai the human. At least, until Heaven's Gate. The future is changed, as abandoning the syndicate and now in Tokyo, Pai searches for clues…

Warnings: Spoilers for most, if not all, of season one.

Disclaimer: Darker than BLACK is not mine, although it would be cool if it was :]

A/N: Spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. I had recently entertained the thought of a female!Hei, and instead decided it'd be much more interesting to write about Pai's character. Hopefully, this'll be enjoyable.

Also, not beta'd, so please feel free to point out any mistakes!


Neutral: The Grey Areas


The man jumped from building to building, whilst the car chase from police cars below continued. Thankfully, they had lost track of him, and he could now catch a short breather. Falling against the sturdy concrete of the building, he panted. The lights of a nearby advertisement revealed his features him to be of fair skin and hair, his eyes a pale blue color.

As the sound of the sirens below him travelled further and further away, his breathing evened. Having thus clamed himself, the man then looked at his hands, before proceeding to forcefully pull at his fingers. Despite the obvious amount of pain he was in, the man did not stop until his fingers were effectively broken. Once this was done, and ignoring the pain he must surely be in, the man shakily stood up.

And stopped short.

Before him there was a figure, draped in a grey jacket, brown hair pulled into a ponytail, a mask covering her face. For the figure was most certainly female, if not for the softness of her stance then for the noticeable bump of the jacket in the chest area.

Suddenly, she spoke with the quietest of voices, and the man had to strain himself to hear her words:

"The syndicate is after you,"

The man blinked for a minute, uncomprehending, in an attempt to digest what was before him. And suddenly, the figure was no more. His own eyes stared disbelieving at the space where he knew, minutes before, a young girl had been standing in. There was now nothing on the rooftop save him, and perhaps a few birds. Frowning, he took a step forward-

NEENAWNEENAW!

The sudden sound of the ambulance froze him. Just what was he thinking? He had work to do; he couldn't go around chasing ghosts.

Resolutely, he took a step forward, when he was suddenly hit from behind, and his world became black.

Dazedly, he thought he heard that ethereal voice again,

"I warned you,"


CHAPTER 1: The Girl with the Sad Smile


The sun broke through the clouds, as the residents of Tokyo welcomed the new day, waking up to go to work or reading the morning paper. In it was the story of the car chase the day before, and of the dead body found on top a building in the same area.

All in all, it was a fairly calm, everyday morning. But not to all.

In one of the more residential areas of the city, there was a small park. Although in the past it had been constantly full of children, things had changed in the last ten years. The citizens of Tokyo may pretend to live in normalcy, but they knew better than that.

By norm, Contractors, Dolls and those affiliated to them were to be kept secret from the general populace.

After the events in South America, however, this had obviously been impossible, and soon everyone knew about the existence of these former humans. That didn't mean they accepted it. Most people pretended not to know about it, ignoring it completely, as Contractors were shady people, who dealt with high-class spying agencies and usually meant bad luck.

Few people were interested in dealing with them more than was necessary, as their loss of humanity chilled them to the bone, and their possible abilities scared them. As such, security was heightened worldwide, but parents were still cautious and seldom allowed their children to go out as much as they had in their youth.

To the group of people that met in the park, however, this was perfect. They would be ignored anyway, but dealing with people, normal humans, was something they strove to avoid.

It was a group of three. Well, three and a half, really, for the cat should be considered somewhat of a human. The other three may have seemed like normal humans at first glance, but the girl's blank stare and the blond man's cool touch would soon prove otherwise. Of the group, only one was normal.

"You're saying he was reaching out for something? And how, exactly, is that important? Never mind, don't answer that, I don't want to talk to you Contractors more than I should anyway," a short man, leaning towards fat, muttered from the morning paper he had his nose in. As with every other, the title page was about the car chase.

"That is up to you Huang, but this next piece of information you won't ignore," the blond grinned.

"Oh, and what is that?" the cat asked, head glancing up.

"I think I saw your syndicate's little princess last night," he explained as he took off his glasses, cleaning them.

The effect his sentence had on the three others was the desired one. The short man, Huang, gasped and spluttered, dropping his paper. The cat jumped right up, staring at him dubiously. The sole female of the group, the girl with the blank stare, widened her eyes a fraction.

"Are you sure? You know you can't just go around saying things like that! You could get into trouble…honestly November, that is one thing you should not joke about, Contractor or not…" the cat sighed, rearranging himself and plopping down.

"But I'm not joking, Mao, for once…it was for the briefest of seconds, but I'm pretty sure it was her, although all I saw was the grey jacket, I did recognize the mask, from the files you've shown me," the blond, now identified as November, shrugged, scratching between the cat's ears.

"Damn it November, then why didn't you apprehend her? If the syndicate finds out, we're all dead! Damn it, damn it, damn it…" Huang muttered, pacing back and forth.

"Relax Huang, you're really too uptight about all this…besides, it's not like she tried to stop me or anything, I mean, I don't even know what her ability is but I doubt she used it, and she was gone before I could try anything," November commented, letting go of Mao and standing up, stretching.

"For your sake and mine, November, I hope you're right," Huang said through gritted teeth, barely containing his fury at the other's lack of caring.

"Right then, now that that's cleared up, I'm going to my apartment and taking a warm, relaxing bath, then I should probably head over to the university later, just to keep appearances, what do you think?" the blond turned to the fuming man, who grunted.

"Go throw yourself from a building for all I care, as long as you don't die," was Huang's gruff reply, before leaving the park, still fuming.

"There you go again, making Huang angry, I wonder, do you do it on purpose?" Mao asked, from his new place at the blank girl's lap.

"Hmm, maybe, anyway, Yin, I left you something at your station that I think you'll enjoy, so make sure to look for it, okay?" and with a wink, the eccentric foreigner left humming a tune.

The girl with the blank stare, Yin, smiled for the briefest of moments.


A few streets away, an apartment block landlady was welcoming a new tenant. Since this tenant was female, quite young and pretty, the landlady would have to make sure she was alright during her stay. She could already imagine the trouble this girl would bring, but she was sweet and obviously in need of help, so the lady had been kind and decided to take her in.

"Here we go miss, it's a bit small, but considering your…er…situation and the fact that you're just one person, this place should work out just fine!" the old lady said, opening the door of the smallest apartment in the block.

In all truth, the woman was of the opinion that a young girl should not be by herself in the first place, but while she may be kind of heart she did not wish to impose on the girl, confident she would open up to her. All her female tenants did, eventually.

As she busied herself, cleaning the place up a bit and getting rid of the excess dust, the two made small talk. The landlady did not notice, but it was really just the girl asking questions and her answering them with long explanations. Once they were done and the place looked decent, the girl turned to her.

"I don't know how to thank you enough! I really was in trouble, and here you are being so kind to me! Thank you!" the girl bowed profusely, her small ponytail bobbing down with her. The elder laughed.

"Nonsense! You don't need to thank me; it's what anyone would've done! Now then, mind telling me exactly how you got into this tight situation of yours? We'll discuss it over tea," and, smiling amiably, but leaving no room for an answer, the old lady headed to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, the two were sitting around the small table, drinking their tea. It was quiet for some time, before the young girl began to speak,

"I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? So I should probably start with that! My name is Mei Lao, or as you say in Japan, Lao, Mei, and as you can imagine, I am Chinese.

"I was orphaned at a young age, around the time the Gates first appeared, but I had my brother with me, and we managed: he would work a lot, I would help, but he would always push me to go to school. He said he wanted to give me the chances he couldn't, but he would also try his best and got help from teachers.

"So I began to work really hard, we both did, and once brother graduated he got a job offer in Japan. At first, he didn't want to leave China, or me, but I promised him I'd join him once I graduated and he complied. We would always keep contact with each other, and he'd send me the money needed for my tuition: things were going fine.

"But then, two months before I graduated, the money stopped. Fortunately, I had some saved up and used that to finish my schooling. But I was worried. So I took a scholarship offer to come study here in Japan, and try to find my brother.

"I've wasted all my money on the trip though, and while the university I'm attending is kind to me and know of my financial position, I'm too stubborn to accept their help. I'm as devoted as ever to my studies, but I'm really worried about my brother. I've wasted all I had in trying to find him and now…I haven't got anything left.

"And that's where you found me, sleeping in that street corner and wondering what to do," Mei looked up from her cup, as if returning from some old memory, a sad smile on her face.

"BububuBWAAAAAAA!" startled, the girl fixed her eyes on the old lady. She was bawling her eyes out.

"I-um-are you alright? Do you need anything? I-"

"I-it's just your s-story is so-so sad…" the old landlady sniffed into her handkerchief, hiccupping.

"Yes…but hopefully it'll be brighter from now on, no?" Mei smiled confidently.

"Yes it will! You just wait! I can't board you for free, but considering this is the smallest place I've got, just by helping me out around here and paying just a bit more, I can offer you this place and a meal everyday! What do you say?"

"Oh, that would be wonderful! I'll make sure to find a job somewhere to help me out a bit too, and this'll let me continue my studies, thank you so much!" Mei bowed again, and the old lady laughed.

Yes, she would make this work!

Maybe that'll cheer up that sad smile of hers.


Hours later, Mei was trudging out of her university, having told them that she would be continuing her studies. They were relieved, as there had been growing concern about her (she had told them the same story) and they did not want to loose such a promising student.

As she neared the school gate, lost in her own thoughts, the Chinese girl collided with a fellow student.

"Sorry!"

"My bad!"

The two stared at each other briefly, before chuckling lightly at their simultaneous apologies.

"Heh, sorry about that missy," the other student, a blond male, obviously a foreigner, said while helping her up.

"It's okay, I wasn't looking at were I was going," Mei replied with ease. The two smiled at each other in understanding.

"I say, this university takes up quite a lot of international students," the man commented, as the two fell into step together.

"Seems so, noticed my accent did you?" she grinned at him. He smiled back.

"Noticed my hair, did you?"

The two shared another brief laugh.

"My name's Jack Simon, Business Major," the blond introduce, holding out his hand.

"I'm Mei Lao, Music Major," she replied, meeting his hand. The two shared a handshake, before making promises of future encounters as university students are wont to do, and going their separate ways.

What a sad smile, November thought, as the girl walked away.


Two streets away from Jack Simon, and Mei Lao's countenance changed. Her once lively blue eyes dulled slightly, and her smile, sad it was, disappeared. It was time for her to get busy.

Slowly but surely, her steps guided her to Tokyo's red-light district, and, once she had changed her clothes, entered the hostess club where she knew her informant would be.

Gone was innocent, sad Mei Lao. It was now time for former syndicate assassin, codename: Pai, to take action.


November cursed his luck, and ran towards the club. Hopefully, he would be able to catch the stupid doll once and for all.

Really, the police were such a nuisance, sticking their noses in where they weren't wanted.

But the place was secured, and full of police lines. November knew better than trying to get in.

He'd have to do this the hard way, then.


Kirihara, Misaki had been the first to react when evidence of a Contractor's star acting up came to her from Astronomics. She had jumped into her car and dashed to the scene. As always, however, she had been just a little late, and the place had already been heavily destroyed.

A hostess club, what could a Contractor possibly want from there?

Perhaps it had been more work of that shady syndicate several of those she had captured had talked about in fear.

Absently, she wondered which Contractor ability of the many she had seen had possibly caused this. There were many to whom it would've been quite easy. Therefore, she was quite surprised when it was confirmed that it had been, in fact, a simple electrical overcharge of the heating system. What had caused this overcharge remained, as of yet, unexplained, but it was really something that could happen to anyone.

Maybe the Contractor had used their powers to get out.

Misaki frowned. She was missing something, but she didn't know what.


Hurriedly, despite the fact that she knew she wasn't being followed, Pai closed the door as soon as she entered her apartment. Then she slumped, resting her back against the wooden surface, calming down her beating heart.

That hadn't gone exactly how she planned it, but she had achieved her goal. The packet that the syndicate had been after was now secure in her arms, and she would soon send it off to her employer, who she knew detested the syndicate as much as she did.

Content with her work and the minimal use of her ability (her informant had not been quite as cooperative as she had hoped, and things got messy), Pai stood up. Once she had hidden the parcel beneath several floorboards, she turned to the bathroom, eager for a long, relaxing soak.


November cursed at himself, at the police, at the stupid Contractor that he knew had somehow managed to outdo him. He had found what he presumed to be the body of an informant, among the ruins of the former heating system for the hostess club.

And he had then ran off as fast as he could, lest he be arrested by the police.

Huang would curse him for eternity, as the syndicate would probably punish them all equally. Strangely, he felt guilt at having been unable to complete a mission that would cost his companions as well as himself.

He sighed. Today had been a long day, and he hadn't really been able to get much sleep last night. At least he'd vented some of his anger on those three Contractors that had shown up to steal the doll of Shinoda Chiaki. That had felt good.

Although, considering he was a Contractor, he shouldn't feel anything at all.

Sighing once more, as he puffed out the smoke from the cigarette, November walked towards the apartment complex that signified his temporary home. The landlady would probably be worried about him ("that poor foreigner boy, anything could happen to him!") but he would simply reassure her.

As he slowly made his way up the stairs, he noticed the lights seeping through the bottom of the door at the farthest room in the upper floor. From what he knew, it was the smallest room, and nobody had inhabited.

Dimly, he recalled the landlady going on about some girl who had recently taken residence with them. For some reason, his thoughts went to the Chinese girl he'd met today, Mei Lao.

She had been pretty, a bit young perhaps. Her smiled, he noted, had been rather sad.

Before drifting off, November wondered what reason such a pretty girl could have for being sad…

Groggily, he decided to call her the girl with the sad smile. A fitting title, he reasoned, as sleep consumed him.


Ending notes:

Well, that's it for now. I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, other than similar situations as those in the anime. Sadly, no fight scenes this time around.

Also, I realize I've screwed up the roles of several characters. No, I don't know how or if I'm gonna fix that. Possibly their personalities as well. Ah, well. This is really just an experiment, after all.

Feel free to point out any mistakes.

Also, enjoy your Holidays, and for those that celebrate, Merry Christmas :]