A/N: My first DTB fanfic, I hope you enjoy! :) Disclaimer: I (quite obviously) do not own DTB.

August 4th, 2013: Found some time to edit this little old story! I do hope any returning readers would find this one more...informative. It's a bit longer, and more insightful and explains the situation a lot better - or so I hope it does.

CHAPTER ONE

Deceit

A dark haired young man walked by the stand as he did every morning, his hands in his pockets and eyes down. To a curious, wandering eye - they would skim right by this indistinguishable boy in the midst of just another ordinary road, in another ordinary town, in ordinary clothing. And yet he was always alert. There was no mission yet, no reason to make public contact with the Doll but when his indigo eyes slid over to check - his eyes widened at the sight of someone bending over and leaning in.

Damn, he thought, this isn't good. His eyes were still dangerously narrowed as he quickly made a plan in his head but the serious expression hid under a timid one as Li Shengshun - not Hei, the Black Reaper - bump accidentally into the woman. Immediately his hands flew up. "Sorry, ma'am, I didn't see you!"

But without a doubt seconds before someone shoved into her, the woman - a girl, really - felt the hairs on the back of her neck, warning her. Primal instincts told her to turn the hell around because there was danger – but when she stood up, she only saw an apologetic, timid looking man laughing with an obvious embarrassed expression. "Really sorry," he said again good-naturedly.

She blinked.

He had black hair and his face hinted of Asian descent - but his dark blue eyes seemed...well, she couldn't quite put a finger on it. They were shifty. But despite his smile, she couldn't help but wonder if that was really genuine or not, a rarity for her. If he's faking it - I guess I will too. So this 18 year-old girl laughed and fingered her hair. "Oh it's not your fault at all!"

"I should have looked -" he stopped and blinked and leaned over her, peering inside the stand. His dark blue eyes were openly curious. Just for a moment, panic spiked from within her. Am I compromised already? But before she could think thoroughly, his warmth caught her off guard and she was left staring at his collarbone, his neck, his jaw as he tilted his head and leaned in to look. "Huh? Was somebody here?" he asked, seeming curious yet...not. He was difficult to decipher. Too difficult.

She snapped out of it and quickly ducked back in but goddamnit, the girl disappeared! Great. Her mouth twitched and her eyebrows pull together in frustration, wondering if this particular young man had anything to do with it. A skeptical and analytical side of her whispered her to listen to her instincts that confirmed that yes, this young man who happened to bump into her the moment she approached the subject had to do with her sudden disappearance. And yet the still young, still fresh and not completely paranoid part of her brain told her to calm down, to stop drawing lines that did not exist. And yet the truth remained that moments ago, a lovely silver-haired, lavender-eyed girl was sitting right there and all of a sudden…disappeared? "There was," she murmured, narrowing her gray eyes at him.

He blinked and took a hesitant step back. "Huh?" His eyes widen and he spoke slowly and carefully. "You're not angry at me, are you?"

There was something in his tone and she couldn't tell if he was shy or if he simply didn't care. The fact that she couldn't tell the difference started to irritate her but she sighed, giving up. "No," she looked away with a resigned expression.

He stared at the girl in front of him with pale brown hair and even lighter eyes. Her accent gave her away as a foreigner - English, he was sure. He had learned English a long, long time ago in the United States and now fluent in multiple languages - all to add to his artillery of blending in - he could easily pick up the slightest tilt in her Japanese. But why would a foreigner feel the need to learn Japanese - could she be from Syndicate...someone having to do with this team Mao kept on threatening to replace them with?

Or was she a foreign agent - a Contractor hired, just as he?

He didn't know, but he decided to find out. If she was a Contractor, he needed to take her out immediately – especially if she was looking into Yin. "I'm Li," he introduced himself and held out a hand, the corners of his eyes wrinkling with a smile. "Li Shengshun. You're not from around here, are you?"

She appraised him for a moment, wondering if he was a threat but disregarded it. I'm in a foreign country, my Japanese is crap, and I am tense...he is not the enemy. She shook his hand with too little professionalism and too much cheeriness. Smiling, she said in a pleasant tone, "You can call me Ally."

Li looked at the stand once more and scratched his head with a shrug. "Well if you want cigarettes, I know where you can get some," he offered helpfully but with just a touch of hesitance. Her light eyes flickered up at him quickly, weighing whether or not it was a good idea…but she didn't see any harm in it. Except, of course, she didn't need cigarettes.

"I actually don't smoke," she said, smile still present, "but I eat." With a glance at the watch on her wrist and then over her shoulder - to where the girl had disappeared - she turned back to Li curiously and asked, "Do you happen to know where I can grab lunch?"