Shiroe starred straight forward. No expression. At least he hoped there was no expression. Before him glared 3 little orbs of light. All of them looking very fierce with their adorable grrrr faces on. He genuinely hoped there was no expression on his face. He knew the proximity to the floating lights was causing his eyes to adjust poorly to the dim lighting in the room. As he tried to stare behind the orbs he could see two women standing on the far end of the round table. Sure he knew who they were, after all it was Henrietta and Nazuna who had called him here. And sure he knew he was still in the same red walled room with the large rotating tabletop that Crescent Moon used when making business deals. What he didn't know was why the lovable little huffy balls of light were in his face.

As he sat there with hopefully a placating borderline bored expression his mind began to drift. He had a fairly good idea why he was called here.

- Shortly after having lunch with Naotsugu and Nyanta the three decided to split up. Naotsugu had gone to the shopping district hoping to peek into a few changing booths. Apparently in the mind of the pantie warrior, the all holy notebook of wonders, was always in need of updating.* Nyanta had simply gone grocery shopping. It wasn't until an hour later that Shiroe's stomach dropped.

"Ah hello Chief" …"What do you mean the ladies tore up the kitchen? Akatsuki doesn't even try to cook without you and the younger girls are out."…"Oh. Did they say what they were looking for?"

Leached of all its color, Shiroe's face began to sweat. "I see. Have they found them yet?"…"Well, I'm sure they will soon enough." Letting his hand fall from his ear Shiroe ordered another cup of tea. He decided to stay at the restaurant and simply enjoy not working for a change. However with the news from Nyanta he could feel his stress level skyrocket. He opened the bag he kept at his hip and looked inside. He could see the silly little garment peeking out between scrolls, quills, and potions among other nick knacks. And then a stroke of brilliance struck him. Somewhere in all this junk was a gift box. A specific, reusable, lockable gift box. He pushed up his glasses with a smirk as he tucked the troublesome textile into the inconspicuous box. Nope. No cathedral visit for him today. And then Naotsugu called.

"Slow down. Slow down. What?"… "Nazuna...asked you..." Shiroe's eyes scrunched up as he leaned forward in an attempt to face palm gracefully. "and you said?" … Shiroe sighed heavily. "Thank you for the warning. It would appear that I'm next. They already asked Chief." … "Yea, they tore up the kitchen pretty bad too. He was as close to pissed as I've seen him in a while." … "What do you mean did I take them?!" … "You know I never go into her room so how would I even get them." and with that statement our easily embarrassed anti-hero hung up on his best friend. As if sensing this to be a sign from the gods he received another call. "Hello?" … "Ah Henrietta. Of course, how can I help you?" he REALLY tried to sound professional and calm. … "House of Feng? Sure. I know where it is" … He gulped before answering. "Sure now is fine. I will see you there."

He heard one of the ladies clear her throat before re-adjusting his focus. He knew his adversaries in this battle. The cunning and methodical Henrietta. Dance around the topic and let her enemies make their own assumptions. And then he had to deal with the overly rambunctious and over sexualized Nazuna. She wasn't as bad as Nureha though. More like the older sister going out of her way to embarrass you when you first hit puberty. He knew he had to maintain control of his face and blood pressure the most when dealing with her. When neither woman spoke he asked "May I ask why I'm being blinded?"

"We have some questions for you Shiroe." Henrietta stated.

"And we expect complete co-operation" Nazuna purred. "You see..." Nazuna leaned forward on the table, her breasts threatening to fall out of her loosely wrapped kimono "Akatsuki has lost something very special to her and enlisted our help to find it."

"I see. What is it she has lost?" His tone intentionally bored. His eyes intentionally placed above Nazuna's head.

"Oh we think you already know." Henrietta answered. "We want you to take us through the night you drank two weeks ago."

"Does this have to do with the kunai she left in my room? This all seems a little extreme don't you think?" He countered. He wasn't sure if he could recount that night without blushing or squirming. He still thought about it. Frequently. Usually with a few towels handy. In the bathroom. He felt his palms starting to sweat.

"Kunai?" Nazuna turned a confused look to Henrietta. "She didn't tell us anything about attacking someone." Turning her head again to her pray she demanded, "Explain."

Henrietta held up a hand. "If you would please Shiroe. Start from the top. We don't want to miss anything."

Sighing in his defeat, Shiroe reached into his bag and gripped the little box like a lifeline. Seeing his movement Nazuna jumped on it like a honey badger attacking a hyena over a carcass. "Your hand! What are you doing?! I bet your holding them! Pull your hand out this instant!" Running around the table she reached down and grabbed his fore-arm, yanking it up out of his bag. With a confused look he held his hand up, a white square of cloth held loosely between his long fingers. Laughing Nazuna released his arm and went to stand next to Henrietta. "Okay so I got a little excited." She shrugged it off. Inside Shiroe sweat dropped. The moment Nazuna screeched at him like that he had grabbed the cloth he used to clean his glasses. He was going to have to be more careful about this than the had originally thought. Or maybe not. To withhold information is not lying. It is simply not telling. If Akatsuki had told the ladies what had happened that night, he was willing to bet a few bowls of curry that she left out the REAL reason this elusive item was missing. He removed his glasses to clean off the lenses while asking politely, "Ladies I have no problem recounting the other night, but please, get these lights out of my face so I can see."

Chuckling Nazuna dismissed the now sulking orbs. " Alright Shiroe, start talking."

Taking a deep breath and replacing his glasses, The poor half-alv began the daunting task of reliving the most embarrassing night of his life.

"Well, I guess I'll start at the morning. Breakfast with everyone. I believe Chief made rolled omelets, miso soup and rice. Then the children packed up for their training. After they left Akatsuki left to train with Reize. Chief went to visit Roderick. Naotsugu went to the west wing bath to try and peep. With everyone out of the house I made myself comfortable at my desk. I believe I was working on the round tables budget that day."

He paused in his telling of the day to scratch his head. Now was when he was going to have to just say what he had to say and be done with it. Leave out only the juicy bits.

"That all seems normal. Continue." Henrietta pressed. She didn't want to think that she was suspecting Shiroe of being a pervert. She didn't want to even think about Shiroe having access to another woman's undergarments. But she had resigned herself to an unrequited love. She was used to them after all. She was more worried about clearing him with Nazuna who seemed like she was enjoying this way too much. Glancing over at her companion she noted the woman had an expression that resembled the cat who got the cream.

"Well, Akatsuki, Naotsugu, Chief and I all ate dinner together. It was kind of nice without the kids. Afterwards Chief said he would be heading back out to Roderick's after the kitchen was cleaned up. I went up to my office to finish up the paperwork for the round table. Akatsuki started her nightly guard duty and Naotsugu...well..." He shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea where he went." He pushed his glasses up again. "Sometime after midnight he showed back up with a bunch of sake." His eyebrows knit together, "Cherry sake. I don't think I can have that anymore. Anyway. He brought home a bunch of it and barreled right into my office. Belched in my face, and stank to high heaven. Then he went on about how no one was in the house and it would be OK if I drank with him because he was the only one who would see it. He reminded me of how I hold back too much so I locked my door and proceeded to drink."

"The kunai." Henrietta prompted.

"Ah." Shiroe had hoped they would leave it at the drinking. He made an act of thinking by wrinkling his forehead and pushing up his glasses. " We passed out. I don't know when Akatsuki picked the lock and came in but she did. She woke me up and when I tried to get up I got...lightheaded? Yes that's a good word for it. I couldn't stand on my own either so she helped me get to my room. Naotsugu woke up during this and made some comments I really wish he wouldn't have and as usual, she threw a kunai at him. Then she dropped me on my bed and used sneak and silent move to leave." He hoped they hadn't noticed how his cadence of speech had sped up with the night closing. And he hoped the way he relayed it made it seem like nothing was out of place.

Both ladies frowned. "The stories line up." Nazuna stated. "Almost perfectly." Henrietta replied. "I guess we have no choice but to ask directly."

"Ask me what directly?" Shiroe feigned ignorance. He really had to give himself credit. He might make it out of here without a cathedral visit after all.

"DID YOU STEAL AKATSUKI'S LUCKY PANTIES!" Both women bellowed at him from the top of their lungs. He was mortified. And it showed. There were other people in the restaurant dammit! He face started changing colors at a pace that would have made a chamelian proud. Pink to red to crimson to burgundy back up to tomato. Any and every shade was on display on his face. The women gave him a serious look.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD I STEAL A WOMAN'S UNDERWARE!?" Shiroe screamed back. He couldn't handle the embarrassment. It was just too much for his poor introverted self. " No I didn't steal her underwear! I don't even go in her room! And why the hell did you yell that!" He had to put his mancard to the side. He couldn't have a melt down on this level and still keep it in his wallet. The overwhelmed half-alv had tears running down his face. "There are other people in this place Nazuna! I know you don't care about what people think but all of our guilds are on the round table! You can't just..."he began to crumble" you...can't...just yell things like that." he was shaking. Slowly he laid his head down on the table. He was completely mortified. Thank god no one else was there to witness this. Exactly how many times was he going to have to embarrass himself in one month?

From his place, with his head on the table, he could hear the ladies speaking. He heard a slight apology from one of them. Something about they didn't mean to embarrass him like that. He heard them leave. A few minutes after the door had closed and he was the only one in the room he sat up. A smirk gracing his not so pretty face. That performance had really taken a lot out of him, but it had worked. They didn't suspect a thing. He glossed over what he wanted to, melted down in front of them, and all because they had asked the wrong question. "always word your questions carefully." He said to the air. " Steal them? No" He looked inside his bag at the box again. "Have them? Yes."