Lavi was very happy that Bookman had beaten reflexes into him. Reflex, reflex, reflex. You hear guns, you duck. You hear guns, you raise a shield. You hear the cock of a gun, and you get the hell out of there. His hammer grew to the size of an elephant, bullets ricocheting, and Lavi grabbed Esperanza around the waist and flung the both of them into the river. The water was a cold shock in comparison to the blistering atmosphere. Lavi bobbed in the water, catching a glance of their pursuers. His eyes widened as he saw Level Threes float above the river, following close behind. Lavi dived into the water, swimming as close to the bottom as he could while bullets pelted the water, stopping bare inches from his head. Syringes suddenly pierced the water, and Lavi winced as one sliced into his leg. He finally resurfaced for air, his hair plastered to his face and running with water. He shook his hair out of his eyes, and he quickly used his hammer to bash into a Level Three. It flew through the air like a baseball out of a ballpark, and Lavi let out a triumphant 'A-HA!'

"SENOR! NO PUEDO-!" Lavi heard Esperanza's voice, and he came to a gut-sinking realization. Esperanza had probably never seen this much water in her life. She'd probably never been to the ocean, never seen a lake, probably had never even put her toes in the kiddie pool. There was no way she'd automatically know how to swim. In his haste to save them, Lavi had thrown this assumption out the window. He quickly re-prioritized. Save Esperanza from drowning first, and then knock the Level Threes out of the sky. He quickly began to swim towards the drowning woman, thinking how heroic he must look (rather sardonically), when he was suddenly aware he was feeling oddly numb in one leg. Suddenly, it stopped moving all together and Lavi's eyes widened.

"That's not good," he mumbled as the river swept him downstream. He desperately tried to stay afloat with the one leg as well as keep an eye out for Esperanza. He hadn't seen her, only heard her...

There! There was one gloved hand flailing, and that had to be her. He quickly dived under the water, hoping that their aim sucked and that they wouldn't hit anything vital. He hauled Esperanza up to the surface, and she spluttered for good measure.

"What is wrong with you?" she shouted angrily. Lavi winced at the amount of volume she was able to achieve. For a woman who had just been drowning, she could yell pretty loud. Lavi dragged the two of them towards the bank of the river. It seemed the river was faster than their pursuers, but Lavi didn't want to take any chances. Esperanza clung to him as he finally found a place to rest. A rock protruded underneath an overhang of dirt and roots. Not moments later, there were the sounds of horses and rapid-fire Spanish. Lavi pressed closer into the alcove, suddenly aware of just how vulnerable they were. The Akuma were floating over the river, looking upstream and downstream. The one that Lavi had batted had a broken arm. At least he'd made a dent.

Esperanza almost gasped at the sight of the Level Threes, but Lavi was quick to slap a hand over her mouth. It seemed they were safe for the moment, as the Akuma didn't appear to catch sight of them. The three Level Three Akuma looked at each other before nodding. They began to leave, and the Spanish conversation turned quiet. Lavi caught the barest hints of words, some he interpreted as 'nothing here', 'drowned', and 'find'. The two stayed in the water for the next thirty minutes or so, waiting patiently for the men and Akuma to leave.

"Who were they?" he asked quietly, and Esperanza shivered and said, "Senor Dominguez, I think. There are three main drug lords, but Dominguez owns part of the river. It may have been Senor Rosariero o Senor Reyes." Lavi nodded. Suddenly, things were beginning to form in his mind. Someone who controls the river...

"When did Dominguez buy part of the river? Has he had it for a while?" he asked, and Esperanza shook her head.

"From what I have heard, he received it this year. Bought it for fifteen hundred dineros, close to three hundred of your English pound," she gasped, quickly tiring after hanging on to Lavi for so long with cold, frozen hands. Lavi decided it was probably safe to get out of the river, considering they were freezing to death in a desert. The irony was not lost on him. Esperanza, sensing Lavi's anticipation to leave, quickly removed her rosary and shaped it into a stake attached to the rope of beads. She threw it overhead, and it caught on something. She tugged several times before she began climbing the rope. Lavi followed close behind.

"I'm beginning to think that Dominguez may be up to something. His thugs caught us last night and some people suddenly don't want us near the river. He's a drug lord, and he has power," Lavi said, wringing out his jacket. Esperanza squeezed out her hair, water dripping onto the parched ground. She frowned and said, "But Dominguez is not the only person who owns the river. Reyes and Rosariero do, too, but not the large portions that Dominguez does. I don't know exactly what parts he owns, though. He may be linked, but we won't know for sure unless we can go through his files and search for anything linking him and the poisoned water." Lavi nodded.

"We should probably investigate all the drug lords. Sometimes the Noah make deals with people in order to get their help and let them do the dirty work," Lavi said. So far, all he knew was that the water was poisoned. Lavi looked out towards the town, and he groaned. It was practically five miles away down the river, and they'd have to walk in this horrid heat. Esperanza was less prone to complaining. She walked right past him. It seemed all they were going to do was waltz right into town...

Lavi was lounging in his room, enjoying the nice breeze coming through the window, when Esperanza walked right in. He cracked his one eye open and asked, "I thought you people knocked?" Esperanza only lifted an eyebrow, and she stated, "There is a fiesta at Senor Dominguez's ranch. It seems that his daughter is having her birthday." Lavi brightened and asked, "Quinceanara?" Esperanza almost smiled. Not quite.

"No, senor, I am afraid not. You do not get to see that sort of festivity for a long time. Most children are at the age of seven or eight here in this town, and the older teenagers are eighteen or nineteen. Dominguez's daughter is the youngest of the older teenagers, at seventeen years old. This will be her eighteenth birthday," she said. Lavi suddenly noticed something about her as she turned to sit in the chair across from the bed. The scars on her face...

"Your scars are gone!" he said in surprise. Esperanza's eyes widened slightly in surprise before she seemed to catch up and translate to Spanish. She touched her face, swiping at a cheek, and then held out her finger to him.

"It is maquillaje. Just make-up," she said, and Lavi rubbed off some on her finger. It was the same deep color of her skin, and her hair was styled in such a way that the sections of hair that did not grow because of her scars were concealed. It occurred to Lavi that he'd gotten so used to Esperanza and her many scars that he'd actually come to think of them as part of her. He didn't even notice them anymore, but now that they were gone...

If he was honest with himself, she was pretty this way, but he liked her better with the scars. How she was now, she only reminded him of some empty-headed Hispanic girl ready for a party at some rich man's house.

"How did you find out about the party?" he asked, and she handed him a flyer. It practically shouted it. He whistled low at the promised entertainment and food. Guests were expected to bring a present, but it seemed that Esperanza would take care of that. He handed the flyer back, and he said, "Well, talk about a villain with good publicity." Esperanza shrugged, and she stated, "The town tolerates him because he is a good man with a bad job, and things could be much worse. More horrible things have been done than to demand a fine for breaking curfew."

"So, how are we going to get into his files?" he asked, looking up at Esperanza. "Do you know the floor plan of his house, or what?" Esperanza suddenly looked slightly embarrassed as she admitted, "I once was his maid at a point in time. That was before I worked for the white man." Well, that didn't surprise Lavi at all, considering lots of young women started out as maids and worked their way up into a different job.

"All right, that sounds good. Do you think they'll recognize us? Obviously, not you, considering you don't hardly look like you without..." He gestured to his one eye. Esperanza shrugged.

"I visited a friend of mine who is good with disguises and costumes. I go to him if I ever need to go undercover on a mission for the Church. I have hair dye for you, but there is nothing we can do about the eye," she stated. Lavi shrugged. That was fine by him. He might even look good with black hair, who knew? She threw him a pair of slacks and a white dress shirt, and he looked at them with an odd expression. Of course, he had to dress nice for this. He hadn't exactly expected to go to a party, though... Esperanza thought of everything. She would've made an excellent personal aide. Better yet, she would've made an excellent battle butler. Obviously God had other plans for her, though.

"When do we leave?" he asked, placing the clothes next to him. He'd pay her back for them later. He hoped that they fit.

"It is only two o' clock right now. We will leave when the clock tower chimes six times." Lavi nodded. That left them plenty of time to iron out a plan, get a present, and decide what would be done about their appearances and such.

"Got a dress?" he asked cheerfully, and Esperanza rolled her eyes. She sighed, "Yes, senor, I have a dress."

"Got a date?" he asked with a wider grin, and Esperanza gave him a sardonic look. He shrugged and said, "It was worth a shot."

"I didn't think you'd take me seriously," Lavi muttered under his breath as he walked arm-in-arm with Esperanza. He hardly recognized her with the make-up on her face and the dress around her figure (she had one?), and it was uncanny to him that this woman still used the same lilting voice as his partner. The bouncer looked them over and then nodded as Esperanza showed him the gift.

"It was a good idea," Esperanza answered back just as softly as they walked into the busy courtyard. There was easily a hundred people milling about the brightly lit yard, several braziers burning in order to provide light. The house was decorated with crepe paper and decorations, and a massive table full of food and presents spanned one end of the courtyard. Girls in pretty dresses twirled around on a dance floor with men in well-tailored country suits, and old women in shawls commented on those girls that wore too skimpy an outfit and the men that were too sloppily dressed to be considered welcome. It was busy and lively with chatter all around, and a band was playing on a stand in front of the dance floor.

"Where do we start, then?" he asked Esperanza, and she eyed the house. They'd gone over the plan many times, but he wanted to be sure. Even with his good memory, he didn't want to risk screwing things up. She nodded to him, and she stated, "We should stay out here, though. Perhaps talk to some people. We do not want to look hasty to get in the house. Remember - you're my date." She said the word with a bit of distaste, and Lavi almost laughed. She did not sound happy about it, but it was a cover that was easy to use. She headed to the table with its piles of presents, and Lavi left to go and find someone to chat with.

After mingling for a while, Lavi was surprised to see the doctor from before milling around with a small glass of tequila in one hand. He seemed to be nursing it seeing as it was about three-fourths full. He tugged on Esperanza's sleeve, and she quickly looked over from her conversation with two elderly ladies. She nodded to him, and the old women tittered as he walked off. Lavi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He approached the doctor quietly, and he said, "Um, hey there." The doctor looked back over his shoulder, and he gave a nervous smile.

"Hello, there," he said, his English accent very distinct. "You're new around here, aren't you? You look sort of familiar. I can't place were I've seen you from but... oh, wait. You're the man who -"

"Yeah, got beat up in the street, all that good stuff," Lavi said, fingering his still-healing lip. His newly blackened hair swung in his face as he shrugged. The doctor gave another nervous smile, nodding, and he said, "Pardon me if I'm a bit, uh..." He lifted his glass of tequila, and Lavi waved his hands in a 'that's okay' gesture.

"I haven't had anything yet, so I'm not going cake-diving any time soon," he said with a chuckle, and the doctor nodded.

"Are you busy lately?" Lavi asked, trying to make some sort of small talk. The doctor gave a groan, and he stated, "More so than usual. Added on to the usual broken bones and gunshot wounds, I have people with respiratory problems and strange rashes." Lavi seemed to freeze for a moment. Respiratory problems... rashes and skin irritation... An image of several Finders coughing and hacking came to mind, and Lavi said, "Is that so? Why's that, the flu going around or what?" The doctor shook his head.

"I honestly don't know," he stated, "it's all a mystery to me, especially with my Spanish. I can't hardly understand what they've eaten or drank, considering all their disgusting, strange food. It could be any number of things. Maybe it is the flu. I hope it isn't, honestly. No one around here is inoculated, and that'd mean a pandemic in a place this small." Lavi winced at the disdainful mention of Spanish food (Lavi himself could eat buckets of it), but other than that decided to drop a hint to the doctor. He was, after all, here to help the people.

"You think the river around here might be contaminated with something?" Lavi asked, and the doctor shrugged. He sighed, and he said, "I honestly don't know, but it'd be a good vector for disease. Come to think of it, most patients drink water straight from the river. I should probably tell them to boil their water before drinking it just to be on the safe side." Lavi groaned inwardly. Boiling for infectious bacteria wouldn't help much if what you're boiling happens to be a supernatural poison.

"Or maybe, just not drink from the river at all," he suggested, and the doctor nodded at the suggestion.

"By the way, I never caught your name," the doctor said, and the redhead answered, "Lavi. Keep it to yourself, though. I don't want my name getting around too much, heh. It's not exactly a common name, and I've already made a few enemies." The doctor shrugged.

"Name's Daniel Schestwise. Nice meeting you." They shook hands, and then Esperanza walked over. Her red-and-black dress managed to make the doctor take two looks, as well as glance at Lavi with an almost envious look. Esperanza whispered in Lavi's ear, "Dominguez is talking to some of his... private customers. I think now would be a good time. Besides many of the older teenagers have gone inside the house to find quiet places." Lavi almost blushed, but he managed to keep his mind on other things. Unfortunately, he suddenly remembered Bookman's warning about meditating and keeping his mind compartmentalized -

Esperanza looked at him meaningfully with odd blue eyes, and he nodded.

"Excuse us," he said, and the doctor gave him a wink.

"You're excused," Daniel said, his smile a little more confident as he toasted to them with his glass. He walked off to talk with a young woman, no doubt a patient given the handkerchief she had at her mouth and her pained look. Esperanza led Lavi away towards the house.

"You remember the plan?" she asked, and he nodded. They would go in, go to the office, systematically go through the desk, the filing cabinet, and the bottom of the desk's wiriting top in case of hidden files, and then they'd put everything back and get out. On the off chance that the two were discovered while going through the files, they'd pretend to be drunk and looking for something that Esperanza had lost or play drunk lovers who'd wanted a quiet place to be.

As they walked into the house, they saw several people pulling on the birthday girl's earlobes, and Esperanza had to explain to Lavi that it was for good luck. One pull for each year she'd been alive, was how it goes. Esperanza herself fingered her earlobes. It'd been a while since she'd even had a birthday party, much less had her earlobes tugged on. Lavi, noticing the nostalgic look on her face, pulled on one of her ears, and she gave a ghost-of-a-smile. Lavi smiled in response. He decided to count it as a smile. It was close enough.

"Not my ears. The birthday girl's," she said wryly, and Lavi shrugged. The smile disappeared as she went back to being all business. She suddenly draped an arm around his waist, and she leaned on his shoulder.

"Go down the hall, take a right, take the stairs, and pretend you're madly entranced by me," she muttered in a sugary voice, and Lavi felt like screaming. This was too weird. Normally, he 'd jump all over the opportunity to drape his arm over the shoulders of a pretty girl, but this pretty girl was Esperanza. She wasn't the type of person one touched without warning or permission. It was like a taboo. It didn't help she was a work partner.

He followed her instructions, the people in the house hardly even paying attention to them. It was much harder to act entranced than it was to walk down the hall without looking at anything other than Esperanza. She pretended to play the smitten Hispanic girl, and he had to say that she wasn't a half bad actress.

They made it to Dominguez's office without incident. Once inside, they left the lights out, working only by a single candle that Esperanza carefully placed on top of the metal filing cabinet. They rifled through the files in the drawers of the desk, and they found nothing other than bills in Spanish and a few pulp magazines. They put everything back carefully, Lavi making sure that everything was just as they found it. They looked in the cabinet, and they found a few interesting tidbits. There were tickets to mountain towns and different restaurant receipts for two despite the fact that his daughter never got out and his wife was dead (according to Esperanza) though that could just mean he had a new girlfriend.

"Here are the maps," Lavi said, laying out a few on the desk. There were several survey maps as well as one topographical map. He looked across it, finding the lines outlining Dominguez's property. There was his main body of property, and then there was the river property he'd bought... just prior to it flooding. And then there were different stamps on certificates for selling water from his part of the river, which was the main body from fifty miles before town and all the way towards the end...

"This is odd," Lavi said, pointing to all of the different pieces of land that were systematically bought out on the river. It even stated who it was bought from. The entire river was monopolized, despite the fact it was now poisonous.

"He must've known beforehand," Esperanza said. "Someone told him the river was going to flood, so he bought out both Reyes and Rosariero. He must not to have known that the water was poisoned by Akuma blood."

"Or maybe he did, and he doesn't care," Lavi stated. They put the maps back, and suddenly Lavi heard something from the hallway outside. Voices.

"Oh crap," Lavi muttered. Esperanza, quick-thinking, shoved him to the floor, and he grunted as he hit it with a thunk. He heard the click of a door handle as Esperanza fell on top of him. Light suddenly spilled into the office, and Lavi realized they were about to be discovered. Esperanza suddenly grabbed his face and muttered in his ear, "Lo siento, senor." Before he could wonder what she was going to be sorry about, she slammed her mouth over his. He was initially stunned, but then he realized what she was getting at. His fingers wound in her hair as she pulled him closer, and he found his hormones taking over and his hands were beginning to find a mind of their own and the smell of coarse soap with sage woven in was in his nose and this was all so suddenly getting strange and now everything was beginning to blur as all he could think about were soft lips, the ridges of her spine, her hands twisted in his hair -

"Que?" The two broke apart, and Esperanza looked up in acted embarrassment. Lavi was still a little dazed, but he realized that the man of the house must be standing over them. Esperanza quickly stood up, and Lavi did the same, both of them with their heads low.

"Yo... yo creido somos eran solo. Por favor, no contas mis padres," Esperanza said in a childishly small voice, and Lavi realized she was playing up her age. The man, Dominguez, thought for a minute, and he shrugged.

"Eh. Amor joven. Va." He pointed out the door, and the both of them sped out of the room. As they walked out of the courtyard, leaving behind the birthday girl and the presents and the loud music and the cake, Lavi muttered, "You could've warned me first."

"And what? Let us get caught?"

"Better caught in the act than caught in the act."

"Senor, no comprendo que me dices."

"Never mind." As he left, however, he saw someone headed towards the ranch, a woman with blond hair, dark sunglasses despite the late hour, and a suit. His eye widened slightly. He never forgot a face. Especially one that was so notorious. He let it go, though, as the two of them disappeared into the night knowing that a line had been crossed and neither was sure what to do about it.

Lavi paced his room angrily, trying to think straight. It was late, very late at night, and night time was always the worst for times like this. It seemed that the dark side of human nature liked to rear its head during these times, and he needed that the least. Esperanza was in her room changing into something much more comfortable, and Lavi himself had been meaning to change clothes, get the dye out of his hair, maybe even catch a few winks. A random thought intruded in his mind of the doctor recognizing him, and he realized that his disguise had done little to really 'disguise' him. However, one Englishman to another might account for the doctor's quick realization, while to an Argentinian all white men looked the same and therefore forget immediately what he looked like.

He had to get his mind back on track. He continued to pace, thinking about the office where he'd seen all those maps with those lines. What did they all mean? And seeing Lulu Bell, a Noah, heading towards the party... Something stank of the Earl, and that man was right in the middle of it. If he was smart, he'd cash in all his chips now and get out, but chances were he was probably going to play this to the end or until he died. What could he possibly want, though? Oh, right. D'oh. Power over the river, monopoly over water that a month ago did not exist, and all powerful beings to back him up. He'd make a killing off all of it, literally considering how many people were going to die of Akuma blood poisoning.

And then the man himself... He'd looked like a familiar man, the type that was good with children and wouldn't harm a fly, but then again looks were deceiving. After all, look at Esperanza. He hadn't thought that she'd be quite so forward, and besides there was no call for that... was there? Or was he just angry because he'd actually enj-

He cut the thought off right there. Bookman were not romantic types, nor were they the type to simply go after flesh because it was there. She was a work partner besides, one with scars and troubles of her own and warm brown skin and... and soft hair... and... and all sorts of other things! Lavi threw himself on the bed. Bookman was right. He needed to get his head sorted out. It was getting too cluttered. Too often things got out of their original placements

like the river Thames on a Sunday morning as he headed to Mass while a woman tried to hand him the coat he'd dropped

the Russian snow as it fell over Moscow while he lived with a Duchess under the name Petya

when he'd gone to China and changed his name to Gao Lee and stayed with a Triad faction

the small Middle Eastern cottage with one goat

another woman, billowing scarf

two boys, age seven and

a man carrying bags of sand

songs of birds

too many

Lavi buried his head in his pillow and let out a scream. It was muffled by the cotton fabric, dusty with the sand of the desert. He took a deep breath, flopping back over as he tried to get a handle on his emotions. He needed to purge unnecessary details, ones that he didn't need like emotion, opinions, and private thoughts about

Esperanza and her spine under his fingers

Finally, Lavi walked over to the bathroom. He turned the water on as cold as he could, stepped under, bit his lip to keep from screaming, and stepped back out. Thoroughly preoccupied with shivering, he sat on the bathroom floor and tried to think of absolutely nothing.

...

All those memories that he didn't need, he slowly packed away into small compartments. He couldn't get rid of them - his Bookman training required him to keep all memories, needed and unneeded, but that didn't mean he couldn't shove them in a dark corner for a little while. Each unnecessary memory was carefully stowed like winter clothes in an attic. All of the pain and fear of being shot at and discovered, all the thoughts he'd had about the bartender and his tall scrawny figure, all of the things he'd felt when he'd talked to the doctor and thought of those poor people dying needlessly - all handled carefully like precious treasures despite the fact they were only junk.

But then damn Esperanza had to go and do that and the memories were like dynamite to handle with a thousand matches lit all around and he had to find a way to get rid of those memories for good. Those were too dangerous to keep. Sure, he'd let his hormones get the better of him, but it still... it still...

He managed. He stowed those memories in a box of their own, dressed in yellow tape that shouted 'DANGER DANGER' and put in a lead casket just to be sure. He pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs as he thought hard. All those memories... he hadn't touched them in years. How would he know where they belonged or what to do with them? How did he keep himself from being completely immersed in the memories, unable to pull himself back out? A Bookman's special memory could be a boon as well as a curse.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Knowing it was Esperanza, he refrained from opening the door. There was another pounding on the door, this time much more intense. Lavi stood up and walked towards the door, deciding he might as well face it. There was no getting around her, after all. He'd just have to suck it up and keep everything under wraps. He opened the door, and he stared at Esperanza in near amazement.

Without the make-up, without the dress, without all the hair things and the baubles and all that, there just stood Esperanza as she was. She lifted an eyebrow in confusion towards his wet state and as per usual made no mention of it. She looked awkward standing there, but she finally said, "We need to talk about our plans for the next few days." Business, of course. Lavi nodded, deciding that this was a safe subject. He let her in, closed the door, and he said, "Well, for starters, I'm pretty sure that Dominguez is in cahoots with the Noah. Second, we'll probably head towards the source of the river because if we don't hurry a bunch of people will probably die from blood poisoning within the next few weeks."

"And third, we will need to stay unnoticed. I have had my ear to the ground, and I talked to a few people on our way back from the fiesta. Dominguez does not want anyone to know the water is poisoned. The dead cattle have disappeared, and so has Miguel," Esperanza said. Lavi nodded, sitting on the bed. Esperanza looked at him with a concerned expression, and she asked, "Estas bien, Senor?"

"Why do you call me Senor all the time?" he asked suddenly, and Esperanza seemed a bit taken aback. She regained composure and stated, "I do not know you well enough to call you anything but Senor. It is not my place to be so familiar with you." Lavi frowned for a brief moment and was about to say something, but Esperanza said, "Tonight was an exception in order to keep ourselves from being recognized or discovered as infiltrators. I promise, it will not happen again, and I am sorry if it upset you." Lavi wasn't able to speak for a bit, realizing that his emotions had been clearer than he'd thought.

He gave a small chuckle, and he said, "Sorry if I was... I'm not used to -"

"No need to apologize. We will forget it happened." Lavi looked up and nodded at her. He smiled slightly, if sadly, and said, "You know, you don't have to be so stiff with me all the time. I'm not one of those stuffy old guys from the church." Esperanza looked skeptical again, hesitant, but she stated, "I must apologize, as well, then. I am not used to being friend so much as servant." Lavi shrugged.

"Why not be both? I usually am," Lavi said cheerfully. Esperanza had the ghost of a smile on her face as she said, "All right... amigo. Perhaps I will take your advice."

A/N: Again, thank you, thank you, thank you for the reviews, comments, favs, alerts, and whatnot. They really do make my day, and I've been pleasantly surprised by how many people have been looking into this little project fic. I'd like to thank reviewers SuperGoatGrl and St. Iggy the Pyro for their comments on the story (they help make me better writer and you guys get to shout out loud at me and throw produce if you want). Thanks to BznBoy for becoming yet another person to alert the story, too (like I said, alerters need love) as well as SuperGoatGrl.

I will try my hardest to keep this from slipping into meaningless romance territory (we all hate that part of the Literature map, right?) as this is not a romance - it is a Western/Mystery story. Please do give me a good bonk on the head once we go past the sign that says Meaningless Romance Territory: 1 Mile. Pop.: Too Many. I'll be sure to pull on the brakes, turn the plot around, and get right back on track.