Six reviews! You render me speechless, guys... Thank you so much! And Atenea, don't worry, I understand you perfectly :-) What's your native language, if I may ask?

Take this chapter as a little thank-you for all those sweet reviews :-) Have fun!

Like in a Dream

Black hair. Black hair so soft it was almost unbelievable. But still, it was there, between his fingers, slipping through them.

The lashes also were black, and long, and beautiful. Whoever this was above Leon, she had closed her eyes in bliss, red lips parted with a silent moan. It was driving him crazy, the feeling of this slender body against his, so pliable, so willing, so soft, so incredible…

Leon wanted to cry out her name, but he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was. The lashes raised a little, and he forgot the burning in his body for a moment, tensing up in anticipation. He knew he had to see her eyes – knew if he saw them, he would be able to remember.

But they dropped again, and she sat down on him slowly, making colours dance in front of his eyes. He groaned and grabbed her hips, helping her to grind down on him. His head was spinning, and he distinctly remembered that he was not quite in shape to be doing this – to be any good in bed, but why, he didn't know, though he assumed it had something to do with too much alcohol. It always had to do with too much alcohol.

Not that it had much effect right now. Gods, how had she managed to get him this hot?

Another slide down made him abandon all thought and moan with pleasure. Well, that surely answered the question. And who was he to question a good fuck anyway?

She was moving again, up and down, up and down, increasing her speed as her breathing sped up, too, and Leon grabbed her hips, helped her, causing her to moan as well, until light blazed behind his closed eyelids and he fell into it, fell down, fell away…

Abruptly the scene changed. Leon was standing in the pet shop. He shook his head in confusion and took another look. But there was no mistaking the scene. This was the pet shop as he knew it. And suddenly he knew it was not himself who was looking at it, but someone else. He was seeing the shop through the eyes of someone else, and whoever it was, he or she was turning her head so he could take in more of it. There was the sofa he'd used to sit on, there was D's chair and there…

there was D himself, standing in front of a cage, regarding a little bird. No, pointing to it. But why was he…?

Then the kami turned. Leon flinched, but he didn't see him, didn't even look in his direction. Then he saw what was sitting on his arm and his jaw dropped. D was holding a child. A kid.

He only got the slightest glance at them before whoever it was whose body he was sharing turned away. A voice echoed through his body, low and deep and commanding.

"Tokyo, Leon. We're in Japan. Come to us. Come back to the shop. We need you. There is something you need to know. Don't give up searching. We need you. We need you…"

The blonde bolted upright in his bed, panting heavily. He clutched his chest, felt his heart beating double-time. Gods, what had that been?! His head was still spinning, and his heart ached with an indefinable feeling – need, pain, loss…

He taxed his brain, but he couldn't remember what his dream had been about. Only one thing had stuck: Tokyo, Japan. He had to go to Japan, at once. It was important. He just had to.

A hand sneaked around his chest and another head rose from the pillow. "Leon, what's the matter?" a sleepy voice asked. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, but the feeling of urgency wouldn't go away. "Did you have another nightmare?"

The blonde turned his head and looked into brown concerned eyes. He managed a smile. "No, Sandy, I'm alright. It was just – a dream. Not a nightmare. A dream."

His friend sat up and studied his face closely. "About what?"

He shrugged. "I can't remember," he answered and pushed the covers off, propping his elbows onto his knees. A deep sigh heaved up his chest. Sandra stroked his back.

"Leon, tell me. I want to help," she said silently. He looked to her and smiled again.

"Thanks, Sandy, but it's – you know what's the matter with me…"

His voice trailed off.

"It's always him, eh?"

Leon chuckled hearing her voice. "You know, most women would be pissed when the man they're in bed with starts dreaming about someone else," he pointed out. Sandra shrugged.

"I'm not most women. And it's not as if he presented any real competition to me, now, does he?"

"No, he doesn't," Leon said silently, more to himself than to the woman. She brushed a strand of hair away from his face and studied it. He slowly looked up into her eyes. "Sandy, I've gotta go. I've gotta go to Japan."

She smiled and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Fine with me, darling. But do it tomorrow, okay? I need some sleep."

Leon grinned and settled back into the bed. "You're great, do you know that?"

"Yeah, I do. Now shut up and get back to sleep," Sandra answered and comfortably snuggled into his arms. A few seconds later they were asleep again.


The airport was crowded as usual. Leon scanned the big display panels and found his flight almost immediately. Growling, he fumbled his cell phone out of his pocket. Well, he'd waited long enough. It was time to call his brother.

He was lucky and Chris picked up the receiver. "Yes?"

"Hi Chris, it's me," Leon said and his brother squealed with joy.

"Brother! What's up?"

How was he supposed to tell the kid?

"Listen, Chris, there's a change of plans. I know it's kinda short, but I really need to go to Japan."

He'd always thought straight was the best way to go. Chris was quiet for a moment, apparently stunned. "Why? What's in Japan? Have you got to work there, brother?"

"No, actually – I had a dream," Leon admitted, feeling like an idiot for telling his little brother such stuff. But Chris was no usual kid, especially not after having spent so much time with D.

"What did you dream?" he simply asked and now the elder blushed.

"It was – about the Count. And I thought, well, maybe there's a chance – perhaps I should have a look at that. Just to be sure."

"Really?"

His brother sounded positively breathless with joy. Leon sighed and hunched his shoulders. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm serious. But don't tell your aunt and uncle about it, okay? I'm sure they'd call me crazy again, and I don't wanna end up in some white jacket, understood, buddy?"

"Course, what do you think I am, stupid?" Chris sounded really insulted, so Leon hurried to soothe him again.

"No, of course you're not. You're my brother, you can't be stupid."

Chris just giggled at that. "But you wanted to come visit us, too. Will you come? Please? You haven't been here for so long, I wanna see you again," he pleaded then and the elder sighed again.

"Yeah, Chris, I promise, I will come visit you. Of course."

Leon looked at the table and the clock. "Listen, buddy, I've gotta go, my flight's going to leave soon," he cut off Chris' babbling.

"Is the Count in Japan?"

His kid brother's distant voice was both hopeful and hesitant. Since Leon had decided to forget about D two years ago, they had never talked about Leon searching for the Count again. Occasionally, when the blonde felt the younger one needed to talk about the shop, he had conceded. But that one subject had never been brought up again.

Now he sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead. "I don't know, Chris. I can't even tell you why I am going." He laughed without mirth. "I just know I have to. But don't tell your aunt and uncle, okay?"

"I swear." Chris' voice was really hopeful. Leon could feel the question hovering behind the words. And you promise you are going to find the Count again.

He said goodbye and put his cell phone away, feeling the weight on his heart he had stubbornly ignored for the last two years. Find the Count again. Yeah, he wanted to do just that. He just wasn't sure if D wanted to be found again.


They arrived in Tokyo in the middle of the pouring rain. Leon cursed, ducked into his jacket and ran to the taxis standing outside the airport. He flopped down into the backseat, watched by the taxi's driver, a young Japanese roughly his own age with bright intelligent eyes. Leon just hoped he spoke English.

"Where to?" the guy asked and answered his silent prayer. The blonde hesitated.

"Uh, to be honest, I don't really know," he confessed, blushing slightly. "Do you have a Chinatown around here?"

That got him a strange look. "Man, this is Tokyo! We have everything you want," the taxi driver drawled and quickly drove into a space in the traffic. "What do you want there, anyway?" he asked, curious and obviously happy to try his English on someone. Leon didn't mind, as long as the guy was able to help him.

"I'm looking for a friend of mine. He runs a business. A pet shop. He's Chinese," he said and leaned back into the seat.

The driver glanced at him in the rear mirror. "A pet shop, huh? Well, I guess they've got some pet shops in Chinatown, but there's one that's become pretty famous during the last year. It's run by a certain Count D."

In spite of himself, Leon felt his heart leap in his chest. He swallowed hard. "You're sure?" he croaked.

"Yeah, pretty sure. Drove two ladies last week, and man, they were absolutely crazy about that guy!" The young man seemed to be impressed by D's luck with the women. Leon felt a pang.

"Yeah, he's pretty good with women," he admitted and cursed himself for the sudden tight feeling in his throat.

The driver chuckled. "Also with the men, as one hears," he said casually, but sent a glance at his passenger that very clearly told what he was thinking. Leon growled.

"You keep your eyes on the road, buddy, and don't look at me that way."

The grin got wider, but the young man shrugged and concentrated on the traffic again. "Well, if not you, it's another one. I heard he has one of the real big ones chasing his ass."

"Yeah, that surely sounds like D," Leon said dryly, thinking of the godfather on that Christmas evening. "He's still here?" he added then, fear crushing down on him like cold water. He had chased D through so many cities, had been so close sometimes, but still, every time he arrived somewhere, it was only to find out D was already gone again or that he had never been there at all. And this time, it was important that he really found D. He just knew it.

"Has been here since more than a year, why should he have left since last week?" the taxi driver distracted him again. He missed the sad smile on the American's face. Oh, Leon could have told him stories about D and leaving in the blink of an eye.

Instead, he grabbed the back of the front passenger seat. "Go on, boy, drive. Bring me to that pet shop."


It was, without a doubt, the pet shop. Unmistakably, recognizably the pet shop. Count D's pet shop.

Leon stumbled out of the car, giving the driver far too much money, but not caring for it, and neither caring for the knowing smirk on the guy's face. He wouldn't be able to understand in the least what Leon was feeling right now. And if he was honest, he himself couldn't understand it either. There was so much that wanted to break free – relief, overwhelming joy, triumph that he at last had caught up with the elusive Count, but also fear and a really bad feeling in his guts. His instincts were telling him that if he stepped inside that familiar door, what he could find might not be what he wanted to know.

The blonde took a deep breath and steadied himself. Climbed down the stairs, one step after the other. Placed his hand on the wooden door he knew so well, and pushed open.

He was immediately surrounded by the also familiar scent of incense, and it made him chuckle a little. Seemed at least that hadn't changed, D was still using that strangely sweet smelling stuff.

Then a movement caught his eye, and he had a sudden flashback to another time, another country, a figure like the one before him emerging from behind a rich curtain, silk softly swishing around an incredibly beautiful body, whispering in the shop's silence not-quite-silence…

But the words were different from what the first words back then had been.

"Detective! What – how did you find me?" D gasped, staring at him as if he was seeing a ghost, mismatched eyes wide with horror. Leon considered his options. He could rush forward and hit D – would serve the bastard right, what had he been thinking, doing that to Chris and him? – or he could rush forward and embrace the guy, or he could…

Firmly he put a stop to his thoughts. Looked around, tried to find out what he could say, and came up with an, "Don't tell me you don't have tea prepared. I really need a cup right now. It's fucking raining outside."


A/N: A little quiz starting here: who can guess to which song I was listenig while writing the last part of this? ;-)