Girls, are you serious?! SEVEN reviews?! Wow. I honestly don't know what to say. Thank you so much! And Goddess, I'm glad you like Dana. She's a sweetie, ain't she? ;-) Kayi, how many times do I have to tell you that no review's crappy? -smiles-

Have fun with the next one!

Unexpected Turns

"So, what leads you to Japan?" D inquired, sitting on his usual chair with all his usual nonchalance. But Leon could tell that he was shifting uncomfortably in his mind. He leaned back, feeling uneasy himself. This wasn't quite going like he'd imagined their reunion. If he had ever allowed himself to think of how it would be, in those first few months before he'd decided to kick D out of his thoughts, only to find out the Chinese was as persistent as he was infuriating.

"Nothing in particular. Just had a feeling you might be here," he answered and shrugged, as if it was nothing special for him to fly around half the world on the mere suspicion that D might be somewhere. Which it wasn't, but D didn't have to know that.

"Oh. Well, it seems your intuition was right, then," D murmured and tried to make a little smile appear on his face. He failed miserably and hastily shoved a cup in front of Leon to distract him. "More tea, Detective?"

"Yeah, could do with some," the blonde murmured and looked around. There were not as much pets in here as he remembered. That stupid sheep-tiger was lurking in front of a curtain he didn't remember either and glaring at him fiendishly, and Pon-chan was sitting on his lap, of course. A few birds in cages hung from the ceiling, but otherwise the shop was empty. Strange.

D poured the tea while he tried to think of a subject, of something he could talk to Leon about, something that didn't have anything to do with what had happened in the last two years. But he found that his mind was completely blank and all he could actually think about was Dana sleeping in her bed behind the curtain T-chan was guarding, hoping that the girl wouldn't wake until Leon had left again.

"Chris misses you, you know," the blonde broke the silence and cleared his throat.

"Oh. I am very sorry to hear that," D mumbled politely and managed to smile a little bit. "I have to admit that I am missing him a little bit, too. He was a nice kid, much in contrast to his elder brother."

Leon glared. "Perhaps I'd've been nicer if you hadn't set your mind on killing people with your damn pets," he shot back. D allowed himself to relax a little bit. This was familiar territory.

"I am what I am, Detective. Your species has done nothing than pollute the earth and maltreat the other species since you started to walk."

They were halfway into a spirited debate when suddenly a small sound made the Count freeze. Leon looked at his face, astonished at the expression in there. He looked as if something he'd feared the whole time had happened at last, as if he'd known it would happen but hoped all the same it wouldn't.

The blonde stopped thinking about D's strange expression when the small sound got louder and turned into what was very recognisably a baby's cry. He stared at the Chinese open-mouthed.

"Please excuse me for a moment, Detective," he murmured politely, not meeting Leon's eyes, and stood, walking over to that curtain Leon couldn't remember and disappearing behind it. The cries stopped and he heard him talking softly to whatever was there in Chinese.

Then he appeared again, holding a small kid in his arms, about one or two years old. Leon wasn't good at figuring such things out, but he was pretty sure the kid was a little girl. Her skin was almost as milk-white as D's was, her eyes were almond-shaped and her hair was only a tick lighter than D's was. Her face showed Asian features, mixed with European hints.

D crossed the room and sat down again in his chair, not caring that Leon was staring. It almost seemed as if he was avoiding his eyes. T-chan followed on his heels and sat down beside his chair, still glaring at the blonde.

"What – who…" Leon cleared his throat. "What is this child doing here?" he demanded at last.

D smiled down at the kid who hid her head shyly in his shoulder and only glanced at the stranger sitting there on the couch. "She's living here, of course," he answered calmly. If possible, Leon's eyes went even wider.

"Why the fuck is a small child living with you?" he nearly screamed. D shot him an angry look.

"Mind your language, at least in front of a child!" he scolded. Leon didn't care.

"Who is she?!"

Now the scowl on the beautiful face was replaced by that damn smirk Leon hated so much. "Why, my dear Detective, if she's living with me, one would usually assume that she is my child," he answered sweetly.

"Your…" Leon gaped. Then his face twitched and he forced a grin onto it. "Okay, you got me. Nice joke, D. So, whose kid is she?"

The glare he got could've frozen the desert. "As I told you, she is my daughter," D said icily and Leon exploded.

"C'mon, you can't expect me to believe that! You're a damn god or spirit or whatever, you're sworn to erase humanity! You can't tell me you got yourself a wife and a kid!"

If possible, the glare got even frostier. "I am not telling you anything, Detective. But the truth, whether you like it or not, is that this girl is my daughter."

The girl seemed to sense the tension between the two men. She snuggled closer to D and made a small sound. He turned his head to look down at her, his features growing warm and tender. He whispered some Chinese words to her and she calmed down again. Leon watched, still dumbfounded.

Count D had a kid. This had to be a dream.

"Where's her mother, then?"

The question came unbidden and unexpected. D froze for a moment and tore his gaze away from the child in his lap. "Dana's other – parent – does not live here," he answered carefully. Leon was too busy wrapping his mind around it to notice the lack of the actual word mother.

"Her name's Dana? That's – nice." Somehow he was going on auto-pilot. "What does is mean? I mean, does it mean anything at all?" he added hastily.

D's brow wrinkled, then cleared again. "It has many different meanings in various languages. I prefer the Persian meaning, which is wise or bright."

"Uh, that's – nice."

Another awkward silence. The girl put her arms around D's throat, wanting to get his attention now that she was waking up more.

"So, you got yourself a kid." It wasn't quite a question, but it wasn't quite a statement either.

D bowed his head in affirmation. "It seems I did, Detective."

"And – what made you do that? I mean, what made you get a child with a human woman? You're not kidding me, are you? She really is your kid."

"I assure you that she is, Detective. Really, one would think she resembles me at least a little bit."

From his voice Leon could tell that the Count was getting pissed. He didn't want to start a fight right now, he didn't feel in shape for that, so he withdrew. "Yeah, sorry. I'm not good at telling this. And honestly, I never expected you to have a child. I mean, an actual child, with someone else, not the kind of child your species usually has."

He could've misheard, but he thought he heard D mutter something under his breath, and it sounded like "Neither did I."

But then the moment was gone and D was smiling his bright fake smile at him. "How long will you be staying in Japan, Detective?"

Leon cleared his throat and tried not to stare at the kid, who was tugging at D's ebony-black hair. He didn't seem to mind, but he was probably used to it. It was just – he'd never seen anybody so careless with the Count. No one he knew of would even dare.

Distracted by watching the kid, he answered. "Uh, don't know yet. Probably about one week. I only have three weeks vacation and I wanted to visit Chris in Long Island, too."

For some unknown reason, that made D's smile even brighter. As if he was relieved to hear that Leon wouldn't stay for long. "Do you already have a hotel to stay at? I know some pretty good ones here, I could get you a room."

"Uh, thanks, that would actually be nice. It was kind of – unplanned."

D's smirk told him that he'd actually thought nothing else and Leon bristled at the insinuation. But his attention was distracted by the little girl, who seemed to be not too happy that no one was paying her any attention. Well, that just figured if she was D's daughter.

She chose a sure way to get D's attention by knocking over his cup of tea. The Count's pretty face got slightly strained. "Dana!"

The name was followed by a couple of Chinese words Leon didn't understand, but he could guess their meaning pretty well. God, D didn't only dress like a girl, now he was acting like a mother! Why had he felt like he really needed to find the guy, again?

The girl's face contorted and she started to cry. D sighed deeply, rocking her a little to calm her down. The he sniffed and looked even more displeased. "Please excuse me for a moment, Detective, I am afraid I have to change her," he said politely and got up, the still crying kid on his arm.

"Sure," Leon replied.

Then he thought better of it and stood quickly, too, following D into the back of the shop, even though Tetsu grabbed his leg and tried to stop him. But the blonde was determined and just kept on walking, taking the totetsu with him. D was carrying the child and too busy to notice. He only realised Leon had followed him when he entered his bedroom and the blonde quickly put out a hand to keep the door from closing. His brow wrinkled.

"Detective, what are you doing here?" he snapped.

"What do you want, I know about the ship anyway. Now don't fuss around and take care of the kid," the blonde gave back coolly. D looked not happy, but then a pull at his hair made him remember what he had wanted to do.

"Do not touch anything!" he warned and stepped aside to let Leon in, not paying him anymore attention while he went to a changing table and started to undress the squirming kid.

Leon wandered around, looking at the bedroom with wide eyes. He had imagined a lot, but still, it was strange, seeing D's bedroom. There was a really, really big four-poster bed in here, the curtains drawn back to reveal luxurious silken sheets and cushions. Right beside the bed stood a cradle, in which, no doubt, the baby slept. It was made of some kind of dark wood that looked very expensive and there were gauzy curtains around it, too, the same soft cream colour as the curtains of D's bed.

Then there was a great wardrobe and a dressing table, all looking expensive, too. The room was dimly lit, but Leon couldn't see any lamps. His gaze wandered around and stayed on the pictures, mostly showing landscapes he guessed were from China, and animals, of course, fantastic and real alike. Or perhaps they were all real. This was D's shop, after all.

Then his gaze wandered back to the Chinese, talking to the girl quietly while changing her diapers. She had stopped complaining, but was still pouting. Leon watched the slender hands, obviously used to their task, because it didn't look like D was concentrating too hard on it.

The blonde looked harder. He stared until D noticed and turned around half to look at him. Leon pointed. "You clipped your nails," he said baffled. D blushed and bit his lip.

"Changes usually lead to other changes as well," he said arrogantly. Leon raised an eyebrow.

"You finally had to admit they're too sharp," he concluded. The kami glared while buttoning up Dana's Chinese dress.

"Didn't you want to find a hotel, Detective?" he asked sharply. The blonde grinned lopsidedly.

"Oh, yeah, right. What time is it?"

"Five minutes to four," D answered and took the girl up. She instantly grabbed his hair again. Leon marvelled at D's calm. If someone pulled at his hair this hard, he would have winced at least. More likely screamed.

"I will give you a few addresses you can go to. If you tell them you know me, I am sure they will have a room for you." D strode out of the bedroom, Leon following close.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"It is no inconvenience," D answered, but the blonde got the feeling the kami wished nothing more than to have him out of the shop. Thus the help.

Usually he would have protested, but today he felt too freaked out to object. So he took his farewell and went to the hotels, feeling that D was standing half-hidden behind the door with his kid on his arms, watching him go.

Unaware of his surroundings, Leon strolled into the direction D had sent him, to his hotel. He was thinking very hard. Okay, so he'd found D at last. He hadn't exactly expected the reunion to be very happy. But he hadn't expected either that D would've become a father.

How could it even be real? This was D, for god's sake! He hated humans. His family was sworn to erase humanity. But he got himself a kid with a human.

This had to be a dream.

Leon stopped in front of a shop window and gazed inside without really seeing anything. He'd seen a lot of things he never thought existed since he'd first walked into that pet shop. And he prided himself with being able to adjust if hard facts proved him wrong. Problem was, whatever he might have expected to find in D's shop, it was surely not a human kid. Half-human kid. Whatever.

Could it be that D had liked caring for Chris so much that he had wanted a child himself?

Leon almost snorted out loud. Yeah, Orcot, tell me 'nother. Sure. D leaving aside his revenge to have a baby with a human. Not likely to happen. If he'd wanted a child, he could've found grandpa and taken his 'son-father' to fuss over.

Something in the shop caught his eye. Well, the kid was there. Usually when someone got a kid, they got presents. It was a little bit late, Dana had been born quite a few months ago, but he suspected no one had given D any present when she was born. Grandpa surely not.

The blonde stepped inside the shop and looked around, but he quickly found what he'd been searching for. A little three-coloured plush cat was sitting on a shelf, looking at Leon with green glass eyes.

So what if D had a pet shop and she could cuddle pets anytime she wanted too? Leon would bet that she had not one plushie. And besides, he didn't know what else to give to a small kid.

He blushed when he took the toy from the shelf, but there was no reason why he shouldn't buy a toy, now, was there? It was not like this was for his own child, it was just a present for the kid of a – well, he supposed he could call D some kind of friend. Even if their friendship had been the strangest he'd ever heard of.

Standing at the counter waiting to pay, his eyes fell on the displayed jewellery. There was a chain in there, with a slender silver cat as a pendant. Her tail was draped neatly around her feet, she looked mysterious and knowing. And her eyes were violet.

"This one?"

The voice of the shop girl snapped Leon out of his fascination. He heaved a sigh of relief that she spoke English and smiled at her, which caused her to blush. Nice.

"Yeah, that one, and that chain, please."

Was he out of his mind? He'd wanted to buy a present for Dana and not for D, and now he was buying that friggin' chain for the guy?! Who even knew if he'd like it?

But the cat's amethyst eyes reminded him so much of D that he said nothing when the girl put the chain in a little box and handed him both plush cat and chain. He said nothing when he saw how much it cost and was just glad he'd brought his cash card.

Out on the street again the blonde took a deep breath and shook his head unbelievingly. Damn. Not 24 hours since he'd seen D again and he was spending more money on him than on his actual girlfriend.

Which reminded him that he had to call Sandra and tell her he'd arrived. Leon set out to his hotel again and shoved aside any unpleasant thoughts. If D didn't like the chain, he could still give it to Sandy. She liked cats, too.

D didn't have to turn around to know who had just entered. No one else but Leon filled the shop with that special presence. No one else could. His heart clenched at the thought, but he turned round and smiled brightly at the detective, standing in the door uncertainly.

"Good morning, Detective," he said and did his best to appear happy. The blonde seemed to be quite irritated.

"You're not angry I'm turning up so early?" he asked incredulously.

D gritted his teeth and smiled. "No, Detective, why should I? In fact, I have been awake since two hours," he answered sweetly and cursed his visitor to hell. Leon couldn't know it was his fault, but it still was.

"Since when do you stand up before eleven o'clock?"

Now D snapped all the same. "Since I have a twenty-months-old daughter who wishes to play at half past seven in the morning!" he hissed and sat down the teapot hard.

The detective looked both like trying to hide a grin and scared. "Uh-oh," he mumbled, but D's attention was caught by something he held half-hidden behind his back. Noticing that the kami had caught sight of it, the blonde produced a parcel, wrapped in colourful paper. D stared at him, waiting for an explanation. This was surely not something to eat.

Leon fiddled with the present. "I – I've got something for – your child," he said uncertainly. D flinched, heart beating fast.

"What – why?" he demanded sharply. The blonde's cheeks became red.

"Because usually kids get presents when they're born!" he snapped.

The kami willed his heart to slow down. It was just Leon doing what humans did. There was no other reason than that he wanted to follow the customs of his race, even if it was rather surprising that he would do so. "I am sorry, Detective. Thank you," he said calmly, though his heart was still doing quite some acrobatics in his chest.

The blonde blinked at him, confused by his sudden change. D waved in the direction of his daughter. "Do you want to give it to her yourself or do you prefer me doing that?" he asked in that ironic voice he knew Leon hated.

Predictably the human blushed even more, scowled and went over to kneel beside Dana. She looked up at him, unsure and shy, and D knew she considered moving away from the stranger. Dana wasn't used to people. She only ever saw the pets and D, and sometimes a customer, but then T-chan quickly made sure she vanished. There was no need for them to know of the child. That Taizu had once caught D playing with her had been a most unlucky event.

But Dana was also curious. When Leon offered the wrapped present to her, she took it nearly without hesitation and examined it carefully. Then she extended her hand to D, who stood a few feet away, watching and not being sure how to feel.

"Bàbà, open up!" she demanded in Chinese. D sighed, went over and knelt down, too. He pulled one of the strings. The paper fell apart to reveal a plush cat.

The kami just couldn't help it. His lips quirked. "A plush pet, Detective? If I remember right, this is a pet shop. There are plenty of real cats in here and there is no need to give Dana a plush one."

Leon blushed furiously and growled. "Da… you, D, I just wanted to give her a present," he snapped. "If you don't like it, fine, I'll bring it back!"

He reached for the plushie, but Dana stopped him. "Cat!" she squealed and pressed it to her body. "Bàbà, cat!"

Leon's scowl vanished and he grinned at D triumphantly. "Well, seems as if she likes it," he rejoiced. The kami sighed exasperated, angry for no real reason.

"Dana, thank the Detective," he ordered curtly. She chewed her lip, unsure. His anger melted. "Thank you, Detective," he said clearly and the girl smiled.

"Thank you," she echoed proudly.

Leon couldn't help it, he ruffled her hair affectionately. "You're welcome, missy."

He got up with a groan, leaving Dana to show her present to T-chan, who sniffed it and wrinkled his nose. D smiled and then he noticed something and his face went blank. "Oh," he uttered softly.

The blonde looked at him questioningly. "What is it?"

The kami tried to pull himself together. "You gave her a three-coloured cat," he said.

Leon shrugged. "Yeah, so I did. Your point?"

D took a deep breath. "Three-coloured cats are supposed to bring luck and offer protection," he explained as calmly as he could manage. Something tugged at his heart when Leon grinned lopsidedly.

"Didn't know about that, but sounds fine to me. Anyway, she likes it, that's important."

"Yes," D agreed and set the table out with fingers that shook a little.

Leon watched him for a while and then cleared his throat. "Uh – D – I got something for you, too," he mumbled then. The kami stopped dead, leaving hand and teacup hanging over the table. Leon took his chance to push a little box under his nose. "Here. Go on, open it up."

Whoa, he hadn't known that D could get any paler than he usually was. Fuck, the guy looked like he was about to faint, and his fingers were actually shaking when he put the clinking cup down and opened the box.

At the sight of the little silver cat in the box D's eyes went wide. He touched her violet eyes with trembling fingertips, breath stopping in his throat. He felt like someone had punched him in the stomach and knocked every tiny bit of air from his lungs.

"D?"

Leon was watching him closely. His all-too-open face showed his confusion and he was probably wondering if this had been a good present.

The kami took a quivering breath and tried to steady himself. "You – shouldn't have, Detective. This must have cost a fortune."

The blonde shrugged, eyes never leaving D's face. "You probably didn't get any presents for her birth either. Bet your grandpa wasn't too happy 'bout her."

"Oh. No, grandfather was – quite calm. He was not happy, of course not, but he was – able to accept given facts."

Leon noticed the pause, but didn't comment. He could just imagine Q-chan's reaction. If how the batbunny had always reacted to him just visiting D was any indication, D was lucky the kid had survived.

Which made him think of something else. He cleared his throat.

"D? Dana's mom… she wasn't killed by Q-chan, was she?" he asked carefully. D, who'd seemed pretty shaken just a moment before, stared at him with wide-eyed astonishment.

"Why should my grandfather kill Dana's other parent?" he asked nonplussed, and then he sniffed. "Whatever you may think about my grandfather and my family, they are not heartless. They can't make a human responsible for something I have messed up."

"Well, usually it takes two to tango," Leon mumbled and couldn't suppress a dirty grin. He was rewarded with a glare. Better. Much better. Now this was familiar territory.

They launched into a spirited debate at once, D raging on about how Leon should behave and the blonde defending himself. It felt great. For the first time in two years, Leon was happy again, and if the look on D's face was any indication, he was enjoying himself thoroughly, too. When the blonde finally left, angrily stomping from the shop to find someplace where he could get some food that was not cake, he was almost deliriously happy. This was what he had looked for all the time. Kid or no kid, D was still the same, and it felt great.

When the door closed behind Leon, D dropped his fists and sighed deeply. Leon was just the same. He hadn't changed at all in the last two years. D couldn't exactly say the same about himself. Even the little fight they'd just had had left him completely confused and exhausted. He felt like coiling up in bed, pulling the covers over his head and sleeping until this was over.

But unfortunately he couldn't just leave everything until he felt better again. For example, he should have fed Dana already half an hour ago. Now she would be hungry and tired all at once, and it would be difficult to feed her.

The kami sighed again. Nothing but problems. Why did Leon have to turn up here anyway? Why could he not leave D his peace?

He quickly prepared food and fetched Dana from a wild game including some pillows, Pon-chan and the new plush cat, fed her and then laid her down for a midday nap in the cradle in the front room. He preferred to have her somewhere near. So far she had always kept quiet when customers appeared. Why in all heavens did she have to wake up yesterday of all days?

The answer to this was obvious, though D didn't like it at all. The danger of the child waking up was considerably reduced by the fact that he never invited customers to tea any more. He didn't sell his pets in the front room anymore, too. Everything went on in the back of the shop, where Dana was out of reach. And if he had to use the front room, there was a door that lead to his bedroom behind the curtain. T-chan could take Dana there if necessary.

But of course if he would have tried that yesterday, the girl would have woken. D sighed unhappily. He should have expected something like this. Things had gone far too smooth for the past years. It had been waiting all along. But why now? He wasn't ready yet to be confronted with Leon…

His lips quirked without amusement and he extended one finger to stroke the cheek of the sleeping child. He wouldn't have been ready for Leon if he'd turned up in a year either. There was no 'ready' for this kind of situation, as Ten-chan had already told him before the girl had even been born.

Still, what was he supposed to do now? Just tell the detective? Spill it over a cup of tea?

Did he even want to tell Leon?

Again his conscience started nagging. He should tell him, he knew that. He'd already kept silent for far too long. Every going day meant more lies between the two of them. Now more than ever. Still…

He was afraid. D could admit at least that to himself. He was scared to death since Leon had stepped inside yesterday. He hadn't been able to sleep all night because of the cold lump in his stomach. When he had finally dozed off somewhere around morning, he had woken again quickly, trembling all over and crying. The dream from his pregnancy had returned to torment him, and D had laid there in the dark bedroom, staring at the ceiling of his bed, listening anxiously to the little sounds his sleeping child made. Finally he had stood up. He had to see her to be sure she was still there, that nothing had happened to his baby.

Perhaps he really was a coward. But the terror was still there, chilling his bones and freezing every clear thought. He could not tell Leon.