Lyserg and the X-Laws were riding two taxi cabs since riding in the limousine for their mode of transportation would be immediately recognizable by Lady Jeanne and Hao.
"So where should we start our search for Lady Jeanne, Diethel?" Marco inquires as he occupies the passenger seat of the taxi.
"We should create a list of places that Lady Jeanne likes to visit whenever she is here, since she has a particular liking to this place. From there, we should have a good platform to start off at." Lyserg explains his plan of approach on how to find Jeanne.
"Hm," Marco turns his attention away from the green hair boy before he places his finger underneath his chin.
'It shouldn't be too hard. Its not like Lady Jeanne has a thousand places to go. Maybe we should start with Yoh at the Funbari Inn.'
Lyserg broke away from his thoughts when the taxi drove over a pothole, "How about we try the Funbari Inns with Yoh and Anna?"
"They won't be there since they are on their honeymoon." Marco answers since that was the number one spot on his list.
"Well then they won't mind us searching for Lady Jeanne in their home? Besides, what they don't know won't hurt them." Lyserg suggests to the group of X-Laws.
'So he is willing to sacrifice friendships for the sake of Lady Jeanne's safety. He is truly devoted to our Lady. I shall keep this in mind when it comes for promotion.' Marco was thinking after hearing Lyserg's statement.
'I don't care if I have to plow through Yoh to get to Hao! As long as I have his head on a stick then I am satisfied.' He thought inwardly to himself.
"Sir, take us to Funbari Inns." Marco informs the taxi cab driver their intended location.
'Just hold on Lady Jeanne…we will rescue you from the clutches of that foul mouth Asakura Hao.' Lyserg declared his oath inwardly.
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Hao fought back another sneeze, which caused Jeanne to say, "Bless you" for the seventh time today.
"Are you alright Hao?" She was inquiring about his health. The silver hair woman begins to wonder if he was coming down with a cold.
"Perfectly healthy." He replies her question without hesitation.
'Maybe it's because some green haired little twit can't keep my name out of his mouth.' He inwardly assumed when he answered Jeanne's question.
"You said you were hungry right?" He poses to her when he recalls that she said that she was hungry earlier.
Jeanne simply nod her head in an up and down fashion to signal that she was indeed hungry.
"So what are you in the mood for?" He asks her as he glances down at Jeanne, who walks closer to him due to the crowded sidewalk.
The silver hair woman places her index finger to her chin, which is a signal to Hao that she currently ponders over some of her options.
"I'm in the mood for some Italian food. You know a little taste of home." Jeanne responds with a small smile that graces her face.
"Now why am I not surprise to hear that as your answer." Hao stated since he figured out that was probably the only thing she was accustom to eating.
She glances up at him before she confirms with, "Maybe because you know me too well?"
He was merely smiling at her question since he knows it was the truth and the same apply vice versa with Jeanne knowing him so well.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure you know of a particularly good Italian restaurant that's in the area." Jeanne states.
"Ding" "Ding" "Ding" "Ladies and Gentlemen, why I do believe we have a winner! Give this beautiful young lady a prize." Hao teases her, which causes a blush to appear on her face.
"After all, I wouldn't be a good date if I didn't at least know where my date likes to eat. Now would I?" The brunette poses before he slightly nudges her side with his elbow.
She jumps away from the touch while she laughs at the same time, "Hey that actually tickles, you know."
"That's why I did it." Hao commented with a wide smile on his face when Jeanne covered the side that Hao poked her with his elbow use her hand.
He clears his throat before he speaks up again, "...but anyway the place that I'm going to take you to will remind you of home."
"Oh? I'm intrigued now. I must see this little Italy of yours then." Jeanne chimes in since she had known Hao to not tell a fib.
"Now don't say I didn't tell you," The brunette mentions before he hums a tone to himself.
"Hao, can I ask you a question?" She inquires about his participation for answering her question.
He pauses in the middle of his song as he wonders what could be on her mind. "Sure! You can ask me anything and I will give you a honest answer."
"Why do you hate the X-Law so much?" The silver hair woman asked. She remembered that Hao always kept her affiliations separate from the group whenever they would spend time with one another.
"So you're already wondering about that now…well I don't hate them. I just don't agree with some of the things that you all partake in." He explains with his hands jam into his pants' pockets.
He observes her face the whole time when he supplies an answer to her inquiry about his feelings on the X-Laws.
For the second time that night, she was pausing in giving an immediate answer after hearing his feelings.
"I was only curious to find out your answer. Besides, you don't have to worry about me mentioning them again while we're together, okay?" Jeanne proclaims to him after she winks her eye at him.
'She really did some growing up under them…' Hao thought to himself before he heard Jeanne speak up again.
"Do you think we can go to the amusement park tomorrow and slip in some karaoke too?" She asks him while she looks up at him.
Hao could no longer contain his laughter, "Sure whatever you want to do, we will do it. After all, it's not every day that your lapdogs allowed you to live a regular life."
Jeanne simply smiles as she quietly enjoys the feeling of being voluntarily in control of something since she most often time was not able to do that.
'That's why I enjoy spending time with Hao…anything is possible with him.' She deems to herself.
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"Thank you for your services." Marco thanked and paid both of the cab drivers that toted the X-Laws to the front of the Funbari Inn.
The blonde leader quickly gathered the troops in an efficient manner once the taxicabs departed from their current location.
"So Lyserg what is our course of action now?" He then inquired to the young man with the green colored haired.
Lyserg slightly paused to himself. He suddenly remembered that he had planned to use the taxicab ride to formulate at least two plans of action. However, it did not go over so well since images of Hao plagued his mind and reveled in the numerous ways he saw his demise.
'I know one of those ways will come true with the succession of this mission.' He thought to himself.
"We need to canvass the area. Have everyone set up at a certain point of the hotel to prevent any intruders from escaping." Lyserg offered as a suggestion.
Marco considered it for a couple of minutes, as if he had to confirm whether or not it was a good idea. "That sounds like a plan to me. If the plan goes astray, I want you to send a flame of furyoku in the air and we will convey on the spot."
"Lyserg," He turns to face him once again, "How long should we allow the mission to drag out?"
"If nothing is found then we meet back in this precise location within a couple of minutes. We can't waste too much effort on this location."
"You heard the man." Marco proclaims before the group spilt in to their normal pairs except this time Lyserg had Marco along with him.
'I could get use to this.' The green hair male thought to himself with a small smile on his face.
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Hao carefully guides Jeanne through the sidewalk with her onto his right arm. "It should be around this corner."
She was anxious to see what the place looked like that once they turned the corner. Her eyes laid on to a pizzeria.
He glances down at his date with her eyes wide open, "I mean there is another place more formal then this…"
The silver hair woman shakes her head left and right twice, "No, it's perfect. I haven't had pizza in God knows how long."
The smile on her face causes his heart to swell with satisfaction. "Pizza it is. Right this way mademoiselle."
Hao was leading Jeanne to the door temporarily separating from her only to open the door for her to walk in earning a "thank you" for being a gentleman.
"I see an empty booth over there." She eventually points out once the couple enters the pizzeria.
Hao follows close behind her so that the men, who occupy a couple of tables away from them, did not have any funny ideas about Jeanne.
"This is such a nice place." The silver hair woman declares while she closely observes the various items and signs that grace the walls of the pizzeria.
"I do aim to please." He jokes before a waiter approaches them with two menus in tow and places them in front of them.
"Welcome, would you like to start of with your drinks so you can have enough time to look over the menu?" Their waiter politely asks after they straighten back to his original height.
"That would be fine, I would like a Coke." The brunette orders, "Oh, I will have a Strawberry Lemonade,"
He jotted down their preferred drinks before he left them to complete the request.
Once he left, the couple lifted their menus to their eyesight to see what they were in the mood to order.
"So have you started to miss Paris, yet?" Hao inquires as a means to spark up a conversation with Jeanne.
"I sort of do but I feel at home here right now. You know of course Marco would not allow me to venture too far off of the church grounds." Jeanne replies while she scans over her menu.
Hao was nodding his head in agreement before mumbling to himself, "The stick in the mud Marco."
"Now don't get me wrong, I loved the church dearly but I wanted to see the world." She explains.
"So are you going to tell me how you ended up in the Shaman King tournament when your leader didn't like you traveling outside of the church grounds?" Hao poses to her.
Jeanne laughes at Hao's question, "There is a funny answer to that question."
Hao raises an eyebrow at the young girl's reaction to his question, "Let me take a guess, there is a funny back story to this."
The silver hair woman nods her head, "So when I was doing my regular prayers in the cathedral, Marco took a seat next to me. He had a very serious look on his face and refused to look me in the face the entire time he spoke."
"He was like "I have a deal for you". So I told him gambling in the Lord's house was not permitted and frowned upon. He claimed it was just an offering and then handed me a silver manacle before he instructed me to put it on my arm. He then told me that he was going to make an exception to the rule if I agreed to go along with him on this spiritual journey. I soon realized that he was more excited about leaving the church as much as I was even though he tried not to show it." Jeanne explains to him.
"He even had his suitcase packed and ready to go weeks in advance before anyone of us."
"Now that's something that I can't believe." Hao expresses his disbelief in Marco's actions.
"That's why its so hard for anyone to believe. He was like a kid in a candy store running around excited but he doesn't know that I saw him."
"Now I can believe in that." Hao confirms.
"My gut told me that you would agree to that." She jokes about her own gut.
Their waiter returns with their drinks in his hands and places their respective drinks in front of the customers.
"So have you two decided on what you would like to eat for this evening?" Their waiter then inquires.
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Author's Note:
07.06.16 major editing revision