It's been so long since I've posted...I just gotta get this out there and move on to another chapter!

Ch. 10- 'Familiar faces in all the Wrong Places'

The grizzled, aged shopkeeper slowly opened the old, weathered envelope. He pulled out an equally weathered piece of paper that was slightly torn and yellowing. How long had this been in the shopkeeper's possession? Once the paper was free of the envelope, he quickly scanned it and his eyebrows shot up.

"In all my years, I never thought…" he mumbled under his breath.

"What? What is it?" asked one of the shop workers.

The shopkeeper turned the paper around for all to see. There were a few gasps, and some even cried out. Ulrich's eyebrows shot up as well in surprise. There were only three words on the paper, all written in an almost illegible scrawl. The three words were, "Stronger after all…" There was another small eye symbol, similar to the one on the painting's tag written at the bottom of the note as if it was a signature. Ulrich had no clue what to make of it.

"Well son, you are the one we've been waiting for," said the shopkeeper simply.

"I- I-," stuttered Ulrich.

The entire shop erupted in cheers and shouts. The work staff of the shop all broke into celebration and a few started to clap Ulrich on the back. The celebrations were short-lived, the shopkeeper told everyone to get back to work. The worker who was holding the painting handed it over to Ulrich and he returned to work. Ulrich handled the painting so that he could see it clearly at the end of his outstretched arms. There wasn't much to the painting, just the painted factory. But now the painting was his, and he had no idea what to do with it.

"I can help you wrap that up over here," said one of the female shop workers behind a nearby desk.

"Oh, right…" Ulrich gathered up the rest of his things and walked over to the desk. He placed the posters and the painting on the surface and the worker began packaging it all up so he could take it.

"I have to say, no offense, but you aren't who I expected to win this painting," said the worker as she wrapped the framed painting in some brown paper to cushion it.

"What do you mean?" asked Ulrich.

"Well everyone had a guess as to what the person who would claim this painting would look like," admitted the girl, "I just don't think you were what I had in mind when I thought about it," she mumbled.

"What was your idea?" queried Ulrich.

"I don't know, some sort of really important person, or some future person," said the girl softly, almost embarrassed.

"Future person?" Ulrich grinned.

"Yeah, like someone who was almost like a person out of time, like a guy or girl who traveled through time to find this one particular painting? I don't know I just thought someone was going to come busting in here, shout the words at the top of their lungs and then vanish as they activated some sort of time machine or something."

"So you're disappointed I didn't come in here yelling or vanish with a time machine?" asked Ulrich. He had to admit, maybe this girl wasn't too far off. He wasn't from the future, but more like from the past.

"No, well kinda. I have to say, that would've been cool. It just gets so boring around here that everyone had their own theory about the painting and who would finally claim it," said the girl, her voice getting quieter and quieter. Ulrich figured the girl was really shy, and so this was a lot of speaking for her all at once.

"Claire thought that whoever claimed the painting was going to be the one she married," said the girl pointing to one of her co-workers, "But she recently got engaged, so I guess that didn't work out…"

"Ferdinand thought that it would be some sort of treasure hunter in search of some ancient treasure who needed it for a clue in their hunt. But you don't look like a treasure hunter," said the girl.

"No, I work at CEM, I'm not looking for treasure," chuckled Ulrich, "Unless you maybe want to go out sometime?" tried Ulrich. He didn't really know what came over him, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

The girl blushed, "Thank you for the offer, but I have a boyfriend."

"Oh well, worth a shot," said Ulrich with a grin. He may have been a bit forward, but he figured the answer would have been no if he decided not to ask.

The girl finished wrapping up the painting and rolling up the posters to put into transport tubes. She handed them to Ulrich who thanked her and he left the shop. On the way out a couple of the other workers clapped and cheered for him and Ulrich couldn't help but grin sheepishly. The shopkeeper was at the door though to meet Ulrich just before he exited.

"You might want to clear out of here," said the shopkeeper gruffly.

"Huh? Why?" asked Ulrich.

"A few of the others want to call the press and make a big deal out of this. And despite my best efforts to stop it, I'm sure someone has gotten a call out to them, and they are probably on their way now," said the shopkeeper, "This hasn't been the first time that someone thought they guessed the correct phrase, and each time the press was here to try and cover the story. So unless you want to end up all over the news, I suggest you clear out before they get here."

Ulrich thought about it, he just wanted a quiet evening, and to hang out with Odd. So ending up on the nightly news didn't seem to be the best way to go about that.

"Yeah, thanks for the heads up," said Ulrich.

"And also some friendly advice, keep your head down about that painting. A lot of people had their eye on getting it to see what it is all about, so I'd take it and go straight home with it."

"Sure, thanks." Then Ulrich had a question that popped into mind, "So did you know this Franz guy?"

"I met him, sure, but that was years ago. We were both a lot younger then, so I would have no idea what he looked like now. It's not like he left behind a way to get ahold of him or any kind of forwarding address," Ulrich scowled, "I don't even know if he is still alive. He just showed up one day, paid us to take the painting and also set up a fund to keep this place going for the foreseeable future. I don't know why he picked this shop over any other. He could have probably talked the Louvre into taking the painting for how much money he was offering. But he chose this shop. And I'll never know why. But now that it's gone…I don't know what will become of this shop. The money is starting to run out, and so is my will to keep it."

Ulrich felt confused. It was almost like he was destined to receive the painting, but he no clear idea why. Whoever this Franz guy was, Ulrich must have met him before. How else would Ulrich know the words to say? But he had no idea when or where he could have met this guy. Plus to know the exact phrase to say, Ulrich knew those were some outrageous odds. Something felt like it was tugging at the strings of fate in Ulrich's life. Was it something he couldn't remember? Is this what it was that he was needing to find? A painting seemed like a pretty poor thing. Maybe the girl behind the counter was right, and this may be a key to finding the source of all of his answers. Ulrich made a mental note to check out that factory again the next time he got the chance.

"You better hurry…" said the shopkeeper opening the door for Ulrich to leave, "I bet those reporters are just rounding the corner now. Loop around the block the long way then head to wherever you're going, I'll hold off the press for as long as I can."

"Uh- yeah, thanks," said Ulrich and he quickly ducked out of the shop and looped around the block like he was told.

He made his way back to his car just in time to see a whole slew of news vans and reporters pull up on the scene. They ran off towards the art shop and Ulrich tried to keep his cool and stay nonchalant. He got back to his car, stashed the painting and even changed his coat and scarf so that he looked slightly different. He walked back towards the restaurants where he left Odd and Sam and tried to avoid anyone who looked like they belonged to the press. He got back to the restaurants just as the sun began to set in the sky. Odd and Sam were at a restaurant that served sushi, and Odd was trying to get his girlfriend to try new things. She was shaking her head and protesting just as Ulrich saw he was trying to feed her something that looked like an octopus.

"No, Odd! That's gross! No one would eat that!" she said, closing her eyes and trying to move away.

"What? I've eaten this stuff before…" said Odd, sliding the slimy looking morsel into his mouth and swallowing.

"Eww! Oh my gosh! I can't believe you just ate that!"

Ulrich laughed, "That's not the worst he's ever eaten! You didn't see some of the stuff they served in the cafeteria at school that he still shoveled in!"

"Hey, I'm not picky when it comes to food…" said Odd, picking up another piece of octopus and tossing it into his mouth.

"Eww!" said Sam, cringing again.

"Hey good buddy, great to see you, how'd the decorating shopping go?" asked Odd, through his mouthful of food.

"It was…interesting…remind me to tell you about it later," said Ulrich.

"Hmm…okay?" said Odd with a look of curiosity on his face, "Oh, hey! Are you hungry? This place has the best Japanese food I've ever had in this city! I think the owners are from Japan!"

Ulrich laughed, Odd's mind was always on food, "Oh yeah? What do you recommend?" Ulrich found he wasn't all that picky either when it came to trying new foods. There were some things he didn't enjoy, but he would always eat something at least once.

"Hmm, get the takoyaki…" said Odd with a sly smile.

"Takoyaki? What's that?" asked Ulrich.

"Deep-fried octopus!" said Odd with a grin.

"Eww!" commented Ulrich and Sam at the same time.

"Okay, fine, try the yakitori bowl, it's fried up pieces of chicken with noodles and vegetables," said Odd, making hand gestures as he described the dish.

"Hmm, that actually sounds good," said Ulrich. He hadn't eaten since that morning and was starting to get really hungry.

He entered the restaurant and walked up to the counter to order. All the Japanese patrons and even the wait staff and cooks all shouted at him when he walked in. He figured they were saying hello, or welcome. Ulrich felt a little awkward but decided to just nod in response. A little Asian lady saw him and started talking to him in French. Her accent, however, seemed to be a mix of French, and her native tongue so it sounded really different.

"What can I get you?" she asked.

"Yakitori?" he asked, hoping Odd hadn't told him about another weird dish. The woman nodded, shouted to another worker and then turned back to Ulrich.

"Is there anything else?"

"No, that's it, uh…maybe just a glass for water?" said Ulrich as he looked at the prices for the soda machines. The woman sighed and handed Ulrich a small Styrofoam cup.

It didn't take long to get his food, and he quickly returned to the outside seating area where Odd and Sam were sitting. Sam was finishing up her plate of sushi and Odd kept shooting looks at her remaining food. Finally, she sighed and gave in, offering what remained to the svelte blond.

"Yes! All right!" said Odd, scooping the plate away from his girlfriend and hastily shoveling in the prepared sushi rolls. Ulrich chuckled.

"I guess some things never change…" said Ulrich as he looked at Odd devour the food.

"If you don't hurry up and eat your food, I'm sure it will be next," said Sam as she looked at Ulrich and his food.

Ulrich nodded his agreement and looked for a fork. But the woman at the counter only gave him a pair of chopsticks.

"How am I supposed to eat this?" whispered Ulrich to Sam.

"You've never eaten with chopsticks before?" asked Sam, slightly taken aback.

"Eh, who needs 'em," said Odd. He was actively shoveling in the food with his bare hands, "I never could figure them out either. So it's no biggie."

"Uh-huh…" said Sam disapprovingly looking at Odd's table manners. Odd cowered and picked up the thin sticks and used them to guide food to the edge of the plate and into his mouth. But he didn't actually use them properly. Sam sighed but figured that was acceptable enough.

"Y'know you're going to have to learn if you're ever going to impress 'you-know-who's' parents!" laughed Odd with a mouthful of food. Ulrich glared at Odd, and Odd laughed but didn't press the issue any further.

Sam laughed but still turned to help Ulrich, "It's not that hard. Here, let me show you," she said pulling out her own set to demonstrate.

It took Ulrich a bit of practice, but he finally got enough skill to at least pick up a few noodles and slurp them down.

"See, you're a natural!" said Sam, encouragingly, "And when all else fails, you can just use them to stab at the bigger pieces, that works too," she said with a laugh.

Ulrich felt happy, more than he had in what felt like such a long time. He was hanging out with friends. And they were actually doing something. At least more than playing video games or some kind of lame role playing game, which he was sure he would be doing if he was with Herb and Nicholas right now. It made him happy to know that he had friends who would want to hang out with him not because they worked together, but just because they were friends. Ulrich laughed and joked with Odd and Sam as the sun set in the sky. When the sun officially set, Sam looked down at her phone and gasped,

"Oh my, I have to go! I have an early shoot tomorrow, and I need to get ready and get my beauty sleep!" she said with a playful toss of her dark hair.

"Oh, let me walk you to your car!" said Odd, standing up suddenly. His chair almost toppled over and caught both Sam and Ulrich by surprise. Ulrich could tell that Odd's face was a bright shade of red even in the dark night sky.

"Uh…sure!" said Sam, "How gentlemanly of you," said Sam with a slight blush.

"I'll see you later…" said Odd to Ulrich, "Meet you back here in like ten minutes?"

"Yeah, sure. Sounds good," said Ulrich and he laughed as Odd tried to decide whether to put out his arm for Sam to hold or to just offer to hold hands. Sam laughed too and just reached down and grabbed his hand.

Odd walked off towards the parking lot and Ulrich could tell that Odd seemed to be celebrating as much as he could on the inside, but it was leaking out in the way he walked. The svelte blond had a certain sway to his walk that was different from when he was walking alone. Ulrich couldn't help but feel a wave of different emotions looking at the couple. On one hand, he couldn't help but laugh at Odd. Even though they were now in their early twenties, there was still that nervous energy like when they were thirteen. On the other hand, Ulrich felt a deep pit in the bottom of his stomach of either jealousy or his own loneliness because that kind of relationship was something he didn't have. He knew there was a reason Odd picked a Japanese style restaurant over all the other options around. Even when trying to be subtle, Odd was still overly blatant.

It seemed to be Odd's way of rubbing in his past relationship with Yumi if you could even call it that. Ulrich knew that in both timelines that he pretty much struck out with Yumi. Especially in his "Older" life than his "Younger" one. Ulrich still had no clue how the Asian girl felt about him. Ulrich figured he could summarize it though with the words "not interested" since it seemed like no matter what he did, he just couldn't catch her eye. Odd, however, seemed to think he could change that. And he could be a right pain when he got an idea in his head, and this seemed to be one of them. Ulrich didn't know how Odd's plan of getting him to try Japanese food, and learn how to eat with chopsticks was going to somehow win over Yumi, especially if she wasn't even here. Ulrich's senses were brought back to the present when he heard the door to the restaurant open and the patrons inside shout their greeting to who walked in.

Ulrich looked up to see a lone woman walk into the restaurant. It was hard to tell that though because she was wearing a hat over her hair a large pair of designer sunglasses, and a baggy scarf around her neck that obscured most of her face. In fact, if Ulrich didn't know any better, she was deliberately trying to make sure no one saw her. The girl walked up to the counter and the woman behind the counter smiled. Ulrich figured they knew each other. The woman talked to the girl for a little bit and then she went back into the kitchen. She returned a few seconds later with another woman who was wearing an apron and pair of gloves. The woman smiled when she saw the girl and the two tried their best to hug each other over the counter. The two talked briefly and then the first woman came back with a plate of food. At first, the girl tried to refuse it, but after some discussion, she took the food and thanked the woman. The second woman waved to the girl and the girl waved back. The two women went back to the kitchen, and the girl walked out the door of the restaurant.

She looked around for a little bit but then saw something that made her gasp and she quickly looked around for a place to hide. There weren't many options, but she saw an opening at the table Ulrich was sitting at and she quickly rushed over. Ulrich tried looking around for what had the girl so spooked. He saw two large men moving through the crowd, obviously looking for something. Ulrich figured he knew it wasn't something but someone. The girl hurried over and pulled out a chair at the same time she quickly said,

"Mind if I sit here? Thanks…" She said all in the space of her pulling out the chair and sitting down.

"Uh…sure…help yourself," said Ulrich, he figured he didn't really have much of a say since she was already sitting down. The girl's French was very good, he almost couldn't even detect any other accent even though she looked very Asian.

"Just play along and don't say a word…" she said, glaring out of the corner of her eye at Ulrich, her other eye on the approaching men.

She kept her head down and pulled out her chopsticks and began shoveling food into her mouth to avoid making eye contact with the men as they walked past. The men studied the entire scene thoroughly but seemed to miss the girl. Ulrich decided to see where this went and played along. The girl breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed slightly after the men turned the corner. But she still kept her shrouds on so Ulrich couldn't really get a good look at her face. The girl rubbed her broad forehead and then started talking to Ulrich out of the corner of her mouth.

"Thank you, I don't know what I would have done if you'd given me up. I think I would have had to kick your butt. Then I'd have to kick their butts."

"Uh…you're welcome?" Ulrich figured he could have taken the girl. After all, his parents encouraged him to get into martial arts when he was younger, so he took up Pencak Silat. What really made him curious was why this girl was hiding in the first place, "Why were those men looking for you?"

"I'm supposed to be doing something around the corner but I skipped out to see…someone…" said the girl mysteriously, "My manager would be furious if he knew I came here…" she mumbled under her breath.

"So why all the secrecy?" asked Ulrich.

"You obviously don't know who I am…" muttered the girl.

"Uh…no, not really," said Ulrich

"Count yourself lucky then," said the girl.

"Why? Should I know you?" asked Ulrich.

"Let's just say if you haven't recognized me yet, you won't ever," said the girl, pulling her scarf closer to her face, "So, some here often?" she asked, trying to change the topic.

"Uh no…this is my first time coming here…" said Ulrich.

"So which is it? Canari Paya? Kogusoku? Jutsu?" asked the girl suddenly.

"Huh?" asked Ulrich, taken aback.

"Your fists, when I said I would kick your butt, you immediately clenched your fists and then turned them over to begin your form. So what form do you practice?"

"I uh…" stammered Ulrich. He hadn't even realized that's what he did. He quickly unclenched his fists and then put them in his lap awkwardly.

The girl laughed, and her face lit up, "Of martial arts, dummy! What did you think I was talking about dishes from the Golden Dragon Chinese restaurant?"

"I uh…no? Uh I mean, no offense, kind of," Ulrich immediately felt embarrassed for admitting that, but there was no turning back now, the girl had caught him off guard.

"None taken, I'm Japanese," said the girl, "So what is it?"

"Oh, um…Pencak Silat," said Ulrich, finally able to find his tongue. He didn't know why but this girl seemed to have some sort of effect on him.

"No kidding!" said the girl, her face lighting up, "I uh- I know some people who practice that," she said, quickly diffusing her excitement.

"Really? So which form do you practice? You've obviously had some training if you recognize some moves, and also think that you can kick my butt," said Ulrich, warming up to the conversation.

"Oh, uh, nothing you've ever heard of," stammered the girl.

"Try me…" said Ulrich, "Who was your mentor?"

"Um…you wouldn't know him either," said the girl.

"C'mon, try me!"

In his younger years, Ulrich got really good at Pencak Silat. So good that he was entered into a couple tournaments by his then mentor, Jim. He didn't really go very far in them, but he did get to meet many fighters from around Europe and their mentors. And Jim seemed to know many of the other fighters and their mentors as well. Despite appearances, Jim really was an interesting guy, and despite the façade, he was very true to his word in many instances. He just had the unfortunate gift of being able to tell stories in a very off-putting way, which lead to him often times not talking about them altogether. But Ulrich figured if he could figure out the girl's mentor, he could figure out which form of martial arts she performed.

"Uh…his name was Jim…" muttered the girl.

"Does Jim have a last name?" asked Ulrich. He didn't want to admit it, but he was enjoying making her squirm as much as he made him squirm.

"Mor- Morales…" said the girl in almost a whisper.

"Wait! Your mentor was Jim Morales!?" said Ulrich.

"Geez! Keep it down! Everyone will hear you!" shouted the girl.

"No! You don't understand! Jim was my mentor too!" said Ulrich.

"What-?" asked the girl

"Yeah! Where did you practice?"

"K- Keep it down…" hissed the girl, she seemed to be very scared all of the sudden.

"C'mon, you gotta tell me where you practiced! How come I've never heard of you before?"

"Maybe it was something that he would just rather not talk about…" murmured the girl, "Kind of like how I don't want to talk about this now…" she said in a low tone, trying to keep her head down.

"You did know Jim!" shouted Ulrich, "That was his thing…'I'd rather not talk about it…' Whoo…man that guy was something else."

"Shut up!" growled the girl, "You're going to attract their attention again…"

"Huh?"

Ulrich went to look around but he suddenly felt two hands on his face pull him around. It was the girl. She had grabbed his face and brought it close to hers. Ulrich gasped but he didn't have much time to react because she quickly went in for a kiss. Ulrich's mind immediately went blank as the girl kissed him. Ulrich didn't know why she did that, but he kind of liked it. After what felt like an eternity, the girl broke the kiss and Ulrich staggered back in his chair, dazed. He looked around to see the guys that were looking for her walking away again.

"Wha- What was that?" asked a nearby voice that Ulrich recognized. He could tell that Yumi recognized it too because she suddenly pulled her hat down lower and her scarf up higher and muttered under her breath,

"Oh no…" Odd had come back, and he had a look of absolute shock on his face.

"He- hey Odd! Have you met-? I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name…" said Ulrich, still a little giddy from the kiss.

"Yumi?!" gasped Odd.

"Yumi? What are you talking about Odd? This isn't…" Ulrich looked over to see the girl take off her hat and glasses and pull down her scarf. Ulrich was floored.

"Hi…Ulrich…" said Yumi, shyly.

"WHAT?!" shouted Ulrich and Odd in unison.

Short chapter, I know...but I wanted to get this one out there, like I said. Let me know what you think!