Csoh: Oh there was a BIG my bad on the last chapter. I said shin instead of chin. Did nobody notice it?!

Kai: We were a little distracted.

Diva: Why do I care, I'm not even in the story!

Lulu: We figured you knew what you were writing.

Csoh: (happy) At least no one else noticed!

Hagi: I saw it the whole time.

Csoh: (depressed)

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Chapter 11: Not the Same

Solomon checked his bags into the airport and searched the whole place. Saya wasn't anywhere to be found. He had quit his job at the hospital so that he could focus on trying to find Saya. The personnel of the airport announced that his flight was boarding and Solomon hurried to get on the plane. The other flights had been booked for at least half a week so his was the only one for France that wasn't full. He saw Shanta boarding onto the plane and walked quietly behind her.

"Going somewhere?" Shanta turned fast and gasped.

"SOLOMON!"

"Where's Saya?" She looked puzzled.

"Saya... How should I know! She left to go home to you and the night before yesterday and that was the last I saw her." Solomon doubted it.

"Where is the Red Shield?" She looked furiously at him.

"Um... Right next to the blue shield? I don't know! Why the hell are we talking about armor!"

"The RED SHIELD!" The other passengers started to look at the two of them. "The organization Saya is a part of." Shanta still looked confused.

"I thought Saya stayed home and you worked." He was losing his patience.

"I know you work for them! Why else would you be leaving for France just after Saya went missing!" Shanta glared at him furiously.

"MONSIEUR SOLOMON! I AM FRENCH! I WAS BORN IN FRANCE! I HAD AN EXCHANGE PROGRAM THAT SENT ME HERE TO SHECK OUT HOW CANADIANS PARTY AND YOU ARE AN IGNORANT MORON!" The passengers started to clap and she started to look out the window. He wasn't going to let her stop him.

"I'll ask you one more time-" The flight attendant interrupted him.

"Is he bothering you miss?" Shanta looked up at the woman and smiled.

"I"m so glad some order will be dealt. YEAH! This man will not leave me alone and he said the b-word." The flight attendant looked at him angrily.

"He called you a B?!"

"OH HEAVENS NO! He said," Shanta looked both ways before continuing. "Bomb." The other passengers shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"Look miss, I never said any-" The flight attendant pushed him out of the plane and the security walked him to the door. If he had been angry before, it was nothing compared to this. He used his chiropteran abilities to fly a good distance behind the plane. He was going to find Saya and right now his only lead was an obnoxious DJ.

Shanta looked out towards Paris. Home. She headed out of the airport onto the sunny Parisian day. Her boss was waiting in his car. The oaf was smoking down another cigarette. She threw her bags into the trunk and jumped into the seat beside him.

"So how was Canada?" He threw the stub of his cigarette into his ashtray and started to drive out of the parking lot.

"Oh it was okay. It's nothing like here, but there is still a huge tower there too." She thought back to the CN Tower. It had been amazing.

"Nothing compares to our country's Eiffel."

"True." Although... Shanta smiled and lay back in her seat.

"You should have gone to New York City. The club a few blocks from us had a person go there and their club has been on the rise-"

"Sir! Canada was just as upbeat as New York. It doesn't matter where exactly you go in North America. If there's people, there is clubs."

"But clubs worth going to-"

"Toronto was chalk full of clubs and I went and worked at them all!" He looked down at her and smiled.

"Hope you learned something." She smiled. He never changed.

They pulled up to her house on the outskirts of Paris and she pulled her bags out of the back. Her boss waved her back up and she winked at him.

"I'll be seeing you at work tomorrow?"

"Naturally. You can't keep a girl out of all the fun for long!" He pulled out and drove off. She turned and opened the door to the house.

The place was an even worse mess than her home at Toronto. She threw her bags into the living room and went to make a sandwich. She froze when she walked into her kitchen.

"Problem?" Solomon looked at her from her table.

"How in the world did you get into my house?"

"You left a window open."

"How did you know this was my house?"

"You pulled into the drive." Shanta was a little freaked.

"You're stalking me?!"

"Where's Saya?" Shanta nearly cursed.

"Look, I don't know! All I can tell you is that the other night she came to my apartment wanting to come with me to work. She said that you had said she could and we went. About an hour later she came into the booth and told me that she was tired and wanted to go home. I offered to drive her, but she declined and said she would take the bus. I had my friend Michelle watch her until she got home."

"Where does Michelle live?" He was bying it.

"She lives above the club I was working at." He stood up.

"You could have told me that sooner."

"You could have not stalked and yelled random bull at me!" He headed towards the door. He started to run towards the city and Shanta pulled out her phone.

"Bonjour! Joel speaking."

"Bonjour et toi! Shanta here. Your good pal Solomon is stalking me."

"WHAT?!"

"Oui mon Frère. He knows where I live now as well."

"You need to stay at a friend's house until-"

"Don't be an idiot. Then he will know I lied to him. I'm staying here and sticking to my routine I spent years making. I'm not a part of your gang brother. You need to understand that."

"But if he-"

"Solomon wants to find Saya. If he thinks I'm telling the truth then he won't be bothering me for long."

"Do you want me to-"

"I don't want to even hear a word from you or anyone around you! Solomon might try to find out about my past so scrape me off your reports and hide anything connecting me to your group. I'm already doing the same."

"Sis... Thank you for helping to recover Saya."

"How is she doing?"

"Still out cold. When we had our doctor look at her. She said Saya had a lot of blood loss. We've got her on another blood transfusion now."

"That's good. I miss you bro."

"You know I do too."

"That's what you tell me anyway. Au Revoir."

"Au Revoir."

Shanta hung up and turned on her juke box. Throwing in her new records, she started to clean up her old mess. Her family was all the same. Work first, then with the remaining time study. It was a wonder that her brother didn't join her in working at the nightclub. A dark figure moved past her window. Solomon was still around the house. She threw another empty pizza box into the garbage.

If Solomon wanted to stay around the house and watch her then he could. However he would never find anything leading to Saya. Shanta laughed lightly. He wouldn't find a connection leading to Red Shield because she didn't even know where they were. She tore up the number Joel had given her. If she was going to be an innocent then she would need to destroy the evidence.

Goodbye my brother.

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Solomon had spent a week watching her. She went to work by night and slept during the day. No Red Shield papers were in her house. No letters, no notes, no numbers leading to the Goldschmitts. He left her house for the eigth time that week. Nothing. He hadn't gone to check her story. What an idiot he'd been. That Michelle must have helped the Red Shield to move Saya out of Toronto.

Cursing himself he headed towards the nightclub Shanta worked at. He needed to get her help. If she wasn't helping the Red Shield then maybe she would be willing to help find Saya. The club was busy as usual and he had to force four women to leave him be before he made it to the DJ booth. He walked in and took a seat.

"Bon Soir."

"Hello Shanta." Shanta turned to find him sitting there.

"Solomon." Her glare was furious.

"I came to apologize for my terrible behavior. I've been worried about Saya in the worst way." She sighed and sat beside him.

"I understand that."

"You don't though. I... I've been with her for so long that without her it's like half of me has been lost." Shanta rubbed his arm sympathetically.

"That's terrible."

"I need to find her, but I can't find her alone."

Shanta didn't know how to respond to his comment. The guy knew how to talk people into things.

"I would adore to help you, but I can't." He looked sadly at her.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I thought with your help I could maybe have a second pair of eyes to help search where I can't." Yeah. Right. She pulled out her best sob face and hugged the man tightly.

"OH SOLOMON! I feel terrible about her being missing. I would love to help, but I would be fired and I can't get fired again. It would be the end of me. Besides, I have a friend here that is going to be having me join her for a double date and if I cancel from that-" She started to cry against his shoulder. "What kind of friend could I be if I always run away from what I promise to others. I'm nothing if not honest and honorable." He rubbed her back and stood up to leave.

"I understand. Saya was lucky to meet you."

"As was I." He nodded.

"You are a good friend Shanta." He turned and left. Her boss walked in minutes later and did a double take.

"Did your boy toy dump you?" Shanta wiped her tears away.

"Um...Yeah. We had had such a good relationship going for us too." He nodded and hugged her close.

"It's going to be fine. You are the hottest girl in the club."

"Besides your wife." He laughed.

"Yeah, but she's taken."

__-__

Solomon walked out into the night and headed over the ocean towards Canada. He flew all the way to the condo he had and opened the door to find the place empty. He went to Saya's room and sat at the edge of the bed. The drawers scattered around the floor, the cupboards emptied out, someone had taken Saya's belongings and ran. He lay back and thought about where the Red Shield might be.

France. That had been his first thought, but they wouldn't have gone back to Marseilles. It was too obvious. Then he had searched throughout Paris.

Spain. Why bother? Saya didn't know Spanish.

He rolled over and thought about it.

Saya's family lived in Japan. Saya was going to remember soon so that would take her straight back to Japan! YES!

He jumped up and darted out of the place. He was going to go to Japan. To Okinawa. To Saya.