DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

Beta-reader: Antonio92 (many thanks to you)

A/N: I love you guys! Thanks for the many reviews, Monotufu, tityuio, of fan and fic, InflatedChimp, Camille loves chocolate, andy parker.

OC description:

Emerald: 10 year old Doll with medium 'shadow'; green eyes and really short brown hair; Asian

Ivory: 13 year old Contractor; manipulating plants; remuneration: scratching himself bloody; light brown eyes and normal long brown hair (like July's hair length); Asian; Emerald's older brother

Bai: 8 months old Contractor with telekinetic power; no remuneration; light brown hair and dark blue eyes

Chapter 21

"Kawaiiiiii!" Kiko screeched for the n-th time, running with her hands full of collars, tiny rain-coats for dogs and leashes for cats – all shiny and pink – from one rack to the next until she stood in front of the hamster cages with hamsters. One purely white one with large black eyes and a tiny pink nose looked sleepily at her, its small grey ears slowly standing up. "Kawaiiii!"

Mayu and Yin still stood at the entrance of the pet shop, both dumbfounded about their friend's reaction – at least the brunette looked like it, while the Doll had her usual blank expression. "Let's look at the animals, before I'll help you choose a cat basket, Yin-chan."

The silver-haired medium only nodded and lifted her babbling daughter from the stroller she had parked next to the check-out counter. The three walked over to a large compound holding rabbits and guinea pigs. Bai immediately stretched her arms towards the furballs while Yin already suppressed the child's abilities. The last thing she needed was her daughter lightening up in red and blue amidst a shop full of people.

"That's a rabbit, Bai-chan." Mayu explained and smiled at the cute baby, who grasped with her hand for the fence. Suddenly a big gray bunny stormed towards the three and even Mayu was shocked when it tried to nab for Bai's tiny fingers.

The little girl started to bawl immediately and Yin cuddled her close to her chest, rocking the child. "Shh. It's fine."

The brunette smiled as she saw the way the young mother lowered her eye-lids and gazed down with so much love and care in her purple eyes at the child that Mayu wondered how the thought of comparing Yin's expression with Emerald's could have crossed her mind the day before. With a whimpering baby, the two women walked away from the evil rabbits and into an empty corridor between shelves. "I just hope she won't be scared of rabbits now." Mayo muttered and absently leaned against a display with of cat -toys. Before she knew what had happened half the contents crashed to the floor and caused a few nosy customers to peek around the corner.

Yin watched with her observer spirit how her new friend blushed in embarrassment and quickly gathered the toys from the floor to hang them back up again. The Doll observed her a moment before taking a few items from her full arms and helped her.

"Thanks, Yin-chan." Mayu smiled at the other woman and then noticed with astonishment that she didn't put the items variously onto the hooks, but ordered by designs. "Umm, Yin-chan… Aren't you blind?" The younger woman looked at her with her lidded purple eyes. "You're doing this really well, I mean…"

"I see colors… and can guess shapes when I'm closer… but it's all very blurry." The silver-haired Doll explained slowly. Mayu stared at her perplexed. This explained why she didn't need a stick or someone to lead her when they walked slowly down the streets to this store. "Kiko is a pink blurry dot."

Mayu grinned about this. "I believe she must be easy for you to recognize in a crowd." She watched Yin nod as she hung the last item back.

Meanwhile, Bai had one of the cat -toys, a white stuffed -fish with bells inside, clutched in her tiny hands and was chewed happily on the head. Her mother carefully lifted the toy on the stick up to pull it from her daughter's grasp, but the elastic thread only got longer and longer till the fish flipped from the baby's hands. Immediately the child lifted her hands up above her head to where the jingling toy dangled and giggled happily.

Mayu poked the fish on its dry fin – the head was already dripping with baby drool – and the bells rang again, causing the little girl to giggle like mad and clap her hands. Both women stared down at the child surprised – Yin's eyebrow even twitched, yet remained in its usual position. "I'll buy it." The Doll eventually said and lowered the toy back to her daughter's hands.

"Let's go to the baskets." Mayu suggested and smiled about the baby, who was already back at chewing on the fish.

After choosing a cat basket for Mao, the two women had looked for their other friend, who had in the meantime caught a teenage salesclerk and had bombarded her with questions about hamsters. Mayu only knew her being like this when the newest volume of 'Rose of Maurice' was finally out for sale.

Now, after Kiko finally had decided with the help of the 'expertise' of the teenager for a suitable cage, wheel and food, she held yet another item in her one free hand – the one not holding the box with the hamster. "Aww, Maurice will surely love this wooden climbing-castle!"

"Maurice?!" Yin asked in her emotionless voice.

"My super cute hamster, of course!" Kiko was almost cuddling the paper-box.

"The salesclerk said it was female." Yin pointed out, but was suddenly face-to-face with the pink-haired otaku. "Her name is Maurice." The Doll only nodded, not really getting her friend.

Kiko then turned her gaze at the other woman, now looking sweetly. "Maaayu-chaaaan?"

Ootsuka knew this look and the way she said her name. "Yeeees?"

"Will you be so kind and help me with the cage, food and toys?" Her puppy-dog eyes were big as saucers.

"Didn't you want to stop by at the large drugstore for your pink dye?"

"Naw, my hair can wait another day, but I wanna bring my sweet Maurice home safely." She peeked through the holes of the paper-transport-box onto her soon-to-be roommate. "You're soooo incredible cute!" She screeched again.

Mayu sighed. "Fine. But I wanna buy cat food for my boss first."

"Your boss eats cat food?!" Kiko was gaping at her friend like she had grown a second head.

The brunette's eyes widened. "No, of course not," she chuckled sheepishly. "For his cat… he takes to the office."

Now, Kiko looked suspicious at the other young woman. "I thought your boss was a woman, and not a man?" Hadn't she said that she worked for her old boss from the police, the brunette middle-aged woman she had met at the onsen and who had a date with the beautiful collarbone guy?

"Umm, I have two bosses." Mayu muttered cracking her brains for some plausible explanation, though this was the truth. Yet Kiko stared at her with a frown, not really buying it. "Well, you know I'm responsible for the information exchange between different divisions and I see the boss of the other Section also as my boss." Yep, this was good and not a complete lie.

Kiko's intuition told her that this was not the whole truth, but returned her attention to her hamster. "Whatever." She then faced Yin, who had observed the conversation while placing a few cans of cat food into the cart, she shared with Kiko. "Have you found everything, Kirsi-chan?"

The Doll nodded, – giving up for now her attempts to correct the older woman:, she had done so twice today with only temporary success. They approached the check-out counter where a mother and her son – elementary school age – were just paying. "I want a rabbit!" The little boy cried and was about to let himself fall to the floor to make a real scene when his mother threatened "Shinji, if you keep screaming like this, Contractors will come and cut your tongue out!" The boy immediately hushed and followed his mother out of the store, looking around fearfully.

"What's that for a crap is that?!" Kiko exclaimed, and looked after the mother perplexed. She hadn't met a Contractor yet, but even she could tell that this was exaggerated, made up and extremely nonsense.

"The boy will only be afraid of Contractors now." Mayu said and shook her head. She had also been anxious when she had joined Section 9 and Kirihara had informed them that they would have a Contractor on their team, but left out during the introduction that Hazuki was said Contractor. When the cat had suddenly started to speak, Mayu had first thought she had one of her weird anime-influenced dreams again, but then she thought it kinda cool to have a speaking animal as her boss. She now knew that Contractors wouldn't just harm innocent people, just because they wanted to – no, they just did it because their human bosses ordered them to do so.

"One of my neighbors also tells her children that they have to be inside before dusk otherwise Contractors would come and get them," Yin said, and even though she wasn't exactly sure what made her share this pointless information. However it was another attempt to participate in a normal social interaction – a conversation.

Kiko shook her head. "I hope you won't tell Bai-chan such trash."

"No. It's irrational to threaten children with lies." With the help of her specter Yin saw Mayu look strangely at her, but Kiko was already emptying the cart onto the counter and pushed the young mother forward to pay first. The Doll placed her daughter into the stroller and pulled the toy-fish from her lips, making her cry immediately. Bai's cries became louder with every second she was separated from her beloved fish and the cashier hurried to ring the item up. When the entire store had gathered to look what was wrong with the hysterical child, Yin had removed the price tag and swung the stick with the fish like a fishing-rod with the toy-fish being the worm and Bai the fish to catch into the stroller, and within one heartbeat the prey – Bai – had the fish in her mouth and was happily sucking on the fabric, her tears forgotten.

The cashier was not the only one to look baffled at mother and child. "Well, I just hope this stuff is not for your kid, too." She said and pointed onto the cat basket.

Yin knew a facial expression would be fitting and helpful, yet she wasn't sure what the right reaction was in this situation. She tried to recall how Hei's Li persona would react. He would surely blush and look baffled about the comment with his large eyes. She couldn't blush on cue – actually she hadn't blushed in the last fifteen years even once – but she could widen her eyes and look a little surprised. "No, she has a cradle, of course." Her voice was still monotone, but she managed to make it sound a nuance higher and quicker. The cashier chuckled and Yin paid.

Hei returned home with Mao in tow and the first thing he noticed – both of them – was the cat basket with a red cushion standing in a corner. In it lay a peacefully sleeping Bai, a stuffed toy-fish clutched to her tiny chest. The Contractors approached and the man looked at his wife curiously as she sat next to the basket, stroking their child. "Yin?"

The Doll didn't look up from her baby. "I bought the basket for Mao, if the man from the animal shelter comes."

The cat had sat down next to the young woman and looked up to her. "Thanks, Yin." He was surprised about the thoughts the Doll must have done to come to this conclusion.

Hei had crouched down next to the two and eyed his daughter. "Looks like you have to share your bed, Mao." After a moment of comfortable silence, the Black Reaper sighed. "Had I known she would prefer a cat basket about a bed then I could have spared myself the trouble of carrying her portacrib from city to city."

The night had been short like the last few, but this didn't influence Yin to do her new duty. While she amused Bai with the toy-fish-rod and made the child crawl in circles around her mother's body, Yin's specter was already busy with Emerald. Both blue blobs – during the training sessions she used the small version of her observer spirit, so no Contractor's would accidentally notice that the 'special Doll' was back in Tokyo – hurried down the long and busy corridors of the mall until they stopped in front of the toy store, with Yin following Emerald.

They had started at a dark alley two blocks away. Yin wanted to test if the escape routes she had taught the boy could be put into action or if he needed further commands. She had told him that two persons were after him – his real body would have take the place of his specter. This way he couldn't simply send his specter to the safe place, but had to jump from shady spot to shady spot to cover the entire way like his human body would have to do.

At first the specter had remained in the alley for several seconds. But Yin knew how hard it was to even decide between pre-programmed routes. 'Take always the one that is shortest unless it is compromised by the enemy.' She had told him then - a new command and decision-making aid. This had been the missing puzzle piece and Emerald's specter had begun to lead the way. Then there was the next sticking point: the boy's specter hopped from one driving car's shadow to the next to cross the street – his real body would have been crushed. ' Look at the traffic lights. Only cross a street when the light is green.' After this second order, Yin decided to restart the simulation at the alley.

This second try went smooth without further problems until they arrived at the toy store. Now the bluish blob of the boy remained in front of one of the three entrances. Yin also stopped in a water-dispenser across from their goal and waited. She knew that the boy was at a loss to decide which entrance he should take, yet she hoped her new command would take effect and this soon.' The men just turned the corner. They will reach you in less than a minute.' She informed him and resumed patiently her observation of the boy's specter. '30 seconds.' Still no reaction.

Then when she was about to tell him that he had only 15 seconds left, the specter finally jumped to a shady spot closest to the door he had stood in front of for so long. From then on, he resumed his way quickly to the video game consoles, where many children his age stood.' The men are now closing in on your current location,.' Yin said and watched the other specter jump to a smaller crowd of children and parents farther away from the wii and video games.

'You did this very well,' Yin praised and decided to end the test here. A 'you have passed' would have been sufficient, yet the Doll remembered the few 'thank yous' and few praises she had received by Mao and Hei. At first they were only words to her, but with time they began to mean more to her than a simple 'mission accomplished'. They meant that she was part of the team – not only a tool they used - and that her work was important and acknowledged. That she was acknowledged by them as more than just a replaceable good.

A/N: This was a more Yin-centric chapter. I hope you liked it.