Oto IV

The café is almost done being set up when the princess finally wakes up. Fai begins to explain to her what's going on. He tells her about the demon hunting reward and the new clothes. Fai wears a uniform similar to Anna's but he wears pants and doesn't have an apron. Syaoran wears a dark outfit with long sleeves and a turtleneck. She's not sure what Kurogane's wearing, so she asks him, handing him another curtain to hang up.

"It's a hakama," he answers.

"Hakama?" she says, not sure she said it right. He nods, indicating that she did. "Is it something like what would wear back in your country?"

"Something close to it, yeah." He looks down at her and a little red crosses his cheek.

Fai then tells the princess about the café and asks her to be a waitress with Anna. The princess accepts and Fai pushes her upstairs with a package of clothing.

Kurogane and Anna finish hanging the curtains when the princess returns. She wears something like what Kurogane is wearing, only it's meant for a girl and has an apron. She wears a headpiece and boots. The princess asks if she looks all right and Anna smiles at her and leaves the boy to answer. Syaoran blushes and nods his head.

Pulling at the skirt, Anna pulls the curtains open on the last window she and Kurogane dressed.

Mokona's eyes open then and it spits something out onto one of the tables. It's a plate of five chocolate desserts. Fai's the one to ask what it is. Mokona says it's from Yuko.

Fai smiles widely. "It isn't a gift, is it?" he questions.

"That witch does give anything way," says Kurogane, with an emphasis on the word "give."

Anna nods in agreement.

"But it looks delicious!" coos Fai.

Mokona explains that it's called fondant au chocolat. There's chocolate on the inside and you eat it hot.

"Her timing is perfect!" Fai exclaims before heading to the bar. He pours cups of tea for everyone. He started brewing it while they were setting up the café. "The tea is ready so let's all have some!" He returns to the table with the tea, little plates, and forks. Anna's not sure if she should eat the cake. She'll have to give something to the witch for sure. Then again, it's only chocolate, so unless it happens to be really pricey chocolate, the price shouldn't be too bad. Anna does like chocolate.

She sits at the table with the others and takes a bite the dessert. She smiles. Whatever the price is, it's worth it. She hasn't had chocolate in so long.

"Come on, Kurger Burger!" coos Fai.

"I don't want any!" he says, annoyed. He faces away from the table. A moment passes and Fai taps him on the shoulder. "What?" barks Kurogane. Fai then shoves a fork full into his mouth.

The room is dead silent.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?" screams Kurogane. Fai giggles and Anna holds a hand over her mouth to stifle her own laughter.

"Kuropo ate some!" sings Mokona. "Kuropo ate some! I'm going to tell Yuko!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Anna can't help it. She lets out a laugh. Kurogane yells at her to stop laughing, and she tries but fails. She's greatly amused. Kurogane groans loudly and stumps for the door. He declares that he's going hunting. Syaoran hurries to follow after him.

After they leave, Fai suggests he and girls work around the café so they can open tomorrow. He gives them both a tour of the kitchen and behind the bar. He shows them how to brew tea and coffee first. Then they try and recreate the chocolate dessert with Mokona's help.

A few hours pass. And Anna and the princess sit at one the tables, folding cloth napkins as Fai showed them. Working in a café is one thing Anna never thought she'd be doing in her lifetime. Then again, she didn't think a lot of things would happen in her lifetime. She pushes the thoughts away.

"Meow, meow, meow," Fai sings from the floor. He's painting signs for the café, which happens to be a picture of a cat. Mokona sits on his head wearing a little apron. Anna's amazed at how much Fai knows about running a café. She wants to find out a little more about him, like she did with Kurogane but Fai seems to be a bit harder to crack. Plus, Anna finds Kurogane much more interesting. The thought sends a shiver up her spine. It's kind of embarrassing and she's a little confused about it.

"YOU RAT!" Kurogane screams, slamming the front door open. It startles both Anna and Sakura. He's fuming. His anger is directed at Fai. Fai only grins back and welcomes him home. "You little… You went and gave us weird name, didn't you?" He says this through his teeth that form an evil grin on his face. He looks ready to kill.

"Weird names?" Anna questions.

Fai explains that the girl at City Hall told him that he could use aliases. He draws on a piece of paper. "I don't know this world's writing system." He shoves the piece of paper in Kurogane's face and throws his other hand into the air. There's a huge smiles on his face. Anna's mouth hangs open and her eyebrow twitches at the sight of the picture Fai drew. He points back and forward between the big black dog and Kurogane, "Big Puppy." He points to Syaoran at the white, smaller dog, "And Little Puppy. That's how they were recorded." Fai starts to draw another picture. Anna stands, walks over to him, and looks over his shoulder. The princess stands next to her. He draws a "Big Kitty" for him, a "Little Kitty" for the princess and a "Wifey Bird" for Anna.

Anna's not sure if she should be upset or amused. Well, Kurogane's angry enough for all of them. He removes his sword from its sheath and swings it at Fai. Fai runs away, hands in the air and laughing with a huge grin. Anna, Syaoran, and Princess Sakura retreat to the open front door.

Kurogane screams at Fai about the fact Fai's brain is full of dirty tricks, so he needs to spilt it open and wash it out for him. Fai laughs and teases Kurogane about foaming at the mouth like a dog. Syaoran stands on the sidelines, trying to calm Kurogane down, failing. There's no stopping him.

Anna stands on the sidelines, greatly amused. There was a time when nothing really amused her, besides watching Rothbart crawl in his own skin. She yawns then and wraps her arms around herself.

"Wow! What a cute café!" exclaims a girl. Anna turns around to see a young girl and a man. "What a pretty house you have, Puppy-san!" she says to Syaoran as she walks into the house. The boy stammers over the name. Sakura's not sure what to do with herself over it all.

The girl and man seem to wear uniforms. The girl's in a school one and the man is in a military type one. They have a dog with them. The man comments about the aroma in the air. He and the girl are unfazed with the fact Kurogane's trying to slice up Fai.

Anna explains to the man that it's a chocolate cake their experimenting with. She smiles up at him and says, "We don't open till tomorrow, but if you like, you could try some now. I'm sure Fai wouldn't mind."

"Nope!" Fai giggles. "Not at all!"

"We'd love too!" the man and girl say together, smiles on their faces.

"That's if you don't mind, Big Puppy," says the man,

"I AM NOT A PUPPY!" Kurogane screams. Anna lets out a laugh then. "STOP LAUGHING! Or did you forget that he gave you a weird name too?"

Anna ponders this for a moment and nods her head. "I'm not a big fan of the name 'Wifey Bird,' but," she points to her chest, "I do have a bird on my chest, so it makes sense." Plus, she pretended to be Fai's wife in Jade country. She doesn't say this out loud. She hates the memory. It was a very irritating situation.

"Oh, come on!" Kurogane groans.