Mahiru waited on a bench near by the store. The bags were set aside by his feet. He explained everything that happened to Misono and was told to wait there until the other Eve arrived. His hands were holding Kuro's cat bell on his lap, staring at it with a guilty expression.

"Kuro tried to warn me… that something bad would happen and I… ignored him"

An image of Kuro's annoyed and hurt eyes staring back at him when Mahiru ordered him to stay came to mind. The Eve of Sloth felt like an idiot for disregarding his partner and now the Servamp is paying the price for his Eve's incompetence. Mahiru can only hope that they find him before something bad happens . His thoughts were cut off by the sound of wheels becoming louder.

A fast driving limousine made a screeching stop by the store in a way that it almost fell on its side, startling Mahiru. He breathed a sigh of relief when the limo went back to its four wheels, only the Alisuin family driver is crazy enough to pull a stunt like that. A purple haired boy followed blond man exited the limo.

"Dodo grab Shirota's bags and put them in the trunk!" the Eve of Lust barked, earning a witty comeback from said driver, he glared at him before turning to Mahiru with an even more intense glare. "Shirota you bastard! How can you lose your Servamp!" the brown haired boy expected this from his callus friend, he remembered the long lecture on the phone.

"I'm sor-"

"Now, now Misono no need to get so riled up, I'm sure Mahiru wouldn't do such a thing purposely…" the blond man soothed His Eve as he sent the boy an apologetic smile. His hand went to strip off his shirt.

"Lily! Don't strip!" Misono smacked his Servamp before he finished the act.

"Tehe, I was only trying to lighten the mood, after all fighting won't get us any closer to finding Nii-san" Lily advised cheerily, with a hint of seriousness at the end.

Knowing what he meant by that, Misono decided to apologize, "sorry Shirota… it's just that if an Eve and Servamp are apart for too long you would surely die and who knows what would happen to Sloth without his contract item…" it was true that Misono was worried for his friends life, but his brash nature usually gets the better of him. Mahiru clapped his hand on Misono's shoulder and gave a bright smile.

"it's alright Misono, but I know that I'm still at fault here." He looked down, "I should of listened to Kuro, but I let my temper get ahead of me again. So you'll help me find him so I can apologize to him, right?"

Misono nodded nervously, "s-sure what are friends for…"

Lily smiled at his Eve as Dodo finished putting away the bags. "Hey cow-lick! I'm going to look if this place has footage of what happened while you guys look for a trail," the driver yelled as he went in the store, ignoring the angry threats of being fired from the small boy.

The Servamp of Lust tried to futility to conceal his laughs with his hand, earning a betrayed 'Lily!' from his Eve. "Now Mahiru would you kindly show us where you found Nii-san's contract item?" he asked.

"Y-yeah sure" he answered nervously while Lily pushed him away from the ranting boy and to the alley where he found Kuro's bell.

The second youngest Servamp inspected the spot where the bell has been and turned to Mahiru with a serious look in his red eyes. He held out his hand to Mahiru, "may I see the contract item" he asked. The boy quickly took the bell out of his jacket pocket and handed it to him. Lily grasped the precious item in his hand and closed his eyes in concentration. "About how long has it been since you've last seen Sleepy Ash?" He asked with eyes still closed.

Mahiru tried to estimate how long he's at the store and added that to the time he had to wait for Misono. "let's see I was at the store for about twenty minutes and I waited for you guys for thirty I think," he answered as he rubbed his neck nervously. "I hope I didn't overestimate things"

Misono looked at Mahiru then to Lily, "in estimated time fifty minutes, maybe more, it wouldn't give us much room to work with. What do you say Lily?"

"It's faint but I'll manage with that…"

Mahiru was confused, he didn't know what they where talking about and was going to asked. The words never left his lips as a glittery mist with pink diamonds suddenly surrounded Lily and spread throughout the alley. His eyes sought out Misono's for answers who gave him a wait and see look.

The diamonds distorted and gathered to create a holographic like image of the alley. Mahiru gaped at their holographic surroundings in wonder while Misono smiled proudly at his Servamp's skill with illusions. Seconds passed as a glitching black figure walked into the alley looking like the screen of a malfunctioning TV, the only thing visible on him was the sleeping Kuro in his arms and a bell in his hand. The Eve of Sloth watched his sleeping partner worriedly, he knew that Kuro can be a heavy sleeper when he wanted to be but the vampire is usually more alert.

"Since the bell belongs to Nii-san, we can only see him and the item," Lily said as he observed the hologram.

Mahiru nodded and watched the flickering man closely. The man glanced back at the store Mahiru was in, then to the sleeping kitten in his arms. What he said next made a chill run down the Eve's spin.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you kid," he chuckled before, tossing the bell to the ground. The man then walked of with a grin that would put Greed to shame.

The image started to shatter as the man walked away with Kuro in his arms. Mahiru demanded to be shown more, but only got a sad nod of no from the Lust pair. They knew that once the illusion breaks then there's no recovering it or showing it again, they were lucky to even get that much. They stood in silence, ordering there thoughts, with worried expressions on their faces.

Lily was greatly concerned for his eldest brother and feared the worst if they don't find him in time and return his contract item. It was unheard of for a Servamp to loose them, by nature they were fiercely protective of them and if they grow weak without their Eves nearby or don't drink enough blood. The second youngest Servamp narrowed his eyes at that thought, after all he and his other siblings knew Sleepy Ash's least than healthy lack of appetite for blood and how he would rather starve or gauge his hunger with tons of ramen. That plus no contract item and Eve can spell disaster for a Servamp.

Misono's mind was on how they can reunite the Sloth pair as quickly as possible. Sure he didn't want anything bad to happen to the annoying, lazy Servamp, but he cared more about Mahiru's well being than the vampire. Although he never experienced it he knew that for an Eve and Servamp being separated can leave the Eve extremely fatigued and pained in six hours and becomes deadly once the twelve hour limit is up. His strategic mind theorized that Kuro, with as powerful as he is, would be fine through the ordeal, but from the look in Lily's eyes he could tell that this matter could be more serious than that, since he only shows that much concern for him and when it comes to his family.

Meanwhile Mahiru was thinking about the man who catnapped Kuro, something about his voice seemed familiar to him like he heard it before. He tried to search his memory for any sort of connection, but nothing came to mind at the moment. His thoughts wondered again to the hurt expression in Kuro's eyes, it was the same pained look he got when he ordered him to fight Hegan. It made him feel guilty that he caused Kuro pain and didn't treat him like a partner at that time. He shook his head. "No. I'm going to find Kuro and make it up to him. I have to apologize." The Eve of Sloth said.

Misono broke the silence with his usual commanding voice. "Alright we should form a plan on how to retrieve Sloth, first we must gather any information we can find on this person and his motives. Once Dodo finishes with the footage we might see who we're dealing with."

"Already done runt…"

Shaking with rage Misono was about rant at the smart mouthed chauffeur, but was pushed to the side by Lily and Mahiru running past him to Dodo before he could utter a word. The man in question stood at the entrance of the alley with a computer balanced in one are while the other inserted a flash drive in it. The Eve of Lust was sill steaming when he joined to watch a video that popped up from the flash drive, at least the Alisuin employee had some decency to present the screen in a what that all three of them can watch without comment.

From the angle of the camera they couldn't see the black cat hidden behind the shady mailbox, but they have a clear view of a Sandy blond haired man with a goatee and casual clothing under a thin, tan jacket walking up to it. Mahiru's eyes widened. He saw that man before but never knew him personally. He looked closely as the man casually pick up Kuro and walked off screen like it was nothing, which angered him considering that it was his cat the man stole.

"… I saw that man before…" Mahiru voiced, earning him interested looks from the others.

"Do you know who he is?" Lily asked

"No but I see him sometimes when I walk home from school and one time he asked me about Kuro." He folded his arms as he concentrated on the normal conversation that could easily be forgotten. "He asked simple questions that I usually get concerning Kuro like what breed he is or where he came from. That's all."

"Name?" said Misono, the boy shook his head. With a curse Misono started to contemplate their next action, "at least we have an idea of what our culprit looks, now all we need to do is find more information. Dodo find-"

"Way ahead of you" he smirked. Misono felt his chest deflate as his moment was ruined yet again. If the indigo haired man wasn't so useful he would have been fired a long time ago. Lily chuckled a bit and placed a calming hand on his Eve's shoulder. Dodo tapped a few buttons and displayed information on the man and a news article, but the third page was what really made their eyes widen.

"The man's name is Hanzo, Shun after I found that I searched for any connections or websites under his name and found this hidden under codes and passwords"

There was a picture of Kuro glaring intensely inside a cage with an odd eyed cat behind him. With bold letters the title above the image read:

Rare Cat Auction: Black Cat With Red Eyes

It was a black market auction site for exotic animals and rare pets. Mahiru would of awed at the tenacity and skill of his rich friends staff if didn't feel utterly disgusted that his Servamp ended in a situation like this and fears that he might be sold so he can serve some horrible person that hungers power. He looked to Lily who had a mixture of emotions in his red eyes; concern, anger, disgust, recognition, and hatred. Misono saw this too and was about to ask, but the Servamp of Lust beat him to it.

"The highest bidders on the list are members of C3's American branch, if I recall past conversations I had with Old Child" he said with venom as he pointed at the highest bidders list.

The plot thickens! What would happen to a Servamp without contract item and their Eve, and will they find Kuro in time? Next chapter will elaborate further on who the man is and tell you why C3's American branch wants Kuro. next time things really heat up as every action has a consequence. Thank you for reading and don't forget to review and follow!

Preview

Chapter 3: Limitations

"Looks like I have to break you before you go to your new owner"

"If we don't find Nii-san soon then there's a possibility that he will be lost forever"

"Kuro we're coming! Just hang on a big longer."