Disclaimer: I do not own anything of F:TTD, wish I owned Sara and Merlock, but alas. I do own Haruka, Luna Master, Ruby, Corey, Miette, and Sapphron. I plan to re-post my Epros story eventually, and still  there is sadly no Okage section yet, which bites. He's seems to be a highly ignored character, and you get him so far into the game, right near the last 2 bosses, hell. There was barely anytime to get a single shred of background on him or his age. Enjoy. Oh yes, if these pages still hopefully exist, these url's are pictures of Epros-kun.

http://www7.ocn.ne.jp/~crash/epurosu.jpg

http://www7.ocn.ne.jp/~crash/bokutomaou9.jpg

Chapter 3

                                                             Creative Differences

                                                            ~ The World of Creativity ~

            Ryudo Khan stood over the woman of choice, his blonde, white-flecked hair blood gracefully in the wind above her. It had taken a long time to fully capture the right setting, this darkened alley, and the right model, this dear woman, for his next masterpiece. She lay there with an arrow in her heart, one he fired in the dark, every moment of its golden graces beautiful, especially on impact. The blood ran a bit before she wobbled and fell over. The shot alone sent her stumbling a good footing the grimy area, for his sapphire eyes to watch blissfully.

            The blood leaked from her dead heart, sort of kaleidoscope of crimson in several directions. Her coppery red hair only heightened the effect, those once green pools of sight full of shock, now going gray. Her sweet face held nothing but total surprise really, the utter fear of the moment the arrow came into view and hit her lovely breast. He smiled and pulled out his camera, snapping pictures from near every angle. This would be great art for the elders, homicide and love all in one moment. He'd be the talk of the world, once he got all the shots he needed from this picture perfect inspiration.

            "This is going to be wonderful. Now I'll be the king of creativity for a day, maybe a few years, 'tis all I need to be like all the rest. Perfection in art and mastery." Ryudo smiled, snapping another picture. He barely heard the pair footsteps behind him, but he did hear the squealing giggle as he began to pick up his pictures and stuff them in his pocket.

            He only turned slightly before he saw a gun in the man's hand, the blue gray mix in hair and body blurry when the ray shot out from it, hitting Ryudo right in the brain. A symbol appeared, a crescent moon on its bottom tip, a black one. It was the symbol of the Luna Master, Goddess of the World of Novas. But Ryudo couldn't see the mark, only his thoughts could be felt slipping, making him mindless.

                                                                                    ~

            "Good shot baby-cakes." Ruby chirped, hanging on Sapphron's arm. He was smirking at the zombified homicidal artist. "Yes, as always. Haruka needs to get his horny, repressed vampire mind off that Miette. This will teach him he has no future, and it will get us the stone of Aquarius. All that our little slave Ryudo has to do is keep doing what he does, heavily, and once those goody-goody Time Detectives show up, Miette's going to be out of the picture. Then nothing will stop Luna Master's plans." He chuckled deeply.

            Ruby nodded, her chest bouncing around as she hopped up and down. Sapphron smirked. He was lucky she was so stupid, she was easier to control than Petra Fina ever would be. Thanks to Luna Master, he knew Petra had also been his teacher, Ms. Iknow.

Thinking about it a bit, it made sense to do it her way, become a teacher to watch the future of Time Detectives, his sworn enemy. Working them to death wasn't always the key, but it made him feel better. Making them slack off in their exercise was a snap to put them behind in their fine health. Petra was in prison now, she'd made too many mistakes over her vanity and stupidity. He wouldn't mess up like her. He had a brain, and intended to use it. Haruka may have gotten him on forgetting to tell him who was a cop and who was not, but still, he was going to be by Luna Master's side ruling the new universe, not that vampire bastard child.

He smiled at Ryudo, stepping up to the blank faced young man with a photo of Miette. "When you see her, she is an instant target for your work….but till then, kill with your arrow of love, bless the hearts of all women here. Go now, let them know the creativity and love of the Cupid Killer." Sapphron told him, stuffing the picture in the man's hand, which was plenty full of Polaroid shots.

Ryudo stares at the shot then, giggling softly. "Kill….yes, I love all my pretties….pretties." he drawled out stupidly, then walked off into the dark of night.

Ruby just giggled fondly, nuzzling Sapphron's arm. "Neato invention of yours dearest."

"Not completely mine, I did need some of Luna Master's dark power and blood inside it to give off such an effect. Still, thank you, hun. You can repay me when we get back to Nova World….in bed."

"Why not now?" she giggled, wiggling against him. He smiled at her eagerness, but then his eyes went to the body lying there. "Its too dirty here," he muttered, tugging her away," and we were told to stay out of sight. Those brats know us from school, then Flint will know as felons. We stay out of sight as long as we can, if they see us, well Ryudo will take care of them for us fully. Nothing must interfere with Luna Master's plans."

Ruby nodded, and went on hanging on his arm like a cherry barnacle. He sighed. 'Least she's good in bed and is easy. Haruka was right. She'd bend over in a second, the little nympho, if I asked, but I'd never tell him that. He's gotta stay pure for this….I don't. I intend to get my jollies until this is over, and Ruby can be re-created to into a little love slave, maybe. That'd be nice.' He thought darkly, grinning. Ruby never saw it, only went on with her happy smile, humming away.

'Moron….I get rid of your cuteness first. You were better before Luna turned your brain to mud.' He thought, still grinning away.

                                                ~ Days Later ~

The Time Cycle burst through the sky to the darkened streets below. It was this particular section Haruka's signal came from. It was called Sin City, a place of homicidal, suicidal, and other dark and gory forms of creativity. There were many different areas on the World of Creativity, aside from Sin City, there was Nature City, Future City, Surreal Town, Cube Plains, Splatter County, Statue Town, Music Villa, Choir County, and many other forms of art and creation.

Sin was a place of death, as Jillian warned them, death was art, and the different ways it came about was what went on display in their museums to inspire the evils of the arts, in her opinion. Miette seemed a bit fascinated by it all, but then again, being a horror buff, she would. At least her mind was on the planet instead of the person they were chasing.

'Leave it to Merlock to have a son that's a hopeless romantic too and charmer. Least he hasn't tripped yet. Little Haruka wasn't much of a klutz, just a sneaky kid….always taking parts out of appliances. Maybe that's how he made that dragon cycle of his….no, Haruka steals parts and such, but not all that.' Flint thought, a frown forming. He felt very bad now. Haruka had said he was doing it to protect his parents, stealing these stones for someone who had kidnapped Merlock and Sara and their young son so many years ago. He should have been there for them, looked more. If they were not on Earth, it had to be another world. Which one though?

It was probably one without a stone. Dread was out of the question. During the trip, Jillian informed them that the Dark Lord had been robbed by a young man in black before the theft of the Aries stone. The stone of Capricorn was stolen from a very dangerous tomb of ancient evils, guarded by endless bloodthirsty beasts. And the young man came out with barely a scratch.

It was annoying, how far behind they were behind whatever force was making Haruka do these evils. The authorities would understand what he was doing, stealing to save his parents lives, but still, stealing was stealing. He only hoped Haruka would surrender to them before it was too late to save him from prison. Petra would laugh her head off seeing the only son of Merlock and Sara in the same prison as her. The Time Detectives would be a laughing stock of the public. Flint didn't care about that as much as Jillian and the other superiors did, he just wanted to get Haruka back safe and sound.

            He brought the cycle in for a land in an abandoned shack. They piled off and headed out into the dark and blackened streets. It was deathly quiet. Flint had an urge to visit all the worlds out there, just to meet new friends, after he convinced the Dark Lord to stop his evil ways and become a friend. He smiled a bit, his friend still ruled there all alone, frozen in time as a young boy. He was a backward version of Merlock, near lavender skin and light blue hair. He had also wondered if Dark Lord was related to the Azure Vampires, maybe an experiment or a relative he set free to take on the role as the master of Dread.

            Thoughts like those left his mind once curiosity became maturity, but he still wondered a little, about Dark Lord and the other worlds. Now he was seeing the other worlds. Beauty was one Merlock said he suffered numerous dance steps and groping keeping him from saving the world and his Sara. He hadn't liked it, hearing the whole phrase said made him frown, look scared, and blush. Flint had to finally agree with the older man, Beauty was full of insane women. They were pretty and all, but still man crazy.

            This are of the World of Creativity was like a dirty city, a slum or a gangster's paradise at best. No gunshots rang out, just utter silence. It bothered Flint, a lot. Corey and Miette were just behind him and thank the gods his father finally woke up when they left Beauty. Flint prayed his father was still up, if this section was as dangerous as Jillian said they'd need him constantly for protection against weapons.

            A scream ripped through the once silent air, sending each detective, except Miette, jumping three feet in the air, bug-eyed. While Corey and Flint hugged each other for the moment out of fright, Miette made them sputter as she ran towards the sound. Corey let go first and ran after her. "Miette! This is not a movie! No…." the boy groaned as Miette turned into an alley. Flint took chase when Corey was about to follow her in, catching up in no time at all.

            He was stunned at what he saw, a woman lay there, blood and hanging from her intestines, as if a bloody puppet. The smell was so awful that Flint nearly threw up a river when it reached him. Corey did him the courtesy of vomiting in a trashcan as a man appeared, snapping pictures of the woman, behind, in front, side to side, above and under. He was like technical ferret, jumping all around like it was payday. Corey blonde head bobbed a bit in the can, still throwing up, pain in his stormy gray eyes.

            Flint shook his head at the horrible sight and pulled out his stone father. "Stop where you are! We are the Time Police." Flint uttered.

            The man turned casually, as if it were normal situation, and nodded. "Ok Officer….one last shot, please," he said, turned his back to Flint and snapped a facial shot, then tucked the camera away.

            Then he gave the dead woman a pat. "I'm done now, Stacey. You can come down now." He told it. Flint was ready to clobber the guy for being a smart-ass when the body separated from the intestines and landed on its feet, the stomach sealing up like nothing had happened. "Ok, boss."

            Corey and Flint fell over when she spoke with a smile. Miette stared at them for a while, then the man and the woman. "How'd she do that? Special effects?" Miette asked.

            The dark-haired man chuckled. "You've never been to this planet have you, detectives? Here in Sin City, we used androids loaded with life-like organs, blood, etc, the works. Heh, you thought we actually kill people? Are you insane….maybe that's how it was done back in the old days, but not now."

            Flint sighed. He knew being surprised was something he shouldn't be feeling. After all, he was from the dinosaur era and turned into a stone pineapple by a woman in red leather with a frog and an eel in clothes. Things didn't get any weirder, so he thought, then came all their adventures as Time Detectives, Merlock's father, that crazy palace, and now traveling from world to world after the son of his best friends. It just couldn't be helped though. It was different all right, and it was a bit insane to take any death, even temporary death, lightly.

            "Sorry….we've never been here, yeah. My name's Flint, this young man is Corey, and that iron-stomached girl is Miette. We were searching for someone, a young man." Flint piped. Miette smirked at the compliment, but Flint was still disturbed at how strong her stomach was. The girl barely flinched during war movies until something sad happened, then she'd cry, but blood, gore, vomit, whatever made your stomach dance and geyser out your mouth had no effect whatsoever on Miette.

            "Pleased to meet you. I'm Lucien, homicidal artist designate 201. This is Stacey, well I call her that. She's really a Hacker Unit 5000, our own design so we won't have to create on each other. It gets boring with no variety….So, who's this guy you looking for? Ex boyfriend?" he chuckled, eyeing Miette. She flushed and turned away swiftly.

            Flint let out a weak chuckle and shook his head. "Not exactly, an old friend of mine's kid. He's in some bad trouble….we lost him on the World of Beauty….and pinpointed him to coming here. He might be after a valuable stone, not sure which one really, but it has something to do with your planet. We have to find him and stop him before he makes the mistake of trying to steal it….so we can find out why."

            The man nodded. "I saw a young man near one of our art museums, well, the one on Ripper Street. Most of the best homicidal artists have their work there, its really high brow. It's had a stone there for a long, long time. Been there since before I was ever born. Made of lapis lazuli stone, I think, strange symbol inside. That the kind you're friend's kid would aim at?"

            Flint brightened. "Yes, exactly. Is it still there?"

            The man nodded. "Course, it's guarded round the clock, like most of the area lately."

            "Why lately?" Miette asked. The man sighed. "You know how I said we all use robots as the models of our works now?"

            They all nodded. With a heavy sigh, he continued," Well, recently, one of us has gone back to the old ways of homicidal art, choosing random living victims. The guy's already killed about 10 victims, living ones. They were a mess, golden arrows in their hearts, then they were skinned and hacked up limb by limp till only a torso was left…." Lucien sighed, gulping a bit," Then he'd send it to the council making it look like one of those doll torsos on a birthday cake, the arrow still in their heart. The cake was actually just a white dress, I guess for purity and has "I'm Cupid's Loving Arrow" written on it in the victims blood. No one knows who's doing it, and why it's in the old style we abandoned. The council is more worried about the killer than a stone, so most security is in the streets where he hunts his virgins, all females, no men. Its just terrible….for the women to live in fear again."

            Flint frowned. He doubted that it was Haruka or Merlock doing it. Haruka had said his parents were in danger of some sort. That was what Flint thought anyway. Haruka didn't seem to want to hurt anybody, not like that. He wanted the stones and only the stones, not some serial killer spree. Haruka seemed smarter than that, but perhaps whoever was making him do it was causing these problems. Maybe to hinder Flint and the others, so Haruka could steal without being caught red-handed this time. He wondered if Haruka knew about it, then again, he wondered if the boy cared about anything but getting those stones to save his parents.

            "How do we get to Ripper Street, Lucien?" Flint asked, not liking the way Lucien and Stacey's faces fell. "Eh….go three blocks after to leave the alley, to your left. Then hang a right and keep going straight over till you see a bridge. Ripper Street runs right past the bridge, dead close. But a word to the wise, friend Flint." Lucien explained, looking uneasy.

            "That being?" Flint asked, and Lucien's yellow eyes fell on Miette. "Guard your friend Miette. If Cupid sees any woman, chances are she'll become a target….and become another of his collection of dolls." Lucien let out, then tugged Stacey in the other direction.

            Flint blinked a bit, but nodded. How bad could the killer be as to attack and Earthling? 'Could it be that bad? Nah, Miette's not a defenseless frail woman. She knows how to fight back. No way anyone will get the better of her.' He thought cheerfully, then frowned. Haruka had beaten her, with his powers and own strength. What if this guy had an edge too? Flint shoved the thoughts out. They'd deal with it if it happened. Miette would be just fine with them around.

                                                ~ Heavenly Museum of Homicide ~

            Flint led the youngsters inside the dark museum with them, shivering at the sight of all the gory works. There were statues of gray as well as ones painted so lifelike, you could smell the blood and rotting odor of maggot-infested flesh. One was of a young woman's intestines hanging her over a fake bed of coals. Her back was blackened and blistered, pus stained and bloody as she swung like a barely clad and dying pendulum, her face contorted in agony, a fresh scream probably trapped on her features. Flint had to look away when he eyes fell on a male statue being forces to dissect him, a lifelike, all be it gray, liver quivering like sickly, rotten jelly in his bloody hands.

            His eyes met with more works of horror, ones that sent Miette into gasps of awe. She kept saying this was better than the movies, and Flint nearly wretched. He was used to action flicks and some romantic comedies, but not this gross stuff. Miette and her iron-cast stomach. He took it in stride as they went for the center of the museum, where the stone lie.

            After surviving several psychotic pictures or torture, blood and flesh fetish, even the horrors of necrophilia is not only paints and oils, but also sculpture, the reached the solitary room, not a single picture of gore to disgust his already trembling stomach. He'd have Miette guide him out on the way out, or take an emergency exit. He couldn't take that walk again.

            His dark eyes lifted happily to the quartette of guards, all large men wearing body armor and carrying guns. Flint waved simply at them and showed his badge. "We're here to collect the Zodiac Stone by orders of the Old Timer and Time Police."

            The one closest to the stone nodded, then gestured celestial blue white-speckled thing of beauty with the symbol of another part of the zodiac inside it. It looked like a large Robin's egg, though a darker shade of blue. He wasn't much for horoscopes, but Miette was. It was what she read first when she was looking through their paper.

Corey didn't believe in the stuff, he'd rather just go his own way and leave it at that. That started many a small argument over science vs. astrology. She'd say it was science and mysticism combined, and Corey would say it was just superstitious crap and corny. Then Flint would interrupt with take-out food and doughnuts, and their minds would wander to food.

Flint looked to Miette, who was in awe of it. "Which sign is it?"

She smiled a bit as the man was taking out the stone, holding it up slightly. It glittered in her eyes, her sea of sapphire hair sparkling with it, that long left blonde bang, shimmering like pure gold. "Aquarius, the Water Bearer….the January 20th to February 18th birthdays are set in this sign. It's beautiful, like an electric blue jewel." She sighed. Flint shrugged. "As long as it's a zodiac stone….it could be a stick of blue butter to you and we wouldn't mind. Thank you, we hope you can catch that killer soon, so you can all go about your business again."

The man nodded. "Don't worry. We have everything under control." He said with grin, holding the stone out for Flint with great care. Flint reached out to take it, seeing the stone before him glitter so bright, it was blinding. 'Why's it glowing? Didn't Jillian say they react to other stones? Wish I hadn't been so hungry during that speech…' he thought, and grabbed for it, only to meet with a gust of sharp wind and then, nothing.

"On the rafters! It's the fruitcake!" Corey shouting, pointing up with his angry gray eyes.

"I am not a fruitcake, blondie!" Haruka yelled down, crouched in the rafters as he pocketed the stone in another side pouch. He was dressed different, Flint could tell by the high collar, no ninja thief outfit, no dress, Haruka was on his own. The red eyes in the blue boy's head were furious at the insult, though the garnets were flitting a bit to Miette. He looked like he was worried about how he stood with her. 'He's in love….with Miette? I know that look….Merlock always looked at Sara that way when he did something she sassed him for. The hurt and defensive puppy look, still a hopeless romantic, must be genetic, but he has the stone, we can't let him escape.' Flint thought, tugging out his father again.

"You come down quietly and surrender yourself and the stones, Haruka! There's no way out but the door behind these guards, and me. You can't escape. Just come down and we'll discuss this." Flint called up, pointing his father at the youth.

"Oh really….? Then I'll make a new door," Haruka sniffed, and raised his free hand up at the ceiling," You forget so easily, Uncle, I'm stronger than my parents."

With that, he blew a hole in the ceiling and climbed through. "He's going to the roof! Corey! Miette! I'll….eh?" Flint started, the guards already running outside to cut Haruka off if he left the building, and he saw Corey was alone," Where's Miette?"

Corey pointed upwards. She bolted for an elevator before he even made the hole. His telekinesis junk must be a lot stronger than she described."

"He must like her enough not to have hurt her then with it." Rocky let out, then sweated. Corey had already heard it and frowned deeply. "He's….after her heart?! Ooo that, I'm gonna beat him to a pulp! Miette! Wait for me! Leave a piece of the cross-dressing lunatic for me! A lot of them!" Corey yelled, his blonde head vanishing into the halls and into the stairwell, unwilling to wait for the elevator to come back down.

"Nice going, Dad, like he doesn't hate Haruka enough for dancing with him in a dress…." Flint sighed.

"Sorry son, I forgot how sensitive he is about Miette. I was asleep during the dress thing, son, you only filled me in on a little bit." Rocky replied, pouting a bit.

"It's ok, Dad, nothing we can do about it now. Let's just get up there before they kill each other." Flint chimed, running for the stairs as well.

                                                            ~ Rooftop ~

            Miette rushed out of the elevator the moment it parted the doors, squeezing through. She knew she had to run out fast, knowing that Haruka would go to the roof. He was pretty agile, he could probably go from rooftop to rooftop pretty quickly to give himself more time to escape.

                She burst into the night air, expecting him, but instead, she hit another young man chest first, a man with blonde-white hair and near sapphire blue eyes. "Excuse me…." She said, trying to get around him but he held her to him, his smile growing disturbingly charming. She couldn't back off, he had her arms pinned to her sides, painfully tight. His eyes scared her suddenly, they swayed and jiggled a bit when she'd looked up the first time, now they were blank, cold and indifferent. They didn't care.

            She struggled a bit before her threw her across the roof a ways, making her slam into some boxes. They looked gross and dirty, like they'd been rotting there for weeks, maggots writhing inside old meat cans and roaches sliding down her pants and hands. She shrieked and stood up rapidly, slapping at the things on her, fear rising in her mind. She hated bugs, not as bad as her predecessor did. Butterflies, ants, caterpillars, ladybugs and bees were fine with her, but not gross ones like roaches and earthworms, and maggots. They made her skin crawl nearly as swiftly as the big were to escape her hands.

            She heard a clicking sound as she threw the last few off, her emerald eyes darting up to see the man held a crossbow with a golden arrow on it. The arrowhead was a golden aimed for hers. "No…." she cried out, fear washing over her soul like a ripple in time. It was pure anxiety. She moved to the left, he followed, never leaving the target of her rapidly beating heart.

            He smiled, like a lover would, a man who adored her. "I love you, Miette….the inspirations of Sapphron will lead you to the epitome of greatness in all homicidal beauty. Your death will be legendary, my love. Conquer your fear with my great love for you. Die for me, my love. Die forever!" he said beautifully, as if wooing her with a sonnet.

            She shook and closed her eyes. She didn't want to see this, Flint and Corey were right, this wasn't the movies. She couldn't turn it off or put the book away. It was real as the click of crossbow, the swish of the arrow as it sailed towards her frightened heart.

            She fell when she felt a blow to her body, gasping as if it were her last breath. She hit the ground heavily, blood sprayed across her face. She waited for death, the pain, but it did not assault her. Her emerald eyes opened to see a form one her, his arm covered with blood, and arrow through his shoulder. The outfit was navy blue, the high collar, like a the kinds on the cloaks Dracula would wear, only this collar was attacked to a fancy jacket, like a pirate would wear, a white normal dress shirt was under it without a bow tie, little fleck of blood on it. The pants were navy blue and leather, tight fitting on the frame of the man that rescued her.

            The form lifted a bit, a gray-gloved hand tenderly touching the arrow. It had missed his heart, luckily. She looked up at him, another gasp leaving her as she stared into those endless garnet eyes, the eyes of the boy named Haruka Holmes. She guessed as much that he was Merlock's lost son, the skin, the hair, and the little fangs in his mouth. She'd never known the name of the lost son of the missing legends, only what Merlock and Sara looked like. He was beautiful, his swirling lavender bangs brushing against her face. He backed up a bit, off of her.

            She heard a second click and her fear rose again as another golden arrow flew at her. It never made it. Haruka simply glares at it, his hand aimed at it and it stopped in mid-flight, turn around and struck the man in the leg. He howled and fell on his good leg, dropping the weapon with a loud clatter across the roof.

            She watched the man with great fear, and Haruka seemed to take notice of it. She didn't see him move till he was standing over the writhing, bleeding man, his knee-high boots clicking near noiselessly on the blacktop. He knelt down and pulled out the glowing stone he'd just stolen, and put it to the dark symbol on the writhing man's head.

            The man gasped a moment as the stone bathed him in the celestial blue light, then fainted away. Haruka took the stone away, the symbol on the forehead was gone. Haruka easily pulled out the arrow, knowing help was on the way. He looked a bit annoyed about something, his garnet eyes most thoughtful in his considerations.

            Then those eyes shifted softly to her, his annoyance gone and now a soft smile, the arrow still sticking out of his arm. His arm hung a bit limped at his side, but he didn't seem to mind much. He knelt down as if she were a queen, smiling softly, a little pearly white fang poking out. His hair shifted a bit in the breeze a bit as he looked at her face, only. He took her hand with his good arm and lifted it to his mouth, a pang of fear that he'd bite her to weaken her for his escape came to mind. Instead of that, he kissed it warmly, a tender lick on her knuckle, which made her whole body blush.

            "Hello, my emerald mermaid. We meet face to face at last." He said softly, eyes smiling at her as he set her hand down, then looked her over, worried," Are you injured?"

            Miette was a bit puzzled why he wasn't; hurting her, he was the bad guy, right? But here he was, asking her about her condition, and instead of killing the man, he spared him and her. He even took an arrow for her. He was….so different from how she thought he'd be. Time thieves were supposed to be bad, but he was being a gentleman, caring, even when he should be running for his own sake now, he was taking the time to check her.

            "I….I'm fine….H-Haruka is it? Is he ok?" she said softly, his gaze so heavy on her eyes she could barely look at the fallen man.

He was a bit closer to her face, looking absently at her mouth then into her eyes. "Yes, you can call me that, pretty one. And he is fine, he was shot with special ray, I've seen the effects before. Which means that she is trying to take you all out, that greedy….beast. Only the stone of the victim's planet can cure the person, as I did with him."

            'Oh….so that's what the light was about. Pretty….does he like me? Oh man….a thief digs me….well, he is pretty handsome. Ah, no, I can't like a thief…can I?' she thought, felling his cool breath on her lips. "Pretty?" she said softly, flushing as she felt her bottom lip graze his," I'm not that p-pretty."

            He chuckled softly. "You're a goddess of the sea of my heart, my angel. I would do anything to see you smile, to see the emerald forests of your eyes light up the world." He smoothed.

            "Would you give me the stones back….?" She asked timidly. His eyes fell a bit, he looked hurt, but not by her though. It was something else. "I can't, that's the only think I cannot do, my sweet mermaid."

            "But why….its wrong what your doing, Haruka. Please, stop this….please." she pleaded, but he looked so sad now. "I….," she said, looking around softly," My parents are being help captive….if I don't….the woman who holds them will murder them, slowly. I have to do this or she'll hurt them. I can't allow my innocent parents to be harmed because I don't like this or because it's wrong. I must do it to save them, dearest Miette. Understand?" he near wept out, almost turning away from her.

            'So he's not bad…he's being threatened. The poor guy, so that's why they all vanished. They were really kidnapped, and their lives are in danger. Oh, I will help you….don't you worry, Haruka….I hope he will let me.' She thought, and touched his cheek just slightly. He turned again, still so close to her lips, nose to nose with her.

            "Thank you for telling me, Haruka. We can help you….you don't have to give up the stones, just let us help you….so you won't have to do these bad things for this woman. If you trust me, I'll help you do it. I won't let them arrest you, you're in this against your will."

            He smiled a bit, eye brightening. "You'd…help me? You'd risk your badge for a thief?" he asked, almost curious. He liked her, it was very apparent to her, maybe even love. He simply seemed surprised a detective would risk herself for a thief, believed his word over second opinions. She trusted him, he didn't seem evil or violent. He had barely hurt her when they first met in the Earth museum.

            "Yes….I would, Haruka. You look so hurt and sad about all this," she said, looking at his mouth a little," Will you accept my help?

            She couldn't help looking at him, he was so handsome and beautiful at the same time, such a devil may care air to him. He was even ignoring his wound, to talk to her, not to harm her or escape, but to hear her out. Those pale blue lips were so inviting, and felt so soft when she'd grazed his lips. He made her feel so warm all over, her heart thudding in her chest.

            Haruka smiled, so close she could smell the sweet coolness of his breath, like cinnamon and honey cooling on tea. "All right then. I will trust you, if you trust me." He said softly, and leaned down.

            'Oh, he's going to kiss me! He's going to kiss me!' she thought wildly, her startled eyes lidding suddenly as she felt the faintest cooling pressure on her lips.

            It halted when she felt him jerk away, the sound of something hard hitting the blacktop. Haruka was backing off, never even getting to give her the first kiss of her life, and probably his. His hip was bleeding, dripping on the source, a brick stained with blood. She looked up in amazement to see it was Corey who threw it, in a staring contest with Haruka. "Get your grimy paws off her, thief!' Corey yelled, his stormy eyes raging with so much anger you could almost see lightening flash in them at Haruka. The garnet-eyed youth stared back with equal rage at being interrupted, and hurt again.

            Then Flint came out of the stairwell, and Haruka swore. "Shimmata….," he said gruffly, holding his new wound," See you around boys."

            Her jogged off and leapt to the next building, blowing a kiss to Miette. "To be continued, my angel." He whispered to her. She flushed a bit, he was protecting her again, this time from the others. Flint barreled past her, running after him while Corey checked her over, fussing and near panting with anxiety.

            She watched where Haruka had vanished off to, hurt and bleeding. She hoped he was all right. She prayed Flint wouldn't hurt him, deeply. She watched and waiting until she saw a blip in the sky, smiling to herself. He was safe from being arrested at least.

            "Hey Miette, look what he dropped." Corey's voice came to her suddenly, shaking her from her stare. Corey held the pouch in his hand the same pouch Haruka had pulled the Aquarius stone out of to heal the man who still lay sleeping.

            There was a bit of blood on the pouch, the string broken, probably by the brick Corey threw. The stone was theirs now, at the cost of bit more of Haruka's hurt blood. She scarcely heard Flint coming back, grumbling in frustration and holding the bloody golden arrow.

            Corey looked up instead at their elder. "He escaped?!" he exclaimed. Flint nodded. "He just stopped on one roof and yanked it out yelling a whole slew of curses I bet his mother's faint over, then did the sword trick before I could tackle him. He's injured, but he'll heal. He's part vampire, it comes natural to him," Flint sighed, eyeing the stone with some mild victory," At least now we'll be able to locate the stones even faster with one of our own."

            "Yeah, I guess so. But I think someone else made that man a murderer…" she said, pointing at the fallen man," He had a symbol of crescent moon on his forehead, on its tip. Haruka put that stone to his head and it freed him. He said that the stone of their world could only free people affected by the symbol. Someone else is on this mission trying to kill us. He didn't seem very happy with it." Miette said. Corey was still frowning, shoving the pouch into Flint's hands.

            "Who cares, he's a thief and was all over you….he could have gotten you killed, Miette-chan. We have to go after him now while he's only just left. We may get him this time and stop his crime spree." Corey said hotly, jealousy in his now hardened voice.

            "But Corey…." She tried, but he had already slammed the stairwell door loudly. "He's not in control of this…." She said softly, only for Flint to hear. She felt the elder detective pick her up, her thoughts confused. Could she trust Haruka still? What if Corey confronted him and they fought, who would she want to win? How could she choose?

            She just huddled against Flint, wanting so much to help, but what if her best friend got in the middle. What would she do then, let him be hurt….or worse, both of them? Miette bit her lip as they went in the elevator, the cold night and copper scent leaving her, but not that sweet breath that grazed her mouth. It was still there, lingering between her friendship and her heart.

                                                                        To Be Continued….

Teaser: Onto the strange, strange world of male and female twins who uphold the power of youth, childhood, and innocence, along with mischief. Yeah, it's a cute little world gender-bending goodness, so prepare for trouble and make it double….nope, not my Pokemon sequel, just world of troublesome twins and the Gemini stone.