Bold indicates conversation in Japanese.

Lost… again. Buffy was once again lost in a Far East country. It had been three days since she met with Heihachi and got information on Jin's last whereabouts, which were, in effect, practically useless since they were a few years old. It seemed Heihachi had tried his best to keep track of Jin's movements, but Jin seemed particularly adept at keeping them hidden. The last known location, which had been highlighted as a rumour, was Australia. Buffy knew she didn't have time for a wild goose chase and decided to start out somewhere she thought to be insane… his mother's town.

Buffy had thought about the idea for a while now. She knew it was the most crazy place that anyone would think of… which is why it seemed plausible to her; what better way to hide from your only living family than by staying in the place they least expected you to be? That was her reasoning, anyway. She had taken the speedy monorail system to the nearest location of the town. Unfortunately the rest of the way would have to be by taxi, since it was located near the mountains and the service didn't run like any city cab.

As she boarded the train, she started to feel the entire case was all wrong. Something just didn't feel right about it. Breaking out her cell phone, she decided to place a call to South America.

"Hello?"

"Willow, it's Buffy."

"Hey, what's up?" Willow asked. "How's Japan?"

"It's fine, provided you don't get lost," she replied. "Look, Willow, I'm getting a bad feeling about all this. There's something that's making me… uneasy about it."

"You mean you're uneasy about the head of a major corporation contracting you to get his grandson back with little information on his whereabouts, why he poses such a threat, or what he wants him for, while at the same time promising he'll pay us big bucks to do so? Come on, what's so uneasy about that?" she replied facetiously.

"Right," Buffy replied, chuckling. "I'm going to need a favor."

"Sure. What is it?"

"See if you can work some of your computer mojo and find out what these guys are up to."

"Buffy," Willow replied, "we're talking about one of the premier technology companies in the world. Trying to hack into it would be like breaking into Fort Knox… on steroids."

"Can't you at least try?"

"'Try' being the operative word there. I'll try, but don't expect much. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't expect anything at all, especially if you need it in a couple of days."

"Just do what you can, Willow. I owe you one."

"Send me a bottle of good saké and we'll call it even."

"Deal," Buffy replied. "Thanks, Willow."

She hopped off the train and went to the taxicab service. The cabs only ran three times a day to the village, since they also had to service two other villages in the area. As she journeyed to the village she got a good look at the scenery along the way. The area was quite picturesque, green trees adorning the sides of the mountains. The mountains themselves went high; she could see the snow as her eyes looked up. She began to think that a place like this would be a nice location to get away from it all. Sure, the area didn't have any five-star hotels or a thriving city scene. But it was out of the way, away from the hustle and bustle (and dangers) of slaying. She even started to entertain the notion of coming back once the job was done. Just a few weeks, she thought, maybe even months…

The cab stopped in the village square and Buffy exited the car and brought her meager belongings out. She had already paid for the cab at the station but decided to leave a generous tip for the cabbie. Looking around the village square she decided to get to work. It was only the early afternoon and she would have more than enough time to secure reasonable lodgings. Taking out the photograph of Jin, she started to ask the locals. Though she didn't know any Japanese, she knew it would just take a finger pointing in the right direction to get her going.

Most of the people she asked shook their heads at the picture. Granted she only asked about ten people, but her hopes started to fade a little. Buffy reasoned they either didn't know the guy or didn't feel like telling. One man, who seemed to have a less than a secure command of the English language, merely said, "Sorry, no Engrish." She began to think her idea was starting to suck… royally.

The young man walked his bike near a small waterfall. He had just talked to an American girl, one of the few he'd ever seen upfront and personal, and she was asking about the local recluse. Stopping near the waterfall he saw a bare-chested man punching and kicking while on the rocks at the bottom. Walking his bike down further, he tried to get the man's attention.

"Jin! Jin!"

The man stopped his exercises and looked at the man calling him.

"Kyoshi! What's up?"

"There's someone in town looking for you."

Jin started to become anxious; he had expected something like this sooner or later and now it looked like 'sooner' had come.

"Who?" he asked.

"I don't know. Some blond girl."

Jin thought about who it might be and immediately thought of Nina, the assassin. The prospect of her being in town wasn't good and Jin's mind began to race as Kyoshi continued to talk.

"She sounded American from what I could tell," he said.

Jin paused; Nina was Irish, not American...

"Describe her," Jin said.

"Like I said: blond, American, about this tall," he replied as he motioned his hand to indicate the woman's height. "She was asking about you. Are you breaking hearts overseas or something?"

Jin listened to the description and knew immediately it wasn't Nina; she was a professional assassin and would never be so careless as to give away her intentions and location so easily. That just left one question: who was looking for him?

"No, not that I know of," Jin replied. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her I didn't speak English. So… what are you going to do?" Kyoshi asked.

"Good question."