Blu: And we're back again!

Hustino: Whoa, look at that, we are!

Blu: And so fast too! Go us!

Hustino: I think we might be on a roll.

Blu: Anywho, before we begin, I think we should make something clear. We...messed with the time line for MM a little...

Hustino: LIES

Blu: we did too! Instead of being gone a month, Kafei's been gone...two days...yeah

Hustino: Bah, we just rounded down...slightly.

Blu: Slightly...-kick-

Hustino: Ow! What'd I do!

Blu: -shrugs-

.-.-.-.-.-.

Are You Running, Child?

Miss Me

.-.-.-.-.-.

Afternoon set in quietly and unnoticed in the small city of Clocktown, the sun still hanging slightly over its small world. Termina's moon, on the other hand, hadn't moved from its post over their town except to slightly descend closer to the small play of events beneath it. She had done her best to ignore the large rock above her as she stepped out of her home/inn, but, as if drawn by an unexplainable force, she paused, her eyes slowly cast upward towards the twisted face of the orb suspended above her. The moon smiled sickeningly down at her, as if in greeting, and her gut churned. This new, sadistic look their moon had taken on made her want to vomit. She looked away and stepped down out of her door, and into a rather large puddle. Letting out a small groan, she quickly side-stepped out of the water and onto a little drier ground.

"BONSAI!"

A sudden wave of water erupted forward as all five Bombers jumped into the puddle beside her at once. She covered her face with her arms, but was unable to move out of the way in time to save her skirt. Looking down at her now muddy outfit, she let out another, louder groan

"Sorry, Miss Anju," the boys all said in unison, a little pale from the thought of getting in trouble for what they had just done. This time she let out a sigh.

"It's okay," she assured them, bending down to rustle the hair of the one nearest to her. "I'm fine, really. Just watch where you're splashing." They nodded and ran off waving, presumably to find another, more secluded puddle to jump in.

After doing her best to wipe off most of the damage, she went back on her way towards the back of East Clocktown, towards the mayor's office. On entering, she heard the secretary let out a soft groan.

"How may I help you?" the woman behind the counter asked in a short, annoyed tone.

"I-is Kafei home?" she asked quietly.

The secretary let out another, slightly louder groan. "You know," she said, ignoring her question, "it's really annoying when you stutter like that."

"I'm sor-"

"And don't apologize for everything, jeez." The green haired girl whipped the pencil behind her ear out and wagged it at her. "Show some backbone!"

She swallowed hard. "I just want to know w-where Kafei is," she said, trying to sound confident. "Has he co-come home?"

The other girl sighed, "No, he hasn't. What's it to you?"

"Well, he is my fiancé and all..." She had started to get a little annoyed. "And I-"

"That's not what I heard."

She stopped mid sentence. "W-what?"

The secretary cocked her head in fake confusion. "You mean you haven't heard?" She shook her head. The other woman shook her own head in disbelief, her mint hair swaying from side to side. "Poor, poor naive Anjie."

"A-Anju," she corrected softly.

"Whatever," the other girl rolled her eyes, "listen, do you want me to tell you what I heard or not?"

"Sorry."

"Anyways," the secretary paused to lean forward, motioning she should do the same, as if the information she was about to hear was top-secret. She did as she was asked and the woman in front of her continued, "I heard around town on my lunch break that Kafei actually ran off to..."

"To where?" she asked.

"To Milk Road with Cremia!" the woman finished. "Can you believe it?"
She stepped back, shaking her head.

"That's just a rumor," she said, trying to sound sure of her answer.

"Anjie, look at yourself," the secretary motioned with her pencil at her, "You're plain, you're covered in mud, and you can't even speak without stuttering all the time. What man in his right mind, let alone a man like Kafei, would want to marry that."

"B-but he is!" she snapped back.

"Oh, Anjie, Anjie," the secretary shook her head again, "keep telling yourself that, girl. Keep that hope up. But it's not a rumor, believe me. It's true." The green haired woman smiled sweetly at her. "You still have that one carpenter! He loves you..."

The look on her face became even more perplexed and the secretary giggled, "My, you are one naive thing, aren't you, Anjie? One of Mutoh's men is completely obsessed over you! Oh, don't look like that. They might be big and ugly and not too bright, but you gotta take what you can, right, Anjie?" she winked, more tauntingly than playfully.

"I-I...may I see Madame Aroma or M-mayor Dotour?"

Rolling her eyes, the mint-headed girl waved her hand dismissively, "Whatever. The Mayor's got a meeting, but Aroma's got no appointments for a while."

Bowing slightly, she walked to the door on the right of the room and, as she reached for the knob, the secretary added, "Don't make me say 'I told ya so' later."

Opening the door, she stepped into the large, well adorned room. The one occupant in the room sat in a small chair--far too small for her...large frame.

After a moment or so, Madame Aroma finally noticed her standing politely in front of the closed door, awaiting to be addressed. "Oh, my, Anju, dear! Come, sit down. What brings you here, dear?" the large woman said merrily, not quite the attitude that was expected for one whose son was not to be found.

"My, look at you! What happened to your clothes?"

"Oh, oh, that's nothing," she dismissed her messy outfit quickly, "Um, M-Miss Ar--"

"Madame, dear."

"I'm sorry, sorry. Madame Aroma, what...what's all this about Kafei?"

"Hmm? Oh! Oh, yes, yes," the woman nodded and then frowned, seemingly more from frustration than anything such as worry or care, "Well, seems that my Kafei didn't come home last night and we can't find him now." Her jovial grin came back, an image more frightening than most would think, "But, no worries, I have done the liberty of hiring a professional person-finder. In fact, he'll be here tomorrow, so there is no need for you to worry, dear!"

"Oh," she said, not as relieved as she had hoped, "I...I'm sure he'll find him," she said, not managing to sound very positive, but Aroma did not seem to notice.

"Yes, yes, of course he will, dear. It IS a professional person-finder, after all! Besides, Kafei's probably just gone someplace to have fun. That boy, I'll tell you." Aroma patted her shoulder comfortingly, "Now, no reason for you to get all worried about Kafei. I'm sure you've got more important things to do, what with the carnival and all. No reason to busy yourself with our mess!" Aroma laughed.

Now she felt more nauseous than she did before, but actually managed to control her voice to now show it...not too badly, anyways. "Oh, w-well, thank you, Miss Ar--"

"Madame, dear"

She squeezed her eyes shut, stupid, stupid, "I'm sorry, sorry. Thank you, Madame Aroma, I feel a bit more...uh..."

"Oh, it is no problem, dear! It's so nice that you're worried for poor Kafei. Now, you better run along, I'm sure your mother needs you at the inn." Anju noted to herself that that woman was far too cheerful for any occasion.

Nodding, Anju stood and left through the door. The secretary was leaning forward on her desk, chin in her hands and a large bubble blowing out of her mouth. The mint-haired woman give her a dirty look--subtle, but enough for her to notice, and her head sunk, staring at the floor as she walked.

The sound of the other door opening and the commotion coming out of it, brought her attention back up. Out from the doorway of the mayor's personal office, came Viscen, the commander of the town's guards, and the Mayor himself.

"Thank you, Viscen. Please, just keep an eye out for him."

The guard nodded, "Yes, mayor. We've been looking everywhere, but we'll keep trying." The tall man, flanked by two guards, said their good-byes to the mayor and left, nodding politely to Anju on their way by.

"Oh, my, Anju, I didn't see you there," Dotour said and the short man walked over to her.

His eyes were ragged, as always. "I take it from this random visit that you've heard about Kafei?" she nodded, saying nothing. "I see. I'm really sorry, Anju, but I have no idea what could have happened to that boy."

"It's alright mayor--"

The man snickered, "You don't need to be so formal with me, Anju. I'm going to be your father-in-law, so there's no need for that."

The first real smile she could manage the entire morning appeared on her face, "Thank you. D-do you have any clues at all? Maybe he went to...see someone?"

Dotour's face grew sad, then looked out of the corner of his eye to his secretary, just as her bubble popped, then back, "No, there's no reason to think that. Besides, there's no one he'd go see other than you, Anju."

She felt herself warm up a bit from the comment, "Oh, thank you, M--uh..."

The tired and weary man laughed, "No problem, Anju. We'll figure out what to do with the whole 'Mayor' and 'father-in-law' thing after the wedding." Her face suddenly fell, her fears coming back. "There will be a wedding, Anju," he placed his hand comfortingly on her arm--and truly comforting, not like Aroma's--and said, "Whatever it is that's happened to Kafei, it's keeping him from you. I'm sure he's doing everything he can to get back to you." She smiled again from the man's words. "Either that, or he's drunk in a gutter somewhere in town, but, either way, he's definitely not gone in an attempt to avoid you or the wedding."

She laughed, the first genuine laugh since the beginning of the day, and felt much happier. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me, Anju. Just saying what I think," he frowned, "Goddesses know that I do not do it often enough." She imagined he was referring to his meetings and such, which she had always heard from Kafei were stressful and aggravating for his father, but he took it all to prevent anyone else from feeling the same way. "Well, I better get back to being Mayor." The blue-haired man nodded a good-bye. "He'll be back, Anju, even if he has to crawl his way back on the night of the festival. Even if the moon really does fall, he'd be back to you in time." They smiled to each other and then the Mayor turned and went back to his door, giving his secretary a scowl and a shake of his head, neither of which she saw, before entering.

Feeling a little better, she took her leave through the office's front door, not bothering a wave good-bye to the secretary behind her as she went. Once outside, she made her way back down the steps leading back towards her home. She would make one more stop before going home though. If Kafei's parent's didn't know where he was, maybe...

"Anju?"

She looked up towards the voice which had just called her name to see none other but her friend, Cremia, a dolly full of milk in her hands. She felt a sudden rise of hope. Maybe she'd know...

"Cremia!" she called, rushing over. "Cremia, how are you?" Her friend smiled warmly and opened her arms for a hug. The two embraced in greeting and after a moment, Cremia pulled away.

"I'm doing fine!" the other woman said cheerfully. "Except for the constant rants about alien's my little sister keeps going on." Cremia shrugged and continued to smile. "Kids, they're so weird." The two laughed good naturedly. "But what about you?" The farm girl's expressions changed from playful to excited. "You're getting married in a few days! I haven't seen you since right after the proposal! Are you excited!" She opened her mouth to say something when her friend cut her off with another whirlwind of questions. "Have you finished your mask? Oh, wait, of course you have! You'd have gotten done right away, right? Has Kafei, though? Speaking of Kafei, where is that hunk? Shouldn't he be hanging off your arm like a purse?"

Her mouth fell open slightly. "You mean...you don't know where he is?" she asked in a confused tone.

Cremia blinked. "Of course, I don't know where he is, I haven't been out of the ranch for weeks. Besides, he's not my fiancé..." For a moment, she just stared at her friend in disbelief before bursting into a fit of giggles. Cremia gave her friend a confused look.

"What's so funny?"

"I-I'm sorry!" she managed around the laughter. "I-I was just so worried!"

"Worried?" Cremia asked. "Why?"

She slowly regained control of herself and gave her friend a pleased smile. "It's nothing, I just heard the silliest rumor from the mayor's secretary."

Cremia scoffed loudly. "You shouldn't listen to a woman like that. She's a walking pipe of hot air." They both laughed at that.

"What are you doing here, anyways?" she asked. Her friend rolled her eyes and motioned to the dolly she had just pushed thru the gate.

"What else?" Cremia leaned on the hand rail of the dolly and smiled ruefully. "My life revolves around whether or not your bar needs milk." The farm girl sighed. "And with those Garo bandits harassing my shipments and finding my barn in a mess constantly, I'm going to have to make trips here more often. Heck, I came here today and need to come right back tomorrow. I'll be hurting if I can't supply the bar to make it through the festival."

"Oh, um..." she thought for a moment as her friend stood there, looking off at nothing in particular and a gloomy look upon her face, "I'm sorry, Cremia."

"That's so like you, Anju," the redhead said, smiling warmly as she shook her head, "always ready to apologize." Before she could respond, Cremia went on, "Besides, it seems that you've got bigger problems. This Carnival of Time is going to be a real mess for everyone. Heh, Romani's even practicing with her bow for when the 'ghosts' come." They both laughed.

She smiled at her old friend, a smile that was half forced and half genuine, "I hope everything works out for you, Cremia. I really don't want to see you lose the farm."

Cremia smiled. "Thanks Anju, but it seems that you've got a bit more to lose." the red head quickly covered her mouth, "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant to say at all."

"Oh...that's alright," Anju sighed, "I understood what you meant. I just...Cremia, if...if Kafei-if you...see Kafei, tell him that I'll be happy no matter what he chooses to do."

The farm girl's face turned a red to match that of her hair, "I haven't seen him, but if I do...I'll tell him that, but," she added, "I'm also going to tell him to get his rear end back to his...fiancé."

Surprising her friend, Anju jumped over and hugged her. "Oh, thank you, Cremia. It's so nice that someone...just, today...you have no idea."

Cremia smiled. "This is just the first day and you're already fretting. Keep looking, he'll turn up eventually." The innkeeper nodded solemnly. "I need to get going; I want to get back to the ranch and Romani before it's dark. I'll make sure to talk to you again tomorrow, Anju."

As they said their good-byes and Cremia picked up her wagon, the farm girl mentioned something that came to mind, "Oh, have you gone to see...Alan, was his name? Aren't him and Kafei best friends?"

She bit her lip for a moment, then answered, "Yeah, I-I'll probably stop in to ask him if he knows anything. Thank you, Cremia."

The two women looked at each other sadly for a few long moments, then Cremia left, her wagon slowly leaving Clocktown. Taking a deep breath, she readied herself to see the owner of the Curiosity Shop, Kafei's oddly creepy friend. She looked over her shoulder to where Cremia had left and her heart twisted again.

All the happenings of the day violently bounced around her mind. Despite Mayor Dotour and Cremia, she still felt guilty and incredibly worried for Kafei. The feeling was accompanied by a sense of discomfort as she treaded her way towards West Clocktown, a section of the city she dreaded entering.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Aww, come on, cheer up a'ready! I won't be gone fer long."

He gave Alan a sour face. "How in the world can you say that?" he asked bitterly. "Between this body and your horrid cooking, I have near nothing to live for." Alan rolled his eyes before stepping in front of his path again.

"Well, you sure as hell can't be goin' outside," the shopkeeper retorted.

"Alan, get out of my way."

"I mean it, Kafei, get yer butt back on that 'ere bed," Alan snapped, pointing a finger towards the cot behind him. "And so help yer kiddy ass if you've moved when I come back."

"Alan, quit sounding like my mother and get the hell out of my way," he almost yelled. Alan took on a disgusted look at being associated with someone like his mother, and he didn't blame him, but his balding friend didn't budge. He let out another groan. "Listen, I'll be fine. My clothes are too muddy to be recognized, I'm going to be wearing my mask, and I wont speak to anyone, so for the love of the Giants, get out of my way."

"And where," Alan spat, "would you be goin'?"

For a moment he just stared up at Alan, not really wanting to go on. "Weeeeeell?"

He let out a exasperated sigh before finally caving in.

"I'm going to go see the Great Fairy, okay?" he snapped, unable to keep the blush that was creeping out onto his face at bay. He hadn't realized exactly how stupid it sounded out loud. The sudden laughter on Alan's part only made him feel even more foolish.

"Great Fairy!" the storekeeper hollered, laughing loudly. "That's a good one!" The other man's demeanor quickly changed as he once again pointed towards the bed. "Now sit."

He stood defiantly, hands in fists, leaning slightly forward, as if daring his friend to make him. "Don't yah make me pick yah up and toss yah," Alan threatened. "I will, I kid you not." His determined stance faltered at that, and after a few more minutes of their glaring contest, he turned back around and stormed over to the cot, grumbling oaths to himself all the way.

"I'll be comin' back 'round...later," Alan called as he made his way to the door leading to the laundry pool. "And don't cha be movin'!"

"Whatever MOTHER!" he yelled back.

"And quit callin' me 'dat!" up came Alan's voice, followed by the sound of the door opening. Sighing, he turned towards the far wall and laid his head on the pillow. "Don't break anythin', got it!" Alan called one more time. He rolled his eyes. "I'll see yah la-Anju!"

He sat up.

"H-hi, Alan," came a familiar voice that made his heart jump up into his throat. It was Anju, oh dear Giants, it was Anju. She was here, she could see him, she could find out. He froze in his spot on the bed. "A-Alan," continued Anju, shakingly as usual. "I was, well, I was w-wondering if you had seen...wait, is someone up there?" Again he stiffened.

"Someone, up der?" he heard Alan ask nervously. "'Course not, aheheh..."

"Kafei?" Anju called. "Kafei! Are you up there?-! Please, Kafei!"

"Kafei ain't up there!" came the shopkeeper's voice again. He heard the two shift their feet a bit, Alan no doubt moving to block Anju from coming up the steps into the room he was currently frozen in fright in. "I-I was, uh, talkin' to me...me dog!" Both he and his fiancé were left dumbfounded by that comment.

"Your...dog?" Anju asked. "You have a...dog?"

"I kid you not."

He couldn't keep himself from letting out a sigh of relief at his friend's albeit stupid, but successful save before letting his head fall back onto the pillow.

"If I do see Kafei," he heard Alan continue, "I'll be sure ta tell 'em yous were lookin' for 'em."

"T-Thank you..." came Anju's reply. After that he heard the door shut and again he sighed.

He felt horrible, letting Anju worry like that. Knowing the girl, she probably blamed his sudden disappearance on herself...

"I'll come back to you, Anju," he whispered to himself, "I promise..."