A/N: Hope you guys would enjoy the story

When the door opened, Tsuzuki mentally reviewed the photograph that he saw before he left his office to take up the case. This must be Cathy. He thought as he looked at her black eyes that looked back at him wearily.

"May I help you?" She asked as she glanced to his right, seeing Hisoka. There was a flicker in her eyes as she stared at him for a moment before looking passed his shoulder and broke into a grin. "Hijiri!" She shouted as she moved between the two of them and threw her arms around Hijiri. "When did you arrive?"

Hijiri returned the hug. "I just came back. Cat." He replied as he pulled back, brushing her fringe from her eyes. "I have two friends with me. Is it possible to accommodate them as well?" His voice dropped to a whisper. "I owe them a huge favour. And they need a room to stay badly." He pleaded. "Please say yes?"

"You know I hate strangers in the house right?" Cat said softly, so that she won't be overheard by them.

"Yes, I know. But they are the one who helped me pursue my dream to be a violinist." Hijiri said, knowing well she would soften up if she knew they helped him achieved his goal.

True enough, there was hesitation in Cathy's eyes. "You really know I hate it right?"

Hijiri nodded. "I wouldn't have dreamed to do that to you. But they are really at their wits end! They have no where to go." He shrugged. "And besides, they will leave as soon as I do. So I would make sure that they won't get in your way."

Cathy sighed. "Okay." She whispered before turning to them. "Hi, I'm Cathy." She said as she stretched out her hands towards them, dreading this moment.

"Tsuzuki." The older one replied as he gripped her hand. At that moment, she saw a glimpse of his past- a rejected boy who couldn't seem to fit in.

The younger one hesitated for a while before stretching out his hand. "Hisoka." He said as he tried to shake her hand. But as soon as the both of them made contact, they jumped apart.

"Ouch!" Cathy said, as she couldn't control her surprise. It hurt a lot. She sensed a lot of suspicion in him and was shocked as she saw a scene of him dying an agonizing death.

Hisoka stared at the girl, while nursing his hurt palm. With a black ponytail and hazel eyes, she looked like a typical Asian gal. But there was something different about her that he couldn't figure out. And that made him extremely wary of her.

But before either four of them could squeeze in a word, a loud scream was heard from the door and soon they saw a lady with chestnut hair and hazel brown eyes leapt from the door and gave Hijiri a bear hug. "My gosh! I miss you to bits!"

Hijiri laughed as he returned the hug. "Missed you loads too Anna!" He grinned as he gave her a peck on the cheek. "Did you give Cat any trouble?"

Anna gave a hearty laugh. "You kidding? Always!" She said with a wink and she turned her attention to the other two men standing around them. "Friends?" She asked. When Hijiri nodded, she grinned. "Fancy that! You have cute friends you know. So are you going to introduce us?"

"Tsuzuki and Hisoka." Cathy quietly spoke up before excusing herself, much to Anna's amazement.

"Psst!" She nudged the nearest to her, which happened to be Hisoka. "What did you do to her?" When Hisoka gave her a bewildered look, she shrugged. "Cathy is usually civil to strangers. However it seems like the two of you kinda offended her one way or another."

"Beats me." Tsuzuki replied as he grinned. "Now, I am sure Hijiri is extremely tired. Is it possible that you could show us the guest room for the two of us?"

It was Anna's turn to give them a puzzled stare. "You guys are staying with us?" She asked.

"Yeah, they need a place to sleep. I will be bringing them around town for the next few weeks. So we will stay out of your way." Hijiri said with a good natured shrug.

Anna laughed. "It's okay! I would be delighted to have such cuties in my house. Right this way." She grinned as she showed them to their respective rooms before leaving them to unwind from their journey.

When Tsuzuki was sure that they were alone in the bedroom, he turned his attention to Hisoka. "What do you think?"

Hisoka mused for a while. To be frank, he was a little uncomfortable with Cathy. In some way, he suspected that she could guess something was amiss. But he guessed Tsuzuki knew that as well. "There are pretty nice ladies."

Tsuzuki nodded as he leaned against the wall as he watched Hisoka shrugged out from his cloak. "I agree. And I hope that we won't upset their lives."

Hisoka shook his head. He heard his partner said it time and time again. And a few times, it almost got him killed. It wasn't good that he was in that mood again. "Tsuzuki…"

"I know." Tsuzuki answered back. "But we have to try." He moved away from the wall and undid his cloak as well. "It is bad that we are suspecting that Lin is kidnapped by Muraki. It is even worst that Anna might be dragged in as well."

"I wonder why would he need a lawyer." Hisoka wondered out loud.

"I don't know as well." Tsuzuki replied. "But if Tatsumi's guess is correct, Muraki would need a pretty good lawyer to get the government to approve of his cloning experiment. And I guessed that is where Lin is…"

"In his lab." Hisoka said. "But it doesn't make sense. Muraki is used to do things illegally. Why is he trying to legalize his move now?" He pondered. "It's not even as if he isn't conducting the experiments as we speak."

Tsuzuki shook his head. "Either way, Muraki has killed too many people. With this, he would upset the whole system even more, so much so that the Count isn't really happy." He sighed. "And when he isn't happy, Konoe isn't as well. And when he isn't.. I won't have time to get my desserts!" He made another mournful sigh. "How much longer can I survive without it?"

Hisoka couldn't help but smile. "Is dessert all you could think of?" He said as he walked towards him and nudged him as he passed. "What I want to do now is to sleep." He said as he lie down on the bed. "Man, this is comfortable."

"Take a nap." Tsuzuki said. "I will go and check up with Hijiri how to go about with the investigation." He said as he made his way to the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see Cathy there, standing at the door. "How long have you waited outside the door?" He asked, a little harshly, not knowing what she might have overheard.

Cathy looked up, her eyes hardened in anger. "Don't you dare hurt Anna or Hijiri, or I will seriously kill you." She said before moving away.

Tsuzuki watched the lady, who was about a head shorter than him walked away. "I wonder who will protect you." He said softly before knocking on Hijiri's door. When the younger man opened it, he made his way in and grinned. "Is there anywhere we can great desserts?" His grin widened when he heard Hijiri moaned before mumbling that he would get changed.

In the end, Hijiri, Tsuzuki as well as Hisoka made their way to an ice cream shop nearby and dug into their ice cream that was made up of 3 scoops of ice cream of various flavours, whipped cream and tons and tons of Hershey Chocolate Syrup.

"Sugoi!" Tsuzuki said as soon as he had a mouth of the ice cream. "Sugoi sugoi.." He said as he ate the rest quickly before ordering another serving as Hisoka shook his head in disgust as Hijiri laughed.

When the waiter turned away, Tsuzuki looked at Hisoka and Hijiri. "Okay, Hijiri, I need you to tell me about Cathy, Anna and Lin, as much as you can."

Hijiri was surprised at how Tsuzuki could suddenly change from being playful to serious in a split second. He witnessed that a few times but every time it happens, it would shock him. He sighed, knowing well that he was bound to be asked sooner or latter. "Well…"