A/N: Two chapters for ya. Aren't I spectacular.

Review Responses

Karen Moondrop- Hmm…ho hum. That's true, that's true…well, to me, she seems like a girl who likes dogs, cats, you know, domestic, household animals- not farm animals. I myself don't really like animals at all…Hahaha. Anyway, a lot of this chapter (and the chapter following it) is narrated by Karen, and I'm guessing you prefer Karen's narrative? Well, read on! Huzzar!

>>>>

Chapter Four: Playing Detective…Cliff, From the Bar…An Introduction to Karen…

(1- In All Truthfulness)

We paused. Cliff? That guy from the bar?…Suddenly the ranch, in its open air, felt just like a room, like a box, back in some dungeon, with spikes closing in and freezing just when you thought it would hit you. Anxiety and release- the feelings from the people around me were almost too much to bear, too many emotions tangled into each other. I looked at Ann.

She was stifling tears. Her upper lip quivered. I knew the feeling, that sort of, "I'm not gonna cry" feeling you get when you're little. She tried to open her mouth and smile, but she broke down into hysterical sobs. She sobbed into Gray's shoulder, and he stroked her hair, and she screamed incoherent things- "No! Cliff…it can't be! I don't believe it! He's not dead! He can't be dead! He's not dead! Please, please tell me he's not dead…" She looked up at Harris, her face puffy and red and tear-stained. I really thought I would cry, too. That's how awful it was. And when Harris didn't respond, she went into this quiet, weird sort of weepy crying. "I'm so…I couldn't…not Cliff…oh, God…Cliff……it…what…" Gray held her tightly.

I looked at Karen. She looked more angry than sad, her fists clenched and balled up, with tears streaming down her face. She looked pissed and ready to murder someone. "Ann," she burst out, awkwardly. I really felt that I'd cry- I couldn't take all the feelings around me. Everyone tells me I'm very sensitive, and I guess it's true.

I turned to Gray and Harris. Harris looked guilty and shameful, and started to offer options to easily get rid of some pain. "I'll stay…I'll try to help in any way I can. I'm sorry to have had to tell this to you…" Gray's cap was shading his eyes, so I couldn't see them rightly.

"I'm sorry," I blurted, just as quickly and eagerly as Karen. My face got red and I could feel salt water trickling up my throat. Gray paused and looked up at me. Harris looked confused, just like Karen.

Ann paused and broke away from Gray gratefully, managing to break a smile. "Don't cry," she said, breaking a smile and touching my cheek with her palm, "It's not your fault." She sobbed heavily. "It'll be okay." I hugged her close. I could still feel her crying.

I looked into the room where Karen and Ann had hid out. Karen was still hugging Ann, who looked like she was asleep. They had stayed in Gray's room after it had happened, and no one had bothered them for a couple of hours. They made me sit down with "the men," like I was some kindergartner, while they talked about funeral preparations and Ann and had some drinks.

I walked in quietly. "Hey," I greeted.

"Hey," Karen replied, mutedly. She shifted positions very gently so as to not wake Ann up and sat up in the bed. "She's sleeping." She frowned bitterly. "God, she's so tired." She looked like she had something on her mind. I sat next to her and looked at her intently. She sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I just feel like it's all my fault. I mean, goddammit, I knew about this. I knew someone could have gotten killed…I could have helped-"

I touched her hair and frowned. She really was a stress-freak…"It's not anyone's fault," I tried to convince her, but then scratched my head. "Well, except for, you know." I hugged her. "It'll be okay. Ann even told me so!"

"I hope so," Karen said, flushing fierce red (she must have cried some…? Or had she?) and pushing me off. She looked at the ceiling. "Ann is my best friend. It's hard for me to see her like this. I gotta make her happy, somehow…"

"That would be good," I said, smiling brightly. I laughed a little. "Man, but I hardly even know her! Though, I feel bad…" I frowned. "Like it happened because of me. Maybe Ganon's testing me, but I…why would he do that? It makes no-"

She put her hand over my mouth and smiled comfortingly- even though Karen was not the comforting type. "Listen. It's not your fault. If you hadn't come, more people would die- and we wouldn't be able to stop it."

I frowned deeper. I didn't know what to say. I still felt bad, too bad to calculate. "It's just……"

>>

(2- Link, Karen, and Hercule Poirot; Domestic Chaos)

Karen and I were searching the town. Now, I wasn't one for the whole detective bit, but Karen seemed into it- it wasn't really my idea, but I went along with it. Plus I thought of this as Karen's way of solving the problem. I wondered what she'd've done if she never met me- would she just comfort Ann, or still play detective?

I didn't really care, either way. I had pushed Cliff's funeral from a week ago as far as I could in the dark places of my mind, and the weather was nice. Ann had been cheery, after crying and starving herself and isolating herself for five days or so. I didn't trust that she was really happy, but I was happy that there was a possibility that she could be happy (wow…confusing sentence to say! Betcha couldn't say it five times fast! Try it!). Karen, though, was being Karen- determined and stubborn. Navi was with us, and she was squeaking and nagging most or all of the time.

We were in the main part of town, with the bakery and the Church and the florist. I was swinging my arms heavily- the weather had cooled down from a week ago. And to think that it had only taken me a week to adjust to the town! Anyway, we were having trouble with our inspection…

"What the Hell!" Karen barked, frustrated, "How are we supposed to figure anything out when there's not even any fucking evidence!"

"Well, let's just figure out plausible solutions!" I said, trying to be cheery.

"Easy for you to say, Inspector Gadget! You're having a merry fuckin' time while I'm here thinking I'm gonna get murdered if I round another corner!"

"You don't have to get so stressed…"

"I do too, ya jackass!" Karen snapped. "Now, stop being so stupid and ditzy and try to figure something out!"

"HEY!" Navi yelled, buzzing out of my cap. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE ARGUING ABOUT, BUT I BETTER DAMN WELL BE INCLUDED!"

"Oh, Lord," Karen muttered, "How the Hell did I get stuck with you freaks!"

We were silent for a while longer. My stomach rumbled. I looked up at Karen, who was walking far ahead. "How long have we been out?" I asked.

"How the Hell should I know?" Karen snapped, not even looking back to me. "Oh, I'm sorry, let me just get out my timer. Jackass!"

I was quiet, until I started to get hungry. "I'm hungry," I whimpered.

Karen paused, then sighed. "Okay, fine. We'll stop at the bakery."

Our day went by like that- she yelled at me and I tried to be helpful and nice and cheery. In the long time that I've known Karen, I've noticed some things about her- I knew that she was impatient and she had a flaring temper. She had a sailor's mouth and fire-eyes, and she was just an interesting person to study. She had a tendency to snap at people, and she drank far too much. Actually, she seemed very arrogant and aggressive and sarcastic and mean and all that jazz, but in actuality, Karen must have been one of the saddest, strangest people I ever knew. She seemed tough, but she also had a weird vulnerability about her. She seemed wayward and egoistic, but at times she was very insecure, and very shy. It was hard to explain. She was very anti-social, and something told me that she had had some bad past experiences, but I didn't ask.

She listened to music, but she never talked about it. When I asked, she'd roll her eyes and make a comment. She liked wine and she liked dancing- I knew that from the party after the funeral. Karen usually got very stressed very easily, and she was a workaholic. Sometimes she worried, and sometimes she slacked. Call me crazy, but I liked her a lot, even after only a week, and even though I really didn't know her that well yet. We acted like strangers, and the only time we didn't was when she yelled at me.

Anyway, our day went by quickly. We were actually doing a good job, until…

"What are you two doing here?" I turned around to see little Mayor Dougherty, looking authoritarian. I gulped.

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"I'm sorry to put the stop sign on you young detectives," the Mayor said. He sighed, somewhat sadly. "My wife and I have clearly established a safety law prohibiting the towns yung'uns under the age of eighteen to be out past 7:30 P.M. As you see, it's 7:43…And well, ah, you see, we can't have minors running around unprotected at night. You know about what happened. Now, I'm terribly sorry, and find your attempts to solve this admirable," he said, wiping his face with a handkerchief, "But after what happened, no risks can be taken. The police are on it, though, so don't you worry. I hope you understand. Now, go on home, you two- isn't it almost dinner time?"

Karen sighed. "C'mon, Link, you can stay over my place tonight. We can talk about it then. Or is that against the law, too?"

The Mayor looked at us apologetically. "I'm sorry," I said, "but this has really hurt us all…"

Karen's house was nice and clean, with elegantly modern furniture. Well, yeah, it was clean- there was no dust whatsoever, and everything was symmetrical and patterned and in its place. All food was to be eaten in the dining room, and shoes had to be taken off at the porch outside, in a shoe-box type thing. It looked as if an obsessive-compulsive were taking care of it.

That obsessive-compulsive, I soon learned, was Sasha, Karen's mother. "She has nothing better to do with her time, and she hates feeling useless," Karen explained as she took her shoes off, "That's why she cleans all the time. Stupid bitch is restless."

"Oh," I said, and followed Karen in.

Karen's mother was at the door, smiling. She looked like an older, sadder, thinner, swanlike version of Karen. She looked at me, confused. "Oh, ah, who is this?"

Karen rolled her eyes. "A friend, moth-er," she said, "He's sleeping over."

"What!" a gruff male voice screamed from the kitchen. I jumped when I first heard his voice- it was like a boom from out of nowhere. "C'mon, Karen, what the Hell? You never even consult us!"

"Oh," Karen said, laughing mockingly, "Now I didn't consult him."

"And don't forget, Karen," Sasha reminded her, "you already slept over Ann's yesterday. Don't you think two days over Ann's is enough friends for two weeks?"

Karen sighed loudly and impatiently. "God, it's not like you're taking care of him! I'll take care of him! Why do you have to get involved in everything, you stupid idiots!"

"It's rude, and you're rude, you little ingrate!" Gotz yelled.

"Oh, shut up, you fucking yeti!" Karen said, and pulled me by the wrist up the staircase in the corner. I rushed up with her, flustered by all the yelling.

"Excuse me, young lady?" Gotz yelled from the first floor. I could hear his footsteps coming from the kitchen to the stairwell. He came to the bottom of the stairs with a tomato and the knife he'd been chopping it with. "You come back down these stairs this instant!"

I was panicking on the stairs, with her calm and next to me- well, next to me, at least. "Screw you, Gotz!" Karen yelled.

"Watch that tongue, young lady!" Sasha yelled, walking over to Gotz from the living room. I was getting nervous, and I felt like I was hyperventilating.

Gotz huffed, "Come down here this instant! I'll teach you to cuss at me!"

Karen opened the door to the room at the top of the stairs. "I HATE YOU!" she shrieked. I had to cover my ears just to bear it. "I HATE YOU! SCREW YOU GUYS!"

"Come down here right now, Karen, before I come up there!" Sasha yelled sternly up the stairs.

Karen was apparently not too tolerant with her parents. "OH, I HOPE YOU GET CANCER!" she said, with a "fuck you!" tone.

"COME DOWN HERE NOW!" Gotz screamed, his face getting red with anger.

"Oooh, is that a threat?" Karen said in sarcasm. "Ooh, I'm scared, Gotz!"

"I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT SCARED IS WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!" Gotz yelled.

"FUCK YOU!" she yelled. "GO TO HELL!" We went in. She slammed the door.

I sat on the bed, shaking and terrified. For a second, I was glad I never had a family. But I quickly decided differently.

"Help me barricade the door," Karen said, pushing a large chest of drawers to the door. I got up and brought a lamp and put it on top. "He's gonna kick my ass if he gets in here." Something in her tone told me he really wouldn't, but I stayed quiet.

I helped her push a couple of small furniture items to the door. She sat on her bed and looked away from me. "I'm sorry that happened while you were over," she apologized.

I did my best not to seem as frightened as I already was. "S'okay. It's really not a big deal."

She turned back. "Whatever…" she mumbled. I guess she didn't like her own house that much…"We have to find out who's behind the Marionette Killing!"

The Marionette Killing? Well, it was a good name, or so I thought. "Good name!" I said. "But we can never do it fast enough to save everyone…"

Karen looked at me fiercely and pounded her fist into her palm. "Well, then, we have to abide by the law!"

I paused and looked at her, and then burst out laughing. "What!" she cried. "What's so damn funny?"

I stopped laughing for a moment and blinked. "Don't you mean disavow the law?" I said.

She pushed me. "Oh, shut up, stupid. I just mixed them up, that's all. Stop laughing!" She sometimes had a funny way of saying "stupid" that made it sound like "stupit."

I still laughed for half a minute more. "I'm sorry," I said, "That struck me as funny for some reason."

"It better be a good reason," Karen said. "So you mean that 'disavow' means to rebel against?"

"Yep," I said, nodding.

There was a tap on the window. We looked over at it. Karen walked over and said, "Oh, you. Why didn't you just poof yourself in?"

"My powers are weakening," Sheik said, climbing in from the window. "Thank you."

I ran to the window. I was relieved, in a way, to see Sheik. But Navi always got the last laugh, I guess. "Well! Two times in one week!" Navi exclaimed. "Are you lucky or what?"

"Shuddup, Navi," I replied. She was really sick with all the Sheik jokes. I have to admit it was funny at first, but, after a while, it got really offensive and annoying. Plus she would also always have to go off on unnecessary tangents about sex and everything and…

"Have you two-"

"Karen!" the interrupting voice of Karen's mother called. We turned to the door, even though she wasn't there. It was sort of a reflex, I guess.

"Yes, mother!" Karen asked back.

"Come down for dinner!" her mother called, "I made a steak!"

Karen rolled her eyes. "Coming, mother! C'mon, Link, Sheik, let's go down," Karen said, pushing the bureaus and chairs back where they belonged.

"How come I don't get to come?" Navi whined in a pouty tone.

"Because I don't think my mother set a plate for a fairy," Karen replied, rolling her eyes.

"I won't come," Sheik said.

"Oh, you're very damn well coming," Karen replied, in a threatening tone.

"No, I'm not."

"Look! Do you want him to give away some of your little 'secrets!'" Karen snapped, pointing to me.

Sheik was silent. "I s'pose not…"

We marched downstairs and into the dining room. The long, cherry wood table was set with a steak, a tomato salad, and plain tomatoes. Maybe those were the tomatoes Gotz had been chopping up earlier…

We sat down in order, with Karen next to her mother at her father's right side, and me and Sheik across from Karen and her mother. Gotz looked up from the tomatoes he was peppering and made a snort-grunt noise. "Who's this weirdo?" he asked.

"This is Sheik, Gotz," Karen said. "He came in with us. Are you blind or something?"

"Whatever……"

Sasha looked at me with a tired smile as I ate. "How do you like your food?" she asked. She had transformed from a total wench to a loving housemom in all of ten minutes. Which scared me even more.

I smiled. "It's really good. Thanks!"

Sheik politely finished chewing his food before talking. "It's some of the best I've tasted. Thank you."

"So, where do you come from?" Gotz asked. "Weirdo land?"

"Gotz!" Sasha scolded.

I smiled again. "It's fine," I said. "I'm from Hy-"

"He's from Europe," Karen interrupted, eating some more tomatoes. "From Hungary."

Sasha looked interested. "Is he, now? Are you Austrian-Hungarian, or just Hungarian? Because I swore I saw Austrian in you when I first met you." Well, not exactly interested- I think she was just too polite to not act interested.

"Yeah, I'm Austrian-Hungarian," I said.

She smiled and looked back down at her plate. "Well, that's sort of interesting," she said, "because I never knew they used rupees in Austria or Hungary! Strange, no?"

I didn't know what to do. I gulped and stared at Karen to wait and see what she would do. She's a genius when it comes to deviation and clever deception.

"He was born in Hungary," Karen explained, if somewhat nervously, "but when his father became a missionary, the family moved to India, where they used rupees. He lived there even after his mother and father died in a political riot. After that, he ended up traveling the world with Sheik and his caravan of…traders, but all the members of the caravan died in a freak illegal cargo accident, and four were left- Link, Sheik, and two others."

"Must have been frightening," Sasha said, eating more meat in a polite and small manner. Man, she really wanted to crack us like tiny little eggs. With feet. Tee hee. "Tell me about the experience, Sheik."

Sheik swallowed his steak (he had taken down some of his face mask, but, damnit, I never noticed it was off- I never got a glimpse of his face; he was good at being quiet about it, damn him). "It was terrifying. We were shipping Russian-manufactured guns, which the Russians didn't like. Link and I, who were in charge-" I grinned- "were overseeing the export, when the Russian agents came and shot the lot of them, bombed the goods, as well. Link and I escaped, but barley- we had to go quickly, because of the explosion. It was adrenaline, in a word."

I thought I would laugh. Even though it was totally bogus- not even I would believe that, and if that's true, then it must have been pretty bogus- he had explained and filled in every minor detail. Nobody could best Sheik on making stupid things up (especially when he was drunk- but that's another story), period. "How exciting," Sasha said. I grinned. Sheik shrugged and slipped his face mask back on.

>>

(3- What The Hell Kind of Bullshit…A Run-In With Magic)

"How did you think that up?" I whispered, at the end of the meal. I still wasn't finished- I'm a slow eater.

"Based on personal experience," Sheik replied, lowly. I shuddered. That was kinda scary- I can handle monsters and beasts, Queens of Animals and chimeras, but give me a human who wants money and I'm hopeless.

"Well, dinner was good," Karen said, stuffing handfuls of steak and tomatoes and salad in her mouth quickly, "Bye, now! Gotta go! C'mon, you two!"

"What?" I asked, surprised. "Wait, I'm not do-" She dragged me away before I could even finish my sentence.

Sheik politely put his utensils down. "Thank you for dinner," he said, and left without another word.

Karen slammed the door to her room once we were all in, and turned to Sheik. "What the Hell kind of bullshit was that?"

"Your missionary story wasn't much better," Sheik pointed out, offended.

"Well at least it was believable! Caravans and guns! You moron!" She flitted around the room restlessly, getting a blanket from her closet and tying it into a rope. "We can get out the window," she said, fastening one of the knots, "and then go into town. The Mayor and his wife will be asleep, and the town's really dark at night, because there are basically zero streetlights in town."

I nodded, though a little doubtfully. If they couldn't see us, how could we expect to see anything? I didn't say anything, though, because I knew Karen would have a fit. But it takes Sheik to steal the words right out of my mouth!

"We won't be able to see anything if it's so dark," he pointed out, matter-of-factly. He didn't bother to address her- he never addresses people when he talks to them- because he can direct what he's saying at you without saying your name.

Karen looked seriously irked. "Well, thanks. That's a horribly good point. How are we going to see, then, Oh Great Teacher?"

I looked at Navi- and got an idea! "Navi's like a little light," I replied with a wink. Navi fluttered between the three of us, big showoff that she was.

"Great idea!" Karen exclaimed. "Okay, let's just wait for my parents to fall asleep."

Half an hour passed. We entertained ourselves with Twister-, well, at least Karen and Navi had a good time.

"Okay," Navi dictated, "right hand red."

Sheik was winning. He was the most flexible and acrobatic of all of us, and he was small. Karen was twisted around the board- she was the most unfortunate. "Ow ow ow ow…"

"Okay, Link, left hand yellow."

I knew she was teasing me. I frowned and furrowed my eyebrows. She had been through this whole game, putting me in awkward positions where I would have to cross Sheik. I could hear her and Karen snickering awfully. I tried to ignore them and prove them wrong by getting my left hand on yellow, by God, without getting into an awkward position with Sheik!

I reached over, succeeding in finding one close enough to me and far enough from Sheik. I smiled to myself, but I could still hear Karen and Navi laughing their heads off. I wondered why.

Navi was trying to catch her wicked little fairy breath when she said, "Okay…Hahahaha……Sheik,…right hand……yellow! HAHA!"

Well, the closest yellow to him was over me, and going for that would make him topple all over the board, and me. Now I saw what Karen had been laughing about- I guess she just didn't want Sheik to win, for whatever crazy reason Karen had formulated…weird…

Well, it happened. Sheik fell on me and I fell on Karen who promptly barked, while kicking up the Twister board and setting us up in a contortionist's mess, "Shit! Get off me, you big stupid idiots!"

"I would," I retorted, "But Navi's the one who put Sheik over me!"

Navi glowed reddish-pink. "You never accuse Sheik of doing anything wrong! You're always blaming me!"

"That's because you're the most calculating fairy I've ever seen!" I replied.

"No!" Navi protested, "You just like Sheik better!"

"Yeah!" Karen shouted, "Give Navi some well-deserved attention and GET THE HELL OFFA ME!"

"Enough!" Sheik yelled, getting really annoyed at us- I could tell by the stressed look on his face. "Your useless arguing is some of the most irritating I've ever heard!"

A look of realization crossed Karen's face. She scoffed and wiggled out from underneath me. "Alright, just clean this up…idiots…"

I cleaned up the mat and some items that had fallen off Karen's shelf when we fell, and Sheik busied himself by carefully gluing the pieces of a flower pot that had broke when we fell together. Navi beat her wings sulkily in a corner of the room. Karen sat on the bed and looked lazily at the ceiling.

The next two hours were spent boringly. We tried to make a pencil rocket to shoot out the window, but we stopped halfway through.

I was sitting at Karen's desk, propping my head in my palm, bored to death and drifting to sleep, when we heard the "television" downstairs get shut off. We heard the noise suddenly stop, and we all looked up at each other from our sleepy dazes. "We're going to bed, now, Karen!" Gotz yelled up the stairs.

"Yes!" Karen whispered to us. She turned to the door. "OKAY, DAD!"

We waited for another half an hour, and once we were sure they were asleep, we started to prepare to leave. We got "flashlights" (which Karen foraged from the depths of her messy closet), a blanket (just in case we got cold or needed to hide- Karen's smart idea) and a snack from the kitchen (because I was really hungry again).

We walked over to the window again. "Now, how are we getting out, again?" Sheik asked, walking over with me and Karen. Navi flitted behind us; with Sheik there, I was almost sure that we'd find out something.

"Rope," Karen said, smirking. She threw the blanket rope over the edge of the window and sat on the windowsill. "I'm an expert," she claimed, in response to my questioning look. I smiled widely. She rolled her eyes and started to climb down. She threw us a hard glance. "Well, gee, I'm not gonna carry you down."

We understood. Navi fluttered behind Karen. I put a leg over the windowsill and threw a smile to Sheik. "Well, here I go!" I attempted to go down, but ended up jerking the rope and almost bringing it over the edge of the windowsill.

"Watch it, moron!" Karen hissed.

"Sorry!" I whispered, going down gently.

Karen and Navi and I waited for Sheik to come down. Much to our surprise, he jumped from the window to the tree and slid down with athletic confidence. Karen and I exchanged glances. "Wow! I never knew the walking bandage campaign could do that," Navi said.

Sheik frowned under the bandages. "Of course a bandage campaign can't," he replied, "I, however, can."

"Psh."

The town was pitch dark. Whenever I looked over at Karen, the soft light showed a scared look on her face. Sheik looked calm, but he's good at looking calm when he's scared half-to-death. It wasn't really the easiest thing to walk around at night in a town where a murderer was. I was a little scared myself, though, I was more scared about the Mayor about anything. He looked to me like one of those little Amazonian men who shrink heads and eat people and use spears, and, well, you know, all that weird jungle stuff. His size and his nose scared me, and the calm, placid, indifferent tone he used when he talked about the law.

It was dark. I couldn't see many stars out; well, I could, but a lot less than one could see back in Hyrule. I couldn't really walk without stepping on something sharp or knocking my knees into something or noticing a squirrel run by; I couldn't go without saying "ow!" or "what was that!" or "haha! A raccoon!"

Sheik turned to me and hissed, "Keep it down!" I kept.

"Look there," Karen said, pointing over to the bar. I could hear the music; its windows provided the only light in the town. "There's a lot of shady people around there. Check it out."

I took out the Lens of Truth from my rucksack and pointed it at the bar. I looked through it; it looked the same, just with a purple tint from the film-like lens. "I can't see anything," I said.

"Here," Sheik said, reaching over to me and adjusting a few things on it. He moved the three red triangles around, and twisted the gold band around the handle. "There," he said, handing it to me. I took it and looked through it.

"Hey, how'd you do that?" I asked, a little loudly.

"Never mind that," he replied. "I'll show you some other time. Now, tell me what you see."

The walls in the bar had been removed from the lens's view; the men were laughing hard. I saw smoke being blown from one side of the room. There was one man who had a purple glow around him. "How does this thing tell if someone's evil, again?"

Sheik looked questioningly at me. "In this particular setting, it looks to people who have committed some wrong in recent times. Something like theft or deceit will give someone a purple aura. Something as serious as murder, however, will give someone a deep pink or red aura, considering the type of murder. Good auras aren't seen." He cocked his head. "Why? What did you see?"

"Oh, nothing," I said, tucking the Lens of Truth away. "Just some guy who probably stole something."

Karen snapped her fingers. I could feel her breath on my neck; we were all very close to each other. "Damn. Okay, let's look in…there! That's Rick's shop." She was very into this whole detective thing.

I looked into the Lens and gasped deeply. "What!" Karen exclaimed, looking surprised and afraid.

I grinned. "Nothing." I laughed. Karen hit me on the head. "Owww!"

"Moron," she muttered.

"Don't be an ass!" Navi exclaimed.

"Okay," I laughed, "I'm sorry."

I looked at Sheik. His attention had turned to a house across the small cat, like a cat looks at an object no one knows is moving. I poked my head in next to his. "What're you looking at?"

"Look," he replied, pointing at the house. Purple smoke flashed in the window. "There it was again. I've seen it two times already."

Karen nodded. "That's the midwife's house, you know," she said. We looked closer at the window. I could see someone- a silhouette of a person concealed by purple haze ("Purple haze! All in my eyes!") (sorry) and blue flames- a tall person, next to a smaller one.

"I've a mind to see who that is," I said. "Let's try to get in there and-"

"Excuse me!" I jumped at the old creaky voice and turned around- an old woman in a deep red dress was standing, impatiently and sternly, with a curled upper lip, and dulled silver hair in braids and a frown. "I've a mind to turn you sprouts in to the Mayor! What are you doing, snooping around an old woman's house!"

"N-n-nothing, Ma'am," Karen stammered. "There's an intruder in your house, and we were inves-investigating it."

"Hmph," the Midwife snorted, "That's no intruder, that's Jeff from the bakery. He's helping me bake a cake for little May!"

"Why is it, uhm, purple?" I asked, trying to peek over her shoulder into the window.

She got close up in my face and sniffed. "What a bold child! It's for the cooking," she said. She chuckled to herself. "I suppose you could say it's magic."

"……Magic……?"

"Yes, magic!" she scoffed, "Good old fashioned midwife's magic. Oh, it's just a trick with some herbs and flowers. It's food coloring, you dolt, so don't look so appalled. Why, May loves the color, don't you know."

"Oh," I said. I looked at Sheik, who wasn't convinced, and then to Karen, who looked like she was going to pounce on her and strangle her. I would've looked at Navi, but she has no facial expressions.

"Now, go on and get, before I give you to the Mayor!"

We pretended to go away, but we just looked at it from a farther distance. I sighed plopped myself on the grass, putting the Lens away. "Nothing."

"Nothing," Karen repeated flatly, following me and sitting down in the grass.

She sighed. "Such are the fruits of the search. I should go." He took a few steps back from us. "It has been a pleasure. I will see you all again." He took another few steps back, and disappeared, vanishing like he had melted into the shadows and become one of them.

"Man, I love it when he does that," Karen said, getting up. "Shall we go home?"

"Sure," I replied, getting up with her. She moved closer to me, and I could feel her hand brush lightly over mine. I didn't know how to react. I didn't know then that she had such a big crush on me. "Uhm…"

"Sorry," she said, taking her hand away and turning hot pink. "I…didn't mean anything by that…Well, anyway, we'll keep on tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"I mean, go home," Karen said. "By yourself," she added with an air of grumpiness.

I was a little offended at her attitude toward me, and by the fact that she thought she needed to walk me home. "I know," I said defensively. "Don't go all weird on me, Karen."

"Whatever……" she replied. "See you."

I felt started to feel bad that I had maybe hurt her feelings- I'm such a softie. Hee hee. "I'm sorry…" I said softly.

She turned around. Her eyes narrowed. "It's alright," she said. "I am being weird. Whatever, good night."

I watched her walk away. "Get home safe!" I called after her. She waved goodbye without looking at me.

>>>>

A/N: Okay. (Listening: Ziggy Stardust.)