Title: Dark Chocolate Is Bittersweet

Author: Mathew Lin

Updated: September/October

Disclaimer: I own no part of the Megaman series, anime or game. I'm only writing for the enjoyment of others and myself (hopefully).

Author's Note: Oh wow, talk about neglect and I mean serious neglect. To be honest, this story was more of a project between a friend and I didn't think that it would still be receiving reviews. That was definitely a pleasant surprise. At first, I wasn't going to continue writing the story because I realized that I had grown up from when I published/posted this story. Fortunately, I found this chapter stored on my computer, or a part of it, and I was suddenly inspired.

I asked my friend to write up the intro and we combined our works again…so looks like this project still lives. Interestingly enough. I just want to thank all of you who have reviewed and would like to apologize being so…lazy in my updates or lack of. This will…not happen. I will do my very best to finish it.

This chapter was never edited and will probably be looked over…soon and be readjusted where necessary.

Mathew.

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Chapter Two: Of Misunderstandings & Discoveries

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"What is this rubbish you're giving me?" A man snapped out irritably as he threw a quick dismissive glance over the clay sculpture; there were big blobs of dried paint that ran down the side of the oddly shaped artwork. "Well? I'm waiting for an explanation Chaud!"

A child of no older than 7 stood there before the man in a very uncomfortable manner as he fidgeted nervously with his paint covered fingers. "Um…it was a present I made for you at school, father. It's…it's for Father's Day. I know you love art so I decided to make---"

The child was not given the chance to finish as the man interrupted very abruptly, silencing the frightened child. "This rubbish is not art, Chaud. This is some junky piece of work that one could make while they were asleep! Art is refined, beautiful, and lovely…your piece of trash is…not deserving of any sort of praise, but it deserves to be disposed of!"

Chaud's eyes widened with fear as the man slammed the present down onto the floor, allowing it to shatter into a million pieces. The clay scattered across the hard wooden floor and bits of it cut themselves into the child's arms. "Now get out of my sight! No child of mine will ever disgrace the family with such ridiculous ideals ever again, do you understand me?"

The boy gave a silent nod, his head hung down with embarrassment and hurt. He had thought that his father would have enjoyed the gift – his gift to him. "You're dismissed! Leave to your studies and don't ever waste time on "art" again." Chaud quickly left the room, his head bowed down with shame and disgust – disgust for himself.

'I should never have made that for him; it was such an ugly piece of work anyways. I'm sorry father.' He bit his lower lip as he hurried down the long corridor to his room, biting his lip from crying, from disgracing the family anymore. The child began to sprint down the carpeted hallways bumping into servants, but he didn't care, all that mattered was that his father didn't like his gift and that he was useless.

"It's not fair! Why did you have to die? If you didn't die father wouldn't hate me so!" Chaud screamed out painfully as he slammed the door shut behind him, tears sliding down his pale cheeks. "It's not fair, why doesn't father love me too?"

He slowly slid down onto the floor weeping into his hands as he realized, at 7 that his father would never come to love him; that his father will never care for him nor look at him with the same adoring eyes he would when he looked upon, him. The little boy trembled with a mix of fury and hatred as he sat there crying.

"Why don't you love me too? Why?" His voice echoed through the silence, a silence that would never be lifted.

---

'Oh I must have fallen asleep without realizing it. But why did I think about that? Haven't thought back to that moment in ages…ah, whatever. I need to focus on the mission at hand.' Shaking his head to clear his mind he leaned back into his seat as he stared out into the world, slowly registering what was going on.

'So…where to first?'

Chaud sat there in the shade of the leafy tree that towered above him, a light breeze rustling the spring green tree leaves. His deep ocean blue eyes were carefully masked and hidden from the outside world by a pair of cleverly placed shades. From behind those black tinted windows he watched the world move before him, no one stopped to stare at him, no one stopped to bow or excuse themselves from his presence. Everyone just moved along, suitcase in hand and handbags hanging around the fragile arm of a lady. He gave a small smile to the world and to his surprise he spotted a little girl, stuck in the middle of the crowd.

She hugged a white stuffed bunny close to her side; her large emerald green orbs were looking around her with a common emotion, fear. Chaud sat there on his bench, staring at the young child stand in the midst of grown ups and yet, not a single soul threw a glance towards her or stopped to help her out. Everyone was too busy doing their own things, too busy with their own lives to care about an insignificant little girl. Everyone believed that another kind and caring soul would come out of nowhere and save her.

Within the hectic world of present day Tokyo, the only thing that mattered was how much money you earned, what kind of a life you provide for you family, and the latest gossips that escaped the lips of overly bored housewives. But nowhere within this hectic and insane world was there room for a lost girl, who sought for nothing, but her parents. The agent shook his head in disdain and complete disbelief.

'The world is in a worst state of mind than I last remembered it to be, guess being in the wild following misleading clues really got me disconnected with the rest of the world. How sad...'

Slowly he rose from his seat and headed over to the little girl in the crowd before squatting down before her, and quietly whispering in her ear, "Hey, did you get separated from your mommy?" The words rolled right out of his mouth, it came out smoothly and without hesitation about his awkward choice for words.

When was the last time I used the word 'mommy' for anything?

He shook his head a little and stood up again before bringing out his hand to lend the little girl help in walking away from the noisy crowds. As they walked away from the heavy traffic of people he brought her back to the bench with the shady leaves. The girl hadn't made a single noise since he started talking to her, but sat silently and obediently beside him without question.

"Hey, little one, can you point to where you last saw your daddy or mommy?" Once again the odd choice of words sprang from his mouth without his notice. He stared intensely at the young child, who slowly brought up her hand and pointed to a little cafe that sat at the corner of the street. The cafe was packed with people and more people were in line, waiting to buy a drink or a small cake to bring back to the office to snack on. He narrowed his eyes, observing each of the customers within the shop, but none of them looked like they could have been carrying a child around with them. All of them work the same boring old suits, only with varying colors, but none of them were vibrant colors, just the usual dark tones. "Hmmm, I can't see anybody in that crowd can you describe them to me?"

He was doubtful that the girl would be able to clearly explain what her parents looked like, but he smiled back at her reassuringly, flashing her one of his infamous smiles.

Slowly, very slowly, the girl began to jabber in a language foreign to his ears, they fell deafly on them and he stared at her with a set look of confusion. She continued to motion her hands in an awkward way and her eyes glittering with a trail of hope.

A f-foreigner? What is she doing here being unsupervised? Normally those from outside countries keep careful watch of their children in fear of losing them like this...

None of it made sense to him, and after a long while it seemed to have dawned on the child that Chaud didn't understand a single thing she said and sat there, her shoulders slumped forward. Awkwardly and suddenly, Chaud felt his heart lurch forward feeling sympathetic with this child, and it disheartened him how he couldn't help her in anyway. "Maybe if we walk around we can ask around and hopefully meet up with someone who knows where you belong." He smiled at her, hoping that she understood what he said.

Wait! How did she know I asked for a description of her parents if she doesn't understand Japanese?

He looked back down at her, enshrouded in bewilderment he finally asked, clearly and slowly, "Do you understand what I am saying?" The girl gave him a small toothy smile before nodding, but then suddenly jabbering in her weird tongue once more. Chaud raised his hand to silence her and asked another question, "Can you speak in Japanese then?" The girl's smile became a frown as she slowly shook her heard before hugging the bunny close to her face.

So, she can't speak, this is going to be difficult...

He gave a small sigh before standing up and leading her down the road, keeping an eye out for any possible person that could be her parents. After a good hour of walking he stopped by a little ice cream vendor and bought the little girl an ice cream bar. "It's getting hot you know? So this ice cream bar will make things all better. Here, take it, it's all yours now." He handed her the chocolate Popsicle before continuing to walk down the road, asking random people if they knew the parents of this little girl, but not a single soul knew who she was.

Finally Chaud decided to stop at a nice small, quiet cafe decorated in pink and ribbons, one of those new high school hangouts. He sighed wearily, he wasn't up to dealing with loud obnoxious gossipy students, but he was hungry and the girl looked worn out, so he pushed the door open, revealing a rather empty and quiet cafe.

The two people who stood behind the counter were busily talking with each other, nodding and giggling over each other's comment. Chaud headed over towards the counter still holding the little girl's hand tightly. "Okay, so which one would you like? Oh, you like strawberries?" The younger girl nodded feverishly as the same gleam of happiness glow from her face. The two girls that were waiting to serve on them cooed over how cute it was for Chaud to take care of his daughter. He cringed at this comment, and as he turned around to ask the girl what else she wanted he found her laughing and leaning against him.

"Awwwww, that is so sweet! I wish my father would treat me like you treat your daughter! It's so cute and special; I've never met anyone who's so lucky to have a father like you!" The orange haired girl exclaimed, amazement written all over her face, but as they scanned over Chaud's visible features and stature it turned from a cutesy look to a look of adoring. "Not to mention you're as sexy as they come! It's a total shame that you're married..." The girl trailed off, still eyeing Chaud hopefully.

"Oh please, Yuki! You know he's too old for you and must be married too! Plus he doesn't look like the type to cheat on his wife, seems like one of those committed guys. You know the ones that are just perfect, but so rare?" The brunette gave a small sigh as she wandered off to her own wonderland.

Chaud stood there, completely shocked that these two girls could talk about him so openly, his face was tinged with a faint pink. Quietly he cleared his throat and announced, "I'm not married just for the record."

At this the two girls snapped out of their imaginations and their eyes widened in surprise. The one named Yuki opened her mouth to speak again, "You're kidding right? Then who is that little girl? She is your daughter right?"

"No, maybe that came as a disappointment, but do either one of your know who she is?"

At this question, both of the girls let their mouth hang open, surprised and shocked. "Wow, someone, so hot as you cannot possibly still be single...can you?" The brunette inquired quietly.

The agent flashed her a small smile before whispering, "Believe it or not I'm not committed to anybody right now, but if you're interested in going out sometime, I'll be a little more than honored." At this the brunette became flushed, her face completely red and her brown eyes dazed.

"So if you don't know who this girl is then why is she with you and why were you so nice in asking her which one she wanted? She looks pampered!" Yuki pointed out as her hazel brown eyes stared at the girl incredulously. "Something doesn't make sense!"

"Very few things make sense in this world, but that doesn't matter because I'll be getting the small strawberry cake and a strawberry chocolate smoothie, size medium for this young girl here." He smile cheerfully at the younger girl before saying, "Do you want anything else?" The girl shook her head at this and once again went into a mindless rage of sounds before hugging Chaud to symbolize her thanks for this. "No problem, after all the world would have died out long ago if everyone just walked by without caring. They all preach that children are our future and they are important, however no one stopped to help you...ironic if you ask me." Yuki quickly brought out the food before handing Chaud the bill.

Carefully he placed a thick wad of bill on the counter and whispered, "Split the change between you and your friend here." With that he headed towards a booth and watched as the little girl took tiny, delicate bites from her meal.

She's so sweet and innocent...I wish she were mine...

He smiled at her, and in his own little world he failed to realize that someone was now towering over him, and emitting rays of distress. Quickly, after he realized this he looked up to see a red head glaring down at him, her arms at her hips.

"And exactly what are you doing with my cousin?" The girl seethed angrily, her eyes narrowing into suspicious slits.

Chaud was a little shocked by the unwelcome intrusion, his eyes scanning the teenager over. Her school uniform, amazingly enough, was immaculate and free of all unwanted wrinkles. Everything about her appearance was perfectly connected with each other, nothing was out of place. His eyes widened slightly as he spotted a familiar pin on her uniform's collar, the same symbol he remember seeing on the back of his target's jacket. It was too much of a coincidence to be accidental. He was preparing to stand up and demand an answer from the stranger, but thought better of it and leaned back casually in his seat.

"Nothing, really, other than the fact that I am buying her lunch." His voice varying in degrees of amusement, but the look in his eyes portrayed a different scene from his voice and the smile he displayed didn't quite reach his frosty colored eyes. Luckily for him, those were hidden behind a pair of thickly coated black shades. "But if you're implication is that I'm going to..." He shoots a quick glanced over at the child, who is now sitting there, slightly confused, "...that I am going to, how should I put it? Hm?" The smile on his face grew wider, as he spotted the teenager fighting a blush, which was slowly advancing in her cheeks.

The two clerks standing behind the counter was completely absorbed by the outlandish display set before them, both of them entranced by what was going to happen next. The redhead's hands clenched tightly into two nicely balled fists, her face covered in a deep crimson red. "Exactly who the hell do you think you are?" Without the slightest warning she raised her hand and slapped the agent on his cheek. The two clerks shut their eyes tightly; readying themselves for the sounding sound of the hand striking the face, unfortunately or fortunately, that sound never came.

Yuki slowly opened one eyes and to her amazement she saw the young man was on his feet, and in one hand the offending hand of the female. His smile still dancing wistfully across his face. "Young lady, if you plan to slap another guy in your entire life, you have to move much faster than that." With that he planted a kiss on her forehead before vaulting over the seat and casually walking out of the cafe, his hands buried themselves into his pockets.

What a day, I should really get out more often. Tokyo...what a wonderful kind of place...

"Wait!" A voice cried out after him, slowly he looked behind him to find the redheaded girl again, this time carrying the child in her arms. "I'm sorry! It was all my fault, a misunderstanding, please..."

Chaud stopped walking, waiting for the teenager to catch up with him, when she reached him she carefully placed the child on the ground. Breathing heavily she said, "I'm terribly sorry about what happened back there, but just now...Kris told me what happened and I am ever so grateful for your help!" The redhead was leaning on her knees, breathing heavily.

"It's okay, I suppose it must have been quite frightening to find a young child with some strange man..."

"Please, allow me to make it up for you. Do you enjoy coffee?" She looked up hopefully.

A smile graced the lips of Chaud before he whispered, "Coffee is all that's beautiful in this world." Slowly he leaned over and helped the girl stand upright again, wiping the tiny droplets of sweat from her forehead. "C'mon, it'll be on me."

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The agent was busy adjusting the spices in his noodles, grimacing a little when he realized that he might have added just a bit too much pepper. Without making a big fuss over his careless mistake he gently shifted the noodles aside and began to take a look at his rice order, poking it a little here and there.

"This is…absurd." The redhead muttered in bewilderment as her order arrived. The man, Chaud, had promised to treat her to coffee, but somehow they wound up at a restaurant and not just any restaurant, but the most expensive, most 'in' restaurant. Even if she had intended to cover the bills, there would be no way for her to possibly cover even a fourth of the cost here.

"It's just that I was feeling a big hungry and thought it would be better to just have a proper lunch and if we went to a fast food store or something similar, there is bound to be someone you recognize. You are, if you have forgotten, still in school uniform. That generally means you are still at school right now," Chaud replied pointedly, barely looking up from his plate of strangely cooked rice.

The girl nodded in agreement. She had overlooked that fact a little earlier on, but still that doesn't explain why they had to pick the most expensive restaurant of the lot…

"I picked it because this happens to be a favorite of mine. If you're worried about the bill, don't. I have it covered."

In that instant her face fell. She didn't think she had been that obvious, but then again people always told her she was like an open book.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed by it. Not many people can actually afford a decent meal here without blowing all their week's earnings. It's common." Once again, the agent didn't look up, instead continued to inspect the food, a little skeptical about actually eating it.

The redhead just sat there in a dumbfounded state, unsure of what else to do. This guy had just read her like an open book without even bothering to look up…

"Don't be shocked, but I think this food is really…really not good to eat," Chaud finally concluded as he set the dishes aside, leaving only the steaming bowl of soup in front of him. The agent sighed at the lack of choices before drinking out of the bowl – disregarding all manners and etiquette rules. "By the way, I never got your name, Ms…?"

The redhead snapped out of her stupor before smiling warmly at Chaud. "Oh, what was I thinking? I'm Maylu and this is Kris!" She motioned towards the child that was drinking happily out of her smoothie.

"Maylu…interesting name…" Chaud murmured quietly, while he racked through his brain trying to remember where he had heard that name before. He was sure he had come across it before, but where?

"…find her?"

"What?"

Maylu looked a little surprise before repeating her question, still smiling in a sweet manner. "I was just wondering where you found my cousin."

"It was at a cross-section. I just happened to wander by and spotted her standing there by herself." Chaud set aside the soup bowl and slowly approached the salad, not sure if he wanted to taste the orange looking vegetables. "But that reminds me, why doesn't she speak Japanese?"

The redhead looked a little troubled before giving a tiny shrug. "I don't know. She just…doesn't. It's kind of like when somebody doesn't want to because I know she can – well, she has to because she understands Japanese."

Chaud nodded understandingly as he continued to make small talk. Not really all that interested about some mental condition or what she had to say about her life. It was just…habitual to be kind to strangers that one treated to lunch. He began poking at the orange tinted vegetable, rolling and pushing it around the plate before finally giving up. Not at all wanting to know why it was in the shape of a star or why it had such a funny smell to it.

The agent separated the strange and unfamiliar vegetables from the ones that were acceptable and began to eat; completely unaware of the stares he had been receiving all the while.

"You're a really picky eater, aren't you?" Maylu exclaimed accusingly as she eyed the divided vegetables and the other set of food he had set aside due to their 'terrible taste.'

Chaud looked up, frowning at the accusation. "I'm not a picky eater. I just eat whatever I like."

"Doesn't that mean you're a picky eater then?"

"No. It just means I eat whatever I want to."

"In other words, you're a picky eater!"

Chaud fell silent as he continued to munch on the green leaves. It had been a long time since anyone had told him that he was a 'picky eater.' It had been such a long time since anyone had joked with him about it, complained to him about it, or even scolded him about it. It was such a long time ago…

"…Lan…"

The name jerked the agent out of his thoughts.

"Did you just say 'Lan'?" He inquired uncertainly, his hand still halfway up to his mouth.

"Yeah, I said he went to my school."

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To Be Continued

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Ending Note…

Yeah, so as usual, reviews are nice and welcomed, but flames will not be appreciated.

And a side note from my friend:

So...This story is still alive. That's…wonderful. I don't know where this story is going and honestly, I don't think Matt does either, so we're all in the ride together! Woo… Well, I didn't do much other than write the dream/memory so… yeah, credit goes to Matt.