It's short, but I like how this chapter turned out- a transitional chapter if you will. Thanks for reading and reviewing! And as always – gotta love Leon and D. (And please stop picking on Taizu- he's actually really cool. I just need him as an antagonist in this fic.)

Chapter 5

Count D sat quietly in his parlor sipping a cup of warm tea and listened to the breathing of his pets as they lazed about in these early hours. He had finished his morning chores just a bit ago and was enjoying the peace and quiet of the shop in that lull between when morning duties are performed and when the first jingles of his door bell rang. As he took another sip, D realized that his morning might be getting more active than he had hoped. "Grandfather, how nice to see you."

The elder Count chuckled and threw back his hood as he strolled into the room to sit across from his grandson. "How have you been?"

"Very well. How's Father?"

"As fussy as ever. He's currently playing with some animal friends and enjoying his time away from a smothering Grandfather." The Count chuckled and watched his grandson thoughtfully. He was rigid and the twitch above his eye was barely noticeable, but it was there. Seems his little D had yet to forgive him. "I take it the present I sent made it successfully?"

"Present? I don't recall you sending anything recently, Grandfather." D glared when he heard a sudden chuckle come from the corner of the room. It seems T-chan and Pon-chan had woken from their nap.

"Oh?" The older man chuckled and coughed into his hand before looking down at the cups of tea. His grandson put on a deep frown and poured him a cup of tea and shoved it across the table. Yes, he was mad. "Don't tell me you didn't like it? I thought for sure you'd like seeing him again."

"He's been his usual annoying self if that's what you mean." D snorted and looked off to the side as Pon-chan started to stretch and play with T-chan's tail. "He's still loud, brash and has no manners."

"But you like his company." The Count D sipped at the cup of tea thoughtfully. "And do not lie to me. I can tell."

D did not answer. It was true; his grandfather could tell when he was lying. And the truth of the matter was – Count D did enjoy the company of the human Leon Orcott. He had always enjoyed his company even when they first met all those years ago and gave birth to a dragon together. He liked the way the Leon smiled. He liked it when the man cracked jokes or got embarrassed when he became aware of his own shortcomings. Hell, Count D even liked the way he smelled and the earthy tobacco and smoke that clung to his frame even in the midst of the shop's incense.

"Your silence speaks volumes, my grandson." The older D finished his cup of tea and sat it down on the table before standing. "Well, I just wanted to see how you were doing and to see if the Detective actually made it here like he said."

"Yes, he's been here for a few weeks now."

"Seems right at home, doesn't he?" The grandfather chuckled and started to walk towards the door. "I'll check in on you later."

"It was nice seeing you, Grandfather." D stood as well to walk his grandfather to the door. His polite smile was no where to be seen on his face. "I do hope you stop by later."

"And D."

"Yes, Grandfather?"

"For once, I shall not condemn you for interacting so closely and for so long with a human." The mysterious count smiled. "I rather like this one, too."

D stared at the door as his Grandfather disappeared as mysteriously as he arrived. The visit was short, but it had made D think. Think about just what he was going to do with darling Leon Orcott. The man wasn't going to stay there forever; he did have to leave at some point. "T-chan."

"Yeah, Count?" The Totetsu hung his arms over the side of the couch and watched his master carefully. "What do you need?"

"Go fetch my apron, I feel the need to clean the shop."

T-chan almost snorted. The Count only cleaned when the shop didn't need it when he was distressed or thinking. That Leon Orcott was more trouble than he was worth. "No problem."

"Its good that I caught you on your own. I'd been meaning to talk with you." Taizu smiled as he trotted up alongside of the blonde detective. Through his sources, he had found the hotel that D had been putting his American friend up in and been watching him for a few days now. While he hadn't got the man's schedule down exactly, it was a stroke of luck that he happened to be walking by at the right time to catch him. Taizu was thankful his earlier meeting got out early. "You're not busy are you?"

"Uh." Leon answered intelligently as he stared at the man in the suit that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The ex-Detective had barely made it two feet out of the hotel door fully intending to go see D for lunch to be interrupted. "Talk about what?"

Taizu tried a disarming smile as he walked down the street next to the other man. The affection between the two men was obvious so he would have to play his cards carefully. "Well, I was hoping you'd know by now that I'm very interested in your friend, Count D."

"Dude, if you want a date with D you should just ask him." Leon looked in his coat for his cigarettes, smirking when the other man frowned and started to twitch. He really wanted his smokes to deal with this man. And the conversations were always about D! Did this guy have nothing better to do? "I've seen him date mafia guys before."

"Not that sort of interested." Taizu smirked and loosened his tie. He knew where this game was going and took full advantage. He hit the blonde where it hurt. "I have no intention of stealing your little boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend." Leon grit his teeth and turned to the suit with a frown. Leon started walking back towards the pompous man with a pompous smirk and shoved his finger in his chest. Leon made sure to put on his best 'bad cop' act that he had perfected. "What is your deal?"

The business man took a deep breath and held his hand to his eyes. This loyal puppy was going to be harder to crack than he anticipated. The jab at him dating D clearly hadn't helped either. The affection he saw in D's face was probably one-sided. And the detective was rather dense; he probably hadn't noticed. Instead, maybe honesty would work in his favor; for once. "Let's just put all our cards on the table, hm? Shall we go somewhere more private and have a nice chat about Count D?"

"There's noting to talk about." Leon started looking for his cigarettes again. His search earlier was brought to a pause and this Taizu guy was making him crave his nicotine. "If you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be."

"That man is an eye-sore in my Kabuki-chou." Taizu clipped and stood up straighter. The blunt approach seemed to be up next. "He needs to go."

Leon paused and looked back at the other man. He saw something there that reminded him of himself. Of a man who spent two years going to see the Count every day looking for anything he could grasp. This Taizu had the same determination that Leon once had for his own desire to arrest Count D. That desire that turned into an obsession and landed Leon in years of searching for the man. Leon flicked his lighter open and stared at the light burning; his unlit cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. "You really want to know something?"

"Anything you're willing to give me." Taizu smiled at the man's considerate face. It seems that small bit of honesty really could give him the information to get rid of D. he should have thought of that sooner. Charisma and careful wordplay was wasted on straight-forward people. "Anything to give that man what he deserves."

"Drop it now while you can and just forget about D." Leon smiled bitterly. He finally pulled the light up and cupped the end of his cigarette as it lit. The lighter clicked softly as he replaced it in his pocket and looked up to match the man's eyes with his own. "You'll feel better about it in the end, and you can't win. D's bigger than you and me." Leon took a drag on his cigarette. "Bigger than we'll ever be."

"Something wrong, Count?" T-chan asked lazily as he stretched on the couch; his clawed hand scratched at his open stomach. The Count had been in a dull mood all day. The Totetsu had a good idea what could be causing the mini-depression, but he didn't like to think about it. "You've been doing that cleaning thing since your Grandfather was here. Is what he talked about still bugging you?"

"Don't be silly, I'm fine." The Count waved his manicured hand over his shoulder as he wiped down the table again. T-chan was making a fuss over nothing. The shop was dirty; he was cleaning it. Simple. "Leon just leaves more of a mess than usual so I have more cleaning. He's such a bother and my Grandfather merely reminded me of that."

T-chan lifted an eyebrow and looked at the clock. He contained the snort but couldn't hold back the tiny, knowing smirk. "He's also late from when he usually shows up."

The Count's hand stilled in wiping the table. He had known that Leon was late...was that really why he was so off beat? Couldn't be. "So he is. I hadn't noticed."

Bingo. T-chan thought to himself. This was definitely about the ex-detective and his absence from the shop. Nothing else seemed to affect the normally stoic and in control individual that was D. And considering what his grandfather said earlier, it was probably a bigger problem than T-chan was hoping. "I'm sure he's just sleeping in or something."

"Why would you say that?" D frowned. His Totetsu almost sounded reassuring; like he was trying to keep D from worry. Which was absurd. D wasn't concerned about what Leon did when he wasn't in the shop. He enjoyed his company yes, but the Count certainly didn't own Leon. "Do I look like I'm concerned?"

"Yes." T-chan rolled onto his feet from the couch and stretched his hands over his head. "You've been getting jittery and off lately when that idiot American isn't around."

"I, I'm just concerned for his well being, that's all." D snorted. "We all know he can't take care of himself and he's very far away from home. I'm the only one who can do it without Chris or Ms. Jill around to look after him."

T-chan started to curl a knowing smile onto his lips. He knew exactly what the Count really wanted. As much as he hated the detective (no matter how much Pon-chan said otherwise), he made the Count happy. "Well, if you're so concerned about him, why don't you make sure you can always keep an eye on him?"

D paused to think about what T-chan had just said. It was true, he could take other measures to make sure the detective was cared for just like the rest of his pets. But how would those efforts be received? Would Leon's company still be worth it if he hated the Count? Either way, they were thoughts best ignored.

"Hey, D!" Leon's voice echoing through the shop seemed to startle the effeminate man as he jumped and turned to face the blonde. Leon rose an eyebrow and pulled his cigarette free from his mouth with a small puff of smoke. He smiled at a single strand of loose raven hair flying away from his head from the jump. "Are you alright? You look kinda' spooked."

"I'm fine, of course, Darling Leon." D smiled brightly and forgot all about his previous worries and inner arguments. It was actually difficult to have those thoughts when the man was in his presence. D shoved the inner voice of his Grandfather teasing into the closet. "You're running late today, please have a seat. I'm sure you're hungry since it's just after lunch."

"Yeah, actually." Leon walked over to take a seat and crossed his fingers together. His shoulders were hunched as he stared at the tea cups still sitting on the table. They were empty, but still set out like they were expecting company. He licked his lips and ran a hand through his loose hair. "That'd be nice, D."

The Count noticed immediately that the detective was not looking like himself. Leon was lacking energy, like there was a great weight down on him and he was too tired to continue holding it up. D walked over quietly and set the saucer of cookies down neatly next to Leon's right hand before picking up the kettle. He spoke softly as he poured the tea. "But what about you? Dear Leon, you look ill."

"Oh, I'm fine. It's nothing." Leon tried to force a laugh but it didn't come out quite right. He had been in a low mood all morning, and running into Taizu certainly didn't lift his spirits any. It had made him think too much about why he was here. Being with D made it so easy to forget just what he was and how much of Leon's life had been invested into that man. A man who in the end was going to disappear again just like before. And then what would Leon do? "Just a little depressed, that's all."

"Whatever for?"

"Chris can't come visit." Leon slowly reached for the tea to take a sip. He didn't feel like drawing this conversation out so he told D the bare facts in a few swift sentences. And it helped him smother the other thoughts about his own life and future. "After you said it was okay the other day, I got excited and called home. But they said no and told me that if I informed Chris where you were they wouldn't even let me see Chris anymore."

"Oh, that's too bad. I know you were looking forward to that." D smiled softly and sat down next to the blonde. The source of his depression was now very obvious and understandable. D reached for a cookie off of the plate; he had enough tea for the day. "I was actually fairly happy about getting to see him myself."

"Yeah, sorry for getting your hopes up." Leon covered the top half of his face with his hands and took a breath. He cursed when the cigarette fell out of his mouth and into his lap. "Shit."

"Here, let me get that." D picked up a napkin and reached over to pick up the cigarette and the fallen ashes that had spread themselves over Leon's thigh automatically. He frowned when the ashes started to rub into the fabric. D licked the napkin and rubbed it a bit to get the stain out of the fabric. "I swear, you're hopeless."

D had his hand on Leon's thigh and his hair under Leon's nose.

The blonde American's brain had officially shut down with the overload of information. D never touched Leon so carelessly; certainly not to wipe off his lap. He didn't sit close to him either. Hell, Leon was still kicking himself for being so depressed in the first place to not notice. His first instinct was to throw the man off and jump up, but the nerves and connectors just weren't working from the shock.

"There." D smiled and sat the napkin down on the table and patted Leon's spotless thigh. "All clean." However, when D looked up, he was greeted with the wide, frightened eyes of Leon Orcott. He looked positively terrified of something. "Are you alright?"

"Uh." Leon swallowed and reached for the tea. "Nothing."

You're practically in his lap, Count. T-chan mumbled from his spot on the chair across the room. Those two had been in la-la land and forgotten him. The Totetsu snorted. I think you've scared him stiff.

D froze and looked down at his hand still firmly on the other man's leg. It was also at this point in time that D realized his body was flush with Leon's own and their proximity was quickly becoming suffocating. D quickly gathered himself and stood quickly to walk away. His grandfather had shaken him worse than he originally thought. "What would you like to eat? I was thinking of ordering something in instead of going out."

Leon breathed a sigh of relief when his brain started working again. When D touched him; his brain shut down. He pulled out another cigarette to calm his heart. Things were getting way too weird in the shop. "How about deli?"

"That sounds good. I know a place that serves the most delightful brownies with their meals."

T-chan rolled his eyes and stretched on his back on the chair. He studied the now nervous Count D and the idiot with slit and calculating eyes. A ball had just started rolling, and the Totetsu prayed for anyone who got in its way. If they were lucky the shop would still be in one piece by the end of it. Order me some turkey while you're at it, Count.