A/N: Thanks a lot for you who had reviewed the first chapter. Your reviews made me promise to myself, "I have to work hard for finishing this fanfic!" ^u^ So, here you are… and I'm so sorry about my grammatical errors.

Disclaimer: Aoki Takao-sensei

Setting: Alternate Universe

Sheriff and the Thief

Chapter Two

Sheriff Max and Kenny were walking together to a tavern, a cowboy bar which was owned by a fraternal twin, Julia and Raul. That tavern was the most famous tavern in the town. Everyday the tavern was always busy.

F-Dynasty—the cowboy bar's name—was Sheriff Max's favorite place to drink or just to take a rest after doing his sheriff's duties. Usually he bought doughnuts in Hilary's and brought it to F-Dynasty. There he will order his favorite beverage and then have a relax time with Kenny—or sometimes with Emily. If he is alone, Julia and Raul will accompany him to chat.

Now, Kenny asked him to go there to forget his failure arresting Miss M tonight. Kenny struggled hard to stop Sheriff Max's swearing and cursing words for Miss M. Finally he was success to cajole him to go to F-Dynasty—although Sheriff Max didn't stop swearing.

"Let's go inside, Sheriff," Kenny said while opening the tavern's door. Still grumbling, Sheriff Max followed Kenny.

The bartender tonight was Raul. He smiled to the sheriff and his assistant.

"Night Sheriff. Night Kenny," he greeted.

"Night Raul. As usual, please," Kenny sat down on a wooden chair in front of the bar table, followed by Max next to him. Raul nodded and made their orders.

And then Kenny looked around while Max still swearing Miss M. Kenny shook his head annoyingly. He gave up telling Max to stop.

"Here you are," Raul served two glasses of milk soda. Yeah, that was their favorite. Sheriff Max and Kenny avoided alcoholic beverage at all.

"It's not the habit, Raul. Your tavern is sleepy," Kenny commented while looking around again. The visitors there were only he and Sheriff Max.

Raul shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe the denizens of this town prefer sleeping well tonight," he said lightly. He wiped out the glasses with a rag.

"They will not sleep well if they must face a damn hungry girl thief," said Sheriff Max sarcastically. He drank his milk soda harshly.

Kenny rolled his eyes.

"Please Sheriff, don't start again!"

Max didn't answer. He removed his sheriff hat from his head, and then messed up his blonde hair frustratingly.

"Hey, what's wrong with him?" Raul whispered to Kenny.

"He got a serious stress because he was tricked by Miss M," answered Kenny, also in a whisper.

Raul was about to reply, but suddenly a voice called him.

"Raul, come here! I need your help!"

Raul put down the glasses which were being wiped out by him.

"Yes Julia. I'm coming!" he yelled. He winked to Kenny as a sign that he will be back soon.

Now there were only Kenny and Sheriff Max.

***

In Hilary's.

The police were almost going back to their office when a person went out from Hilary's Doughnut stall.

"Who's there!?" shouted a police. The other polices were on the alert immediately.

"Who's there!? Answer me!" the police repeated while pointing his pistol.

"Calm down! What's wrong with you all? It's me, Kenny!" Kenny revealed himself. The police looked at each other.

"You lied!!! You are Miss M, aren't you!?"

"No, no!!! I'm Kenny, Sheriff Max's assistant!" said Kenny in panic. "I'm just from toilet and I find Sheriff Max is nowhere! So I go out and you all point your pistols at me like this! What's happening here!?"

"You may not be Mr. Kenny! He and Sheriff Max have gone from here since minutes ago!!!" yelled a police.

"I am Kenny!!!" Kenny debated impatiently. "I am really Kenny!!! You can prove that!!!"

The police began to be confused. They looked at each other again.

"Okay," said a police who wisest among the others. "If you are really Mr. Kenny, could you tell us who Kenny who accompanies Sheriff Max is?"

"I don't know!!! Maybe he is Miss M!!!" Kenny stopped suddenly because of his own words. "He is Miss M!!! I'm sure, that Kenny is Miss M!!! I have to admonish Sheriff Max about this!!!"

He was ready to go, but he realized that he didn't know where Sheriff Max is.

"Tell me where Sheriff Max did go with that Kenny!!!" he said to the police.

"I'm sorry… but we can't guarantee that you are the real Kenny! What if you are Miss M and he, who is with Sheriff Max now, is the real one?" the wisest police refused flatly.

Kenny took a deep breath.

"Listen to me!!!" he snapped. After that he said very long sentences which contained many scientific and scholarly terms.

"What are you talking about?" asked the police confusedly after Kenny finished.

"Do you understand?" Kenny asked them. The police shook their heads together.

"It was the proof that I'm Kenny. So now, please tell me where Sheriff Max is!"

Finally the wisest police told him with no doubt.

"F-Dynasty? I should know it!" and then Kenny ran away hastily, leaving the police behind.

"Why did you tell him? I don't understand. Can that scientific lecture be a proof?" a young police asked the wisest police.

"Yes it can. Because Mr. Kenny—although he didn't seem like that—is the most genius person in this state. That is the fact," the wisest police answered. "It's only him who can say scientific lecture like that instantly."

"But how if Miss M is a genius too?" the young police insisted.

"I think she is not. A genius person will not be a food thief," the wisest police went into his car.

***

Back to F-Dynasty.

"Do you want some doughnuts, Sheriff?" Kenny offered a box of doughnut while he himself eating one.

"No, thanks," Sheriff Max refused. And then he drank his milk soda again.

"Okay. Don't blame me if I eat it up," Kenny ate his doughnut greedily. Sheriff Max only grumbled as answer.

But suddenly he realized something.

"Kenny," he said while looking sharply at his glass, not at Kenny, "how come you get Hilary's doughnut? You didn't take it from Hilary's, did you?"

After saying that, he turned his head to Kenny. But there was no Kenny again. Instead of Kenny, there was a person who wore a black cloak.

"You…!!!"

"Hello, Sheriff," that person said in a cheerful tone. "Nice to meet you again."

Sheriff Max stood up and hit the bar table.

"Where's Kenny!? What did you do to him!?"

Sheriff Max couldn't see Miss M's face because her head was cloaked by hood, yet he completely sure that she was smirking.

"He is alright. He just has a lot of business in toilet. But trust me, it's not my fault at all. Maybe he ate doughnuts too much," Miss M shrugged her shoulders. And then she continued eating her doughnut.

"Okay, I trust you. Because a hungry thief like you will not be able to defeat Kenny," Sheriff Max mocked her. "So you are here now. And what does it mean? Do you know?"

Miss M didn't answer. She still eating as nothing happened.

"You don't know? I'll tell you then. You are here; it means that I WILL ARREST YOU!!!" Sheriff Max shouted.

"Oh yeah? You scared me so much," Miss M threw a smoke bomb again.

"If you think you can trick me again in the same way, you had made a big mistake!!!" Sheriff Max snarled. He closed his eyes and concentrated his mind, trying to feel Miss M's presence.

"The door!" Sheriff Max opened his eyes. "You can't run again from me, Miss M!!!" he took his sheriff hat from bar table and wore it on his head. After that he took out his pistol and then chased Miss M. He could hear Raul's voice, "Hey! What's happened here!? Sheriff Max!?", but he didn't care about it at all.

"Where are you!?" shouted Sheriff Max when he had been outside. "Where are you, Miss M!?"

He looked around. No signs of Miss M.

"She can't run too far," he said to himself. "So many shops in this road and there is only one way to come and go."

Sheriff Max walked carefully. He listened to all sounds at his surroundings. He held his pistol tight.

Suddenly there was a sound of footstep. Sheriff Max turned around immediately. He pointed his pistol.

"Who's there!?"

Then two people appeared.

"Kenny? Major Dickenson?" Sheriff Max said astonishingly.

"Sheriff Max, there are bad news!" yelled Kenny directly. He gasped.

"Is it really you, Kenny?" Sheriff Max asked carefully. He even had not pointed his pistol down yet.

"Yes I am!" replied Kenny. And then he said again a scientific lecture quickly. "You trust me now, don't you?"

"All right," Sheriff Max pointed his pistol down. He felt a relief. It was really Kenny. He was sure, another talkative person could not think about scientific lecture spontaneously.

But his relief didn't be for a long time.

"Major Dickenson has bad news, Sheriff!" Kenny repeated. He seemed panic.

"What is it, Major Dickenson?"

"You remember Joseph, don't you?" instead of answering, Major Dickenson asked Sheriff Max.

"Of course I do. He is the most dangerous and bothersome bandit I've ever arrested."

"He escaped from jail," Major Dickenson took a deep breath. "He tricked the guards. You know Sheriff, there were so many polices mobilized by us to help you handle Miss M tonight. Therefore the jail was not kept well…"

"Oh sh*t," Sheriff Max mumbled. He had not arrested Miss M and now there was a new trouble.

"The bad news isn't only that," said Kenny with strange voice. "Joseph kidnapped Emily."

"What!?" Sheriff Max shocked. "Can you repeat!?"

"Joseph kidnapped Emily," Kenny turned his head away. Major Dickenson began to sob. Sheriff Max was frozen in his place.

Meanwhile, on the roof of F-Dynasty, Miss M stood up. She looked and listened all that happened on the road. She sighed.

"When will you stop making trouble, Joseph!?" she murmured. And then she turned around. Her black cloak fluttered, blown by night wind. She went away.

TBC

A/N: I planned to make this fanfic finishes in two chapters at first, but I think I must extend it. Perhaps it'll be four or five chapters. Thanks for reading, thanks more for reviewing.