A/N: I would like to say that I am sorry for not updating this story for quite some time. I hope that these next chapters start to make up for it. Again I am sorry. Please enjoy.

Chapter 7

The sun shone brightly on the town in the late morning. The streets were filled with people going about their day. One of the people was Sana. She walked among the small crowd of people toward the town's hotel. Her long brown hair breezed behind her,stopping halfway down her back. She was wearing an orange short-sleeved dress shirt and a knee-long skirt.

Many of the people she passed bid her a good morning and told her how great they thought her shoe was last night. Sana thanked them all with a smile.

Sana turned a corner and found Akito and Tsuyoshi standing in front of the sheriff's office. Akito's blonde-brown hair and Tsuyoshi's glasses both gleamed in the sunlight. Akito wore a gray short-sleeved shirt and brown pants. Tsuyoshi was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with gray pants. The two teens appeared to be looking at something. Sana reached and greeted them.

"Oh,good morning Sana." Tsuyoshi said. A small, welcoming smile formed on his face as he spoke. "How are you this morning?"

"Rested." Sana said. "Thanks for the flowers last night,Tsuyoshi."

"Oh, don't mention it,Sana." Tsuyoshi turned back to what he and Akito were looking at.

Sana looked and saw a poster. It was one of the many posters around town advertising The Town Founding Festival. The date on the poster said that the festival was tomorrow. "Looks fun,doesn't it?" Sana asked.

"What?" Tsuyoshi asked. "Oh...the festival. Right. Yeah. We can't wait."

Sana smiled. But what she didn't realize was that Tsuyoshi and Akito weren't looking at the festival poster. The were instead looking at the two wanted posters next to it. The ones with the poorly drawn faces on them had been replaced with two posters that looked as if the were professionally drawn. They looked almost identical to Akito and Tsuyoshi.

"What do you think?" Tsuyoshi asked Akito out of the corner of his mouth. "They're getting better,aren't they?"

"Maybe." Akito said. He turned to walk away when Sana noticed the posters.

"Oh!" Akito whirled around to look at her. "These drawings are way better then before. This should make it easier to catch those two,right?" She looked to Akito and Tsuyoshi. When they didn't say anything,she looked back to the posters and said, "I can't wait for those two to be caught. I'll be able to sleep better when they are."

Sana looked back to Akito and Tsuyoshi,but they were gone. 'Wh-where did they go?' Sana wondered. She walked up the street but couldn't find either of them. Sana sighed. She had been hoping to hang out with them today. There was nothing better to do. Aya was at work.

"Good morning,Sana." said a voice to her left. Sana looked up and saw her sheriff friend, Naozumi. He was wearing a long-sleeved,brown shirt under his black vest which had his gold sheriff badge pinned to it. The black pants he wore looked old,but clean.

"Hey Naozumi." Sana greeted her oldest friend. "How are you?"

"I'm great." Naozumi said. "Never felt better. Amazing show last night,by the way. Sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you then."

"Thank you." Sana said. Her and Naozumi walked down the street toward the sheriff's office. "And it's alright. I know you were busy."

"Yeah." Naozumi said. A moment of silence between them as they walked. "Did you see the new wanted posters?" Naozumi asked.

"Oh yeah. I did." Sana said,nodding her hear. "When did those come in?"

"Last night." Naozumi said. "About 11:30. I put them up immediately. Finally got to throw away those other god awful posters."

"They weren't that bad." Sana said reassuringly.

"They didn't even look human,Sana." Naozumi pointed out.

"Alright,they looked horrible." Sana and Naozumi laughed as they reached the sheriff's office. Naozumi stepped onto the porch and sat in a chair on the left side of the door. Sana sat down in a chair on the other side.

"Would you like a drink?" Naozumi asked politely.

Sana smiled at her friend. "No,thank you."

"Alright." Naozumi watched people passing by.

A few minutes passed in silence. Despite that,Sana enjoyed it. She didn't hang out with Naozumi as much as she did when they were little. Mostly because of the jobs they both took. But they still got together every so often and talked.

Naozumi was thinking close to the same thing during the silence. How he wished he and Sana could spend every waking moment together. He missed the days when they were joined at the hip. He also wished he could find the courage in him to confess himself to her. He was the sheriff of an entire town,but still had love troubles.

Sana sat up straight and said "Has Mr. McCullum come around again?"

"No," Naozumi said. "But I imagine he will later today. I understand him. I'd be mad too if I had so much stolen from me."

"But does he understand you?" Sana asked. "He has to get that there's not much you can do."

Naozumi smiled. "Thanks,Sana. He says he gets it,but I doubt it. Even if I do catch them,the 'Silent Duo'," Naozumi air quoited the 'Silent Duo' part, "has probably spent what they stole from him."

"Yeah." Sana said. "Probably."

Sana stood up and said to Naozumi "I'm sorry, Naozumi. I need to be going. I'll come by later though."

"Oh, alright." Naozumi said. "Maybe we can have lunch together?"

"Sure!" Sana beamed at him. Naozumi watched her as she left.

Sana walked up the street and made her way to the town's hotel. She walked up to the desk clerk and asked them what rooms Akito and Tsuyoshi were staying in. When she got that information,she made her way upstairs. Three times she knocked on Tsuyoshi's door. No answer. She walked down the hallway to the room next door and knocked another three times. "Akito?" she called. "Are you in their?"

When she received no answer,Sana walked back downstairs to the desk clerk. "Excuse me. Do you know if Akito and Tsuyoshi left anywhere?"

"Yes." the clerk answered. "They left earlier. They came back about ten minutes ago and left again with a few of their things from their rooms."

"Th-they left?" Sana asked,slightly panicky. "They checked out?"

"No,no. They just went out. They're still checked in. But I saw them take their horses and it looked like they were heading out of town."

"Out of town?" Sana repeated.

"Yes." the clerk said. Disappointed,Sana turned to leave. Then the clerk called out. "Oh,wait! I forgot! Mr. Akito told me to tell anyone who came looking for him that he would back later this afternoon."

"Really?" Sana asked,thinking that the clerk should have said that sooner. "Thank you."

"Not a problem. Excellent show last night,by the way." And the clerk turned back to their work.