"I thought this was just talk over a drink," Kurogane said as he scowled at the other. Fai was in the midst of eating their quesadilla burger, something he had no interest in. It had cheese and was spicy. Neither a good combination with his stomach.

"Man does have to eat too, you know," Fai quipped easily. " 'Asides, with Syaoran's walk and packing up, won't have time later. Unlike some people, I actually know how to have fun on a weekend."

"Hah; shows what you know."

Fai waved a flippant hand, "Yes yes, everyone knows you taking yur cute kitter, Sakura, to the nursing homes and hospitals turns you into a giddy toddler, and everyone can't resist yur bright grin."

"If you have nothing better to do than to insult me..." Kurogane said growing irritable and standing up, he had better things than to just sit here and take it.

"Sit down, Kuro," Fai said the charades leaving, traded for seriousness in his voice.

Kurogane gave him a dark look, huffing quietly, but sat back down anyway, and then took a sip of his drink. He could probably drink a whole bottle to alleviate all the tension, but that just might impair his ability to drive, so it'd have to wait.

"Perhaps we can crack this case right now."

That was a bad pun, and you know it, Fai, Kurogane glared at him. Not that he hadn't made worse puns or sarcastic comments. Still.

The next twenty minutes were spent discussing details both had full knowledge of.

"He even tried to sell drugs to a police officer for chrissakes," Fai said in a slightly exasperated tone.

"Entrapment," Kurogane countered.

"You can stop the defense attorney for a minute," Fai said with that bored not-buying-it sigh. "You ain't impressing a jury; just lil ole Fai Fluorite, and we both know that at a minimum, he had possession. The big guy upstairs really doesn't want to see him lose all face. Kinda has a thing for the icon. A'sides, he really wants to fry the larger fish. Who we really want are the ones who sold him the stash. They want to make a deal. Plead guilty of possession and tell us who gave it to him, a lil ole rehab, and back to being everybody's favorite. We'd been a'hopin to keep it under the radar as much as possible but a trial will drag this out, make this thing go very public, and I'm sure the last thing he wants is for this to turn into a big scandal."

"I won't be handing my client on a stick for you to fry."

"Just talk to him okay?"

"I'll … talk to him, but don't think he's going for it."

"That's all I can really ask, I suppose."

As Fai stood up and pulled out his wallet to pay for his meal.

"Don't worry about it," Kurogane murmured.

"Oh no - you may be better off at C.C.S. but I can still pay for my own tab." He set a $20 bill on the table. Fai left, waving to Kurogane to "have a fun weekend, Blackie. Enjoy the fries while they're still warm."

Kurogane gritted his teeth as Fai left, gripping his head as he felt that headache again. He did eat a few of the leftover fries before paying the rest of the bill and heading out.

Kurogane groaned to himself as he sat in his car, slowly starting her up and driving away. Seishiro was not making his job easy, and was in a bind he was not sure even he could save him from. He knew that, and all because of one key witness: Seishiro's servant. The illegal immigrant Subaru Sumeragi had come to try and earn some money to help his brother and sister. He was the favored 'friend' of Seishiro's, who had been so kind to give him the job despite his legality. They had gotten close and Subaru really did not want to get the music star in trouble. Not to mention his language barrier; he wasn't fluent in the English language, and Seishiro had said he knew how cops could be and could probably make Subaru say stuff he didn't mean. At all costs, he did not want to have Subaru involved. Paid him his fair wages, and then some.

"You bribed him to say quiet?" Kurogane asked of the country star when they last met.

Seishiro shifted under the scrutiny. "I just wanted to help him out, honestly; he's a good lad and I don't want to see him get hurt neither. I gave him his money and some more to help out his wish. It's not my fault if I mighta slipped out a to stay hidden until things got settled. I don't wanna see the kid get hurt."

Kurogane pinched the bridge of his nose in some effort to drive away the mounting headache behind his temples. Kurogane really shouldn't be finding ways to screw his case up. But he was an aging perfectionist, and he had to know everything. This was the one thing that might have given that blond Cowboy up at the County Clerk's office the win.

"That's really … sweet and all, but we are dealing with the law here. And your friend is the only witness sober enough to testify accurately the accounts of the night." Even if he would need a translator.

Seishiro was not really budging on the issue, and that was not really helping. He knew, he would have to eventually tell Fai about the witness, but it could wait till Monday, he told himself. Give him the weekend to figure something out.

Kurogane briefly rubbed his temples, feeling that familiar pressure, when he noticed bright lights, aimed right for his car. He swerved to the side, to avoid them and within moments his car went off the side of the road.

There seemed to be some comfort in the darkness. Where that headache couldn't find him. After a while, he could hear voices but they weren't making any sense.

Eventually, he opened his eyes and saw someone in front of him, holding a cat.

"Glad to see you lived, Kurogane."