A/N: I'm going to be making revisions to this and the other pages/chapters. The site doesn't seem to change my latest Update time when I make revisions unless I add a new chapter. If anyone knows how to get the automatic update readout to change when making revisions to already existing chapters, please tell me how to do so.

Count D hadn't found himself this surprised since he found the two saber tooth cubs in his tea case the night Leon had followed him into the Museum of Natural History.

He was use to Leon making at least some sort of complaint about one thing or another when they had tea together. It was almost becoming as much a part of the ritual as setting a napkin with a spoon next to each teacup. He was not, however, at all use to T-Chan letting Leon touch him (save for being pulled off and held down or away by the detective in order to keep the Totetsu from snacking on him). Even more unusual, he found himself actually struggling to grasp how the one could in anyway relate to the other.

Tea's getting a little old…T-Chan smoothie…

The pet shop owner, use to being the one shrouded in mystery, was now feeling a sensation similar to being on a large boat caught in turbulent waters. What could have possibly happened between now and the time that he had left the room to finish getting things ready to serve tea? There was nothing he could imagine that could have resulted in the two mutual antagonists sitting together now as if it were something they'd been doing all along.

Where Leon saw a small, hair covered creature that resembled a cross between a dog and a small sheep, Count D saw T-Chan's veiled form: a slim, exotic youth, with long, cedar hair.

T-Chan was stretched out on his stomach, left side snuggly against Leon's right leg, his arms folded underneath his chin, knees drawn towards his chest on his right side, and eyes closed in sheer contentment.

Before Count D could ask for a clearer explanation, the bizarre situation began unfolding even further before him. Just as he was realizing that Leon wasn't exactly petting him, Ten-Chan strolled over to the detective and sat down on his other side. He leaned over to look at T-Chan more closely and made some odd, overly dramatized remark that sounded vaguely familiar to the Count. Although he could tell that the kitsune was behaving in his usual, mischievous manner, he wasn't expecting Leon to pick up on his actions, let alone add to them with his own improvisation.

Somehow, without warning or evident reason, the least likely three had come together to conspire against the Count's sensibilities.

If everyone hadn't had their complete attention on Ten-Chan and his antics, then the look in the Count's eyes would have joined the growing list of most recent unusual occurrences. It was a look not unlike that of some large predatory creature, holding as still as possible, and watching for that tell-tale image that signaled the time to strike. The look was aimed at Ten-Chan, after Leon had gotten a hold of him.

The androgynous face framed by cascading gossamer filaments, had become a recognizably haughty and aristocratic mask. The mask shattered to reveal stunned disbelief, then melted into careless self-indulgence. For a moment, it almost looked as though Ten-Chan was going flop right over onto Leon's lap. When Ten-Chan, instead, slid gracelessly (okay, it was Ten-Chan, so it wasn't completely graceless) off the sofa to the floor, the laser beam target in the Count's eyes vanished instantaneously. This would possibly have been very interesting to anyone who'd seen it, but no one had. The Count checked discretely to make sure of it.

A careful smile formed on the Count's lips, and he carefully resumed setting the table for tea, carefully trying to make it look as if things were back to normal.

After it was fairly clear that Ten-Chan was simply going to continue lying on the floor and bask in the ridiculous afterglow that had settled upon him, the others (that weren't in the process of liquefying) began letting out various noises of amusement. This sort of thing had a rather reliable tendency to agitate Leon. The Count cast a discrete glance over at the detective in order to make sure that something of the human's visit would remain consistent. Alas. Leon was thoroughly absorbed in looking down at T-Chan's still form with an tranquility about him. He frowned slightly in deepening uncertainty, but did his best to keep anyone from seeing. Pouring the tea, he decided to try and find out whether the current change was some sort of spontaneous occurrence that had just happened here at the shop, or if it had something to do with things 'outside'. "Things have been going well at work?" he ventured as he poured Leon's tea.

Leon seemed to still completely for such a brief moment, that it was almost imperceptible. The look in his eyes had definitely taken on a sobering change. T-Chan felt his hand stop, attempted to open an eyelid, failed, and made a distressed noise in his throat.

"Just keep liquefying," Leon almost whispered and resumed working his fingertips down T-Chan's back The slight smile returned to at least one corner of his mouth, albeit, a little sadly. "Not really," he finally lifted his head to face the Count with a heavy sigh. "'nother more-than-usually nasty case…serial killer."

"Are you here to find out if I have anything to do with it, detective?" the Count asked cautiously.

Leon shook his head, looking distantly into the table. "No animals involved. Victims died by the same human hand…after being kept alive under sedation for a few days, then they were given lethal overdoses." He swallowed hard, then reached down and grabbed the teacup his host had just set down. Still keeping his hand working on the totetsu, he took one large gulp of the tea, as if trying to wash down something unpleasant. The tea had been hot, but rather than bursting into one of his signature tirades, he clenched his jaw, shut his eyes and rested his forehead against his wrist, teacup held loosely with his fingers, and waited for the pain to subside. His mind seemed to use the rotation of his fingers on T-Chan as measures of time passing while the searing lance of the tea's heat faded to a more bearable sting. When he realized that the hand holding the tea was threatening to shake, he opened his eyes and set the cup down carefully. He leaned back against the seat, and let out a long careful breath, his eyes becoming slightly glazed and working hand not missing a beat.

"Did you scald your mouth, Leon?" Count D stood with intense concern drawing his face into tight lines.

Rather than react to the Count actually calling him by name, Leon shut his eyes once more and did a mental diagnosis of his mouth and throat. His head turned from side to side a couple of times in answer.

No sound from the detective… Count D calling the police officer by his first name and asking him if he'd scalded his mouth… This was definitely something to be paying closer attention to. Although holding the 'mostly oblivious' expression, Ten-Chan's seemingly dull eyes drifted over to the human. T-Chan was still in the process of being liquefied, and the detective was just then opening his own eyes.

With a slight wrinkle of his nose, Leon seemed to regain the familiar stoic, cynical façade he so often wore. "Been too hungry t'wait for pizza t'cool too many times—probably shouldn't still have a tounge," he told the coffee table, and then wrinkled his mouth over to one side.

"Things would be remarkably less interesting, if that were to ever happen, my dear detective." Count D replied with a noticeably warm lilt in his tone, relaxing once again. He sat down across from Leon as usual, setting his saucer on his lap while taking a delicate sip from the cup. His eyes stayed on Leon, searching behind the guise of amusement.

"Hmph. Fat chance…" Leon sneered slightly, but there was a heavy taint of gratitude in his reply. He squinted slightly, and seemed to be trying to see past the table into some distant place to find some nameless item.

Waiting for a few moments to see if Leon would do any thinking out loud, Count D set the cup down on the saucer and tilted his head. "Any feelings in your gut yet?" It was said with slight teasing, but more with honest hope that it would make Leon feel comfortable enough to let him try and help sort out facts and possibilities. His hopes were suddenly smothered when he saw Leon's breath catch, his eyes flinching wide with what looked like muted terror, and his face slightly drain of color.

T-Chan groaned suddenly when Leon's hand tightly squeezed the muscles in his lower back.

Leon's head turned immediately, his hand frozen for a moment as he checked to see if he'd accidentally hurt T-Chan.

T-Chan's fingers splayed slightly as a volley of wonderfully strong tingles coursed up his spine and flashed throughout his extremities. He inhaled deeply and let out a long satisfied sigh that ended in a slight snort.

Leon relaxed again, the smile and color returning to his face. He started moving his fingers again, back up to the little creature's neck and then down the nearest shoulder, and down the foreleg. His eyes became more lively again, fixing on T-Chan's face. The feel of another living being's warmth and solidity was turning into an anchor that perhaps no one realized the young man desperately needed.

A creeping sensation of faint nausea began to settle in Count D's stomach, although he couldn't, for the life of him, understand exactly why. There was something about this new case that was bothering Leon on a much deeper level than he'd ever been before. Leon's insistent struggle to cover his true feelings had attained a new visibility, and that revelation was becoming increasingly disturbing.

Pulling his attention back to his host, smile vanishing, Leon's eyes darted momentarily to Count D's, filled with guilt and helplessness, then back down to T-Chan. He dodged giving the real answer for one that was sufficiently true. "What I feel…is more and more useless." His other hand crossed over his body to join in the totetsu liquefaction process. Concentrating his efforts towards the limp paw, he held it with the fingers of one hand while pressing the tips of the other in tight, controlled lines and rotations.

Count D's gaze followed Leon's hands in distracted fascination. He saw T-Chan's left hand held almost tenderly in Leon's. Lifting his eyes to examine the detective's face again, he saw the distant, searching expression return. "What is it that's causing you to feel that way?" He asked with complete seriousness.

Leon clenched his lips together for a moment, and seemed to be choosing his words carefully. "We haven't been able t'find anything that can tell us where'r how these guys might've initially met up with the killer. Right now, we're back tracking credit card use and phone calls of the most recent victims." His eyes narrowed and he seemed to be gathering his determination. "If we can't find any recurring addresses'r phone numbers, then we have't try and map out where they've been…" He shook his head slowly, "There could be another victim, right now, still alive---"

"If you keep thinking about that, your mind may not see something that could help you find whoever it is you're looking for." Count D reminded and consoled Leon in the single statement.

Leon nodded silently in agreement. "Thanks," he said softly, with a quick glance of gratitude.

Count D nodded his acknowledgement. "Are they using the trained police dogs on this case at all?"

"The police dogs can only help if they know what scent they're suppose t'be goin after." Leon answered with frustration. "We need something that can tell us if there's a common scent of one person in more than one place. That kinda training'd take too long…the coroner says the killings are getting closer together with each body found." His shoulders suddenly spasmed back towards his spine just prior to a quick but fierce shudder.

It was hard to tell if Leon was so absorbed in what he was doing that he didn't really notice the disturbance in his own body, or if he was trying to pretend that it either hadn't happened or didn't matter. "I just might be able to provide you with what you need, detective." Count D offered sincerely.

There were slight flickering movements in Leon's eyes as he seemed to examine what had just been said to him in his mind. It was hard to tell when he shut them momentarily whether he was grasping or letting go of hope. The answer seemed to be more in the way his body seemed to release. His right shoulder, joined with the right side of his head in resting fully on the back of the couch. "Thanks, D." He nearly whispered before opening his eyes. He looked down at the paw he was still working on, noticing how more like cat's claws than dog or goat's the toes were. Having more contact with dogs, he used his fingertips to explore as well as pamper. No, this didn't feel like the makeup of a dog's foot, front or back. Not only that, but his tired, overtaxed brain would say 'finger' and 'hand' and superimpose a slender hand in his for a millisecond or two. No. He squinted slightly and squeezed with just a little more pressure to reassure himself that this was definitely a claw—on a paw. Yeah.

T-Chan's other paw decided it felt cheated, and tucked itself under it's owner, burrowed under it's owners chest, and poked itself out on the other side. This, however, resulted in the rest of T-Chan's body having to reposition. With a stretch, a squirm, and a gravitationally imposed on grunt, T-Chan moved so that he was lying on his right side, both upper and lower paws now easily accessible.

Leon laughed quietly behind a renewed smile, and took the hint. He switched work onto the other forepaw, giving it the same amount of attention as the first before moving to the left hind leg. A few seconds after beginning his magic on the foot, he heard a sound that at first seemed to be growling. He raised his head slightly and watched T-Chan until he was certain the noise was coming from him. "He purrs!" He mouthed in amazement, then let his head drop again, as more laughter came out of him in quiet breathy puffs. He didn't want to startle T-Chan, no matter how much this rocked his world.

10-22-07: See! Added more!

10-25-07: ...and more

11-08-07...and more (Thank you for the reviews and the 'Faving'. I've seen that there are a lot of hits to this story. I hope more readers that like this story will at least leave a one word review-so that I can see what they write and like to read, which gives me more ideas where to go and how to get there.) Please check out my newest PSoH story WORDING IS EVERYTHING. (I'm not sure if I want to add to it, or leave it as it is.)