Dear LovesYoseob:

FINE, I'LL CHANGE OR DELETE THAT FRIGGIN PARAGRAPH IN THE FOREWORD. HAPPY? AND YES, I AM IN A BAD MOOD AS WELL. I WROTE OUT THIS ENTIRE CHAPTER, BUT SOMEHOW AFF LOGGED ME OUT HALFWAY SO I HAD TO LOG BACK IN AND I LOST IT. FMLLLLLLLLLLL

*sigh* Anyway, I don't have the right to be pissed (okay, so I do). But thank you times a billion to the awesome 40-somthing people who subscribed within 24 hours of its posting and with just the foreward. I even recognize a few of you from my past fics! Thanks for following me this far :)

{*♦*}

Beijing, China     8:20 am

"Hey, you ! You tryin' to pick a fight?"

Three stereotypical mean, beefy delinquents were glaring mutinously at two boys -- one was very tall with dark, scary eyes, and the other was a shorter boy with round, chubby cheeks and a mouth that hinted at cute smiles. However, nobody was smiling right now.

"Get lost," Xiumin growled at the boys, grabbing at his friend's arm. "C'mon, Tao. Don't bother wasting time on them."

The three delinquents glared at Xiumin, but something about the dangerous look in Xiumin and Tao's eyes made them wary.

With one last warning glance at the three troublemakers, Xiumin and Tao left the school's courtyard, their posture rigid and stiff.

"We'll get you, raccoon-eyes, y'hear?" One of them hollered. "Nobody eyes us like that and gets away with it!"

The second they were inside the school building and out of sight, they relaxed and breathed sighs of relief.

"Whew!" Xiumin's eyes opened comically and he wiped imaginary sweat off of his forehead, cartoon-style. "I thought we'd never make it out alive!" He turned to glare at the boy beside him. "Dammit, Tao! Why did you have to LOOK at them?!"

"It wasn't my f-fault!" Tao protested defensively. As usual, any emotion beyond neutral indifference and calm happiness triggered his tear ducts, and his intimidating eyes suddenly filled up with tears quite cutely. "T-they called me! They said, 'hey, Wushu kid!' S-so I looked up a-and then......"

Xiumin took one look at his tearful face and immediately gave up. "Alright, alright," he said quickly. "Just be more careful, alright? You should be lucky I showed up in time, or else will REALLY go down. Then again, we could have always beaten them up and go on our way, right?" He joked, trying to make him smile.

When Tao didn't find it amusing, Xiumin sighed and patted his shoulder -- he had to reach up a bit since Tao was so tall. "Come on, Tao. We all know it's not your fault, alright?"

"Why do I have to look so scary?" Tao burst out. To anyone passing by, he would have looked like he was in an angry, Hulk-like rage. To Xiumin, who's been Tao's friend since they were in elementary school and knew him better than anyone, Tao looked more like a cute, sulking panda bear.

"Because of my looks, I can never make friends!" Tao angrily pouted and kicked at the floor. "People automatically think I wanna pick fights because I keep glaring! I don't even MEAN to!"

"Aw, Tao, don't be like that!" Xiumin attempted to cheer him up. "I mean, you still have me and Chen and Luhan, right? I'm sure you'll make more friends in no time! People just need time to see what a nice person you are, that's all."

Tao finally cracked a small smile. "Thanks, Xiumin. And thanks for helping me back there. I know they really WOULD have beaten me up if I was alone."

"Of course I had to help!" Xiumin snorted, puffing out his chest like a proud rooster. "What idiot in all of China would try to go against SM High's Wushu master and taekwondo champ at once?"

Tao grinned a little bit more. His biggest pride was Wushu.

"And besides, I would have beaten them up anyways," Xiumin boasted, before angrily adding, "And they called you a raccoon, those idiots. Everyone knows you're a panda."

{*♦*}

Paris, France     2:20 am

"Good morning, sunshine!"

Ming pulled the blankets further over her head and burrowed into the warm bed like a mole. She was so tired, she didn't even bother telling Lay to get the hell out.

With one swift tug, the gentle-looking Chinese boy had pulled the blankets onto the floor. Ming swore loudly and shivered as the cold morning air hit her body.

"Ah, ah, ah," Lay tutted. "Young ladies shouldn't swear."

"Young ladies shouldn't have guns stashed under their pillows either." Ming's hands were twitching towards the pillow. "Since it is two-in-the-freaking-morning and I've only had about three hours of sleep, can I shoot you?"

Lay gently swatted her hand away from the direction of his inevitable death. "I told you, you're not allowed to overuse your assassin license. That should only be used for emergencies."

"This IS an emergency," Ming groaned, rubbing her face with her hands in an effort to wake up more. "I'm going to have the WORST under-eye circles in the history of mankind, Lay, and it'll all be your fault. I'm going to look like a freaking panda."

"Don't blame me, blame the boss," Lay said matter-of-factly. "He wants you to report to him immediately, like, as in NOW. You know Triple-Zero, time is everything."

"Considering I've lived in Triple-Zero since I was six, yes, I know," Ming said, rolling her eyes. "What did the boss want?"

"Something about a flight and......a mission?" He gave her a sly wink.

"WHAT?" Ming bolted straight up, an ecstatic expression on her face. "NO WAY!!! NO MOTHERTRIPPIN' WAY!!!"

"Yes, way. I don't know for sure, but Kris swore it was a debriefing of your very first solo mission."

"YES! YES YES YES YES YES!!! AW YEAH!! Triple-Zero is finally speaking my LANGUAGE!!!" Ming fist-pumped the air, before scuttling out of bed and searching for clothes to wear.

She crossed to the other side of the bed on the hunt for any fallen clothes, only her hand appearing from the top of the bed and impatiently shooing Lay away. "Get out of my room so I can change, Lay!"

Lay rolled his eyes. "Like I haven't seen you before."

Ming's face appeared, bright red. "I thought we said to never talk about that again."

Lay gave a small cough that could have been a well-disguised laugh, before looking at her with a gentle, innocent face and eyes that screamed mischief. "You completed the rest of the mission stark , Ming, honey. I deserve to bring it up every now and then."

It wasn't her fault -- not really. A rather unfortunate case where they were inside a German labratory, and somehow a funny acid spilled on her and started to eat away at her clothes. She was forced to take them off and continue with the mission before it reached her skin.

Kris agreed never to speak of it again. Lay loved to bring it up every few weeks just to remind her.

{*♦*}

I'm doing my best this time around to try and really develop the two main characters as realistic, likeable, yet unique and interesting people. It's hard lol

So, I hope this wasn't too boring for you. I promise it'll start picking up soon.

And yes, I did the research. According to TWO websites I searched, Paris and Beijing have a six-hour time zone difference, so this chapter was basically showing the daily life of Tao and Ming at the same time, but from each other's perspectives.