There comes a point in every human existence despite the trials and tribulations afflicted on us that mold the perception of one's self yet an experience so profound to our very makeup sends you over the precipice of true understanding. Rendering you forever changed, reborn.
He recalled one such experience. The screech of metal as the door leading to his cell slid open. Mika strode in with several guards trailing behind. Screams and gunfire from the lower level resounded off the concrete walls.
"Mika, get out of here!"
"Not without you!"
And she had meant it. Proven it time and time again, every time she had saved his life. True it had been to her benefit. Just logical to ensure her survival was what he told himself. Yet Mika had several opportunities to ditch him and make a run for it but would not. Now he knew her heart was too pure to consider such a thing.
Looking down at her, Mika's cocoa bronze skin looked somehow washed out. Absent was her usual vibrant glow. Thankfully her special heart had saved her life. Being stabbed through the chest would require a long time for her to heal and he used this reasoning as he once again passed just a portion of the Ozuno legacy on as he healed Mika.
He melted into the shadows before a nurse entered the room. She briskly performed a check of Mika's vitals and left. He resumed gazing at her, the bronze glow already starting to return to her skin. Again, he wondered the same question. Why had she come into the dojo? She was safer with Maslow and his men but she had left them and come looking for him. From their first meeting, if that's what you'd call it, Mika had know exactly what he was, a killer. And despite that, she cared for him anyway.
Raizo grimaced at having to leave her protection to Maslow and Europol but it was necessary. Instinctively, he leaned down placing his ear above her heart mindful of the bandage peaking through her gown and listened. He would know the staccato beat of Mika's heart anywhere yet he had never before heard it this close. The heat of her body radiated out warming the side of his face and her scent, a cross between jasmine and citrus, filling his nose as he took slow deep breaths. A soft smile graced his lips as his heart matched the steady thrumming of Mika's.
"Raizo," Mika mumbled faintly her eyes closed yet trying to fight the drug induced sleep her brow furrowed. Was she dreaming of him? Or did she sense him?
"Shh, Mika sleep," he whispered in her ear burying his face in the crook of her neck. A shameless act with her unconscious, but she calmed and surrendered to sleep.
Mika slipped her key into the lock of her apartment door. Before it fully opened, Maslow pushed past her into the room gun extended. Drawing her own weapon, she followed. They swept the apartment including the closets and under her bed flipping on lights as they went before Mika finally relaxed. Adrenaline spent, she collapsed on the couch while Maslow paced back and forth returning to the argument they were having ten minutes earlier downstairs in his car.
"Right, now pack a bag and don't fuckin' argue, Mika, and don't give me that look. This isn't over. I keep trying to tell you. Command has ordered Europol to go after the remaining clans and your ass is still in the hot seat."
"Yeah, Ryan I heard that part!" she sat up temper giving her still healing body a burst of energy. "Heard it, right after you told me I've been suspended, indefinitely pending a full inquiry." They were going after the Clans yet they were putting her out to pasture, the one person who had any info on their activities or possible locations. It made no sense. Their eyes met and Ryan looked pale and slightly ill. Something else was going on here.
"And did you stop to think why?," Ryan yelled back. "Why I was ordered to assign just two teams to you, parked downstairs right now, no surveillance cams, no wire, nothing, just the four fucks downstairs?"
As his words sunk in, Mika ears started to ring as her heart roared like a freight train in her chest. During her week in the hospital and their return to Berlin she had been worrying about Raizo, his disappearance after the assault on the camp and if he was even still alive. She'd let tunnel vision take over so she didn't have to think about anything else. Ryan had smacked her back into full focus. She was in big trouble and the agency knew it. They were cutting their losses slowly distancing before leaving her to dangle like a worm on a hook. She couldn't help but understand their position recalling the image of too many body bags being loaded onto the chopper. Fallen agents that would never see their families again because of her. At least the death toll would be one this time.
"I'll be fine, Ryan. You said it yourself, you've got two security details on me, not to mention this." Mika opened her hand to reveal the panic button he'd given her at the hospital when she had finally demanded to be released. The doctors were flabberghasted by her quick recovery and became a little too eager to run additional tests for Mika's liking. Ryan's eyes narrowed and gave her a long intense look that made her stomach twist into a knot. He knew exactly what she was doing.
"Mika, I'm not leaving you here. Maybe if … I'm not leaving you alone."
"She's not alone," came his deep whisper. It had Mika jumping off the couch.
"Raizo," she cried unthinkingly throwing her arms around him and burying her face in the fall of raven hair at his neck. She felt him stiffen at the contact as if tensing for a blow but after a minute he slowly relaxed. She swore she felt him kiss her brow or more likely he was smelling her, recalling his comment about wolves. Raizo broke her embrace turning to Maslow who stood eyes bugged hand frozen on his holstered gun. Mika remembered Ryan had never witnessed a ninja materialize from the shadows. Few had and lived.
"You are right, Maslow. Mika is not safe here. It is a matter of time before the remaining Clans come for her. She will be safer with me." Still a little stunned by Raizo's appearance, Ryan took a moment before nodding.
"The ninja of all people speaks sense. I've been telling her that she's not safe here anymore for the last ten days but she's too damn stubborn. ," Ryan replied acidly.
"Hello, I am still in the room," Mika said annoyed. This time Ryan and Raizo turned on her like a pair of angry vipers.
"Pack, now," they said in unison. Confronted with two angry males, she conceded and went into the bedroom to pack.
"Mika," Zipping her suitcase, she turned to find Ryan standing in the doorway his expression forlorn in his rumbled suit.
"What is it?" He didn't answer but crossed the room and pulled her into a fierce hug.
"Take care of yourself. You need anything. You call, ok." Realizing, this was goodbye and she had no idea if she would ever see him again, Mika returned it with one of her own ending with a kiss to his stubble strewn cheek as he released her.
"Alright, I want you to check in regularly until this shit storm is over. I don't give a fuck what Jameson says, we're going to need you to clean up this mess. I have a feeling this is far from over and your boy agrees with me."
"Okay, I'll find a secure way," she said following him as he carried her suitcase to the door.
"I need a way of getting in contact with you. Make it happen," Ryan said to Raizo.
"Done," was Raizo's reply as he picked up Mika's suitcase and left the room. Ryan gave her a look before pulling up his pant leg to reveal a holstered gun strapped to his ankle. He handed it to her kissing her on the forehead and walking out the door. The moment the door closed she started to feel closed in making her heart jog in her chest. She felt someone just behind her and instinctively knew it was Raizo. Maybe it was his smell? She turned to look at him.
"I didn't think I would see you again. You just disappeared. …didn't even say goodbye."
"I was waiting for you. I needed to make some arrangements" he said in his deep whisper. Most of his injuries were healed. The only mar to his perfect face she could discern was a faint scar on his forehead. Her hand touched the bandage on her chest.
"You did something, didn't you? To me?" she looked up into his face eagerly waiting to analyze his expression. His dark chocolate eyes appeared to be doing the same as he stared down at her for a moment before giving her a slight nod.
Amazed, she nodded right back then said "Thank you. Why because you owe me one or cause you'd miss me?" she teased. He took a step closer. She could feel heat emanating from him seeming to warm the surrounding air.
"Yes to both," he whispered in her ear. The words, a slight disappointment but his proximity was so distracting she didn't complain. "Mika, the other clans will send someone else to kill you or to use you to find me. Let's go," he said holding out his hand.
Again without question, Mika took it. She had sailed past the point of no return the moment she saw the recording of Raizo. There was no going back to her old life. Being alive was as good as it was going to get for the foreseeable future.