Ezio Auditore da Firenze, great master Assassin and acclaimed ladies man… had just been robbed by a kid.

Granted the precious cargo that had been in his pouch made his mind wander and he had not noticed that the kid unbuckled said pouch from his belt until the shift in weight alerted him that something was missing and made him whirl around to catch the kid rounding the corner some ways ahead of him. With a growl the man took after the younger shouting things in Italian to him.

As it was Ezio was ashamed to admit that he lost the kid in the marketplace amidst all the other people mingling around, his uncle Mario would be so ashamed when he learned that his nephew was outwitted by a street rat, even more so when he learned that the objective of his mission was lost. With a defeated sigh the thirty year old made his way back to his old friends workshop to rest for the night before making the trip back to Villa Auditore to face his uncle's wrath. With a last grimace Ezio just hoped Leonardo was not too busy to humor him for a few hours.

The trip to the workplace was a short journey, once he arrived he knocked twice to warn Leonardo of his presence before he swung the door open and entered to find the man bended over his plans for a new invention as always.

"Leonardo!" he exclaimed as always making the other whirl around to face him.

"ah Ezio! So good to see you" giving the Assassin a hug and receiving a pat in the back in return and just as he was about to ask the other to let him stay fort he night the door swung open for a second time.

"Hey Leonardo you won't believe what I swiped from an old man in the street, its one of those pages you like… oh shit!" oh shit indeed because a livid Ezio was lunging towards him to possibly rip his head off, on the last second the kid –no, not a kid this one had about 19 years 22 max– ducked and ran to hide behind a surprised Leonardo.

He lunged again only for the other to duck completely behind the blond and cause Ezio to stop mid way to keep himself from running over his friend. Said blond just chuckled and stepped aside not before giving Ezio a look that clearly said to not hurt the other.

"So I see you've already met" oh was that an understatement.

"Yes" the answer was short and clipped, showing the extent of the Italian's displeasure.

"Now Ezio no harm done you were going to bring whatever my young friend took from you to me, no?" a nod was the answer and the easy smile eh received from the inventor took some tension away from the others shoulders but not all of it.

"Now Koganei the page please" immediately after he said it the young one took it from the stolen pouch and gave it to Leonardo to decipher. After the blonde stated to mumble to himself the now identified Koganei approached the assassin and trust the empty pouch in his face. Slightly take the aback he reached for it and buckled it once again in his belt and when he looked up again the teen had already moved away to sit on a corner fiddling with something in his hands.

Taking the opportunity to observe the youngling, Ezio found himself puzzled by the stranger. He was clearly not from around here that was for sure. He had pale skin for one, his eyes were blue– blue eyes were the color of nobility and even then they were a clear sky blue– but his they were a deep blue almost like looking at the deepest part of the ocean, and while his clothes were not attention catching they were made of good long lasting materials. Sporting black trousers tucked into a pair of brown leather boots of a strange design, a white shirt with a brown sleeveless vest over it. Slung over his back where two cylinders covered in blue cloth that was nagging at his curiosity.

His hair was the thing that made him want to rub his eyes; it was a deep black that shone with a blue hue when in the sunlight. As if noticing the stare the blue eyes boy looked up from whatever he was playing with, and a sense of foreboding settled over him when mischievousness shone within those orbs.

"Hey old man, wanna make a bet," the wide smirk that showed the tip of a sharpened incisor reminded him a grinning fox "come on it's a simple challenge"

"Don't do it Ezio you'll lose" the voice of Leonardo rang from the back of the workshop were his desk was at but that just made Ezio want to take up the challenge.

"Alright what is the challenge" the wide smile Koganei gave him almost made him back out, keyword being almost his pride wouldn't let him.

"Okay the terms, if I win you give me one of those" he pointed at the belt where he held all of his throwing knives "and if you win I'll owe you 5 favors and show you what I have wrapped over there" he continued pointing to two cylinders that he had been ogling earlier. Curiosity won over cautiousness and he agreed shaking hands with the teenager above him just barely hearing a sigh that came from Leonardo's direction.

"Okay here is the challenge" he took something from the corner where he had been sitting earlier and handed it to him. It was a wooden cube made of a lot of little cubes with colors in them (it's a rubix cube made of wood).

"The challenge is to move all the pieces of the same color to one side of the cube on all sides, it's a puzzle" he showed him how to move he pieces "you have until Leonardo finishes with that page, you can't break it or you'll lose" looking at his friend he calculated he had something around 2 hours to do this.

"This will be easy" oh how wrong was he.

Master Assassin and all he had never encountered something so difficult like this colored puzzle, it was maddening when he managed to complete on side of the same color but the rest of the cube was in disarray and to top it off that damn kid was shaking with laughter every time he growled in impatience.

Just when he was about to shush the other to rid himself of the snickers he heard Leonardo announce that he was done deciphering the page, meaning that he had lost the bet and a belt of his daggers to a grinning brat.

"Fine you brat, here" he unbuckled one of his leather belts which housed ten of the little knives, but before the other could take it he pulled back with a smirk "but first I want to see you solve this challenge" he was confident that there was no way to solve the little wooden cube.

"Easy as pie" picking up the discarded toy Koganei made a great and exaggerated show of inspecting it for about 15 seconds before a mad grin threatened to split his face in two as he set about solving the puzzle in a grand total of 10 seconds before it was being trusted back in Ezio's face in all its correctly made glory. That shit-eater grin was the last thing he saw before the belt was gone from his hand and the other was back at his corner inspecting his new price.

"Ahaha I told you not to do it, young as he may be Koganei is extremely smart" once again the smile of Leonardo took the bite of his loss and he sighed, accepting his defeat.

"From where did you pick him up Leonardo?" the question was out before he realized it.

"I found him wandering the streets around 3 years ago" the artist gazed back towards the subject of their conversation to find him rounding the corner in his way to the courtyard most likely to practice with his new daggers.

Flashback

Leonardo da Vinci artist, inventor, arquitect and a lot of other things found he was completely lost in the city, even if he had resided in Venice for a year now there were some parts of the city he would rather not venture into, especially when he was alone. Unfortunately he was in one of those parts right now with no way to steer himself back to his own place and the sun was quickly disappearing over the horizon.

Squishing his panic down he continued to walk hoping that with luck he could find something that could clue him in how to go back to the center of the city, if only he could climb the roofs like certain assassin this would be so much easier to do.

"Hey you!" turning to face the source of the voice he shook when he came face to face with a guard, a drunk guard with his sword already drawn. Before he could flee the scene the guard had already pinned him to the wall with a hand against his neck.

Leonardo was running out of air when he heard another voice call out,

"Nee kono yarou, kerewo nokosu te" but for the life of him there was noting he could understand of whatever was said. Before he knew what was happening exactly the guard was already crumpled on the ground and he collapsed in all fours gasping for air, feeling a hand on his shoulder that was keeping him from tipping over from the sudden dizziness he smiled a bit.

"daijobu?" he glanced to his savior and boy was he surprised to see a pair of concerned blue orbs staring back at him. The sixteen year old blinked at the shocked stare he received but smiled nonetheless when he the blonde stood up again.

"Thanks my name is Leonardo" if the cocked head and confused puppy look he received from the other was anything to go by his best guess was that he didn't understand him either.

Mentally he prepared himself for the longest game of charades ever, it did not help that he had never been particularly good at the game either.

End Flashback

Hours later when Koganei disappeared to who knows where (Leonardo waved him off saying that it happened often) and he was laying on a spare cot in the workshop did he let his mind wander into the mystery that was the blonde's savior. The boy was a puzzle within a puzzle wrapped in a riddle. His demeanor was not one of nobility or a well off family, and yet he wore gold jewelry a golden cross as a necklace (like the ones that identified doctors not templars) several bracelets and his ear was pierced with a golden hoop. He stood like a warrior, always alert and ready to spring into action on a moment's notice but his eyes told of innocence that should not be there. He feigned ignorance but Ezio could see the hidden intelligence in that young mind, with the way that his gaze seemed to mentally take everything apart to be analyzed.

The most shocking news where the speed in which he learned, Leonardo confided to him that it took the boy two months to learn Italian and that his accent disappeared three months after that. Ezio let a smirk graze his handsome face; well he did love to solve mysteries.

Months passed and he was no closer to solving the mystery that was Kaoru Koganei, after the next two visits he learned that his given name was Kaoru but that he preferred to be called Koganei (his family name). And now that brat seemed to enjoy finding what made him twitch with annoyance, all in good faith of course. It was in one of his now more frequent visits to Venice that it all went to hell, when he arrived to the workshop the door was on the floor broken beyond repair and Leonardo as nowhere to be seen.

Hearing footsteps behind him he turned to shout at whomever was here to get the fuck out only to stop short, Koganei stood there, eyes looking around taking in the destruction. His tongue felt like lead on his mouth, how to explain to the boy that the person that had taken him in was now prisoner, and it was most likely because of his connections to the Brotherhood more specifically Ezio himself.

"Koganei–" he couldn't finish the sentence as the other cut him off

"I know what you are thinking… but no its not your fault" his voice sounded hollow, defeated and guilty; for what reason he did not know, there was a pause before he resumed his talking now standing near the corner where he always sat himself.

"They came looking for me, he knew that they were coming so he sent me off on a long errand" he chuckled though the sound was humorless and empty "I should have noticed, but I didn't and this happened"

Honestly speaking this void version of the cheerful and energetic kid he met was starting to scare him, so he almost jumped out of his skin when the assault of the kid's foreign language sprouted out of him in an enraged yell.

"FUCK! THIS WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!"

He did not understand what he said but the anger, the desperation and the rage behind it was enough to snap him into action. Taking hold of the younger's arm he all but ran toward the Assassins bureau in Theodora's brothel praying that his uncle Mario and la Volpe where still around.

They were there but the answer he got to his request to for assistance to go and rescue Leonardo was not what he was looking for, his main argument was that the painter had been a reliable ally in the struggle against the Templar so he must be retrieved immediately. They answered with the creed and that shot down every other option he had about the rescue of his friend. It didn't matter that Leo was an ally, it didn't matter that he was his best friend an assassin must no compromise the brotherhood.

"Good thing I'm not part of the brotherhood" the voice of the youngest in the room surprised everyone with its coldness "they were looking for me, so I will fix it"

"I should have known better that to let anyone get close" he adjusted the straps of the ever present cylinders on his shoulder "they always end up hurt or dead".

Something was tossed to Ezio and he caught it before looking at it, it was the cube that he used to win the belt of knives that hung from his hips. "When you solve it show it to him, I'm sure he will be happy" he stunned and as such there was no reaction when Koganei turned to leave.

"What makes you sure that you're going to succeed" la Volpe asked from somewhere behind Ezio, and when he turned around to address him, his eyes were no longer that beautiful deep blue, now they almost looked pitch black.

"Because I'm a monster" he said it like it was a fact, Mario reacted this time and grabbed his arm just above the cloth that was always there "Monster or not this is a suicide mission" jerking his hand away from the hold of the elder assassin the cloth fell from the arm and everyone in the room saw the old jagged scar that ran along the inside of his wrist.

That is a mark left by suicide! Ezio though after a stunned moment of silence.

"Suicide huh? It's not like I haven't dealt with that one before" that was the last of his words before he disappeared into the busy streets.

By night fall Koganei had not returned and Ezio was at his wits end, deciding to fuck the world he went to grab his sword when a knock sounded from the back door of the brothel, saving Theodora the pain of addressing whoever was there he rose and opened the door, only to be greeted by Koganei holding an unconscious Leonardo piggyback style. The kid was drenched head to toe in blood but a once over told him that none of it was his own or Leonardo's, he took the inventor of the others back and laid him on one of the cots nearby, Theodora and Mario came into the room only to let a startle gasp escape when they saw the blood covered teenager. Said teenager paid them no mind and tuned to leave the same way he arrived.

"Wait Koganei where are you going?"

"Away"

"But why?"

"The guards are looking fro me, I must be gone by sunrise"

"we could hide you-"

"I'm sorry but I'd rather not put you in more danger that you already get yourself into" it was then that all assassins noticed the small smoke bomb but it was too late to react, once it made contact with the ground none of them could see where he went.

"This is the end" wass the last thing they heard from him.

That had been almost a year ago, but Ezio swore with blood that he would find him and not let him leave again. It didn't matter how long it took to do so.

Koganei was wrong, this was not the end; this was just the beginning.

TBC…

Sooo this is the rough draft of a crossover with Assassin's Creed and Flame of Recca, I will expand it a lot more later on a full blown story but for now this will stay as a one-shot and to actually get to the part where Leonardo gets captured will probably take about 15 chapters or so of the actual story. Well it will only span in the events of AC 2 and make references to AC 1, ignoring Brotherhood until I actually play the game. I don't want to spoil the game by reading up on it just to the sake of a story.

So main characters, are very obvious here but just in case…

Kaoru Koganei

Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Leonardo da Vinci

Okk… so to sleep!

Me is out…