Note: I do not own anything. Sadly...

Also, the title of this story refers to the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I thought it would be interesting to adapt it into love.

Finally, Rei and Kai have no previous knowledge of each other. Rei also does not wear his headband.

Enjoy...

Rei padded silently through the dim, ornate hallway. The thick, plush carpet sank under his footsteps, and at the same time, muffled any trace of sound. He counted the doors as he passed them. One, two, three, and four….

This door was bigger than the rest, painted dark red while the others were green. Rei smirked. This was definitely Gregorovich's study. He was known for his extravagance and flamboyancy; even among his own rooms he had to glorify his study.

Rei set his toolbox down and reached inside his handyman's pants to pull out the keys. It had been smart to come disguised as a handyman, with mud green overalls and an ugly red plaid shirt. It was also convenient that Gregorovich's toilet had started "leaking the other day" and "sent out a signal via the chip we embedded as part of our premium package deal". His drunken butler was none the wiser. Rei scoffed.Even though you can't trust smart people not to pry, hiring an idiot isn't bound to get you anywhere.

The door opened easily. The room was spacious enough, adorned in a color theme of dark red, cream, and evergreen. There wasn't much, just a desk, the door to the bathroom behind it, and a bookcase taking up one whole wall. Hmm, no cameras. A window took up the whole wall opposite Rei, but it was the only feature that showed any semblance of wealth. The room looked almost empty, as if no one lived there. I suppose when you have five homes you don't spend much time in any one of them.

On the desk was a file, neatly bound with a plastic cover. Rei walked over and read the title, then silently picked up the file. Pressing down on the corner of the toolbox, a secret compartment lifted up and he quickly slipped in file in. Gregorovich always had his secretary copy everything at least twice; this had proved easy for the CIA to get a hold of his documents. He, of course, was none the wiser, as he never looked at most of the copies anyway.

Closing it and taking the toolbox with him, Rei walked into the bathroom. After flushing the toilet a few times and banging on the lid with his wrench, he made a quick scan of the room. Nothing had been disturbed, as there was very little in the room to begin with. Good.

But just as he was about to leave, he caught sight of a black figure dropping down onto the thin ledge of the window outside. To a normal eye, there would only be ink black night with a spattering of stars on the exterior of the window. But Rei wasn't a double zero agent for nothing. Looks like the SVR(1)

Smirking, Rei raised a hand in salute, and then sashayed through the door, closing it with a small "click" behind him.

Through the window, a pair of crimson eyes watched him go.

"Doc."

"Yes. We hear you."

"…"

"Phoenix, we don't have all day."

"The Americans have it."

Muted swearing was heard, along with the crashing of glass, presumably a mug.

"Should I take their agent down?"

"We didn't give you any weapons."

A Hi-Standard B.22 was cocked by the earpiece, the sound echoing through the mic(2).

"You know better than to trust me."

"….Well…we don't really want to…wait. I got a call coming through."

"…"

More swearing was heard, this time louder.

A sigh. "It seems like we're working with the Americans on this one. So just let him go."

"…"

"Agent?"

"…"

"Agent!?"

The mic was promptly switched off.

(1) Yes, this really is the name of Russia's intelligence agency. I did my research.

(2) Microphone

Feel free to submit anything: ideas, comments, reviews, improvements. Or if you want to see anything in the story please suggest it. I'm always open.