She looked at the man before her and smiled. It was not of seduction, nor was it of joy, or even a mischievous smirk that she was so famous for, just a smile. He was the soldier that had saved the world many times over, so many times, in fact, that anyone would have a hard time trying to count, one of the best of the best on the face of the Earth. They were in his quarters, an arrangement that they had made, whenever the two of them were in the HQ of their organization at the same time. It had been like that, ever since they were no longer the FNGs, when they were assigned to their specific roles.

He had been a field man, the guy that their superiors were sure to count on, the man who delivered the results needed in any way necessary. And not only that, he had gained a huge amount of respect because he genuinely cared for his subordinates and his crew, making him quite the poster boy for their organization. After all, he had learned from the best, for before his coming into the organization, he had worked for the British Special Air Service under a legendary captain.

He too, regarded her well. Unlike all of the members of organization, she had come from a rather exotic country: Japan, but the usual, typical Japanese, she was not. She held double citizenship, being both Japanese and American, and came from a long line of Eurasians, which perfectly explained why she was a natural redhead with a typical Asian complexion. But that mattered little. She was just a warrior, in all meanings of the word, fast, accurate and deadly when provoked; she was trained in all forms of combat, modern and classical, the sniper that carried a katana for close-quarters combat, which had earned her the call sign, "Red Dragon", or "Reddie" for short.

Of course, being in a task force of international elites, they were a small group, and they had worked together on several occasions. It was those times that brought their mutual… considerations towards one another into light, which both thrilled and made their missions downright hard for them to continue without them pouncing on one another at the slightest moment of privacy.

Luckily, there were times like these.

"Did you miss me, Captain?" she asked him as she circled him, as if she was inspecting him, her finger outstretched to caress a circle around his shoulders. Those eyes, those dark ebony eyes, they held a fire that could not be sourced, but could be felt, right in her black gaze. Once again, there was no mistake about her call sign, no matter how stereotypical it sounded. "Or, has a beautiful woman caught your eye on your little trip in Myanmar that you have forgotten all about poor little me?"

He said nothing, but deftly snaked his arms around her slim waist and pulled her towards him. "Of course I missed you," he murmured into the sensitive skin on the arch of her neck, nibbling the same area gently as he tightened his hold over her, so that every curve of her body was molded into his own. Softly, she cooed right into his ear, a gesture that had no actual meaning, but it drove him crazy. "And… there… is… no… woman…more… beautiful… than you are." As he said those words, he kissed her eyelids, the tip of her nose, her luscious lips, and just above the area of the valley of her cleavage.

She chuckled at his words, and replied, "Perhaps it is only because that no other woman you know can handle a machine gun and a katana at the same time." Raising her head towards his for a kiss that he readily obliged to, she felt his tongue graze over her white teeth, and parted her mouth ever so little, just enough to allow his tongue entrance to encounter that of her own.

Truth be told, he had been utterly… fascinated by her. It took a soldier to notice another soldier's finesse, but what she had was raw and pure talent. Watching her fight, was like watching an elegant dance, and watching her dance… it was something different altogether. She had that sort of grace in combat that no other soldier had, as if she had been trained by the masters of the ancient world themselves.

"Think what you want, but you've ruined me for other women," he whispered into her ear as he caressed the smooth skin of her inner thigh with his calloused hand. Yet again, she chuckled, and he could have sworn that her black eyes twinkled at that split second, but not after she cocked a suspicious eyebrow at him. "Reddie, have I ever lied to you?"

"Well, you'd have to show me," she whispered back, playing with a lock of her hair. Those words were the catalyst that turned the tide, and within seconds, the usually calm and collected captain, became a beast, hungry for contact. Without any regard for her clothes, he quickly stripped them off, caressing every single patch of naked skin as he licked on her nipples hungrily. If that was not enough, she was moaning into his ear, and it drove him into nigh-madness, taking all of his self-control not to ram his shaft into her then and there.

Dragons were worshipped in Asia, and that was what he was going to do to this particular red-headed one. Trailing kisses down her taut abdomen, still continuing his slow caresses on her thighs, he knew that she could no longer take his seductive teasing. Kissing, licking, everywhere save for where she had wanted him so badly to touch. "You… bastard…" she rasped, clutching on what little hair that remained unshaven on his head. "Please…"

"Do you believe me now?" he asked maliciously, lightly running his fingers to feel her nether lips, noting that she would be ready for him in a few moments. There was an unintelligible mumble from her lips, which he took for a "yes", and began to suck at the jewel of her womanhood, already erect from what he had done to her.

She howled in pleasure as his tongue and teeth took her again and again, followed by two of his fingers. She could feel herself reaching the height of pleasure, and she knew that she needed him within her soon. "Captain, do not torture me so…" now, she resorted to begging, and it was his undoing. Quickly removing whatever barriers of clothing that was still on his person, he carried her onto his bed and laid her down.

"As you wish," he replied, and deftly sheathed himself within her, causing her to scream his name. It did not matter; after all, personnel quarters were all sound-proofed. They could do everything and anything, and the others would have no way on overhearing any part of their… encounter.

It was not before long when she turned, taking him below her, and started to ride him. Oh, yes, she loved to take charge so long she had the chance… "Ever the firecracker, aren't you?" he teased, nibbling on her shoulder, only to have her put a finger onto his lips before she silenced him with a slow kiss as she started to pick up the pace, gyrating her hips against his body with her back arched as he kneaded her full breasts. Soon, the both of them were rendered incapable of speech, due to the intense feelings of pleasure, leading to even more earth-shattering orgasms in their own time.

They had fallen asleep in each other's arms the moment after he had pulled himself out of the embrace of the walls of her womanhood, and for a moment's time, the two soldiers left everything that they were behind, knowing, in that space and time, that they were only a man and a woman, acting out the basest of their desires.


"That's a pretty sword, lass," he told the lieutenant that joined his team in Pakistan to chase out the remnants of the Taliban militants. He had never seen anyone handle a katana in this day and age, where guns were the main weapon of choice. "But it's not really reliable, is it?"

The lieutenant rolled her eyes and said, "Swords like these have been the height of technology for thousands of years, unlike those savage weapons we are so reliant upon." Having said thus, she quickly decapitated a combat-dummy faster than one of his subordinates could reload his weapon. "They still have not lost their appeal to me."


"Ryuka, are you awake?" he asked her, two hours later, after sensing her stirring in bed, and after remembering the first words that they had shared. She turned towards him and batted her long eyelashes upon, complaining that it was still a long time before he had to go after she looked at his watch. "I was just wondering… perhaps, when this is all over…"

"If you are talking about the war, it will never be over," she told him, her voice suddenly cold. "So long there are humans with conflicting interests, there will be war. You are a soldier; you should have known that, John." She had come from a long line of Japanese and American warriors, her ancestry could be traced to the first female assassin in Japanese history, and an American civil-war veteran sent to train the Japanese army after the Meiji Restoration happened. "I know what you mean to say, but I prefer to remain like this, as we are, without any chains to one another. But I want you to know that never in my life have I felt as I have when I'm with you."

Those words put a smile on his war-weighted face, and he held her closer to him. What started out as a lustful attraction between them, had blossomed into something more. "Me too, Reddie, me too."

Thus, once more, they fell asleep, and in the morning, he was nowhere in sight. Where he had formerly slept the previous night, was a handwritten note, in his own precise handwriting. I'm headed to the Tianshan Mountains with the FNG, I'll see you when I see you. That was her John, always so…formal when work was concerned. But then again, he was a field leader, he had to be.

At the back of the card, there was the picture of a highly disproportionate shape of a heart, with their initials written in the center. Giggling, she shook her head and wrote her own message on that very page.

I love you too.