A/N: Hi, everyone. I have no idea where this idea came from...it's nothing near my normal genre, so please be nice. WARNING: contains alcohol references as well as some content that might not be suitable for young children. Lastly, thanks, Moogs, for betaing this for me!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is recognizable.

I don't think I'll ever forget the first time I saw her. Yeah, so technically I'd seen her before, but not like that. I had seen her during practice in the dojo and I had even been stationed with her once about a year ago.

When she pulled off her head mask and revealed her face for the first time, I couldn't help but stare. The slight curl of her short, dark hair around her ear; the tilt of her chin; the sparkle in her eyes…

Okay, so I'll say it. I was completely smitten with that girl. Mai Melissa-chan. In fact, I've been in love with her for about a month now. I think she knows it—sometimes she slips me a secretive smile and then we both look away. Today she winked at me.

My sensei immediately smacked me on the head when he caught me looking at her.

"We are Foot. We are ninja. There is no time for such foolery!"

"Yes, sensei." I bowed my head, accepting his reprimand.

I had forgotten that attachments were forbidden. Of course, that's not to say that they never happened, just not without extreme consequences if you were caught. With my head still down, I snuck another glance at her out of the corner of my eye. She must have felt my gaze since she blushed and looked the other way.

The rest of today's training passed without incidence. I almost wished that my Master's enemies had shown their faces just so that the monotony would be broken. Katas and one-steps are only interesting for so long.

At last, as I crashed onto the futon in my apartment that serves as both my couch and my bed, I yanked off my own mask. It was so scratchy and damp from my own sweat. Everything about me reeked of sweat. My small, one room apartment stank of my sweat. I wanted a cold shower, but I didn't have the energy. My calves and thighs were killing me!

I'm by no means very advanced in the Foot. Heck, I'm scarcely a Genin. I hope all those front kicks get easier with time.

With a sigh, I tried to block out the pain and strip off my shirt. The AC-cooled air felt really good. I contemplated, very seriously, just going to sleep right then. My eyes closed and I could feel my body being pulled towards the blessed arms of Nemuri. However, sleep was not what the night had planned for me.

A creaking, grinding noise told me that my window was being opened—and I wasn't anywhere near it.

My eyes snapped open and I leapt up into a guarding position. Whoever was trying to break in had come to the wrong apartment. One of my calves started to twitch. Waiting has always made me very tense.

I could hear the sash grinding, rattling the dusty miniblinds. Come on…come on…just break in already! I'm tired of waiting for you to get in here! It seemed like an eternity of impatience, though in reality it must have been less than a minute.

"Hello?" The feminine voice was definitely not one that I had expected to hear. "You here, Craig?"

"M-Melissa?" Mentally I smacked myself for stammering. I hurried towards the window. Drawing up the blinds, I found myself staring into her grey-green eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you happy to see me?" She gave me a little pouting smirk and then leaped in through the window. I marveled that she could still have so much energy.

Suddenly, I felt a little embarrassed that I didn't have a shirt on. I glanced around. The only thing at close reach was my uniform, and it was too disgusting to touch. She, of course, was perfectly impeccable in her tight-fitting sweatpants and t-shirt.

"Can I, um, get you something to drink or something? I've got water of course, and some milk. Oh, and some beer, too."

"Beer, please."

I pulled two dark bottles from my little fridge and handed one to her. She took it with a smile and unscrewed the lid.

"So, uh, what brings you to my humble abode?"

"I live right above you, silly." She took a swig of the amber liquid. "Just thought I'd drop in."

Right. I forgot. Pretty much every apartment in this building belongs to some sort of associate of the Foot.

"Oh, and you're going to need to oil that window if you want me to come back again."

"I'm sorry, what? Back?" My head was spinning. She wanted to come back?

She laughed and drank some more beer. "We've been making eyes at each other for weeks now. I think it's time we moved on."

"How so?" I was praying to every god that I had ever heard of that my hopes weren't about to be dashed onto the ground.

"I mean actually date, silly. We'll have to be careful, of course, but we could still meet."

"Oh…"

The wall that I'm leaning against suddenly feels like the only stable thing for miles around. Loosely holding the glass bottle by the neck, she draws closer to me. Without warning, I find that her arms are wrapped around my neck.

"I practically ask you out and all you can say is 'oh'?"

"Yeah."

My arms wrap around her slender waist and I breathe in the faint, richly exotic smell of her hair. Our lips lock.

I don't remember exactly how or when we reached the futon, but I'm sure that we hadn't let go of each other the entire time. Her warm, soft body presses up against me. Each beat of her heart feels like it pumps the blood through my own veins. Our arms travel up and down each other's bodies, feeling every muscle, every movement…

Her cell phone rang.

Reluctantly, I allowed her to pull away. She shot me a sorrowful glance as she answered. Moments later, my own phone rang. Stealing glances at each other, we both listened to the same, pre-recorded message.

"Summons." She snapped the phone shut glumly.

"Same here." I look at her, my eyes full of regret. Her eyes held the same expression. Suddenly impassioned, I leapt up off of the futon. "We should quit the Foot. Go somewhere and live our lives together without anyone telling us that we have to be apart!"

A tiny, sad smile tugged at her lips. "You know we can't do that." She placed her hand on my arm and gently pulled me back down. "The foot, the feet support the body. We're the Feet. We are what support everything. To just leave would be…wrong."

"And yet we're doing this?"

"Love is one thing, Craig, and being a ninja is another. I won't just leave."

"How about after they get new recruits? They will have plenty of people then to support them."

"Maybe." She stood up with a sigh. "I need to go change before anyone catches me here."

I sighed as well and followed her to the still-open window. Catching her briefly in my arms, I whispered in her ear, "You'll come back, right?"

"Right." She squirmed slightly as I planted a soft kiss on her cheek. Playfully, she pushed herself away from me and climbed out onto the fire escape.

"Melissa?" I call softly after her.

"What?"

"I, uh…be careful, okay?"

"Hey, it's me." She flashed me a grin and disappeared from my sight.

"Stupid!" I muttered to myself, turning back to my room. Why couldn't I just tell her now? Is it just not the right time? I snatched up the top of my uniform as I stormed towards the door.

Our briefing was just that—brief. Apparently, the Master's enemies had been spotted on the Brooklyn Bridge and were quickly moving towards Manhattan. Our task was to intercept them and hopefully bring them down. As quickly as we were called, we were dismissed.

Running along the rooftops, I glanced over to Melissa. She was running silently beside me. Just knowing that she was there made me happy.

Before long, we reached the location that our squadron leader believed to be where our path would cross that of those blasted creatures. Sure enough, he was right. Two of them, Blue and Red, ran towards us. (Red was in the lead) They had obviously seen us, since they both had their weapons drawn. I glanced around, quickly calculating the odds. There were twenty of us and only two of them. Not that it really mattered. I once heard that Blue took down Hun twice singlehandedly and once fought off three full squadrons of us as well as Hun and Techs before the Elite finally took him down. We all rush in to the fight. I'm pretty sure that most of them felt pretty confident in the odds. Me, not so much. And to think, I was hoping they'd show up just five hours ago.

It isn't very long before I find myself crossing swords with Blue, himself. All of the freaks are good, but this one is scary good. After a minute, I'm thinking of letting myself pretend that I'm unconscious so he'll let up on me a bit.

Suddenly, I feel a strange sensation along my neck.

That's very strange.

I'm looking at my body fall, but my eyes are being propelled away from it, as though I'm not connected anymore.

Something's missing from the top. No head…

That's not right.

It's…so…very…strange…

Darkness…

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