A/N:
I'm back! And going to begin the 2nd arc. This will remain in the 'Erotic Action' genre as the rest of this series, with, of course, a little humor sprinkled in from time to time because there is room for it. As one sees from the summary, we're going to be out of the EU for awhile. I have no idea how long this arc will be, but in any case I hope you all enjoy it! I will add to this that you can read the arcs out of order, I would suggest reading the first arc first-starting with Reticent Watcher and ending with Blood Price. It will make everything make more sense in context and give you a background of how all of this was build up and there will be things mentioned that happened before that might be confusing; however, you won't be completely lost, so don't fret if you haven't. Anyway, on with the show! Oh yeah: heavy smut warning.
New York. I can't remember the last time I was here on business.
Lili looked out of the window of her current dwelling; the Rocheforts had gotten ahold of an entire high-rise for this trip, as the place was owned by the company Mr. Rochefort was dealing with. Lili wasn't sure, but he had apparently purchased the property; Mr. Rochefort, after the trouble with the Zaibatsu, had decided to spread Rochefort Enterprises' influence with more than just oil. Purchasing large property to sell or rent out in a large city could go a long way, especially in the central areas.
It was quite nice to be back in the big city. She would be on another summer internship, but she would have more free time. She sort of hoped it wasn't as 'exciting' as the last summer, though it all ended well.
Very well, actually; the mole was dead and her family had not had any problems for close to eight months now. The Mishima Zaibatsu did still exist, though was apparently going through restructuring. Jin Kazama was alive, though it was unknown if he was looking to head it again...he had changed, she had heard from Hwoarang, whom she was on a friendly basis with. While she was not happy with the way they had gone after her family as much as they did, she was wondering just how much of it was him. Judging by what she heard of the young man...probably not much, though she still wouldn't trust him and hoped Hwoarang would watch himself around him.
She had no idea what was going on elsewhere, though she did hear from Lars once; he was apparently simply hiring himself out for mercenary and bodyguard work. One of those types whose life was chosen for him, she felt, though he was very good at what he did. He was one of the people who helped her out of her predicament, after all. She sort of wanted to come have him work for her, but she was trying to figure out how to approach her father about it. Plus, there was the question if he wanted to. She would have to think about asking him at some point.
The other driving force in solving that problem-besides her own snooping-had been Sergei Dragunov, the man who had now been working for their family when he was not on active duty. Her father paid a large sum to keep him on due to his incredible success rate and everything he had done. While the military did not want to give him up for good, a few months at a time, for the money-as well as oil dealings with Rochefort Enterprises-it was worth it, despite him being their best man. He would be there in New York; she suspected he was being briefed on things at the moment, or with her father at a meeting somewhere. He could, and did, still run missions for them, so he was not completely out of their hands. It was a mutually beneficial relationship...nd not just for Rochefort Enterprises and the Russian military, either.
As she milled around-deciding to put on some coffee to help her settle into her lavish overseas home-she thought back to that first day she met him about two years ago. She had been cross that afternoon since she was miffed that her father didn't trust her, but she had no idea what sorts of attackers he was afraid of. She could have dealt with thugs, and she had thought Sebastian would have been fine as well-aging or no, he was no slouch against a common thug and could still handle a hunting rifle. But he had insisted, so there was nothing to be done for it.
Sergei was huge, frightening-looking, silent, and just plain scary to her at first. He had an abnormal physical strength and was covered in scars that seemingly would have killed a lesser man. She thought he was a cyborg or something, though it turned out that he was indeed human, though she suspected something had gone on with him with military testing. He mostly just wandered about, training or reading books when he wasn't doing his rounds.
He was polite, though, and stayed out of her way; she recalled she had softened to him a bit, especially after discovering a few hidden depths he had.
Everything changed the night of the attack. Heavily armed men; trained mercenaries in full kit with enough technology to defeat the manor's yard alarms. Sergei had killed all four of them with his bare hands and no armor; that night she realized how dead she would have been-she had no clue on how to deal with such heavily-armed types, and Sebastian would have been of little help, either. A handgun was one thing-and even then only one of her kidnappers those years back had one and he was lazy. This was something else.
Their deaths were brutal; she still remembered, though she had seen much, much worse since then. Broken limbs, snapped necks, and he crushed one's skull on the ground in front of him. She did not know the true extent of his power and skill until that night. After that, Sergei was much more attentive. They talked, Lili spilling things to him she never would have thought she would have. Sergei had offered some small comfort...which surprised her. It even surprised him when he reached out to her; he just knew that he wanted to do more than just work for her family on a business deal. +
A friendship formed after that. They spoke quietly more often, and he helped train her in ways she could disarm more heavily armed opponents. The friendship soon became something much more, and she would never forget their first kiss...and what happened a week later.
She shivered as she poured her coffee.
They had what amounted to a secret affair since that night. Her father would never approve, she knew, and he was married to his duty. Yet-they cared more than about anything for each other. It was a strange relationship. They had no pictures of each other-they kept in contact when they were apart only through one or two emails, which were very basic. Even when together they weren't always overly talkative, though they could have long conversations. They talked when they felt like they wanted to. He had even rubbed off on Lili a bit; she was not quite as talkative as she used to be...but she had rubbed off too, and Sergei would say a few more words from time to time.
Their affair could end at any time, as well. But they kept it going...what they had was love, but it was simply...different. It was highly sexual, though-the two greatly enjoyed the physical aspect, and got very, very good with one another. Lili had been a virgin, and Sergei had all of one relationship when he was about seventeen years old that lasted maybe a few weeks. All they needed was instinct, though-and they soon discovered favorite things.
Lili was often quite thankful Sergei developed the sexual preferences that he did.
She was okay with their setup. She got mad at times-cursing him-sometimes to his face-that he just didn't leave and take her somewhere. He would simply look at her in silence before touching her. He wished, many times, that it could be different...but for now, it just had to be the way it was.
As she sat in the air-conditioned room, looking out the window and sipping her coffee, she did hope he would arrive soon.
I miss you, Sergei. It's been eight months.
But you know that.
–
She stirred in her bed from the soft knocking. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and adjusting her small tank top as she walked over to the door, quite loving the giant condo she was given for the stay as she looked around. The nap had been short; just enough for her to refresh from the day.
She didn't bother checking; opening the door, she stepped aside as the hulking frame of her lover moved inside as she quickly closed the door; no one was about, and there would be nothing suspicious anyway.
She stood back, folding her arms.
Eight months is far too long, she thought as she looked him up and down. He looked down at her, that tiny smirk on his face that he would always get around her.
He had a few more scars than she remembered-but this was nothing new. He would always come back with at least one or two, given that he was often on long tours of duty. He was probably on one for at least four months, if his last message was any indication. Otherwise-he looked no worse for the wear. She saw the extra bullet wound he had gotten dealing with her enemies; she could see the scar looked fresher than the others, as it was not quite a year old. His hair looked about the same-he liked the length it was at, as he preferred it long, but not in the way.
He always wore similar clothing when on bodyguard duty; a tank top and some sort of cargoes-sometimes camouflage, sometimes plain neutral colors-and his huge, steel-reinforced combat boots that complimented the kicks he often liked to utilize in his personalized Sambo style. He'd wear a jacket if it got cold, or a flak vest if he was expecting trouble.
She did like to see him in his more formal dress as well, those times he wore it. But there was something about this setup that always made him look ready to fight, which she did love to watch. She didn't necessarily like watching him kill, but she loved to watch him fight. The killing she knew was unfortunate but usually unavoidable, in his case. He did seem more alive than normal in a battle, however-she knew that was who he was. It was a side to him that she accepted...and she even liked it when he did things for her.
He leaned against the wall, folding his own arms to check her out as he would. Her hair was perhaps two inches shorter than it was, though it was still plenty long. She was as fit as ever, given her fairly decent training regimen that she held. She had on her more casual outfits-a rather nice looking shorter skirt with a tank top, given the weather-but as usual, she kept them rather impeccable looking.
Otherwise she was the same beautiful young woman he always knew. He missed her terribly in that eight months; he was glad to be able to at least correspond with her somewhat.
Lili started the discussion as always.
"You look good for being almost thirty." She knew he would be turning in about a month and a half.
He snorted laughter, brushing back a bit of his hair that had fallen down. She walked closer to look up at him.
"How many strings did you have to pull this time?"
"Not many. Your father seems to like having me around on foreign trips."
"So do I," she replied, finally resting her head on his chest and letting his arms slide around her. He held her tighter to him, reaching up to stroke her hair.
Lili leaned into him, thinking that three-quarters of a year apart was borderline cruelty at this point. She could sense he was very glad to be back, just from his touch. It was all he needed.
Lifting her head, he bent lower to kiss her finally. First lightly, though he quickly deepened it. Eight months was far, far too long; the two had been sort of waiting for whey they would get to do anything again.
They broke, Lili shifting. She knew, however, they'd have to wait some time. Within the next hour they'd have to meet up with Sebastian and a few others, and it could be at any time; even a quickie would be too risky. As much as they wanted to, they decided to refrain...for now. This evening, however, they would be free.
"I have coffee on," Lili said, walking into the kitchen, fixing the hair he had messed a bit with his huge hand. She poured a cup...adding a bottle to the counter next to it. She knew how Sergei liked to drink his with a shot of vodka from time to time. He smirked when he saw her take it out.
"Been busy?" he asked. He rarely asked if she was okay, unless something harrowing happened. She didn't mind this; it seemed like idle small talk. Asking if she had been busy pointed that he wanted to hear what she did over the past months.
She nodded. "Classes, Internships. Meetings. The boring ones you always had to sit in on." She laughed.
Sergei chuckled. He could take boredom, but he admitted to letting his eyes wander a few times a those.
"Dad's been more protective of me, though, as you can imagine. Makes guards follow me all the time," she snorted.
"You've been practicing what I taught you?"
"As much as I can. The clinch techniques are better with another person."
He nodded. "We'll catch up."
"You seemed to have gone through a bit."
"Nothing more than usual."
She chuckled, sipping the coffee in silence for awhile, as they would do. This was common for them; simply sitting there in a comfortable silence.
After a time, she looked at him again. She always wondered a few things about him even now. Sergei was far, far paler than any human being she had ever met. She knew he was human; he had no cybernetics in him or anything like that, and he did not seem to suffer from any sort of possession or weird devil genes that apparently went around the Mishima family-something she didn't think about too hard or it made her head hurt.
But besides his appearance, he had always demonstrated physical ability that was beyond any regular human she met. The bags he would knock to the ground in their training room were bags that some of her bigger, stronger guards could barely budge, and she also knew how much force it took to do things like, say, smash a man's head with a single blow; that was something that even one of the strongest people would have trouble doing.
She never got around to asking him about this. She thought maybe, one day, she would; she would just have to find the right time to approach the question.
Lili had no idea why she was weird with it, as she knew Sergei would not get upset about it. At worst, he would just choose not to talk about it. She knew him-that was how he worked.
Truth be told, he liked talking with her about their pasts. He had heard the story of her kidnapping soon after the first night they had gotten together, and they had occasionally told a story to one another throughout their time. It was more of a case of Lili being a little shy to approach some things, and Sergei simply never thinking to discuss the past.
Her phone buzzed, snapping them both back to their thoughts from their silence. She grabbed it, seeing that the limo was waiting for them downstairs. There would be a short meeting with some of her family and a few people-an orientation type of thing-and then she would be free for the rest of the weekend.
Sergei finished his drink and stood up, stretching a moment; it had been a long flight for him as well. He held his hand out to Lili, almost gentleman-like. She giggled a bit at that.
"Guess you'll behave for a few minutes?" she grinned, going to get her clothes together; she swapped into a pair of jeans for this meeting, though kept the tank top; it was quite hot out. She took a blouse with her to put on inside, which was at least air-conditioned.
Sergei watched as she got dressed; shifting a moment. If you had asked him that evening he may have said one of the hardest things he had to deal with the past two weeks was restraining himself at that particular moment. Judging by the look on her face, she was feeling the same thing; she indeed decided to hurry lest they begin to wonder where the two were at.
She exhaled deeply. "To the limo."
He held the door open for her, bowing. She stood, leaning upward to give him a light kiss on the mouth, which he returned.
"Welcome back," she said, chuckling.
He only touched her under the chin before leaving for the elevator, looking around at the building he would be living at until the winter, assuming all went well.
Lili watched him as he walked off, enjoying the silence of the hallway.
She figured they'd be back here soon enough, anyway.