'I hate it here,' Jasmine thought as she leaned against the edge of a desk. 'I really hate it here.'
She counted a stack of money and then sat it on the cherry oak desk in front of her, drowning out the sounds of the SHINRA agents chatting amongst each other in the study.
She couldn't wait until this mission was over.
She'd heard from Reno that a member of SHINRA (one of the lower level drug dealers) was in possession of a journal page. The story was that this page had been hand-delivered to this person and that they were to study the page before sending it off to Master Xehanort.
Jasmine's job? Find the page and leave Hollow Bastion.
However, the difficulty here was that the page was with a drug dealer located in one of the shadiest, most dangerous parts of the island and getting anywhere near him (even with him not having the status of some of the other members) was next to impossible.
Jasmine had stationed herself on the island for a little over a month now, positioning herself in various clubs and bars where he was known for frequenting. After a little flirtation, and a lot of acting, Jasmine had been able to work her way through his circle and was one step away from getting the page.
The man sitting in the arm chair, dressed in a sloppy black suit snapped his fingers, calling everyone to attention. He had slightly tanned skin and shaggy brown hair that covered one of his dark green eyes. He looked young (though he was clearly not as young as Jasmine - even if he himself didn't know it) but his youth was hidden behind the sharp, almost evil look in his eyes.
"Tomorrow, I need all of you back here," he announced, his youth showing in his tone. "There's a shipment coming in a few days and we need to take care of it. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Xander!" Everyone (minus Jasmine) said at once.
The other men in the room bowed before the man but Jasmine continued on with counting the money. She didn't have to go through the same treatment as the others. Why? Because she had successfully worked her way into his circle and sat at his side, taking on the role of girlfriend.
Jasmine's skin crawled when she thought about it. For almost a whole month she had to pretend that she actually had feelings for this man when, in reality, she despised everything about him: his attitude, his treatment of other people (especially women), his cologne…everything.
With a wave of his hand, Xander's group left his office with the last man leaving shutting the door tightly behind him.
"What a pain in the ass," Xander grumbled, running his fingers through his bangs. He got up from his chair and locked the door to his study.
Jasmine's stomach dropped. She knew what was coming next.
With a confident stride, he made his way over to Jasmine. She forced a natural looking smile and closed her eyes when he leaned forward to his way to her. He grabbed her face (a little too roughly for her liking) and kissed her.
One of the main drawbacks of Jasmine's "profession" were times like these. Whether SOLDIER admitted it or not, they had often used the few female agents for missions like these. She'd met a few other female agents when she first started off and they all went through the same thing. Track down a member of SHINRA or any other group with less than honorable intentions, seduce the men, and do whatever is necessary to get what you need.
Jasmine once questioned one of the other female SOLDIERs about the term "anything" but she didn't say anything which, in turn, was all the answer Jasmine needed.
Once the kiss was broken, Xander looked Jasmine up and down, playfully tugging at the shorter than it should be black mini dress. "Do you want to get dinner after this before we head back?"
Jasmine blinked her (fake) dark brown eyes and smiled, giving Xander a kiss on the cheek. "I'd love to," she lied through her teeth.
While Xander walked Jasmine out and led her down the street towards his favorite restaurant, Jasmine allowed her mind to wander.
Just how long would she have to do this? How much longer until she was free from this lifestyle? While she admittedly enjoyed traveling and seeing the world, Jasmine hated the characters she often had to become in order to maneuver through these various missions.
She often wondered what everyone was doing on the island. She wondered how Sora, Kairi, Naminé, Roxas, and Riku were doing, about what Tifa and her family might be up to.
And then, in her more intimate moments with herself, Jasmine wondered how Riku and Noctis were doing in all this.
While she hated what Noctis did to her not long ago, she could feel some of her anger towards him melting away. But only some. She'd heard from him through Axel that he and the others were doing fine on their own missions but she never asked Axel to send word back to them on her progress. For the time being, she thought it best to simply keep them in the dark.
As for Riku…
The thought of him still pained her greatly.
Jasmine wondered how it was possible for the mere thought of him to send her into a mental and emotional frenzy. It almost seemed unnatural and insane for her to still feel so strongly for him given her history. But in the end, she chalked it up to nostalgia for her old life and often had to force herself from going too far down the rabbit hole with her emotions.
After all, if she let anything at any point slip, she could very well lose her life and she had too much at stake to let her emotions get the better of her.
Vanitas hated visiting Xander more than he could care to share. While he was good at his job, Xander's attitude and cockiness turned Vanitas completely off – which was surprising because Vanitas knew just how arrogant he could be.
But still, he had important business with Xander. Tonight they were supposed to have dinner and then discuss business tomorrow. While Vanitas would have rather handled the business first and left Hollow Bastion, Xander had been quite persistent on showing him what he had been working on.
With a heavy sigh, Vanitas walked through the doors to the restaurant that Xander told him to meet him at. With Stella in tow, Vanitas walked to the hostess who immediately led him to the back of the restaurant where Xander was sure to be waiting.
"I hate this guy," Vanitas grumbled.
Stella tried to put on a positive attitude, even though she had to admit that she wasn't too fond of Xander either. "Try to relax, Vanitas. It's only dinner, nothing more."
"I'm sure he's going to have his women with him," Vanitas rolled his eyes dramatically and sighed in exasperation. He truly didn't have time for this. Or the patience for that matter.
The hostess led Vanitas and Stella to the back of the restaurant, motioning for them to head to the table that seemed to be further away from the others. All the while, Vanitas was busy concocting an excuse to cut the dinner short.
Xander and the unknown woman had their backs to Vanitas and Stella originally but when Xander was alerted by the hostess that their guests had arrived, the brown-haired SHINRA agent stood up and greeted the pair warmly by giving them a polite, low bow.
"Vanitas, it's so good to see you," Xander greeted with a huge smile.
"Likewise," Vanitas lied, giving Xander a small smile of his own.
"I'm glad you could join me for dinner. I thought we could enjoy the evening before we get down to the dirty business later on."
'It's all dirty business,' Vanitas said mentally. He glanced over and saw only one woman at the table. However her back was turned to the group. "Who is that? I'm not used to seeing you with only one woman," he commented.
Xander broke out into a wide grin and motioned for the woman to stand up. "I'd like you to meet Angela."
When the woman stood up and turned to meet the group, Vanitas' eyes widened.
For a moment, it seemed as if time stood still as he took in "Angela's" familiar light brown/tanned skin, long ebony locks reaching her waist and her fake dark brown eyes. "Angela" however seemed to be quite calm and didn't pick up on Vanitas' shock. However, Vanitas quickly put the pieces together and realized just what exactly was going on.
Knowing that he needed to keep his calm, Vanitas cleared his throat and extended a hand to "Angela".
"It's nice to meet you," Vanitas said cordially, shaking her hand stiffly.
Xander, completely oblivious to what was going on, laughed at Vanitas' odd behavior.
"What's wrong with you, Vanitas? You look like you've seen a ghost." Once Vanitas and "Angela" broke their handshake, Xander kissed her gently on the cheek.
Vanitas quickly looked to Stella, who was just as taken back as he was, and then stared at "Angela", wondering why in the world Jasmine was here in this moment with Xander of all people. "You could say that…" Vanitas said distantly, wondering how and why this was happening right now.
Author's Note: I know it's been a while but I hope this chapter makes up for it. So to sum it up, Jasmine and Vanitas have crossed paths while she is on a mission. Not exactly the most comfortable situation but I (as the writer) thoroughly enjoy the idea of it.
Hopefuldreamer1991: Right? We can definitely thank Stella for all that. I hope you like the chapter.
Alright guys. I'm currently working on the next chapter now. Let me know what you guys think in a review or PM and I'll get back to you soon!
Take care!
