Yggdrasil

Chapter 2: Glimpse

After the "monster raid" the team members came back with no scratches. As soon as they arrived, Sera started briefing about another mission coming up after the daybreak.

"We received the payment from the government. A thirty-five million, straight into our bank accounts. Good work, everyone. You're in for bonus this month." She said and everyone cheered. "And for extra money, we'll be dealing with the mafia in town—ran by Gregor Ravinsky, they're asking us for variety of firearms and heavy weapons."

"Isn't it dangerous? Dealing with a mafia." Bokuto said boringly.

"And when was our job not dangerous? We have ourselves ten million in straight cash if we successfully confirm the exchange. We're meeting at their building, 9 o'clock in the morning. Daichi, Kuroo, Tobio will accompany me to the meeting place. Rest of you, secure the area, especially snipers. Kenma, monitor the communication channel, record everything. Clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. I'll meet you all back in nine hours."

"Kiddo, come here." As everyone was leaving the room, Kuroo called Kageyama. "Every night, we'll be rotating guards every four hours. Four guards per shift—two in front of Sera's room entrance, and two patrolling the floor. Don't worry, you don't do this every night. I'm just going to have you learn the process. But first, get some sleep. I'll wake you up when it's time for your post."

"Okay."

"Wow dad! Can I try, can I try? Pleeeaaaasse?"

"Not yet, Tobio. You'll try when you grow older."

"DAD! WAKE UP!"

Gunshots and explosions rang out—

"Wakey, wakey." Someone then woke up Kageyama. He instantly reacted, pulled out his gun, and pointed at the stranger who approached him when he was asleep. It was Ukai. He had already spun the gun away from him, putting the safety lever back on.

"It's your turn, kiddo. Kuroo's waiting for you outside." Ukai said as he yawned, and handed the rifle to Kageyama. He got up and left the room, and waited for Kuroo outside of Sera's room. A little after, Kuroo came out of her room, which Kageyama thought was odd.

"Is she sleeping?"

"Safe and sound." He said. He then leaned against the wall right next to the door. Kageyama stood on the other side of the door and leaned on the wall as well.

"I have a question."

"Hm~?"

"Why is she selling weapons?"

"Good question. I would like to tell you but to be completely honest, she never told us."

"And you all just blindly follow her?"

"In a sense it would be blindly following. But we also know what we're up against and who we're following. In terms of treating her men, there's no greater boss than her." He said. "And plus, she's a cutie."

"…."

"But don't get too ahead of yourself. She might look and act that way, but she can get really scary. I wouldn't want to compete with her in this field. She is doing a business after all."

"Business…"

"That's right… didn't you hate weapons?" Kuroo said. "But kid, once you know that everything around you is dangerous, you're gonna need them. In fact, you're going to thank them later. I thank these babies for giving me a chance to protect the princess. Perhaps it's because you don't quite have someone dear that you want to protect. You should try finding someone."

That morning—

Daichi, Kuroo, Sera, and Kageyama headed over to the meeting place. When Sera knocked on the door, a man in black suits opened up, and led them into the room, where on a sofa was a man wearing an obnoxiously bright orange Hawaiian shirt. He stood up upon seeing her and held out his hand.

"Ah, Ms. Kurobana. What a pleasure to meet you. Have a seat." He welcomed her with warm greetings and smiles and gestured over to the couch.

"Thank you, Mr. Ravinsky." She smiled and sat down across from him. "As you wished, the shipment should have arrived an hour ago. After the payment, we'll remove the guards and it'll all be yours."

"Yes, yes. I just heard from one of my men that they've arrived, top-notch quality. As expected of KLC, the service and the goods are beyond my expectations." He smiled with satisfaction. "And of course, for the payment of ten-mllion," he gestured at one of his men. "We have it ready as well."

His underling approached with a huge suitcase—he laid it on the table, and opened it—

'What…?' Tobio couldn't hide his confusion. Instead of green bills, there were pouches of plastic bags—and inside were white powder. 'Drugs?'

"Top-quality, the purest of it all. You're welcome to try out first. You'll be able to sell these for ten million for sure, and if you happen to go out to the Americas, they'll double in price." He said, lighting up a cigar.

Tobio studied Sera's facial expressions carefully, although he only could take a look at her face from the side.

"Mr. Ravinsky, where is the payment?" After a pause, she looked up from the suitcase and smiled.

"It's in front of you, Ms. Kurobana. And I was generous enough to provide you with the finest of the kind." He said, puffing the cigar. Sera merely maintained her smiling, serene face, and studied the man's face.

"Our deal was hard cash, up-front." Sera said. "If you don't have the payment, I'll be happy to hand over the goods once you have it."

"Come on~ You'll be able to get twenty-million in no time with these. It's a good deal."

"Our contract had strictly said hard cash, either US dollars or Euros."

Tension thickened in the room. Everyone could tell that Ravinsky's patience was running thin due to his eyebrows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"Take. The suitcase. Girl." He said, weight carried in his voice.

After staring at each other for good ten seconds, Sera finally pulled out her phone.

"The deal's cancelled. Secure the goods." She said.

"WHAT!" The man banged the table and shot out of his seat.

"Mr. Ravinsky. I am running a business. And businesses can't run if the conditions aren't met by both parties. I had met mine cleanly. But you haven't yours."

"What a stubborn child. You better take the payment, or else we'll have to do this the hard way."

Sera sighed. "And to think that they expect us to be a bunch of druggies… This is why I can't do business with low-level mafias."

At that, Ravinsky grabbed the ashtray on the table and slammed it down on Sera's head. Kageyama, Daichi, and Kuroo immediately pulled out their guns, pointing at Ravinsky, and in response, Ravinsky's three men in the room also pulled out their guns.

"Don't shoot." Sera said. Blood starting flowing down from her forehead.

"I didn't think we'd need the snipers I have set up, but if you insist, we can settle this with a more… rough term." He said, pulling out a walky-talky. "Ms. Kurobana. Take the suitcase. Call your men; tell them to remove the guards."

Sera reached for the packets of white powder inside the suitcase. She ripped it open—and poured it directly onto the ashtray.

"Mr. Ravinsky." She smiled—but it wasn't her serene smile. It had malice behind it. "You have made the biggest mistakes in your life today. First, you have cost the lives of you underlings, including the ones you've set up nearby to snipe me and the three in this room."

With that, the glass facing outside shattered and the three underlings that were with Ravinsky got shot down. Ravinsky flinched and shot out of his chair, frantically looking around. He then shouted on the walky-talky.

"W-Where the fuck are you, you useless shits!"

"What the—you watch your mouth motherfucker. I'll shove this entire magazine of bullets up of your fat ass if you don't kneel in front of the lady right now." Tanaka's voice came through.

"Point A clear."

"Point B clear."

"Point C clear. I think this was the last of them, Ojou."

At the voice of someone that's not one of his underlings, Ravinsky freaked out and dropped the walky-talky, collapsing onto the floor helplessly. Sera smiled—and with blood flowing down from her forehead, it made her seem ten times more frightening.

"W-Wait. Please." Ravinsky then started stuttering, sweat trickling down his forehead.

"Kuroo." She called.

Without a second thought he aimed his gun and pulled the trigger, putting a bullet straight in between Ravinsky's eyes. After shooting, Kageyama, who was the closest to Sera, examined her wound.

"It's still bleeding." He frowned.

"No worries, it doesn't hurt much."

"But I let you get hurt…"

"Ojou…! And I tell you every single time, you always do everything without first considering how much danger you're putting yourself into…!" Daichi began, and went on and on about how Sera did everything as she pleased despite his previous warnings and lectures. Kuroo snickered and came over with a handkerchief, wiping away some of the blood.

"Alright men, we're retrieving~ Let's treat ourselves some good dinner tonight."

When they met up back at their penthouse, everyone started panicking because their boss's forehead was covered in a huge, white bandage.

"Ojou….! Your beautiful face….! I should've shot that asshole long before he even pulled out the briefcase!" Tanaka shed tears and said, clenching Sera's hand.

"Seriously, I'm okay." She laughed. "Sorry boys, it looks like ten million hard cash from a mafia sounded too good to begin with. But at least we have ourselves some time before we move onto Russia. We'll leave in 36 hours so you have until then to relax. I'm gonna take a quick nap, and I'll meet you guys back here if you want to go out for dinner at 6:30. Someone find a good place and make a reservation~"

"Yes ma'am!"

When Sera left the room, the members all relaxed, settling comfortably into the couches, turning on TV, opening up a book, magazine, and also a bottle of booze. They started chattering about which places they should visit that night for dinner, dessert, and drinks. Noya came over and threw his arm around Kageyama.

"Kiddo! How was your first experience in the team?"

"…I got her hurt." He said, feeling a little down.

"Well, it must've freaked you out when that old fart hit her. It scared the hell out of me too." Noya nodded vigorously. "But Ojou is stronger than you think!"

"I-I thought I was going to faint when I saw her bleed." Asahi said, his face turning pale from just remembering the incident.

"Asahi-san! You need to man up and handle blood better!" Noya said.

"Y-Yessir."

"GUYS! LET'S GO GET PIZZA!" Bokuto yelled loudly.

"Bokuto-san. We're in Shanghai. I think an authentic Chinese Cuisine would be more fitting."

"I kinda want burgers."

"Suga, not you too;;;"

While the conversation heated up, Kageyama slipped out of the room and headed towards Sera's room to check up on her. After all, he was hired to protect her, but he had failed her job pretty badly. When Kageyama walked down the corridor and reached Sera's room, he noticed that there was another person in her room. When he went in after two knocks, he saw Kuroo, who was standing around, and Sera, who was taking her clothes off.

"Ah, Tobio. Come in." Sera said, unhooking the bra and throwing it on the bed. Kageyama just watched expressionless although it was his first time seeing a half-naked woman; after all, it's not like he's had any experience with women. He's had to kill women with guns before, though. What he thought was odd was that Kuroo was completely okay with her changing in front of him. "…So, I want you and Kenma to go to Kazakhstan first. I've already informed HQ, so they'll give you more info on the other party when you get there." She continued her previous discussion as she put on a bathrobe.

"Sure~" He grinned. "Kiddo, did you have something you wanted to discuss?"

"Not really." He replied. "I just wanted to check if you're okay, Sera. I'm sorry I let you get hurt although I was hired to protect you." He said, getting a bit timid.

Sera cooed and tackled Tobio into a hug. "Nnngh Tobio-chan~ You have no idea how cute you just sounded right now…! But no worries, Tobio. And plus, this is only a glimpse of what we're really capable of."

"I'm not cute." Tobio frowned, squirming out of her grasp. "If you're okay, then that's good. I'm leaving. Have a good nap." He said and hurriedly left the room, slamming the door shut as he left.

"That's not fair, I said the exact same thing but you didn't call me cute." Kuroo said, crossing his arms.

"Kuroo, take a look at the mirror before saying something like that." Sera said. "You are nowhere as cute as Tobio-chan. A 14-year old versus a 24-year old saying that is a completely different thing"

"I agree. His cuteness level is beyond my reach." He chuckled, walking over to her. "But really, I'm sorry…" He then slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him, running his thumb across her bandage with his other hand.

"Kuroo. You're getting soft." Sera said solemnly, removing his hand away from her bandages. "Don't get bothered by little things. The moment you lose professionality, I'm gonna have to cut you away. And I always tell you that attachments and relationships aren't much value to me regardless of how intimate we get."

At that, Kuroo chuckled. "I know, I know. You always tell me that. I've heard it almost too many times. Of course I'm aware of it." He leaned closer to her, his lips hovering just above hers.

"Good. I trust you to make rational decisions." She finally cracked a smile. "And plus, you fit my type almost too perfectly. It'd be a shame to have to let you go."

Kuroo chuckled then leaned in for a long, deep kiss, which Sera returned.

"So… are you going to take a nap?"

"Actually, I'm going to take a nice, warm bath first."

"Can I join?"

"Absolutely not." She said as she slid her hands underneath his shirt.