Normal disclaimer. I don't own Noir or Gunslinger Girls they're owned by Ryoe Tsukimura, Bee Train, Victor Entertainment, and Yu Aida, ADV Manga, Media Works; respectively.

Knifeslinger Girl - Ch 2

"Kirika... wake up." Mireille nudged the sleeping child with her nose, no answer. She nudged her again, this time pausing to take in her scent. "Wake up already..." Kirika lay there, fully aware of the partners playful ways. "Mmm" Mireille smiled, pulling the blankets off of Kirika. "Good morning... come on we've got a lot to do today." Kirika faked a smile. She didn't like it when Mireille took her shopping. Mireille gets... crazy when she get near clothing.

They had a light breakfast. Mireille sat there, imagining Kirika in different outfits, each one more ridiculous than the last. Picturing Kirika in pigtails and bows had Mireille giggling fits. Kirika could only imagine the horrors Mireille was planning for her this God forsaken day. It surprised Kirika just how frightening a beautiful woman sitting in a chair and humming to herself, could be. Kirika knew today was going to be turn torture, slow painful torture.

"Come on out Kirika, I want to see how it fits you." Kirika hated the dress Mireille had picked out for her. It had no pockets for carrying equipment. It was too tight to conceal her Beretta under. And, to top it all off, it was white, white and frilly. Not only did it draw attention to her, wouldn't blend in at night, and was prone to getting snagged on random things, but it was white. Who in there right mind would wear white?!

Kirika finished tying her shoes back on then stepped out of the fitting room. Mireille smiled, "You look... cute." Kirika looked down and sighed. "Mmm" "What's wrong, don't you like the dress?" Kirika looked up to Mireille, a hint of sadness in her eyes, "No this dress is fine." Mireille wasn't convinced. She took Kirika by the chin and tilted her eyes up to her own. "Are you sure, it doesn't seem like you like it." This time Kirika's expression revealed nothing, but Mireille knew her partner better than anyone else. "You know, lets find you a cuter dress. I think that blue one we had earlier might be better." "Mmm" Kirika smiled.

By lunch time, Kirika had a dress. It was light hunter green, modest, timed with darker crushed velvet, and very plane. Mireille wanted to get her something a little more fancy, as they walked past it, her little partners eyes lit up. And very seldom do Kirika's eyes light up. The last time that happened, Mireille ended up buying her a pearl pendant. Kirika loved that thing, it's the only piece of jewelry she would wear, well it was. About a year ago it was damaged during a mission that had gone wrong. Mireille remembered that mission, it was the first time Kirika had ever run out of ammo. There were more body guards than the dossier had stated. Not too many that they couldn't deal with them, but when you kill everybody that is supposed to be in the house, you get surprised to find another five guards sitting outside of the targets room. During the confusion, the pendant had been chipped. Mireille had worried, thinking Kirika had been shot, but her partner got up and continued onward. In the targets room they had found the man they were sent to kill. He had been woken up from the commotion outside his room. They each put a round in his chest and he hit the ground, dead. Mireille turned to walk away, but stopped when she heard Kirika fire again. Mireille turned around panicking, thinking they had missed another guard, but she saw Kirika standing over the target and she fired again... and again... and again, Pausing only every few seconds to reload. When her Beretta ran dry, she turned and left. As she passed Mireille her partner saw a single tear run down her cheek.

"Let's find some you some new shoes, something that'll match but you also need to be able to work in them," Mireille said as she finished her ice cream. Kirika sighed, tired from shopping. "Don't worry," Mireille said, "Now that we've got a dress, the shoes should find themselves." They found, what Mireille called, a neat little shop, and went inside. Kirika immediately picked out a pair that were functional, but Mireille stopped her with a harsh condescending, "No." "Whats wrong with these ones?" Kirika asked foolishly. Mireille went on, and on, and on, and on, about how they didn't match the dress, that they were out of season, that they were tacky and blah blah blah. Kirika tuned Mireille out, nodding every once in a while and throwing in an apologetic, "Mmm" when Mireille would pause to take another breath. When it seemed like Mireille was done with her speech, Kirika started to nod like she understood any of what her blond partner had said. Mireille smiled, "Good, so you understand." "Mmm," Kirika replied, slowly dying inside.

This time Kirika let Mireille pick out the shoes, thinking it would save time, it didn't. Mireille had lost it. She had Kirika parading around in shoe after shoe, trying on hats and bags, sunglasses and even more shoes. Each article and accessory as unacceptable as the last, And Kirika couldn't care either way. She still didn't understand the importance of whether or not a shoe had laces or a strap, but knew better than to ask again. They spent hours doing this, pushing the shopkeep to his limit. He would have been mad if he hadn't sold more today than he normally did in a week.

Now that Kirika had her new outfit, they had to break it in, so that Kirika could, as Mireille put it,"get used to moving around in them." Kirika was new to dresses and fancy shoes, but she would be able to do the job in anything. This was just Mireille's excuse to take her out. Usually they would eat at home, since it's never a good idea for assassins at there level to ever spend more time in public than they need. But that never stopped Mireille, she loved to live a glamorous life, diamonds and pearls and flashy clothing, never thinking that drawing attention to herself could be bad when trying to be discreet. They went out to a nice restaurant, well Mireille called it nice. It was the finest restaurant in Paris. The kind of place you need to get reservations months in advance, or threaten the owner with a visit by Noir. When they got there they were seated by an overly nervous hostess. The seating wasn't all that good, as planed, sometimes Mireille understood laying low.

The wait wasn't long, but the waiter was being a little to friendly. "Did you see the way he was looking at me?" asked Mireille. "Mmm. Do you think he's Soldats?" Mireille smiled, "No, I think he likes me." Even worse, Kirika thought, reaching for her Beretta, "I'll head for the bathrooms then take him out around the back of the building." Mireille blushed and smiled, "Getting a little protective, are we?" Kirika's gaze dropped, she knew she had overdone it. But the thought of that little punk waiter talking to her Mireille was just too much... way too much, she grabbed for her Beretta again. The waiter returned just in time to interrupt Kirika's thoughts of killing him, bring their drinks. "And what would a beautiful woman like you, like for dinner tonight?" Mireille smiled, Kirika made a face like she was going to shoot him. "Oh you're so kind..." Mireille said before placing her order. "And what would your daughter like?" So surprised by the question they ordered Kirika's dinner before they even knew to correct his mistake.

"He thinks I'm you daughter? Why?" Kirika asked. Mireille was too pissed to think straight, how could he think she was so old that she'd have a teenage daughter. "Mmm, Mireille... you there? I could still kill him if you'd like." Mireille's eyes light up, "Yes! Kill that bastard!" Kirika stood up, hand in her purse. "Wait... there's too many people, and well... well, we don't need to kill him, even if he thought I was old." "Mmm" Kirika sat down. "If anything, we should at least mess with him." Mireille stated. Kirika went for her Beretta once again. "No, not that... lets mess with his mind, when he brings us our food, kiss me." "Mmm?!" Kirika's mind panicked. It's not like they hadn't kissed before, but it was in the privacy of their home, not in front of the whole world, and to do so, so casually... her heart thumped hard in her chest. "Mmm," she agreed nervously. Seconds ticked away slower as her heart beat faster, drowning out the mindless chatter of the people around her. Minutes felt like hours as she waited for her food. The longer she waited the more she knew she couldn't back down. Not that she didn't want to but still... not like this, not in front of all these people. But still...

The waiter approached, bringing their food. Mireille made her move. Sliding her chair over next to Kirika's and positioning herself above her. Kirika's eyes shown fear and excitement. Her lips began to part, slowly moving up to meet Mireille's. They kissed lightly, just going through the motion, but it became more than an act. Kirika didn't care about the waiter or the people around them, all she knew was that the person she was with, the person she was in love with was kissing her. Even after the horrible day she had, even with all she had to put up with, she was with her, and that was more important to her than everything.

The waiter dropped the tray, and gasped. People stared and the waiter and at the two women. "Sorry Madam, I'll have the chef remake it right away." "No, it's fine," Mireille smiled, then looked at Kirika. "I think I'm hungry for something else." She took Kirika by the arm and they left the restaurant, everybody watching as they left.

"Did you see his face? That was great." Mireille said practically skipping. "Mmm" "What's wrong, I thought that was fun." Kirika's hand crept up to her lips and rubbed them softly. "What are you hungry for now," she asked shyly. Mireille wondered the little girl was joking, hungry or if she was suggesting something else. "Let's head home, I don't want to spend the rest of tonight with anyone other than you." "Mmm." Kirika smiled.

End

I know, I know this chapter had nothing to do with Knifesling-ing but the next chapter will be about Chloe's training to become an assassin. (That's right... she needs to be trained.) And sorry to the two people who read the first chapter and have been waiting for this one. I know people don't like to hear excuses, but I had midterms, my computer broke, and my house was burglarized. So please accept my apology and hopefully my next chapter won't take as long to write.

Again I ask for what the reader wants to read. I'm writing this, not only for my self, but for the people who are going to read it.