They both stood on the roof of the skyscraper overlooking the entire town. Kasumi corrected the straps to her parachute. She had planned this whole thing to the smallest detail, sitting up all night studying blueprints and guards schedules. She took particular pride in this heist as it really would be a true test to their abilities.

"Want me to help you? You look like you need help" she teased Keiji, putting her hands on her hips.

Keiji took no notice to her joke. He just sat down, eyes fixed on Donovan Hock's estate. His whole being spoke of regret, second guessing them being there at all.

"I know I said this would require all of our skills and know-how, being the perfect challenge.. But maybe this wasn't a good idea after all"

Kasumi watched him for a while, trying to take him seriously. He knew very well that no one could stop her once she got sight of her target and here he tried to talk her out of it.

"Keiji" she began and sat down next to him. "You know me. You know I got this all covered! I've planned this thing to the smallest detail. Nothing could possibly go wrong and if it does, we will just pull out, okay?"

Keiji looked down at his hands. Something felt wrong but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. He reached out for Kasumis hands and she answered his sudden need to feel her near. She leaned her head on his shoulder and inhaled his scent. They sat like that for a while until Keiji had built up enough courage.

"I want you to have something" he said.

Kasumi sat up looking at him. He sounded serious. He brought up his omni-tool and asked her to do the same.

"Your decoy?" she asked surprised. "But it's your favorite tool!" she protested.

He grabbed her arms, looking her straight in the eyes.

"If something goes wrong, I need to know you will be safe. This will make me feel better, okay?"

Kasumi could see this carried high significance to him and only dared to nod. She looked down at her omni-tool. The decoy had been Keijis absolute favorite tool ever since she met him. They weren't easy to come by, at least not at this quality. This was just another thing that made her love him even more. He would give her his soul if he could. She looked up at her lover and smiled.

"We got this, okay?" she said reassuringly. "Nothing will go wrong. When this is over, I'll give you your decoy back"

Keiji smiled at her confidence and kissed her on the forehead. She smiled and kissed his lips with fiery passion before breaking it and got up. She helped him to his feet, smiled and jumped off the ledge. Keiji wasn't far behind and they both parachuted down to Hock's property. Kasumi looked over her shoulder, seeing Keiji close behind. She couldn't help herself, releasing the parachute just before landing to free-fall the last few meters. She landed gracefully and looked up as Keiji slowly landing next to her.

"Showoff" he said and smiled. "There's no one around to see you, you know that, right?"

Kasumi smiled and walked up to him grabbing his hands and kissed them lightly.

"You were watching. That's all the motivation I need" she answered, giggled and ran up to the roof door. He laughed at her. She always picked her moments to be a little silly and he loved her for it.

Keiji followed her close behind and brought up a few of his hacking tools. He easily hacked the door and Kasumi walked inside to disable the alarm. The duo walked carefully down the stairs. As they closed in on a corner, Kasumi activated her cloak and sneaked in along the wall. She sneaked up behind a guard and rendered him unconscious. He fell to the floor with a thump. Kasumi deactivated her cloak and signaled for Keiji to come out. He followed her lead.

"I gotta go this way and deactivate a couple of alarms. You keep walking down this corridor and.." Keiji interrupted her.

"I know, I know" he said and started making his way down the corridor.

Kasumi watched him walk away. She got a bit distracted by his perfect silhouette before making her way down yet another set of stairs. Keeping her cloak activated, she managed to turn off alarm after alarm, informing Keiji over the comm when it was safe to move forward.

"Kasumi.. there's a lot more guards around than we expected, isn't there?"

She wasn't sure what to say. She had noticed it too but the amount of guards was still nothing they couldn't handle.

"Maybe.. maybe we should just pull out now.."

Kasumi got annoyed. The guards were nothing! She was having fun. Finally a job that actually required some skills! There was no way she would pull out now when they were so close.

"Keiji, look. It's nothing! Besides, you should see all the stuff this guy owns. A few missing pieces of jewelry and art here and there won't hurt him what so ever"

Keiji grew silent. He was suspicious. He stopped and looked around a corner. Three more guards.

"I'm serious, Kasumi. Maybe they've been expecting us. We should go"

"Oh, pish posh! Check this out"

She jumped through a doorway knocking out one of the guard that stood in Keijis way, planting her decoy in front of the second one as she quickly neutralized the third. When the decoy disappeared, the guard turned around only to be faced with Kasumis uppercut. She turned to Keiji and bowed gracefully, a smirk playing across her face.

"See? It's nothing!"

She walked slowly up to Keiji who turned the corner shaking his head.

"Okay, you win, little bird" he said and smiled.

Kasumi giggled and kissed Keiji before she ran back through the doorway to disable the last alarm. Keiji made his way to the end of the hallway and waited by the door for Kasumis signal.

"Okay, done, go!"

Keiji opened the door, took a quick look around and walked in.

"You always know what to say and do to make me happy" he said to over over the comm, teasing her for the short command she had given him.

"Only for you, sweety" Kasumi answered and started making her way to him.

"Mm, I know something else you could do to make me happy once we're done here"

"Oh really? What's that?"

"Well, you being so good at what you do -"

The comm abruptly cut off. Kasumi felt a chill running down her spine.

"Keiji?"

No answer.

"Keiji!" she shouted, recklessly, and started running to his location.

As she ran into the room, she caught the glimpse of Donovan Hock running out another door. Keiji laid on the floor in the middle of the room. Kasumi couldn't grasp what she was seeing. He laid in a pool of something red, something that slowly got soaked up by the carpet and framed his whole body.

"Keiji.."

She rushed to his side, threw herself at him, lifting him up in her arms. He was barely breathing. He had been stabbed in the head, a huge gaping wound haunted her vision.

"Kasumi.." he said and tried to catch her eyes. One of his eyes were unable to focus, filled with blood. "I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.."

"No.. nonono, you.. you'll be fine, you'll be fine!" she tried to convince herself more than him.

"Listen to me.. he took my graybox.. you need to get it back.. you have to destroy it, do you hear me? You have to destroy it"

Kasumi shook her head. She refused to believe this was happening.

"Please.. my little bird.. you have to promise me.."

He struggled to breath. They could hear several guards draw near.

"I love you. Remember me for how much I loved you. I will always love you. Promise me."

Kasumi chocked at his words. He couldn't leave her. He tried to tell her, he tried to convince her but she pushed on. Her pride in her abilities and need to show off blinded her.

"I love you, Keiji. I love you"

She kissed his forehead and stroke him over his hair. As the guards rushed into the room, she let the decoy take her place by Keijis side, activating her cloak and ran out the same way Hock had. She forced her way out of the building and down the streets into the crowd. She slowed her pace and walked into an alleyway.

She leaned against the wall and slowly let the strength in her legs leave her as she sat down. She lifted her hands and saw them covered with Keijis blood. Her vision blurred. She never cried. Her imaginary armor from when her mother was killed had protected her. Since Thane left, she had promised to not let anyone affect her that way, to walk her own path. She never cried, she kept telling herself over and over as the tears rolled down her face and slowly washed away the blood on her hands. 'Keiji.. I promise'.