Ch 22. The Assassin, Part 4

Misaki opened the door to the suite, handbag dropping from her shoulder onto her arm. The lights were off in the apartment and the bedroom door was shut. She ventured further into the room, hand hovering over her gun. "Hei?"

"How was dinner?" Hei asked, voice coming from the bedroom. Misaki visibly relaxed and walked towards the room. "Did you find anything else out about the dolls?"

"No, I—" Hei looked up at her as she stood in the doorway, her one hand resting lightly against the frame. His smile was warm and slightly uncertain, but the over-the-top goofiness so characteristic of Li was gone. She quirked an eyebrow. "Hei…is there any reason why your mask is on our bed? And are those the knives you use to kill people with on our sheets?"

"Well, yes? But I cleaned them," Hei said suddenly looking worried. "I was thinking about what we could do tonight and I just didn't want any more secrets between us. I thought we should take advantage of an empty apartment to just…talk."

Had he made the right call? He didn't want to push Misaki too far in case he misread the signs, but maybe his impromptu show-and-tell wasn't what she had in mind for their first night alone.

Talk. Stupid, Hei! Very, very stupid. If this were a mission and he had to seduce someone, he wouldn't have missed an opportunity like this to just talk.

Hei's knives were arrayed on the bed next to his infamous mask, a necklace with two feathers rested on his pillow, and beneath that was a group photo taken at his sister's wedding. The photograph was small, but it was easy to make out Bai and Atlas in the center, and even the blot of Carmine's red hair. It wasn't much as he never hauled around a bag of mementos everywhere he went, but it was enough for the story he needed to tell.

"Oh," Misaki said, taken aback. She placed her purse down on the floor, beside Hei's open bag. "I thought—after this morning—that maybe we were too tired for anymore…revelations."

Hei's face shuttered. Wrong move. "We don't need to do this now—" He moved to take his items off the bed: mask first.

"No!" Misaki cried, arm outstretched as if she couldn't help herself, before blushing and pulling her hand back in. "I only meant that, that it was fine. I want to learn more about you, Hei." Indeed, the way she stared at the mask, with a strange look of longing, was enough to convince Hei she was genuinely interested to hear what he had to share. She knew that Hei was used to keeping secrets, and seemed even now uncomfortable as he sat on the bed, one leg hanging over the edge. Didn't he know he had nothing to fear? She wasn't a rookie in the force. She knew BK-201's file like the back of her hand and could guess at the rest besides.

Misaki sat down beside him, not quite able to hide the excitement bubbling inside of her at the thought of learning more about BK-201. It was like hitting the jackpot for a police chief who had been searching for every scrap of information, under every rock for the past few months. Her raw enthusiasm unnerved him, sending tingles up his spine. Was it just because he was falling back on his training, shifting into high alert mode, or was this exciting in a different way?

"I just can't help but think of how long I've spent trying to find you," Misaki continued in earnest. "If we had even a shred of this information before, it would have changed everything."

Hei stared at her. "I know. You would have arrested me."

Misaki shook her head. She hadn't meant it in that way. She used to, but things had changed. Arresting Hei was out of the question. They had discussed that this morning, so why did he still doubt her intentions?

"Relax, I'm only joking," Hei said, genuinely surprised that she couldn't pick up when he wasn't being serious. Adjusting to his real mannerisms wasn't going to be easy when he was always so careful to be a Li or a Li-Hei hybrid around her. It sure hadn't sounded like a joke to her. His tone of voice had been darker, deeper, more confident even. If Hei had been wearing the mask, and she hadn't known that BK-201 was Hei, she might have even taken it as a death threat. Hei passed a hand through his hair. He hadn't meant to offend her. "It isn't your fault you haven't learned to read me, when I've been purposely showing a façade. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Misaki said firmly. "It's an adjustment for both of us equally and we won't get anywhere if you keep apologizing all the time. Just…be yourself. I want to get to know the real you."

Hei looked at the objects strewn on the bed. The mask and knives for the Black Reaper. The necklace for his past. The wedding photo of their present. He knew which ones were easiest to talk about, and which ones might pose some, er, difficulties. "To be completely honest, I also wanted to do this because of dinner tomorrow. I don't think it's fair for you to go in there unarmed…information-wise," he clarified. "Though a gun wouldn't hurt either."

Misaki gave him a playful smile. "So this is really just the Black Reaper's family crash course, is that it?"

"I suppose you're right. Everything, even this mask, has a story that might come up, sooner or later." He held the white porcelain mask in his hand, the face of it looking up at them. "The Syndicate gave it to me shortly after South America. Before, I just wore a black cloth to cover my face if I used anything at all. But then they had me working undercover, where I had to be able to show my face to move around without arousing suspicion. The best way was to create a mask. This way, all anyone saw when I was working was the Black Reaper."

"Hmmm." Misaki touched the mask gently, tapping it with her fingers. "It's not as creepy now that I know you're under it," Misaki said, feeling a thrill of some unnamed emotion run through her as she ran her fingers over the mask, tracing the eyeholes. Her heart skipped a beat and she worried she wouldn't be able to speak. "The, uh, the lightning bolt is a nice touch."

Hei watched her, unsure of how to feel. This was the last thing some people saw in the world and here she was caressing it. In. Their. Bedroom. Hei cleared his throat, knowing he had to do the tell part of the show-and-tell, before saying softly, "They added it because…after I lost my sister, I gained her power."

Hei could see the cogs turning in the police chief's head, pulling her from whatever daydream she was having. Misaki began to connect the dots: his lost sister, the number of contractors on his team in South America, the body sharing detail his sister accidently let slip during the meeting, and his newfound electric power. She turned to him, her eyes wide.

"You—" Misaki put the mask back on the bed.

"In South America, I was still human," Hei confirmed.

"But your sister wasn't. That's why you said you joined the Syndicate to protect her." So that part hadn't been a total lie, at least.

Hei nodded and began his tale. "Bai became a contractor when we were very young. Young contractors don't have the same kind of control as adults do over their powers. She didn't really mean it, I don't think…she killed our parents. I didn't fully understand what I was seeing at the time, I wondered if she was going to kill me too, but then she just collapsed." His navy blue eyes found hers. "Bai's price was sleeping. When the Syndicate came to recruit her, I made them take me too. I couldn't let her go unprotected. She was still my sister. But she killed so many, and I killed so many…Sometimes I wonder if I had just been fast enough to save my parents, would the Syndicate have found us? Would any of it have happened?"

Misaki had been silent through the whole story, listening. Her heart broke for the child Hei was, for the children they both had been. "That wasn't fair for either of you," she began. "But don't think that it was your fault. It was no one but the Syndicate's fault for the putting you through that. You were just children and the Syndicate exploited you." She stared down at her hands, sensing that Hei was unable to really hear her words. Maybe he felt that he didn't deserve to be forgiven, even though he had only been a child. She tried again. "We once had a case concerning a young contractor. Actually, she was a moratorium, something between a contractor and a doll. She was too young to really control her powers. She burned in her own inferno. That is to say, there was nothing you could have done back then. Nothing." Her voice was filled with conviction. "You were only a child. So was she."

"I never had the time to think about it," Hei said. "It was always on to the next job. The next country, the next target. I don't remember ever feeling like a child after joining the Syndicate, and then years went by. I always just held myself accountable for what I'd done. It was me doing it after all, not some kid. But if I saw a kid coerced into fighting for an international crime syndicate today, of course I wouldn't blame them for what the organization made them do."

"See? It's all about forgiveness and being kinder to ourselves. Even the Black Reaper could learn about self-acceptance."

Misaki picked the mask back up, handing it to Hei.

"Maybe."

"But I have to ask. You said your sister was the one who became the contractor and that you were still human during the South American conflict. I've never heard of powers transferring before. Does this have anything to do with what Bai said earlier? About you and her sharing a body? Did she become a human again and you become a contractor?"

"Well, I'm still human, kind of. I don't have a price and I never lost my emotions, I just…sort of shut them off? As for Bai, I couldn't really say. Even as a contractor she was starting to regain her emotions, but now that she doesn't have her powers anymore, I find that she's distant at times. We got wrapped up in the same body when Bai fused herself with me during the Heaven's War explosion. It was part of her plan to prevent the Old Syndicate from destroying the gate and wiping contractors and dolls off the earth. Bai stopped them by using her power to alter matter, and then, she used her power on me-well, us. She fused us together."

"But she's here now," Misaki said. "So what changed? Did you unfuse her using your powers?"

"I think she had the reigns at the time," Hei said thoughtfully. "But we had to use the moonstone to do it. It weakened the connection I had with the star, BK-201, and allowed her to detach herself."

"How long ago was this?" Had Bai been running around Tokyo with Section 4 none the wiser? "It couldn't have been too recently because she just got married. There would have been no time for her to even get to know Atlas, right?"

"Well…" Hei looked towards the necklace with the feathers on it.

"Don't tell me," she deadpanned, "It's complicated."

"Time travel often is," Hei said mildly, "when it comes to Amber."

"Amber…" Another color name. "Is she the one who gave you that necklace?"

"Yes. And the moonstone."

"I see," Misaki said shortly. Two necklaces from the same girl? Misaki unconsciously straightened.

"Amber was the mastermind behind the end of Heaven's War, the great planner of Atlas and Bai leading the Syndicate, and probably the person responsible for keeping me alive this long." His tone, while not exactly bitter, wasn't exactly enthusiastic either. He had many conflicting emotions when it came to Amber—as a companion, betrayer, and ex-lover.

"It sounds like you owe a lot to her," Misaki said as evenly as she could. Hei, lost in his own thoughts, barely registered that Misaki was biting her lip, looking towards the necklace.

"For a long time, I've wanted to kill her. I thought she had betrayed me and was responsible for Bai's disappearance. In a way, she was, but she wasn't the monster I always thought she had become. I guess I owe her more credit than I'm giving her." Hei shook his head. Even talking about her was hard.

"You must have been close," Misaki said, hearing the emotion in Hei's voice and trying to shove her own emotions aside. Hei needed her to listen.

Something in her tone made Hei look up at her. Misaki almost sounded let down? Disappointed? Jealous? Yes, Hei and Amber had been close. Once upon a time. Hei hadn't wanted to upset Misaki, but he owed it to her to tell her the whole truth, and that included even the uncomfortable bits, like past lovers. You couldn't build a relationship on a faulty foundation. Sooner or later, things would come crashing down. He'd already seen that happen once today.

"At one point, while stationed in South America, yes, we became closer than just friends." Hei held Misaki's eyes as he said this, wanting her to understand. "Amber was important in my life; she acted as a friend, a guide, and an invaluable asset on our team. She's saved my life more times that I can count—but she isn't you, Misaki. We were in the middle of a warzone. It was a matter of convenience, mostly, a way to escape the nightmare we were both in. I want to say that it was strictly transactional, that it didn't mean anything to me, but that's not the whole truth either. I think…we sought each other out for comfort. We both needed it." Had he ever fully loved her? Hei wasn't sure, and he wasn't ready to dig that deep into his past just yet before he even got a handle on the present.

"Carmine?" Misaki had to ask, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks as she asked about each women like an insecure little girl. She told herself it was only natural to be curious, but it was still humiliating none-the-less. She, an adult, could handle knowing her assassin (boyfriend? friendly man? love interest?) had a romantic past.

Hei shook his head with a bitter smile. "She created whole vacuums that killed people and drank children's blood as her price. Even if she were the only one left, I wouldn't have felt safe enough to do anything with her. We were more like colleagues."

Misaki nodded. She could accept that the Black Reaper had a past. A romantic past. Actually, she would have expected him to have several lovers on all the escapades he had. But Hei? It was hard for her to imagine him being with anyone else. He just seemed too careful to want to be that vulnerable with anyone else. She turned away from the necklace and the topic of Hei's past lover.

"The knives, I know," Misaki said. "You tried to avoid using some of them when you first came here. You don't need to do that anymore…or carry around a taser."

"Honestly, you want to know why I bought the taser? It wasn't just to hide my identity. It was to hide it from you until I felt comfortable enough to tell you. I bought the taser to stall for time. I always knew I was going to tell you, Misaki. I just…hadn't yet."

"I believe you, Hei."

Hei looked like he wanted to protest, tell her that it was unwise and foolish to believe him, but he stopped himself. They were adjusting to this new reality together. He turned to the last object.

"This photo, we took it before your section got there. I was planning on going through each person, but you probably know them already." He made to take the photo away, but Misaki reached out and stopped him.

"No, I think it's still worth going through it. I want to hear about them from your perspective," Misaki said, as if his perspective were something valuable and worth hearing about. Hei blinked at her.

"Alright, well, here's Mao. He's not actually Puss-in-Boots."

"I figured."

"But he is a valuable member of my-I mean, our-team. He knows a lot about everything because he's connected directly to the Syndicate's servers to keep the cat brain from taking over. Also, he doesn't snitch."

"What do you mean?"

"I have a tendency to not follow orders," Hei shrugged. "That's what I was doing when you, erm, caught me buying lingerie. I was helping a doll escape. I wasn't supposed to interfere with the deal at all, but I couldn't just let her life be ruined like that when I could do something about it."

"See? Kanami never believed me, but here's proof that you do have a heart, BK-201," Misaki teased.

"Yeah," Hei said, his cheeks tinged pink. He was unused to his off-the-record actions being admired, or any actions for that matter. Being an assassin meant he didn't have many confidants. "Mao caught me and Yin helping the doll escape. He could have turned around and reported me to Huang, but he didn't."

"That's awfully brave of him."

"Bored is more like it," Hei said fondly. "That's Yin. I didn't understand her at first. Even with all the special packages the Syndicate gave her, she still was able to act on her own and even express emotion. I don't think I appreciated that enough when we first became a team. I was too raw after losing Bai…but even before I learned the truth, I think having a friend like Yin helped me to heal, become less bitter."

"What can you tell me about Huang? He's our boss now, it could come in handy to get a read on him from a long-term acquaintance."

"What do you think of him so far?"

"Me? Well, I think he's capable. He used to work for the police as a detective. I have no idea how he ended up handling the Black Reaper, but so far he just seems like any other grumpy man I've had to work with."

"That's basically Huang in a nutshell. He's decisive, but he only followed the Syndicate out of fear. He didn't have much of a choice as I understand it, but I think it has something to do with that woman next to him, Shihoko. By the looks of the current situation, I'd say they were involved a long time ago, but then something happened. Love between contractors and humans does really exist, but it isn't uncommon for us to use seduction as a means to get information. Just like you with Drayton. My guess is that they got close, Huang discovered Shihoko was a contractor, and then the Syndicate stepped in."

Misaki couldn't help but think of her own situation. If they weren't working for the same side now, would she have been forcefully inducted into the Syndicate herself after learning who BK-201 was? She'd be no different from Huang, just another fallen steward of justice made to work for the Syndicate. It was almost comical how her own team had been chasing Hei's tail all this time when her section was on the same side as Hei's. That's likely why she never got anywhere in her searches either.

"Carmine. I know about her. What about Atlas?"

Hei shook his head. "There we are completely equal. I've never really had time to get to know the man. I only talked to him briefly right before the wedding and he seemed truly dedicated to my sister, but other than that, I really don't know."

Misaki frowned, thinking about what she had learned from Kanami earlier that day. "And his brother?"

Hei stiffened. "I didn't know his brother either before I slit his throat."

"Hei! I thought this was a crash course for dinner tomorrow! Were you just not going to mention that?"

"I don't think it will affect how Atlas views you, or me even. Bai and Atlas decided Bai should kill his father and the rest of the board of directors. Something tells me he wasn't sad to see his brother go."

"So who ordered it?"

"I'm not sure. Huang just told me what to do. Then I'd do it. I never even knew the Syndicate had a leader until recently. It just seemed too large before, so ill-defined. It wasn't my place to question where the orders might have come from."

"But you must have some idea, right? Who would have wanted him dead? His father?"

"Maybe. Something tells me Amber was involved, so it may not be all that helpful to try and figure out what happened. All I know is that I killed him." Hei shrugged, his palms facing the ceiling. "Well, that's the end of my tale."

"Thank you, Hei." Misaki wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing him. "I appreciate you opening up like this."

"Better now than let my sister do it," Hei said with a mock shudder. "So what about you?"

"Me?"

"Well, in the spirit of getting to know each other, I thought I might learn more about you."

"What do you want to know? My life's not as complicated as yours. I don't even have any props to tell my story."

"That's alright. How about…how do you know Kanami?"

"Oh, that's an easy one. I've known Kanami since elementary school. She's always been my friend and she's passionate about her work. That reminds me, I didn't tell her you had the moonstone, just suggested you were hit with an anti-contractor device. She wants to know if you can come in two days from now to help with April's treatment. They're bringing in a specialist from PANDORA…damn, I can't remember her name, but it probably doesn't matter. Kanami has it somewhere."

"Sure, I don't mind. I was going to visit them anyway."

"Good. That's a relief. So what else?"

Hei refused to meet her eyes as he contemplated what he wanted to ask her. It felt wrong somehow to pry, even though he had given her the equivalent information and more.

"You want to ask me about my previous relationships, don't you?" Misaki asked with a knowing glint in her eye.

"Well…only if you're comfortable with it."

"To be honest, there's not much to tell. I had a short-lived relationship in high school, if you can even call it that, with a guy who asked me for nudes the second he got my number. Needless to say I broke it off with him."

"None since then?" Hei asked casually.

"There was just no time. Between completing my training and actually working, I had no time to think of dating again...I was too busy chasing you."

"Oh," Hei said, leaning over and placing a chaste kiss on her lips. "Well, you caught me."

Misaki smiled. "I guess I finally did, didn't I?"

A/N: Awww, the Hei/Misaki feels. Contemplating whether next chapter should be the dinner or what's going on with the dolls...hmmm.

Please review! I really appreciate them!