Summary/Disclaimer: Time for another chapter of The Lioness and the Wolf. Enjoy the 1200-Word chapter. I don't own AGK, Takahiro, Square Enix and a few others do.

(Imperial Warship)

Jace leapt around the edge of the ship, throwing one of the lit grenades over his shoulder. It bounced over the hull and exploded in a ball of fire.

"This suck!" Jace hissed as he screamed and flung himself to a lower ledge. "Why did I let you talk me into this?!" Jace questioned with anger and frustration painting his tone.

Leone could only grin, having enjoyed the rush of battle that this mission had brought back into her life. It took Jace screeching at her to snap her from said trance

Jace cursed as he felt something cut through his skin. It was a bullet that cut open the skin on his arm and made him roar in pain and agony.

Jace used what strength he had left in his arms to light the fuse on a grenade before pitching the others over his shoulder.

While the explosions didn't rip through the ship's hull and sink it utterly like he wanted? The shrieks and roars of panic showed him that this mission hadn't been for nothing.

He hit the water with a splash. He was glad there was no sharks or danger beasts prowling the waves or his blood would be like shaking a box of treats to them.

Jace surfaced a moment later only to be forced under the water by Leone who landed upon him. Jace felt water flood his lungs before quickly swimming to the surface to gasp.

Within seconds, Leone surfaced right behind him, grappling onto the former resistance captain and clinging to him for dear life.

'There are several big cats in the world that can swim and she has to act like a housecat.' Jace mentally hissed to himself as he swam for shore. He blinked and then sighed before dragging himself and Leone to shore.

Jace sighed as he crawled himself onto shore while the battered Imperial Fleet limped away. Jace sighed as he took away the good news that they had destroyed one ship.

Jace sat against a rock and blinked before looking for his coat. He sighed with annoyance.

Then he felt an overload of his Tengu as Leone licked from his neck to his right ear. This threw the man across the shore as he looked at Leone.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?" Jace roared at the close-range brawler. She shrugged and proceeded to lick the water off herself.

"Because I marked you as mine." Leone responded matter of fact. "Plus, that was punishment for dragging me across the river." Leone put in as Jace growled, deactivated his Tengu and grabbed his coat.

"I told you that we were going to be climbing around one of the ships." Jace said as he rubbed at his neck and ear. "Plus, YOU were the one who wanted to board the flagship and start a fight… Bah, least one ship or something is gone. That will slow them down till Matias can make another one and recruit more men. Plus, their flagship is crippled. Their going to have to make repairs which we could finish off." Jace muttered and sighed as he looked at the fleet.

He sighed and shook himself off before rubbing at his temples. Jace walked away, wondering what their next move would be.

"We're going home then?" Leone said and followed behind Jace who had pulled a bandage out of his jacket.

Jace slipped his boots over his feet as well. Then he bit the bandage and slipped it over the grazed wound. He would be lucky if it didn't get infected.

"Yeah." Jace put in and hummed. "We're gonna have to. Matias is going to lay low for a while. I'm going to have to dig through papers and find something that I can pin him down for." Jace said and ran his fingers through his soaked hair.

Jace walked away with Leone. He knew that the soldiers wouldn't waste time fighting them again. Not only were both of them small fry to someone like Matias, but barely anyone knew Leone.

Plus? They would value licking their wounds and leaving rather then kill 2 soldiers who were not worth it. It was one advantage that Jace was glad they had as 2 nobodies.

Leone speed walked till she was next to Jace who was busy trying to dry himself. It would take hours and his supply of spare clothes was understandably sparce.

"Are you mad that I started gutting soldiers?" Leone asked Jace who hummed and blinked.

"No." Jace said and put his hands in his pockets. "I know what Night Raid did. They killed scum of the earth that didn't deserve to live. I understand killing, I just don't enjoy killing unless its for the greater good. I'm a soldier, not a sociopath." Jace added before sighing once more.

"I'm only annoyed that the admiral got away. I expected us to run into resistance, but not an army." Jace said and brushed off his jacket.

Leone hummed as Jace looked at the former Night Raid member. She looked lost and unsure of what to do next.

"Why did you join Night Raid?" Jace questioned Leone who blinked at the question. "I know why I joined. Follow in my dad's footsteps, make a difference and fight for what's right. You don't look like the type to join an army of freedom fighters." Jace stated and turned his gaze straight ahead.

"This isn't the place to talk about it." Leone said to which Jace shrugged and hummed to himself. He nodded at her.

"Then we can talk more back home." Jace stated and cracked his neck. Pain lanced from his neck back downward. It made him growl.

"I'm going to ask about that Tengu when we get back." Leone stated to which Jace hummed.

He supposed he could talk more about Lupusnal back at home. There was going to be a period of time where there was nothing to do but lay low, stock up on supplies and plan another move.

'It's like I've never left the army.' Jace thought to himself and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

His Tengu was still driving him crazy. He looked at Leone. If the close-range brawler had noticed? She didn't acknowledge it.

'Why the hell does my Tengu act up around her? I know we both have animal Tengu, but that… I need to find out why.' Jace thought to himself and sighed.

He didn't know what to say or how to think at the moment. There was nothing to really talk about at the moment anyway.

Little did he know how things would change for him and Leone soon enough.

Author Notes

Phew. Another chapter done! I want to point out that these chapters will be anywhere from 1200 to 900 words like next chapter should be. Next chapter will be in 2-10 weeks and will show more bonding and such between Leone and Jace and such. until then, Lighting Wolf out!

P.S: I might make a few more Akame Ga kill stories.