Chapter 44

Jaye rolled off his bed, groaning into the floor as he pushed himself off from it. Kamina didn't laugh at him for once, picking himself up off the floor as the boat continued to sway, and they both agreed that they wouldn't ever get used to sleeping on such a vehicle. Indigo on the other hand seemed pristine and undisturbed, snoozing peacefully in her bed even as the swaying worsened, mumbling quietly in her sleep and rolling to find a more comfortable position. The two boys swore communally at her, electing instead to fight over who was going to use the bathroom first. The custom was glorious single combat, but it seemed that in order not to wake Indigo up they would have to play rock-paper-scissors instead.

'Bitch.' Jaye lost that round.

'Dickhead.' He lost again.

'Go drown in the toilet bowl.' They were doing best out of five.

'Go drink from it you damned dog.' He wasn't doing so hot.

'Asshat.' After losing a sound five rounds of five, Jaye sat unhappily back down on his bed and watched Kamina saunter his way into the bathroom, swinging the door shut with a flourish, and resigned himself to quietly watching Indigo's snoozing face in the morning sun while waiting for the furry bastard to finish grooming his ears. Indigo blinked her eyes open, squinting at Jaye as she did so, and sat up slowly, clutching the sheets to her chest.

'Watching me sleep now are we? There's only so much creepier you can get once you've gone there.' She rubbed her eyes. 'Sexual harassment's a crime you know? You've almost got the whole set now, you're just missing outrage of modesty and rape.'

'And who's gonna report me? In case you forgot, you're just as much of a criminal as I am.'

'Yeah, but I'm beautiful. A beautiful girl can charm her way out of anything.'

'Even handcuffs?'

'Especially handcuffs. Or you know, IN to handcuffs if you're in to that sort of play, in which case I like those purple frilly ones with the soft wrapping. With a short chain; I hate the long ones, they rattle too much.'

'Reminds me of that time you let our target put you in a leather corset and cuff you to the bed, then go down on you.'

'So that I could snap his neck with my knees and leave the guards none the wiser, I remember. That was not pleasant though; his handcuffs were so rough and uncute.'

'And you dropped the key under the bed.'

'Don't remind me. I nearly pulled my arm out trying to get a good enough angle to slip my foot under there to reach it. My wrists still ache just thinking about it.'

'Too bad you couldn't pick it. He was using one of those police ones, right?'

'Yeah. Either way it was funny to put him under the blanket, then walk out like I was basking in the afterglow. The guards' faces were priceless. There was this one really young one, like eighteen or something, who just turned beet red when I walked out of there with my dress back open. He even offered to zip it up for me and asked if my wrists were okay. I told him to broach to his boss to use the padded ones next time, and he practically died from over-exposure.'

'Well then, if the opportunity ever arises, I'll be sure to use one of those single pin handcuffs, the kind you can pick with a paper clip.'

'Wonder if the blondie's into that? I think she'll be a riot in the sack, considering how rough and tough she tries to be outside it.' She spread her hands in an "I don't know" gesture as Jaye raised an eyebrow at her. 'Hey, I'm not judging, just putting it out there. Lots of tough girls kinda like being bottoms, plus the whole handcuffs thing…it's kinda hot.' She picked at her nails. 'Maybe try to broach it to her carefully, like when she's in a really good mood. Take her out to dinner, buy her new shoes, put some booze in her, maybe watch a mushy romantic movie. On second thought, a kung fu one, I think she'll like that. Just don't go too hardcore though; collars aren't exactly a turn on.'

'Right. I'll keep that in mind.' Jaye rolled his eyes at the girl, his face turning serious. 'Are you really doing okay? I don't want to assume anything, but I don't want to act like everything's okay when it's not.'

Indigo sighed, rubbing a hand into her face.

'Jaye, we talked about this.' She groaned, reaching over to the side table to grab a bottle of water. The blanket fell away from her chest for a moment, and he averted his eyes from her exposed cleavage. She unscrewed the cap, emptying the bottle into her mouth and chucking it over her shoulder and into the bin. Jaye gave her a celebratory clap, and she curtsied to him. 'Just let me be. The more you try and be considerate the worse it gets, so stop trying you dense, socially inept moron.'

'Right, right. Forget I said anything.' Jaye let himself fall back across the bed, realizing that if he lay down, he'd probably fall back asleep, and instead busied himself with his scroll. Kamina finally came out of the bathroom, his ears immaculately groomed, and they gave him an approving thumbs up. Wiggling his ears in reverence, he watched as Jaye and Indigo began the rock-paper-scissors; Jaye having been denied his glorious single combat once more.

After promptly losing another five games in a row, Jaye rolled himself up with his bedsheets, officially becoming assassin sushi, and Indigo pranced her way into the bathroom. Jaye spat a muffled curse through his bedsheet sushi roll, and Kamina made it a point to use the newly created assassin sushi as a lounging spot. Jaye, already miffed from his lack of glorious single combat first thing in the morning, simply gave up and left him to it.

Mire

The three teammates stepped off the ship with loud groans, mainly from the two boys. Indigo, none the worse for wear, simply gave the two odd looks and insisted that they should go on another cruise together sometime. The boys promptly told her to piss off and drown in a lake.

Behind them, the two hooded figures disembarked as well, glancing about nervously under their hoods as if trying to track down the three. The three teammates felt the two figures gazes settle on them, feeling the relief wash over the two seemingly siblings as they caught sight of their targets once more. Jaye watched them out of the corner of his eye; no matter how he looked at it, they were simply too much of amateurs to be working for any organization, and they hardly knew how to tail a group without getting caught. Shrugging, he gestured down the street out of the docks, and the three set off into the city, making a beeline for the nearest Faction branch.

'So, what are we going to do first?' Kamina piped up, his ears flickering in the salty sea breeze as he listened out for the footsteps of the two twins behind them. 'Head for one of the names Ray gave us? Or do you want to find lodging first?'

'Let's get some information first.' Indigo said, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. 'We need to know who's after us in this town, and if the Faction situation has changed in the months since the Fall Of Beacon. If it has, we might have made a big mistake coming here.'

'Agreed.' Jaye said, squinting at the list. 'Getting our names registered anywhere here could be a potential death flare. Besides, finding out who those two are takes priority. No sign of the Faction on our tail for now, so those two are our biggest threat.'

Kamina's ears twitched, and he glanced behind him to raise an eyebrow at the pair of twins hiding behind a tree a little way back from them. The girl's tail was poking out from behind the trunk, and the boy had managed to fall flat on his face in the process of changing cover. He desperately scrambled for the nearest rock and dived behind it, kicking up a pile of dust and severely upsetting the gravel in his wake. Kamina raised his eyebrow even further, and Jaye prodded him.

'Your eyebrow can't go past the limits of your face you know.' He reminded, and Kamina shook his head, turning back to face the road ahead.

'Doesn't mean I can't try.' He said, ears twitching once more as the girl managed to trip over the exact same spot as well, and let his ears fall back against his skull in defeat. Jaye slapped a hand into his face, groaning audibly.

'Oh yeah, they're definitely a threat.' He glanced back at the girl, who had just scrambled to her feet and kicked up even more dust as she dived behind the same large rock. The two peered over the edge of the obstacle; the girl's ears, now free from her hood, peering up very visibly past the edge. 'Absolutely a threat. How could we possibly think otherwise?'

Sorry for the short chapter, been kinda busy. That was a lie I've been caught up gaming. I know I know, I'm the worst. Then again, I only have like 68 followers so HAHA YOU CAN'T PRESSURE ME.

This is the reason why I never make any promises like "I'll post chapters every week" it'll never happen I'm too irresponsible. Too many times I get back home and go like "OVERWATCH" and then suddenly I don't write for a whole week. Then I just go like "whoops. I guess one more game couldn't hurt.' Next thing I know it's the next month already. I also told myself that when I was watching anime at 1130 at night, and go like "one more episode" and then guess what it's 0630 and I have to book in to camp. I need help.