The next morning started more quickly than any of the housemates would have liked.
"How are your classes going?" Haven asked as she entered the kitchen.
Karma looked at her curiously from where he was sitting . "What? You're not going to get angry again?" he asked with surprise.
Fia looked up from her bowl of cereal and between the two. "You know you can, Angel. I do it all the time. Go ahead, he's a big boy. He can handle himself," she said flatly. Karma reached over and tipped the edge of her spoon as she sipped from it, causing Fia to choke on her milk. "H-hey!" she yelled as she wiped her mouth.
"I'll let my actions speak louder than my words," Haven sat down at the table. "Could you get me a bowl and spoon from the kitchen, Nagisa?" she asked. Haven continued to stare down Karma even as Nagisa fulfilled her request. "Akabane, have you checked your grades recently?" Haven asked sweetly.
"Not really. Why?" he raised an eyebrow at her and lowered his spoon away from his mouth. Karma got up and went to his room to check his computer. Nagisa and Fia exchanged glances. A few minutes later, Karma re-entered the room with cold eyes and a very severe grimace. "What did you do?"
Being very familiar with that face, Nagisa sweat-dropped.
"What are you talking about?" Haven took a spoonful of cereal.
His face darkened in color and he began seeing red. "I worked hard for those grades!" he snapped.
"You actually put work into something?" Haven looked surprised.
Karma slammed his hands down on the table, much to Fia's alarm. "Change. Them. Back. NOW."
"Why?" she challenged him with a glare.
Fia stood quickly and panickedly looked between the three there. She gingerly put her hands on Karma's chest and tried to coax him into backing down. "Angel, can you please just change whatever it was back?" she pleaded, trying to end the conflict as quickly as possible. "W-we all had our fun, r-right?"
"Fun? Last night was fun?" Haven snapped.
She sweat-dropped. "Wrong choice of words…"
Karma smiled but his eyes were emotionless. "Oh, I'll show you fun if you don't change them back."
"It won't be anything I don't already expect from you or, at least, haven't already experienced from someone else," Haven gave him a similar smile.
Nagisa finally stood and joined in the efforts to calm the situation.
Fia's face flushed and her eyes watered as she screamed "STOP IT ALREADY!" at the top of her lungs. In the remaining silence, she shot hurt looks to her housemates. "Please…? We're housemates, and we're friends."
"Are we? I did a bit of digging, you see. I never imagined I would live with a professional murderer," Haven spat.
Three pairs of eyes widened at once.
Fia paled. "W-wait, what?! I thought we got away from that when we moved here!" The girl trembled slightly. "Y-you can't tell anyone!" she begged. "Por favore, for my family's sake!"
Nagisa and Karma exchanged bewildered glances. Nagisa spoke first. "Um… Fia, what do you mean?"
Haven looked at Fia with shock. "What are you talking about? I looked into you Freshman year and couldn't find anything… except an opera performance in Venice."
Her cheeks flushed red. "That was one of my best performan - Wait… Angel, you didn't mean me…?" Fia paused. "WAIT, YOU DID A BACKGROUND CHECK ON ME - Actually, since we were going to be friends and room together, I guess it was for your safety and - "
Karma approached the babbling girl with interested eyes. "So… When your dad was talking about your bloodline, what did that mean?"
"Eh?" Fia gave him one of her signature blank faces. "O-oh! I-I-I, u-ummmmmmm… I, u-u-umm…" She rubbed the area over her heart, looking conflicted. "I come from… the second largest mafia group in Italy…" Fia's face flushed. "You b-better not mention it again. I'm serious this time, Akabane!"
"I thought your name seemed familiar. I finally realized that I had seen it in one of my Pentagon raids." Haven began coolly.
"YOU HACKED THE PENTAGON?! WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU - ? CAZZO - " Fia began cursing loudly. "WHAT ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL SAFETY?!"
"What? I was bored!" Haven momentarily snapped out of her rigid composure.
Fia face-palmed. "Did you at least report it so you wouldn't get in trouble?"
"Of course! But they never fixed it," Haven pouted.
The Italian looked at her in disbelief. "You had time to check a second time…? Wait, don't answer that."
Haven regained her composure before starting again. "Six years ago, 70% of the moon exploded. It was all done by one person. He then went into teaching, giving his students the challenge of killing him before they graduated. The class given this dangerous mission was Class 3-E at Kunugigaoka Junior High School. Several students from that class went on to become assassins, but two of them stood out. They became assassins for the government. You are one of them. Did I get anything wrong, Chuunihan?" Haven explained with an uncanny calmness, her gaze did not leave once Karma's.
Fia looked at Karma with concern. He was dead silent and his eyes remained fixed on Haven as if assessing his options. She stepped around to look up at his face directly. "Is that… Is that all true, Karma?" she asked tentatively. "You and another student - " Fia froze and she turned to Haven. "You said two stood out? Angel, who was the other student?" Fia bit her lip but she had a feeling she already knew the answer to that question.
Haven's composure fell a bit as her gaze landed on Nagisa. She quickly looked away. "You were right, Tsu-chan, when you said our housemates weren't normal," Haven said.
"So here we are," Karma said cooly, "a professional-level hacker, a member of the mafia, and two assassins. This should be fun," a bitter smile graced his face.
Fia raised her hands. "Can I call a house meeting?" she laughed dryly. "We should really talk this out…"
"You should probably call your handler as well, Akabane," Haven suggested, frigidly.
Karma nodded at Nagisa and the bluenette began dialing a number on his cellphone. Annoyed, Karma pulled out a chair and sat down heavily with a huff. "Well, there goes my head."
Fia dragged a chair over to his, cringing as the legs screeched against the floor. She sat down quietly next to Karma and smiled meekly at him. Fia didn't know how to ease the tension in the room, but she wanted to try her best anyhow. "I don't know what your handler is like…" she started, "but Boss Alessandro was usually very understanding with us when we took the time to explain ourselves."
Karma scowled for a few seconds more before sighing. "Mafia, huh?"
She blushed. "I told you not to mention it… But, yeah, I was born in Italy to one of the biggest mafias around. Really, it was just my mom and dad's familys working together. That was the Miracle." Fia laughed lightly. "I was just a kid, but times were always happy. I had my older brother and sister with me, and, when my parents had work to do, the other consiglieres and caporegimes always played with me - not that I knew what they did."
Nagisa began listening with curiosity as he hung up the phone. Karma's demeanor relaxed just a tad as he listened to Fia somewhat-happily recount her childhood.
"It was really fun - I learned how to folk dance and I took opera lessons." Fia tried to animate the story as much as possible to lighten the mood. "I even won the Italian Bella award for cutest contestant in a pageant. Apparently, I had been giggling so much by the time I got onto the stage, that my cheeks were redder than a tomato and I couldn't speak, let alone stop smiling! It was an A-for-effort sort of deal."
"In other words, you pulled your connections?" Karma teased.
"No! Mami said I would win off of good looks and charms alone - like every other girl born into the - " Fia blushed and put a finger to her lip. "Sorry, but you'll have to pay me overtime for names."
The boys chuckled. "So how did you come to live here?" Nagisa asked.
"We moved when I was 6," Fia said with a slight frown. "Something called the 'Collapse' occurred and the peace broke out between the four main families. With a bounty on their heads, my parents broke almost all contact, changed our names, and moved us to the United States. Please, do continue to think of me as a Timo," she laughed. "It's a part of who I am now. I've spent more time as a Timo than I had with my old name. It was hard adjusting…" Fia trailed off as she noticed that Haven seemed as mechanical and reclusive as ever. "But I tried my best and I met some really, really wonderful people." Fia hoped her words were reaching her friend, but she couldn't tell.
There was a loud knock at the door. Haven got up and opened it.
"Mr. Karasuma," she let him in, frigid as ever. He was followed in by a very familiar blonde. Haven was completely unphased by the development. Fia on the other hand, was completely shocked.
"MS. JELAVIC?!" Fia fell out of her seat. She tried to approach her teacher but the busty blonde stormed past her and began shaking Nagisa rather harshly by the shoulders.
"How did you let this happen?" Jelavic asked the dizzy bluenette. "Why didn't you stop that idiot?" she pointed accusingly at Karma.
Karasuma bowed in greeting to Haven, somewhat surprised that the small girl had known his name, and made his way over to the boys. He pounded on Karma's head with his fist and sighed. "You really messed this one up, didn't you?"
Karma rubbed his head. "Okay, I made a few mistakes," he grumbled, "but we might not be so screwed."
Jelavic shot him a look. "What do you mean?"
Nagisa and Karma exchanged glances then looked to the two girls.
Fia pouted. "Can someone please explain to me what's going on?"
"Do you understand the terms of the agreement?" Karasuma asked as he finished talking.
"Yes, I understand, but I haven't agreed yet," Haven replied frostily.
Fia looked uncomfortably between those sitting around her. "So… You want us to work with these two?" she asked, referring to Nagisa and Karma. "Or… at the very least, keep their identities secret. Is that about right? I think I understand, but I don't think I have any skills o-or anything really to offer you."
"My protoge will be assisting as well," Jelavic piped up.
"S-still," Fia stuttered.
Karasuma sighed. "Can we just trust you to keep Karma on track?"
"I still haven't agreed to these terms," Haven pointed out.
Fia rubbed her temples. "I… think I need to talk to my family first… W-would that be a-acceptable?" she shrunk back in her chair as she asked the intimidating man with the stern face.
"I can give you until tomorrow. My boss wants an answer by then," Karasuma replied.
The girl nodded quickly, the gratitude and relief showing all too obviously on her face. "Yes, thank you!" Fia jumped to her feet. "They live a little far, so if I can be excused - " Fia looked between Jelavic and Karasuma. "Please, look after my housemates," Fia quickly performed a gesture of respect and hurried out.
Jelavic placed her chin in her palm as she stared at Haven with round, blue eyes. "Oohh, I see what Fia means when she says you're easy to talk to - or, at least, easy to talk at." Haven stared back, extremely unamused.
Karasuma sighed. "Irina… So, Haven, are we in agreement or do you need some time to think as well?"
"Why should I help you? What do I get from this agreement, besides my life?" she asked.
"For starters, you get access to some of the best technology our governments have to offer. On top of that, it wouldn't be illegal for you to get access to some of our more sensitive documents."
"I can hack some of the higher levels of the pentagon in half an hour on an average laptop without being detected."
Jelavic sighed. "What do you want then? Money? You can have it. Fame? Sure, among the top levels of assassins. Hot guys? Well, I got me mine right here~" She blew a kiss at Karasuma who sighed but blushed slightly.
"We're on the job, Irina."
"You're no fun!" she pouted. "But seriously, kid. What do you want in life? What are you going to get out of a mundane life like this?"
"I received my first offer from the CIA when I was 17. My mother had me turn that offer and every following one down. Give me a permanent position with your organization without her knowing and I might agree," Haven replied.
Karasuma searched the girl's face. "You're serious, aren't you? I'll give the proposal to my boss and get back to you in the morning. You should have a final answer by then. Nagisa - " he turned to the bluenette " - try to talk to her, will you? I'd hate to see the loss of an innocent life."
"Or the loss of some good potential!" Jelavic added.
Nagisa nodded and saw the two off. He looked to Karma who got up slowly and began heading to the door.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Out," the taller male responded flatly.
"Try not to get into any more trouble," Nagisa said with a warning.
"Yeah, I got it, Mom." Karma closed the door behind him.
Sighing, Nagisa sat down across from Haven. He smiled warily. "A lot happened, huh?"
"You could say that," Haven replied. She was still very reserved, but the day was obviously taking its toll on her.
He didn't know where to begin. If anyone understood the situation at hand, it would be Haven, but Nagisa really wanted her to say 'yes' to the agreement.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to blow your cover in such a volatile manner," Haven sighed.
Nagisa smiled wryly. "It's alright… I would love to say 'I should have told you the truth' but that's not exactly how it works. Still, I'm somehow glad that we can all be honest with each other." The bluenette resolved himself to just say what was on his mind. "Haven, won't you say 'yes' to the agreement, regardless of Karasuma's answer? I don't like the idea of all our good times just ending like this. I-I want to keep having fun and hanging out with you. We promised to watch movies again sometime, didn't we?"
"I'm not going out on a limb here for a position, I've been offered similar ones before. I'm confident that the answer will be yes, so in a sense, I've already agreed. I just want to make sure nothing funny happens at the end either. It's just insurance," Haven explained.
Nagisa waited a few moments before nodding in understanding and sighing in relief. "I'm glad to hear. Anyway, you should probably rest up a little bit more; it's going to be a long day."
It was late afternoon by the time the apartment complexes finally came into view. Fia sighed and tiredly dragged her feet as she walked. Why did her family have to be so… Themselves?
"Fia?"
Fia looked around and saw a particular redhead laying in the grass of the quad. He had one arm covering an eye; it was obvious that he had been napping there for some time. Slowly, Fia made her way over to where Karma was and sat beside him, admiring the warm hues of the leaves tucked in between the blades of grass.
Leaning slightly, Fia loomed over the redhead. "Karma?"
"You're blocking my sun," he replied lazily. Even so, he looked at her with a serious expression. "How did it go?"
Fia stole a glance at her bandaged left hand. "I might not have mentioned what I might be doing, but I did tell them that the secret is out." Gingerly moving to lay down in the grass next to him, she continued, "Mio and Mia proposed we book one-way plane tickets to Italy and have you offed there. Lupe was hell-bent on the idea of making you her permanent prince. In the end, I managed to convince everyone that this might be for the better."
Karma nodded. "Good to know. I'll tell Karasuma. What happened to your hand?" He reached over and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his face for closer inspection.
"N-nothing much," Fia blushed as she pulled her hand away. "It's just how we swear oaths in my family." She gently massaged her aching ring finger. "I swore that you guys would never hurt the family. You could say I've married my words," she said with a wary laugh. "I've given my life to those words - until death do us part." Olive eyes searched orange ones. "So you better not let me down, you got that?"
"Wouldn't dream of it." Karma extended his hand to Fia and she hesitantly grasped it. "I look forward to working with you, Fia Timo." He shook her hand with a light-hearted smile.
She smiled as she squeezed his hand back. "And I look forward to keeping you out of trouble, Karma Akabane."
Their gazes met and they laughed. "I'd like to see you try."
"My agency said that until you graduate, you're going to be under a probationary stage. After that, they will decide whether or not you will get a permanent position," Karasuma reported.
"Why not just hire me?" Haven asked suspiciously.
Karasuma gave her a peculiar look. "There's a file on you and you appear to be a bit of a loose cannon, kid. You've hacked large businesses and all sorts of intelligence organizations, but you haven't done anything with the information yet. What is your goal? Do you really just want a job or are you planning to take countries to their knees?"
"A loose cannon, you say," Haven looked at him, slightly shocked. Everything he had just said was logical, but she had never thought of it. Was she a loose cannon? Like her mother? Haven wilted a bit at the thought. "I guess you wouldn't believe me if I said I hacked because I was bored and had no plans for the information," she smiled wryly.
"Can't be too careful after you leaked information about our top two assassins," the man commented. Haven sighed in response.
"Do you accept the agreement?" Karasuma asked.
Haven nodded slowly, "One provision though, keep me busy. If I get bored, I will start hacking again."
"Thank you for your cooperation. I'll retrieve your roommate's answer, and you'll receive more details at a later time." Karasuma stood and held his hand out to the younger girl. She shook it, with slight begrudgement. Karasuma left the apartment and Haven opened her laptop.
"Wally, am I a loose cannon?" she asked as she flopped onto her bed.
"There are arguments for and against that statement," Wally replied evenly.
Karasuma stared between the pair that was sleeping peacefully in the quad. Squatting down, he lightly shook them both awake. He didn't really want to bother them after such an eventful morning, but he had to get an answer.
Karma was the first to stir. He sat up suddenly and looked around with bewildered eyes. He first saw Karasuma, and then Fia who was curled up under his jacket. The redhead ran his hand through his hair, although it was sticking up everywhere and wouldn't smooth down anyway, and looked to Karasuma. His boss and former teacher pointed to the girl. Karma shook his head, mouthing "I don't want to die today, man."
Sighing, Karasuma attempted to wake the girl again. Fia sat up with a startled shout and started flailing as if to defend herself from some unknown, otherworldly assailant. Karma sweat-dropped and grabbed her wrists. The girl, albeit still startled, looked from the redhead restraining her to the man staring at her with a wary smile.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he apologized.
Karma rubbed Fia's wrists as a quick 'sorry' and let her go. She turned back to face Karasuma with red cheeks. "N-no, sorry that I acted… Like that."
Karasuma shook his head. "It's natural. Anyway, back to business. I do need an answer, Fia."
Fia smiled at Karma. "Yeah, since my parents aren't going to kill me, you don't have to either. I'll work with you." She stuck her hand out and smiled. "I-I still don't know what I can do, but I'll try my best."
"That's all I'm asking for," he replied as he shook her hand in return.
Blushing slightly, Fia looked away. "So… You and Ms. Jelavic?"
Taken aback slightly, Karasuma rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. Something like that."
"Something like that?" Karma laughed. "They're married."
"No way, really?" Fia asked. "Ms. Jelavic is so young though!"
"What can I say? She's one hell of a woman," he sighed.
Fia laughed. "My dad says the same thing about my mom all the time. He's so in love with her, it's kind of cute."
The normally stoic man's composure cracked just a little, especially as a blonde lady through her arms around his neck from behind. "That he is!" Jelavic cheered.
Karma and Fia exchanged glances. "Ms. Jelavic? How long have you been here?" they asked together.
"Long enough," she said with a satisfied smile. Releasing Karasuma and putting her hands on her hips, she grinned. "You better get home and rest up, Fia. Starting tomorrow, I become your teacher for more than just acting!"
Fia sweat-dropped. Jelavic's chest bounced as she laughed loudly. Subconsciously, Fia wrapped her arms around herself, not liking where this seemed to be going.
"Acting?" Karma questioned.
Steam almost flew out of Fia's ears. She looked at him with a red face. "I-I thought it w-would help with the sh-shyness!"
"Oh, it will~" Jelavic grinned as she grabbed Fia from behind and began fondling her chest. The smaller girl shrieked and her face glowed red in embarrassment. "C'mon! We're going to put your good looks to use!"
Karasuma and Karma simultaneously sweatdropped.
Fia pushed the door to the apartment open and ran inside, still flustered. Karma casually followed and shut the door, looking around. He spotted Haven in the kitchen and turned to leave again, worried about an impending explosion, but Fia grabbed him by the back of his jacket and pulled him over.
Still dragging the redhead behind her and paling as she approached the white-haired girl in the kitchen, Fia smiled warily. "What are you doing, Angel?"
"You weren't home Tsu-chan! I was getting hungry," Haven complained.
"Y-you couldn't just go to the cafeteria or o-order in?" Fia released Karma, giving him a firm stay-put glare, before gently pushing Haven away from the stove. "What… what is this?" Fia stared down at the pot in disbelief and slight disgust.
"I was trying to cook pasta," Haven mumbled.
Karma peered into the pot over Fia's head and flinched back. "What the hell did she mean by pasta?" Leaning against Karma for support, Fia paled more and more by the second. This was the food of her nation, and this black, bubbling concoction is what had become of it.
"I-It looks like y-you were off to a-a-a g-good start, Angel!" Fia forced a smile as she turned off the stove and guided Haven to the kitchen table.
Within the next 15 minutes, Fia had somehow managed to dump out the 'pasta,' take out the trash, begin boiling a new batch of Angel hair pasta next to a cooking pot of spaghetti sauce, and convince Karma, Nagisa, and Haven to sit down at the table together.
"Nagisa, you're the mediator. Haven, Karma. Start talking." Fia's stern face instantly melted. "Pretty please?"
After a few long moments, Nagisa untied his pigtails and let his hair hang loose. Slipping the hair ties into their places on either of his wrists, he sighed. "Neither of you are really willing to talk first, huh?"
Karma scowled. "I might be once that changes my grades back," he spat.
"I might change grades, after I get an apology for messing with my computers," Haven said to no one in particular.
"I'm serious," Nagisa said sternly, "you two both need to apologize. We're going to be a team from now on - not just housemates, but people who are guarding each other's lives. You don't have to be friends, but I would like to have a truce of some sort."
Fia sighed. "I'm with Nagisa on this one… Angel, you're my best friend, and I don't like seeing you angry like this."
Nagisa shot a look at Karma. "And you should just know better, Karma."
"Fine, I'm sorry I messed with your grades," Haven sighed.
Karma muttered, "I'm sorry that I messed with your computer - I really didn't it would get that bad."
"I'll change your grades back now," Haven went to get one of her laptops. She returned momentarily and started typing rapidly. "That does NOT mean I even remotely trust you," Haven glared at him.
The redhead stuck his tongue out. "The feeling is mutual then." He got a shared look from Fia and Nagisa. He sweat-dropped but conceded. "But, thanks," he muttered to Haven. He mouthed an 'are you satisfied?' to the other two and they both nodded, looking more content now that the tension was ebbing.
"Anyone want pasta~?" Fia called from the kitchen. She brought over four plates of spaghetti.
Now on the same page, the four housemates were able to share a meal in relatively comfortable silence.
Karma: How's your hand?
Fia: Healing. Don't worry -
Karma: (teasingly) I'm not worried, I just don't want you bleeding on my food.
Fia: HEY! I would never defile the purity of a good meal! Good food brings people together and is completely universal. You don't need to speak to communicate your feelings - (talking Karma's ear off)
Nagisa: Well, at least those two are getting back to normal again.
Haven: Wow. I think that's the most I've talked in one scene this whole story.
Fia: How is it that Karasuma gets the point across to Haven that she can't just go around hacking things in four sentences? I've spent two and a half years telling her the exact same thing!
Karma: … Jelavic.
Nagisa: What about her?
Karma: (smirking) You two were getting along really well, weren't you, Tsu-chan?
Fia: (turns red and guards her chest) WHAT'S THAT S-SUPPOSED TO MEAN?
Narrator: Does the audience even read the comment box? Please tell me if you do! Anyways, next chapter, Halloween is coming up for these four! Will I get to see Karma in cat ears? It would be a tricky feat, but a real treat for all of us!
Fia: (looking around, bewildered) Isn't anyone going to comment on how Nagisa looks more like a boy with his hair down…?
Haven: I like the pigtails!
