Author's Note : Happy Easter, Passover, the end of Ramadan, ect… Reminder, this is the last update I'll have time for until I've finished moving.
I've changed how several names have been spelled over the course of the story since my memory how to spell them is awful and autocorrect is a semi-helpful often terrible piece of shit, so… yeah. I'll eventually go back and fix it all, I promise. But with two million words and countless mentions… it might be in two or three years when it's finished.
This is an ongoing rough draft, guys. You're reading as I write it. There will be adjustments and edits to keep myself from writing myself into a corner. Honestly, there's only one major detail I've changed since starting and that was what year Sonya was born in the first book. That's some phenomenal luck so far, and writing this story for over five years means my autocorrect has forgotten names how I initially spelled them and keeps suggesting different ways when Word is 'updated'.
Dimitry's the first one I've spelled several ways, and I believe Cesare was the next one who had an ever-shifting spelling in his name. Silvino's just the latest one.
Russian Roulette : Muzzle Flash
Chapter 4
(Friday the 7th of April, 1972. Fon's Apartment, Mafia Land.)
Pressing a line of nipping kisses up the line of her throat, Fon could not help but smirk when his bedmate jerked away the best she could within such a limited space. With a groggy, disgruntled scowl for him. "What the hell, Fon?"
"You are an unkind sleeping partner." He could claim with complete honesty, for she truly was. "I do not mind feeding your greed for skin contact if you feel the need. But I will respond if you do so and take shameless advantage of me."
She couldn't help the yawn, for she was still sleepy and not wholly awake yet despite the activity he woke her with. "I took advantage of you, right. You've got some balls, Fon. I'll give you that."
Amused, he got in one last bite to the side of her neck before pulling himself from her and her arms. "You are lucky I am required somewhere in less than an hour."
"You're lucky I was somehow in the rare mood to put up with you 'pawing' at me." Huffed the sleepy thief, now additionally disgruntled by either some slight physical discomfort or by leaving her cold from taking his body heat from hers. "Lure me in with cuddles and bide your time until I'm innocently asleep, devious."
"All I wished for was company."
"Mmhmm, this is me entirely believing you." Sonya stole the sole use of his bed without shame or care, twisting up in the bedding he had extracted himself from to turn her back to him. "Asshole. See if I sleep over ever again."
"If you would keep your hands to yourself…" Fon couldn't even finish the outright lie as he lingered at her side, and the pointedly expectant look she pinned on him over her only non-tattooed shoulder when he trailed off made him laugh.
Despite her own words, the woman was not against more of his touch. Less interested in being kissed than appreciative of him running his hand over the skin he already abused to sooth it.
The moment he pulled away again she stretched out lazily in his bed, unconcerned and more interested in returning to sleep without him than what he was up to do. Only half covered by the sheets, which did not hide anything from him.
Greedy, hedonistic woman.
…she was very lucky he was unable to miss the conference between the Wo clan Triads' Mafia Land residents to sort out what was needed in the next three months and what could be left up to the Triad that required some resources here. Fon still counted as Wo Hop To, and up until this very moment he had not minded retaining that responsibility.
"Will you be staying?"
"Mmm… maybe." Sonya ran the fingers of her tattooed hand through her hair to order it, raking the strands out of her face to clearly see him despite not turning around to face him again. "I am going to check this place over this morning, just to rule out some future stupidity. I might still be here, I might not be, whenever you're coming back."
"I would appreciate it if you were." Especially as he would very much like to continue seeing what he can tease out of her.
She shifted to regard him pointedly again, which likely meant she was no longer in the mood to 'put up' with him. "Weren't you supposed to be answering my question, not making a bigger mess in me?"
"…as soon as I figure out how to answer your question, I will inform you."
Rolling her eyes, the thief collapsed backwards into his bed. "Great. Thanks, Fon. That's real helpful."
"Why is 'interest in a good friend of mine' not enough to build something from?"
"Normally, yes. Actually. Had you said that a year ago." Plastering her tattooed hand against her forehead, Sonya glowered with irritation at the ceiling. "Right this second, that doesn't exactly help me figure out shit all. You're comfortable, Fon. Which is nice and safe, sure."
"That is… a first." Fon did not often equate to the 'safe' choice in anything. He was not certain if he found that pleasing or not. "You are seeking something other than 'comfortable'?"
"I've done 'comfortable' before."
"…then he died?"
"Wrong ex."
"Verde."
She shrugged absently, rubbing at her forehead now. "Surprise."
Not… particularly good to hear, as the Frenchman did not retain her attention. He checked the general time by the height of the sun outside his bedroom window, pressing his mouth together as he realized if he did not start moving to leave soon he would be inexcusably late.
Which would not reflect on her well, as he was punctual under Duyi to make for some insulting assumptions to be made if he allowed that to occur.
"Does this mean you will be seeing what Reborn can offer you now?"
"No." Sonya flatly refused instantly and sounding mildly insulted, when he turned back to her she also appeared rather affronted by his question given her expression. "The only reason I'm alright with you touching me, Fon, is because you are a friend of mine. He's got a long road to get here."
"I did not mean to imply-"
"Stop there." She advised him sharply. "Let's just ignore you asked me that."
"I meant to inquire if you would be spending a concentrated amount of time with him, not asking if you were going to climb into his bed next." Fon clarified with a mild amount of irritation of his own. "I would prefer it if you would remain in mine. As a matter of fact, I have motive to keep you fully occupied in mine."
"…why is it all about sex?"
"You realize a Sun will be 'worse' than me, yes?"
Sonya rubbed her face now instead of responding.
"And novelty for a new allowance I did not expect to gain is still fairly fascinating." He continued with some rueful clarification, allowing the mistaken assumption lie dead behind them.
It was not entirely unfounded to be accused of for poor word choice on his end, given… this situation.
A lady with suitors generally did not entertain any in her bed, or theirs. Fon was also not unaware she was slightly uneasy with allowing him the liberty with herself and how it might appear to her other suitors or just onlookers, and equally aware he was being allowed it on the weight of their association rather than by favor.
Which also meant he really needed to prove he was good for more than just pleasing her physically. Preferably soon, before she decided that was all he was good for.
"Does that mean you'll eventually lose interest in screwing me every opportunity you can?"
"…I've only had two so far." He had not passed up either, admittedly. "Possibly."
She eyed him sourly. "Didn't you get up for a reason?"
Fon sighed. "Aa… yes. It will only take me a few hours, at most. I would appreciate it if you remained long enough to speak with afterwards."
"Maybe."
(ooo000ooo)
(Friday the 7th of April, 1972 continued. Fon's Apartment, Mafia Land.)
The biggest problem with having Fon as a lover was that he bit. Everything he wanted to bite, which generally was some already sensitive bits of her anatomy. Which stung, even if he tried to take the sting out of his habit by various methods and mostly by kissing where he abused her.
The second biggest problem was he was a mean one.
Not that he was inconsiderate, he'd ensure she 'fully enjoyed him' in return for putting up with the effort and mess. Twice or more at least for every once for him.
Fon cared enough to make certain of that, but not enough to stop.
Or go slower for a bit.
…or let her catch her breath.
He would very much like to watch, but he was going to keep screwing her at whatever speed and rate he wanted at the same time. Because he liked how that felt, apparently.
And she though Reborn would be an exhausting bedmate given an inch of leeway.
Sonya stole the asshole assassin's shower the moment he left, just to get clean because that was still a semi-disgusting result she wasn't all that enthused with getting. The efforts weren't great, but that she could do completely without, thanks.
Still mildly annoyed at being lured in with cuddles for that… she was equally surprised Fon somehow got her horny outside her 'usual' cycle for it. Somehow.
She knew vaguely and in an absent way it was possible, she hadn't realized it was also still possible with her very absent sexuality. Which should've been obvious, Sonya just hadn't… put the obvious together on her own when she had such difficulty getting that result.
She might not find sex interesting or all that motivating, but obviously another would not get tired or annoyed by the effort to coax that out of her if they were more interested in it. It shouldn't be surprising, as she had issues taking care of her own needs without someone more interested in it than her too.
Well, she wasn't a stranger at feeling stupid for belated realizations. Even when it was shit she really should've known about herself already.
Once she was clean again, and if that had to happen it'd be nice if the jackass would do that at night since that was when she preferred to get clean, Sonya went back to his bed.
To be frank, hers was better. Her bathroom and her bed.
…but she had new people at her place. No offense to Lando or Natalina, or Ganauche on occasion, but all the fucking offense to Viper. It'd just take time to adjust to the fact, and the lamed Mafioso was as temporary as the Lightning Guardian's occasional presence so there wasn't a point to get used to it.
Which was annoying, the thief didn't like the change she invited herself.
Sonya was a hypocritical asshole of a bitch, but that wasn't all that new.
A bored hypocritical asshole of a bitch. Her Lackey had nothing new to offer her, so either she 'slummed' it doing anonymous thief contracts or more of those 'please rob me blind, I want to try setting you up' ones.
She'd probably go do anonymous contracts by the end of the month to see if giving Bjǫrn more time would change the content of jobs 'Nightshade' was being offered. Until then… she actually never explored Mafia Land itself.
Like most residents with half a brain, she kept to 'her' side of it. Mainly the public areas, the marketplaces and only the residential area she lived in. Her guildhall, and the whole of Body Avenue, plus the hospital were enforced open public spaces. She 'got in' to the Chinatown sector because of Fon, and could get into the Slavic Soviet Bloc if she really wanted with her tattoos… probably could do the same with the bit of Little Italy here…
Unfortunately for everyone with opinions on who was allowed where here, Sonya was bored of her 'try me' contracts and exploring the mechanical island was the only current unknown left in her life.
She'd like to check it all out before Shamal came here for the summer, too.
Just to know what to tell him before he risked it out of sheer curiosity.
The thief would check out Fon's new place for him before she did it, and maybe wait long enough to see what he wanted. Then she'd go see what there was to see here she didn't already know about via word of mouth.
(Wednesday the 19th of April, 1972. Sonya's Condo, Mafia Land.)
"BRAT!"
"Not in, Nurse Primakova."
"Seriously, Lando. Just call me Tats. That was cute in the beginning, being so formal with me, but it's been two months."
The bouncy redheaded woman still checked the boss' room and pouting mightily when she found nothing as he told her she would. "Where the hell is she?"
Lando gave up on the ledger he was working on for Cesare, roughly scrubbing a hand through his newly shorn hair. "Does she normally not go out this much?"
Tatiana made a rude noise, probably in his general direction… or her sister's. "No. Normally she's a lazy bitch who's reluctant to pull her nose out of whatever book has her attention. And I have no idea why that suddenly isn't the case or what's got her attention, because it's not any contract. I know it, Bjǫrn said she's not on anything. Bit annoying."
…well, all new to him. He wasn't remotely stupid enough to go out on this damn island until he had a more mobile ally willing to help shore up his still compromised leg. Renato might've been a guilty fucker, but he had kept in contact better than all the others had until he got fixed.
He knew the 'rules' for visitors before Natalina thought to give him the spiel. For residents might be vastly different, and he had no doubt some of those 'rules' changed if you lived here instead.
Most of his information that might've told him otherwise was out of date, after damn near ten years of being a crippled fuck. Now he was just a lamed fuck and catching up on both Mafia news and this Dying Will Flame shit.
Which, Ganauche's woman was very good at covering large chunks of one topic for him. When he thought to ask the damn question. Not just Flames, Mafia Land centric news and topics.
"She has been around." Lando offered for the mildly annoyed nurse, a bit dubious but he really didn't know much of a difference as she obviously would. "She's been doing the Friday lunch dates with Reborn, and less structured shit with Fon beating shit up."
He's know, that's what Cesare tasked him with keeping track for them when she wasn't in Italia. Sonya was not particularly impressed with the need but had only rolled her eyes and allowed him the information just to arm themselves against future accusations.
No doubt, he wasn't getting all of what she's done with each 'suitor'. If he got the official count that was perfectly fucking fine with him.
Just as long as he had it to stave off accusations of not giving the same to some of the dumb fucks with big heads thinking they deserved more than what the boss wanted to give them.
Which would inevitably happen, once the dumbasses finally got around the extra requirements she saddled anyone that wanted to try it with.
Lando was only minorly impressed Reborn had been able to flatly deny the first three he knew had asked the 'world's greatest' hitman already. That wouldn't be lasting, not if the fuck was at all smart.
Tatiana thought about it, shutting her sister's room up even if she wasn't home but her dog was. "Next time you see her, Lando? Tell the brat mom wanted an estimate on when she'd be done with that translation effort she wants."
"Sure, lady. Might be much later tonight, but I do see her once or twice a day."
"That'll work for me."
(ooo000ooo)
(Wednesday the 19th of April, 1972 continued. Mafia Land.)
It took him a few days to figure out what the hell she was even doing, but apparently Sonya never had explored Mafia Land's streets before right this very moment. If it was just to see everything there was available to any able or willing to pay, or if she had any other motive, was beyond Reborn.
The fun part was catching her, not asking what she was up to.
'Catching' the World's Greatest Thief someplace like this fucking island… was not a guaranteed objective. If it wasn't the residents of whatever sector being uppity blockading assholes, it was her roof-walking habits that took her three streets over than where he expected her to end up with no one noticing to tell him where the hell she was at now.
Then the damn woman decided this was a game on him and would not wait for the World's Greatest Hitman to catch up once she noticed he was on her shapely tail. Regardless of what kind of territory she was moving through, and he didn't always know the area better than she did.
She also gave no damn care about whose territory she was moving through, the more likely they'd object to her very presence the less anyone noticed her at it. There always was a handful that made it their business to know who moved along certain streets, but none of them gave information away for free.
He probably had days before Fon caught on, but that was the damn assassin's own fault. The trick was keeping his movements quiet or non-remarkable to the chattier gossips to keep the damn Storm out of this, which wasn't beyond him… he just didn't tend to do it to the excessively extreme degree a thief apparently did.
It just was… she was so delighted he was after her. Following her, and Sonya was adorably pleased with him when he finally did catch up. Every damn time.
Then he finally fucking asked, a week in. Like a dumbass.
"…I am not normally the one chased." Sonya admitted sheepishly with a charming little lopsided smile to pair with it, perched on a railing on top of some Greek nightclub this night. "It is unique. I do not mind if you want to… but catching up is your problem."
The men in her life, aside her brother and father obviously, were some fucking ignorant jackasses.
The woman was on her second shot at life, had sacrificed her second chance at a childhood to sort and save as many innocents as she could physically reach as fast as physically possible regardless of what was in the way. There was no fucking reason to justify why she had forgotten the damn courtesy she deserved to be lavished with, not to the point of being uncomfortable about getting it.
"Ho? Never?"
"…sometimes Skull will chase me around, usually only when I steal something from him or annoy him. Tatiana too, even less often. Other than that…" She suddenly smirked, shooting him a sly little look. "Well. My 'first' ex did it a handful of times."
…at least he did one fucking thing right, rather than just take advantage of everything he had with her before. He suspected she was referencing 'the Great Blanket Chase of Sixty-Eight' here, and as galling as it might've been for him… she and the brat had greatly enjoyed the whole farce.
Reborn sucked on his teeth as he sauntered forward to join her on the edge of the roof. "I still find this hard to believe. A pretty little thing like you, with no long line of admirers waiting in the wings willing to indulge you with anything you might want?"
"Pretty I am not. If we are going to be generous, I am rather unfortunately rat faced." Sonya delicately touched the tip of her sharp nose with a fingertip and a rueful smirk. "I have nice coloring, and I am athletically fit. Pretty is stretching it, Reborn."
"Pretty is whatever the fuck I say it is." And there was another long-festering sore under her glacially thick ice mask, Renato had been a petty little shit about not admitting the lady who had no clue he was interested in her was pretty. For dumbass, selfish reasons he also ignored Shamal faithfully trying to assure his godmother that she was. "And you clean up nicely, Sonya."
She shot him a dubious as hell look for that claim.
Earned, yes. Still galling a bit more than he honestly liked.
There was an obvious motivation Reborn had to flatter and sweet talk her regardless of what the reality was. Well… if she couldn't trust him right this second, he'd spend however many fucking years it'd take to convince her otherwise. Least he could do.
Unlike the last time he cornered her on a rooftop, the little thief was not letting herself get in grabbing range for any sneaky gropes. Disappointing. "Don't suppose you're willing to let me spice this up a little."
"My sparkling company not enough for you?"
"More than enough of a reward to do this every other night, even if you say no." Assured the hitman as indifferently as he could muster on demand, leaning his weight against the balustrade she was perched on her toes on top of facing the opposite direction. "Equally, I'd still keep stealing these little minutes with you for the rest of the month if you'd like. Unless you're scared to risk something for a little thing."
Sonya rolled her damn eyes at him, twisting to sit her pert ass on the marble fencing accent more for looks than to keep people from falling right off the two-story nightclub's roof. "I will hear you out, but I am making no promises to something I do not know."
"I want a kiss. Every time I catch you, for the rest of the month."
"Catch me." She repeated with insulting disbelief. "Reborn, I have been allowing you to catch up to me. Not dodging you… intentionally."
"I obviously expect you to suddenly put some real effort in avoiding me, of course." He slanted her a wicked smirk, with a bit of teeth for the attitude. "How confident are you in your skills, Sonya?"
"I do not like being kissed." Offered the thief next, eyeing him warily as she settled in to ponder the challenge.
"Do you not like getting some asshole's tongue shoved down your throat, any kissing, or what?"
She thought about it, for all of two seconds. "Any, as far as I have experienced it."
"Well, motive to avoid me and not make it too easy then. There's only a week and a half left of the month before we have to be somewhere specific." Reborn reminded her lazily, moderately certain she had been kissing absolute morons.
There was a chance she hadn't been, but there was no way for him to know for certain until he tried.
"…right." First, sliding further down the balustrade outside of even his lunging range, the ridiculous woman that had lived twice only to forget the small pleasures of life trying to be the most responsible lynchpin in place for all the children in a whole city only then tipped him a nod. "Fine, Reborn. If this is what you want, you can try."
He scoffed at her 'precautions', reaching into his suit jacket for the book. A first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by one L. Frank Baum, a signed copy of the first printing.
"Oh you cheating asshole." The little bibliophile breathed out in sheer irritation, grey eyes wide and locked on the bit of bait in his hand.
"I, am the filthy cheating asshole thank you." Reborn insisted with all due snobbishness, taking a moment to admire the… very childish blocky print of a lion with glasses on the hard cover, in white, green, and red. "Bit odd, all the rare and valuable books I come across on my jobs. I've got quite the collection going so far… no damn reason to keep them."
He almost tossed it over his shoulder down to the street below, she scrambled to throw herself into his arms to 'rescue' the bound sheaf of half a century old paper and clutch it protectively to her chest. The hitman was very damn satisfied with this end result and gripped her jean clad hips to hold her in place straddling him instead.
"Ho? Well, look at that. Caught you."
"Blackmail."
"Bribery." He corrected pointedly.
"Now I know you have these I have a reason to figure out how to pickpocket the 'World's Greatest Hitman'." Sonya informed him bluntly, but with no regret or uncertainty in her tone as she kept her arms around the tome held safe against her bust.
"You're not supposed to make it too easy for me." Reborn reminded her smugly, earning a scowl for how easy his bait had made it for him tonight, freeing a hand from her curves to tip her chin up. "Now, I do believe you owe me something…"
"You want the kiss." She just had to argue right on back.
It took three steps to put her still bare back against an air conditioning unit, a blocky chunk of square metal sticking out of the middle of this nightclub's rooftop. She liked perches with features to duck and weave behind if need be, which was one of several methods he had to sort out where she likely would pop up next.
"The deal is a kiss, and I'd like to know what you like about kissing."
"Not a whole lot."
"Then I guess we'll have to do this methodically." Admitted the hitman leadingly, using the one hand not supporting her weight to sweep off his Mist Flame laced mental blocking fedora for a bit.
Wasn't the greatest idea right now, not with all the life below their feet. Reborn had no interest in the thoughts of those a floor or two down, especially not when the provided music was more just noise than anything legible. What he was interested in was what she thought of his kiss.
Except, she had other ideas.
She stretched up to press her lips to his jawline for one single second, slithering right on out of his one-handed pin with an interesting twist of her hips in the very next second. Ducking and rolling right on through between his legs, the Russian came up on her toes and bolted. Arms still wrapped around the bait he used to lure her in close enough, too.
Even knowing full well what she intended to do the same damn second she did, he missed snatching her back up by a hair's breadth since he had to turn and she didn't. Sonya only got a lead on him of two seconds with that tactic, but the circus trained acrobat had no issues throwing herself off a rooftop where he did.
Sonya might've landed somewhat heavily on her booted feet right in the middle of a suddenly not so crowded dance floor, and left cracks in the polished hardwood where she landed. However, she had equally little problems turning to doff a little wave in Reborn's direction safely on the ground floor of this nightclub than she had sticking that landing. "Thanks for the book, Reborn!"
Then she booked it, uncaring the bouncers for this place were not amused at the damages and aiming to throw her out. Five steps along the dancefloor to reach the bar, a single jump to get on top of the bar. A bit of glinting gold tossed to the bartender for the trouble and seven long strides just to throw herself through a high open window, venting some of the heat dozens of humans all in one single place generated even with an open rooftop.
Well. If that's how this was going to go…
…good.
Got the blood pumping, matching wits with a lovely lady with skills. The more difficult she made it, the sweeter the prize at the end would be.
Reborn settled his hat back on his head, turning away from the sheer drop with a wicked laugh.
He wondered if she was bold enough to try sneaking into his new place to see if she could find that small collection of old paper he had built up to bribe her with. Honestly, he rather hoped she was.
There was a lot he could do with a single allowance and some guaranteed privacy…
(Thursday the 20th of April, 1972. Bjǫrn's Apartment, Mafia Land.)
"…uh, Dama?"
"Any. Right now. Hurry up."
Bjǫrn obediently unlocked the bottom drawer of his work desk, riffling through the files given to Nightshade alone and picked one he knew she wouldn't be enthused by but would take her out of Mafia Land for at least a few days. "Do I want to know why?"
"Because I am a greedy bitch, that is why." Still with that oddly fixed smirk on her face, the woman snatched the offer to read through rapidly first. Like a responsible Mafia Land contractual agent, even if the barely risen morning sun she was using for illumination was still hidden behind the early summer rain squalls on the horizon. "But I am still a single-mother, I know better than to indulge myself too often."
…at least this shouldn't be that alarming. Probably.
Scraping blunt nails through his slightly shaggier than appropriate short shorn blond hair, the Lackey wondered what the hell had suddenly gotten into her. "How is this a bad thing?"
"It is still a vice that another could use against me." Sonya lectured him absently, flipping back through the three sheets of paper for the hard details again. "And he damn near did. But, if I am not here to be tempted, then it does not matter how much of a greedy bitch I am. I will be busy, so sorry."
"Supposedly, this makes sense." He stated more than asked, watching his patron and guardian in more than one way basically fidget in front of him. Sheepish, alarmed, and giddy all at the same time. "Have fun then, Dama?"
Shockingly, she impulsively hugged him. Then dove right on out of the window she had apparently been lurking out of until Bjǫrn dragged his ass out of bed for a brand-new day.
…okay.
"Okay. That happened." Bjǫrn had no clue what he did that earned that reaction, but it was still very nice to be appreciated. Not just by more money this time. "I… need coffee."
Maybe his lady's sister would know what was going on, he'd make a lunch date to catch up with her and Lando this afternoon to touch base. See what the hell they knew of recent developments that might have to do with her vice of greed, and just what motherfucker was trying to use it against her.
Ward might not yet be out of the hospital, but Bjǫrn could still knife a bitch himself. Slightly stickier to do it himself, but he knew his way through Mafia Land's bureaucracy to ensure it'd annoy no one else but himself. No matter who this asshole might be, or what they did on this island.
Though, to give his moronic hitman his due… it was a good thing Noah had a bad habit of ambushing him in the mornings when he got pointedly confronted with yet another individual that would have no issue murdering him if Nightshade wanted. It meant Bjǫrn had invested in a bathrobe to wear even if he lived 'alone', and he didn't end up doing this whole morning buck naked instead of just in a terry cloth bathrobe.
Maybe he should start getting dressed first before brewing himself some coffee in the morning…
(ooo000ooo)
(Thursday the 20th of April, 1972. The Old Sector, Mafia Land.)
"A lady who is interested does not run from her suitors either, Reborn."
Reborn paused, eyed Fon with exasperation, and then flatly ignored his semi-accusation to stroll lazily over to the single standing locker from some previous storage option.
To be frank, the assassin wasn't certain what they had already destroyed between them. It seemed to be an old Western sporting complex, so perhaps a gym?
…and half the trolly station Mafia Land once boasted of. More than just ruined now, the tracks had fouled Fon's footing and he Disintegrated more than half of what Reborn had maneuvered him across in their last bout.
"May I inquire as to what you did that sent her running?"
"You really don't know her all that well, do you?"
"I know her better than you."
He was then treated with a highly uncalled for skeptical look, as the hitman removed his floppy hat and his lizard to safely store in that single still standing tall if rusted box. Leon squirmed in his hand only long enough to get one eye on Fon before becoming biddable and willing to be placed there. Again.
"If you know Sonya so damn well, then obviously you know she's good at denying herself." Reborn drawled with little care and no interest at all, removing his cufflinks and tie pin next. "The only vice she doesn't use ten different ways to use on others… is her damn book collection. That's all hers. Her one, single selfish indulgence. Out of everything she has or can obtain. Others can contribute and use it, but it's hers."
…and herself. Fon wisely didn't state that to this man, impatiently waiting out the overdressed Mafioso stripping off all the metal and easily lost parts of his nominal outfit. "Communists."
"Might explain a few things. Not all of it." Sneered the man sarcastically, his sudden switch from absently obliging to cruel coming as no surprise this long in having to deal with him. "Sonya's not running, she's putting it off. She has one bit, and now wants to see if it's still there later. I have some books she might like and offered them to her. It will still be there when she's back."
"For free?" Fon questioned skeptically in turn, suspecting that like always he would not like whatever the hitman was not yet saying.
"Of course not." This time purring the statement at him, he grinned in his face sharply and with sharp teeth on display. "For a kiss each. Little sneak just pressed her lips to my jaw and slithered right on out of there with the first one. Smart of her, no?"
"Blackmail." Accused the Storm with mild irritation, keeping his hands flat against his forearms.
He would have enough opportunity to punch this man in the face shortly, it would do no one any good to start it too early or appear too eager.
"Bribery." Corrected the Italian flippantly with a twist of one wrist in his direction. "She has, and is exercising, the option to not play along… shouldn't you be happy she is?"
"So you require bribery to gain a lady's attention?" Fon asked instead of confirming or denying anything. "Interesting…"
"…ho? 'Require'? Hell no… but if you want some tips, Fon. Well, I can be generous… for a price." Reborn turned to face him finally, this time his belt joined the other items of apparel he deemed cumbersome to wear while facing off with a Storm using assassin martial arts master in hand-to-hand combat. "No. Aside the 'token' price for shit I don't care a damn about but she does, this isn't all for me. The lady wishes to know how much to trust my word, and I can prove that by indulging her vices when and where she wants to be. If I promise her something, it will remain promised. No matter the delay, or the other dipshit collectors that will want what I have for her to try getting a bit or two from me."
Moderately annoying of him to clarify, but at least he knew Sonya trusted his word as given already.
"Does that blow your efforts out of the water, here?"
"…giving her the formal instruction in bō staves, as she had sought as a child only to be denied for the lack of a proper instructor and then later by the constraints on her time? I do not believe so… my gift to her may be significantly more utilitarian, but highly desired by her for some time."
"Touché." Drawled the man after a moment, almost tonelessly now. "Alright, we'll call this round a tie then."
"If you insist." Fon dismissed with little care, no desire to correct him in who had an 'edge' in that competition.
The Sun grinned again, this time with a greater sharpness to him as he came up to loosely be called 'opposing' the assassin. "You wouldn't happen to know who taught her to kiss, would you? She seems to think the affection is… disquieting."
"It was not me." He had noticed the same, admittedly. He thought it was just personal preference. "So presumably Verde or Sinclair."
"…a Frenchman who doesn't know how to kiss a woman did it. Great."
"It could have been your fellow Mafioso." Poked the assassin, annoyed by the continual delay.
Reborn at least thought about the suggestion first, before opening his mouth again. "Timeline doesn't work that way. Presumably. I'll look into that. Still going to be blaming Verde."
"Good for you." Fon gave as his only warning, then attempted to scythe kick the hitman's head off.
He failed as the squirrely Mafioso ducked it easily by leaning backwards, but it was still satisfying to attempt.
(Saturday the 29th of April, 1972. Quebec City, Capitale-Nationale, Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada.)
…no way in hell this was 'coincidence', Sonya did not buy it.
Also, she really needed to either murder or plug up whichever fucker was giving Reborn her location. He'd been doing it ever since he had been Renato, and more than twice meant she was well past due to fix that. It sure as shit wasn't Bjǫrn, her Lackey would've informed her if he got paid for that information and he hadn't told her that last night.
Yes, it might just be that they happened to cross paths on wildly separate jobs and he wasn't here to lure her in one more time before the end of the month.
But no, she wasn't at all going to assume that when it was so much more likely the conniving cheating bastard was doing this on purpose.
Worst of all… he had a British printed copy of the first three books of the Lord of the Rings with him. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Left out on the café table he was biding his time at and obviously not watching in favor of a local newspaper, like the smug asshole he was.
The odds those were original first printings?
To steal, or not to steal?
Well… that was the challenge, was it not?
He unfortunately chose very well for seating. Unless she came from directly behind him, there was no way to hide from him in such an open public setting as an outdoor patio. The public in and outside of that café would also notice and see her attempt to stalk up behind him, so that was almost completely out.
Right on the way from her hotel in the direction where her next 'rob me, I'm stupid' contract had her going. Which yes, was easily acquired information from the previous day's news reporting… but her hotel was not a published fact.
Sonya had no doubt the Mafioso knew what hotel room she was staying in, to boot.
This would be playing right into his hands. She knew it. He knew it. Very likely, Reborn was counting on that 'bait' being too tempting for her to choose to not just because of that detail.
…but.
But.
She didn't have those yet. She was lacking the classics, and she knew it. Never corrected it herself, which left her open to this stupid shit.
If she was smart, she'd just find the nearest damn bookstore and buy herself new copies.
…Sonya was really fucking stupid. She wanted those, they were on offer.
They had history. Weren't 'corrected' or 'annotated' with what other dipshits thought after the author died… which hadn't actually happened yet. Hmm…
Firmly turning her back to the damn taunt, the thief slid down to sit on her ass on this rooftop and pout like a damn child.
Then got licked in the face, because Alek and Marco were littermates. They didn't differ all that much in temperament or habits, just her dog had options over his brother.
And was thankfully most of the time smarter.
One more last look, because this was already stupid and she was going to do it anyways apparently, and she turned back to her dog while scrubbing her face clean with one palm. "Okay. So. He knows what you and I look like, and he is better at disguises than I am. That is going to have to be last."
Alek cocked his head to the side, not comprehending her point.
"There are three volumes. So, in parts. One not now but soon, the next in a few hours past that, the last… possibly at the last moment possible. Too obvious?"
Her dog beat his tail a few times in return for the attention, still not understanding a damn word she said to him.
"We cannot be seen at it… which is not really much of a hurdle, admittedly." Sonya had faith in her pickpocketing skills, it was just the only skill she started her 'professional' life on.
Faith enough to go up against the World's Greatest Hitman about items he had she wanted… yes.
Getting away with pickpocketing the World's Greatest Hitman of the bribery he knew she would be after… probably not.
Frankly that took a lot of the risks out of this. There was no way Sonya would get away without blame, so that wasn't a complication she had to bother with trying to minimize down to nothing.
He also very likely wouldn't try to shoot her in the back for it, either. If she only just got away from him after relieving him of some excess book weight.
…if she had to.
That wouldn't be very fun, and kind of would be a little professionally embarrassing…
"And of course the jackass is better at this 'rob me, I dare you' shit than all the crooked but opinionated rich fucks with no clue that want to try it with me." Sonya heaved a sigh, rubbing at her forehead in irritation.
Unfortunately, that put her face back in Alek's licking range. He wouldn't do it to anyone but her, so that meant every fucking time her face was near his he licked.
Then he had the balls to look innocently friendly and adorably clueless when she glared for the treatment.
Scrubbing her face clean again, and wiping the excess dog drool off on her jeans with a mildly disgusted sneer, she huffed in aggravation. "Alright. So we are doing this. This really stupid, really dumb, utter fucking nightmare of a baited trap thing. Well… Alek. Turnabout is fair play, after all. I wonder when he is scheduled to be leaving the city…"
A clear timeline to work with would help her pick and chose her moments, because like fuck she was going to let him get away with pulling this shit. On her.
Yeah, asshole. Guess what?
She knew he kept all his paperwork and whatever he needed in that single briefcase he kept outside 'safe' territories for him. Extra ammunition, his Mafia Land I.D., whatever passport he was using, the encrypted work copy of his hit contract, most of his funds, and whatever else he might need.
Like tickets, air, land, or sea. Meaning his ferry or airplane ticket back to Mafia Land was in there too. That thing got stashed when he was actively hunting for a hit, it was only nearby when it wouldn't be risky to have all that shit on him if he got… caught.
Frankly, the ticket back to the island was the least incriminating bit on that list. The tickets always appeared to be legitimate ones, just with one easily missed watermark that told you where that ticket would take you to set them apart. The Ferrymen at least were legitimate charter boat captains too, she spoke to a couple enough to know it.
This 'I know you' thing was a two-way street, fucker. Reborn knew how to bait her in… but she knew how to check out the details on him back.
Alek licked at her neck next, the dumbass. Sonya just gave up and petted his velvety pointed ears instead of get huffy over a fairly common complication of hiding out at the same spot she put her dog at. "You are still a dipshit."
He sprawled his fluffy self out over her lap while they waited for a hitman to get bored sitting tight in full view of the public, wanting all the scritches and pets possible in the time they had.
Utterly indifferent to all the names she called him per usual, since she never varied her tone enough for him to differentiate them from her other words. She was semi-impressed he knew his name was 'Alek', because to be frank she had gotten in the habit of calling him her 'dumbass fluffy boy' recently too.
"What the hell are you, anyway? There is collie, shepherd, and something else in your blood. If it had just been Marco, I would have left it at that because that is what he mostly is. You have something… else. Not herding, not just guarding. You are a hunting dog."
Alek rolled onto his back on top of her thighs, all four paws in the air, and gazed up at her hopefully with mismatched eyes. Begging for belly rubs, since he wanted to press his luck this far.
"Yeah, thanks. You are as helpful as every other dumbass male in my life right now." Sonya still petted her good boy, because even if he wasn't helpful he was still right here.
Helping her the best he could, mainly by being fluffy and affectionate.
Not complicating her life to ridiculous levels.
Which was kind of ironic because Alek was supposed to make her job more challenging.
(ooo000ooo)
(Saturday the 29th of April, 1972 continued. Quebec City, Capitale-Nationale, Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada.)
The single only sign the World's Greatest Thief knew he was in the area and was aware he was taunting her was coming up one book shy of the whole set suddenly. Not the first or last, the middle book in the fantasy novel trilogy that was popular in the Western world right now he 'acquired' via dubious means.
It wasn't 'technically' stealing if the previous owner was dead. It was 'redistribution' of wealth, pre-funeral arrangements.
Reborn couldn't help the smirk as he tucked the other two back under an arm. These were not slim volumes to always carry around with him.
He had no damn clue how she got one, either. Not even after wracking his mind for all the damn details he could recall about who and what was around since leaving that tiny little French café, when he knew he last had all three books. Sonya apparently was not going to make this easy for him.
You know… she was right. Being the one 'hunted' all of a sudden was a very charming turn of fortune. Not being hunted for malicious or inconvenient reasons, but by a friend with semi-friendly aims?
The hitman would be keeping this little game of theirs going. Of course, his turn was next.
Time to hunt himself a naughty thief that owed him a little something. Because Reborn never said he couldn't catch her after the fact, or had to in the act, to get his kiss. Unfortunately that deal would only last another day.
Red handed worked for him. She would immediately stick her nose into the volume she 'liberated' from him the very first opportunity she could safely, because she compulsively did so with anything new and paper she obtained by any means.
Out of order in a series, starting at the end, whatever. It didn't ever matter to Sonya.
She'd read a series backwards if that was the order she obtained it all in. Then read them all again in the right order, because why the hell not.
Adorable little bookworm of the highest order.
…who owned a dog and had to stick to large canine friendly places to accommodate Alek's attendance at her side, as she trained him as a doggy thief.
Really, Sonya. 'Nearest hotel to a local dog park' was a bit obvious. There might be multiple dog parks depending on a few factors, but in a larger city that was still easier to case than 'all of them nearby the latest challenger wanting to try out Nightshade's skills'.
'Rachel Stokes' wasn't a new name, though. Seemed to be a more permanent alias she was fond of using.
A hitman hunting the thief that was hunting said hitman… Reborn actually lost another volume unexpectedly. Though, in hindsight, that was obviously Alek trimmed down from all his fluff not some other random dog bolting across traffic to damn near ram him down. Jerking himself out of the way didn't loosen his grip but did tie down his movement to something very damn predictable that could be worked against.
Book number three was just taken out of his hand in a sharp tug, from behind in a high-trafficked area with too many possibilities walking around to immediately catch a thief in. Leaving him with only the first in the series.
Sonya could change her dog's fur length and coat colors all she wanted, Alek's eyes were a bit memorable. Made for a damn convincing husky at first glance, until you noticed the tail didn't curl right.
Too fast for Reborn to immediately cotton on in barely a second, since dogs didn't gossip or think much of what they did. Until the book was taken, he almost thought it had been an accident barely missed in front of him.
Leon's trailing cloud of Flame eating beetles couldn't carry shit all back to the hitman to pick up on the first time, but the second… canines could run faster than any muscle powered human, but not how far a shapeshifter could fly.
If she got to use her animal companion, so did he. No offense to Alek, but Leon was much more useful.
Sonya was too fast for even Leon in hummingbird form, but the dog wasn't so quick. He just followed the suspiciously green hawk a few blocks, coming out to a quietly empty back forested corner of a neighborhood dog park.
Very quiet, as in not even birds were chirping quiet.
"Two out of three is actually very impressive." Reborn allowed for her due, but he knew the risk at challenging her at what she was the best at would lose him at least one if not all of them in short order. "Color me very fucking impressed, Sonya."
Sudden dog lapping led him to the base of an oak tree, where Alek was busy drinking down water from a shallow metal bowl. The freshly styled as a husky canine wasn't any fonder of the Sun than previously, but at least was only warily watching him from the corner of his brown eye.
Warmer, but not hot yet.
Reborn glanced around suspiciously, and then looked up at the branches nearby.
Weirdly, Leon hadn't come down yet. As a matter of fact, there was suddenly a lack of green hawks around.
…she either bribed Leon, or was trying to bribe Leon, or lured Leon away somehow. That crafty bitch.
Would that work?
Reborn snapped the fingers of his free hand the three times to order Alek to obey him, since apparently this was going to end 'boys versus girls'. While the canine was not best pleased at the order, he did stop lapping water and licked his jaws clean while waiting for his next one.
"Go fetch your mistress, Alek. Where's Sonya?"
The dog immediately put his nose to the ground to sniff that out for him, apparently an order he did not remotely mind getting. Alek circled the tree a few times before picking up on something else, and wandered off immediately with little to no care if Reborn would be keeping up or not.
He would, even if she'd be annoyed to lose that dog water bowl if it didn't stay there.
They didn't go at all that far, but annoyingly Cloud-tainted dogs didn't need to respect normal limitations either. With one bound Alek could clear fences taller than the Sun using hitman, not need to find other ways around whatever trail this was. He had slightly more difficulty getting into the courtyard of some apartment block.
"Thanks for the books, Reborn. It is really nice of you to keep giving these to me."
"Don't even want to try for the last one?"
"First one." Sonya corrected wickedly, three books in one arm and holding a small dish with water in it Leon was more than happy to splash around in her other. "You might want to check that 'first' one. I stole them in order, thank you. I thought you would appreciate that."
Reborn immediately looked, suspicious and well aware she was going to stay put to enjoy his reaction if it was true. One of the books in her arm didn't have the dustcover on it, and sure enough… it had been removed and placed on a volume of poetry of all fucking things. Then left in his possession. "You swapped this out first, stole the second, and then just snatched and grabbed the third."
"But since it looked as if I only stole the second, and snatched the third, you thought you still had one left to 'catch' me at." Entirely too pleased with herself, the thief hugged 'her' new books to her chest and batted her eyes at him prettily. "Nice try."
Reborn rolled his eyes, slipping the red hardcovered book of American poetry from the dustjacket sleeve. It didn't appear all that impressive or interesting, so he handed that back to her to keep if she wanted too. "Slight catch here, Sonya."
"Hmm?" Arms full of books, one hand still holding Leon's water dish she so thoughtfully provided for his partner to take a break in, she couldn't do more than blink when he slid a hand around the small of her back to fist into the cords tucked neatly into the waistband of her jeans.
"Caught. Red handed."
"…ah."
"Devil's in the details, woman."
"Bullshit. You are standing right here." Disgruntled and now highly annoyed, Sonya shoved Leon's water dish in his face.
"Not falling for this distraction tactic again, no." His partner was perfectly happy in her correctly sized tub, that got set on a nearby park bench for her to fully enjoy while they had the time. Reborn was not letting go of Sonya's corset strings, maybe not ever if she really wanted to press him today. "Time to pay up. You now owe me three."
"Do I even want to bother asking for a raincheck?"
"Here and now, or… in front of your brother, in front of Fon, and… well. Hell, why not on the orchestra stage of Vongola's Christmas Ball too?"
Sonya regarded him with tangible irritation now. "You are such a petty little shit."
Reborn shrugged that off easily without a drop of shame. She was too, she stuck around 'for' his reaction to being stolen from that allowed her to be caught. "Could be four. Twice in front of Fon, then."
"I bought this one!"
"Do the dustcovers count as their own parts in this?" He wondered next with a smugly wicked smirk.
"Net." Flatly denied the Russian thief, taking the single step of leeway her own corset ties allowed to put her new books down next to the still wiggling chameleon's bath far enough away to be safe from water splashes.
Turning back, she hooked a knee over his hip and used that and his arm wrapped around her to haul herself up to plant her lips over his.
Reborn immediately backed her fine ass into whatever fucking tree was nearby, easy to do when most of her weight was balanced on him to give her enough reach to 'get it over with'. Gave him something to press her back against, and that was all he wanted with her kissing him.
Also let him not allow her to get away with 'pressing her lips against him counted as one kiss', which she did entirely try to do again. Predictably.
Well, the poor woman had been stuck kissing morons who had no idea how to do it right.
He gently licked her bottom lip, sipping until she opened up on her own. He waited for her to experiment, to see what she might like about the whole affair instead of invade such a contrary and stubborn woman and expecting that to work.
Their first kiss.
The second was less gentle, and Reborn showed her what he liked. Since she was still learning, and he had all the patience for teaching her this topic. He coaxed her into his mouth, sucked on her tongue when she obliged him, then got himself in hers with any strong twinges of distaste making her pull back.
Which meant he could go full out for their third.
One hand gripping her ass to angle her, he ground his seemingly semi-permanent hard on into her as he repeated the steps less slowly. Earning himself a slightly muffled noise of surprise, but as she knew what would be happening she was not against participating instead of just enduring the process. Rounding the whole thing off with sipping at her bottom lip again, because she liked that.
"…well, at least you do not taste like spit right now." Sonya muttered irritably the moment he pulled away for the last 'owed' time, in reflex rather than she felt that way. Still annoyed, mostly at herself for not realizing the loopholes before Reborn could use them to catch her by.
The hitman placed his hat firmly back on his head, sneaking one last taste of her lips before that annoyance got focused on him instead and she pulled back.
Hmm… actually, this was a much better place to have their first few kisses than on top of some Mafia Land den for drugged up dancers. Quieter, at least.
"Do I want to know?"
"…Verde tasted like spit, and to be honest neither of us were at all that interested. I suspected it might have been that which was my problem…"
"…but you think the same thing with Fon."
"Mildly annoying when you do that, Reborn."
"I find Fon's whole existence annoying at best, right now. I need the help to not actually try murdering your current boy toy." Drawled the Mafioso semi-sarcastically, not allowing her down yet. "But by God is that man annoying."
"…I do not honestly care what you think of my friend." Sonya informed him bluntly and with the remains of her annoyance, shifting up since he wasn't allowing her down to get more comfortable pinned like this. "And-"
Reborn shut her up with his mouth, getting himself bitten warningly on his tongue as she started getting fed up with both him and the situation. "No, I knew when the airhead suddenly said something this was a risk. Just so you're aware of this, Sonya… I have no damn problem stealing you from him if I have to. I've come too far now to pull back, chasing your oblivious ass."
There was a momentary pause of actual damn surprise on her end. He didn't greatly care why she was surprised, and a bit of thought would probably work it out to yet another of these damn 'she forgot because no one had the damn manners to treat her like the hardworking competent lady she was' issues. "That is not… smart."
"I am very damn stupid when it comes to you. Unless you tell me no, you'd like to slum it with that overly trained chunk of muscles for the rest of your life… I'm not going to stop. He'll just have to deal with me, too."
He suddenly planted her back on her own damn feet, forcing himself to step away before he spent the next three or four hours just kissing the woman as stupid. She didn't have a great tolerance for kissing, but only if he wasn't forcing it on her would she not mind.
The hitman had no damn issues coaxing her into being willing to indulge him as often as he wanted, something to work on while he waited for her to get fed up with airheaded Storm assassins who had no damn clue what to do with her. Sonya let him go with some thoughtful silence, one hand held defensively in front of her reddened lips as he recollected a freshly bathed Leon and got maybe five more steps.
"…oh, and. If you want the rest of those books… I'm willing to negotiate terms any time you want."
"Son of a bitch."
"Probably." Reborn allowed with a bark of a laugh.