It was a crisp-cold afternoon in this quiant house-hold...

The audible sounds of tires screeching upon contact with the snowy pavement from the outside. The solemn noises of migrating birds were barely being carried by the glacial winds, almost as if they were a mere whisper...

In contrast to the rigid temperatures from outside however... Is a warm and toasty aura that surmounted this apartment complex's living room... The pleasant sound of classical music being played in the background was a nice fit for the winter holidays... The alluring aroma of food being cooked wafted throughout the room's ventilation... Trapping it's scent and allowing the other family members to get a whiff of it's addicting scent...

"Oh! Dad what are you making!"

A certain little pinkette could only gleam is obvious excitement at this awaited revelation. In fact, the scent of her father's baking was more than enough to divide the little girl's attention away from her favorite telegram, from her favorite cartoon.

"Cookies why?"

The blonde man could only reply in a quizical manner while taking off the pair of hand-made mittens, -credits to his wife-, from his hands...

"Did you put-!"

The little girl was already raring to protest, her eyes were practically fuming in resolution... But unfortunately for her, the blonde man had already beat her to it...

It was either that or her father just knew her very well...

"Yes Yes I put Peanuts.."

Wincing iddly at the little girl's satisfied grin? or was that a smirk? The man decided to call it a day and just left the stove on to do it's thing... It would be another 15 minutes until that batch was perfectly baked...

Perfect, enough time for him to check in with WISE for any new missions, or for any possible transmissions... Well, that was the plan at least, he told himself vividly...

It was supposed to be the plan... But unfortunately for the spy, the door bell had made a buzzing noise... And seeing as his wife was in the shower, there was no possible way that he could turn, -whoever it was on their door-, away...

"I'll get it..."

It didn't even take a mere second for his giddy mood to be instantly replaced with that of a confused one after seeing who it was on their door... He knew, the moment his calculative eyes met with that door-knob, that whoever it was on the other side of the door was either bad news...

Or someone that could really damper this place's homy atmosphere... And soon enough, the moment his eyes laid on a patch of white silvery hair... He knew that the next hour-or so was going to be hell...

"...Nightfall...how nice of you to drop by..."

The blonde man could only put on a fake smile, and as convincing as it was thanks to his prior years of being a master in facades, - thanks to his spy-work-, ... This unexpected occurence certainly left a sour note on his face, much to his disguised chagrin...

"Yes...May I come In"

Despite her asking for his permission, the man already knew that she wasn't going to take a 'no' for an answer... And besides, he couldn't even react in time to give a response... seeing as she had already seated herself on their living-room couch...

...He really did train her well... Loid cursed to himself...

...

"Honey have you seen... my... comb..."

This room once had a warm and accomodating atmosphere... but now, It had turned into an icy-battlefield, devoid of any mercy...

The moment that the thorn princess laid her eyes on their supposed guest, -who just barged in from out of nowhere-,... The woman's eyes soon turned into something more of a darker shade...

Her pupils were more akinned of a killer rather than a regular housewife living her blissful days with her family... Then again, by the woman's standards, her glare was already on a 'gentle' scale, considering that she was a full-fledged assasin...

She wasn't deemed as thorn princess for nothing of course... The menacing aura that the assasin was emitting is more than enough to stab anyone's insides from the in-out...

Her transfluxed gaze was almost ressembling a trap even... As if she was inviting the short-haired woman to a dark and secluded path... This was the least she could do after that woman barged in on her own territory...

"My, My If it isn't Fiona, what brings you here today?~"

Yor fully knew that that name wasn't her real identity... She was already aware that it it was just an alias for her dirty-work, much like her job and her husband's...

And yet why? Why did she insist on using it? Maybe because it sounded fun to use... Like a horrible 'nick-name' for someone to tease with...

"Good afternoon, Thorn Princess, or should I say Yor Forger?"

Like her piercing steel-like eyes, the silence that soon followed tow felt even more stiff than iron itself... It took a solid minute until the subject, -the reason-, for both side's passive-aggresiveness to finally speak out...

"...Well I suppose you two need some time alone, so I'll just...yeah... get out of your hair..."

It was also a good thing that the timer he had set earlier for the cookies had just gone off, what impeccable timing... Even he couldn'tve planned for this, had he known that his colleague was actually coming... Then he would've taken extra precautions... But there was one more pressing matter that he had to deal with before leaving...

And that would be the annoying noises that the television was making amidst the cold and intense stand-off between these two women... He shot his daughter a quick yet deadly glance... As if his eyes were code that immedietly translated to that of an emergency...

The little girl, upon seeing her father's reprimanding gaze, quickly shut off the television... And she didn't even need to use her psychich abilities to read the man's mind... His message was as clear as a sunny-spring day, which was kind of ironic considering that it was the start of January...

Guess her cartoons would have to wait... Atleast she recorded it... The little girl smirked knowingly to herself, much to the father's confusion...

"...Would camomile be alright...?"

The black haired woman from across the counter asked warily while shuffling through their list of herbs...

"Yes... that would be fine"

Their unexpected guest could only nod in a brief response before taking some papers out of the envelope she brought... After doing so, the short-haired woman took a deep breath before finally voicing out her concerns... The only reason she was really here... However to the woman across her, it came off as if though she was about to tell something obvious... Like the many times she did drop by when Yor was still oblivious to her husband's reputation...

There was only obvious thought that began circulating in Yor's head... That this woman is over-stepping her bounds again and is trying to take away her property... And by property, the assasin mean Loid forger... her one and only husband...

This woman was trying to take away her man again, isn't she?

Well not this time... She had already outmatched her when it came to strength and speed... However even she could admit that she lacked a bit in the knowledge department... But she hasn't given up yet!

"Look... about your husba-"

Her white-haired guest began to speak, however, Yor didn't even give her the opportunity to finish due to her cutting the spy's statement short...

And in that moment... the assasin's temper began to blow-up...

"What about him now? You want take him?! Sorry but he's my property! Haven't you learned already?! Yes, we might have started his under false-pretenses just for our own benefit... But what I feel now is real! I u-understand why your so insistent in making him yours... Of course I do..."

Clenching her fist against the counter's rough tiled surface... Her real feelings began flooding down, away from her sensical dam... Due to the threat of her losing that smile that she's comed to love.

"...He's the sweetest person alive, even if from the outside... He might seem cold and distant... That might be because of his unfortunate past... But... But even despite that... He's the most sincere person I've ever met in this planet... The small glimpses of happiness he would occasionally show when he looks at other people's smiles..."

Yor's voice began pouring out... out from her heart... Hoping that it's intent would be carried to the ears of it's desired listener... Her heart began beating rythmically from how earnest she was in confessing these feelings...

"...He's also the best father I've ever seen... Even if the task is impossible... No matter how short or tall of an order it is... He'll do absolutely anything for his...for our daughter... You might argue that it's for the sake of his mission... But deep down... I know that he cares for Ainya deeply... He just wants to give her a childhood that he couldn't have..."

By this point... practically the entire space was filled with the assasin' loud and sincere pleas... But at what validity did this outburst of hers warrant? Even she doesn't know... But...

"...And much more than that... He's an amazing person... He's head-strong no matter what challenges lie ahead of him... He always thinks of others' sakes before himself's... He's an incredible man... A-And I'm not just talking about his h-handso- Imean g-good looks! He's an incredible cook too! In fact, he's practically good at everything that sometimes... It makes me feel useless as a parent...But even so..."

Even so...

"He would always look at me with that heart-warming smile and reassure me... to remind me to keep doing my best... and that's the same smile I've come to love after all this time... So I guess... What I'm really trying to say is..."

She wanted for her to hear her honest feelings... so that she could see just how much this small-little family had meant to her... And if anyone was to dare intrude in this heart-felt space, -called home-, that she had found...

"Keep your hands off my man!"

... She could never forgive them...

A heavy silence... that was the only thing that ensued after Yor's unexpected outburst... After so long of repressing these accumulated feelings... A mere threat, a woman, was the only thing that had managed to push her off the edge...

...Silence was the only thing that had surmounted this quiet living room area... and it was soon accompanied by the ear-piercing sound of a tea kettle ringing...

It had seemed like an eternity had passed after that momentary stand-off... Yet, that silence would soon be proved as fleeting since someone decided to cut it's thick atmosphere...

The short haired assasin blinked once, twice, thrice even... Still trying to process that mouthful of an outburst that she had just earned... Out of all the years that Nightfall had trained under as an apprentice...

Nothing could have prepared her for the sincere dilemna that she was coming to face... But then, something in her brain clicked... Sighing deeply to herself, she tried to clear up the misunderstanding...

"... I wasn't here to try and 'take away' your man... In fact, I was just here to ask Twilight to sign some papers... They're the organization's budget-records for the past month... And I was just here to confirm it's validation... too check if I had forgotten to put something in..."

Almost as if a ticking-sound was heard in the assasin's brain... Yor's mood began lighting up into a bright smile, in under three seconds... No longer was she wearing the face of lioness trying to protect her territory... Her expression was no longer that of a wife trying to claim what's rightfully hers...

Instead... It was all replaced with the fervent smile of an innocent child...

"O-Oh! Then you should have just told me earlier! Jeez and here I was getting all worked-up...ehe~"

And unbeknowsnt to said fervent woman, that a pair of figures were carefully listening on from behind a bedroom door...

One, however, had a face that was fuming in red embarrasment... Almost as if his cheeks had just been splattered by a deep-red color... While the other figure, a small child, had plastered on the biggest grin she could have possibly made in this lifetime, and most likely ever...

"Heh... Papa's embarrased..."

The small little girl whispered diabolically beside her father, as if she was some sort of cynical villain peering over her prey...

"Shut up"

Said 'prey' however could only retort weakly, since he was trying to force away a prevading smile that had started to form on the corners of his tinted-red lips...

...

Author's note:

:)