CHAPTER 7: ANGER

A month had passed. Mine was on another mission, this time with Leone. The two of them traveled to the Capital, which was a dangerous place to be. Even so, Mine was dressed in a disguise, wearing a black dress with red sequins on top, along with some red flowers sewn in. No one got to accuse her of intentionally wearing a Spanish dress, since no one knew.

Mine and Leone stuck together for a while, but eventually they had to split off. Leone was the one who would engage with the councilmen directly, while Mine provided cover from a hidden location. The mission was to find out what the councilmen were going to discuss with their superiors concerning Night Raid. Leone was owed some favors by the councilmen, so she was going to cash in on them.

Even so, Mine wasn't so sure this would be safe. By now, it was risky to trust anyone, even though Leone's involvement with Night Raid remained unknown. Just by asking questions about Night Raid, it felt like you would become a suspect. That being said, every piece of information was important, and Mine knew that.

The meeting appeared to go without a hitch. Leone stood with two councilmen and talked things over. They shared that Night Raid was gaining more notoriety in recent days, and that the soldiers were spreading stories, thus making things worse. Whether or not they wanted it, Night Raid was going to become a huge figure in defining resistance to the Empire. Leone did her best not to flaunt her pride, instead making jokes about how the Empire was lowering itself in attempts at dealing with the assassins.

While she was observing, Mine noticed some movement just beyond the building. Through one of the windows, a figure came to her attention. Someone was spying on them, although she could only imagine why anyone would have figured to do so.

Mine crept along the edge of the upper level to the building, eventually finding a window which took her outside to the section of the roof on that story. As she cautiously traversed it, she made sure to remain stealthy the entire time.

Once she made it across the rooftop, she climbed onto the next section, peeking over before going all the way up. There was a figure wearing black up there, still peering down through the window at the meeting taking place.

"Gotcha," Mine said with a grin. She made sure to climb up quietly, and then aimed her gun at the shadowy figure. Once she had him in her sights, she slowly walked forward. "What cha up to there, buddy?"

Instead of acting surprised, the figure barely reacted at all. He just stood up, released a familiar sigh, and then turned and faced Mine. Dressed in a black shirt and black pants, she barely even recognized him.

Mine found it hard to keep her emotions bottled. "Sanfred?"

After taking a moment to look her over, his blue eyes widened. "You turning Spanish now?"

That reminded her of the dress she was wearing. No! She was only wearing it for a disguise. Somehow, the only person she didn't want to see her in it had showed up. What were the odds?

"Look away!" she snapped.

"Whoa." Sanfred held his hands up and obeyed her. "You still mad at me?"

"Yes," she said firmly, stomping forward, until the gun was pressed against Sanfred's back. "What are you doing here?"

"Working," he replied, giving an annoyed breath of air after, as if it were obvious.

"You followed me?"

"Nope."

"Funny. Guess it's all just a happy coincidence then?" She was more confused than angry. What reason did she have to be angry anyway? If anything, she was glad to see him again, considering the chances were high that she never would have again.

"I guess." Sanfred was calm and talking in that apathetic voice. The one that she didn't like.

While there didn't seem to be any reason to regard him as a threat, Mine wasn't going to let her guard down. Her comrade was in that building, and both of their lives were at stake. She wasn't going to chance it.

"I'm… tying you up." She motioned to some pipes mounted just outside the vents. "Don't resist."

"Looks like you are still mad," he said, leaving both his hands behind his back compliantly. "I don't blame you. Do what you must."

Sure enough, he didn't resist. Mine brought him over to the pipes and tied the ropes so that his wrists were bound. Now that Sanfred was tied to the pipes, Mine started to loosen up. At least, now she didn't have to worry about him trying anything funny.

With that, Mine set her gun down and stood in front of Sanfred. "Why are you here?"

"Completing a job."

"What job?"

"The councilmen inside there made some enemies. I've been hired to kill the councilmen."

"Kill them?" Strangely enough, Mine didn't think of Sanfred as an assassin. But really, he was a bounty hunter, and that occupation tended to blur the lines with assassin.

"Yup." Sanfred shrugged his shoulders. "Is that why you're here?"

"No." She couldn't reveal additional information. After all, Sanfred still didn't know of any other identities from Night Raid, aside from what the public knew.

"Fine. Don't tell me." Sanfred shut his eyes as he grinned.

Somehow, Mine couldn't resist. Her feelings for him were still abundant, as was her tendency to lose focus. She walked forward, standing directly in front of Sanfred, while he still had his eyes closed.

Eventually, he opened his eyes again, and was staring at her. "It has… been a while… I suppose."

Mine was relieved to detect hunger in his voice. Even if it was a fraction of how she felt, she still enjoyed observing it.

"You look good," he told her. "You'd fit right in back home with the señoritas."

"No, I wouldn't," she muttered, divided between flattered and irritated.

Sanfred didn't seem to be joking. "Your disguise?"

Mine just nodded, suddenly feeling a wave of heat.

"It's a good one."

"Stop," she said, still resisting.

"Are you waiting for something?" Sanfred glanced back toward the window. "By now, your comrade in there is probably ready to leave."

Inside, Mine had to remind herself to conceal the reaction. Even if Sanfred thought he knew Leone was her friend, she couldn't confirm it. It was too risky.

"Just relax already," Sanfred said anyway. "You got away. I moved on. I found more work. Hardly anything to get upset over."

That didn't sit well with Mine. "You were willing to ruin my life. Over what? Just another job? How heartless can you be?"

"It's not 'heartless,'" he argued. "It's just work. It's not like I enjoy it."

"You seemed to be having a good time laughing at me while I was bound and gagged before. I wouldn't exactly call that a lack of enjoyment."

Sanfred nodded, as if he understood. "You are correct. Therefore, I apologize."

"You… apologize? Apologize?" She shook her head and crossed her arms. "It's too late for an apology."

"Well, I gave you one before," he pointed out. "Seems like you're angrier than I thought."

That confirmed it, and Mine stopped fighting with it. At least, now she understood it better. "Yes, I'm angry." She knelt before Sanfred, so that they were at the same height. "I'm upset because you kidnapped me, tied me up, gagged me with duct tape, kept me prisoner, and then you were going to deliver me to someone who was paying you money to purchase me as a bride. I should kill you after all that."

Sanfred was almost motionless. "But…" he brought up.

"But…" She sighed, hardly believing that she was uttering the words out loud once again. "I don't know what the hell happened, but I want to forgive you. I shouldn't… but I want to."

"Don't forgive me," he suggested. "Just kill me."

"What?"

"Relieve yourself of the burden. I'm not worth it. I did you wrong. I deserve to die. So… just do it. You're an assassin. Killing is something you do without hesitation."

Suddenly, Mine was put on the spot. She was a professional assassin, and a member of the Revolution. Years ago, she'd been taught not to hesitate when going for the kill. Since then, she passed that lesson down to Tatsumi and others. Now, she was forgetting the core lesson from her training.

And yet… she had discretion. She had the ability to make this decision for herself. "No," she decided. "I'm not going to kill you."

"Fine," Sanfred just said calmly.

"You should care," Mine brought up. "You should be more considerate. It's your life. It is precious. Why don't you seem to care?"

"I actually kind of do," he admitted. "I mean… I wouldn't want you to kill me. It would hurt my feelings."

She shook her head, struggling to resist a few laughs by now. "You're the worst. I don't even know what to say when it comes to the weird shit you always come up with."

"Agreed." With that, he glanced at Mine again. "So, listen… I know about Night Raid. I know that's your friend in there, and I know who the rest of the members are."

"How do you know all that?" Now Mine was concerned.

"Information gets passed down through the black market," Sanfred explained. "Don't worry, it's not legitimate enough to get to the Emperor directly. After all, there are plenty of rumors out there."

"But you seem sure that you know the truth." Mine returned to her feet. "So… I can't trust you with that information."

"This is where you kill me or invite me to join your crew?" Sanfred was grinning arrogantly.

Mine stomped the ground angrily. "Dammit… what's your problem? You don't take anything I say seriously."

Sanfred calmed down somewhat. "I most assuredly do take you seriously. But you must understand. I can't join your team. We do not share the same ideals in that regard. It would be disingenuous to join such a highly-opiniated political group."

That narrowed the choices down. Mine couldn't let anyone else go free if they knew she was with Night Raid. Since Sanfred knew everyone's identities… no. He couldn't know that for sure. He was testing her. For whatever insane reason, he was trying to get her to kill him. In truth, she had no interest in doing that.

There was only one choice left. Mine pulled out a knife and went for the ropes. She cut them loose, freeing Sanfred, and then she backed away, retrieving her gun. "Let's just go our separate ways," she suggested. "I'm through with all of this."

Sanfred rubbed his wrists, pretending to be in pain. "Through with what?"

"I'm done with expressing care for you, only to be laughed at."

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Well maybe it's because you get like this. Makes it hard to tell if you're being serious."

"What are you saying?" She was fuming once again, as usual.

"You just took a big shit over me and my entire life," he explained. "And somewhere in the midst of it, you expressed that you have feelings for me. So, what, I'm supposed to overlook all the anger and just focus on the one nice thing you said?"

After hearing that, Mine glanced away evasively. "I guess… when you put it like that… it doesn't sound very nice."

"Yeah, that." Sanfred crossed his arms in front of his chest, still unable to resist looking Mine over, adoring her new dress, even if it was just a disguise. "If you really do care about me like that, you must be assuming I have feelings, too. It's not like I don't have any cares in the world."

"Well, you… sure act like you don't have any cares." Mine was certain she was right in that regard.

With a loud sigh, Sanfred nodded. "Fine. I suppose I've been sort of… exactly like how you described me. Therefore, I would like to volunteer to fix that."

"Really?" She almost didn't believe what she was hearing.

"Really." Sanfred smiled, although he shrugged as he seemed to realize it would be no easy feat. "I will be more passionate."

Mine nodded, wondering how much of it she believed. What was more, she owed him something as well. "Fine then. I promise to be less of a bitch."

Despite the offer, Sanfred just grinned mischievously. "Well now, don't change too much. I kinda like how you are."

With her cheeks red, Mine tried to avoid his eyes. "All right. No need to overdo it. Just gradual change is fine."

"Who's that?" Leone's voice interrupted things as she suddenly appeared on the rooftop.

Mine stared in embarrassment, realizing there was no avoiding it now. "So, yeah. This is Sanfred… and he's… it's a long story."