Random one-shot inspired by a recently resurfaced memory of a street vendor asking my boyfriend to buy me a rose... but the guy wasn't my boyfriend. He was a total stranger that happened to be standing near me.
Shades of Konoha: Dragon and Phoenix
Buy a rose?
"Buy a rose for the lady?"
The street vendor was peddling his wares between them, and he offered the bright stems of red roses to the man next to her, grinning hopefully.
"No thanks," she said waving him away. "We're not together."
"But you look well together," the peddler pressed. "And a pretty girl should have a flower, shouldn't she? What does the gentleman say?"
"It really isn't…"
"You are right," the voice was smooth and the arch of the eyebrow clever. He handed over the money and the peddler handed her the flower.
"Have a good night, you, two," he waved cheerfully before moving on to the other potential patrons wandering the streets.
"That wasn't really necessary," she said, turning to him.
"It is always necessary for a beautiful girl to have flowers," he said seriously.
"Well there is a dying philosophy,' she laughed. "But thanks just the same."
"Treat you to a drink?"
"I really shouldn't," she checked the time. "I have to get to work in the morning."
"Where is work?"
"In the city," she shrugged. "It's a hell of a commute and I need to get some sleep." The streets had cleared and the revelers from the game were clearing out.
"That is a shame," he said, and his voice was lower than it had been. "I had looked forward to the pleasure of your company."
"It's a $2 rose from a street vendor, my friend, not a full course meal and date," she said archly. "It hardly secures the promise of company."
"True," he said, his voice low and velvet and steel, "but I had hoped for it just the same. Are you sure you won't change your mind?"
"No can do, I'm afraid," she shrugged. "Sorry."
In the next moment he had caught her up and moved with impossible speed to slam her against the alley wall. "Perhaps I can persuade you," he sneered, his calm exterior fading into something far more sinister and threatening. He buried his nose in her neck, the pulse of her blood a hypnotic rhythm – the smell of it intoxicating. He inhaled deeply, slaking a visceral need to fill his lungs with her scent.
"Not likely," she said evenly, and he wondered that she was so ignorant of her situation.
"We'll see," he hissed, licking up her neck, and skimming the growing points of his canines along the column of her throat.
"Let's not."
In the next second he was doubling over in pain, absently wondering how many centuries it had been since someone had done something as pedestrian as kneeing him in the groin. The fist that connected to his face after that was solid and the punch infused with chakra. The next thing he knew he was the one slammed and then released to slide down the wall, dazed.
"Why… why can't I…?!"
"Did you know," she asked conversationally, standing over him, and dropping into a crouch so she was straddling his thighs, but not touching him. "That it is possible to atomize silver? When your kind inhales it, can weaken you considerably. Our chemist knew enough to add in some other goodies – I suspect hemlock and garlic, myself – but she won't tell us the secret ingredients."
"Not that it matters much," she pulled a revolver from somewhere on her person and pushed the chamber out, slowly loading it in front of him. "It helps to have you slowed down, but it was pretty much over once I had you in my sights."
His eyes grew wide, and the rumors and warnings came back to him.
"Y…you…. You're…. Heaven," he stammered.
She flicked the chamber back in and spun it.
He laughed weakly. "So the hunter is back, is she? Shame about your partner," he said with a twisted smirk. "Is Heaven still looking for Earth?"
She twirled the gun absently on her finger before firing a bullet into his leg. He howled in baffled agony. How was it that he could feel pain?!
"I'm sorry," she said. "What was that, now?"
"Fucking bitch," he grasped his leg, his vision blurring and his breathing and reflexes slowing.
She fired into his other leg.
"Wrong answer," she shrugged.
"Y…you'll never find him, Heaven," he glared. "The master is too strong."
"I've heard." She said casually. "From the last ninety-nine of your kind that I encountered."
"Ninety-nine…?" his eyes were wide. "It's been you… this whole time, it was you? Are you fucking kidding me?! You fucking bit-"
Two more shots; right and left shoulders. His arms now hung limp at his sides.
"These won't kill you," she nodded to his wounds. "But you decide if the last one does. I have a few questions for you and I expect answers."
"Go to hell," he snarled.
"Not interested," she said cooly. "My suspicion is that you don't actually know anything, and are therefore of no use to me. We'll see what the mind bender says."
"Your kind can't read our minds," he narrowed his eyes. "You'd have to be a …."
His eyes went wide and he stared into space, dazed.
"Nothing here," the voice rang in her earpiece.
"That was fast," she muttered.
"If you had to comb through the mess that is this kind of guy's mind, you'd be fast, too," Ino huffed.
The vampire came back to consciousness having never realized he lost it, and growled at her. "You can't read our minds. I won't tell you a thing."
"We both know that is because you have nothing to tell me," she said evenly. "That means you are officially of no use to me."
"And we both know you can't kill me," his smile gleamed menacingly. "Not since-"
BLAM!
The final shot pierced his heart, and it was over.
"Don't believe everything you hear," she said tightly.
She watched the body disintegrate and five distorted pieces of silver clattered to the ground with the ashes.
One hundred out of one hundred.
"Nice job," the lazy voice came from behind her.
He stepped out of the shadows as one born to linger there.
"Too bad it was a waste of time,'' she muttered.
"Not quite," he corrected. "Ino thinks we may have pieced together a few new things. Let's get back to base."
"Fine," she nodded. She knelt and plucked the silver pieces from the ground and put them carefully inside of her pocket.
She looked up through the gaps of buildings to the glimpses of night sky.
There was a hesitation from her compatriot. "Listen. About your partner-"
"He's not dead," she said firmly. "I'd know if he was." When she was met with only silence, she slid a glance over to the other agent. "Don't believe me, Nara?" she challenged.
"I know better than to doubt you," he sighed. "Let's get going."
She gave a perfunctory nod.
"Next time," she addressed the heap of ashes at her feet, "think twice about how you approach a girl. No means no."
With a series of hand signs, she forced the air forward and the remaining black dust was scattered into oblivion.
"And for the record?" she said to the open air. "The name's Tenten. And master or no master, I will find Neji."
With that, she stepped back into the shadows, leaving nothing behind but a single, battered rose to wilt on the pavement.
Not planning on taking this anywhere; just a quick oneshot. Thanks for reading! -GL