Three: Traps

"Oi, babazuke!" Haruka called the moment she entered the Fujino's Estate.

"Ara, ara…" Fujino Shizuru said as she took a sip of her usual green tea.

"Whatever," Haruka flopped down across from Shizuru and continued without waiting for Shizuru to speaks up. "Now that I'm back here for good, my fiancé told me that she's coming to visit in a few days with her friends from when she was in service. I think that crazy redhead and Mikokto planning to hit the ocean to do some fishing before meeting up with us for some sightseeing. I think of renting a boat at the Aisha Docks for them to do some fishing on."

"Ara, ara…. Is that so?" Shizuru asked and Haruka nodded her head as a servant served her tea and snacks. "That sounds good, and I'm sure my mother would not mind letting you use the yacht for a few days if you like." Shizuru continued.

"I was hoping for that, thanks." Haurka stood up and left after saying that.

But no one was aware of the brewing storm; one of the servants happened to hear it and then passed it alone to the recently hired driver. The driver happened to be of female gender, she then called up a handsome young man and together they plot and plan out a trap of sort to get rid of possible competitions. It has been so since Shizuru's fiancé's death. The distant relatives, especially the males, are all vying for Shizuru's attention in hope of setting foot into the Fujino's fortune.

Two days later, the trio set foot on Japan, and Haruka was the one greeted them rather than Shiho, even though she'd moved back to Japan right after her service was up. Haruka took the trio to her place to let them settled in for two days before taken them to the docks for a fishing trip, Shizuru got the family's driver to haul the yacht there for the fishing trip, she couldn't come due to a meeting. Yukino decided to sit out on the trip, leaving only Nao and Mikoto to enjoy the trip. Nao being her reckless yet careful self, run a scan of the yacht the moment it was put onto the water and no one was around but Mikoto.

"Well, shit…" Nao murmured looking at the piles of explosive devices they found from the scan. "I think that loud woman trying to kill us," she added.

"I doubt it, but someone is really trying to get rid of us, might as well let them think that they did." Mikoto said calmly as she undoes the bomb with ease.

"It just means that when we hunt them down, there's no reason to feel guilty about killing them asses." Nao added as a smirk formed on her lips.

The moment they set sail out to the open ocean, the light on one of the bombs started blinking, and the pair took a dive as the yacht went up in flames. Being a Seal, the pair stayed under water long enough to swim back to shore but at a different place. Shizuru, Haruka, Yukino and Shiho were shocked of the news. Mostly Shizuru, because she was hoping to see Mikoto the moment she could get away from work but not anymore due to the uncalled explosion. It wasn't long before both Shiho and Yukino received a cryptic message of sort that only they could understand. Yukino left Haruka to comfort Shizuru as best as she could, Shiho greeted Yukino the moment she stepped outside and the two headed to an out of the way bar of sort near Tokyo Bay.

"Yo, and hey babe. Sorry for giving you a scare there," Nao greeted Yukino but quickly turned her attention to the pink haired woman next to Yukino.

"Look at you two…" Yukino trailed off; already got her personal medic bag opened and got the roll of bandages out to wrap up the cut Nao somehow managed to get on her left forearm.

"Shiho…" Mikoto trailed off as her hands do the talking and Shiho just nodded her head every now and again.

"Okay, okay…" Nao paused before raising her voice at the other two. "Can you two be less mute? Yukino and I aren't deaf dammit."

"Yes, we like to be in the know and help in weeding out whomever stupid enough to cross us." Yukino said once she finished patching Nao up.

"Look, what we're saying is that we need to look into this accident, and make a damn list of all the parties involved. Mikoto will stay dead for the time being, and you sweetie, can say that you were away grabbing some beers but run into someone you know from when you're in the military." Shiho said after she heaved a sigh as Mikoto left to get them something to eat and drinks.

"Why do I have a feeling that you two known each other?" Nao asked her brows furrowed.

"I met her about a year after I met you, love." Shiho paused as Mikoto returned with foods and drinks. "She was the bartender at the place I was tasked to work as an undercover to get info on the criminals that frequented the place." Shiho continued.

"Problem was she wasn't very convincing playing the mute and deaf bartender apprentice." Mikoto interjected.

Four years ago…

"Miki, she's new and doesn't speak, so look after her." Ross Liam, the owner of Heaven Bar said.

"Cut the lies," Mikoto said the moment its closing time.

Shiho just looked at Mikoto in a confused manner; Mikoto just shook her head and reached out to pull a hidden earpiece from behind Shiho's right ear. Shiho was shocked at the sight, realizing that this person in front of her is on a totally different level than she is. Furthermore, this person didn't turn the cards over on her, but patiently waited for the shop to close before turning on her. She was sure that nothing about her disguise give her away, yet she couldn't tell how this calm and cool bartender knew about it so easily.

"H-how…?" Shiho uttered only just that.

"I was a Seal that kind of trick doesn't go pass me. Plus, you're not the first one trying that trick here, only the first one to not get discovered by those thugs. Most of them got quiet pretty damn fast, so practice not to use that damn earpiece." Mikoto answered in an almost cold and detached tone of voice.

"Army," Shiho finally gathered her thought.

Mikoto says no more, but she motioned with her hands to tell Shiho how to be a better at her role of being an undercover agent. Shiho caught on and soon found herself hanging out with the quiet bartender off working hours, and it helped her improving her sign language skill as well as tapping on the thugs without being found out by them. Within months, Shiho and her team managed to wrap up the case and arrested the criminals. After that, Shiho got a call from her grandparents and headed to Japan, there she got roped into doing private security work for Fujino Shizuka. Though she still keeps in contact and once in a while asked for Mikoto's input when she stumbled on a knot of sort that she couldn't see how to untie it.

Present day…

"Didn't plan on meeting again on the cruise though," Shiho said.

"And that lame attack they pulled really give me a hint into how shitty things are getting on your end," Mikoto said with a smirk of her own.

"Hey Yukino, wanna bet how many we gonna kill on this?" Nao asked as she grinned cockily grin at the doctor.

"I'll pass on that." Yukino said and the cocky grin dropped.