Chapter 35.5

Kasumi caught him in the CIC. She was ghosting through, listening to the conversations people had while they thought no one else was within earshot. They could be quite entertaining at times but also quite boring.

But then she noticed Shepard exiting the elevator. Kasumi smiled. Following him was never boring. She became his shadow, weaving between people oblivious to her presence with practiced ease.

His first stop was with Joker and EDI in the cockpit. The AI took control of the pilot chair halfway through their conversation, making it spin erratically.

"Ha ha, EDI very funny."

"You wished for manual control, Jeff."

Shep laughed at the two before saying his farewells and headed back toward the body of the ship, the thief hot on his heels. Both Kasumi and Shep noticed the growing comfort with one another. It was refreshing and hopeful to see two of the crew that were once very much at odds with each other finally start to get along.

The next person he visited was Mordin. The salarian didn't have much time to talk. He was trying to figure out how an outbreak of scale-itch had occurred on the Normandy. It was a STD only carried by varren. Kasumi was glad that was one story she had not overheard.

Next was Jacob. Oh, Jacob. She could hours in the armory just watching him go about his day. She didn't of course. That would be creepy. Although, she did stay for over an hour once when she caught him just starting one of his shirtless workout. The man did over a hundred sit-ups. Who does a hundred sit-ups? Not that she was complaining. Kasumi has seen idealized statues of Greek gods with abs softer than Mr. Taylor's. And then when he flipped over to do pushups. How the muscles of his back coiled and relaxed and coiled again. And those divots on his lower back; the ones she just wanted to run her finger up and down the entire time she was there…

Only then did Kasumi notice that her little daydream/memory caused her to miss the entire conversation and Shep was quickly exiting. She hurried to catch up.

Shep and his shadow took the elevator down to engineering to continue the rounds. First stop there was Zaeed. The old mercenary shared a few stories. A man with that many years behind him in his particular line of work probably had enough stories in his head to fill an encyclopedia. And we're not talking about a "Q" or "X" sized volume. More like a "T" or a "B" or maybe even a huge "S."

After Zaeed figured he had taken too much of Shep's time and after he politely declined Shepard's help with fixing "Jessie," they moved on to Grunt. The krogan didn't say much. He just looked like he was itching for a fight. Of course, what krogan wasn't itching for a fight?

Next was Tali, the new chief engineer. Kasumi never really talked to the quarian, though, to be honest, Kasumi didn't talk to a lot of people. But she might have to change that in this particular case. Tali was genuine and funny and had a good head on her shoulders. She liked her and decided she should get to know her and give Tali a chance to get to know Kasumi as well.

The last stop in engineering was Jack. She wanted to say Jack was just being Jack, but the biotic was acting weird. She was evasive, completely uncharacteristic of her, and even thanked Shep for his help.

Then the entire conversation took a crazy turn: from Jack propositioning him (which Kasumi was eternally grateful he turned down because AWKWARD!), to Jack actually asking him something sincerely, to Shep totally invading her personal space. Kasumi thought he would end up smashed in the bulkhead for sure. But then, he finished what he had to say, turned, and left. And Jack just stood there and did nothing.

Like she thought before, following Shep around was never boring.

Finally it was time to head to the crew quarters. First was Thane. He shifted uncomfortably when Shep asked him if he had time to talk.

"I would prefer to focus on my meditations. Another time, perhaps?"

Shep nodded and left him to whatever he was doing and headed to Samara's room.

Kasumi was never one for princess stories or fairytales, but there was something about the justicar that just seemed… regal, like a queen out of a book. Maybe it was the way she held herself or the way she spoke or the way her chin was always up so she was always looking down to you. The most amazing part was that Kasumi never got the feeling she was looking down on her or anyone else for that matter, only that she held herself to a standard and would not settle for less.

Samara shared a few stories with Shep. They were similar to Zaeed's but so much different at the same time. Again, all Kasumi could attribute it to was regal.

Once Shep had turned to leave, Samara looked pointedly at her. The asari nodded at what was supposed to be open air. She had seen her. She didn't know how the justicar did it, but she had seen her. Kasumi left the room quicker than she had the others. She also made a mental note not to cross Samara or try sneaking into her room. Something told her the asari would know.

Next was Garrus. Kasumi got a little excited about watching those two interact. She could tell they were close and that they had been through a lot together. It was helpful insight to both men.

Unfortunately, her dreams were dashed. Garrus said something about calibrations that needed to be worked on. That was funny. She thought the guns had never been fired and surely they would have been calibrated since they installed them nearly a week ago. And there was a hot fire in the turian's voice that Kasumi had a sneaking suspicion had nothing to do with the new guns. Still, Shep left him to it and headed to the last person on the team.

But just in front of the door, Shep turned suddenly and swiped at Kasumi. She jumped to the side, his hand missing her shoulder by centimeters. However, the thief didn't see the other hand come swinging from the opposite side that caught her upper arm.

He smiled. "Hello, Kasumi."

She dropped the cloak. "When did you know?"

"Mordin's."

"So you let me follow you for over an hour?"

"Why not? I figured you were bored with your usual haunts."

He was getting too good at catching her. "How do you always know?"

He shrugged. "It's the little things. Besides, knowing there's a particularly talented thief that likes to walk around cloaked on board makes it easier."

Kasumi put a hand over her heart. "You flatter me."

"I do what I can."

Something dawned on her. "Is that why you didn't visit my room?"

He nodded.

"And what if someone said something I shouldn't hear."

"I don't think anyone here cares about that except for the ones that caught you too. Oh, and Jack. I wouldn't let her know that you were spying on our conversation."

"I don't have a death wish, Shep. And who caught me?"

"Samara for sure. You don't get to be a justicar by looking pretty. And I'm pretty sure Thane did too. He didn't want to say much when you were in the room."

"He talks?"

Shepard nodded. "To me, yeah. And he talks to Samara. He's a private guy, so I bet the thought of a thief knowing his secrets really doesn't appeal to him."

She scoffed. "I only steal priceless artifacts. I don't sell secrets."

"Better safe than sorry."

Kasumi looked past him to the door into Miranda's room. "So, why stop me now?"

"Because I don't want you to hear our conversation."

"Scared I might sell your secrets?" she said playfully.

"No. Scared you might overhear something about Cerberus. I don't want you to be on the run from the Illusive Man for the rest of your life just because your curiosity got the better of you."

"Awww. Come one, Shep. I promise she'll never know I was there."

"But I will, and that's more than enough reason for me. Promise me you won't follow me in there."

"All right, fine. I promise."

"Thank you, Kasumi," he said before turning and disappearing behind Miranda's door.

So Kasumi couldn't follow Shep into Miranda's office ever. But he didn't say anything about being in there before he got there, now did he? So maybe, one of these days, she was going to have a little invisible campout in Miranda's room, waiting to see what exactly Shep was being so secretive about.

Kasumi knew she shouldn't, but she just couldn't seem to be able to control herself.