Kasumi

She was laying out his clothes for the night when she heard the bathroom door open behind her.

"I'm surprised to see you," Shep said.

"The heist in less than an hour. Of course I'm going to be here so we can go over some of the finer details," Kasumi answered without turning around.

She heard the smile in his voice. "No, I meant I'm surprised I can see you. You usually don't like being visible when you make your visits."

Kasumi started to turn. "And yet you still know when-"

The sight of Shepard interrupted her. He was (gloriously) naked from the waist up, skin still glistening from the shower. The towel sitting low on his hips was the only piece of cloth he had wrapped around him. The chiseled man would give Jacob a run for his money.

After what felt like an hour ogling her leader, she shook her head to bring her mind back to the present. "What was I saying?"

He smirked which wasn't helping her concentration at all. "I think you were complaining about how I always know when you're up here. Then, you got distracted by something."

"Well, look at you!" She pushed on his chest, feeling the hard muscle under the skin. "Do you have a gram of fat on you?"

Shep laughed. "So, why are you in my cabin, and why is there an expensive suit on my bed?"

"It's your disguise."

"A fancy suit?"

"What? You think you get to walk in there with your armor? Come on, Shep. You know better than that."

"A soldier can dream, can't he? Let me get some clothes on and finish getting ready," he said as he moved to his footlocker. "Don't want you getting distracted while you explain the mission."

"Let me walk around in just a towel and still wet from a shower, and we'll see who gets distracted then," Kasumi told him as he walked back to the bathroom. "I may not be as busty as Miranda or Samara or as curvy as Tali or as… whatever Jack is, but I look damn good naked."

She heard him laugh through the door. Kasumi patiently waited for him to return. It didn't take long. The military must train their people for quick bathroom breaks because he was back in five minutes, ready for briefing. Sadly, he traded the towel for a pair of shorts, and he had covered his chest with a tee shirt.

"Since I'm getting a disguise, I'm guessing I'm not going as myself."

"Nope. It wouldn't be good for a Spectre to show up to a party full of the worst criminals in the galaxy." She hands him a datapad. "You will be Solomon Gunn, leader of a small but growing merc band out in the Terminus. I've taken the liberty of giving you a reputation. Even an article in Badass Weekly."

"At least I'm not a red sand dealer."

"I figured it would be best to choose something close to what you actually do. You'll be fine as long as you don't talk about your work. Now, the party we will be crashing is hosted by a Donovan Hock. He's a weapons dealer and smuggler and all around bad guy.

"But I really don't care about any of that," Kasumi added. "He has Keiji's greybox, and I want it back."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll get him back."

His words startled her. She had been extremely careful not to reveal how much having a piece of Keiji would mean to her. Seemed Shepard saw through more than just her cloak.

"I'm not really keen on going into a room with known criminals unarmed," Shep continued.

"You won't be unarmed," she answered lightly, trying to keep the heavy thoughts buried. "You're one of the most charismatic people I've met. You will make the women and men swoon with your every word."

He just looked at her skeptically.

"Fine, fine," Kasumi relented. "No one is going to bother you if you keep your sidearm. Just don't go shooting up the place. I want this to be a bullet-free affair."

Shep smiled at her. "Then you picked the wrong person to run this op with. Remember what I told you back when we met?"

"Let's hope we get extra lucky."

"I warned you about bringing me along," Shep yelled over the din. "The mission usually ends in a firefight when I'm around."

Kasumi popped out of cover and took down an Eclipse guard with her new SMG. "Well at least you're halfway decent in one."

It was a shame the heist devolved into a gun battle. It was going so well too. Shep had met Hock, and the man didn't recognize the Spectre (something Kasumi didn't want to tell Shepard she was worried about).

The gold statue of Saren that was hiding their weapons and armor made it inside without incident though Kasumi got turned away at the door. Of course, she made a living by going places people didn't want her to be so she was able to make do.

Shep found the vault quickly enough, and they started dismantling its defenses. Kasumi cut the power while he drew people's attention, they found the password, and they collected Hock's DNA in his room after convincing the guard that Kasumi was a Chief Roe. Shep even used his legendary charm to get the host spouting some nonsense about how people like him were needed to keep the peace in the galaxy which was more than enough for the voice lock.

Breaking into the vault was easy after that. Kasumi looped the security cameras so no one could tell they were there and searched through Hock's extensive and questionable collection (no doubt most of the pieces were not obtained legally) for Keiji's greybox. They eventually found it sitting next to three M-12 Locust SMG's which they relieved him of as well.

That's when the shit hit the proverbial fan. Donovan Hock, being the grandiose ass that he was, showed up in a hologram the same size as Lady Liberty's head behind him. He preached off a threat or something. Kasumi wasn't really paying attention. She was working on a way to get out of here.

That's when the door opened behind them, and Eclipse guards starting streaming into the vault. And now they were here, stuck behind art pedestals as Hock's mercs unloaded on them.

"Remind me not to take you on any more jobs that require any hint of stealth," Kasumi yelled at Shep.

His sniper rifle fired. "I thought we were doing fairly well."

"We were. Then you had to be your unlucky self."

"Not my fault I attract bullets."

Kasumi didn't answer and turned on her cloak. She stalked the last guard who was stubbornly sticking behind cover. When she was close enough, she loaded the concussion blast on her omnitool and set it off next to the guy's head. He cried out as he was flung from his spot. Shep finished him.

"See. That wasn't so bad, was it?" Shep said as he searched for unused clips.

"I get the feeling we're not done yet."

She was right. The vault exited into an underground road ("Who needs a road leading to their secret vault with illegal goods?" "I don't know, Kasumi. Maybe someone that needs to sneak in said illegal goods?") which was filled with even more guards. They made quick work of them, but the thundering footsteps told them something bigger was on its way.

"Come on!" Kasumi whined. "A heavy mech?"

"The man must really want his vault to be secure."

Shep removed the mech's head, causing its core to meltdown. A few of the guards were caught in the blast which cleared the way for them.

Unfortunately, they didn't make it far when Hock closed the shutters, effectively locking them inside. He didn't take in account that she was with the Savior of the Citadel, however, and he wouldn't be denied his freedom. Five minutes later and after a quick battle with more guards, he found some added firepower.

"What is Hock doing with a tank down here? Really. Who needs a tank?"

He didn't answer her, focusing on whatever he was doing to the main gun.

"What are you doing up there, Shep?"

She saw it whir to life. It turned to take aim at the wall lined with pipes that she guessed had explosive material in it.

"Wait. You're not doing what I think you are, are you?"

"You really shouldn't ask questions you already know the answer to, Kasumi."

"Let's think about this for a minute. Isn't this a little extreme? There's got to be a better-"

She was interrupted by the main gun firing and took cover as fire and debris washed over her. After the smoke cleared, Kasumi saw a hole where there once was a wall.

"Found an exit," Shep said with a smile.

They jumped through the new exit and were greeted with more gunfire.

"Another heavy? This is getting ridiculous."

"It's not over yet," Shep said as he fired. "The way things are going, I bet we're going to face a tank before we're done."

"Don't say that! You're enough of a jinx as is."

Kasumi's attention was mostly focused on staying out of the path of the bullets sent flying her way, so she was only vaguely aware of Hock's voice over the intercom. But the sound of her name forced her to listen to what he was saying.

"Don't fight me, Kasumi. You know what happened to your boy toy when he fought back."

Anger welled up in her like she never felt before. "Don't talk about Keiji like that! Murderer!" she yelled back.

Kasumi wasn't really the avenging type. Sure she would get revenge for slights. Like the time where her client wouldn't pay her for services rendered so she stole back what she had given him and his prized varren. Still, she wasn't one to hunt a man down because of what he did, and Kasumi wasn't about to change that for Donovan Hock. But if they crossed paths and he died a painful and fiery death, she wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Unfortunately, the jinx was with her so, when they did run into Hock again, giving him that fiery death wouldn't be easy.

"So it's a gunship and not a tank. At least I was close."

"I would have preferred the tank," she deadpanned.

Hock's gunship was no cakewalk either. It had strong, regenerating shields that seemed to never drop, and enough ordnance to take out a small army. It took some fancy footwork on Kasumi's part and nearly every thermal clip they had to finally bring him down. She watched as the aircraft spun out of control and crashed into the ground. It exploded a second later, sealing its pilot's fate.

It wasn't until Kasumi got onto the shuttle and felt it take off she realized she got him back. Still, she needed to know why he left and why Hock killed him for his greybox. She needed to know what Keiji found that was so damn important.

She looked to Shep, asking for his permission to read the greybox. He nodded and brought up a projection so he could see what she was. Kasumi plugged it into the shuttle's jack and linked her greybox so she could interface with Keiji's.

He was there, standing in front of her like nothing had happened. His voice when he spoke nearly caused her to break down.

"Kasumi. If you're watching this, that means I must be dead. The information I found is all here."

Data began to open, showing her exactly what he had found. But she didn't give it a second glance. It didn't matter to her. She just wanted him.

"It's big, Kasumi," continued Keiji. "If the Council got wind of this, the Alliance could be implicated.

"Kasumi, I… I encrypted the information to keep it safe. And I uploaded the encryption key to your greybox, so no one could get to the whole package. But if I'm dead and if anyone knows about this… I've made you a target, my song. I'm so, so sorry."

She couldn't hold back the tears any longer. "Keiji," she whispered as she touched his face. He felt so real here.

"I know you, Kasumi. You'll want to keep these memories forever. But you don't need some neural implant to know that I'll always be with you. Please, Kasumi. Destroy these files. There's nothing more I can do to protect you."

"No!" she yelled as she wrapped her arms around him. The avatar didn't, couldn't return the gesture. "I… I can't do that! This is all I have left."

"Goodbye, Kasumi. I love you."

The projection dropped, putting her back in the shuttle with Shepard. She took a moment to get her bearings before turning to the man. The sympathy she found on his face nearly made her break down again.

"Is there any way to separate the memories from the information?"

Kasumi shook her head. "Keiji's a master at encrypting files. He's laced the information with his memories. You can't get one without experiencing the other."

There was a long pause.

"What do you want to do?"

There was a war inside of her, trying to decide that very question. "I… I don't know. What do you think I should do?"

"Kasumi, I'm not the one who can make this decision. It has to-"

"Please, Shepard," she pleaded. "I just need some advice."

He watched her for a moment. She noticed his hand idly rubbed his chest. Kasumi had seen him do that before. It was as if he was looking for something that was there once and was always surprised to find it missing.

"If it means that much to you, I think you should keep it," he finally answered. "Just be sure you're willing to live with the consequences."

Relief flooded her. She really didn't want to destroy it, but she doubted she could stop herself from doing so if Shep had gone the other way.

"I can. I'll stay off the grid. No one will know I have it. Thank you, Shepard. I want this."

Kasumi spent the rest of the ride back to the Normandy with Keiji, flipping through their memories together. It was like coming home.

Author's Note:

Kasumi is an interesting character. She tends to be lighthearted and flippant, but you know she's hiding some pain with Keiji. Hopefully, I caught both sides of her.

Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you like!