Work Text:
After a good few weeks without proper work, Kanto had been excited to have received a nudge to take on a high priority, low profile assignment to assassinate the Earth Kingdom princess, Toph Beifong.
His mission was simple: get in, kill the princess, and get out. He didn’t know or care about the princess, so it was sure to be a cut and dry job with very little ceremony; he’d be in and out in a jiffy.
When he’d taken on the job, he’d prepared for days, memorizing each of the palace’s entrances and exits, finding out all he could about Princess Beifong – finding out she was blind, much to his surprise – and figuring out what times of day were the best to infiltrate. He’d never felt so totally and completely prepared for an assignment before, and it’d been so long since he’d been able to go after someone of so much importance and status that he was genuinely a bit nervous to get it done. Despite this, he’d have still liked to think he was ready for it.
Even if he wasn't.
But no matter how ready he was, the princess had other plans, it seemed, because she was currently chatting him up about how she’d been the one to call him, and to say he was puzzled would have been an understatement.
He already had his sword at her throat when she smugly told him that she was the one that enlisted his services. How lucky had she been that he was so shocked that his hand went limp and his weapon immediately fell to the ground.
“Look,” said the princess, her bare feet hanging off the armrest of the fancy chair she sat on after their initial meeting. It wasn’t a throne, but it was fancier than anything Kanto’s ass ever rested on, that’s for sure. “I don’t actually want you to kill me. I just– I need to do some staging. And it needs to look real. So I sought out the best of the best.”
Kanto’s lips twitched at the compliment she nonchalantly paid him and he tried not to let it get to his head. The princess said that he was the best of the best at what he did? Shit. That was a better payoff than the amount of money she was ready to give him for this stunt. And he was really considering it.
But he had a handler, and he would not be happy at the fact that he chose to skip out on an assignment.
Unless he hid it well and made her death look somewhat believable.
The princess huffed, straightening herself out and standing up, kicking her skirt around frustratedly. He took a good look at her and he really was not disappointed in the view, then he shook his head.
No, no. He could not be ogling her. He was supposed to kill her. Cut it out, Kanto , he scolded himself.
He moved his gaze away from her for a moment to look around the room. They were in one of the palace’s studies; a small one she insisted her parents, guards, and maids never visited because it took too long to get to. But Kanto kind of believed that it was because it was creepy down here.
When she let out an exasperated huff, he looked at her as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the nearest wall. “So? What’s it going to be?”
Kanto cleared his throat, pulling out a chair to take a seat and take a moment to think about what he was going to say. After a few more seconds, he finally said, “With all due respect Princess Beifong–”
“Toph.”
“Huh?”
“ Huh ?” parroted mockingly, with an impressive eye roll. “Call me Toph.”
He huffed. “With all due respect, Toph , and I’m sorry to question you here, but why are you wanting to… fake your death?”
She shrugged. “It’s a long story.”
“What–” he looked at her quizzically, then stood up and walked up to her. “Well, I’ve got the time.”
The princess took a moment to think; he could practically see the gears shifting in her mind as she attempted to find a starting point in what seemed like a complicated story. “Let’s just say that I’m not cut out for this life.”
The tone in her voice when she said that made Kanto’s chest tighten, something he seldom felt considering the life he led. He searched her face for a clue as to what she was feeling also, but he found nothing.
And he couldn’t ignore how beautiful she looked under the light of the moon that shone through the window.
With another shake of his head, he moved away from her. “I’m–I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this. I have people to answer to–”
“And I have money,” she interrupted, stomping over to the desk on the other side of where she had been and aggressively pulling open one of the drawers. Slamming an insurmountable amount of yuans onto the desktop, she said, “Lots of it. There’s more where this came from if it doesn’t convince you.”
His breath hitched and his eyes widened at the sight of it. While it was true that he did well for himself financially in his line of work, he had never seen so much money in one place at once.
Doing this… accepting this job… it’d be crazy. Insane , even. But he wouldn’t have to live his life the way he was currently living it – from one assassination to the other. He might even be able to leave the profession, a tempting thought to him, frankly… He hadn’t wanted to become an assassin, he really hadn’t. It was circumstantial and he took the job out of necessity. And he was a decent shot and good with a knife and sword, so he kept at it, and he got his jobs done.
Not that he was proud of it.
“And you’ll pay me,” he said. “Upfront?”
“If that’s what your murderous heart desires? Sure thing,” Toph said, slamming the desk drawer shut. “But you better make it believable if I’m paying you in advance. I’m not spending my money on shoddy work. Just because you market yourself as some hotshot assassin doesn’t mean that you are.”
The confidence she’d given him with the understated compliment she paid him earlier instantly diminished at that comment, his big ego suddenly deflating.
He took a deep breath, then, and leaned against the desk. If this was his way out, he’d better take it before it was too late, huh?
“Alright. You’ve got yourself a deal.”
For the first time since they’d met, he saw her smile, and what a smile it was. “Yeah?”
Kanto found himself nodding, then mentally facepalmed. “Yes, yeah. I’ll help you… fake your own death. But, uh, question.”
“You seem to be full of those.”
“Oh, sorry.”
Toph scoffed. “You sure you’re an assassin, Hotshot? You’re pretty sensitive for one if you are.”
She was right if he was being honest, and all he could say was, “I–”
“Ask your question, then.”
He scowled, then asked, “Have you thought about how this might affect your… parents? At all?”
Gathering the money she’d slapped onto the desk into a small satchel, she shook her head and laughed ironically. “Why would you care? It’s not like you’ve ever stopped to think about your victims’ loved ones after you kill them.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Kanto admitted remorsefully, watching her shove the last of the yuans into the bag. “I must not have the heart to do what I do.”
Without looking up at him, he saw her raise a questioning brow. “It’d certainly be hard to, I’d imagine.”
He chuckled humorlessly. “Good guess.”
“How’d you end up doing this anyway?” she asked, looking genuinely interested, something else in her eyes that he couldn’t put his finger on. “You really don’t seem like the assassin type, and to be fair, I’m kind of happy I didn’t hire an absolute psychopath. I’m not a hundred percent sure that they would have even allowed space for a conversation like you so graciously did.”
Kanto laughed genuinely, bringing a hand to his mouth to muffle the sound and enjoying the small smile on Toph’s face. “Glad you hired a dud, then?”
“Pretty much, yeah,” she said, suppressing a laugh of her own. “I didn’t think you were a dud when I heard about you if it’s any consolation.”
“How did you hear about me, by the way?” he asked curiously. She must have done some research or had someone she confided in to do it for her.
Toph scratched her head and sat on the edge of the desk. “I was in the kitchens one day and I heard someone talk about some assassin – surprise, surprise: it was you – and I got the idea about pulling this stunt, I got a hold of a telephone, and spoke to some man about getting me his top guy, and that was you.”
“Fun story,” he said, not knowing what else to say. Then said, “Have you got a plan on how we’re going to do this?”
“Not a clue,” she said with comedic timing. “Not a clue, but you’ve got some real-world experience under your belt, so you better get to thinking, Hotshot, if we’re going to make it out of here.”
“We?”
“You think I’m going to run away from home by my lonesome when I’ve found my very own assassin for a companion?” she scoffed, throwing a punch at his shoulder. “You’re crazy.”
She really wasn’t cut out for the royal life, he thought fondly. And the thought of the two of them running off together made him a bit giddy, to be frank, so he sat down with her and laid out a plan. When the two of them were satisfied with it, after rounds of laughs and jabs, she stood up, and said, “Let’s put on a show, Hotshot.”