Work Text:
The text came late.
It was on her current burner. Three words. Safer that way. Less to track.
"In soon. Wait."
Maki knew enough by now not to question how Kirumi had known where she'd be. Maki's bosses trusted her with enough information to eek by. Kirumi's bosses trusted her with an infinity more. Before meeting her, Maki had thought the gulf between assassin and maid was just as typical as any other random job and her own.
The hotel room Maki was given was kind of shitty. There were stains on the walls, on the floors, and on the bedding. The remote to the ancient CRT television had a crack in the middle. The desk had an unpleasantly sticky texture.
It ranked around the middle of the pack in terms of places Maki stayed for assignments. The best had been in a penthouse. She thought of it often; how it felt to be laying on the soft sheets, decimating the minibar, watching foreign shows, and having a hot bath with jets before the kill.
The shower here had poor water pressure.
The knock at the door didn't startle Maki, she'd been expecting it since the text. Kirumi's knocks were perfectly perfunctory and polite. Impossible to mistake for anyone else's greeting by design.
Kirumi was too polite to wrinkle her nose when stepping through the door. When she passed by Maki, her hand brushed against Maki's fingers. On a mission, neither could afford to be anything but professional.
She didn't bother to sit. Maki crossed her arms and leaned against the wall across from her.
"My client had a request for me, but it was a surprise when I heard through the staff that Sakaki Masako had an assassination request already. Considering the high profile nature of it, I assumed it would be you." Her lips quirked up before settling into neutrality again. "Especially since I knew you would be on a 'work trip'."
The rest of the information probably came through Kirumi overhearing details from far more important people. Even in a situation with her girlfriend, she wouldn't snitch on them.
"You don't need to kill him?"
"No. The request only states that Sakaki-san is 'taken-out' and I remove the documents."
"Hm. It's good on my end, then." Her handlers would say if they wanted a scene a certain way. Sakaki just had a generic kill order.
"I wouldn't mind," Kirumi said and Maki clenched her fists. "It is part of my request. If it is easier for you—"
"No. It's better for me if I do it. They'll know." They wouldn't. They also wouldn't care. Her joke of an Ultimate talent gave her a few perks, but it hadn't freed her from the cult who'd trained her into it. The title gave her more insurance than most assassins ever got, though, and letting the Ultimate Maid kill someone discreetly wouldn't even register.
Kirumi shouldn't kill like that. Not like her.
Maki knew she had before. Not often. Not enough blood to really dampen her hands and get under her fingernails. Maki had blood to the shoulder, blood covering every last inch of herself. Kirumi had never needed to kill a friend. She'd killed in self-defense. For political reasons. Once for an inheritance issue where a young woman almost lost everything.
To kill so senselessly? Maki wouldn't let her, not while she was around.
Sakiki was bold, with too many fingers in too many pockets. Kirumi's current client was confidential, but Maki was smart enough to figure out he was government. Kirumi would have nightmares about it, even if she'd stay silent curled against Maki's chest.
Maki wouldn't.
"If you're sure," Kirumi said. "But since it would be better…please take the lead. I will follow your instructions."
The plan they hashed out was simple. Sakaki lived on the fourth floor. Or rather, his mistress lived on the fourth floor. She was currently out—her mother conveniently sick. Kirumi smiled when Maki mentioned that, slow and secretive. Poisoned, then, with food gone bad the most likely suspect.
The cameras on the first floor often went out according to Maki's sources. No sabotage, just pure cheapness from the building's owner.
Observing from her hotel confirmed it. The intervals were short, but doable. She'd go in with Kirumi. No internal cameras anywhere, though there were decoys. The walk there was short, she'd been down it a few times. Little foot traffic, especially late at night.
The nondescript hoodie and jeans the two of them wore didn't stand out against the multitude of passing people wearing the same sort of clothing. Maki watched Kirumi out of the corner of her eye. She walked in a deceptively casual way, but Maki knew how alert she really was. Maki shrugged on her gloves, keeping her hands in her pockets.
After they entered, Maki carefully perched on the third floor's windows on the alley-side and climbed up. Sakaki's windows were unlocked and halfway open, the way they'd been every night she'd checked.
He was watching some horrible anime when she crept into his bedroom and stabbed him. He let out a gurgle, the scream dying on his lips.
Maki unlocked the door, letting Kirumi in. Her eyes swept over the room and she started dismantling the room. Maki kept an ear out. At three o'clock in the morning it would be surprising if anyone were up.
Kirumi stepped into the bedroom, pausing. Maki could see her swallow. The way her eyes traced the figure on the bed. But—she continued, riffling through Sakaki's belongings with gloved hands.
"Done," Kirumi said, tucking the papers away in her pocket. Maki adjusted her gloves, watching the tense line of Kirumi's shoulders as they headed down. She appreciated the lack of complications and the lack of people on the way to the hotel.
Once Maki stepped through the door of her room she stepped forward, grabbing Kirumi's collar and jerking her forward. Their lips crashed against each other, teeth clinking unpleasantly.
Kirumi's hands curled around her own. They were shaking, slightly. The professionalism peeled off her like paint, leaving something rawer in its wake.
"It's okay," Maki murmured against Kirumi's lips. She pressed Kirumi back gently, until her calves hit the edge of the bed. Kirumi clawed at her gloves, ripping them off. Maki helped, sliding down and tearing her shoes off and toeing off her own.
Kirumi pulled her up, kissing her again. The press of her lips was again borderline painful, but Maki sank into them regardless. Her arms came around Maki's back tightly, fingertips pressing into her upper arms.
Softening the kiss, Maki wrapped her own arms around Kirumi, settling them side by side on the bed. Kirumi tucked her head under Maki's chin. They lay like that, merely tracing skin through fabric, for a while.
Kirumi broke the silence. "I've been offered a new client."
"Oh?"
"I would basically be taking charge of their job. I'm not sure. It's pretty high up in the hierarchy."
Kirumi's previous client had been pretty far up already and she already did a lot of his work. Maki frowned.
"And how does that change…?"
"As high as you can go." Kirumi stared at the ceiling, her grip around Maki's hand tight. "I could do a lot of good. For the country…and for you."
The implications were staggering. If Maki weren't laying down, she would've fallen boneless to the ground.
"You could…"
"If I requested you personally. Completely dismantling such a large cult organization will take time, however." She glanced over, finally. "Of course, you would do as you pleased. I have no intentions of actually being in charge of you."
"I wouldn't expect you to…" Maki trailed off, staring at the stained wallpaper across from the top of Kirumi's head. Such a position would only put Kirumi in more danger. Put her in more positions to be hurt, in a variety of ways. Maki sighed.
Kirumi might not want her to be attached, but for Maki it was no choice at all.
Better to keep it a secret until the last minute. Kirumi always infuriatingly disarmed her plans when she knew of them.
"Thanks for telling me," Maki said quietly. She paused, tracing her thumb over the back of Kirumi's hand. Nothing she could say felt like enough. The words locked in her throat briefly, before she forced something out. "…I care about you."
Kirumi lifted her hand, resting her palm on Maki's cheek. "And I love you too," she replied, leaning up to gently kiss Maki again. Maki clung to her, eyes pressed closed, hoping that it was enough.