Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He parked the car along the curb in front of the small house, the realtor patiently waiting for him at the front door. She was twirling the keys around her index finger of one hand, the other busy typing away on her cellphone; no doubt already scheduling another meeting for a walk through of another house.

Nobunaga turned the key in the ignition, turning off the car. He let out a long sigh, mentally preparing himself for the long mission that laid ahead of him. Neither him or Danchou knew how long it was going to take to complete it, but he was the one who chosen for it so there was no point in complaining or moping about it.

Danchou believed in him.

In a matter of minutes, he was out the car, the house keys were handed to him, and the realtor was long gone. He was relieved that she didn’t try to start any small talk. He had no patience for things like that. Especially for those type of women. The chatty kind who never shut up.

One of the few reasons he was able to get along with the women who were in the Spiders was that they were quiet for the most part; only talking when necessary.

He didn’t have much stuff to move in, and the place was already furnished with the essentials. The only thing he had to really worry about today was going to that interview with the police department and then grocery shopping. He wasn’t that good of a cook so he knew he was going to eat out quite a bit; but he still needed his beer.

Leaving the house, he placed the black sunglasses over his eyes and tied his long hair into a low ponytail, forgoing the usually topknot. He also wasn’t wearing his usual robe; for the interview, he was dressed in a pair of black slacks, a white button down shirt, and a black jacket. The whole look screamed professional.

And Shalnark had made him a fake resume that got him noticed right away by the chief of the department.

The drive to the police department wasn’t long; Danchou wasn’t kidding when he said the town was small. Nobunaga was slightly doubting that this place was hiding such a treasure; but Danchou was never wrong.

The events from this morning played in his head while he interviewed for the position that he knew would be his.

Danchou had summoned just him to a cave out in the middle of nowhere. The two of them sat across one another, a single candle lite between the two of them.

“There’s a small town about 10,000 km west from here, Starhaven. Have you heard of it?”

“Can’t say I have.”

“It’s not that well known, very few people are aware of its existence. The population is so low that there is only one police department and one hotel.”

“Sound like a regular shit hole to me. But you wouldn’t be telling me about it if there wasn’t more to this story.”

“The York New annual auctions are due to begin in a few weeks. Many of the Dons have begun traveling there, but not before stopping in that town. Looking at their itineraries, there were no scheduled stops to be done around this area. Shalnark was able to gather some more information and determined that there was rumored ‘treasure’ hidden there.”

That explains it.

Danchou wants the treasure since his favorite pastime is to collect beautiful rare items.

But if that were the case, why did he summon just him and no other limbs?

“Congratulations Mr. Nobunaga. Welcome to Starhaven PD. Can you start tomorrow morning?” Nobunaga was pulled out of his thoughts. The interview had gone just as planned. The chief absolutely loved him and offered him the job right on the spot. He put on a fake eager smile, standing at the same time as the fat police chief and shook his extended hand

“You bet I can.”

“Great! Be here 8 am sharp. We’ll have our ‘A’ group show you around, the best in town.”

‘Probably the only ones in town’ Nobunaga thought to himself as he began to exit the building. He could feel the judgmental looks of envy and anger coming from every single guy that he passed. He guessed that the chief never gave them that kind enthusiasm. Or that they were threatened that a new man was in town.

He couldn’t help but smirk; he secretly loved the fact that enemies underestimated him. Just because he was a tall and skinny guy.

The look of shock on his rivals faces when he reveals the muscles he possessed and his sword skills. Nobunaga was itching for a fight, he needed to desperately blow off some steam. Be it physical or sexual. But he doubted that this small of a town would have a fight club or a secret brothel.

Guess he’d had to make do with the fights he’ll get while being a cop; and with an occasional round of sex with either a willing woman or his hand.

Nobunaga Hazama stopped at his car that Danchou had secured for him, looking around to see what restaurant was nearby. It was around dinnertime, and he was a little too annoyed to go grocery shopping at this moment; he needed to calm himself mentally before going to surround himself with other people.

A dinner located right next to the PD caught his eye, he vaguely remembered the chief talking about that place; it was a popular stop for the officers during lunchtime. It didn’t look that busy, so he figured it’d be the safest place for him to go right now.

And he could always get the food to go as well.

He entered the restaurant, taking note of the old timey and family-friendly decorations. The sign said he should seat himself, so he went toward the bar looking area where stools were. He took a seat, looking over the menus that were already present.

He looked up at the clock, it was barely 5pm. He had more than enough time to eat there, go shopping, then get back to the house to relax and start planning.

Physically, he was fine. Mentally, he was exhausted. He reached for the band that kept his hair tied back and pulled it out, letting loose his long black hair. Once it was down, his hands ran through the strands, starting from the top of his head.

He could feel a headache coming on.

For him, that only happened when he didn’t drink water all day or when he hadn’t eaten all day. Unlucky for him, it was both today.

As if someone had read his mind, a glass of ice cold water was placed right in front of him.; the paper covered straw next to it.

“Dine in or to go?” He looked straight ahead, seeing that it was a female body that had spoken to him. There were boobs, that was for sure. The black polo shirt they wore accented them nicely; their bottom half wore some jeans that didn’t cling too tightly to their legs.

Refreshing to see. Skinny jeans were not the look that Nobunaga went for; and he couldn’t understand why women liked them. He liked the pants that Shizuku wore, not too baggy or too tight.

And on the shirt that waitress wore was a name tag:

Aria

Nobunaga finally looked all the way up, looking at the face of the person who had spoken to him.

Dark red haired pulled back into a low pony that was similar to how his was, except the hair had more volume then his. Bright blue eyes that were slightly dull from the end of the day. A face that was free of makeup that showed a few blemishes here and there.

In Nobunaga’s opinion, she was really cute.

Beautiful even.

No doubt someone like her would have a boyfriend already.

But hey, he was more than allowed to look, wasn’t he?

Maybe even use her as an image in his head to pleasure himself tonight.

Her lips were slightly pouted since they were smirking down at him, waiting for an answer to the 50/50 question she had just given him.

“Dine in.” He answered quickly, proceeding to down his drink without using the straw. In a few gulps, the water was completely gone.

“Must have had a long day.” She reached behind her to grab a pitcher of water and gave him a refill.

“Yeah. Drove all day pretty much then had a job interview.”

“For that job down at the PD?” He nodded to her question. “Well, welcome to Starhaven. There’s practically nothing to do here, you’re going to love it and die of boredom.” She chuckled at her own joke.

Nobunaga just smirked. He kind of liked her little laugh.

Danchou had told him that it would be wise to make a friend in that town, they’d be able to help him make some connections and explore. So why not start with the pretty girl in front of him?

“Pleasure to meet you. Name’s Nobunaga Hazama.” He extended his hand for her to shake. She returned it. He enjoyed the feel of her smooth cold skin against his hot calloused hand.

“Sato Aria.”

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

I was a little shocked with how well that went. I didn’t expect my first ‘friend’ to be made that fast, let alone for it to be a girl.

A cute girl at that.

Hopefully, she proves to be useful to my mission.

“So Nobunaga, what will you be having?” I looked back at the menu. Aside from shellfish, there was really nothing I wouldn’t eat.

“What do you suggest?” She crossed her arms and leaned down onto the counter, getting closer to me. Her face turned slightly as if to look over the menu herself; instead, it was to get closer to my ear to whisper something.

“Whatever you do, don’t ever order the salmon. Chef loves that shit but it’s gr-oss.” She emphasized the last word; her whole body did a small shudder as if to prove a point. “But my opinion, you can never go wrong with a good old-fashioned cheeseburger with fries.”

“Don’t hear too many girls say that. And you know what, I agree with you. Cheeseburger with fries, everything on it.”

Aria’s POV

The whole day had been a dull for the restaurant. Aside from the usual lunch rush we experience, that’s how it normally goes. The other girls would usually spend their whole day gossiping about their boyfriends or clothes or jewelry.

Things that I had no interest in. It was a no wonder I didn’t really fit in with them.

While they were in their usual circle, I would hang off to the side; usually reading a book that I had borrowed from the small library we have. Sometimes I would strike up a conversation with Chef; these conversations consisted of us bantering back and forth about how horrible his cooking was or how boring my hobbies were.

But there was no bad blood between us. It was how we made the day go faster.

And Chef had always made it clear that if things were to ever go down, he would save me over all the other employees in this establishment. Which was a big honor considering he didn’t like anybody at all.

I was just a few pages into the new book when the door to the restaurant opened. All of us looked to see who it was, that would determine who would get up to serve them. I knew who all the regulars were and knew just about everybody in this town; I’ve lived here my whole life.

That’s why it was shocking to see a tall man with long black hair walk into the establishment. The girls in the corner opposite of me began to giggle a little, probably finding him cute. I guess he was ok looking to those who didn’t get to travel or see shiny new things.

Which would be every fucking person in this town.

He came to the bar counter, taking a seat on a stool in front of the menus that had been left there. He seemed exhausted.

The girls were all giggling, telling one another to be the one to serve him. I rolled my eyes at them as they would give one another a push, telling that person to be the one to serve him. I really didn’t want to stop reading but it looked like I’d have to do it.

I placed a bookmark in my spot before closing my book, standing up and placing it inside my apron. I went over to the soda machine and began preparing a glass of water; it was a hot day and I liked to give everybody a glass of water to start with.

I could hear the girls scoff at me as I turned to place the water in front of the new man. After he noticed that water, his eyes began to scan over my body, starting at my torso. On the outside, I was composed and cool. But on the inside, I was freaking out and mentally telling myself to suck in my stomach.

When he finally looked up at me, it gave me a better chance to look at his face. He had a rather long pointed face, a pencil-like mustache on his top lip and some hair on his chin; not enough to qualify as a beard. His cheeks were sunken and his eyes were half lidden; the color was pure black.

Not exactly supermodel gorgeous but I guess you can say he was kind of handsome.

He was new and shiny; therefore, he was considered pretty.

We introduced ourselves to one another, he asked my opinion on what to eat, and that’s how it all went. Put in the order, gave him his food, he ate in silence, and left right after. When I went to clean up the area, I saw that he left a generous tip- about 120% of the bill.

I let out a small smile.

“So Aria…” Oh great, here we go. “Who was our tall and handsome stranger?” Besides me, there were 5 more girls that served as waitresses in the restaurant. And all of them were interested in learning more about the guy.

“His name is Nobunaga Hazama. He just got that job down at the PD. I recommended he doesn’t eat the salmon. And he seems to like cheeseburgers. That’s all I know.” I summarized the whole conversation, throwing the dirty dishes into the sink.

Thank God I’m not on sink duty today.

It seemed to be enough for them cause they all left me alone. It was my time to clock out anyway. I went to the back where our lockers were and grabbed my backpack. Normally after work, I would change into my running gear- a tank top and black leggings- and jog home but I needed to stop by the grocery store and get some stuff.

The tip that Nobunaga left me was going to help spoil myself with some alcohol; and I needed it.

Not to bore you with the details but my ex-boyfriend and I broke up about 2 weeks ago; and my house was voided of any alcohol and had to wait until I got paid again. That would happen tomorrow since it was Friday but like I said, the tip was going to help.

Jog from the restaurant to the grocery store is about 15 miles. This was going to be my cardio workout. When I get home, after putting away the food, I’ll begin my strength training.

The cars all blurred past me as I jogged, the whistles and calls from various men here and there mixed with them. It was easy to ignore them. It would be nice to afford a phone that had music on it to listen to, and some earphones too. But I don’t make much so I can’t afford those type of luxuries.

“A car…..would also…..be nice.” I said between each breath I took from the steady run.

I stopped at the front of the store, letting my body cool down and doing some stretches in order to prevent cramping.

“Aria, heads up.” One of the employees called before tossing me the cold water bottle, knowing the routine. I easily caught it, noticing that he took the liberty of breaking the seal already for me. Everybody in the store knew who I was and knew that I struggled a little when it came to opening new bottles or jars.

I swear, these damn things are not only childproof but also adultproof.

“I’ll be sure to ring it up at the end.” I yelled out to the employee before grabbing a cart and walking in; taking a big gulp of the cool liquid.

I placed my backpack in the cart also, it wouldn’t take up too much space. There were only a few items I needed; and I knew exactly where every single one was.

Right at the entrance was the alcohol section, First stop!

“Do I get beer, wine, or sake?” I mumbled as I strolled into the first aisle. I was so lost in my own little world that I didn’t notice that another cart was stopped right there before smacking right into it. This caused my own cart to smack right into my stomach.

I let out a small groan from the impact.

“That looked like it hurt.” I looked up to see that it was Nobunaga who was the owner of the other cart, in each hand he held a bottle of sake; possibly contemplating which one to get.

“Hey stranger.” I spoke once I got the air back into my stomach; walking around the cart to where he was. He nodded at me, looking down at my sweat soaked tank.

“Did you run here or something?”

“Yeah. Only way to get a work out in…..and I don’t have a car.” My cheeks turned bright red from that statement. It was embarrassing to admit. Looking to break the awkward silence, I glanced down at the bottles and saw that they were my favorite ones. “Oh, both those brands are good.”

“Now what do you know about sake?” He eventually made his choice, putting back one of them and placing the other in his cart. “You don’t strike me as the type of girl who drinks it.”

“Sir!” I acted dramatic, placing a hand over my chest. “How dare you assume such things?” He was a little shocked at my attempt at being funny; nobody ever gets me. So it was shocking to me when he suddenly let out a big laugh, to the point where he hunched over at his stomach and was hitting the top of his knee.

I couldn’t help but laugh along with him. But I tried to cover mine with my hand over my mouth.

It’s true what they say. Humor is contagious.

Nobunaga’s POV

I wasn’t expecting to see Aria so soon; but I’m sort of glad I did. She gave me a big laugh I hadn’t had in so long. And when I had the chance to hear her laughter, it made me feel a strange sensation in my stomach. Like I was suddenly so nervous to be around her. When I finally stopped laughing, I noticed that I had tears in the corner of my eyes.

She stopped her laughter too, taking the chance to investigate my cart; it mainly consisted of beer, sake, chips, and frozen meals.

“Wow.” She remarked, before turning away and looking at the aisle of wine and tequila.

“Wow what?”

“Just your cart screams ‘Bachelor’.” She made her choice, grabbing a bottle of red wine and placing it in her cart. “No fresh meats or fruits or vegetables; instead those frozen microwaveable meals. Means you don’t cook, don’t like to cook, or don’t know how to cook.”

“Save you the trouble and just admit, all three. And you, with one bottle of wine, screams what?”

“It screams ‘my ex is an ass and I’ve been without alcohol for 2 weeks.’.”

Oh, lucky me. She’s single. It’s easier to be friends with a girl when she doesn’t have a guy around her. Guys tend to be a little possessive. I mean, I know I would be.

She proceeded to ask me if I’d like to continue shopping with her and I accepted without hesitation. I was already done with my stuff but I wanted to be around Aria longer. She only needed a few items and I noticed that she paid for a majority of it with the money I left for her tip. So with the no alcohol comment and using the tip I just gave her, it shows she doesn’t get paid much. And she doesn’t own a car.

How is this girl surviving out here on her own?

“So uh, can I give you a ride home?” She looked at me with a shocked look. Like she had never had someone offer her something like that. But she said she had an ex-boyfriend, did he never do things like this for her? Isn’t that what a relationship is?

Aside from Franklin, none of the guys really know what a relationship really consisted of. The only reason he knows is because he’s with Shizuku and she kind of leads the way in everything. And then Pakunoda and Machi are in a relationship, an open one too.

“I would really appreciate that. I don’t want to run more.”

She followed me to my car. I made sure to open the passenger door for her, she mumbled a quick thank you and slid right on in. I could tell she wore her emotions on her sleeve, she was in awe of the inside of the car.

It impressed her more when I pushed the buttons on the key fob that caused the car to turn on without me being in it. She let out a loud ‘whoa’ and I could tell she wanted to press all the buttons on the screen in front of her. I wanted to tell her about connecting her phone with the Bluetooth feature but something tells me she either doesn’t have a cellphone or she does but it’s an old one and doesn’t have that feature. After putting the groceries, both hers and mine, in the trunk, I joined in the drivers side.

“Uh, if I did this right, I put in my address already.” I looked at the screen and nodded to her that she did. The screen showed the map that would lead me to her place; and saw that the name of her street was the same as mine. Looks like we’re neighbors
.
Could this situation get any better?

The ride was not silent for a second but it wasn’t annoying either. Aria asked me what else happened at the interviewed and I informed her how the chief of the PD told me he’d introduce me to the ‘A’ team in the morning. She knew exactly who they were and warned me about each of them.

Tom, Dick, and Harry.

Even their names sound like douche bags.

“They will not hesitate to make you look like an idiot so be careful.” She warned. She was worried about my safety, isn’t that cute?

Could she be crushing on me?

It was safe to say that I was crushing on her a little. I am so looking forward to tonight when I would shower and imagine her while I pleasure myself. If I play my cards right, maybe I’ll get to touch her for real one day.

We soon pulled up to her house, it was a little smaller when compared to mine. But the exterior designs were the same. All the houses were brown on the outside, with small gardens in the front. I did wonder a bit who took care of these gardens, I don’t see myself doing that. I’ll be sure to ask Aria later.

“Ok, don’t freak out on me; but it looks like we’re next-door neighbors. I live to the right of you.” I pointed at my house.

“No way!” She let out a small squeal with a smile, bouncing in the car seat. She was super excited for this. If the floor plans were the same, her room would be to the far left of the house; same as mine. Both pros and cons to the situation for me.

“Yeah, so looks like we’re going to see a lot of each other Aria.”

“No complaints here Nobunaga.” She went to open the door, stopping when she felt my hand grab onto her forearm.

“Hey, instead of my whole name, would you mind maybe calling me Nobu?” I don’t know what made me grab her like that or suddenly ask that. I’ve never asked anybody to call me that. Not even Uvo, and he’s been my best friend since we were young.

Aria gave me a small smile, making my heart skip a few beats.

“Yeah. I can do that. Nobu, I like that.”

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

Part of me wanted to push a little further, see if I could get an invite into her house. But I knew better than to push my luck. If I pushed her further, she would probably pull away from me. And that’s not what I wanted.

She continued to be shocked by my simple actions. I walked around the car to open the door for her, I got her grocery bags for her and carried to the front door. I would have taken them inside also; from her body language, I was able to tell she wasn’t ready for that next step in our budding relationship.

So I just handed her the bags and wished her a good night. She expressed that she looked forward to seeing me again and closed the door. I heard an audible click, indicating that she deadbolted the door. Something simple to keep intruders out; if only she knew that I could easily pick locks.

Taking in my groceries took a little longer, but it was easy to put everything away. Like she had pointed out, it was all mainly frozen dinners and liquor. It felt like I was playing ‘House’, like I was starting new. Even though I was wished good night, it was still too early for me to go to bed; and I still needed to update Danchou on how the first day went.

Just as he requested.

Before giving him a call, I opened myself a can of ice cold beer and took a seat at the kitchen table that happened to overlook my backyard. Something in me said to open the window; I guess I felt stuffy or something. I just shrugged and did as I felt, pushing open the windows.

A small breeze blew in, the sun had begun to set; showing off those bright red and purple like colors. Guess I feel a little better now.

I leaned back into my chair and was getting ready to speed dial Danchou’s number when I caught an even better sight. From the angle I was sitting, I could easily see into Aria’s backyard; but if she were to look over here, she wouldn’t be able to tell that I was watching.

Aria said she didn’t want to run anymore, but I guess that didn’t mean she was done with her workout. Here she was outside, doing some circuit training. I could see that she was once again covered in sweat. I wonder how long she had been out here doing this.

To me and a few of the Spiders, it was such a turn on when somebody was covered head to toe in sweat. It was a good representation of what they would look like during a long rough round of sex.

Damn, I’m horny.

When was the last time I got laid again?

I really needed to call Danchou but I had a hard time pulling my attention away. The way her muscles would glisten and bulge with every movement; the way she would groan with every exhale, sometimes letting out small growls
.
20 pull ups

20 burpees

20 squats

50 crunches

50 obliques, bilateral

She did all this and then took a small water break. Ok, now I really need to do what I need to do. During the break, I pushed the ‘2’ on my cellphone; speed dialing Danchou. After 2 rings, he answered.

“Nobunaga.” He calmly answer.

“Hey Danchou.” I took a sip of my beer, I could hear glasses clink on his side. Guess he was drinking as well. “Sorry it took a while. I got distracted.”

“You’ve only been there for one day. What could have caught your attention?”

“A woman.” The Spiders were always truthful with each other. There was no point in hiding things from Danchou. He knew us inside and out. And he’d find it amusing I was distracted by a girl.

“I see.” You could practically hear the amusement in his voice. He was holding back a chuckle. It's not often a woman distracts me in that way. Most men are told to never hit a woman; I don't care for gender. Piss me off and I'll happily slice your head off.

“Thought she could be useful to me.”

“Along with some other things?” He inquired.

“I wouldn’t say no to other things.” I looked back outside to see if Aria was still doing her exercises. I nearly wanted to jump out of my seat when I saw she had pulled off her tank top and just had on a sports bra and leggings. “Also wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“Check in with me again in a week time. The others will complete their mission soon, I will update them on your whereabouts and have Shalnark hack into their database to see what information he can find. He will update you once he finds something. You will continue to work for the PD, see about looking into the criminal records. Take note which ones are from town and who is not, along with what their crimes are.”

“Alright.” Goodbyes were not needed. We both simply hung up. If anything was forgotten, he would simply call me back or text me.

Aria was no longer outside and my beer can was empty; no need to sit here anymore. I was still full from the cheeseburger so didn’t need any snacks; guess it was time for a shower.

I headed to the master bathroom, everything already set up. The glass sliding door was already opened; I turned the water all the way to hot to let it warm up. It didn’t take long for the steam to completely cover the room, fogging up the mirrors. Before stepping into the shower, I adjusted the water slightly to where it wouldn’t burn my skin off.

I stepped in and slid the door shut; enjoying the feel of the water soaking into my hair. This was the thing I missed the most when I had to travel in the desert and sleep in a cave. I enjoyed the feeling of being clean.

Even though I was done cleaning myself, I stood under the water for some time; just letting it hit my back muscles. My imagination and the steam from the shower were now working in cahoots to torture me; It looked like the steam was taking the form of a person.

A woman.

I did say I was horny.

All I could see at first was the back of the woman, with long wet hair cascaded down her back. One of my hands had already started to stroke my cock; the other reached forward to lean against the wall before the wall in front of the ‘steam’ woman.

Her arms reached up and behind her neck, grabbing onto her hair and pulling it forward. Now I could see the full curvature of her back that went lower until it stopped at the top of a fully round ass.

I love a woman with a big ass; my favorite position to take a girl during sex was from behind. Watching the way her ass jiggles with every thrust was just....

My strokes became faster, my hips moving in unison with my hand. My moans and groans were echoing against the tile of the shower.

I was more than fine if the figure didn’t turn around, letting me jerk off to some random figure. If it did, I could have gone on a little longer.

Instead, the figure decided to turn around to face me. Since it was ‘steam’, the hair didn’t have color and neither did the eyes. But the face still held the familiar shape of the woman that I had met earlier today and had been sneaking peeks at.

Aria.

It didn’t speak, just starred right up at me. Her hair was completely covering her nipples; but I could still see how big her tits were.

Uvo was really good at guessing a woman’s bust size just by looking at them. Whenever we were allowed to kill the women, he would take bets from every member in the Spiders to guess what her bra size was. After she was dead, he could check and announce the winner; the winner was whoever was either on point or whoever was the closest.

I’ve won about maybe 20% of the time.

Remembering the way Aria looked in her sports bra earlier and the way this figure stood before me, I would estimate she was maybe a ‘D’ cup. I wouldn’t be able to fit the whole breast into my mouth; but I would have fun trying to.

I didn’t even notice that I had started stroking again, let alone how fast and hard I’d been going. I felt myself getting closer and closer to cuming.

I’m going to cum any second now.

Then the Aria figure fell to her knees in front of me, my cock right at her lips.

“Aria!” I screamed her name as I climaxed, my seed exploding right the figure; this caused the figure to disappear and my seed landed against the wall.

Aria’s POV

I must be hearing things cause I could have sworn I heard someone call out my name. But that would be impossible since I’m the only one that lives here. I do have the tv on in the background; mostly because I have a small fear of silence. The TV needs to always be on when I’m home.

This causes my electric bill to be pretty high.

After my workout was done, I had taken a quick shower and changed into my sleeping clothes: another tank top with no bra, a pair of shorts, and fuzzy boots to walk around the house in. I didn’t feel like eating at all. I just wanted to drink my wine.

I retrieved the cold wine from the fridge, turned off the lights and tv from the living room, and made my way to my room. Turned on the lights and tv in the room before taking a big jumping leap onto my bed. Once I was comfortably on my back, I opened up the wine bottle and took 3 big gulps of it; enjoying the sweet taste and slight burn of alcohol going down my throat.

Since I didn’t have any food in my stomach, I felt the buzz earlier than expected and was finally able to let out any bundled up feelings I had about the breakup with my ex-boyfriend of 2 years, Hank.

“He was such an ass.” I whispered to myself, the tears began to fall from my eyes. Here I thought I was angry but I guess I was sad? I was super confused now……I don’t wanna think!
I gulped down the rest of the bottle; once it was empty, I let it just fall from my hand onto the floor. The room began to spin in circles, the circles turned into hills and then the world became dark and quiet.

Next thing I knew, my annoying alarm from my cell phone woke me up. It was set to wake me up every weekday at 6am sharp. I let out a small groan before sitting up fully. You would think that I’d have a headache from that, or nausea; some symptom of a hangover.

But I never did.

In fact, I’ve never been sick, hurt, hung over, nauseous, nothing.

Onto start the morning routine.

Jumped out of bed, used the restroom, brushed teeth, un-did braided hair, brushed out the tangles, tied it into a high ponytail today. Got dressed into my uniform of a polo shirt, and chose a pair of jean shorts that were pretty short but the owner of the restaurant didn’t care.

I walked into the kitchen and turned on my coffee pot before getting a can of kitten food. As if on cue, I heard the familiar scratch from my front door.

I quickly jogged to the door and opened it, seeing my furry little friend sitting there waiting for his morning food. A black cat.

“Morning baby.” I said to him before opening the can and placing it down in front of him. He meowed once before he began to eat from it.

“Ok, now I know why I’m up this early but why the hell are you up?” I looked over to my side, my new friend Nobu was out as well. He didn’t look as awake as I did though. He was still dressed in his pajamas, which was just some baggy sweat pants and a black wife beater. He was also totally barefoot.

I couldn’t stop myself from checking out the muscles on his arms he had hidden yesterday under his clothes.

“Oh good morning Nobu.” He gave me a small gentle smile and waved at me.

“Again, why up so early?” He leaned back against the door frame, holding back a yawn.

“Well, I’m kind of in charge of feeding Baby over here.” I pointed down at the black cat who was done with his food and now rubbing himself against my leg. I bent down and started to scratch at his head and below his neck. “Weekdays it’s 6am. Weekends it’s kind of whenever I wake up. He knows to wait at the front door for me. Also, I have no car so I need to walk to work. That takes a while; so I need to wake up early to give me plenty of time. I’ll actually be leaving in a bit once my coffee is done.”

“Tch, seems like a pain.” He scratched at the back of his head before going to scratch at his bare chest. Ok, now I can see he has some developed pec muscles also. “How about I give you a ride to work instead?”

“Oh no.” Baby had enough attention, he gave my hand a small bump with his nose before turning to run off and do whatever it is he does. “ I can’t keep doing that to you Nobu.”

“Doing what?”

“Accepting rides. It’s very sweet of you to offer but I don’t want to take advantage of you like that and make you go out of your way and…”

“Let me stop you there. Taking advantage of me would be you asking me for the ride. But I’m offering it, so you’re not taking advantage. And how is it making me go out of my way when the PD is literally right next to the restaurant you work at?”

He made some very good points.

“But…”

“Aria, you took care of me yesterday and you’re the first friend I’ve made out here. Let me take care of you too, isn’t that what friends are for?”

Again, another good point. I could tell that I was going to lose this argument.

“Ok.” I saw him do a little fist pump in the air, proud of himself for winning that argument. He acted like a little kid but it was adorable.

“We’ll meet back out here 30 minutes before 8.”

“I’ll bring you a to go cup of coffee. How do you take it?”

“Pure black, nothing in it.”

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

I was more relaxed than I’ve been for a while after my release. It felt like the knots I’ve been carrying in my shoulders and back were finally gone and physical exhaustion had caught up with my mental.  After basking in my post pleasure glow, I had turned off the shower and got ready for bed.

My sword was right next to the bed, in case I needed to grab it at a moments notice.

Danchou had ordered me a King size bed, unsure why. It was strange to know I needed to get a full night sleep. When out on missions, it wasn’t abnormal for us to go without sleep for up to a week; and we were all able to do this without our cognitive function being affected.

This comes from years of training.

Spiders were also trained to sleep in any position- laying down, sitting up, even standing. It wasn’t comfortable but we made it work.

Tomorrow my mission for Danchou begins. Along with the mission I decided to start for myself: I’m going to steal something else.

Aria

For now, she sees me as just a friend, potentially a crush. I’m going to work my way in. If things go as planned, she will eventually see me as something more. When the time comes for us to steal the treasure for Danchou, I’ll be sure to steal her too.

She won’t be escaping my grasp.

Thoughts of what I’d like to do to Aria are what lulled me to sleep. It was a very deep one because I don’t remember having any dreams. It was very peaceful, possibly the most peaceful sleep I’ve had in a while.

The shrill of my phone alarm is what woke me up, 6 am. I’m not sure what it was that made me set that time, it just seemed right for somebody who held a regular person’s job. I rolled out of bed, being sure to make it before doing anything else.

That habit came from having to room with Uvo on missions. He never made his bed and would often complain of how it never felt the same as the night before. So me and Shalnark had attempted to teach him that was because the bed needed to be made. We even demonstrated it to him a couple of times.

He didn’t like it.

But I did.

I walked on the cold floor to the kitchen, enjoying the feeling. Nothing helps to wake the soul up better than the cold.  Of course, seeing a certain person would also help wake up my soul too.

I wonder if Aria is awake as well.

I decided to use my hearing to determine if she was. Closing my eyes, I was able to close off all other senses and power up the hearing one. I was expect toing hear soft little sighs of sleep but instead, I heard the pitter patter of feet jogging towards the front door.

Why is she running towards the door? Is someone there to see her? Who would be there early? I thought she said she didn’t have a boyfriend.

I opened my front door at the same time as her, but she didn’t take any notice of me. Instead, she was giving her attention to the small little black fuzzball in front of her. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved to see if wasn’t a guy she was expecting.

I spoke up, getting her attention to turn to me now; asking why she was up early and such. While she went on explaining, I was taking in her physical features.

Her hair was up in a higher pony tail today; and instead of regular jeans, she was wearing jean shorts.  My eyes couldn’t help but travel up and down those bare legs, longing to touch them. A image caught my eyes that I had to look longer, she had a tattoo.

It looked like a tattoo of a lace garter high up on her thigh.

Now that was sexy!

Makes me want to fall to my knees in front of her and worship that body.

When she mentioned that she was going to walk all the way to work, I immediately offered her a ride. I didn’t like that she was going to walk all the way over there. That’s going to be the first thing I change.

After a bit of back and forth banter, she agreed to accept my ride. It gave both of us more time to relax and get ready.

So now here I am, looking at the blue police uniform I have to put on in disgust; Can’t believe I have to become one of these for a while. If one of the guys were to see me in this…

My cell phone started to ring; speak of the devil.

I grabbed it off the counter and looked at the screen. It read ‘Shal’. I pressed the answer button.

“Hey Shal.”

“Nobunaga! Long time no talk.” You could practically hear the smile that was constantly plastered on the guy’s face. Very rarely did I ever see him frown. Not sure what he always had to be happy about.

“Yeah. Danchou said you guys were finishing up a mission.”

“Yup. But it wasn’t as fun as yours sounds. And hey, Danchou also said that you met a girl.” I pushed the speaker button and placed the phone on the bed. I wanted to start getting ready.

“That would be the first thing you’d mention.”

“Come on…” He whined. “Tell me about her. Is she cute?” I scoffed at the word ‘cute’. That was an insult.

“Cute? She’s gorgeous. Long wavy red hair, blue eyes, nice curvy figure with some toned muscles.”

“Ooohh. A redhead? Those are feisty. Have you gotten in her pants yet?” When one looks at Shalnark, they think he’s so innocent with the baby face and smile. Truth is, he’s as big as a pervert as any of us. And just as kinky.

He’s the one who finds and has all the newest sex toys.

“I’ve only been here one day.”  I was done dressing and had already tied my hair back into a low ponytail; all I was missing was the hat. I wouldn’t put that on until I got to the PD though.

“Phinks slept with a girl he met on the first day.”

“That’s different. She was a prostitute and our target. He literally killed two birds with one stone. I’m not looking to kill this girl.”

“Really? So what’s the plan with her then?”

“She’s lived here her whole life, she must know the ins and outs of this town.”

“Hopefully. I’ve been looking into the records like Danchou asked and I can’t find anything about a treasure. Usually with something so valuable there would be some kind of documentation but it’s pretty much empty on here. With you being in the PD, you may have more access.”

“You hacked into the system, how much more access would I have compared to that?”

“You’d be shocked how much more the PD can have tucked away in their database. You’ll just have to play around with their system.”

“I’m not a computer genius like you.”

“You’ll figure it out. Shit, the Hunter exam is still a while away. Once I get my hands on that license, I’ll be able to get even more access to everything.”

“Well, I’ll see what I can do. Talk to you later.”

“Let me know what happens with that girl.”

“Yeah yeah.” I hung up on him.

Looking at the clock, I saw that it was time to go meet Aria at the car. I made sure I had my wallet and car keys when I walked out the door. Aria was already waiting at the car, right on time.

Seems like she’s very punctual.

She had her backpack on the floor next to her, a coffee tumbler in one hand, and a plastic bag in the other. All I wanted to do at the moment was get my hands on her.

“Right on time.” I walked right up to her, wondering how she would feel if I gave her a hug. Everything in me said not to do it so I had to listen to my instincts. I bent down to grab her backpack for her and lead her to the passenger side, opening the door before she could start protesting.

She just shook her head and smiled, knowing that she wouldn’t win any argument with me about the car.

Once I was in and we were driving along, she placed the tumbler in the cup holder. The car was immediately filled with so much aromas. The bitter smell from the coffee, a flower like smell that I couldn’t pin point, and some kind of food smell.

All mixed together was heavenly.

“So I brought you the coffee, just as you like it; and I was able to make breakfast. Do you know what burritos are?” She looked over at me and I nodded.  “Cool, I made simple egg burritos. I hope you like them.”

“It smells really good.” Ok, that was the food smell. Now what was the floral one? “You’re not eating?”

“I ate during the extra time I had. Which was nice. I normally don’t get to eat breakfast; which is bad cause by lunch I’m starving and tend to overeat.”

“Why don’t we make this morning ride a regular thing then? Gives you more time to sleep and eat.” Instead of immediately arguing, I saw that she was thinking and weighing her pros and cons.

I really didn’t see any cons to this. She didn’t answer for a while and I began to panic a little on the inside. I wonder if I had insulted her a little by suggesting the rides. She must know that it’s for the best though.

I only want to help her and do the best thing for her.

The parking lot for the PD was right next to the restaurant also, so it was perfect for both of us. It looked almost full so I found a spot a little further away from the PD but it was closer to the restaurant for her. When I put the car in park, Aria finally spoke up.

Aria’s POV

I admit, I’ve never been excited about walking to work in the mornings. It was actually something I dreaded. Besides having to carry my work-out clothes and such, my backpack served as a shield of sorts.

I’ve had a stalker for some time now. And the mornings were the worst times.

One of the reasons I fought Nobunaga so hard about the ride was not just because of taking advantage of him, it was also to protect him. The stalker was very…..persistent. They made it very clear that they were not crazy about people hanging around me.

Even if I wanted to make friends, I wouldn’t be able to. Anybody who got closer to me would always have something happen to them. Hank had something happen to his car several times, the worst was when he found all four of his tires slashed.

I didn’t want to live in fear myself. So I tried to keep things going as normal as I could; I refused to show the stalker that they were going to have control over me.

I still feared for Nobunaga’s safety; but looking over at him now in the PD uniform, I wasn’t as fearful anymore. Something in me said that he could protect himself.

“So I’ve thought about it and I think what you said about the mornings walks is right. Maybe getting a ride every morning wouldn’t be so bad.”  Before he could say anything, I had already started letting myself out of the car. I let out a sigh of relief; this was going to be hard for me. I’m very independent.

Nobunaga was out of the car and quickly jogged over to me.

“Are you serious?” He got right in front of me, a big smile on his face.

“Yeah.” I handed him the bag and the tumbler of coffee. “I’m still going to run home though. Need to keep exercising.”

The evenings were not as bad. So that told me that the stalker had stuff to do around the same time I left work. I didn’t feel unsafe then.

“In that case, do you mind if we exchange numbers?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. “I’m not sure if I’ll be out before or after you. Either way, I’d really like it if you could text me to let me know you’re home. Just so I know you’re safe.”

My heart fluttered a little. He wanted to know if I was safe. Not even Hank would worry about that. I felt a small blush come across my cheeks, I really hope he didn’t notice.

“Yeah.” I pulled out mine; it was embarrassing to see how old my model was compared to his. It was capable of texting and calling, but any of that fancy stuff, it couldn’t do. I gave him the go ahead to give me his number.

I knew better than to say my number out loud.

Once it was in, I saved the number and pushed the call button. Within seconds, Nobu had mine.

“Great. So I’ll see you at lunch. I hope I’ll get lucky and have you as my waitress.” He put the hat on to complete his uniform and I have to say, he looked very good in it.

“Sorry to say but you won’t. The chief always comes in at lunch with the A team. And he doesn’t like any of the other girls but me. Unless you get invited to his table, we won’t be able to chat.”

“Then I’ll just have to get myself invited.” He said with a know it all attitude.

“Good luck with that. You’d have to solve like the case of the month or something for that to happen.”

“Watch me.” He looked down at his wrist watch and informed me we both only had about 5 more minutes. “Have a good day.”

“You too. Good luck.” I stepped towards Nobu to give him a hug, my arms going around his waist and pulling him in. He did tower over me….a bit. He was about 6 feet and I was 5’5. He wrapped his arms around me to return the hug.

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

Aria had caught me completely off guard, and that’s very hard to do with me; she’s probably like the 2^nd or 3^rd person to ever do that. I had not expected her to be the one to initiate contact. At first, I didn’t know how to react when her arms wrapped around me. It felt like my arms had a mind of their own as they wrapped around her upper body. 

With our bodies pressed against each other, it was like they were made for one another. She molded perfectly with me. I didn’t want to let go, this moment should have frozen in time.  For those few seconds, I enjoyed it; that peaceful feeling I had at night when I slept was back. Any anger I felt this this morning when I was putting on the uniform was gone.

And I was finally able to pinpoint where that floral scent was coming from; it was her hair. I’ve never been a fan of flowers nor their smell; but this one was very captivating. Or it could just be because it was on the girl I’ve become obsessed with.

I have to find out what perfume or shampoo she uses.

Aria was the first to pull away, giving me the signal that it was time for me to release her from my grip; thought I didn’t want to. I wish this mission was over already and I could steal her away already. But I must be patient.

Aria grabbed onto her bag and headed towards the restaurant; once she reached the door, she did turn back for a second and waved before heading all the way in.

Well, guess I better head in myself.

I looked down at the police hat in revulsion once more before reluctantly placing it on my head. Hopefully the first day should be easy, mainly consisting of introductions. I doubt they would give the new guy a complicated case to work on. They may have me do a ride along with someone else.

Main thing I need to do is get access onto the computer.

I stepped through the entrance with the silence of a thief, not wanting to cause any sort of ruckus. Ability to blend into the surroundings and not be heard. Many people passed right by me without even noticing.

I stood there for a good 30 minutes or so, just observing patterns. I would have been there longer if it weren’t for a certain chief that decided to yell out my name and smack me on my shoulder.

“Nobunaga, Good morning!” This smack was no where close to the ones that Uvo normally gives me, but it was super annoying. I’ve already begun making me list of who I was going to kill in what order; this guy is coming very close to going to the top.

The chief was shorter than me, not by much. He was a rather stocky looking guy, with a beer belly starting to form. He wasn’t wearing his hat so I was able to see that while he still had some hair, it was already white and he was beginning to bald.

Guessing his age, he’s probably in his late 50s.

“Morning sir. Ready for my first day.” I tried to make my voice sound as cheerful as possible.

“Glad to hear that. Oh, I’m sorry.” He pointed at the items in my hands: the coffee tumbler and burritos. “I forgot to mention we always have coffee and donuts available for breakfast. No need to go and spend money.”

I remembered that Aria mentioned that the chief already had her be the one to serve him at the restaurant. It showed that she was an important person to him; but just how important? Did he see her as a daughter…..or as a lover?

It better not be the 2^nd choice.

She’s mine.

There has to be a way for me to stake my claim over Aria, to let others know that she was no longer considered a free woman. She may not know it yet herself either. I’ll have to think of a way later. For now though, I’ll keep the fact that she’s my neighbor a little secret.

“I didn’t. It was my next-door neighbor. I met her last night and well, what kind of man would I be if I refused such gifts from a nice woman?”

“I agree with you 100%, though it is a bit of a shocker that you met someone around your age. No many bachelorettes available here.” With his hand still on my shoulder, he began to lead me further into the building and into the messy array of work desks. There was only one empty one and it was right next to him.

This was going to make my work a little harder.

I placed my stuff on the desk when the chief let out a loud whistle to summon the rest of the cops to us. It took me just microseconds to observe each and every one of them.

No women.

All men.

None too impressive.

I could take them all with one hand behind my back.

“Settle down boys. Listen up. We were finally able to fill in that vacant space we’ve had for the past year. I would like you all to give a warm welcome to our newest office, Nobunaga Hazama. He comes to us with high stats and references. With him, I believe we will be able to cut down on the crimes being committed and make a great addition to the team.”

Each of them clapped, but it was a slow sarcastic kind. They continued while the chief pulled out my badge that had my unit number and name. In the back of my head, I could just hear Phinks and Feitan laughing.

“A team, stick around. The rest of you know your assignments.” All except 3 guys left. If it weren’t for the different hair colors of them, you would think they were triplets. They even stood the same way, side to side with their arms crossed across their chests.

These were the guys Aria talked about. They even look like douchebags.

“Meet the best team that Starhaven has to offer. This is Tom…”

Black hair with shaved sides stepped forward, he kept his hair long on the top and had it slicked back with an insane amount of gel.

“Dick…”

Blond guy with blond hair split right down the middle stepped forward. Best way I could describe the style would be like those hairstyles the boy bands would have in the 90s.

“and Harry.”

Red curly hair with a matching thick beard came forward.

Now which one did I want to punch in the face more?

“Boys, get Nobunaga up to date on the Kims case. Lunch at 1.” The chief finally walked away. Finally, the hand was off my shoulder. I took a seat at my desk and the three men stalked toward me like they were cornering their prey.

If only they knew that I wasn’t the prey, they were.

“We’re close to solving this on our own. Don’t know why he wants you on this but here.”  Tom slammed a file onto my desk, it was pretty thick.

“For the past several months, there have been a string of robberies…”

The irony in this situation. I’m a thief and I’m being asked to catch a thief for my first case. I opened the file and began skimming through the contents while the three of them were talking.

Jewelry, art pieces, monuments- all sorts of treasures have been stolen.

I wonder if any of these were what Danchou was after.

“No DNA was found at any locations but survellaice was able to catch a quick glimpse of the perpetrator. Problem is the equipoement hasn’t been updated in a few years for the photo is a little blurry. Based off this photos, we were able to identify 10 possible suspects. 8 of them had solid alibis so now only 2 are left. We know we have the right one since nothing else has gone missing since they have been held in custody.”

“You guys just can’t figure out who it is or where he’s hiding the stuff, am I correct?” I finished off their explanation. I could tell they were a little pissed off at that but it got to the point. They all nodded.

“Yeah, we’d give you some advice but hey, the chief says you have some impressive stats. Think you can figure this out on your own.” They all gave each other a high five and went back to their desks to do their own thing.

Didn’t give a shit what they do.

Thankfully, I had access to the computer right away and I was able to look over the history of these two suspects. They both had very similar history, crimes that started back as juveniles and continued into adulthood. Each of them had records of theft; and it seemed that they were inmates at the same place; shared a cell together.

Their interrogation clips showed little to no suspicious body language. Pretty calm, learned how to fool the cops. Houses were in the same neighborhood but had been fully raided and nothing was found. Bank accounts showed no significant changes or irregular transactions.

Pretty good work.

But there’s always a slip up.

“Hm….now if I were Shalnark, where would I look next?”

Aria’s POV

The nice and easy morning soon turned into the busy lunch rush. Every booth and stool at the bar were completely taken. Almost all the tables were taken too, except the one that was always saved for the chief of the PD.

Him and the A team always came in around 1pm.

It was the routine. They’d come in, I’d pass on my rounds to another girl, take care of them, they leave, then the day goes on.

Right at 1pm, the door opened and I could hear the chief’s booming voice saying hi to all the people in the diner.

I quickly informed the table I was at the one of the other girls would take over for me. No arguments were given since the citizens knew the routine as well. I tapped the shoulder of the girl who was assigned this morning to take over for me, she let out a tired sigh but nodded and got right to work.

I got my serving platter and got the drinks filled- 1 coke, 2 sprites, and 1 diet coke. Yes, the chief was ‘watching his weight’ as he liked to say.

Even though they tend to order the same thing, I always made sure I had the menus available. Besides Nobu, they usually gave me the best tips. So I never gave them a reason to complain. Perfect service.

“Hey Aria.” I rolled my eyes at the way the A team always greeted me. It was always this smug stuck up tone I couldn’t stand. It bothered me to no end that they openly did that when their own girlfriends worked in the same diner as me.

Another reason why I was a loner and had no friends.

“Hey guys.” I made sure to rise the tone of my voice to sound like a cheerful girl. “Here are your drinks.” I placed the coke and two sprites down in front of them and placed a handful of straws in the middle.

I was making my way over to the chief when I noticed that not only was there an extra chair but also an extra person in the chair. A familiar person.

“No way.” I whispered, more to myself.

“Aria!” The chief motioned for me to come towards him. I came back to my senses and quickly placed his diet coke down in front of him. “Aria, I’d like you to meet a new member of the PD. He’s quickly made a name for himself. This is Nobunaga Hazama. And Nobunaga, this is Sato Aria, she is the best waitress in the diner.”

“We’ve met.” Nobu informed him while taking his hat off and winking his eye at me.

“Oh. Have you?”

“He’s my new next door neighbor, chief.” I informed him.

“Lucky.” I heard one of the three guys groan from the other side of the table, but I decided to ignore him.

“Well Aria, we got ourselves a good one. Tell her what you did.” The chief leaned back in his chair.

“Nothing big. Just solved the Kims case.”

“What?!” I was very aware of what cases were open in the PD. The chief and A team were not able to keep quiet and often had to vent at the diner when I served them. Sometimes they stayed extra and I had to eat lunch at their table and continue to listen.

I didn’t mind. I got paid extra for it.

“Nobu, that’s amazing!” I jogged around the table to get to him, bent down and wrapped my arms lightly around his neck to give him a hug. Nobu reacted more quickly to my hug this time, wrapping his long arms around my torso. My mouth was right near his ear, so I took the opportunity to whisper a little warning to him.

“When he orders, say you’re allergic.”  I let go to stand back up, Nobu kept one of his arms wrapped on the small of my back though. I didn’t really mind.

“The usual chief?” I asked.

“Salmon for everybody!” He proclaimed. I felt Nobu’s hand stiffen on my back. I hope he heard my whisper.

“As good as that sounds, I’m going to have to do a polite pass. Unfortunately, I’m allergic to salmon.” Nobu spoke.

Yes, he heard.

“That’s a shame and so strange; so is Aria. You two don’t know what you’re missing.” Nobu and I exchanged a look, before we both let out a little laugh. He went on to ask me what I recommended today.

I informed him that the other special was Donkatsu. He ordered that along with water to drink.

For the first time ever, I wished that the chief had decided to stay so I could talk to Nobu a little longer. But it didn’t. It was time for them to go; but not before leaving me amazing tips.

And it was payday!

Time flew by that it was soon the end of the day. As I always do, I changed into my runner’s outfit and went outside. I saw that his car was still parked so he hasn’t left yet. I sent Nobu a quick text to let him know I was going to start my run. Within seconds, he texted me back; saying to be safe.

I let out a small sigh followed by a smile; I was smiling a lot more these past two days.

Once my phone was secured in my bag, I began my run home. My muscles were very sore from my circuit training yesterday so I know I was moving slower. It helped to not think about the run or distance; instead to think about random things. Like what to make for dinner tonight.

I think I should invite Nobu over. The thought of him eating those frozen dinners just didn’t settle right with me. Running through the menus in my head and what ingredients I had available at my house kept me occupied until I saw my house coming up the horizon.

Before I could start cursing the running gods, I started to experience this uneasy feeling. Something wasn’t right. The feeling got worser the closer I got to my house. Once I stood in front of my door, I could hear the alarms going off in my head.

Part of me said to call the PD and have them come to check out my house. But the other part said to stop being a baby and do it myself. That part was a little stronger.

I unlocked the front door and stepped inside, not bothering to turn the light on. It was still light enough outside to not need indoor lighting; but it did start to cast shadows into my house.  

My eyes scanned the room, taking in as much detail as I could. Nothing looked out of place. Was my mind playing tricks on me?

Maybe I was just dehydrated.

I took a few deep breaths before closing and locking the front door. I took my shoes off at the front and walked towards the kitchen. I opened the fridge and grabbed my container with filtered water. I was about to get a cup when I felt something that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Someone was in my house.

Nobunaga’s POV

It’s been a while and Aria still hasn’t texted me that she’s made it home. I was starting to worry a little. I hope she’s not hurt.

“Have you finished the paperwork yet?”

Instead of learning their names, I decided to give each of the A team nicknames: Douche 1, Douche 2, and Douche 3.

Douche 2 approached me once more for the damn paperwork on the Kims case. They expected me to do the whole thing since I solved it. They were in for a rude awakening.

“Yeah, did my part. Up to you guys to do yours.” I shut off my computer. This signaled to them that I was calling it a day. It was 5 pm anyway.  Before him or any of the others could say anything, I stood from my seat and walked away.

The chief was already gone so nobody they could go crying to.

It was a relief to be inside my car; it still smelled of the floral scent from Aria. I’ve already grown addicted to it. Not wasting a single moment more, I turned on the car and began to speed my way to my house.

The event from the diner played in my head.

It was still unclear of how the chief saw Aria; but I know now that the douches see her as something more. Even though I learned later that they all have girlfriends who are also waitresses at the same restaurant. They think I couldn’t hear them remark how lucky I was that I lived next door to her?

That’s why I made sure to keep my hand on her back when we ordered. And made sure that they saw it.

That was the beginning of staking my claim.

The two houses came into view. I saw the lights were on in Aria’s home; why didn’t she text me? She didn’t seem like the type to go back on a promise. I needed to check on her. I parked the car quickly and walked over to her door.

I was going to knock when I noticed there was a sight gap opening. I began debating on if I should go get my sword. No, that’ll take too much time. I’m just as capable of using my fists. Phinks isn’t the only guy who can kill a man with his hands.

I quickly started to use my En, if anybody steps into my radius, they’ll go down. I pushed the door open with any hesitation and took a few steps in. Within seconds, somebody entered my En and attacked from behind.

They wrapped their arms around my neck to try and choke.

I grabbed onto their arms and used the force to swing them forward to get them off; this should have made them land on their back. Instead, they were able to twist their upper body around and grab onto my legs.

They concentrated their strength into their lower body to throw me off balance. I let them launch me up into the air; doing a flip, I landed directly in my legs and my opponents stood a few feet from me in a stance to show they were ready to fight some more.

But when I saw who it was, I quickly deactivated my En.

“Aria?”  She was breathing heavy, looking at me with shock in her eyes.

“Nobunaga?” She questioned. As if all the energy left her body, she fell onto her knees on the ground. I didn’t sense anything else in the house nor did I sense she was a threat any longer. So I didn’t hesitate to rush to her side.

I quickly caught her body before it hit the ground, wrapping her up in my arms and cradling her to my chest.

We both stayed like that for a few minutes, breathing hard to catch our breaths. When I felt her face move away from my chest to look up at me, I released my hold slightly to look down at her.

“I’m sorry.” She said.

“Hey, no worries. No harm done.”  Truth be told, now that I knew she wasn’t in danger, I was very impressed. Where did she learn to fight like that?

Why was she fighting though?

“But I have to ask, why did you attack me?”

“It wasn’t you I was trying to attack.” She began to sit up, but I kept my hold on her just in case. “It was someone else.”

“Someone else?” She was hesitant to finish her explanation. One look at me and my eyes, she continued.

“My stalker was in the house.” I could easily take care of this problem in a heartbeat. But I still had an image to uphold since my mission was still fresh. But it added to my other mission of keeping Aria safe until I can steal her away.

“I’m getting the others down here. This is now an off limits property.”

Unknown POV

The figure looked down at their right wrist for the thousandth, seeing the obvious deformity; it was no longer attached to their arm. Instead, ] it now practically hung off and swung freely; the only thing keeping it from getting lost was the skinning holding it.

Their cellphone began to ring. They reached into their pocket, answering it the best they could.

“Yes?”

“Were you able to get her?”

“No. You failed to mention her fighting capabilities.”

“I wasn’t aware of her fighting capabilities. Not much is known about her.” The figure knew they were going to need emergency medical treatment right away. But it would take a while for them to reach the closest town for that. Hopefully they didn’t pass out from blood loss.

“My rates have now increased.”

“What?!”

“This was supposed to be a simple kidnapping. But now I see that my target is capable of hurting me. Not many people can do that.”

“I’ll just find someone else.”

“You think you’ll be able to find somebody better than a Zoldyck?” Illumi tried his hardest to not wince from the pain. He’s had broken bones before but not a dislocation with a fracture that also includes arterial bleeding. This was going to require surgery. He would be out of action for a while.

As much as the client didn’t want to agree, Illumi was right. They wouldn’t find a better person to do this than a Zoldyck. They had chosen Illumi since he was a little cheaper than Zeno and Silva.

“No. I wouldn’t”

“I know you wouldn’t. Tell you what? Why don’t you get with your boss and discuss what you want your next step to be. I need to see about a surgery to get my hand re-attached to my body.”

“Your what?!”

“Call me back once you’ve reached a decision. If you are willing to pay more, you’re more than welcome to get my father or grandfather’s help.” Illumi hung up the phone before anything more could be said. He was starting to feel a little fatigue so he needed to get traveling now.

Chapter Text

Aria’s POV

Everything that happened after the incident was such a blur; I couldn’t remember anything after Nobunaga held me in his arms. I don’t remember how I ended up sitting in the passenger side of his car. I don’t know when the others got there or when my house got covered in that annoying yellow tape that made my house an off limit zone now for only the PD to enter. I don’t even remember being interviewed on what happened.

My mind kind of went into a defensive mode and made me dissociate; nothing was being done to pull me out of it. The voices I could hear outside were talking about me but weren’t talking to me.

What seemed like hours but could have only been a few minutes, I started to get my sense of feeling back. There was somebody who was rubbing the back of my shoulders in a very comforting way.  When I looked up to see who it was doing that, I saw the familiar long hair cascading down towards me. It was Nobunaga. It dawned on me that he hasn’t left my side since he found me; I wanted so badly to grab onto one of his hands and just hold it in mine. But for the life of me, I couldn’t get either of them to move.

The voices around me began to sound familiar; how could I forget the chief’s booming baritone voice or the ‘A’ teams sucking up to him?  When had they gotten there again? What were they talking about?

“…….move… hotel….”

“….live…..me….”

“…..stay…..chief….”

“……no……me…..” None of their sentences were forming for me; all I could make out were words here and there. This was frustrating me.

Damn it, I needed to knock out of this. This situation was definitely a scary one; but what’s done is done. This stalker didn’t get me so why be like this now?

 I needed to get one of my limbs to move…..I had already tested my arms so I needed to test my legs. One of my legs began to bounce up and down, it was a small movement but it was noticeable to me; I shut my eyes and took in a few deep breaths. Normally people would do this to get the noise around them to get smaller until they hear nothing.

Right now I needed to do the opposite. I wanted to hear the noise and I wanted to hear what they were saying about me. The only thing I knew that could take me out of this stupor was to cause myself some form of temporary physical pain.

It wouldn’t do much but the leg would have to do. I somehow forced my lower leg to swing forward, it lifted up a little and I swung it back full force into the edge of the car. Right in the achilles tendon. All at once, the noise blasted full force into my ears. I could hear that someone had left their sirens on, I heard the ‘A’ team gasp while the chief asked me if I was ok.

“That was impressive, not even a scream.” Nobu remarked. From my peripheral vision, I could swear I saw this look of admiration in his eyes. But I chose to ignore that for now.

“The pain is only temporary.” I stood up from the seat, still not able to put full weight on my injured foot. “I heard you all talking about me; a few words here and there. From what I gathered, you want to move me somewhere. Somebody said ‘hotel’, that’s out of the question. I don’t have enough money to pay for something like that; and who knows how long you’ll make me stay there. Somebody else said ‘live’ and ‘me’, no way in hell am I moving in with one of the ‘A’ team guys.”

That pretty much knocked out two of the options. The last one had the word ‘chief’ in it and it was honestly looking like the best option.

Nobu had this big smile on his face, he was proud of something I said but I’m unsure what.

“Well, there’s two more options.” He held up two fingers. “One is you can move in with the chief since he has some extra space since his daughter just moved out…or Two, you can move in with me.”

I couldn’t help but widen my eyes at this. I had just met Nobunaga a day ago; we already planned to have me take rides with him in the morning. But now, he was offering me a home. Why was he being so fucking nice to me?

“ And we say that’s complete crap.” Dick stepped in between me and Nobu, blocking my view of him. “He’s only been here for one day. We don’t know him well enough, how do we know he’d be able to protect you? So you won’t move in with one of us, at least go with the chief.”

“I have to agree with officer Dick, Hazama.” Oh shit, chief used the last name. He only did that when the situation was extremely serious. He and the other ‘A’ members stepped forward as well, all of them now shielding me from Nobunaga.

It was confusing the hell out of me. This morning the chief couldn’t stop bragging about Nobu and now he wasn’t trusting him.

“Put your damn egos aside and think about this. Out of all of us, I’m the one with the most training in hand to hand combat. And compared to everybody in the PD, I have the highest scores when it comes to firearm precision. Aria and I have already bonded in a way that she trusts me and I trusts her. The way I see it, she doesn’t need any protection. She’s more than capable of fighting on her own.”

Thankfully none of them were looking at me or could see me, my face was bright red from blushing. I think that was the nicest compliment I’ve ever gotten. While the others see me as just a damsel in distress, Nobu wasn’t.

“There’s safety in numbers though.” I spoke up, trying to push my way past the barrier of testosterone that wouldn’t back down. They wouldn’t let me past so I decided to just walk around them. Harry tried to grab my arm to stop but I just slapped it away.

“Exactly.” Nobu agreed. “In the end, we all want the same thing: your safety. I just think I’d be the best bet for that. You know this area well enough that you’d be able to easily escape if need be. Plus, if you were to leave, who’d feed Baby in the morning?”

Nobunaga’s POV

Aria and I stood in the middle of my living room; we were surrounded by the officers of the PD. They were kind enough to bring in the stuff that Aria needed in order to move in. All she needed to do was inform me where she wanted that item to go and I would delegate to them where to put it.

I was running out of ideas of what to say; thankfully I thought of that cat from this morning. Aria said she just couldn’t let the little guy to himself and demanded she stay. So in the end, she chose me.

Game.Set.Match.

It didn’t seem like there was much that Aria wanted to bring over from her house. It didn’t take long for things to be moved. The last items were a few trash bags that were filled with clothes and they were being carried by the three douchebags. All the other officers and the chief had left.

This was just perfect.

“Bedroom’s this way.” I motioned for Aria to follow me closely, she did as told. The douches followed as well. Once we were in, they let the bags fall from their hands onto the floor. You could easily tell how sour they were feeling about this.

“So, uh, I guess I’ll start putting things away?” Aria said awkwardly, all while rubbing the back of her neck and avoiding eye contact with the three of them. She did look directly at me though, as if she was silently asking my permission to do so.

What a good girl.

She’s a natural.

“Do anything you need to do; feel free to move things around. Hangers are in the closet. I’m going to walk the guys out.”

“Ok. Thanks again for helping guys. I’ll see you in the diner on Monday for lunch.” She patted them all on the back before kneeling down on the floor to open up the bags. None of us got to see her pack her stuff so the three of them wanted to stay and see her pull out her things.

Nope. That honor was going to be mine.

I grabbed onto two arms and pulled them forcefully toward the door; and all I had to do was give the 3^rd guy the evil eye to make him follow. The whole way to the door, they mumbled something about not hurting her or taking advantage of her or shit like that.

“I won’t take advantage of her. I’m a gentleman, after all.”

No need to take advantage. When I’m done, she’ll be begging for it.

I took great pleasure in pushing them out the door and slamming it right in their faces; making sure to turn the deadbolt in a dramatic fashion to where they could hear it on the other side. This was it. Nothing could come between me and Aria now.

Back to see what my girl is doing.

As soon as I stepped into the room, I was bombarded by a anxiety ridden Aria.

“I never asked, what side of the bed do you sleep on?” In her hands, she held a pair of purple fuzzy boots; they were kind of raggedy looking so she must have had them for a while. She was trying to figure out which side of the bed to put them.

“I don’t really have a side.” I informed her, while taking the boots from her hands. I decided that her side was going to be the one that was closer to the door; I bent down to place the boots right on the floor. I would be on the other side where the window is.

“I just want to be sure, I don’t want to kick you out of your spot or make you uncomfortable. You are the one offering me the room. Are you sure I can’t just sleep on the couch?”

“Aria, baby.” I began to unbutton the PD shirt. It didn’t escape my attention that she followed my fingers all the way down. And she seemed a little disappointed that under the shirt, I had on a black shirt. I slide it off my body and threw it onto the bed before walking over to her and grabbing onto her hands.

I wonder if she noticed me calling her ‘baby’. I wanted to pick out a nickname for her, that only I could use. So I’m testing the waters with ‘baby’. Not sure if I like it though.

“You don’t need to tiptoe around me. This is your home now; you need to be comfortable. So no, you will not be sleeping on the couch. We’re adults, we can easily share the bed.”

From her body language, I could see her starting to relax a little. This was a good sign. She fully knew that we’d be sleeping next to each other; and she was fine with it.

I want to just kiss her so bad, but it’s too soon for that. So reluctantly, I released her hands.

“So do you want to take a shower first or…”

“You first.” She patted my chest before moving away and heading towards the door. “I’m going to go cook dinner. No offense but I rarely eat frozen dinners; and now that I’m here, you’ll rarely eat them too.” Before I could give any sarcastic remarks, she was already gone.

I followed after, just to close and lock the door. Turning around, I knew this was my chance. I said I was a gentleman but I’m also a major pervert.

I went over to the dresser first and opened the top one first. It seemed she made that one the undergarment drawer. To the left was hers ; and to the right side was mine.

I was relieved to see that she didn’t buy anything pink or frilly looking. Instead, she leaned more towards dark colors; her favorite color was red, there was various shades of them. I couldn’t resist touching them, my hands lightly glided over them; knowing that they have been on that part of the body that I’m desperate to touch.

I was about to close the drawer and continue snooping until something caught my attention. In the very corner of the drawer, there was something lacey that was sticking out a little. I quickly grabbed it and pulled it out, the others remaining in the same fashion they were left in.

The one I had pulled was a full see through red lace thong.

I had had no plans in masturbating tonight. But try telling that to my growing erection. Now a dumbass would have put the thong back and moved on; but I’m not an dumbass. No, I bought the thong up to eye level, my imagination going wild.

Imagining Aria dressed in this thong and matching bra.

I then brought the thong to my nose and took in a long sniff. No matter how many times a woman washes her underwear, she always leaves a distinct smell. A smell that can drive a feral horny man wild.

And that’s what it was doing to me.

It only took me seconds to rush to the bathroom, removed the rest of my clothes, turn the shower on, and get in. My erection was already to the point of painful; grabbing onto it made me hiss in pain at first. I wasn’t a masochist when it came to sex, I was much more the sadist in BDSM.

I started pumping immediately once I got over the initial pain. It was a little hard to keep the moans silent; I didn’t want Aria to hear me right now. Not until I hear hers first.

She needed to be the first to crack.

I looked down for a second, feeling a little weak in my knees. They were shaking so bad. This erection was really taking it out of me. My legs were about to give out on me so I had to lower myself down onto the ground and sit up against the wall of the shower. 

This gave me a chance to see that my shower now held some of her grooming stuff: shampoo, conditioner, soaps, and razor. I then remembered the floral smell that was so distinct in the car and on Aria’s hair.

Could this be the smell?!

 I reached towards the shampoo with my unoccupied hand; held it tight and uncapped it. I put the now open bottle to my nose and gave the bottle a slight squeeze.

YES!

Aria’s POV

I was just plating the last of the food when Nobunaga came out of the bedroom. He had tied his hair up into a bun in the back of his head and he was wearing the same pajamas I saw him in this morning.

“Just in time.” I turned to face him while I was untying the apron I always wore when I cooked or baked; it was dark red and covered with jack o lanterns and black cats. My favorite holiday was Halloween and this was one of the few things I was able to buy with my own money; so I treasured it dearly.

Nobunaga went to the refrigerator and brought out the bottle of sake he got that night we ran into each other at the grocery store. He then went to a cupboard and grabbed two glasses.

“Thought we could have ourselves a drink.”

“Please. Really need it!” I grabbed onto the two full plates and we met at the kitchen table. He sat first, placing the small glasses in front of me and him. I put his plate down in front of him first before taking a seat and setting mine down.

His eyes widened when he saw what I had prepared us: chicken karaage, yakisoba, and cucumber salad.

“Wow.” I smiled at his reaction, and motioned for him to start digging in.

I waited anxiously as he grabbed onto his chopsticks and picked up a piece of chicken. He blew on it softly to cool it off. I had expected him to take a small bite but he stuffed the whole chicken into his mouth. He chewed quickly, probably from the residual heat. I hope he didn’t burn his tongue too bad.

“This has got to be the best karaage I’ve ever had.”

I let out a sigh of relief as he continued to eat the food in front of him. I was getting ready to eat my own when he paused to pour each of us a shot of sake. I was going to remind him that he should never pour his own glass but oh well. We both raised our glasses up, clanking them together gently.

“Kanpai!” I took small sip of the sake, really enjoying the soothing taste and the strong burn in the back of my throat.

“Ok, so you obviously have a bunch of questions.” I stated while placing my cup back down.

“Was just trying to figure out how to approach it without scaring you.”

“Appreciate it. But I hate it when people beat around the bush. Just be straight with me.”

“Sorry about that. I guess then we can start off by getting to know each other a little more.” I nodded my head. “Why don’t you start us off? Tell me anything that comes to mind about yourself.”

I had no idea where to start off. Even when I was getting to know my ex, he rarely asked me about myself. Maybe because the whole town pretty much knew my backstory. Nobunaga isn’t from here though, so he doesn’t.

“Not much to know. I’m an orphan so that says a lot. I’ve worked my whole life because I have a lot of debt to pay off.”

“Debt?”

“Yeah, the mayor and the chief gave me the house and everything in it. But it came at a cost;  I have to pay it off. The only place that I could work at was the restaurant so that’s how I make my money. It’s not much and I sometimes have to take odd jobs here and there to make ends meet, but I guess that’s my life until I can clear my name.”

“Do you want to live here forever?”

“No, but who knows how long this debt will take?” He poured me another glass and I made sure to pour him one as well.

Normally you aren’t supposed to drink your sake as a shot but having to talk about my past…it just seemed appropriate. I needed to feel the buzz. Nobu must have noticed it so he didn’t say anything, just poured me another glass.

“What about yourself?” I asked, taking just a small sip this time.

“Very similar story. Orphan also, probably shouldn’t even be alive. But got lucky that I found some good friends.”

“Must be nice.” I hadn’t even noticed I finished another glass until I saw Nobu pouring me more. I hope I left him some.

“Yeah, we all grew up together and got jobs in the same field.”

“It must have been hard to leave them to come here.” I started to tear up a little. To think Nobu had to leave his group behind to come work here. I personally wouldn’t have done that but he must have a reason. I won’t question it.

“A little. But we all keep in touch, so don’t worry about it. I talk to at least one of them every day.”

We spent the rest of the night talking about the most random things. It was exciting to learn that he was a skilled swordsman and Iaido master. I practically begged him to show me his skills one day; he was all too eager to agree.

He also told me why he didn’t like to eat shellfish, that he got a bad case of food poisoning a while back and just refused to trust it again. I had something similar happen with frozen nuggets, so that explained why I wasn’t big on frozen foods.

Before we knew it, it was already close to Midnight. Nobu noticed me holding in multiple yawns; I didn’t want him to think I was bored with the conversation. I wanted to talk to him even more, maybe even ask him about his friends and what kind of adventures he’s been on.

But was it late. He told me that I should take my shower and get to bed. He even offered to do the dishes for me. Very sweet of him.

Nobunaga’s POV

To her, it was just a normal conversation between friends. But it was more of an intel mission on my part. I wanted to know more about her.

Unfortunately, she didn’t give any indication of how she knew her fighting abilities or who trained her. I was hoping to get that out of her at least.

But what’s interesting was to learn that she is an orphan. I needed to learn more about if there was an orphanage around this town and see if there were any records on her. If there isn’t, I’ll have to ask Shalnark for some help.

It was nice to talk to someone about my swords skills. It’s very rare to have someone listen with actual interest. Whenever I would talk to the whores in brothels about it, they would fake the interest in hopes of being paid more. But I knew Aria wasn’t faking it at all. She was a little drunk and you can’t hide emotions when you’re drunk.

It didn’t take long to wash the dishes for her; it was only fair since she went through the trouble of cooking. I couldn’t help but let out a laugh, so this is what it was like to live a life of domestic partnership. I could see myself living it with Aria.  

Having a home to come to with Aria waiting for me with a nice home cooked meal. And hopefully sex to follow.

It would be a nice way to burn off a heavy meal.

When I got back to the room, I saw that Aria was already under the covers and fast asleep. She must be use to taking fast shower to keep her water bill down.

She had tied her wet hair into a braid. She didn’t snore but you could hear little sighs coming from her mouth every time she exhaled. How is she this adorable?

She didn’t flinch at all when I moved closer. I moved the covers at first to let myself in but decided to take a little peek at what she was wearing.

A tank top and some shorts. They had no patterns and no color coordination; it was as if she reached blindly into a basket and pulled out the first things she grabbed.

The more I get to know her, the more I know. She is my type of woman. I’ve always been attracted to strong women, but still had a bit of a girly side.

I never wanted someone or something as badly as I wanted Aria.

Danchou is aware there is a woman but he is not fully aware of how much I want her. Next week, I’m going to let him know. Along with whatever treasure we’ll steal, I’m going to be stealing Aria as well. Taking her away from this dump of a town.

I know for a fact he wouldn’t deny me this request.

He might find her attractive as well and ask if he could sample her as well.

I wouldn’t mind.

Sharing with the Spiders is not a problem to me at all.  

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

I can’t remember a time when I’ve shared a bed with a woman before, and not in a sexual manner. No, Machi doesn’t count. In fact, whenever we’ve had to share a room with a single bed, Machi would kick me out of the bed in her ‘sleep’. I’m more than sure she’s making up that shit but whatever. More than often, I just choose to sleep on the floor to avoid the whole thing.

 It was a little hard to fall asleep with the woman I’m in love with sleeping right next to me; and it wasn’t due to any feelings of nervousness. It was due to me just wanting to stare at her the whole time and not sleep. There was little space between us, even in a King size bed. Even though we both started off at the very edges of the bed, we had somehow met in the middle of it. Currently, we both laid on our sides, facing each other.

She looked even more beautiful when she slept.

Her pink lips slightly parted as she let in and out little breaths. Her eyelids were closed but slightly fluttering, showing that she was currently going through REM sleep. I wonder what she was dreaming about. Overall, her face looked so serene. No trace of fear, you wouldn’t even know that just a while ago, she was attacked in her house by a stalker.

I knew I needed to sleep but I wanted to do one more thing before. I carefully reached towards her bottom lip with my thumb, lightly tracing along it from side to side. I then brought my thumb towards my lips and traced it the same way along my bottom lip.

It was like an indirect kiss. It would have to do for now and I felt a little satisfied with it. With that, I was able to finally shut my eyes and drift off into sleep.

It was another dreamless sleep for me but once again, it was very peaceful. Knowing that Aria was now with me in the same bed gave me even more peace than I thought was possible. Like I didn’t have a care in the world.

Neither of us set an alarm for the weekend, so we both got to sleep in later than 6am. I was unaware of the time when my eyes began to open, but I did notice that the sun was fully out. I also noticed that I had rolled onto my back during sleep. The first thing I normally like to do when I wake up is stretch a little, but there was this light pressure on top of my chest that prevented me from doing so.

During my sleep, I had sensed no danger, so I know it wasn’t anything bad. Sleep paralysis was gone so I know it wasn’t that either. That only left one more option and it was the one I was really hoping for.

I slowly opened my eyes, and a blurry mass of the color red was right there. I then felt pressure in other areas of my body such as my arm and leg. At first, I listened for a few minutes to be sure that Aria was still sleeping. The steady breathing indicated she was. So, I was able to fully open my eyes to see that she had fully rolled over towards me and was now almost draped across me.

Her head was nestled right on my chest, one of her arms was wrapped securely around my waist and pulling me closer towards her. And last, one of her legs had intertwined with mine. She was full on cuddling me.

This is officially the best day of my life.

I didn’t want to risk waking her, so I was content to just lay still and let her use me however she liked. I did like the way the bare skin on her leg felt against the slightly hairy leg I had. I wasn’t as hairy was Uvo though. I knew that her arm would feel the same way, but I wanted to feel for myself. So, I moved the arm that was free to lay on her arm that held my waist. I was about to start rubbing it when I heard the vibration from my fucking phone go off.

Who the fuck is calling me?!

I’m going to kill them!

I reached over and grabbed it to look at the caller ID. It read ‘Uvo’. Shit, I can’t kill him. But I’m going to be sure I punch him in the gut next time I see him. The phone eventually stopped vibrating, but I know the guy well enough to know that he’ll just continue to call until I eventually pick up.

Reluctantly, I had to maneuver my way out of Aria’s grip. Good thing she’s a deep sleeper, she barely stirs awake from any movement.

By the time I had left the bedroom and made it to the living room, Uvo had called me about 5 times. Guy was super impatient. I laid down on the couch, waiting for him to call back. Not even 2 seconds had passed before his name popped up on the screen yet again. With a little more pressure than needed, I pressed the answer button.

“Alright fucker, what do you want?” I didn’t bother hiding my irritation.

“Whoa, did somebody wake up on the wrong side of the bed?” He teased. I let out a big sigh. He completely ignored it and carried on with the conversation. “Anyway, what’s this I hear about you banging some redhead?” His gruff voice didn’t sound as clear, so it meant he was on speaker. Who else was with him that he needed to put himself on speaker?

“I’m not banging her…. yet.”

“Performance anxiety? Need some advice?” So, it was Phinks that was there. And where there is Phinks, there is also Feitan. The dark chuckles I heard following that statement proved I was right. But I know he wouldn’t join in on this kind of teasing. He wouldn’t know what to say when it came to sex.

He just has no idea how to talk to girls. Not that he doesn’t like them, he just doesn’t know what to say. I’m more than certain that he’s still a virgin in all aspects, including kissing.

“Performance anxiety? Nobunaga? HA! Never! Guy’s as big as a horndog as everybody else in the Spiders” Uvo joined him on the teasing. “Just do what you always do buddy. Say you’ll pay her, threaten her, then leave her in a ditch after you cut her head off.”

The thought of that happening to Aria did cause a little bit of hysteric anger to rise up in my chest. I knew that Uvo didn’t mean any harm in that sentence cause he was right. That was my usual routine when there was a girl that caught my attention for a quick fuck.

But Aria is different.

She’s not a quick fuck.

She’s going to be my girl, my property.

And I take care of what’s mine.

“It’s not like that at all. She’s different. She’s beautiful, funny, strong, everything a woman should be.” I sounded like a love-sick puppy, but I couldn’t hide that tone. The guys and I have only ever heard that kind of tone from Franklin, when he confessed to us that he had feelings for Shizuku.

Immediately, I felt the energy change over the phone. Uvo and Phinks instantly changed their attitude, Feitan’s chuckles stopped, and it seemed he was now listening with so much intensity. The teasing ceased.

“She really that special?” Uvo asked.

“Yeah. She is.”  The images of yesterday when I saw Aria inflict pain on herself to wake from her stupor replayed in my head. It was weird, it wasn’t my doing but there was this sense of…pride? Like I was so proud of her.

“You sure it’s not because you haven’t gotten laid in months?” Phinks asked.

“I’m sure. It’s hard to explain but It’s like I know deep down, she’s meant to be with me. She’s meant to be mine. She’s too good for the guys in this shit town. And you three should have seen it yesterday. Some stuff went down that I saw her fight and…”

“She fights?” It caught me off guard, but Feitan spoke this time.

“Oh yeah, she fights, and she’s not scared of a little pain. But that doesn’t mean you get to play with her like that Feitan.” Feitan was probably imaging what it would be like to ‘play’ torture with a girl who wasn’t going to scream first chance when he used some of his torture methods on her.

Before I could speak even further, I heard a rustler from the bed sheets followed by a loud yawn.

“Got to go. Aria’s waking up.”

“Oh! We got a name! and it sounds hot!” I didn’t bother to think of who said that I hung up the phone and laid it on the coffee table in front of me. Just in time for Aria to shuffle her way into the living room. She was now wearing those worn-out purple boots, her sleeping outfit was full of wrinkles, and her hair was sticking out in random areas even though it was still tied up in a braid.

Is it normal to still want to kiss a girl when she looks like this?

“Morning.” She mumbled.

“Morning sunshine.” I said the last word in a mocking tone. It didn’t seem she was fully awake to say anything back, but she was fully awake to flip me off with both hands and stick her tongue out at me.  Nice to see that she’s not always a morning person.

I already knew what she was going to do without looking. She went and got a can of cat food, jogged past me to the front door, opened it, and called out to the cat. I didn’t sense any zetsu users nearby or different kind of threats so there was no need to follow.

Once she was done, she came to sit next to me on the couch. I was sure to scoot down to make room for her; but I continued to lay down.

“Baby was so confused; he was waiting for me at my place.”

“Probably would have been worse if you weren’t here.” She stretched her arms out, arching her back at the same time. I could hear her bones let out a few cracks before she settled back down onto the couch.

“I know. Poor thing would probably think I abandoned him. Anywho, got any plans today?”

 She inquired.

“Nope. Do you?”

“I have a routine I usually do after I get paid. Have to run to the bank to put my paycheck in and pay off some more of the loan. I also run by the bookstore and maybe stop for a treat after, depending on how good the paycheck looks.” She was looking up at the ceiling, thinking more about what she had to do. “I think that’s about it. Pretty boring honestly.”  

“Wouldn’t be boring if you had some company.” I was hoping she would get the hint; I really wanted to go to keep an eye on her and spend some time with her. Plus, the bank would be a good place to start getting some information about hidden treasure.

 Lucky for me, she was a smart girl. She perked up instantly once I said the word ‘company’.

“Want to come with? I could show you around a little.”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

Aria’s POV

I couldn’t hide the excitement from knowing that Nobunaga was going to join me today; my first outing with my first friend.

He chuckled when I said I would race him to the bedroom to start getting ready. But I found out he was just as competitive as I was. Because when I started to run towards the room, he jumped up from the couch and ran after me.

I let out a squeal when he wrapped his arms around my waist and swung us around to where I was now behind him, and he was ahead of me. I was able to counter that by jumping onto his back and wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist.

“Hey! No fair.”

“All’s fair in love and war!” I exclaimed as he ran into the room. He stopped at the foot of the bed, falling backwards so that I’d be squashed under him. By this time, we were both letting out full laughter. I hadn’t had this much fun in a while, not even my ex would indulge me with something like this.

“I’ll get dressed in the bathroom; you got the bedroom. Just knock once to let me know you’re done.” He got off me and went to the closet, pulling out a few clothes. Once he was in the bathroom and I heard the door locked, I went about getting myself ready. It didn’t take either of us long; I don’t do makeup so that helps.

He came out wearing some dark jeans and a green short sleeve shirt; he left his hair down. I wore some black leggings and a red tank top; I took my hair down from the braid and brushed out a few tangles. It gave my hair a wavy style. That was the extent of my hair knowledge, I had no other idea how to style it.

We headed out the front door, the car keys in his hand and wallet with phone in his jean pocket. I only needed my wallet and phone for today. We got settled into the car, both of our stomachs growling louder and louder with each passing second.

“Tell me we’re getting breakfast first.” He whined a little, putting his black sunglasses over his eyes.

“Duh, you don’t want to see me hangry. There’s this café I always go to that’s about 3 blocks down from the diner. Just head the same way to work and I’ll guide you from there?” He nodded and began the drive.

“Does your phone have Bluetooth?” He asked.

“My phone is so old that I could drop it on the sidewalks, and it’d crack the pavement instead of the screen.”

“That answers that.” We came to a stoplight. He quickly grabbed onto his phone and did something to it. I was confused until music started blasting through the speakers. It seemed that Nobu had a thing for classic rock; great because that was my music of choice too.

I got lost in my own world as I watched the scenery pass by from the passenger window. I was unaware that I had started to sing along with the song until we came to another stoplight, and he began clapping for me.

And that’s how the blushing started, and I told him that I was super embarrassed. I even said I’d be sure to shut up so he could listen to the music and not me. My ex would always tell me to do that.   He said not to be embarrassed and that he liked how I sounded. He even encouraged me to sing along if I enjoyed it. I was a little hesitant to do that when the next song came on, but I felt him pat my thigh and sing a little himself to get me back to singing along.  

He sounded horrible but it was the encouragement I needed. So, I began to sing again and Nobu remarked that he had his own private concert now.

 When we got within reach of the café, I stopped singing to give him the directions. The café didn’t have an official parking lot, but we got lucky that there was a space open right in the front of it.

Nobu was the perfect gentleman. He opened the car door for me; and he opened the café door for me as well. I had been coming here long enough to know that it was a seat yourself kind of place. Usually, I tried to get a table that had only one chair; but with Nobu there, I had to change that.

I lead him to the table; and he pulled my chair out for me to sit.

“Stop spoiling me. I’ll get use to it.” He sat right across from me, pulling his sunglasses off before folding them up and hanging them on the front of his shirt.

“Get use to it sweetheart. That’s exactly how a lady as beautiful as you should be treated.” That statement caught me completely off guard. I was about to ask what he meant about me being beautiful, but we were disturbed by our waiter.

And it was a waiter I’ve known for years. I had been coming here for so long that I no longer required a menu.

“Good morning, Aria. As always, it’s lovely to see you here.” He was a younger kid, not much younger than me. He worked so hard at trying to hide the fact he had a crush on me. But his shaking voice and blushing cheeks made it obvious.

He had been giving me all the attention that he was completely caught off guard when in his peripheral vision, he saw a somewhat frowning Nobunaga.

“Morning Yuto. This is Nobunaga, he’s a new officer down at the PD.”  Thankfully Yuto had a menu in his apron. He quickly grabbed it and placed it in front of Nobu.

“Good morning, sir. What can I get you to drink?” His tone changed into the professional waiter one. Normally Nobu always asked for my opinion, so I had thought he’d do the same here. He didn’t. He quickly scanned the menu front and back and said he wanted coffee.

Yuto asked if we were ready to order and Nobu said he was. Yuto knew I was going to have my usual; but he did ask just to be sure. Nobu ordered himself a cheese omelet with bacon and hashbrowns on the side. This place specializes in western style breakfast.

“You must come here often if you have a usual.”

“Yeah, almost every week.”

“That Yuto kid couldn’t keep his eyes off you.”

“He has a little crush on me, but it’ll pass, I’m sure. Believe me, I’m not worth it.”

“That’s a complete lie.” Nobu reached across the table to grab onto both my hands. He held them gently and began to rub my skin using his thumbs. “The way I see it, you’re more than worth it.”

I was in shock that I spent the next few minutes in silence. I wanted to ask him what he meant but I couldn’t get myself to speak. I even told myself mentally that I should pull my hands back but couldn’t find the strength to do so.

Thankfully this place was also known for its speedy service. Yuto quickly returned with both of our food and drink orders; this is what caused me to get my strength back and I pulled my hands away to make room on the table for the stuff. Yuto placed Nobu’s order down first, showing that he feared the man. Then mine was placed in front of me. He mumbled a quick ‘enjoy’ before scurrying off.

My usual consisted of a Belgian waffle with cut up strawberries and bananas on top, along with an unusual amount of whipped cream. To drink, I got a big glass of iced white chocolate mocha with even more whipped cream.

I like whipped cream.  

“Oh man, you’re one of those people.” Nobu remarked while taking a sip of his coffee.

“Which people?”

“Coffee murderers. That’s not coffee.” He pointed at my glass. I grabbed onto it with both my hands and brought it towards my chest. Like I was protecting it.

“Do not speak bad of my coffee.”

Nobunaga’s POV

Besides the beginning, my breakfast date with Aria was very pleasing. We always seem to have a lot of things to talk about. I had to beg her to tell me about the tattoo I saw on her thigh. She informed me that the town once had a tattoo artist that retired not too long ago. He was giving discounts on his last day, and she just went for it.

I asked her what made her choose a lace garter design.

“I thought it looked sexy.” Was her response.

She did ask if I had any. Of course, I lied and said no. The Spider tattoo on my stomach is always covered. I had to make up a story for that, saying that I had suffered some gruesome accident as a child that left me looking horrible around my stomach. I had long since healed but I was mentally not ready to show others that area. So, I always keep it covered.

She was going to say something but stopped herself quickly. She then just said she would respect my decision and that no matter what, I’d always have her in my corner.

We had reached the end of breakfast; I told Aria she could go wait in the car while I took care of the bill. She tried to insist that she’d pay half, but I wouldn’t hear of it. We even had to play a game of rock paper scissors to determine this.

My sixth sense helped me win.

So, Aria was currently sulking in the car, that I had turned on with the key fob. The Yuto kid was the one handling the bill. When I approached the register, I could see the kid shaking in his shoes. He made it very clear that he was afraid of me.

Good.

I handed him my card to pay.

All members of the Spiders have private accounts with a substantial amount of money. Shalnark makes sure that they’re not able to be traced or the money is not ever stolen. So, there was never any fear of using our cards.

We just never signed our names on the receipts. Instead, we all used some kind of symbol. Phinks liked using an ‘X’, Shal used a rectangle because it reminded him of a gaming console.

I just used a straight line or dash.

“So how long have you known Aria?” I asked the kid.

“Uh…maybe a year or two?” He answered, a little confused.

“I see. Did she ever use to come here with a boyfriend?”

“Oh, that Hank guy. Yeah, he was a real dick. Would sometimes berate her for eating the waffle. Super glad that guy’s out of the picture.”

“Were you hoping that you’d fill in the picture?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“What? No. I…”  

“Kid, you make it too obvious. Even she can tell you have a little puppy crush on her.  Now it may be adorable to others, but not to me.” I full on glared at him now. He looked like he wanted to jump on the counter behind him to get away from me.  “I’m going to only say this once so listen closely: Aria belongs to me. She’s mine. Got it?”

“You can’t…she’s not…Does…”

“Can’t even make a sentence. You’re pathetic. Do you really think you’d stand a chance with her?”

“I’m sure she would give me a chance.” He whispered, more to himself though.

“You need to move on from this little crush, I don’t care onto who. But do it soon and fast. I don’t like to share my things with people I don’t like.”

I put the sunglasses over my eyes and began to head towards the exit. I paused before pushing it open, knowing that Yuto hasn’t moved from his spot behind the register. The other patrons of the restaurant were so enthralled in their own conversations that they wouldn’t notice anything right now.

“Oh, and let’s keep this conversation between us, just the guys, alright?” The glass behind the register cracked, from the feeling of my nen rising. The kid jumped, I think he got the message loud and clear. I let out a chuckle before finally exiting the café. I opened the door to the driver’s side and got in; Aria was still pouting from losing the rock paper scissors game.

“Aw, baby looks so cute when she pouts.” I teased her.

“I’m not pouting.” If possible, her cheeks puffed even more. I leaned over and poked her cheek.

“I’d believe it more if your cheek didn’t look like a big puffer fish right now. So where to next?”

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

It’s very rare for a bank to be open on a weekend. I didn’t think many people would be here but man, was I wrong. There was a huge line, and we were towards the back. That’s didn’t seem to bother Aria one bit, seemed like she was pretty used to it.

“I’m sorry, I should have warned you.” She fidgeted with all of her items in her hand. It was really starting to bother me that she didn’t have a proper bag to hold all those in. It was added to my mental list of things I’m going to be sure to buy her.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m in great company so it doesn’t bother me at all.” She tried to hide it but the blush that came across her face was super clear. It seems that Aria doesn’t receive compliments that much, that’ll make seducing her very easy.

20 more minutes passed and the line only moved by one person. There were about 6 more ahead of us. Thinking about it, this would be a good opportunity to hack into the bank records. I could call Shal and ask him to walk me through the process in which he’ll gain access.

At the same time, I don’t want to leave Aria’s side. In those same 20 minutes, I’ve caught at least 3 guys looking at her. How is it that Aria is unable to notice the amount of attention she gets from the male population here?

It’s causing a mixture of feelings in me. I like knowing that they’re jealous, seeing the new guy in town with her. But at the same time, it’s pissing me off that they still look at her that way.

I’ll need to stake my claim soon.

Anyway, I needed to get back to the plan.

I looked to my left and right, seeing that there was a hallway on both sides. Somewhere, there should be an unoccupied room with a computer.

“Hey, I need to use the restroom. Do you by any chance know which hall?” She looked up at me with those beautiful blue eyes, I could just stare into them for hours. I hope one day that will be the case.  

“You can actually go down either. They both have them.”

“Thanks. If you somehow get out of his line before me, wait at the front door.”

“Highly doubt that.” She groaned.

With a lot of reluctance, I left her side and headed down the left hallway. A lot of people are right-handed so naturally they would choose the right. There are only about 10% of left-handed people in this world, so the left hall is chosen about the same percentage.

In order to keep security high, I would bet they would put the most important documents and information down the left hallway.

I stopped at the entrance to scan the area. Clearly, there were a few security cameras that looked to be scanning the areas up and down. But if you were to look closely, you could see that some of the wires that were coming out of the cameras weren’t even attached to anything else. They were mainly for show. To scare off anybody who’d even been thinking about robbing the bank.  

Amateurs

The only working camera was placed in an area that mainly covered the entrance of the hallway and down towards the middle of it. In that general area were only two doors that led to offices.

I needed to get into one of those rooms.

So, I counted the seconds for how long the camera would stay focused on an area. I was able to maneuver my way around that the camera wasn’t able to catch me at all and I easily slipped into the room.

Whoever it belonged to forgot to lock it. It was my lucky day. I grabbed the cell from my pocket and pushed the speed dial button for Shalnark. He answered it after the first ring.

“Hey Nobunaga, any new developments with Aria?”

“Uvo, Phinks or Feitan?” Gossip goes around fast in our group.

“Uvo. I have to say, her name is very unique and beautiful. Nobunaga and Aria, Haha. Wow, you two sound cute together. I can’t wait to see what she looks like. If she’s as cute as her name, I’ll probably try to steal her from you.”

“I’m not worried about any of you stealing her. I don’t mind sharing with the Spiders; you know that.”

“If you want, you can stay in the room too when you let me play with her. I’m sure you’ll enjoy watching me use some toys on her. I actually got a new one I’ve been saving for a special occasion.”

“We can talk about that later. Right now, I need you to walk me through something.”

Aria’s POV

It’s a good thing I’m a patient person. This line was taking fucking forever. Whose bright idea was it to have only one person work today? It’s always busy on Saturdays.

It literally took about an hour before it was finally my turn. The guy practically moved at sloth speed as he deposited the amount, I asked for into my loan account and the rest into my checking and saving account.

It was a bittersweet moment whenever I looked at the receipt for the loan. The amount was getting smaller, but it was going so slow. It really made me wonder if this is where I’d be for the rest of my life. Would I ever get to leave this town, even for a vacation?

I let out a sigh before walking away from the counter and towards the front door. As I expected, Nobu was there before I was. I have to admit, he looked really cool standing there with his sunglasses on and his long hair flowing down.

Call me weird but I’ve kind of always been a sucker for men with long hair. At first, I didn’t think Nobu was that attractive. But when I saw him that morning with those muscles, it kind of switched something in me. And he’s so nice to me, always giving me little compliments and small gestures such as holding the doors open.

But it’s better for me to not get my hopes up. I doubt Nobu would want to stay here for the rest of his life; something better will come along, and he’ll leave without a second thought.

“Who helped you? A snail?” He opened the door for me to head out.

“I would actually better describe him as a sloth.”

He led me back to the car, once again opening the door for me to slide in. When he got into the driver’s side, I asked him a random question.

“Out of curiosity, would you ever let me drive?”

“Do you even know how to drive?”

“Not really. But I can learn.”

“I know you can. I have no doubt you can learn everything you want. But I prefer to be the one driving. I want you to relax and be my passenger princess.”

This whole day, he’s been calling me these cute little nicknames. And I find myself loving them all. I especially liked it when he called me ‘baby’ the other day. I know it must have been a slip of the tongue thing but secretly, I hoped he would continue to use that nickname.

“What’s next on the agenda?”

“Normally, I go to the bookstore, but this bank took it out of me. That’s the longest I’ve ever had to wait. Plus, I haven’t finished the last book I borrowed.”

“You want to go home then?”

“Yes. But I was hoping you would do something for me.”

“Anything!”

“Remember when you said you’d show me your swordsmen skills?”

Nobunaga’s POV

That’s how we ended up back at the house.

It was a bit of a letdown that she didn’t ask me to ravish her in the car right then and there. I even had it all planned out: How I was going to reach her to push her seat down to where she’d be lying flat. I’d then climb on top of her and begin kissing her lips.

“Hey Nobu!” I was brought out of my fantasy by Aria calling out to me.

Of course, I said yes to showing her my skills. She also said that we could make it a cookout where she would grill up some steaks outside. A while ago, she was outside with me getting the grill prepped; she then went inside to get the food ready.

While she did that, I went to change into my robe and put my hair up into a topknot. It felt so good to be back in my regular clothes. Since I still had to hide my spider tattoo, I made sure to cover my stomach with some bandages.

“What’s up?” I answered her.

“Two things. One, how do you like your steak cooked?” She was carrying a try that was filled with a bunch of foiled wrapped things. And there were two sirloins as well. If she keeps feeding me like this, I’m probably going to gain some weight.

“Medium rare.”

“Finally!” she exclaimed while opening the top of the grill. “Somebody else like me who likes it a little red. It seems like everybody in this town orders it to the point of dryness.” She set all the food and did a few more things. I’m not exactly sure what she did since I don’t know how to grill. But once she was done, she placed the lid back on and came over to me.

“And two, why are there a bunch of ‘log men’ in the backyard?”

While she had been prepping the food, I had been prepping my demonstration. I had so many logs of wood in my backyard that I quickly fashioned up a few ‘log men’ as Aria called them. They were scattered around the backyard, and I had just finished the last one.

“How else will I demonstrate my amazing skills?” She giggled as I passed by her and grabbed a chair from the yard dining set. I placed it right behind her, gently grabbed onto her hand and motioned for her to sit down.

Aria’s POV

I’m so thankful that he’s nowhere near my chest, or else he’d be able to hear and feel my heart beating rapidly against it. I took my seat, and he hurried over to the first ‘log man’. He had begun to talk but for some reason, it wasn’t registering in my brain.

All I could do was stare at him. The topknot was not a style I liked at all; but for some odd reason, it suited him. And the robe just looked like it was made for him. As much as I like it when he wears those cool clothes and sunglasses, you can just tell he’s more comfortable in the robe.

It was when he said ‘prepare to be amazed’ that I was brought back down to earth. My gaze was intense as I didn’t want to miss a single thing. In a flash, I heard the sword leave the scabbard; and in a second, it was placed back in.

I didn’t see any movement from Nobu at all; I had even wondered if he did anything. But when the log fell into several pieces on the floor, I gasped. How many cuts did he do in that second when I didn’t see a thing?

“What the…” I couldn’t hide the shock on my face; and Nobu couldn’t hide the pride in his. “How did you do that so fast? I didn’t even see you move.”

“I’ll try to be a little slower. No guarantees.” With that, he was off. I heard the sword once again and I did see him move. But the movement was just him jumping from log to log, I could hear the swish of the sword but never the direction it went. When he would move onto the next target, the log that was sliced previously barely began to fall apart. He’d be about 3 logs down when the first one would finally be down.

By the end, I could no longer stay in my seat. I stood and watched with awe; It was amazing. He was amazing. And super cool. When he reached the end, he placed the sword back into the scabbard and walked his way back to me. The logs were still falling apart.

Once the last one fell, he was in front of my view. His eyes looked sharpened, almost glaring. His mouth was pulled back into a smirk. And the hand that was on the hilt of the sword came to rest on his hip.

“So, what do you think?”

Nobunaga’s POV

I admit, I was trying to look chill for Aria. In the past, I never cared about showing off my skills. There was never any need and no girl ever showed real interest. But Aria did, and she couldn’t hide the wonder in her eyes.

I had concentrated the whole time on those logs, so I wasn’t able to look over at her; but I’m thankful I still got to see what she thought of me. I know she wouldn’t try to hide it, but I still wanted to hear it from her mouth.

“That was…. the coolest thing….I’ve ever seen in my life.” She whispered while covering her mouth. “It was like watching a dance, you flowed some majestically. Your confidence shined so bright, like you were making your own art.”

I never thought of it like that. Dancing and art were not my thing; those were more Danchou’s expertise. I always thought of this as just a skill for fighting and stealing.

Aria has a way with words, she makes me feel good about myself. I never want to lose that. I never want to lose her. Even now as I look down at her while she looks up at me, I feel a magnetic force between us, straining to pull us closer until our bodies smash together in perfect harmony.

Aria Sato

What have you done to me?

“So, you enjoyed it?”

“Totally! Nobunaga, you are amazing!” I’m sure my face turned bright red at that compliment. Before I could say anything, her timer at the grill went off. She let out a couple of cuss words, stating how she had almost forgotten about the food.

The adrenaline quickly faded as she announced that dinner was ready. I let out a defeated sigh, maybe next time.

She set the plates while I went inside and grabbed us a couple of cold beers. Dinner was steak, potatoes, and some grilled vegetables. All looked amazing and tasted amazing as usual. The conversations were light and easy, the beer helping with that. I had noticed that Aria was a bit of a lightweight. She got tipsy very easy, even if she ate. She was more likely to tell her secrets when that happened.

“Oh hey, I got a surprise coming in tomorrow for you.” I informed her.

“A surprise?”

“Yeah.” I pulled my phone out. “While I was waiting for you at the bank, my friend Shalnark called to chat. He’s really big on technology and such, real genius. Anyway, the chief had told me I may need to look up some cases at home and well, I don’t have a laptop. Shal offered to get one sent here for me, along with a printer. I also asked him to order me this.”

I pulled up a picture that Shal had sent me and handed her my phone. By now, all of the Spiders knew that I had been keeping a woman by my side. So, they knew better than to text me anything bad. If they needed to, it would be in a code language that only we understand.

“A cellphone?!” She exclaimed.

“Yup, the newest model. You’ll be added to my account with a new number and everything. The phone has Bluetooth also so we can get you connected to the car and play some of your music choices. Hope you don’t mind the color I picked out, Shal kept saying pink, but I insisted on red.”

“I…don’t know what to say. No one has ever given me something this expensive.” She placed my phone down onto the table and slid it towards me. “If you want, I can pay you and Shalnark back. It will take some time but if I do a few more side jobs…”

“I don’t want you to pay me back. And believe me, neither will Shal.”

“But…”

“It’s a gift Aria. From Shalnark and me, he’s hoping he gets to meet you one day.” She sat there silently; I got a little scared that I may have insulted her by getting a gift. I was prepared to bicker back and forth on this subject, refuse to back down and send it back.

Instead, tears began to fall down her face. Her shoulders began to shake as she let out some small cries. This was something else new to me. Spiders didn’t need to comfort one another, so I didn’t know how to do this.

I reached out and grabbed onto her hand, slowly rubbing her skin with my fingers.

“If I upset you in any way…”

“No, I’m not upset.” She flipped her hand over to grab onto mine. “Just so grateful to have met you. I’m learning that this is what it feels like to be cared for. Nobu, I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you for this, Thank you so much. And please, tell Shalnark I say thank you.”

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

It was time for bed and neither Aria or I were close to falling asleep. For the past few hours after revealing the surprise of a new cell phone, she had been begging me for a way of repayment. And my answer was the same every time, I didn’t want anything.

The lights in the bedroom were already off; the street lights from the sidewalk was bright enough to shine slightly through the blinds. I was in a reclining position on the bed; my upper body was up against the headboard while my lower body was covered by the comforter.

Aria was on top of the comforter. She was in a kneeling position, leaning over slightly; this gave me a good look at the upper portion of her breasts since she wore her usual tank top. And she had tied her hair into two braids.

If she were to wear a school girls outfit right now…..These thoughts need to leave my head. I’m giving myself a boner.

“Please Nobu, there has to be something I can do to repay you.” She begged me. She keeps this up and I’m seriously going to ask her to give me a blow job.

“For the thousandth time Aria, I don’t need repaying.” Her face looked so sad when I said that. I don’t know why she was so insistent on it. Guess she also didn’t understand what a gift was. Makes sense, the house she’s living in wasn’t given to her, nor was her job. She’s probably never had anything given to her without being asked for something in return.

“Let’s get some sleep.” I moved the comforter a little and patted the spot for her to lay on. She finally moved and got under the cover and I made sure to cover her up before laying down myself. We both laid on our sides, continuing to look at each other.

“There has to be something.” She whispered, her eyes starting to close. The adrenaline and excitement finally wore off. Just a few more seconds and she was out; I was always able to tell when she was asleep when her mouth slightly opened to let out the little sighs with her exhales.

“There will be something.” One of my hands moved to rest lightly against her cheek. “Just let me steal you.”  

Aria’s POV

I felt like I tossed and turned all night. It was so hard to get comfortable. It was super silly and stupid but I couldn’t shake the thought of the cellphone from my head.

I’ve never been giving something like that; nor have I not been expected to give something in return. That’s why I keep asking Nobu what he is going to want from me. I found it extremely hard to believe that he’d want nothing from me.

I woke up for what felt like the 10^th time. It was morning by now so the sun was up. Nobu wasn’t in bed but I could hear him rustling around in the kitchen. Probably making himself a pot of coffee. I could use some but I have no interest in getting out of bed right now.

Can I just spend a majority of the morning in bed?

It was a spur of the moment decision, but I decided that yes, I will spend the rest of the morning in bed. I didn’t want Nobu to worry too much about me so I grabbed onto my current cell and sent him a quick text informing him that I was just going to stay in bed.

After it sent, I was going to settle back into a laying position; but the sudden crashes and a variety of cuss words that I heard from the living room caused me to jump slightly. And it really shocked me when I saw Nobu show up at the door looking very dishelved.

“What’s wrong?!” He all but yelled as he ran to my side of the bed. My eyes were wide with him yelling in my face; not from being scared but from the shock. Guess I stayed silent for too long because he then placed his palm on my forehead to feel for a fever.

When he didn’t feel one, he proceeded to grab onto my face with both his hands and looked right into my eyes. He turned my face left and right and looked for….honestly, I have no idea what he was looking for. I got super confused but didn’t want to stop him.

“Uh…Nobu?”

“Tell me what hurts. Do I need to take you to the doctor? Are you nauseous? Do you need a bucket? I have no idea what to do so just tell me and I’ll do it.”

Now I feel guilty for making that text. I should have explained that I was just exhausted from the lack of sleep; now he thinks there’s something physically wrong with me. He’s still unaware that I’m not able to get sick. It’s not time for me to tell him that so I have to make up something.

“My stomach hurts.” I just blurted out without thinking. Nobu finally released my face; but his face remained worried. “It’ll be ok. I just need to stay in bed for the day.” I tried to reassure him. At first, he remained still; I got scared that he didn’t believe me.

Then he moved towards the bathroom and came back with the small trashcan. He quickly stopped by the dresser and grabbed onto the small book I had been reading the day we had met. How did he know that was there?

“You just rest up then. Here’s the trash can, just in case. And the book you’ve been wanting to finish.” He handed me my book, his now empty hand going up to rub the top of my head.

“How did you know…”

“I saw it the night you moved in. You always look at it when we leave the room.” Wow, he’s so observant. “Those deliveries from Shal just got in. Do you mind if I go set them up or do you want me in here?”

“Don’t let me interfere. Do what you need to do.” All this was said while he was rubbing the top of my head. His hand stopped to move down towards my cheek. This caused me to blush a little, pretty sure I feel warm now.

“I don’t need to do anything. What I want to do is make sure that my girl feels better.”

Nobunaga’s POV

I did it. I called Aria ‘my girl’ to her face. Hopefully this will make it all clear to her what I want. I did see the blush across her nose and cheeks get brighter and it got warmer under my hand. That was a good sign. It’s only a matter of time until I make my move.

“Get some rest. Yell for me if you need anything.” With that, I left her and the room.

I had been in the middle of setting up the computer and printer when Aria sent me the text that she was staying in bed. Thankfully, all the heavy stuff was on the floor since I began to run towards the room; I had completely forgotten about the empty boxes though.

Tripped over them.

Really embarrassing and I’m so thankful that none of the guys were here to see that.

It only took me another hour to have everything up and running. Aria’s phone was also here but I wanted to do that together with her. She did text me once; but it was to ask if I would mind leaving a can of cat food out there for Baby. I’m not a big animal person but I did it for her.

The cat did give me a strange look; feeling was mutual. I just opened the can and left it on the floor for the fluff ball; good thing she didn’t ask me to talk to it or stay and pet it. I have no idea if it ate or not; hopefully it did. I know it could hurt Aria if she were to learn that the cat skipped a meal.

Other than that, she hasn’t called for herself and it left me wondering. Should I go check on her? She said her stomach hurts; but maybe it would still be good if she were to eat something.

Problem though: I don’t know how to cook.

The kitchen was a very daunting place to all the men and a majority of the women in the Spiders. There was really only one who knew what to do. And I desperately need her advice so while the computer was running through the programs to set up, I grabbed onto my cell and called her up.

It took a few rings but eventually, the call was answered.

“Nobunaga, this is a surprise.”

“Hey Paku.”

Yup, Pakunoda was the only woman in the Spiders who knew how to cook, clean, sew, basically any womanly thing. She didn’t like to do it but if needed, she didn’t hesitate.

“Machi and I were wondering when we’d hear from you. Very exciting rumors are being spread. All of them involving you and a redhead. What is her name again?” She was now teasing me but since I’m about to ask some advice, I’ll just go alone with it.

“Her name’s Aria. And I’m more than sure you’ve heard it from Uvo or Phinks.”

“I actually heard it from someone else but I’ll leave it up to you to figure it out. Now, what’s the reason for calling me?”

“First, is Machi around? I really don’t feel like being teased or bitched at right now.” It still was a shocker that Pakunoda and Machi were in a relationship; they just seemed to fit together though. One of their favorite activities is to find another partner in some club and have a threesome.

Only know this since I’ve accidently walked in on a few of these back at the main hideout in Meteor City.

“Lucky for you, she isn’t. Her and Shizuku were sent on a mission from Danchou.”

“Good. So I need some help; can you talk me through something?”

“Alright.”

“Is there something that Aria can eat for an upset stomach? And how do I make it?”

Aria’s POV

It did feel very nice to just sit and read; I haven’t been able to do that for a while. It was usually part of my daily routine but since Nobu came into my life, it’s been something I’ve brushed to that side. And speaking of Nobu, I kind of miss him right now.

Which is silly because I know he’s in the same house as me; he’s still near me so I shouldn’t be feeling this way.

I was now over halfway done with the book that I didn’t realize that it was no longer morning and now afternoon; the only reason I knew that was because I heard something that sounded like pots and pants clacking around in the kitchen.

Now I feel horrible. Nobu must be hungry; I’m pretty sure we had some leftovers from yesterday. Or maybe he’ll order himself some take-out. There’s no many places here but the ones we do have are pretty decent.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a small knock on the bedroom door.

“Feeling any better?” Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

“Yeah.” I placed my bookmark to save my spot; he walked into the room and came to sit on the edge of the bed against me. He was carrying a tray that had some food; looked like a bowl of miso soup and another bowl of white rice. There was also a small package that hadn’t been opened yet.  “I don’t remember having leftover miso soup.”

“We didn’t.” He placed the tray on my lap. “I made it.” There was no way I could hide the shock on my face; a few days ago, I remember him admitting that he didn’t like to cook or even knew how.

“Uh….”

“I called another friend and had her walk me step by step. I tell you, I have no idea why you find cooking fun, it ain’t easy.” He grabbed onto the soup spoon and handed it to me.  

“But you still did it….for me?” I dipped the spoon into the miso, taking just a small bit. From the amount of steam coming out of it, it was still hot. So I blew on it a few times before taking a small sip. I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted decent; impressive for somebody who has never cooked before. Using the same spoon, I took a scoop of the white rice and ate it too. Some of it was still crunchy, but it didn’t matter to me at all.

Knowing that he did something that he didn’t like to do just for me means so much. I’m going to be sure I eat every bit of what’s on this tray.

“I’d do anything for you Aria.”

It took everything in me to not burst out into happy tears.

I would hear stories from the girls at the restaurant of how their boyfriends would make them feel special. When I started dating my ex, I thought I would finally know what that felt like.  Sadly, I never did. In just a few days, Nobunaga has made me feel more than special. He made me feel important….unique.

I proceeded to eat the rest of the food; Nobu opened the box to show off the new phone that he and Shal had bought me. We sat side by side while setting it up. I watched in awe and excitement as the phone screen lit up. There weren’t many numbers or pictures that I had to transfer over so I just started the set-up from scratch.

“I just realize that we have no photos together.” I stated as I typed in Nobu’s number, he was going to be at the top of my list. Before he could do anything, I reached around Nobu’s shoulders and pulled him close to me. He knew exactly what I was doing, caused he grabbed onto my phone and put it at arms-length for us to take a selfie together: He was smirking while I was smiling.

It became my new screensaver.

The rest of the day past in a blur. Before I knew it, it was now Monday and time for both of us to return to work. The weather was very daunting this morning; the sky was full of nothing but clouds that were a dark shade. It made me wonder if it would be a good idea to run home today.

This morning, while Nobu drove us to work, I kept staring at my phone. More specifically, the screensaver. I had so many thoughts running through my head and I couldn’t get any of them to shut up.

Even though there were many thoughts, it all had the same question: Why was Nobunaga so nice to me?

He gives me rides, he offered me his home, he bought me a phone….and he cooked for me. My ex never did any of that. The words that Nobu said last night rang over and over again in my head as well: I’d do anything for you.

Why? Why would he do that? What was he wanting in return?

I had been so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that the car was now parked and Nobu had already climbed out of his seat. My door was opened and he was waiting for me to step out; I grabbed onto my things and did so silently. Nobu made sure to close the door and lock the car.

“Did I do something to upset you?” He asked me. I wasn’t able to find my voice for some reason so I just shook my head side to side. I did it so fast thought that my ponytail whipped side to side. He was getting ready to ask more questions but stopped himself. Instead, he put his hat on his head and told me to have a good day. He began to walk away.

Shit!

“Wait!” I yelled. He had only walked about 4 steps away from me so there was no need to yell; it was a little embarrassing. Nobu turned to look back at me; I took in a deep sigh. “I’m not use to anybody being so nice to me or giving me compliments or buying me stuff or cooking for me or….you get the point. Nobunaga, you’ve got me so confused.”

I hadn’t moved from my spot up against the car; my legs were shaking so bad that I’m sure if I did try to move, they would give out on me and I’d be flat on my face. Nobu looked up toward the sky, probably thinking about what I had just said.

The more minutes that passed, the more I feel I just screwed up the only real friendship I’d ever had. I guess I better prepare myself for Nobu telling me to get out of his house and having to find another place to live.

“Fuck it.” I heard him say. He began walking back towards me but didn’t stop until he was so close that I was now pressed up against the car. His arms came up and slammed onto the hood, trapping me completely.

I had no escape.

I opened my mouth to ask him what he was doing; but before any words could come out, his mouth came crashing onto mine.

……..HE WAS KISSING ME!

Holy shit! What the hell?!

He pulled slightly away from the simple chaste kiss, our lips weren’t attached anymore but our bottoms lips were still somewhat touching.

“Still confused?” He whispered before kissing me once again. This time, his tongue slipped into my mouth and tried to coax mine into a small battle of French kissing.  He pushed his body against me and placed one of his legs between mine. It was kind of a good thing he did because my body couldn’t take the emotions anymore that it began to give out.

The only thing keeping me up was the car against my back, Nobu against my front, and his leg between my legs. I have no idea how much time passed between our kissing and I wasn’t even aware that I had closed my eyes until I felt him pull away from me and I opened to see his black eyes staring deeply into mine.

“You have no idea what bad things I want to do to you, Aria Sato.”

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

Part of me is wondering if I made a huge mistake by making that move; kissing Aria like that. The way she left after kind of worried me. It wasn’t the way that she was wobbling while she walked, it was the lack of words. She didn’t say anything after the kiss; all she did was turn and start walking toward the restaurant.

My fingers typed away randomly on the computer to make it look like I was working, my mind couldn’t be further from this shit. I’ve already solved one case for this piece of crap town, and I have no interest in solving another. The sooner I can find that stupid treasure, the sooner I can steal Aria and get the hell out of here.

I’m in a very foul mood right now.

Was it a big mistake? Did I make the wrong move?

I let out a small groan before pushing myself away from the desk, letting my head fall back over the top of the chair. I felt and heard a few cracks from my bones; this whole thing this morning has got me stressed.

I grabbed onto my cell phone and stood from my desk, needing a small break. The three douchebags watched me as I walked past their desks over to the windows that were facing the direction of the restaurant. I was contemplating about texting Aria to see if she was ok…. if we were ok.

How exactly would I start that conversation?

…….

…….

……

I can’t think of anything right now except for the way her lips felt. How soft they were, how sweet they tasted, how submissive she was- the way she gave in the 2^nd time by letting my tongue in without any fight or hesitation. She is my perfect woman.

I want her so bad.

“The rain is getting worse out there.” The chief patted my back as he came to stand next to me, making obvious observations about the rain. The clouds were only getting darker as well, not exactly the tornado kind but the ones that indicated the rain would not let up anytime soon.

“Is it common for this town to have floods?” I asked.

“Very rare. But it looks like we’re in for one.” I was getting ready to ask another question but the notification ring and vibration from my phone cut us both off. It was the tone I had picked for Aria, so I looked at the message right away.

‘Manager closing the restaurant, wants us all to get home before weather is worse.’ The first message read. I saw the three dots show up at the bottom of the screen to show that she was typing another message. I began typing my own to catch her off. I didn’t want her walking, running, or anything in this weather.

‘I’ll drive us home.’ Her side showed that she read my message and the three dots still showed. She probably had to delete the message to start a new one.

‘But your work?’

‘They’ll survive w/o me. You’re more important.’

“Sorry chief, taking the rest of the day off.” I didn’t bother going to turn off the computer; my jacket and hat were still on. Plus, the car keys were still in my pocket so there was no need to go back to my desk. The chief started walking after me, trying to keep up with my long strides.

“Hazama, what’s going on?”

“I need to take Aria home. Won’t be back.”

“But work…”

“I can work from home.” Before he could say anything else, I had already pushed the door open and was outside. The rain was falling hard, and I was soaked within seconds. My adrenaline really got pumping when I saw Aria standing at the opening of the restaurant. She locked eyes with mine and at the same time, we both ran to the car.

Aria’s POV

I never minded the rain, I actually found it very soothing. But man, this was just too much. I was completely drenched when I got to Nobu’s car and sat inside. He was the same way; the rain had also brought a cold front, so it was freezing. Nobu turned on the heater and started his drive to the house.

“Still cold?” He asked me.

“Yeah.” I mumbled. He pushed another button; the seat started to warm up. I never realized how nice it felt to have a warm seat; I had let out an accidental moan. Thankfully, Nobu was at a stoplight; I saw his hands tense up at the steering wheel after I made that sound.

My hands shot up to cover my mouth to stop it from making any other unnecessary weird noises. This made things even more awkward as if this morning wasn’t bad enough. I still had no idea how to talk to him after that kiss.

He likes me. A lot. He said he wants to do things with me. Asked if I was still confused about my feelings.

Truthfully, I wasn’t exactly sure if I was or wasn’t.

“Aria, we’re here.” I glanced over to my side to see the house; I also noticed that my hands were still over my mouth. He had already stepped out of the car and was running around it to open my door. I had to snap out of my trance and get my shit together.

This confusion can wait until we’re both safely in the house.

When he opened my door, I stepped and began running towards the front door. He was right behind me. When he got the door open, we were both about to step in when I heard a frantic meow come from the bushes next to the front door.

“Baby!” Without thinking, I reached into the bushes and grabbed onto the kitten. Nobu was still waiting outside for me to step in first. Once we were both in, he slammed the door shut. We both let out a sigh of relief that was quickly cut off by a flash of lightning combined with a roar of thunder.

Right on cue, the power in the house went out.

“Well, isn’t that perfect?” He commented while kicking off his shoes and leaning down to pull off his socks. Guess he doesn’t like the feeling of wet socks. I was leaning against the wall holding onto Baby, his claws were stuck in my shirt; and I was still shivering.

“You should get out of those wet clothes before you get sick.” Mentally, I scoffed at the idea; never been sick before. “I’ll get you a towel; and one for the furball.”

When Nobu had disappeared into the bedroom, I was able to unclaw Baby from my shirt and placed him down onto the floor. He ran away and hid under the couch. I wonder if he’s hungry, maybe Nobu is too.

It may be awkward to talk to him but that won’t stop me from feeding him. I did the same thing Nobu did, kicked off my shoes and took off my socks. My wet clothes made it a little hard to move around; they were practically glued to my body.

Didn’t help that my shorts were spandex. My polo was pulling me down a little from the additional weight the water added; I pulled it off over my head. While it was a good thing I wore a black tank top under my black polo, it was still drenched and sticking to my body like the spandex.

I’ll go change after Nobu is done. For now, I’ll run to the kitchen and make us some sandwiches. Ones that don’t require me to open the fridge.

I bundled up the wet clothes and padded over to the kitchen. Once I reached the sink, I wringed out the clothes and placed them there. I’ll be sure to get them later. I had been so into my thoughts that I didn’t notice Nobu step right up behind me.

“Still shivering.” He commented before wrapping the oversized towel around me. When he had done this, he pushed the front of his body against my back. His hands were wrapped around my shoulders after placing the towel. He leaned in closer towards my ear and whispered into it. “Better?”

When he had done this, a bit of his breath had blown right into my ear. This caused a huge shiver to run up my spine. This was a huge secret that only my ex knew; my ears were a major sensitive area for me. Whenever they were blown into, licked, nibbled, anything really, it would turn me on.

My nails scraped against the counter in an attempt to stop myself from moaning. Unconsciously, my legs pressed together; I began to feel that burning sensation in my core. It’s been a while since I’ve felt that.

I really hope Nobu didn’t notice any of that.

“Hmmm.” He leaned down and placed his forehead onto my shoulder. His arms moved to now wrap around my waist and pulled me slightly away from the counter to be up against him. Since I was facing away from him, I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing. It was all guessing at this point.

I did feel him turn his head to where his lips and nose were buried in the croak of it. He took a deep breath, letting it out in shudders. The arms around my waist got tighter with this. His lips slightly traced around the skin of my neck, leaving a single open mouth kiss round underneath my ear.

Not the ear!

The moan that came out of my mouth had a mind of its own, it was louder than I had anticipated it would be.

“Aria…” He whispered my name into my ear. My core was no longer burning; it was now full-on throbbing. Aching…begging to be touched. Either by me…or somebody else. “That moan…. was so beautiful.”

“Nobu…. I….”

“What is it baby?” His fingers moved slightly to sneak under my clothes, some moved towards my stomach while some moved downward to slip into my shorts and my underwear. “Talk to me. What do you want?”

I was falling forward onto the counter, but his arms held me tight against him. The hand that had started under my shirt moved further up, pulling my shirt up as well. He stopped just below my bra. Why did he stop?!

God, I want him to touch me!

“Please…” The fingers in my shorts went a little further down until they were at the top of my slit. I bucked my hips a little to see if I could make them go down just a bit further. When I did that, he did practically the same thing; his hips grinded against my ass, I could feel his erection.

“Tell me something first.”  I wanted to growl out in frustration, sexual frustration. I had no idea I was even sexually frustrated. “Your ex…. did he make you feel this way?”

I could barely think in this state, my mind was in a horny haze. I know that Nobu won’t go any further until I answer the stupid question.

“No.” I answered honestly. “He never…turned me on so fast.” I confessed. There was more to that too. My ex never really knew how to get me off. I think in all the times we had sex, he only got me to cum once.

The next thing was so unexpected. I let out a small squeal as my body was suddenly picked up and I felt us moving backwards. I heard a chair leg scratch against the floor and Nobu sat himself down with me on top of his lap. His legs stayed together while mine fell onto the side. In this new position, I felt his fingers now just inches away from my clit.

“How badly do you want this, Aria?” He asked. The hand that was near my chest went up and cupped over one of my breasts. My head fell back onto his shoulder, getting lost in a new feeling of ecstasy.

“So….so…BAD!” I screamed out the last word when his hand went under my bra and pinched my nipple. His fingers then started to roll my nipple in his fingers, occasionally flicking at it. I was still cold from the rain and wearing wet clothes, this had made my nipples hard to begin with. Now they were sensitive because of how turned on I was.

“Want me to make you feel good?” one of his fingers went lower towards the bottom of my slit, he stuck it in just enough to tease me. I felt it move upward passing by my entrance and then lightly up my clit. “Want me to make you cum?”

“Uh…” I think basic vocabulary was lost in my mind. All I could do was moan while my head rested on his shoulder. My hips also began to grind against his legs, trying to get more of these fingers.

“Use your words.” My eyes were closed, trying to concentrate on what to say. It was the feeling of his tongue licking the shell of my ear that caused me to remember 2 simple words.

“Yes. Please!” I begged.

“That’s my good girl.” He whispered into my ear.

That’s when it finally started.

His fingers began to play with my clit. He started off slow and light; to experiment and see what I liked and what caused more reactions out of me.

First it was up and down the clit with varying pressure.

Then it was side to side, this made me bite onto my lips to try and stop from moaning so loud.

“Don’t do that.” He scolded me before biting the shell of my ear. That hurt…. but it felt good at the same time…...did I enjoy pain when mixed with pleasure? “Let out those moans, let me hear you.”

I really became undone when he did the next move, his finger traced circles around my clit, stimulating every nerve on it. I tried to close my legs at first, not use to this much pleasure from someone else.

Nobu’s long legs were still in-between mine. All he had to do was spread open his legs to make me spread open mine. This gave him more room and opened me even more for him.

His fingers went to my opening, pushing one in at a time and pumping it. I began to moan with every breath I took. Nobu still had his face near my ear and neck; one of my hands went to his hair to grab a handful.

The other hand grabbed onto whatever it could find, that ended up being Nobu’s top. I felt the fabric bundle up in my fist as he added another finger to pump into me. While his fingers pumped, his thumb went up and rubbed at my clit at the same time.

My grip on his hair got tighter.

“That’s right baby.” He licked and nibbled at the same spot of my neck.

“Oh God.” By now, he had three fingers pumping into me and his thumb rubbing my clit. He began to curl his fingers to find my G-spot.

“No, not God. Say my name.” He mumbled into my neck. Once he said that, his fingers found my G-spot.

“Nobu!” I yelled out. “Again! Please again!” I wanted that spot to be hit again. I felt his lips turn into a smirk against my neck.

“Anything baby.” He did just what I begged for, hitting my G-spot over and over, going a little bit harder each time. The pressure began to build up in my core, I was so close to cumming. But I didn’t want this pleasure to end.

No one, not even my own fingers, has made me feel this good.

Unfortunately, it was going to happen.

“I’m cumming. I’m cumming. I’m cumming.” I began to chant. A few more pumps made me realize that not only was I about to cum, but I was also going to have an orgasm. This pleasure was too much to be just cum.

“Say my name!” He commanded me. “Say my name when you do.” If possible, he went even faster with pumping his fingers in me.

My body began to seize up right before the peak of pleasure hit. My eyes closed and my mouth went open; no noise came out as my voice was stuck in my throat. It hit me. I had cummed right into his hands and my body shook from the incredible orgasm he gave me.

“NOBUNAGA!”

My legs were shaking from the intensity as he continued to lazily pump; my body was enjoying the afterglow effects of being fingered.

That was amazing. I can’t believe he was able to do that solely with his fingers.

My hand that was buried in his hair loosened its grip, falling from his head to fall limp against my side. His hand moved away from my core, coming out of my underwear. You could see the three fingers that were soaked with my cum.

I had thought that Nobu would pick me up to put me in a chair and go wash his hand. Instead, I watched from my peripheral vision as he brought his fingers to his mouth and eagerly licked them clean. I watched as his tongue would skillfully slither between and around each finger to not miss a single spot.

I began to wonder if he was this good at fingering, how good would he be at oral sex? That tongue looked like it knew a few tricks.

“I knew it.” He spoke. I picked my head up slightly to meet eye to eye with him. He looked down at me, the same haze of lust was in his eyes as well. We were staring at each other like the other was a piece of me.

He still wanted me.

And I wanted him.

“Knew what?” I asked.

“That you’d taste delicious.” The saliva coated fingers went below my chin to guide me towards his lips. We began to kiss, our tongues meeting in the middle of this time. I could taste myself on him as we battled for dominance over the other.

We moaned into each other’s mouths, his hand moving from my chin to the back of my neck. I pulled away from the kiss since I needed to breathe again. I took a few deep breaths to get more oxygen into my body and brain.

That’s when I all dawned on me.

I just got fingered by Nobunaga….my man I had labeled as my friend just fingered me and made me orgasm.

The fuck?!

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

This was a very interesting turn of events. I had thought that Aria was going to avoid me for the rest of the day; mentally I had prepared myself for that. I was just supposed to give her the two towels, one for herself and the other for the furball (speaking of which, where the hell did he go?).  

It all just caught up to me. She didn’t understand the pure torture she put me through. The moan in the car when I turned on the seat warmer caused a small stir in my stomach. The way her clothes clung to her body when she was soaked from the rain, gave me the perfect view of her nice round ass.

It was huge. My imagination started to wonder from there, the way it would look from behind as I ram into her over and over again.

Then it was the way her body reacted when I spoke into her ear. I felt the way her body shivered and how her knees went in to tighten themselves. Her neck looked so inviting at that moment, the resistance in me was long gone. The rain had washed off the floral scent Aria normally gave off; with my face in her neck, I took in a big whiff of her natural scent. I couldn’t stop myself from shuddering. She had reacted in a certain way when I spoke into her ear that I wanted to test the theory. So, I placed a kiss underneath it.

I almost lost control when she said that first please. Almost is the key word. I’m unsure why thoughts of her ex suddenly popped into my head. I knew it wasn’t because of jealousy; there was nothing to be jealous about. She may have had her in the past, but I had her now.

No, the feeling was anger. The things she said about him in passing, how he treated her were infuriating. So, I needed to confirm something for myself.

It was completely stupid.

It could have ruined the entire moment.

I could have been left with blue balls.

Luck has been on my side lately though, because she answered the question in my favor. How far lost in lust was her mind? She needed it at that moment, she needed release. I know exactly how she feels. When your body just craves it, like a previous addiction that has been deprived, it needs to be answered.

She wanted me to make her feel good, she wanted me to be the one to make her cum. How could I deny her that? In return, she had to let me listen to her moans. When she tried to stifle them, I gave her a little punishment but nipped her ear.

It took a lot of self-control to not think about my pleasure in the moment; close to losing it when she pulled my hair. It was a new self-discovery; I never let any of those brothel girls take any form of control. Apparently, I like it when my hair is pulled.

I know I made Aria feel good. A woman may be able to fake the moans, but it takes an outstanding actor to fake shaking legs. When I brought my fingers up and saw them covered in her essence, it was too good to waste. I just had to taste it.

Now we stared at each other, both of us in disbelief at what just happened between us. There was no regret on my part, and I hope there’s none on hers. Looking down at her with her lips puffy from our rough kissing, her chest rising and falling from the slow breaths she took, her legs draped on both sides of mine; no doubt she could feel my constrained erection in my pants.

I had changed out of the police uniform and into my sleepwear, so it wasn’t as bad; but still very painful.

“Nobu…” Her voice was barely audible, just above a whisper. She tried to look away from me, her cheeks bright red. Was she embarrassed? Ashamed?  I wanted to cut her off and speak over her, let her know that she shouldn’t feel any of that.

“I’ve made it very clear that I want you, Aria. I see you as more than just a friend. So now, I need to know….” I felt a knot in my stomach. “Do you want me also?”

I’m not sure how I would react if she turned me down. I’d still have plans to steal her, but I wanted to wait until finding the treasure for Danchou.

Aria was no longer looking at me, her gaze now moved to the floor. I let my head fall and rested it on her shoulder. It had only been a few seconds since I asked the question; but it was a few seconds full of agony. The knot in my stomach only got bigger; my head fell forward to rest on her shoulder.

Please

Please

Please

Please say you want me.

It will make things easier in the long run; for both of us.

“Why me?” Her meek voice asked. “The other girls are more pretty, more feminine. I don’t know how to dress, how to do make-up, hair, match clothes, any of that shit…”

“I don’t care about that.” I cut her off. My arms went back to her waist, wrapping tightly around and pulling her tight against my body again. “Those douchebags at the PD can have them. I don’t want any of them. They’re common and annoying and truthfully, I just want to slice their heads off.”

She chuckled a little at that last statement; eventually, she’ll learn that when I say that statement, I literally mean it.

“The other day at the bank, I looked at you and thought how cool you are.” That was a shock, not many people thought I was cool. Not that I gave a shit. “But I didn’t want to get my hopes up. So, I just brushed them aside. I’ve been going back and forth with my feelings since then.”

Patience was not my strongest trait; I just needed a yes or no. Preferably a yes.

“What are you saying?” That should help her out.

“I’m saying that…I do. I want you Nobu.” It was exactly the answer I had wanted to hear; but it was still shocking to actually hear it out loud. She wants me, just like I want her.

Before she could go on with her speech, I had maneuvered her around on my lap to where I could pick her up in a bridal style. She let out a small yelp as I stood and carried her from the kitchen into the bedroom.

Once there, I gently placed her on the mattress, right in the middle of it. She tried to push herself up, but I was too fast. I had climbed on top of her and straddled her waist. We both were breathing hard, so we stayed still to catch our breaths.

My hands went down to the hem of my top and pulled it up and over my head, throwing it somewhere random in the room. I always made sure to wrap my torso to hide the Spider tattoo just in case; but you could still see the defined shape of my abs through the wrap.

Aria bit the bottom of her lip as her eyes roamed over my torso, stopping right at the abs. One of her hands came up to run along the top of the bandage. I had gotten a little scared that she’d pull it off; but instead, she ran the tips of her fingers lightly down, tracing along the defined lines. Her tongue peeked out to lick along her lips.

Damn, she’s so sexy. I’m getting ready to explode.  

“Before this goes further, you need to know. This will not be a one-time thing.” It hurt my soul to stop what we were doing but this needed to be said. I didn’t want her to think that I was going to end things; so, before she could remove her hand from my body, I grabbed onto her wrist to keep it still.

 “When I say I want you, I don’t just mean sexually. I want you to be my girl.” It was very subtle, but I did notice her eyes widening from shock for a second before settling back down into their lusty haze.  “If you agree to that, there is no turning back. I’ll never let you go; no matter what happens. Your body, your heart, your soul- all of it will be mine.”

I have never, in my life, been so scared as I was at this moment. What would she say? Would she say yes? Would she say no?

“Well, that’s how it’s supposed to be, right?”  Ok, now it was my turn to be shocked. And there was no hiding that look on my face. “I don’t want this to be just a fling either. So, if I’m your girl, that would make you my man, right?”

She….said…yes.

She wants to be with me.

I hadn’t realized that I’d been holding in my breath the whole time she was speaking; or that I was shaking either. The grip I had on her wrist had loosened significantly; she moved her hand away from my abs. She sat up the best she could, both her hands on my face.

“Are you ok?” She asked in a whisper.

“Never better.” My hands mimicked hers, grabbing onto her face and bringing her towards me to kiss. This kiss hadn’t been so fueled by lust; it was gentler and more sensual. No more words needed to be spoken between us.

Her hands released my face and we pulled apart, only for a few seconds to let her take off her shirt. While she was still sitting up, I reached behind her to unclasp her bra. She let it fall before going to cover her chest with her arms.

“Don’t be shy baby.” I whispered to her while playing with the hem of her shorts. She got the message; laying back down and lifting up her lower body to let me pull them off. Now she lay beneath me, fully bare.

I moved away slightly just to get my pants off so she wouldn’t be the only one.

She turned her face to the side and continued to cover her breast. If she had anymore hands, I’m sure she would have tried to cover her pussy as well.

“I’m sorry I’m not skinny enough.” Her voice quivered, like she was getting ready to cry. “I’m sure you’ve seen more beautiful than me.”

How could she not think she’s beautiful?

I wish she could see what I see.

I couldn’t think of any words to say so I decided to just let my actions speak for themselves.

My hands went to either side of her head, this made her finally look up at me. I lowered myself down to kiss her once again, making sure to make this one just as passionate. Our tongues met in the middle, battling one another for dominance. Her hands finally left her chest and went to wrap around me to pull me closer.

My hands moved between us to feel along her, groping at her breasts. Her back arched into my hands. I pulled away from the kiss and began to move down her body, covering it in open mouth kisses. Stopping at her breasts, I licked one nipple before sucking it into my mouth.

She moaned loudly, especially when I would alternate between flicking the nipple with my tongue and sucking it. I made sure to give the other one the exact same attention, noting that there was a small difference in reaction. Her left was more sensitive than her right.

I moved even lower until I was now lined up with her pussy. Her legs were shaking as she opened them further for me. I could see it was still soaking wet from my actions earlier. I was hoping she was still sensitive from before. My tongue started at the bottom of her slit and worked up to end at her clit.

“Oh God.” She gasped, trying to bring closer her thighs. I grabbed onto them and pulled them up onto my shoulders. If she was going to squeeze them, my head better be between them. I remembered which movements she enjoyed from my fingers so decided to try it with my tongue as well.

I put my mouth onto her clit, sucking it hard at first. Then letting up to where my tongue would now do circles around it. That one move drove her insane. With her thighs squeezing my head, her hands came to grab onto a handful of hair.

I wondered if she noticed that as she did this, her hips began to buck and roll. I know if I continued, she would cum in no time.

But I can’t take it anymore. While I was still tasting her, I gave my cock a few strokes. I was more than ready to bury myself in her heat.

When I stopped, her thighs fell off my shoulders and she let out a small whine.

“Don’t worry baby.” I crawled my way back up her body. “I’m going to make sure we both feel good.” I rubbed the tip of my cock against her folds, mixing a bit of my precum with her cum from before. She was very wet and more than ready.

I used my hands to align myself with her opening; and tried to keep myself calm as I began to push forwards. It took every ounce of strength and self-control to not just ram into her and fuck her senseless.

I placed my ddkdd on her shoulder and bite sharply onto my lip, slowly going in inch by inch. Her breath tried to remain steady, but she would let out little gasps at random points; not sure if they were gasps of pain or pleasure. I could taste blood in my mouth from where I was biting my lip; finally we got to where I was fully inside of her.

It was so tight and warm; it felt amazing.

I felt her face turn towards my ear. “You can start moving.” She whispered before licking the shell of my earlobe. I pulled out just slightly before pushing back in, not wanting to hurt her at all.

When her legs were wrapped around my waist, I went a little faster and harder. This is when we both began to moan.

I was enjoying this so much and I thought Aria was as well. But when she unwrapped her arms and legs from around me, I started to panic a little. And then she placed her hands on my chest and used some of her strength to push me off her.

I knew she was strong from our small fight.

I landed next to her on my back. She proceeded to then lift her leg and climb onto me. She grabbed onto my dick and aligned herself before fully lowering herself onto it. She was now fully riding me. Her hands went to rest on my chest, and she began to alternate between rolling her hips and bouncing.

I’ve never, ever, been in this position before. I’m not someone who likes to let others take control; but right now, Aria can have all the control she wants. Her breasts bouncing as she rides me was so alluring and hypnotizing.

I couldn’t help but stare.

Aria eventually found the angle she liked. She had let out a loud yell moan mixture when she found her spot; and made sure to continue hitting that spot.

I’m not sure what she was doing but it felt just as amazing on my side as well. I’m more than sure we’ll be doing more of this position again.

My hand moved up towards her, first to enjoy the weight of her boob in my hands; then down to rub against her clit as she bounced.

“Nobu!” She yelled my name. “Keep doing that. Please.” She begged.

“Alright baby, you’ve had your fun.” Using a few moves of my own, I flipped us over to where she was now on all four and I was kneeling right behind her. “I’ve been dying to get you like this.” I completely forgot about being gentle. I grabbed onto her hips and rammed into her tight pussy.

The sound of our skin smacking against each other echoed in the quiet room. It was no longer cold to us; we both were sweating and moaning. The only downside to this position is that I couldn’t see her face of ecstasy.

Lucky for me (again), the dresser across from us had a mirror on it. In that reflection, I could see her eyes practically rolling to the back of her head. In a moment, I had gone a little too hard to where we fell forward a little. She was able to catch us both, pushing her ass up first. I took this chance to thrust into her and found that we both enjoyed this new position. I got to go even deeper than I imagined, and she pushed further back onto me.

“Look at us baby.” I grabbed onto her hair and forced her head to look up at the mirror. “Look at you, how beautiful you look with my cock in your pussy.”

“I’m so close.” She moaned out.

As much as I love this position, I didn’t want to watch Aria’s face in a mirror. I want to be face to face when we both release, when I finally claim her as mine.

I pulled out of her pussy, and quickly flipped her onto her back. I grabbed onto one of her legs and placed it straight onto my shoulder.  I don’t think even Aria realized how flexible she was; seemed shocked that I had her almost bent in half. This way, I hit her G-spot directly.

In just a few more thrust, her pussy clenched around my cock; we both came at the same time.

I wasn’t able to catch myself from falling forward, all of my strength had suddenly left my body. I fell right onto Aria, my head landing right onto her chest. Both of us were breathing hard, trying to catch enough air. I’m sure me laying on top of her wasn’t helping.

I was about to push myself off until I felt a hand run through the strands of my hair. She started right at the scalp and ran all the way down to the ends. This brought me a sense of comfort that I’ve never felt before; it was a caring hand that none of the Spiders had experienced, even since childhood.

The two of us laid there silently, Aria playing with my hair and occasionally giving either my ear a rub or my neck a rub.

Like many moments with Aria, I never wanted this one to end.

I can’t wait for that day.

The day when I can take Aria away from here. 

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

If possible, I would have stayed in this position forever. Laying on top of Aria, having her fingers run through my hair, my cock still inside her, it was just a perfect moment. I wish it never had to end. But I could tell by the way her hand was slowing down that she was falling asleep.

“Tired?” I asked as I pulled out of her. She let out a little whine; not sure why but she did cling onto me when I was moving.

“Exhausted.” She mumbled.  “Don’t go.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I wrapped my arm around her waist and dragged us both up to the head of the bed. “Just want to get you under the covers.” I used my free hand to move the covers away from her spot and placed her down gently. Looking at her face, her eyes were half-lidded, right on the verge of sleep.

“Nobu?” I was going to cover her up with the sheet until she grazed my wrist with her fingertips. “If it’s not too much, will you hold me until I fall asleep?”

“Absolutely.”  We moved a little more towards the center of the bed. I laid down under the covers with her. “So is there a certain way or…”

“Yeah, uh, I can…”

“Go ahead.” She was very hesitant to move at first, as if she was afraid I’d hurt her if she touched me again. I saw the way her hands faltered at first. “Aria, we’ve made it official. We’re together. I never want you to be afraid to touch me.”

Neither of us had been aware of how she was holding her breath the whole time I was talking; but she let it all out along with a small chuckle. Her hand finally moved and went to rest on my chest. Her body then nuzzled up to my side, her head resting underneath my chin against my neck.

This is how I would find her in the mornings. But always made sure to move before she woke up.

“Is this ok?”

“Almost.” I grabbed onto her hand on my chest and moved it to where it was now draped across. “There we go.” My arm she was on circled around her to pull her even closer. I placed a kiss on top of her head.

It didn’t take long for her to fall sleep. I could feel her chest moving up and down against my side.

From my view of the bed, I was able to see out the window; the rain continued to fall pretty hard. I wonder if the thunder was still going on too. The next rumble I heard answered that question. More than sure that I won’t be going in tomorrow to the PD. And Aria won’t be able to go into the restaurant.

What time is it anyway?

I grabbed onto my phone with my friend hand and clicked the button to turn the screen on.

2:00 pm

Hm…I wonder. The internet bars on my phone were still shining 5/5. Shouldn’t be possible but it is. Courtesy of Shalnark no doubt.

This will work though.

I made sure to dim the brightness on my screen to keep my girl asleep. If she does wake up, I can quickly switch to some random pre-installed game and say I woke up from a bad dream.

Aria’s POV

The rumbling from the thunder outside tried to lull me back to sleep; I was trying so hard to wake up, but it didn’t help that I was so comfy and warm under the blanket and nuzzled up to Nobu.

Images from the events that happened earlier flashed through my head like a movie. I don’t just mean the sex, I mean everything. From the moment I first met Nobu to now; it all played out like a horrible romance story.

I have never been a fan of romance movies. The whole ‘love at first sight’ was not possible in my opinion. And it was just too mushy for my taste. I did believe in ‘infatuation at first sight’ though. And that’s what I believe happened between me and Nobu.

I’m not exactly sure when he became infatuated with me; or why he would even bother. But I’m glad he did.

I started to let out groans when I felt Nobu rub my back and kiss my forehead.

“I know you’re awake.”  He teased.

“No, I’m not.” I mumbled while I nuzzled more into his neck. The deep chuckle he let out made the butterflies flutter in my stomach. My eyes began to flutter open; the hazy visions became clear as I gazed onto the face of Nobu.

“Sleeping Beauty has finally woken.”

“Didn’t she need a kiss to wake her up?” He immediately leaned down to kiss me fully. When we pulled away, we settled back down into our same position.

Neither of us spoke a word for a while, just listening to the rain and thunder.  None of the lights have turned back on so we’re still without power.

“Want to play a game?” Nobu suddenly asked.

“What?”

“A game.”

“Exactly what game are you thinking of?”

“Sort of a 21-question thing. I ask a question, you answer. You asked a question, I will answer. Just like that.” There really was nothing else we could do so….

“Alright. Go first.”

“We’ll start with something simple. When’s your birthday?”

“According to that birth record from the orphanage, September 9.” He jumped up a little and gave me a very shocked look.

“My birthday is September 8.” His eyes were wide in disbelief.

“Ok, one, you answered the question I was about to ask. And two, no way!” He tackled me down onto the bed while I let out a small giggle.

“I knew there was a reason I couldn’t get you out of my mind from the moment I met you.” I just shook my head. He lowered himself back down until he now had his chin resting between my breasts.

“Alright Mr. Romantic, my turn…” I didn’t want to give a simple question like his. I wanted to make this a little spicy. “What is your biggest sexual fantasy?”

“Going there already, huh? Hm…. let me think….. I don’t really have one.”

“You’re lying.”

“Honest.” He held up his hand as you would when you took the stand in front of a jury and swore to tell the truth. “But now that I have you, I’ll have to think of some. Ok. Same question to you.”

“Don’t judge me too much…” That really piqued his interest because he got even closer to my face. “I’ve kind of always wondered what it would be like to have a threesome.”

“Can you be more specific?” I swear, if Nobu was a dog, his tail would be wagging right now. “Like you and two guys?”

“Yeah. I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed to experimenting with a girl too but mainly the two guys. I hope that doesn’t bother you.” There was a little mischievous smirk I saw show up on his face.

“Not at all. As long as I can be a part of the threesome. Maybe I can help that fantasy come true.”

We continued going back and forth for a while, just asking the most random questions. We hadn’t even noticed that the rain had stopped or that we literally had laid in bed for hours. It was when we heard a random hoot outside from an owl that we looked at one of our phones to see that it was 8pm.

“Shit.” Nobu growled. “The rain stopped. I really didn’t want to go in tomorrow.”

“Me neither.” I let out a disappointed sigh. This random question game made me more comfortable with Nobu that I didn’t want him to leave my side. “Guess we should shower and get some sleep.”

“Hold on, it’s my turn and I have one more question.”

“Alright. Hurry it up though, I really need to pee.” He laughed one more, the one of many he had let out today.

“It’s kind of a serious one but I’m just really curious. What was the name of the orphanage you grew up in?”

“Ugh, it was something really stupid. The Lost Forest. Makes absolutely no sense but that was it.”

Nobunaga’s POV

Night went, Morning came, we got ready together, and went on our way. The flooding had somehow cleared up and we were both called in to arrive at our regular times.

Today, Aria wore jean shorts and her usual polo shirt, her hair was tied back into a pony tail but she had left some in the front to form two little braids to frame her face. I couldn’t keep my hands off her. I drove with one hand while the other rested on top of her exposed thigh.

I swear, she dressed this way so she could tease me. She knows that the garter tattoo is a huge weakness of mine.

When I parked, I had noticed we were a few minutes ahead of schedule. Aria had already begun gathering her things and opening the door to leave. I quickly turned off the car and got out to beat her to her side.

I opened the door for her so she could get out. Once she was out though, I pushed her up against the car, making her drop her bag in the process.

“Nobu.” She scolded me playfully.

“What?” My arms wrapped around her waist and her back to pull her against me. I’m happy she responded by wrapping her arms around my neck.

“Calm yourself. There are people around.” I hadn’t noticed the others arriving in their cars as well. Some of the other waitresses that Aria worked with were being dropped off by their boyfriends from the PD. Even the douchebags were doing it.

“Let them see.” I said loud enough for mainly the officers to hear; didn’t care at all of the waitresses heard. “Want them all to know that I’m with the most beautiful girl in town.”

Before she could respond back to me, I made sure to silence her with my lips. And not just a simple kiss, a full on make-out session started. I could sense their jealous eyes on me as I kissed Aria and made her moan from it.

We probably looked like a couple of horny high school students.

Aria had gotten into it too, her hands had moved from my neck to tangle in my hair. I love knowing that I can make her break this little ‘good girl’ facade and turn her into this desperate horny woman. I want her to crave me all of today so that when we get home, she can jump me.

The others eventually left and Aria pulled away from the kiss. I could have gone on a little longer but hey, I got more than I thought I would.

“Just a little something to think about when you’re working.”

Grudgingly, we separated from one another and had to go our separate ways.

My plan for today had to take effect soon. There will need to be a private time when I can give either Shal or Danchou a call. There was a reason I had asked Aria about the orphanage last night. During my research, nothing of the matter came up. Even in the archive files, there was nothing.

I also had access to the hospital record birth certificates. Being from Meteor City, I didn’t have one. But I knew that if you were placed in a regular orphanage, you’ll either have one already or they would make one for you. Then they would need an official ‘seal’ on the certificate.

There had been one record of an ‘Aria Sato’ being born in Starhaven. It looked just like the others but if you looked closely at the seal and compared it with the others, it was different. The strokes were off, the lines were messy, and it appeared there had been some small splatter that had attempted to be covered up.

It was a fake.

Also, their bank had no records or video recordings of ‘treasure’. The town was actually in debt of 500 million jenny. Looking at the transactions though, it showed that rate becoming less overtime. Slowly but surely.

The transactions had no names for them, just amounts that would range from 500 jenny to 1000 jenny.

What were these transactions? Is the treasure even real? Was Danchou given false information? And why is the town lying to Aria about the orphanage and her birth?

None of this makes any sense.

I had been so lost in thought that I hadn’t noticed an additional member among the douchbag group that had decided to hang around my desk this morning.

“Hey Hazama, saw you getting handsy with Aria out there.” One of them spoke. I no longer cared who it was or which number I had labeled him as.

“Getting a little too cocky if you ask me. Just because she lives with you now.” Another spoke. I stood across from them, my arms folded across my chest. It was the only way to keep myself from launching at them and grabbing their throats.

I was about to say something to them when the 4^th member that had somehow been hiding decided to step forward and get in my face.

He was a little shorter than me. A little more on the muscle side, not as big as Uvo but enough to where you could see the bulges in his arms. Kind of tanned, had a few tattoos here and there with some random symbols. And spiked black hair with green eyes.

I can automatically say I hate this guy.

“So, you’re Nobunaga Hazama, huh?” He had a very baritone voice. “The one that’s fucking Aria?”  My teeth clenched when I heard her name come out of his mouth. I had a feeling I knew who this guy was, but I wanted to hear him say it himself.

“And you are?” We glared at each other, he tried to come off intimidating by flexing his muscles a little. He was not an experienced fighter; if he were, he would be able to see and sense the murderous aura I have flowing from me right now.

“That was rude of me, not introducing myself.” His hand came out as if we were to shake hands. “I’m Hank…Aria’s boyfriend.”

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

I stared down at Hank’s hand, contemplating whether if it was safe to grab it or not. Not for me but for him; with the way I’m feeling, I just might break a few bones in his hands if I touch him. Thinking about it for just a second more, I decided not to. Mostly because he disgust me; it wouldn’t have bothered me to break the bones. Would have found it hilarious and a great story to tell Feitan later.  

 That smug smirk on his face was so irritating as well. With the smirk and the stories I’ve heard from Aria, I knew he was the type that was full of himself.  Don’t get me wrong, all of us in the Spiders have the same kind of attitude. Difference is we can back it up. From this view, there’s nothing special about him.

“Not a handshake guy, huh?” He chuckled.

“Not to those that aren’t worth it.” I gave him smirk as I crossed my arms across my chest. The douchebags stood around us, enclosing to keep us in a small circle. This guy and I stood chest to chest; both of us refusing to back down. He had already lowered his hand and mimicked my stance. I had to grasp onto my elbows to keep myself from punching him in the face. All I wanted to do was swipe that smirk off his face.

“It’s nice to finally put a face to the name. I’ve heard a lot about you Hazama.” Probably nothing but bad things. It was no secret that the douchebags couldn’t stand me. “Congrats are definitely in order. Heard you solved the Kims case, such a big one on your first day.”

“Don’t expect to hear an appreciation from me.” He held up his hands in a surrender motion, mockingly stepping back 2 steps away from me.

“Whoa, why the hostility? We barely met like 5 seconds ago.”

“5 seconds is all I need to know that I don’t like you.”  The four of them backed away from my desk once I started walking towards it. I swung a leg up onto the corner to sit on top of it. My hands had to remain crossed over my chest in order to keep me from grabbing some random item on my desk to use as an weapon.

“Hey man, I have nothing against you. Actually, I’m very grateful to you.” You could hear the mockery behind the word ‘grateful’. “I mean, you took this job and protected a very dear person to me. For that, I’m grateful. Thank you so much for taking in my Aria.”

Did he just call her his?!

I needed to remind myself to breath. I took great pride for being one of the calmer ones in the Spiders. But I mean, when you have personalities like Uvo and Phinks running around, it’s not that hard. I just need to remind myself that he’s her ex, and that I’m her boyfriend now.

“I think I might have misheard you. Did you say she was yours?” I could feel blood starting to drop from my arm and get absorbed into my shirt. My grip was literally now all nails.

“You heard right Hazama.” With a snap, that polite tone he had been using was now gone. He reached into his left pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it up and took out a small picture. He held onto it with two of his fingers; simply turning it over for me to see.

I had already knew and expected it to be a picture of Aria; like a picture of the two of them together or one of her smiling into the camera. Instead, it appeared to be a far away shot of her, sitting inside that café she took me too. She wasn’t even looking directly into the camera; she was staring down into the pages of a book in one hand while the other hand was holding a coffee cup.

She was unaware this picture was being taken.

“See, I’ve had my eye on her for a long time. If you hadn’t noticed, a lot of guys in this town have. But they were all too chicken to approach her. Now me, I’m not a wimp. I got her right where I wanted her, if you know what I mean.”

He’s pushing all the wrong buttons. He keeps talking like that, then I’m going to need to punch something.  

“Then this new opportunity showed up and I had to leave. I couldn’t take her so made the hard choice to dump her. It really sucked, especially cause this new place didn’t have any girl that was nearly as hot as her. This new thing didn’t turn out like I thought it would; so when Chief called and begged me to come back, it was a no brainer.”

He placed the photo back into his wallet, putting it back into this side pocket. I was hoping he would stop talking, that story time was over and I could get on with my day.  

“Then I get here, thinking I was going to have Aria jump into my arms and we’d continue like nothing ever changed. Only to find out that she was hooking up with some random guy, who has only known her for 2-3 days. She even had the audacity to move in with him.” 

The whole time he’d been talking, he’d been stepping closer and closer to me. He stood in front, glaring right into my eyes. Mine were narrowed at him as well. If this turns into a fight, I’m not backing down.

“For a cop, you suck at taking down the whole story; you should know the reason why she moved in with me. It was for her own safety.”

“She would have been safe with any of these guys or even the chief. You sweet talked innocent little Aria into moving in with you; she’s such a trusting thing. But now I’m here to protect her, so…” his hand came up and his index finger jabbed me in the chest to emphasize the next few words. “The. Big. Bad. Wolf needs to back off and release the sweet little prey. I’ve got her from here.”

That’s it! I’ve had it!

Without realizing it, my Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu, and Gyo had all concentrated into my fist. I needed to get it out and so badly I wanted to use this guy’s face; it would blow my cover though. So instead, I aimed it for the desk.

With me still sitting on it, I punched the desk with all my might, shattering it into many pieces. This caused that son of a bitch and the douchebags to back away from me.

There was sawdust that floated around the office from my now destroyed desk. I heard a few coughs here and there; I also had to fan some of the dust away from my face. It wasn’t as annoying as the SOB’s voice though.

Eventually the dust cleared out and everything could be seen clearly again. The four that had gathered around my desk now all cowered against the window like scared little mice. Even Hank was having a hard time keeping that brave face on.

No more words needed or wanted to be said. I scanned the area around me, looking for anything sharp I can use to jab into his neck, eye, something, whatever. Didn’t matter what I stabbed into, I just wanted him dead.

There was a phone ring that I heard in the background,but nothing could tear my eyes away from these four bastards in front of me. More than sure that my aura is oozing bloodlust. I can’t remember the last time I wanted to kill someone this bad.

“Hey guys, just a heads up that the chief is at the hospital with Sato.”

The others who were not in on this conversation continued about their duty as if nothing had happened; as if they hadn’t just heard that the police chief was at the hospital. I would have done the same thing if it didn’t begin to dawn on me of the name I had just heard.

Sato.

As far as I had known, there was only one Sato in this whole town.

“Destruction of public property is an….Hey!”

Even though I wasn’t aware of who spoke the original message, I went to find someone who was in that general direction. There were several so I just grabbed onto some random person’s collar and pulled them towards me.

“Hey, repeat the message.” I yelled in their face.

“I..i didn’t say the…”

“I don’t give a damn. You heard it so just repeat it!” The guy was shorter than me so with me holding onto his collar, I had him lifted off the ground. The guy had grabbed onto my wrists to try and make me release him. His strength was nothing compared to mine.

“Ok ok ok. The chief is at the hospital with Sato.” He repeated word for word.

“How many people with the name ‘Sato’ live in this town? First and last name?!”  

“One! Just one!” He yelled, tears beginning to form at the corner of his eyes.

That’s what I thought and all I needed to hear.

I released him, letting the guy drop onto the ground hard before I turned to the door and continued my way out. Several voices called out to me to come back and that the guy was wrong; it wasn’t the Sato I was thinking of.

They fell on deaf ears, I wasn’t listening at all. All I could think about was getting to the hospital to find out what happened to Aria and why hadn’t anybody let me know. Why didn’t she call me to let me know?

Was she hurt so bad that she wasn’t able to make the call?

She was being stalked by someone so did that stalker get to her and did she fight back?

Too many questions and thoughts were running through my head and they were getting worse with each passing second. They wouldn’t stop plaguing my head while I was speeding through town to get to the only hospital.

There was a parking spot at the front that was reserved for the security and it was empty so I decided to park there for now.

According to the sign at the front, the Emergency room was on the first floor so I didn’t need to use any stairs or elevators. The big red sign that flashed ‘ER’ was also a big help. The nurses on the other side all jumped when I pushed both doors open and barged right into the computer area to scan the screens to tell me where exactly to find my girl.  

“Sir! You can’t be back here.” My eyed didn’t leave the computer screen that I had confiscated from some other nurse; but I did reach into my pocket and pull out the badge to flash into the annoying woman’s face.

She continued to yell at me the whole time I was scanning the screen of patient names. ‘Sato’ wasn’t listed on there nor was the chief.

“I heard that the chief was here with Sato. Why aren’t they listed?” I asked outloud for whoever wanted to answer for me. All the nurses that were within that small circles didn’t bother to say anything. But the one who had started to yell at me grabbed onto my arm and tried to pull me back over the counter.

“As I was saying…” She strained with each word trying to pull me away. It was almost comical. “they’ll be done in a few minutes.”

“Done with what?” That was enough to make me move; it had caught her off guard to where she stumbled back a little. I grabbed onto her sleeve to stop her from falling, mainly because I wanted her to finish answering my questions.

“What are you, new here? The usual procedures of…”

A set of doors that were across the long white hallway opened up to reveal the exact two I had been looking for. The chief stepped out first, casually brushing off invisible dust from his uniform sleeves. Right behind him was Aria, who was rolling out her neck and yawning.

The chief and I locked eyes; he stopped dead in his tracks, completely shocked to see me standing there.

“Hazama?” He questioned. Aria looked up immediately when she heard my name. I walked away from the nurse towards her, dying to have her in my arms.

“Nobu, what are you…” She didn’t get to finish her sentence. When I reached her, I wrapped my arms around her and held on tight. My hands clutched onto her small frame in a desperate way, scared that if I were to let go, I’d lose her forever. That she’d just wither away into thin air.

I hadn’t been scared of anything like that since I was a kid living in Meteor City.

She wrapped her arms around me also, patting my back in a comforting way. She could tell how scared I was, as she began to whisper reassuring things into my ear.

“Hey, it’s ok.” She whispered so softly. “I’m here.”

Thank God, I found myself thinking. I hadn’t believed in a God nor thanked one in years. Yet here I am thanking one that I don’t know if I believe in or not.

“So not that I’m not happy to see you babe…” I pulled away slightly to look down onto her face, but continued to hold tightly. “but why are you here?”

“The station got a call about you and the chief being here. I got worried so I rushed over here to see if you were ok.”

From my peripheral vision, I could see a look of worry coming from the chief’s face. And when I looked down at Aria, she had a look as well. It wasn’t one of worry though. It was one of….guilt. It was very suspicious. Why was she feeling guilty?

I was going to pry a little more; use her ‘guilty’ feeling to my advantage to get some more information. Unfortunately for us, another person decided to follow me from the PD and showed up.

“So many broken laws and I leave my citation book in my desk. Damn it!”

It was Aria’s turn to clutch onto me, but hers was a combination of shock and fear. Timidly, she peeked past my arm to see if she was hearing what she thought she heard. And I hated that it was true. She recognized the voice of her ex-boyfriend.

It was at that time I decided that if I ever got a chance to stab him, I would aim for his larynx first. So that neither of us would ever have to hear his annoying voice ever again.

“Baby!” He yelled out, getting louder. He was getting closer to us. Rule #1, you never keep your back towards your enemy. How do I handle this situation though? I want to shield Aria from him.

“Aria, I missed you so much!” He side-stepped me and tried to put his hand onto Aria’s shoulder. She stepped away from him while still having her arms wrapped around me. I released one of my arms from her waist only to push his hand away from her direction.

“The hell are you doing back?” Her voice quivered as she spoke to him.

“I asked him to come back.” The chief backed up the piece of shit known as Hank. He stood behind him rather proudly, even patting his shoulder in a fatherly way. “Thought we could use a little more help around here, what with your situation going on.”

“But you hired Nobunaga to take the open position; and I’m living with him so the situation is taken care of.” The quiver was slowly disappearing from her voice. And she was standing up for me; it was kind of hot.

And it was turning me on a little to see my girl standing her ground for me.

Now is not the time to get a hard on…but it’s happening.

“Well, Chief told me that Hazama left his post yesterday and he was needed. Only a few days into the job and he’s already disobeying orders and breaking multiple laws like destruction of public property and running multiple red lights.”

“He left his post yesterday because of the storm.” Her voice was getting louder, the quiver now long gone. “The manager closed the restaurant and I needed a ride home.”

I enjoyed the look on his face as she referred to our shared house as her ‘home’. That’s right, baby girl, rub it in his face. Make it sting.

“Would you rather I’d walk in the pouring cold rain?”

“You could have asked anybody else and…”

“What concern is it of yours anyway of who I talk to?” She pushed herself away from me and stomped over towards Hank. Her hands were balled into fist and she looked more than ready to throw a punch any second. I made sure to follow her closely to give back-up just in case, or to push her out of harms way if he decides to do something worse.

“It’s my concern because I’m your boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend? You broke up with me before you left. Your exact words were “I’m leaving you and this dump of a town behind”.”

“Ari baby…”

“Don’t call me that. I’m not your baby.” She growled.

That just made my hard on a little worse.

“Let me guess, you’re his baby?” He pointed at me. “Aria, you’re better than this. We both know that an outsider like Hazama can’t protect you.” He decided to be daring and took a step closer to her, invading her personal space “He probably can’t even satisfy you like I can.”

SMACK

The sound of her slap echoed across the entire ER floor. It caused many doctors and nurses who had been passing us the entire time to stop in their tracks. They stared in fright as Hank had not only fallen to the ground and slid all the way down the hall; he left behind a trail of splattered blood and a few teeth as well.

A loud groan was heard when his back hit the concrete wall.

It wasn’t me who had smacked him. It was Aria who had. Her smack held so much force that her hair had fallen forward and covered half of her face. Her blue eyes looked like they were shining with specks of red from the pupils.

“You can insult me all you want. But don’t you DARE ever insult Nobunaga ever again!”

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

It was impossible to miss.

Well, impossible for those of us trained to use our gyo.

I don’t know what it was but something in my head told me to activate my gyo when I saw how far that son of a bitch flew after Aria smacked him. Good thing I listened to that little voice in my head.

Her hand was surrounded by a shroud of aura and it was going crazy. Instead of a steady stream that would look calm, like a smooth ball; it was going insane with random spikes. Last time I saw something like that was when Machi was learning about her nen stitches.

Then I looked up at Aria’s eyes. The once dreamy set of baby blues that I could get lost in for hours were replaced by bloodlust red.

It looks like she was looking to do more than just harm Hank; in this moment, she wants to kill him.

Aria’s POV

I’ve endured so much of Hank’s abuse that I had grown use to it. It didn’t bother me a bit when he designated his insults at me. But the second he insulted Nobunaga, I couldn’t help but lash out. And I don’t know why.

Nobunaga was more than capable of defending himself, physically and mentally.

A small part of me was hoping that he wouldn’t be too mad at me for doing this. But the larger part of me was still lost in wanting to cause more damage to Hank. Everytrhing around me had disappeared and all had gone quiet. All that remained was a shaking pathetic Hank in front of me.

Nobody insults my man.

Nobody!

“Son of a bitch!” I snarl as I stood to my full heigh and begin to stomp towards him. I felt somebody grab onto my elbow and pull me back to where they were now standing in front and blocking my view, it was the chief.

I use to see the chief as a stand in father figure. But now, seeing as how he’s the one who first sent away Hank and now brought him back, I can’t stand him.

“Sato, that’s enough.” He told me in a quiet yet stern voice. It did shock me a little, he’s never used that tone of voice with me. Even as a child. But then I remembered, I’m not 10 anymore. I’m a grown ass woman and he can’t tell me what to do anymore.

“Move.” Was all I told him. Now he was taken back, he wasn’t use to me talking back at all. Usually, he said jump and I said how high.

“Koibito…” A new voice joined us and it was one that I found relaxing. It made me take in a deep breath; that word was one that Nobu and I discussed calling one another. I had expressed that I wanted a cute pet name and he suddenly suggested that one. “He’s not worth it.”

Nobu smacked the chief’s hand off me and replaced it, only his grip was more gentle and loving. He then came into view and I found it way more welcoming.

“But he…” Nobu’s hands grasped onto my hip bones and it sent pleasurable shivers up my spine. And it also sent a burning yearning sensation to my pussy.

Shit.

“Look at him…closely.” He turned slightly and we both looked at how pathetic Hank was. Being helped up by both the chief and some random nurse who was giving him such a pathetic googly school girl crush look. “See how he’s shivering. This isn’t a man, this is a coward. There’s no need to waste anymore time or energy on a coward.”

Nobunaga’s POV

I just wanted the two of us to get out of there fast. Lucky for me, Aria listened and she grabbed onto my hand to lead me out of the building. We did hear a muffled attempt at a ‘hey’ come from behind us and recognized the voice as Hank. His mouth was extremely swollen and he was missing some teeth so he wasn’t able to talk.

“Someone else patch him up.” Aria ordered somebody.

Once we got into my car, I sped off towards our house; mainly because I realized just how tight my pants had gotten. Something about having a hot woman that I’ve claimed as mine defend my honor just turned me onto so bad.

It awakened a new part of me.

This car couldn’t get to the house fast enough. Is it possible to pull into some random alley and ravish this beautiful woman beside me right now?

“I hope I didn’t make you mad.” The confident angry woman that was in the hospital had vanished. Now, Aria was back to being her meekly self.

I’ll need to get rid of that personality.

“Mad? Why would I be mad?” I’m seriously wondering why she’d think I’m mad. If anything, I’m proud of what she did and wish the guys were here to have seen it. Especially Phinks and Uvo. Shit, they would have found it super hot with the way she smacked him across the room and broke the bones in his face.

Especially Phinks. If a girl can break something with just her bare hands, he would probably kidnap her on the spot. Too bad for him I got to Aria first so she’s mine to begin with. But once again, I can share.

“I kind of took over your fight and I know most guys don’t like it when girls step in on their fights.”

“Oh, who told you that? Hank?” I spoke the name in disguist, making sure to stick out my tongue and make fake gagging noises. This made Aria laugh and cheer up a bit.

“Bingo.”

“Well, going to burst the bubble. I’m not mad, not like most guys. I found it extremely hot….” I smacked my foot onto the brake when we almost passed the house. Finally  happy to turn off the ignition. “So hot, in fact, that I’ve had an erection since we’ve left the ER. You have no idea how difficult it’s been to drive and ignore it.”

I laughed, hoping that she’d laugh along with me, but didn’t get it. She stayed silent. Now I got scared that I insulted her. Until I looked at her face and saw that she was biting the side of her lip, had her arms pressed together to push up her breasts and her eyes were half-lidded and clouded with lust.

“Want me to take care of it?”

Did she mean what I think she means?

I got my answer when her hand came to unzip my pants and went in to pull out  my cock. It sprung out from the confines of my pants and I hissed from the way the cold air hit it. Aria got to work immediately.

She bent down and began to lick the underside of my cock first, starting right where my balls were and ending right at the tip, even going into the slit.

“Oh fuck.” I groaned out. “Holy crap!” My hips bucked up when her mouth encircled my tip sucked a bit.

I’ve had a lot of blow jobs in my days, usually the quickest thing I could get done in order to keep going on through my missions. But none of them made me moan this loud or make me throw my head back in ectasy.

Her mouth moved down to lick my balls before sucking one into her mouth where she would alternate between sucking it and licking it with either the tip of her tongue or the whole of it. She surprised me when she was able to suck the 2^nd ball into her mouth as well. She was also pumping my cock at the same time.

I wasn’t able to get any words out during this whole time. My mouth just hung open and I let out random moans and groans. I’ve never felt a blow job this amazing. This woman is going to make me cum in record time.

My balls fell out of her mouth with a smack, she began to kiss her way up my cock and looked up into my eyes. I looked down at her when she gave me a smirk and a wink before taking my whole cock into her mouth to where the tip hit the back of her throat.

She hollowed out her cheeks and hummed, all while bobbing her head up and down. At this rate, I’m going to cum in no time. And that’s exactly what happened.

I knew that women weren’t big on swallowing but Aria surprised the hell out of me by swallowing every drop, even going as far as to come up to eye level with me and lick her lips as if she just ate the most delicious thing in the world.

I made sure to at least put my cock back into my pant and zip up before pulling Aria onto my lap, opening the door, and stepping out while holding her against my body. She had wrapped her knees around me to hold on.

We were able to stumble out way into the house, and I did have a small side thought wondering if the fluffball was still in here. I walked into the kitchen, pulled out a chair, and held onto Aria with one arm. The other hand was being used to undo my pants once again and pull out my already hard cock.

“Ready for some more fun?” I asked her while my hand went to her shorts and un-did her button to pull them off. When I saw that she decided to go commando today, I knew she had this planned from the morning.

“Surprise.” She whispered.

“My little minx.” I chuckled, my fingers that threw off her shorts going down to play a little with her pussy, feeling just how wet she was from just sucking me off. “I can’t wait anymore. I need to be where I belong, buried inside you.”

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

Not to toot my own horn but I did just rock Aria’s world, three times.

First time was nice and slow, we sat on the chair I pulled out in the kitchen. Well, I sat on the chair and she sat on my lap; my cock buried in her pussy. We fucked nice and slow, enjoying each other company and looking into each other’s faces. I loved the faces she made each time I would thrust my hips up into her. I loved how she would lean in and kiss me slowly and sensually. I love the way her tongue would try to assert dominance but would lose to me immediately and let me show that I am the dominant one in this relationship.

The other two times were more fucking. Found out she has a few kinks that even she didn’t know she had. She likes to be hunted, she’s a prey. Lucky for her I just discovered I’m a Predator.  She would hide in the house and I had to find her. It was easy but I liked to prolong the anticipation. That made her even more wet and made me more excited.

When I had found her and cornered her in the bathroom, I bent her over the counter and fucked her brains out all while pulling onto her hair. Oh man, the noises she made combined with the sounds of our bodies molding together. Shit, getting hard again.

I’ve never fucked so much in such little time. This girl just drives me inside and keeps me horny. I think it’s safe to say that I’m in love with her.

Now she slept soundly on the couch, covered in the blanket I brought from the bedroom. And I also found out the furball was still in the house too. It was asleep on top of her stomach. I didn’t bother to move it since the two of them looked kind of cute together and If I hurt that thing, she’d probably try to kill me.

I currently sat at the computer, waiting for Danchou to joint me in IM chat. I needed to discuss with him my findings. And now.

D: Nobunaga

N: Danchou, thank you for joining me so fast.

D: You were very persistent in the matter.

N: Well, I think I figured out what exactly this whole treasure thing is. It’s not a thing. It’s a person.

………

D: I see.

N: Not just that. I’m pretty sure I know who the person is. It’s Aria.

D: Please explain the process of which made you come to this conclusion.

N: Just that, well, nothing made sense from the very beginning. I was able to get some old blueprints from building designs so I visited all the usual spots during small breaks I had. Bank, Museum, even the Mayor’s house. I compared the old blueprints with the new ones and nothing was off. Even from my searching, there was no safe. What city wouldn’t bother to hide something precious like a treasure that’s being hunted by the mafias?

D: I have no disagreement with you nor do I find fault in your logic thus far.

N: Then earlier today, I had to go to the ER because I thought something bad happened to Aria. When I got there, I sensed some nen but kind of ignored it. My bad.

D: Go on.

N: It was Aria, she was the nen user. I only know this because she slapped her ex-boyfriend and he literally flew across the room and smashed into the wall. Would have probably taken more of it down if she knew more of what she was doing.

D: So based off of this logic and pieces of the puzzle, your claim is that Aria is the treasure that the town is hiding.

N: It also doesn’t help that when she was at the hospital, she was there because the chief needed to be there and wanted her with him. Now either there’s something extremely fishy going on or she’s hiding something from me. Either way, I’m not a big fan.

I was now frowning at the thought of Aria hiding a big secret from me. I get that I’m an outsider to this town and she is probably under strict orders to not disclose anything until they were sure they could trust me but still, I’m her boyfriend. She should trust me.

D: I would like us to test this theory a little further. Also, this would give us a good chance to meet this girl, considering that she will be joining in the troupe as your live in partner soon.

N: I really appreciate that you’re letting me bring her Danchou.

D: I want my Troupe members to have all they desire as well. I had thought about the possibility of the treasure being a person and had already formed a plan.

Aria’s POV

“A Getaway?!?!?!”

After I woke up from my nap, after a few rough rounds of sex that were a lot of fun (seriously, who knew I would love being chased like that?), Nobu had taken the liberty of ordering us some pizza and renting a moving on a special movie channel.

Made it even better that it was a horror movie and it was the one of my favorite franchises, Hacksaw. I couldn’t help but notice from my peripheral vision how Nobu watched me with so much fascination on how into the movie I got with all the gore.

When I asked him why he kept looking at me, he would just smile and said that he felt he was falling in love with me. I couldn’t hide the blush that came across my face and how I tried to hide it by going back to watching the movie. Nobu was too busy watching me though.

“Aria, baby, do you realize what days are coming up?”  After the movie was over, we choose to go lay down together in the bed…..well, he was laying down and I was hanging up both of our laundry. I had no problem doing this for us, it gave me peace knowing I was doing something for Nobu.

So it took me by complete surprise when Nobu suddenly suggested that the two of us take a little trip away from my town to a big city.

“Not really?” I made it sound more like a question because I was at a complete lost.

“One of the biggest days of the year for you….” He was leading me on. “Only comes once a year….” That’s all holiday “You get a big cake with your name on it…..”

“You have me so lost.” I admitted.

“Shit babe, it’s our birthdays.”

“Oh! That, yeah, I don’t celebrate mine.” I went back to my task of hanging up our clothes, completely over the birthday talk.

“Really? Why not?” He sat up from the bed, it looked like Baby the kitten was getting close to Nobu now because he was cuddled up next to him. Nobu was getting close to him as well because he was petting him for a bit before he sat up to question me right now.

“Because it’s really not a big deal. I’ve never once celebrated it; not even when I dated that dick. No one has ever given me a gift or a cake or even a card. So I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

“What if I were to tell you that my friends have paid for this trip for us?” He stood from the bed and walked over behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist as I froze from his statement. His friends…paid for us to go on a trip?

“They paid….for us?”

“Well, there’s a bit of a catch. They paid for us because it’s kind of a tradition to celebrate all our birthdays together. Since this is the first time one of us has moved, they knew that they’d need to get me over to our favorite city. And now that I have myself a beautiful girlfriend…” With those words, one of his hands left my waist to come under my chin and bring it up to meet his lips. We kissed briefly but it was enough to let my heart skip a beat. Nobu never once, these past few days, let me forget that he found me beautiful. “They knew that I wouldn’t go anywhere without you. So they paid for you as well.”

“How much was all that?” Was my first question. All I could think of is how many people contributed to this and how much I was going to have to repay every single one of them.

“They don’t want you to worry about that. It’s all expense paid in your case. Not in mine, they’re gonna make me pay them back, those bastards.” He must have noticed the worried and scared look on my face.

So many emotions running through my chest and stomach. I’ve never left my town before, I could never afford it. Now someone is paying for me to leave it….for how long?

“How long is this trip?”

“About a week, give or take.” He took the hanger from my hands and placed it randomly on the clothes bar, kind of bothered me since that ruined my  little system but I let it passed. He had more he wanted to tell me.

I let him pull me back until we both sat on the bed next to each other, thigh to thigh. My face kept looking down, not wanting him to read my worried face anymore.

“Where is it?”

“Hailly-will city”  No way, he’s kidding! I’ve always wanted to go there. There city life, the night life, the food, the amusement park. So much stuff there I’ve always wanted to try. “The hotel is all paid for, the flights for us are all paid for, all we have to do is pack and go.”

“When is the flight?”

“In two days.”

“Nobu!” I stood from my seat, a little peeved that I’m only being given such a short amount of time to be known about this. “That doesn’t give me much time. Normally I need to give at least a weeks notice if I’m going to be gone and…”

“Have you ever taken a day off in your life Aria?” Nobu cut me up, now leaning back onto his hands. The bottom of his shirt lifted up slightly and I was able to get a good glimpse of the bottom of his abs and the V that lead down to his dick…..oh shit, am I getting horny again?

I’ve never been this horny in my life until I met Nobunaga.

“Well, no.”

“Do you know if your PTO hours are accrued?”

“They are.”

“So you must have over 100s of hours saved up. There is no way in hell they can deny you this. Plus, it’s your birthday, you deserve to have something nice done for you. Let me and my friends spoil you a little.”

“How many of your friends will be there?” I suddenly asked, my anxiety almost getting the best of me thinking I’d have to meet a lot of new people.”

“Hm…..1,2,3…..there’s five in total; all boys though. None of the girls will be able to make it since they’ve all kind of gone on their own little girls trip. No big deal, I’ll make them make it up to us one way or another.”

I was getting ready to start pacing the room, my nerves getting ready to snap. That was, until he reached for my hip and pulled me closer until I was between his legs still standing tall over him.

“Aria, my love….”

Did he just say that? His love?

“Nobu…”

“I’m begging you. Please, come on this trip with me. Meet my friends. Let them spoil you, let me spoil you. Make this the best birthday of my life, just be there for me. What do you say?”

Oh, he’s looking at me with those dark eyes and he’s making that goofy smiling face and he looks sexy all at the same time and…

“Ok.”

Chapter Text

Aria’s POV

“This is very unacceptable.”

“You’ve only known this guy for a few days. Now you’re going on a trip with him?! Out of the question!”

I’m unsure of how I got in this situation right now.

After Nobu told me last night that our trip was going to begin the day after next, I had to gain all my courage and strength to approach my manager and request (or demand) my PTO for 10 days. That would give me plenty of time to enjoy a week off and then some time to relax before returning to real life when I got back.

Nobu couldn’t understand why it was so hard for me but truth it, I hate confrontation. That’s why I was the favorite here. I never took a day off, I would take on multiple shift. And PTO with sick leave was accrued so I had years worth of hours just sitting there.

He was the one to point that out to me so why should I take a little bit of time off?

Well, that’s what I thought. Until I brought it up to my manager this morning. Now here I am, sitting here in his office, along with the Chief (of all people). Both of them are scolding me like a couple of dads who are very disappointed in their daughter.

Pretty much how the Chief sees it.

“I don’t see how it’s any of your business honestly.” I sat in a chair that was placed right in front of the manager desk. Him and the chief were walking back and forth behind the desk, muttering to themselves and to each other on how they can try and stop me from taking this vacation.

“You can’t go.” The chief spoke, slamming his fist on the desk. It didn’t spoke me one bit. It was honestly getting on my nerves that they thought they could treat me like a total child when I’m in my 20s and could do whatever the fuck I wanted to do.

“I’m going. Whether you two approve or not.” I informed them.

“If I say no, you don’t get paid. How will you then pay off that debt?” The manager spoke. It really irked me that they liked to use that debt against me, especially since they’re the ones who put me in it.

As thankful as I am to have a home and such, I didn’t ask for a debt to keep me here for who knows how long.

“Nobu will help me.” And that wasn’t a lie. It was something I had brought up to him last night. I told him that this very thing might happen and that they would threaten me with my debt. He told me that if that was the case, he would help me pay for this coming month’s due. And that he didn’t care if I paid him back or not.

Told him I’d pay him back one way or another. I had an idea of how I would do it, it was the birthday gift I wanted to get him since we are going to Hailly-will, that’s where I was going to get it for him.

“You’ll take money from him, you know that it wouldn’t be free. He’ll want something from you. And you’re a woman and man living together.” The Chief spoke. Oh, this was getting me red. I had to control my breathing to keep my power from coming out; it was against the rule to harm the chief in any way. It was also against the rules to harm anybody on the ‘A’ team but that asshole Hank had left and he really pissed me off so yesterday wasn’t counting.

At least as far as I was aware.

“Ok, I’d like to warn you that you’re the one who took us there. Chief, Nobunaga and I have already had sex.”

From the way that the Chief and Manager’s faces were gaping open, I think it was safe to say that I broke them. And it was hilarious. It wasn’t like I was a virgin to begin with. Hank was the one I gave my virginity to. But like I had told Nobu, he had never satisfied me. So I didn’t make it count.

“You….and….him….”

“Look, again, I’m in my 20s. I’m allowed to do what I want, when I want. I had no reason to go out of town but now I do. Nobu is taking me out for my birthday and I want to go. Fine, don’t pay me my PTO. I’ll just keep accumulating the hours. It’ll help me pay off the debt even faster too.” I stood from my seat, grabbing at my backpack since it was the end of the day anyway, and began heading towards the door.

I had texted my boyfriend earlier to remind him that I wanted to run home for my workout. And he just told me to be safe.

“So I’ll see you guys in 10 days.” I yelled out before slamming the door to the manager’s office, that was still occupied with two middle aged men who were super shocked to be talked back to for the first them in their lives. I don’t even think the chief’s daughter ever did that either.

Speaking of which, I had wonder how she was doing…..what was her name….Baise?

Nobunaga’s POV

Aria was shocked to see me waiting at home for her after her run. Told her that the Chief came at me, yelling about taking his precious girl out into a scary world. I had enough of being yelled at that I left about an hour earlier than I should have.

“Hey, how are you going to get paid for these next 10 days anyway?”

Both of us were in the bedroom packing up our bags, I had to share one of mine with Aria since she didn’t have any proper traveling luggage. Didn’t bother me one bit, I liked knowing she was using my stuff.

Think of it as imprinting on her. Looking at her, all I really had to do was mark her body in a way, I had to ask Danchou was his thoughts were of making a tattoo that would mark someone as property of the Spiders. Maybe a spider web or something like that.

Our mark was known but now she would have to be known to not be messed with. If anybody were to mess with Aria in anyway, I’ll come after them. And I don’t care how long it would take for me to get them, I’ll make it my life’s goal to hunt down whoever messes with my girl.

“I’m actually not going to get paid but I’m not worried. I’ve got more than enough saved…”I dropped whatever it was I was folding and made my way over to her. I wrapped my arms around her waist to pull her up against my body.

Just having her close by was enough to give me a full grown boner, so I made sure to rub against her core to show her what she did to me. And I loved that I did the same thing to her. I would feel how she would try to rub her legs together in order to hide her core from me.

What a naughty little girl, I’ll have to punish her lat.

“I have more than enough saved to live a life comfortably with you. So don’t worry about your debt either.”

“I could never ask that of you.” The clothes completely forgotten on the floor, she settled herself directly on my lap, letting my clothed cock rub up against her clothes pussy. Guess grinding is all we’re going to do tonight.

“You don’t have to. Like I told you earlier, I’d do anything for you Aria. You’re my girl,”

And that’s how the night ended up with us doing more than just grinding, if you know what I mean.

We tried to get to bed early since we had to drive at least 6 hours to the closest airship. Then it was going to be a 4 hours flight to our destination.

Aria was up before I was. She shouldn’t hide the excitement, it radiated off her as she was making both of us our cup of coffee for the roadtrip. I had made sure to pack the car last night so all we had to do was leave.

The furball Baby had settled itself into the house as well. Marking it as its home. Guess I have a new pet as well. Aria made sure to leave plenty of food for it since nobody was going to come into the house while we were gone.

It was a very unwelcoming surprise to see the ‘A’ team, excluding Hank, waiting at the car for us.

“The hell is this?” I grumbled, getting ready to throw my steaming hot cup of coffee into the face of the one who was blocking my door. Or should I throw it at the one blocking Aria’s door. Or should I just reach for my sword on my back and get to slicing.

“uh….why are you guys here?” Aria questioned, looking just as annoyed as I was.

“The Chief asked us to come over and try to persuade you to not take this trip.” The one blocking her door spoke. Aria shock her head, walked over to the one blocking my door….and then stomped hard on his foot.

“Fuck!” He yelled out, jumping up and down while holding onto his now injured foot. I heard a small crunch so I’m pretty sure she might have broken a bone. Hopefully it was the big toe, it’s a little harder to walk with that one broken.

Well, according to  Feitan.

“Anybody else want a broken toe?” She asked, the other two. They shook their head and backed away from the car. Happily, I walked Aria to her side and opened the door for her.

“Aria, please, reconsider this.” One of the other two who was injured spoke up as she was getting into her seat.

“That’s enough.” I stepped in this time. “I’m taking my girlfriend on vacation for both her and my birthday. If you guys or the chief have a problem with that, you can take it up with us when we get back in 10 days. Until then, you’ve got a man down over there who needs medical attention.” I tried to not show my anger by slamming the car door, Aria wasn’t the reason and didn’t deserve to have it taken out on her.

I thanked whatever overlord there was when we finally hit the road and within 20 minutes, we were outside of Starhaven and driving on our way to the Airship terminals.

“Wow, I’m actually outside of Starhaven. This is amazing!”

Aria’s POV

The next 6 hours could be described as uneventful by any other person, but to me, it was full of so many surprises and new things. Stopping at a new gas station was super exciting for me, especially since they had snacks that I’ve never heard of or tried before.

And I loved seeing more of what Nobunaga was into.

It was funny that even though the item didn’t contain any shellfish, he avoided anything that even mentioned the flavor because it made him just want to vomit. We both loved spicy chips so we shared a family size bag of spicy chips for the last hour on our way to the Airship.

We parked in a parking garage within an area that was marked ‘VIP’. I was so confused by this until Nobu told me that his friends pulled some strings for us to make sure that this vacation was going to be the best one I’ve ever been on.

The bags were taken and we were guided past the long lines and given priority boarding onto the airship. I tried my hardest to look like a normal person, like I’ve done this multiple times; but I failed at this. Nobu was so encouraging though. He held my hand the whole time and  would explain as may things as he could.

“You’ll need to stay in your seats during take-off but once the captain turns off the seatbelt lights, then you’ll be free to roam around the entire Airship. There’s a bar and specialty restaurants for just our VIPs. There’s also a special vendor shopping center today for this specific airship so feel free to roam there when the time is appropriate. You two have the suite, has a full King size bed with a great view of the sky so you can see where we’re heading.”

Once the man lead us into our room, I couldn’t help but gasp and run around like a kid in a toy store. He looked at me like I was a weird person but Nobu couldn’t help but chuckle at my response. Almost like he loved it.

“So our seats are actually the King bed, we have to sit on it or lay down, whichever we choose.” Nobu informed me when the captain came on to announce we were getting ready for lift-off. I bounced onto the bed next to him, both of us opting to lay down to look up into the skylight and see the sky getting closer and closer to us as we got higher.

It made my stomach jump at bit but knowing I had Nobunaga with me made it worth-while.

“So four hours to kill and I don’t really feel like venturing into a vendor shop since I need to save money, why don’t you tell me about the friends I’m going to meet?” I asked him as I turned onto my side to snuggle my head onto his chest.

“hm….alright then, I’ll tell you their personalities but I think it’ll be fun for you to guess who is who. Let’s start with Uvo, he’s like my best friend. Best way I can describe him is loud and obnoxious. Hard to miss him. Shalnark….”

“I know him!” I yelled in excitement.

“He’s super excited to finally meet you. Then there’s Feitan, he’s not much of a talker so don’t take it personal if he doesn’t say hi to you or anything. He’s always with Phinks, they’re best friends. Phinks is kind of hard to get along with and gets angry easily. Last is Chrollo, he’s like the leader of the pack so we all call him Danchou.”

“All you did was tell me their names, I don’t know what they look like or what they’re like.”

“That’s going to be the fun part.”

After some coercing, Nobu did convince me to venture out of our room and into the vendor shopping place. There wasn’t much that caught my eye, except for maybe a tote bag that was red and had the character Rat-war on it, the lead character from Hacksaw, my favorite horror character. There was another tote bag but I need to save money for Nobu’s present.

Time passed by really quick, the next thing I knew we were being lead off the Airship to another VIP area with a car that looked similar to Nobu’s car back home and he took off to the biggest hotel I’ve ever seen.

He told me to just stay in the car since his friends were waiting for us at the restaurant. And that’s when the panic anxiety attack started.

Holy shit, I’m about to meet Nobunaga’s closest friends. What if they get mad at me for keep Nobu away for so long? What if he was suppose to move right back and decided not to because of me? What if they don’t like me? What if they think I’m too ugly for him? I knew I should have dressed better.

Who wear jean shorts and a tank top to a first meeting? Apprantly  me, that’s who! Did my hair look nice enough?

Nobu got into the car when he saw me pull down the compartment mirror on the passenger side. He saw me try to get some fly aways to stay down and my chest was heaving pretty heavy.

“Hey, don’t be nervous. They’re going to love you. Trust me.” We drove to the restaurant that was only like 3 minutes away. We parked and he opened the door for me.

The way he was leading me in, his hand on my lower back, was probably a good idea to keep me from running away. We were walking towards the back and I could hear several voices and then a booming laughter.

“I can’t do this.” I crept off to the side as Nobu stepped through to say hi to his friends. I heard them all say his name and try to rush him but he must have stopped them. Because next thing I knew, I heard a rather innocent style voice asked where I was.

“She’s outside the door but she’s very scared. So try really  hard to not scare her away right now. Remember what I said, she’s never left her town. This is her first time out here.” With that, he came back to the doorway where I was hiding.

“Are you sure about this?” I whispered, my legs physically shaking and probably getting ready to give out on me.

“Aria, baby.” He leaned down and gave me a small kiss. “Like I said, they’ll absolutely love you to the point where they’ll never leave you alone ever again.”

Chapter Text

3^rd person POV

Aria was completely out of her comfort zone. She clung to Nobunaga’s arm by his side, having 4 sets of eyes staring completely at her.

They were all in the back of some BBQ restaurant in a private room, the 4 men inside the room had already gotten set up in drinking their drinks of choice. In front of the biggest man she’s ever seen was a huge bucket…...she didn’t even think she could call it a bucket, more like a tub, full of ice and green cans of beer.

She recognized the beer as her and Nobunaga’s favorite one as well.

“I knew it.” The blond one with an angry look on his face spoke up, he turned towards the giant guy with his hand out towards him. “Pay up.” Aria was a little confused, Nobunaga was as well. He had no idea what Phinks was talking about. Uvo seemed upset with Phinks.

“No way!” Uvogin yelled out, pushing away Phinks hand.

“I agree with Uvo. It’s totally possible.” The other blond spoke up.

“Alright, what’s going on?” Nobunaga spoke up, stepping in front of Aria slightly to protect her in case the other guys were about to get a little rough in front of her. He didn’t want to, but he would fight them to protect his property. Not kill them but maybe maim them.

“There is no way a girl that HOT…” Phinks points at Aria hiding behind Nobunaga, a little taken back by how much emphasis was put on the word ‘hot’. “would ever be interested in a guy like you. So, I bet Uvo that this was all a prank.”

“I’m hot?” Aria’s timid voice spoke for the first time in the group, making all the boys’ heads turn towards her.

“She’s adorable!” The friendly blonde jumped out of his chair and ran towards Aria, grabbing onto one of her hands and shaking it with much enthusiasm. “You’re such a cutie! It’s great to finally meet you. Nobunaga has told me so little about you that I couldn’t wait to get to know you a little more.”

“You must….be Shalnark.” Aria’s eyes sparked up when she recognized the way this blonde went along with Nobunaga’s short descriptions of him.

“That I am.” He closed his eyes while letting out a giant smile, it made Aria feel super comfortable so suddenly. She came out from behind Nobunaga, reaching into her jean short pocket and pulling out her brand-new red cellphone.

“I’m so happy I finally get to meet you; I can say thank you in person.” She gave a slight bow to show some respect towards him. “You have no idea how grateful I am to both you and Nobu.”

She could hear the other three in the background tease Nobunaga about his shortened nickname, Shalnark paid no attention as it was all on the cute redhead in front of him.

Nobunaga and Phinks weren’t kidding. Aria was a total babe. She was definitely the Troupe’s type. She could rival Pakunoda when it came to body figure, but she was still short enough to be cute (not shorter than machi though).

Damn, though Shalnark. He was so excited for the day that Nobunaga would let him play with Aria, He so badly wanted to hear her moan. He wondered what her blue eyes would look like as they rolled towards the back of her head when she would deep throat his cock.

“No thanks is needed cutie.” He decided that ‘cutie’ would be his personal nickname for Aria. It was something that all the guys decided on. They each were going to have a nickname for her once they all got to meet her.

Shalnark made it very clear that ‘cutie’ was going to be his.

“You done hogging Sweet Cheeks over there?” It looks like Uvo had decided on Sweet Cheeks. He walked up behind Shalnark and practically shoved him out of the way so that he would get an introduction. “My turn to get a guess.”

“Oh, I don’t have to guess. You’re Uvoguin.” Aria felt herself come out her shell a little when she was approached by Uvo, mainly because Nobu made it clear that this was his best friend.

“Ding ding ding. Sweet Cheeks gets 2 for 2!” He let out a big laughter and patted her gently on top of her head. Aria was blushing a little by the two very….how to say…..complimentary nicknames the two of them have given her.

“Nice to meet you….you’re very big….when I say that, I mean tall and muscular…I mean….somebody please kill me.” Ok, all of her confidence was now officially gone. Aria got scared that it would look like she was flirting with Uvo.

Nobu didn’t mind though. He found it funny the way she was getting flustered. He should note that none of them were wearing their usually style of clothing….except Phinks. He just changed his green track suit to a different color of black.

To match the complete goth black outfit that Feitan was wearing.

Shalnark was still showing off his muscular arms in some jean shorts and a polo that had the sleeves ripped off and Uvo…. well….didn’t matter how hard he tried, he would show off anything. So, he had on some jean shorts and a jean vest with a white tank top, that was stretch to the point where it was practically see through.

Uvo just let out another big laughter from the compliment.

“Aw, don’t stop with the compliments Sweet Cheeks. I like it.” With that being said, he held up his arm and flexed it, really showing off his muscles. “Check these big guns out. More impressive that skinny guys you call your boyfriend I say.”

“I’m not appreciating the dissing back here.” Aria looked past the two in front of her towards Nobu, she wasn’t sure how exactly he’d feel with showing public displays of affections in front of some of his closest friends. She had learned from her past relationship with that POS that not many guys like it when their girls would hug or kiss them.

She wanted his friends to see that yes, even though Nobu didn’t have the bulging muscles like Shalnark and Uvo, she still found him very muscle attractive.

“Aria Baby, come over here a second, will you?”  Aria walked around the two in front of her, passing by Phinks and Feitan, and went straight to Nobu.

“Yes?” She asked in such an innocent voice.

“Just wanted to show these guys something. Hope you don’t mind.” He grabbed her around her waist and pulled her close to his body. With their height difference, she had to crane her neck up to look into his face. But right when she did, Nobunaga closed the distance between them and led with the tip of his tongue into a revealing tongue filled kiss.

Aria couldn’t help but close her eyes and moan out a little from the lust filled kiss that Nobunaga was happily displaying for the other guys to see. It wasn’t him trying to stake a claim, this was him trying to prove a point.

The point was that he wouldn’t be scared or ashamed to kiss and hold Aria in front of the others. And that Phinks was wrong in his assumption that someone as hot as her wouldn’t be interested in a simple guy as him.

Case proven.

The two of them pulled away, a string of saliva still keeping the two of them together. Aria was very flushed, her cheeks bright red and her eyes kind of hazy. Guess that answered her question, Nobu liked having displays of affection.

“Give it up Phinks. Think Nobunaga just showed you.” Shalnark laughed, going back to taking his seat that just happened to be near the kissing couple. “So looks you owe Uvo.”

“Nah, I won’t hold this one against him. Think the guy is just jealous that for the life of him, he can’t get one girl to look at him.” Uvo teased him a little more before taking his seat also and continuing to down the beer.

“Take that back. I so can get any girl I want.” Aria swears if this were a cartoon, there’d be a huge anger mark on Phink’s head right now. “There’s just no girl worth my time.”

“I don’t think that’s true.” Aria piped in, being lead to her seat that was right next to Shalnark. Nobu sat next to her while on his other side was Uvo. The head of the table was still empty. But before Aria could continue on with her observation, another presence made his way into the room.

If Aria was attracted to Uvo at first looks, then this was full out fascination. She felt her who face get red again and her heart beat speed up.

All of the guys at the table yelled out the word ‘Danchou’ and stood for him. And she didn’t blame them one bit.

The guy wore a white button down shirt with black slacks. His hair was down completely and his forehead was covered with some headband. His aura screamed ‘Leader’.

She felt the need to stand also and bow while she was at it.

Wait, she already was.

Aria stood from her seat and was bowing at her waist in the direction of this Danchou person.

“Is this the lovely Aria that you’ve told me so much about Nobunaga?” O.M.G. even his voice was magical. Aria couldn’t believe that Nobunaga knew so many good looking men like this. And how were they not surrounded by thousands of starving lustful women?

She knew she would probably be a total groupie at a glance of any of them? Well, she already was. She was Nobunaga’s groupie.

“Aria, baby, want to come up for a minute to say hi?” Nobunaga’s chuckled out. He was amused by the way she was acting. But use to it. All girls acted that way with Chrollo Lucilfer came waltzing into a room. Something about his box just oozed ‘sex’, made every girl weak in the knees.

Aria wasn’t anything different. He knew it would happen and he was just fine with that. Like he said, he liked to share with the Spiders and wanted Danchou honest opinion about her. The other guys were obviously smitten by her looks. Even Feitan.

Only him and Phinks saw it but Feitan couldn’t keep his eyes off Aria when she first walked in. He hasn’t said a single word the whole time and just keeps trying to cover his face with a black and red scarf he had around his neck.

Phink was trying to act like he didn’t care but he so does. That’s why it bothered him so much. Him and Nobunaga always struggled to get the girls when they were around these other guys. I mean, when you got Feitan who broods like a vampire, Shalnark with a radiating smile, Uvo with the muscles, and Danchou who just needs to breath, what did that leave the two of them?

Now Nobunaga’s got himself an actual girlfriend who will be living with them soon. Phinks knew all about it. Could she really be someone he’d be interested in?

Back to Aria and Chrollo though,

Aria came back up from her bowing and looked right at Chrollo straight in the eyes. He had on such a sweet smile that she blushed even brighter, could her face possibly match her natural red hair.

“Hello Sir. It’s nice to formally meet you.”

“Uh, why are you calling me Sir?” Chrollo asked her.

“Well, the others called you Danchou. So obviously you’re a man of power and excellence.” She explained, her hands coming together in front of her to form a ‘prayer’ symbol. “It just felt like the right thing to do.”

Chrollo was amazed by the girl that stood before him. Even though it wasn’t activated, he was able to sense the nen she had hidden inside of her. He knew then that Nobunaga made the right call, he was right to trust his 2^nd spider to do this job. He may have found what they were looking for. Now he just needed to gain more of her trust before the rest of the plan could come into action. For now, let’s make her more comfortable and do about with the ‘Danchou’ nickname from her.

“Oh that. It’s just a silly little nickname that the others gave me when we were but children. Seems to have followed us into maturity. You don’t have to call me that though. You may just call me Chrollo.”

“No, I can’t!” Aria all but yelled out, it made all of them taken aback. “I need to call you something with more respect. Please. Is there anything?”

Chrollo truly didn’t know what other word Aria could call him. He really meant it when he said she could just call him by his name. But she was so adamant about something else. She stood there for a minute, with her finger on her chin and her eyes off to the side, thinking very hard about something.

Danchou means ‘Leader of a group’….leader…..leader… lead…excel….excellent….excellency.

“I got it!” She was super excited to let her idea out. “Can I call you ‘kakka’ instead? It means Excellency and I can tell by this group of officers you have and by the way they show respect that you’re someone with a lot of excellent standards. Will that be ok?”

No one has ever asked to call him something with so much meaning besides Danchou. But Kakka was…. Perfect for him.

And coming from sweet little Aria.

“Kakka will be fine. Only if it’s spoken from you Aria. No other person shall be allowed to have that name fall from their lips if they are addressing me.”

To her, it was a statement. But to the Spiders, it was a proclamation.

Chapter Text

3^rd person POV

It felt good for the other Spiders to be around each other once again. And to be joined by a hot babe. Chrollo sat at the head of the table, enjoying a glass of bourbon while the others were drinking from cans of beer or cocktails.

Well, the cocktails were insisted upon Aria by Shalnark since she was the girl. Nobunaga tried to explain to Shal that she would drink the beer and shots like the rest of them would, but he wouldn’t hear it. Apparently, he was just dying to order her cocktails and have some fun talks with her.

Aria just obliged and drank the fruity drinks that she found enjoyable. She was also being bombarded by both Shal and Uvo with questions like her favorite color (Red, Nobunaga answered) and what’s her favorite food (Waffles and dumplings, Nobunaga answered again). When she was able to find a small break in the conversation, when Uvo wanted to order food for the whole table, Aria took the chance to speak to Feitan.

“By the way, I really like your shirt Feitan. Hacksaw is one of my favorite movies as well.”

And that was how she won over the normally quiet one easily.

“Pretty girl like shirt?” was his question, his eyes wide and the small blush appearing high up on his cheeks that was hard to hide behind the scarf around his neck. And instead of judging the way he spoke, she only nodded and proceeded to tell him which of the 4 movies was her favorite and even her favorite trap and scene.

Feitan was amazed that somebody other than him and Phinks enjoyed the movie.

Phinks, on the other hand, was a little annoyed. He still couldn’t believe that he lost the bet to Uvo. And that Nobunaga got himself on hell of a babe to have on his arm. He was occupying himself by watching the boxing matches on the TV.

It wasn’t that exciting of matches, but it was a welcoming distraction. The next match featured two pretty good guys: Savage vs Reaper.

“Oh, Savage has totally got this match.” Now normally, he would ignore other’s comments but since this one came from his table and it was the feminine one, he just had to get his word in.  

“Wrong. He’ll get his ass handed to him by Reaper. The guy’s got more years on him.”

“Just because he’s got more years doesn’t mean anything. Savage has more overall wins compared to Reaper. And his stats show that he’s faster and has more techniques.”

“They were both trained at the same dojo. So, techniques don’t matter in this match.”

“Reaper hasn’t trained at the dojo in 3 years. Savage might have something new up his sleeve since rumor has it that the sensei hired some new help around the dojo.”

Nobunaga sat there completely stunned, his girl knew stuff about boxing as well. He looked at the others at the table, Shal’s eyes were sparkling with some much admiration and Uvo had the biggest smile on his face. Danchou had such a satisfied grin on his face as well and gave Nobu a small nod, letting him know that he was pleased with how things were turning out this evening.

Danchou could tell that even though Phinks was putting up a small fight, he secretly was turning out to like Aria. They all would end up liking her. Danchou knew they would, he already did with how much respect she showed him with his personalized nickname.

“Wanna bet?” Phinks suddenly asked, going into his pocket and bringing out a huge wad of money. He smacked it onto the table, hoping to intimidate Aria. She sat there completely unfazed, looking at all the money on the table in front of her.

“I would love to except I don’t have much to bet.” She responded.

“I’ll back you up Aria.”

“Same here.”

“I want in on this.”

Shalnark, Uvoguin, and Nobunaga all gathered enough money to match Phinks’ bet and put it all in the middle of the table.

“Winner takes all.” Phinks declared.

With that said, the match started.

Chrollo sat in his chair and enjoyed the antics of his group. The food came while the group cheered for their player, even Feitan got in on the action. He cheered with Phinks only to make it seem fair. He clearly didn’t care who won though.

In unlike Chrollo fashion, he reached for one of the wings on the table proceeded to eat it in a godly manner as he could muster. It’s hard to eat a wing in a fancy manner. Even though it wasn’t his preferred meal, he wasn’t one to say no to food when it was in front of him.

Growing up in Meteor City does that to you.

He was able to scarf down 3 wings, 3 mozzarella sticks, and 2 sliders when the final bell went off and he finished off his bourbon to see who the winner was.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Phinks was out of his chair, screaming at the TV. He couldn’t believe it.

“HAHA, wow Aria, you actually beat Phinks.”

“That’s my girl.” Nobunaga put his arm around Aria and kissed the side of her head. “Smart and beautiful, I definitely hit the jackpot.”

“All this is yours Sweet Cheeks.” Uvo pointed at the money pile.

Aria didn’t move, she mainly watched Phinks to be sure he’d be ok. She knew that she was on the rocks with him and was scared that beating him in a bet was going to cause even more tension with him.

She was completely caught off guard when Phinks fell back down onto his seat laughing his head off. His head went to the money on the table and pushed it all towards her.

“That’s got to be the craziest bet I’ve made in a while. But I got to say, Hot Stuff, you know your stats. I bow to the ‘Queen’.” He gave a small bow with his head, letting everyone now know that he accepted Aria into the group and even bestowed upon her his own nickname.

The only one who hadn’t given her one was Danchou, and that was only because he hadn’t thought of one that suited her yet.

The group finished off their meals, the guys teasing Aria about eating like a man; in which she responded that she loved food too much to eat like a ‘lady’. That earned her even more brownie points from them.

After the food and drinks were done, Shalnark suggested they all walk a little and Danchou agreed. Aria was excited to walk around and visit a certain shop that she knew to get Nobunaga’s Birthday gift at.

So here they were now at the shop, the guys having traveled off on their own, leaving Aria to look at the brochure to see how much the certain item would cost. It wasn’t cheap but she knew that Nobu would love it if she did it. And she had just enough to do something like this.

“Hmmm…. What you looking at cutie?”  The blonde’s face showed up out of nowhere and got right into hers.

“Ah! Shalnark! Don’t scare me like that!” Aria jumped back slightly, holding the brochure to his chest. This caused the cheerful blonde to laugh a little. He mainly came over due to Nobunaga asking him to keep an eye on Aria.

They all noticed how she was being checked out by random males and getting death glares from the women. Nobu didn’t want to seem like an overbearing boyfriend, so he asked Shal to watch her.

“Sorry about that. Just curious. So, what you looking at?” He towered over her as well, looking down at the brochure she held to her chest.

“Well….it’s….a….uh…” She blushed at the thought of showing it off to Shalnark. “If I show you, you can’t tell Nobunaga, please?”

“Cross my heart.” Shal did an ‘X’ over his heart to show he was being truthful. “Now come on and show me already.” The blonde began to bounce up and down on the balls of his feet. He was like a little kid who was about to get a bag of candy.

The whole time, the smile on his face never left. Aria wondered if his cheeks ever hurt from how much he smiled.

She lowered the brochure just enough for Shalnark to see what it was.

“Oh, a boudoir photo shoot. Sexy.” He made a dance move with his upper body to emphasis with the word sexy.

“Yeah. I’m planning to do it for Nobunaga’s birthday present.”

“ *sigh* Makes me wish I applied for that job in Starhaven. I feel if we had met we would have hit it off just as good.” Shalnark said.

“It’s kind of hard to say that, Shalnark. I mean, the whole reason Nobu and I hit it off, as you say, is because we made each other laugh. I think that’s what made me like him. And I won’t lie, I’ve always been attracted to men with long hair.” While she spoke of him, Aria looked off towards Nobu’s direction and kept staring at him.

The smile, for once, fell off Shalnark’s face. He was curious now. Would they have fallen for each other?  It’s clear that the two of them were good looking people. Aria was gorgeous. But Nobunaga wasn’t that good looking to have someone like her at his side.

Yet, here he was, having someone precious and beautiful like Aria hanging off his arm.

Shalnark found himself being a little jealous yet at the same time, proud. Proud that a friend of his found somebody special for the Spiders to have….and to play with.

This didn’t change his plans at all. He was still planning to play with Aria when he got the chance, He wanted to see what she looked like naked. He wanted to see what her boobs looked like when they were free and bouncing around when he pounded into her tight pussy. He wanted to see her round ass in the air.

“So, you’re saying I’m not attractive since I don’t have long hair?”

“Huh? What? No! I’m not saying that.” She began to panic.

“Haha! I’m joking with you cutie. I get it. We all have our types.” He went and put his arm around Aria and began to pull her towards the register. “Well come on, let’s get you signed up for the photo shoot.”

“I’ve been trying to do that, but no one wants to help me out.” She pointed at the one girl that was working at the counter.  

Shalnark followed her direction and saw one girl with pure black hair and a lot of make up on checking out him and the other Spiders. She made that very clear; but whenever her eyes landed on Aria, it turned into sour pure hate.

And that made Shalnark mad.

This girl doesn’t know who she is messing me, must be new to the city. Well, Shalnark was going to make sure she’d never make this type of mistake ever again.

“You mind if I take care of this for you?”

“Huh? Why? I can do it.”

“Mainly because I remember Danchou wanting to take you to see a bookstore before it closes for the night.”

“Did you say…..bookstore????” Her eyes began to sparkle at the thought of more books for her to look at than the small library that Starhaven had. She also wondered what kind of books Kakka liked to read as well. Maybe they would talk about and exchange ideas.”

“That I did. So would tomorrow work for a shoot?”

“Yes, that’d be perfect. Let me get the money.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it, and you’ll just owe me a big favor later.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, yes yes, don’t worry about it. Now run along to Danchou. He doesn’t like waiting for long. Oh, and send Phinks and Feitan over here, would you?”

When Aria nodded and jogged away to do as told, Shalnark put himself in his best flirting mode and went up to the black-haired girl.

“Hello sir.” She purred. Actually purred, it made Shalnark sick to his stomach. He didn’t like it when girls tried too hard on him like that. He liked it when they played innocent. “How can I help you today?”

“Actually, see those two guys walking over here. Those are good buddies of mine and we are wondering if there’s anyway we can maybe help you out today.” His usual cheerful smile turned into a sensual smirk, knowing he made the girl’s heart stop.

He knew how to play his part pretty well.

“Hey Shal, you called?” Phinks spoke. The girl looked up at him and blushed even more, imagining what Phinks looked like underneath his tracksuit. And Feitan, don’t even get her started on him. With his goth/Emo look going on, he was definitely her type.

Or so she thought.

It didn’t take much convincing from Shalnark to convince the girl to take a lunch break and go with them into a dark alley. And that’s when the fun for Feitan started.

He started off with her feet, mainly toenails so that she wouldn’t be able to run off so easily. Passersby were able to hear them but one look at Phinks made them just turn their heads and carry on.

See, everybody in town knew exactly who the Gen'ei Ryodan were. They knew every member and what they were capable of. The newbies didn’t know and some of them learned the hard way. Like this random girl who was currently getting her skin carved up by a sadist Feitan.

He didn’t know why he was doing it right now, but he was enjoying it.

“She was kind of pretty.” Phinks found himself saying.

“Hm. Should have said something earlier, you could have had some fun first.” Shalnark sat on top of a crate, going through a pile of cards, as if checking to see if any of them were new. “Want to play a round with me?”

“Yeah sure. Poker?” Phinks jumped up onto the crate and sat cross-legged around Shalnark while he began to deal the cards. “So, what this girl do that was so bad?”

“Oh, she ignored Aria.”  

Feitan stopped what he was doing, which happened to be carving something into the girl’s porcelain skin with a blunt knife. It was right on her face, like a smile of sorts.

“Ignore pretty girl?” He spoke.

“Yeah, and all Aria wanted to do was book a photo session to give a present to her boyfriend. Isn’t that sad guys?”

“Yeah, very sad.” Phinks placed 3 cards down before drawing three more cards. “For this girl who doesn’t know how things work around here.”

“I’M SORRY!” She cried when the carving got closer to her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I can be nicer to people from now on.”

“Oh, we don’t care about other people.” Phinks won this round, making Shalnark have a pout on his face while he gathered the cards to play another round with him. “We only care about our property.”

“Pretty girl ours.” Feitan picked an area on the body that wasn’t heavily venous (meaning she wouldn’t bleed out too much) but would cause a lot of pain and stabbed the girls there, making her want to scream but her mouth got covered by Feitan’s hand. “She belong Troupe.”

It was then that the girl knew exactly who she was messing with.

Her mother had warned her about moving to this city because of the crime right. She had foolishly told her mom that she would never run into the gang, that there was no way she would. But man, how stupid could she be. How stupid was it to be mean to one girl would throw her into this situation where she was being tortured and possibly disfigured by a member of the….of the….

Gen’ei Ryodan!

Chapter Text

3^rd person POV

By the time Feitan was done with the poor girl, she was almost as disfigured as some of the victims in the Hacksaw movies. She had promised that whoever helped out Aria in the boudoir photo shoot would be a lot nicer and cater to her every whim, and maybe even throw in a free upgrade.

Strike that, will throw in a free upgrade.

The three went and found the bookstore that Chrollo was absolutely obsessed with. They saw Nobunaga and Uvo sitting at the front, both enjoying a cup of black coffee.

“Take care of whatever you needed to?” Nobunaga asked.

“Yup.” Shalnark jumped over the couch he was on and sat next to him. Brining out his trusty cellphone, he opened it up and brought up a picture he had taken of the girl. “Can’t have somebody messing with the Web.”

By Web, he meant someone affiliated with the Troupe, not exactly someone of the Troupe.

“Nice.” Nobu responded while taking a sip. “Exactly what I was thinking the name should be. Maybe even a tattoo of a spider web on her, what ya think?”

“Very possible.”

“So, where’s Hot Stuff anyway?” Phinks leaned up against the entrance door, intimidating anybody that tried to exit and enter the establishment. Feitan took a seat next to Uvo.

“She’s somewhere lost in there with Danchou.”

As on cue, both Chrollo and Aria come out of the aisles, both of them with a huge stack of books in their arms. The guys quickly glanced over the ones in Danchou’s arms, not use to the titles he had; must be ones that Aria suggested to him.

And in Aria’s arms she held a variety of True Crime and Shakespearean titles. Nobunaga admits that he didn’t know her taste in books as well yet to know whether this was normal or not.

“Nobu!” Aria spots him and jogs over to him with so much excitement.

‘Adorable’, they all thought in unison, yes, even Chrollo thought the same thing. Not many girls he knew got excited over the thought of new books to read. He found her presence very soothing and refreshing.

He severely hoped that she was the Treasure he had heard so much about. It would make it even more special with the troupe robs the town for it and for her.

“What you got there Baby?” Aria loves that nickname more and more every time Nobu says it to her.

“Looks at all these books! There are some here I’ve never even heard of! This place is amazing! Kakka gave me some good recommendations and I can’t wait to start reading them.”

“My apologies to you sweet Aria but you will not find that this group shares in the same enthusiasm as you. I’m afraid that my love for literature goes groundless by my own dear group of friends.”

“Such a shame.” She says but still goes and gives her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek. “I guess books will be mine and kakka’s thing. Is that ok?”

“Did you just ask if that’s ok? Pff, more than ok. Maybe then he’ll stop asking our thoughts on them since we don’t read that stuff.”

The group walked around the streets a little more until the sun began to set. Nobunaga stated that he didn’t want Aria out late and that it had been a long day of traveling so she must be exhausted. As soon as she was about to argue back, she let out a long yawn so her argument would have been for naught.

Aria was delighted to hear that not only was everybody staying at the same giant hotel, but they were also staying on the same floor.

Or at least she thought it was the same floor. She hadn’t noticed that the only way to get to the floor, the very top floor of the establishment, was to scan a very special key card. When the elevator stopped with a ding and the doors opened, instead of seeing a floor with multiple doors like she had envisioned, she saw what looked like an entire den with kitchen and fireplace and giant TV with multiple doors.

To say she was confused was a major understatement.

“Is this normal?” She saw all the guys get off and followed closely behind Nobunaga. He held his hand out for her to grab onto and she quickly snatched it, feeling so out of place. She began to fear that maybe the hotel had made a mistake and any second now, the manager would come up and kick them out.

“Well, for us it is. But this is your first time traveling with my group so for you, it’s a little much. See, Danchou…” He bent down to whisper into her ear “Even though he’ll deny it….” He got back up to full height. “Likes to travel in style.”

“Multiple times this accusation has been made against me. How many more times must I continue to defend myself?” In basic terms, I do not!

“This hotel is something special. This whole floor is ours pretty much. We have our own kitchen where the staff will come and make us our own breakfast every morning. All these doors are personal rooms with their own bathrooms and TVs. We can also share a TV and video game station if we want to…...well, you kind of have to fight Phinks and Feitan for it since games are their thing.”

Right on cue, she sees the two of them on the floor already plugging in a game to play.

“How…much…did…all this cost?”

“Sweet cheeks…” Uvo patted her head from behind her, making her jump from the sudden loud voice. With the other hand, he brought out a fancy hotel bathrobe. “Nothing you have to worry your pretty little head about. Just relax and enjoy. After all, your birthday is in two days, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, and we got a big celebration planned for you!” Shalnark ran out of a random room, with another robe in hand that he wanted to give Aria. He saw that Uvo had beat him to it though and he puffed up his cheeks in agitation.

How did Uvo always manage to beat him to things?

“But Nobunaga’s is tomorrow, aren’t we going to celebrate his also?” Aria looked to Shalnark to confirm this, knowing that he was the only one who knew about her boudoir plans and promised to get her a session.

“I wasn’t really planning on….”

“Yup!” Shalnark cut in, wrapping his arms around Aria from behind and pulling her into a close hug. He took the chance to whisper into her ear. “Got the appointment all set up. It’ll be after breakfast.”

“Thank you.” She whispered back and let out a giggle when he started to tickle her under her chin.

“What’s going on?” Nobunaga wanted to know. Well, he kind of had an idea but needed to act a little surprised.

“Oh, please don’t be mad. But I have to do something for your birthday present tomorrow. So, I was hoping that you’d do lunch with the guys.”

“But I wanted to spend the day with just you Aria.” Nobunaga was playing his part well, being a needy boyfriend and all. He knew that they all needed to have a separate meeting without Aria around so her planning something on her own worked out to their needs so well.

“Geez, guy gets a girlfriend and forgets he has friends.” Phinks yelled from his spot on the couch.

“We have many surprises for the two of you.” Danchou presented himself to the group, a glass of whiskey in his hand and his shirt unbutton to make himself more comfortable. The guys were used to it, but Aria wasn’t.

She found herself somewhat drooling over this and that didn’t go unnoticed by any of the guys. They all decided to push it a little further so each of them, including Feitan, took off their shirts. One by one. Nobunaga was the last to do so, he made his the hardest for her; by doing a long stretch and then reaching down to scratch at his stomach. When he knew Aria’s eyes were on his still covered by bandages but well defined abs, he grabbed onto bottom of his shirt and in one fluids motion, pulled it over his head.

‘They all have abs!’ Aria screamed in her head. She’s never been around such good-looking men in her entire life. ‘Fuck, I’m getting horny.’

She grabbed onto Nobunaga’s hand and pulled him closer to her.

“Which one is our room?” She whispered, hopefully low enough for just him to hear. Shalnark heard though and couldn’t help but let out his signature laugh and pointed to their master bedroom. Nobu nodded a thank you and led her away from the teasing group of boys; well, Chrollo wasn’t teasing but he wasn’t doing anything to stop the others from doing it either.

Once they closed the door, Aria was on him. She literally pushed him against the door, dropped down to her knees and began to lick around the outline of his abs. It didn’t bother her at all that they were covered, she was completely use to it.

“Can I help you?” He taunted her while holding in his own moan. Just watching the way her tongue would peek out of her juicy lips was giving him a boner, and she felt it along her body while she continued to have her way with his abs.

“Clothes. Off. Now!”

Chapter Text

Aria’s POV

It was very hard for me to sleep last night; I felt like I was living inside of an amazing dream. And I just felt like if I went to sleep, it’d all end. This wouldn’t be real, Nobunaga wouldn’t be real. And that was a huge fear.

Nobu not being real.

But here we were, in bed together; and he was still fast asleep. This was so unlike us; normally it was vice-versa that he’d be the first one awake and I’d be the one sleeping still. It was nice to see that we woke up in the same position that we fell asleep in. With me sleeping against him, my head in the crook on his neck, my arm wrapped around his chest, and one of our legs hooked around the others.

When I used to sleep alone, I would toss and turn like a rotisserie chicken; fall asleep in one position and wake up in another. But with Nobu, I feel so safe that there’s no need to and I just sleep so comfortably.

Looking at his sleepy face, he looks so peaceful and he has this funny goofy side grin on his face also. It’s adorable.

And today’s his birthday so I want to do something special for him.

I think making breakfast would be a good start.

It was as if the people working at the hotel read my mind, I heard the doors to the living room open and close, that must be the food that was mentioned. I’m not sure how I was able to do this but I was able to maneuver my way out of Nobu’s grip, grab onto my sleepwear from our luggage (some shorts and tank top), my raggedy purple boots that I used to walk around in the house, and I headed out.

I had a short conversation with the chefs that they would leave the ingredients there because I wanted to make the food. They mentioned that it would take a lot out of me because there were multiple people but I love cooking so I wanted to do it.

Our talking did wake up Kakka, he came out in a pair of pajama pants and no shirt. Why does he do this to me? I explained the situation that I wanted to cook for Nobu’s birthday. He didn’t have to say a word, all he did was wave them away and the chefs left the room.

I offered to put on a pot of coffee for him and he was all to eager to accept; by vigorously nodding his head.

I quickly discovered that Kakka wasn’t someone who liked to talk so early in the morning, being somebody who needed his coffee first thing in the morning.  While he sat at the kitchen counter drinking his coffee, he watched me walk around the kitchen whipping up some omelets, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, rice, grilled salmon, cut up fruit, it was literally the works. I wanted to be sure that everybody had their choices for either a western breakfast or a traditional Japanese breakfast.

“Man, something smells good.” I heard the deep gruff of Uvo ring out.

“Yeah, I don’t remember hotel breakfast smelling this good.” That was Shalnark.

Uvo and Shalnark appeared at the same time and were both in awe to see the spread I had laid out. Before more could be said, Phink and Feitan came out too. They didn’t bother saying anything or freezing in awe. They quickly grabbed onto some plates and began to pile them high with food.

“Did you cook all this for us, Cutie?” Shalnark came up behind me and hugged me, pulling me close to him. All of us were still in pajamas.

“Yup, please help yourself.” I went to pour myself a cup of coffee but Shalnark wouldn’t let me go at first. He held onto me for a good 10 more seconds until a cup of coffee was placed into my hands. When I looked to see who did it, I saw that Nobunaga had woken up and joined us silently.

“Nobu!” That’s when I got out of Shalnark’s hold and jumped into Nobu’s arms after he placed the cup of hot coffee down. “Happy Birthday!” I kissed him in front of everyone, not giving a shit what they had to think or say.

A chorus of random ‘happy birthday’ were let out with a little less joy since they all started eating their foods. I did get some great compliments about it being the best food they’ve ever eaten and how Nobunaga was a lucky guy to have me.

With no time to waste, I quickly threw on some random clothes and packed my sexiest lingerie, red lace bra with matching thong, I hope that would be enough for a nice photo.

Nobunaga’s POV

While Aria didn’t want me to know exactly where she and Shalnark were going, we all did walk her down to the general area since that was also the area where I was having my ‘guys lunch’. There was a park nearby and we spent some time.

It was a nice day until we were disturb by some random child crying about their balloon being stuck in a tree. The guys and I were fine with just ignoring it but Aria had other plans. She asked Shalnark if he’d hold her bag for her and then she went over and began climbing up the tree.

She easily got up to where the balloon was stuck, unwrapped it from the branch, then jumped back down. It freaked me out at first until I remembered that she once flipped me over. The kid that had been crying was a small little girl with blue hair. She was crouched under the tree the entire time.

“Here.” Aria’s voice was gentle and soft; I wonder if she’s ever thought about having kids in the future.

I never been a fan of kids but I guess if Aria wanted them, I wouldn’t take that away from her……possibly. Not sure how to feel about that.

Anyway, the kids finally stopped crying when she saw Aria bent over with her balloon in her hand.

“My balloon!” The kid grabbed onto the string and pulled it out of Aria’s hand. “Thank you pretty lady. Wow, you’re like a princess.” Aria was very shocked by the compliment that she stood up straight in shock and both her cheeks were red.

This is when I stepped in and wrapped my hand around her waist.

“Got that right kid. She’s my princess.”

“Is this your prince?” The girl looked me straight in the face and I could feel her analyzing me. “He’s ugly.”

Now that was cold!

“You’re too pretty for him. You should date my papa. He’s more handsome than this guy.”

“Why you little…” I growled out only for Aria to hold me back by my chest and let out an awkward laugh.

“Ok sweetie, I know you think your daddy is handsome and all but you can’t go around calling other people ‘ugly’. That’s very rude…..” Before she could continue on with her lecture, a man came running towards us and he looked to be very distressed.

He also didn’t seem to cower when he saw who I was so it’s clear he didn’t live in this city or know who the Troupe was.

“Neon! There you are.” He scooped up the child into his arms and held her close to his chest. “Don’t run away from me like that again. I can’t lose you like that, don’t scare papa like that.”

“Wow, so this is what it’s like to have a parent love you.” Aris whispered to me, I just nodded my head.

“You two, I can’t thank you enough for watching over my daughter.” He geared that statement towards us, but I noticed that when he looked up, he lingered his eyes on Aria for a lot longer than I would have liked.

I also noticed that he had a few bodyguards not that far behind him. No wonder he wasn’t scared, this guy was a Don, he was mafia.

“It’s no big deal.” I answered him before guiding Aria away from him before she could say anything. She was all too eager to follow along, seeming to get a bad feeling from this guy as well. We got far away where I couldn’t hear what was said but I could see that he had one of his bodyguards pull his cellphone out to take a picture of something.

Either me or of Aria.

Uvo stepped in when this was done and he grabbed onto the cellphone and crushed it.

From this position, Shalnark took Aria to her location and the rest of us when to some random restaurant where we were sure we could get a private back room with a locking door in order for us to have a private conversation. Shalnark came shortly to join us, waving his cellphone in his hand saying that Aria was in good hands; this meant that he put one of his antenna in somebody to make sure that an eye was going to be kept on her with whatever she was doing.

“Hey Uvo, what did that guy want with the cell phone picture?” I asked my best friend.

“Can you believe this, he wanted a picture of Aria. So I destroyed his cellphone and told him it wasn’t nice to take pictures of someone without their permission.”

“Good.” My nen got the best of me and caused a sharp angle to go down my can of beer and slice it open. My jealousy of other men, besides my troupe, looking at my property has gotten worse ever since we all decide that she was ours.

“Now that we are all gathered and we don’t have our precious girl, now is the time for Nobunaga to share why he thinks that Aria is the treasure I’ve been searching for in Starhaven.” Danchou spoke.

Aria’s POV

The photos couldn’t have gone any better. I had learned that they gave me an upgrade and Shalnark had bought me some more clothes to use during the shoot. My hair was done professionally, along with my makeup.

The person doing the photos helped me going through poses that made me feel so sexy. And the photos were already printed into a photobook so I can give them to Nobu tonight. Now that’s what I call service.

With the photobook in my hands, I waited patiently for Shalnark to come get me. I only waited about 5 minutes after the shoot was done. My hair and makeup was still on but I was back in my normal clothes.

When Shalnark saw me, he let out a wolf whistle.

“Wow Cutie, looking good.”

“Thanks Shalnark. I’m so ready to go and see my honey.” He quickly went over to the manager and shook his hand and gave him a quick side hug before coming back to me and leading me out of the store.

We made it back safely to the hotel, where the rest of today’s events were going to take place. From what I understood, the guys had bought some presents and even got Nobunaga a cake. That was very sweet of them to do.

“So I did arrange all that…” Shalnark started saying while we were inside the elevator “Do I get to see at least one photo before Nobunaga?” He hinted.

“Oh, I don’t know. You’d have to ask him since this is his present.” I commented.

“Aw…” Shal gave me such a sad face, his bottom lip pouted and was even shaking a little like he was going to cry. “Can I at least get a kiss or something? For a thank you?”

I giggled at him, Shalnark can be so childish sometimes, it was adorable. Before we reached out floor, I grabbed onto his chin and brought him close to place a kiss upon his face cheek. That was my way of saying thank you.

That lead to him having a smile once more.

“A kiss from a real cutie. My life is almost complete.” He signed out lovingly.

We finally reached out floor, the elevator doors opened and we were met by Phinks yelling this time instead of Uvo.

“Finally! Let the party begin!”

I immediately went over to sit next to Nobunaga, still holding the present close to my chest. I listened to funny stories from their childhood, from their work they did together. From when Nobunaga got turned down by his first crush (wish I could go punch that girl but at the same time thank her because now I have Nobu all to myself). And then it was time for presents.

Nobunaga mostly got gag presents from the guys, none of them took this seriously. Which is to be expected from friends you’ve had since childhood. And they were all waiting to see what I had gotten him.

“Saved the best for last.” I said shyly before handing Nobu the book. “I’ve never done something like this so I hope you like it.”

“Gee, I wonder what it is.” Shalnark said, all while knowing what these pictures could hold.

Nobunaga was a little confused at first, carefully opening the cover to reveal the first photo. He froze completely. His eyes wide and his mouth opened in surprise and awe, I’m pretty sure I even saw some drool come out of the corner of his mouth.

“That’s….you.” He said all while still looking at the first photo.

“Yeah, that is. There’s more. Turn the page.” Nobu did just as I said, slowly turning to look at the next photo. This one got an even more hilarious reaction. He looked back and forth between me and the photo; almost like he couldn’t believe it was the same person.

I didn’t expect the next part.

He stood up, leaned down, and lifted me up high to where I was now hanging over his shoulder, his arm wrapped securely around my butt.

“Don’t care what you guys do.” He told the boys before walking back to our room.

“Nobu!” I squealed out loud. From the background, I could hear every single guy laughing; and yes, that included Feitan and Kakka’s chuckling.

We made it to the bedrooms where Nobu kicked the door’s closed with his feet and somehow locked it with both hands full. He then lowered me down onto the bed where he was towering over me.

He opened the book to some random page, I don’t even think he looked at what the page showed. Instead, the pictures were facing me.

“You’re going to replicate every. Single. Picture in his book to me right now. With no clothes. Understand?”

Oh, he’s using his bedroom command voice. I let out a groan combined with a moan; he knows how that voice absolutely gets me going.

“Yes I do…..Master.”

Chapter Text

Aria’s POV

I pulled out the outfit from one of the gifts I had been given for my birthday. It was from 3 people that weren’t able to make it but still wanted to give me something: Pakunoda, Machi, and Shizuku. Nobunaga made it very very clear that yes, they were females, yes, they were his friends, but no, there were no romantic feelings for any of them.

Especially Machi.

He made sure to emphasize that Machi annoyed the hell out of him and she was actually his former partner at his last workplace.

The outfit was a sparkly red top with fall off the shoulder sleeves and a corset. The bottom were faux leather shorts and the shoes were sparkly red tennis shoes. Thank goodness they were not heels since I refused to wear those.

Today had been a very relaxing day for me. This morning started with all the guys and Nobu singing happy birthday to me while I was still in bed, followed shortly with breakfast in bed. No, they admitted they didn’t make it for me but they made sure it was my favorite dish of a Belgian waffle with extra whipped cream.

Shalnark tried to make a ‘dirty’ joke but Uvo shut him up, saying it was too early for shit like that and he wanted me to enjoy the breakfast first. It wouldn’t have bothered me honestly, I like dirty jokes.

After breakfast, I was lead to the living room to see that the furniture had been rearranged to make a circle with gifts right in the center. Phinks was the one who lead me to the center and I was instructed to open each gift one by one and to guess who got me what since nothing was labeled.

From Feitan, I got a Hacksaw tank top.

From Phinks, I got some boxing gloves (since I liked watching the boxing so much, he was hoping I’d get into it and have a boxing buddy. He got more excited when he heard I was an avid exercise person who loved trying new things).

From Shalnark, I got a pink phone case cover; according to him, every girl is a pink girl, you just got to find the right shade.  And he also got me some lingerie, that I didn’t want to show anybody.

And from Nobunaga, I got new purple boots (he threw mine away without me knowing) and a Halloween theme/cat tote bag that I could use to carry my stuff since I didn’t own an official purse.

Kakka was the last to give me a gift, since it was a full day at the spa that the hotel had. I had the works done. Hair, make-up, massage, nails, it was amazing!

With my hair curled and my make-up done, the guys told me we were now going to go clubbing for the end of the night. They were already dressed and I was hurried into my room to change.

I’ve never been clubbing before so I was super excited to get a few drinks in me and just let go with my boyfriend and his friends. I was also a little nervous since I have absolutely no idea how I am when I’m drunk. I’ve only ever drank alone and slept right after.

 The shirt was super tight that it looked like my boobs were about to pop out and the shorts stopped just right below my butt cheeks. Oh goodness, I hope Nobu doesn’t mind this.

Nobunaga’s POV

The guys and I waited for Aria to come out. I really wanted her to enjoy tonight since tomorrow we were going to initiate our plan to see if she was the rumored ‘treasure’ of Starhaven.

None of us really changed what we were wearing, except for me. I was wearing some black pants and a black vest that was opened, with my waist still covered of course. I just wanted to show off with Aria.

“Ready.” The second she stepped out of the room made time more slower for me. Her hips held a natural sway to them, her boobs held more bounce than natural, her skin held a natural dew to it, and her lips, with that glossy pink made me want to kiss her even more.

She looked stunning.

No other girl could compare to mine.

I knew that I made the right decision to steal Aria away. Just a matter of time.

“Wow cutie! Look at you!” Shalnark grabbed her hand and gave her a twirl. “Picturesque.”

“More gorgeous if you ask me.” Uvo joined in.

“Cleans up nicely.” Phinks added in. Feitan could practically do nothing but blush around her. Finally she stops in front of me and I couldn’t keep my hands off her. I grabbed onto her waist and pulled her close to me, my lips crashing onto hers.

“If we are to avoid being late to our reservations, we should take off now.” That’s what made us pull away from each other and had me leading Aria out the door, with my hand on the small of her back.

The club was right next door. It was not as packed as usual and Danchou got us reservations where we had our own area in the back with seats and service to run and get us drinks. And a good look of the dance floor so eyes would constantly be on Aria if she drifted off somewhere without one of us.

“This place is so cool!” She yelled above the music, enjoying the DJ. Every one in a while, he would bring out these machines that would throw out cool fog at the people dancing. It was a nice way to keep everyone cool and not sweating so much.

“I think the first round should be shots!” And here we go, Shalnark trying his hardest to get Aria drunk, but I didn’t hear her say no; so guess we’re going with that. Each of us, even Danchou, took a shot.

Aria wanted to dance more than anything, already doing so in her seat next to me while Shalnark was ordering more for our assigned waitress. We promised Shalnark one….ok, two more shots before we’d go onto the dance floor.

Aria’s POV

One hours

Two hours

Three hours

“How many hours Nobu???” I am drunk. I am so totally drunk.

I can tell since I’m not allowed to walk by myself. Nobu is carrying me princess style, close to his chest. Have I mentioned how much I love his chest. I love his nipples. I love his abs. I love him. Yes, I said it. I love Nobunaga. He’s so sexy.

“We were out for about 6 hours baby. It’s 2 am right now.” We had made it all the way to closing time at the bar. I lost count of how many shots and cocktails and beers that Shalnark had put into my hands. I do remember I had convinced every single one of them to dance. Yes, that includes Feitan and Kakka.

I got them to dance with me!

We got up to our floor, Kakka got to getting me a glass of water and Nobu went to sit on the couch with me in his lap. When I was given the water, I immediately scarfed it down and enjoyed the cool feeling in my throat.

“I had so much fun. You guys made my birthday the best one ever. I hate that it has to end.”

“It doesn’t necessarily have to.” Phinks got this mischievous glint in his eye while looking over at me and Nobu. I could swear he was looking….checking me out. In a way, I think they all were. Next thing I knew, he stood up and unzipped his tracksuit for me to see his chest once more. “Enjoying the view?”

I couldn’t stop myself from staring or from drooling this time. I felt so guilty like I was cheating on Nobunaga.

“No. no no no no . I don’t. I…..”

“Baby….” Nobu grabbed onto my chin and directed me to look over at him. “It’s ok to think my friends are good looking. Actually….” He did this thing with his face and Shalnark was sitting right next to us. “Shalnark thinks you’re very attractive.”

“But…” I don’t think how to feel about this. I find every single one of them attractive. But Nobu is the one I love. At the same time….I kind of….want to…..

“It’s true cutie. I think you’re very attractive and right now, I want nothing more than to kiss you.” Is it me or did his smile seem more bright than usual?

“Same here actually. I’ve wanted to kiss you since I first me ya.” Uvo said.

Phink was still standing shirtless but he did smirk, leading me to believe the same thing.

“Never kiss before.” Feitan’s shy voice chirped up. “Pretty girl…kiss me too?”

“Kakka?” Ok, I don’t know why I had to ask but I needed to know: did he want to kiss me also?

“I refuse to be a liar.” He sat near the fireplace, taking out one of his books and proceeded to read; but his statement was clear.

They all wanted to kiss me. And maybe do more to me. And Nobunaga seemed to be fine with it.

“Well…”

“Oh, me first!” Shalnark grabbed me from Nobu’s lap and dragged me onto his. Before I could respond, his lips were on mine. From his childish demeanor, I expect his kiss to reflect just that. Instead, it felt like I was kissing a pornstar. His use of tongue exploring my mouth and the way his moans reflected off mine were in sync. My hands reacted on their own and went to wrap around his neck.

When we pulled away, there was a string of saliva still attaching us to each other. The smile he held was no longer childish, it was still smiling but now held this sort of horny sinister look to it.

“No wonder he like to do it so much. You taste amazing.” Shalnark’s dark blue eyes glared into mine.

“My turn my turn my turn.” Uvo’s chanting caught my attention. Before I could react, I was grabbed from Shalnark’s lap and held up high to where I had to wrap my legs around Uvo’s chest to give me some sort of stability.

His mouth practically swallowed my whole mouth and his tongue made it very hard for me to breath. Everything about Uvo was huge. But I did find myself getting turned on now but kissing all of these guys in front of Nobunaga. And knowing that he was ok with it. Unconsciously, my hips began to grind against Uvo’s chest.

When we separated, my lips were a little bruised and swollen from his conducts.

“I think I should be next now. Hand her over.” Phinks grabbed onto me, making sure to grab my ass in the process. He made us go against a wall and rammed me up against it. His kiss was very dominant, shoving his tongue right in at the beginning.

I let him win that fight, enjoying being dominated since I considered myself a total submissive person. Several times Phinks would pull away from the kiss and then go back in with the tip of his tongue leading first.

When we were done, he went over towards Feitan and began to instruct him what to do.

“Don’t do anything flashy if you don’t want to Feitan. Just a simple peck would do for a first kiss.” I think I needed to lead with this one. So, I slowly grabbed onto Feitan’s face and lead him towards mine. Our kiss was very basic, a very simple peck that last about 10 seconds. There was no tongue because I didn’t want to scare Feitan.

“Ok, I think now….” I stood from Feitan’s lap and tried to head towards my bedroom when I was stopped by Kakka. He grabbed onto my hand and gave me a spin until our bodies pushed up against each other. He wrapped one hand around my waist and the other around the back of my head. Slowly, he leaned in and kissed the bottom of my lip and nipped it. He then kissed me fully and…..OMG.

Everything about Kakka says ‘sex’. The way he kissed me, the way his tongue slide against mine, the way he pulled apart and made me follow him for more. I was more turned on than I’ve ever been in my entire life.

When we finally pulled apart, his dark eyes were so soul sucking that I wanted to just fall to my knees. 

But not for them.

“Ok, none of you will ever have a hard time finding a girl.” Kakka released me from his hold and I stumbled my way back to Nobunaga, grabbing onto his hands and pulling him up. “Nobu.” I whined.

“What is it my baby?” He cooed at me.

“I’m horny.”

Chapter Text

Aria’s POV

To say my birthday was eventful would be a major understatement. It was amazing and took an interesting turn of events when I ended up kissing not only Nobu but all of his friends. I have no idea how I’m going to look them in their faces now.

“A penny for your thoughts?” Nobu and I laid still in our bed, basking in the glow of the morning sun. Of course, we were cuddling. He had his arm wrapped around my waist and I had my arm wrapped chest. I had gotten into the habit of playing with his nipples sometimes when I’d be lost in thought while we laid together.

Sometimes that lead to other things but not today.

“I just feel a little…..awkward now. How am I going to face the guys? Knowing that I kissed them all? And Kakka? No offense babe but he had to be one of the best kisses I’ve ever had.”

“None taken. Danchou has that affect on women.” Nobu looked away from me and looked up at the ceiling, as if he was trying his hardest to be careful on his next set of words. “I trust these guys with everything, that includes you.”

“In what sense?”

“I know that if something were to happen to me, they’d make sure you’re ok too. Because they know how precious you are to me. They wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you. You’re one of the most valuable things to this group now. You’re my babe, you’re Shalnark’s cutie, you’re Uvo’s sweet cheeks, you’re Phinks’s Hot Stuff, and Feitan’s Pretty Girl. Danchou still doesn’t have a nickname for you. In short, you’re worthy to all of us.”

I’m not sure why but that statement made my heart just pump faster. Knowing that I had worth in not just one but in several people’s life. And not just because of my…….ability. The one I’m not allowed to tell just anybody.

I wish I could tell Nobu more. I mean, I should be allowed to tell him now. He’s my boyfriend and my love. When would be a good time to tell him what I’m capable of doing? He’s already aware of my fighting abilities, when can I tell him about….

“Sleepy heads!” Shalnark’s voice resonated off the walls as he let himself into our room, skipping into the room with a empty coffee mug. But from the drops that were coming off, it looks like he had drank some earlier.

“Who let Shal drink coffee?!” Nobu sat up to yell out loud to the others in the living room. From Phinks’ laugh, we could tell it was him. I guess with Shalnark having enough energy in the world, he wasn’t allowed to drink even more caffeine.

“Time to wake up!” He took a giant leap into the air and landed on his feet at the foot of the bed. Thankfully Nobu and I were dressed in pajamas so the covers flying off the bed didn’t reveal anything of us.

“Why so excited Shalnark?” I let out a giggle at the morning shenanigans. Days with these guys has yet to be boring.

“Today is my favorite day of all.” He waddled over next to me and plopped down to sit crossed legged. His hand came up to rub at one of my exposed shoulders, looking down at me like I was something fragile and exquisite. “Guess where we’re going.”

“Where??” I sat up now, reaching over to grab onto the flailing coffee mug before he somehow broke it. Nobu, who was still behind me, reached for it when I placed it behind my back for him to grab.

“The amusement park!”

“No way!” Now I was excited. I’ve always wanted to go on rides before. “Will there be a Ferris wheel?”

“Oh a hopeless romance is coming out of you.” Shalnark looked from me to Nobunaga, I have no idea what he did but Shalnark did form his lips into kissy lips and made a kissy sound.

“Well…I mean, I’ve seen a few movies….and I just thought….”

“Babe, of course I’ll go on the Ferris wheel with you. We’ll watch fireworks at the top and maybe even share some kisses.

Nobunaga’s POV

The plan was set.

It did pain me to know that I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise to Aria about the Ferris wheel. The most we’d be able to do at this amusement park is hit some of the vendors for food and games. Danchou didn’t want to take so long.

“ Bathroom break!” Shalnark announced to the group. Aria and him had been sharing a tray of Takoyaki balls.

“Seriously shal, we just got started.” Uvo made a big deal about it.

“5 cups of soda, 12 ounces each. A bladder that hold 16 ounces. You do the math.”

“If you lose us, we all know the rule.” Phinks spoke. Aria choked a little on a Takoyaki ball and was sue to cough up the rest and swallow before she was able to speak.

“What’s the rule?”

“Get lost, meet back hotel.” Feitan answered her, all while grabbing onto her arm to keep her close by. I’m sure she thought it was an awkward rule but it works in the end; she didn’t ask anymore questions.

While she hung with the rest of us, the plan was finally getting into action.

Feitan saw the stand he had been looking for that he knew Aria would love. A vendor had been selling some stuff that had to do with Halloween. When he revealed it to her, she looked to me really quick and when I nodded my head, her and Feitan left out group to go look at the stuff.

Phinks  and Danchou went off on their own, leaving just me and Uvogin to ourselves.

“Sure this will work. You’re risking your life.” Uvo and I finally had a chance to talk one on one. Even though he was trying not to show it, he was truly worried about me. We were best friends after all.

“I’m more than sure. If something happens, Machi is a phone call away.”

“You could go into shock, or worse.”

“Relax Uvo. I trust Aria with my life.”

On cue, gunshots were heard.

The crowd began to panic and run around in random directions; not sure where the gunshots originated from. I was able to see quickly that Feitan had made Aria duck down and hide quickly underneath some tables.

She’d be ok. Shalnark knew not to make his puppet go after her direction.

Uvo and I ran in another direction, towards where we knew where Danchou and Phinks had been waiting. Shalnark was still making his puppet shot some more until we heard the words we needed.

“Help!”

“I’ve been shot!”

Danchou looked around to see the rest of the crowd had either dispersed or gone towards the two people that had been calling for help. The gunman was no longer shooting, having come to his senses from Shalnark’s mind control. What he did with himself from there is none of our concern.

Feitan should be taking Aria back to the hotel.

Shal will be heading that way too.

It’s our turn.

“For most nen users, they need to feel high emotions for it to work.” Danchou explained while I went to lay on the floor. Uvo bent down next to me near my head while Phinks went towards my feet. He grabbed onto a handful of my pants and tore them up to where you could see my shin.

“This may hurt.” Phinks warned me.

“Oh shut up.” I told him. “Just get it over with. Make it fast.”

He put his hand on my ankle and the other hand on my knee. And in one motion…

SNAP

Aria’s POV

“Oh my God.” The elevator door couldn’t have opened fast enough. I stumbled into the main living room, Feitan having to help keep me on my feet. I was crying out not a second ago, completely scared that I would have died.

Now that I know that me and Feitan are safe, I’m going to cry over the fact that I had no idea where the others were. Where Nobunaga was.

“Calm.” Feitan spoke, leading me to sit on a chair. “I make tea.”

“How can you be so calm?” I whispered to him, grabbing onto his hand to stop him from leaving my side. I didn’t want to be left alone right now.

“Me know friends.” He said. “Know they ok.” The door to the elevator closed and went down to get another one. I’m really hoping it’s Nobunaga. My grip of Feitan lessened and he was able to go toward the kitchen.

Wait a minute, does Feitan know how to use anything in the kitchen?

The elevator ding and when the door open, out came Shalnark, looking all sweaty from running.

“Aria!” This is serious. I was expecting my usual nickname from him, not my real name. He ran up to me, falling to his knees in front and looking over me to see if I was hurt. “Thank goodness, you’re ok.” He grabbed onto my face and then wrapped his arms around me to hug me close.

Two down, four more to go.

“Have you seen the others?” I ask Shal. He shook his head ‘no’.

The elevator dinged one more time. That’s got to be them.

When the door opened, I about screamed my head off. Phinks and Kakka ran in, moving the rest of anything out of the way. Uvo was carrying in Nobunaga, one of his lower legs had been snapped in half, the bone was showing through the skin.

“Nobunaga!” I screamed with tears spilling from my eyes. They all ran into Kakka’s room, laying him down onto the silk covered bed. I ran after them to get a closer look. It was clear that he had lost way too much blood, looking very pale (more so than usual) and he was barely able to keep his eyes open.

“What happened?” Shalnark asked.

“Don’t know. We found him on the floor like this.”

“The crowd went wild.” Kakka stumbled back until he was up against the wall, he slid down it; his head going to hide into his hands and his back shook as he began to cry. “They probably trampled over him.”

“Kakka…”

“What do I do Aria? Nobunaga is one of my childhood friends. I can’t lose him!”

That’s it.

I don’t care what the others have to say. I’m going to save Nobunaga’s life.

“Move.” I told everyone. They all looked at me like I was crazy. But no one challenged me. They all moved aside. I went towards the bed to where I now stood right by Nobunaga’s side.

“A…A…..”

“It’s ok Nobu.” I whispered to him. My hand went to his forehead, I felt the fever getting higher. His body was already going into sepsis from his exposed bone to the outside. I bent down and placed a kiss where my hand had been on the forehead. “I’m going to save you.”

I moved away from his head, down to where his exposed bone was. There was dripping fresh blood from the wound. Bending down further, my tongue came out and licked up a large droplet. The metallic taste of blood never gets better.

The aura around my body began to flow.

Blood type B, each blood type has a specific taste.

My hands got warm and began to turn into their specific purple color they always turned into before I started my procedures. My blue eyes would turn white, in order for me to have x-ray vision to see whatever it was I was doing.

“Procedure to start now.”

I grabbed onto the two bones that were once one. I heard the others hiss around me but didn’t want to pay any attention to them at all.

Using my strength, I pushed the bones back into place and held them still. Once I knew they wouldn’t move, my right hand moved to the middle and held for just a few seconds while it fused the bones back together.

Once that was done, I made sure to close the open wound by rubbing the area where the opening way. In just a few rubs in the form of a circle, the skin was no longer open. I wish I could say it was done there but I could already tell that Nobu was going through sepsis.

This next part is a little extreme but I’ve done it before.

I went back up towards his chest and in one dramatic move, my hand went through his chest and grabbed onto this heart. Sepsis is spread through the blood stream so I just need to rid it at the source then it’ll be good.

I moved my aura to flow through Nobu’s blood stream to eliminate any forms of sepsis.

“Procedure is done now.” I said out loud and pulled my hands out of his body. Color immediately returned to Nobu’s face and he was no longer struggling to speak. He sat up immediately, a little clueless on how he got there at first but immediately remembered what happened.

“Aria…”

“Nobunaga!”

Nobunaga’s POV

I remembered everything that happened, how Phinks broke my leg, how Uvo carried me up, and how Aria just healed me. I was right. She was exactly what Danchou was looking for in that village.

Aria had literally jumped into my arms when she saw that I was going to live. While her attention was on me, everybody else’s attention was on her.

The one, though, who was shaking with excitement and delight, was Danchou.

His acting was amazing earlier, how he didn’t want to lose his friend. We all know that the legs are replaceable. We just fight to stay alive and together.

“She is the treasure.”

Chapter Text

They all surrounded Nobunaga and Aria, who sat on the couch next to each other. Well, more like Aria sat right on top of Nobunaga’s leg. They could all tell that she was terrified of leaving his side, she needed to be with him.

Not like Nobunaga minded, he enjoyed it immensely. Now that he knew that his life wasn’t in danger anymore. He had to admit, Phinks breaking his leg had to be one of the most painful things he’s ever felt. He thought it would be painful when Aria was touching his actual bones to put them back into place.

But he didn’t feel a thing with his leg. Nor did he feel it when her hand went into his chest and grasped onto his heart.

Not a single thing.

“Aria.” Danchou’s voice called out to her. Her attention was pulled away from Nobu’s face and redirected it to her Kakka. Her hands stayed connected to his though.

“Yes?” Her voice was small and shaky, a sign that she was going through her own shock. She had gone through quite a bit this night.

“What you did tonight was nothing short of astounding.” The others all nodded in agreement but remained silent. They could tell that if they all were to talk, they would overwhelm her. And Aria didn’t need that tonight. She needed to feel secure. And if that meant sitting on Nobunaga’s lap in near silence, then that’s what they were going to do.

“Thank you.” She whispered. Her attention turned back to Nobunaga, one of her hands letting go of his to lightly caress his cheek.

She loves him.

Like he loves (obsessed) her.

Chrollo could see that, and he wonders if it’d be the same once his next plan comes into action. Raiding her town to steal her. Nobunaga has informed him that Aria refuses to leave the town until her debt is all paid off.

But Shalnark discovered some things about the town and Aria. And let’s just say that at the rate she’s going, her debt will never be paid off.

So the only logical explanation for them is to steal her. Or maybe steal her power, he was still unsure if he wanted to go that route. Since he was the head of the Spider, he needed to lead the group with their raids.

He would have no time to stop and heal as they go. So it would be important to have a healer available to them.

So much needed to be discussed amongst the group. But for now, he wanted to know more about her nen ability.

“How long have you been able to…”

“All my life.” She answered while still look into Nobu’s eyes. She knew that it was rude to not look at someone when talking to them, but she couldn’t pull her attention away from her boyfriend at all. Not after almost losing him that night.

“Can you go more into detail?” Kakka didn’t mind one bit. As long as she was talking, he didn’t care where she was looking. The others, Shalnark especially, thought it was sweet the way she looked at Nobunaga. The two of them acted like they were the only two in the world.

“I mean, not all my life.” She gave in and turned away from Nobu to look at Kakka and the others behind him. “More like as long as I can remember. I’ve always had a knack for anatomy and physiology. Disease and pathology. All those and more needed to be a doctor and surgeon of sorts. The mayor of my town made it his goal to turn me into the ultimate provider.”

“Wait a minute.” Nobunaga piped in. “If that’s the case, why do they have you working at a restaurant?”

“Because then everybody would use me and they only wanted to use me for ‘special people’, as they say.”

“So mainly the chief and the officers?” Nobu asked.

“No.” Aria stopped, she feels she has said too much. Chrollo could tell from her reaction that she wasn’t willing to say anything more. She was fidgeting on Nobunaga’s lap and she no lingered looked at him or Chrollo; her gaze was now looking down onto the floor. Like she was ashamed and knew she’d be in trouble for saying anything.

 So he figured that this was a good stopping point for the night.

“I think that’s enough for tonight.” Chrollo announced. The others around him because to scatter, going about doing their own thing. Nobunaga quietly suggested to Aria that the two of them turn in for the night and she just nodded her head.

Aria stood up and, even though he didn’t need it, helped Nobunaga onto his legs and began to guide them back to their room. The usual hoots and teasing they would usually get from the others was now met with silence.

Once the doors were closed to their room, Aria collapsed onto the floor. Her body began to shake as the tears fell from her eyes. Nobunaga knew this was going to happen. All of tonight’s events were too much for her to handle.

While he was proud that his hunch was correct about the treasure, he was also somewhat ashamed for what he put her through. A feeling he definitely wasn’t use to. He thought he had banished that feeling a long time ago.

“Hey.” He kneeled down in front of her.

“I was so scared.” She confessed.

“I was too.” He confessed as well. If his hunch had been wrong, he would have died. Not exactly something he wanted to do. “Thank you for saving my life.”

“Nobu, I want to go home. This has all been too much for me. I can’t…”

“I had a feeling you were going to say that. And I don’t really blame you.” He stood up from his position, looking down at her with an almost pitiful look. She had no idea what was going to happen soon. Thankfully, he was able to disguise the look. When she looked up, she saw nothing but sorrow. So she felt a little bad to be ending their birthday trip early but still, her poor heart and spirit couldn’t take it anymore.

And she felt guilty for letting her secret out. If the mayor and chief find out, they’re going to be pissed at her and maybe add more to her debt.

Chapter Text

Nobunaga pushed open the door to their home, Baby was waiting for them right at the entrance; meowing his little head off once he saw Aria step through the threshold. It took them nearly all day to get home, similar to how it was when they had originally left. It did pain Aria to hug all of her new friends good-bye. But she just felt ready to go home. All of that excitement and horror was enough to put strain on a person.

Waiting at the front of the house had been the Mayor and the Chief of the police, how the hell did they know they’d be back that day? Nobunaga suggested they probably waited there everyday until her arrival.

“So was it as good as you’d hoped?” the chief asked her. He’d known about her want to travel. Even though it was a simple question, Nobunaga could hear the condescending tone from it and it made him  more angry by the second.

How dare they talk to her like that!

“Even better.” Aria answered, she continued to pet Baby while answering, something about it was helping to keep her calm at the moment. She really didn’t feel like answering any questions, scared that it would get out that Nobunaga and his close friends found out about her special ability. That would really get her in trouble and it could possible spell something worse for Nobunaga.

She’s not sure what they would do with him but she was sure it wouldn’t be good.

“So we can expect to see you at the diner tomorrow, early morning as always?” the Mayor asked her next. He continued to eyeball Nobunaga, who stood protectively next to her, his arm casually placed over her shoulder to pull her close to him.

The mayor and chief knew what he was doing and hated how he had staked a claim on her. This wasn’t how the plan was supposed to go. This wasn’t the man they were suppose to hire.

Shit, they royally screwed up.

Nobunaga’s POV

These two are hiding something, just wish I knew what. If they were trying to hide the fact they were staring me down, they were doing a sad job at it.  He loved the way that Aria answered them though, going on to say that she was going to take a few more days off, that was going to work out perfectly with what the Phantom Troupe had decided on.

The night before, when my poor Aria was finally asleep from the strenuous day, I had snuck out to discuss with Chrollo about what are next step was. Like always, he was already a step ahead when it came to his planning.

Right now, as him and Aria were putting their clean clothes that were unsured away and starting a pile of laundry, the guys were on their way here to Starhaven and waiting for nightfall to proceed with the plan.

Tonight was the last night that I or Aria would ever have to call Starhaven our home.

“Nobunaga.” That soft deep voice that I’ve fallen so in love with called out to me. But it worried me when she uses my full name instead of our pet names or my shortened name that I asked her to refer to me on our first day of meeting.

“What is it, koibito?” I used the pet name, maybe she forgotten.

“I hope you’re not too mad at me for ending the trip early.” She looked down to avoid my gaze, shuffling her feet a little as awaiting an answer. If anything, I’m thrilled we’re back early.

“Not at all.” I put my last shirt away, throwing over a random sock to the hairball that has gotten use to sleeping on my side of the bed whenever I’m not on there. I walked over to her, grabbed onto her hand and her chin, forcing her to look up at me. “I could never be mad at you.”

“But your friends…”

“Our friends.” I corrected her.

“Our friends, they seemed so sad about us leaving.”

“Ah, they don’t care about me.” I let out a laugh. “They care more about you. They were sad to see you go. But don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll see them again very soon.”

I guess it was the tone I used or my laugh, but it seemed to cheer up Aria a little. What really cheered her up was to see our kitchen and when I said I was hungry. She got very giddy going through the fridge and freezer, picking out what to use.  

Our last meal in this hellhole. And it was the perfect one.

“Ok, you need to get truthful with this one.” It took about an hour, the whole time she cooked, I sat at the kitchen table, drinking a beer and watching her. Not once have I gotten tired of watching the way she moves when she’s in her zone.

I admire her so much.

She placed a plate in front of me and again, it made me laugh so hard.

Cheeseburger and fries.

Just like the day we met.

Does she know the plan also? This was almost too comical for its own good.

“Whose is better? The chef at the restaurant or mine?”

“Yours automatically looks better. But then again, you’re not running around trying to feed over 20 people.”

“I can still make the food look prettier if I were in that situation.” She said with confidence.

After taking a single bit of her burger, I knew that she was the winner and I proudly proclaimed it loudly for all in the house to hear. Even though it was just us and the furball.

This made Aria laugh out loud herself and we continued out foolish game of banter all while eating and drinking.

When she wasn’t look at me, I would catch myself looking over at the clock to see if it was bedtime. Not that we had one but I had informed Chrollo that Aria tended to fall asleep around 10 pm. The clock read 8pm so we still had 2 hours before she would suggest we go to sleep.

So we continued our routine of the laundry finishing and washing the dishes. We even had a nice round of sex, Aria enjoying the fact that she didn’t have to face a group of guys in the morning from how loud she was.

I love making my girl scream in pleasure. I don’t care who is around to hear it.

As a part of her routine, 10pm rolled around and Aria said we should go to sleep. I was too eager to accept, waiting for my sign from Danchou that it was time.

3^rd person POV

On the outskirts of Starhaven stood the men that had come to know Aria as a close friend. Each of them had forgone their traditional outfit, all wearing black shirts and pants, and a black mask that would cover everything but their eyes.

It was a little for show, but it was also to keep their identities from Aria for a few seconds. She couldn’t know it was them yet.

“What time is it now Shalnark?” Chrollo asked, standing in the middle of them as they all looked down at the unsuspecting town.

“12 am on the dot.” Shalnark spoke, his screensaver changed from a picture of an anime character to a picture he took with Aria when they had been walking back from the boudoir photo session. She looked so beautiful. “Nobunaga says that Aria is fast asleep around this time.”

“We stay together.” Chrollo informed them. “You know who to leave alive. Other than them, you have my permission to kill anyone else who sees you.” With that being said, the five of them began walking towards the village in a steady pace. The masks now secured over their faces.

First stop was the police station. Shalnark wanted to print everything he had found for Aria, to show her the evidence when everything is revealed. There had been a couple of cops there, Phinks took care of them, leaving one for Shalnark to control as his puppet. He left the puppet at the front door for lookout while the rest of them waiting for the papers to print.

“For a small town, they were making just as much as Yorknew does at their yearly auctions.” Uvo commented while looking over the papers. “And all from one girl. Unbelievable.”

“Such potential being put to waste.” Chrollo spoke as well, he counted the desk, stopping at the one right before the one he had numbered for Nobunaga’s. He opened the drawer to that desk and found what he was looking for: a old time portable camera with a photobook that was filled to the brim with photos of far away pics of Aria. This was Hank’s desk.

“Pretty girl being stalked.” Feitan took ahold of the stuff from Danchou. “She no know?”

“Nah, sure she knows.” Phinks commented, taking hold of the camera and opening it to see how much film is still inside, “There’s a few more in here that need some development. I’ll take care of that later.”

“Done.” Shalnark informed them. He made his puppet come towards him while striking a match and holding it right in front of him. A lot of people didn’t know that even though the person was being controlled by Shalnark, they were aware of what they were doing entirely. “And pause mode.” 

Soon the match would burn through the full wick, but since the police officer wouldn’t be able to drop it. It’ll continued to burn him as well. He’ll become a big candle himself that will cause the entire PD to come on first.

That’s when the fun starts.

Nobunaga’s POV

I never fell asleep, just closed my eyes for the appearance of it. Danchou is suppose to call me soon for my signal. Aria is fast asleep though, she is cuddled up to me on my chest. With my peripheral vision, through the window, I can see outside a fire has started. The familiar orange color from a distance is growing by the second.

It when I heard my cellphone ring 2 times and suddenly stop, that’s my cue from Danchou. Now I wait for….

The cell phone rings again loudly, this time it’s the chief from the PD.

I stood up in a hurry, making Aria’s limp body come with me and fall onto my lap. She wakes up suddenly from the drop, looking up at me with a sleepy look as I answer my phone with urgency.

“What is it Chief?”

“Fire down at the PD. Get Sato over to the Hospital, something tells me she’s going to be working overtime tonight.”

“Alright. I’ll be there shortly.” Before he could say another word, I hung up. Aria was able to sense the urgency and shook off the sleep from herself.

“What’s going on?” I pointed at the window for her to look out on, she saw the orange/red flame in the distance growing also. “the hell?!”

“That was the chief. He wants us both at the PD, STAT!”

“Why me?”

“Don’t know. He just said to bring Sato.” I made sure to use her last name since the Chief was the main one to use her name like that. She didn’t argue from there. She simple put on some clothes quickly, which turned into a t-shirt and jeans. I put on my uniform and hat.

She bid a quick goodbye to Baby before we both ran to the car and sped off to the PD.

3^RD person POV

The Phantom Troupe stood face to face with all of the remaining members of the PD. Guns were out and pointed, ready to start shooting at any given word of the Chief. The Chief wanted to wait until he heard that Sato was ready at the hospital for any casualties.

He wasn’t going to lose any men tonight. Not on his watch.

He saw Nobunaga’s car coming from the distance, but he knew not to let his gaze wonder for long. He didn’t know who this gang was but he knew they meant trouble. They just burned down his PD and he had a few men in there that he wasn’t sure if they got out alive.

When Nobunaga’s car stopped, he was immediately angry to see Sato was sitting in the passenger side. She unbuckled herself and got out of the car.

“Hazama!”

On the other side, where the Troupe was, Feitan quickly sped off and dodged each officer. He made it to where he was behind Aria. With a swift hand, he aimed at the back of her neck, hitting her hard enough to where she would be knocked out.

Aria didn’t even see it coming, her skills as a fighter didn’t have time to react. Her body went limp, first falling onto her knees, then falling sideways until she was flat on the ground. Her once open blue eyes now dull and halfway closed.

She was out cold.

Uvo took this as his sign to punch the ground with a bit of his nen, creating a crater big enough to encompass all of the PD, except for Feitan, Nobuanga, and Aria. Once the border was created, it gave out on them. The ground falling deep enough to where no matter how hard they tried to climb, no one could get out of the crater.

Nobunaga looked down at Aria and played his part.

“Aria!” he yelled, looking over at the man in the all black ensemble. The small man went to stand above Aria, pulling her up until she was now placed over his shoulder. Nobunaga reached for his gun.

“Do something Hazama! Don’t let Sato out of your hands!” The chief yelled from inside the crater.

From a few agonizing seconds, the chief watched as there was a stare down between the black covered man and Hazama. He felt so much fear knowing that Sato was being carried by the enemy. He was expecting to hear a gunshot go off soon.

“Nobunaga look funny dress like that.” He heard the smaller man say.

“Don’t rub it in.” Nobunaga released his gun and took off his hat, throwing it down into the crater. “But hey, it helped me win over that one.” He pointed to Aria.

“Now I can laugh about it!” Uvo yelled from the other side. Him, Phinks, and Shalnark all began laughing at Nobunaga, who also took out the shirt and badge to throw into the crater as well. The only thing he kept on him was the pants and the gun.

Down below, the chief was in shock. Why was Hazama joking and laughing with this group? Why was he not attacking like he was instructed to?

“Never again.” Nobunaga said, all while he began to tie his hair up into his signature tree style. “I’m fine with uniforms but not a police officer one. That hurt my soul.”

“Still haven’t figured it out?” Chrollo spoke over the confused police, who now all coward among themselves as some tried to climb out of the crater to only fall back down. Each member of the Troupe removed their mask now, Chrollo being sure to be the last one to do so. He also made sure to let his tattoo remain seen as well.

The Chief didn’t recognize the faces, but he did recognize the forehead tattoo on Chrollo. He was shocked and now in fear for his own life. He found himself falling to the ground, throwing up all of the content in his stomach. Once done, he looked back up to see that Nobunaga had joined the others, they all stood in one single line, looking down onto the police with smiles and sinister murder in their eyes.

“Chief, who are they?” Hank asked him.

“Someone I had prayed we’d never come across. But it seems that we’ve upset some higher ups that they may have hired them to take us down from the inside. Hank, this group that now holds our greatest treasure, is known as the Gen’ei Ryodan.”

Chapter Text

A selected few of the town’s occupants laid asleep in a dark cove off what use to be known as Starhaven. Each of them laid on their sides, their arms being trapped behind them and being tired by a thick rope. They lay almost bare, excluding their wife-beaters that they were required to wear underneath their uniforms and their boxers or briefs. Everything else was gone.

The town by now has been burned to the ground, all other occupants had either somehow slipped through the Troupe (of course, they let them) or had been the unfortunate ones to be found and killed on the spot.

But now these ones, no, Nobunaga wanted these few saved. He had a personal vendetta against them. And after Shalnark was able to crack the code and find some more information on his dear Aria, he really wanted to make them suffer.

Chrollo, usually being the one to lead everything, decided that Nobunaga would be the one to lead this time. After all, he knew a little more about these people then Danchou did.

“Uvo, will you do the honors?” Nobunaga, Feitan, Phinks, Shalnark, and Danchou  all covered their ears, preparing for Uvo’s loud dooming voice. Uvo just gave him a smile before clapping his hands together once, that sound itself was enough to wake up the occupants but the point of this was to make them suffer a little.

“RISE AND SHINE ASSHOLES!”

The occupants awoke, all of them trying to cover their ears from the loud awakening; but to their horror they found their hands tied up. They all scrambled around to sit, looking around to see what was going on. The last thing they all remembered was getting ready to defend the town against invaders. Nobunaga showed up with Sato and then…..Nobunaga.

“Traitor.” One of them whispered under his breath, looking for Nobunaga among the group that was staring down at them. He didn’t recognize any of them.

“I believe introductions are in order here.” They all looked at the man who had a bare chest but wore a large purple overcoat. His hair was slicked back and there was a cross of sorts that was tattooed right in the center of his forehead.

“Right.” Nobunaga stood from his seat in the cove. “Guys, meet the men who have been making Aria’s life a living hell.” He strolled into the center, knowing that if one of them tried to do something, he could easily kill them with one strike.

“First, we have this group here called the A-team. Don’t know how they got that name.” He stood over the three cowering men, who have all huddled into a small group, like a gang of penguins.

“Probably gave it to themselves.” Phinks chimed in. Cracking his knuckles, he was hoping he’d get one of them. Maybe him and Shalnark can make them fight each other for their entertainment. Shal can use one of them for a puppet.

“Truth be told, I’ve already forgotten their names.” He moved onto the next one.

“This guy right here, this is the mayor. Never learned his name, don’t care to learn it now.” The mayor had already begun crying, tear stains coming down his ducts to his cheek.

“Me want him.” Feitan spoke this time. In his hand was a roll of sorts, inside containing his various tools for causing all sorts of torture.

“Next, we have the Chief of the PD.”

“Oh, he’s just my type.” Uvo smiled, licking his lips in anticipation. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on him and have a little fun.

“You guys can have them all. This last one…” He took his sword out, pointing it directly at the throat of the last man in the group. “Is all mine. This is Hank, Aria’s ex-boyfriend and what I came to find out, ex-stalker.”

Hank has never in his life felt so much bloodlust in one place, and he never felt it all being directed at him. He gulped, knowing that today was going to be the last day of his life.

“Shalnark.” Danchou spoke, summoning forward their technology genius.

“All right.” The usual smile that Shalnark normally head was gone. On his face he held a sinister look while look down at the group. He hated what he found on sweet Aria. So now this group was going to pay.

“I found quite a bit about Aria but there are some things missing. So if any of you know what that missing thing is, please feel free to chime in.”

Each member of the troupe went to stand behind the ones they had claimed as theirs. The chief has never felt so scared in his life, seeing the big burly man come to stand behind him, putting what could be described as a bear’s paw on his shoulder, and bending down to blow some air into his ear.

“Now be a good boy and answer truthfully.” Uvo whispered into the chief’s ear.

“So according to the true records, Aria wasn’t just found randomly and put into an orphanage here. In fact, there never was an orphanage in Starhaven. It’s interesting to note that there’s no children present in this town at all. I found that interesting until I found some transactions between Starhaven and familiar names, mafia dons. It seems that this town likes to take part in human trafficking. Specifically children are the main thing. Often, found randomly on the streets in parts of other cities. I’m not sure where Aria was found.”

“Meteor City!” The chief immediately yelled out, scared of what Uvo might do to him. “We found her in Meteor City. Alright, it’s all true. We do sales with the mafia dons for children. But there was just something special about her. Her knowledge of fighting and anatomy, her special ability to heal, we couldn’t lose that. So instead of selling her, we kept her.”

He managed to say all that in one breath. It took all of Nobunaga’s strength to not attack in that moment. He was the one who listened to logic the most also. And he knew there had to be more to the story than just that.

“You couldn’t have known that when you first saw her though.”

“No.” The chief hung his head in shame. “Her fighting was clear from the first moment. It was hard to capture her. We needed some help and hired some people to help. It took almost the town’s entire savings but they managed to come through.”

“I have a good guess in mind on who it was but I still want to hear it from you. Who was it that was hired?” Chrollo spoke, taking a seat at the ledge that overlooked everybody.

“It was a Zoldyck, that’s all I remember. They got her and brought her to town. From the report they gave, they had both been injured to great lengths. With the Zoldyck, it was clear why but with Aria, not a scratch on her. We got curious so we injured her.”

“How?”

“Cut off a toe.” The bloodlust was overflowing the place now. Aria was something precious to them and to now know that she went through some kind of torture at a young age, made them angry.

And she had been one of them too.

Originally abandoned and left for dead.

From Meteor City.

No wonder Nobunaga felt such a connection with her.

“She healed herself in front of us, attached her toe right back onto herself. She was too valuable to sell. With the help of that Zoldyck, we were able to form memories in her head. Gave her a name, a life story, a house, a job…”

“A debt.” Chrollo finished him off. “Money that is earned then stolen back. False livelihood.”  He clapped his hand once, almost like an applause of sorts; but it was more of his way saying he had heard enough.

And he’s sure that Nobunaga has as well.

“Hey traitor.” Hank must have found the balls to speak, cause his voice was loud when he asked Nobunaga the next thing. “How many times have  you slept with Aria?”

“Hm…what’s it to you?”

“Think it’s clear I’m about to die here so might as well answer this last question. Gives you a chance to find out a little more about the sweet little…” His sentence was cut off when Nobunaga sped behind him and quickly sliced across Hank’s achilles tendons, both of them.

Not only painful but impeding him from being able to run if he had wanted to try. While he continued to yell in pain, Nobunaga sliced at the Adam’s apple next, then along the sternum. He did all these in a slow pace, to make it more painful.

Hank laid on the floor, tears streaming from his eyes with all the pain he had been feeling. The Adam’s apple being sliced made it harder for him to scream so all that was heard as gasps and empty air.

The others looked at him with horror in the eyes, knowing that their fate was going to be the same. It was clear that the reason they had been left alive is because they had something to do directly with Aria’s well-being.

“She’s mine.” Nobunaga spoke down to Hank’s shivering body, the blood lost occurring inside the body was making him shiver from the coldness. He did a few more slices of the body, to let it bleed out.

“ARIA!” One of the A-teams yelled out. “ARIA! HELP!” Phinks placed his hand on the top of the guys’ head and gave it a sharp twist to disconnect his neck.

“Wimp.” Phinks said under his breath.

“We done now? Me have fun?” Feitan grabbed onto Mayor’s collar and began to drag him out of the main area they were. The whole time, the Mayor struggled against his hold, crying out how much he didn’t want to die.

Uvo practically carried out his guy like a suitcase, giddy like a schoolgirl over whatever he had planned for the chief. He made a mental note to make his death long and painful, courtesy of the look Nobunaga gave him.

“Shal…” Phinks grabbed the remaining of the two A-team members, pulling them both over his shoulders. “Want to join me?”

“Sure. There’s a new game I downloaded we should try.” Shal smiled.

All that was left now in the cove was Chrollo, Nobunaga, and the Chief. Shalnark had passed the information on the paper over to Chrollo to hold. This was for Nobunaga to show Aria later.

The two of them saw how Hank was starting to shake  and fall into a comatose state.

“Go to hell bastard.” In one strike, he brought his sword down through Hank’s heart, ending his life.

Chapter Text

They had made sure to put Aria as far away as possible, where she wouldn’t be able to hear any of the screams of pain or terror.

So currently, she was sleeping soundly on the way other side of the cove, on top of one of Uvo’s fur coverings and covered by one of Nobunaga’s spare jackets. He never used those since he didn’t believe in being covered by anything unnecessary.

It was the sound of her own breath that woke her up. Her mouth had been wide open, letting out shallow snoring breaths. Her eyes fluttered open, hoping to see what she would always see and hear the normal sounds of her mornings.

The feel of a soft mattress to lay on. The morning sun was shining through closed window curtains. Birds tweeting on the trees. Baby meowing at them as he slept right next to the bed. The feeling of Nobunaga’s arm cradling her body close to him. The feeling of soreness between her legs from last night’s sex that she has become accustomed to, even learned to love. Sensing that Nobu is staring at her as she wakes up and waits patiently for a kiss.

But as she was discovering, she wasn’t getting any familiarity right now. In fact, it was all the opposite.

The mattress was replaced by a hard boulder that caused her whole body to ache and feel sore. As she slowly sat up to figure out where she was, a few bones in her back popped to release the gas bubbles between the joints. Nobunaga wasn’t near her and neither was Baby. There were no windows to show trees or birds tweeting. But there were random pointy rocks on the ceiling that had random condensation of water dripping from them. The only reason she wasn’t wet was because of the fur cover she was laying on and the jacket covering her body.

“Where am I?” Aria whispered to herself. Her hand automatically went over her heart and in that spare moment, she wondered if she was raped. So, she threw the jacket off her, saw that her clothes from the previous time she was awake were still on, and began to scan herself for cuts, bruises, and bodily fluids. She even used her nen to scan herself on the inside.

“Everything seems normal.” She whispered. Aria stood from her position, still a little wobbly when she stood and walked around. She observed her surroundings, noting that there was only one way in and out of the small cove she was in.

“Ok, think Aria.” She spoke to herself in a normal range this time. Her thumb went up to one side of her mouth, while her tongue stuck out slightly at the other side that you could barely see it. This was her famous thinking pose when she was stuck on something and needed to think extra hard.

The memories began to reappear one by one. How her and Nobu had been asleep in bed, then suddenly called to the scene of a crime. It was very unnatural for her to be called there, often being assigned to wait at the hospital. Then when she got there, she remembered feeling this sudden pain in the back of her neck.

“There has to be more.”

“More to what?” She turned to the entrance/exit to see the one person that she was missing the most.

“Nobunaga?” She questioned, afraid that she might already be suffering from hallucinations.

“It’s me koibito.” He walked further into the cove towards her, with his arms wide open expecting her to jump for joy and into his arms for a hug.

Normally that’s what she would do, but there was something inside of her telling Aria to stay away from Nobu, that he was dangerous right now. Plus, he wasn’t dressed in his police uniform or any of the other clothes she had seen him in. Instead, he was wearing that samurai outfit she had seen him in once, had his hair tied up in the topknot, and was carrying his sword by his side.

And he was giving off this murderous aura that was too hard to ignore.

In fact, it scared her to be around him right now. So instead of stepping closer, she stepped further away.

“Huh?” Nobunaga was shocked at the reaction. It definitely wasn’t something he was expecting. “Aria, baby, what’s wrong? Why did you move away from me?”

“I don’t know. Why are you giving off that aura?” She asked while on the verge of crying. She was suddenly terrified for her life.

Shit, Nobunaga though. He was still on a high from finally killing Hank that his aura was set to kill. Well, he was hoping to explain things to Aria at a slow pace, but it looks like he’ll just have to bite the bullet and let it all be known.

“Oh that, well, that’s because I just killed somebody.”  He said with no emotion, like he had just asked somebody to pass him the soy sauce at the table.

“You…. what?” Now Aria was really scared for her life. Her mind wasn’t thinking rationally at all. All coherent thoughts have been thrown out of the window. All she could think now was that Nobunaga was going to kill her next. That making her fall in love with him was all a fake sick play for him to get off on.   

“I really didn’t want to talk about this so soon but you need to know the whole story.” He took his sword out of his side, sat right at the entrance, and placed his sword at his lap. “Well, to star off with, my name is really Nobunaga Hazama.”

“Ok, good start.” Aria continued to stand, not wanting to let her guard down.

“I’m not really a police officer. My resume was falsified, courtesy of a friend.”

“So, you falsified a resume to become a police officer in order to come here and kill someone?”

“No….tch, there’s so much to tell you and I just have no idea where I should begin.” He hit his forehead, like he was just probing his brain on where to begin.

“Ok. So, what do you know of the Gen'ei Ryodan?”

This caused Aria to lose all the feeling in her legs, she fell backwards and barely caught herself with one of her arms. Her heartbeat was so hard that she felt it was going to beat itself out of her chest cavity.

She knew just as much as the chief knew about them. Which was quite a bit.

“Don’t tell me….”

Nobunaga sat straight up, shrugging off both sleeves until his upper body was bare to her. It took Aria just mere seconds to understand why he did this. The whole time she had known him; he had his abdomen covered. This time, it was bare. And tattooed.

The spider with the number 2 on it.

“You’re one of them.”

“I am.” Now Aria is a pretty smart girl, she was able to figure out the next part in another few seconds.

“So that also means that your friends are part of the group as well?!”

“Yup.”

Aria couldn’t believe it. She was friends with the Gen’ei Ryodan and she had slept with one…multiple times.

“OH.MY.GOD!” She screamed and enunciated each word. Now she really did burst into tears. She sat on her knees, crying her eyes out for a few minutes. Nobunaga knew this was going to be a lot for her to take in, so he just let her.

It pained him to know that he was the one to cause her to cry.

“A…are…are you going to kill me?” She stumbled through her words. “No one ever crosses paths with the ryodan and makes it out alive……My town!”

“Dead.” Nobunaga said the one word to her to save his time. “Gone. There are some reasons as to why they are gone though.”

“I don’t give a shit!” Aria stood up, the tears still spilling from her cheeks, but her aura was beginning to spill out of her now. It was starting to match up with Nobunaga’s. “I don’t care what the reason is. Point stands, you kill them all. You and the Gen’ei Ryodan killed the people in my town. You’re probably saving me for last.”

“Far from it.” Nobunaga stood up, his aura no longer murderous. He could never feel that way towards Aria. This woman is the one he chooses to have by his side forever. She practically holds a good portion of whatever heart he has.

“You’re the reason I was sent to this town. You’re the precious treasure that was being hidden. Danchou likes to collect treasures. And I love you so you’re a lucky one.”

“I’m not treasure. I’m a curse. I’ve always been called a curse. And I had loved you too Nobunaga. But now…. I can’t return those words. You’ve killed everybody I know.”

“If you’ve forgotten, everybody in this town used you! Until I came along. When was the last time somebody treated you with even an ounce of respect? Was it before me? No. But it’s all going to change. My group wants nothing more than to have you with us. Play games, hang out, go on a few missions…”

“I refuse to become a member of this troupe.”

“Right now, Aria, you don’t have an option.”  

The two of them stood there face to face, both auras flowing freely around. Aria placed one foot behind her, like a track star getting ready to run. Nobunaga saw and activated his En.

In .5 sec, Aria pushed off her foot and would have passed Nobunaga if it weren’t for his En. He managed to grab onto her ankle to pull her back. While being pulled in the air, she did an alligator roll, causing him to spin in the air also. She tried to free herself by using her other leg to try and kick Nobu on his free shoulder. She was able to dodge this and grab onto that free leg too. They both fell onto the floor, face down.

Aria clawed at the floor, trying her hardest to get away. She didn’t feel Nobu shimmy up her body until she felt him sit on her back.

“You’ll understand someday.” He placed his hand on her neck and placed his fingers on her pressure points. Doing a meticulous pattern in a certain pressure, he was able to put Aria back asleep.

She wouldn’t wake up until hours later. This time it would be on a bed. But she would feel herself swaying along with an ocean. She remembered everything and would run off the bed and be met with horror when she made it up onto the bay and saw that they were on a yacht.

Last she knew, her town was 500,000 km from open water so she must have been out for a long time.

But right then and there, she knew she was stuck. She would be forced to be with the troupe.  And all because right now, of one good reason that she never shared with Nobu or anybody. But it was just her bad luck.

Aria Sato doesn’t know how to swim.

Chapter Text

Aria’s POV

I hate him.

I hate him with every fiber in my being.

Nobunaga.

He did this to my town.

I can only imagine the horror they all must have felt when him and the others came. Did they cry for mercy? How fast did they run? How much did they cry?

And where was I?

Asleep!

“Cutie!!!” Shalnark popped up next to me, taking a seat to where we were now touching thighs. He brought out a game console with him and began to play on it, seemingly satisfied without me saying a word.

That’s how it’s been for the last year since I’ve been here. Wherever here is. Looking out into the garden they made on top of the building for me, it’s the only comfort I’ve had in a long time.  Looking over at Shalnark, I did become interested in seeing him play the game. It reminded me of an old one where there was a exterminator who was always trying to save a princess who had been kidnapped by a dragon.

“Ah ah ah.” He moved the game away from my view. “Say ‘hello Shalnark’ first and then you get to watch the game.” My mouth turned straight and I gave him my best death glare before I just turned away from him fully, giving him my back, to look over the edge of the top of the building. Let him take away my view of the flowers.

I’ll just go back into my memories like I have been doing for the past year. More specifically, the yacht ride that happened to get me here.

1 year ago

“Hey Hot Stuff.” I was brought out of my stupor by a familiar nickname. All eyes suddenly turned to me as I stood there, shaking. Even though the yacht provided a steady floor, thanks to no waves being present at the moment, I was still shaking from the fear of falling over.

And from the fear of learning that I had been taken captive.

The shaking won, causing me to fall onto my knees, laying to my side to where my butt was now on the floor. My eyes widened in horror, whatever contents that were in my stomach began to gurgle and make it’s way up.

This was a whole new feeling to me, since I’ve never thrown up before but I knew that I was going to need something.

Someone must have read my mind because before I knew it, there was a bucket placed in front of me. In the next second, I was vomiting up everything inside me. This feeling was brought up from fear in the water and horror from my kidnapping.

I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be in this kind of situation.

The person who handed me the bucket grabbed onto my hair and held it back out of my face. I kept vomiting, not stopping until there was only bile coming up.

“Whoa, now that’s seasick.”

“She ok?”

“Should I get her some water?”

“Treasure….” I wiped the spit and such from my face with the sleeve of my shirt, looking over to the person who spoke to me, who also happened to be the one who had been holding my hair. “Are you feeling alright?”

It was Kakka……Chrollo.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” I screeched his face, scrambling backwards on my butt. I kept going backwards, my stomach still sick but with no content left, could give me nothing more.

Shalnark, Uvo, Phinks, and Feitan could only stand with questioning looks as I scooted away from them.

Something did stop me from moving back, I bumped into a pair of legs that just appeared out of nowhere. I had a good feeling as to who it was since just about everybody else, including Chrollo, were now in front of me.

Nobunaga.

“That’s a first, I don’t know anybody who has  yelled at Danchou’s face and live to tell the tale.” I heard him laugh behind me. The others all joined in on his laughter, except for Chrollo who only smirked at this statement.

“Sweet Cheeks got some guts. I like it.”

“Come on guys, let’s calm down. Cutie’s probably feeling very confused right now.” Well, that was the nice way to say it. And a major understatement. Nobunaga didn’t tell me anything. All he said was that I would understand and boom, I wake up on a yacht.

“She is.” Nobunaga bent down to hook his hands underneath my arms and help me onto my feet. I still felt very unsteady. “I didn’t really get a chance to tell her anything.”

“Answers.” I demanded the best I could, but it came out a little shaky instead of confident.

“I had figured that Nobunaga would be the best to tell you…” Chrollo started off. You wanted to yell at him some more but that little voice in your head told you to shut up and just listen. Yelling at someone who was able to lead this many people just had to be powerful enough to end your life if he wanted.

“But I suppose we should all chime in when needed.”

“Can we not do it out here?” You begged, your eyes gazing away from the group to look at the waters once more. The images of a wave hitting the boat and causing you to fall over in a deep abyss just made you want to cling onto the closest person, which happened to be Nobunaga.

The old you would have been thrilled to do so; the new you, not so much.

As if the deity that runs your life was listening to your every thought and couldn’t help but think it was hilarious to do so, those images came true. A small wave hit the side of the yacht, causing it to steer a little off course.

“I got it.” Uvo said out loud, passing by them to go up some stairs where the main area must be to steer this crazy thing. While he went up, the others guided you back down. After assessing your situation, there really was no point in fighting anymore.

You had to admit defeat for now.

“I really have no idea where to started.” Nobunaga said, after we all took a seat around the circular table booth. They made sure to put me right in the far middle with people on both sides of me so that I couldn’t run to the left or to the right. Uvo joined in after a few minutes of getting the boat back on track to wherever we’re going. He took a seat at the part of the table that didn’t have the booth, finding the additional chair from another part of the area.

“My Treasure…” Automatically, I hated that nickname. “what do you know about us?”

“Not much. Just that you’re a group of thieves and killers. Now I can agree to that since I’ve witnessed it.” I spat at him, my eyes narrowing as my hands ended up balling to make fists.

“Hm, our beginnings start from Meteor City, where our bonds are thinner than water yet thicker than blood.” He began. “Our troupe formed there, me being the head of the spider…” He reached up towards the bandana that was still covering his forehead, and removing it to show me the cross with designs. “while the others form the body and the legs. The legs follow wherever the head goes. I’m almost afraid to say what you’ve heard about us are true.”

“I know it’s true. Like I said, I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes. But it still doesn’t explain why you killed everybody in my town and left only me.” I tried my hardest to keep my voice calm, not letting the emotion take over me once again.

“The whole reason I was there was to find a rumored treasure for Danchou.” Nobunaga decided to join into the conversation.

“You could have just asked and I would have told you that there was no treasure there. Would have saved you a lot of time and bloodshed.” I responded, hiding the hurt behind my eyes. I could see him moving his hand forward to grab onto mine, I quickly moved it out of the way, refusing to touch him right now.

If I did, I might try to break something of his. But Nobunaga and the others have proven to be more powerful than me and I know my weakness. The way I’m feeling right now, I wouldn’t have cared.

“Cutie…” Shalnark wanted to tell me more, but Nobunaga stopped him by lifting his palm.

“There is a treasure. Something that was very important to that town that they would have done whatever it took to keep it safe.” Nobunaga pulled his hand back.

“Now that we have our Treasure…” Chrollo pointed at me. “The mission I had sent Nobunaga on is complete.”

I ended the flashback, tears coming to my eyes once again. That’s when I had accused Nobunaga of not seeing me as a person but as a thing. That everything we went through was a lie. That the love we made was faux.  

Even now, a year later, it continues to hurt me.  The pain in my chest hasn’t gone away since that day. Every time I pass by him or look at him, my chest feels like it’s about to explode from the heart ache.

“Hey look, Nobunaga’s back.” Shalnark pointed over the edge of our building. From my peripheral vision, I did see Nobunaga coming from the horizon, along with Uvo and Machi.

I did meet the rest of the Troupe when I was brought here. Bonolenov and Kortopi don’t talk to me much, being content with the silence that I bring. Kortopi even once made a comment that he wasn’t looking forward to more noise, having learned that he likes it when things are silent.

The base we’re at is on a deserted island, one that is off the maps. It was the safe haven for the Troupe, no one has been able to find this place. And even if they did, they wouldn’t live long enough to tell anybody about it.

The whole island has various traps laid about it; I had been caught in a few while trying to escape in my first few months here. I would get pretty far but then always be caught by someone.

The base was broken into 3 level, all containing bedrooms and bathrooms. There was one common on the 2^nd level where they could all meet to have meetings, eat their foods (that’s where the kitchen was too), or just lay back and watch TV.

I had heard something from Franklin that the island had a body of water that was warm enough to be a hot springs.

Franklin and Shizuku were an interesting pair, to say the least. Franklin was more on the logical side, like Nobunaga. He was the first to suggest that I should room with one of the girls, so that I’d constantly have a bodyguard with me.

Nobunaga refused that, saying that Machi would probably turn me against him even more. So my room was placed right between Nobunaga and Uvo.

No way was I sneaking out with those two listening.

Out of the whole group, I felt that Pakunoda and Machi were the more sane ones. Machi tried to talk to me, get to know me at first. Pakunoda was the same way. (Found out that the two of them were in a relationship).

But I refuse to talk to anybody.

“Let’s go greet them.” Shalnark continued talking, putting away his game. He stood up first before moving in front of me. He leaned down at his waist, putting his hand out for me to grab onto. Mentally, I sighed before putting my hand in his. “Up we go.” He commented while pulling me onto my feet.

He led me down the stairs into the common room, where Chrollo was casually reading a book and waiting for the others to get back. Chrollo had even tried to get me to talk, stating that at anytime, I could venture into this room and pick out a book to read, since he knew that’s how much I love it.

Loved it, I should say.

“Reporting back from duty Danchou!” Uvo’s happy voice rang out, he had a huge back hanging over his shoulders. Nobunaga walked in a well, his eyes and face looking more sunken than normal.

I had learned that about 2 months after living there, he had stopped eating and drinking the way he use to before meeting me. The others claimed that he had gained some weight/muscle while living with me for the short amount of time.

Probably because I always made sure to feed him.

“Safe and sound.” Shalnark patted me on the back, slightly pushing me towards Nobunaga.

“Aria, It’s good to be back near you.” He commented. I didn’t bother responding, just looking away from me to whatever it was that caught my eye. Today, it was a random pot of flowers.

Flowers that Nobunaga had brought to me before he left out on his mission. They were wilted away by now, since I don’t take them outside or give them any water.

Sometimes I wish I was like those flowers. That I could easily wither away like them. That way, I wouldn’t have to look at his face.

“Still not talking, huh?” He questioned. “Aria, It’s been over a year. Can I hear just a few words from you?” He urged me. I just continued to ignore him, now looking away from the plants to some random place of flooring.

“I tried.” He sighed out. His hand came out to cup my face, leading it back to look into his eyes. “I love you.”

He would tell me this all the time before letting my face go and moving on to do whatever it is he has planned for today. Probably just take a shower and sleep.

He did get a little excited when he noticed I was following him, but that was only because our bedrooms are in the same area. Once I reached mine, I opened the door and slammed it shut.  I didn’t have the luxury of having a doorknob that could lock, Chrollo being scared that I might try to do something to myself.

Little did he know that I had something planned for later tonight.

Chapter Text

Aria’s POV

Kortopi and Bonolenov never bothered to get to know me, always choosing to stay in the background and listen in on what Chrollo had to say. That didn’t bother me a bit since both of them kind of creeped me out. I still had no idea what their nen abilities are.

I have gotten to know Shizuku, Machi, and Pakunoda though. Pakunoda’s nen ability is amazing. Being able to touch someone, ask them a question, and then know all the answers to it. It’s terrifying. I made sure to stay away from her.

The one I got to know the most was Machi, since she was often partnered with Nobunaga on their missions. Shocking, she wasn’t sent with him on the original mission to my town, I wonder how things would have turned out differently if she was.

Would they still have found my ability? More than likely yeah. While Nobunaga is more logical, Machi tends to follow her hunches. And more than often, they’re correct. If she was there, maybe it would have saved me the heartbreak I felt when Nobunaga revealed who he was.

Machi has tried to talk to me a couple of times. She has told me that I’m just wasting my time by being upset and to just accepting my fate. She even went as far as to talk good about Nobunaga, stating that even though he annoys her (like a brother would), that he’s a good guy and that he cares very deeply for me.

Nobunaga hasn’t given up on me one bit. He would still get me gifts from his missions. Since I refused to speak to him, he actually asked Machi to be the one to give them to me. It started small with a flower (those flowers turned into the garden). Then it got more extravagant. A gown, a piece of jewelry, all of them fit for a queen.

But it was all for naught.

Where would I wear them? What would I do with them? Nothing.

Sitting here, in the dark of my room, I went over my plan one more time. Tonight, I’m leaving here. I waited until it was after dinnertime when I knew just about everybody would be in their rooms, except for those out on missions.

This shouldn’t take me long. I’ve been able to work more on my nen ability since being locked up for over a year. There was really nothing else that could be done.

My zetsu was pretty good, Machi has even called it perfect. So, using it, I snuck out from my room and made sure to keep my footsteps silent all the way down the hall and to the kitchen. It was difficult knowing I was passing through a few of the members’ doors, but luck was on my side that no one came out.

Once in the kitchen, I opened the door to the fridge. Not much food, of course. It was mainly full of beer, whiskey, bourbon, and 2 bottles of wine.

Perfect.

Did you know that when you’re sick to your stomach, you will often exhibit a spike in your white blood cells that can only be detected on lab work? Or it can be detected by me as well. Too bad nobody else had my ability.

Nen ability, don’t fail me now.

I concentrated on my blood, mentally reading out the levels of everything. My white blood cell count was normal. Now if I just focus a little more, I should be able to get that number to rise.

I can’t open any of the drinks in here, but I don’t think I have to. If my plan works, in a few hours, everybody will be on the toilet throwing up. So, using my finger, I pricked a small cut to get very microscopic drops of blood, invisible to most eyes.

I put that drop of blood on the openings of the first few cans of beer. That’s my best gamble. Once enough was contaminated, I closed the door to the fridge as quietly as possible and made my way back to my room with my zetsu off. I needed to make it look like nothing, like I just went for a walk around the base. Which I did more than I like.  

I was almost to my room when the door right next to it opened, it was Nobunaga’s room, Pakunoda and Machi were coming out of it.

SHIT!

“Aria, it’s not often we see you out and about. Going to see the flowers again?” Pakunoda asked. Machi stood next to her, her eyes softened upon looking at me. They always did, like she felt sorry for me.

No need.

I shook my head to Pakunoda’s question and went for my doorknob. I had thought I was out of the words until I felt a presence against my back. A hand then slammed against the door near my head.

Pakunoda.

“Aria, are you feeling alright? What brings you out tonight if not the garden?”

She terrifies me.

When it became clear that I was going to answer her, and after I made sure she didn’t touch any of my skin, I pushed the door to my room open and slammed it against her face. I would have locked it for emphasis, but I can’t lock my door. Anybody would be able to pick it so no point.

“It’s been a whole year. You’re think she’d given up by now and just accept it.” Machi’s voice carried into my room. Helps that I had put my ear up against the door to hear what more they had to say.

“How much longer can Nobunaga hold out, I wonder.” With that last part said, they both took off down the hall to leave. Good, I can’t wait until I don’t have to deal with them anymore.

All that was left to do was wait. So, I went to lay on my bed, turned away from the door and fell asleep for a bit. I needed my energy for however long I need to travel for.

About 2 hours later, I was awakened by somebody roaring and throwing up at the same time. There’s only one person who I know can roar like that. My first victim was Uvo. I waited a while longer until I heard what could best be described as a choir of vomiting noises.

I decided not to take anything with me; I don’t need to be held back. I needed to escape as soon as possible. But in a way, I wanted everyone to know I was just waltzing out of the hideout.

So, I just opened the door to my room, expecting to see no one there. And that’s exactly what I got. The halls were empty, but it wasn’t quiet. Just continued vomiting. I didn’t put enough for them to die, just enough to keep them occupied for a good day or so.

Once I was at the entrance to the hideaway, I took out like a bat out of hell. Dodging all the traps that had been laid out for me. I continued to run.

I was now in the woods or sorts, all the scenery looking the same to me with every foot I passed. My breath remained steady as I kept my pace the same, trying not to tire myself out. It’s been so long since I’ve been out and ran. I wish I could enjoy the feeling of fresh air but that will have to wait.

Eventually, the forest scenery changed into what looked like a desert. Just sand and rocks everywhere now. The horizon looked like it was getting closer too, which I thought was weird. Shouldn’t I have ran into some cars by now?

I continued running the horizon finally ended and I realized why I haven’t seen any cars or civilization.

The base was on an abandoned island that overlooked the raging sea. Judging from how long it took me to get to this side of the island, it could take me longer to get all the way around to find a boat.

And even if I found a boat, I don’t know how to operate it. The vomiting will have stopped by then too. The ‘stomach virus’ I had given will have worn out; the others would come searching for me to pull me back into the base.

I was left with practically no option but to get caught.

Well, there was one other option: a deadly one.

Thinking back on everything that has transpired, my home being taken away from me. My opinions, my choices, my body, now all want to be used for some stupid nen ability that I was born with.

I’ve had it. I’d be better off dead.

Taking a deep breath, I walked closer to the edge and estimated it wasn’t far of a drop. But as I had mentioned earlier, I don’t know how to swim so I’d just end up drowning. Looking back, it didn’t look like anybody was after me.

“Goodnight and goodbye.” I whispered, letting myself take one more step and gravity taking a hold of me.

Chapter Text

Aria’s POV

As someone who was falling to their death, I had expected to have my life flash before my eyes. It wasn’t much of a life but at least it was mine. I had expected to see the little childhood I had. My teenage of moving into my own place. Meeting Baby for the first time and deciding to care for him as if he was my own child.

I miss my kitty.

All my senses turned on in my last moments.  The smell of the restaurant in the morning with burnt toast and runny eggs. The sunny weather that made us all stay in with the air conditioner on. The feel of the rain in a barren wasteland when it came around once in a blue moon.

I missed it.

I missed it all.

The next memory that popped into my head was a shock though.

Meeting Nobunaga for the first time.

The way his hair was tied back into a ponytail but when he pulled out the hairband, the hair would cascade forward to frame his face so beautifully. The way ours hands fit so well together when we introduced ourselves. And my favorite one, when I made him laugh at the grocery stores when he didn’t believe that I love sake.

But that was all in the past. And this is the now.

Seeing the water get closer, I quickly remember the bad memories to remind me why I hate him now. How he killed everybody I knew, how he took me from my home, how he tricked me (and how the other guys tricked me also).

But I think the thing that hurt me most was him lying to me.

How he lied about who he was.

But would I have accepted him if he flat out told me he was a killer and here to get a treasure? Would it have made a difference? Maybe if I had offered to help him find the treasure in the first place and we learned it was me, would lives have been spared?

Thankfully all those thoughts will be silenced in mere seconds, the water was inches from me and it was literally calling my names, beckoning me forward.

When I was literally one centimeter from the water, I felt something suddenly wrap around my body, tying my arms down to my side and my feet together. I was in a cacoon of sorts and was being pulled back up towards the cliff.

What the fuck just stopped me?

Doing my best to look over my shoulder, I could barely make out three figures through the water’s fog standing at the edge of the cliff. The one in the middle was the one pulling me up. Looking up also gave me a good view of what it was holding me, it was nen threads.

There’s only one person I know who has nen threads like this.

Machi.

Which means the other two standing with her are Pakunoda and Shizuku.

I laid that limp as Machi pulled me foot by foot. The closer I got, the more I could hear what they were talking about. From them, I found out that even though every male spider drank the beer, they were glad they didn’t.

I only took into account that one would not drink it; not 2-3 of them.

Fuck!

Once they pulled me onto the ledge, Machi turned her aura off and her nen threads disappeared. The three of them surrounded me as I knelt on the ground, idly playing with the dirt. I was trying to contain the outburst that was boiling up inside of me. But the more seconds passed, the more angry I got until I did it.

“Why couldn’t you just let me die?!” I cried out, my fists hitting the ground, sending vibrations up my arms. “A whole fucking year! I’ve waited a whole fucking year. A year!” I stood, grabbing onto the closest person to me, which happened to be Shizuku.

“Just kill me, vacuum me up with that little googily eyed vacuum thing.”

“OK.”

“She doesn’t mean it.” Machi stepped in to stop it. “Don’t you dare do it. Nobunaga would maim you.” She grabbed onto me to pull me away from Shizuku, making me release my grip from her. I was about to turn my anger towards her when I was suddenly struck with a question.

“How did you know I would be here?” I looked among the three of them. Machi and Shizuku pointed to Pakunoda, who just had a smile on her face.

“Earlier today, when you tried to go into your room, I used a distraction to keep you from seeing or sensing me grab one of your hands when I asked if you were ok.” My mind played back to earlier, when Pakunoda…..hit the door and scared me to ask if I was ok.

She got all this from that one time.

Shit. She’s good.

“We could have stopped you from your plan but thought this would be the best time for us to talk to you about everything. The guys aren’t the best at letting out all the necessary information.” I hadn’t realized she had a piece of paper in her hand.

She handed it over to me. And started to walk away, back towards the headquarters.

Machi and Shizuku came next to me and guided me to follow, while I read whatever was on the paper. They knew I was finished with it when I stopped walking. The three of them looked at me once more and this time, I broke down crying.

Nobunaga’s POV

I was about to fall asleep when somebody knocked on my door. Ugh, why can’t anyone just leave me alone?! I’ve been irritable since a year ago, anything makes me want to explode. And I know it’s because things havn’t been the same with me and Aria.

I wish there was a way we could work things out but she’s still giving everybody the silent treatment.

Grudginly, I got up from my bed and walked over to the door to open it. I was expecting to see either Danchou or even Uvo, to see Aria standing there was a huge shock.

“A-a-Aria. What…”

“Is it true?” when she looked up from the ground, her face was covered in tear stains but her eyes were no longer watery. “Was I going to be sold off and used for breeding?”

Chapter Text

*Flashback*

“What’s this?” Nobunaga questioned when Shalnark handed him a folder from the collection they had gotten from Starhaven. Their targets were still knocked out and Aria was safe away from them. They had been preparing for the torture session when Shalnark asked Nobunaga to step away for a bit with him.

“It’s a folder I found specifically about Aria. I thought you’d want to be the first to read it before any of us do.” Nobunaga took the folder from Shalnark’s hands, opened it and began to skim through the written words.

It mentioned how Aria was originally going to be a product of child trafficking. It listed her hair color, eye color, and blood type. Next to this information was a small picture of Aria as a child. Nobunaga got distracted a little with the picture, thinking how cute she was as a child with her round cheeks and wide eyes.

She looked like a little angel.

No doubt someone like her would have be gone among the first batch.

Nobunaga’s grip on the paper got slightly tighter as he kept reading. He read how Aria was basically going to be taught how to be a slave.

The next paper showed her as a teenager, not that long ago. Once again mentioning her hair color, eye color, blood type, and now it mentioned her measurements. The paper stated that Aria was going through puberty already and she was growing up to form the perfect woman. Certain measurements got bigger while some got smaller.

Grip got tighter.

‘Subject continues to be an asset to Starhaven. No longer looking into being sold for auction. But instead will be considering breeding among the male habitants of Starhaven.’

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Nobunaga spoke loudly in anger.

*end of flashback*

Nobunaga’s POV

I had just gotten done with maybe my 4^th time vomiting when I was finally able to settle into bed. I was about to fall asleep when someone was knocking on my door.

Seeing Aria was a shock, hearing her talk to me was an ever bigger shock. But hearing her say the words that I had made sure to omit for the longest time. I never wanted to utter the word ‘breeding’ again. Especially in front of Aria.

It all took me back to that day when I read that paper, how they kept track of everything on her like a fucking lab subject.

Looking down at her, she was gripping onto probably the same paper I had once held. Her hands shaked and her face looked so worn out. Like she had been carrying the entire world on her back and was suddenly released from the pressure of it.

Her body looked so skinny, like she had lost some weight this past year. I hated that.

“I didn’t want you to find that.” I tried to grab the paper from her but she pulled it out of my reach.

“I had no memory of any of this Nobunaga. I don’t remember having those pictures taken, I don’t remember getting measured.”

“It’s good you don’t. Your mind if protecting you from it.”

“But it doesn’t make learning this any better. They wanted to breed me.” She stomped her foot, like a child throwing a tantrum. “They talk about me like I’m a dog. Breed?! And you didn’t tell me any of this.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Why?” Good question. Why didn’t I tell her anything about what we had found? Would it have made a difference. I’ve always been a logical guy, thinking of what is best for the Spiders. But meeting Aria made me question what she should and shouldn’t know. And for some reason, the breeding thing fell under the ‘shouldn’t know’ category.

“Can you come in and we can talk?” I felt my stomach begin to act up again but held it back the best I could.

Aria stood there for a while, her eyes staring directly into mine. Like she was trying hard to read into my soul. After a few more seconds, she nodded her head. I stepped to the side, gesturing for her to come in. She did just that. After I closed my door, I felte the contents of my stomach coming up once more.

“I need you to excuse me for…” Before I could finish my sentence, her hand that was beaming with aura shot right into my stomach. I let out a groan, completely caught off guard (once again) by her. Her eyes were so focused on her task, glaring a little at my stomach.

There was no pain but now that I can concentrate on the feeling, I could actually feel the sensation of her hand moving around my stomach and my gut. Slowly, the feeling of nausea subsided and I no longer felt like I needed to go vomit.

She pulled her hand out, it being bare of anything it had touched. No blood or bile. Her nen ability was truly impressive. Hearing the chorus of vomiting in the background, I’m sure everybody will enjoy the feeling of her having her hand in their stomach.

“There.” She said, dusting off whatever imaginary dirt she had on her hands. “Now go brush your teeth because your breath stinks.”

Aria’s POV

I wasn’t about to tell him but it felt good to talk to Nobunaga and to hear his voice. He immediately did as told, went to his bathroom where I heard his faucet running to brush her teeth. I even heard him use some mouthwash.

He came back out. I couldn’t help but notice that here, Nobunaga sleeps without a shirt. As mad as I was, I couldn’t help but look from his Spider tattoo on his abdomen up to his chest with his nipples.

I took in a deep breath to steady myself. Remember, you’re upset with them. All of them. That includes Nobunaga, just because he made you feel so special at the beginning means nothing.

He patted my head as he passed by me, going to take a seat at the end of his King size bed. Once he sat, he laced his hands together, leant down at the waist, and rested his head on top of his hands. I could tell he was thinking of the next thing to say.

“What is it about you?” He mumbled.

“What?”

“I’m the guy known to think logically, closely behind Danchou. But with you…” He pointed a finger at me, even though his hands remained laced together. “You…make me question everything. Like that paper in your hands. Yes, I knew all about it. But something in me just said to not tell you. You were already going to break and I just thought that it was best to not tell you.”

I stood there silently, listening to everything he had to say. He better let everything out now. Unknown to me, the bridge connecting us wasn’t completely burned. But I don’t know how that’s going to change tonight.  

“Did you know that Hank had been stalking you?” My eyes widened in shock. “Yeah, first day we met, he showed me a picture of you reading in that café you took me to. Made me lose it.”

“I…I always felt like somebody was watching me.”

“Somebody? Aria, you had the whole town watching you. You were the most important thing to that town’s safety and monetary value.”

“Can you not say it like that? It makes me feel like…”

“Like you’re not a person. But a thing. That’s all you were, baby. You were a thing to them, to do with as they please, to experiment with. And from the look of it, breeding was next on their lists of experimenting.”

I let out an exaggerated sigh, turned around, and collapsed onto the bed right next to Nobunaga.

We stayed like that in silence for a while, just hearing each other’s breathing. And the vomits of others in the background. I wonder when I should go heal everybody.

“As much as it confuses me….you in a way…saved me.” I muttered.

“That was the goal.”

“I thought the goal was to find the treasure.” I sat up, tucking one leg under the other.

“That was the goal. You were a side quest.” He chuckled. I couldn’t help but chuckle along with him.

“How do you do that?” I said right after the chuckle.  “ I’ve been mad at you for over a year and never spoke a word to you. Because I knew once you made me laugh, I’d be quick to forgive you.” The air between us got lighter.

“Is that all it would have taken?” He asked.

“No, but learning that you saved me.” She handed the paper over to me. “And probably saved a few more kids by getting rid of Starhaven, is making me feel like you don’t deserve all the death prayers I said against you every night.”

“Speaking of death…” He smacked the back of my head lightly. “Never do that again.”

“How did you know?”

“I had a feeling after I drank the contaminated beer.” I nodded my head. “And believe it or not, Machi got to me before you did. She told me everything.”

“Damn, she’s fast.” I muttered. “Well, do you forgive me for trying to off myself?”

“No.” He answered immediately. I was a little taken back by how fast he answered that question.

“No?”

“You heard me, I don’t forgive you.” The smile on his face was betraying his word. He was joking with me.

“What do I have to do to have your forgiveness?”

“Several things. One, start talking to all of us again. Shalnark won’t stop whining on how he misses your voice. Almost as much as I do.”

“Ok.”

“Two, heal everybody else that drank the beer. Vomiting more than 5 times isn’t fun at all.”

“Hehe, truth be told. I didn’t think that plan would work so well but ok. I can do that.”

“And three….kiss me.”

Chapter Text

3^rd POV

“Kiss me.”

The words rang in her head and seemed to resonate off the walls of the bare minimum room. Nobunaga sat there patiently, waiting for Aria to make her next move. He took the chance to just stare into her calculating face; her mind racing to make a move. If she was going to make one.  

Does she just give in and kiss him? Or does she get up, say thank you, and leave the room? If she did the first one, things could go back to being all good. If she were to do the second, things would never be the same between them again. And she honestly wondered if that’s what she wanted.

She had to weight the pros and cons to both quickly: One of the pros to the first one was the sex, which was always amazing. The cons were that she had to accept what he was, a killer.  

Both decisions seemed like the wrong ones to her; but one seemed less wrong than the other.

After just a few more seconds of thinking, she made up her mind.

She reached forward to grab Nobunaga’s face, keeping him still; she leaned herself forward until their lips lightly touched. With the dramatic way she had grabbed him, Nobunaga thought she was going to smash their mouths together.

Either way, he wouldn’t have minded. His heart practically soared at feeling her soft smooth skin touching his slightly chapped lips once again. He honestly thought he would never feel that again after revealing who he was. He took the chance to wrap his arms around her waist to bring her a little closer.

He could feel that there was a weight difference since the last time he held her; his fingers could practically feel her ribs. It seems that both of them were greatly affected by her silent treatment.

For the next few seconds, they stayed like that; the kiss had turned into something a little more. No longer just pecking. Each of them happily giving the other access to their mouths, relishing each other’s taste. Since Nobunaga just brushed his teeth and mouthwash, he tasted more like spring mint. He noted that Aria tasted just as fresh, as if she had just done the same thing.

But why would she brush her teeth before coming to his room? Unless she had been planning this to happen between them.

Nobunaga had left his hair down; Aria moved her hands from his face to tangle themselves in his long black locks. He tightened his hold on her waist to pull her onto his lap. She moved her legs to straddle him.

Once again, neither of them broke apart.

Nobunaga moaned into her mouth when she began to alternate between scratching his scalp and pulling his hair; she moaned in response as her hands began to touch her all over. Lightly up and down her side, a thumb outlining her boob, going up to flick at her nipples the best he could through her shirt and bra.

Whenever she moaned, her back would arch, pushing her further into him. Nobunaga went down to the hem of her shirt, pulling it off in one fluid motion. She sat back on his knees as he rid himself of his shirt.

She was a little taken back to see the Spider tattoo on his abdomen again; but it didn’t scare her this time. Instead, she lightly traced it with her fingers, causing a shiver to run up Nobunaga’s back.

“I’ve missed your touch.” He whispered to her, enjoying the butterfly feel of her fingers going from his stomach up to his chest to play with his nipples. He loved the way she pinched them before flicking them. It would leave them feeling slightly sore, a way he didn’t know he liked until she did it to him the first time.

“I’ve missed yours too.” She confirmed before removing her hands from his body to remove her bra. She smirked when she saw him grin when her breasts bounced free from their confinement. She had expected him to reciprocate the actions she did. It caught her completely off guard when, instead, he dived in and pulled a nipple into his mouth.

She let out a loud moan when he alternated between sucking the nipple and flicking it with his tongue. It’s been a whole year since she felt any sort of pleasure, so this was intense. She placed her hand on the back of his head and pulled him closer to her chest; without using words, she told him not to stop, to take her further into his mouth and continue his ministration.

Nobunaga happily obliged.

Once he was done with one nipple, he quickly moved to the other; to make sure it was well taken care of.

“Nobu, Nobu, don’t stop.” Aria moaned. Nobunaga loved hearing his name from her mouth, it made him so hard that he felt he would explode just from her voice. Aria felt herself getting more and more wet, her panties were soaked, and she wanted something inside her right now.

“Aria.” He moaned her name. Aria stepped off Nobu’s lap, pulling her pants and panties off in one swift movement, now leaving herself bare. Nobunaga felt himself salivate at her naked body, his eyes immediately falling down to look at her wet core. She was soaking. And he wanted a taste.

“Sit on my face.” He demanded, falling onto his back on the bed and pushing himself further up until he was in the middle of it. Aria followed him, crawling onto the bed. She stopped first to give Nobu a quick kiss on his lips before allowing her body to get into the position he wanted.

She knelt over his face, a little unsure if she was doing this right. Nobu patted her on his thighs, telling her to lower herself down. Aria found herself doing the splits as she lowered herself down. When she felt Nobu’s tongue lick along her clit, her head fell back in ultimate pleasure.

He gave long licks to her sensitive clit, being sure to keep a hold on his thighs so that she wouldn’t move. This was a new position for him as well. He never thought he’d tell a girl to ride his face, having to find this position a strange one. But with Aria, all he wanted was to be between her beautiful thighs and worship her core.

He loved the way she tasted; it was thick and somewhat sweet. Not the best thing but to him, it was addicting. He then tried to suck on her clit, causing her to start grinding her hips down onto his face.

‘Yes baby, oh yeah’. He thought to himself. He felt his cock leak some pre-cum, he wanted to be inside her soon. He was about to clip them over when she smacked his hands from her thighs, causing him to release them.

“If I remember correctly, you’re an ass guy.” She spoke. Nobunaga couldn’t see her face so he had no idea what she was thinking. She moved from his face, down his body and turned around right when she got to his cock.

She grabbed onto his cock, positioned it at her entrance, looked over her shoulder and winked before lowering herself slowly. The two of them moaned in complete unison with each inch she went. Aria enjoyed the feeling of being full once again while Nobunaga enjoyed being squeezed by her walls.

Aria’s walls specifically.

And the view of her ass made it even better.

One she was fully sitting on his, she began to grind her hips, then bounce, then grind, then bounce.

Nobunaga loved this view. He loved seeing the way her butt jiggled with each movement she did. And the noises she was making made it even better. Somehow, Aria had found her G-spot and made sure to aim for that spot over and over and over again.

She wasn’t going to last long but she wanted to be sure that Nobunaga came before she did. Or at least around the same time she did.

“Nobunaga.” She cried out.

“Not yet!” He planted his feet on the bed, lifting his hips up and flipped them over. Aria landed on his stomach, no longer feeling herself full. She let out a small whimper until she felt strong arms reach around her to flip her onto her back.

Looking up into hooded lust filled black eyes, Aria let out a mixture of a moan and a scream when Nobunaga buried himself to the hilt with one swift movement. He went at a hard and unstable rate, showing that he was so close himself.

Aria was trying to meet his movements, but she was having trouble herself. Her legs were already feeling sore from all her movements.

“Do you want to cum?” He asked her.

“Yes, yes yes.” She chanted.

“Then do it. Cum for me.”

“Only if you cum for me too.” She demanded.

No more needed to be said between the two of them. In just a few more thrust, Aria felt herself cum and her orgasm started. Nobunaga came not long after, emptying his seed into Aria.

Aria felt her legs shaking in pleasure, she couldn’t control them. Nobunaga felt pride from seeing this, knowing what this was a sign of. He slowly pulled himself out of Aria, never losing eye contact with her.

“I forgive you.” He joked.

“Good.” She stuck her tongue out.

The two of them heard a knock on the door, Aria grabbed onto Nobunaga’s blankets to cover herself. Nobunaga didn’t care who it was, just calling out ‘who is it?”

“So not that we’re not happy you two made up…” Uvo’s gruff voice echoed, well, it echoed the best it could. It was slightly raspy, indicating that he had been throwing up for a while now. “But is it possible that we can borrow Aria for a bit?”

“Oh shit! I totally forgot!” Aria screamed.

Chapter Text

Ever since that night of passionate love, Nobunaga and I haven’t left each other’s side. Kakka thought it’d be best to not send him on any missions for a while to give us a chance to reconnect. It’d have been a whole week and every night ended the say way. With him buried in my pussy.

And I loved every second of it.

Except now, Mother Nature has decided to ruin the pattern and take her course.

Now there are a lot of things I can stop and fix. But a menstrual cycle isn’t one of them. It’s naturally seen in a women’s body so I have to still go through it. Thankfully the only thing I feel are cramps. The nausea and other things are something I can control.

“Make it stop.” I groaned when another cramp hit me. Nobunaga had me tucked up in his bed, surrounded by pillows and blankets. He was…I think he was in the kitchen. He said he’d be right back with some stuff that would make me feel better.

As if on cue, I heard a knock on his door.

“Come in.” I yelled. In walked Nobu, he had gone back to wearing his top knot hair and samurai outfit. It was going to take some time getting use to since I preferred him with his hair down. “Nobu, this is your room. You don’t have to knock.”

“Yeah, don’t know why I did that.” He scratched the back of his head before he shrugged his shoulders. “Anyway, I need you to close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Is it ice cream?”

“………note to self: get some ice cream later.” I let out a small giggle, Nobu always tried to be sure I had everything I needed or wanted. He stepped into the room then off to the side to allow whoever was behind him. But not before I closed my eyes just like he asked.

I heard a few footsteps and  then the door closed. From the sound of the footsteps, I could tell there were two more people with him. They got closer to the bed then stopped. The next thing I felt was some pressure on my stomach. It felt a little comforting at first to my cramps. The pressure then began to move a little, slowly upward from my stomach to my chest.

Something small and wet touched my nose, then I heard a small meow.

Immediately, I opened my eyes and was met with a big black cat.

“Baby?” I questioned, to be answered with another meow. I looked over at Nobunaga who stood to the side of the bed, “Is this really…”

“Yeah, it’s the furball.” That’s when I began to cry. I sat up in bed, cradling the one small kitten in my arms. He was so big now and he happily stayed in my arms and began to purr. He remembered me.

“Baby, my kitty. I missed you.” I cried out. That’s when I noticed the two people that came in with Nobunaga, it was Kakka and Feitan.

“Oh hello.” I greeted them by bowing my head.

“Pretty girl.” Feitan spoke in his calming voice.

“My Treasure.” Kakka was the next to speak. Nobunaga smiled proudly at the nickname. Kakka stepped closer to me to pat the top of my head. “How are you feeling? I do hope you found delight  in your surprise.”

“I feel so much better now Kakka. Is that why you and Feitan are here? To reunite me and Baby?” I placed Baby back down onto my lap. He had already did a few circles to find a comfy spot before laydown directly on my stomach. Somehow that made my cramps hurt less.

“Baby and I have grown rather fond of each other. But I’m sure our temporary affiliation is nothing compared to your.”

“When the furball couldn’t get to you, he attached himself to Danchou. To everyone’s shock. So he’s been taking care of him for you.” Nobunaga informed me.

“Me here bring tea.” Feitan stepped forward to give me a teacup with what smelled of delicious herbs. “This help cramp for pretty girl”

“Feitan, thank you.” I handled the teacup carefully, scared to spill it or break it. It was so sweet of Feitan to give me something to help me. “How did you know….”

“Nobunaga ask help. Tea only thing me make.” I took a small sip of the still hot liquid, I could taste that it had a hint of honey and it was so soothing going down my throat. I placed the teacup down on the nightstand close to me.

I then motioned to Kakka and Feitan to give me their hand. When they placed their hands out, I grabbed onto them and placed a kiss on them.

“I am grateful to both of you.”

Chapter Text

3^rd person

Ever since Aria and Baby reunited, she has been more than happy and content being where she is at now. Which she finds hilarious thinking back on how it was. She was still having a hard time accepting what it was that the Troupe did for jobs but she was always happy to help them when they needed her the most.

Scraps, Cuts, Broken Bones, and sometimes tension massages- those were her specialties. With massages, she gave a whole new meaning to the term ‘deep tissue’. Using her nen, she was literally able to grab the actual tissue belly of the muscle and glide along it to get rid of knots and find the meridian.

It hurts like a bitch and made Shalnark cry once. But it made him feel so much better the next day.

And speaking of Shalnark….

Currently, Aria sat at the main table in the kitchen with Nobunaga, Uvo, Machi, and Phinks. They were all enjoying a plate of freshly baked pumpkin cookies that she made for them. Machi enjoyed them immensely and tried to hog them for herself. Phinks felt the same way and had already ate about 10 of them before settling down with a can of beer.

Shalnark had come bounding in towards the group, looking more giddy than normal. Once he got to the table, he practically ignored everybody. Except Baby the cat who was resting on top of Uvo’s leg, he gave him a few good scratches  under the chin before directing a question to Aria.

“Hey Cutie, do you remember when I helped you make that appointment and said that you would owe me one?”

“Yes?” Aria answered in a questioning tone, wondering what was about to happen. Under the table, she grab onto Nobunaga’s thigh and gave it a squeeze. That’s what she tended to do whenever she got nervous.

“Well, I figured out the perfect thing you can do for me.” He closed his eyes and gave her a smile.

“And what would that be?” Aria went to take a sip of her chosen beverage, which happened to be milk.

“I want you to sleep with me.” He said it so casually, like if he had just asked her to pass him a cookie.

Aria, on the other hand, suddenly began to choke on her milk. Nobunaga and Machi had to pat her on her back while she hacked up a couple of time. Once she was done hacking, she coughed up a little more and took a few deep breaths.

“Can you… *ahem*…say that again just so I’m sure I heard that right?” Her voice got higher with each passing word.

“You heard it cutie.” Shalnark went around the table towards Aria. Right when he was behind her, he leaned down towards her ear to whisper right into it. “I want you and I to have some fun sex.”

“Uh….” Aria looked over at her boyfriend to see what his reaction what. All Nobu did was bite into another cookie so nonchalantly. He didn’t seem to care at first. It suddenly occurred to him how he must have looked, like he didn’t care at all, so he quickly put down his cookie and turned towards Aria to explain his way of thinking.

“Do you by chance remember back to the night you were drunk and kissed some of the members of the Troupe?”

“Yes.”

“I see this almost the same way. I trust Shalnark and know he would never do anything to hurt you. Plus, you made a promise to him and should uphold your end of it.” Aria sat there for a while, she believed in keeping her promises as well. She knew all members of the Troupe were very close to each other.

Nobunaga had shared the saying with him “Thinner than water yet thicker than blood.” They saw each other as more than friends and family. So to them, there’s no worry in sharing her. She may be a little weirded out by it but it wouldn’t affect her relationship with Nobunaga in anyway.  

“You won’t be mad at me, right?” She needed to be sure.

“Not at all. I know where Shal is so if he hurts you in anyway, I’ll cut off a limb or two. You and Machi can put him back together with Danchou says.” Machi placed a hand on her shoulder to confirm this.

Her and Machi had gotten rather close recently as well.

That’s how the conversation went at the kitchen. A few hours later, around night time, Aria was waiting outside Shalnark’s door. Nobunaga had suggested she wear one of the few lingerie outfits she owned. So she picked a hot pink baby doll outfit, since Shalnark always suggested she get something pink.

And how she got something pink in her outfits was beyond her. She made sure to wear a bathrobe over the outside to look presentable while outside in the hallway.

Shalnark answered the door, wearing his signature smile; but he was already undressed and wearing just a pair of boxer briefs. And from what Aria could see, he was very well endowed.

“Cutie, I’ve been waiting.” Did he just make his voice sound a little more sexy?

“Sorry for that. I was getting ready also and…”

“Did you wear something special for me?” His eyes began to sparkle.

“Yes, I did.” She undid the strings of her robe and opened it up slightly for only Shalnarks eyes to see. His eyes no longer sparkled, now only narrowing into a hazy lust.

“Get your sexy little ass in here.”

Nobunaga’s POV

It’s been a while since Shalnark has had someone to play with. I think it’s been a good year and a half. Since before he had a chance to meet Aria. So I know he’s got a lot of pent up sexual energy.

It’s been nearly 3 hours since I last saw Aria go into Shalnark’s room. Or rather, get pulled in there. I had been waiting at the entrance of the hallway just to see how it would go. I didn’t expect to see his arms come out, grab her shoulders, and literally pull her into his room. His door shut tight, I heard the door lock, and haven’t heard much since.

“Hey Nobunaga.” Uvo, Phinks, and Feitan came up to me. I had been sitting on the couch in the main area, reading a book that Aria and Danchou greatly enjoyed. For the life of me, I can’t get into this. If you ask me, Shakespeare makes some of the most boring words I’ve ever read. I’d much rather watch a horror movie with Aria.

“What’s up guys?” I closed the book and put it down on the coffee table.

“Hot Stuff with Shalnark still?” Phinks asked.

“Yeah, going on hour 4 soon.” Before anybody else could get another word in, we heard a scream come from the hall where Shalnark’s room is. A feminine scream. The four of us went to check out the scream slowly. We know there was nothing to fear, the curiosity just got the better of us.

Once we got to the door, we were able to hear better. There had been noise being made the whole time. From being this close, I could hear Aria making moans, little pants, whines, and an occasional scream that sounds like it was muffled.

“Think he’s filming this?” Uvo asked.

“I hope he is. I’d love to watch whatever he’s doing.” Phinks responded.

Before I could respond to that, we heard possible the loudest scream/moan we’ve ever heard. I knew it was an orgasm scream though. I’ve heard her make a few of those before. It truly is a beautiful sound.

“Oh man.” I turned around and practically punched the wall. “That made me fucking horny and I know she’s going to be too tired and sore to do anything tonight.”

“Uvo, up to going into town for a brothel?” With Phinks tracksuit, he couldn’t hide his erection.

“Need it.” With Uvo’s clothes, his was a little easier to hide. Feitan did not response to the scream. I know he found Aria to be pretty, but I wonder if he found her to be sexually attractive.

“You going to come Feitan?” Before he could answer, Shalnark opened to door, holding Arial bridal style in his arms. He had put the bathrobe back on her body and covered her back up.

She looked absolutely exhausted but in so much bliss. She had this tired smile on her face and her legs were shaking. Oh yeah, she had a good time in there.

“Oh, hey guys, what are you all doing here?” Shalnark came out wearing his bathrobe, tied up, but the top of the robe was pooling down and resting where his elbows were. So, we were able to see his chest was glistening with sweat.

“Noises of a beautiful lady.” I informed him, while looking down at my beautiful Aria. When she noticed me, her arms came up and she reached for me. Shalnark looked a little hurt that so wanted me so fast after their play.

“Nobu, I’m so tired.” Her voice was strained and once I had her in my arms, she snuggled into my chest.

“How about I run a bath for you? Then after, we warm up some food and watch a movie?” I turned away from my group, no longer interested in their brothel talk.

“Hacksaw 3?” She questioned.

“Sounds good to me.”  I was walking back to me room when I noticed that Feitan was walking with us also. “Not going to brother with Uvo and Phinks?”

“Me want watch movie.”

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

“Nobunaga.” Danchou called out to me before I had a chance to walk down my hallway.

“Hm, what is it Danchou? Another mission?”

“I need to speak with certain members of the Troupe. Please gather Machi and Pakunoda, we are meeting in the main room.”

“Yeah.” I already knew where they were.

Making my way down the hall, I could hear Aria giggles get louder with each step. That always puts a smile on my face. When I got to the door and opened it, I was met with a little fashion show. Apparently, Pakunoda got some clothes and was having Aria try them on for fun. Machi was in here too, she still work her stoic face but there was a tiny side smile on there. Paku sat on top of the bed with her legs crossed while Machi sat on the floor.

Aria was twirling around in the slick black dress that Paku normally wears for missions that require her to infiltrate into the mafia. She is an attractive woman that can make men fall for her.

The dress looked stunning on my Aria though. And it made her red hair and blue eyes stand out even more.

“Nobunaga.” Machi was the first to notice me out of the three. Aria stopped her twirling to give me a questioning look.

“Nobu, what’s wrong?” Guess my face said it all.

“Sorry to ruin your fun baby, but Danchou needs us.” I motioned to the other two girls in the room.

“Okay.” Aria never complained when Danchou called a meeting or took any of us away from her. I’m sure it bothered her a bit to be left alone suddenly but she never said a word.

“Paku, your dress…”

“Keep it.” Paku said while getting up from my bed. “I have plenty more similar to it. It looks good on you.

“Thank you so much.” Aria bowed, showing off quite a bit of cleavage. Oh, how badly I want to jump her right now with those boobs of hers sticking out like that. This woman doesn’t know what she does to me.

But I can’t do that right now.

“I’ll be right back.” She came up to me to give me a quick kiss on the lips before turning back around to strip off the dress. I had to start closing the door before it got any further from that.

I followed Machi and Paku back to our regular meeting area. There I saw Shalnark, Uvo, Phinks, and Feitan. Danchou sat at the front in the middle for all of us to see.

“Now that we are all presents, I can discuss our next heist, the Gahaku auction.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that auction.” Uvo blurted out. “Something about the gavel, right?”

“You’re correct. It’s taking place in the same town where we get our tattoos done. I think it’s time we took Aria to get hers done. Now Nobunaga, you said you had an idea of what she should get?”

“Yeah…” I couldn’t stop the excitement of Aria getting an official tattoo to show that she belongs to the Phantom Troupe now. “I was thinking a spider web.” I smiled.

“Very creative.” Danchou spoke. “If she agrees, we head out tomorrow morning. With our Treasure. Be ready.”

We all took that as our cue to go get ready. I needed to go talk to Aria now about this. Would she be up to it? I know she still has a hard time accepting what it is that we do. Especially Feitan’s role. She loves Feitan but it scares her that he’s literally the real ‘Hacksaw’, her words.

Once I reached my room, I saw that Aria had already put the dress away and she was back in her normal clothes of leggings and a tank top.

I’m so in love with this woman.

“Oh, I didn’t expect this meeting to be so short.” She spoke.

“Honestly, I didn’t either.” I admitted. Closing the door behind me, I placed my sword against my bed before going over to her. Once we were in front of each other, she wrapped her arms around my neck and we kissed.

“Can you please stop doing this topknot?” She pulled at the hair at the top of my knot. “I get you need it for your missions but not when you’re here.”

“It’s my signature look.”

“I love at night when it’s down though. Plus, I know you like it when I pull your hair during…”

“Are you trying to get me horny?”

“Maybe.”

“It’s working.”

We both laughed.

“Anyway, a majority of us will be heading out tomorrow for a mission. And Danchou mentioned you coming with us this time.”

“Me?” She let go of me to turn around and walk away. I saw her hand go out to her head, like she was massaging out a headache. I know she didn’t have one, she was just thinking. “Why?”

“Well, we think it’s about time we make you an official part of the group. Not the Troupe, more like an addition.”

“But I’m not like all of you. I rarely use my ability to hurt, it’s for healing.”

“Like I said, it’s not for the Troupe. You’re not a Spider. You’re different. It’s a little hard to explain.” She was still looking away and thinking. I decided that I needed to calm her down. I went to grab her by her waist and pulled her back until we were both sitting on the bed, her back to my chest. I replaced her hand with mine on her head and began to rub her temples.

“That feels nice.” I can tell by her reaction that she closed her eyes and began to lean back against me into my touch.

“Aria, my sweet baby, you will never be asked to do what we do. Danchou doesn’t want to risk losing you. You’re a precious treasure to him and my precious girl. The reason we want you to go is to get you a tattoo. Not of a spider but of a web. It’s something new we’ve decided to start with those important that will be us 24/7, significant others, if you will. You’re the first one who will be doing this.”

We stayed silent for a few minutes, with me still massaging her temple. She didn’t move away from me so that was a good sign.

“I don’t have to kill anybody?”

“We’d never ask that of you.”

“Then yes. I’ll go with you all and get the tattoo. I want to stay here and be with you all. Because…Nobu, I love you. I love all of you. I know you guys are a bunch of criminals and thieves, but I still enjoy being around you all.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. Because we all love you too. I’ll let Danchou know that we can go through with the plan.” 

Aria’s POV

It was morning time and we had left our island and were now at the airship that we needed to catch to reach the continent.

Danchou had split us up into 2 groups. Men’s and womens to be more precise. So, I was in one airship with Machi and Pakunoda with Nobu had to be with the guys. I started to catch on that Pakunoda was like 2^nd in command when Kakka was not around.

“I made sandwiches for everybody. And they’re labeled so please give them to the guys once we’re in the sky.” I gave Nobu the bag before leaving with the girls.

“Yeah yeah. They don’t deserve it. Except Danchou.”

“Nobu.” I scolded him while giving him the bag.

“Be safe.” He grabbed me by my arms first and pulled me in for a searing kiss. It was the kind that would make me weak in the legs and make me forget that everybody else in the world existed.

“Yeah, you too. See you when we land.” Was what I told him before we parted.

I saw in my seat across from Paku and Machi, we were already in the air and I had given them their sandwiches to eat. It was a quiet flight, nothing extreme has happened so far. There wasn’t even much small talk. I didn’t really feel like talking about much. As cliché as this sounded, I was actually missing Nobunaga.

Just then, somebody passed by us and I was really creeped out. He was tall and making creaking sounds. He had on a green outfit and pins sticking out of his face and head. And he had a long like face with blue mohawk.

“Interesting.” I murmured to myself. 

“Something wrong?” Machi asked, now done eating her sandwich.

“No. Just need to go use the restroom.”

“One of us should go with you.”

“I can use the restroom by myself Machi. Plus, I know a little bit of fighting if I need to defend myself.”

“I just have a hunch that…”

“Machi, it’s ok.” I gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder before I began to head towards the restroom.

I did feel like somebody was watching me the whole time so I did have my guard up and ready just in case. My eyes continuously scanned the area I was in, and I was starting to wonder if I should have taken Machi up on her offer to come with me.

I mean, I heard rumors that girls tend to go to restrooms in groups.

Once I made it to the restrooms, I was sure I was in the clear. I pushed the vacant sign door open with my hand and was about to head in when suddenly I was pushed in forcefully by somebody behind me.

It was a single stale so the space was very small with two of us in there. There was no space for me to turn around and see who it was that pushed me. And before I could scream, they covered my mouth with their hand.

I immediately began to bite onto their fingers but their grip wouldn’t waver.

I tried to kick back with my feet or use my elbows, neither of those worked. Whoever it was also had their other hand around my waist. He did let go for a second in order to break open a window that was in the restroom. Once the window was fully broken, an alarm went off in the airship, stating that oxygen levels and pressure have started to decline at a rapid rate.

It looked like the window was getting closer to me. And it was. Whoever had a grip of me pushed me right out of the small window and I was now free-falling out of the sky.

 The person was no longer holding onto me but I was screaming like crazy since I’ve never falling at this rate or level. I had nothing holding me so naturally, I assumed that I was going to die like this.

I suddenly felt arms wrap around my waist once more and a jet with an open latch came into sight. The person behind me began to guide us towards the open latch, how he was doing it was beyond my comprehension.

I was still screaming by the time we opened the latch. He landed on it so gracefully with me still in their arms.  

“THE FUCKING FUCK?!” were the last conscious words I remember yelling before my world went dark, my voice disappeared, and I became trapped in my own body.

3^rd person POV

“We are assassins, we rarely do this kind of work. But for the money that you’ve offered us, it would have been wrong to say no.”

In a room of a rather large establishment, full to the brim of exquisite furniture and ancient artefacts, was a large red carpet in the middle. Right in the middle of the carpet was a single chair and in the chair saw a catatonic Aria Sato.

Behind her stood three of the most well knows assassins of the world, Zeno Zoldyck, Silva Zoldyck, and Illumi Zoldyck.

Aria’s once shining blue eyes were now clouded over, like if she had cataracts in them. Her mouth was in a thin line, like they were glued shut. She sat straight up in the chair, like she was a pretty doll to be dressed up however wanted.

“Normally as assassins, we don’t do this kind of work. But with the money offered, it would have been a shame to say no.” Zeno spoke.

“And it gave Illumi the sky training he needed.” Silva added.

The person on the other side of the room pushed a few buttoms on his room and the money that was promised was transferred over to the Zoldyck account.

“To be blunt, I didn’t think you’d find her.” Meeting them in the middle was the one who had ordered for Aria to be found and brought to him, Light Nostrade. “Anymore information you could find on her?”

“All you asked was her name. It’s Aria Sato.” Silva informed him.

“Aria…” Light recited the name. Illumi looked with confusion at the older man as he rubbed the cheek of the catatonic girl. “The most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. When I saw her and Neon interacting that one day, I just knew I had to meet her again.”

“Due to your role in the mafia, you’ll have to keep her behind closed doors if you don’t want anybody to know who she is. Pictures of your daughter already circulate.” Illumi explained. He then went right behind Aria and took out microscopic needles. “I can change her hair color, eye color, and her memories. All you need to do is let me know and it’s done.”

“I understand.” Nostrade reached into his pocket and pulled out two rings. He placed one of them onto his left ring finger and he grabbed onto Aria’s left hand to place the other on her ring finger.

“She’ll be well protected and very loved here.”

Chapter Text

Nobunaga’s POV

A brothel? These guys brought me to a fucking brothel?

If only there wasn’t a rule in the Troupe that there is no physical fighting amongst the members. I really feel like I need to give theses guys a slicing.

The blasting music was really making my headache worse and the dancing women and men made me just want to punch a wall.

“Hey buddy, you need to loosen up.” Uvo put his arm around me, leading me off somewhere towards the back. Phinks and Shalnark followed close by. Every so often we’d be stopped by someone random, a hand sliding around our neck or back hinting if we want to have a good time.

The way these random hands felt as they touched any bare skin of mine made it crawl. The outfit that Uvo forced me to wear, a fitted wite beater with leather pants, showed off more skin then I was comfortable with. Each of the guys tried to switch it up a little tonight, and tried hard to make me have a good time.

It was the anniversary of….

“Hey there handsome.”

The guys had rented a back room and hired some strippers (or whores, I don’t judge) to dance around and be our personal waitresses for the night. Uvo and Phinks were quick to make themselves comfortable with custom drinks, getting themselves drunk and having their arms around some random girl.

I just grabbed a beer and sat myself in the corner to not be bothered. Shalnark didn’t understand my goal and came to sit with me.

“Having any fun?” He asked.

“Does it look like I am?” I gave him a side eye look, downing my beer in a few sips. I wanted to get drunk and just forget today ever existed.

“Nobunaga, you just need to…”

“If you say let loose, I will throw this empty can at you.” I threatened. I was just not in the mood for anything. I wanted out of here now.

“Don’t be such a stick in the mud.”

“You guys can enjoy whatever it was you had planned for me.” I stood from my seat, taking one more can with me. I was leaving the table and heading for the exit when suddenly some woman blocked my path.

Was she sent this way by Uvo or Phinks? Or maybe Shalnark? Who knows? She needs to get out of my way though. I will not hesitate to kill her nor will I hesitate to kill the others if it will keep their mouths shut.

“Leaving so soon?” She rubbed the front of her body up against mine, one of her hands wandering down the front of my pants, expecting to feel something bulging out. Too bad, she won’t feel anything but something flaccid. And I’m not ashamed to say it.

“Out of my way.” I said without looking at her. Her perfume was so strong and nauseating, hope I don’t vomit….or maybe I should. It’ll end the night early.

“Oh come on, I know you don’t mean that.” She continued to palm my groin, making me let out an annoyed sigh. This time, I did look at her.

My mind was playing tricks on me. The whore’s fake blonde hair change to the beautiful bright red hair, smooth and thick that smelt of flowers. Her brown eyes were now the alluring ocean blue that captivated me and made me get lost in them for hours.

The beautiful smile, that melodic giggle, that gorgeous body.

“There we go, I knew we’d come around.” Just like that, my visions of beauty disappeared and was replaced by the whore I’d been trying to get away from. During my vision, my flaccid cock had begun to sprung up to life. Just thoughts of her was enough to make me hard.

That made my temper flare up. I grabbed her by the throat and pushed her up against the wall. This made everybody in the room freeze, even the guys froze at my action.

I wasn’t one to act spontaneously, I always acted logically. But not today.

“Where is she?!” I yelled.

“Who?” The girl choked out.

“My Aria!” The girl had no answer, I knew she wouldn’t but that didn’t matter. She had the gull to touch me and…..she didn’t do anything. My imagination did it all. Taking in a deep breath or two, I let her down and let go of her throat.

“You guys can do whatever the hell you want. I’m out of here.” In my opinion, this was a waste of time. The guys didn’t bother arguing with me, they let me walk out in peace. I passed by a few dancing couples while heading towards the bar.

In my head, they were all me and Aria.

This was the anniversary of Aria’s disappearance.

Hence the reason why the guys thought it’d be a good idea to get me out.

“Hey, what can I get you?” The bartender asked me when I sat down at the bar. I was about to order a shot of sake when I looked over at another woman who happened to be drinking a pale colored drink with a cherry in it. I knew what it was immediately.

“Get me a shot of whatever sake you got and a sex on a beach.”

*Flashback*

“Hey Machi…” I ran into my partner as we both walked into the main area, taking a seat on the couch. “Have you seen Aria?”

“Her and Paku are up in the garden having a few cocktails. Something about a girls night.”

“And you’re not up there why?”

“They said no ‘guys’ allowed. Apparently, I qualify as a guy.”

Before the two of us could talk any further, we heard giggles coming down the corridor, drunk giggles.

Pakunoda and Aria were walking arm in arm, both of them holding onto a pale colored cocktail.

“Whoa…” Paku spoke as she almost fell, making Aria giggle more.

“Man, sex on the beaches fuck you up fast.” Aria finished hers in two gulps, letting out a tiny burp at the end.

“Hence why it’s one of my favorite drinks.” Paku responded, the two of them wobbling over to the couch towards Machi and me. They froze suddenly when they saw Machi. Going over towards her, Paku got into her face and shushed her.

“Don’t tell Machi.” She said while holding in her laughter. “She’ll get mad at me.”

“Did she just…” I wasn’t able to finish my question when Aria came over to me and started to play with my hair that stuck up out of the topknot.

“Hehe, it’s like a tree….a palm tree. OMG! Nobu has a tree in his hair!” Both Aria and Paku laughed so hard they fell over onto the floor. Machi and I looked at each other wondering if we should help them up or let them sleep on the floor for the night.

*End of Flashback*

I had finished my shot of sake while I played with the sex on the beach drink by stirring it with the straw and swirling it randomly. That night ended with Paku and Aria sharing Machi’s bed to sleep. Machi argued that she should sleep in my bed, which made me lock my door and forcing her to sleep on the couch.

I took a sip of the drink, finding it way too sweet….Aria loved sweet things.

“Something wrong with the drink?” the bartender asked.

“Nah, just…reminiscing. Hey, does this place have a roof?”

“Need some fresh air?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, we’re not suppose to let anyone know but something tells me you really need it.” The guy proceeded to give me directions and told me the code to the door. He wasn’t that bad of a bartender, I made sure to leave him a good tip.

I followed the directions, finally making it outside onto the roof of the brothel. There was a nice breeze outside, I took in a deep breath and let it out. Some of the knots in my neck popped when I did this.

I’ve held a lot of tension in my shoulders since losing Aria.

I took a seat, leaning back against the wall, and took out my cellphone. The wallpaper was the first photo that Aria took of us while we still lived in Starhaven. I went to the photo/video app of the phone and scrolled through the memories I have of her.

Some of the videos I took, some of them she took, and some were from the members of the other members that were sent to me.

Video 1

“There she is.” My voice is heard from behind the camera. The video moved sporadically until it was settled on Aria, who was just sitting on the bed comfortably while reading a book.

“Nobu, what are you doing?” She asked.

“Making a video of the most beautiful girl in the world.”

“Machi?” she joked.

“…….please don’t ever say that again. Now I want to throw up. Ugh, that’s gross! I’ve known her since we were kids. Oh gods, disgusting!” I exaggerated gagging noises while she let out a loud laugh, bending over at her waist and wiping away tears.

Video 2

Shalnark held the phone, it angled towards the hallway where I was leading Aria. The rest of the Troupe was with him and waited patiently for me to get Aria to the kitchen.

“Nobu, I love you but I’ve told you so many times that you’ve not good at cooking and to leave it to me.” They heard from the hallway.

“So sue me, I was craving hot chocolate.” I lied, making her think I accidently burned the chocolate in a pan. When we finally got into the kitchen, the troupe jumped up, yelling out Happy Birthday. This shocked Aria, making her jump back in surprise.

“The hell?” She tried to but couldn’t hide the smile on her face.

“Well, since Miss Grumpy is no longer grumpy, we can finally celebrate her birthday.” Shalnark explained from behind the camera. “So Pakunoda baked a cake for you and we got some presents.”

“You guys…did this for me even though I was being, for lack of a better word, a total bitch?” She brought her hands up to her heart, showing her gratitude. I came up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist.  

“We all love you Aria, no one more than me but still.”

Video 3

“Oh yeah baby.” Two sets of moans can be heard from inside the steamy bathroom. The phone had been left on the counter, aimed at the sink. All that could be seen was steam, it was more of what was being heard.

“Nobunaga.” Aria moaned. Slurping noises were heard, Aria’s moans getting louder and louder. A groan would be heard every now and then. Then a door was heard opening. That’s when their bodies come into contact with the counter the sink was connected to. The camera now had them in perfect view.

Both naked and wet, hairs clinging to one another’s body, arms wrapped around the other as they made out, tongues mingling in the middle. All that could be seen were the upper bodies and faces. And both unaware of the recording camera.

One of my hands disappeared for a few minutes, then suddenly Aria’s face contorted into pleasure while my head went back and moaned up towards the ceiling.

From the way their bodies were moving, you could tell that we were now connected and having sex.

“Nobu.” Aria whispered, one of her hands traveling up and down my front body, enjoying the feel of my pecs and abs, and loving the way my cock would pound into her pussy. “Right there, right there, right there.” She chanted, leaning back, her boobs bouncing in sync with my  pumps.

“Mine.” My hand wrapped around Aria’s neck in a possessive manner. “You’re mine baby. Always will be mine.”

“Yours.” She responded, that’s when I slightly squeezed her neck, being careful to not cut off her airway. Her moan got louder and louder.

At this part, I must have pulled my cock out because she whined suddenly. I didn’t let it last long, I quickly grabbed onto her should and twisted her body until she now faced the counter and I adjusted her hips. That’s when I slipped back into her pussy without a second though.

“Ah! Yes!” She screamed with the new angle I was hitting. It felt better for both of us, this now being her new favorite position. I grabbed onto a handful of her hair and pulled back,  my other hand leaving her hip to go and play with her boob.

“Who do you belong to?” I yelled.  

“You!” she responded.

“That’s not my name.”

“Nobu.”

“My whole name.”

“Nobunaga.”

“Be sure you say it when you cum.”

We only last about 1 more minutes when we both came at the same time, reaching an orgasm together. We basked in the glows of aftersex, enjoying each other’s company. It was a good thing this was done in the bathroom so that we could both jump back into the shower.

 “Nobu….why is the camera here?” Aria asked when she was about to catch her breath.

“Good question.”

“Is it on?” She grabbed onto it and turned it around. “Holy shit, it was recording the whole time.”

“Great!”

“Not great! Delete this.”

“Hell no, I’m keeping this video. It’s going in my Favorites!”

“Nobunaga!”

*END OF VIDEOS*

“Well, that was entertaining~” Oh great, not this guy. Right behind me was Hisoka, a magician/clown who was trying to get into Danchou’s good grace in order to join the Troupe. None of us were really big fans of him but if he was powerful enough, then he deserved to be in the troupe.

“What are you doing here, Hisoka?” For a while, my annoyance was finally gone. Now it’s back, with the appearance of the clown. I didn’t even bother to look up at him.

“I was just out for a night stroll~. When I saw you sitting here oh so lonely~.”

“I’m sitting here because I wanted to, I’m in no way lonely.”

“You didn’t let me finish. I see that you were being entertained by a ~lovely~ creature. Who was that?” I don’t know why but this had me seeing red.

In a few flashes, I had corned Hisoka up against the wall, my sword that was hidden now drawn and being held towards Hisoka’s throat, he was holding up a single jester card as defense, the edge being up against the edge of my sword.

“No need to get defensive~. I just wanted to know her name~.”

“If we’re going to get along Hisoka, Here are some ground rules when it comes to the girl you just saw on my phone. Don’t ever mention her, don’t bring anyone near me that has red hair, and don’t even bother trying to find out her name. Only those I trust in the Troupe have that honor. You’re just a nobody. Got it?”

There was a shift of aura in the area that circle around us, the magician giving off some bloodlust.

“Crystal clear.”