Chapter Text
The Kazuki household settled into a peaceful pattern not long after Miri joined their little family. Their unassuming cycle of taking turns sending her off to school each morning made them quite popular among both their neighbours and the school staff. It was perfect. Nobody batted an eye at the single father raising a child with his old college roommate.
Surprisingly, it made their “unorthodox” line of employment much easier to brush under the table. Children were the best shields to hide from suspicion, it seems.
And what if seeing Miri’s cute little smile after a hard day of work made their hearts flutter? That was just an added bonus.
So far, none of their assignments coincided with Miri’s presence. An emergency babysitter here and a hastily made phone call there typically smoothed out any issue (Kazuki had perfected the art of sweet-talking the female staff at Miri’s kindergarten). Neither men expected this peace to last forever. At some point, their double lives as assassins and fathers would coincide. Still, they were content to live their lives for as long as they could push it.
And that was how it went. All the way until one unassuming morning when this long-simmering worry became a reality.
“Papa! Daddy! Letter! There are new letters!”
“Is there? Good girl! Give them to your daddy now, we don’t want to lose anything,” Kazuki called out from the kitchen, eyes not leaving the sizzling pans laid out in front of him.
Rei was lying down lengthwise on the couch, not quite asleep but not quite awake to the world either. Miri giggled to herself before leaping directly onto his stomach.
“Unf!” Rei lurched, steadying the laughing little girl as she wobbled, “it’s not nice to jump on people, Miri-chan.”
Miri just laughed some more, dumping the armful of letters onto Rei’s chest. “Papa said it’s ok because you’re so strong!”
“Did he? Well then…” he lowered his voice, gesturing for the girl to lean in so he could tell her a secret. Miri excitedly suppressed her giggles and leaned in. Quietly, he whispered into her ear, “your papa Kazuki is even tougher, you should try jumping on him tonight too.”
“Yes!” Miri exclaimed, before clamping both hands over her mouth when Rei held a finger against his sealed lips. She nodded instead, so enthusiastically that her hair clip nearly fell off.
Rei laughed, giving her an affectionate pat on the head. “Now go set the table. I’ll be over in a minute.”
Miri gave a final nod before climbing off her daddy’s stomach (jabbing a rather sharp knee right into his kidney in the process, ouch). Rei finally straightened and began sorting through the letters spilled out all over the couch. Flyers, ads, policy notices, bills, rent, and… ah, an unmarked envelope with a simple sticker seal.
Putting everything else aside, Rei focused on the final envelope. The texture of the envelope meant it was safe to be seen in public, so he tore it open right away. Inside was a single letter, printed on both sides and signed by a woman named Mary. Of course, it was encoded. Rei reached for a pen on the coffee table and began deciphering their new mission.
A few minutes later, Kazuki and Miri had finished setting up for breakfast. Rei still sat on the couch, legs crossed and staring at the letter in his lap, expression conflicted.
“Rei? What’s up?”
“New job,” he said with a sigh. Shoving the page into the pocket of his hoodie, he stood and walked over to the table, settling into his spot opposite Kazuki.
“Will you be working late again?” Miri asked quietly.
“Ah, I’m not sure. Don’t you worry Miri-chan. It’s nothing we haven’t done before.”
“Okay then…”
“Besides!” Kazuki cut in, “Miri-chan, you mentioned last night that you’re learning a new song in school today. Do you know what it is?”
Miri perked up at that, quickly forgetting about her fathers’ job and launching into a story about the new song about bunnies that she had learned. Both men hid their sighs of relief. Kazuki met Rei’s eyes from across the table. He raised his eyebrows in question, glancing at where Rei shoved the letter. Rei shook his head, later . And so the little family carried on with their breakfast, listening to their daughter blabber on about whatever topics interested her.
After they finished eating, Rei got Miri ready for school. Today it was his turn to drive her to school while Kazuki stayed home to clean up. Rei passed the piece of paper to Kazuki, now folded up into a neat square. They shared a quick kiss, Miri said her bye-bye’s to her papa, and then they were off.
About half an hour later Rei came home, opening the door to see Kazuki sprawled out on the couch in the exact same position as he had been earlier that morning.
“An overseas assignment,” Kazuki proclaimed to the ceiling. He waved an arm to punctuate his words. “A week-long , undercover, international assassination assignment!”
“Yes,” Rei said, closing the door.
“Who do they think we are?” he shot into a sitting position, hair messy and eyes wild. “We don’t do politics, and they’re sending us to, what, the middle of a cold war? We aren’t spies .”
Rei sighed, he didn’t like this any better. Setting down his keys, he walked over to his partner.
“And Miri, gods, we can’t leave her for three hours without her being scared. A whole week?” Kazuki threw his head back against the backrest, exasperated. “She’ll think we’re leaving her, I can’t just do that.”
Rei stopped just behind Kazuki, meeting his eyes upside-down over the back of the couch. Letting out a soft sigh, he leaned down and wrapped his long arms over Kazuki’s neck and chest in an awkward little hug. Kazuki naturally intertwined their fingers together, turning his head to softly nuzzle Rei’s cheek.
“I don’t like this, Rei.” he breathed.
“I don’t like it either.”
“We shouldn’t do it. Too dangerous, especially for Miri.”
“Mmhm.”
“There’s no way we can bring her with us. I can’t believe they’d even suggest that.”
“It’s better than leaving her behind.”
“Yeah, but…”
“And they think we’ll be less suspicious with a child.”
“We’re not using our daughter as a tool .”
“Hmm, I’m pretty sure that’s what you did when we first found her.”
“Oh you shut up,” Kazuki lightly punched him in the arm, causing Rei to chuckle. He looked up, taking in the small work laptop open on the coffee table. The screen showed a database profile of their new target, complete with a black-and-white photo.
Kazuki followed his gaze. “He really is human scum, though. Wouldn’t mind ending this one personally, just wish it was more local.”
Rei gave his partner a soft peck on the cheek. “We’ll figure this out.”
“Yeah, yeah. Guess we’ll have to.”
And they really did. Despite their reluctance, both men understood the assignment perfectly. There really weren’t any other operatives who could take the job. The target was a rather eccentric older businessman who has a taste for foreign artwork. Unfortunately, his lavish purchases and subsequent auctions were used as an easy coverup for a local ring of human traffickers. Their job was to sneak into an upcoming event posing as sellers for a set of ancient Japanese wood carvings that their target showed much interest in. Kazuki would play the role of the curator, and Rei would be his bodyguard. After making contact with the target, they were to insinuate that they wished to participate in more illegal business as well. The hope is to win over the man’s trust enough for him to name his “suppliers”. The assignment was one of those annoying ones where they had to gather intel before taking out their target. As much as Kazuki and Rei both hated jobs that took any more than an evening to pull off, Kazuki really was unmatched when it came to disguises and sweet-talking his targets.
“At least we won’t need to do any background work,” Rei offered.
“You mean I won’t.”
“Same thing.”
Kazuki huffed. He reluctantly untangled himself from Rei’s hold, leaning forward to pull the laptop and some scribbled notes into his lap. Rei stayed where he was, gazing at the screen over Kazuki’s shoulder.
“Do you think Miri will be okay?” Kazuki picked up the letter again. On the backside at the bottom was a small passage about accommodations for their daughter. “Another operative with a family for her to stay with is nice and all, but don’t you think she’ll get lonely?”
“There’s a kid in that family too.”
“Ah right, that girl makes friends with anyone she meets. At least there’ll be someone her age.”
“Knowing Miri, she’ll treat the whole process like a vacation.”
“It might as well be one, for her.” Kazuki yawned and shuffled the papers into a neat stack. He snapped the laptop shut with finality. “Alright! We’re set then. Not like we got any choice. New assignment in two days. We can tell Miri it’s an extended work trip. She’s been watching that show from Ostania, right? She might even be excited!”
Rei nodded and stood, silently making his way toward their bedroom “I’m going to prepare now. Don’t want to disappoint the local operatives.”
“Ah right! Our new ‘coworker’.” Kazuki remembered, “the ‘Thorn Princess’ right? Heard of her before, but you fighting types know each other better.”
“She’s fantastic,” Rei breathed, looking up with something like admiration in his eyes, “best cleaner in the country, not a single failed mission… according to her profile.”
“Heh, maybe you’ll find a friend~”
Rei wrinkled his nose. “Unlikely.”
Kazuki laughed. They’ve worked with other operatives before and it always ended up just fine. No fuss, no conflict, no further contact. They had each other and that was perfect, the addition of another teammate does nothing to disturb that. Kazuki was mildly intrigued by the Thorn Princess though. Neither he nor Rei had cool nicknames despite their accomplishments, it made him wonder how masterful someone in their line of work had to be to earn such a title.
Well, it’s not like he’ll have to wait long to find out.
—
As Kazuki had expected, Miri reacted to the news with excitement. She positively buzzed with energy for the next two days. She was delighted by everything related to the trip; packing her own little luggage, riding a plane, living in a house instead of an apartment, and so on. She wanted to do anything and everything not available here in Japan, and her two fathers were far too charmed to break her small but abundant wishes (they were, after all, only visiting for a week).
Preparation on the assassins’ part was light. All weapons had to be left behind due to the heavy travel restrictions, anything they required would be provided once they met in Ostania’s HQ. All they needed were the typical travel gear, a few unassuming gadgets, real and fake IDs, and they were set. Kazuki had to admit, it was strange to be given a mission where the majority of the background heavy lifting was already handled for him. He was used to slaving away at his computer for hours or even days on end. Maybe he could get used to this.
Two days passed in eager anticipation before the family of three finally landed in Ostania. They first settled into a decent-sized hotel, then took Miri to meet the family she’ll be staying with for the majority of the mission. Since their schedule was spontaneous and prone to change, she would be spending quite a lot of time there. Both men prayed that Miri would like their colleague’s daughter.
As for Miri, well, she was having the time of her life!
Ostania was so different from Japan! The whole place looked like something out of a picture book. The walls and streets were rough and made of stone or brick, and the cars were all bumpy instead of slick. Everything was fancier, be it railings or streetlights. The people all talked in a funny language, even her dads! It was a bit frustrating that she couldn’t understand the people around her (“What if I get lost!? I’m the best at asking for directions!”), but they comforted her that the people she’ll be staying with could speak Japanese. She found solace in the thought, but Miri was a bit saddened that she wouldn't be staying with her fathers.
Soon, they reached a door among rows upon rows of other doors. The buildings in Ostania were so strange! They all connected to each other, Miri couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. There was a small gated yard outside too, it was all so fancy!
Papa knocked on the door and immediately footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. A dark-haired woman opened the door and greeted the men in the strange language, they seemed to be old friends. Miri openly stared at the woman, her mouth nearly falling open. She was beautiful!! Her hair was so dark and smooth, and her pink dress was so cute! Were all girls like this here? Miri definitely had to get a ton of souvenirs to take home.
“Ah! And you must be Miri-chan, nice to meet you!” the woman said in Japanese, having just noticed the little girl. Miri perked up.
“I am!” she announced, standing up straight and putting on a big smile. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Forger!”
“Aww, aren’t you sweet!” Mrs. Forger cooed, she looked even prettier smiling like that. The men laughed along, Kazuki giving Miri a proud little pat on her hair.
Mrs. Forger invited all three of them inside where they met with Mr. Forger. He was as handsome as Mrs. Forger was pretty. Miri’s fathers shared pleasantries with him in the other language while Miri looked around, taking in the house. Even the interior was so different. The wooden floors were familiar, but they had super fancy wallpaper! The entire place felt warm with its yellow tones. Did they always keep their house this organized and pretty? Even her dads have trouble keeping the house clean for more than a week at a time. Maybe the Forgers were like those people she saw on TV, the super-rich ones who hired other people to clean things up for them.
Oh! And just further into the living room was a little girl!
Miri’s first thought was that the other girl looked like a little doll. With her fluffy pink hair and large green eyes, she looked almost unrealistic in her cuteness. The other girl was sitting on the sofa and staring right at Miri, maybe she was a bit shy? Miri let go of her papa’s hand and walked over, fully intending to make friends right away.
Up close, the other girl looked even prettier, almost like a little princess from fairy tales. Suddenly the girl smiled and hopped off the sofa, landing in an elegant little twirl as though wanting to show off her dress (which WAS very cute as well, she had to admit). Miri clapped, then, remembering her manners, introduced herself.
“My name is Miri, nice to meet you! What’s your name?”
The other girl stopped and paused, looking at her with confusion. She pointed at Miri and asked something in her language. Ah right, Miri almost forgot that she didn’t understand Japanese!
Miri pointed at herself. “Miri!” she said, emphasizing her name. Then, she pointed at the pink-haired girl and raised her eyebrows in question. Secretly, she hoped the other girl didn’t have a name that was too hard to say.
“Oh! Anya!” the other girl said loudly, pointing at herself. She looked proud to have figured out what Miri meant.
“Anya-chan!” Miri repeated. She bowed in respect, to which Anya giggled and did the same. Then, Anya grabbed her by the hand and started dragging her into another room. Miri was too excited by the prospect of meeting a new friend to protest, so she followed along, laughing the whole way.
The room Anya took her into clearly belonged to a child. There were toys scattered everywhere, and on the desk were a few notebooks that looked like homework. Anya settled down on the ground among all the toys and patted the spot beside her, inviting Miri over. After she sat, Anya began introducing all her stuffed animals and toys. Miri joined in. Even though she couldn’t understand everything Anya said, she tried her best to learn the stuffies’ names and did her best to interpret the stories Anya told. Soon, both girls were laughing and playing a game of make-believe. Miri found that Anya understood her much more easily than she did Anya, maybe the other girl knew some Japanese after all? No matter how it was, the girls were both having a blast.
“I guess we didn’t have to worry about them not getting along.”
The four adults had quietly gathered outside the girls’ playroom, watching the scene unfold through the half-closed door. The kids were too occupied in their game to notice their parents watching with pure adoration in their eyes. Kazuki almost had to stop himself from wiping away a tear - they were just too cute! The Forgers were in a similar state. Yor held her hands against her chest and Loid had his arm around her shoulder, both watching their daughter make a new friend.
The adults left the girls to their games and retreated back to the living room. Kazuki was very satisfied, confident that Miri is in good hands for the duration of their assignment. Yor was the colleague that HQ told them about, which made him wonder what type of operative she was that allowed her to start a whole family on the side. Her husband was just a civilian too! Kazuki was definitely going to ask her about her work-life balance techniques later.
Loid was wonderful as well. The fact that he did the cooking around the house made Kazuki feel a sense of kinship right away. They even shared a few recipes with each other. Rei and Yor got swept up into a conversation on self-defense methods, becoming quite animated as they described the techniques they knew. Overall, the Forgers were fantastic. Kazuki would not mind if they kept in touch even after the assignment ended.
As time went on, Kazuki and Rei had to leave. They needed to go HQ to get briefed and receive their equipment, and it was simply safer to leave Miri with the Forgers instead of alone in their hotel. Thankfully, Miri was too wrapped up playing with her new friend to grow upset. So, the fathers bid goodbye to Miri and went on their way.
Their assignment starts the next day, after all. Peak performance time. The sooner they finished the more time to spend with the Forgers and their daughter. Who would’ve expected such a picturesque family to be actually interesting?