The Darkness Before Dawn

Whiskey

"I've got it!" Kay shouted as she ran down the basement steps and to Yukiko's and Umiko's workstations. Both women looked up from their work with confused expressions. Kay slapped a flyer onto the table and pointed at the name. "The target is giving a speech at this science conference and there's an after party. That should be the perfect time to take him out!" "So, you're going to shoot him in a room full of people?" Umiko asked. "As fun as that would be, no. I was thinking of something subtle, a poison. Mimic a heart attack or some shit and not let it be detectable in his system."

"All poisons are detectable to some degree but let us think on it and we'll see if we can come up with something for you." Yukiko said. Kay grinned, "I can't wait! It's been ages since I got to kill someone!" she said as she ran back up the stairs. "You can take her out of ANBU but you can't take the ANBU out of her." Yukiko mused.

"Shinju!" Kay yelled, storming into her room where she sat in her pajamas on her bed. She raised an eyebrow at the sudden intrusion. "Apologies but I need a VIP ticket to that science conference-y thing-y doohickey that I showed you earlier." Shinju sighed as she opened her laptop, clicked some keys and an alert went to Kay's phone. "Oooooh lunch and refreshments! You spoil me. Thanks sweet cheeks!" she said as she closed Shinju's bedroom door, allowing the other woman to return to her reminiscing of her date.

Kay unlocked her phone and scrolled through her text messages. Science boy had texted back but she had been too busy reconning her target to reply. Hey. Was busy with work. Am free now. What's up? she sent. A few minutes later she received: Surrounded by idiots. Grab a drink with me? She thought for a minute if she really wanted to go out that night and decided she was bored of hanging out at home. Sure. Text me the address and I'll meet you there.

Kisame sat at the bar sipping on a whiskey, ignoring everyone around him. "One would think you want to be alone" Kay said as she squeezed between patrons to sit on the stool next to him. She flagged down the bartender and ordered a beer before turning to face Kisame. He had a grin on his face and said "long time no see." Kay sipped her beer before replying "yeah, I know. My boss has me running ragged over this new project." He raised his eyebrows at that, "What do you do for work?" "Oh, a bit of this, a bit of that...nothing important, really" she said vaguely. He let it slide for now but he made a mental note to ask more about her work.

"And you? How is your work?" Kay asked. He sighed in frustration before answering "my boss is a dick, I'm pretty sure my assistant has a crush on me which is making things kind of awkward and the rest I can't tell you. Top secret." he said as he leaned closer, grinning while tapping the side of his nose. "Gotcha" Kay said, doing the same. "It's been difficult to get some time away from the place but I'm glad you agreed to meet me." Kisame said, raising his empty glass in the air to catch the bartender's attention. A fresh drink was placed in front of him and he sipped it, sighing at the smooth burn in his throat.

"What are you drinking?" Kay asked. "Crown Royal" he replied. "Can I have a taste?" "Sure" he said while sliding his glass over to her. She smirked and stood up, "that's not what I meant" Kay said. Kisame remained silent and was shocked when he felt her warm lips on his slightly cold ones. She gave a gentle kiss with a small nip on his bottom lip before pulling away and licking her lips. "Not bad, not bad. Not a huge fan of whiskey but you taste pretty good" she said while grinning as she sat back down on her stool.

Kisame had a half smile on his face and a pink tint to his cheeks. "Awww are you shy?" Kay teased him. "No. I'm just not used to women just kissing me" he said quietly. "Well that's a shame. You're a pretty sexy dude so I figured it would have been a common occurrence." "You'd be surprised at how having blue skin, being a workaholic and being a science nerd gets you so few women." "Well...fuck them. Their loss is my gain."

After finishing their drinks, they went for a walk around the neighbourhood. Kisame was explaining something about genetic abnormalities and she was inserting the appropriate sounds to encourage him to talk but was mostly listening. When they had looped back around to the bar, he stopped talking suddenly and she turned to look at him. "Sorry," he said while scratching the back of his head, "I tend to ramble a bit." Kay shrugged and looked at her watch. "I've gotta go but I had fun" she said as she surprised him with another kiss. "See you around Science boy!" she called as she roared away on her bike. Always leaving so abruptly, he thought smiling to himself as he unlocked his car door, got in and headed home.

Mother stood in front of her terminals listening to Mayor Uchiha's speech about restoring law and order to his City and promising to crack down on the supposed terrorists. "I'd like to see you try" she scowled at the man on the screen, "you people haven't been able to do that for several hundreds of years; why would you think you're capable now?!" She slammed her fists on the table, rattling her teacup on its saucer. Careful Mr. Uchiha, my patience only goes so far.