A Rosy Thorn

Chapter Five

"Such a shame. Your skills could have been used for so many better things than thievery."

"That's just how life turned out. There's nothing you can do to change history."

"I'm aware." Rosette stopped walking, letting go of Taiho. She gazed at him with an emotionless expression. "That's why I'm here."

Taiho took a couple steps back. "So, this is where you call the cops."

"No." Rosette took her gun out of its hiding place, loading it and pointing it at Taiho's chest. "This is where you die."

Taiho stared at the weapon, movements frozen.

"As you can see, I'm not quite the threat you assumed me to be."

"I'm sure you don't really want to do this, do you, angel?" Taiho composed himself, grinning down his fear. "I thought we were having a good time."

"Far from it." Rosette stepped closer, finger hovering above the trigger.

"But Rosette." Taiho moved forward until their faces were nearly touching. He tilted her head up with two fingers. "You're beautiful."

To his relief, Rosette dropped her gun, surprised. It clattered to the ground. Taiho kicked it away from them, smirking. "You don't really want to kill me."

"I-" Rosette stared at him, face flushed bright red. She didn't give him an answer.

"Now, how about you tell me where my bag is..." Taiho brought her face even closer. There was maybe a centimeter between their noses. "And you leave me alone?"

"Bag..." Rosette had a mental reset. Her eyes narrowed and she stepped away from Taiho. "You're not going to get your stolen treasures back."

Dammit. "Really? Who's going to stop me. Certainly not you. You're unarmed and clearly vulnerable."

"I may be unarmed, but I'm not vulnerable."

"You say that, yet..." Taiho swiftly brought their faces close again. He smirked when again Rosette turned red. "You're blushing."

Where the hell is everyone?! "If you value your life-" she started to threaten.

Taiho cut her off by kissing her.

Rosette made a squeak of surprise, but she didn't pull away.

Dammit, Tai, what the hell are you doing?! You're supposed to be checking in, get your bag back! But Taiho didn't listen to his thoughts. He put his hand around Rosette's waist, neither really sure what was happening.

After what felt like way too long, Taiho stepped back and stared at Rosette.

Rosette was staring right back at him, thoughts a puddle of extremely confused emotions. Both of their faces were flushed.

Finally, Rosette spoke. "Taiho, what-"

"OI!" A bullet barely missed Taiho. He jumped, turning around quickly.

"WHAT'S THE DEAL?!" Kyanite stormed up to them, continuing to fire at Taiho. She was yelling at Rosette, though. "QUIT MAKING OUT WITH HIM AND SHOOT HIM ALREADY!" She kicked the gun on the ground back to Rosette. "THERE! DAMN, WHAT'S WITH YOU?!"

Rosette blinked a couple times, quickly picking up the gun and holding it in her hands. It was still loaded.

"SHOOT THE DAMN GUY!" Kyanite yelled, making Taiho dance around the bullets. Her aim was off due to her anger. "ROSE! WHAT THE HELL!"

"I- well-" Rosette looked between Kyanite and Taiho. Taiho was scowling, previous embarrassment lost.

"QUIT WITH THE STUTTERING AND JUST SHOOT, I'M RUNNING OUT OF BULLETS HERE!" As she said that, she clicked her trigger and her gun didn't fire. "DAMMIT! ROSE! SHOOT HIM!"