Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sirens howled through the roadway. Few citizens peered outside their windows, lights on. Others watched from the side road, some with friends, others by their lonesome. A few had their phones out. She leans against the balcony railings of her apartment. 

Red, blue lights blinked as it traversed the road, police cars. It was eleven at night and her plan to start her stream for today had been postponed, or worse, canceled. 

She shivered and pulled the thin coat wrapped around her shoulders closer to her body. She goes back inside, plops down on her springy bed, lies on her stomach, and turns on her phone.

Diamond at Tokyo National Museum got stolen… oh that’s pretty recent. She continues scrolling through the news and sees various comments from people. Most were eager to unveil whom the person doing such daring and of course, criminal things could be. Speculation, evidence, even as far as tracking random social media in search of clues.. what has the world gone to.

Only when it’s past twelve and a yawn escape her mouth did she realize she's been way too absorbed in her mindless-scrolling through articles regarding that crime. She sent a tweet that she couldn’t stream along with an apology, and only when bunch of replies along the lines of 'that's fine Aqua, rest well!' appeared did she prepare to sleep.

Tucked comfortably onto the bed, she closes her eyes and wills herself to sleep.

It was a slightly stressful attempt as the sirens of police cars still blared off the road to no end. Thankfully her bed was soft and her comforter kept her warm. She sighs blissfully. I hope they catch that thief soon…

Her consciousness grew more and more heavy and she embraces the oncoming dreamland. 

Then came a tapping sound.

Must be Neko.. scratching the doorsill again… She buried her head under the covers and focused back on sleeping.

Another tapping sound, and a metallic click.

...did that cat accidentally open the door lock again?

This time she opens her eyes and shifts her head to the side, expecting to see the usual troublemaker, words of reprimand prepared and ready on the edge of her tongue.

Only to find a dark-cloaked person, one foot already inside her apartment from the unlocked balcony door.

Oh.

Oh.

She looks blankly at the figure, and the intruder says, “Oh, crap.” And cracks an awkward smile at her.

A rush of adrenaline ran through her veins, she sat up and shouts, “Who are you—?!” 

Next thing she knew, the intruder was only a few inches in front of her. Amber eyes bored into her. His shoulders were tense and a black gloved hand clasped her mouth shut. She lets out a frustrated grumble.

The intruder hushed, “Sorry, but please don’t shout.” 

How am I supposed to not shout when someone breaks into my house?!, is what she wanted to say, alas the only sounds that came from her were a mix of muffled and grunting noises. She stares at the intruder—silver, short luminescent hair adorned with a hat resembling a witch and amber eyes hidden by a black masquerade-like mask. She took a mental note to remember it, for police report purposes of course.

“Will you promise to be quiet?” He asked, lightening the clasp of his hand around her mouth. “I won’t hurt you, promise.”

The intruder's tone of asking was not one of intimidation or coercion, but a desperate plea which lightens her fear.

She contemplated for a moment, what is the chance this person has a knife—or worse—a gun? She examined his attire: a dark cloak and white tunic beneath, with a harness across it. She nodded, not willing to take a chance.

The intruder sighed, tension visibly dissipating from his body as he released the grip around her mouth. She immediately gasps for air and coughs.

“Why are you barging into my apartment? How did you even get up here when it’s on the sixth floor? Are you a burglar—“ She paused, looking at the man who is now standing in front of her. “—who are you?”  

The intruder puts his hands up. “Woah woah, slow down there. I didn’t say that you could ask questions, did I? But alright, since you asked.” He put a hand on his chest in an introductory manner, half-smile gracing his lip. “Call me Murasaki, just a phantom thief who happened to pass by.”

A thief, he says.. .The sheer amount of nonchalant attitude the intruder had was a sight to behold. “Are you..” she points a finger, “the one that was on news everywhere, that thief?”

He nodded. “You missed the phantom part. But yeah, I’m that phantom thief.” He puts his right hand inside her cloak and reveals a round brilliant cut diamond, half the size of his palm, shimmering from little light that came from the moon outside the window. Exactly the diamond she saw on the news.

She sat there on her bed speechless, did she really just have an infamous criminal barge into her house? Only when something soft brushes against her leg does she break out of her stupor. A furball with round-eyes looked up at her, paw stretched and touching an empty plastic bowl. Hidden motives behind its affectionate gaze.

"Oh, you have a cat?" Without waiting for an answer, he crouched down and reached out his hand. 

The cat hissed and swiped at the oncoming hand, intending to leave behind scratches. It hid behind her leg after slightly missing its lethal attack. 

"Geez, that's one feisty cat you have there." He shakes off his black silk hand gloves, small torn marks on them.

She glares. “That’s what you get for trying to touch someone's pet without permission."

The man ignored her and stood up with his back turned, open palm rested against the windowpane. "The police aren't letting up at all," he mumbles, a hand on his chin. It was not clear enough for her to make out the rest. "Alright then."

He walks to the balcony door and opens it. Facing her, who was more than alarmed since the start, he silently stared, and drew closer.

She tiger crawled backward, hitting the wall behind with both hands up, imitating a defense pose that she had seen in kung-fu movies. "W-what?" 

The bed creaks under his weight. He stops a few inches in front of her. "I'm gonna borrow you for a moment."

"Excuse me—?" Before she could voice any complaint, she felt a hand behind her back and legs. 

A yelp escapes her mouth as the soft bed beneath her disappears. She instinctively grips part of his tunic for assurance. "What are you doing?!"

He smiles, "Hold on tight."

He stepped outside, standing right on the balcony fence for a moment and the next thing she felt was her stomach lurching, threatening to spill the omelet she ate for dinner.

"Put," she began throwing small punches, first was the arm. "me," next, shoulder, with whatever power she can muster at the moment. "down!" The last hit she throws resounded a loud 'whack!', a headshot. In a split second, she could make the side profile of her perpetrator's lip furrows and stiffen before forming a curved grin.

"You sure you want that?" They were flying from roof to roof, the man fires off grappling hooks attached to a wire from his handgun. When she looked down, there were glimmers of light from buildings and vehicles alike. She gulped. "Well, I can just let you go right now." 

A sure way ticket to the other side. She vehemently shakes her head, "No, I take that back." 

Gust of wind sweeps in and ruffles her hair. She looks up: A helicopter following them with a deafening noise backdropped by the vast starry sky. It was not enough to drown out the static ear-breaking sound that came with it. "Murasaki, you scoundrel, give up and turn yourself in!"

He turned to the side and put his tongue out. Following it was a gunshot, sounding too close for comfort. She trembled and tightened the grip she had on the thief’s tunic for dear life. “Why did you do that?!”

Child-like laugh. “Because it’s amusing, as simple as that.” 

"What kind of reason is that…" The urge to punch the thief was high but she resisted. Unless she wants him to drop down, flat to the ground. It would be another case if she wasn’t cradled in his arms.

"Besides, they're totally crazy, see? I have you, don't they see I have a hostage right here?" he said. 

They landed on one of the skyscrapers, with his feet planted on small, metal railings. Without missing a beat, he put her down and changed his grips so now his shoulder was holding her off by upper chest and her heart almost leaped off when she looked down: how many floors did this building they're on right now have? Everything looks like ants and the thought of slipping and falling down made her nauseous. She shut her eyes tight and hoped that it would pass.

She could feel him turning around and she grunted when white struck her closed eyelids. She squints; a cascade of light from the chopper; and not long after the rooftop door in front of her slammed open, revealing people wearing thick black vests, tactical helmets, holding rifles in hands, and forming a half-circle around them, barrels pointed forward.

This is her chance! She hunches forward, held back by an arm around her, “Sir, I’m totally innocent–I’m just a victim here, save me!” 

One of the men stepped forward, heavy leather boots thumped against the concrete. Left hand held up while his right rested on the grip of his M4A1—which she had seen numerous times in FPS games–and she saw the others hold off their fire with fingers still placed on the trigger. "Give up quietly and we won't harm you."

The man behind her sighed and she could feel him slumping his shoulder as the wrapped arm around her loosened. "Seems like there is no choice, okay I give up." Feeling relieved, she was gonna say something until she saw out of the corner of her eyes: a middle finger—"In your dreams, bitch!"

With a 'thunk' he kicked the metal railings off his feet–taking her along the plunge–she screamed at the top of her lungs, voice getting carried away by the wind that hit her back. "I'm gonna die I'm gonna die, dad, mom I'm sorry—"

"Hush, calm down will you?" The man shoots his grappling gun and its hook successfully attaches to one of the buildings. She hears glass shatter and all she can see was the white tunic he was wearing; along with it scent of fresh, light sweet perfume that reminds her of lavender as he holds her close and lunges forward. Through it all, despite how inappropriate of a moment it was, she can’t help but notice something soft as her head was nestled against his chest.

Glass shards scattered around and hands firm on the tiled-floor, she gasped for air. And she looked at the man who already stood up, her eyes fell to a small spot on his cheek, red, blood.

"You're bleeding!" She scrambles around her clothes, pocket, for anything that could help. As much as she was annoyed by this thief, but he did keep her safe, didn’t he? Not that it wasn’t his fault from the start. "Here, use this."

The man stared down, at the handkerchief and then back to her before accepting it. She sees confusion in his gaze. A silent question in his amber eyes. "You're weird, you know that?"

"Weird?" She stood up, and jabbed a finger at his chest. "You are the weird one. I'll definitely report this to the police later, you thief."

"Phantom thief," He corrected.

She held her glare and sent her way were a challenging, complacent half-smile. It wasn’t long until she felt a rush behind the back of her throat: along with it was an acidic taste–and finally, a surprised face from the annoying thief in front of her. She won.

It was a satisfying break in her captor's smug expression. 

"Hey, who was that girl earlier?" Her friend, Ayame, asked, running beside her.

She smiled. "Just a civilian I kidnapped and used as human shield."

They make a left turn and enter a bathroom, unoccupied, Ayame tosses her a pair of normal clothes. 

Unbuttoning her tunic, she was careful to not touch the wet, sticky green stain splattered on the fabric. From the corner of her vision, Ayame made an awful disgusted face. When she finished changing to a comfortable shirt and pants, she removed her hat and unclipped the top of her hair, letting it fall down freely. 

Pressing two fingers to the side of her forehead, she winced. "She throws a nasty punch." 

Her hand reached to a small, square object she placed near the faucet, looking at the flower-patterned handkerchief and grinning when her eyes trailed on the cursive embroidery on its bottom side. "Minato Aqua, huh."

Chapter Text

Moving was always such a pain.

Between packing, unpacking, the struggle of searching for a new apartment with adequate space that’s also animal friendly and within her budget – among a million other little things like water pressure and WiFi speed that she also had to worry about – moving was so not worth it.

She didn’t have much of a choice, however. 

It turns out, their little escapade had been the hottest topic on the news, complete with footage from camera buildings. Murasaki holding an unknown girl in his arms apparently sparked… something on the online community – intrigue? Outrage? A messy mixture of conglomerate reactions that stretched from innocent curiosity to mad toxicity, such was the nature of the internet, apparently. Naturally, Aqua couldn’t open a single app without seeing some sort of discussion regarding the phantom thief or her

Given the popularity, it didn’t take long for overly attached fans to pick apart the videos frame by frame and identify her, she was a streamer afterall. It wasn’t hard to identify her. All it would take is a quick Google search for her face to pop-up. 

If it had stopped at only that, it would have been fine, well not fine per se, but at least manageable. She’d be on the spotlight for a while, and then the next hot scandal will come and it would be like the incident never happened. People are easily bored and it’s not like there will be any additional narrative on her and the masked wonder any time soon––or ever, for that matter.

Apparently though, just knowing who the girl Murasaki swept off her feet (Aqua preferred the term kidnapped) was not enough. Some were obsessive enough to find her address and visit her home.

Most of the "visitors" (they were more like uninvited salesmen than anything else) were fangirls of the “cool and mysterious phantom thief Murasaki” that pestered her with questions about his personal life. “What was his favorite food? What kind of films did he like? What kind of woman was he into?”

Aqua politely said that she didn’t know and slammed the door in their face.

Some, however, were more interested in her , and they were always somehow even worse than the crazy fangirls. 

Sleazy, overconfident, and insistent even when she flat out told them she wasn’t interested. She knows the type – they see her as a conquest and nothing more. They probably thought she was easy because most of the clips out there are on her airheadedness and idiotic moments, and while she can be genuinely stupid at times, she’s not dumb enough to see the massive red flags waving around every time they open their mouth.

So she moved. On the plus side, her new unit was bigger and had better security. Silver linings, I guess.

...

Aqua shook off the dust on her hands. “That’s enough unpacking for now. I’ll arrange my manga collection tomorrow.” 

She got the important things settled at least. Her gaming room was first priority, obviously. The monitors and soundproofing were done, but her mic and cameras weren’t set up yet. It’ll be a few days before I can stream anyway. More importantly…

“Break time!” 

“Ugh my back,” Aqua stood up and stretched for the first time in a few hours. She had only intended to play games for a little bit, but when she looked up it was already…”Two a.m… I haven’t even had dinner yet.”

One small problem, however, was that she hadn’t set up the kitchen at all. She opened the refrigerator. “Yep. Nothing.” Exactly like she left it. Food doesn't magically appear when you're hungry, apparently. Who designed this world?

She glanced at the small mountain of boxes she left in the living room area and grimaced. It was way too late to be scrounging boxes for food (more like she couldn’t be bothered to look for the cup noodles).

“Right.” 

Lawson it is.

“Thank you for your purchase.”

Aqua hummed as she walked back to her apartment, plastic bag clutched in front of her. I ended up buying more than I thought.

She closed her eyes and pondered. Bentos keep well in the fridge and all it takes to cook them is a couple minutes in the microwave. I could put off setting up the kitchen for the next week.

Someone wolf whistled across the street. She shuffled away from them and started walking faster.

The guy can't take a hint, clearly, because soon he was up in her face. “What’s a pretty lady like you doin’ out here so late?” 

She didn't even bother trying to hide her grimace. While the guy was steady on his feet, the slight redness of his face and the way he was clearly struggling to not slur his words – he was probably more than a little drunk.

She saw no need to dignify him with a response so she circled around him and continued walking. 

“Hey hey hey, don’t be like that,” he purred. Aqua scowled. “How ‘bout I walk you home? You never know what kind of creeps are out there.”

Like you. “Thank you for the offer, but I think I’d be quite fine by myself.” she flashed him a tight-lipped smile that didn’t reach her eyes. 

“C’mon,” he insisted. “You know I used to do Tae Kwon Do? I would beat up anyone that messed with my girl. There was one time…” 

Aqua tuned him out. She was starting to wish that she had bought chicken karaage too, if only to use the stick to stab this guy. Violent, yes. But it was late, and she was tired and hungry.

“Ah. Is that so,” she said in the most deadpan voice she could as she continued walking.

“Don’t be so cold-” He put a hand on her shoulder and Aqua instinctively shoved it away.

The smile on his face dropped and frustration bled into his tone. “I was just trying to be friendly-”

“And she isn’t interested,” a new voice cut in.

It was a young woman she had never met before with short silver hair and eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness of the night.

She wasn’t very tall, truthfully, but that hardly mattered. Sleek black pants that made her legs look longer and a halfway open tux revealing a purple dress shirt underneath made her look intimidating, in an odd, almost gentlemanly sort of way.

Aqua’s throat suddenly felt dry. 

“And who are you?” The guy scoffed, clearly done with his act.

The silver-haired stranger ignored him, instead turning to Aqua. “You were taking a while to get the snacks so I came to get you,” she said as she extended her hand.

As if by instinct, Aqua took it, grasping it firmly. She saw her mysterious savior smirk as she pulled her closer to link their elbows together as well.

Aqua brought her hand up, the weight of the groceries she forgot about weighing it down, so she settled for a shrug. “Sorry sorry, I got caught up deciding what flavor of ice cream I should buy.”

“Ice cream? You bought some for me too right? I want the watermelon flavored one.” The silver-haired stranger naturally led Aqua away from the creep as she talked.

“I got the melon one. Close enough right?” 

“How could you say that! They’re not even the same fruit.”

“Ehh but watermelon is just melon plus water, and water is tasteless so.” Aqua discreetly glanced over her shoulder. The guy was following them, she gripped on to the stranger tighter.

They were out of hearing range, but the nicer stranger still kept her voice low. “My apartment complex is right over there. If he tries to do anything, run inside the building and I’ll take care of him. My name is Shion by the way.”

“Aqua. Actually I–” And then a punch flew straight between them. Shion reacted quickly, pushing Aqua slightly to create distance for the hit to miss.

Aqua watched, transfixed, as Shion ducked under another punch, pivoted so she was at his back, and then pulled him by the collar to throw him away as far as possible. 

“Thought you knew Tae Kwon Do?” Shion said smugly as he struggled to get up. 

“Shut the fuck up,” He snarled as stepped into a sloppy fighting stance. Shion just stood there, posture relaxed. She skillfully dodged every attack the guy made, only barely resembling the martial art he claimed to know. 

Growing increasingly frustrated, he tried to launch a high kick, emphasis on tried. Something cracked and then he crumpled to the ground, groaning. 

Unbothered by the prone form of her pathetic attacker, Shion ran back to where Aqua stood, barely winded and eyes full of mirth. Without warning, she karate chopped Aqua’s head. “Ow! What was that for?”

“I told you to go inside!” 

“Well you didn’t have to hit me!” Aqua said, rubbing her head. “Besides it looked like you had him!”

The corner of Shion’s mouth twitched, like she wanted to smirk but stopped herself. She sighed. “C’mon. I’ll walk you home. Where do you live?”

“Here, actually.” Aqua stepped inside the building and Shion followed. “Room 306. 22nd floor. What about you?”

“Wait, 306? Are you the new guy?” she replied. Aqua turned around to ask her to elaborate, but she was distracted.

Wow she is pretty. It was hard to discern distinct features with only the moonlight and the faint luminescence of a distant lamp post. 

Under the numerous lights that littered the lobby and inside the security of the complex, Shion’s posture became more relaxed. She settled on a half-smile bordering on a smirk, eyebrows turned up as if she was endlessly amused. It was annoying, in a way that was weirdly familiar. 

Strange.

She was so busy studying the individual in front of her that she missed what she said and had to ask her to repeat it.

“I said ‘It’s a pretty big coincidence,’ meeting my new neighbor out here.’”

“A truly magical coincidence. One might even call it fate.” 

Shion’s eyebrow twitched. “Shut up Subaru.”

Unperturbed, her socialite friend continued. “Totally not like you had Ayame keep tabs on her digital footprint.” Shion tightens her boots and fastens her belt.

“It’s not like you pestered me to rent the unit next to her and made me pay the express option in moving company because you wanted to make it seem like you moved in before her.” Shion slicks back her bangs with hair gel.

“And it’s not like you were shadowing her that day for quote unquote recon, with huge quotation marks.” Shion adjusts her hat, secures her gloves and dons and her mask. “I’m gonna go on a heist.” 

Subaru sighs at her stubborn refusal to acknowledge her. “I’m telling you to stop stalking the poor girl, Shion.”

“It’s Murasaki when I’m wearing this and don’t call me a stalker! I am securing a possible liability on our whole operation.”

“Mhmm. Sure.” 

Subaru side-eyed her. “Don’t you have enough excuses to meet her as Shion, anyway? You give her food nearly every day. The excuse of ‘I accidentally made too much’ only works the first few times.”

Shion threw the bottle of hair gel at her. “Don’t use Ayame’s hacking skills for something that stupid. Who’s the stalker now, huh?”

To her continued annoyance, Subaru easily caught it. “Still you.”

“So?” She asked when Shion didn’t reply.

Shion raised an eyebrow, though the mask covered it. Subaru knew her well enough to understand either way.

“Gonna answer my question?”

Shion leaned on the wall and sighed. “Her fridge is full of nothing but pre-prepared food and she basically lives off of on instant noodles.” She paused and added, “Making food for two is easier anyway.”

Subaru just hummed, amused. 

A soft static and then a bubbly voice. “Ready to go, Murasaki?” 

Ayame . “Always,” she replied through the earpiece. She saw Subaru straighten up in her peripheral as well.

“Remember, Yuki is genuine in her love for history. You can trust her to return the vase to the museum once you’ve anonymously sent it. Max is the one that gave us the floor plan, but he doesn’t wanna be involved with anything more than that so be extra careful in the east wing. Shiro is–”

Murasaki cut her off. “I memorized the floor plan and patrol schedule, not the individual people, Subaru. That’s why I have you.”

“And me!” Ayame interjected.

Shion shook her head as she smiled. “And you. How else am I supposed to cut off the security features?”

“Only for a few seconds. Move on my signal and the rest is up to you.” 

Murasaki opened the terrace doors. The phantom thief stood up on the ledge, unbothered by the danger nor the biting wind of the night. A giddy, childish sort of glee welling up inside as she grinned madly. “Who do you think you’re talking to?” 

And then she jumped.

“Hah! Child’s play!”

From her earpiece she could hear Subaru snort, “Yeah if you count almost getting caught seven different times and having to knock out two guards. It was totally child’s play .” 

Shion had half a mind to come up with a witty retort, but with all her energy spent on the mishaps of tonight’s heist–seriously, it’s a miracle she managed to switch out the antique with her calling card after all that–without alerting the police too!–She just let out a long groan. “I’m going to bed.” 

She heard the chorus of “Goodnight!” from her team and then she cut off the connection.

She swung from rooftop to rooftop until she reached her apartment complex. Carefully aiming for the room on her floor with the lights on and the window she had left open, she shot her grapple hook, made sure the hold was firm and then climbed in.

Instead of the familiar sight of her new home, however. Before her was Aqua, armed with a desk light, pointing it at her as if the flimsy thing would actually be an effective improvised weapon.

Ah shit . She thought. My room was the next one over.

Aqua continued glaring, “What are you doing in my room?!”