Story: The Grave (chapter 2)

Authors: BeyondTime

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Chapter 2

Mireille Bouquet formerly an extremely dependable assassin for hire stepped out of the shower into the bedroom she shared with Yuumura Kirika, also once an assassin for hire, and now simply the most important part of Mireille's life.

As she looked around the bedroom for the clothes she had laid out before stepping into the shower she thought briefly about the moment when she had read Kirika's letter and realized that she could never genuinely do harm to her. Kirika's words had driven home to her how lonely and empty her own life had been before Kirika had so suddenly thrust herself into it. Even the one person who might someday have become a lover had quickly wound up buried in a Parisian cemetery before they had even gotten to know each other very well.

At the time she thought it was just the simple consequence of one of her hits, but now having met Altena and learning how involved Altena had been with her life even before her parents had died, she realized it was Altena's own hand reaching out from the manor making sure her chosen "maiden" remained a maiden. Perhaps even more importantly that she remain isolated from any external influences that might deviate her from the path to becoming Altena's twisted concept of Noir.

Kirika's words had blown through all her pretenses about revenge and as the tear coursed down her cheek she had realized how very lucky she was to have Kirika come into her life, and how much she had come to love the beautiful Japanese woman. Only her own pridefulness had kept her blind to that. She knew at that moment that she had no choice but to cut a deal with Remy Brefort, so she could find her way to the manor and save Kirika from her fate as a Noir candidate. Nothing was more important to her now than putting the past between them to rest once and for all, so they could move on to the future. She very much intended Kirika to be a part of that future.

At the very least she had preserved her personal honor by making sure the deal was on her terms not his.

After the battle at the manor and their return to Paris, she had suggested they retreat completely from the civilized world and it's darkness, and so together they had moved into isolation in the tropics. As they had lived here together their presence in each other’s lives gradually helped them both to heal from the damage Altena had done to them.

Finally one night several weeks back as she was lying in bed looking at Kirika's peaceful sleeping face Mireille had come to the realization that she wanted Kirika to share in every aspect of her life, and so when Kirika's eyes opened Mireille had put her lips against Kirika's and kissed her. When she felt her kiss being passionately returned she had begun pulling Kirika’s clothes off and felt Kirika excitedly doing the same to her own. The rest of the night they had spent in passionate explorations of each other’s bodies, and while there was some pain it had quickly been swept away by the pleasure born from their love for each other. When the sun had risen on the following morning it found them both intertwined in the bed they shared completely spent.

Mireille had thought at that point that they had moved completely beyond their past trauma, but lately she had sensed a darkness in Kirika, and she had yet to put her finger on what was troubling the young woman.

As Mireille mused over her past it dawned on her that the clothing she had left on the bed wasn't there anymore. She thought to herself "Kirika must have cleaned up and put them away, but she knows I always lay something out to put on after I shower." She went over to the closet to retrieve her carefully chosen outfit and opened the door only to have a sudden and terrible assault yank the bottom out from under her world.

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