The woman glanced at the clock, watching the second hand tick across the glass face. Two thirty. If she was going to start the mission, she had better leave her office soon. But for now, she had a little bit of time to gather her bearings and prepare. It had been a long time since she herself had been requested specifically to pull off a heist, even longer since she had had time to relax and calm herself before the night’s work truly started. She exhaled, brushing a strand of her short brown hair out of her eye. A breeze blew in through the cracked window.

Suddenly, an ironic shadow appeared on the outside of the window, blocking the pale moonlight. The clothing on the figure billowed in the gentle wind. The woman in the room tensed, reaching for the pistol on her desk, before the light caught the person’s face. She relaxed, and headed towards the window, her long skirt twisting around her legs as she walked. Her fingers hooked the bottom of the glass and she pushed it up. “What do you want, Ellya?” she said simply, a hint of annoyance in her tone, and backed up.

“That is no way to treat your significant other, Shadow,” Ellya replied as she swung her legs around to sit on the window ledge. “I thought that you would be happy to see me.” She twisted her face into a frown of mock annoyance, before smirking playfully.

Shadow rolled her eye and walked towards the desk, her boots clicking on the tile floor. “I suppose I am,” she said after a pause.

“You suppose!” Ellya said, swinging back on the ledge as she said this. Her fingers gripped the edge of the sill and she laughed.

“Stop that, you’re going to kill yourself,” Shadow said. She appeared next to her in an instant and grabbed her arm.

“So you do care about me,” Ellya said, hopping onto the floor. “What a relief!” She laughed.

Shadow sighed and flicked some of Ellya’s mess of black hair out of her face. “Hmm…” she said.

“What?” Ellya purred, leaning against the window again. The long sleeves of her cloak brushed against the radiator.

“I can hm if I want to hm.”

Ellya chuckled, crossing her legs so one was on top of the other. She studied her girlfriend’s face carefully, her smoky gray eye connecting with Shadow’s deep blue one. Ellya hummed a single note and studied the bandage over where the other eye would be. “I wonder, what lies under that bandage?” She tilted her head to the side and the thick, tangled mess that charaded as hair fell against her face. She blew some away.

Shadow gave her an incredulous look. “You never show me what’s under yours,” she retorted, turning back to her desk.

“You have never asked.”

“Touche. Now-” She ran a finger down the paper containing the information about the heist. “What exactly do you want? I have to leave soon.”

“Come on, Shadow, don’t be like that,” Ellya whined. “Can I spend time with my girlfriend?”

“Yes, but I’m quite busy right now.” Shadow double checked the location and repeated it under her breath.

“Is work really more important than your love life?” Ellya asked, throwing her hands up. “Come on, Shadow…”

Shadow froze, memories flooding from the back of her mind. She opened her eye in shock at the speed of how quickly they appeared. Absentmindedly, her hand reached up and touched the tattoo of the pink, blossoming flower on her left cheek, just under the bandages. The tips of her fingers brushed the gauze she used to cover the scars.  She closed her eye briefly and opened it again. “Blame love for me talking to you today,” she said simply.

“What?” Ellya pushed off from the window ledge and walked over to the other woman. “I am not sure what you mean by that.”

Shadow sighed.

“...You do not want to talk about it.” Ellya nodded slowly. “I can… I suppose that I understand that. Although one day I want to know...” She walked closer to Shadow. “And you are going to tell me.”

Shadow tilted her chin up. “Suppose I’d like to keep it secret,” she said. Their eyes locked. The room seemed to crackle with electric tension, which Ellya broke. She stepped forward and kissed Shadow. Her hands tangled with Shadow’s short hair. The kiss took Shadow by surprise, and she just stood there, unsure of what today. After a few seconds, Ellya pulled away and dropped her hands to the side. Shadow blinked, her mouth half open.

“I love you,” Ellya said. A small smile formed on her lips. “Any secret you have will be safe with me.”

Shadow sighed in a halfhearted way, as if she was trying to deny it. “I…” she began, trailing off into a whisper.

“Hm?”

Shadow gave up on trying to use words. Instead, she leaned up and gave Ellya a quick peck on the lips. She then looked at the clock. “I have to be off now, or I’ll never make it in time,” she said curtly.

Ellya frowned. “Oh, come on. After all that, you still are focusing on your work?” she said, crossing her arms over her black cloak.

“Yes. It’s been a long time since I’ve been specifically requested for a theft,” Shadow replied. She picked up a thin but opaque strip of cloth from a hook near the door and began to wrap it around her neck and mouth, covering the pink flower tattoo on her cheek. Ellya look at her, confused.

“Really? I believe you are the Queen of Thieves?” she said in an unconvinced tone.

“Yes, but all of my thieves are good. Mariana especially.” Shadow’s voice was muffled by the scarf.

“So you are lazy.”

“No, I have other things to do. Such as the salaries.” Shadow cast a glance at the desk in the center of the room and the papers scattered across it. “There’s a lot more work in running a business than being a simple pirate, no matter how illegal that business is.”

“Ahh. It appears to be the same to me, but whatever. But before you go, shall we set a date?” Ellya’s gray eye glittered with gold specks. Shadow looked away.

“Fine. How about next Tuesday?” she compromised, wrapping more of the scarf around her entire head. “Not much business on Tuesdays, for some, odd reason.”

“Ah! That is perfect!” Ellya grinned. “I have nothing then either!”

“You don’t have a schedule.” Shadow then slipped on a pair of skin tight gloves. Now in all black, she truly looked like her namesake.

“Touche.” Ellya headed back to the window and sat in, one leg dangling to the fire escape below.  “Well then. It is a date?”

“It’s a date.” Shadow nodded and quickly opened the door. “Now I have to be off.”

“Well, goodbye, Shadow. I love you!” Ellya called, before ducking down out of the window.

Shadow simply called, “Good bye” over her shoulder before she shut the door and began to run down the staircase. Her thoughts raced. The last time she had fallen in love… No. She closed her eye and shook her head. Never again. This time would be different…

She headed into the cool night air and cleared her mind. And that was the end of that.