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They were as inconspicuous as possible - bundled in large coats he could get his hands on, and hats firmly placed upon both of their heads. It was the darkest moment of the day, and obviously she wasn't pleased with the absence of light as she squiggled in his arms, irritated.
He doubted that their presence would be appreciated; after all, having her existence in his life broke at least eleven rules in the career of espionage already.
Amari allowed himself a sigh. He was putting off what he wanted to accomplish today. The doors to the old building almost seem daunting in some aspects. Remarkable, thought Amari dryly. I've only acquired a child and now I'm a coward.
"Papa?" Emma's curious voice broke him out of his thoughts. She peered at him, eyes wide and looking so adorable that Amari made a mental note to keep him away from boys. And girls. And everyone that can't be trusted, really. "Where are we?"
"Home, mon petit," he murmured, fondness in his voice. Oh, gods above. This is why personal relationships aren't advisable.
Why he thought introducing Emma - his child, for all accounts and purposes - to the D-Agency was wise, he didn't know. Amari assumed his momentary lapse of good judgment was due to the sudden responsibility of being a father thrust upon him.
"Are we going to enter?" inquired Emma. "Where's your key?"
"My key?"
The child nodded. "Mm. You need one for home," she said, quite seriously. Then added, "I like keys."
"Do you really?" asked Amari, amused. At Emma's nod, he chuckled. "Well, this one is a special home. It doesn't need keys."
Emma's eyes widened; then, a pout appeared. "Why not?" she demanded.
"There are people waiting inside."
"Ohh."
"Yes, oh." Amari smiled. "Shall we?"
He deposited Emma gently on the ground, the girl immediately clutching on to his pants. He gently pried her fingers away and softly grasped it, tugging on her as he opened the door. The pitter-patter of her footsteps echoed in the empty stone hallway of the building instantly; he winced on the inside. The first three steps that she took were enough to notify the others of their presence. There was no sense in hiding his footsteps, but he would rather be silent.
He veered to the kitchen first, Emma trailing behind him, and as expected, a light was shining inside the room. Fukumoto should be there - he shouldn't raise much fuss. Him and Odagiri are the two that Amari looked forward to meeting. So long as Hatano or Kaminaga weren't there, then Amari would feel at ease.
But of course Hatano and Kaminaga were there. Of course. And not only them - there was the hapless Lt. Sakuma as well, not looking very hapless at all in his comfortable position, drinking coffee.
"Good evening," greeted Amari after surveying the room. Fukumoto. Hatano. Kaminaga. Lt. Sakuma. He supposed it was better to get it over it, especially with Hatano and Kaminaga.
There was silence when he entered with Emma in plain view, and any other time he would have preened at the rare instance of stupefying his fellow men in blatant, stunned surprise.
Then Sakuma coughed on his coffee and - horrifyingly enough - it went through his nose. He was still spluttering when he gasped out, "Welcome back, Amari." Who Is That Child, went unsaid but heard.
"What a warm welcome," said Amari. "Thank you, Lieutenant, for being so considerate." Unlike some, he thought, lifting an eyebrow at the openly staring Kaminaga and Hatano. He nodded at Fukumoto, who only glanced once at Amari and then at Emma before putting the cups he had been wiping and going to the pantry. He turned to Emma and spoke in English. "Emma, say hello to your uncles."
"Hello, uncles," she said, and even an idiot could guess that she wasn't Japanese in any sense with her perfect pronunciation and foreign features.
"Hello, dear.." trailed off Kaminaga, who stood up and was now walking towards them. The man smiled brilliantly at Emma and, crouching down, held out his hand. "What's your name?"
Emma looked up hesitantly at Amari - she sought approval from him first whether the man was a danger or not. Amari smiled, encouraging. She turned to Kaminaga again and held out her own small hand. "Emma," she replied.
"What a cute name, Emma. I'm Kaminaga-onii-san," he emphasized, grinning cheekily.
Emma scrunched her nose. "What's an onii-san?"
"That's not what he is," interjected Hatano. "Say, Emma, why are you with this old man here?"
Emma shrunk behind Amari, suddenly beware of the strange man. Hatano noticed her discomfort, plastering on a look of genuine kindness on his face that even Amari was tempted to think that he meant it. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Hatano-onii-san, Emma," he introduced himself.
"Hatano-onii-san," repeated Emma. "Kami - Kami -" She trailed off, bumbling over her words. Usually, her speech was impeccable, but it seems Kaminaga's name was difficult for her. "Kami-onii-san, Hatano-onii-san." Emma turned to the silent Fukumoto and staring Lieutenant. "Papa, who are they?"
Four sets of eyes sharply trained themselves on Amari. Kaminaga's one eyebrow slightly raised, while Fukumoto stared at him as if he could squeeze the answers from Amari with his gaze. Even Lt. Sakuma, whose English proficiency skills Amari is unfamiliar with, recognized the term. Hatano looked amused, if the twitching of his lips was any indication.
"Ah. That's Fukumoto-onii-san and Sakuma-onii-san. Do you think you can say their names?"
"Sakuma-onii-san and Fumo - Fumoto-onii-san..?"
"Close. Well done, Emma."
Emma beamed brightly, then turned to Hatano who was still facing her. "How do you know Papa?"
"How do you know your papa?"
"Papa is papa because mommy and daddy are gone." Frowning, Emma crossed her arms. "You didn't answer my question, Mister Hatano-onii-san."
"I work with your papa, but I can also be his brother," joked Hatano. "That makes me family, you know?"
"Family? My family is Papa and Frates, though.." said Emma, biting her lip. "If you're papa's family, does that make you my family?"
Hatano chanced a look at Amari for one second before his eyes flitted back to Emma. "I suppose it does. Who's Frates?"
"Frates is my best friend in the world!" exclaimed Emma, eyes shining. "He doesn't like sweets very much but he keeps me warm at night."
Kaminaga made a politely inquiring noise that prompted Emma to speak once more. She added, "But we had to leave him because he's tired and hungry.."
Amari patted her head. "It's okay, darling, we can pick him up tomorrow."
"Are we going to sleep here?"
"Do you want to?"
She looked around, at the shabby furniture and dark atmosphere of the room and scrunched her nose. "Not really. Do we have to?"
Chuckling, Amari replied, "There are better rooms upstairs, Emma."
"Did you sleep here?"
"I did."
"Hmmm." She made an inquisitive noise. Amari loved it about her - how curious she is, and how her thirst for even the most inane knowledge can never be satisfied.
Fukumoto purposely bustled and made noise, catching the girl's attention. Amused, Amari watched as Emma zeroed in on the rice cakes and the cup of warm milk that Fukumoto miraculously produced.
The man silently handed the cup to Emma with a smile. She smiled toothily, and chirped, "Thank you, Mister Fumoto-onii-san!"
With her attention focused on the warm cup, Amari absentmindedly produced a handkerchief and gave it to Emma. He led her to one of the chairs, and sat on one himself, opposite of the others' previous spots.
"Be glad you chanced upon us in our rare moments when we're not smoking, otherwise you would be a terrible father to that child," commented Kaminaga, switching back to their native language.
Amari merely smiled. "'Chanced upon' implies it was a coincidence, and you know how we view coincidences, Kaminaga."
"Fair enough," he replied.
"The universe is rarely so lazy as to create coincidences." It was Lt. Sakuma who spoke, and upon seeing their looks, defended himself. "What? I do read on occasion, if you must know."
Emma peeked at the sudden switch in languages but didn't speak, intent on sipping her milk. Amari frowned to himself - how had he not realized that she was thirsty?
"Anyway, I assume you do not need further illumination on the rules, Amari?" asked Hatano, arms behind his head casually. When he moved, half of his features shifted to the dark. He had always been a little bit dramatic. "What do you intend to explain to the old man?"
Lt. Sakuma openly frowned at Hatano's impoliteness towards Lt. Col. Yuuki but refrained from speaking.
"That's what I would like to ask myself."
It was the voice that Amari dreaded hearing, not that he would ever admit it under pain of death. Lt. Col. Yuuki stood on the doorway, one gloved hand clutching his cane and looking as imperative as ever.
"Amari." His voice could cut glass with how sharp it is. Even the others shied away from the spymaster; usually, his voice was plain and blank and even, but now there was no question that he was mad. "Meet me in the sitting room. Bring the child."
My child, he wanted to say. Not the child, but my child.
But of course it's not as if he could say that, so he stood up and reached for Emma. "Emma, let's go."
"Where to?"
To my demise. "To the sitting room, darling."
"But my cakes.." pouted Emma.
"I can bring it," offered Fukumoto, obviously looking for an excuse to listen in. Not that he needed it.
Exasperated, and because he was already carrying Emma, Amari let him be. "Very well."
That's one load less on his way to death, at the very least.
[x]
Once, in one of his missions, Amari had to sneak into an extremely suffocating room with no windows in order to obtain sensitive information. Just as he finished it, the guards were tipped about his presence, and so searched the whole house. He had been cornered into an air vent, and had to stay there for three days. Three days with no food or water, plus the constant threat of being found out.
That was a piece of the fluffiest, sweetest cake when compared to now.
In front of him sat Lt. Col. Yuuki, glaring at him so hard that Amari felt beads of sweat unwillingly gather on his temples. Traitors, he thought. He knew better than to betray his physical reactions to any outside threat but it seems the Lt. Col. always knew how to get around their defenses. Amari was convinced that if he squinted properly, he was bound to catch sight of maleficent aura from his superior.
Beside him, Emma munched quite happily on her rice cake, blessedly ignorant to the situation.
"Why did you think 'it'll work out'?" questioned Lt. Col. Yuuki, and may the gods have mercy because Amari's pretty sure that all his training just went out of the window.
Generally, as a spy, facades are very crucial in their line of work. Amari, like the others, knows how to seamlessly put on different faces under different names in a span of less than a second. That was elementary. And even though Lt. Col. Yuuki was someone they could probably never fool, it was an unspoken agreement that they would at least try.
But - this isn't work. The moment that Amari decided to adopt Emma instead of handing her over to a fairly decent orphanage was the moment that proved that he was compromised as a spy.
There were a lot of choices he could do. Strangely, or perhaps not so strange at all, Amari chose the path that most spies would rather not.
He glanced at his daughter who had bits of rice cake on her cheek and, showing Lt. Col. Yuuki his most open, sheepish face, said:
"No, well, I just went with the flow.."
Honesty tasted bland in his tongue, much like the lies and omitted statements. Huh. Perhaps there is no bitterness to the truth, after all.