CODENAME: U-KNOW
NAME: JUNG YUNHO
AGENCY: NIS
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I growled – not of out of anger, but out of sheer displeasure. I was bored.

So bored.

Completely and utterly bored.

I can’t understand how someone could just stare out in the ocean and find it pleasant and peaceful. It’s nothing more than a huge body of water swaying from one side to another. The only time I’d find the ocean interesting to watch was when a tsunami was coming. I scratched the back of my head roughly in aggravation. The lack of action anywhere is beginning to frustrate me.

Course this was a lot more productive than waiting back at headquarters for each and every piece of information to do with Hero, but can’t they place the best field agent in the NIS in a better position?

This was probably Ava’s idea: leave me in the most isolated and desolated place in South Korea. Well, this is pathetic. Ava is always trying to protect me when I, as her order brother, should be protecting her. She probably believed me to be easily identifiable and targeted. Thus, if I must patrol, Ava decided that I should be positioned in an area that the chances that I’d meet an agent that recognizes me are slim – that is, if an agent of the NJC shows up.

This harbour was completely and utterly deserted. The only thing that this harbour was useful for was if someone wanted some peace and quiet away from the city. However, Changmin – using statistics – was able to locate this harbour as one of the weak points of border control in the South Korean border. This harbour would mostly be used as a passage for smugglers and illegal immigrants, but the NJC? Probably not.

I dug into my jacket pocket for my cell phone and called Changmin.

“Yobosaeyo*,” Changmin’s voice asked.

“Max,” I stated his name tiredly, “I’m reporting the circumstances at the harbour.”

“And?"

“No, Max, I don’t see anyone here.” I looked around reluctantly just to make sure, “why would the NJC come here to begin with. This harbour probably hasn’t seen any action since the Korean War.”

“Well, then, that’s one place down,” I rolled my eyes: one out of how many he found? Suddenly, I saw a black blur out of the corner of my eye. Turning my head, I saw between two buildings a short figure walking swiftly away from me. “Are you sure that – ” I cut him off.

“Wait, I see someone.”

“Follow them!”

“Alright, bye.” I quickly hung up and slowly worked up a jog. “Excuse me!” I cried to the person, judging by the clothes and the short hair, the person was male. He didn’t even turn around: he knew I was following him. He also started to jog lightly away. “Hey, wait! Come back here!” I started to run.

He bolted.

I followed.

Due to his short stature and my taller one, I caught up quickly. I reached out and attempted to grab his arm. I tried to voice my reason for stopping him and to tell him that I mean him no harm (for the time being that is). However, instead of managing to grab onto his arm, the boy ducked and I latched onto his hat instead, ripping it off his head. His short brown hair came flying with it and underneath, lay a mass of auburn. I gaped in shock. The person was wearing a wig, and disguising as a boy at that!

The person turned around abruptly when their hat and wig came off. My eyes met with theirs’.

Grey and black.

Nesoi.

We met again.

Then, without warning, severe pain shot through my right hand followed by the clear ring of a gunshot. I hissed and dropped my cell phone to clutch my hand. Nesoi had shot my hand and my cell phone.

She now turned to aim the gun at my head.

I instantly threw myself at her before she could properly aim. She yelped as I tackled her into the wall of a building and wrestled the gun out of her grasp. I tossed the gun as far away as I could manage. Nesoi quickly ripped her arm out of my hands and sprinted to the nearest corner of the two buildings - the one furthest away from her gun. I swiftly reached for my own gun and tried to disregard the throbbing pain in my palm as I pursued Nesoi down the alley. I had to take her down, she could have back up and if she called for them, I'd be trapped. My cell phone was destroyed and I was an idiot for not taking the NIS's phone that was equipped with an emergency signal if it broke. I approached the end of the two buildings.

"Move out of my way, dimwits!" Nesoi's voice called. Her Korean was rough and her accent was off. However, it was obvious that she ran into some trouble when I heard an annoyed shrill from her. I wielded the gun with both hands to steady my bleeding one and slowly turned the corner of the left building with the gun held in ready position.

The scene I laid my eyes on beheld Nesoi and three drunken men. One of them brandished a cell phone high above his head, while two of them attempted to restrain Nesoi: a difficult feat indeed.

“Give me back my phone!” Nesoi screamed, the tone in her voice indicated that she was desperate to the point of madness.

The circumstances became clear: Nesoi tried to call for back-up, and in her haste, she insulted the drunks. The drunks obviously became angered and retaliated.

Nesoi turned around, her breathing harsh and wild from her struggle against the drunks and from the mad dash to evade me. But there was a hysterical look in her eyes: a frantic desire to live - to survive. She didn't see me, even though I was certain she was looking to see if I came, so she turned back and continued to shout in broken Korean.

I considered a thought: did I want Nesoi dead or alive? She was restrained by the drunks; I could get a clean shot at her head and kill her instantaneously. Or, I could destroy her cell phone, scare off the drunks, wrestle Nesoi into submission, drag her back to the NIS, and question her on Jaejoong's whereabouts.

Jaejoong.

I shot her cell phone. All four people turned at the sound and chaos occurred.

The drunken man holding the cell phone screamed and stumbled away as fast as he could. One of the two holding Nesoi followed in the other's actions. However, the final man decided to punish Nesoi first. He seized her arm and threw her across the alley.

Although I knew Nesoi can fight like a beast, she was still the size of a mouse, so she went sailing with the momentum and crashed into the ground with a gasp. The man then fled with his drunken mates.
My instincts forced me to act before thought. There was a girl who was thrown across an alley. I immediately rushed to her side.

"Are you alright?" I asked as I concernedly knelt beside her. She coughed and gasped, trying to regain the breathe she lost as she struggled to sit up. I reached out to help her, but suddenly her eyes met mine.

I remembered, it wasn't just any girl. This was Nesoi of the NJC!

With both of us sitting on the ground, she reached out and wretched the gun from my grasp, and like I did, she threw it as far away as she could. I grasped the arm she used to throw my gun with and wretched it across the other side of her body and into the ground. The movement forced Nesoi to crash to the ground on her back as I quickly tried restraining her. I threw one of my legs across her body and dug my knees into either side of her waist, preventing her from moving her torso. Throwing my feet onto her legs, I dug the tip of my sneakers into her knee caps, preventing her from kicking her way out. And finally, I grasped her single free limb - her left arm - in my bloodied hand and slammed it to the ground.

Nesoi didn't resist much, actually, she didn't resist at all. She was still trying to recover from her bout with the drunken man.

"You!" she screamed in Japanese, struggling futilely against me, "Why does it always have to be you!"

"I could ask the same." I snarled in Japanese.

"You shot my cell phone!" she yelled. "Get off of me!"

"I was just returning the favour." I said, ignoring her last statement, "You shot my cell phone and my hand." She stopped struggling and glanced at the hand holding down her left one.

"Vengeance is sweet." she hissed. Ah yes...Australia. I should poison her out of revenge; see how she likes it...

"Nesoi..." I whispered, "no, Ritsuka. It seems that I finally have you in my grasp." The feeling of victory finally rushed through my blood.

"U-Know," she scowls, "or, what was your real name again? That's right, Yunho?"

"It doesn't matter, victory is mine." I said triumphantly. She growled. "Anyways, shouldn't you be thanking me?"

"What?" Nesoi asked, half distracted as she tried to tug her left wrist out of my right hand. I tightened my hold around the thin limb despite the throbbing pain and dripping red.

"A guy should be thanked for saving a damsel in distress." I said. Even though she might be the enemy, Nesoi was still a girl. A young one in fact - judging by her insignificant height.

"Damsel. In. Distress?" Nesoi asked, dragging each word out as if it was they were words she never learnt before. She stopped the useless tugging and returned her full attention to me. I sighed, deciding to take the time to explain to her. We aren't going anywhere.

"A poor girl walking home at night by herself was being harassed by a bunch of drunks. And then, of course, the heroic man comes in and rescues her. I did want I had to do. Even for a criminal like you. What more could you ask for?"

"I rather have a box of Pocky than be rescued by you." Nesoi muttered.

"Right," I said rolling my eyes, "and a box of biscuits is totally going to help fend off a bunch of drunks. Admit it, without my help; you'd still be in that predicament." I, myself, hate to admit it: it was kind of fun arguing with her.

"So by pointing a gun at Junsu, and later on, shooting him, you were trying to be helpful? If that's the case, then no thanks, I rather still be in that so-called predicament." she snapped.

Suddenly she puckered her lips and a line of spit shot from between them aimed for my left eye. I let go of her right arm out of reflex and blocked the spit from hitting my eye. And when I did, Nesoi took the opportunity to try to push me off of her. I slammed my elbow into the pressure point in her shoulder. She yelped and winced as her entire right arm fell slack. She won't be using that arm for a couple of hours.

I laid my forearm across her collarbone while still digging my elbow into her shoulder. I was prepared to retaliate by chocking her if she attempts something else.

"Whoa!" I cried, trying to remain calm though I was awed that Nesoi would stoop so low as to spit into someone's eye to free herself. "What the hell was that? Angry that I shot your boyfriend?" She gaped, completely taken aback by my statement. She then scoffed.

"My boyfriend? Junsu? Out of all things you could have assumed, this has to be the least logical to date."

I growled in annoyance of the insult. "Says the freak with the discoloured eyes. What the hell is wrong with your eyes anyway?"

"I was born with two different coloured eyes!" she snapped, "You're just upset that I managed to beat you twice in battle!"

"But whoever is captured in the end is the real winner right?" I asked smugly, "And it seems that I just captured you." Nesoi turns her face over to the side, suddenly finding her limp, numb arm more interesting that the guy holding her captive.

"Tch, I wish we were on the same side," she whispered, "I would have enjoyed sparring with you." I smirked at her comment, wordlessly agreeing with her.

In the moment of silence, I sudden realized something: although Nesoi was the enemy and I had every right to try and restrain her, I was still, in essence, sitting on top of a girl.

For someone who was a member of the NJC, Nesoi - or rather , Ritsuka - had a pretty fragile looking frame. Her's hair was obviously dyed: the rich, dark red could never be normal for any Oriental. Her features were nothing more than average, the only thing that made her stand out, were her abnormal eyes.

Ritsuka was also extremely short.

I then realized that in my haste to stop Ritsuka from struggling by slamming my elbow down on her shoulder, I unintentionally brought our faces closer together.

Huh, how strange that I suddenly –

Ritsuka snapped her head around and craned her neck up.....and....pressed her lips softly against mine. The contact lasted for a second before I bolted up right, releasing Ritsuka's other arm and pulling my elbow off her shoulders to cover my mouth with both hands.

With her entire torso free, and a little leverage she gained from spitting at me before, Ritsuka twisted her torso around and slid out from under one of my knees, causing most of my weight to be balanced on the other. I nearly toppled over, however managed to regain enough stability to concentrate. I was about to launch myself at Ritsuka again but then a small foot came flying towards me and slammed powerfully into my jaw.

I yelped in response and collided with the ground. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain to subside. Once the pain was bearable, I heaved myself off the ground to see only bits of Ritsuka's red hair turn around a distant corner.

"Dammit!" I screamed.

I turned and ran back to my car; I needed to report to Ava. Ritsuka was too far away for pursuit, and what if she managed to contact back up? Besides, my entire right hand was covered in blood and I needed to starch the bleeding soon. I wonder, how did Ritsuka fair when I shot her hand in Australia?

She kissed me. Ritsuka kissed me. Why on Earth would she commit such an act? Could it be that she –

No.

She merely acted to free herself. There are no more feelings between her and I than hatred as enemies.

We will meet again soon Ritsuka - Nesoi - we always do.
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*Yobosaeyo – ‘who is this’ in Korean
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| Always Keep the Faith |