Partner
Hi Sofa @arbegagordon!^^ I was your secret sakka for @inazumaelevenconfessions‘s event and I’m so sorry for the delay, family stuff had got me really busy this holiday. I hope you had a great Christmas and I wish you a very happy New Year! I wrote a small drabble for you, it’s a Spy!AU with KozouAsu, I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Title: Partner Rating: G Characters: Kozoumaru Sasuke, Inamori Asuto Words: 1536
Agent Inamori was as restless as a cat on a hot tin roof. The main cause of his excitement was the fact that he was recently named “Agent” Inamori and therefore his first mission was in order. He got the coded letter yesterday via a rather innocent looking postman who smiled smugly while handing the letter to the youngster and was gone the next minute after a slight adjust of his blue and white colored cap. There was no way that the guy was a real postman, Inamori knew that he must have been an agent of the company he himself has just got accepted to two weeks ago and he must know at least five ways to end Inamori’s life if he had been a threat instead of a freshly employed agent. This agency was a fairly new one with the simple and rather boring name of Inazuma Intelligence Institution or shortly, the 3I. Still, Inamori was thrilled to finally commence his first real job at this agency, he had worked really hard for it, after all. Inamori has just graduated from the Academy of Spies and Secret Agents against all odds. After continuously failing at different subjects whether it was close-combat skills or code decryption, he managed to pass the final exams with acceptable results and Inamori has never been prouder. So of course, this day was really special to him, but he couldn’t deny the pressure weighting on his shoulders either. This was his first assignment after all, and first impressions were everything, especially in this field of work. One slip up is all it takes and you can be sure to find yourself out on the street without any qualifications and a rather hazy memory. Still, it was quite exciting decoding his first mission letter, Inamori had to admit. After he finally unraveled the correct password from the jumble of other useless information, he typed the complicated code into his wristband and finally gained access to all the details of the mission. According to the file, this was a simple duo retrieval mission. He and his assigned partner was to break into a rather plainly secured apartment complex and fetch an item stolen from the Prime Minister Zaizen himself, a fairly expensive necklace made from rubies and diamonds, a family heirloom according to the mission briefing. The suspected thief was none other than the infamous underground maffia-like organisation called Orion. The members called themselves “seals” and their activities mostly involved drug trafficking, assassination, and the bargain of other questionable goods. The 3I was always on the trail of Orion’s seals, but the twisted minded bandits always managed to find a loophole and get away in the end. And as the mission briefing told him, his priority was not to capture the responsible ones for the theft but to retrieve the jewelry. Engaging the enemy was strictly forbidden and combat was only allowed upon discovery or if the people discovering them showed signs of hostility and the wellbeing of an agent was in danger. But that was the worst case scenario which Inamori didn’t dare to imagine, not to push his luck.
Inamori could feel his patience gradually decrease with every passing minute. Now, he was checking his watch every half a minute to make sure that he was indeed, right on time. The latest flick of his wrist assured him that it was only 12:56 and four minutes away from the scheduled meeting of his assigned partner. Inamori tried to smooth out a few invisible wrinkles on his mission suit, determined to look as posh and well-prepared as possible. He was sure that the agency would send and old rookie as a partner for him, considering that he was a total beginner From Inamori’s perspective it only made sense that they would send someone experienced to back him up and he was really eager to leave a good impression on his probable upperclassman.
Inamori started chewing his lower lip, a bad habit he couldn’t manage to outgrow long after his childhood. He was already 19 years old but he had what people tend to call a baby face which made him appear much younger than he actually was. People usually put him around the age of 16 or 17 if they counted his cheerful personality and innocent smile as well. But Inamori could never resent them for it, since deception was a really useful trait in his field of work.
After another flick of his watch (12:57, dammit Inamori, why do you always arrive so early?) and another minute of staring with a hollow expression at the white wall of the waiting room of the HQ, Inamori spotted someone making his way towards where he was sitting on the rather uncomfortable white plastic chair.
The boy was short and plump with spikes of brown hair reaching towards the skies trying to defy gravity. he wore an expression that suggested not to mess with him and Inamori only needed one glance at him to know he was the real deal; this guy’s aura emitted professionalism from miles away even though he seemed to be around the same age as himself. Inamori was relieved that they had actually sent someone more experienced to help him out should things go south. When the boy reached Inamori, the freshly named agent flashed his brightest smile in an attempt to impress the other boy.
“Good day!” Inamori said and held out a hand to his partner-to-be. The other boy huffed incredulously in reply.
“I’d rather not,” he shook his head. “I hope that you are aware of the fact that almost seven contact poisons exist in the world and at least three of them can be easily stuffed under one’s fingernails.” Inamori frowned and pulled back his extended hand.
“Uhm… why would I wanna poison you?” he asked confused. “You're my partner.”
“An agent is always on alert and minimizes the takable risks,” the spiky haired boy grumbled. “I thought you know as much,” he added.
“I’m sorry,” the smile on Inamori’s face fell quickly. So he was indeed a professional! But the boy was right! This was a very serious mission after all, he should as well at least act as a professional agent!
“So, are you ready to depart Agent...” he quickly looked at his wristwatch to get the agent’s name then raised a brow while struggling to keep a straight face and to muffle a small giggle. “Fire Tornado?” It was basic protocol that agents called each other on their code names to avoid discovering each others identities and if one of them got captured, the agent couldn’t divulge any top secret information about the partner or partners.
Agent Fire Tornado’s expression didn’t change a bit while he lifted his own wristwatch an and said the following in a rather mocking tone: “You’re the one to talk, Agent Shining Bravado.” Inamori’s face immediately turned bright red, his cool and “professional” composure instantly crumbling.
“Fair enough,” he mumbled almost inaudibly. When he had to come up with a code name he decided upon going with his nickname that his friends used when they wanted to tease him. He earned this nickname after his shining bright smile and ability to spectacularly get out of tough places and solve problems last minute.
“You know what? A name won’t put us in danger,” Agent Fire Tornado determined after a minutes-long awkward silence. “The name’s Kozoumaru,” he barked.
“Inamori,” he replied with a great deal of insecurity in his voice. “Are you sure we won’t get in danger for this? I mean, code names exist for a reason and you were so cautious earlier…”
“Yeah, but I also have common sense,” the boy - Kozoumaru - cut in. Inamori raised a brow but shrugged anyway.
“I guess you read the mission briefing,” Inamori said and Kozoumaru nodded. “So I suggest we should go,” he proposed and made his way past the spiky haired boy. “Let’s go, partner,” Inamori called after him with a smile in his voice. He actually kind of liked the sound of it but apparently Agent Fire Tornado had a different opinion. He could hear the boy letting out an exasperated sigh and loud thump signaled he must have buried his face in his hands.
“Please don’t call me that, Agent,” he said in a deadly serious tone and Inamori could hear footsteps approaching as he started to follow him. No matter how much of grumpy old troll his partner was, Inamori couldn’t help but grin towards the empty corridor in front of him. This was going to be such a fun mission!
