Shota's POV

After the kiss, I didn't see much of Arisa, she didn't give herself any time to recover before she was back to work. She went undercover for an assignment. They suspected it was an old faction of Yakuza that had attacked the banquet, Yakuza that still wanted to pretend it was the good old days before quirks and settle everything with bullets and blades. She went off the grid for a few weeks leaving me with even more questions, about us. Did things change between us after the kiss? I had no idea if she understood it wasn't me playing a part like I had agreed upon, it meant something.

"Hey, Shota..." Hizashi poked his head through my bedroom door, his green eyes filled with worry, "We need to go. The precinct called, they think Metalmura's cover may have been blown...she might be in trouble."

What? I leapt to my feet and sprinted out the door with Hizashi at my heels as my heart constricted in my chest. Was she okay? Where was she?

We made it to the precinct in record time and were ushered to a small room with various monitors and a few worried agents sitting in front of the screens. I looked to the nearest monitor and saw Arisa looking like a sultry jazz singer, her raven hair was styled in seductive curls and she was wearing a slinky silk gown with a provocative slit up the side revealing a well-toned leg all the way up to her thigh. Her lips were painted red and there was smoky charcoal around her eyes giving her an allure. She was on a stage behind a microphone accompanied by a pianist.

The piano was somewhat dark and melancholy. Arisa gripped the microphone stand and opened her mouth; a beautiful haunting melody escaped her. I had no idea she could sing. It was sorrowful and gripping and everyone in the room stared in awe at the monitor. Mesmerized by the haunting melody and her ethereal beauty, I lost myself in her woeful tune.

"Where is she?" Hizashi asked after a moment trying to get back to the task at hand, Arisa might be in danger.

"Underground club, about two miles away." One of the officers responded and handed over a small business card for the establishment. The Black Keys Lounge an old piano bar on the rough side of town, always overrun with mafioso wannabes.

"Why do you think she's in danger?" I asked as I tried to draw my gaze away from the hypnotic siren on the screen.

"We've got several agents undercover on this...three of them missed their check ins." The chief of police grimaced.

Hizashi and I exchanged worried looks.

"I don't want anyone to act unless absolutely necessary."

"What are they doing undercover?

"Senator's daughter was kidnapped; a note was left behind appearing to be from one of the old-fashioned yakuza groups. We sent in several agents into several factions to try and find information on the whereabouts of the girl. On his last check in, the pianist said he heard rumors the yakuza knew they'd been infiltrated and were going to kill all the undercover agents."

"You think they know about Metalmura?" Hizashi asked warily.

The chief looked at him in confusion for a moment before rolling his eyes at the nickname, "I'm not sure...from what I was allowed to read of her files from her special ops days, she excelled at espionage and slipping behind enemy lines...I don't doubt she can handle herself but we need to get all our agents out, as fast as possible."

The pianist missed a note as a man in the audience raised his hand. He was a large man with rings adorning every finger painted to look like a mafioso of the olden days. The man to his right, a bulky muscle man, got to his feet and approached the stage causing the music to stop.

"Damn. Hizashi, we're going!" I snapped and darted out of the monitor room. We had to make it in time.

Hizashi sprinted after me. We ran as fast as we could, there was too much traffic to try to get a cab, it would be faster to go on foot. In a matter of minutes, we slowed to a stop outside the bar and peered through the window to see what was going on. If we rushed in blindly, we could blow her cover and get innocent people hurt.

"This doesn't look good." Hizashi paled as he looked to the stage, the pianist had a bullet through his brain and was slumped dead over the keys of his piano, blood pooling around him and dripping to the floor.

Arisa was still standing on the stage facing the muscle man who'd gotten out of his seat. Her arms were extended outward in a T pose as the muscle man appeared to be searching her for wires. The expression on her face was a cold emotionless mask. There was steel in her gaze and a hardness I hadn't seen before. Satisfied with the pat down he gave her, the giant of a man turned back to his boss.

From our position we couldn't quite make out what they said. The boss smiled and said something to Arisa. Her expression shifted. There was a flicker of rage before she replaced it with a sultry smile. She stepped off the stage giving the big oaf of a man the cold shoulder and approached the mafioso with the plethora of rings adorning his fingers. Her fake smile was radiant and had everyone else fooled as she sauntered toward him and accepted the hand he offered her, before sitting cross legged on the table in front of him revealing her perfectly toned leg.

"I think her quirk is nerves of steel." Hizashi whispered.

I shook my head at this but didn't respond, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. There was tension between her shoulder blades, she was uncomfortable, the situation had her on edge. Though I doubted anyone else could tell, from the subtle cues of her body, I knew she was in trouble.

"She's on edge." I breathed.

"How can you tell? She looks like she always looks, ready to kick ass and make everyone question their masculinity."

I couldn't help but smirk at this, "She is pretty amazing."

Hizashi looked to me with a big goofy grin. "You like Metalmura." He said in a sing song voice.

"How old are you?" I groaned as I turned to shoot him a reprimanding look. When I looked back inside, Arisa, the mafioso and the goon had all disappeared. "Where is she?"

"Ah shit. We're going in." Hizashi grumbled as we headed for the door.

The moment we opened the door, the bar full of mafioso wannabes turned to us with weapons drawn. Before I could caution Hizashi not to do anything stupid, he let out a wail that had everyone incapacitated in the blink of an eye.

I heard a scream from somewhere in the back of the bar and bolted toward the sound, it didn't sound like Arisa. There was a cry of pain from what sounded like a very large man with a deep voice before I heard the crash of something or someone being slammed into a wall. At the end of the hall I saw a door partially cracked open and could hear the frantic crying sounds of a young woman.

"Get away from her!" Arisa's snarl of rage sounded from within the room followed by the sound of something getting thrown once more.

The other female voice let out another scream.

I tore down the hall and burst into the room in time to see Arisa lying flat on her back with a thin rivulet of blood trailing from the corner of her lip. Her onyx eyes were filled with fear as the mafioso loomed over her. His hands were dripping with what looked like acid. He lunged for Arisa and I activated my quirk erasing his as he attempted to strangle her.

"What the-?!" He panicked as he realized the acid on his hands had disappeared.

Arisa reacted quickly hooking her leg around his neck and flipping him off of her landing with her knee pressing into his throat. Her hands were bound with zip ties. The goon I'd seen earlier bolted for a door leading to the alley. Huddled in the corner with tears in her eyes was a young blonde in her late teens. She was well dressed but looked as if she'd been tied up in this storage room for days, the senator's daughter.

"Hizashi! One escaped out the back!" I yelled as I helped Arisa secure the mafioso.

Hizashi sprinted into the storage room and headed for the door but paused as he got to the doorway. "Nah, he's not going anywhere. Back up is here." He chuckled and turned to help the blonde.

Arisa rolled to her feet. Before I could tell her to let me help her with her bonds, she wrenched her arms apart violently causing the zip tie to break apart. There was a slight flicker of pain in her onxy eyes and I shook my head as I noticed a thin stream of blood spill from her pale wrists.

"If you would have waited a moment, I could have helped you out of those without you injuring yourself." I sighed.

"It's fine." Her voice didn't hold the usual cold hard steeliness. She seemed shaken up. I'd seen her take on a room full of armed men intent on killing her without batting an eye, yet something about this rattled her.

I looked to the door as the chief of police and two uniformed officers appeared in the doorway. The officers cuffed the mafioso and took him into custody.

"Careful he has some kind of acid quirk." I warned them.

"Thanks Eraser Head." One of them responded before continuing with their arrest as the Chief of Police looked to the crying blonde currently clinging to Hizashi.

"Good work, Nakamura." He nodded to Arisa.

Arisa nodded her head but said nothing.

"We'll take it from here." He assured her before turning to the crying blonde, "If you'd please come with me Miss, your family is waiting."

The blonde released Hizashi and ran to Arisa, "Thank you for saving me." She kissed her on the cheek before following after the chief of police.

"Arisa?" I looked to the stoic beauty as she stared off in a faraway daze.

She shook her head coming back to her senses, "I'm fine...thanks for coming to my rescue." She dusted herself off and stepped out of the ridiculous high heels before scooping them up into her bloody hands.

"Did Metlamura just thank you?" Hizashi gaped at me, "I didn't think she was capable."

I looked to the idiot with a silent groan waiting for Arisa to lash out at him and send him flying with a powerful kick. She surprised me as she turned to walk past me. "It happens on rare occasions. Enjoy it while it lasts."

"Arisa." I caught her by the arm halting her retreat.

"Sorry for disappearing, I know I owe you lots of answers, but can we play our little 20 questions game another time, I'd really like to go home." She sighed with absolutely zero fight left in her.

"We should tal-."

"Can it wait?" Her onxy eyes were lifeless and distant.

I looked down at her bare feet before looking to the painful looking high heels in her bloody hands. "No, it can't." Sometimes the only thing Arisa understood was action. I swung her into my arms and ignored the ridiculous whistles and catcalls from Hizashi before carrying her out of the storage room. Bracing myself for her rage, I looked down at her warily when I realized she wasn't going to fight me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." There wasn't a trace of emotion revealed on her face, she'd shut herself down and thrown up every wall she had to keep me out.

"Okay, fine, we can talk about this later, let's talk about the kiss."

Her face flushed scarlet. "I'd rather not talk at all." She choked.

"The kiss or what happened back there, one or the other." I smiled softly as I felt her body begin to relax in my arms.

"Not sure why you think you get to call the shots around here." She frowned.

"You're not putting up much of a fight." I smirked.

She rolled her eyes but looked too tired to fight back and lightly rested her head against my shoulder. "It was a good kiss. Is that what you wanted to hear?" There was a faint flush to her skin and she bawled her hands together in front of her in embarrassment.

"It was a good kiss." I agreed with a soft chuckle as I made my way to her apartment. "But where do we stand?"

"Somewhere on main street, it looks like." She shrugged as she looked at the street sign above.

I looked down at her blushing face and smiled as she tried to hide herself behind her obsidian curls. "Not quite so literal."

"I don't know. I told you, you don't have to pretend to be my boyfriend anymore...did you want something to change?" She huffed.

"I'd like to be partners."

She looked up at me curiously, "What kind of partners?"

"Life partners, romantic partners, hero partners, any combination of the three." I shrugged.

"What's the different between life partners and romantic partners?" She asked me skeptically.

"I think its quite obvious what being romantic partners entails, a life partner is someone whose there through it all, good and bad, a partner in life and in all things..."

"That sounds like a proposal." She bit her lip.

"If you want to think of it that way, I guess in a way it is." I shrugged.

"You know almost nothing about me." She shot.

"You're right, but I'd be happy spending the rest of my life getting to know you." I smiled as she blushed.

"So...where do we go from here?" She asked, her voice so soft I'd almost missed it.

"For starters, no more pretend anything." I leaned forward as she turned her face toward mine and captured her painted lips in a kiss.

Video- "Creep" Cover performed by Haley Reinhart original artist Radiohead