Some Teacher: Second Semester!

(6.2) Danger time!

"What do you mean, Irina?" Karasuma demanded coldly, harshly. "Explain to me in detail what happened."

"I mean what I said: someone tried to kill me," Irina repeated, the calmness in her tone could only be managed by the years of experience she had. "I may not technically be an assassin anymore, but I know one when he stalks me from the women's association and wraps a wire around my neck. You didn't think wearing a scarf in this hot weather was just a fashion choice, did you Tadaomi? I thought you were more observant than that."

"You do take a lot of liberties when it comes to your sense of style," her husband allowed.

"Why doesn't that sound like a compliment?"

"What can you tell me about the man who attacked you?" Irina frowned, but didn't object when he reoriented the conversation back to the more important topic.

"He was about 180 centimeters, give or take a few, well over two hundred pounds, and heavy set, like a wrestler, quick on his feet. He was Asian, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't Japanese, when I hit him, he cursed in Korean, and people typically revert to their native tongue under duress, so we can tentatively assume Korea's where he's from. I didn't get a clear look at his face, but he had dark olive skin and black hair. I know that doesn't narrow it down much."

"Is there anything else? Did you manage to leave a mark on him maybe?"

"Don't you always tell me not to leave any marks?" she said slyly, placing her right hand on his chest and stroking up to his shoulder.

"Irina, now is not the time. This is serious." He removed her hand. but didn't let go of her wrist after doing so. "If you were targeted by an assassin, we need to know why, and who hired him. Please, Irina." Her breath caught at the look in his eyes, not the severity and determination that was always there, but the underlying worry.

"I'm afraid not. I honestly barely managed to get out of the wire he was strangling me with..." Her free hand reached up to touch her scarf, remembering the feeling. Karasuma loosened his grip on her right wrist and slipped her hand into his, lacing their fingers together to comfort her. "You know I'm not exactly a heavy-hitter—my specialty is infiltration. I did manage to get a solid elbow to his stomach, but even if it did bruise, that's easy to hide. I tried to flip him onto his back, but he was too heavy, and I didn't have the leverage. If someone hadn't passed by and made him back off, I don't..."

She stepped forward, pressed right up to his chest, leaned her ear against his pulse-point on his neck. She didn't cry. She was strong, and she was used to death, brushed up against it almost every day, though usually not quite that closely. Still, she needed to hold close him, her life, whose arms wrapped around her and held her silently until she almost fell asleep right there.

"It's getting late," Karasuma said, and she hummed in response. "We should get to bed."

"Carry me," she muttered, and without a word, he slid an arm under her knees and carried her princess style to their bedroom. "I'm so glad I picked a strong man like you... 's nice to be carried around so easily."

"Yeah," Karasuma agrees. They don't say 'I love you', but then, they rarely do. Irina may speak several 'love languages', Italian, French, but she thinks her husband's is her favorite. To carry her to bed was enough of an 'I love you', just like answering him seriously and with as many details as she could give was, just like complimenting his strength, just like the worry in his eyes, and gently entwining their hands together. Neither of them said 'I love you', but they both saw it clear as day, and that was enough for them.

After that day, Karasuma kept a slightly closer eye on his wife, using his authority to keep her close to home for a while instead of the overseas jobs she was usually assigned to. He didn't go so far as to give her a security detail. She could handle herself, and she would probably just give them the slip at the first opportunity, so it wasn't worth it, but he did have a bracelet made that she could use to send him a single if she was in danger.