The urge to climb a building was fast becoming harder and harder to suppress, Ezio thought as he attempted in vain to rush through the vast crowds of Venice that seemed to dawdle no matter what time of day (or night, it seemed) that it happened to be. His patience was fast diminishing, not that he had much to begin with since he got off the ship from Monteriggioni a few hours ago. Perhaps it was because he was an Assassin, but it seemed that the people were deliberately walking at half the speed of smell. Simply climbing up a building and running along the rooftops would solve the problem, but the recent step-up in rooftop security would make that a bit more complicated. After all, he wasn't after a target today, nor was he really on a particular time constraint, an unusual occurrence for the amber-eyed Italian. Still, perhaps it was a good thing he was delayed in reaching his destination, he thought vaguely before ducking into a moderately deserted alleyway to get a little more breathing room; being in a crowd made the air stagnant and heavy. Sighing at the slightly lighter air of the alley, he continued his journey to the Thieves Guild to check up on the others, but mostly to see Rosa.

His thoughts drifted, not for the first time, to the feisty little thief he had befriended years ago. Ah, Rosa; she had a fiery temper, but he had yet to meet someone so passionate and such a good friend (granted, he had only saw that side of her after they had been formally introduced.) Since they had met, he couldn't stop his mind from wandering back to her every chance it got, and it drove him mad with frustration. He had been a womanizer still when they had met, so he had thought nothing of his initial physical attraction to her, and hastily decided her enchanting intellect and lack of fearing expressing her opinion had been little more than a resulting factor of his want to charm her into his bed. Back then, he had only thought of her has another conquest of his, one that he had intended on winning. He had underestimated her independence, had neglected to take her stubbornness into account, and had ultimately never gotten what he wanted with her. He had shrugged off the lingering want that he had for her, figuring it was simply because he had not won the little game they had been playing. He was so young then: he had thought the feelings would go away and he would move on to the next woman.

That was six years ago.

He unknowingly growled under his breath in irritation as he left the alley and went down a less populated road. He was thinking of her again. He really needed to stop, but it was a bit more difficult to do so, given that it was her he was visiting the Thieves Guild for. So, with a sigh of defeat, Ezio let his mind wander where it wished. Not surprisingly, it chose to return to its previous train of thought. Not that he was really complaining.

She wore her name well: there was no denying she had physical beauty- God, he knew that the moment they were "introduced" when he had aided in her escape to the Thieves Guild, despite the butcher knife she was defending herself with and the slew of swears that passed those deliciously kissable looking lips of hers-

He stopped that train of thought long enough to appreciate that Altair's Master Assassin coat was long enough to cover the tightness he was beginning to feel in his pants. He sighed and ran a hand over his newly shaven face. Normally, he really didn't care if he had his short beard or not, but Leonardo insisted that Rosa would prefer his face bare. "You know, in case you finally get the cervelli to realize how you feel, and the coraggio to act on it."

The genius got a none-too-friendly smack on the back of his head for that comment.

He refused to admit that he had fallen for her because he hadn't. Assassins do not fall; they take leaps of faith. At present, he was standing on the figurative edge of the building of secrecy and waiting to take the jump. What concerned him was what would meet him at the end of the leap. He could land safely into Rosa's arms, her body his figurative bail of hay. Rosa could also walk away and leave him to fall to his emotional death. As much as he wanted the former to happen, this was Rosa he was dealing with, and the latter was more likely at this point anyhow.

He never missed the almost relieved expression on her face when they were interrupted in the middle of what could have led to them getting together. The sigh of relief that passed her lips did not dodge his hearing when attempts to kiss her had failed because of someone barging in. It was clear that she had at least a little interest, but had no plans to act on it. It was evident that she did not feel the same way that he did. He had known that for years, but felt he had to keep at least a glimmer of hope for them or his heart would sink to the depths of depression and his body would drown in a vast sea of darkness (and good wine. Good wine made everything better.)

"Ahh, Ezio- you've arrived!" The Assassin raised his eyes at the sound of Antonio's friendly call. Ezio gave a smile and a wave in return. "You have impeccable timing, mi amico! I have some new jobs for you, from Lorenzo il Magnifico. The pigeons he's been sending have all been shot down recently, so the best way to get a message to you nowadays is through his thieves, you know," Antonio waggled four messages, each with Lorenzo's wax seal keeping them secured. Ezio took them and thanked Antonio for holding onto them until his arrival, and asked how the Guild was fairing. The Thief Master simply grinned triumphantly. "We've been doing quite well for ourselves, if I do say so myself!" The Assassin clapped him on the shoulders in expression of his happiness seeing his surrogate brothers in arms doing well. Seeing the question in Ezio's eyes, Antonio's smile broadened, but he chose not to say anything about it.

Giving Antonio one last thank you for keeping the letters, Ezio turned to leave, when the sight of one thief in particular caught his eye. She was leaning casually against the wall of her home, calmly polishing her favorite butcher knife, one leg raised nonchalantly, a content and peaceful look on her face. The Assassin couldn't keep a grin from tugging at his lips as he said goodbye to Antonio and began to walk toward the lovely woman. She did not seem to notice him, until she finally greeted him coolly, "Ezio, good to see you. Have you faired well?"

"Ahh, but you haven't seen me yet. You're far too busy with that knife of yours to give me any attention! You wound me, Rosa!" He gave her a pained expression as he clutched at his heart in mock agony. Even though she rolled her eyes at his antics, her heart warmed at his presence. She had missed him greatly the last months that he had not been in Venice, and was elated that he was back.

Though, she wasn't going to tell him that.

"Fine," she half huffed, half sighed as she finally lifted her eyes to him. "Now that I've seen you, how about you go take care of your errands?" Ezio's visible flinch did not go unnoticed; he looked as if someone had just slapped him in the face. She couldn't keep frustration from bubbling in her chest. He really needed to stop this foolish game of attempting to woo her into his bed. She was not going to be just another number for him.

She would not be just another woman.

She never had been.

"They can wait," he recovered, acting as if her indifference to him did not hurt. "I haven't seen you in…what's it been…six months?"

"Then you won't mind waiting a few more hours. Besides, I have my own errands to run. We can talk later…I might even be so inclined as to challenge you to a race!" She smirked wickedly at him, a certain playful glint in her eyes. Ezio took the time to take in the expression on her face, in her eyes, and grinned back with just as much enthusiasm. He bowed grandly to her as he took a step back.

"Well then, signorina, I shall take my leave! Until tonight then, mia bella. Do leave your window open for me, si?"

"Certamente," she replied, stashing her knife safely in its holster before pushing off the wall and heading toward the canal exit of the Guild. He gave her a wave of farewell before opening the first of Lorenzo's messages and seeing what his first objective was. 'There are a group of men conspiring to rally against the Medici House that have taken refuse in Venice for the time being. Find them and eliminate them- Lorenzo' with a sigh, Ezio knew that this would be a long day.

The sun was just beginning to set by the time Rosa climbed the stairs to her bedroom. It had indeed been a day full of pick pocketing, stealth, and parkour had left her purse lined with coins, self satisfaction, and eagerness to see a certain Assassin leap through her window.

Not that she'd ever tell him that.

She opened the door to her room tiredly, though that lack of energy was soon forgotten when she saw her window was swinging open gently, as if it had been recently opened by someone from the outside. Though it was likely that Ezio had finished his missions and was in her room, she was not about to assume that and take the risk. She quietly slid her knife out of its holster and inched into the room, her footsteps muffled by walking from the toe to the foot, keeping her heels from hitting the floor too loudly. Being a thief all her life came with its benefits, after all.

A rustle by her bed caught her attention, as she began to move parallel to the noise until she was at the foot of her bed. Just a few more steps, and…

"Ahh, you've finally completed your errands, Rosa!"

…it figures.

"Dannazione, lei ingannare! I could have killed you, Ezio!" She snarled, shoving her knife back into its proper place in irritation. The amber-eyed Assassin stepped into the moonlight that pooled out of the open window, his trademark smirk just barely visible from under his hood. He simply shrugged arrogantly in response.

"I would have said something before then," he reassured her, though she was still clearly livid with the hooded man in her room.

"By then I might have been to pissed to care," she spat, walking around her bed to stand before him. Her anger quelled when his smirk dissolved and his shoulders slouched, seemingly tugging his head with them by invisible strings as it lowered slightly. "Ezio, you should know I wouldn't do that," she touched his arm lightly. He lifted his head and tilted it slightly but said nothing. Rosa's brow crinkled cutely in annoyance. She couldn't see his face with his hood up; his expression was unreadable in the darkness he veiled over it, so how was she supposed to know what he was thinking? "Here," she said with a small smile as she reached up both hands to either side of his hood. "You don't have to keep your hood up here, Ezio. You are among friends in this place." Just as she was about to grab his hood and pull it off his head, his hands came up to gently grasp her wrists. The gesture surprised Rosa, but she was not alarmed; his grip was soft, and did not demand her to stay within it. She did nothing to fight him as he moved her hands within his hood and placed them on either side of his face. His mouth, the only part of his face that was visible to her, still did not change from its somber expression. Her heart hammered in her chest against her will but still she did not remove her hands. "Ezio…?" She whispered shakily.

To be honest, he didn't know what he was doing himself.

He didn't know why her angry comment hurt him so much. He didn't know why he had guided her hands to his face instead of his hood, where they had originally wanted to go. He didn't know why his feelings were overpowering his inhibitions about expressing those said feelings. And he most certainly didn't know why his head was taking its own leap of faith and diving toward hers. His hood flipped off of his head from the speed his head moved, and for the first time in a very long time, his eyes told Rosa everything.

He wanted her.

He needed her.

"Ezi-!" before she could even begin to protest (much less finish his name,) his lips had claimed hers. Her first thought was to pull away, to fight and punch and scream, but his hand holding the back of her head in place kept her where she was. After only a few moments of fighting her equal want to be cherished by him, she moaned softly and leaned into the kiss. Even while she was thoroughly enjoying Ezio's sudden show of affection, she began to panic. His eyes, before they had been lidded (and her own followed suit) had smoldered with a desire that she had never seen before. Ezio's playboy reputation had preceded him; she assumed that all he wanted was sex.

She would not be another of Ezio's one night stands.

In her terror, in her fear of being another faceless woman Ezio had charmed, she reverted back into the things she felt safest doing:

stealing and parkour.

Ezio was torn out of his euphoric state when Rosa shoved him away. His alarm, his confusion, his pain flashed in his eyes, and they alone asked her what he could not bring himself to vocalize: why? As worried as she was, she felt a pang of guilt. "Prego, perdinami," she whispered before scampering out the window. He saw her lips move, but she spoke so softly he did not hear what she said. His heart was drowning, and it wasn't in good wine.

She had rejected him.

Just as he had feared.

He would have simply accepted that and left Venice, or perhaps simply found a nice tavern (or anywhere that had good alcohol) to wallow in his grief, had he not happened to place a hand where his money pouch normally was. He frowned as he patted along his belt just to make sure he hadn't tied it somewhere else along it. Everything else was where it should have been: his throwing knifes, his medicine pouch, and his poison pouch remained untouched, unlike his wallet.

It was absent.

His mind whirred with possibilities, though there was no doubt in his mind that Rosa had taken it: she was the only one that could have done so without him knowing. The only question that remained was why. Anger swelled in his chest. She could run off with his heart, but he'd be damned if she got his money, too! With a snarl, he stood on the window sill and leapt onto the roof. His eyes darted to and fro in search of the Thief Queen, until his eagle vision finally lined her quickly disappearing figure in a golden glow. There was no more hesitation: he ran after her. He could not call out to her and beseech her to stop: the rooftop patrols in the area would hear and become suspicious of them. This had to be done in silence. He leapt from rooftop to rooftop, but he was still not gaining on her! She was far too swift- a lifetime of parkour and thievery gave her the edge to outrun him, and after a twenty minute chase, she finally gave one last leap and scaled a church wall. Ezio smirked, for that church led to no other rooftop to jump onto! He had her now! He eagerly scrambled up the wall, but was stunned when all that greeted him was an empty roof, save for a few pigeons that indicated a leap of faith to him. He looked into every nook and cranny around the church, below the church, and even went so far as to climb higher onto the church in search of her, but she had eluded him.

The thief had won yet again.

He sighed heavily, knowing that it would be fruitless to try and hunt her down this late. All he could do was return to her room, wait for her to come back, and hope that his money had not been spent. The rooftop run back gave him time to reflect on what had happened leading up to this. Things had been going so wonderfully…she hadn't fought him, hadn't even resisted when he kissed her. But then…she just pushed him away and ran off with his wallet. Why had she done that? If she wasn't interested, she could have just said so, and that would have been the end of it. He would have been devastated, to be sure, but he would have respected that and they would have remained friends. He would have acted like it never happened, and things would have gone smoothly. But no, this happened, and now he didn't know where the puzzle pieces had fallen for them.

By this time, he had just landed on her roof, and was now crawling into her window to wait. His footsteps thudded against the silence of the room as he walked over to her bed and sat on it. A strange thing for the Assassin, he thought as he leaned over, his elbows on his knees. To sit here and wait for someone to deliver you to heartache. How long he had waited, he did not know. All he knew was that it was still dark outside and the moon had not waned when he heard her footsteps come up the stairs to the room. He turned his head to the door just as it was opening.

Rosa jumped a bit, startled that Ezio had waited for her to come back- she had to have been gone for an hour, running and climbing until her chest was numb and yet burning at the same time. "Ezio…" she whispered. His hood was once more over his eyes, his expression hidden to her yet again. Her lips parted, but she did not know what to say. It seemed, however, that he had plenty to say, on the other hand.

"Why?" he cursed his voice for cracking. He was supposed to be strong, dannazione! Rosa knew that his question implied more than one meaning, so she in turn did not answer him just yet. "Why did you lead me to believe that I had a chance with you?" Now knowing his specific question, her back stiffened in defiance as she walked to lean against the wall parallel to her bed, in front of where he was sitting.

"Why do you think you can add me on your list of donne che avete fottuto?" She answered his question with one of her own. He was taken aback with surprise. Where had that come from? She honestly still thought that he…? So perhaps she had only pushed him away out of fear that she wasn't important to him…? He suddenly grew angry. How could she assume that?!? After so long?!?

"You think I'm still that ragazzo?!?" He snarled, rising to stand before her. "You think you don't matter?!?" He held her face gently but firmly so that she could not look away. "You fool…" he shook his head sadly before he lowered it so that their lips were only a breath away. "Ti amo, mi sono inamorato di te." He murmured, brushing his lips against hers, though it was more of a caress than a kiss: he needed to know if his feelings were mutual, if she truly felt the same way. Her eyes widened, her lips parted, as she tried to form the words her heart had been speaking for years. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips as she found herself answering,

"I love you, too."

That was all Ezio needed.

He pulled her face to his as their lips met once more, though this time, there was no fear, to second guessing, so worry of rejection. His arms encompassed her and pulled her as close as him as he could, though it seemed she was only willing to assist him in that endeavor. She pressed herself tight against him, her arms snaking around his neck and waist. In between kisses, Ezio murmured endearing words against her lips, as if to imprint in her mind that she wasn't just any other woman.

She was Rosa,

And she was his.

"Amore," he whispered before he kissed her again. Their lips parted a moment more, "Mia tesorina," he murmured fervently, kissing her again and again.

No one heard from them again all night.

Ezio awoke that morning drunk on happiness. His inebriation of elation only grew stronger when he felt Rosa curl closer against him. Granted, they did not have sex- both agreed to wait until they had been together a little longer for that, but the foreplay, the kissing, and the teasing were incredible, and a nice preview to what was to come. He looked at Altair's Master Assassin robes pooled on the floor, along with his armor and weapons before stretching and yawning. Rosa had remained fully clothed, save for her beanie, while he had left his white shirt on (open, but still on. Had to give her something nice to look at, right?) Speaking of which, he looked down at the still contently sleeping Rosa. Her shirt was open just enough to give him an eye-full of her perfectly pert breasts, which he couldn't help but lean down and kiss and lick until he began to lightly suck on one nipple as his hand massaged the other breast to wake her. Sure enough, with a moan, she began to stir. He slid his tongue up from the valley of her breasts, up her throat, and kissed her deeply. Her hands tangled in his long hair, freed of its ponytail. When they parted, she opened her eyes slowly, a sexy smile tugging her lips. He grinned back at her before wishing her a good morning.

"Good morning to you, too," she grumbled, pushing her hips against his, earning a surprised gasp from the man beside her. "I told you its fun to wake up all hot and bothered. You can't say I wasn't right." She heard him chuckle before he began to kiss and lick her neck, earning a soft moan from his piccola.

"It was different, and not entirely unpleasant, I'll give you that much," a sudden thought occurred to him- he had never gotten his wallet back! "Rosa, what did you do with my wallet?" Recognition dawned on her face, as she wiggled out from his embrace. She went over to her desk and plucked it off the top. "Here," she tossed it onto his stomach, and he couldn't help but notice that it felt…very light…much lighter than he remembered it.

"Rosa…did you…spend any of it…?"

"Most of it."

"On what?!?" She grinned and slid a newly polished Notched Cinqueda knife out of the holster that once held her Butcher Knife.

"You always said that I needed to update my weaponry." She slid it back in the holster and sauntered back over to Ezio, who was now sitting on the edge of the bed. The swaying of her hips distracted him from his lack of money. "Oh, and I got a batch of lemon cakes, too. Here," she pulled one out of a bag of them and popped it into his mouth, effectively stopping him from complaining, though his expression was one between sexual frustration and mild irritation because she spent his money (that she stole!) Seeing his face, she laughed before reassuring him, "Oh, quit it, I spent my own money on these! Here's your real wallet," her laughter reduced to chuckling, she replaced her own wallet with his, still full with every Florin that he had put into it. He swallowed the sweet treat and pouted despite her wrapping her arms around him.

"It's not nice to trick those that you love, Rosa. I might have to punish you," he grinned wickedly at her before seizing her by the waist and dragging her back onto the bed and began to lick along her neck- not enough pressure as before, but just enough so that she could be tickled, which made her squirm and attempt to protest through her peals of laughter.

Antonio and Ugo, who had been conversing outside, heard both of them laughing and "fighting" from Rosa's window above them. Once they realized that, while they weren't having sex it was clear that they had gotten together, Antonio grinned at Ugo.

"You owe me a thousand Florin." Antonio chuckled, earning a glare from Ugo.

"Arrogante punga."