Velvet nearly skipped down the road as Yatsuhashi followed close behind. She couldn't believe that she had actually asked him out. HER! And Coco had thought she couldn't do it. Well this would certainly prove her worth to their leader, wouldn't it? Their first date, and she already had everything planned out. First, a trip to one of her favorite little shops in town so that she could better show him her interests. Then, off to a cozy little place that had the best tea in town. Yatsuhashi liked tea, she was sure of it. He always stopped to have a cup with her whenever she made some. After that would be a walk through the park, then maybe dinner, a movie... and then.. Her face flushed, and she was already chastising herself both for allowing her face to get that red, and for thinking that far ahead. Still, nothing topped the stern talking to she had given herself earlier for what she had done to Yatsuhashi. Well, so long as it was all for the greater good, right? The point was, he was here. With her. Alone, and that was all that mattered. She only allowed her guilt to plague her for a fraction of a second more before pushing it to the side. There was no time for weakness of hesitation. She needed to focus! She slapped her cheeks quietly a few times when she was sure he wasn't looking. "Say, Velvet."

She nearly jumped as she heard him call her name, and her heart pumped a bit faster. She wasn't sure she'd be able to take this all day; she had to calm down. "Yes, Yatsu?"

"Can you run over the details of the mission again? And why can't we tell the others?"

Her face flushed with embarrassment and the thought of what Coco might say if she ever found out. "Well, Yatsu, I'm glad you asked. You see, this mission is a bit of a personal one. I've had the distinct feeling that I'm being followed lately."

She saw his eyebrow raise in what was, for him, a huge sign of alarm. "Don't worry too much. Nothing's happened, just seeing things out of the corner of my eye, feeling like I'm being watched. Looking at someone just for them to immediately look away, that kind of thing." Yatsuhashi's face hardened as his brows came slightly together. She felt bad for tricking him like this, but she hadn't been able to think of a good reason for calling him out without bringing Coco and Fox. Just the idea of just asking him out on a date caused her heart to pound in her ears. Loudly.

"And the reason we can't mention it to Fox and ESPECIALLY Coco, is that... well, you know how they are. Coco would destroy a city block trying to 'teach him a lesson' and Fox would just follow her commands without question. It has to be you. No one else would feel right." He nodded, accepting the explanation, before moving on. As soon as he wasn't looking in her direction, she smacked herself on the forehead. She couldn't BELIEVE she had just said something that embarrassing to his face. She would be reliving that for the next month at least.

Their first stop was an arts and crafts store. As they walked down the aisles, Velvet explained her 'plan.' "If we visit a few places, some of which will be more...private than others, we can keep an eye out. So long as we keep our wits about us, we can see if anyone shows up at more than one location."

Yatsu nodded, "I see. That does make sense, but we'll have to be on our guard then."

Velvet shook her head vigorously. "No, no, no. If you do that, he'll get suspicious. You just focus on keeping up appearances. I'll keep an eye out on things. Plus, if he sees me with you, maybe he'll think better of following me. But it has to look completely natural. So no acting like you suspect anything's wrong. Deal?"

Yatsu wasn't quite sure he understood, but she seemed like she had put a lot of effort into her plan and he didn't want to offend her. "Alright, but then what should I do?"

Velvet blushed slightly, but averted her gaze in an effort to hide it. "All you have to do is act as if you're enjoying our d-d-date. Shouldn't be too hard right?"

She smiled at him, hoping that he couldn't hear the thumping against her chest. Instead, Yatsu nodded with a smile. Relieved that he wasn't suspicious, she led him into her favorite shop 'Dusty Ol' Things' to have a look around. She pretended to keep an eye on the door as they moved around, but having Yatsu around made that increasingly difficult. She kept finding herself staring at him, wondering what he was thinking. If he was as self conscious around her as she was being around him. She couldn't really imagine it. She was in the middle of one of her staring sessions when he surprised her by stopping and looking her right in the eye. She nervously watched, worried he might be offended.

Instead, he just said "Thank you for trusting me with this. This is the first time someone has brought me on anything resembling a stealth mission. Most people think I'm too big."

Velvet could barely manage to stutter out a response. "T-Too big? No I don't think so.. I-I'm sure you're just the perfect size."

Yatsu smiled at her before he returned to browsing the shelves in the origami section. She banged her head against the shelf behind him, wondering if she could somehow knock the embarrassment out of her. They left soon after, her with the parts for an old fashioned picture frame, him with some origami paper.

The next stop was the tea shop, as planned. Yatsuhashi allowed her to order for him, since she was more familiar with the place. As she pretended to watch out for any suspicious persons, he took a long whiff of his tea. He had to hand it to her, she really knew her stuff. He took a long sip and then let out a sigh of contentment. Velvet watched him with renewed interest, content that he should keep drinking forever. She wasn't sure how someone could make drinking tea so attractive, but dammit, Yatsu found a way.

"You're not going to drink yours?" he asked as he took his third drink.

It took a few moments for Velvet to realize that while she had been watching him, she had yet to actually touch her own drink. "Oh, sorry. I saw something a bit distracting." Yatsu raised an eyebrow and she realized her mistake. "Nothing you need to worry about, mind you. Just... well, never mind."

Yatsuhashi nodded, accepting it as just nerves (after all, she had been nervous all day. And who wouldn't be if they were being followed) She slowly sipped her tea, wondering if she should be feeling worse about this than she was. She really did feel bad tricking him like this, but as long as Coco or Fox didn't find out, then neither would he. There wouldn't be any harm in having him escort her for an afternoon, would there? No, surely not. She finished her tea a little sooner than she would have liked, but when Yatsu pointed out to her that if they wanted to catch their movie, they had to go, she realized how off her original time table had been. She thanked him profusely as they left.

The movie was a romantic comedy that she had been eyeing for a while. 'Love Hunters' where you had to be careful just in case your heart was the one being hunted. It had been embarrassing to talk about, and Coco had been downright out of the question, but since it was part of the 'mission,' she felt comfortable watching it with Yatsu. Well, the mission wasn't the only reason, but that was the reason she gave herself. Yatsu insisted on paying for the tickets and the snacks. He had, however allowed her to pay for the drinks. But only after a fierce battle. They sat a bit further in back so that Velvet could 'watch the incoming viewers.' THe movie was entertaining, though not as entertaining as the brief moment where her hand had accidentally touched his when she put it on the armrest. That had sent her into the red for almost twenty minutes. Still, as they didn't want to talk and spoil the movie, very little happened.

Afterwards, they walked to a nice little burger place a few blocks down. "This has always been one of my favorite places," she said, as they entered. The familiar smell left an almost peaceful feeling in her mind. "I always come here after we complete a mission."

To her surprise, Yatsu also seemed to be taking in the smell. "It's one of my favorites as well. But I suppose the reason we never see each other here is that I always come before a mission." Velvet couldn't help that feeling that rose up in her chest as he mind raced. 'Is this fate? It has to be. Does fate smell like Uncle Buck's?'

Yatsu gestured towards a small booth and the hostess showed them the way, handing them menus. "Order what you like, Velvet. I'll handle the bill."

Velvet looked up in shock for just a moment. "What? No, I can't do that. You already paid for the supplies, and the tea, and the movie. AND THE SNACKS."

Yatsu smiled and calmly answered "Yes, but you paid for the drinks. Don't worry too much." He returned his attention to the menu, but had the strangest feeling the conversation wasn't over.

Looking over the menu at her, her ears were painted in his direction, and her cheeks were puffed up in frustration. "I CAN DO IT!" Taken aback, Yatsu, let her continue. "I can pay for the meal. Now I want you to get ready, because you're going to order the BIGGEST BURGER THEY'VE GOT! And then you're going to eat every bite, and then you're going to sit there and do nothing because I AM going to pay for it. GOT IT!?" she added, jabbing a finger in his direction.

There was a brief moment of silence before he did something she had never seen before, even in all their time together at Beacon. He started laughing. It was a deep, full laugh that she immediately fell in love with. "Alright, I suppose that's fair." Trying not to let him off the hook too easy, Velvet responded with a reluctant 'Hmph.'

Dinner passed pretty uneventfully, with them chatting about the movie they had just seen, the way their day had gone. How their lives were going. The longer the conversation went on the more she wondered why she had ever been nervous around him in the first place. Talking to Yatsuhashi was the most natural thing she could think of at that moment, and she didn't want it to end. Things were going fine until suddenly, he sighed. "Velvet, I need you to stay here a minute. Don't get suspicious, but there's something I need to check." Velvet, who had almost completely forgotten the pretext of their 'date,' nodded back a bit confused, but trusting him. He left their booth and walked off, quiet as a mouse. It wasn't until ten minutes passed that she began to worry. She was about to go off to look for him when he returned, carrying two bodies with him. Unfortunately, she recognized them immediately: Coco and Fox. "Howdy, Velvet. Mind telling us why we weren't invited on this 'Secret Mission'?"

Velvet's face turned scarlet as Yatsuhashi began to explain. "I noticed that there had been people following us all day. I didn't want to say anything since I'm sure you noticed, but when I saw them slip up, I took the opportunity. I believe we have solved your stalker problem."

Velvet couldn't help the extreme embarrassment that kept coming over her in waves that made her want to hide. She placed her face in her hands, not wanting to look them in the eye. Coco took that chance to escape Yatsu's grasp and take his seat in the booth. "Well then, I'm glad our mission was s success, but with everything settles, I'm afraid that I have to go. I trust these two can get you home safely."

Velvet opened her hands and looked, not wanting Yatsuhashi to leave, but too embarrassed to ask him to stay. But when she opened her eyes, his hand was in front of her, palm up. On it was a simple piece of origami: A smiling girl with rabbit ears.

"Unlike what everyone seems to think, I'm very good with things that are...smaller than me."

She looked up at him, her face reddening again as she took the offered paper. "Thank you for the lovely date." With that, he smiled and left. She watched him go, and before Coco could say anything, she turned back to their leader and held the small piece triumphantly almost seeming to gloat. She let out a small "ha!" as she pumped her fist once. Coco could only smile. What else was there to do?