Marinette hummed to herself as she brushed, it was a tune long remembered but whose name she'd forgotten.

Moments such as these, alone without a worry to be had, a care to give, were the most desired for the raven-haired Princess. At her age of 19 years, she was eligible to marry and inherit the throne, leaving her to start seeking out suitors and preparing for her future Queenly duties. Not that she minded becoming Queen, she had no qualms about taking charge and leading her people, but the process was quite stressful and boring.

Although, the position would probably entail boredom and stress, so she supposed that she was being prepared now for the job that lay ahead of her.

Then there was the matter of finding a qualified prince to wed. A few had come calling, but she had to admit that Theo was the one that caught her eye-based purely on the fact that he adored art as much as she does. He was handsome, yes, though not particularly special. The breath from her lungs wasn't stolen when she first looked at him, not like-

The sound of a thump caught her attention, as she whirled around and met eyes with the famous bandit that plagued her home earlier this evening.

Her sapphire eyes flamed with rage, her earlier thoughts forgotten.

How did he get in? Why was he here? And would it kill him to wipe that infuriating smirk off his face?

Chat Noir, meanwhile, hadn't been deterred by her clearly angry expression at all. In fact, the way her eyes promised a swift death, only served to widen his grin.

"Intruding on my engagement ball is one thing, but invading my private bedchambers is another," she hissed, having already put down her hairbrush.

A row of his teeth were illuminated by the low candlelight as he flashed her a devious smile.

"I had no idea these were your private bedchambers, Princess. Please, direct me to your public ones and I'll happily await you there," he replied silkily with a teasing wink.

The meaning of his statement was not lost on her, and her face bloomed a rose red in fury. "How dare you! Why are you even here? Haven't you stolen enough from my kingdom?"

His green eyes glittered with promise. Concerning what, she wasn't certain. "No. There's still one more item to steal, and it's going to take some time to acquire it. It's going to take all my skill, and most definitely some miraculous luck, to get it in my hands." He shot her a charming grin as he crossed his arms and walking around the room, straight to her bed where he sat down quietly.

Marinette rose from her seat at the vanity, gritting her teeth at the thief's aggravating attitude.

"Then get out of my bed and go take it. I'm not in the mood for dealing with you, Chat Noir. So just take yourself out of my room at once and go steal whatever precious item you want before I impale you with my brush."

He had the gall to laugh, until the Princess swiftly picked up her hairbrush and held it up for him to see, the golden pointed end easily visible even with the limited light.

The blond frowned, visibly gulping and immediately casting himself out of the soft bed.

"But I told you," he began to explain. "It's not that easy. It's going to take some time..." He brought his voice to a low murmur, just barely audible to her, but she didn't miss the words 'probably a lot of time.'

"It's not something I can just up and steal, Princess," he concluded.

"And what is this 'precious item' that you can't simply take from another kingdom, one preferably far, far away from me?" she retorted, crossing her arms though making sure to keep holding the brush.

He shook his head, this time giving her what was most likely a true smile. It was a first, and a small one, lacking any sort of mischief, thus clueing her in to its purity.

"No one else in the world has this item. There's only one, of which can never be duplicated, and I can only hope I can be fortunate enough to possess it one day," he declared softly.

She tilted her head, utterly perplexed by his explanation. An item one of a kind and that couldn't be duplicated? A rare stone, perhaps? However, to her knowledge her parents didn't own any kind of priceless stone. There were only the common ones in the crowns and a few other decorations, that was it. What could he possibly be talking of?

"I see you haven't taken off my necklace," he spoke, interrupting her thoughts. Gone was the real smile, to be replaced by the sly smirk once again.

The ravenette blanched at that. Blast, she had forgotten to remove it! Although to be fair she didn't expect him to come in here-

Wait.

"How did you even get in here?" she demanded crossly, forgoing a reply to his earlier observation.

Chat Noir shrugged, the action careless and nonchalant yet his eyes glinted with prideful cunning. "By your balcony, of course. You may want to lock that in the future, else a handsome thief might come to steal you away in the night." He sent her another cheeky wink.

"So is that your plan?" she challenged, arching a single black brow. "To steal me away like a savage?"

He shook his head in the negative. "No. If I did, then all hope of getting that item would be lost."

She pursed her lips in thought. Whatever he was after, seemed very valuable to him. Her curiosity was piqued to know what the mysterious item could be. But she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of asking about it, and she had a feeling he wouldn't disclose what it was anyway.

"And don't think I've forgotten about my necklace still around your neck," he chided playfully, wagging a gloved finger at her. "I'm honestly surprised you're still wearing it, since the stone is a cat's eye." This time he moved to sit in a chair across the room, crossing his arms together as he draped his right leg over his left.

His green eyes glittered dangerously as a corner of his mouth curled up wickedly sinful, as he remarked lowly, "one might think I was marking you, or something."

For a moment her eyes were wide, her cheeks blossoming into the pretty rosy color he was beginning to love looking at. Her stomach got this weird tingly feeling, but it also felt like something was dropped inside of her. It was a strange reaction, one she's never experienced before.

But it wasn't long until that was put aside by her ever-growing vexation for this outlaw. At once her eyes narrowed into a harsh glare that would have normally sent anyone into a pile of nerves and unease. However, to her dismay, it only served to make him grin impossibly wider.

With a scowl, she brought both of her hands behind her head and undid the clasp of the necklace. While she would have loved to yank it from her neck in spite, she recognized the metal for the quality silver it was. It would be a shame to break such a pretty chain.

With the cat's eye necklace in hand, she calmly walked to his seated form in the chair. He sat up, attentive as he gazed up at her quizzically.

Without a word she held out her hand. On instinct he held out his own, to which she deposited the necklace.

"Keep it and get out," she commanded. "I don't care if you're after some precious, one of a kind item. It doesn't require you intrude in my bedchambers, something that is completely inappropriate, by the way. You stole from my kingdom, and I will not entertain thieves. So take yourself out of here and never try coming in here again, or I will call for the guards."

His mouth was partially open as he sat, still clutching onto the necklace in his closed fist. Emerald eyes that were once light and teasing were brought to a dullness that Marinette had never seen anyone have. His shoulders slumped and the corners of his mouth were pulled down into a frown.

He looked…well, hurt. Like she just got done ripping his heart out or something.

The compassionate strings of her heart immediately began to tug at seeing such a despondent expression. But she remained steadfast in her decision to cast him out. He was a bandit who had no right to trespass in her bedchambers, she was right to do this.

So why did she feel so guilty?

She opened her mouth to say something more, either to try to soften her words or order him to leave at once, she didn't know which, when the sound of quiet footsteps were at her door.

That was odd, no one should be near her door at this hour.

Chat Noir's head turned so fast to the door, the Princess was surprised he didn't receive whiplash from it. Gone was the pained expression, being quickly replaced by a hardening of his eyes caused by suspicion.

The doorknob began to jiggle, elevating Marinette's heartbeat in panic and causing the blond to rise from the chair.

"Leave!" she hissed, pushing him toward the balcony doors while she ran to her bed and pretended to be sleeping. It was probably her mother or father come to check on her, it happened occasionally but was rare now at her mature age. It wouldn't do for them to find her wide awake and with the thief that just stole from them a few hours before.

Chat, in the meantime, didn't leave as he was ordered to. Instead, he ducked behind the balcony doors' drapes. He was out of sight to the common man, but he could see whoever walked inside perfectly clear.

Slowly, almost silently, a man entered the room, quietly shutting the door behind him with a soft 'click'.

The hiding man narrowed his eyes. Who was this and what purpose did he have sneaking into the Princess's room this late at night?

Well, he had a few ideas of what the man might want…

His jaw tightened while he simultaneously gripped the small dagger he kept at his side.

The man looked at the still-lit lamp for a moment, then at the seemingly-slumbering Princess. For a moment he paused, as if assessing the situation, before shrugging and lumbering toward the bedside.

The blond tensed, his mind immediately going to the worst possibilities as he fought against them. Maybe this man was a servant, sent to retrieve something or…something. Maybe he wasn't after the woman's virtue at all, he could have completely honest intentions.

His eyes widened when he saw the man stop at her bedside, then reach for his belt. Chat could swear his heart stopped when he saw the gleaming end of a knife being pulled out of its holster, with Marinette none-the-wiser to the alarming danger.

He moved quickly, running from his hiding place with his own dagger in his tightened fist. The intruder began to turn, having been startled, when Chat stopped behind him and thrust his weapon into the man's midsection, eliciting a cry of agony from the would-be assassin.

At this Marinette bolted upright, blinking in astonishment as she saw the mystery man fall to the floor, with Chat behind him jerking a bloody dagger out of the man's lower backside. His green eyes were alit in fury, his teeth were bared into a snarl that even frightened her for a second.

Speechless, she glanced down over the bedside to see the limp man lying in a heap on her floor in a pool of blood, but with a knife only a few inches from his hand.

Her breath hitched at the horrible sight, her eyes gradually meeting with her heaving rescuer's.

The man wanted to kill her, stab her in the middle of the night in cold blood. He would have, if Chat Noir had not intervened.

"You saved my life," she whispered in awe. Despite how she had treated him so harshly since he came here, he didn't hesitate to come to her aid. It was purely honorable, a trait she never thought an outlaw would possess.

His mouth formed a grim line as he held the tip of the dagger in his hand before presenting the handle. Her eyebrows furrowed, confused as she stared at it then at him. Why did he want to give her his knife?

"So they think you killed him," he explained. "When the guards come here, you can tell them that you heard him come in and you subsequently killed him for attempting to assassinate you."

She nodded, unable to think of doing anything else at the reason he gave. With steady fingers she took the offered knife. Her sapphire eyes briefly peered down at it, inspecting the dark blood, but her gaze shot up when she heard Chat move toward the balcony doors.

"Wait!" she called, holding out her available hand. He stopped, his head turning back to look questioningly at her.

"Thank you," she bid, bowing her head in a sign of respect. He deserved it, even if he regularly broke the law.

He nodded once. "You're welcome," he replied solemnly.

She bit her lower lip when once more he turned around. After putting down the knife, she called out for him to stop again. This time he got to unlatching the door when he turned to her.

The guilt for her earlier treatment of him was eating her alive. He may have intruded in her room, but other than tease her (and save her life), he did nothing wrong. He did nothing to truly insult her, to hurt her.

All he wanted was some one of a kind item. For his actions that night, she thought that the least she could do was help him attain it.

But first things first…

"I'm sorry," she apologized, frowning in regret. "I'm sorry for my earlier words this evening. You didn't do anything to really wrong me, and you saved my life even after my cruel words. I'm sorry."

A small smile tugged the edges of his lips up as he regarded her, a barely-noticeable twinkle coming to his eyes.

"I forgive you, Princess."

She nervously twisted her fingers together as she tried to say the next part.

"You said that you're after some item that can't be duplicated. If you still want it, I'll be happy to help you get it."

He blinked, clearly surprised at this outcome, until an almost fond smile broadened over his face. His eyes clearly shone with warmth, making her just the slightest bit concerned. She didn't think her help warranted such a gratified expression. Although, he was obviously happy and he already forgave her, so she supposed she shouldn't worry about it too much.

He walked over to her, making sure to avoid the bothersome dead body in the process. Without a single word he took her hand in his, prompting her to look up at him in wonder.

He bent over like any true gentleman and pressed her soft knuckles to his warm, equally soft lips, reminding her of how he did the same thing before he made his grand escape from her castle earlier that evening at the ball. Her eyes locked with his, he blinked slowly while she continued to stare in an almost-daze.

"Thank you, Princess. May I come back tomorrow night?"

He may be an outlaw that stole from her own castle, but he saved her life and she already promised him to help him find whatever it was he was searching for. She considered that enough to let him in her room for another night.

"Yes," she confirmed, coming out of her momentary trance. "I can't help you if you're not here, right?" she joked, presenting him with a half-grin.

He, in turn, grinned fully as he chuckled. "I suppose not. You had better call the guards after I leave, before he," he paused to point down at the body, "starts to smell."

She nearly gasped, having almost forgotten about the man who had tried to kill her now lying in a bloody heap on the floor. She wondered how she could forget a large detail like that, but something about Chat just made her roughly forget about her surroundings.

He released her hand, after depositing something in it, and proceeded to walk back to the balcony doors. He bowed once more with a flourish and performed a two-finger salute before escaping outside and subsequently back into the darkness.

Marinette waited a few minutes to allow him time to run from the castle grounds before she opened her mouth and unleashed a blood-curdling scream so loud it made her throat temporarily raw.

When she heard the sounds of rushing, pounding feet, she hurriedly stuffed the cat's eye necklace under her pillow.

…

"So," Nino started warily back at their camp in the woods. "How did it go?"

The blond in front of him sighed, a goofy-looking smile settling across his features. "She threatened to stab me and tried kicking me out. Then I killed a man."

His best friend's eyes threatened to bulge out of his head. "Wait, what?!"

Chat sighed once more, a sound so loving that it almost made Nino sick when hearing it. He would have been, if he wasn't so distracted by his leader's first sentence.

"It was perfect."

A/N: Okay, so a few things!

1. I do have plans for this, but not now. I just wanted to get this part out of the way since it's been in my head since I first posted this story. I want to focus on my other fics before taking off with this one. So for now, this is going to stay Complete.

2. Marinette's parents don't know about the necklace. They were too busy with the large-scale robbery to take notice of a piece of jewelry around their daughter's neck.

3. Chat was attracted to Marinette when he first saw her, but fell in love when he discovered her fiery and sassy personality. Marinette, while attracted to him, is slowly getting there lol.