She glanced up as the door to the apartment opened, half expecting the big brute of a bastard to be standing in it after having caught a second wind, thankfully though it was just her twin whom promptly resumed doing exactly what she was: devouring the liquid black gold that was their cups of coffee. It was at that point though, upon watching her brother return to his coffee, that she’d notice his crimson eyes, eyebrows raising in curiosity and head tilting to the right side. “Brother… your eyes…”, she spoke softly, as if perhaps anything above a whisper was dangerous – then again, this was her normal speaking voice when she bothered speaking at all, at least when she wasn’t absolutely enraged and going off on someone: something that was entirely rare for the willowy female. After making the comment about her twin’s eyes she glanced across the way to the mirror that lined the far wall (done so as a means of making the apartment look more spacious, or so she figured was the landlords intent) to find that her own orbs were crimson as well with a single mark within them. She put down her coffee cup slowly onto the table though her hands remained wrapped around its warmth, frowning in a thoughtful manner. She knew of eyes like these: they belonged to the Uchiha clan: but she had never really thought about them more than that. In fact, considering the way the majority of their family had shunned them she had never really considered herself a Uchiha at all – simply a Morningstar. But these eyes… there was no mistaking them.

“After everything we’ve gone through, this is what it took?”, she commented in her usual soft voice. It would seem so silly that her raging out on some brute for beating his wife and him in return trying to strike her would be what caused her to pop her first tomoe, but then again perhaps they had awakened before and neither twin had simply noticed? Considering the things that had been done to them, the things that they had been put through, it was anyone’s guess really. Turning away from her reflection she glanced back over to the stove where the food was still merrily cooking away as if nothing strange or out of the ordinary had happened at all. Getting up Lilith headed back into the kitchen to finish breakfast, feeling the tickle in the back of her throat that announced a coughing fit was likely to occur – she had been so tired, and then had raged out so hard, she hadn’t entertained the idea at all that she was still feeling a bit under the weather from the flu she had caught.

Lilith was still feeling a bit under the weather from the sudden flu she had been smacked with damn near a week ago: add in everything else that had been going on, and she was back to feeling like crap. Which, was precisely why even though it was only about seven o'clock in the morning she was already awake and in the kitchen with sausage and bacon sizzling away on the stove – well, that and the nightmares she had been plagued with that kept her from getting an actual restful slumber the night before - well, more food, considering the last bit she had cooked wasn't enough to fill her gut. An omelet was in the works in another pan: a huge one stuffed with ham, cheese, and other delicious items to enhance its flavor. In the oven were biscuits: the fluffy delicious kind that were good to eat completely plain or smothered with jams or butter. There was also hash browns waiting to be thrown in as soon as the biscuits were completed.

The timer above the stove dinged, and before it could really get loud she reached over and shut it off – she didn't know if the next door neighbors (the ones on the other side of her twin and her) were still sleeping and didn't want to wake them if they were. Once the timer was off she pulled the biscuits out of the oven with a nearby pot holder and placed the tray on top of the stove to cool while she slipped the hash browns in and closed the oven door once more.

As Lilith began to feel the particular tickle in her throat that announced a coughing fit she turned her head away from the food and coughed into her arm: violently. She held back as much as she could, hoping not to be too noisy with it, but it was a lost cause.

“Ugh...” All of the other flu-like symptoms she had had were gone, and her cough would have been too, but she had simply pushed herself too hard and all of the yelling she had just done had not helped matters any at all. Of course, she wouldn't change a moment of it or complain – her neighbor had needed her and she had stepped up to the plate. It was her duty after all: she wasn’t a superhero by any means nor did she have a hero complex but she wasn’t the type of person to sit back and watch others be bullied and suffer if she could do something to stop it. Lilith reached above her to a cabinet and pulled down a glass before going over the refrigerator and opening it: she removed the orange juice and started to pour herself a glass, holding back another coughing fit as she did so. The orange juice was sipped and she returned to the stove.

Before she could do anything however she found herself unable to stop the next violent coughing fit that was begging to start up she handed over the cooking utensils to her twin without any hesitation - she assumed he would want them anyway - only to double over a moment later and let the coughing fit roll through her – there was no point in holding back any longer, and honestly she knew it would only make it worse to try. This one thankfully didn't last as long as the last and within about ten seconds it was over – with tears brimming around Lilith’s eyes from the sheer force of it. She reached up with a frown, using the back of her hand to remove the tears while she went over to one of the stools on the other side of the counter and took a seat. She leaned forward on the counter with her elbows, trying to ignore the urge to cough again.

"I hope I didn't wake you up. I couldn't sleep since I was coughing so much, so I figured I might as well try and make breakfast... “, she would state before resting her head against the coolness of the kitchen counter in front of her.

Word Count: 1,135

An eyebrow was raised as he was handed cooking utensils. He knew Lilith was feeling under the weather for a while not, but that did not explain why she was awake and attempting to make breakfast, let alone at this time of the night. Stepping around her coughing frame, he would take her place in the small kitchenette, turning the bacon and sausage in the pan, and  nudging his sister out of the way so that he would pull the biscuits from the oven without burning her and replace them with the hash browns. He didn't mind taking over for her while she was like this; it was a change to practice his own cooking skills. Besides, he really did not want to catch what ever she was getting over. He had\d managed to avoid it so far, but still. Better to be safe and take some precautions than be sorry that he did not and catching what ever it was Lilith had.

"I hope I didn't wake you up. I couldn't sleep since I was coughing so much, so I figured I might as well try and make breakfast... “,

Lucifer would smile as he turned away from the stove to fetch a plate from the cabinets for the omelet; he would set it on the plate, along with the now done biscuits, bacon and sausage. As he set the plate down on the dining table, he would pull a chair from underneath it, and point at it. “Sit.” Whether Lilith sat down or not, he would turn and continue about, retrieving something light for himself for the moment. His normal breakfast of choice was often something... meatier. He much prefered steak and eggs, but they were currently out of steak. He would  pick some up later from the market and eat then, given how it was only three Ante Meridiem. For the moment, however, he needed something to soothe the beginning of the headache that was forming. It was then that he remmebered something that Lilith had said to him earlier, something bout 'Tylenol is in the cupboard above the coffee machine by the way in case you need some'.

Oh thank the gods for this blessed woman.

The cabinet door was snatched open and the bottle of pain medicine was retrieved in an instant; a moment later and roughly six pills were popped into his mouth and chewed on noisily as he quickly made a plate of food for himself.  Before he sat down to eat, there was something else for him to do. The cabinet was reopened and the the cansister that contained the coffee and filters was snatched out. A moment later, the packaging was ripped open, and the filter was placed into the container and filled with grounds. Turning, the male would take the carafe to the sink to fill with water, after which he would empty this into the water tank. Once he placed the carafe onto the hot plate, he would press the brew option to start the machine along on its process of making the other black gold.

Coffee was a dire necessity for them both to function and pretend that they were normal people; there was just no getting around this. Lucifer had once tried going with for a month without coffee, starting on a Monday morning. Five minutes later, the decision was already being regretted as he was contantly plauged by thoughts of beating the life out of several annoying diplomats; by Tuesday morning, he'd clubbed someone over the head with thier own walking stick, and on Wednesday he was locked up in his room for holding his elder at knife point and demanding coffee. Safe too say, he was given his coffee soon after, and quickly returned to pretending to be a normal person. From the expirience, he gathered that he desperately need coffee every morning, or else he was not to be held responsible for his actions. Thank fully, Lilith knew this very well; she was his best friend for most of their lives. She knew how he was without coffee, and there fore always made sure there was coffee for the both of then, as she was almost as bad as he was when It came to going without coffee for extended periods of time.

With the black gold brewing in the coffee machine, he would take a seat at the table and pass her a fork and knife so that she could eat, if she had not already retrieved some for herself and started. Figuring it was going to take a few minutes for the coffee to percolate he decided to start on hashing some things out.  It would be a moment before he spoke, blue eyes watching his best friend for a moment, contemplating his next choice of words.  There was something on his mind, something that he wanted to try, but he was not sure how it would be received by Lilith. He was thinking about the strip club he'd visited. The Siren's Den. It seemed that it was a profitable place, one that seemed to hide a few secrets; he wasn't sure about the village of Kirigakure and its laws, but the sale of certain drugs was illegal, and he was positive he saw several of them being used as 'party favors' in the club. He'd also seen several of the strippers, both male and female, being slipped extra money, then leading customers into a back room. They would emerge some time later, looking a bit disheveled; this would indicate a prostitution ring of some sorts. Hell, him coming home with Xio was certain proof of this, as he had to slip the male a bit of cash before he agreed to come, despite him being shitfaced.

Prostitution was easy cash; the money was hard to trace as it was not regulated, same with the drugs. He doubted that the Club had it self a lab to make its own stuff, so they would have to have a supplier somewhere, more than likely close by and on call to keep the party favors rolling through out the night. With a supplier like that, the owner was bound to have connections to others. If what Sam wanted to do was going to succeed, he would have to do some serious convincing. But f*ck, it would be worth it. The club had to pull in a few hundred thousand ryo a night, at the very least off the workers dancing and liquor sales alone. Combine that with the other 'services' that they offered, he was sure they were sitting on a pretty penny.

And it was all going to be Taken.

“To answer your question, you did not wake me up dear. I was already awake; I never went to sleep, honestly.” He relaxed his face, grinning at her now. “I brought home a 'guest' to keep me company for the night; I was afraid our playing woke you up.” A light chuckle would follow before he turned serious once more. “But, I'm glad you're awake how ever. I wanted to talk to you about an idea I had, something to make us some much needed money.” He glanced over to the coffee machine when he was done speaking, noticing that the pot was now full. He stood then and wandered over, grabbing down two coffee mugs – big ones, not little tiny cups because they just didn't hold enough coffee in them to satisfy them both. He also removed the creamer from the fridge and pulled out the sugar from the nearby cupboard along with spoons from the drawer; all of which he would set down before Lilith so that she could make her own. Yawning then, he added cream and sugar to his own coffee; a lot of both, and then added the coffee before giving it a good stir. “Let me know when you are awake enough to understand me when I try to explain my idea to you, dear.” He was in no rush; it was still early, and there was plenty of time for them to plan this and hash everything out down to the last detail. As he waited for her response, he would begin making a mental list of some things they would need. He still had money left over from renting these rooms for them for two months; they would need some way to communicate with each other, something that was secure from eavesdropping. The local merchants often carried wireless radios, but those were cheaply made, and were prone to being intercepted. No, he would see a specialist and get some custom made for him and Lilith, plus a few extra just in case. He would need fake documents to show proof of identification until he was able to get everything set up, and maybe some other supplies. Everything would be easy to get, once he could get tapped into the underground network that this village was bound to have.

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1538

Medicine: she needed it. She was pretty sure that if she kept coughing like she was a lung was likely going to come flying out at some point - and even if that didn't happen the coughing was painful in itself and she was tired of her eyes leaking like she was some sort of damned cry baby simply because the force of the cough was making them water. A quick reach into one of the overhead cabinets to grab the medicine she had stashed there and she was out of Lucifer's way so that he could finish up breakfast. She unscrewed the lid to the liquid savior in her hand and downed a good fourth of the bottle before screwing it back on. The relief was nearly immediate; the substance coating her throat in a sweet numbing agent while the medicine got to work suppressing the last of the nasty cough. After several seconds of relief Lilith chanced a deep breath and sighed happily as she was able to do so without attempting to hack up another lung.

As Lucifer pulled the chair out for her she sat down in it with a yawn: given the time she wasn't going to go back to bed even if the medicine she took caused her coughing to subside for a while. No, this was definitely going to be one of those days spent running on pure caffeine. As if Lucifer was reading her mind she watched him go about the process of getting the coffee started which caused her to grin. "Mmm, it's like you read my mind.", she said softly before leaning comfortably back in her chair.

She then took the eating utensils from Lucifer and stared on her plate of food, noticing as she did so of course that Lucifer seemed to be paying close attention to her. It wasn't the first time this sort of situation had happened, and Lilith knew it meant he was likely contemplating how to bring something up - likely something that was either a delicate subject or something he wasn't quite sure her reaction would be on. Instead of asking him to just spill it she ate in silence while giving him a chance to think: she wasn't pushy about things like this after all. She knew when to give space and when to hover. The omelet was the first thing she started on since it was likely to be the softest: which was a good choice because it took some getting used to swallowing the food given her throat was entirely numb due to the medicine she had just taken. Still, after a few tries she got a rhythm down and picked up a piece of bacon which was quickly started on too while the sound of coffee brewing reached her ears and caused a smile to spread across her face. Coffee was one of the few things that could and would make her happy in the morning: she had given up the majority of her other vices long ago when she had gotten right with God. After her horrendous past it had made sense to simply take her vows and stick with them; her beliefs were one of the only places that she found true peace. So coffee? It was one of the only things she still clung to; and given the way she enjoyed it and needed it it was like her own personal sin: just one that she didn't happen to hold against her. No, she was a much better, nicer person when she had coffee so it was for the benefit of everyone that she continued to consume it.

“To answer your question, you did not wake me up dear. I was already awake; I never went to sleep, honestly. I brought home a 'guest' to keep me company for the night; I was afraid our playing woke you up." Oh? Well, the heads up was nice. Given her normal reaction to strangers in her personal space was a violent one at least she would know not to beat the person senseless were they to come wandering out of Lucifer's room.

But, I'm glad you're awake how ever. I wanted to talk to you about an idea I had, something to make us some much needed money. Blinking and quite curious as to what this topic was she watched then as Lucifer went about getting two giant mugs for them - little cups just wouldn't do with two coffee addicts around - and brought the stuff over. Lilith made quick work of making herself coffee just as she liked: plenty of cream, plenty of sugar, and a good amount of stirring that would have the whole combination a light tan color. Abandoning her food for the moment she simply sipped at the delicious necture in her hands and sighed in a very happy and satisfied manner.

“Let me know when you are awake enough to understand me when I try to explain my idea to you, dear.” Already the coffee and likely the mass amount of sugar in it were causing her to wake up and focus. After sipping down about half of the cup she placed it down on the table and then speared a piece of sausage with her fork, pausing before she brought it to her mouth to look at Lucifer. "I'm awake enough, now. What's up?" Falling silent she would then pop the piece of meat into her mouth and go about chewing it carefully so that she didn't end up choking and causing herself to start coughing again.

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