Summary: What if Riki the Dark was in reality a girl? And this girl was secretly an Assassin Lord with followers to boot? And in her own way fell for Iason? Imagine how this story will turn out.
A/N Sorry again, concerning my other story, but I can proudly say that I have THIS story under lock and key on a flash drive AND complete so my readers won't have to wait years for the whole thing. :) You don't have to read Ai no Kusabi to know what the heck this is; in fact I strongly suggest you don't! I have cleaned this story up so its better...in my opinion! :p
Anywho, on with the story!
Prologue
I was different, you could say. Born with pitch black hair, dark eyes, and with an unusual amount of talent with sharp objects.
Yeah, I was different.
This world's society and power that I live in, is totally based on a person's hair color. Blondes being the highest and dark haired people being the lowest of the low. Mongrels, they call them.
Well, I think I really should give you the history of what I'm basically talking about.
The barren planet Amoi was populated by a group of scientists who sought to make a perfect society around their super-computer who they named Jupiter. Jupiter attained consciousness and seized power and control over the entire planet.
Tanagura is the capitol city of Amoi, a city under the direct and complete control of Jupiter. Midas is a satellite city or suburb, dedicated to the pleasures of the elite of Tanagura. Ceres is a region of Midas also referred to as the slums.
There had once been an attempted revolution against Jupiter's ruling. And Jupiter, rather than trying to suppress it, granted the protesters their freedom. As a result, their identities were erased and they were unable to work, buy, or live outside the slums of Ceres.
A thriving Black Market was created and it kept the non-citizens of Ceres supplied with food and clothing, but not much. The population in Ceres was also kept male-heavy to keep the people there unstable and unable to organize.
Because the people of Ceres still could reproduce naturally, they were called Mongrels. It is unclear how the female population is kept down in Ceres. Tanagura either had them killed after birth if they could find them or manipulated the 'natural' births in Ceres. In whatever way they did so, Tanagura ensured that Ceres's population did not grow by restricting the number of female births to 1 in 10. This way, there wouldn't be anymore revolutions against Jupiter and his ruling.
Social rank was determined by hair colour. From bottom to top, these ranks were: black, brown, chestnut, auburn, red, and gold (blonde).
The top elite of Tanagura were genetically engineered by Jupiter to be stronger and smarter than normal humans. They are physically perfect except that they are sterile. They were the blonde elites also know as Blondies.
Elites Blondies do not engage in direct sexual activities, but kept human Pets or young teenagers for "toy-like" purposes. The best Pets were raised and trained by the Pet Academy only to be then auctioned off. Pets wore rings encoded with their registration number. They are usually only kept for a year or so. After their time as Pets expire, they are either reprocessed or sold to Midas brothels.
But further emasculation is seen in the "Furniture" or young boys that are chosen from among mongrels from the slum, for whom this position is the only chance to escape a horrible life in Ceres. They serve the Blondies and are the caretakers and harem guards of the Pets that the Blondies had. The only requirement they had was that they had to be castrated to keep their boyish looks and were kept longer then Pets usually.
So this society and power is totally based by the level of hair colors as you know. Even though to contrary to popular belief, the hair-color ranking system only applied to those in Eos and those working in Midas, not in Ceres.
As for me, I just so happen to be that 1% in the population.
I'm female.
I was born in Ceres and I raised myself to be male-like. Both as a way to keep myself safe and to help me survive in this cruel world.
It became very clear as I grew older that I had an unnatural talent with sharp objects. Knives, nails, broken glass, you name it, I could have used it effectively, but my favorite to use was knives, no matter what size or kind. I was also very good at making my own kind of knives.
I was very limber, agile, and graceful. I learned real fast when I was almost sold by my own parents that the only way you could survive as a female was to either become a prostitute and sell your own body or cross-dress and become a fighter. With my gift of sharp objects, you could imagine what path I chose: the fighter one.
So I grew up as a "male" fighter, but also to further protect myself, I wore baggy clothes to hide my feminine body, and kept my hair short, making myself look like a boy.
And golly, did I look like a boy!
But it was only when I was about 12 years old that I suddenly met a man who changed my life forever.
He had been walking down an alleyway and a bunch of thugs thought he would be an easy target, so they tried to steal from him. I just so happened to be nearby when the fight broke out so I joined in to help the older man.
After the thugs ran away with nothing, but bruises and wounds, the man who had seen my talents and abilities, and recognized my potential, demanded to be allowed to take me back with him to his own Academy where other people with my abilities and talents would be trained to perfect themselves.
And so that was what happened, I went with this strange man to his Academy far from the slums of Ceres on a different planet completely.
Once there, I realized that the Academy which was really an Assassin Academy that it wasn't just a place where I would be trained and taught how to perfect my skills, but the Acadeny was also a community that thrived and grew.
For my small child mind, it was a huge change from the corruption and dishonor of Ceres, but I came to understand that once you had entered this strange world that you couldn't leave.
And I found that I didn't want to, so I joined their world, willingly and I started dressing myself as a girl so that my teachers would know what kind of disciplined I could handle as a female. I also let my hair grown out as it added a challenge to my lessons to have long hair.
The man who brought me was called ''Goshujin-sama'' or Master in the native language here at the Academy. When he had brought me to the Academy, I was a novelty for a while as Master had never brought back a person before, from a journey that he would gone on.
In this Academy, I learned that only Master's followers that were tied couples were allowed to have sex and children. A tied couple meant that two Assassins had chosen his or her partner in life and would be loyal to their chosen partner forever more.
Tied couples also wore a special type of sash the symbolized that they were tied; blue meaning a tied partner and green meaning betroth or becoming an tied partner. Tied couples also wore the same designs on their sash so everyone knew who they were tied to. Every tied couple's sashes were always different in one way or another either in designs or the way they wore them around their waists.
Any other sash color didn't mean anything, only those two colors meant something and most Assassins didn't wear those colors, feeling that it was dishonorable to wear them unless it was the truth.
So I would see a lot of partners who would approach Master and asked to have his blessing in their bonding as a tied couple which Master always gave with great happiness. It was just a matter of custom that they would ask Master as he was the Father of all of us, in a sense.
And us as children, eventually would have to eventually leave after learning all we could which we were to then prove ourselves to our Master in a public battle with him to show that we were strong enough to go off on our own.
When that was complete and the person leaves, anyone that wished to leave the Academy to join the person who had left as companions, were to go to Master and inform him of their leaving. The count for that usually was around 15 to 18 people, sometimes less.
As the years flew by, I learned how speak in multiple languages as well as write and read in said languages. I was taught how to use knives, swords, Hira shurikens or throwing stars, daggers, extension knives, and heel spikes of all shapes and sizes. I was taught how to use lock picks for all sort of different locks and combinations. I became immune to all sorts of poisons and was taught how to recognize them by smell.
It was Master, among others, who trained, disciplined, and almost created me into becoming what I am now.
A brilliant Assassin and an expert executioner.
It was here in this Academy that I learned the Assassin's Creed.
The Assassin s greatest advantage is in his stealth and speed. He can bolt in any location, at any given time, speed up his dash, and freely change directions to either chase down fleeing enemies or to disappear completely into the shadows.
He also has the greatest advantage in his intelligence and timing. When used in combat, he must be very exact, accurate in everything he does. Everything he does either has a direction or purpose. Nothing is done that was a mistake or a flaw.
Being an Assassin is a commitment, an art, a duty, a calling, a contract, but most of all, it s a profession to the mind of an Assassin.
I also learned the Assassin's Laws as well here at the Academy.
1. An Assassin much never teach outside of the Assassin Academy unless it s to train his or her own assassin. This was to insure that traditions and customs would be held with honor and that nothing was leaked out that could be used against us.
2. An Assassin must never drink alcohol or any strong substance. It weakened the body as well as the brain and was considered foolish to do as an Assassin when your life was always in danger.
3. An Assassin must never abandon his or her duties in life. Maintaining duties are a huge thing in the Academy and slacking off duties could cause another companion's honor or his life if not treated with the greatest importance.
4. An Assassin must never couple without being tied and do everything in their power to stay abstinent till they become tied. Having sexual desires were considered both a distraction and also a problem for women; having the ability to become pregnant without warning.
5. An Assassin must never fall in love with an outsider as that would lead them to want be become tied with an outsider.
Outsiders were considered people who didn't follow the Assassin's Laws or weren't from an Assassin Academy. This situation always caused problems for the Assassin who fell for an outsider as outsiders didn't really understand certain customs or honor unlike another Assassin would.
And the last and most serious Law: 6. an Assassin must never ever reveal himself or herself or the existence of an Academy to an outsider if the situation of the said Academy is unsure as to their status in the society.
Outsiders who didn't understand what the Academy was or who just plain didn't like Assassins would hunt them down to death, isolate them completely from society, or try to use them to gain power. So it was made a strict Law not to do. Anyone caught doing this; the person's life was forfeited to the Academy's leader.
All these Laws were sworn to upon entering the Assassin Academy and were to be strictly kept and honored through out an Assassin's life.
It was just as I turned 15 years old that I had learned everything there was to be taught and in result, I was to be tested in public in Master's Academy against Master's experience and wisdom.
To prove myself and my worth as an Assassin.
I fought that battle with everything that I had. I wanted to show everyone; my teachers, my companions, my rivals, and Master that everything that I had been taught and learned in those three years in the Academy didn't go to waste. With great creativity and ingenuity, I struck with precision and disarmed Master, but not without consequences.
I had lost my left ring finger up to the joint behind my knuckle to him and I left a beautiful scar on his left temple that joined the other scars on his body from years of experience as an Assassin.
Defeated, but very pleased, Master smiled at me and gifted my person with an amulet with his house's symbol on it as a symbol of me defeating him in combat, honorably. The amulet was completely gold with a silver snake wrapped around a bloody knife as it bit the handle.
The entire Academy around us as witnesses were in awe of me. No one had ever defeated Master before and by tradition that I was to both take his place as Master and to claim everything he had.
That is if I wanted to.
If I wanted to claim everything, I was to point my knife at his heart and command for his loyalty, but if not, I was to kneel before him and declare my wishes as the winner.
And that s what I did.
Dropping to my left knee, I bowed lowly to him and proudly declared.
"I have no wish to be called Master here in your Academy. I have no wish to have what isn't mine to have. Yes, I have beaten you honorably and well, but was it not proof to you and my teachers that I have learned my lessons well?
I am, but a stranger here; brought from a distant land and life. My body and soul is most deeply honored by the fact that I came here three years ago untrained and foolish, only to finally come this far to defeat the greatest Master of all time.
My only wish is for you, Master, to continue training and teaching those that will come to the knowledge of your teachings as you've always done before. I am but a child still; inexperienced and naive. I still have much to learn as the years come and I also feel the need to return to my homeland and establish my own Academy. I have learned all I can here and I have no more reason to stay."
Master having known what my choice was to be way long before I had said anything, simply replied, "It will be as you wish. But you must take my place and taken upon yourself the traditional name of Banzuke." This meant champion in our native tongue.
And as Banzuke, I had certain duties and obligations, I had to do. In the Assassin World, we had a higher Council where all other known Heads of Assassin Academies would get together and talk about their regions and as Banzuke, I was know by the Council AND by the Universe in general since the Universe knows about this certain Council, but they only knew of my name and my reputation.
So I was to be sent back to the planet Amoi with gifts from my companions and rivals alike. Honor demanded it as I was not only Banzuke, but I was also leaving Master s Academy forever.
I was given clothing like fingerless gloves, wrist guards, cloaks, shirts, shoes and so on. I was also given new knives by knife makers, cleaning supplies for my old knives that I had made myself personally, new sheaths, and whatever I was going to need as an Assassin in Tanagura.
Upon returning to Ceres, I found it unchanged in its situation of poverty, sickness, and crime, but I was untouched. My training as an Assassin made me to be someone that no one wanted to annoy. With my quick temper and strong fighting abilities, I was both feared and wanted by different gangs there as a very strong ally and comrade if I wished to be.
And in this world as I didn't wish to be known, I made up my own alibi in Ceres. I dressed as a boy once again and cut my hair and started calling myself Riki which amusingly enough I had received completely by accident at my old Academy. My name had been misheard by someone who didn't know me, once and the name stuck. So I would either answer to "Riki" or my real name.
And to keep my plausible alibi up, I eventually joined a gang named Bison which I quickly became the leader of with my strength and skills and with me as their leader; we quickly became very strong in Ceres.
The people who had been the gang long before I came along were a bunch of guys named Guy, Luke, Syd, and Norris. They were all pretty good fellows except they all liked to cause problems with the police and I, of course as their leader, joined in to a certain degree.
To them all, I was just Riki, the male. Even with them, I didn't reveal myself. They were just there, in a sense, to keep my image up as Riki. They unknowingly gave Tanagura information about my character "Riki" so I fooled even Jupiter, into thinking I was just a simple, no class, male mongrel.
So it was there in Ceres and Midas that I spent most of my time in, wandering around, mapping the areas as I claimed them both as my territories as an Assassin. Nothing was done there that I didn't know about in one way or another.
You see, I wasn't the only Assassin there in Tanagura. I had almost fifty followers from the same Assassin Academy that I went to that had left my old Master and followed me all the way back to Ceres, wishing to serve me. So they became my spy system in Midas and Ceres as I claimed them as my territories as well.
My assassins, who I also trained myself as well, I told them concerning the situation of this world's society so they wouldn't be surprised by anything or anyone.
I had my assassins so trained and disciplined that they could get anywhere, at anytime to get information for me without anyone neither seeing them nor hearing them. Though in Eos, they had a more difficult time and only my best of the best would enter that region, but anywhere else, they were flawless or that's what I made them to be.
My Academy became so well know in the Assassin World, I began to get either more followers or other Academies would send some of their followers to be trained under me.
And I would train them to be just as flawless as my own Assassins; I didn't treat them any different. If they couldn't keep up, I would tell them to go home and this I'd tell their own leaders before I'd even received them.
My Academy was so well united that just to test them all, I left unannounced and watched from the shadows for three weeks. It was almost instantaneously that my Assassins immediately adjusted themselves to fill in where I wasn't. It was then that I later announced to my entire Academy that I was going to call my Academy, a Clan instead of a place of teaching even though we did so still.
We were a unit; not a school anymore.
We weren't master and followers anymore; we were companions even though I still led them all.
Among my own precious Assassins, I had a mixture of women and men. So for me, it wasn't unusual to be approached and asked to have my blessing in bonding of a newly tied couple.
I always found it to be very amusing that I was the youngest person in my Clan, but I was the leader and everyone would listen to me. But at the same time, we were all equal Assassins and I always honored my Assassins' opinions and comments, to a certain degree.
So in reality it was the entire Clan's decision to have Midas and Ceres as our territories, but I ruled over everyone and my wishes and desires were fulfilled accordingly. I was a fair and honorable Master to all those that followed me, but I was cruel and merciless to those who double-crossed me and my own.
When I first started collecting followers, I had discovered an old abandoned building that was called Dana Bahn by people in Midas and Ceres. It used to be an old fortress during the revolutionary war many years ago. Now it was just a simple, old, decaying building that gangs would come and hang out at occasionally.
But for me and my own, it was the perfect place for us to build a home in and as we searched it over, we discovered that there were already secret passages and tunnels beneath Dana Bahn, but it was slightly too small. So with the help and a lot of ingenuity on everyone's part, we expanded the system of secret passages and tunnels far beneath Tanagura so that it stretched all over Ceres and Midas. In this new home, we trained, had mock fights, and built to be our Assassin Academy.
So my small band of fifty Assassins and extra that I trained, grew as we all lived in the passage ways and tunnels far beneath the world of Amoi and its cruelties. In fact, we had our own little city where everyone was equal and honorable, but if there was anyone who was dishonorable, the price paid for the dishonor was very shameful and humiliating as you were made an example of. Children were taught at a young age strict discipline to insure that no dishonor would happen.
To my large group of growing Assassins, I was known just as Lillian or Lily instead of ''Master''. I didn't like to be called "Master" as I treated my 'followers' as companions.
So as two long years passed, my Clan grew very comfortable and thrived under the city of Tanagura. I had many people from the slums that my Assassins had brought to me that joined also my Clan as it was not only safer, but we were also kinder.
My Clan, amusingly enough, had a ratio of 6:5 to males; 6 being females, so my Clan was very gently and kind, but very quick to anger if you decided to double-cross us all.
And we've had many people try to cross us by either betraying our thriving city to the world above (this, I was most displeased about), trying to rape our women (good luck), or stealing from us (which is impossible; we're Assassins). We were kind and gentle, but we weren't as easily forgiving to others who did stupid things like cross us.
But the most people that joined were mostly children that my Assassins had picked up and brought home with them. From there, they were trained to become either one of us as an Assassin or some other profession. Even in that, I got other people to train them how to do those kinds of things, so I had doctors, blacksmiths, farmers, etc.
I literally had a city as I ve stated before.
So I lived a double life as both a leader of my Clan of Assassins and the leader of Bison gang. Both I kept well part from each other though I did inform my Assassins of my position as the Bison gang leader so no one would betray the secret of my other life to the Bison gang.
It has been at least two years since I had left my old Master's Academy and had built my own Clan and I had grown very comfortable with my life as leaders of my Clan and the Bison gang.
In my Clan, I was a wise, strict, but thoughtful leader who led my Assassins with honor. As the Bison gang leader, I was very reckless, proud, rebellious, fierce and defiant to the world of Tanagura.
The perfect image for the Bison leader even though I was a girl, but I always wore my own special Assassin wardrobe so no one really knew what my sex was except for my Clan members.
I also changed the way my Clan saw the Assassin's Creed and Laws. Now its not as horrible as they made it seemed, though in some things, I was very strict on like; teach outside the Clan, abandoning duties, drinking alcohol, and coupling without being tied.
I was very flexible on falling for an outsider and becoming tied with one, but there were consequences behind that.
1. The outsider has to be joining the Clan soon, or 2. If the outsider isn't or doesn't, the Assassin has to either choose between leaving the Clan to be with their chosen partner or trying to overcome their emotions to forget the outsider.
This kind of thing rarely happened with my Clan members, but it was something I had to go over with them.
But the one Law I was most harsh on was; telling the outside world AKA Tanagura of our existence. When I had come here at first as a new Assassin Lord, I had send a message to Jupiter stating as to who I was and that I had decided to come here and settle and that I was willing become their spy system if they wished.
A few days passed and I got a message back saying that their security and technology would be enough. And that they didn t need my services.
So accepting that, I didn't contact them ever again, but I did test their security and technology only to find as I was expecting.
They were completely wrong.
I had sent in six of my best Assassins in to steal as much information as they could get there hands on for a month straight.
Upon returning successfully, I held onto the stolen information for one more month to see if they would noticed anything.
Nothing.
So I send my Assassin back into Eos to put all the stolen information back where they got it, for another month.
When my Assassins came back safe and sound, and the people in Eos didn t notice anything different, I figured out in this three month experiment that Jupiter s and her Blondies technology and security weren t as good as they thought it was or that they were too stupid to even notice anything different.
So I started having my Assassins sneak information to their security people as a way to improve their security. I couldn t do anything about their technology improvement, but their security, I could try to change.
And it worked.
My Assassins started reporting that they having slight troubles with getting in and out of Eos which was what I was going for, because if my Assassins had troubles then no other assassin other then my own Assassins, could get in without being noticed.
I also started working for a man named Katze in the Black Market as a way to help get more information and I was quite good at what I did, too.
So good, I got the name Riki, the Dark there; a name which I held with the greatest honor.
But I found that Katze who was a Master at getting information from anyone, anywhere, and everywhere had nothing on my own Assassins who proved over and over again that they were better then technology, at getting information.
Heck, Katze didn't even know that I was female. Something I found to be very amusing whenever I would see him.
My name is Lillian Blades or Lily as some of my most close companions would call me. My birth parents had named me Lillian, but when I had let them, I decided to keep the name as well as give myself a last name. I chose Blades since my favorite weapon to use was knives-blades. I am the leader of my own Clan deep under the city of Tanagura.
I'm also the leader of the Bison gang in Ceres and I'm called Riki the Dark there. I wear baggy clothing and keep my hair short to hide the fact that I'm female.
I live a double life between my two leaderships as both Lillian and Riki. I also have two completely different personalities for my two leaderships.
I am well known by the Universe as Lillian Blades as I m starting lead the High Council of the Nation of Assassins more then the Council does on its own.
Sadly.
This is my story of how my entire life changed because of one Blondie by the name of Iason Mink.
A/N Alrighty that's the prolgue! Tell me what you think and if you wish any suggestions. Please R&R for me! :D Again thanks for reading!