The giant metal door coated in thick red rust creaked noisily as the unknown figure slipped into the supposedly empty warehouse. With a retreating glance to be sure they wasn't seen, the cloaked person swiftly shut the heavy door and continued walking ahead.

The room was dimly lit by the orange glint of the setting sun shining through the cracked windows that were placed close to the seemingly high ceiling. A door could be seen in the back of the room, in a similar state to the one the figure just passed through. This time, however, instead of reaching down to grab the handle, the stranger reached out and touched the worn out brick the door was attached to. Feeling around for a few seconds, a loose brick was found beside the door handle and the gloved hand pulled it out, revealing a small red button. Holding the hand up to the concealed face, the glove was slipped off with the stranger's teeth and the thumb was placed on the button. Some scanning noises could be heard as a row of neon green lines of light flashed over the thumb. With a light beep, the door made a whirring sound and a little number pad came out of the door. The ungloved hand pushed the code in with skill, and after another beep the door began to open.

Stepping into the pitch black room, a bright white light flashed on overhead, revealing an elevator-like room. The door shut and the neon green lights flashed over the strange body, going forward and backward a few times.

"Confirmed," a robotic woman's voice announced out of nowhere, and another keypad appeared beside the rusted door, with the numbers 1, 2, and 0 on it. The figure pushed the 0 button and the elevator began to move down.

The walls were pure white. The strange figure walked down the impossibly bright hall and came up to a thick, titanium wall. As if on cue, another keypad emerged from the vault-like door and the figure punched the code in. Another beep was heard and the door opened and the figure stepped inside the busy room, unbuttoning the long coat they were wearing.

"Oh, welcome sir!" A woman smiled as she greeted him from behind her desk.

"He's here!" Another one said on a phone, talking to someone. The coat was pulled off to reveal a teen with dirty blond hair and grey eyes. He wore a scowl as he pulled off his last remaining glove and threw it on the floor, along with the forgotten coat. A woman ran by and picked up the discarded items, but he paid her no heed.

"Shinobu-kun, where have you been?" A tall, raven haired man asked him as he approached the teen, a plain look on his face.

"Oh, hey Nowaki," The teen smirked towards his friend as the two continued walking. "The boss sent me on another mission. It's safe to say I aced it." He grinned triumphantly. Nowaki laughed lightheartedly.

"That's the sixth one this week! That's got to be a new record!" He smiled. Shinobu crossed his arms.

"Did you expect anything less? I am the best after all." Nowaki gave another happy smile as the two rounded a corner.

"I can't fight you on that," he nodded, "but you don't want to get too cocky. You could be the 'killed' instead of the 'killer'." Shinobu merely shrugged his shoulders.

"I doubt it. Anyways, I can't wait to see the look on Risako's face. She's gonna flip!"

"The supervisor?" Nowaki asked. The shorter teen nodded and smiled.

"You know neechan hates it when I come back from missions alive." He smirked. "That's why she always sends me on the most dangerous ones, the ones people are too afraid to do." The memory of his last mission filled his mind and he turned towards the taller man. "The one I was just on was so easy though. The man with the hit was the head of an undercover drug association. He was blackmailing other major country officials into letting him get away with it, and then disguised himself as a pilot on the plane that was carrying the shipment of drugs to America. I was undercover as a worker of his and stowed away on the plane. I simply snapped his neck and landed the plane and disappeared after contacting the authorities. The world is better off without him, and now without anyone to lead them the rest of his establishment will fall." The two stopped in front of a pair of large, white double doors.

"Wow, lovely story." The taller male laughed. "Anyways, good luck," Nowaki smiled happily as he patted Shinobu on the shoulder and turned to walk away. He stopped and turned towards the teen. "Tell me how it goes later!" Shinobu nodded and walked into his sister's office.

"W-welcome back." Risako muttered as she watched her younger sibling walk through the doors. "I'm guessing the mission was a success?" She groaned. Shinobu smirked.

"Of course, you did hire me to do it." He said in a cocky voice. Risako sighed.

"And the target?" She asked.

"Dead, just like ordered. Broken neck." She nodded, understanding how Shinobu killed the man.

"Even I thought that case would be extreme for you." She sighed as Shinobu crossed his arms.

"I've had harder cases then that." He smirked.

"I'm sure," Risako sneered. She quickly composed herself, pushing her dark, dirty blonde hair back behind her ear as she picked up a stack of papers and began shuffling through them. "Anyways, glad to see you made it back safely." She said without any enthusiasm. "Have a seat." Her voice was cold and hard as she gestured towards the leather chair that sat in front of her desk. Shinobu obeyed and sat down. Another sigh escaped Risako's lips as she sat the papers down and intertwined her fingers together, resting them on the smooth oak surface of her desk.

"This is your sixth successful kill this week, a new record I believe," She said, her voice calm and level. Shinobu smirked wider.

"Are you going to promote me?" He asked; a happy gleam in his dull eyes. Risako chuckled.

"Shinobu," She started.

"Neechan," He said mockingly. She sighed once again.

"Shinobu, be serious." Said teen instantly froze. When Risako said to be serious you knew you should be serious. "You and I both know you are a talented assassin. Better then anyone we've ever had, despite your age. There's no doubt in my mind that you should be promoted." The last part sounded like the woman actually had to force herself to say it.

"Then promote me already." Shinobu spat, annoyed at his sister's antics. "Why would I still be at an intermediate level when I'm better then everyone you have on the honors list?" He asked. Risako smirked.

"You lack something that no one else is." She smiled mischievously.

"Impossible!" Shinobu screamed. "I'm a master at three different kinds of martial arts, I speak ten different languages, I'm smarter than most of the people in this organization, I can kill someone with my hands tied behind my back, and I have never failed a mission. What the hell could I be lacking?" The younger boy screamed, now standing towards an empty desk. Suddenly, Risako appeared in front of him and, with her slender index finger, poked him hard in the chest to make him sit down.

"Modesty." She answered. Shinobu glowered.

"Who needs modesty when you're the best and everyone knows it?" He asked, crossing his arms. Risako sighed for the umpteenth time that day.

"Shinobu, everyone knows you're the best. You don't need to say it every chance you get." When the younger brother was about to interject, the older sibling held out her hand to silence him. "This organization, AXE, is run by the government. We do the dirty work so they don't have to, killing off drug dealers, terrorists, anyone who poses as a threat to the higher ups. It's our, and your, job as an assassin."

"I know!" Shinobu whined when Risako shushed him again.

"We work as a team, so when one person fails, we all fail. With one person's success we all are successful." Shinobu rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, slumping lower into his chest. "When one person looks bad," Risako continued, "we all look bad. And you, my dear brother, are making us all look very bad."

"So? What, are you going to fire me or something?" He asked, a smirk playing on his lips, already knowing the answer to that question. Risako turned and sat back down at her large desk, resting her head in the palms of her hands.

"Despite how much I would like to, just because you are so annoying, doing that would surely bring in trouble for me which I would prefer to avoid. Instead, I want to challenge you." An evil grin played on her light pink lips and Shinobu watched her with confusion.

"Didn't you just try to challenge me?" He asked. Risako laughed.

"No, no, that was a challenge for someone at the intermediate level, which you are obviously above. You want that promotion?" She asked. Shinobu nodded warily. "Then I am going to send you on the type of mission the experts usually go on, and if you succeed then I'll promote you." The boy's eyes widened as he quickly stood up.

"Really?" He asked when he froze.

Something's up.

"What's the catch?" Risako smiled at her younger brother and looked at him innocently.

"Why, Shinobu-niichan, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Okay, now I know something's up." He growled.

"Yes, yes, you caught me. There is just one little catch…" Risako stated as she began to shuffle through her papers that sat on her desk nonchalantly. This time, it was Shinobu's turn to sigh.

"What?" He asked, clearly annoyed. He knew that when his sister called him "niichan" things weren't going to end well for him.

"You see, this assignment was picked specifically for you, since you are the youngest and the only one of the proper age for it…" she began.

"What?" Shinobu asked again.

"We would have set you up with an easier task, but we knew you liked a challenge…"

"What?" Shinobu asked, again.

"You have to go to…"

"FOR GOD'S SAKE, WHAT?" Shinobu screamed at his smirking sister. The woman didn't even seem fazed as she finished her sentence.

"…college." She finished. Shinobu froze.

"Wait, what?" Clearly he didn't hear her right.

"I said you have to go to college." Risako repeated, grinning.

"…No way." Shinobu simply answered. "Give me a different assignment." Risako laughed.

"Aww, cute. You think you have a choice." Shinobu fumed.

"You know damn well that I never stepped foot in any school before! And you expect me to just jump on in?" the woman chuckled.

"Calm down, it's not like you're actually going to college, you'll be undercover as a student. We have received word that one of our enemies has infiltrated Mitsuhashi University, a college near Tokyo, and their subordinates are undercover as students and possibly faculty."

"Which enemy?" Shinobu asked, raising his hand to his chin in thought. Risako shrugged.

"We have so many enemies that it's hard to say."

"Odd," Shinobu thought out loud. Usually his sister had all the details to every mission, no matter how many enemies were involved. "So what do you want me to do?"

"I'm glad you asked!" She smiled as she flipped through the assignment papers in her hand that were on her desk. "We need you to go undercover as a student, uncover the enemy, find out their plans, and kill them if necessary."

"That doesn't sound any harder then my other missions. Easier, actually." The teen frowned. Risako laughed.

"It sounds easy, but think about it: There are thousands of students and tons of teachers and faculty. It can take you weeks just to uncover one of the subordinates, and you don't have much time either. If you take too long and whatever the enemy has planned moves into action, then those innocent students could be in danger, and we are liable for that." Shinobu's breath hitched.

"I-I see. Well, I can handle anything, even something as trivial as this." He informed the woman with his usual nonchalant expression. Risako smiled falsely.

"We are sending Nowaki-kun with you as well. He has just been filled in on the details as well."

"What?" The boy asked. "How is this mission to test my skill if you're sending someone to help me?"

"Now, now, I thought you'd be thrilled to have your companion join you?" the older sibling smirked.

"I-I am, but how is this testing my abilities as an assassin?" He asked. Yeah, it would be great to have a friend there, but it didn't make sense.

"Nowaki-kun is older, so he is going undercover as a faculty member to lend you a hand, since it would be pretty hard to investigate other teachers as a student. If he did that, your investigation won't take as long."

"I see." Shinobu said after a minute. "When do we leave?" He was eager to get started on this mission.

"Tomorrow."

Okay, not that eager.

"What? Why so soon? Shouldn't I have a few days to get ready?" the grey-eyed teen whined.

"Oh, you're such a child. Did you want to take a nap later too?" Risako cooed mockingly, causing her brother's face to flush.

"I'm not a child, I'm a young adult!" He shouted. Risako shrugged.

"Whatever, just go get ready, your car leaves early tomorrow." Frustrated, Shinobu gave his sister a quick glare as he turned and walked out of the room. Once she was sure her brother was out of earshot, Risako grinned and grabbed the stack of blank papers she was supposedly reading from and threw them into the recycling bin in the corner of the room.

"Perfect," She said mischievously.


Shinobu sighed as he shut the door to his sister's office and walked off down the hall.

"I heard about the assignment." Nowaki's voice said happily from beside the teen.

"Sorry you had to get dragged into it," Shinobu apologized. "I had no idea that she was planning that." The raven haired man shrugged.

"I think it's going to be fun!" He smiled. "Plus, since you're young, being in an environment like a college could really improve your social skills and change your perspective on life, especially since you are never around people your own age." The grey eyed teen shrugged and Nowaki continued. "Though, I don't really understand why they would want me to go with you, seeing as I'm not really an assassin and probably won't be of much help…"

"Don't say that, just because your job isn't to kill the people we're after doesn't mean you won't be any help!" Shinobu crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "You can fight, you know all about treating and concocting different poisons, your really smart, trust me; you will be a big help." Nowaki's eyes seemed to sparkle and he flashed the teen a wide grin.

"Thanks Shinobu-kun! I won't let you down!" he said happily. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go pack. We leave early tomorrow I heard."

"Yeah," Shinobu sighed as he waved his friend off and turned around the corner towards his room, pushing the button on the large, heavy white sliding door and stepping inside. He stood there for a second until the door closed, then ran up to his medium sized bed and plopped down, burying his pale face in the fluffy white pillow.

This is just like neechan, sending me on a mission without being told about it ahead of time. But there is something weird about all of this… Shinobu thought back to the conversation he had with his sister just moments ago. She didn't even know what enemy I'm supposed to uncover. Usually she, as the head of AXE, usually has all of this information written down for the employees so they know what they're up against. Unless… Shinobu shot up in his bed, eyes wide with realization. This is part of my mission! She must be setting me up so that it's up to me to discover which of our enemies I'm dealing with! This must be how they train people at the expert level! That or this is how they discover what enemies they are dealing with in the first place! They send experts on missions to investigate! A triumphant grin became known on the teens face. If neechan thinks this is going to be a challenge she has another thing coming! He stood up and walked over to his dresser, grabbing random articles of clothing and tossing them onto his bed.

"That promotion is mine!"

A/N

This is my second story ever! I know the first chapter doesn't seem long or interesting, but this was just trying to ease you into the actual plot that will be revealing itself here next chapter hopefully(?)! I wanted to introduce Shinobu and kind of show you his personality and give you a bit of background info about the whole assassin organization thing. The next chapters should be longer! Also, AXE is just a name I made up for the assassin organization, it doesn't mean anything, and neither will the other names I mention unless I specifically tell you they mean something, which will be revealed in the text.

This story will contain all of the couples and characters, revealed in their own way. Also, some really random or minor characters that you won't expect to be involved in anyway might actually have HUGE roles! I like to keep people on their toes, so expect the unexpected.

I'm a really slow updater, but the more reviews I get the faster I update, so if you like this chapter and want to see what happens next then review! I'll love you! :D

Coming Next Chapter: Shinobu meets Miyagi, but was this the first time the two have crossed paths? Fate? Maybe! Also, Nowaki loves his undercover role at M-University, mostly because of the cute associate professor that walks by his office all the time.

Please Review!