I crouched silently atop a lamp post, my emerald-green eyes keenly following my next mark across the street. My current target--- a young woman of age 24--- came to an abrupt halt and whirled around. I leapt effortlessly into the sky and landed soundlessly on top of a rooftop, the shadows concealing my body. The lady looked around suspiciously and then kept on walking. I slipped out a pair of kunai and braced myself. The profile of my victim had said that she was well-trained and was a bit of a danger to the sound village with whom I worked for and resided. I darted down the side of the building and somersaulted behind the target and held one of my kunai against her skull. "Beautiful sky tonight, isn't it?", I whispered chillingly into her ear. "Too bad this is the last time you'll see it." Suddenly, the woman disappeared in a cloud of leaves. I half-smiled as I felt the cold blade of a kunai against the back of my neck.
I heard the woman's voice filled with smugness as she declared, "I knew they'd send an assassin out for me! And you're such a young one at that. How old are you? 15, 16?" I smiled fully now and let out a small chuckle. "Age does not matter…to a lifeless woman." I said slowly and deliberately. I whipped out a small katana and struck out my foot backwards, breaking her kneecap. As the satisfying sound of splintering bone filled the night air, I disappeared and reappeared behind my mark and hit her between the shoulder blades with the hilt of my weapon. The female target gasped in pain and sank to the ground, clutching her injured knee. This all happened in about 5 seconds. I poised my katana above the back of her neck and spoke quietly and coldly.
"Prepare yourself for death."
"No---!"
Her plead was cut short by a shower of crimson blood spraying all over the dirt-road and splashing on my black, long-sleeve blouse. Without thinking I wiped blood off my face. As her worthless body fell to the ground with a loud thunk, I wiped my katana on her own shirt, blooding her carcass even more. I turned to go but remembered.
'Oh! I almost forgot.' I knelt down beside the ex-target's body and unwrapped the woman's kunai from her still-warm fingers. Grasping the kunai in my hand, I carved my initials (K.H.) into her palm. To show that I, Kurayami Hinoku, had taken this person's life single-handedly.
I glanced quickly around and leapt into the air, jumping from roof to roof, the wind making my shoulder-length brown hair dance around my pale, blood-smeared face.