"What the fuck!? Ow!" I yelled as I was dragged into a car, my shirt ripping at the sleeves and blood trickling down my chin from the blow I had received to the face just moments earlier. I had no idea what was going on, and all I could do was scream. I couldn't see their faces, they all had hoods up and one had a gas mask on... The next thing I knew, a cloth covered my face, creating a searing agony through my face where the wounds met the chloroform. Then, I blacked out...
The next thing I remember was waking up in some sort of warehouse. I sneezed slightly, the dust from the metal sheets below me tickling my nose. There was absolutely no sunlight and the room was enveloped in some sort of orangey light, but the source of the light was unbeknown to me. I felt around in my pockets, unsuccessfully looking for my coil before realising Ren wasn't with me.
"Ren!? Ren!" I yelled, frantically standing up and searching around the warehouse, lifting up cloths and metal sheets that scattered the mouldy floor. Ren was nowhere to be seen, and nor was anyone else for that matter. Well, not until a few minutes later when a large steel door was pulled open, and a tall man with blonde hair with multiple facial piercings came bounding down the stairs. I watched him for a moment, his green eyes glistening under the orange light that shone brightly from above. I took notice of his clothes too - a pure white shirt with black sleeves and a green tie, covered in kiddies badges of rabbits and other things I couldnt quite work out. He had a hat on too, green and black, matching the colour scheme he seemed to have going on. I couldn't lie though, he was so damn beautiful.
"Get up, we're going somewhere" His voice was slightly husky, breaking through the echo of his boots on the concrete floor somewhat elegantly.
"Who are you!? I'm not moving!" I replied, trying to look intimidating to the obviously younger man. He ignored my attempt to assert myself before grabbing my arm, digging his fingers into my flesh and pulling me up, dragging me towards the stairs. I struggled against his grip, but he refused to let go. I thrashed against him, my punches seemingly painless to him.
By the time I stopped struggling against him, we were at the end of a long corridor, looking up at two huge doors that were about to be opened inwards. As they opened, the man who brought me here threw me into the room and shut the doors again. The room was pitch black, I couldn't see a thing. I fumbled around the walls looking for a light switch to no avail. I bumped into something - or rather, someone. I staggered backwards, tripping over something on the floor.
"Aoba-san, please stand still, everything is okay..." It was Ren, sounding as lively as ever.
"R-Ren!? Where are you? Where are we?" I asked, fumbling around on my knees (something I seemed to be doing more often than not in this place) looking for my allmate.
"On the floor, Aoba-san. Stand still..." He responded, in his usual monotone voice. I stayed perfectly still for a few moments before the lights turned on, and a very tall muscular man stood in front of me.
I saw his boots first, then his baggy pants, then his wifebeater vest.. All black.. His hair however was brown, in dreadlocks draping past his shoulders, with a pink headband tied around his head - what for, I couldn't work out. Maybe he was insecure about his forehead? His skin was very tanned and his eyes were so dark I couldn't make out the colour.
"Well well well, you were a bit more of a pain than we first thought.. I guess our research wasn't too great. Never mind though, I'll just make it up from here" He said, taking a small step closer to me, his voice so deep that I could feel the vibrations in my own throat.
"Who are you?" I asked, refusing to say anything else until I knew what was really going on.
"We? We are Ruff Rabbit" I burst out laughing as soon as this was said. 'Ruff Rabbit'? What are they, 5?
"Pahahaha, are you a bunch of teenagers trying to act cool? News flash, I'm 23 and I don't have time for your shit." I stood up, making my way to the door I had been thrown into earlier. I began to pry at it, failing miserably with each attempt.
"Ah, so you really haven't heard of us? We knew you isolated yourself from Rhyme and whatnot, but this much, really? Do I seriously have to explain?" He was pissed off, and it was obvious through his tone of voice, but I wasn't going to stop until I was out of this dump. I nodded in response, and waited for him to continue. "We are Ruff Rabbit. Anything that's happened 24 hours prior to us meeting stays quiet. Everything that happens between us or anyone else affiliated with Ruff Rabbit must be kept quiet. You are not to tell anyone about Ruff Rabbit, who we are, what we do or where we are based. If you fail to comply with these rules I will not hesitate to paint the walls of this place a pretty shade of red. Sound good? Okay, so we're assassins, we kill people during Rhyme games for money. We currently have billions of yen in the bank, and we're probably the richest people on this shit hole of an island."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don't have time for your shit dude, where's my coil? Your silly little joke will get me fired." As soon as I said this, Haga's face appeared in my mind, along with that disappointed expression he always does whenever I turn up late for work. Granny's face also popped up in my head, yelling at me about how I always let Haga down and need to get my act together.
"Oh, you see Aoba, this is no joke. From this day forward, you are one of us. You are a part of Ruff Rabbit. You'll come on missions with each of us and do everything we do. We have your fingerprint on a contract, therefore you cannot leave us - that is, unless you want to die."
"Joke times over, moron. I seriously need to go to work, I'm meant to be opening up today!"
"It's a bit too late for that" He said, and as I turned to look at him, he had a gun pointing to my face.
"W-what's this in a-aid of?" I stuttered, slowly stepping backwards, trying to get away from the thing that could end my whole life.
"Well, you refused to join us but I've already told you a lot about us.. I can't let you go knowing all of that" He smirked before continuing, "What a shame too, I didn't really want the red of someone with potential to paint my walls..." He stepped closer to me, cupping my face in his hand, tracing my chin with his thumb. I slapped his hand away and spoke with a ridiculous amount of venom in my words.
"Fine, I'll do it. Don't touch me though..." Did he honestly think it was okay to kidnap me, threaten to kill me, and then touch me? What a freak...
"Good boy, wise decision. I know you're very talented and could be of great use to us in Rhyme. Anyway, I should introduce you to the rest of the boys" He said, opening the door and walking down the hallway, expecting me to follow. I followed him into a side room, which turned out to be pretty huge, with concrete floor and walls, with just three sofas and a table. There were six boys sitting on the sofas, the blonde one from earlier was there too.
''Alright boys, so, he agreed to join. Not that he had much choice.. But even so. Noiz and I were the only ones with information on her, so I'll introduce him to you all. This is Aoba. He's very, very skilled in Rhyme and his allmate is one of the early makes. He is widely known for his skill and unusual talent. He seems to be the best on this Island. Anyway, he'll be going on a mission a day with each of you, so treat him like one of us and show him your true skill, you can introduce yourselves to him when you're on missions with him. This next week will be a hard one. A mission every day for the next two weeks. Koujaku, you need to go and pick up some equipment tomorrow morning, take Aoba with you.'' I couldn't lie, this whole thing sounded pretty cool. They were speaking rather highly of me too... However, I had so many questions, all of which I knew were never going to be answered. I just bowed slightly, causing the boys to laugh, and stood in the corner watching them.
''You. Don't you dare think of causing trouble here. We.. We are a family now. You don't betray your family members. Forget everyone you once knew. We are the only people you know now. Trust us, and we'll trust you. If you do anything stupid or risky, you will be punished, or most probably killed. Just be careful.'' It was the blonde guy from before. I knew his name was Noiz, as the brunette man pointed towards him earlier. He towered above me. True, I was only small, but this man seemed like a giant. ''Welcome to the family'' He said, smiling a little. I didn't expect any smiles from these guys. They seemed too deadly... Too vicious.. Too..hate ridden.
''Ah, thank you.. You can trust me, honestly. I'll try my best.'' I was beginning to like my decision to stay after all. Well, it wasn't really a decision, I had no choice in the matter. I just didn't like that brunette man. Not yet, anyway.
''Good. I guess you could call me the leader of the pack, I'm Noiz'' He held out his hand, I shook it wearily.
''Aoba'' I said, smiling slightly. He bowed slightly, spun on his heel and went over to the other guys, shouting loudly.
Although my decision didn't seem to be a bad one as of yet, why was everything changing? What do these guys want from me? What have I done for them to choose me? How do they know so much about me? And most importantly, will I be forced into doing Rhyme again? I really don't want to, and I'll have to avoid it at all costs.
I awoke to a loud bang the next morning, I sat up and looked around for a clock. As I looked to my left, there was a man with dark hair that was tinted blue asleep in the same bed next to me. I screamed immediately, causing him to bolt out of bed.
''What the hell?!'' He yelled, his bare chest exposed. He only had on boxers. It took me a few seconds to take in his beauty. He had perfectly shaped eyebrows, his eyes were dark and warm. His face petite, an overbite too. He was the most beautiful one out of them all so far. His chest and right arm were full of tattoos, of various patterns and swirls. He also had a rabbit over his chest. Ruff Rabbit? Was this some kind of cult? I suddenly snapped out of my daydream and realise he was standing next to me, waiting for a response.
''Why are you in my bed?!''
''It's my bed, asshole you're just sleeping here tonight because your first mission is with me. Everyone goes off at different times, some earlier than others, so it's easier this week if you just sleep with the person you're doing your next mission with.'' He must've seen the shocked expression on my face, because he suddenly went bright red and started shaking his head. ''No no no! Nothing happened! You just passed out here and I fell asleep too. We didn't.. We didn't, well, you know..!'' He was panicking, his face getting redder and redder by the second.
''I.. It's fine. Sorry. I overreacted. And first mission? Huh?'' I pulled the bed cover up to my chin and looked at him.
''We have to go and pick up some equipment. We have huge missions this week.''
''Equipment?'' I tilted my head trying to work out what he meant.
''Guns, smoke grenades, tear gas, that kind of thing. Things we can smuggle into Rhyme games without being to obvious to the opponent. Usui usually gives us a target with all the shit we need.''
''What in God's name kind of missions do you guys do?!'' I yelled.
''Don't you remember your conversation with Mink yesterday?'' Mink must've been the brunette man from yesterday, as he's the only one I had a proper conversation with.
''Ermmm...'' I played with my fingers, slightly embarrassed that my memory was this bad.
''We're Rhyme assassins. We kill people in Rhyme matches for money...''