"Even if I reach out I can't grab hold of you
You have been broken since that day
Left inside your heart
Are horrible memories and a deep darkness"
-Kamui Gakupo, "Mistress Doll"

Broken Doll

"Hello, father? ... Yes, it's done. All of the targets are dead. I'll have the client transfer the money to my account. ... All right". Right after I pocketed my phone, I heard a soft thud. I turned around and saw a girl a few years younger than I am. I was surprised since I was sure that I killed every one in the house. She was kneeling on the ground and stared at me with a dead look in her eyes.

"Ah, aniki, you're back. Going to visit your broken doll again?" Milluki sneered at me in our manor's gloomy halls.

"Something like that." I vaguely answered and noticed the maid outfit he was carrying. "I don't suppose that's for her." I pointed.

"Yeah, it is." He handed the hanger to me. "Much as possible, I'd like to take pictures of her but, meh, you won't allow it anyway. So long as I see her wearing outfits like these, I'm content."

I couldn't care less and just nodded. Carrying the dress, I proceeded to Killua's room. It was his room. Ever since he left, there has been a new occupant.

"I'm home." I opened the door to be greeted again by the same dead sky blue eyes, by the same empty and hollow atmosphere. I closed the door behind me and approached the lady sitting on the bed. "Milluki bought you another outfit. Try it on."

Without a word, she stood up and took the hanger from me. I turned away as she started undressing. This silence that filled the room is normal between us. All I can hear is the cloth dropping on the floor. After waiting for a while, I finally turned around and she stood wearing that short and somewhat skimpy maid dress. I stood in front of her and gently tucked a strand of light blue hair behind her ear.

"You look beautiful." I muttered.

As always, nothing. She simply stared at me with glassy eyes, not even a smile or a frown. Just an emotionless stare. Indeed, this lady before me, is a broken doll. How long has it been since I took her here? Barely anyone knows her existence since she never went out of Killua's room and I had Gotoh bring her food here. Only Milluki and a few of the butlers know. Milluki found out when he planned on snooping through Killua's belongings and that time, I was just arriving from another assignment.

I looked at the table on the far side of the room and found an untouched meal.

"You haven't touched your lunch and it's almost dinner." She has always been like that, rarely eating. No matter how good or fancy the meal, she barely eats a spoonful. It was worse at first, she never really ate. I had to talk to her and force her a little. "Come on."

The moment I grabbed her shoulder, I realized how thin she has gotten and how physically fragile she is. She is a soulless doll. I led her to the table gently and as she sat down, I picked up the spoon and scooped up a fair amount of soup.

"Now, open your mouth."

Thin lips parted obediently as I delivered the spoonful of soup into her mouth. Even I would ask myself, why am I doing this? This girl has nothing to do with me and yet, I picked her up from that scene like an injured stray cat. Normally, I would have just killed her with the others and yet there was something about her that made me kneel and pick her up.

She quietly ate as I fed her. When the soup was all gone, I put down the spoon and said, "I told you before, you need to eat. You've grown considerably thin."

Silence. There was no retort of any sort. She merely looked forward with glassy eyes, expressionless, lovely.

"By the way, Milluki wants to see you in that outfit."

Small nod.

I blinked and put down the bowl. "I'll call Milluki."

No reaction. I headed out and not a minute later did I come back with Milluki. She was still seated where I left her.

"Come here." I called and she stood silently. Her shoes clacked against the tiled floor as she approached us and Milluki's wide eyes were glued to her, his mouth agape.

"A kuudere maid!" He exclaimed then looked at me. "Ne, aniki, why don't you just give her to me? I bet I can take better care of her than you."

"Absolutely not." I replied deadpan.

"Seriously. I can give her all the clothes that would look great on her! And I can watch over her too since I don't leave my room either."

"Finders, keepers."

"But-!"

"No means no. Besides, who knows what you might do?"

Milluki raised his eyebrow. "Point taken. But tell me, aniki, why do you care so much? A broken doll- no, anything that's broken, is eventually thrown away. And yet here you are trying to nurse something that's long gone."

"Milluki, enough." Despite my usual calm facade, my tone was sharper this time. I emitted a murderous aura directed at him and said, "You're better off leaving now."

"Yeah, yeah." He miserably tried to cover up his nervousness and, as I eyed him, left the room.

As my gaze was fixed on the wooden door, I heard a plop on the bed. It was her, my broken doll. As though the key has stopped turning, she lied down, curled into a fetal position on the soft mattress.

She's fallen asleep. I thought and went to sit beside her, eventually half lying down and watching her sleep. "Don't worry... I won't throw you away." I whispered.

No matter how broken.

It was odd. This peaceful silence. It's been so long since I experienced it again. He was gone. Left because of the ridiculous notion of friendship. Father believes that he will come back. But will he really? I focused my gaze on the pale sleeping face, half covered by blue locks which I gently swept away and tucked behind her ear.

"You have a new task. You're better suited for it since it's a follow-up to one of your past missions." I sat on a cushion in front of my father, Silva. He stared at me with firm and strong eyes. The atmosphere is as tense as always, the pressure in our family passed down from generation to generation, the expectation of success. "Your instructions back then were to kill the whole family. This time, the client wants you to kill the illegitimate child as well."

"Illegitimate?" I blinked. I suspected her to be a niece or some close relative.

Father nodded. "A bastard girl. It turned out that she was living elsewhere but she poses a threat to our client." He handed me a file.

I held my breath upon opening the folder.

Crack!

Something broke as I looked at the picture. What was it? What could possibly break? I scanned the information.

Name: Sora Aiko

Age: 20

Birthday: April 15

That's today.

I closed the folder and faced my father with my usual expressionless facade. "I see. So my job is to find and kill her. Is that it?"

Father nodded, his face as stiff and sharp as always. "When will you leave?"

"Now." I answered and stood up. As I exited my father's room and walked to hers, I couldn't help but feel a black hole in my chest, sucking every ounce of emotion I have left. I clutched it tightly as I neared my destination.

Why?

I held the door knob firmly and hesitantly turned it. And there she stood, staring at me with the same dead and glassy azure eyes. Was she expecting it? There was a chill in the atmosphere as we both stood and stared at each other. Sora Aiko was in a frilly white dress, white stockings covering her legs and white platformed lolita shoes on her feet. She was beautiful, the most beautiful doll I've ever laid my eyes on.

What is this silence?

It became unbearable so one swift and graceful movement, I decided to end it. I charged at her and the moment my hand went through her chest, her eyes came to life, as though woken from a dream, and a small smile crept up her lips, so small yet radiant, it seemed imaginary. But the spark was momentary and as the crimson liquid continuously stained my porcelain-white skin, they slowly became dead again. She fell in my arms, the ever so fragile and broken doll. Her breathing was very scarce, the remaining warmth fading away. I held her closer, feeling void and empty.

Why must everything leave me?