Kano gave a sigh as he leaned against the brick wall that tried to support a torn house. How quaint. How quaint that this would be the place where he, at the ripe age of 16, would take his final breath. It would seem as if all was well at the moment, if not for one small detail that no one else would catch.

Kido held the gun within a few inches of his face. Her finger was on the trigger, tears littering her face with small twinkles of reflected light, where they came from Kano didn't know.

Kano didn't even try to resist the urging force inside his gut; flee, be safe. Do something to stop it, don't just give up. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, but he swallowed the urge to give up and flee. He deserved this. Every inch of his lying, pitiful, scarred self deserved this.

His small, six year old boy body deserved this, for every time he hurt his mom, for every time he sat in the bathroom crying, because there was no other room without the force of "Why did I ever deserve a boy like you?! What did I do to have this brought on me?!" His little self didn't quite wrap his head around it; why bother trying when he wouldn't understand anyway. He got it now, sure, but it only made it hurt more.

His pitiful, quiet, selfish body when he was holed up in the orphanage deserved it. The person who never spoke to anyone, except to scream and cry whenever someone so much as raised their voice. The person that everyone hated, they all hated him for being 'immature' 'violent' 'rude' and, he couldn't forget, the dreaded red eyes. He hated those eyes, but there was something good about them.

Last of all, his lying, deceiving, betraying self of now deserved it, deserved it most of all. The person who lied through his teeth, put on a facade, a mask, and acted as if he was as fine as day, as if he was invincible and did anything that he thought was entertaining. He hated that self most of all. He hated himself. He hated himself so much, he was almost willing Kido, mentally, to pull the trigger, so that he could finally get what was coming to him, so that he wouldn't be the lying bastard that everyone knew him as. So that at least everyone would be better off without having a deceiver deceiving them in their midst.

Kido continued to silently sob, and Kano looked into her red eyes. Not only were her pupils red, the skin around her eyes was red as well, and there were scratches on her face, where Kano had accidently (or maybe not so) gotten her with his fingernails. "Red is the color of a hero!" His sister's words echoed in his head. What a lie. Red was the color of utter failure, of pain, of selfishness. Red… It was the only color that he deserved. No gold of a trophy, no blue of a clear sky. Not even black of torture.

"Go ahead… Pull the trigger… You'd be doing yourself good." Kano almost couldn't believe that he himself had uttered the words. Funny, he thought to himself. Seconds ago, he was begging internally that it would end.

Kido slacked her arms for a second, but brought them back up. "Why, Kano… Why… Why did you betray us?! Why did you betray us; your friends, your family? Why?"

Kano shook his head, his signature smile on his face. "Now now, Kido. I have a bit of decency left in my body." Why… Why was he still lying? Why was he still wearing the mask? He hated it. He wanted to rip it from his essence and burn it in the flames of hell.

Kido gave a small sob. "Even after all of this… You still can't tell us the truth… You still choose to lie to us…"

Kano's eyes narrowed under his mask. Kido's arms started to slack, and Kano caught the gun before it hit the ground, possibility of a firing ringing out. She collapsed into his arms, completely helpless. "Why….Why….?" was all she could murmur into his chest as she hugged him.

She must still be in denial, Kano assessed. He gave a sigh, pried her off of himself, and stood up. "I needed to. You know that."

"No, you didn't need to." Kido glared at him, tears still on her face. The city lights flashed again the the alley way. The night was peaceful indeed.

"What do you know of what I need to do and what I don't?" Kano snapped at her, mask gone for the most part. He didn't need it now. If she wouldn't kill him, he would just flee and jump off of a bridge and drown or something.

"I would know more if you wouldn't always lie to us!" She was screaming at him now. Kano blinked.

"You always lied to us, never told us anything, yet still helped us with our problems!" Kido shook her head. Her green hair moved in the still air for a second before swirling around her back, hoodie off. "We knew you needed help! We knew you were hurt! But you still kept on lying to us! We were your family!"

Kano gave a sigh. He placed the gun on a box near the corner of the building wall and another that he would often walk on as if he was a cat, which is what he lead people to believe, anyway. He grabbed Kido's arms and hugged her. "I did it because I needed to be strong, even if it meant hurting myself. But, I can't be with you anymore without you getting hurt." Kido's breath caught. She looked at him, terrified, as he pulled away and kissed the palm of her hand.

"I'm sorry, Kido." He stepped back, grabbed the gun, and pointed it at his heart.

Kido let out a scream. "Kano!"

How fitting… a deceiver like me has their name called… I guess that is a nice last thing for me to hear. Then, blackness.

Marry sat on her bed, notebook in hand. She finished writing, snapping it shut. She gave a sigh. "I'm sorry, everyone… But… Something like this is too sad. Even if most of you live." She stood up.

August 14