What Assassins Do in Their Spare Time
Everyone knew who the Hashashin were. They traveled the world like a deadly plague, killing and maiming in their wake, immortally recognised by the insignia they bore.
But the thing about the Hashashin was that they were a legal organisation. If you wanted someone dead, you hired one of the various assassins, because they never got into trouble. You might, if it was discovered you had done the hiring, but the assassins were allowed to traipse around, doing their daily business, never fearful of the law attacking them while they relaxed.
It was only when the assassin was caught committing the murder that they were arrested. And as with any murder, they were doomed to serve a life sentence in jail. If they weren't caught, they were allowed their freedom.
So, if you ever saw an assassin in public, easily recognised by the glaring insignia, you couldn't ever miss it, you were powerless to do anything. If you tried anything idiotic, you'd be the one arrested for assault. You could gaze at them warily, avoid them if necessary, but the assassin's were protected.
And if you ever, ever hurt one, all hell would break loose and the rest of the Hashashin would murder you in your sleep. As the popular thought was, the Hashashin was a brotherhood, an organised group of civilised gangsters, paid by the law to break the law.
But people were always left to wonder, did they ever do anything in their spare time? If you asked everyone you knew, no one had ever met or seen an assassin. You heard about them online, stories of various encounters, but never in your life did you see one with your own eyes, so it begged the question whether they were real or just a fairytale to keep children behaved.
Miku was one such person who had never seen an assassin before. To be quite frank, she didn't ever want to see an assassin. Ever. She did have quite a few enemies so if she ever saw one, it would probably be because they'd been hired to kill her. Mind you, she WAS in university, and it was universally known students were as poor as a peasant in medieval times. So, even if someone wanted her dead they couldn't afford it unless they robbed the bank of London, or did some other crazy money making stunt that was likely to land them in jail.
Miku was currently sitting in her favourite cafe, slowly drinking a cup of coffee. Even if she was as poor as the poor students who wouldn't be able to afford her demise, she still came to the cafe everyday to have some coffee, even if it meant she couldn't pay for a lot of other things (a decent meal, perhaps).
She was sat at a long table on a high chair, all on her lonesome, waiting to see if anyone came to sit next to her. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. If Miku wasn't in the mood to talk she'd vacate from her usual seat and hide in the corner at one of the lower tables. Fortunately (for her and everyone else she had to interact with) she was in an okay mood, not a happy one, not a sullen one, just an okay one, so she was perfectly all right sitting at her usual seat at the high table, coffee in one hand, book in the other, wondering silently if anyone was to sit next to her.
And someone did. Well, not next to her, two seats down to be exact. As per normal for when someone sat next to her she glanced to the side to examine them. It was a man, slightly older than her, someone she didn't recognise. A new person to town? A tourist? Someone who simply hadn't been in the cafe before?
He had scruffy blonde hair, loosely tied back into a ponytail, which did need to be re-tied. He didn't seem to mind though as a loose piece of hair fell in front of his eyes. He was too busy sipping at a cup of tea and doing a sudoku in the daily newspaper. Miku noted how he was dressed entirely in black, a bit impractical since the weather had started to get warmer. But that was when she spotted it. The insignia.
The man next to her was an assassin.
It suddenly struck her that the noise in the cafe had died down. Was it because he had entered? People were whispering now, and as she slyly glanced around she noticed a lot of eyes were staring at the assassin next to her. He didn't seem to notice, or maybe it was he didn't seem to care. He was a highly trained assassin after all, so he probably knew every single pair of eyes in the room were locked on him. Still, he sipped his tea and his biro flicked across the paper. Clearly the sudoku was a lot more interesting.
Miku couldn't help but stiffen slightly. An assassin was sitting next to her. Her. An assassin. Next to- her brain had quickly become a pile of mush inside her skull. She was sitting next to an assassin. She had convinced herself that they weren't real, that they were only myths and legends created by the politicians and the media to keep the population in check, but here he was, an assassin, sitting next to her, drinking tea. She didn't know assassins drank tea, or did sudoku for that matter. But he was doing both those things, and he looked much like a normal person.
So, as it turned out, assassins were real and they did have a life. They did have spare time, and past times, and things they liked to do. For example, drink tea next to a terrified university student.
Miku dared another look at him. Was he actually there purely to drink tea or was he there to assassinate her? Maybe he was examining her to take a look at his next target. She gulped. Surely no one had amassed the insane amount of money it took to hire an assassin. Surely, surely she was safe and sound and-
The assassin looked up. Miku froze. Clearly he'd been aware she had been watching him so he had looked up at her, his eyes meeting hers. She had half expected his eyes to be that of a monster, to be filled with hate and murder, and to be quite dead. But they were alive and sparkling. They were the eyes of a normal man, not a killer. They were also quite beautiful, a sky blue.
What was she doing? Miku hurriedly looked away. She wasn't at all checking out an assassin. He murdered people for a living, she wanted nothing to do with him. Nothing at all.
"Excuse me?"
Miku tensed and gripped her coffee mug harder. Now he was speaking to her!
"Are you any good at sudoku?" He continued to speak. "I'm quite stuck on this one part."
Posh, articulate, British accent. Kinda like hers, but deeper, and probably void of any form of slang. Man, assassins were actually civilised.
She tensed again, having let herself relax at his (to be honest, fairly sexy) voice.
"It's all right if you are not, I understand," he said. Suddenly a wave of guilt washed over her; he actually sounded fairly hurt that she wouldn't reply to him.
After a second she glanced up at him. He was looking down at his sudoku, an adorable look of concentration on his face. Taking a deep breath and deciding to pay no heed to the fact he was an assassin, she shuffled along one seat so she was right next to him.
"I'm the queen of sudoku," she muttered quietly. "They're piss easy."
He looked at her.
"I, uh-" She coughed. "They're just easy. That one there is a three."
He looked down at the sudoku and then back up at her with a quizzical look. "Are you sure?"
"As sure as I'm sure this is coffee." She held up her mug. "It's a three. The one next to it is seven and the other one is four."
He smiled slightly and filled them out. "Thank you, I have never been particularly good at sudoku."
Oh there it was, that gorgeous, gorgeous voice!
Getting her act together, she simply replied, "Well, you never had me, did you?"
His smile grew and together they completed the sudoku. They then went on to finish their drinks in a vaguely pleasant silence, as he read his paper and she read her book. Miku constantly glanced up at him, but he never looked back. She just wanted to see his eyes again. She didn't care if he was an assassin. He was quite pretty.
Suddenly there was a beeping sound and he pulled his phone out of his pocket.
"Sorry, urgent business," he said as he put his phone away. "Time for me to go."
Miku just laughed hesitantly and waved her hand. "No need for apologies, I have lectures to attend to anyway."
"Then I must not keep you," he said with a smile as he stood up. "Goodbye then."
"Goodbye."
He was about to leave but then he turned back to look at her. "I did not catch your name."
Her name! An extremely gorgeous man was actually asking her name!
Pretty sure she was blushing slightly she said, "Miku, Miku Hatsune."
It only occurred to her afterwards that she shouldn't have given her full name.
"It was nice to meet you, Miss Hatsune," he said. "I am Len. Thank you for helping me, it is not very often a person is willing to assist an assassin, even if it is a mere sudoku."
And with that he left, and Miku knew she'd never see him again. She doubted Len was even his real name, he was an assassin after all, it was probably a code name to keep his identity a secret. But even if it was fake it was going to be a name she'd never forget.
And finally she had her own simple story about an assassin to tell. And she also knew what they did in their spare time. Drink tea and do sudoku. Who'd have thought infamous killers could actually be just normal people?
~Author's Notes~
Just a quick little one shot I did. It's more of a concept than a one shot, and I've been looking for ideas for a longer story for a while! Anyone interested in a longer story? If so any suggestions would be appreciated~
~Kate
