Chapter 1

The night was dark as could be, much to Shinshi's liking as he looked down from the rooftops at his TARGET house. The place, swarming with city guards, protecting the city officials that were within. Those people were of no concern to Shinshi, however. It was the building's owner who he had come for.

The restaurant was frequently used for meetings as such, and normally nothing happened. However, the rumors of an assassination being planned there had Muzen itching to stop it. So they sent one of their own to deal with the assassin and stop the event.

Now that the city officials had arrived, he knew it was time to act.

He crawled backwards on the roof and checked his gear one last time. His dark blue kimono and hakama pants hid him pleasantly well in the night. His sandals were bound nice and tight to his feet, stopping any flopping in his footsteps. His food and medicine were all there, with still enough food for the trip back home. His tanto knife, fastened tightly to the back of his belt.

Shinshi nodded to himself and picked up his Hannya mask, pulling it to his face and letting his long black hair fall down in front of its forehead, before creeping down from the roof into the alley below. He crept to the end of the wall and looked across the street at all of the guards that patrolled in the yard in front of the restaurant. He watched as they turned their heads, SCANNING the yard, ever alert.

He acknowledged that they were highly trained at their job, as opposed to some of the usual thugs that Shinshi had to get past. When they finally looked to the left, Shinshi finally sprung up and sprinted to the right, ducking behind the wooden fence. He looked around the corner as one of the guards stepped onto the street, causing him to immediately turn around and silently sprint down the street.

He stopped at the end and peeked around the corner as a guard walked towards him on patrol. Shinshi looked hastily towards the other end of the street where the other guard rounded the corner, and he immediately drew his knife and rounded the corner.

"What the-!" The guard exclaimed as they saw the masked man run at him from around the corner.

As soon as the guard saw him, Shinshi jumped up and threw his knife into the guard's shoulder as he attempted to draw his sword. He slipped around and grabbed the guard around the neck from behind, causing him to drop his sword. Shinshi twisted his knife in the guard's shoulder and pulled him around the corner, before ripping it out and sticking it into the guard's back, dropping him gently in the alley.

Shinshi flicked the blood from his blade then ran back across the street, picking up the guard's sword from the ground. He kicked himself off the wooden fence and swiftly vaulted over, landing behind the restaurant, right by it's rear entrance. The masked assassin stuck the guard's sword into the ground before creeping up to the sliding door and peeking into the kitchen.

Inside he saw two chefs preparing the soup and tea for the city officials. Then finally Shinshi saw the third man, who was preparing the fish. The owner of the establishment, chopping the raw fish for preparation.

Shinshi would have preferred to only kill the target, but he also preferred to work fast. In all probability, the other chefs were probably working with the target.

So Shinshi nodded to himself and gently opened the door, creeping inside without the chefs yet noticing his presence. He slowly drew his knife and stood behind the nearest man. Then he quickly covered his mouth, stabbing him in the base of the spine, before pulling his blade out and turning around. The second chef looked over his shoulder once he heard his fellow chef's grunts before death. Shinshi immediately slashed his blade across the back of the man's neck, killing him instantly.

Shinshi then looked to the target who quickly spotted him then turned to the left side of the counter where a slender katana sat propped against it and he picked it up. The assassin instinctively grabbed the soup spoon from the pot and threw it at him, hitting him in the head along with a bit of hot soup. Then Shinshi sprinted across the floor and grabbed the target's sword hand, before stabbing his knife into his throat. Then he grabbed his sword and stuck it through his chest, leaving the target's sword inside of him.

Shinshi nodded to himself upon killing his target and in a hurry, he looked around the room, listening for any voices of men who may have heard. When he heard nothing, he nodded to himself again and wiped the blood from his knife, returning it into its scabbard, before turning and creeping back out the back door, snuffing the flame out before leaving.

He hopped the fence again and ran across the street, onto the short rooftop where he took one last look at the restaurant. The guards still patrolled in their usual calm fashion. He smirked to himself from under his mask, before removing it and stuffing it back into his satchel. He reached for his sleeves and pulled off his armored gauntlets, followed by his shin guards and he stuffed them both back into his satchel, then dropped from the roof, now disguised as a normal citizen.

"Easy peasy." He grinned to himself as he stepped out of the alley and began his walk back to the Ronin village.

As he walked around dark streets, nodding to the guards with a friendly smile he whistled at tune to keep the spirits up. It was always seen as odd, especially by Shinshi's father, that he kept such high spirits. It was often said that Shinshi just enjoyed killing.

In fact that wasn't the case. Sure he enjoyed killing those who killed, knowing that he too was like them, but it was because of Muzen's policy of only exacting justice on those who deserved it that kept him from his guilt. Perhaps he was destined to be an evil being due to his lack of guilt.

Shinshi's whistle continued all throughout his walk out of the town and even until he reached his camp site. It was a long journey back to receive his payment, so he wanted to make sure he got plenty of sleep.

Shinshi stepped into the entrance of the town and smirked at all of the lowlifes who inhabited it. The town was a well known breeding ground for trouble, corrupted due to the sheer fact that it was without a city official. Muzen would have done away with other factions of the city if not for the fact that their presence hid their boss, Zenosuke's presence in the city.

As Shinshi passed through the huge gate into the red light district he smirked at several ronins who immediately glanced at him with smirks of their own.

He held up his empty money sack, which was actually just a decoy that he started to carry around after nearly getting robbed by the same men. "Sorry, men. Still a homeless deadbeat."

"Ugh." One of the men rolled is eyes and turned around, shaking his head.

Shinshi walked down the steps toward the big red house where the boss lived, nodding to one of the rare civilians who lived in the city. Then he stopped in front of Zenosuke's door and looked at the guard who folded his arms and looked over at him.

"Afternoon." Shinshi waved with a grin.

The guard glanced at him then gave him a nod. "How is the whether looking today?"

Shinshi simply shrugged. "Clouds are grey, and it's a bit blurry in the distance. Probably gonna rain."

The man nodded at him, then stepped to the side and Shinshi advanced into the room, sliding the door open to see the elderly man within. What he did not expect to see was the bald doctor, and master of assassins himself, Tesshu. Zenosuke must have been giving him his payment as well.

However, Shinshi did not apologize, nor did he have time to once the boss looked up. "Shinshi." He nodded with his emotionless demeanor. "Back early as usual, I see."

"Good to see you aren't surprised any more, old man." Shinshi grinned at him, folding his arms. "Just came to get my payment." Then he stopped and raised an eyebrow. "And maybe another job?"

"Of course." Zenosuke nodded and grabbed a small wooden plate with a red silk cloth on it, placing two stacks of gold coins and passing them across the floor.

Shinshi nodded at the boss and sat on his knees in front of the plate, bowing his head out of respect for him. Tesshu gave the young man a slight glance, but otherwise paid no attention to him.

Shinshi took the coins and placed them inside of his real money bag. "Thank you." He sang.

"As for your request for a new mission, I am afraid we do not have any jobs of our own at the moment." The elderly man explained, before holding up a finger. "But I was just telling Tesshu here that an ally of ours has requested our help."

"Okay." Shinshi nodded.

"Her name is Ogin. Lady Razor." He explained further. "Apparently one of her villages were just attacked last night. She alerted her ninja who lived there, but she wants us to send someone as backup."

"A bodyguard?" He chuckled and shook his head. "That's a little above my pay grade."

"And you will be paid accordingly." Zenosuke nodded at him.

"Very well." Shinshi stood up then looked down at Tesshu with a smirk. "You'll keep quiet about this too, right doctor?"

Tesshu looked over his shoulder, glancing at the young man, then nodded. "Of course."

"Very well, then." Zenosuke nodded, passing Shinshi another payment. "You must go to the Hagakure village with haste. It is not far from here. At your rate you should reach it before nightfall."

"No problem." Shinshi nodded, accepting the next payment before bowing his head to his boss. "I will return shortly."

"There is no need for that." The old man waved his hand. "In fact, I was almost considering passing you on to Lady Razor myself. That is if you were willing."

"Ogin?" Shinshi folded his arms and looked off, thinking about the reputation of the woman. "I'm not sure. Jobs have been pretty scarce lately." He shrugged his shoulders. "Ah, why not."

"Very well, then." Zenosuke nodded then bowed his head, getting a bow back from Shinshi. "It has been a pleasure working with you."

"I'm not dying, old man." He chuckled. "I'll come back soon." He waved at him as he walked out the door. "Take care."

"Take care." The boss nodded.

Shinshi had never considered changing employment before in the past, but he knew Ogin's reputation. The woman was most famous and she offered many more jobs with the same moral code as Muzen.

As the young man headed down the alleyway toward his small home, his eye suddenly caught the figure of a man leaning against the wall. As he took in the image, he quickly realized that it was Tesshu, waiting in front of the door.

"You're leaving then?" Tesshu nodded, glancing at the young man.

Shinshi shrugged his shoulders as he approached his superior assassin. "Well, I need more work and I can't seem to reach your level yet, so I might as well."

Tesshu chuckled and bobbed his head. "Yes well." He stopped himself as he extended his hand. "I do expect to get my cut still."

The younger assassin shook his head and reluctantly reached into his coin purse and handed Tesshu one of the stacks that Zenosuke gave him. "When are you gonna stop cutting into my payments." He shook his head as he opened the door.

Tesshu stowed away his share and followed him into the house. "Maybe when you forget everything I taught you." He chuckled. "Or maybe when you stop being my son." Then he shut the door behind him.