TWO
A faded black and white photo of a ten-year-old girl shot at an angle was sandwiched between motionless fingers. The photo was smudged a bit, but Larva still knew who it was inhabiting the colorless Kodak moment. The photograph was taken six years ago when she was at one of her father's parties. She was decked in a kimono and her hair was twisted in its usual style.
Larva remembered receiving the photograph just days ago when he was back in Europe. The photo came with an airplane ticket that took him to where he was now. The girl in the image had looked so fragile and lost, he laughed in wonder, knowing that this was going to be the easiest and cleanest job he would ever have to complete. However, in the end, the mission had to be put aside. It so happened, that the girl he was supposed to assassinate attracted him more than the thirst of blood and kill.
Larva did an extensive search on her background when he was still in Ireland. He wanted to know her life to have an idea who he planned to smother. She lost her mother twelve years ago, when Yamano-sama was in a conference with the other ministers. The Senior Vice Minister of Justice and his wife and child were coming out of a building when the gunshots sounded. Minister of Justice Yamano was a few blocks ahead of his wife and daughter when he heard the whizzing bullets penetrate the misty air. He spun around to look behind him, but two of his body guards ushered him by the arms out of the opening and into the alleys of the solitude streets. Little Miyu was returned to her father unscathed, but her own mother was not that lucky. One year after his wife's passing, Yamano remarried. Miyu met her new older step-brother, Tomeo, and attended the same school as him. She was ranked the top student in all the academics, but still lived in the shadows of her father. Believed to be misguided, and traumatized, people accepted Miyu as the girl who never had any close friends in school. She was never active with the community like her father was or even active in extracurricular activities for her own enjoyment. She was the type who never spoke to you and never looked twice at you.
Larva rose from his seat against the headboard of his bed as he studied the white mask fastened to his lower arm. He was a disgrace. How could he carry out the task at hand when he suddenly grew weak at the heart at the sight of impenetrable sorrow?
There was a timid knock on his door. He snapped his mask back on and headed to the door to answer it.
A maid looked back at him shakily. "The children have left for school."
Larva twisted around and darted for the window in the next room that looked down on the pathway leading out of the manor's back door. He pulled the window up and looked down a five story window. Angry, he noticed Miyu Yamano ambling alongside her brother through his raging, blood-red eyes. Black cloak fluttering around him he jumped out the window to catch the wind. He stumbled into the thick branches of a tree. Purposefully, he tumbled down, knocking the branches and scraping his hands. Amazingly he landed lightly on two feet in front of the stunned pair. He had to bend his knees slightly to keep from damaging his knees. Years of practice and experience had made him immune to pain or fear.
Larva flung his cloak back and stepped forward. He grabbed the girl by the arm and dragged her towards him. She stumbled forward, eyes still wide from shock.
"You do not leave without me," he said coldly.
"Let go of her or I shall call for Yamano-sama!" Tomeo called. The boy's face was as red as a tomato.
Larva turned his masked face to Tomeo. "This is none of your concern."
"Leave Miyu alone!"
Larva released her and made his way around her, to stand in front of Tomeo. The boy was not too bad height-wise. He was missing only an inch or two off of Larva.
"My direct orders are to protect. If any harm threatens Miyu, I must be there. Anything or anyone that stands in my way will be hurt."
Tomeo glowered at him as his knees buckled underneath him. "I-I-I…" His fists started trembling.
"Tomeo, let's go," Miyu's quiet voice cut through his raging thoughts.
Tomeo glanced back at Miyu, whose unedifying eyes seemed to have settled on Larva's back side.
"You," her voice was icy now and Larva turned to show he acknowledged her speaking to him. "Don't hurt my brother."
Larva's head went up and down in obedience to Miyu's surprise. Larva had witnessed the everlasting gloom in her eyes after he threatened Tomeo. He regretted his words, feeling the sting of pain in his beating heart to any sort of negative emotion she let off. Her sorrow was his sorrow.
"I'm sorry, Miyu."
Miyu looked up startled when her bodyguard reached down to embrace her face in his large palm. She looked up into the hollow holes of his mask for what seemed like eternity, seeing only the unseen. In about a second, Tomeo, jerked Miyu out of Larva's reach and started pulling her along. "Come on, Miyu," he panted. "Don't let this idiot get to you."
Larva was at her elbow for the rest of the day. No one bothered her at all. Maybe it was because of her scary, mute companion or just the mask. Her peers cleared a path for her when she walked the congested halls. Dead silence greeted her in her classes instead of the usual jeers or rude remarks.
Miyu never felt so frustrated, so hopeless, and so confused in her life. Brows furrowed, head pounding, she tried to live the rest of the day and the many other days to come.
Thanks Reviewers BlueDragonGirl1, Sakae, lith4
