Kyoko was alerted from her shocked state by the blunt sound of Voretti's voice. She snapped back slowly; her guise was somewhat faulty. Her eyes kept on darting to the man now standing next to her. He was not in the slightest affected by what was causing her to be screaming "What?" over and over in her head.
"You may go now." Voretti said, eyeing her.
The man roughly grabbed her by the arm, and walked quickly out, forcing her to follow with a strange, fast plodding that made her step on the back of his boots.
When the door shut with a bang, he drove her up against the wall, his hood falling off to reveal his face. Chiseled features framed by dark brown hair could have sent girls all over him, but Kyoko only stared, terrified, into the rage blazing in his eyes.
His voice cut into her, so sharp was the bluntness of it. "Why are you here?"
The cutting of his voice finally reached down into her fog of confusion, and her eyes flashed with anger, scar blazing. "What are you doing here?" She hissed, fingering the handle of the dagger. The very same one this man had almost killed her with.
He glanced down at it. With lightning fast movements, he grabbed her hand and yanked it from her fingers. Throwing it down the hallway far out of reach, the loud clatter breaking the suffocating silence sharply.
A staring contest ensued. Anger sparked between them, which only continued to make them even more furious.
Kijima walked up then, and stared for awhile at the intense scene in front of him. Then he spoke up, his medium tone breaking through the silence like a rock breaking glass.
"So I guess you met your new partner, eh, Ren?" He dropped the statement casually.
Tsuruga snapped from his state, covering up his anger with a smile so bright it could rival the sun. The dark aura around him chilled Kyoko to the bone. Suddenly the anger was taken from her, leaving her once again scared of the man beside her.
"Ah, yes, but I don't think I caught her name. Do you know it, Kijima?"
"It's Mogami Kyoko, isn't it?" He said, turning to the girl who was cowering in fear.
"Ye...ah..." A small voice answered.
"When is your first mission?" He asked, watching to see what was going on between the two.
Ren's smile brightened, causing Kyoko to cower even more.
"We are going tomorrow. We were told to get rid of Count Metti. You know the one who my partner failed to kill during her mission? Well, now he knows too much."
Kijima nodded his understanding. "It's alright, Kyoko. It took me a while to get used to the protocol under here."
"Yeah..."
Ren turned to go. "Well, we'd best be going, then." He dragged her behind him like baggage.
When they reached where he had thrown her dagger, she started apologizing, speaking so quickly it was hard to catch.
"I'msorryi'msorryi'msorryi'msorry!"
He let his mask go, to reveal still madly flaming eyes.
"Are you willing to answer me now?"
"...Yes..." Came the subdued answer.
Silence.
He demanded now, "Aren't you going to tell me?"
"I'm here because I want revenge." She said quietly for such a statement.
His eyes softened slightly, but he continued interrogating her.
"And why do you want revenge?"
"Because someone hurt me badly, and he needs to be repaid."
"And who is this?"
"Fuwa Shotarou." The rage had calmed in his eyes, she realized. She allowed herself to relax, convinced that this man was not trying to kill her at the given moment.
Another silence lingered, though more of a inquiring silence, in which both examined each other. Unasked questions wandered around in their eyes.
Kyoko, bending down to pick up her knife, said, "Well, I'd better find Kanae for help with sword practice."
Ren let her go, having tormented her enough, and his layered mask once again fell away, to reveal a sad expression. His inner turmoil that he had concealed dwelled on his face.
The reason he was angry with her was because she had joined this godforsaken organization that killed many without a care.
What had this Shotarou done to her? To drive her to this extent?
That sweet, innocent girl was gone... With no thanks to him.
She was absolutely terrified of him, and her anger towards him for what he had done was immense.
What he had done, after all, was unforgivable.
What they all were doing was unforgivable.
Balancing along a rope between two buildings, their shadows cast upon the oblivious citizens below, Ren and Kyoko made their way quickly on top of the rooftops.
There was tension between the two of them, which had one glancing over their shoulder at the other when their backs were turned.
The screech of shingles alerted to Ren to something going on behind him. Spinning around, he just barely caught Kyoko from falling off the edge of the roof. The startled look in her eyes disappeared into one of suspicion. He turned back around, to disguise the sad look in his.
They reached a window that would let them into Count Metti's house. Ren took a cloth soaked with pine resin to make it sticky and put it on firmly on the glass, so that it covered all of the surface area. He then took the hilt of his dagger and tapped it against the glass, allowing only a dull sound to be heard. Peeling it away, they then had an easy opening into the house.
But when they were hanging from a crystal chandelier, Kyoko noticed the guard had doubled. She gestured for Ren to pull himself up.
"It'll be impossible to get to Metti." She concluded.
He focused on a burning candle as he thought. "We will come back tonight." He decided.
However, luck did not seem to want it that way.
Kyoko, still not fully used to being stealthy, hung onto a statue that was not anchored. As she looked around for the next place to hang on to, it fell off of the ledge. A scream escaped from her throat. She landed with a loud thud right in the midst of several guards, and several more came running.
Ren, taking advantage of the initial shock, fell down, straight onto a guard, his sword first, so that the skull was punctured.
The two became a whirlwind of slashes, stabs and parries. Both became completely focused on fighting.
They felt a rush of adrenaline, fogging their minds and vision with a red mist. The smell of blood heightened their senses to an extreme; every hit that vibrated through their weapons went down into the fibers of their beings and worked the cells into a frenzy. Their bodies were buzzing with life; they were truly alive.
Kyoko was slashed by a blade across her forearm. Hissing with pain, she threw herself upon the man, giving him five slashes to his arms for her one before slitting his throat.
Within twenty minutes the guards were dead, including all of the ones that had come running. Pulling their armour over the assassin gear, Ren and Kyoko had pretty good disguises, provided you did not look at some bloodstains on Ren's boots.
They waited in the room until the stroke of midnight from the melodic toll of a bell in the tower of the mansion, and then made their move.
Most of the guards were either dead or sleeping on duty, so the silent duo did not run into much trouble. The ones who awake were snuck up on and knocked unconscious.
The guards in front of the door were sleeping, also, but they could not afford to have them sounding an alarm. With a sharp rap of the head against the wall, and they served no threat.
With next to no time at all, they were inside the bedroom, standing next to the man's bed. He snored loudly, making pig-like noises.
Ren looked around for anything that could be of value to them. Picking a few fine fabrics and jewels, he pocketed them. The assassins did not exactly have sponsors.
Kyoko was in turmoil. Her dagger was just above his throat; very easily could she end his life. She had killed, yes, but not like this. The man was sleeping, ever so soundly, like the idiot that was not going to know what hit him.
This was different from fighting and then killing.
This was murdering in cold blood.
She started to shake. The hand holding the dagger nicked the man's throat, causing him to wake up with a start.
"Huh?..." Then the two shadowy figures hovering over him registered. "Help! Help!"
She lowered the dagger, silencing his cries.
Whatever it takes...
"We'd better get out of here," Ren stated. "Just in case someone heard him."
The two shadows left soundlessly, a faint breeze carrying the smell of blood throughout the mansion behind them. They left nothing but death behind.
So, chapter eight! Did'ya like it?
It was hard writing the interactions between Ren and Kyoko. Since them both are wary of the other currently... What are your impressions on it? I don't know, was it OCC?
Schools out in 7 days! It makes me so happy. I finally am going to be able to write... I have some oneshot ideas, (some being an understatement. I have so many I could write for days and still have ten ideas.) And I probably will be starting some multichapter fics...
I had originally planned for this to be out along with a oneshot on Thursday, but then we had a bad thunderstorm that knocked down a branch that took out our power line and it took them forever to get it back up. Plus, I went camping last weekend to the middle of nowhere. It was very hot, 90 degrees, and I came back with zero hours of sleep from the entire weekend.
When I was writing this, I realized I didn't know the color of Ren's eyes/hair. Anyone know?
I freakin' love reviews!
