Now that the story is getting dangerously close to the end of the Ragnarok saga, many of you are probably wondering what will happen after that. Well the story isn't going to stop, that's for sure. This is an Assassin's Creed story after all. So I will be carrying the story on much farther than the Ragnarok Saga and the way I see it this story will be EXTREMELY long. It will go on for as long as the Kenichi Manga is.

Chapter 34

Operation Thunder God

Taka sat on the dojo floor the next morning, controlling his breathing as he did every morning and clearing his head with his master at his side. The sword's woman noted as she watched him, that he was getting much better at clearing his mind. Which was rather impressive for someone of his level. Everything was going routinely until suddenly there was a disturbance that broke Taka's concentration. Hermit had finally woken up and rose from his spot on the floor.

The sixth fist stood up with his arm in a sling. He glanced over at the stranger, Taka, and simply waved it off and got to his feet. Taka curiously watched the sixth fist as he limped to the door. This was something that Shigure noticed right away, noting that her disciple had broken concentration and clearly wanted to know about the person.

"You broke... concentration." Shigure spoke up, causing Taka to cock his head to her immediately. "What is it?"

He bowed his head apologetically to her. "Sorry, sensei. Just got a bit distracted."

"You are curious... about that boy." She nodded back at him. Then her look change, knowingly. "Is it for that reason?"

He gave her a dangerous look which she returned with warning. Taka merely shook his head. "I just want to know what he's like. That Seigfried guy had a lot of honor."

"So you're the guy who beat up Seigfried." Taka looked over his shoulder at the hooded fist who gave am unreadable expression. "Taka Oyama."

Taka looked to his master who gave him a simple nod. The assassin quickly stood up smiling casually at the fist. "Yeah that's me. Got a minute?"

Hermit's fist clenched in his sling as he peered at the spiky haired teen. "What for? I have nothing to say to you."

"You may not." Taka replied as they headed out toward the Elder's big tree. Taka leaned back, folding his arms with a casual sigh as he looked over at Kenichi. "Look at him. Real innocent type." Hermit flashed a distasteful look at his rival. "He wants to be a hero people will look up to. The good guy." He shook his head with a chuckle while Hermit merely peered atty him with little trust.

"And why do you fight?" He replied, folding his arms. "Are you that naive."

He slumped his shoulders and merely shook his head. "He has a good idea, but I focus more on getting shit done. Anyway. I don't really know you, but you're from Ragnarok."

"So?" He rolled his eyes with disinterest.

"So why were you being nice to a little girl like Honoka." Taka leaned against the tree as Hermit shot him a dangerous gaze. "She told me everything. Said you were really a softy inside, a nice guy." Hermit made a low growl at the spiky haired teen beside him and gave him the stink eye. Taka merely grinned and tapped him on the shoulder, leaning back. "So tell me what happened."

The blonde shook his head with an annoyed glare. "I ran into the kid a few weeks ago. I was fighting some guys and she walked in. After that she wouldn't go away, no matter how many times I told her the brat just wouldn't go."

"So you weren't the one who kidnapped her?" Taka nodded, getting a nod back from Hermit. The assassin peered at him. "Then why did you go along with it?"

Hermit didn't answer. The sort of vulnerable and and angry stare someone would give if they were guilty, Hermit merely disguised it by acting angry. He let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. "I got tricked. Loki used the great sage fist's name."

"Who's that?"

"The leader of our leader." He replied. "The one who started it all. The one every fists wants to train with, but only the first fist has."

"Odin..." Taka nodded causing Hermit to glance at him suspiciously. Taka didn't look directly at him. "I've heard of him. Is he good?"

"Why do you care?" the sixth fist peered at him.

Taka made an innocent shrug and glanced casually at him. "A gang of power hungry psychopaths coming after me. It kinda pays to know something about them."

Hermit nodded in agreement and shook his head. "Whatever."

"So Kenichi says you quit Ragnarok." He lied. "Is that true?" Hermit didn't answer and the silence was enough of an agreement for him. Taka bobbed his head in a plotting like manner, trying to figure out how to act on that. "What are you gonna do now?"

"Kill Loki." Hermit nodded. "Then I'm gonna find my master again."

Taka snorted and bobbed his head. "Sounds like a plan. Who's your master?"

The blonde peered real seriously at him. "Sougetsu Ma." Taka's heart skipped a beat, remembering the encounter with the super master. How could he forget that. The moment that woke him up and made him realize that he wasn't invincible. Hermit caught onto the fact that Taka knew him and immediately grabbed him by the collar. "You know him..."

"Yeah." Taka nodded, unaffected by the scare tactics. "I fought him." He tapped Hermit's wrist with a sincere nod and the blonde let him go, only to shove him backwards. "He knocked me out before I could see how it turned out."

"Is he alive?" Hermit glowered at him.

Taka snorted and gazed across the yard at Kensei who overlooked Miyako's training regiment. "My master over there's his brother. So yeah, he's still alive. Sougetsu may be willing to kill, but Kensei isn't. Other than that I don't know. Probably still in the country."

Hermit shook his head in resentment and looked off. Taka stared at him, thinking of the very careful words to say. The assassin merely leaned off the tree and turned his back to Hermit. "You know. There's a few people with enough power to take out Ragnarok. But when the leadership is strong that leaves a hole in the plan." He looked over his shoulder an glanced at Hermit's untrusting peer. "You know how to solve that problem?"

Hermit folded his arms and looked off. His suspicion of Taka grew as the seconds passed, but if he was looking to fight the eight fists then that would leave less work for himself. "You go to the Pit."

Taka gave him a nod and walked away. "We'll all end up there someday. Take care, Hermit."

The sixth fist peered at him in suspicion. His intuition knew that Taka planned on going on the offensive against Ragnarok, but why all the coded talk? He merely shrugged and turned away toward the gate. The Elder appeared in front of him, startling him at the sudden sight. The giant, green clad man stroked his beard in curiosity.

"Hello there, boy." He greeted with a hearty smile. "I see you are ready to leave."

"Don't try and stop me, old man." Hermit brushed past him. "I have things to do." A giant hand came to his shoulder and stopped him dead in his tracks.

"I won't." He shook his head. "I merely wanted to give you some advice." Hermit turned around and folded his arms with an uninterested stare. "You have made friends out of two different people. They both understand a bit of how you feel." He pointed across the yard as Kenichi relentlessly pushed up with Miu's foot weighing him down. "Look as Kenichi trains nearly to death. He certainly cares a lot about his friends. He considers you his friend you know." The blonde looked up with a surprised stare, but the old man kept talking. "Then there's the man whom you didn't get the chance to talk to. He shares your resentment for Ragnarok and like you he understands the policy of doing what is necessary." The elder let his hand up and smiled down at the sixth fist. "Be careful what path you choose to walk. Staying in the middle is a hard thing to accomplish."

Taka sat down in front of Shigure and resumed his cross legged position, letting his hands rest in his lap. The pink clad woman closed her eyes before he did. Taka's eyes shut quickly, not noticing the proud little smile that spread across his master's face from having heard his conversation with his supposed enemy. No words were exchanged after that since Taka pretty much figured that Shigure had heard him as she seemed to always do.

He was already gaining a bit of wisdom about what a fight is about. Caring about the enemy was something that Kenichi didn't have to work at, but Taka was starting to get it too. She half expected him to resent Hermit simply for being affiliated with Ragnarok, but no it was like he was separating his persona apart from his real self.

It was after dinner time that Taka went to bed, but Shigure and the other master knew that wasn't the case. Shigure watched from the beams above his head in his room as he called Nijima. Apparently the Pit was an underground fight club ran by a member of Ragnarok, so that meant that Taka was going there to face him somehow. As soon as he hung up his phone and approached his wardrobe.

The pink clad woman landed behind him, and he automatically looked over his shoulder as he pulled on his black robes without tying them yet. His chest exposed with tons of little nicks and bruises nearly healed. She smiled at his progress then returned her attention to what he was meaning to do.

"You're going... to that place?" She asked. "Are you sure that's... wise?"

Taka merely smiled at her and hooked an arm around her waist. Shigure gasped at his sudden movement, but they didn't seem to be hostile as she would normally assume. "Don't worry about me. I won't go in blind."

"I know... I just want to-"

"I won't kill him." He shook his head with a sincere smile. "I'm your disciple after all. I specialize in scaring people." He laughed. Shigure let out a proud smile as her disciple started at her with affection not fitting of a mere student.

"You are... starting to get it." She nodded stoically, taking pride in the fact that Taka was starting to use wisdom and common sense. He was starting to think of all the possibilities about his opponents rather than jumping to conclusions that they were evil. As her disciple should be, Taka didn't see everything in black and white. His mind was open much like that of Kenichi's, if a little bit less so than the kind disciple. "What do you plan to... do?"

"I'm heading back to the men." He nodded back. "We're assembling the whole force to welcome all the new comers." His thumbs rubbed her back graciously as he looked off with a nod. "Then, I'm having one of my men go to that place for a while and he'll just stand by and watch that guy from Ragnarok. His name's Thor."

Shigure bobbed her head and clutched the edges in his kimono, pulling them over each other tightly, before grabbing his belt and tying it behind his back. "You are being... careful." She bobbed her head. "You don't want... to just go and fight him?"

Taka shrugged. "There's no need to just yet. He runs an underground fight ring, so he isn't terrorizing anyone. I have plenty of time to figure out his fighting style." He grinned back at his master with a bright smile against her blank stare.

The swordswoman nodded back at him in agreement. He certainly had the patience to be a martial artist too.

She finally pulled his belt tight and stared at him as his never ending smile beamed at her. His haha slid down her kimono and slid over her rounded hips, his dark eyes lightened up as his smile softened. He slowly leaned in toward her and she knew what that meant. Her heart raced as she leaned in, noticing how different it was now. She didn't quite act on instinct anymore; she had grown to enjoy the affection hey apprentice had for her. She never had a boyfriend before, or her very own student. Taka gave her both of those things and there wad no doubt that she loved him. He was her student to mold, and while he wasn't that powerful, but his talent and instincts were very impressive.

Taka rubbed his hands over her hips and pulled her close to him against his body. Shigure was caught off guard with a gasp. She blushed as half of his hands went over her butt and her cheesy squished against his, sending slight tingles up her spine.

He pressed his forehead against hers with a wide playful smile. "Kiss for luck?... Sensei?" He shook his head, rubbing their noses together in an Eskimo kiss before he tilted his neck slightly and locked lips with the woman who was his own teacher.

Shigure gaped in mid kiss as Taka's lips messaged hers, and she noticed that even more than before it felt fantastic. She wanted more of it and was kinda ashamed at that since her felons were growing which had the possibility to interfere with his training. Why did it feel so good to kiss him? She loved him and she wanted to express it somehow, but he was a man of responsibility and while he was able to juggle both lives, he needed to stay focused with such a leaderly position that he gave himself. So keeping their relationship limited to just their alone time was a must.

Damn she felt nice in Taka's arms, so warm and soft. The apprentice could feel his heart thumping against his chest as the silk like woman pressed herself against him. The more he went forward, his hormones noticeably driving his every move as he quickly broke the kiss and moved further down, laying tiny little pecks on her neck. Shigure didn't know what he was doing, but he certainly knew what he was doing, because it felt extremely good.

Taka laughed under his breath and broke away, laying another kiss on his teacher before pressing their foreheads together, a wide smile spread across his face. Taka felt like laughing as hard as he possibly could for no reason. His mind was starting to come to grips with it more and more all of a sudden.

He had a relationship with his extremely attractive master, who was an older woman.

Maybe it was the happy smile that Shigure held that made him to happy. Usually she seemed to blank, but whenever they did something like this she expressed herself more and more.

Shigure was his girlfriend.

His woman.

He was so happy about that, but she was also a super master capable of insane feats that he witnessed first hand. He had something really great. She was not only able to follow him on his self destructive path, but she was able to help him and literally make him stronger. Shigure was the best thing he had ever possessed. The only problem was his assassins. Now he had over eighty men under his control, and there was a major chance that his policy of warning people would fail eventually.

Taka would eventually be forced to kill someone. He dreaded that day, not out of fear of doing the deed, but of being cast away by Shigure. "I don't want to lose you." He said to her, lifting his forehead away and staring into her sharp stare. She looked a bit confused from his words, but he kept talking. "This is the information we've been looking for. After this, Ragnarok isn't going to let us forfeit." He shook his head with a deep sigh. "Some day, if I'm not strong enough, my hand will be forced..." He glanced up with an apologetic look. "I'll have to kill someone." Shigure nodded in understanding, but with a noticeable look of disappointment on her face. Taka met her eyes once more with a sincere stare. "Just know that it was my only option. Don't cast me away."

Shigure shook her head, understanding his words, but confused that he was so worried. She swore he knew of her faith to him, was kissing him not enough, or maybe she needed to say it outright. Even if he somehow wasn't able to defeat someone in a nonlethal manner, (she certainly was training him hard enough for that not to happen) but she wouldn't banish him from the dojo. She had come to care about him a lot, and she didn't want to lose him either.

"Taka." She shook her head. "You're my apprentice... my own student... my creation... So whatever mistake you make... I'll take responsibility... and help you fix the problem..." Her gaze was unreadable, apart from her mad blushing. She pulled the edges of his assassin robes tight in admiration. "You're a leader... and I'm your leader... if you need some advice... please come to me."

"You'd aid the assassins?" He blinked with a sarcastic smirk. Shigure plainly nodded at him, and Taka merely scoffed. "The assassins are murderous scum and need to be stopped." He shot her a playful smile.

Shigure nodded again. "Yes... they are also quite reckless... They will be hard to manage... with so many members."

"What do you suggest?" He raised an eyebrow cluelessly.

"Appoint ranks to lower members... and put them in charge of the lowest." She nodded back to him. "Like a shogun... who has his own lesser shogun."

Taka nodded with a wide smile. She had an excellent point. Ruby and Hidaka couldn't train absolutely everybody at one time. Splitting up the power was a much faster and easier method. He just needed to establish the ranks which he began thinking of immediately. Nijima also led a double life in Shimpaku, so perhaps giving him an assassin position wasn't a very responsible idea. An informant and ally was a better suited position for him. Ruby was the most skilled fighter, apart from Taka himself, and her tactical approach was great too. A higher rank was a suitable position, however, Hidaka was Taka's double and therefore his closest subordinate.

Hidaka would be the second in command, and Shiji had shown great initiative and intelligence as an assassin, possibly surpassing Nijima's skill at infiltration. So he would be in charge of a squad. The leaders of the different inherent groups needed to be trained, but as the leaders they were already the most skilled. So Rook and Hana would be trained a bit first, then after that they too would be put in charge of a squad. Ruby and Renka were among his most skilled, so they would also command a squad.

He couldn't calculate how many people that would leave in each squad so he shook his head and returned his attention to Shigure who had remained patient in his space case stare. "Anyway, I should get going." He squeezed her tight once again and locked lips with her. Shigure pressed her hands to his face as their hair interlocked and embraced each other as their owners did. Shigure blushed madly as Taka's soft lips sent tingles through her body again, before he finally broke away and whispered. "I'll be back soon."

Taka finally arrived at the assassin headquarters. The old hotel was easily accessible by roof, but also incredibly normal looking. So no one noticed a man in black hooded robes entering through the front door, because everyone seemed to overlook the very poor looking hotel. Shiji had done a good job at making appear out of commission. As soon as he entered through the tiny lobby, he noticed that the entire place looked extremely empty, with no one in sight. He looked down the left hallway then the right, but no one was there.

The door swung open behind him and a hooded head poked out, immediately perking up at the sight of him. A real rebel, Ruby still wore her red robes, unlike the assassin black robes hers were made specially crimson.

Taka bobbed his head and pointed at the masked girl. "Hasashi wanted your clothes to fit your name?"

Ruby bobbed her head and put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, real sweet of him." She replied. "So we're really doing this? All out assault on Ragnarok?"

"Not yet." He replied, "It's better that I tell you inside. Are the others in there?"

"Yeah." She held her arm outward and guided him forward. "Come on, let's not keep them waiting any longer."

Taka and Ruby entered the small manager's office only to see Nijima along with Shiji, Hidaka, and Renka all standing in the middle of the floor waiting for him. Nijima opened his mouth to speak, but Taka raised his hand to silence him. "I'm running short on time. So no news until after." He walked around to the front of them, Renka flashing him a cheeky wink and a wave. He stopped and pivoted around. "Alright. We have a lot of people now. Where are they?" He pointed to Shiji.

"They're waiting in the halls of the upper floors. Barely fit too."

"Great." He nodded. "I've decided to establish some ranks. We have way too many people and we need some organization before things get chaotic." He started slowly walking around the circle of them, starting with the oldest, Hidaka. "Since Hidaka is the most experienced and my double, but as my double his alliance with us needs to be kept secret. So." He rested his hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I am appointing Hidaka as my Office General in charge of training and mission assigning. While Ruby as my Field General." He paced along to Shiji and put a hand on his shoulder. "You've proved to have initiative. So you will be in charge of the first platoon. Chan-Juan will control the second. You two will be appointed lieutenants."

"So you're leaving forty inexperienced new assassins in the hands of one person?" Ruby put her hands on her hips.

"I was getting to that." Taka pivoted around. "Since we have so many people I will have to appoint several captains. Rook and Hana will do just fine, so that splits it up into twenty people each, but we need two more people to appoint as captains to keep the squads small."

"What about me?" Nijima raised his hand.

Taka bobbed his head with an apologetic stare. "You and I are the same, Nijima. We both lead double lives. Doing work for us is too risky for you. So you will be exempt from all the fighting and killing." He stuck out his hand. "I need you to be our eyes and ears, Shimpaku." Nijima was quick to agree and slapped their hands together in agreement.

"So who should be our other two captains?" Hidaka stepped forward. "No one else is skilled or experienced enough."

"We'll have to deal with bigger squads until we have two more people who are skilled enough." Taka shrugged his shoulders, then patted Shiji and Renka on the shoulders. "I need you two to go establish the ranks. Rook and Hana are captains, everyone else will remain a private. Everyone else is dismissed." Taka waved his hand as they all exited the room.

Nijima immediately caught up to him as they stepped out into the lobby. "So what is the plan for Thor?" He spoke up impatiently. "Our sources say he isn't weak."

Taka nodded then turned to Hidaka. "The Pit is an underground fight arena, right?" Nijima nodded back at him. "So Hidaka will go there and spectate. Watch Thor's habits and try to figure out his moral standings. Can you do that?"

"I have a photographic memory." He saluted as he walked away toward the front door. "Operation Thunder God is a go."

The bell to the front door rang as he stepped outside, leaving Taka alone with Nijima and Ruby. The assassin leader rested his hand on Nijima's shoulder and he looked at him. "I might need your people to step in, on this one."

Nijima gasped in disbelief. "What? Why?"

"Well not only have your people not met enough action, but we are supposed to be a secret." He nodded. "If Thor has a good sense of honor like Seigfried then there's no need for us to intervene. May as well leave him to Kenichi." He patted Nijima on the back. "We still don't know yet, so don't say anything to him just yet."

Nijima saluted him and rushed out of the hotel, leaving him with Ruby. Taka immediately rubbed his eyes, jumping up onto the desk tiredly. The red clad girl said nothing as she spun around, her eyes brightening under her mask. "What the matter with you?" She laughed teasinly as Taka waved his hand. Ruby immediately scoffed at his denial. "Yeah yeah yeah, bullshit. I know stress when I see it."

"Yeah well I just got done doing more math than I should have to." He chuckled back. "And I gotta be all business like and I have to know every move. It's a lot of planning and thinking." He shook his head with a sigh. "But, it's a good plan. You can thank my master for that one."

"Don't you mean your girlfriend?" Ruby nudged him, leaning back over the counter. Taka blinked at her, but she merely shook her head. "I remember that hottie you were with the day we met. You're still with her though, so that's good. I'm just surprised you brought her into this."

Taka laughed aloud and shook his head. "Trust me, she can handle it." He shook his head, hopping off the desk. "Anyway, it's not her getting sucked into it that scares me..." He let out a deep sigh. "It's me." Taka shook his head and looked off with dispair. "I guess an assassin should be smarter than to lead a romantic double life."

There was a moment of silence, until Ruby brushed in front of him and threw an arm around his shoulders, pulling him tight. "Silly leader." She joked. "You're not supposed to talk about your personal life in front of your subordinates."

Taka chuckled as he squeezed her, trying as hard as humanly possible to keep it strictly friendly. "Yeah I know." He broke away toward the door then grinned back at her. "Why can't I be more like Ezio?"

And at those words the bell on the door rang twice and he was gone.

Sorry for the late update, I've been busy with school starting up again. Senior year, whoohoo! Seriously need to get my shit together, before the class of 15 leaves my school, because after that I don't want to be star struck not knowing what the fuck to do next.

So yeah don't lose hope if I don't update for a while, I'm trying to keep up in my spare time.

But hey since we have a new chapter out, why don't you fill that little box with words. Doesn't even matter what they are anymore, put pudding, I don't care. Just let me know you're there. Please!