She watched the captain of the Imperial police go about his day from the roof of a nearby building. He was strutting around like he owned the place before he stopped in front of a house no different from the rest.

Jioh was the personality assigned to monitor Captain Ogre of the Imperial police. She had short purple hair and a black kimono with loose sleeves covering her hands. She quietly watched as Ogre ordered his men to burst into the house.

They rushed in, a moment later dragging a struggling man out and throwing him at Ogre's feet.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Ogre asked with a smug grin on his face," we got word of your illegal dealings."

The man looked confused before he shouted at him, "I have done no such thing Ogre!"

"That's Captain Ogre," he sneered.

"Take him to the emperor!" he bellowed.

The man's face twisted in fear as he was hauled off.

Jioh looked on impassively as the man was strong armed away, she didn't care, stuff like this happened all the time, all that mattered to her was protecting the new-Hasashin.

Ogre was smirking to himself as he turned and headed towards the richer parts of the capital.

She followed of course, jumping across the rooftops and keeping her eyes on him. When Ogre ended his trek, it was at a traditional themed Japanese mansion, the man then walked up to the guards.

"I'm here to see Gamal," his presence demanded their respect.

"Yes, sir. He's been expecting you."

She had heard of Gamal, a wealthy oil merchant with a penchant for tea. From what she had gathered he usually ordered green tea and a prostitute to be brought to his home every Friday night. It was currently Thursday.

'That might be an opportunity,' she mused.

Ogre entered the mansion. Jioh hopped from a tree in the garden, then onto the roof and silently flipped down onto the second story balcony.

'Now, to find where they are meeting.'

As luck would have it, he was only a few doors down. Carefully opening a crack in the sliding door Jioh looked through at the toady man as he gorged himself on some sushi.

A knock at the door heralded the arrival of Ogre.

"Ah, Captain Ogre, how are you?" Gamal simpered gesturing for him to sit down.

Grunting, Ogre sat down taking off his sword to find a comfortable position, "Things are well Gamal, and they'll get better once I'm paid."

"Go On…" Gamal said motioning for Ogre to continue

Grumbling Ogre resumed," My men planted the drugs in his house like you wanted."

"Yes. Yes, of course. But tell me… what was his face like… huh?" Gamal had a sickening grin split across his toady face.

'He's aroused by this,' Jioh realized, and by the face Ogre was making, he did to.

In a put-upon tone Ogre relayed what Gamal wanted to hear," His face was filled with despair knowing his life was over even in the face of his own innocence."

Throwing his head back with closed eyes Gamal released a drawn-out moan.

Ogre grimaced in disgust but resumed his neutral expression when Gamal open his eyes.

"Thank you, Captain," he clicked his fingers and a servant walked in with a full bag of coins, "your payment."

"Thanks," Ogre said simply taking the gold and leaving.

"What a lovely fellow," Gamal hummed.

Having had enough Jioh pulled away and leapt back to the tree. She dropped into the garden and trailed behind the exiting Captain; presence concealment made sure she would not be noticed.

The sun had begun to set when Ogre took a detour from his intended path in favour of entering an average house, with crumbling walls and chipped glass windows.

Sneaking through the closing door Jioh saw the inside had barely any furniture save for a table with two chairs in which one was occupied by an orange haired young girl in Imperial police armour.

Crouching herself in the corner, Jioh silently watch as Ogre sat across from her, by the way he smiled he obviously was fond of her.

"Seryu," he nodded.

"Captain Ogre, sir," she fanatically stood up and saluted him.

'She'll be trouble. I know it,' Jioh knew zealots. When they were training to become the next Hassan, their competitor was a girl so fanatically devoted to the Hasashin, that she did the impressive feat of copying the past 17 Hassan's Zabaniya. She would have won, except the elders were terrified of her, and made up the excuse that she never made an original Zabaniya.

"Now what did you want to talk to me about."

"Sir, I want to be stronger!" Seryu blurted out.

Ogre said nothing, just silently stared and waited for her to continue.

"All my life I've looked up to my father, he joined the military and became a soldier for Justice! So, I joined the Imperial military to be like him. When I was assigned under you, I was inspired by your devotion to Justice! And… I want to be strong like you… and… like my father was!"

"I see."

"You do Sir?" she asked hopefully."

"Yes! Being strong is important, the stronger you are the better you will be able to achieve your goals!" he finished.

"Yes! For Justice!"

Jioh looked on. She knew what he was doing, fueling the girl's fervent devotion to the corrupt empire he was profiting from.

'Another target,' she mentally sighed. She couldn't let this girl live. Zealots were dangerous. Their unrelenting drive to fulfill their perceived ideals, made for a deadly enemy. She would only get worse with the planned death of Ogre and her desire for strength, she was an enemy to remove immediately.

"To get stronger, I'd recommend going to Dr. Stylish," he said, writing down an address on a piece of paper before sliding it over to Seryu, "he's a bit of a nutjob, but his research into Teigus and body enhancements should be what you're looking for."

"Tell him Captain Ogre sent you."

"Thank you, Sir!" she yelled.

Standing up and heading for the door Ogre paused and said before leaving, "You're a good kid Seryu."

Sitting in silence, Seryu's face broke into gleeful smile.

"Father, Captain Ogre, I will make you proud," she whispered to herself before folding up the address and tucking it into her pocket.

Seryu stood up and walked to the door.

She paused with her hand rested on the handle, "It's rude to eavesdrop you know," she said still facing the door.

Jioh stiffened in shock.

'How did she see through my presence concealment?'

Slowly Seryu's head turned, a manic grin carved into her face, "You wouldn't be spying on warriors of justice unless you were evil scum!" she started off calm then screamed the last bit.

Tensing Jioh readied herself to move. Sure enough, quicker than a human should be able to move Seryu pulled out a gun and fired at her.

With honed reflexes, she jumped a second before it hit, then spun in the air and landed on the table.

Reaching into her sleeves Jioh flung three knives at her, Seryu reacted by shooting them, only managing to hit two and the third barely grazing her cheek before embedding itself into the door.

The girl was good but lacked experience.

A forward rush and Jioh was almost upon her unsheathing a small blade and bringing it to bear in a downward slash.

Only a quick dodge from Seryu saved her from a fatal wound, though not her right arm, which dangled uselessly from a deep cut to her shoulder.

'She's quick, I'll grant her that,' Jioh mused.

"I won't lose to assassin scum like you!" Seryu cried bringing her gun up in her remaining hand, firing rapidly until it clicked, the chamber empty.

Dodging and leaping through the stream of bullets Jioh launched a straight kick to the girl's shin snapping it and sending her wailing to the floor.

Gripping her blade in both hands, she leapt at her downed foe to finish it, only to have to bring up her arms to block a desperate swing from Seryu's knife.

The screeching of metal reverberated through the room, halting both combatants.

"Huh?" Seyu's voice rang out, as what her blade met wasn't bone, but metal.

Jioh's sleeve drifted to the ground revealing her arm to be entirely composed of a black alloy.

"Enough of this," the assassin's monotone voice was cold as she punched quicker than lightning straight through Seryu's chest, destroying her heart.

"Father… Captain… I'm sorry," Seryu croaked, weakly lifting her hand up before it fell limp.

Sighing Jioh pulled the address from Seryu's pocket before heading back to report to Asako.

'I hate zealots,' she thought as she left.

Groaning, Sayo blearily woke from her slumber, the lack of light outside telling her it was still night, and the warm body she felt curled into her side reminding her of where she was.

'Right. Those assassins rescued us.'

The body next to her wiggled bringing Sayo's attention to the small child resting there. She had purple hair and the same mask the others wore but located instead on the side of her head. Her soft breathing and further attempts to snuggle were adorable. Sayo reached out a hand and slowly combed through the girl's hair, who then relaxed with a contented sigh.

After being rescued, the woman, who she learnt was named Asako, had taken her and Ieyasu to their camp in a forest outside the capital's walls. It was filled with people all wearing the same kind of mask as the three that saved them, though their sizes ranged from big to small.

There, she was brought into a tent and introduced to the rather rude medical expert, Fareed. He was like the other's, the only difference being the bandage he had wrapped around his neck.

He wrapped her wounds but would not let her get a word in edgewise, shushing her every time she tried.

He had treated Ieyasu as well but had said he wouldn't wake up for a while due to the stress his body was going through fighting off the infection.

That was when she met Kiko.

The tent had rustled, bringing attention to the girl peeking her head through the flap.

She had wandered into the tent and asked Fareed if she could talk to her, he had grumbled before relenting, stating he was done anyway and walked off.

She cheered before appearing in a moment to engulf Sayo in a hug, and in the most adorable voice she said, "Hi, I'm Kiko, want to be friends?"

Her heart had melted at the cuteness, and she forget, even if for just a moment, the pain she had endured.

They spent the rest of the time talking, she learnt that Kiko's favourite colour was purple, and that she really loved her family; eventually as it grew dark, they both dosed off cuddled together.

'I'll get up in the morning,' she tiredly thought to herself, sleep taking her as she lay back down next to Kiko.

Unaware of Asako's eyes fondly watching them.

Smiling Asako turned away from Sayo's tent and walked back to hers.

Ever since returning from their successful mission, Zayd and Macour had been regaling the others of what happened.

She was glad they were able to rescue those kids, especially because Kiko had taken a liking to Sayo.

She thought back to the plans she'd made earlier that evening.

She had realized shortly after they returned, that the city wasn't unified; sure the military banded together, through fear of the consequences and misplaced loyalty, but the upper echelons, the rich and the nobles abused their power, and the forces such as the police, turned a blind eye to it in favour of their greed.

'A corrupt government makes for an easy tower to topple.'

Asako wondered if they could go further, she had got the others to agree to make the new-Hasashin, and the missions they had gone on where only following the rules they had when alive.

'We could destroy the government and take over this city, no, this empire,' a viscous smirk made it's way onto her face, thoughts like this would have gotten her executed by the founder. But he couldn't reach her now.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Jioh, who, she noticed, was missing a sleeve and her arm was on display, "Something to report Jioh?" she asked, expecting an answer.

"Yes," she nodded simply.

Motioning her to follow, Asako resumed walking, Jioh matching pace with her.

"What happened?"

"I was following Captain Ogre as you ordered. He was framing people for crimes as we suspected, but I found out he's been working with the oil merchant Gamal to let him get away with crimes and to fuel his kink."

'Okay, gross, but good to know.'

"He then left Gamal's mansion and arrived at a rundown house, he met with his subordinate, Seryu, who wished to be stronger. Ogre provided the address of a doctor who could help her. But Asako. As she was leaving, she knew I was there, she saw through my presence concealment." Jioh finished looking worried.

'What!' Asako was shocked, if assassin class servants weren't launching an attack, almost nothing could see them, 'so how?'

"What happened Jioh?"

"She shot at me and we fought, she managed to cut my sleeve and was distracted by my arm, I used the distraction to kill her. I was planning on killing her already, because of her fanatic obsession with justice," She finished plainly.

'And she reminded you of her, didn't she?' she thought 'Any plans of taking this empire may have gotten significantly harder.'

"Okay, now that we know some people can see through presence concealment, we'll have to be more careful. We kill Gamal and Ogre tonight but have at least one other with you in case things go wrong."

Hopefully, this was just a one-off thing, but who could know.

"Good work," Asako nodded to Jioh," I need to make preparations."

She passed by the others ignoring them and headed straight to Maru, the Snake tamer.

"Maru."

"Hmm?" he turned. He looked to be in the middle of milking the venom from a snake-like danger beast, "oh, Asako, what can I help you with sss?"

Maru was of an average height and rather on the lean side, though it made him quite agile in her opinion. He was developed during their youth after being fascinated by the performances of snake charmers and snakes in general. His appearance reflected that, in scales that grew along his arms and neck, fangs grew from his mouth, although you couldn't see them with his mask on and a hiss that sometimes crept into his words. He had an affinity for snakes taming even the deadliest, to his, and by extension, the Hassashin's side.

"I need you to work with Arad in producing a potent poison for our next mission. Which. Is in an hour."

She was cautious, they were skilled assassins, but this world and its people were an unknown. She needed weapons. Weapons that could make up for the lost advantage of presence concealment.

"Tonight!? An Hour!?" he asked visibly shocked, "That soon?"

Asako gave him a firm stare," Yes. Get on it. Now!"

"Fine. Fine, Jeez you're a slave driver." He got up and left before she could retort, his snakes trailing dutifully behind him.

That it for Chapter 2.

List of Hassan mentioned so far.

Asako- Leader, long purple hair

Zayd- Basic Hassan appearance

Macour- Hoarder, cloak

Jioh- Purple hair, metal arm

Fareed- Medical expert, bandage around neck

Kiko- Child, short purple hair and mask on the side of her head

Maru- Snake tamer, scales on neck and arms, fangs and an occasional hiss

Arad- The poison master