It was always the same thing.

To: Lynx

From: X1234

A rich person died, and their secrets come out. After their death, their fortune and power are split and fought over by those who are still living. If the rich person had any children, they found themselves in the middle of the mess.

Subject: An Assassination

Eventually, someone would get tired of those in their way and begins plotting behind closed doors. Naturally, they decide to hire someone to make the heirs "disappear"

I would like to hire you to remove the heir of the young Okumura foundation, Eiji Okumura. I will send more details if you choose to accept it. The price will be discussed if you choose to move forward.

And this job was no different.

I accept.

Mr. and Mrs. Okumura had managed to get themselves killed in a car crash leaving their two children behind. There was their oldest son, 20-year-old Eiji Okumura and their daughter 16-year-old Yumi Okumura. Apparently, while alive, the Okumuras made a deal with heads of Silver Hearts foundation and owed them a lot of money. Since the deal was made behind closed doors, they couldn't directly demand it. Instead, they decided to contact an assassin to remove the heir Eiji Okumura. After the older one was out of the way they could officially adopt the younger one and successfully securing the family fortune.

That's where he came in. Ash Lynx, known to the world as The Lynx had been one of the world's top assassins for many years. Trained under the assassin Blanca since the age of twelve, Ash had quickly rose ranks. He never missed a target, never failed a mission, and never lost sight of his goals. He was the best person for this job. Ash wasn't very excited about it. This was just a typical job. The twenty-year-old had done this many times before. The world was just a gray blur of deaths and pleading people at this point. The sooner he finished this, the sooner he could go back to living in solitude until he needed money again.

That's how Ash found himself hanging out at a small café early one Friday evening. His target usually went there after work. Despite owning a fortune, he was continuing his job as a photographer until all the papers were officially signed. According to the email, he needed to kill the young heir and make it look like an accident without it looking like a suicide. It would be bad for the Foundation if the target suddenly killed himself. The police would get involves and make things messy.

Ash already had thought of the best course of action. He would flirt with his target and win him over. After that bring him to a motel and killing him. Then he would start a fire and depart. The body would be burnt so it wouldn't be easy to tell that the target had been murdered and even if someone saw them together, they would just assume that both of them died in the horrible fire.

A tingling of a bell brought Ash back to the present. The door of the café opened, and the target entered. Although he looked like his picture Ash had to admit he looked better in person. The picture couldn't quite capture the man's young or innocent nature. Ash almost felt bad…almost. He had long ago discarded any emotions like sympathy. Instead, he waited for the man to sit down before walking over to him.

"Are you sitting alone?" He asked smoothly turning on his charm. The target looked up solely as he sipped his coffee.

"Yeah." He mumbled gesturing at the chair next to him. He seemed out of it. Ash guessed that he had been close to his parents. From his research, Ash had thought they barely talked to each other. Ash decided to change tactics. Sliding into the booth next to him he lowered his voice to a gentle level.

"Are you Eiji Okumura? I saw you on TV. I didn't know you lived around here."

The target looked surprised at the sympathy in his voice. "Yeah, I have a small apartment downtown. I'm living here until the papers are signed and I officially become the heir. I haven't seen you around though, are you new?"

"I just moved here a few days ago." Ash leaned forward. "If you need someone to talk to about this I can listen."

"What? Why?" Now the target looked lost. He didn't seem to know what to do with Ash's comment. He probably got a lot of sympathies but not a lot of listening ears. If Ash wanted to make this plausible, he needed to spin a sob story.

"Because." Ash gave a fake sigh. "I know how it feels to lose everything. When I was younger my parents were killed in a robbery. I was taken in by another family but…I was never given the chance to fully express my feelings. The family believes that emotions were a weakness." Ash rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed. "I can't help but want to hear out any stranger who wants to vent. I don't want someone to suffer as I did." It wasn't his best story; truth be told but he was banking on the target being too disoriented to notice. Much to Ash's delight, the target bought the story.

"I see." He smiled weakly. "I guess I would like someone to talk to. I've been trying to act strong but…" He wrapped his arms around each other. "There's not many people I can turn to and even those who I can turn to I don't want to; I hate being a burden."

Ash placed his hand on the man's shoulder. "Hey it's ok. You can always burden me, after all, that's what strangers are for."

His target gave a little laugh. "I feel like I need a few drinks before I can open up that much."

Perfect. "Isn't there a small bar nearby? Want to go there?" The target tensed for a second before relaxing.

"Yeah, that would be for the best." He stood up. "Hang on let me pay for my drink."

"It's on the house." Both men turned to see a teen watching them. Ash recognized him as the teen who worked behind the counter. He looked around 16 with dark black hair and a scrawny built.

"No Sing it's fine!" the target rumbaed in his bag. "I can't just keep getting free coffee like this. I have the money to pay."

"You practically kept this café afloat when we first started, don't worry about it." The young man's eyes turned on Ash and he scowled. "Who's this guy? He's new." Ash kept his face neutral. It was clear that the teen didn't trust him. It would be bad if he convinced his target to bail on him.

"Uhhhhh." His target turned to him sheepishly. "I realize I never asked you your name."

"Aslan Callenreese, but you can just call me Ash." He gave his most charming smile. The teen's scowl deepened.

"There you go." The target nodded as if that explained everything.

"Eiji." The teen lowered his voice. "Be careful" For a moment Ash worried that his target would listen to the teens' words. Instead, he waved him away.

"Don't worry so much Sing. It'll be…fine." For a second the target hesitated, a flash of nervousness on his face. Ash wondered if he was having second thoughts. It would be best to move things along. Taking his target's arm gently he nodded towards the door.

"Let's go."

His target hesitated and looked over at the scowling teen. Then nodded and waved to him.

"I'll see you later Sing!" Then with one more long look at the teen he turned and let Ash lead him away.

The bar was perfectly crowded. It wasn't so crowded that there would be a lot of witnesses, but it wasn't empty enough that everyone knew he was there. It was just crowded enough that the customers' eyes began to glaze, and they no longer paid attention to anyone but their friends or hookups.

Ash led Eiji down to a corner table before getting them drinks. He needed his target drunk for this. In his research he learned that his target didn't have a high alcohol tolerance. Ash made sure to get the most alcoholic drink on the menu. One drink should be enough. Once the target was out, he would take the target's car and drive to a secluded location. There he would stab the man and then shove a steel bar from the car through the wound. If he left the car in a ravine whoever found him would think he was drunk driving and got killed in a crash. A perfectly logical excuse to explain how he died. No one would look to much into it.

Ash smiled as he carried the drinks back to the table. This would be easy. He found the target where he left him. He was staring off into space with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Are you alright?" Ash asked gently sitting down. The target jumped.

"No…wait yes? What was the question again?"

Ash snorted "I asked if you were alright."

"That's quite a complicated question but I suppose not. I'm here to pour out my heart, aren't I?" the target gave a shaky grin.

"I suppose so." Ash handed him a drink. "So, what's going on in your head."

His target looked down at his drink mournfully but didn't take a sip. "I suppose I should start by saying that I feel guilty about this whole thing. I wasn't extremely close to my parents. I know I should be feeling sad but it's hard. They weren't in my life a lot. …I think that's where a lot of the guilt is coming from."

So, he wasn't actually sad as Ash first thought. Apparently, it was more complicated than that. Ash found that kind of surprising. Most of his targets were pretty easy to read.

"I am close to my sister…or at least we used to be close. I haven't seen her much since our parents died. I think she's angry with me for avoiding her…. or for being the heir. She wants to be in charge unlike me…She knows I don't want it and we argued about that. I hate arguing with her but I still think it's best if I stay the heir."

The target was correct in that thought. If his sister was the heir, she would be targeted instead.

Ash nodded as if he cared. "Drink up. It'll make talking easier." His target nodded and took a sip. After another few seconds of silence, he continued.

"I guess this is the end of my photography career." His gloom intensified "I thought I had longer to study it after my previous career failed." He glanced at Ash "I used to be a pole vaulter"

Ash remembered reading about that. He leaned it. "Oh yeah?"

"Yep. I was good at it too." His target pulled out his phone and typed something. "See." He showed Ash a picture. There was the young Japanese man wearing sports close as he flew over a hurdle. Despite himself Ash was impressed. His target's expression looked so at peace, so free….

"That's a good picture." Ash finally said. His target nodded glumly.

"A friend of mine took it. It was before the accident. I hurt my leg and can't jump anymore. If my friend didn't offer me a job in photography, who knows what would happen. I wasn't in a good place back then. Not really in a better place now."

"Life can be tough." Ash faked sympathy. "But at least you have friends. The guy from the café seemed to know you."

"Sing?" His target's face lit up. "He's like a little brother to me. His family owns that cafe. When they first opened I did my best to support them. It's hard to open any store in this area. The locals don't like change."

Ash laughed. "Sounds like I'm going to have a hard time fitting in here."

"They'll open up to you eventually." He took another sip of his drink.

"Eventually? Shouldn't you say, 'oh they'll love you'?" Ash gave him a meaningful look. "Who can hate a face like this."

His target laughed. For the first time, he actually looked happy. "Most people here are suspicious of a pretty face."

"Ah, the drawbacks of being beautiful." Ash gave a dramatic sigh. His target nearly choked on his drink. He coughed among his laughter. Ash grinned. His target was quite pretty when he laughed. Without the solum look in his eyes they sparkled like fire reflected in water. Ash found himself mesmerized by them. It took him a few seconds to realize what he was doing.

"I have to go use the restroom." Ash suddenly stood up. His target stopped laughing in surprise.

"Oh ok?"

Ash didn't say a word as he marched away. Why was he acting this stupid? For a moment he had wanted to make his target laugh again, to see how much his eyes could shine. It didn't matter if his target looked amazing while flying or had a nice laugh. In a few hours, he would never move again. In a few hours, those eyes would be staring emptily at the sky. He pushed down the sadness that rose in his chest. He had killed many people before. Why was this man any different? He needed to cut off his feelings. Ash entered the empty bathroom and splashed some water on his face as he took control of his emotions. Slowly but surely his feels faded until he was back to cold numbness. Once he was sure everything was back to normal, he left.

When he was out of the bathroom, he scanned the bar for his target. He saw him across the room sipping at his drink. Arranging a smile on his face he headed over there.

"Well, aren't you a cutie?" A hand grabbed Ash's arm. Ash turned to see a big man covered in tattoos leering down at him. "What's a cute thing like you doing here? You're not a regular." His eyes scanned Ash hungrily. Ash bit down his rising anger as he debated what to do. He could easily take out this man, but it would look suspicious. Aslan Callenreese wasn't supposed to be a fighter. He was a smooth-talking man. If he suddenly made a scene others would notice. However, he didn't want to deal with this man. If he had to follow along with the man's desire, he could end up trapped for a while. Ash would like to avoid being someone's toy. He always tried to avoid missions that involved him in that position through many times was unavoidable.

Ash shook his head frustrated. He didn't have time to waste on this man. He needed to find a way out of this fast. He had a target to kill.

"I-"

"What do you think you're doing?" an angry voice demanded from behind them. Ash turned to see his target standing a few feet away glaring at the man.

"Oh, is he's your Okumura?" the man sneered. "How shameful of you, picking up prostitutes so quickly after your parents died. Shouldn't you be morning?"

His target's eyes flashed. "I'll have you know that is Aslan Callenreese. The heir to the Callenreese fortune and my fiancé. I would appreciate it if you kept your hands off him." Ash stared at him. This was such an outrage lie. He had no idea what his target was thinking. Why was he over here talking to a drunk man twice his size? He was acting crazy…. Unless….

Was he trying to protect Ash?

"You damn rich people." The man shoved Ash away and took a threatening step towards the target who held his ground. "You always think you're better than us don't you!" Before anyone could move, he raised his fist and hit the target. The young man grunted and sunk to the ground holding a hand over his bruised eye. Ash had seen enough. Stepping forward he pinned the man's arm back and leaned towards him.

"If you touch him again, I will end you." Even if the man was too stupid or drunk to understand a threat, on an animalistic level he still felt threatened. His eyes widened as his flight or fight instincts kicked in. Stumbling back, he grumbled.

"I didn't want you anyway," Ash watched him stagger back to the front of the bar before turning his attention to his target.

"Hey are you alright?"

His target nodded shakily. "What happened to him?"

"He left after hitting you." Ash helped him up and brought him back to the table.

"Are you alright?" Ash paused at the concern in his target's voice.

"You were the one who got punched." Ash gently lowered in into his chair.

"I know but he was flirting with you and you looked really uncomfortable." Eiji peered into his eyes. "Did he touch you?"

"No." Ash started at the man in front of him. This was new. He had never met someone who was concerned about his well being like this. His usual targets were snobbish or stuck up. Eiji however was surprisingly grounded. Ash could have handled it easily, but it felt sort of nice to be protected once in his life.

Eiji scanned his face for a few moments before grinning and raising his glass. "I guess this calls for a toast."

Ash snorted and raised his own glass. "To getting a black eye."

"To winning a bar fight." Eiji correct clinking glasses.

"That wasn't a bar fight." Ash rolled his eyes as he took a sip.

"No?" Eiji downed half his mug. "I never been in a real bar fight before so I wouldn't know. Shame." He pouted. "I was hoping to brag to Sing about winning a fight. Now I just have a black eye for nothing."

Ash snorted. "Oh, that's what you're concerned about?"

"Yeah." Eiji's gaze was unfocused.

"How about this." Ash leaned in grinning. "Next time I'll bring you to a bar and we can start a real barfight."

Eiji took another sip and grinned mischievously at him. "Sounds like a date."

"What are you falling for my pretty face?"

"Maybe." Eiji rested his head on the table. "But a barfight doesn't sound like a good thing for a first date." He yawned. "Let me buy you a coffee first. Then we can move onto barfights."

"I can't wait."

Eiji didn't answer. His eyes had drooped, and his breathing slowed. Ash watched him for a second before standing up and heaving Eiji over his arm.

He made it to the car without a problem. After making sure Eiji was buckled in, Ash got into the driver seat, took the key from the other man's pocket, and then… just sat there.

He didn't want the night to end. It wasn't like him to be this way, but he found himself wanting to know more about the strange young man. Eiji knew he couldn't win that fight, but he still stood up for Ash sake anyway. Ash frowned. When had the man started becoming Eiji instead of just his target? He never thought of his targets' names. It humanized them. Ash shook his head and started the car.

He had work to do and it was no good being sentimental about it. Ash glanced sideways at Eiji…no his target and his resolve faltered. Eiji….his target looked so vulnerable lying slumped in the seat. It seemed almost unfair to do this. Ash shoved down those feelings. He was acting sentimentally. The target wouldn't feeling anything. It was just like going to sleep and then never waking up. That wasn't a bad way to go. Ash gripped the steering wheel angrily. He wasn't going to back out of this. He wasn't going to go soft. He was going to drive his target to a deserted area and dispose of him.

"What happened?!"

"He got into a fight with someone and then got drunk." Ash heaved Eiji out of the car and handed him over to the teen. Sing glared at him.

"Why did you bring him here?"

"Because I don't know where he lives. I could have left him on the side of the street if you prefer that." Ash started pointily at the younger man. The teen glowered at him.

"Well, I should get going." Ash threw the keys at the teen. "Take him, home would you?" With that, he strolled away. He could feel the teen's eyes on him all the way down the street. Once the café was out of sight, Ash sat down on a bench. He wasn't being merciful. He was paying back a debt. Eiji had saved him from that man in the bar. Although he wasn't in any danger, it was still helpful, and Ash wanted to be as honorable as possible. Therefore, he would let Eiji Okumura go, for now, however, he would be back and Eiji would not get a second chance.

Eiji woke up with a start. Groggily he realized he was back in his apartment. He felt awful. It took him a few minutes to remember what happened. Once he did, he gasped and sat up eyes turning to find the clock. 11:00 pm. Dread filled him. He had missed it.

"You're awake." Sing peaked his head in from the kitchen. "You were really drunk."

"What am I doing here?"

"That man…Ash? He brought you back." Sing sighed. "I guess he's not as bad as I thought he was." He scowled. "however, I still don't trust him. Did he give you that black eye?"

"No, that was from someone else." Eiji staggered to his feet and swayed ominously. "But that's not important. I need to get back to the café." If Ash wasn't the one, then that meant the assassin was still coming. Eiji had told the Lynx that he would be in the café. It would look bad if the assassin showed up and Eiji wasn't there.

"You are not going anywhere in your conditions. The café's closed already." Sing forced Eiji to sit back down. "Just relax alright?"

Eiji wanted to argue but his head was throbbing too much to make a coherent argument. Instead, he lay back down and closed his eyes. He had failed. Now his sister was in danger. He was supposed to be dead. He was supposed to be lured out by the assassin Lynx and be found dead so his sister could continue living her life. What was going to happen now?

Eiji felt foolish. He had really thought Ash was the assassin. He had really thought he was going to the bar to get drunk and then end up being murdered somewhere. Now instead he was alive, and the real assassin was probably angry.

He would have to try again. As long as Lynx was still on board, he would do this as many times as needed. This had to work. It was either him or Yumi and he wasn't going to let his sister die so a failure like him could live on. His life practically ended after his pole-vaulting career anyway. He lost the one thing that he was good at. He didn't have any more value other than his parents' money and power which were meaningless. Eiji turned over as he mulled things over. He would contact Lynx tomorrow. This time there would be no second chances.