Chapter 1 : The Assassin

Author's Note :

Wow, I honestly didn't plan to take 2 months off, but real life got busy and my creativity ran dry. I like to have multiple works on the go so I can switch gears if I run into a wall, like I have with my current project, so today I am posting the first chapter of a new story. This one will be a little different than the last one. Rather than being completely made up or taking place after the main story, I wanted to see what it would be like to write something that was simply another character's point of view of events that were already covered in To Love-Ru. The first few chapters will need to set things up, but the story will be familiar once all the key characters meet up.

I'll try to keep the chapters shorter so I can post more often. I can't promise I'll get back on my old 1 chapter a week schedule, but I'm excited to write again, so who knows!

Start :

The sound of a heavy footfall snapping a branch causes everyone to jump, and all five men turn and train their weapons on the newcomer. They quickly relax when they see his face, strained with fear and streaked in sweat. Just like the rest of them. He collapses in an exhausted heap next to the small fire that the other five are huddled around.

"So this is it then?" One of them says, the largest of the group, a man the others simply know as 'Elias'. He growls angrily as he lifts the smaller man off the ground. "You call yourselves mercenaries, but you let a single man beat the whole lot of you? Is this what I paid for?!" He yells.

He'd had a full two dozen men with him back at the meeting place that afternoon when they were supposed to deliver their latest haul. Now, after fleeing through one of this planet's many large jungles for the past several hours, here he was. Cold and beaten and hiding in fear with the remains of his band. "How can it get this cold on a jungle planet anyways?" He thinks to himself. He tosses the cowering man back to the ground and moves closer to the fire, trying desperately to warm his hands. "It's not right!"

"No way was that one man back there." One of the others argues. This man is quite short, but if he is intimidated by Elias' size, he doesn't show it. "They were everywhere at once. Had to be at least ten of them. Maybe they even outnumbered us." The others at the fire start nodding in agreement, not appreciating being called cowards by this leader who had been the first to run away.

"No, it was just one." Another says. This man stands back from the fire, seemingly more worried about what may be approaching them from the jungle than he is about the cold. "And it wasn't a man either."

"What are you talking about?" The short man asks, seeming annoyed.

"Don't pretend you didn't see her!" The third man shouts. His eyes flick from face to face, seeing the same fearful look on all his companions. "We all know who's after us." He points an accusing finger directly at Elias. "Or rather, who's after him!"

All eyes, including one set of cold red eyes the others are not aware of, turn to Elias. Seeing that he is quickly losing control of the situation, Elias starts to back away from the group. "Now hold on…"

Before he can get far, the short man levels his weapon at Elias' chest. "Well if that's the case." He says. "Then it sounds like there's a simple solution here."

There is a sudden blur of motion as a small form leaps down from her perch on a branch high above the group. At the same time, the flash of a blade streaks across the center of the group perfectly cleaving the weapon in half. The two halves of the rifle strike the ground before the man even realizes he has been disarmed.

"You may fight amongst yourselves as much as you want." A calm voice says from the darkness, just out of reach of their firelight. "But no one harms my target." Another flash of movement as a length of blonde hair shoots out of the darkness and entangles Elias. His feet are yanked out from under him, dropping him heavily to the ground. He tries desperately to grab on to anything around him, but he is quickly lifted high up into the air and left dangling above the fire.

"The rest of you are of no concern-" She doesn't even need to finish her sentence, as the rest of the men simply turn and run, no longer fearing the cold dark of the jungle when compared to the alternative.

"Wait! Please, stop!" Elias whimpers pitifully as he sees her approach out of the gloom. Were it not for her reputation and his current predicament, he would have marveled at the look of her. Long blonde hair, slight figure, beautiful face. But those eyes, cold and calculating, and fixed directly on his own. Her appearance promised nothing but doom to someone like him. One of her 'targets'.

Early the next morning a small black spaceship speeds away from the planet. Her business concluded, the assassin known simply as 'Golden Darkness' has no desire to remain any longer than necessary.

Business with those like Elias is always unpleasant. Smugglers selling stolen weapons this far away from the capital are usually ignored by anything resembling official 'law enforcement'. Whenever one group wants another eliminated, they turn to someone like her, an assassin. Taking down a slug like Elias was so far beneath her skills that she often contemplated simply ignoring the requests.

But what else was there for someone like her to do?

"Luna." She calls out to her ship's AI program, which shares the same name as her ship, the 'Lunatique'. As always, the AI responds immediately to her voice and a face appears on the monitor in front of her. Before he can ask what she wants, Golden Darkness continues. "Set a course for..." She trails off, realizing she doesn't actually have a destination in mind.

"Uh, where to?" Lunatique asks, after several moments of silence pass.

Golden Darkness sighs heavily. "Just… take us away from here for now." She finally says. She begins walking towards her bedroom at the rear of the ship. "And check if any messages came in while I was away."

As she closes the door to her bedroom, the AI appears on one of the wall displays beside her bed, a concerned look on his face. "Is everything alright, Master?"

"Everything is fine, Luna." She says, sighing again as she begins to loosen the straps on her clothes. Dark mud is caked to everything, and she hates the feeling of being dirty. After another short pause, she turns to the screen. "Do you ever wonder what it is we are doing?"

Lunatique is caught off guard by the question, and struggles to come up with an answer, especially as she continues to disrobe, depositing the dirty clothing into a nearby hamper.

"What do you mean, Master?" Lunatique finally blurts out. "I'm just here to serve you in whatever way I can! And you, well, you're out there eliminating threats to the galaxy."

Golden Darkness chuckles, a smile finally crosses her face, but there is no warmth in it. "Threats to the galaxy? Is that what I'm doing?" The smile fades. "That smuggler was a nobody. The only person affected by his removal is his rival, the man who hired me to eliminate him." She pulls a comfortable sleeping gown over her head and sits down on her bed. "Soon enough someone else will hire me to eliminate him as well, and then no one will remember him or the work I did."

"They may not remember exactly what you did, but everyone knows who you are." Lunatique argues. "Your reputation-"

"Gains me what, Luna?" Golden Darkness asks. Her eyes flash angrily, but the AI can see that it is an honest question. His Master has often grumbled about the seemingly meaningless routine they find themselves caught in, but he has never seen her this emotional before. Of course, a spaceship AI wouldn't have been programmed to understand adolescence.

"I'll, uh, go check on those messages for you!" Lunatique uses the pause as an out, not knowing how to continue such a serious conversation.

Golden Darkness sits on her bed, too angry to sleep and not really understanding why. "How many years have I been at this?" She wonders. "Six, seven?" She reaches down to the bedside table and opens the top drawer. She looks at the broken object inside, one of only a few links to her childhood, but does not reach for it. She rarely ever removes it from the drawer. It's not that she DOESN'T remember her childhood and how she came to be the way she is, but rather that there are memories she would prefer not to dwell upon.

"I'm better off alone." She thinks. "No one would want to be around someone like me anyways. With the things I've done." She reaches her hand into the drawer. "But what if?"

Her thoughts are interrupted when Lunatique reappears on the screen before her. "What is it, Luna?"

"A message did come in just a short while ago, Master." The AI hesitates, knowing she won't be happy with the news. "It's from the planet Gaama."

"Lacospo?" Golden Darkness asks, her skin already crawling.

"Yes, it's from the Prince. He requests your presence as soon as you are available."

The Prince of Gaama. A long time employer of Golden Darkness, and a perfect specimen of everything she hates in the universe. He rarely ever leaves his lush palace, which he fills with scantily clad serving women and his collection of 'wives', his harem that he can't get through any conversation without mentioning. During their first meeting, he had made the mistake of suggesting Golden Darkness join that harem, a mistake that nearly cost him his life despite his lofty position.

"Tell him to send me the contract." She says, impatiently. "I don't want to go anywhere near that toad or his palace."

"He, ah, says this one is very important." Lunatique says. "He says it is too sensitive to be discussed anywhere other than in private." Lunatique lowers his voice, even though no one else is present on the ship. "He said that royalty is involved."

Golden Darkness glowers at the screen. If it really does involve royalty, then she can't argue with the request for discretion, but meeting with the annoying and lustful Prince of Gaama was never a pleasant experience. "I hate perverts." She mutters under her breath.

"Your reply then?" Lunatique prompts.

"Set a course." She says. "And wake me when we are almost there." She lays back in her bed, knowing that sleep probably won't come in time before they reach their destination. "Maybe that toad will be stupid enough to ask me to kill a Deviluke. Then I'll finally have a reason to get rid of him."

The AI quickly fades from the screen, returning to his many duties of running the ship, happy to be serving his Master.

As Golden Darkness tosses and turns in bed, she suddenly remembers the bedside table and reaches over to close the drawer, taking one last look inside. In the bottom of the drawer lies the broken remains of a necklace. A child's toy, really. The crushed necklace used to have a large star shaped pendant attached to it, but all that remains is the chain and a few broken pieces of yellow plastic.

She closes the drawer.

End.