Disclaimer: Weiβ Kreuz is owned by its owners (duh!)…My guess it would be Koyasu Takehito and his gang…I do not, in any circumstances, own it. This is for ENTERTAINMENT purposes only. Suing me won't do you good. I have no money…. I'm only in college, please…on scholarship…

Chapter II: White Assassin

It was deep into the night when the members of Weiβ Kreuz appeared on site indicated by information in the envelope. The night air was cool and invigorating, carrying with it the faintest trace of the coming winter. A few crisp leaves blew past them, settling for a few moments on the asphalt before being carried away by the wind once again. There was no moon in the sky, just a few scattered stars twinkling in the heavens.

They were sitting in the van, waiting for Angora to show up. Parked in a dark alley between tall and derelict buildings and coupled with the moonless night, they were nearly invisible to passersby. It was a good night to do a mission.

Youji flicked away his still-burning cigarette, its light making a smooth orange arc. He was impatient to meet this Angora. This person who took the task of finding out who the hell Kuroneko was. It was no easy task, hunting down Kuroneko. Some would say tracking down Kuroneko was tantamount to suicide. Many agents had died because of him, far too many for comfort. This fact had made Kuroneko the most hated and most feared of the enemies of Kritiker.

Up to now, it's still not known why Kuroneko was killing off Kritiker agents. Revenge is one of the most plausible motives why Kuroneko does what he does. No one had been able to prove that motive though, since no one knows who the heck Kuroneko was. Another theory was the existence of 'anti-Kritiker' organization which sole mission is to kill and destroy Kritiker. Again, this theory is unproven.

Behind Youji, Omi tested his crossbow, making sure his weapon wouldn't suddenly fall apart when a critical moment comes. Omi was wearing a white shirt underneath a dark blue vinyl jacket, coupled with black leather pants. He no longer looked like the friendly businessman next door. Somehow, he looked very grim in his clothes.

Omi was the only one whose preference on clothes was altered. The rest of them still wore their old clothes: Youji with his dark blue trench coat with a white cross design; Ken with his goggles, sweatshirt, jacket and whatnots and Ran with his deep purple, almost black, trench coat. They also still used their old weapons, although each of them carried guns now, just to make sure. Nowadays, everyone had to own a gun. With all the crime happening in the city, everyone should be able to protect himself or herself.

Ken took a deep breath. It had been five years since their last mission. Were they as good as before? Were they ready for this? Times had changed and so did people. I hope we're not over our heads this time, he said to himself as he adjusted his bugnuks, testing its sharpness. Nearby, Ran sat silently, his hands holding to his katana tightly, head bowed as if in prayer.

A faint flash of light from Ran caught Ken's eyes. Ken's gaze fell at the source of that light. It came from the gold ring on Ran's finger. It had been a gift to him.

Ken stared at it for a moment. He still wears it, like with Aya-chan's earring, Ken thought as his gaze wandered to Ran's ear where the earring was.

It's just a remembrance ring, Hidaka-san. Nothing more, nothing less. Why do you insist it's something more?

He was at it again. He couldn't get her voice out of his mind. He shook his head. He needed to have a clear mind for this mission and thinking about her isn't exactly a good thing when one wants a clear mind.

This was actually a relatively easy and simple job. They were just going to assist Angora in an information-gathering mission about Kuroneko. All they had to do was break into the specified place, hack into the computer system, copy the data into the disk, erase all tracks then get the heck out of there.

But as many say, it is the simple tasks that are the most troublesome.

Youji lit another cigarette. Like Ken, he was also silently worried on how they would perform in this mission. They were out of 'practice'. Five years would have certainly dulled their abilities.

Before Ken had arrived on the meeting two days ago, Youji had demanded to Manx why they were contacted. Youji was no one's fool. He knew what this meeting meant, but he didn't know why.

"What about the current Weiβ Kreuz? Don't tell me they're too scared to do this kind of work. Manx, don't tell me you Persia recruited a bunch of sissies to replace us!" Youji had fumed at Manx.

" All of the members of the current Weiβ Kreuz are dead, Youji," Manx told him quietly. "Kuroneko got to them first. They were killed two days ago."

Youji had been astonished by the news. A whole team killed by one person. Is the guy human?

Youji threw away his cigarette, cursing to himself as a piece of hot ash brushed on his arm.

Manx stared at her watch. "We're a bit early for the appointed time. We should wait for a while for Angora."

"There's no need to wait, Manx," a cool voice replied from behind her. "I'm already here. Good evening, minna."

All of them froze at the sound of the voice. It was feminine and frighteningly familiar. Ran's head snapped up to look at the owner of the voice. Omi dropped his crossbow, his body suddenly tensing.

The voice's owner stepped out from the shadows. "You're too early," Angora remarked as she revealed herself to them. All of them were stunned when they saw her underneath the dim light of a nearly burnt-out street lamp. Angora, like her namesake cat, had long, fine and silky white hair, though her eyes were a startling gold- green and not her namesake's copper or blue. She was a breathtakingly beautiful young woman, perhaps a year or two younger than Ran was.

But that was not what stunned the group. "You're dead!" Youji shouted hoarsely. "You're supposed to be motherfucking dead!" His eyes were wide, his mouth open. He bolted out of the van and stood staring at the new arriver. The rest of the group, who like him, was also staring at the girl, followed him.

Angora laughed dryly. "Is that the way you greet women nowadays, Kudou-san? You need to polish your line a bit. You won't get many girls by cursing them like that." She tossed back her snowy mane as she spoke, crossing her arms across her chest.

"But you're dead," Omi whispered, his voice suddenly taking on its younger tone. "They told us you're dead. It was even in the papers." His blue eyes filled with tears at the memory. "I was at your funeral–all of us were at your funeral. We saw your casket and your body being lowered to the ground." Omi shook his head. "You're dead," he repeated brokenly. "How can you be not dead?"

A ghostly smile lit her face, making her seem more haunting. "But I am, dead, that is. Legally, I no longer exist among the world of the living." She looked at them for a moment, her cat-like eyes narrowing into tiny slits of gold-green. "You haven't changed all that much in five years," she mused critically.

"But you certainly did, Patricia," Ran suddenly remarked in his quiet voice, his eyes never leaving their gaze on her face.

Another ghostly smile. "Yes, I certainly have." She turned to Manx, who was now stunned speechless. "Hello, Manx. It's been quite a while, hasn't it?"

"Quite a while?" Manx repeated, voice trembling. "It has been five years, Patricia. We thought you were dead for five years! Quite a while? I don't think so!" Angora remained unperturbed. "Where the hell have you been?"

"You will find out some other time, but for now, let's focus on the mission at hand," she told her.

"Not some other time, now! We will not help un–"

Angora cut her off. "Then don't. It was nice seeing you again, but since you wouldn't cooperate, I'm afraid this will be the last time we would ever meet." She turned her back on them, ready to walkout from their sight and lives forever.

"Wait."

It was Ran. She turned to face him.

"You may not owe an explanation to Manx, but you owe me one. You are not going to walk away without giving me that explanation," he asserted firmly. He took a step closer to her.

"You will have to wait after the mission for the explanation." Her glance went to another derelict-looking building a few meters away from them. "We're wasting a lot of valuable time arguing here."

Silence filled the dark alley for a moment. Angora's focus switched to Omi. "Do you know what you have to do?" she asked him, breaking the silence.

Omi, though still bewildered by the turn of events, managed to nod at her. "We need to penetrate the place in order to hack into the computer system since their main computer isn't linked to a modem. Security is a bit tough, but once we hack into their system, it should be fairly easy."

"We can't go barging in the house. There's more than a hundred men out there, armed to the teeth." She looked at the house again, squinted her eyes at the sudden glare of light from a passing helicopter. "The computer's somewhere up the house. It may look derelict, but inside, it's a different world."

"You've been inside?" Ken asked, finally finding his voice.

She nodded. "A while ago." She leaned against a wall, eyes trained on them.

"A while ago? Then security isn't that tight," Youji remarked. "After all, you managed to sneak in."

"A while ago, yes. But now that Kuroneko's boss is there, I rather doubt that."

"Kuroneko's boss? I thought–"

"Kuroneko works alone?" Angora interrupted smoothly. "Unfortunately, Kuroneko doesn't. By the way, Kuroneko was a girl, not a guy."

"Was a girl?"

"She's dead now. She's my…how should I say this…my substitute in the grave." She gave them a bitter smile. "The Kuroneko responsible for the recent killings is new. He's inside."

"You know who the new Kuroneko is? Are we going to take him out?" Omi wanted to know. He picked up his crossbow.

"The answer is no, on both counts. We will not, in any way, harm Kuroneko, unless in self-defense, of course. Believe me, killing Kuroneko now will only cause a whole new set of problems." She paused for a moment, brushing away stray locks off her face. Beside the blackness of the night and of her catsuit, her white hair was a startling contrast.

"Nice hair," Manx remarked suddenly.

Angora laughed. She toyed with one of her snowy locks. "This? It comes with the job. This just about puts a whole new perspective on the term 'White Assassin'." Then she turned serious. "Let's all remember this is an information-gathering mission, not an assassination. The information in that computer is a must-have." She glanced at her watch. "I've arranged for a sudden blackout in the area. It is only going to last for a few minutes, so we have to work fast."

Omi thought for a moment. "The computer would only stay on for a few minutes. Do you think we can hack in and copy the data in time?"

"Bombay, it was your computer company that made their computer's security system," she informed him with a slight smirk. "I think you'd find it a bit easy to hack something you designed yourself."

"Oh."

"Is that why you asked for us?" Ran asked her. "Because of Omi?"

She looked at him. "No. Not quite. I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. Kuroneko's rumored next targets are Asian agents. It doesn't matter if you're retired or not. Kuroneko will kill anyone who has a link with Kritiker. In that computer's data files are information about who will be those targets."

"So you're doing this because you what?" Youji queried bluntly.

"Why am I doing this should be fairly obvious, Balinese, but if you can't figure it out, then that's your problem," she retorted coolly. "Anyway, since Kuroneko has already dealt with and killed the current Weiβ Kreuz, you are the only ones who, I trust, are still skilled enough to handle a job like this." She checked her watch again. "The blackout should happen in a few minutes. Let's go to our positions."

They stared at each other for a moment. This is it, Omi thought, taking a deep breath. We're back in business. He surveyed his surroundings. He felt like he was transported back in time, back when they were the White Assassins.

Omi watched Angora closely, still not quite believing she was just a few feet away, alive and well. He wanted to imprint forever on his mind what she looked like today. He still had the nagging fear she would disappear after this mission, never to be seen again.

Her hair was now fashioned into chignon, though a few wisps fell in front of her ear and on her forehead. Her face had changed little since they last saw her, although she looked more cynical now, worldlier, more confident. She was more mysterious than ever, more enigmatic.

Her tastes in clothing and weapons changed as well. She was now wearing a skintight catsuit, revealing her slim but at the same time curvy figure. Omi's eyes bulged slightly when he saw the blade of the daggers strapped to her legs. The daggers' sharp edge had what looked like a saw's teeth. On the daggers' point was a sharp hook.

Who are you? Omi thought. She pretended to be dead for five years. Omi wondered what made her decide to take that course of action. What happened all those years?

"Hey, Himalayan," Ken started to call her but she interrupted, "It's Angora now, Siberian. Himalayan's dead." Her voice was as cold as ice.

There was another sudden uncomfortable silence. Ken looked away, unable to bear the probing gold-green eyes. Angora then turned to Ran and nodded. Ran nodded back.

The mission was about to begin.

~To Be Continued~

Note: I got the inspiration for Angora's daggers from David Edding's fantasy books, the Mallorean and Belgariad Cycles. They're what he calls as Ulgo knives.