Fourteen

"Damn it!"

Matador's removed his fist from the wall, revealing the sizable dent he'd just created. He was feeling more then a bit annoyed with himself at the moment. An unsuccessful assassination attempt was frustrating at the best of times, but in this case it was even more so since his target had been so defenceless. Today he'd tried to kill an eleven year-old girl, but failed. Damn, that sounded bad when you said it out loud.

He'd been far too careless – he hadn't expected her to resist as emphatically as she had. True, he hadn't had much experience with kids, but he did know they weren't meant to fight back. She had. And embarrassingly, that had allowed her to escape. As a result, his first-time advantage was gone. Now his prey would be suspicious and that always doubled the difficulty of any job, whether freaky albino girl or otherwise.

What made it all the more frustratingly was the fact that under normal conditions he could have killed her easily. Instead of approaching her on the street he could have just shot her as she walked along. No complications, just a bullet in the skull and a fast getaway car. And he'd have his money already. But no, things had been made that bit more complex.

All this was bad enough, but the real kick in the crotch was letting that security guard see his face! Keeping your identity secret was one of the key rules of being an assassin. He'd carried out several jobs before this one and each time no-one had seen his face and lived through the hour. But thanks to his carelessness, not only had the girl seen him, but also that security guard had too. Chances were every cop in the vicinity knew his face now and would be keeping an eye out for him.

Completely infuriated with himself, Matador dug his nails into his palms. There was no denying that he'd performed like a bloody amateur today and paid the price. In his own mind, he blamed his cockiness for this letdown - losing to his ego was easier to accept than losing to a fucking kid. He hammered the same spot on the metal wall, broadening the already considerable dent. Little bitch! Why couldn't she have accepted her fate and made things easier for both of them?!

Despite his current anger, Matador was a professional and he knew that this aggression would soon pass. This was a setback, not a total failure. The job wasn't over yet. He would have to be patient, and strike again when the opportunity presented itself. And next time, the brat wouldn't be so fortunate.

* * *

That night Ruri was thrashing around in bed, unable to find sleep easily. Ever since that encounter with that scarred man earlier today, she'd been having certain thoughts which she couldn't get out of her head. Why had he been chasing her? What had his intentions been?

It was the knife under his coat which disturbed her the most. It hadn't been a pocket knife, or even a regular hunting knife. It had been longer than either, with a hideous jagged edge. Clearly a tool used for murder. Not the kind of thing a regular person should have on him. So had he been intending to kill her? Or kidnap her? Or maybe he'd wanted to threaten her for money. Or maybe…, Ruri shuddered as she considered a fourth disturbing possibility. Just thinking about that last one made her feel nauseous inside.

Well, it probably hadn't been money he'd wanted. Why would anyone bother robbing a school-girl, carrying only the change from her lunch money on her? It just wasn't logical – it would have been more beneficial to attack an adult. But in any case, that wasn't the reason. So what was it then? This was really beginning to bother her.

Just then Ruri remembered a vital detail.

"He mentioned my name,"

He'd known who she was. That meant she'd been targeted and whatever the man's objective had been, it had concerned her in particular. That narrowed the possibilities considerably. With this revelation, the two front-runners were killing and kidnapping in her mind. But which one, and for what reason?

Of course Ruri came to the logical conclusion.

Nergal.

Clearly they were up to something, there was no other explanation for anyone singling her out. Did they intend to kidnap her and force her to work on their battleship? A possibility of course, but it didn't seem likely, not unless Akatsuki was even more short-sighted then he appeared. Surely they knew that even if they did force her, she wouldn't carry out her duties with the same dedication and efficiency as she had aboard the Nadesico. She'd stall, slack and use the ship's technology to her own personal advantage, all the while searching for an escape route. It was painfully obvious that she wouldn't cooperate and one would hope that the chairman of such a powerful organisation would have the vision to see that.

But if it wasn't kidnapping, that meant…

No, Akatsuki wouldn't have dared. Would he? Well, he had given the order to eliminate Yukina, the Jovian girl, when her existence had become inconvenient. And only the efforts of Megumi and Minato had stopped him from killing Tsukumo, Yukina's elder brother, when he'd infiltrated the Nadesico. And while she was alive, she was a threat to his company, not least because she knew of the existence of his new battleship.

"Just don't forget that your fate was self-imposed,"

Akatsuki's final words echoed in her head. Was this what he'd meant with by that? Was he implying that her refusal to cooperate with his plan had earned her early death?

She suddenly decided that she had to find out for sure. It was time to hack into Nergal. At this point she didn't care whether they traced her or not – she had to find out the truth.

After groping aimlessly under her bed for several seconds, Ruri eventually put her hand on her laptop. She plugged her makeshift internet connection into its back and booted it up. As the loading screens flashed by, she found herself twitching with nervous impatience. Once it was set up Ruri's fingers fell on the keyboard like torrential rain, as she began the progress of breaking into the Nergal network.

Ruri's connection was slow meaning it took a bit of time to find her way in. However, she didn't find it difficult to bypass the Nergal's security mechanism and was in the heart of the network before long. Now a bit of research was required.

For twenty minutes she viewed file after irrelevant file, not finding out anything useful to her investigation. Frustratingly, she wasn't able to access files of the highest security clearance – they were so highly protected that they could only be accessed at certain terminals within Nergal. That meant the information she was looking for was probably out of her grasp. She was on the verge of giving up and going back to sleep, when something caught her eye on an accounts page which froze her blood.

Preliminary Sum paid to 'Matador' for the assassination of Ruri Hoshino – ¥1,800,000.

In that instant of confirmation, terror gripped Ruri like it never had before. She found herself on the verge of hyperventilating as the overwhelming horror struck her mind head on. Involuntarily, she lashed out at her computer and cut the power, as if deleting the evidence would also remove this terrible truth. But there was no denying it now. She had snubbed Nagure Akatsuki and now he was going to kill her for it.

"I'm only eleven years old! I'm not ready to die!"

Of course she wasn't. There was so much she hadn't done in life. She hadn't yet mastered her own human emotions. She'd never felt true happiness in any form. She'd never truly loved another person. But all that was irrelevant to Akatsuki and his corporation. They wanted her dead and, knowing them, they wouldn't be satisfied until she was.

In that moment, the fear made Ruri do something which she'd never done before now.

She cried.

It started as a solitary tear, seeping from her left eye and gradually rolling down her cheek. Then her throat closed up and she emitted a tiny frightened sob. After that the flood-gate opened and she wept tumultuously, tears spilling freely from the immense pools of her eyes.

It was like some hideous nightmare had come true. Suddenly she felt tiny and vulnerable, just like the child she was. Her mind had decided to cave in on itself, devoting all resources to panicking. She became very conscious of her frenzied heartbeat and rapid, uncontrolled breathing, even as warm drops ran down her pale face.

"Please, someone. Help me."

Sitting there in the darkness, she'd never felt so alone. There was no-one who could save her now. Not Akito, not Yurika, nor anyone else on the Nadesico crew. She was alone. And for the first time, she couldn't rely on herself to resolve the situation. She could process data, solve logical problems and work wonders with computers. Evading a professional assassin was a completely different story and one which would certainly have a tragic ending.

"It's over. I can't cope with this alone,"

As total despair overcame her, she curled up into a frightened little ball, pressing her wet cheeks into her bed-covers and balling her fists to her chest. She held herself in that position and sobbed. Truly, she'd hit her lowest trench. This was the worst it had ever been for her.

"Ruri, is that you?"

The darkness adjourned abruptly as Mikoto flicked on her bedside lamp. Ruri unfolded herself and sat up. Though her vision was blurred with tears, she could see that her purple-haired roommate was startled. She could be forgiven for that – no-one had ever seen her the way she was now.

"Are you crying? What's wrong?" Mikoto's voice said. Her stare was a mixture of concern and disbelief.

"It's Akatsuki," Ruri mumbled, her voice faltering. "H…He's trying to…" She stumbled on the next word. "Trying to kill me," she eventually blurted, hanging her head so that her fringe hid her eyes.

"My God!" Mikoto's hand flew to her mouth in horror. "Oh Ruri, are you sure?"

Ruri nodded, wiping away tears with the palm of her hand. "I just hacked into Nergal," she said, choking out the words. "I found out that he's hired an assassin to eliminate me." She wiped away a few more tears with her index finger before continuing. "I'm…afraid."

"An assassin?" Mikoto sounded incredulous.

"Yes," blurted Ruri, sniffing heavily. She wiped her eyes on her bed sheets before saying, "I-I knew Akatsuki wouldn't be happy when I turned down his offer. But I never would've thought he'd do this." She covered her face with her hands.

Mikoto remained silent for several seconds, digesting all this in her mind. Eventually she drew the right conclusion, saying, "So that guy that came after you today was the assassin?"

Ruri nodded, keeping her hands in place. "That's the only logical conclusion,"

"Oh my God!" Mikoto gasped. "I don't believe it! That's like…oh my," Her voice faded as she began to comprehend just what she was telling her. For several moments she just stared into space, her eyes wide and shiny like a couple of compact disks. In the meantime, Ruri lowered her head and continued to sob weakly in fear.

Eventually, Mikoto managed to regain control of her body and looked over to the weeping girl on the other bed. Pity welling up within her, she flung back her covers, walked over to Ruri's bed and sat on the end of it.

"Here, take this." She held out a pale blue handkerchief to her. Ruri took it gratefully and dabbed her eyes before blowing her nose. As the albino girl struggled to recover her composure, Mikoto looked over to her from the foot of the bed.

"Look," she said. "You have to tell someone about this. Get Miss Nishida to call the police!"

"She wouldn't believe me," said Ruri as clearly as she could manage. "I don't think anyone would."

"You have to try! If your life's on the line, you have to do something about it!"

"No-one can protect me from Nergal," Ruri shook her head in defeat. "They are too determined. Once they have a goal they will pursue it to its conclusion, no matter what it involves."

"So that's it?! You're just going to give up and let them kill you, without even putting up a fight?" cried Mikoto.

"No," mumbled Ruri. "I'll try to think of something. If only I had some more time…" She leaned forward, two fingers pressed to each temple. More tears seeped from her screwed-up eyes.

Mikoto regarded for her another moment. Then, to Ruri's complete surprise, she leaned over and hugged her. Though she felt initially awkward, Ruri admitted it was comforting.

"Look, everything's going to be okay," she said in soothing tones. "I'll help you. I know that I'm not smart or special like you, but if I can do anything to help, I will, alright? We'll do whatever we can to save your life, 'kay?"

"Okay," replied Ruri, nodding faintly. She'd finally stemmed the flow of tears.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to think of something," said Mikoto, holding her position. "You're the smartest person I know, even including adults. If you can't think of a way, no-one can!" She pulled away and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Thank you. I appreciate your support," said Ruri, wiping the last of the tears from her eyes. She gave her friend the tiniest ghost of a smile from behind her tear-stained cheeks. Mikoto's eyebrows immediately launched into orbit.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, amazed. "You smiled!"

"Perhaps,"

"Wow. You're full of surprises, you know that?"

"I know. It's the way I am," said Ruri neutrally.

"Huh. That's certainly true," Mikoto stretched out and yawned. She then tossed a strand of hair back over her shoulder and asked, "So what now?"

Ruri looked up to the ceiling and triggered the rational part of her mind. "I suppose we should get some sleep," she replied, in something approaching her normal tone of voice.

"Do you think you'll be safe? He won't try to break in here, will he?"

"I don't think he will. At the moment, I'm protected by the orphanage's security locks. Although he could probably bypass them somehow, it would be far easier for him to catch me on my way to or from school, like he did today. I believe that is what he'll do."

"Okay," said Mikoto. "Fair play, I guess." She patted Ruri twice on the shoulder and then upped and went back over to her own bed. Pulling the covers back over herself, she reached out to switch her lamp off, but before she did so she looked back over at Ruri and spoke once more.

"Hey, you know, don't worry. I'm sure everything will be fine,"

"I hope so," replied Ruri quietly.

"Night,"

"Good night," Ruri lay back down and turned towards the wall. Over in her bed, Mikoto turned the light off and she was plunged into darkness again. Ruri closed her eyes, though she knew that no sleep would come tonight. Regardless of anything else, she was a target for assassination. People wanted her dead. Tonight, she'd received more emotional stress then she'd ever had, but crying about it wasn't going to help. She needed to take action, and soon.

At least, Mikoto was on her side. She'd need more then her compliments to survive this, but Ruri had to admit that simply talking to her about it had already helped ease her mental burden a fraction. It was comforting to know that she wasn't completely alone in this.

For now, it was time to rest up before she decided what action to take. She'd look at the situation in the morning. Like Minato had said, everything seemed worse at night – the morning brought new life and positive thoughts.

Ruri exhaled desolately. Having Minato's advice was no substitute for actually having her here with her. Somehow, everything would have been better if those people who had become her surrogate family were here now.

"Minato. Mr Tenkawa. Captain. Miss Reinard. Mr Aoi. Everyone. Where are you all now? Everything would be all right if you were here with me."

She shed a final tear as she drifted off. However tomorrow turned out, she'd be facing it without them.