Chapter 3: Assignments
A few days had gone by for the members of Weiss. Tai had grown so much more comfortable with the boys and the feeling was mutual. They took her in as if she had always been there in the first place; she made the boys feel complete. Thus, Tai was getting along rather well in her new surroundings. Every day she worked in the flower shop with the boys as they usually did during the day. It was their cover. To the rest of the world they were the attractive kids that worked in the local flower shop down the block, no one knew that it was a cover up for the blood thirsty killers they truly were. Yet there was a minor difference at the shop now that Tai was around.
High school girls usually flocked around the shop once school let out to get a glance at the attractive boys that worked their every day. Because of Tai's appearance, it was no longer the girls trying to see the boys, high school boys also showed up to admire the relatively sweet Tai. She was good to everyone. She always went to work with a smile on her face, her green apron wrapped tightly around her slender frame. Tai was good at what she did, and she did like flowers. The boys began calling her their "Rose". Yohji started that one actually. She was his rose, his beautiful blossom in the dead cold of winter.
The girls and boys that day had their faces pressed to the glass, their eyes wide with excitement watching with anticipation at the bustling within the shop. Tai was carefully carrying a bunch of white lilies towards the register where a happy high school girl awaited them eagerly. Tai handed the flowers to the girl with the light hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. The girl smiled and waved at Tai to thank her for her help. With a spin of her heels, she darted away laughing, clutching the lilies to her chest as she yelled back, "Thanks! Go back in!"
Ken placed his thumbs into the straps of his overalls and looked at the closing door as the girl ran off. He blinked momentarily, severely confused by the girl's farewell. But then again, when was Ken not confused? It was like Ken to always be missing things or not understanding things. It was in his nature. With a slight shrug, Ken shook his raven hair from his face and went back to checking the soil in the potted flowers' pots. Aya was off to the side, watering the flowers as he usually did. He had a blank expression on his face as he tried his best to ignore the giggling schoolgirls. Every so often you would here Aya scold calmly, "If you're not buying anything, get out." Something, however, was missing. Yohji was absolutely nowhere to be seen. Usually he would be found loafing in a corner and flirting with the older women as they came in to by their flowers.
"Hey Omi!" cried Tai, waving a hand the chibi boy's way. "Where is Yohji? He hasn't been around for a while." She asked the young boy who was handing out violets to three of his admirers. He had a bashful grin on his face and a hand placed on the back of his backwards cap. Omi shrugged, his eyes moving sympathetically to Tai. Despite how well she was getting along, she was having a rough time.
That time Tai made her way into his room, it was obvious she was having nightmares about the murder of her brother. According to Yohji, the nightmares were continues. She'd wake up screaming every evening, her voice calling out her brother's name desperately. Yohji would always have to wake up and comfort her until she fell back asleep in his arms calmly. But Omi knew what it was like to lose a sibling. He missed Ouka. Every Sunday he would still visit her grave, along with his father's. He thought to himself momentarily, daydreaming about Ouka's deep blue hair and compassionate blue eyes. Now that she was gone, he could confide in Tai. She could be the sister that he only had for a short time. She'd always be there for him. And Omi could be the brother that Tai had lost not too long ago.
Compassion. Need. Kindness. Omi knew none of this anymore. What was love? What was family? Omi only knew killing since as far as he could remember. That was until Tai had entered his life, and his heart. She danced her way in and made him feel the sense of closeness that he was never able to feel. His own brothers betrayed him, as did his "father". He needed someone. Omi was truly learning how to love and what family was like. Weiss was his family. Tai, Yoji, Aya, Ken, they were all his family and for that Omi was grateful.
"I don't know," he replied thinking a bit. "He's being quite mysterious lately. Don't you see him at night though?" Tai nodded slowly in response, taking that into consideration.
Indeed Yohji and Tai did speak in the evening time, but not too much. She missed Yohji's cheerfulness and even his pathetic flirtatiousness with all of her heart. He had seemed to become more delicately careful around her since that horribly embarrassing incident a few nights ago. Her heart sang deep within her chest. Yohji. She wanted Yohji and nothing more. Her body trembled with an unsatisfiable hunger, yearning to see his devious smile and sparkling eyes winking from his dark sunglasses. Want. She felt her body scream with want. She wanted Yohji's touch, his hands. She wanted to feel his hands caress her scarred shoulder and...what was she doing? She needed to get back to work. Omi blinked helplessly as Tai was obviously consumed inside of her own little world.
Suddenly, the door burst open from the basement. Yohji appeared from the darkness panting madly, his sunglasses reflecting off of the light. "Weiss," he said breathlessly. Aya shut off his hose, looking at Yohji in severe annoyance. He did not like to be distracted from his work because it angered him immensely. Everyone else just blinked back Yohji's way in shock from his outburst. It was unusual for Yohji to be riled up.
Taking a moment for breath, his chest lifted and dropped heavily as he did so. His dark red shirt was clinging to his body and his hair was falling out of his loose ponytail. When he was able to speak again, his voice was low and it pierced the air with an urgent tone, "We have a mission."
Once gathered in the basement for their meeting, the five assassins made themselves comfortable despite the tension that existed in the air. It had practically been nearly a week without a mission. This was the first time the five would be fighting together and no one even knew what Tai's weapon was except for Tai herself.
Tai sat, her expression extremely blank. Her palms were pressed deeply into her knees as she sat up straight filled with extreme nervousness. This would be her first mission.
Yohji and Aya leaned against the wall lazily for no particular reason. Aya's gaze was barely set upon the TV as he awaited Persia's video arrival impatiently. It was late now, there was no way there would be a mission tonight, they'd have to wait for tomorrow to night to start it. They needed to prepare of course. Ken was seated on the floor fiddling with the cuffs of the bottom of his jean overalls; he was always doing random things out of boredom. Sometimes Ken honestly had the attention span of a cheese sandwich. Tai's heart was beating in her chest. It felt like it was traveling up inside of her throat and she would end up gagging and spitting it out. She knew what was going to come and she dreaded it so. She might even die in the process of the particular mission she had already secretly been informed of before this. But, Tai knew she had to kill, kill for Aki.
Yohji's eyes were not set on the TV like Aya's were. His were dead set on Tai's tense body sitting upon the coach. He watched making not a noise, his glasses slipping down his nose as the seconds passed, but he did not notice for he was too busy focusing in on Tai. Yohji could tell that she was seriously nervous about the upcoming mission. Quietly, with his cat-like agility, he made his way across the room until he appeared behind Tai's place on the couch. He reached up, his fingers flexing momentarily as he paused, wondering if he should finish his action or not. Finally, he placed his tender hand down on her shoulder supportably, giving it a slight squeeze of affection. Warm. Touch. Hearts beating wildly with the passion of newly discovered feelings. Tai turned around, her cheeks blushing uncontrollably. There Yohji stood, the one who had always been there all along. He grinned down at her and Tai could not help but think of how beautiful he was. Was this feeling love? She felt so much for Yohji at this moment. Here he stood before her, supporting her.
The moment ceased as the television set switched on. A picture appeared illuminating the room in a white glow as the members watched intently. A man enveloped in the shadows seated behind a desk appeared upon the screen. This man was Persia, the head and brains behind the organization, Weiss.
"Weiss," he started. Omi drew in a deep breath. He had a gut feeling that what Persia was about to say was going to bring up terrible feelings for Tai, he was waiting. Persia's voice boomed from the speakers as he went on. "Your target is this man, Koto Mizayuki."
Everyone perked up and drew in sharp breaths as they heard the name that was announced. Aya glanced over at Tai, that was her last name, was it not? Yohji's mouth dropped open in a state of shock. Was this what Tai had been hiding all this time? Did her father kill Tai's brother? So many thoughts were swimming in his head at once that he pulled out a cigarette and began to feed his nerves with the soothing of his nicotine.
Tai's face, however, had turned a ghostly white. Her gaze became severely cold and unkind as she stared at the picture of the face of the gruff blond man with sharp square facial features. This was her father, the man that killed her own brother and tried to kill her as well. She didn't know why. Tai did know however, that he was not dead; she was only merely able to harm him before she got away and escaped. Hatred seethes from her glare as she sat not breathing, gazing at the vile picture before her eyes.
Persia quickly continued after the picture flashed up on the screen, "He has hired a group of assassins to rid the world of those that were competing with him in his political party. He would do anything to win and turn Japan into turmoil. Your other targets are also the assassination group known as Schwarz."
Aya's fists clenched, his knuckles turning white with a continuous fury growing within his veins. So they were also involved? Aya despised Schwarz with a terrible passion. He made a silent promise to himself that he would kill them this time, even if it meant sacrificing his own life in the process of doing so.
"Weiss, deny these dark beasts their tomorrows!" With that, Persia ended his speech. The TV switched off, leaving the basement back into it's orange glow with his words ringing over and over again endlessly in Tai's ears.
A few days had gone by for the members of Weiss. Tai had grown so much more comfortable with the boys and the feeling was mutual. They took her in as if she had always been there in the first place; she made the boys feel complete. Thus, Tai was getting along rather well in her new surroundings. Every day she worked in the flower shop with the boys as they usually did during the day. It was their cover. To the rest of the world they were the attractive kids that worked in the local flower shop down the block, no one knew that it was a cover up for the blood thirsty killers they truly were. Yet there was a minor difference at the shop now that Tai was around.
High school girls usually flocked around the shop once school let out to get a glance at the attractive boys that worked their every day. Because of Tai's appearance, it was no longer the girls trying to see the boys, high school boys also showed up to admire the relatively sweet Tai. She was good to everyone. She always went to work with a smile on her face, her green apron wrapped tightly around her slender frame. Tai was good at what she did, and she did like flowers. The boys began calling her their "Rose". Yohji started that one actually. She was his rose, his beautiful blossom in the dead cold of winter.
The girls and boys that day had their faces pressed to the glass, their eyes wide with excitement watching with anticipation at the bustling within the shop. Tai was carefully carrying a bunch of white lilies towards the register where a happy high school girl awaited them eagerly. Tai handed the flowers to the girl with the light hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. The girl smiled and waved at Tai to thank her for her help. With a spin of her heels, she darted away laughing, clutching the lilies to her chest as she yelled back, "Thanks! Go back in!"
Ken placed his thumbs into the straps of his overalls and looked at the closing door as the girl ran off. He blinked momentarily, severely confused by the girl's farewell. But then again, when was Ken not confused? It was like Ken to always be missing things or not understanding things. It was in his nature. With a slight shrug, Ken shook his raven hair from his face and went back to checking the soil in the potted flowers' pots. Aya was off to the side, watering the flowers as he usually did. He had a blank expression on his face as he tried his best to ignore the giggling schoolgirls. Every so often you would here Aya scold calmly, "If you're not buying anything, get out." Something, however, was missing. Yohji was absolutely nowhere to be seen. Usually he would be found loafing in a corner and flirting with the older women as they came in to by their flowers.
"Hey Omi!" cried Tai, waving a hand the chibi boy's way. "Where is Yohji? He hasn't been around for a while." She asked the young boy who was handing out violets to three of his admirers. He had a bashful grin on his face and a hand placed on the back of his backwards cap. Omi shrugged, his eyes moving sympathetically to Tai. Despite how well she was getting along, she was having a rough time.
That time Tai made her way into his room, it was obvious she was having nightmares about the murder of her brother. According to Yohji, the nightmares were continues. She'd wake up screaming every evening, her voice calling out her brother's name desperately. Yohji would always have to wake up and comfort her until she fell back asleep in his arms calmly. But Omi knew what it was like to lose a sibling. He missed Ouka. Every Sunday he would still visit her grave, along with his father's. He thought to himself momentarily, daydreaming about Ouka's deep blue hair and compassionate blue eyes. Now that she was gone, he could confide in Tai. She could be the sister that he only had for a short time. She'd always be there for him. And Omi could be the brother that Tai had lost not too long ago.
Compassion. Need. Kindness. Omi knew none of this anymore. What was love? What was family? Omi only knew killing since as far as he could remember. That was until Tai had entered his life, and his heart. She danced her way in and made him feel the sense of closeness that he was never able to feel. His own brothers betrayed him, as did his "father". He needed someone. Omi was truly learning how to love and what family was like. Weiss was his family. Tai, Yoji, Aya, Ken, they were all his family and for that Omi was grateful.
"I don't know," he replied thinking a bit. "He's being quite mysterious lately. Don't you see him at night though?" Tai nodded slowly in response, taking that into consideration.
Indeed Yohji and Tai did speak in the evening time, but not too much. She missed Yohji's cheerfulness and even his pathetic flirtatiousness with all of her heart. He had seemed to become more delicately careful around her since that horribly embarrassing incident a few nights ago. Her heart sang deep within her chest. Yohji. She wanted Yohji and nothing more. Her body trembled with an unsatisfiable hunger, yearning to see his devious smile and sparkling eyes winking from his dark sunglasses. Want. She felt her body scream with want. She wanted Yohji's touch, his hands. She wanted to feel his hands caress her scarred shoulder and...what was she doing? She needed to get back to work. Omi blinked helplessly as Tai was obviously consumed inside of her own little world.
Suddenly, the door burst open from the basement. Yohji appeared from the darkness panting madly, his sunglasses reflecting off of the light. "Weiss," he said breathlessly. Aya shut off his hose, looking at Yohji in severe annoyance. He did not like to be distracted from his work because it angered him immensely. Everyone else just blinked back Yohji's way in shock from his outburst. It was unusual for Yohji to be riled up.
Taking a moment for breath, his chest lifted and dropped heavily as he did so. His dark red shirt was clinging to his body and his hair was falling out of his loose ponytail. When he was able to speak again, his voice was low and it pierced the air with an urgent tone, "We have a mission."
Once gathered in the basement for their meeting, the five assassins made themselves comfortable despite the tension that existed in the air. It had practically been nearly a week without a mission. This was the first time the five would be fighting together and no one even knew what Tai's weapon was except for Tai herself.
Tai sat, her expression extremely blank. Her palms were pressed deeply into her knees as she sat up straight filled with extreme nervousness. This would be her first mission.
Yohji and Aya leaned against the wall lazily for no particular reason. Aya's gaze was barely set upon the TV as he awaited Persia's video arrival impatiently. It was late now, there was no way there would be a mission tonight, they'd have to wait for tomorrow to night to start it. They needed to prepare of course. Ken was seated on the floor fiddling with the cuffs of the bottom of his jean overalls; he was always doing random things out of boredom. Sometimes Ken honestly had the attention span of a cheese sandwich. Tai's heart was beating in her chest. It felt like it was traveling up inside of her throat and she would end up gagging and spitting it out. She knew what was going to come and she dreaded it so. She might even die in the process of the particular mission she had already secretly been informed of before this. But, Tai knew she had to kill, kill for Aki.
Yohji's eyes were not set on the TV like Aya's were. His were dead set on Tai's tense body sitting upon the coach. He watched making not a noise, his glasses slipping down his nose as the seconds passed, but he did not notice for he was too busy focusing in on Tai. Yohji could tell that she was seriously nervous about the upcoming mission. Quietly, with his cat-like agility, he made his way across the room until he appeared behind Tai's place on the couch. He reached up, his fingers flexing momentarily as he paused, wondering if he should finish his action or not. Finally, he placed his tender hand down on her shoulder supportably, giving it a slight squeeze of affection. Warm. Touch. Hearts beating wildly with the passion of newly discovered feelings. Tai turned around, her cheeks blushing uncontrollably. There Yohji stood, the one who had always been there all along. He grinned down at her and Tai could not help but think of how beautiful he was. Was this feeling love? She felt so much for Yohji at this moment. Here he stood before her, supporting her.
The moment ceased as the television set switched on. A picture appeared illuminating the room in a white glow as the members watched intently. A man enveloped in the shadows seated behind a desk appeared upon the screen. This man was Persia, the head and brains behind the organization, Weiss.
"Weiss," he started. Omi drew in a deep breath. He had a gut feeling that what Persia was about to say was going to bring up terrible feelings for Tai, he was waiting. Persia's voice boomed from the speakers as he went on. "Your target is this man, Koto Mizayuki."
Everyone perked up and drew in sharp breaths as they heard the name that was announced. Aya glanced over at Tai, that was her last name, was it not? Yohji's mouth dropped open in a state of shock. Was this what Tai had been hiding all this time? Did her father kill Tai's brother? So many thoughts were swimming in his head at once that he pulled out a cigarette and began to feed his nerves with the soothing of his nicotine.
Tai's face, however, had turned a ghostly white. Her gaze became severely cold and unkind as she stared at the picture of the face of the gruff blond man with sharp square facial features. This was her father, the man that killed her own brother and tried to kill her as well. She didn't know why. Tai did know however, that he was not dead; she was only merely able to harm him before she got away and escaped. Hatred seethes from her glare as she sat not breathing, gazing at the vile picture before her eyes.
Persia quickly continued after the picture flashed up on the screen, "He has hired a group of assassins to rid the world of those that were competing with him in his political party. He would do anything to win and turn Japan into turmoil. Your other targets are also the assassination group known as Schwarz."
Aya's fists clenched, his knuckles turning white with a continuous fury growing within his veins. So they were also involved? Aya despised Schwarz with a terrible passion. He made a silent promise to himself that he would kill them this time, even if it meant sacrificing his own life in the process of doing so.
"Weiss, deny these dark beasts their tomorrows!" With that, Persia ended his speech. The TV switched off, leaving the basement back into it's orange glow with his words ringing over and over again endlessly in Tai's ears.