Notes and disclaimers: Okay so I don't own Gundam Wing but I own the Satostyee family (Keiko, Nataski, Nanaskae and Akirra), and Coldblade. I also own Starlight. All the other characters I could care less about.
Chapter 3
A week later Keiko knew it was time to tell her secret. She pulled Relena aside and said, "Ms. Relena I need to speak privately with you."
"Certainly. We can go…" Relena started to reply but Keiko cut her off.
"No. You must come with me to my apartment. That is the only place I'd feel safe enough to confide in you what I must." Keiko said.
Relena read between the lines and nodded her head swiftly.
"I'll just leave a note saying we went out for a little while." She said.
Within half an hour Relena was comfortably seated at Keiko's small table facing the girl.
"For starters I'm not really a bodyguard. Now before I go on, please let me tell my story without interruptions. What I tell you is secret and no one, absolutely no one is to know." Keiko said firmly. Relena nodded.
"I am a professional assassin; the best of them at that. My name is Keiko," Relena gasped, "Syria is actually a nickname made from my real name, and Styee is only part of my real last name.
"When I was ten, I saw my parents and my older brother killed. I was hiding, but I couldn't see the killer. He had been wearing a ninja costume, but I knew it was a man. That was when I began training for what I am.
"Now, three weeks ago my recent client gave me a new assignment." Keiko said, walking to her filing cabinet. She slid open a drawer and pulled out a manila folder. She went back to the table and slid the folder to Relena while taking her seat again.
"Wha…What is this?" Relena managed in a whisper. She was overwhelmed by what Keiko was telling her, but as she looked at the folder, she realized why Keiko took the job as her bodyguard.
"My assignment was to assassinate you. And I'm telling you all this because I found that you're innocent of any possible reason my client can come up with for why I should be done with you. The only reasons I can see are that you love, you have a family, you have friends. So I am truly your bodyguard; to protect you from other assassins. I am the best." Keiko finished.
"May I ask you some questions?" Relena asked, closing the folder once more.
"Yes," the Asian whispered.
"When you were ten and after you trauma had passed, where did you stay? Who took care of you?" the blonde asked carefully wording the question.
"I have only one friend. Her mother took me in. We grew up together and became assassins together." Keiko replied, not purposely evading the name.
Relena studied the younger girl and then said, "It's Chloe Maclaod, isn't it?"
Keiko nodded, "She hates her real name and goes by Starlight when she can help it." She added with a smirk.
"So, you're going to stay as my bodyguard?" Relena asked.
"Yes. I'm telling my client you are innocent and I'm not fulfilling my assignment. You are safe in my hands." Keiko replied. "But you must not tell anyone what I have told you today. There are things that people must never discover, my life and yours depend on it." She said, her voice dead even.
Relena nodded sincerely, "Not a soul will pry it from my lips."
"Thank you." Her assassin/bodyguard replied.
"I have one more question." Relena said, Keiko nodded, "Who is your client?"
Keiko slowly shook her head, "I do not know the identity of my client. I only know it is a man."
"Thank you anyway Keiko." Relena replied, if with some disappointment. She rose and faced the girl, "Well Syria, I'm afraid we must return to the mansion. Pierre will start to worry."
"Yes, Ms. Relena." Relieved, Keiko rose and followed her employer out the door.
They drove back silently only breaking when Relena said, "Thank you for telling me."
Later that night Keiko went home to find Starlight lounging on the couch. She looked content sprawled out on the cushions.
"Well, it looks as if you're night and day went well." Keiko commented, laying her purse on the table.
Starlight sat up and blinked at her friend. "I found Relena's folder on the table. Did you…?" she trailed off.
"Yes. She knows. She also knows an edited version of my past too." Keiko replied.
"Well, when are you calling your client?" Starlight asked.
"Well, now that you're here, I'll call him now." She replied. She found her client's phone number and quickly dialed it. It rang three times before it was answered. Keiko put it on speakerphone as she heard, "Hello?"
"This is Keiko Assassin. I'd like to speak to my client."
"This is him." The speaker replied.
"I can not do the assignment. I have found that this target is innocent of everything. She is no longer an assassin's target." Keiko said in a business-like voice.
"She is not innocent. Finish your job." He commanded.
"I will not. The only thing that she is guilty of is love. She has a family, she has friends. I refuse to assassinate this person. She will not die by my hand." Keiko said firmly.
"She will die by your hand or another, but she will die." The man proclaimed, anger entering his voice.
"She will NOT! I am her hired bodyguard. Anybody you hire to take her out will be taken out by me. You know perfectly well what I am capable of. So you are forewarned." Keiko nearly yelled, slamming down on the hang up button.
Starlight wordlessly and quickly made a cup of green tea and handed it immediately to Keiko. The Asian, still fuming, took it and sipped from the mug. She automatically started calming down. Starlight poured herself a cup and slowly sipped at it; it was still really hot.
It took a full fifteen minutes for Keiko to completely calm down and for her nerves to resettle. She poured herself more tea when she finished her cup as Starlight did the same.
After her last cup of tea, Starlight said, "I'll be back. I'm gonna bring back some Japanese take out. 'Sthat okay?" she asked.
Keiko nodded but otherwise said nothing. She watched her friend leave and twenty minutes later returned with a take out bag full of tantalizing aromas.
"Thanks Starlight." Keiko said as she rose from her chair to make another pot of green tea.
"Hey, you'd do the same." The redhead replied, "But to repay me, we're going out to eat tomorrow night." She smiled evilly.
Keiko realized what her friend was planning to do. She let out a slight sigh and rolled her eyes. When Starlight wasn't flirting she was playing matchmaker. She watched the redhead leave about an hour later and gave a smile when she was gone. She sat in her armchair with her refilled cup in the darkened living room. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander.
It turned to the dark memories of her past.
"MOMMA!" the ten year old screamed. Blood streamed from the bullet wound in the chest of the woman that lay on the floor. The little girl shook her mother's dead body, sobbing. She stood and went to her father and brother's bodies not very far from the woman. They had died so close together.
"DADDY!" she screamed even louder. She lost her family all in a matter of minutes. The little girl screamed continuously…
Keiko dropped her mug, tea and all. It hit the wooden floor, shattering the ceramic mug and spilling the semi-hot tea everywhere. But Keiko was oblivious to it as another dark memory surged forward.
Brandon Zimmes sat in the chair at the local café. He looked lost in thought, worried and partially anxious about something that he was thinking about. But when she sat in the chair across from him, he looked up at her into her green eyes.
"Syria, we need to talk." He said gravely.
"What about darling?" Keiko asked, her eyes bright with excitement for their wedding. It was two days before the BIG day.
"I can't marry you." He said flatly.
Keiko blinked as her heart began to shatter, "Wha…what! Why!"
"I know you're the assassin Keiko…" With that Keiko's world fell.
"I know you're the assassin Keiko…I know you're the assassin Keiko…" echoed in Keiko's mind as she jerked from the doze she fell in to. She finally felt the burning tea on her legs and gasped harshly.
"Aw! Shit!" she was instantly back to reality. She ran to the kitchen, grabbed a towel and hurried back to clean the mess up. She carefully picked up the broken pieces of her mug and threw them in the trash. She quickly finished cleaning up her mess and then went to her bathroom. She took a nice long, hot shower. When she dressed for bed thirty minutes later she braided her long black hair and ended it with a blue hair tie.
She slipped into her bed not too long later and turned out the lamplight. Falling asleep Keiko brought up happy memories of her long dead family.
TBC