Chapter 2

Aini opened her eyes and sat up. She looked around, puzzled. A moment before, she had been in that comfortable state of

sleep where you can leave all your cares behind. What was out of place was that she couldn't see any reason to be awake. She

glanced across the room at her digital alarm clock, and blinked… She blinked again. It showed 3:00 AM. "Damn", she

muttered. She felt sleep pulling at her, but something still felt out of place. She got swiftly out of bed, while simultaneously

grabbing her pistol, (which was never kept out of her reach) and went over to the door. She stood there, silently, and listened.

There was complete silence. She gave it some time, and was about to head back to bed, when she heard some noise coming

from outside. She brought the pistol up, swung open the door, and quickly focused on the first thing that moved. She exhaled

slowly; it was a silvery cat. " Great, thanks a lot Frostbite." She said as she shooed off the cat. Then she paused. Something was

still out of place. She looked to the stairs, just in time to see a figure disappear around the corner of the building at the top of the

stairs.

Aini took off after the figure. She didn't slow up, even after the figure saw her and took off down the street. The pace

picked up. They were both sprinting. Going over fences, through backyards, under, over, around, and through any obstacles

encountered. They kept going and Aini began to wonder how much longer they could keep up this treacherous pace. Finally, the

figure seemed to be slowing down. Aini smirked at this; but her eyes widened a couple of sizes when the figure took off, as fast

as before. With a frustrated growl and a muttered, "What the heck, why not." She whipped out her pistol; Sighting and shooting

in one well-practiced motion. The figure dropped to the ground, but after a moment tried to get back up. "About time" Aini

muttered. She quickly approached the figure and kicked him back down, pointing her pistol at what appeared to be a teenage

boy, about her age; at least that is what his size and build told her. She couldn't see his face. She told him not to move and

asked, who do you work for? If you answer honestly it will spare you some pain and save you your life. The boy just laughed at

that and pulled out a gun from behind his back. He started to point it at, and without a thought she fired hers.

"Kuso", she cursed quietly to herself. "Darn it, not another needless casualty. Ugh." She searched him and found only a

letter. She opened it, curious now, and read it. Then she reread it. After a few seconds, realization dawned on the teen's face,

before it went completely pale. Dropping the letter, she backed away. On the letter, there were only four words.

MISSION COMPLETE- Congratulations Aini

"What have I done?" she quietly asked the silent night, searching for an answer. Her mind snapped back to a message she

had received about three weeks before. She had been stationed at a "safe-house" and she had received a new assignment. It

was to be the completing stage of her training. It said that her friend, Jason, had become a traitor. Her mission was to "get rid of

him". She had been shocked and didn't believe it from the beginning. This was what cost her the career she had trained her life

for. Knowing that Kiana's new partner didn't accept failure, Aini had fled to a safe place and then refused the mission. She had

known that they would send someone after her. She was surprised it had taken this long. Suddenly a thought occurred to her."

Oh, no", was all she could squeak out. Aini crawled over to the body, pulling off the mask that had been covering the face and

finally seeing the face for the first time. "No, no, no, NO!" Was all she could say as she backed away from the body shaking

and whimpering.

FLASHBACK

An eight-year-old Aini and a 10-year-old boy named Jason were at a gym of the base they now occupied. Jason was an

orphan that Kiana had adopted when he was two. He was solemn, but also sweet and innocent, despite what war and

bloodshed he had already grown used to at such a young age. When Aini had gotten to the base, she had been lonely. This boy

had more or less adopted her as his little sister. Jason was in the process of teasing Aini on how little and naïve she was. He said

it was really cute. She had gotten mad, her eight-year-old pride wounded, and responded with, "Hey! You better watch out.

One of these days we will fight and I will win." Little had she known how true those words would become in the future.

END OF FLASHBACK

'That's it,' Aini though, 'that's the last straw.' She stood up and walked over to her adoptive brother to say her final

goodbyes. After finishing, she left his body, collected the pistols, and began her long walk home. As she walked, she made a silent oath to herself. "One of these days, I will find you, Kiana, and I will make you regret what you have done." The angry

youth then entered her house, her face cold and emotionless, as it would remain until her mission was complete.

She would not have been so quick to go inside if she had known that she had a silent observer, one witness to all that had

occurred; nor would she have been so quick to leave the body if she had known the observers hand in the incident. Had she

searched it a little closer, she would have found a second bullet whole; the one that had killed her friend. The silent observer

watched as Aini walked into her apartment, and whispered silently to himself, "I haven't forgotten my promise, little one. Use

this accident to strengthen yourself, but don't let it destroy the lovely one that I remember." With that the figure settled down in

their blankets for a long night of guard duty.