A lone crow flew across the wind, free from the dangers down below. For the crow, the sky was its paradise, where it freely flapped its wings crossing the trees and houses below it.

The crow wondered how life would be if it was never born with wings, doomed to survive the harsh life on the earth,where nasty predators mostly reside.

The crow felt itself getting hungry, and thought about scavenging for a piece of fruit that is still fresh for consumption. It worries not for anything, save fo

How unfortunate, for unknown to the crow, its thought of having a meal shall be its last, for a simple gush of wind separated its head from its body, its wings no longer flapping, its corpse brought down to the earth by gravity.

How unfortunate indeed.

Kai sheathed Shinku and went to look for the bird he killed earlier. It's not much, but it's plenty as breakfast. After grabbing the lifeless avian, he leapt across rooftops and and began looking for a suitable place to start a bonfire.

While cooking the bird, Kai thought about his plans for today. So far, the capital seemed rather peaceful, if you want to call it that. He had seen the police force obviously abusing their power over the lesser civilians, even so far as capturing and imprisoning those who so much as talked back at them.

Of course, Kai didn't simply stood back and watched. He rushed in and knocked out both the guards who were taking the innocent civilian into custody. After telling the civilian to run away, he leaped back onto the rooftops and away from the public. All in the blink of an eye.

Which is why instead of simply spending his coins on buying himself a breakfast, he assumed it would be better to just cook himself one. He was sure the guards earlier didn't see his face, so it's unlikely he would be plastered on the wall anytime soon, but you could never be too careful.

Only his second day in the capital, and Kai thought he had already made a reputation for himself. Well, he was already used to this really.

After finishing the bird he roasted earlier, Kai decided to head back to the capital to look for clues, primarily regarding Night Raid. Perhaps he could storm the police station to look for any intel regarding the band of assassins.

Or perhaps he only needed to wait until night. Considering their name, Night Raid would probably carry out their operations on the capital often during nighttime, and he could possibly intercept them during one of their missions. But that would mean he had to stay awake for the duration of the night on the lookout for this mysterious group.

Speaking of mysterious...

Faint sounds of clashing swords caught Kai's attention, apparently originating from a dark alleyway not far from where he was now. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, he stopped and observed the situation from above. Five males, all of them wearing Imperial Police uniforms and armed with swords, and a young raven-haired girl whose clothes are in tatters, currently facing the former five, with a bloodied knife in hand.

He spotted another imperial police member laying on the floor, blood oozing from his neck.

The girl seemed no older than 15, based on her physique. From what Kai had surmised, she managed to take down one of the police members, probably by surprise, and was now at a disadvantage against the remaining 5. She had some bruises and cuts on her arms and face, and was currently panting heavily, but still looked like she could fight. The other guys, however, doesn't seem like they were threatened in the slightest. Their faces held grins, a sense of pride and desire evident, which was never a good thing.

"You...you bastards..." The girl began to talk, a hint of anger present in her tone. "Mom...Dad...Nana...all of them are dead...because of YOU!!!"

One of the imperial police, possibly their leader, raised an eyebrow, before replying,"Oh? So you're the daughter of those two merchants who recently came back here before? Funny, I didn't know they actually had a kid. Guess they did more than just making money, huh?"

Her hands started shaking out of anger, and in a split second, the girl slashed at the man in front of her, an attack which was simply blocked by his sword. She slashed at him again, and again, numerous times, to no avail. Her attacks did nothing, and she was getting tired. Seeing her finally slowing down, the man formed a fist and punched her in the face, causing her to drop down her knife and fall to the floor.

"Tch, so weak. If you want to kill someone, at least be good at it. If you want to survive in the capital, you need to be strong, stronger than this. It seems your parents' death isn't enough motivation for you yet, huh? You little insect. Maybe I should start framing all your friends next, see how that works out for you."

His words struck deep into her heart. She clenched her teeth and her fists tightened, to the point blood started coming out. She was angry, angry at the monsters who framed her parents and executed them when they were simply trying to make a living, angry at the world for being unfair, but mostly angry at herself, for not being strong enough. Tears started forming in her eyes. She wanted to get up, to pick up the knife and kill those bastards, but she couldn't.

"But don't worry, I'm sure we could find some use for you. You don't look too young, and I know a few people willing to pay for someone with your looks. And you know what? I think me and my friends could have some little "fun" with you, the same way we did with your mother. I still remember the look on that bastard's face seeing his wife like that. Heh heh heh," The men laughed with sinister looks on their faces. She was doomed, that was for sure. She had hoped that she could at least say goodbye to her friends before being taken away as someone's personal plaything. She wished none of this ever happened. She wished she could see her parents again. She wished she could be embraced in her grandmother's arms again.

"Mom...Dad...Nana...I'm sorry..." She said to herself, sniffling. She hoped she could have a chance to be stronger, to be better, but it seems fate wasn't that kind.

"Now...let's see what you-urgh!!" His sentence was stopped short by a sudden pain in his chest. He looked down, to see a crimson blade sticking out of where his heart was supposed to be. The blade suddenly twisted, forcing him to scream in tremendous pain, before it was pulled out, drawing blood everywhere. The man fell to the floor with a hole in his chest, the last thing he ever saw, was a pair of yellow eyes.

The remaining men were shocked at what they were seeing. A black-haired stranger jumped from above and landed right behind their leader before stabbing him in the back, killing him. The stranger was wearing a grey trenchcoat with a white shirt underneath and dark blue trousers, with a dull red scarf wrapped around his neck. In his hands, an odd-looking crimson sword, harboring an ominous glow, as if it was alive.

But what caught their attention the most was his yellow eyes. The eyes of a predator, observing his latest prey.

They kept staring at the stranger in silence. They were too late to react, as the stranger moved first.

The first one had both of his arms chopped off in the blink of an eye, before his own head was disconnected from his body. The second one tried to stab the stranger in the neck, keyword being "tried". His hand which held the sword disconnected from his arm, and before he even had the chance to scream in pain, he felt a metal blade stabbed into his neck, before falling to the floor lifeless. The last remaining two swung their swords at the same time, only to be responded by another swing from the stranger. The sheer force of his blade was so strong, it shattered the two swords upon contact, leaving the two men unarmed. Before they could even react, they heard a gust of wind, and a dozen cuts formed on their bodies. Unable to even move, their bodies made contact with the earth below, while bleeding to their deaths.

All that, in the span of five seconds.

Sheathing back his sword, Kai let out of sigh.

He was upset.

People who have met Kai before thought that he was like a machine, his expressionless face never changing no matter what he did. They thought that Kai could not feel any emotions at all. They were wrong.

Kai indeed CAN feel emotions. He just didn't show it.

And right now, he was upset.

Screw that, he was pissed.

Pissed because he knew who the imperial police members earlier were talking about. The merchant he saved a few days ago, and his wife. They must have been living in the capital for quite some time, eventually settled and had a child. They were probably traveling towards the borders to trade, and the daughter was left behind in the capital while they were away. How she could take care of herself was unknown to him, but everything else started to make some sense.

He hated it when he couldn't save someone from a terrible fate. He hated it when his efforts ended up in vain, when the people he tried to save somehow still ended up meeting their end. He had seen too much of that.

It made him feel like no matter what he did, he couldn't change everything. It made sense in a way. You can't save everyone. The world doesn't work that way.

He was so focused in his thoughts that he forgot there was one other person who witnessed what he had just done.

"Wh-who...are you?" The girl behind him asked weakly, her body was shaking out of fear. Fear of the man in front of her.

The man suddenly started walking towards her, and before she even realized it, picked her up bridal-style and leaped to the walls and then to the roof of a building.

"Wha-? What are you doing!? Let me go!!" Kai ignored the girl's pleas and kept moving. He was lucky there wasn't any people near the alleyway where six bodies now lay on the floor. But he couldn't risk getting caught by any nearby police force patrolling around or any random bypasser at this time of day, and he couldn't just leave this girl behind as well.

After running for minutes, he finally settled on a lonely alley and let the girl off. Picking herself up, she quickly backed up to a wall, still wary of the stranger in front of her. The stranger, however, simply stared at her with a blank expression. He then started to walk away, leaving her just like that.

"W-wait!!"

He stopped in his tracks.

"...thank you. For what you did, back there. If...if you weren't there, I... I don't know what...what would've happened..." Tears escaped her eyes again. She was simply grateful for what had happened. Those bastards were dead, they got exactly what they deserve, all because of this man.

He seemed to realize that, as he turned back to face her, and gave a small nod. After which he started walking away again.

"Huh? W-wait!!" She cried out. He stopped again.

"I...I 've got nowhere else to go. Nana used to take care of me whenever my parents left the town, but now...I've...I've got no one else to go to. I-I couldn't risk my friends' lives if I go to them, so...please, take me with you."

A long silence followed.

"I'll do anything you ask...I'll go wherever you go...I just...I don't know what to do anymore..." She continued again.

Time seemed to stand still between the two.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, the man walked up to the girl, and patted her on the head.

She was surprised by this, but didn't say anything. She looked up to see the man's face. She realized he looked younger than she thought. Possibly only a few years older than herself. He stared into her eyes, and slowly nodded, perhaps as a sign that he accepted her. Her eyes widened, and for the first time, she smiled. She finally lost her composure and buried her face into his chest, crying as much as she could, letting out all the sorrow, all the despair she had built up within.

Kai simply patted her head in silence. The girl has been through a lot, he could understand that.

He contemplated in his own thoughts, analyzing his current situation.

What initially began as a mission for intel ended up with him now becoming the guardian of an orphaned girl who had nowhere to go.

Things might get a bit trickier from now on.

-

Author's Note

So uhh...this chapter was a bit late compared to my previous chapters. Sorry about that.

But like I said before, I don't have any schedule for when to post new chapters, and I will only write a new one when I feel like it. So sometimes I will post a new chapter in a few days, sometimes a few weeks, maybe even months. But I won't be abandoning this story, it just takes me a while to get the motivation, much less the idea, to write a new chapter. Again, I'm still not sure how to change the flow and outcome of the story(and I'll be basing this on the anime version,I haven't read the manga), so if you guys have some cool ideas,feel free to post in the comments.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my story so far, and ciao.