"Assassin's Creed: Elf Song"
By cdc100
Summary: As a child, Kaede is adopted, and now has a loving family. However, when her new father is kidnapped, she must learn the ways of the Assassins in order to save him.
Disclaimer: This is a work of pure non-profit fan fiction. I do not own any of the characters, their weapons, their abilities, or any of their universes, nor do I own any of the lyrics that will appear in later chapters, or any of the products mentioned in the story such as Coca-Cola, or PlayStation.
Chapter Three
"Perspective"
As Joe received directions for his next mission, he surveyed the rooftops of Kamakura. From what his supervisor was telling him, it sounded as though his next objective was a good few miles away. To find his target and come back before Kaede woke up would most likely take him all night, so he wasted no time in taking his bearings and starting his mission.
As he ran across the rooftops, dodging all the areas where police were likely to roam, he went back over the events which happened up to this point in his head.
His superiors in America had sent him on a special mission in Japan, without really giving him any specifics, explaining to him that the Japanese Assassins and their American liaison would explain the details.
Luckily for him, the Assassins had people working in airports all across the world, otherwise, acquiring the necessary tools for his trip would have been difficult. One of the Assassins' airport employees swiped him with a fake wand, and had his luggage tagged with a special sensor that would trick the scanners into reading his luggage as clean. He went through the same thing when he arrived in Japan. Before leaving, he had asked his publishers to schedule an event in Japan, in honor of his latest book.
As soon as he checked into his hotel, he got ready for both things he would have to go through that night: the meeting with the Japanese Assassins and the book party.
The latter proceeded as it usually did: A lot of drinking, a lot of talking, and a LOT of autographs. He was thankful for his training in patience and maintaining his sobriety. Him being the guest of honor, he would most likely be the last person to leave the party, but it was worth the explanation as to why he came to Japan of all places. A book tour, while impromptu, would make for a perfect excuse to be there. That, and being a self-professed hardcore otaku didn't hurt.
After he finished the party, he went back to his hotel room. As it was nightfall, it was the most opportune time to meet up with the Japanese Assassins.
Feeling that it was best not to draw attention until it was absolutely necessary, he kept on the same clothes he wore at his book party: a black jacket and pants with a light blue shirt and sapphire tie. However, in case of necessity, he brought along the necessary mission tools in a large case.
He scheduled this particular book party a mere two blocks from where his meeting was to take place. So, as soon as he was sure nobody would see him, he proceeded cautiously down the street until he reached the address he had memorized before arriving in the country. It seemed to be a condemned building, and looked like it used to be a fast food place, or at least what passed for one in Japan. Without thinking much about it, he went to the back of the building, and, after making sure that nobody else was around, knocked quietly on a specific panel on the back.
He waited for a few moments, before saying, in a low tone…
"The hawk has made its nest."
With that, a small clicking sound could be heard, and the panel opened very slightly. Joe checked once more to make sure that nobody was around before entering and closing the door quietly. As he entered, he was escorted by a man in a long, dark coat down a long hallway, with their only light being a small flashlight, carried by the escort. The two came to a narrow staircase off to the side of the hallway, and the escort beckoned for Joe to follow. Years ago, a meeting like this would have unnerved him, but since joining the Brotherhood, he was used to much worse accommodations.
Upon reaching the end of the staircase, the escort shut the door that connected the cellar with the stairs. For a moment it was dark, but the dark was soon dispelled by a small light in the corner of the room, which offered an orange glow that flooded the room. Joe looked over in the corner and saw a trio of men standing by the light switch.
"You are Halcón?" one of the men asked.
This man was clearly Japanese, as was the man to his right, but the man to his left, Joe deduced, was the American liaison.
"Yes," responded Joe. "But please, feel free to call me Joe, or Joseph, if you prefer."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Joseph," said the man, coming forward and shaking his hand. "I am Ishiro Tamaki. I am one of the Brotherhood's ranking members here in Japan. This is my personal bodyguard, Hamuro Ganta."
The muscular man to the right of Tamaki gave Joe a curt nod, after which, Tamaki spoke again.
"And this is the American liaison to the Japanese brotherhood, Frederic Dumont."
The man to the left of Tamaki smiled to Joe.
"Welcome, Joseph," he said. "I trust your trip here and your book party went well?"
Joe gently placed his case next to the table nearest him before answering.
"Yes, they did," he said. "And thank you for the warm welcome. Forgive me if I seem overly quiet. It's just that I am curious about something. I thought that the Japanese Assassins were headquartered in Osaka."
Ganta spoke in place of Tamaki.
"You are correct, Joseph," he said. "However, there has been activity lately that, frankly, demanded the Brotherhood's attention."
"What kind of action might that be?" asked Joseph.
Tamaki spoke this time.
"One of our scouts situated here informed us that he had seen a lot of movement from suspicious-seeming people all over the city. He observed over a span of a week that there were people who our contacts in the underworld did not recognize, and who people in the city do not seem to recognize either, roaming around town in a lot of unsavory locations."
"The scout took pictures of some of these men," said Ganta. "And we had our bureau's resident technology specialist run their pictures through a facial recognition analysis. The pictures all came back with identification, but their records all seemed too clean."
"Joseph," said Tamaki, "we requested you by name to come out here. We felt the need to contact you because we think there is a strong possibility that these people might be from the Templar Order."
Joseph said nothing, still listening to the strangers.
"Dumont here tells us that you have experience in recognizing, tracking, and eliminating Templar agents," said Ganta. "We would like your help with determining whether these people are a threat, and if they are, eliminating them."
Joseph nodded.
"Well, the first part of that is easy," he said. "Templars usually carry a pin of a red iron cross somewhere on their person, assuming that they're not vain enough to display it on their lapels. If we can find a group with someone who appears to be high-ranking amongst them, we can ambush them, and search them for the pin. If they have the pin, our doubts will be eliminated."
The Japanese nodded, and Joe continued.
"I'm guessing that you also wanted an American to come here and assess the threat on the off-chance that they turn out not to be Templars, and our 'targets' can write the attack on them off as a tourist gone rogue. Am I correct?"
"That is part of the reason, yes," said Tamaki. "However, we thought it best to bring a high-ranking Assassin over in order to be prepared for the worst-case scenario."
Joe nodded once again.
"The rest of what you want to happen will be tricky," said Joe. "Assuming that they truly are Templar agents, we don't know what they are after, and without that piece of information, we won't be able to completely eliminate the threat. The Templars are tenacious. If we just eliminate the immediate operatives, the Templars will just send more to succeed where their predecessors failed."
"Joseph is right," said Dumont. "The Templars have nearly unlimited resources, so unless we can find out for sure what they want, and stop them from achieving it, we'll be dealing with an army of Templar operatives who just pick up where their comrades left off."
Tamaki nodded.
"In that case, time is of the essence," he said. "We will need to assess the situation quickly if we are to coordinate an effective defense."
Joe picked his case back up.
"I brought my equipment for just such an occasion," he said. "I can search the city at night for any of the people your scout picked up."
Tamaki rummaged through a few of his pockets.
"Our scout sent us this picture, and told us where the man depicted will be, and at what time," he said. "Tonight, we want you to go to the place he is expected to be, and find out if he is, in fact, a Templar."
Joe looked perplexed.
"We're getting right into this?" he asked.
"I realize that this seems to be unfolding inordinately quickly for you, Joseph, with you having just arrived," said Tamaki. "However, as I said, time is of the essence."
Joe nodded.
"You have no need to be worried about tonight," said Ganta. "If you feel that you are unprepared, I feel obligated to inform you that you won't be alone. You'll have the support of our own Assassins."
"It's not that I feel unprepared, Ganta," said Joe. "I just didn't expect you to be ready to engage so quickly. I don't see this being any problem at all."
The Assassins all nodded their heads.
"Well, if that's the case, you may make use of one of our guest rooms to get ready for your mission," said Tamaki.
Joe bowed his head.
"Thank you, sir," he said.
He took his case a few steps past the staircase before turning back and addressing his hosts.
"Look, no offense, but I hope that you're wrong about these guys," he said.
"As do we all, Joseph," said Dumont.
Joe continued past the staircase and into one of the rooms. Once in, he took off his restrictive business clothes and opened his carrying case to find the garb he had been given upon completion of his training. First, he put on a pair of tight, yet somehow comfortable black pants. Then, he covered his feet with a pair of long leather boots, not quite long enough to meet his knees. Then, over his shirt, he placed a black bullet-proof vest. The advance of modern technology had necessitated a vest being given to as many Assassins as possible. He then pulled on a long white coat with a hood. Under the coat, he hid a belt, which not only held the symbol of his Brotherhood, an A-shaped mark, but also carried a variety of weapons. The belt held a machete, a telescopic nightstick, throwing knives, a switchblade, a long fighting knife, a long pistol which came with a detachable silencer, a dart pistol, a grappling hook launcher, and a variety of grenades. He then put on a pair of black gripper gloves with knuckles built in. After he was done equipping himself, he added the finishing touch to his armament: a pair of bracers, which he strapped over the sleeves of his coat. After tightening the bracers, he gave his wrists a flick, and out of each of the bracers came a short, thin blade. The two bracers also held a small pistol, a poison dart launcher, and a nozzle that would spray a powerful anesthetic. Seeing that his bracers would do their job, he pulled his hood over his head and exited the room to meet his hosts once again. He raised his arm to his chest before addressing them.
"If you guys already have my mission lined up, I'm ready to begin when you are," he said.
Tamaki came forward and handed him the photograph he fished out of his pocket minutes ago.
"This is your target," he said. "Our scout informed us that he would be leaving a bath house near the shoreline this evening. You must incapacitate him and then bring him to us. He will undoubtedly have escorts, so disable them before advancing on him. Our support will take care of them while you bring him to us."
With that, Tamaki gestured with his hand in a downward fashion. As he did this, one man and two women dropped down from the rafters, each wearing a similar outfit to Joe.
"These are our support team. The man is Yusuke Aizawa, and the two women are Chitose Takahashi and Toko Sakaki. Yusuke will be your watcher. He will observe your movements and those of your targets and will notify you of their movements and of how you should proceed. Chitose and Toko will be in the field with you. They will take care of any evidence left behind by you and draw away any unwanted attention."
Joe regarded each of the Japanese Assassins with an approving look.
Ganta stepped forward and handed Joseph a small device.
"We use these to communicate with each other over distances," he said. "Make good use of it while on your missions here."
Joe accepted the device and promptly put it in his ear.
"Good luck with your mission, Joseph," said Ganta.
"Make sure that your target comes in good condition," said Tamaki.
Joe nodded.
"It will be done, Master Tamaki," he said. "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted."
The other Assassins chorused their motto with him.
Joe led his new squad out the back of the hideout, and after making sure nobody saw him, he gestured for his team to follow. Quickly, he climbed a nearby wall and perched himself on the rooftop, waiting for his team to join him. When all were accounted for, he led them, running, toward the shoreline. As they ran toward their destination, Joe questioned his team.
"How long until this man is supposed to leave the bath house?" he asked.
"At least an hour," said Yusuke. "We have plenty of time to reach the shore."
"Good," said Joe. "Is there anything you'll need for this mission?"
"I'll need a place high up so that I can get a good view of the field," said Yusuke. "Toko and Chitose will simply need a hiding spot."
"As long as they follow my lead, they have nothing to worry about," said Joe. "As for your high point, will that cherry picker work?"
As they continued to run, Joe pointed toward a vacant cherry picker that was elevated close to a power line. Yusuke regarded it for a moment before continuing to follow Joe.
"That should be high enough," he said.
Joe nodded.
"We'll split up. You take that cherry picker and Chitose and Toko will follow me."
Yusuke nodded and ran over the rooftops toward the cherry picker. Joe watched Yusuke run to the top of the ladder and perch himself at the bottom of the basket of the cherry picker. When Yusuke was in position, Joe led Toko and Chitose to a small office building and had them wait on the roof.
"Wait for my call," said Joe. "When you hear it, you will come down and take care of any signs of a fight. You will need to take care of the escorts when I finish. Find a place to hold them."
They nodded his head, and when he saw this, he went down lower, on the top of a house that overlooked the front gate of the bath house, and perched in wait for their target. He still had quite some time before his target would leave the bath house, so to occupy his time, he surveyed the scenery of the area. He liked the view he had of the ocean. Even at night, the ocean looked radiant. He also liked the architecture of the area. It reminded him that he was far from home, but even the best Asian architecture in California couldn't compare to what he saw.
Time passed very slowly for Joe. He had almost considered doing a practice run around the roof, but didn't feel as though he should expend his energy or draw attention to himself until his target came. One thing that he found helped pass the time waiting for his targets was his ideas for his books. He liked to think of the kinds of books he would write after his current ones. Aside from making a good cover identity, Joe considered being an author to be a fun job. As he finished thinking about the kinds of characters he would have in his next book, he heard static over the earpiece Ganta had given him.
"Halcón," said the voice, who Joe knew was Yusuke.
Joe placed his hand over the device in response, listening for Yusuke's word.
"The target is coming out of the door," said Yusuke. "We have movement."
Joe looked toward the bath house, and sure enough, out came the target, a plain-looking Japanese man in a black suit, followed closely by two more muscular men.
Joe took a deep breath and walked back a few steps away from the roof. As he did, he raised his stance. He looked in the direction that the trio seemed to be walking, and found a perfect place to strike. He then took a few steps away from the side edge, then ran forward, repeatedly jumping from rooftop to rooftop, until he landed on a lower rooftop. Joe then jumped off the roof and landed in a bush, waiting for the trio to walk by him. As they passed him, he carefully exited the bush, then snuck along the wall to the corner of the house, where he waited for them to take a few more steps. He then walked speedily towards the trio, crept up behind one guard and brought the edges of both hands down onto his neck, hitting the pressure points at the base and sending him falling to the ground. As the other guard started to turn, Joe sent his fist hurtling towards the guard's temple, then brought his other fist into his solar plexus, causing him to fall, too. The target took this moment to notice something was wrong, but was too late. Joe jumped on top of him, bringing him to the ground and unsheathing one of his hidden blades, pointing it at the man's face. The man was too scared to move, and so Joe retracted the blade and flicked one of his fingers.
"Sleep now," he said, as a gray fume spewed from the nozzle on his bracer.
As the target succumbed to the gas, Joe began searching through his pockets. It took a few seconds, but eventually he found exactly what he hoped not to find: a red pin in the shape of an iron cross.
"Damn it," he said.
He pressed his hand to his ear and spoke.
"Yusuke. It's just as Tamaki feared," he said.
There was silence before he heard Yusuke's reply.
"I'll report it to Dumont," he said. "Chitose and Toko will take care of the scene while you take him back to the hideout."
Hearing these words, Joe slung the man over his shoulder and walked along the alleyways of the area, ducking into a hiding spot when needed. He eventually came back to the hideout. He knocked on the back door of the restaurant, and Dumont answered it. He helped Joe carry the man down toward the basement.
"Were there any problems?" Dumont asked.
"He had two guards," said Joe. "But they went down easily."
"What of your watcher?" asked Dumont, as they set the man on the table in the middle of the room.
"He told me he would see to any liabilities," said Joe.
Dumont strapped the prisoner to the table and turned on a cone-shaped lamp hanging over the table.
"What do we do now?" asked Joseph.
"Leave him to us," said Dumont. "He will tell us what the enemy's plans in this country are before long. Meet with your supervisor. We will contact you when we have extracted the information."
Joseph picked up the case that held his equipment, bowed, and started back up the stairs.
"Godspeed, Dumont," he said over his shoulder.
"Safe travels, Halcón," replied Dumont.
"Nothing is true. Everything is permitted," they said at once.
With that, Joe exited the building, and disappeared down an alley, stripping off all of his equipment and placing it in his case as he went. As he came out near his hotel, he was thankful that he thought to keep his tie done so that he could put it back on without having to tie it. He crossed the street carefully, and then came to the front doors of the hotel. As he came in, he was greeted by several of the hotel's employees. He bowed in response to them, then went up to the front counter, where he was greeted by a younger hotel employee.
"Good evening, sir. My name is Koji. Are you checking in?" he asked.
"Yes," said Joe. "I made a reservation here a few nights ago. It should be under the name Joseph Martino."
Koji looked through the records and found the reservation.
"Ah. Here it is."
Koji and Joe set up all of the things necessary for his check-in.
"Let me just get your key for you, and you should be set," said Koji.
He did so, and handed it to Joe.
"We hope you enjoy your stay, Mr. Martino," he said. "If you need anything at all, give us a call."
Joe smiled.
"Thank you, Koji."
With that, he went back out to the curb, where he had parked his rental car earlier, and grabbed the rest of his luggage. Along with the luggage, he went ahead and brought in all his equipment. When he got to his room on the fifth floor, he put his luggage into the closet and undressed. While he got ready for bed, he went through the channels, paying attention to the news every once in a while, but then stopping on a cartoon so that he could be entertained before he went to sleep. He finally got into bed after settling on an anime that had recently premiered. He watched it until he fell asleep.
The next morning, Joe was awoken by a ringing sound. He opened his phone, which he had set to charge the night before, and found out two things: first, it wasn't even seven in the morning, and second, he had a text message from a blocked caller.
Meet at hideout
Needing no more warning, Joe got out of bed, pulled a small breakfast out of his mini-refrigerator and set it in the microwave to heat up while he got dressed. He dressed in a light blue shirt with a cobalt tie, and put a black suit over the top of it. As soon as his breakfast had finished, he pulled it out of the microwave and began eating. He ate as he walked to the elevator and finished by the time he came to the ground floor. As he walked by the front desk, he saw Koji waiting to greet him.
"Ah, Mr. Martino. Sleep well?" he asked.
"I slept great, thank you, Koji," answered Joe. "I'm going out for a while, so let me know if I receive any calls."
"You got it," said Koji.
With that done, Joe left the hotel and cautiously went to the location of the hideout once again. Checking to see that nobody was around, he knocked on the back panel once again, and was greeted by Yusuke, who led him down to the basement. Tamaki and the other Assassins sat at the same table the prisoner was bound to the night before, and gestured to a vacant seat, which Joe promptly took.
"Welcome back, Joseph," said Tamaki.
Joe nodded.
"What's this meeting all about?" asked Joe.
Tamaki wasted no time getting to the matter.
"We have managed to extract information from the Templar prisoner about what his masters' objectives are here in Japan. Ganta, if you would care to elaborate."
Ganta turned toward Joe and began talking.
"I was up all night grilling that Templar," he said. "He first refused to tell us anything, but eventually, he let slip that the Templars were funding an institute of some sort. He could not tell us where it was, but he was able to tell us that his superiors were currently searching for someone."
Ganta stopped to pull something out of one of his pockets.
"This cell phone was used by the Templar up until he was taken into our custody," he said. "It has only one picture on it."
Ganta passed the cell phone down the table, to Joseph, who picked it up. Upon picking it up, he rummaged through the cell phone until he found the camera function. He was shocked upon opening it. Looking back at him was a young girl who had unusual features, even for someone not from Japan. The girl in question had reddish pink hair and red eyes, which contrasted interestingly with her pale skin. But the feature that stuck out most was a pair of small protrusions, one on either side of her head, which resembled horns.
"Who is she?" asked Joe.
"The Templar didn't know anything about her," said Ganta. "Only that he had been tasked with finding her and bringing her in. We can't verify whether everything he told us was true, but he said that he alone was tasked with finding her, had found out where she was, and was about to inform his superiors when we captured him."
"So, where can we find her?" asked Joe.
Ganta pulled a map out from under the table and pointed to an area just outside the town for Joe to observe.
"Out here is an orphanage," said Ganta. "The man had observed her sitting by herself on the playground during recess."
Joe nodded.
"So, I gather that our next course of action would be to get ahold of her ourselves?" he asked. "Keep her out of Templar hands?"
"You are correct," said Tamaki. "However, Joseph, we feel that we cannot have her directly connected with the Brotherhood. It would undoubtedly endanger her and possibly break the Third Tenet. So, we would like her to be retrieved in such a way that we may watch over her, and keep her away from Templar hands, but also in such a way that she will not find out anything about us."
Everyone was silent for a moment, but then Joe spoke.
"I have an idea," he said. "But you will have to hear me out all the way."
Everyone listened intently.
"I have something of a reputation for being a ladies' man," said Joe. "My publishers have often suggested that if I had more of a family life, I might be more appealing to my readers and any prospective readers. I have talked to them a few times about adopting a kid. I wonder if being in America would be enough of a distance to keep her away from this so-called institute."
Tamaki nodded, sensing that Joe was not finished.
"Speaking modestly," said Joe, "I have a great sum of money at my disposal. I could approach the orphanage as a donor, and use my donation as leverage to adopt her as my daughter."
Tamaki spoke this time.
"I sense you might have something else in mind as well, Joseph," he said.
Joe cleared his throat before answering.
"To be plain, Master Tamaki, I believe that with proper guidance, and a loving hand to point the way, we might be able to groom her to be one of us."
Everyone murmured amongst themselves after Joe finished speaking, but Tamaki silenced them with a wave of his hand.
"What you suggest could be very risky, Joseph," he said. "Are you sure that such a thing would be wise?"
"What we are talking about, here, is removing a person of interest from a Templar-controlled environment," said Joe. "From what I gather, these people that the Templars are backing are localized. They can't be very far from Japan, or even this island, if they are so sure that what they're looking for is here. If we were to remove their person of interest from the country, this institute that has taken such an interest in her will only be able to do so much. And I don't believe that the Templars would be willing to waste their resources searching for someone who's been spirited away to another country when they have so many more options than we have available to them. Besides, their odds of finding a particular Japanese child housed with a particular single American father aren't very good. Until we know for sure how much they know about the girl, I think it safe to assume she would be safe in the hands of the Brotherhood."
Everyone was silenced by Joe's logic.
"You make a compelling argument, Joseph," said Tamaki. "If you are set on this idea, I see no reason why you shouldn't carry it out. However, I would suggest that you move as fast as possible, and keep us abreast of your status, and that of the girl."
Joe smiled.
"Of course, Master Tamaki," he said.
"With that settled, I believe we should call this meeting adjourned," said Tamaki. "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted."
Everyone repeated his words and broke from the table, with Joe approaching Ganta asking for the orphanage's location and contact information. Ganta handed a slip of paper to Joseph with the address and phone number of the orphanage written down.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Joseph," said Ganta. "Good luck."
Joseph bowed and left the basement. He was once again careful about leaving the hideout.
On his way back to the hotel, he thought about how he might approach the situation at hand. He would have to gain the girl's trust. For children, trust is a very fickle thing. Some children could trust too easily, or be unlikely to trust anyone other than themselves, depending on their circumstances. And still some children could be flat-out mercurial. They could trust you at first, but have that trust easily broken.
Another concern was the system the orphanage abided by. How soon would he be able to adopt the child? How desperately do they need his money? How far backward would they be willing to bend to get it?
He decided to give the thoughts a rest when he arrived at the front of the hotel, once again to be greeted by Koji as he came by the desk.
"Any calls, Koji?" he asked.
"None for you, Mr. Martino," answered Koji. "Are you expecting one?"
"No, Koji," said Joe. "Not at all. I just like being kept up-to-date. Thanks a lot."
Koji nodded his head.
"Are you in need of anything else?" he asked.
"Yeah," said Joe. "What do you serve here for dinner?"
"We serve traditional Japanese foods here, normally," said Koji. "But if you're looking for something closer to your home, I can recommend a few places close to here that serve food more your style."
"The food here should be fine, Koji," said Joe. "I'll be out of the room for lunch and most of the day, but I would love to try some of the local cuisine when I get back."
Koji smiled.
"Well, if that's all you need, I hope you have a nice day, Mr. Martino."
Joe bowed, then went to his room.
While in his room, he put together a briefcase full of documents, including some of his work, his credentials, and his ID. He hadn't brought his cell phone to the meeting, but planned to take it with him on his trip to the orphanage.
Making his way out to the car that he rented, a red Ferrari, he dialed in the number for the orphanage. As soon as he got in the car and started down the road, the hands-free system in the car picked up the call, and soon after, someone on the other end of the line picked up.
"Hello?" asked a female voice. "This is the Kamakura Orphanage. How may I help you?"
"Hello, my name is Joseph Martino," said Joe. "I'd like to speak to someone about two very important matters."
"What is the nature of your business, Mr. Martino?" asked the secretary.
"I would like to give something to the orphanage and take something from it," he said. "I would like to make a donation to your institution and speak to someone about adopting a child."
There was a pause on the other end of the line before Joseph heard the voice again.
"Please wait one moment, Mr. Martino. I'll redirect your call momentarily."
"Thank you," said Joe.
He waited a few moments. He heard nothing but static for a while, but then heard a male voice.
"Hello?" asked the voice. "I'm speaking to a Mr. Joseph Martino, correct?"
"Yes it is," said Joe.
"My name is Soichiro Igabashi, I'm the Principal here at Kamakura Orphanage. What can I do for you?"
"I wanted to talk to someone there about a couple of very important matters," said Joe. "I would like to make a donation to your school, and I would also like to take one of your children off your hands."
"Well, I'm sure that we can find a child to your liking, Mr. Martino," said Igabashi. "However, I must be frank. I'm very curious as to what kind of donation we would be looking at."
"Well, Mr. Igabashi," said Joe, "I'm always looking for a good cause to put my chips on. I see this as a good cause, so I will be making a somewhat generous donation. I was thinking somewhere in the area of ten million yen."
There was a very long silence on the other end.
"Did I lose you, Mr. Igabashi?" asked Joe.
Igabashi seemed to snap out of his stupor.
"Uh, no, Mr. Martino. I'm still here," said Igabashi. "You make a very compelling offer. If you like, I could have my secretary schedule an appointment for you-"
"Actually, I'm on my way to you, Mr. Igabashi," said Joe. "I should be there in about half an hour, if you will take me today."
Igabashi sounded flustered when he answered, but he quickly responded to Joe.
"O-of course!" he exclaimed. "Feel free to come in when you arrive. I'll push my nine o'clock ahead."
"Very good, Mr. Igabashi," said Joe.
With that, he hung up. As he entered a faster speed zone he sped up, hoping that nobody would mind him going a few kilometers per hour over the speed limit.
It wasn't long before he reached the orphanage. He parked as close to the building as possible before stepping out of the car and walking to the front door. As he came in, he was greeted by the receptionist, who directed him toward Igabashi's office upon his introduction.
"Good morning, Mr. Martino," said Igabashi, shaking Joe's hand.
"Good morning," said Joe. "I hope I haven't caught you at an in convenient time."
"Not at all, Mr. Martino," said Igabashi. "I trust your trip here was pleasant?"
"It wasn't too hard to find this place," said Joe.
"Shall we get down to business, then?" asked Igabashi.
"The sooner the better," said Joe.
"Well, to the point, then," said Igabashi. "You called saying that you were hoping to make a very generous donation to our school."
"That's correct," said Joe. "I had hoped that I might put some of my money to good use. I would like to see kids from outside of the US without families be brought up with a loving hand, a guiding voice, and a watchful eye."
"But why this school, specifically?" asked Igabashi. "Not that I'm refusing your offer."
"I had heard of this orphanage from a dear friend," said Joe. "He seemed to think that this school wanted for a less modest budget."
"Well, we could always use more, Mr. Martino," said Igabashi.
"I would, however, like to see what kind of place I am donating to," said Joe. "Perhaps as the administrator, you could give me a tour?"
Igabashi smirked.
"Why not?" he asked, getting up out of his chair. "Why don't you follow me and I can give you a look up close and personal?"
As he followed Igabashi through the school, he used the time that the man showed him the school as what it was: the perfect opportunity to look for the girl. He had to meet with the girl. If he told the orphanage exactly which orphan he wanted to adopt, the orphanage would likely get suspicious about his motives; particularly if the orphan that he picked out just happened to be a girl. So, he would have to do his damnedest to find the girl and gain her trust. With that thought in mind, he caught Igabashi's attention an hour or so into the tour in order to ask a question.
"Mr. Igabashi, you remember, of course, that I also said I would like to adopt one of your children?" he asked.
"Oh, yes," said Igabashi. "Of course. I get the feeling you'll want to meet some of them personally and maybe take a look at the face book in the front office?"
"Well, really, Mr. Igabashi, I would just like to know how difficult it would be to adopt one of your kids," said Joe. "You see, I don't have very long to stay here in Japan, and to say the least, trying to adopt a child while in the U.S. would be rather difficult for me."
Igabashi turned to face Joe fully.
"With any luck, your adoption shouldn't take more than about a week," said Igabashi. "All that will remain is you finding a suitable child."
Joe nodded. If Igabashi could read his mind, he would hear a chuckle. Joe figured that Igabashi undoubtedly marked down the waiting period for a child due to the donation he was making.
"That sounds reasonable to me," said Joe. "And you have all the adoption forms ready to be filled out and signed?"
Igabashi nodded.
"That shouldn't take you too long at all," he said.
"Very well, then," said Joe. "Shall we proceed?"
Igabashi gestured for Joe to follow and continued the tour. Just as they started walking again, a bell rang.
"Ah. Lunch time," said Igabashi. "This will be a good opportunity for you to see what kind of children we take in."
As if on cue, children poured out of the different classrooms and made their way toward a sign that said "cafeteria."
"If you'll follow me there, you can take a look for yourself at some of our students," said Igabashi.
Joe followed Igabashi and took a good look into the cafeteria. And not one of the children looked anything like the girl he was looking for. Not to mention the fact that not many of them were that well-behaved.
"I imagine that this would be another thing you could use more of a budget for: finding more staff to get a good handle on these kids," said Joe.
Igabashi cleared his throat and led Joe away from the cafeteria.
"If you don't like what you see, you're more than welcome to take a more extensive look tomorrow, when classes are going on. You can observe them for yourself-"
He was cut off when he heard a slight grunt from down below. Down below Joe and Mr. Igabashi was a pale-skinned little girl pink hair and red eyes. Joe didn't even bother looking to see if she had horns, too.
"Sorry about that, sweetheart," said Joe, bending down and extending a hand. "Are you okay?"
The girl didn't take the hand, instead backing away and standing up before dusting herself off.
"I'm fine," said the girl.
"Are you sure?" asked Joe, genuinely concerned.
"Come along, Mr. Martino," said Igabashi. "I'm sure she's starving and anxious to get lunch."
With that, Joe frowned and got up to follow Igabashi. But as he followed the man, he looked back at the girl, and gave her a smile and a thumbs-up.
As he followed Igabashi back to the front office, he counted the seconds it took to get back. Igabashi was feeding Joe all of the statistics of the school and how he would use the donation they received if Joe still intended to give it. After a minute or so, Joe gently interrupted Igabashi.
"I hope you don't mind, sir," he said, "I'll have to take my leave, but before I do that, I'd like to have another look around. No tour guide required. But in case you were wondering, your prospects of receiving my donation look very promising."
Igabashi smiled.
"That's wonderful news," he said. "By all means, go take a look around. Take all the time you need."
Joe smiled, and bowed out of the room, walking at an unnoticeably fast pace back toward the cafeteria. As he got closer, he heard laughing coming from inside. Afterwards, a young male voice spoke.
"You must be some kind of monster or something," said the voice, "because you're definitely not a human! You're so weird, even the teachers think you're creepy!"
Joe had walked in just in time to hear the second half of the brat's statement. He saw three boys jumping up and down in front of the floored pink-haired girl, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that they were laughing at her expense.
At that point, Joe walked right up behind them and crossed his arms. His shadow suddenly cast them into shade.
"You know, if I wanted anyone to even think of adopting me, I wouldn't dance around like an idiot and pick on other kids," he said.
"Shit," said one of the boys, who he gathered must be the leader.
After he said that, a door opened up on the other end of the room, and a young brunette girl with pigtails looked in, then yelled into the hallway.
"Teacher! Tomoo's picking on people again!" she exclaimed.
"Shit!" repeated the boy, who Joe gathered must have been Tomoo. "Let's get out of here!"
He led his two cohorts out of the room at a run.
"You should be ashamed of yourselves for picking on a girl!" exclaimed the new arrival.
Joe came into the room along with the other girl and helped the young girl to her feet.
"Aw, there's milk all over your bag," said the new arrival. "That boy is so mean."
"Everyone here is unhappy," Joe heard the horned girl say.
"What?" asked the other girl.
"And since they're unhappy, they're probably looking for someone worse off than they are," continued the horned girl, picking up her bag and leaving the room.
"Hey! Wait!" said the other girl, chasing after her.
Joe saw the other girl lead his objective into the girls' bathroom. He secretly made a point to follow the girl to all of her classes and see where her room was so she would be easy to find. After the girls had both left the restroom, Joe made a point to keep a close tail on the girl he was after. After a few hours of following the girl, her classes had ended, and he knew she would be coming a particular direction. It was time for them to accidentally meet again. He purposely made himself gently bump into her.
As the girl hit the floor for the fourth, or maybe even fifth time that day, the girl spoke meekly.
"Sorry…" she said.
"No, that's my fault," chuckled Joe. "I should wear a bell somewhere. Are you okay?"
He bent down and helped Kaede up, this time, without her refusal.
"I'm fine," she said, getting up, but keeping her eyes on the floor.
Joe tilted her chin up to meet his gaze.
"Your principal's been showing me around the school, and I've seen you every so often," he said. "You always seem so sad."
"Don't worry about me," said the girl, somewhat defiantly. "I don't need it."
"You seem like you can take care of yourself," chuckled Joe. "But that doesn't mean you have to put up with a bunch of hurtful things."
The girl looked sad again.
"What do you want from me?" she asked.
"Nothing," said Joe. "Just to make a cute girl's day a little better. And maybe learn that girl's name."
The girl looked down again before answering him.
"Are 'freak' and 'monster' not good enough?" she asked.
Joe frowned at that. One of the things he hated the most was bullies. It was one of many reasons he joined the Assassin Order. He hated children on the playground when he was six; he didn't tolerate them any better now that he was in his thirties.
"Absolutely not," he said. "because I don't see a freak or a monster here."
The girl blinked slowly, but seemed to hesitate with her answer.
"It's Kaede," she said. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Martino."
Joe smiled and took her hand.
"Let me take you back to your room," he said. "I have a few minutes before I have to leave."
As he walked the girl back to her room, Joe could see that she was slowly starting to trust him. She seemed to blush a little whenever he looked at her, and she didn't seem to take any issue with him holding her hand. As they came to the room where she lived, Joe bent down to her level once again and smiled.
"I'll be back again tomorrow," he said. "I'll come visit you."
Kaede smiled to Joe, who then walked toward the front office. As he heard the door close, he rounded the corner connecting to the office, and went directly to Igabashi's office.
"So, Mr. Igabashi," he said, causing the man to look up from his work. "Could I get a start on some of the paperwork I'll need to fill out for adoption? I'll also need a record of my donation to your school made."
"Absolutely," said Igabashi. "At the front counter, the receptionist will give you all the forms you need."
"Thank you, sir," said Joe, returning to the front counter and picking up said forms. He filled out what was needed for now and told the receptionist he would be back the next day to finish them. On his way out to the car, he made a note of the room Kaede was in and what classes she took in the day. As he skipped out on lunch, he stopped by a small diner on the way back to the hotel for a little snack. While there, he met a pleasant young waitress named Koyomi. It turned out she was a big fan of his work and hoped to get an autograph from him. After he was done with his snack, he went ahead and signed the inside of the front cover of one of the books he wrote.
After he paid for his food, Joe went back to his hotel room. Once inside, he made sure that the door was locked and the drapes were drawn. He made a few notes in his computer, then pulled out all of the equipment he brought with him on his trip, to make sure everything was in good condition.
He was in somewhat of a win-lose situation. He didn't want to draw suspicion by taking Kaede away from the orphanage right away, but for all he knew, the Templars could have been informed of her location in the span of time it took for him to leave the orphanage and return to the hotel. But in order for this to work, that was a risk he had to take. But on the off-chance such a thing had happened, his equipment had to be functioning properly.
Once he made sure that everything was working correctly, he made a mental note to make sure that the Assassins were informed of his success tomorrow. He then set his alarm to an early time so that he could get out to the orphanage as soon as possible the next morning. Not feeling like leaving the room, he had the hotel staff bring him some food from the kitchen. After he finished eating, he decided to watch some television before getting into bed. As he fell deeper and deeper into sleep, he mentally prepared himself for when he would return to the orphanage.
At hearing the beeping of his alarm, Joe hastily wiped the sleep from his eyes, and got dressed. This time, he chose a white shirt with a pearl-colored tie. He went through the same routine as the previous morning, getting ready and putting a quickly-ready breakfast in the microwave to cook. After he was done dressing, he sent a message to the other Assassins telling her that he found the girl and intended to pick her up immediately. Remembering his thoughts the previous night, he grabbed a one of his hidden blades and stuffed it up his sleeve.
As soon as the microwave beeped, Joe grabbed his breakfast and rushed out the door. He as he passed the front desk, he told Koji that he would be bringing a guest along, and would want extra blankets and pillows brought up to the room for them. Koji complied as Joe went out the door and walked hurriedly to his car. As soon as he was in, he started the car and tightened the straps of his blade. As the car took off moving, Joe flicked his wrist a couple of times, and sure enough, the blade was working fine.
When he got to the orphanage, he wasted no time going to the principal's office and asking Igabashi if he would still be allowed to observe the classes. Igabashi informed him that he could go door-to-door and peek in on whatever classes he wanted.
Joe wasn't too worried, but he wanted to make sure that Kaede was still in the building.
After perusing a few classrooms, Joe finally saw Kaede in a math classroom. Putting his mind at ease, Joseph went outside. He decided to make sure that no suspicious characters came by with the same objective as him.
As lunch time rolled around, Joe sat in his car and ate a few leftovers from one of his lunches a few days before. It wasn't delicious, but it was edible, and sometimes, that had to suffice.
As he ate, he continued to watch the school. He didn't see a single conspicuous person on the grounds or anywhere near the place. After he was finished eating, he decided that he would go back inside and notify the front desk of the choice he made in the child he would adopt.
After he was done there, he went to search for Kaede. After a few minutes of searching with no luck, he had begun to wonder if the Templars had escaped his watch…sneaky bastards.
His mind was relieved once again when he heard Kaede's voice yell out.
"You jerks!" she said.
With that said, Joe went to the source of the voice. It was a good way away, but looking in, he felt his relief suddenly disappear. Inside the room, he could see Kaede in a full nelson, with a small dog being held down by another boy, and the brat from the day before, Tomoo, holding a very durable-looking vase over the dog. The boy was about to bring the vase down… but Joe rushed in at the last minute and caught the vase, fixing Tomoo with a menacing stare. Tomoo looked up, and started to tremble. Joe grabbed a handful of Tomoo's hair, took the vase from his hand and brought the vase down on Tomoo's head so hard he thought he cracked it. As soon as the vase made contact, he let go of Tomoo's hair, reducing the brat to a whining mess on the floor.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" asked Joe, who then turned his attention to the other two boys. He made it plainly clear that if the boys knew what was good for them, they would let Kaede and her puppy friend go.
"Now, get out of here," he said.
The girl that had helped Kaede the day before was there, too. However, by her demeanor, it seemed to Joe that she set this all up.
But what demanded his attention at the moment was the girl on the floor holding the nearly-beaten puppy. She held onto that dog like his and her life depended on it.
Joe came over to Kaede, bent down to her level and smiled at her.
"Who's this little fella?" he asked, smiling.
Joe's smile vanished when he saw the tears in the girl's eyes.
"He's the only true friend I've made here," she said. "And I almost lost him."
Joe reached a hand out to the puppy and petted its head. It licked his hand as a response.
"What's his name?" asked Joe.
Kaede seemed to avoid Joe's gaze.
"He…doesn't have one," she said.
"Oh, come on," said Joe. "Every puppy's got to have a name."
Kaede looked thoughtful for a minute before answering.
"Gendo," she said. "His name is Gendo.
Joe continued to pet the dog and started to talk to it in a funny voice.
"Nice to meet you, Gendo," he said. "You've got a really brave owner here. Yes you do."
Gendo let out a small yelp while Kaede just looked puzzled.
"Brave?" she asked.
"Yes," said Joe. "You were very brave to stand up to those kids."
"But you saved him," said Kaede. "I couldn't do anything. They almost…"
Kaede pulled Gendo tighter to her and started to cry. Joe patted her head.
"Everything's okay now, Kaede," he said. "They can't hurt you or Gendo now."
Kaede shook her head.
"They'll come back," she said. "They'll find him. And they'll kill him."
Joe tried to show kindness to the girl. He wanted to show her that she had nothing to fear. It was obvious that her fear still lingered when she asked Joe a favor.
"Sir, would you…" she began, finding it hard to speak.
"Would I what?" asked Joe.
With that, Kaede held the puppy up to his face.
"Would you please take him?" she asked. "He needs a good home. He needs someone to love him."
Joe was shocked at the little girl's selflessness.
"But he already has someone to love him," he said, frowning.
"But I can't protect him forever," said Kaede. "Please?"
Joe decided to put his plan into action.
"Sure," he said, "I'll take him with me. There's just something I have to do first."
He hoisted Kaede to her feet, and he led her to the front desk. Joe rang the bell and waited for the receptionist, who didn't take long to come to the counter.
"It's good to see you, Mr. Martino," she said, smiling. "How may I help you?"
Joe smiled as well.
"I believe I have found the child I'd like to adopt," he said.
"Truly?" asked the receptionist.
"Yep," said Joe.
"Well, who is the little dear?" asked the receptionist.
Joe looked back at Kaede and Gendo, beckoning them forward.
"Come here, sweetie," he said.
Kaede inched her way toward the counter.
"This one?" asked the receptionist, frowning.
"Yeah," said Joe.
The woman gave a wry chuckle.
"Well, surely there must be another child who's piqued your interest? I could bring up a face book for you-"
"No," interrupted Joe. It was plain as day to him since he ran into Kaede in the halls that everyone had a very low opinion of her. But he was infuriated that it seemed to stem from nothing other than her looks.
"Look miss," said Joe. "I've been here for two days, and met almost every child this orphanage has on its shoulders. And this girl is the best-behaved one I've seen, by far."
That wasn't entirely true. He didn't meet almost all of the children, but he didn't really need to in order to learn that a good portion of them were bratty little demon spawn. And the front desk person didn't need to know that in order to figure out that he was not happy with them. This woman seemed as though her job was too important to her to risk pissing him off, because what she said next was very compliant.
"Very well…I'll draw up the documents and we'll finalize it later."
"Thank you," said Joe, smiling. He then turned to Kaede.
"Come along, Kaede," he said. "You too, Gendo."
Just as they were about to enter Igabashi's office, Kaede stopped moving. He turned to look back at her.
"What's wrong, Kaede?" he asked.
"Why?" she responded in a small voice.
"Why what?" asked Joe.
"Why do you want me?" asked Kaede, looking at him as though he was dangerous. "What do you want?"
Joe bent down to her eye level again.
"I came to this orphanage for two reasons," said Joe. "First, I heard that this orphanage could really use some money to help with its costs. And second, because I've always wanted a child of my very own. I meant what I said back there to that mean lady. You're the best-behaved kid I've seen here."
Kaede shook her head, gesturing at her face.
"But look at me," she said. "I'm so…different."
Joe laughed.
"So am I. You just can't see it."
Kaede looked at the ground, causing Joe to tilt her face to meet his again.
"Hey," he said. "Everything will be okay. Listen, if you don't want to go with me, I'll understand. But could you think about it for a while?"
Kaede looked at him for a moment, but then nodded her head.
"Okay," she said.
"Okay, good," said Joe. "Now, come on. I need to talk to your principal."
Joe led Kaede and Gendo into Igabashi's office. Kaede sat down in a chair next to Joe, and held Gendo in her lap as Joe spoke to Igabashi.
"I've found the child I would like to adopt, Mr. Igabashi," he said.
Igabashi looked to Kaede, then back to Joe.
"That's wonderful news," said Igabashi. Though Joe had the feeling that that meant more than he said.
"All that's left now is to write up that check for your institution," said Joe.
He pulled out his checkbook and started to write all of the information out.
"Mr. Igabashi, how soon would I be able to take Kaede with me?" he asked.
Igabashi was silent for a second, but then spoke.
"If you'd like to take her tonight, you're more than welcome," he said.
"That's wonderful news," said Joe. "I would like to take her out to dinner and get to know her a little better. Would that be okay by this school?"
Igabashi merely nodded as Joe finished writing out the check and handing it to Igabashi.
"You have a pleasant evening, Mr. Martino," said Igabashi. "And good luck with your new dependent."
Joe nodded.
"Well, Kaede," he said. "Let's get going. Your principal has just told me I can go ahead and take you to dinner."
Kaede bowed toward the principal.
"Thank you, sir," she said.
As they left the room, Kaede spoke up again.
"Mr. Martino?" she asked.
"Yes, Kaede?" responded Joe. "What is it?"
"Do you… still want to adopt me?" asked Kaede.
"Yes I do," said Joe. "But I'm not going to force either you or Gendo to come with me."
Kaede nodded, then spoke again.
"I've decided…I can't stand this place anymore," she said. "Please take us out of here. You don't have to keep us. Just please don't make us stay here another minute."
Hearing this, Joe bent down and gave Kaede a hug.
"I'll take you with me when I go," he said. "You don't have to stay here any longer."
Kaede smiled, but then returned to her original expression.
"We'll grab dinner and then we'll come back," said Joe.
With that, Joe exited the orphanage with Kaede in tow, and Gendo following close behind.
On the way to the car, Joe sent a message to the Assassins saying that he'd gotten hold of Kaede, and would have a meeting with them soon to discuss their plan of action.
Joe spent dinner, the return to the orphanage and the return to his hotel room trying to make Kaede feel as safe and comfortable as possible. He was very surprised at how polite and well-behaved Kaede was, asking what she should call him, and even asking politely if she could be allowed to go to bed. As bedtime neared, he told Kaede that it would be perfectly acceptable. The two went to bed, with each hoping something different. Kaede hoped that this whole thing would work out for the best, while Joe hoped that the Assassins would still go along with whatever he had in mind.
The next day, Joe and Kaede woke and went to have breakfast. After that, Joe took her to the park, hoping that it wouldn't be too risky a move to allow her to play there for a while. He finally decided that since he wouldn't be too far away from her, he could assume she would be safe. If not, he could come in and protect her if needed. He told her to have fun while he went on a walk.
When he saw that Kaede wasn't watching him anymore, he continued to watch her through the trees, and as he watched, he made a phone call to the Assassins. As he phoned in, Ganta picked up.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Ganta, did my message get through to you?" asked Joe.
"Yes it did, Joseph," said Ganta. "We're looking forward to our next meeting."
"Just in case any of you were wondering, so far, the girl seems to be taking her new situation fairly well," said Joe. "It seems that she had a really tough time while she was at the orphanage."
"How do you mean?" asked Ganta.
"Like, 'I was doing her a favor by taking her out of there,' tough," said Joe. "While she was there, she was endlessly tormented by a bunch of brats, and they nearly killed an abandoned puppy she was taking care of."
For a moment, Ganta was silent.
"Well," he said, "hopefully, a loving hand will give her incentive to continue complying with you. Tamaki asked me to continue with your updates."
"Will do, Ganta," said Joe.
With that, he hung up his cell and went to meet Kaede at the car.
Having never been a parent before, Joe felt completely unprepared for what happened next. Kaede came back to the car looking very depressed. When they returned to the hotel room, Joe learned that it was because she had trust issues with a boy she met at the park. However, with a good, long talk, Joe managed to convince her that she should give the boy a chance. At his successfully making the little girl smile with hope, he started to feel more and more like a parent.
Over the next few days, Joe brought the girl to the park to meet up with the boy again, and started to do little things for her in order to assure that she could trust him with whatever he felt like.
Kaede soon asked if it would be okay for her to go by herself to meet the boy Kohta, as Joe soon learned was his name.
Joe didn't particularly like the idea, but he couldn't refuse anything to the girl at this stage of their relationship if he wanted her to trust him. So, in order for them to keep in touch, Joe bought the girl a cell phone of her own. During one of her trips to the park by herself, Joe went to yet another meeting with the Japanese Assassins. Upon arriving at the basement, he was met with a few nervous looks.
"Welcome, Joseph," said Tamaki.
Joe didn't take his seat this time, preferring to stand.
"I am sure that you're all wondering why I've let Kaede go off on her own without me," said Joe.
Tamaki nodded.
"Well," said Joe. "I believe that for the time being, Kaede is safe. The Templars currently don't have access to her records, and wouldn't be able to find them without drawing attention to themselves. And since they can't do so, they will be clueless about her location for quite some time. Also, since their scout hasn't reported back yet, they are undoubtedly still waiting for his report. I believe it will still be some time before they send another person to find her."
"That is a possibility, Joseph," said Tamaki. "But we have recently picked up a great deal of Templar movement. We believe that they may be planning an assault. We think they may be on to our strategy to keep the girl out of their grasp."
Tamaki took a sip of some tea at the table.
"We are not unsatisfied with the results of your venture, Joseph," he said. "However, we would like you to ask that from now on, wherever the girl goes, you go. We would like to make sure that the Templars don't engage in a surprise assault that leaves them with the girl in hand."
Joseph cleared his throat.
"You don't need to worry, Master Tamaki," he said. "After tonight, me and Kaede will go together everywhere. However, I would like to ask a favor of you."
"What might that be?" asked Tamaki.
"If the Templars are, indeed, preparing to snatch the girl, I would like to be prepared," said Joe. "You see, there is a summer festival that the girl wants to go to in order to say goodbye to a friend she made recently. If I were leading the Templars, to me, that would seem like the most opportune place to attack. Nobody would look for a kidnapped orphan in a massacre that would take place in a spot like that."
"I see your point," said Tamaki. "And what would your suggestion be?"
"I would like some of your Assassins to take the place of some of the booth operators at the festival," said Joe. "If the Templars do strike, I would like reinforcements."
"Consider it done," said Tamaki. "Ganta, please assure that this happens."
"Understood, Master Tamaki," said Ganta.
After a few more words, the Assassins ended their meeting, chorusing the motto of the Assassins and taking their leave.
The next day, Joe took Gendo and Kaede to go shopping for clothes in which to go to the festival. They soon settled on a new yukata for Kaede and made their way out to the festival. As they made their way through the crowd, Joseph stopped at a few booths in order to verify which booth operators were Assassins and which were civilians. He soon stopped searching after he saw that Dumont was one of the operators. In order to assure that his cover would not be blown, he followed Kaede to meet the boy, Kohta. And after diffusing a situation that could possibly have ended badly, they met with Kohta's family, who happily joined them in walking through the festival and having fun with each other. They had bumped into a young woman named Miyuki, who was happy to join them as well. When there was little more than half an hour left of the festival, Joe heard a loud screeching noise.
To accompany the noise was a group of large black vans. Out of the vans stepped a group of men in black suits.
"Dad… what's going on?" asked Kohta.
"I don't know, son," said Kohta's father.
Joe, however, looked alarmed at what he saw. In one of each of the groups, there was one man who stood toward the front of them, wearing a pin in the shape of a red iron cross.
"Everyone," said Joe, stiffly, "back away slowly and carefully."
As they started to, Joe saw the men pull out rifles and start firing into the crowd. A few people went down, but it didn't look like anyone had been killed. However, pandemonium was soon created as people began to run all over the place.
"Everyone, around that corner, and stick together!" said Joe, guiding them behind one of the festival's kiosks.
When they were out of the line of fire, Joe spoke to the Hakuros and their new friend.
"You guys are going out of town by train, right?" he asked.
"Yeah," said Mr. Hakuro. "We're actually supposed to be at the station in about thirty minutes."
Joe nodded.
"Take Miyuki, Kohta, Kanae and Yuka with you, go there, and don't stop until you've reached the station," he said. "Run as fast as you can."
"What about you?" asked Mr. Hakuro.
"We'll be fine," said Joe. "Go!"
As soon as Joe finished speaking, Mr. Hakuro and the rest of the group ran away from the festival, going toward the train station. Joe then led Kaede through a group of kiosks, with them ducking down when they needed to.
"Joe, what's going on?" asked Kaede.
"We have to get out of here, Kaede," said Joe. "These guys will hurt us really badly if we stay here."
As soon as he said that, however, both he and Kaede saw one of the men in black go chasing after the Hakuros.
"NO!" yelled Kaede, breaking away from Joe and running in that direction.
"KAEDE!" exclaimed Joe, beginning to chase after her. He was soon cut off by one of the men in black coming at him with a nightstick. Joe ducked just in time. He drew his hidden blade, and signaled the Assassins in the kiosks to come out of hiding and back him up. Every Assassin engaged a different person. Joe blocked the man's nightstick this time with his hidden blade, shoving him backwards with a kick, then jumping onto him and sinking his blade into the man's chest. He twisted once before pulling out, then attacking yet another Templar. This time, he drew out his own telescopic nightstick and clubbed his new target over the head with it. He repeated the action once, twice, three times. When his target was on the ground, Joe pulled the trigger on the pistol hidden in his bracer, and shot the man in the chest. He was soon taken by surprise by another Templar who knocked the nightstick out of his hand and floored Joe with his own kick in the chest. He brought his nightstick up to Joe's head.
"Die well, Assassin," said the man, preparing to club Joe in the head.
"You first, Templar scum!" spat Joe. He brought his other arm upward, and released the trigger on his finger. A bullet came out of the pistol in his bracer, and hit his attacker right between the eyes.
"Joseph!" Joe heard a person yell as he got up.
Joe turned his attention to the voice.
"We'll handle these barbarians!" said Dumont. "You go after the girl! They must not get their hands on her!"
Joe nodded his head.
"Victory to the Assassins!" he said as he ran in the direction Kaede had been running, sheathing his hidden blade. He was temporarily stopped at one of the kiosks by a familiar dog.
"Gendo?" asked Joe. "What the hell are you doing here?"
The pup merely barked in response.
"Never mind. We have to find Kaede."
At this, Gendo gave a low growl. Joe picked him up and continued to run toward the station. Along the way, he found a Templar agent closing in on Kaede. He withdrew his hidden blade and pounced on the man, bringing his arm around his neck, and plunging the blade into his back. He then withdrew the blade and continued running after Kaede, who by now had jumped onto the back of the train that the Hakuros were undoubtedly on.
As Kaede closed the door in the back of the train, the train began to pick up speed. However, it was not enough speed, as Joe had to run a mere fifteen seconds before being able to jump on himself. He then entered the back of the train. As he got closer to the front of the car, he could hear noise.
"Leave them alone, you bastard!" exclaimed a high-pitched voice.
"Kaede!" exclaimed another.
Joe pulled his hidden blade out, thinking he would need to intervene, when he heard Kaede shriek again.
"NO!"
The voice was accompanied by a huge pounding sound, it sounded like it was hitting all sides of the train. Joe entered the next car and found that the Hakuros' attacker was being slammed all over the sides of the train by some invisible force. He soon determined that the force came from Kaede. This had to be what the Templars were after.
"Kaede! That's enough!" exclaimed Joe.
Kaede turned back, looking worriedly at him and her dog, then looking toward the Hakuros, who seemed shocked by everything that had happened. Kaede calmly set the man down, then opened a door on the side of the train, and pushed him out the door.
She took one last look around the car before she finally passed out on the floor. Upon her passing out, everyone came up to examine her.
"Oh my gosh," said Kohta. "Is she going to be okay?"
Gendo hopped out of Joe's hands and started to lick Kaede's face, whining at her state. Joe bent down and felt her pulse, then her forehead. He then pressed his lips to her forehead.
"It looks like she has a fever," he said. "We need to get off this train."
Joe pulled the emergency stop switch, and the train coasted to a stop. The people on the train all got off, and looked at what was happening. The Hakuros and Joe pulled Kaede off the train, carrying the unconscious girl over to the conductor, who had asked what was going on.
"She needs to be taken to a hospital," said Joe.
With that, the conductor put everyone back on the train, except for the Hakuros, who elected to get off with the Martinos and make sure that their savior came out alright.
Joe took Kaede briefly to the hospital, and the doctor, finding nothing wrong with her and giving Joe a subscription for fever relief pills, dismissed them. After this, Joe led the Hakuros back to their hotel room, where Joe set Kaede into her bed with Gendo beside her, and laid a washcloth over her forehead.
"She looks exhausted," said Yuka.
"I hope she's going to be alright!" exclaimed Kohta's little sister, Kanae. "She's my hero!"
Mr. Hakuro looked very worried about Kohta's new friend, however.
"I'm a little bit… I don't know… apprehensive about this. Mr. Martino, did you know about these powers of hers?"
"No, I didn't," said Joe, looking just a little irritated. "And I don't think she did either, until now."
"I'm not saying there's anything wrong with them. It just seemed… a little scary the way she dealt with that man," said Mr. Hakuro.
"Oh, come on, Dad!" exclaimed Kohta. "Do you know what we'd be right now if she hadn't helped us?"
"I'm going to have to be frank here and say, 'dead as fried chicken,'" said Joe.
"Daddy!" exclaimed Kanae. "Kaede saved our lives! She's a hero!"
"I don't think that Kaede wanted to hurt us at all, Dad," said Kohta. "You heard how she spoke to that creep on the train."
Mr. Hakuro thought back to what had happened on the train, and remembered how terrified Kaede looked at the prospect of their group being killed.
"You have a point, son," said Mr. Hakuro. "My apologies, Mr. Martino. My kids are right. Your daughter saved our lives. If you or your daughter ever need anything from us, you can just give us a call."
Joe smiled as Kaede started to wake up.
When she was fully awake, the entire group had a heart-to-heart that ended with Kaede being accepted as a friend and officially Joe's daughter. Soon, arrangements were made for the family to come back to Japan occasionally for their summer breaks in order to meet with Kohta again. Joe then hired Miyuki as his personal assistant in Japan, and she helped him make arrangements for a summer home in Japan. As soon as their new home was set up, Kaede went to bed feeling happy for the first time in a long time, and Joe secretly went out on another Assassin mission, which led up to this moment.
Joe was very near his target, the Templar agent who orchestrated the Summer Festival Massacre. He had finally found the man at a docking bay. Joe decided to take a high vantage point. He found a scaffolding a good distance away from the docks, and waited for the man to pass by with his escorts. As they passed by, Joe readied his dart gun. He pulled a clip full of poison darts from his belt, and loaded the gun. He shot each of the man's escorts with a poison dart. Within a matter of seconds, they all collapsed, leaving their charge in a state of great panic. Joe then withdrew his hidden blades, dropped down from the scaffolding, landed on the man and plunged them into the man's chest.
"You…you are… one of the men who defended the crowd…" the man said.
"I am," said Joe. "You still have time to atone for your sins. Tell me, why did you organize the attack on that festival?"
"We had to… take the horned girl…" said the man, coughing slightly.
"How did you know she was there?" asked Joe.
The man coughed again.
"I…saw the girl…with her friend…a little boy…they mentioned a fest…ival…"
Those were the man's last words.
"May your death insure the safety of others," said Joe. "Requiescat in pace."
Joe left the scene of the Assassination quickly, sending a signal to the others to clean up the evidence and keep the police away from the scene. Soon, Joe was back at his and Kaede's house. He took off his gear and got ready for bed once again. Before finally going to bed, he went to check on Kaede. He opened the door a crack and peeked in. Sure enough, she was still asleep with a smile on her face, and Gendo was asleep nearby. He closed the door, and went back to his room.
When he came in, he smiled at how everything was coming together. Soon, he and Kaede would be back in the U.S., and he would be starting his life as a father. Over the time since her adoption, Kaede had become much more than a person of interest for the Templars. She became his daughter. And he swore as he finally fell asleep that he would do whatever he could to make her life happy.
Assassin's Creed:
Elf Song
Kaede Martino/Luccia la Veneziana: Kira Vincent-Davis
Ezio Auditore da Firenze: Roger Craig Smith
Joe Martino: Troy Baker
Kohta Hakuro/Ahmed: Adam Conlon
Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad: Cas Anvar
Yuka Hakuro: Nancy Novotny
Kanae Hakuro: Monica Rial
Mayu Hakuro: Cynthia Martinez
Nana Kurama: Sasha Paysinger
Nozomi: Tia Ballard
Aiko Takada: Karen Strassman
Mariko Kurama: Luci Christian
Alan Fixer: Johnny Yong Bosch
Ezekiel "Zeke" Garner: Steven Jay Blum
Vito Perelli: Todd Haberkorn
Laura Armstrong: Jamie Marchi
Sandy McGill: Megan Hollingshead
Director Kurama: Jay Hickman
Doctor Arakawa: Jessica Boone
Kisaragi: Tiffany Grant
Deputy Director Shirakawa: Shelley Calene-Black
Bando: Jason Douglas
Shaun Hastings: Danny Wallace
Yoshi Hakuro: John Swasey
Megami: Kate Higgins
Isobe: Rick Piersall
Saito: Allison Sumrall
Mayu's Mother: Christine Auten
Mayu's Stepfather: Ty Mahany
Professor Kakuzawa: John Swasey
Tomoo: Chris Patton
Traitor Girl: Allison Sumrall
Unknown Man: Brian Drummond
Adam: Vic Mignogna
Rodrigo Borgia: Manuel Tadros
Cesare Borgia: Andreas Apergis
Chief Kakuzawa: Andy McAvin
Warren Vidic: Phil Proctor
To Be Continued.
A/N: I don't know where all of that came from! I hope you guys enjoyed reading that! My main aim with this chapter was to give Joe a lot more substance. In my story, there will be a lot of sequences where you will see Joe on a mission. I will be writing this story so that Kaede's life somewhat mirrors Ezio's. With that in mind, the sequences that have Joe in them will be a lot like Assassin's Creed: Lineage, in which Ezio's father, Giovanni, is seen on assassination missions. I hope you guys noticed the cast that I wrote up for this story. This story is not ending. Not by a long shot. I had hoped that writing up the cast would help you get an idea of what the characters' voices sound like. Obviously, I kept the voice actors for the canon Elfen Lied and Assassin's Creed characters the same. But the ones that either were my creation or didn't have English voice actors, I went ahead and gave some. I hope that I make the experience of reading this story more exciting. If I have my way, this will be a very long, very exciting story. I also would like to apologize for not updating sooner. What with trying to find a job, trying to get caught up on the television I missed, trying to write up on my books, catching up on video games I've bought, trying to line things up for my next year of college and just recently turning 21, I've been really flustered with everything. However, since this chapter's done, hopefully the next chapter should be a lot less of a challenge! Until then, catch you later!