Chapter 5: Sacrifice.

Gin tried to look as innocent as possible as he strolled down the twilit street. But, of course, there weren't many there to suspect of him – or even to see him. The few villagers that still hadn't retreated to their homes for dinner (plus the one or two actual tourists that just couldn't have enough of the tiny island) could be found mainly in the town center, which Gin and Sherry had recently left. The area they were journeying into, however, was pretty much as quiet and lonely as it would have been by midnight. They had hardly seen two or three people in the last ten minutes, all of which were the usual elders who bowed their heads slightly at them and then kept on walking, not paying too much attention to the long-haired boy and the blue-eyed girl who walked hand in hand in the dim light of the sunset.

Anyway, there was no need to get nervous or worried. That was just a reconnaissance mission – their third one to Rukuma's house and its surroundings, in fact. And it also was very likely to be the last one. The clerk of the hotel they were staying at had claimed that telematics services would be operative again by Friday, so Sherry and he had decided to kill Rukuma then, when they could contact the headquarters of the Organization as soon as they completed their mission. They would simply follow their plan and get the job done. Any third-party would have said there wasn't much more to it.

Only that there actually was. [Gin couldn't deny the doubts that had recently flourished in his mind on the matter of the killing itself.] Even if none of them had had the courage to say it out loud, both Sherry and he himself envied Rukuma for achieving a freedom they dreamt of. So why should they take it from her, why should they spoil her now peaceful life? But they had no choice at all. They had to kill her – he had to. Years of working for the Organization had taught him to put his feelings aside and do the things he was ordered, no matter how much he could loathe them. And now, walking down the dim street, he found himself facing that kind of situation yet again.

'Are you okay?'

Gin turned his head at one side. Sherry was staring at him, and it was only then that he noticed he had tightened the grip of his hand around hers. He loosened it at once, inevitably afraid that he could be hurting her.

'I'm sorry,' he spoke, looking down and then back up at the girl. 'I was lost in my thoughts. I'm okay, I was just… thinking…'

Sherry's look turned sadder in understanding and her gaze wandered away from his. There was no need for words – both could read the other's thoughts pretty easily. In an attempt to lighten the gloomy atmosphere, Gin gave her hand a squeeze so as to have her attention and then made a timid smile.

'Today's mission will be a piece of cake,' he commented. 'We're only going to have yet another look at the area. And in three days' time, we'll be back home.'

'Back home,' she repeated like an echo. 'Yes. I'm dying to be back. But, you know, these days have been nice. We haven't had much work to do, and it's surely been a break from routine.'

'Yes, indeed. It almost feels like being on holidays, doesn't it?' he added, his smile widening. 'There were times I nearly forgot that we were here to kill Rukuma.'

Gin regretted his choice of speech no sooner than he finished the sentence. In a matter of mere seconds, Sherry's face lost the smile it had started to hint and her look became darker again, his words shadowing her features as a whole with the weight of the harsh reality. He made an effort not to let out a curse - how could he have been so thoughtless? After what had happened only a few days before, how could he have forgotten that there were words and themes which could so easily hurt his girlfriend, that he should avoid them when talking to her?

'Sorry, I...' he started his second apology of the afternoon, 'I didn't mean to...'

'We're getting there,' she interrupted him, speaking in a surprisingly calm voice. Her head was held up and her eyes stared at the way before them. 'Focus and act naturally.'

Gin nodded and shut up. He could tell his cheeks showed a pinkish tone of red as Sherry and he walked around a corner and took a side street.

As they walked in an awkward silence, the boy tried to concentrate on their mission so as not to think about his mistake. However, the harder he tried to make it shut up, the louder a little voice inside his head seemed to repeat his very words; the more carefully he looked at the road before him and the houses at each side, the more clearly he saw Sherry's smile die against his eyelids. Her hand felt loose against his, as if it could slip away at any moment. It was only when they finally arrived at the street where Rukuma lived that she suddenly tightened her grip, even if he didn't really know what to work out of such gesture.

'Do you remember the plan?' she muttered as they approached Rukuma's house.

'Every last detail,' he answered in an equally quiet voice. 'It will go okay.'

Sherry looked at him as her sole response.

The two of them gradually slowed down their pace as they approached Rukuma's house, finally ending their stroll at only a few feet from her very front door. Gin took a map of the town out of his pocket and Sherry moved closer to him. Very discreetly, the boy looked up at Rukuma's house and those and its sides, scanning every last inch of them with his green eyes.

'She's at home,' he whispered, turning his head at Sherry. The girl kept her gaze on the map. 'The curtains are shut, but there's light in the first floor.'

'Should we take any extra caution?'

'I think so, even if only a little,' he agreed. 'This woman isn't someone I'd like to underestimate. Let's get out of here for now.'

Sherry nodded, tangled her hand around his and then led the two of them further down the lonely road. Gin kept staring at Rukuma's house out of the corner of his eye as they walked away. Right before they turned right at the end of the street, he thought he saw a shadow moving behind the curtains of the first floor.

The shortcut was a narrow, dark alley. They walked back and forth, paying special attention to their hiding spots. They weren't the best he had ever seen, but hopefully the darkness of nightfall would act in their favor.

It would all go okay, Gin was sure of that. It wouldn't even take them too long. By Saturday morning, they would be packing to leave the island whilst Rukuma would lay dead and cold, no longer a problem for the Organization. And for the first time he pictured the reaction of the rest of the town, her friends, her neighbors - their affected faces, their cheeks wet from crying, their unanswered questions and inquires. So young, they would say, such sudden end to a promising life full of opportunities, yet to be, but which would now never be, lived. What kind of monster could have done it, they would ask themselves. That's what anyone would see him as, wasn't it? A monster. That must be his victims' last thought, and also what Sherry believed, no matter how much she tried to hide it. Her very silence and the way her gaze avoided his while they walked up and down the dark alley could be nothing but further proof. When she suggested going back, he simply nodded and followed her in the now dimmer light of dusk.

Rukuma's street was as lonely as it had been when they walked away from it. The only difference was the slightly darker sky, whose color had changed from a pale pink to a deep shade of purple in the last few minutes. Gin contemplated its beauty while Sherry and he walked hand in hand - night was very near. They had spent more than planned examining the shortcut, so now they would need to hurry to get to the hotel before darkness engulfed the little town. Sure, street lights were very helpful, but he didn't really fancy the idea of walking around those little-known streets late at night, not even with his dear Beretta (which he rarely did not carry) hidden beneath his clothes and ready to be used at any given time.

As they approached Rukuma's house, Gin couldn't help having a superficial look at it. The curtains were still shut, but all lights were off now. Maybe their target had gone to sleep. However, something caught his attention - a mysterious gleam, right between the shut curtains of a window in the first floor, as if coming from the very room in which he had believed to see Rukuma a few minutes ago. He turned his face to Sherry, whose hair looked redder in the dim light - and not only her hair, but also her skin, now that he paid some attention... Especially...

Gin opened his eyes wide. His heart skipped a beat and he hurried to seize the girl's arm and pull her to the ground, just in time for them to see a bullet fly across the street and impact on the concrete wall behind them, missing Sherry's neck by less than a second.

Still crouching on the dark pavement, Gin moved his head to one side just in time to dodge a second bullet, which flew dangerously close to his ear. A few silvery hairs touched the ground at the very moment the boy took his gun out and aimed at Rukuma, whose position was given away by the gleam of her rifle's scope. He straightened up his back and squeezed the trigger, but Sherry pulled him back to the ground all of sudden. He was about to protest when the sound of a window breaking was followed by that of yet another bullet hitting the wall behind them.

'We stand no choice against her!' Sherry claimed. 'We need to get out of... Watch out!'

Her hands pushed him away and Rukuma's shot missed his chest by inches.

As if obeying some silent order, Gin and Sherry looked at each other in the eye in unison. While still holding the stare, they nodded and took the other's hand. Then, without a word, both stood up at the very moment that they heard Rukuma shoot her rifle again. Sherry lowered her head, dodging the bullet by inches, and they started to run away.

But no sooner than they had taken a few steps, Gin felt Sherry's hand pull his and heard a hushed cry. He stopped and then turned at once, only to confirm his guess – Rukuma had finally hit one of her targets. His heart twisted painfully as he contemplated a fresh, bleeding wound in Sherry's left thigh. As if sensing the pair of green eyes fixed on her, the girl looked up at him.

'Don't stop!' she roared, her pain visible underneath the seriousness that her face showed. 'Keep running! Don't worry for me, I'm… '

And suddenly, as he watched her talk, an unmistakable round, red light appeared on her chest. With no time to think, Gin acted out of impulse as he threw himself onto the girl and pushed her against the concrete wall, shielding her with his very body.

Time seemed to slow down as the bullet dashed into his right shoulder. Perfectly aware of what was about to happen, the boy took a deep breath, seizing the initial lack of pain. All of his training came back to him at once – the figures, the data, the advice. And so did all the times he had been shot before, every single thing he had felt, all the mistakes he had made the first time, his gradual improvement. Trying to keep them in mind, he focused on his breath. In and out. Stay calm. In and out. You'll make it. This is not the first time you're shot, and be sure it won't be the last one. In and out.

And then it finally came – waves of numbing pain started rolling across his body, all of them coming from the same point from which blood had begun pumping out of him. He bit his lower lip so as not to scream and looked at Sherry, whose face showed only horror now. Fighting the excruciating ache that flooded his right arm to his very fingertips, he grabbed her hand as tightly as he could and, with the fiercest look he was capable of, gave her a nod and whispered 'Let's go.'

Ignoring the pain, Gin moved away from the wall and pointed his Beretta at Rukuma. He shot one, two, three times, not really caring whether he hit her. Then, following a quick gesture to Sherry, the two of them started to run again, this time finally leaving Rukuma, her house and the sound of the shattering glass of her window far behind.

Author's notes:

¡Hola! Hello! Hallo! こんにちは! Salut! Here comes Sherry Furude once more, ready for attack!

First of all, let me repeat it once more: thank you for reading this far! I really mean it. It honors me that you find my work to be worth your time and attention. It really does!

I enjoyed writing this chapter very much, even if it was also a little difficult (especially at the beginning). I had planned some weeks before what would happen (especially Rukuma's attack), but I needed to add some 'filling' details and even write down a brief chronology. I wrote most of the chapter on my mobile phone during a weekend trip (to which I even brought my English dictionary!). Also, I had previously googled what it is like to be shot. I tried to give this chapter as much action as I could, and to narrate it as well as I could - sadly, I'm afraid I'm not very good at that! Action isn't exactly my forte. What is it, then? I'm not very sure myself. But it's not action.

Also, as you may have noticed, what happens in this chapter was actually sort of "hinted" in chapter four (when Sherry said 'Does it mean we should expect her to shoot us dead from the bank she works in?'). Even if the place from which she shoots them and also the consequences change, in the end Rukuma did attack them, just as Sherry had feared.

I hoped you liked the chapter. Thank you again for reading! As always, let me encourage you to tell me if you find nay kind of mistake, or if you can suggest me how to improve my writing in general. With your help, I'll become a better writer!

So this is it. See you next week and lots of love!

Sherry F.