Someone had been stealing his jobs, and frankly it was starting to piss him off. Aomine was tired of sneaking into buildings only to find soon to be crime scenes made before he could be the one to make them.

"Satsuki, tell Akashi that the Phantom got this one too." Aomine said into his headset through gritted teeth.

Instead of Momoi answering him, he heard Akashi speaking to him through the ear piece. "Hello, Daiki. I think we should have a chat."

Aomine felt a chill go down his spine.

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble. Just the opposite, actually. I have a new assignment for you. It involves your phantom man."

The Phantom was the newest assassin in town. No one who had seen him had lived, and so there really wasn't any information on him.

All of his crime scenes were the same. No signs of a struggle or forced entry, no one nearby could recall seeing anyone enter, even if the crime was committed in broad daylight, and no forensic evidence left behind. The only thing that actually made it look like a crime scene was the body itself. Always with a slit throat in a puddle of their own blood.

The thing was, he had a type. All of his victims were found to be criminals of some sort. Rapist, human traffickers, murderers, abusers. So, in theory he shouldn't be that hard to find. After all, they were the same types Aomine was assigned to. Unfortunately, Aomine always seemed to get there after him.

It was three weeks after his conversation with Akashi that he finally laid eyes on the Phantom. He was kind of small, had big blue eyes, and very nearly managed to disappear right in front of Aomine's eyes. It was only at the last second when Aomine reached out and grabbed the guy by his collar that he actually got a good look at him and smirked. Well, if it came to a physical fight Aomine was sure he could win. But he wasn't here to fight, and he wouldn't want to damage a face like that anyway.

Light blue eyes flitted around the room, landing on Aomine several times, clearly assessing his chances of escape. Aomine let him look. He'd mapped out the whole place before entering, and this Phantom wasn't getting out of his grip anytime soon anyway.

"You've made quite a mess, Aomine-kun." The Phantom said when he finally settled on looking at Aomine. He glanced at the body to let Aomine know what he was referring to. And it certainly wasn't a pretty sight. The sword, that Aomine had stolen from the victim's mantle, entered through his head and exited his chin. Blood was dripping through the entry and exit wounds and from the mouth.

Aomine arched an eyebrow at the use of his name. "And how did you come across that name, blue eyes?" He asked, dragging the other a bit closer.

"It's not hard to buy information these days."

"It is when it's about you, and money is not an issue for my boss, so if your info could be bought we would have it."

"I think that just makes me better than you then. At least when it comes to staying hidden. You should work on that." It was hard to tell, but Aomine was pretty sure he saw a faint trace of amusement on the Phantom's face.

"You're good enough at your job to have caught my boss's attention. Akashi's exact words were 'I'm slightly interested in him'." Aomine informed him.

"Should you be giving out your boss's name so carelessly?" The Phantom asked, tilting his head slightly.

Aomine let out a laugh at that. "What are you gonna do? Tell the cops? God, I would love to see you try to tell them where you heard that. Besides, I'm sure they already suspect him of a ton of shit. The problem is convicting someone with so much influence and power. Akashi Corp. is basically an empire. Now, let's talk business."

Aomine's eyes narrowed when his captive made a move like he was going to try to duck out of the shirt Aomine had in his fist, so he moved his hand to the Phantom's soft blue hair, causing a pained gasp to leave the other.

"Now, as I was saying, the boss man wants you to work for him. He's got this thing about controlling everyone, and now that you've crossed his radar that includes you." Aomine told him as if there had been no interruption via escape attempt.

"I'm not interested." The Phantom said, and if Akashi had been the one doing this job the Phantom would be dead for the defiance in his tone.

"That's not a good answer." Aomine replied, leaning down so that they were eye to eye.

"It's not a good offer." The Phantom countered.

"I assure you that it is. You'll be partnered with me, you'll be hired to take out the same types of people, and you'll be paid very well."

The Phantom's blue eyes looked Aomine up and down. "You're reckless. I'm not interested in being your partner either. You didn't even bother to find out if I was armed before grabbing me. Prove you're good enough and perhaps I'll consider your offer."

That was the only warning Aomine got before the Phantom leaned forward and pressed their mouths together. In the moment of surprised distraction from Aomine, the other pulled out a knife and Aomine just barely moved his hand away in time to keep from getting it pinned to the wall.

"You would do good to remember that just because I am not as physically strong as you, I am just as qualified to kill." And then the Phantom was gone.

He looked back at the corpse behind him and frowned. "You're lucky. You don't have to put up with this shit since you're dead. That guy just tried to stab my hand. I need that hand. It's a good thing he's cute, or I'd be tempted to kill him for it."

Aomine decided he was better off talking to living people, so he tapped the earpiece to talk to Momoi. "Hey, Satsuki, you got any idea how to prove I'm good enough for the Phantom?" He asked as he exited the soon to be crime scene, taking an apple from the kitchen on his way out.

"You can probably start by finding him again. Akashi-san won't be happy that you let him get away." She replied.

"Akashi's never happy. Just make sure that when you tell him about this you mention that we still have a chance of getting the guy. That I didn't completely fail. I'd like to live long enough to find him again." He said before taking a bite from the apple.

"Dai-chan, are you eating right now? What have I told you about stealing food from dead people?" Momoi reprimanded.

"What? They aren't going to need it. Anyway, I'm going to go home and get some sleep. Starting tomorrow I'm back to trying to find the Phantom." He replied, and took off the head set before she could reply.