Author's notes will be at the end.
A stray hair fell down into Lory Takarada's eye as he looked out from his curtain draped window upon the bustling streets of Florence. A minstrel woman's voice whispered in his ears accompanied by the harsh bark of a dog, and the clink of coins as they passed hands from customer to merchant.
All this was lost upon him until he was snapped back by his now-watering, scratched eye. Irritated, he ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to remove it from his face. It fell right where it was, however he was too lost in thought again to pay it any more heed.
It was three months now since the Lord and Lady Hizuri contacted him in desperate need of help in finding their missing son.
Kuon had disappeared, with no indication as to where he had gone. And for Lory, Mayor of Florence and constantly gathering information, this meant his trail was going to be hard to find, indeed.
The Hizuris, who were high nobles with large amounts of influence over Florence, had contacted him two days after it had happened, saying they could not find him.
Since then, after months of vigorous searching, there was still no sign of Kuon. It worried Lory. With each passing day the likelihood of finding anything became slimmer.
A soft knock upon his door snapped him from his thoughts. His most trustworthy servant, Sebastian, walked in with an expressionless face and a small bundle of files under one arm.
"Is it news?" Lory asked anxiously.
Not directly answering the question, Sebastian said, "I have gathered information on the movements of the assassins in Verona. Interpret it however you may." He left, silently walking upon the dark wood floor with practiced ease.
Lory smiled, despite his anxiety.
He had a lead.
Soundless footsteps hopping from niche to ledge close to the ceiling in the large mansion with hard heeled boots and greaves on was no small feat, or so Kyoko learned. If she looked down, her stomach turned somersaults, and she bet she was an absolutely gorgeous shade of green currently.
She made a huge leap onto a chandelier, cloak whipping behind her and hot wax dripping down onto the man's head below. A clatter echoed as he dropped his book on the floor in shock. Her heartbeat thudded in her ears like a hammer as she hid herself from view on the floor. He winced as he rubbed the now sore spot on his bald head, looking up. When a bird flew down in that precise moment, he dismissed it as nothing more and picked up and continued reading his book of what seemed to be a map of sea monsters in the oceans.
He was quite pudgy. He must spend large amounts of time just reading.
Kyoko fought the urge to laugh, despite herself, amused by the thought that assassins must learn quite the interesting cluster of information.
But, enough with that. She leaped down onto a column, holding on with just her fingers on a decorated marble ledge. Suddenly all those finger lifts Moko-san had made her do made perfect sense. Because falling to ones death just ruins your day, not to mention ends it.
Progress was slow. She had to make her way to the other side of the room. Why did nobles have to have such big dining halls? She wondered for not the first time. All it provided was birds nesting, from the amount of excrete she had stepped in. Her black leather boots were not so black anymore, more, rather, an interesting shade of gray and white.
After quite awhile after entering, she finally arrived at her destination. Dropping quietly onto the pillowed pedestal on which it was kept, she snatched the valuable looking jewel that shone in the shaft of sunlight seeping in through the window. She stuffed it in a bag around her waist.
"Eh...? HEY, you! Get back here!" His squeaky voice yelped at her back. Intimidating.
Guess her whereabouts were known.
Soundless running carried her to him. Right as she was going to reach for her dagger, she realized that the earlier clatter had not just been the book.
What to do...
"Guards! Gu..!" He was cut short as she slammed his soft head into the hard floor.
Unconscious.
She ran over to where she believed her dagger had been dropped. As she picked it up, the cold surface and still slightly blackened appearance of it reminded her of the man who had tried to kill her.
Her scar burned impatiently as she thought about how she had another name to add to her revenge list.
The loud trampling of feet coming from behind her alerted her to the guards.
Berating herself for the lapse in concentration, she whirled around to face the score and a half of fully-armed men. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, disabling her ability to think clearly.
She tried fighting with her knife, but only ended up with hands slippery with warm blood and not much damage.
Her mission had ordered that she not get any more weapons besides a knife.
Was Voretti trying to kill her?
As a sword slashed down her back, her eyes flashed with determination and a new idea.
Spinning around, she knocked her head into her wounder's. She took his sword from the loosing grip and turned on the rest of her assailants.
The echoing sounds of the clash of swords resounded through the entire room until her ears rang.
Though her sword skills were above what the guards could do, it soon became obvious Kanae was going to have to spend more time fencing.
Ten minutes later of quick, intense fighting, Kyoko was tiring. She had cut down ten men, but there was still twenty to deal with.
As a particularly vicious strike hit her arm, she realized she needed to get out of there.
She was running out of energy.
Glancing around between strikes, she saw a bookcase from which she could jump to a low-hanging crevice.
After slowly making her way to the bookcase, she leaped up nimbly, denying the painful protests of her back. But not fast enough. A sword caught her in the leg. She cursed under breath with the pain, kicking the man in the head hard enough to knock him out.
The jump to the crevice was quite a stretch, but it was her only option. Flinging herself, she just barely caught the ledge. Her heart thudded in her ears as one hand slipped for a second.
With the shouts and threats of the men below, she climbed up as quickly as her wounds would allow. The wound on her leg bled quite a bit, making one foot slippery.
Not five minutes later found the rasping of the shingles of roofs under her feet as she ran to the Eagle's Assassins headquarters.
Despite the pain in her wounds which alleviated with each step, Kyoko smiled, the adrenaline slowly fading from her veins allowing her to think clearly.
She had succeeded.
She was one step closer.
Kanae paced back in forth in front of the bed that Amamiya Chiori sat on, anxiety written all over her face. Her fingers fidgeted with an arrow from her quiver, repeatedly refletching the feathers along the shaft.
Chiori watched her friend, and then asked, "Is it that bad?"
Kanae continued her nervous actions while answering in a slightly strained voice, "Yes, it is. He sent her with those orders. She could be killed, quite easily, too, with such little protection." Although she never would admit it to Kyoko, during their training she had become quite attached to the girl.
"She's not stupid, Kanae."
Kotonami finally sat down, though her fingers kept on their repetitive motions.
"I know she's not stupid. But nobody could do an entire mission with just a dagger and some armor for protection!"
"It's not like this is a particularly dangerous mission, Kanae."
"Chiori, you know as well as I do how well guarded the Diamond of Milan is. That noble practically lives with it, with a few score trained guards within shouting distance."
"But it's not that you're worried about, Kanae."
She shook her head.
"No, it's Voretti that worries me."
Thanks to Laura_Ella for her review with the criticism. I hadn't realized that the story was getting boring. I had the character's appearances planned out, I just wasn't sure at which point to put them in. But keep in mind; this is supposed to be suspenseful, so not everything is going to make sense at once.
Did I do a better job with this chapter? Anything else I could be doing better? Reviews are greatly appreciated!
I wrote this in about an hour, in a spurt of motivation. But then editing it took twice as long. *sighs*