Dawn POV

I pulled my flimsy coat up to my chin; a shiver ran down my spine as I looked behind me for the hundredth time. I knew someone, or something was following me, I needed to get to safety. Why the hell I'd decided to take the short cut through the forest behind the city I did not know. I'd been on the run ever since they found me a while back. Never had I been so careless, not until now that is. A jagged howl crackled through the once silent night causing the air around me to somehow grow thicker and heavier with tension, which I didn't think possible. My heart thumped in my chest and I sped up trying not to trip over the tangle of tree roots and sticks on the forest floor.

Lights shone in the distance, a twig snapped from a few feet away and I sprinted to the welcome of the orange glow which blurred on the horizon. I heard the footsteps of my follower, there appeared to be only one of them because I heard two feet swiftly padding across the leafy grass. They seemingly effortlessly stayed a few paces behind; I dared not look around afraid for what I would find. In any ordinary movie a man in a hockey mask and a chain saw would be out to get the helpless maiden, however this was no movie, this was my past coming back to haunt me.

Just as I swiftly dodged a tree that was in my path, something had given me a sharp shove that sent me flying to the ground. I immediately shook the feeling of dizziness away and tried to stand and face whatever foe was out to get me. A heavy weight was on my back and I could hear them breathing heavily. I bared my teeth and tried to release the firm grip of the creature. It was no use.

"Help," My call was strangled and weak. A hand firmly bound my hands and feet together. Panic seized me.

"NO!" I screamed. I can't go back!" I saw a flash of purple, and then everything went dark.

I woke up, staring at a plain white ceiling. I sat up in an infirmary bed, the room was empty and I gingerly touched the back of my head. I winced in pain as I stood, my ankle had obviously been sprained as there was a bandage wrapped tightly around it but I limped to the door anyway. Cautiously, I turned and sped through the corridor as quickly as my leg would let me.

"Where do you think your going?" A deep voice asked from behind me, seemingly amused. I ignored the person and continued knowing that it was useless trying to run, however persisted to anyway. I could hear the stranger's boots echoing around the corridor as he began to walk up to me. I began to scowl and turned sharply to lash out at him. The punch was weak but it obviously caught him by surprise.

"What do you think you doing troublesome girl?!" He growled, roughly grabbing my wrists and dragging me back to the infirmary.

"Let go!" I yelled straining on my arms to try and break free. "And my name is Dawn Berlitz, not troublesome!" I said irritably, gritting my teeth in annoyance.

"And my name is Paul Shinji; you want a medal for that or something?" He asked coldly, letting go of my wrists as we entered the small room. I glared daggers at the man and sized him up. He had messy plumb coloured hair that sat chin length on his head, just like the purple I saw before blacking out. He had a plain black t-shirt on and a purple hoodie was tied around his waist however a sharp scowl cut across his would-be-perfect appearance like a knife.

"Why the hell did you bring me back?!" I demanded placing my hands on my hips aggressively. He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest, seeming to subtly tell me that my intimidation methods weren't working.

"You're bound to this place and it's your duty, like everyone's here, to defend," he said simply, leaning on the wall at the back of the room. I puffed out my cheeks in annoyance, this guy was really irritating me.

"What if I don't want to?!"

"Then they'll kill you," he deadpanned before lifting his arm to check a watch that was strapped to his wrist. "Follow me troublesome," he muttered before grabbing my wrist and dragging me out of the room.

"What the hell?!" I yelled, straining against his hold. I was certain that there would be bruises in the shape of the man's hand there in the morning.

I nervously looked around the large office. The only light came from a dim ceiling lamp above the desk at the end of the room. I kicked my legs played with a strand of my sapphire blue hair nervously. An angry looking man swiftly entered the room. He was wearing a smart orange suit and his dark brown hair was slicked back on his head. He glared dangerously at me as he sat himself in the plush leather chair in front of me. Two men dressed in black with dark sunglasses stood either side of the large oak door. They both held a gun, each of them expressionless and alert.

"I honestly don't see why I shan't dispose of you right now." Giovanni hissed, clasping his hands together and setting his elbows on the glossy wooden desk that sat between us. I gulped, lowering my gaze knowing that if I made the wrong move I'd be dead before I could say the words 'Help me'.

"Now tell me, why did you run? Team rocket is making this god forsaken world a much better place. I cannot risk our 'operation pokemon' to be reviled to our enemies, what if you had been caught?!" He snarled, his glare intensifying, if that was even possible.

"I... I'm sorry Sir, I don't know what came over me…" I stuttered, shuffling my feet around nervously, my eyes resting on the pink boots that hugged my feet comfortingly.

~ Flash Back ~

A girl dressed all in black swiftly leaped through the open window at the far side of the huge white building. She lightly landed on the soft red carped, her black boots making no sound as she hurried across the hallway; her midnight blue hair was roughly tied up in a pony tail at the back of her head. Loose strands fell into her face giving the girl a rebellious look. She had a large belt wrapped around her waist and attached to it were a number of different gadgets and a small gun. There was a large door at the end of the long hall and the girl made her way towards it, grabbing the gun from her belt. The 11 year old Dawn Berlitz heard crying from the other room and stopped in her tracks. The noise alarmed her and she immediately dove for a nearby plant pot, slipped behind it hoping not to be found. Two people came out of her target room; a man and a woman. They both entered the room where the cry could be heard. After a few minutes, they came back out of the room; the woman carrying a small child. The family stood in the darkness for a while, the girl behind the plant pot could faintly make out the three of them huddled together; the man had his arms wrapped around both the woman and the child. How could I break this family up?! How many families have we broken in the past, why should I be the one to damage this one?! She screamed inside her head but immediately mentally scolded herself for thinking this but couldn't help a tear slip down her pale face as the two parents put made their way to the room at the far end with the small child. Dawn stood and watched the door intensely for a moment. She remembered what it was like when her father had passed away. How her mother had cried herself to sleep every night for months on end. They had been told that her father had died on a mission. Dawn allowed hair that had escaped her pony tail fall across her eyes. She clenched her fists as another tear fell onto the crimson carpet below. Sniffing softly, she sprinted back to the window across from the door and leaped out, landing gracefully on her feet even though it was a drop from a three story building. She ripped her black hair band out of her hair and forcefully threw it to the ground along with the ear piece she had used to communicate with the people judging her first mission. Shivering in the cold, the girl wrapped her arms around her body, letting her long cobalt hair blow in her face as a cold breeze whipped through the air. She began sobbing; mourning for her father and all those families that team rocket had broken. That's when she ran, far far away.

"I guess I was scared to kill," I shrugged coolly, trying to show him that I was not in the least bit scared, however I knew he could see the terror that shined like a beacon behind the cool demeanour I was attempting to portray. He stared me down, a look of disgust evident on his face.

"We cannot afford people like you training at this facility, and we cannot allow you to as you might head straight for other companies or worse, the authorities and tell them where we are." I held my breath, waiting him to tell the guards to get rid of me. To throw me away like a faulty machine that was broken down and no longer needed. There was a short but firm knock at the door. Giovanni narrowed his eyes but motioned for the people standing by the door to open it. A man stepped in, he bowed slowly, raising his head after a few seconds but refusing to look at me.

"Sir, may I request that we keep this girl alive?" He asked, keeping his gaze lowered in respect. "We're running low on agents as it is and we cannot risk losing someone who has the blood of a great assassin running through her veins." He lifted his head slightly, the lavender hair falling out of his cold onyx eyes. Giovanni looked the agent up and down; he scowled at the man and stood up from the chair and took in a sharp breath.

"Just like her father eh?" he muttered, the words almost un-audible "This girl has been missing for over four years, she is obviously out of practice and so I see no point in keeping her."He said eventually. I could have sworn I saw Paul's eyes flash angrily at this, although he kept his cool.

"I can train her again; keep her up to the other novice's standards, with me she'll be one of the best in no time." He boasted sheepishly. Giovanni raised an eye brow.

"You are one of our best agents Shinji, you will still have to be on duty and attend your classes so she will have to be trained within yours and her free time," he said slowly, his voice hard and expression menacing. Paul nodded.

"I understand sir, I shall train her during my own time, and she can also join the trainees' classes during school time. Giovanni sighed, he nodded and ushered Paul out of the room. The man bowed his head once more and strolled out, shoving his hands in his hoodie that had been pulled over his body. Giovanni waited until he had shut the door when he leaned down towards me and hissed,

"I'm watching you girl, no funny business okay?" He made his hand look like a gun and pressed the outstretched fingers to my fore head; he narrowed his eyes, glaring down and me and re-coiled his hand like a gun would after being shot. I gulped and quickly scampered out of the office, not looking back.

"What the hell was that?!" I growled, resisting the urge to slap Paul's face. He seemed unfazed by my outburst and stayed leant against the wall with his arms crossed. He glared at me; his next words came as a scoff.

"Troublesome, I just saved your pitiful life so the least you could do is show me some gratitude!" I glared back at him, I knew my glare didn't even come close to the power of his but I stood my ground.

"It's D-A-W-N! And I'm never going to show any gratitude to an unemotional jerk like you, especially if you can't even be bothered to call me by my name!" I spat coldly. "Just take me to the dorms; I don't know what room I'm supposed to be in now." I commanded stubbornly. Paul rolled his eyes but set off in the direction of my year's dorms. I was still a trainee and I was supposed to attend the school program that the team had running in the facility. It was set up for safety precautions so that none of the kids spilled about any of this. Most of the time the parents involved with the company would bring their children to train here as it would be difficult keeping their line of work from the rest of the family. My father used to be a field agent, just like me, and my mother worked as a receptionist. It was her job to make sure no-body trespassed but she also catered to the demands of the public as they saw us as a business company with our own brand of weapon and other military items. I guess she's sort of like the security for the facility, keeping the noisy strangers at bay and making sure we seemed normal.

We arrived at a corridor full of cream coloured doors. Paul stopped at number 67 and knocked on the door. My mother burst out of the room throwing her arms around me. I smiled happily and wrapped my arms around her neck tightly; not wanting to ever let her go again. Paul seemed to skulk off after that moment because I didn't see him again. Mum held me out at arms length and tears of happiness streamed down both of our faces.

"We look a right pair," She stated, dragging me into the room.

"I'm sorry Mum… I just, I guess I completely messed up on my first assault…" I laughed nervously, sitting on the un-made bed on one side of the room that appeared to be mine as the side was extremely undecorated. My mother frowned.

"What exactly did happen anyway?" She asked, concern hinted in her tone of voice.

"I couldn't… kill him," I muttered turning my head away from her gaze. "He had a family, I just couldn't" I smiled weakly. My Mother lifted my head up.

"Its okay; when you didn't report back, someone else finished him off. But why did you run away?!" She asked, her frown deepening. I chose to carefully ignore this question by asking one myself.

"Why do we have to kill these people Mum?" The woman before me sighed, the creases on her face deepening. She seemed much older that I remember and it saddened me. She hugged me once more and stood up, ready to leave me to unpack the bag of clothes that had been placed on my bed.

"Just remember that we are against these people, they would do the same to us." With that, she left. I guess in a way she was right, I must have over reacted before. I sighed and turned the bag upside down, its contents spilling all over my sheet-less bed. Most of the clothing was black. I noticed a mini dress in the mix. It was black at the top and had a rather low V-Neck. The skirt area of the dress was a soft pink colour, smiling to myself; I grabbed the dress along a white singlet to go underneath and black knee length socks. I headed to the small bathroom that was on the other side of the room.

Looking at the huge mirror showed a confident young woman. I smiled at myself meekly; maybe it was good that I had come back. I had found a hairbrush in the bag and was brushing my cobalt hair lovingly. I roughly pulled it into a ponytail and placed my white beanie back onto my head. It had a small symbol on it which was a circle with a line surrounding the to half; the emblem of our company. I then pulled up the black socks and padded out of the bathroom chucking my pink boots onto my bed. I began to place the remaining clothing items in the draws around my sleeping area. I instantly turned; a scowl plastered to my face as the door of the room was flung open, expecting Paul to be standing there. Instead, a girl around my age walked in, she grinned at me and my expression softened. She had light brown hair that was styled oddly in two pigtails. She had a red bandanna on that also had a pokeball symbol embedded on it. She was wearing a red, short sleaved jacket with white and blue biker gloves. She had a tight white skirt over black cycling shorts and kicked off red sneakers and left them by the door.

"I'm May, Nice to meet you!" she smiled brightly offering me her hand. I shook it politely and smiled back.

"The name's Dawn, I've recently come back to the company, my skills probably aren't too great at the moment." I smiled rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. May widened her eyes at me.

"You're the girl that ran away?!" She gasped excitedly. "Most people thought it was just a rumour, why did you even do it?" She asked curiously, pulling me towards a black leather couch that faced a wide flat screen TV. The great thing about living in an assassin company's dorms was that they had a lot of money to buy all of the good stuff.

"Well, I guess I didn't want to do something." I said honestly, not wanting to reveal the whole truth just yet. "I've got to take extra classes with this jerk called 'Paul'." I told her while rolling my eyes. She just stared more, a happy grin spreading across her face.

"He's a legend; you're gonna be a pro in no time!" She chirped clapping her hands. I smiled with her, I could tell we were going to be really good friends. We both had the same happy and optimistic attitude. "I can't wait to introduce you to the others tomorrow, you're so much better than my previous room mate, she was such a sulk and was really annoying too," May frowned at the memory.

"No need to worry!" I assured her. "We're going to get on great, I can tell," May smiled at this and we both giggled.

"That we are Dawn, that we are," she beamed, hugging me tightly.

May exited the bathroom wearing a red singlet with red and white chequered tracky-bottoms. My pyjamas were the same as hers but light pink in colour. The company had given me the clothes to wear and earlier a maid had come in to make my bed. She provided me with a pink duvet and pillowcase. May and I had gone down to the supply shops down below and bought posters and ornaments to decorate my side of the room. Most consisted of happy scenes of creatures playing or having fun; others had famous artists printed on, most holding microphones with a few lyrics to one of their songs below. I had gotten to know May lot within the time, she was a cheerful and sweet girl however she could also be rather shy. That was the difference between us, I was confident and not afraid to put myself out there however she preferred to be around people she knew and could be quite quiet at times.

"Goodnight Dawn," she whispered turning off the bedside lamp that faintly lit the room as we snuggled up into bed. Tomorrow was Monday which meant we had school and she told me that I could go and meet her other friends.

"Goodnight May," I smiled, closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Hey guys, the next chapter should be up soon though I'm not completely sure when because of school and shit but I'll try to get it up asap ^^ Hope you enjoyed it and as I promised before, this chapter was much longer. But hey, enter Paul and May I guess heh. Anyways, hope you enjoyed!

~X-Ray