Dawn POV

The car stopped in what seemed a small crescent. There were only a few small houses and we made sure to park in the least conspicuous place. Paul got out and I followed suit, following him down the road. I had to jog to keep up with his long stride, I wasn't the tallest of people and my legs were much smaller than his so it was kind of difficult.

"So, how many missions have you been on now?" I asked, trying to break the silence.

"Too many to count," he muttered to my surprise, as I wasn't expecting him to answer.

"This is my first one, well, not including the one where I kinda didn't finish," I giggled as I silently wondered how many people he must have killed.

He grunted in response, it was an irritating noise that I'd found he used a lot.

The rest of the time was passed in silence but we soon found ourselves standing in front of a house that was slightly bigger than the rest. A tall iron fence swept the perimeter of the lot. It would be a piece of cake for us to climb over despite the sharp spikes at the very top. We pulled our hoods on and scarves us to mask out noticeable features, especially since both of our hair colours were rather conspicuous. I now realised how easy Ash must have it with his black hair.

The two of us padded silently through the front garden and pressed ourselves against a wall at the back of the house. We made our way around to the back where a door stood. Paul pulled the handle and surprisingly, stupidly, it was open. We found ourselves in a smallish utility room. From memory, I knew that the door at the end of the room lead into a large hallway where a set of stairs lead into a spacious basement which was being used as the library. We figured that the book would most likely be held somewhere down there.

Paul walked out in front of me. He slowly opened the door and looked around, checking if the coast was clear. He then signaled for me to follow him out of the room and into the hallway.

A Television was blaring in the sitting room opposite the staircase we were pressed up against. I could see the silhouette of a person sitting on a couch facing away from us. We made our way down the stairs at the end and into the library.

Paul switched on his torch and I copied him. The yellow light made it possible for me to see the rows and rows of shelves filled with hundreds, if not thousands of books. It really did look like a proper library.

"How are we gonna find it in this?!" I exclaimed as quietly as I could.

Paul just seemed to ignore me as he continued to flash the beam of light across the shelves, obviously searching for the book. I followed suit, sweeping the luminosity across the mass of books that lined the shelf closest to me. I began to slowly walk down it, all the way to the end. There were books upon books of fairy tales and stories of princesses and dragons and knights in shining armour. Being unable to resist, I picked up the nearest one and began to skim through it. Paul wouldn't notice if I stopped looking for a minute or so…

As the strange, scaly dragon boy with the scruffy pink hair took her hand, the beautiful young princess with the flowing blonde hair smiled to herself. She'd soon be away from the palace, from the painful memories of her mother in the coffin… her beautiful features still and un-moving, never to smile that heart-warming smile ever again. But also of her father who neglected and ignored her, ever since her mother had passed. The boy grinned a toothy grin, his fangs bared and his eyes which were so full of vibrant life crinkled at the edges. She smiled in return as he squeezed her petite hand gently and led her out of the castle grounds, out of her old life and into a new, carefree and happy world. The two stopped and the princess turned her dragon around to face her, his wings arched and his features showed a look of curiosity. She smiled lovingly at him, at her strange dragon boy. She stood up on her tip-toes, leaning in and planting a soft, gentle kiss on his che-

BAM. A hand slammed down onto the page I was reading and I slowly, looked up to see Paul glaring daggers at me. I grinned sheepishly up at him, blushing ever so slightly. He waved an old, tattered looking book in my face and it didn't take me long to realise that this was the book we were looking for.

"I managed to find it… no thanks to you stupid girl," He growled, still glaring down at me. I pouted, turning my head to look away from him as he snatched the cute little book out of my hands. He raised his eyebrows at the title, The flames and Keys, and he to, began to flick through the pages.

He snickered and rolled his eyes at me, taking my hand and yanking me up. "You really are very troublesome…" He half chuckled, half sneered. I blushed and quickly stole my hand away from his touch, realising he was still holding it. I poked my tongue out at him childishly and strutted off, heading towards the exit.

"Guys, be careful, a car just pulled up outside the house and they're four men heading in." Misty's voice startled me at first but Paul was quick to act, he pulled me against the wall and into the shadows just as we heard people heading down the stairs. The footsteps became almost completely silent as they made their way to the bottom. Two burly men walked unknowingly passed, clicking their torches on and disappearing into the depths of the library, most likely in search of us. Paul hurried me along, pulling his hood back on and scarf up. I did the same, making sure it was impossible for anyone to identify me.

As we passed the double doors which separated the stairs from the library, Paul stopped to shut them securely, locking the two men in; the thinking of a true assassin. We got up the stairs, only to find that our exit was blocked by a tall man, his height rivaled that of Paul's however Assassins were trained to be sneaky; they had it planted into their minds from the moment of training that once an advantage over the enemy was seen it was to be used, no matter how 'dirty'.

I watched as Paul un-haltered a small gun from his belt and aimed at the man blocking our way. Without a moment's hesitation, he pulled the trigger and the man fell limp against the door, a loud thump could be heard as his body hit the ground, the lifeless eyes staring right at us, his head now Blood trickled from the perfectly centred wound in his forehead as a pool of crimson began to gather beneath his head.

I shivered at the corpse and then glanced wearily at Paul as we rounded the corner and headed for the door. He was a trained killing machine, he'd been taught to murder pretty much from the moment he could walk. He glanced over at me, and for once, I was actually terrified of him. His grey eyes hiding all trace of emotion, he didn't seem to think twice or even regret having killed that man. I lingered behind him, not wanting to get too close as he dragged the body out of the path of the door but not before I felt cold hands wrap around my neck and something sharp poking into my cheek.

Being a trained assassin myself, I knew exactly what to do in these kinds of situations. I grabbed the crook of the elbow of the man holding me and swiftly ducked under his arm, pulling him in a sharp arm lock and kicking the knife out of his hand quickly. He yelped in pain as I straitened his arm out, pushing and pulling on both ends until I heard a loud 'crack'. I saw from the corner of my eye the body of a man in a black suit fall to the floor, Paul standing over him with the knife I originally kicked away from the man covered in blood. With my attention on Paul, the man took the moment to punch me square in the stomach with his good hand. I doubled over in pain and he took that moment to strike again. In a flash, Paul was by my side, he kicked the man, causing him to fall to the ground. I could hear him moaning in pain as he landed on his broken arm. Paul hauled him up, kicking the bloodied knife to me.

I shakily picked it up, I was shivering, my eyes wide. The man watched me intently, practically forcing me to look him right into his pleading, green eyes. I stumbled over to where he was being held and brought the knife up above my head before plunging it down into his throat. He began to cough up blood and Paul let him fall to the floor. I looked over at him wildly and then back at the dying man. I began to shake, I couldn't move my body, I trembled and sank down onto the ground. A second later, my head snapped up as I heard loud padding sounds coming down the stairs which lead to the second floor. Paul was already there with a knife waiting for the new found visitor.

A little girl who looked around eight years of age appeared before us. She was holding a well-worn brown bunny rabbit and an adorable pink night-gown adorned her small figure. Her long, black hair, which resembled the colour of the man's I had just murdered, hung over here eyes as she rubbed them sleepily. Paul and I stayed stock still, her eyes widened as she took in the scene before here and a blood curdling scream aroused from her tiny mouth. Paul was behind her in a split second; he clamped his hand over her mouth, muffling the noise and instantly put her into a sleeper hold. Her eyelids fluttered shut and her body became limp in his grasp. He gently laid her down on the stairs and tucked the brown rabbit under her arm.

I just stared at him, part of me amazed by the fact that a killer such as him could be so gentle. The rest of me was in a state of utter shock. One sentence, which didn't seem to make sense to me, kept repeating itself in my head; you killed this girl's father, as the scene that just unfolded replayed over and over. I felt strong, warm arms lift up my body and guide me out of the house.

"Misty, get the van ready, we're done here." I heard Paul mutter, yet his gruff voice seemed very far away from me now. I was picked up bridal style and could feel myself moving faster. Paul and I were obviously in a hurry to get to somewhere, but I wasn't sure where. I could hear urgent voices talking back and forth, I was still replaying the event that had just occurred and each time I saw it was more agonizing than the last.

I finally awoke from my daze. My vision was blurred but it soon focused on cold, steel-grey eyes. That was when the truth of the matter hit me like a tidal wave. I'd killed that girl's father. She was fatherless. He was gone from her life forever. Tears sprang from my eyes and glided down my face, I tried desperately to wipe them away so as to not let Paul see but he already had. He rolled his eyes at me and I felt ashamed, completely and utterly judged, unable to prevent the sobs from wracking my body.

"You're going to need to get used to this," he said simply. I bit my lip in an attempt to stop the snivels, this was true, I was trapped here for the rest of my life, like a puppet on string. I remembered then why I had left in the first place.

He moved away from me and climbed into the driver's seat where the car set off. Misty had been watching the entire thing, she had a concerned look printed across her face but I stubbornly wiped the tears away, refusing to be pitied.

I spied the book that we had been sent to retrieve. What's so great about it anyway? I wondered to myself. Knowing well that we most probably weren't allowed to read it, I took it anyway as Misty turned away to look out of the window. I obscured it from her view so she was oblivious to the fact that I was actually reading it, I turned to a random page and began.

These creatures, they have extraordinary power. For example, the water types can create water using nothing but their sheer power alone, this is unheard of in our dimension. The inhabitancies have made it possible for them to be contained within a containment unit called a 'pokeball'. The person had then scribbled down something that looked almost like the logo of our company. The one they call a 'mew' has the ability to know every single 'move' in existence. If its cellular structure could be modified, or if it was to learn to obey the humans of this worl-

I was stopped short once again as the book was snatched away from my hands by Misty.

"If anyone finds out you were reading this, we're all screwed!" She exclaimed, the panic was obvious in her eyes.

"No need to worry!" I said confidently. "It's fine, if you don't tell, I won't," I chuckled. I had so many questions. What did it mean 'in our dimension' and what creatures was the person talking about? Why would team rocket need this piece of crap when it was obviously fake?

I swear to god, at one point I thought this fic was turning into a NaLu xD Ah well, hope you enjoyed that little 'easter egg' for those that noticed :) I had to add more Ikari moments just to suffice, no complaints here though, heh. Sorry I didn't have this done earlier, school's been a real pain in the ass lately _ Anyways, I hope you enjoyed as always :D

~X-Ray