Kenny watched as Levi stabbed a wooden pillar. His slashes were fast, but they were not as strong as they needed to be yet.

"You'd be stabbed by now. You're too weak," he scolded. "It won't hurt them."

Levi looked discouraged by this; however, he kept stabbing. He focused on his breathing and imagined the pillar had one particular brothel owner's face.

"Still too weak," Kenny told him, sounding bored. "Stop."

The boy did as he said and moved aside as Kenny demonstrated. He took a quick breath before starting. His attacks were clean, fast, and broke the pillar in half. Levi could only watch in amazement. It was like the man was made for this. Finally, Kenny stopped and smiled in satisfaction at the item.

"That's what you need to be doing. Your tiny slashes will be like paper cuts to any real challengers out there. With knives, be fast and be accurate. Be powerful too." Kenny ran the tip of the knife over his hand lightly. "Just caressing someone with the blade doesn't do a thing to them. You need to use force."

"I'm trying," Levi said.

Kenny looked at him doubtfully. As he stared, he saw that the boy was being truthful.

"He's so skinny," the man thought, disappointed. Aloud, he said, "You need to eat more. I shouldn't be able to see your entire skeleton just by looking at you."

Walking to the door, the killer was stopped when Levi spoke. "Where are you going?"

"We're going to get you some more food. I'm not dealing with any twigs. Either you bulk up or give up on ever avenging Kuchel. One of the two."

Levi followed him out the door and walked alongside the man. It was nice walking next to Kenny. He was so sure of himself and the world. Just being near him made Levi feel more confident as well. So much so that even when people stared at him strangely for his appearance, he did not mind. Truthfully, he was not the only one who enjoyed the company. Kenny found himself glancing down often at the child.

"He's really not a bad kid," he thought. "Not a brat like I was at his age. Hasn't mouthed off once. Even cleans up after me. It's like I got a maid for free."

Kenny almost laughed, but his true feelings were different from that. Levi was not just a cleaner to him. He was in a sense Kuchel. It was like the man was given another chance to help his little sister. The way Levi was practically tucked under him reminded him so much of what she had done when they were children. He could see the memory in his mind's eye. There they were, sneaking out one night when their parents were in the middle of arguing. Not a night passed without something being broken, sometimes that included a nose or a hand. It was just better being out of the way when they were in the middle of one of their tiffs.

Kuchel and Kenny were headed nowhere in particular, but anywhere seemed better than where they were. Still, the Underground was nowhere for children. Everyone glared at them like they were meat, but Kenny did not care and his sister knew he would protect her as he always had done. She walked right where her son was then–at his side, close. When did that stop? Why did they have to part ways? Levi really was so much like her, yet, Kenny also saw some of himself in the boy. He saw it in that fire in the boy's gaze and that anger which stayed just barely hidden beneath his calm exterior.

"Never thought I'd have a kid around," he mused.

They went to another tavern and sat down at a table in the back. This time, Kenny ate with Levi. As he downed some beer, he saw the boy's curious face.

"What does that taste like?"

Kenny smirked. "Piss kinda or at least what I imagine that would taste like. I don't think you'd like it, but you're welcome to try."

It did not sound particularly appetizing after that, so Levi politely declined. His companion tapped his chin.

"I think you're better off with tea."

Levi lowered his eyes a bit and the man noticed a look of uncertainty on his face.

"You've never had tea, have you?"

An expression of embarrassment appeared as he answered. "No, I haven't. We never had enough money."

Kenny got quiet, then called the waitress over. "Can we get some black tea?"

"Of course."

After a couple minutes, the lady returned and placed a teapot on the table with teacups. Kenny poured some into one cup and slid it towards Levi. Curiously, the boy blew on the liquid and took a sip. His eyes lit up and he drank more.

"This is great," he said, quietly sipping.

Kenny gagged. "Yeah, it's all yours, kid. I'm a booze man."

An appreciative smile appeared on the boy's face and Kenny realized he was starting to enjoy the sight. He had such a genuine grin that even when it was small, it made the man feel happy as well. They finished the meal and returned home to keep working on training. After a bit, Kenny had to head out to complete contract. While he was gone, Levi went back to cleaning.

"I wonder how long he's lived like this," he thought, sweeping under a sofa. "It must have been lonely. Maybe he was with someone before and then left."

Getting back to that time of having nothing left to clean, he went back to training. That night, Kenny returned and was cleaning his knife. Levi was awake, still struggling to get consistent sleep, and went out to greet him. He saw that the man was holding something besides the weapon. There was a smile in his eyes even if it did not show itself on his lips. Setting down the item, Kenny gestured for Levi to approach.

"I got something for you," he said.

Levi went over to the table and peeked inside the box. Hidden in there was a beautiful tea set. Several bags of black tea were in the box as well. With bright eyes, the dark-haired boy picked up the pot and gently placed it on the table.

"Since you seemed to like tea, I figured we'd use this so that you could have some even when we're not out."

"Thanks," the child said gratefully.

Never before had he received a gift. Kuchel would have gotten him some, but if it was between that and food, the choice was simple to make. Levi was not a materialistic kid, but it was a nice feeling to see someone put that type of thought into something he thought he would like.

Kenny smiled, then stopped himself. "Don't mention it."

He went to his room, leaving Levi to wash and dry the set. It was black with gold-colored designs. When he was done, he came back and saw Kenny taking notes of different contracts he had completed. The list was quite extensive. Noticing the boy's presence, a small smirk appeared on his face.

"Want to see some of the people I've taken out?" he asked, showing him the piece of paper.

Levi looked at it and frowned. It seemed to be total nonsense. There were no names or numbers or anything. Just doodles and a few words.

"What does this mean?"

Kenny seemed proud of what was on there. "It's my way of keeping a record without anyone being able to find it and link it back to me. Like your facial expression says, it doesn't make sense to someone who's not me. They wouldn't understand it; however, when I look at this tree, I know it represents the tree that used to be in front of this one officer's house. I like to know who I'm going after. If I forget too many, I might miss possible ties they have and they could not notice that certain groups would be trying to avenge each other."

The boy looked unsure. "Have you had any hunt you before?"

"Before, but it didn't last long. Happened before I made this list. I didn't realize that I'd killed two of the longest-lasting members of this one squad and not the others, so their comrades were pretty upset. I prefer to take out everyone so that they can't try to get revenge."

Levi nodded quietly, then asked the question which had been bugging him for a while. "Why did you get into this?"

Kenny shrugged. "It pays well."

"That's it?"

"No, but what more do you want to hear?"

"I'm not sure," Levi admitted. "I guess I'm just curious."

The man glanced at him, pondering over if he would reveal anything more about himself. "Well, I mainly did it to get away from everything. The Underground's no place to raise a family, but that didn't stop my folks. It made them bitter, miserable people, but it didn't stop them." He frowned at the thought of them. "I didn't want to stay there anymore or keep living in such a dump. I was always getting into fights. Hell, sometimes with them, so I had practice. I figured I'd let it work in my favor and get better at it." He grinned and crossed his arms. "You can see how well that training paid off. Didn't take long before I started realizing the real money for people with my skills came with killing."

"Have you ever thought about having a different life?"

"Nope," the man lied through his teeth.

Levi seemed to know that he was not telling the truth, but he did not push the subject. Kenny actually appreciated that, being able to see the doubt on the boy's face. He stretched and began going towards his room.

"Well, Levi, it's late and sleep makes a good killer, so I'm going to take care of that. Night."

"Good night."

Levi watched the man go and grinned. Kenny was not as gruff as he liked to seem. The boy knew he had a good point about sleep, but he was still not tired. Too much time had passed with him barely sleeping. Pretending like it had never happened and that he was a sound sleeper was a difficult task. Deciding that maybe some black tea would help make him fatigued, Levi went and turned on a pot of water.

"Kenny's life is dangerous," he thought. "I knew that, but maybe I'm underestimating it. I'll be joining this life soon. That means I'll become a killer too and have contracts like he does. I…I'm not sure about that. I could do it, but I don't know if I'd want to just kill anyone because someone else wants them dead. What if the person who hired me was the actual one in the wrong?" Another thought occurred to him. "He could be on the run a lot. We both could." Nervousness began filling him. "He could get hurt while he's out there or worse."

The sound of boiling water snapped Levi back to the present and he took it off the flame, then poured it over the bag. Still, deep in thought, he picked up the teacup, now thinking about his training.

"How am I going to get strong enough to stop Otto?" he thought. "He probably won't be anywhere near as difficult to kill as the people Kenny will go against. If I can't get him, then I definitely won't be able to help Kenny and he might die like Mom. I can't lose anyone else. I don't know him that well yet, but he's not treating me like some freak or a burden. I want to be useful. I owe that to him. He doesn't have to do all this for me." He felt himself becoming anxious. "But what if I never get strong? I might just be weak and nothing might change that. I have to get stronger. I can't say the way I am. It's not good enough. I wasn't able to help anyone before. I can't let that happen again. I–"

The boy stopped as the teacup shattered in his hand. He stared at the broken shards of glass and spilled liquid.

"I'm messing things up already," he thought.

Kenny heard the sound of the broken glass and rushed out of his room to see what happened. Out there, he saw the boy on his hands and knees, cleaning up the pieces of the cup and drying the tea. He looked up sadly at him.

"I'm sorry that I broke the cup," he said, not looking the man in the eye.

With a shrug, Kenny got a bag to put the pieces in. "It's just a cup," he said calmly, putting a hand on Levi's shoulder. "How'd it break?"

The response came after a hesitant pause. "I held it too tightly. I'll have to hold it differently next time."

Kenny appeared thoughtful. "You broke it just by holding it? I might have underestimated your strength."

Levi looked up in surprise. "You're not angry?"

"I've had way worse things happen in my life than a cup being broken. It takes a bit more than that to rattle me."

A look of immense relief washed over Levi and Kenny almost smiled.

"He really was worried about this," he thought. "He looks at me like she did–like we're family." The man frowned at himself. "Stop that. Don't let this turn you soft. You lose your edge and you're dead. We both are. I didn't bring him here to get close–just to keep him alive. There's a difference and it's one I can't forget."