Assassin! Ishimaru Kiyotaka

As the World Caves In

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The car hummed a soft droning note, filling the silence between the two men with idle white noise. As the turmoils of the night settled against the hasty rising of the morning sun, pulling them further and further away from the past and into the hazy future, like the sky, it slowly began to dawn on the pair the situation they had landed themselves in.

The early morning sun shone pale rays over the streets, illuminating the night and burning off the layer of mist that had settled in the cool atmosphere.

Kiyotaka laid silent behind the wheel, his eyes glued to the road as they raced past red lights and stop signs, weaving through the slow morning traffic.

His back teeth sunk absentmindedly into the soft flesh of the inside of his mouth, grinding down and pulling at it, an anxious habit he had picked up as of late. A destructive habit that left ragged white lines on his cheeks.

It was a futile attempt to keep the lurking thoughts out of his mind long enough to possibly get far enough away and allow time to think.

The penetrative silence weighed heavier and heavier on Kiyotaka's shoulders, begging to be broken, to fill the empty void of space endlessly keeping them apart in the cramped cabin of the limo. It was a dragging scratching scraping silence that dug at the backs of his eyes, clawing down his sides and seeping cold fingers into his skin.

It was uncomfortable, and it was frightening. For silence allowed thought, and with thought drew harder clenched muscles, and longer bouts of picking at the inside of his mouth.

Thought drew blood.

Silence also brought about the knowledge of just how long Kiyotaka had gone without sleep. His eyelids grew heavy with weights tied to his eyelashes, making keeping them open harder by the minute. Blinking was a game of chance, a hope that they would open after a second, or even at all,

He cleared his throat, breaking through the droning silence, daring to glance over at Mondo as he spoke,

"You didn't forget anything... did you?"

It was a simple question.

Noise to fill the lull.

But even those few words were uttered through clenched teeth and darting eyes.

But with the question posed, another lay hidden, lingering in the air.

Mondo turned from his long wistful gaze out the window, shifting in the seat to give himself a second to think of an answer.

"Uhm..."

Mondo paused for a moment, unsure of whether to be truthful or lie.

Kiyotaka's sudden questionnaire had pulled him from his misty thoughts, recalling the previous few hours, slowly going over every action and reaction that had led to his current predicament of barreling down the highway in a stolen limo with an assassin who had just decided not to kill him.

So many moments he had pondered over the past week all suddenly made sense to him. Kiyotaka's alert and harsh personality, rife with secrets kept hidden behind a cold exterior. His extensive knowledge of combat, weak points, weapons.

The connections, his connections to Kenroyku, the Council, Genocide Jack.

The cabinet.

God, the cabinet.

Before they left, Kiyotaka had instructed him to gather a list of things from that cabinet that had been locked in his room. What he found inside almost made him sick. The knowledge that so many toxic and harmful items had been just a room away from him for an entire week was too much to take in. Poisons, corrosives, explosions, serrated knives, daggers, full-on military grade weapons and armour were all arranged neatly on its many shelves.