An Assassin, a Thief, and Yaoi, Oh My! [Old Version]

Chapter 2

I arrived at my house around 10:30, the candy shop being relatively close to my house. Time was of the essence, I could sleep later... The first matter of business was equipment.

I padded quietly down my hallway with a practiced ease, heading to the room furthest back in my small house. Opening the door to what seeming looked like a storage closet, but on closer expectation there was a switch behind a false panel hidden beneath some bottles of half full Windex. Flicking the switch, the whole closet started to rumble and panels flipped over on the sides revealing more switches and buttons. The back wall opened up like two double doors, exposing a room with weapons on all four walls, ranging from a katana to a modern day gun and more. In the center of the room was a small table. The room was only big enough to fit about two or three people at the most. Before weapons though, I needed to make sure my attire was still in good shape from the last job. I pressed one of the many blue buttons and a buzzing and whizzing like noise could be heard coming from the table. Within a few seconds a silver rectangular box like object was rising out of the floor under the table. Walking over, I opened the door on the metal box and pulled out a long thin black box and set it on top of the table. I flipped open the box and let my hand run over the contents. Inside was my most basic equipment, a tight black body suit, or a 'ninja clothes' as most people like to call it, black flat slipper like shoes, and my mask. I picked up my mask gently. Boy was it a sight for sore eyes! It was made of a light weight wood that because of the white paint looked disturbingly like bone... as you can imagine that started all sorts of rumors... I ran my fingers over the smooth front, feeling the groves where the red streaks under the left eye socket, following the streak to the edge of the mask to the black satin ribbon. Whenever I would put this mask on, I felt like a different person entirely... It was frightening at first, but I've come to accept that other half, even anticipate the next time I'll be wearing it. Looks like that time is creeping near... I set the mask down and checked over my clothes and shoes to make sure there were no holes. Seeing that all my gear was good, I shut the lid to the black box and set it back gently into the silver box, closing the little door before tapping the top of the box and watched as it disappeared back down into the floor. It was time to pick my weapons.

After about an hour or two down in the weapons room, I had all my weapons selected and was walking back down the hallway to my room. As soon as my feet crossed the threshold of my door way it was as if all my energy had evaporated and left me feeling dead tierd. I didn't even bother putting on pajamas; I just collapsed in my bed. I was asleep before my head even hit my pillow.

"Mom! Mom!" I was on my knees, the rain pelting heavily on my bright yellow rain coat, my orange hair plastered to my face, tears intermingling with the rain, rolling down my face in thick streams. My mom was on the ground, a large stain of red on her back and a pool of it underneath her. The air smelled of copper... it smelled like blood. "Mom!" I kept shaking her, but she wouldn't respond, I felt the desperation kicking in, making me frantic. "Mom! Please Mom-"

I sat up quickly in my bed, panting and drenched with sweat. I ran my hand through my short and spikey orange hair, and took a deep breath... I hadn't had that dream in a while. I sighed before swinging my legs over the side of the bed, digging my toes into the plush teal carpet. I looked over to my nightstand and grabbed my most precious item in the world... a picture of me, my mom, and my dad. We all had giant smiles on our faces and we were huddled close together... It was a truly happy memory. As I looked at it, I couldn't help but remember my dream, and I was unable to restrain a shudder. To be more accurate though, it was a memory, one I had tried to lock away, not a dream...

It happened June 17th, 2015, two days after my sixth birthday. It had started out to be a good day, sunny, but not too hot, birds chirping, and I had finally beat Tatsuki, my best friend and top student at the dojo I attended. My mom had come to pick me up like she always did, and when we started walking home, the sky had turned an ugly grey and a down pour of rain came crashing upon us in seconds, like someone up in the sky had suddenly flipped the 'on' switch for the rain. Luckily my mom had known about this storm, and had put my yellow rain coat on me before we left the dojo. I had asked my mom if we could if we could take a small detour to the river so I could put my paper crane in the river-it was something done commonly in an older Japan to send a prayer to the dead- for my dog Tensa who had just recently passed. I was setting the crane in the water (though the point was probably moot) when I heard a loud pop. I turned around quickly, and saw my mother lying face down in the grass, a pool of red beneath her. I hadn't seen who had done it, too absorbed with my mom to even look. I don't know how long I had sat there, soaked to the bone because my hood had fallen off when I had ran to my mom, letting all the rain in, before someone noticed and called the cops... but it was too late, she was dead within seconds of being shot, the bullet having punctured a vital organ. I later learned her death was meant to be a warning, a warning to my dad. My dad, being a world-class doctor, had made a major breakthrough in some medical case-I never found out what- and for some reason, the Yakuza wanted his data. Being the man that my father was, strong-willed and brilliantly stupid, he had refused them. Of course they didn't take that too well and had sent someone after my mother. After her death, my dad was bombarded with threats and close-calls, until one day, I assume the Yakuza just got fed up with him not complying and decided if they couldn't have his research, then no one could... When both my parents had died, I was moved from my home town of Karakura, Japan to Washington D.C to live with my Uncle only living relative, Kisuke Urahara, now known as Rod. My real name isn't Alex either, its Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki. When I moved, my uncle had thought it best that I change my name, something more American.