You Are The Light In My Darkness

Side Story: Remembrance

Konichiwa! It's Kenzie! These chapters are CONNECTED to the main story, DO NOT skip them! Side stories are filler chapters for the main plot, unlike Bonus Chapters.
Now then, enjoy😁
It's Kenzie, signing out!👋
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Another day. Though whether it was morning or night, I couldn't tell.

Darkness. That's all I have around me. No windows, no small openings. Heck, I didn't even know what a window looked like.

Sometimes I wonder. Am I surrounded by darkness, or am I part of the shadows? The dank and musty prison I live in, or the isolated alleyways I work in, they were the colours of my life.

Monotonous.

Footsteps echo down the sonorous hallway. A torch spreads a warm phosphorescence through the metal poles of my 'room'. Through the gaps of the rusty iron bars, a long, black envelope is thrown in.

Another job.

I'm sick of it. But, I never did have a choice. I have to do it.

I must do it.

My fingers touch the smooth paper. Hesitantly, I slit the adhesive surface with my cold fingers and removed the single sheet of paper it contained.

Another day, another target.

But this time, I wasn't apprehensive. The target was a fat, bloated man, known for taking bribes and conspiring with Alverez. They have never gotten any evidence, he had always gotten away scott free. So they send me.

I am a hitokiri. An assasin.

Father knew that I was weak. The first day I was here, he had planned to kill me. However, when he brought down the blade upon my nape, some kind of mechanism sprung within me. The simple human nature of fight or flight rose, and I complied with my body's movements.

It was over in a flash. Before his dagger could slice through my skin, I shrank away, pulling into the shadows. Streaking out from my hiding place, I drew the sword of one of the guards, swinging it my adoptive father. In the nick of time, a shield made from his paper dolls blocked my slash. I was scared.

The moment he blocked away my attack, the fear sank in. He would punish me. He would make my life hell.

But he didn't.

Instead, a throaty chuckle burst from the depths of his esophagus. It rumbled around the walls eerily, and the guards take a petrified step back. I retreat into the shadows once more, terrified at what he would do to me.

"Come here, child. I won't hurt you now. You have been promoted to a valuable asset." His voice was sickly sweet, but I was young.

I was naïve.

Thinking that he would treat me like his own, I stepped into the light.

Oh, how wrong I was.

"These people have been bad, really bad. I want you to send them to hell for me, where they will repent for their sins." He drawled, his eyes turning malevolent, glowing red.

I couldn't stare away. All control left me, and I could only watch as his goons clicked a lacrima collar onto my neck.

"Yes, father."

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Two years. Two years I had spent in this hell hole. Two years of killing.

Another day, another target, another life.

I stood up, the target profile held in my hands. Screeching and creaking, the door was pulled open by the guard. The same process was repeated day after day.

Envelope. Kill target. Return.

My bare feet scratch against the grass, but I don't feel the pain. My black cloak billowed out behind me as I ran. Soundlessly. Two medium length daggers strapped to each of my legs, and one katana shoved in the waistband of my kimono. Instead of the traditional long skirt, mine was knee length, and was connected to the sleeveless top. A wide black ribbon separated the white top and red skirt halves.

I was only allowed to wear such clothing on a job. The tattered dress that covered my pale skin would only hinder my movements, or so father said.

I shook my head, clearing away my useless thoughts. I couldn't afford to lose my concentration on a job.

The target--a lecherous man--would be stopping in this alley to find a counterpart for his night today.

Right on cue, shoe-clad feet were getting closer. I melted into the shadows, done easily with my present garb. My hand reached to the katana on my waist, grasping the cool metal hilt.

I could see the prosperous man clearly now, another one of my special abilities.

I never knew that my irises narrowed to slits in the shadows.

"Patricia?" He pronounciated, his voice coated in a thick slather of sugary honey.

Men like him made me sick.

My dull cyan eyes narrowed. The followers behind him would have to be dealt with as well.

They shouldn't have followed the wrong man.

Darting swiftly from my dark camouflage, I drew the serrated blade.

They never saw it coming.

The afterglow of the shining blade was all that was left of my slash. Father had told me once, that the quickest of blades left no trace of blood behind. True to his word for once, my blade was never matted with blood.

I glanced back at the five lifeless bodies in the isolated street. Dropping the paper bearing the symbol of Raven Tail on the corpses, I whispered, my light breaths visible in the cold winter night.

"Tenchū."
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~To Be Continued~

*Hitokiri: A Japanese assasin in the Bakumatsu era.
*Tenchū: Judgement from the heavens, a word commonly used by hitokiri after a kill.

[Media above: Kasumi's hitokiri outfit]