Yuki Ishii

Code Name: Falcon
Age: 17~18
Birthday: Unknown
Height: 163.2cm
Weight: 41kg

~ Kanagawa : Student Hostel, 05:58:00 ~

He awoke into darkness; steel shutters closed like a raven's claw over the window, carpeting the ceiling and floor with shades of gray, creating a vertiginous effect on him.

Outside, he knew it was twilight; the brief magical moment which the night meets day. He stirred uncomfortably in the couch, feeling the coarse covers scraping his skin as he tried to sit up. Not that he welcomed that idea, the throbbing pain in his shoulders impaired him; he had a far more compelling reason to do so.

He was afraid that she would be gone.

But that was in his dreams; variegated pleasant dreams permeated by heart stirring sensation of warm flesh and sweet, febrile touch. Yet at the same time, grotesque with images of splattered crimson blood and the imminence presence of Death. Most importantly of all, he couldn't explain the reason for this fear and confusion that arose within him; the helplessness and the loss he felt when he thought she was gone……dead.

For he hardly knew her.

The files he meticulously sought out merely prove what she wasn't; not what she was. He could only cognized that she was a secret agent working for the government because since she was not a foe, then she must be a friend.

A sudden ray of weaken sunlight shot into the room as slender fingers pried open the shutters, revealing a slim frame that was previously hidden in the shadows.

He studied the faintly illuminated silhouette. He thought of their first encounter and the subsequent ones.

"You are awake." Her voice soft. Her eyes looked somewhat tired; she had been keeping watch all night.

"Gomen, I fell asleep." He frugally touched his shoulder.

A long moment of silence followed; it seemed that she was hesitant to tell him the truth.

"Don't worry. My life is in no danger." It is you who are in danger.

"Are you strong enough to walk?" she cut him off shortly.

"Why?" then he understood, "You want me to leave?"

Piercing dark eyes meet his. "Hai(yes)."

"Iie." His crystal blue eyes challenged hers.

"……" At length, her gaze softened and she relented, "I'm fine Sendoh-kun." Then with almost a smile, "I've a cover to maintain; I have classes to attend. Surely, you dun expect me to change into my uniform with you around."

The burning sensation on his cheeks intensified when he finally realized what she was saying.

"Ok, I'll leave." Then an afterthought, "But how can I know that you'll be alright?"

Enfin, she stirred from the shadows and walked into the thin shafts of sunlight, her eyes turning away. "You said that you trusted me."

~ Tokyo, 06:00:00 ~

An exquisitely composed garden with steel sky-raises of Tokyo that loomed like a futuristic forest on all its sides.

There were two people in this small-enclosed garden; Nishitsu a.k.a Cougar - a trim man in his sixties with shaggy eyebrows and a neat moustache. Beyond him in the tatami room that looked out of this improbable urban glade, another man knelt humbly before him.

Face of a predatory raptor, a creature beyond bounds of gravity. The iris of his right eye was entirely white; not milky white of the blind but a sinister lustrous hue similar to that of a pearl.

"You summoned me and I have came." The knelt man said.

"You summoned me; something has happened." He inclined his head just a fraction lower than Nishisu's to show his obeisance.

No one defies the orders of The Toshin Kuro Koshi; hence the punishment meted, was the unspoken message that passed between them.

His pearly orbit suddenly gleamed in its hungry thirst for blood. "The name."

He never raised his voice but then again, his anger was manifested in such a palpably physical way.

~ Kanagawa : Student Hostel, 13:08:16 ~

He swore and cursed at himself as he ascended the flight of stairs; two, three steps at a time as he made his way up.

Twenty-two, twenty-three; each step was accompanied by a mixture of fear and dread. Finally, he reached his destination. Still panting, he knocked furiously at the door to her apartment.

Silence.

His heart missed a beat when he threw open the wooden door; it was empty.

She was gone.

Her kill had been fast.

Her victim, Mizusumashi Kafu, a well-respected politician. Who would had guessed that he (nick named the Cigar man) was the mastermind of this attack? What an irony, she thought as she gazed upon the dead man before her, that my country's threat had came from one of my own people.

Outside, dark suited, sunglassed men prowled, no doubt armed with the glowering faces of all professional goons for Mizusumashi was never without a set of bodyguards, even here in his very own residence.

She knelt beside the motionless body and drew the vicious toothed blade out of his throat, flinching a bit as blood spurted out from his jaguar veins and onto her pale hands; she had deliberately forsaken the gloves tonight, to remind herself of how many lives she had mercilessly taken and how much blood, be it innocent or otherwise, that she had spilled.

She reached out, muttering a soft prayer as she closed the lids of his lifeless eyes in regret.

Wolf waited.

He knew that she would turn up in any second for she was always punctual. Above, the sky was flat and stark dark. No moon no stars. The blackness was solid and deep.

Ahead of him, the dark shoved the streetlights into small circular islands of false safety on the sidewalks, like spotlights.

Then something detached itself from the shadows. A familiar shape appeared.

"Here is the goods." A small leather case was handled to him. She looked more fatigued than before.

"I presumed that Hayama Naoharu is still alive." Brown eyes sought out hers.

"Murdering Hayama will raise questions." She replied tentatively, refusing to meet his gaze.

She shot him a murderous look. " Mizusumashi is a traitor, I believe that Toshin Kuro Koshi will benefit with his removal."

Displeasure crept into his eyes, "I'm sure that you've been adequately warned, Falcon."

He stared at the young girl before him, "I thought that I could convince Him to use you for other purpose, aside from killing." However, I was wrong.

"You trained me to kill. That's all you ever did when you picked me from the streets." Sarcasm was thick in her voice.

He immediately looked away, "Our Intelligence has revealed that a pact was made between Mizusumashi's political partner, Moravia before his untimely demise. Your new assignment: Wipe out the harddisk contents in his computer."

She nodded in silent acknowledgment before melting away in the shadows.

The breeze softly raffled his hair as his lucid brown eyes bored into the darkness where she was seconds earlier.

"Take care….." He whispered into nothingness.

~ Kanagawa : Akira's Mansion 04:42:08 ~

Someone tall, in black-form fitting suit that displayed his sculpted torso, entered the vast hallway. His shoes with paper-thin soles made no noise as he crossed the hallway with stealth.

~ Kanagawa : Akira's Room 04:42:58 ~

Sendoh tossed about in his bed, unable to sleep. He still couldn't get her face out of his mind; those large limpid eyes kept on haunting him. Where is she? Is she safe? Why did she leave without a word?

The heat gathered from his body over the past few hours lay trapped in the cotton bed sheet beneath him, and it further fueled his annoyance. Dammit! He had classes and basketball practice tomorrow, and surely this was no time to pine over a girl he barely knew?

Irritated, frustrated and disconcerted at his confused state of mind, he shut his eyes in hope of driving out those disturbing thoughts.

His eyes finally flew open; he knew that it was no use fighting it; his unfathomable desire to protect her. Why? Because of what? Infatuation? Love? Lust? what? Infatuation? Love? Lust?

Sendoh had to forcefully stop himself from sitting up in surprise; he had listened beyond the pulsation of his own body to the breathing of another.

~ Kanagawa : Akira's Room 04:43:32 ~

He was asleep.

The intruder briefly scrutinized the seemly slumbering Sendoh before quietly unsheathed a short Japanese naifu (knife) which was specially designed to kill. Then, clasping it by both hands, he plunged the deadly naifu towards his unsuspecting throat.

~ Kanagawa : Akira's Room 04:43:33 ~

Sendoh could feel every fiber in his being tighten in reflex, the whole of his body taut and he fought hard to fight that instinct, centering his Sight before him as Death sped towards him.

When the naifu was only inches away from his throat, his arms immediately shot out and deflected his attack, feeding off the killer's momentum as he swiftly propelled himself forward and away from harm's way while he slammed his right fist into the back of his neck.

The intruder staggered and went down on his shin, his left shoulder made hash contact as he smashed towards the wall beside the bed. However, he did not let go of the blade and slashed out now, its edge blurring past Sendoh's right arm, scrapping his skin off his flesh as it drew its first blood.

The smearing pain ate at him but he leaned forward, gliding his arm towards and past the naked blade instead, clenched his right palm into a fist and knuckled him real hard at the nerves on his inner, exposed wrist.

Almost immediately, the naifu flew out of his grip, sending it singing out of reach as it skimmed away. At the same time, Sendoh leapt away as he promptly distanced himself from the mysterious man.

Now, they were even, in a way; his attacker had lost his weapon while in exchange, Sendoh received a vicious cut. The intruder turned around and faced him, the face masked by the shadows. Wordlessly, both men glared at each other.

Silence.

Finally, the unknown man spoke. "You're surprisingly good."

Sendoh clasped his bleeding arm and simply replied, "I felt you."

At last, the intruder stepped into the dim moonlight which had filtered through the windows. His features were more visible now, a long jagged scar ran across his forehead, tall; about Sendoh's height and strong looking; a man likely in his late twenties.

"Perhaps…..." then abruptly, blue eyes narrowed, "It is very unusual of a Hitokiri (assassin) to talk during his kill." He acidly remarked.

The brown in the eyes flashed as they intensified in aggravation, "Your last attack; you learnt it from her?"

Somehow, Sendoh knew whom he was referring to and fear immediately uncurled within him. "What have you done to her?!" he demanded.

It seemed that the trespasser was surprised at his sudden outburst.

"Son of a bitch! What did you do to her?" Sendoh advanced menacingly towards him, ready to fight.

Now, I understand. He stared intently at the teen. "She is safe……for now."

Sendoh stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean by that?"

Blue eyes widened in surprise when realization sank in. "No…you're lying." Yuki, a Hitokiri? That's impossible!

"Your conviction is of no concern of mine." He coldly replied.

Suddenly, Sendoh looked suspiciously at him, "What's your true intention? If you're here to kill me, then why are you telling me all this?"

The older man before him retreated into the shadows. A scrapping sound was heard as he retrieved his naifu and sheathed it. "I wanted to see why she hesitated to kill you; I think I understand now."

"You're the son of a highly respected Lieutenant-general." The brown eyes seemed to mock at the youth, "But if our paths ever crossed again, I'll not hesitate to kill you."

With that, he opened and lurched himself out of the window in one swift motion, disappearing into the impenetrable depths beneath it.

~ Ryonan High School :07:30:04 ~

It was in the front page of the morning papers. The shock of it all, the grief, the loss and the hushed whispers among the students.

Hayama Sensei, the beloved chemistry teacher of Ryonan High, was dead.

Found naked, strangled, with both eyes dug out and face hideously mutilated. In short, he was gruesomely killed.

But that was not all.

His wife and two children aged six and seven were not spared of this hellish torture. All had their tongues cut out and their disembodied organs hung around the bloodstained house, like some perverted trophies.

The police believed that it was the work of the local Yakuza (Japanese underworld gangsters) brutally executed because of their massive debts.

However Sendoh, with a heavy heart, suspected otherwise.