The Birth Of An Assassin {Flashback}

“D-Did I do good…? Dante…?” A feminine voice can be heard as a female stood over a now deceased male, a bloody scalpel within her left hand while her right held one of the eyes she literally poked out during the appointed assassination that she was first given. This was her actual first time of killing someone, going against the morals to help and heal people that was drilled within her mind due to her late mother. On her face was a look of awe mixed with disgust at what she did, but she knew that since she had run to her cousin after being attacked by a pair of rivaling ninjas, that she would have to kill sooner or later. She wanted to get back at the two ninjas, as she has remembered their faces and voices. Since she has fled here to the clan base, she was put under the wing of her cousin Dante, to learn the ways of the Clan she was within and had their special abilities. As she got older, she would search for those two ninjas, eventually finding their location. All she needed was experience in training to become a true assassin much like the one that was her mentor.

The pink hues moved from the still bleeding fresh corpse at her feet to the shadows behind her where she knew her mentor was standing and had watched her. Some blood spatter was on her clothes, but the blood landed on the already red part of her clothing so it would bring no attention to her in any way. In a way, she was looking to see if she made her mentor proud as well as asking for a hint if what she truly did was morally right. Deep within her mind, she had a feeling that this first assassination she did started to change her. How? She didn’t quite know, but something was off…at least to her.

"Not bad, though it could have been a little cleaner." he said coming from the shadows and standing next to her. Dante was referring not to the blood that got on her but most of the blood that pooled the body now. "You know being someone with medical experience should make your kills much easier and a lot less noticeable. With the precision and use of a scalpel, you should be able to make a kill without blood spraying or leaking to such amounts." he said with a smirk. He began to notice the slight change in her body posture and facial expression. This seemed to bother her, something to be expected with it being her first and all. Dante sighed. "It gets easier. Try not to focus on the little things, if you do you might destroy your sanity. Some things just need to be done in this world." he said warmly. Odd enough it was a cold subject. Anywho she had a decision to make now. "So now what are you gonna do? You have a body in a pool of blood in an area that is often traveled. Are you gonna remove it or yourself from the situation?" he asked curiously. This indeed was a test of sorts. One that would show where her conscious was and her ability to formulate a quick solution to a problem.

As her gaze watched her cousin come from the shadows to stand next to her, her ears listened to every word that he spoke. When he spoke about the amount of blood that now pooled around the body by now and how it could have been a little cleaner, she sighed quietly as she closed her eyes while she nodded her head. She was a bit saddened that she didn’t do well enough in the clean department, but she was nervous with this first killing, so perhaps it was to be expected right? At least she thought so. This is just a step into my training…I’ll just remember to keep it cleaner the next time I have to kill someone… Kandis thought to herself as she smiles a bit at seeing Dante smirk when she reopened her eyes as he finished giving her a bit of advice for the future. At least she got a smirk out of her cousin with her skills, that was a start. Showed her that she did pretty well for a first timer.

She blinked a few times, taken back a bit that he seemed to notice how her body and face told him what was bothering her, but then again he was an Assassin after all, it’s his job to be able to see such tiny bits of information in anything put before him. As he spoke to her in a warm manner about the future killings being easier and to not focus on the little things, she took a deep breath in and slowly let it out before her head nodded slightly. The female understood what he meant and her eyes moved from her cousin down to the bloodied corpse that lay on the ground before her, her ears once more listening to the questions that he was asking of her. “Remove myself as well as any evidence of the assassination. Blood and all.” She answered as her gaze then looked up and about the area, as she was getting ideas of what to do. All the while, she was keeping her sense of hearing, sight, and scent on high alert.

Dante smirked once again. A good answer coming from his younger cousin. He knew her being a medic she was definitely smart and logical. Now he needed to see her methods of doing such actions. "Well you might wanna start now. You might have witnesses." he said smoothly, tilting his head in the direction of a couple approaching from the distance. They probably couldn't tell what was going on from where they were but eventually as they approached they would see the odd scene. Dante simply formed a hand seal, disappearing with it and reappearing on a nearby rooftop to watch how his cousin would handle the situation. The pressure of this test being quite heavy to a first timer definitely. Yet he had hope for her, for she was a Tenraku. From what he knew, there were no members of the Tenraku that couldn't get themselves out of a bind.

With each passing second the couple approached closer to the scene. The clock would be ticking and Kandis would need to be quick with her decisions. Dante would watch attentively.

While her cousin smirked once more in a way that said he was pleased with her answer, she too heard the footsteps of the oncoming couple that were approaching. From the distance they were away from the scene of the death, they weren’t able to understand what was fully happening. This meant she didn’t have much time to deal with the deceased body and the blood. While her cousin disappeared after performing a hand sign, that left her alone to deal with this in her own way. It was a good thing that she wore gloves. She already had a plan in the works. To start it off, she placed the scalpel with the stuck eye on it within one of his hands before she did the next part. Quickly, she made the hand signs to perform a jutsu that was taught by her back in her Academy days, before she placed one of her palms on the body and the other on the pool of blood. She transformed the dead body to look like a hobo holding an empty beer bottle. The blood was also transformed into a mixture of vomit, piss, and feces. This site would keep any sane person away, not to mention the smell. The body was set into a position as if the person was passed out on the floor, sleeping off the effects that came with being drunk.

Now she was to hide herself, this she did by hiding her body within the shadows themselves and moving to rest on top of a extended roof of the building closest. Her hands moved quickly once more as she used the transformation jutsu once more to transform herself into a mere bird. She proceeded to clean her wings as a bird. As the couple passed by, practically hurrying their steps as they passed by the scene, meanwhile speaking out loud about the hobo and the scent that came from it. Once they were effectively gone, Kandis broke out of her transformation and leapt down to the body once more. Pulling out a scalpel, she started to make particular marks and gashes that would come from being attacked by wild dogs as there have been many cases of such a thing lately. She then would pulverize all the teeth, burn off fingerprints, and disfigure the face so that the body would not be able to be identified.

Dante had a slightly surprised look on his face as he watched her work. He didn't expect this much but he was glad he witnessed. She had a natural talent it seemed. Dante simply reappeared by Kandis again as she finished her final touches. "Well done. Now we move on to the next target." he said simply. The life of an assassin was often restless. There were hits to be made almost all the time. The only assassins that ever really got a chance to relax were the higher ranked ones who could afford to do such. Dante himself was near that point in his life at this time. Anywho, Dante pulled out a list he had been keeping track of simple targets for Kandis. He marked a name off as it was completed and looked toward the next. Accompanying each name was a picture of the target and the picture associated with the next name was something interesting. "Oh wow..." he said a bit surprised. He then glanced toward the couple that had just passed and was heading down a different street.
"Seems like you've lucked up. Your next target just passed by." he said pointing at the back of a man a part of the couple with white hair. It was rare that such an event would occur. Was this an intentional set up of missions given by the higher ups? Dante was now a bit concerned with the nature of this list of jobs. Yet he wouldn't bring this bit to the attention of his young cousin. She still needed to hone her skills. Now how would she handle taking out only 1 person while they were accompanied?

While she moved to stand straight up, she looked to her side as her older cousin spoke to her about them moving on to the next target that she was too kill. As the female nodded her head and cleaned her weapons free from any blood, Dante pulled out a list to mark off the one she just killed and to look at the next on the list. “What…?” She asked as she blinked when he had a hint of surprise in his voice when he spoke. As she looked to him, she noticed him looking in the direction of where the couple that just passed them went. “That’s…quite a coincidence.” She commented as she blinked a bit. “But I wonder if it was truly out of luck that he just so happened to pass by or if we are falling into a trap of sorts.” She stated out loud only loud enough for the two of them to hear her words. The pink haired female looked to her older cousin before she started to walk, following behind the couple, but in a way so that she blended in with the other people when the couple moved into a street that was full of people. “Do you have any extra information about my target? Like weaknesses and who that woman is?” She asked Dante as she kept her eyes on her target. The female assassin in the making was already developing a plan on how she can kill him in a way that it seemed like it was an accident as well as another plan on how she could kill him and make it seem like the targeted male just went missing. There was many possibilities she can take, but she wanted as much info as she could get before she acted out on any of her plans.

Dante looked at the list again, seeing if the woman was on the list as well. She wasn't. "The woman, I don't know who she is. The man is supposed to be married, I assume that's her." he said. Dante couldn't shake the awkward vibe he was getting from this. This was just too well timed. What is the purpose of these kills? A question that he never bothered to ask before. It used to be a job was just a job. Yet now that he was guiding his cousin, he had time to really look at things and pay more attention. It would draw the question, what has he been doing all this time? He sighed, bringing himself from his own thoughts. "There is no more info on targets other than who they are and maybe who they associate with. It is the assassin's place to determine their strength and weaknesses in various ways of observation. Anyway, you need to move now before they get away." he said watching the couple turn a corner. He would wait for his cousin to go and he would follow her, hidden to see how she does.

As Dante told her as much as he could about the man that she was supposed to target and the female, Kandis only nodded her head a bit. It was quite a pain that they never get much information when it comes to assassinating someone, but there are quite a few times when the one who’s ordering for the death wants it done in a specific way. “I know that, Dante. I was merely curious and just wanted to make sure all my bases are covered before I strike.” She said softly before she started to jump onto the tops of the buildings and had her body so close to the roofs that she was almost a part of the roof. This was to keep her body hidden from anyone’s view while also allowing her to watch and wait for the perfect time to strike out at the targeted male. For now, there were too many people about them and the couple didn’t seem like they were going to separate any time soon, so she had to come up with a plan to separate them and keep the female busy the entire time so that she can kill the targeted male.

She stopped in her tracks though as she noticed that the targeted male left the side of his female companion in order to go to the bathroom within a building, leaving the female behind. A slight smirk appeared on her lips as she did the necessary hand signs to make her transform into a male and got off the building to follow into the same bathroom. Disguised as the male, she went to stand behind the targeted male as he was done with his business and currently was washing and drying his hands. Kandis made a movement, still as a male, to come up from behind her target and cupping the hands in a clapping motion over the victim’s ears. The vibrations caused from the clapping motion will burst the male’s eardrums and cause internal bleeding in the brain. As the deceased male went back, Kandis catches him and moves to place him on the toilet. When this was done, she left the bathroom, and went into a shadowed place to undo the transformation jutsu to go back to her normal form.

Dante followed his cousin as she stealthily infiltrated the male bathroom by use of transformation. She was indeed smart. While she was inside the bathroom, Dante was outside on a rooftop watching the female the man had been with. She seemed to have noticed Kaelos, though in her transformed stage. The lady then began to run off somewhere. Not as if she was panicking or scared but as if she had something to hurry to. Dante didn't like this scene. He then saw Kandis leave toward a dark place and coming from the opposite end were a pair of males. They seemed to recognize Kandis after she transformed back into her normal form. Dante did not know who these men were but he did not like the vibe he was getting. Dante made a slight movement with both of his wrist, two faint clicks, as two kunai slid from his sleeves to his palms. One in each hand. He waited to see what would happen before he would step in.

[Short, sorry]

Kandis frowned as she felt a cold chill go up her back, she had that same feeling from before, the one that told her that something was up. When she looked behind her to see a pair of males heading her way with eyes locked upon her frame, she knew that they were going to attack her. I should have known…I should have paid more attention…Damn it… She thought to herself as her nurturing personality started to become one more aggressive and blood lustful. Her pink eyes would glance about as she was searching for her cousin Dante. The female knew that she was found out. She needed help, as she knew that she wasn’t ready to take them both on at the same time. Before the males could get close enough to strike out at her, she threw a couple of kunais at them as a way to distract them before she disappeared within the shadows, effectively getting away. She didn’t see her older cousin anywhere as she headed back to where their clan household is, as she would wait for his return hopefully.

EXIT

Dante watched his young cousin make use of a simple tactic for a quick get away. He smirked as she disappeared in the shadows. As her kunai flew at the two men, Dante slid the kunai's he held back into his sleeves in their rightful places and made a quick hand seal. With that hand seal he had used the temporary paralysis technique on the men. The men would find themselves unable to move as the kunai's flew directly at their skulls. The kunai's would embed deep with a slight spray of blood from the point of impact. The bodies would fall lifeless to the ground. Dante would then leave the area and head for the clan household where he expected Kandis to return, for that would be the smart thing in this situation.

[Exit]