"C'mone let's go!" I offered my hand down to Baku who just stared at me, making me start to wonder if I grew an extra head. But slowly he stretched out his hand and gripped it tightly my hands disappearing into his firm large hands. The reassuring warmth reminded me of my younger days. As we both sat down on the rigid leather couch my mother sauntered over with her mug in hand. I looked her over, not surprised to see her wearing her usual silk pink robes that I loved to see as a child because it meant I could lie down in her lap while she smoothed my hair and feel the silk against my dangling legs while she hummed to me. That stopped a long time ago. Father switched on the TV settling onto the couch with a crunch. An insurance commercial buzzed by. Soon the news reporter cleared her throat and began delivering her well-practiced monologue.

"Today at the C&V Law Firm one of the main partners Marshal Verlmin was murdered in his office. The assailant is assumed to be his newly appointed intern Sarah Bepp who was the last to be seen with the victim. Her current location is unknown. The victim was found at 2 am when an anonymous caller reported the body around 1 a.m. The caller is still unknown but is deemed to be a young male."

I gritted my teeth trying to restrain my swiftly increasing irritation, of course, that scumbag reported it. No one else could have done so early. Why would he risk his exposure just to report me? I had never met him before so it couldn't be that significant of animosity. I didn't corporally hurt him so what was his problem? I was so caught up in my mental assertion I didn't notice everyone staring at me. My father was a little less concerned than my brother and mother who right now looked more alike than ever. They were matched with their furrowing temples and compressed mouths, including dark scorch rooted in their dusky coffee-colored optics.

I wanted to get up and run to my room thus I didn't have to deal with vexatious narrations. Yet I understood that such an effort would occur in more pain and presumably a grounding.

"So what exactly transpired out there? Did you get caught? What are you not telling me?" My mother's voice echoed little concern and more irritation as it usually does. I knew that this was probably not the best time to work on my persuasion skills especially since everything I learned was from my mother. But might as well try.

"It's not a big deal just a slight slip up.. when I was leaving a janitor saw the body but only saw my back. But not my face I swear!" Even though my attempt was to be composed it all came out like I was spitting my words out, reveling my guise in an attempt of calmness. Eyeing my mother and brother I saw that my brother was skeptical with his eyebrow grazing his hairline. Mother on the other hand was less so and seemed alleviated that no one saw my face.

"Did you leave your mark?" the question surprised me I expected more questions from her but I wasn't about to complain.

"Yes, I choose hair and blood" Baku at my words shuttered and stalked off to his room reverting to his new-old self.

"Good, I will contact Goober to re-arrange your file. Go to bed. We have a job afters-" She paused to answer her buzzing phone call. She held the phone to her ear and walked to the corner to talk in hushed tones. My father stood the crunch of the couch scaring me, he always sat so still he seemed to disappear, like an animal waiting for its prey. He turned the humming TV off and went into his bedroom to retire. As his door shut with a quiet tick my mother rushed over grinning so wide that her eyes crinkled at the corners the only evidence of her age on her otherwise smooth face.

"Hitorimusme, you have made me so proud!"

I wasn't one to reject praise but coming from her was so rare and when it did come it was delivered only far and few in between. Not bear hugs. Mother squeezed me, I could feel her grin on my neck. What did I do to make her so happy? The hug lasted a little longer than I was comfortable with. As she pulled away I swore I saw a single tear trickle down her cheek but it was more likely an illusion. Mother never cried, not even when she was stabbed viscously by a target she did nothing more than grit her teeth and stab it back.

"What is it, Mom?" Why are you so happy?"

"You have been asked to join the company! As an official member! An honorary member at that!" She sighed and placed her hand on my cheek.

The company was the most prestigious contracting company, of which my parents were already members. This was probably the highest achievement in this business I could get!

"You understand that you're the youngest honorary member right? This is such an opportunity!"

My excitement welled up and overflowed as I danced in circles, Mom joining me. This was one of the biggest achievements of my life. I couldn't help it I started screaming and jumping on the couch. Laughing loudly my mother continued her dance on the ground before joining me on the couch, dancing and creating a symphony of plastic crunches.

Hearing the circus in the living room my dad ventured out along with Baku to investigate.

"What is happening?" Baku looked so confused, in return all I could do was laugh out of joy. My Mom stopped dancing and stepped onto the ground with a slight spring. She turned to Baku smiling, eliciting my earlier reaction from Baku.

"Your sister made it into the company as the youngest honorary member!"

For the third time in my life, I saw my life I saw my dad smile. It made me stop jumping and freeze where I was. It was what came next that made me want to run. But I couldn't as my father hugged me. I don't remember the last time this happened. His hug felt more like a boa constrictor tightening its meal than a fatherly hug. After I was released I looked around for Baku wanting him to come to celebrate with me. But he was nowhere to be found. I scanned the open house plan to see where he had gone. My eyes focused on the light in the basement that fluttered in and out in a yellow glow revealing the outline of the wooden stairs.

"One minute Mom." I interrupted her as she rambled about the details of the job I hadn't paid enough attention to understand. Usually, she would have gotten mad at the abrupt interruption but her attention was elsewhere. I slowly walked down the creaky stars wanting to see what Baku was doing first. I soon saw him sitting at the old drawing desk where when we were little we would make all of our creations. Usually, whenever we got free time from our training and whatever school we were going to at the time. He was holding a sheet of slightly rumpled paper gazing at it deep in thought. I stepped onto the cold tiled floor inching behind him to see what pictures were so much more important than my grand achievement.

I immediately recognized it. The picture was the one I drew in first grade, I had to bring home with a note from the teacher requesting a conference with my parents. The red crayon scribbles pictured the first target I ever witnessed.

I drew it for fun and when I proudly displayed it the teacher's horror wiped over her face causing me to look over the picture again to make sure I didn't make a mistake. She grabbed my wrist with a firm grip and pulled me over to her desk in the corner. Without saying a word she began dialing a number on the phone her red nails angrily hitting each number.

"Excuse me is this the Tanaka Residence?" She opened her mouth wide when pronouncing the "na" making it sound more like Tanhanyhoka. I giggled prompting a harsh gaze from the teacher pouting her peach-painted lips and scrunching her barely visible blond dyed eyebrows making her look like a weasel.

"Yes, I would like to discuss the subject of your child and some issues she might have at home." She paused glancing distasteful at me one more time before waiting for an answer from the other side of the line.

"Mhm, I'll send home a note and the item with her. Yes okay, see you later today." She set the phone down with a thud. She pulled out a fancy blue paper with smiling kids drawn on the borders. She started scratching words down with her noisy pen the dragging causing an irritable noise. She folded the note in half and sealed it into a creme-colored envelope licking the top and closing it. She handed me the note and fluffed her blond curly bob.

"This must get safely to your parents can you do that for me?" Young me rolled my eyes mentally. She was drawing out each last syllable making her sound like she was trying to sing but was horribly out of tune. I just nodded and sat back at my seat feeling all the eyes on my back, tracking me, wondering what had prompted me to be in trouble.

I opened the door gently hoping not to alert the parents of my arrival but it didn't work as my mom was already sitting at the marble island. But she didn't look angry. Instead, she just stood up and left as Baku walked in and called me to sit next to him on the couch. I ran and crashed next to him landing with a bounce and hugging him tightly. He held out his hand and I eagerly handed him my picture which had attracted trouble to me. Yet I knew he of all people would appreciate it. When he took it into his hands his gaze scanned it and he smiled lightly before sighing.

"Do you like it? The mean teacher didn't say anything and got me into trouble but you like it right?? " He smiled wider this time and patted me on the head.

"Imouto, you know how we have family outings and we get rid of targets?" I nodded not sure where it was going but forever eager.

"Well we need that to make money, that's why we have all those Barbies in your room, and all this nice stuff your friends don't have. But other people want money too. People are greedy. So you can't tell anyone or we might lose those outings you enjoy." I nodded not wanting to lose all the nice things I had. Baku smiled and we went downstairs to hang my drawing on the metal strip with a pink magnet.

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Baku turned around snapping me out of my daze looking at the past he faced it down turning to me with a worn expression.

"What are you doing here??" His voice sounded panicked yet disappointed, what a strange combination. I feigned a frown and walked to sit in the chair across from him that I had long outgrown.

"Why are you not congratulating me? I got my dream job! Aren't you happy for me?" I tried to add a touch more hurt to my voice than I felt. I was fishing for compliments I guess.

" Are you that proud that you can make killing people your full-time job? Is that what you want to do with your life?" The urgency in his voice cornered me. I did want to do this. I enjoyed doing this. What was wrong?

"Um yes? You of all people should understand how important this was to me. How important this was to Mother." My voice started escalating, I knew I shouldn't be loud, but why couldn't he just understand?

"I still don't get why you like this! You're the one who taught me how important my job is to this family! You're the one who taught me how to aim for the heart! SO CAN'T YOU JUST GO BACK BACK TO BEING NORMAL!?" I felt a hand on my shoulder I whipped around and saw my mother tightly grasping my shoulder while shooting venom at my brother.

"Mother I-"

"Go upstairs you have a long day ahead of you tomorrow." Her voice was not asking, and I had never said no to my mother before so I wasn't going to start now. I started up the stairs taking a glance back to see my brother's matching gaze against my mother's evil one. I didn't care to stick around and get caught in the crossfires. Instead, I just crashed into bed letting the day drift away.

I woke up to the sun on full blast through my now open curtains and my mother packing my clothes into a box. She had her hair put into a haphazard ponytail and was in paint-splattered sweatpants with an equally paint-stained shirt: Her "War" outfit. I groaned as a jumped out of bed to see what she could be doing with those boxes.

"What are you doing?" I yawned anxious to get her out so I could get back in bed.

"Don't you remember your long-term job starts today? You are going to be a college freshman."

I had no idea what she was talking about and I guess she must have read my face because she continued explaining as she probably had earlier before that I didn't pay attention to.

"You see, your job is more than just killing. This job is about revenge. Those are the hardest kinds. " She paused to smile at me as if it was a joke she was hoping I would understand but looked away and continued.

"They want you to get close to the person that killed their daughter and is blackmailing them. His name is Cameron Evans. Some stats: He is getting his bachelor's in biology, and plans to go to med school to become a neurosurgeon, your average golden nerd boy." She started folding the clothes into the box.

"Okay, who am I then?" I hoped that this target was hippie calm plant women. That would be nice.

"You're Angela Lee, a smart, put-together girl who is majoring in biology and is going to go to med school too. Except you want to be a doctor out on the frontier saving lives. You have a sister, oh and you like country music."

Yay. I couldn't wait to have to talk about the human body for hours! My parents made us study college material for almost 15 different majors just for this type of situation. Biology was last on my list, I hated having to see all the technical terms again. But it was better than my last semi-longterm job as a high school dishrag boyfriend. Until my mother killed him of course.

"Wait what about the other family jobs? We can't just leave them to stack up, and you guys can't do it without me!" I had always been the one to assist my mom in the killing since my brother refused to do anything beyond being bait.

"You will still go on jobs, but after classes, all of them are in the morning for you at night to be able to come. But you have to be able to keep up with your grades, we are not going to hack them for you it's part of maintaining your cover understand?

I nodded my agreement as I got up and went to our dress room to see what I would be taking with me for this month-long excursion. Our dress room was just a walk-in closet at first glance but it held clothes for every different type of person you could imagine. As my fingers brushed past each piece of clothing I grabbed a few outfits I thought would make sense neutral sweaters collared shirts and baggy pants in different shades of brown. If ended up going on dates I would need fancier outfits that still fit my persona. In the end, I chose just three outfits that I could mix and match if needed: A chocolate brown autumn-colored milkmaid dress, a spaghetti strap top with a checkered skirt, and finally a dark brown retro midi dress. I took the bundle of clothes and stuffed them into an empty box. As Mother and I finished packing the car with all of my things, I ran back into the house toward Baku's room wanting to say goodbye though I would see him tomorrow anyway. I ran into his room not bothering to knock and tackled him with a hug. He seemed too surprised to hug back but before he could try to stop me from going I sped out rushing and jumping into the car's driver's seat revving up the engine. I waved to my parents as I backed out preparing to face university. As I hit the highway, I smiled speeding up to match the car next to my speed. This was going to be interesting, but then again weren't all revenge plots?

I breathed in the crisp air around me as the fall weather brought out white puffs curling from my mouth. I began unloading and taking my things one box at a time to my dorm. I already knew that I didn't have a roommate, a strategic placement to allow me to have privacy and a home base. After I finished unloading my car I began unpacking. I lifted my mattress to see that my arrangements had been met, underneath were empty spaces for my knife collection. Perfect. I quickly filled my room with all the necessities and stocked my closet up with all the clothes, being careful to hide my work clothes behind them. I exhaled finally done with the packing standing up to see how I looked, or maybe just to admire my beauty. As I met the gaze of the reflection I stared myself down checking every little detail. My eyes were slightly maroon brown. I had never been allowed to dye my hair Mother said I'd look suspicious or worse attract attention.

So I never had, my hair was almost jet black and was in two dark braids against my shoulders. I was dressed in the first outfit that I chose finding some of it to be too big considering it was my mother's not too long before. I didn't mind the pants but I never approved of sweaters in general this one was worse it was a turtleneck too. I avoided anything on my throat that made it easier to suffocate with something. But of course, no one would be so crazed to attempt to choke me. I was taller than most of my family standing at 5'9 and a half, I savored being tall, it gave me a sense of dominance and a tactical edge. A knock at the door interrupted my evaluation session. I opened it to a lithe girl with features that looked almost like the skeleton of a crow, her skin appearing gaunt and tightly encased onto her head.

"Hi! I'm Lillith! Welcome to Eastern University! I'm here to be your new tour guide!" Her voice was tinged with traces of a transatlantic accent making her sound ridiculously robotic when she spoke. "Tour guide? I'm sorry I think you have the wrong person...Lilith." I worked to speak in an elegant tone, no use in being uncivilized."Aren't you Angela Lee? I have you down since you joined late, also it seems here you requested one." Ohh Mother must have ordered it I nodded and grinned."Oh, your right! I can't believe I forgot let me just get my purse and we can leave!" I reached for my purse and fastened the door. As she whirled around stringy, blanched, and bleached hair whipped me in the face giving me a mouth full of greasy unwashed hair. This was going to be fun. Lillith led me down the long-drawn brown-colored hallway chronicling the history of the university. We strolled down hallway after hallway with Lillith's droning monologue about the building. It was a rather small college compared to the ones I had only seen before. Finally, the tour concluded at the student commons where there was a mass assembly being held for all freshmen, the globs of students a blended sea of color that packed the gymnasium. I struggled to find a seat as I pushed past hundreds of students chattering. Finally, I sat in the almost top row next to 2 empty seats. As I surveyed the polished wooden floors someone sat next to me, while I looked over I saw a young man with dusky skin, coiled hair, and a scar that was about- I stiffened as I met his eyes and he too studied me. I have one of two options, knock him out and hope no one notices, or pretend I don't know him and deal with it later. As the perpetual procrastinator I am, I choose the latter. I graciously nodded with the most tolerant smile I could conjure up and spun away. I knew he couldn't go around telling people what he had seen that night, but it didn't stop him from trying to blackmail me. He wouldn't dare... "Welcome Freshman to Eastern University!" a middle-aged woman stood and gestured grandiosely stretching her arms open. She resumed her cheering: "We are so excited to have you! The purpose of this assembly is to make sure you can get to know each other! We'll start with some icebreakers! You'll be in a group with your row!" I wanted to hit someone. As the students migrated downward towards the plank floors that boy followed me like he was stuck. Even as we got into groups, he sat down next to me, and when I dared look over his mouth would contort into a smirk taunting me with his eyes and the information I knew he held. The middle-aged woman from earlier picked up the mic to start talking again. " Now we've elected leaders in each group to lead the ice-breakers! Each of these people raises their hands!" For our group, there was a rather tall blond man with sharp brown eyes. " Everyone will now introduce themselves and what they are majoring in!" With that, the woman stepped back and turned around, and click-clacked her way out the door. "I'll start." The blond boy looked around before continuing " My name is Tye Brewer and I'm an English Major" Everyone in the circle went around, and finally, it was my turn. I swallowed down my quickly building anxiety and tried not to meet the boy's eyes. I am Angela Lee. I'm smart, extremely smart. I breathed out then spoke: "My name is Angela Lee, I am majoring in Biology." People nodded as we prepared to move on to the next person. Someone I was anxiously waiting to hear about, whether it was his real name or not. But before he said his name other words came out of his mouth" Anglea it's been a while." He said it looking at me his grin taunting me again. I smiled widely. "Oh, sorry I don't remember you. Who are you again?" the group's eyes tracked us the whole group was silent against the loud chattering around us, they had nothing better to do.

" I didn't think you would forget that night so quickly I remember it very vividly, I'm sure you remember the promise I made to you, what I would do if I ever saw you again?" He leaned in closer to the circle members mumbling and small grins on some of their faces. It took me longer than a second to figure out how this sounded, at first I was just worried he was going to expose me but this, this is much worse, not that I couldn't deal with it though.

I smiled back and I leaned in I was not about to let this man blow my cover on the first day. I leaned in close speaking into his eyes " I think we should finish the conversation these people don't even know who you are yet " I punctuated my words making sure he knew exactly what I meant. I needed to deal with this situation as soon as possible but I saw the blond boy was eager to keep this good thing going. He stood up and gestured to the boy next to me " She's right what's your name? And please tell everyone what you major in as well" his smile looked painful as the corners of his mouth stretched wider and wider.

"I am Dai, or Daiksuke. I'm studying International Relations." He smiled broadly as he spoke directly at me. I needed to make sure he stayed silent no matter the cost, even though I didn't like killing fellow coworkers. I leaned close to his ear "Meet me at 12 in my room. Or I bloody murder you." I reverted to my previous vile voice echoing. As I pulled away his eyes kept darting back and forth between my pasted smile to my dagger eyes.

"Time to pair up!"