I descended through the people trying to organize my mentality after seeing Dai. For some reason, he gets under my skin, he seems to think he's the shit, I hate that more than anything. I arrived at my dorm again preparing to go out at night for the target with my parents, my mother had sent the location and time already somehow I was running late. I secured my hair and began throwing my clothes to change into my work getup, just as I yanked off my shirt I heard something shift. I slowly stretched in the direction I heard a sound. I curved my knee into a lunge and reached forward I seized whatever was in front of me and levered it over me, swerving I anchored my knee on the chest of the intruder. I squinted in the low light straining to see the face and unfortunately, I recognized it.

" I know you see me can you get off I think you bruised my actual lung." I slowly rose as Dai rolled and groaned on the floor.

"Don't be a pussy you're fine. Why are you here anyway? That was your fault for being here you know?" I sighed as I gathered up my duffel bag and loaded it with my longer blades I saw Dai getting up. I snatched the knife and spun around, my mother would eradicate me if I were late for a job.

" What is it then? Make it quick. I have somewhere to be."

"Aren't you going to put a shirt on first?" Dai kept making extreme eye contact it felt like he was singeing my retinas.

" I guess so" I never really thought about it, it wasn't like I was bare-bones naked, plus I had worn less on jobs before.

"Can you hand me my shirt? You're sitting on it." I bent over to reach for my shirt, but Dai kept gazing at me directly at the center of my head. For a second it looked like he was going to try and force me away but he was frozen motionless.

"So? I have my shirt back on so you can start talking I do have to go."

"Oh right, right.. why are you here don't try to sell me on some bullshit about changing because we both know you have no intentions of doing that for some college jock." He leaned back, sizing me up, trying to read me for the lie.

"Why? Because of my family or my reputation, do you think that I can't? I just want to live a normal life one where I have a mindless college jock boyfriend so?" I was pulling out my best performance here all the stops.

Dai nodded as if trying to understand the concept of one of "The Ito's" wanting to leave the business. Of course, he wasn't wrong I didn't plan on it my life revolves around it but for the sake of maintaining my cover until this job was done I needed him to believe it then I would never need to see him again.

"So that resolves it right? You stay quiet and live your life and I won't kill you and get to live my life free of my history."

"I guess so, but what are you're parents going to say? From what I heard about them they won't take lightly their best employee deciding she "doesn't want to"?"

As he resumed talking I zipped my duffel bag ready to go, I needed to shut him up somehow but when I pivoted around I learned he had gotten too comfortable. He was sitting outstretched, leaning back with his head cocked to the side. When I looked him up and down he looked genuinely concerned as his brows stitched together and his eyes almost appeared to tilt downward. It would take me 20 minutes to get to the job, I needed to be there in 28 minutes.

" They don't know. I don't plan on letting them know. Anyway, I have a meeting to get to and you're blocking the way you can let yourself out right?" I forced him out of the way clambered on the bed and began trying to wriggle out of the window, this dorm had a ludicrous curfew. But before I was out I felt a tug on my arm jerking me back in.

"WHAT? WHAT POSSIBLY COULD BE IMPORTANT?" I was attempting not to be loud but I was going to be in severe crisis if he didn't let go, and if I made him neither of us would like how that would turn out. He let go looking irate or confused I couldn't care.

"What kind of meeting do you need to bring two bigass knives to? Are you going on a job? I knew you couldn't be telling the truth." He pushed in closer looking at me intently in the glow of the window with the moonlight and street lamps sifting in to smudge his face in crimson. My hand itched to drive him away or anything to leave I knew the consequences awaiting me from my mother. "My brother. I have to be careful although he says he's on my side. I can't be late he could get caught." With that, I scaled out the window carefully landing on my feet and running to where I had my car obscured before.

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My mother's head pitched upward as her eyes echoed a warm dusk I understood all too well [https://img.wattpad.com/817ebf09cfffe1d9c518d174d803f9d28d0eb239/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f663046557335776d6d4a67796e673d3d2d313135343037353236362e313763323063383537373837653939303231353132313731313434362e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

My mother's head pitched upward as her eyes echoed a warm dusk I understood all too well.

"You're late. I won't say much because you already know how resentful I am but because we need to keep this job brief, I will not discipline you, for now."

I looked around outside the window of our car, seeing a serene reclus cul-de-sac with lustrously lit immaculate cut-out houses that stood in the foreground to the shifting lake behind them. My mother pointed at the center house.

"Our next target. You're going to be on the inside helping me, the target is big so we'll both need to strike. Understood?" She spoke as she tucked her yanagiba knives into their compartments in her pants. I nodded I could tell this would not be painless, my mother does not usually require assistance, and even when she does she never notifies me, I just have to assume. We rose out of the car the sun was setting bathing the street in a warm glimmer. I thought we would be creeping around but instead, we were just strolling casually. I felt my skin tingle it didn't feel right, I felt supervised. Mother banged on the door after a few seconds the door unlocked, and I knew this man.

It was Goober. His sparsely flecked head and his saggy eyes were instantly recognizable. I skimmed, stunned this wasn't his house.

"I arrived to witness your pristine house, brother." Mother grinned straining her teeth wide as Goober jigged back clasping at something that must not have been there. We paraded inside my mother sealing the door behind us. I stared at the large portrait of Goober and his bulldog hanging above the couch. His house was charming, affable, and snuggly kinda like him.

I recall Goober used to have these dollhouses at his old place. Practically a garage if you ask me: stone floors frigid as ice with delicate drywall that would chip and crumb at every flicker. But it smelled like pine sole always, like he dry mopped the stone. The dollhouses were for me, my parents and I were always over at his house when I was younger as they needed a more hands-on approach to DNA erasing plus there were a lot of kinks. I never understood whether or not he was related to us since my mother always called him brother. I tried asking once and she told me:

"Family is blood. There is only a human when blood flows, so your family is the only one you can't kill. He is not our blood." She would beam when she declared that, a guileless smile of amusement.

To me though it didn't matter he was an uncle to me, he would be there on my birthdays, holidays, and whenever I called him. He was the only person on my phone other than my mother, father, and brother. His saggy eyes always creased up whenever he would hand me one of his quirky gifts, usually a toy my mother would despise or a hobby that would go on too long. As I got older we saw him less, but me and Baku would still secretly hang out with him. When Baku went on his first kill, for 24 hours he was gone. My parents were desperate before the call from Goober. His gift to me this year was a fish bowl and along with it three fishes he declared he named already: Kako, Genzai, and Mirai. He laughed and laughed when he saw my disappointed reaction,

"You need to learn to take care of something living, something alive you know. You have to feed it every day, don't let them die. I'll get you if let them die now!"

I rolled my eyes and stared at the glittering fish paddling I never was good at keeping things alive.

"Please listen, Kishi, you d-" His voice quivered as he continued backing away from us" I will not [https://img.wattpad.com/e968125e0d9dd0e9d89f6ee1696dafd8a4348b84/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4c70734536426c6a5836735f61673d3d2d313135343037353236362e313763353162656465376264643431323231353438393535323636302e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"Please listen, Kishi, you d-" His voice quivered as he continued backing away from us" I will not. Do not call me that anymore, you have come against me calling me Kishimojin. You renounced the company. You stranded the family. You ditched us." Her voice had a bite making her sound as if she were a snake plunging into its prey's ears as the poison bled in. I felt my heart jerking this wasn't a target, this was Goober."I had no choice, Kishi you never told me what you did to Baku, I know now, what kind of thing you've become." Goober hit the table and stopped folding his hands behind his back, his voice lost the quiver. He appeared unafraid; the most threatening thing you can be in front of Mother. " You might think that you're the one safeguarding your children but you just consume them further you drag them, Akumu, she doesn't comprehend what you've d-"Before he could conclude my mother pounced forward with her knife arcing her wrist to cut from his ear, across and up. I stepped back as blood trickled everywhere. I just kept seeing the red flow out it painted my clothes my eyes my ears. I realized Goober had rolled over to me. I didn't take a step back somehow before I took one forward. My hands felt warm, I looked down and caught my hands over his throat attempting to help. I don't know how I got there but my mother was clamoring advising me to let go. I would never disobey her but I was shaking my head for some reason. I felt my face heat up and my neck go cold as the chilled tears drenched it. As I glanced down at Goober I noticed his ugly ass shirt. It was of a stupid goldfish smiling. It only reminded me I had let him down. Kako died.