That cold morning, Daiyu didn't get much sleep. She yawned and felt her eyes grow watery. Exhaling, she watched the puff of mist dissipating into the air. Crouched low behind a bushel of shrubs with Cassidy and Indigo, the girl felt like a hidden dragon breathing out icy smoke. Today was not the day to strike, yet the buildup of paranoia from last night lingered uneasily. She thought about scenarios that would lead her to her failure and death. What if her first gunshot missed or worse, she got Indigo killed or injured? Not that she cared about the boy, but Itzal and Cassidy would. They would surely lose their respect for her, and she would once again be the useless girl.
The three waited silently in a distance of several feet away from Slane's car. They got to his house a little after dawn and walked their way to his house after Itzal dropped them off. They were originally going to move closer where the view of the windows was better, but there was less underbrush for cover. They resolved hiding to the far left of his house that gave them a view of the house's left side which probably led to a backdoor.
The two-story house was dead silent. Of course, it was early in the morning, but who knew if Slane was an early bird. Daiyu had been stifling her incoming yawns for the past several minutes and received curious glances from Cassidy.
"You didn't have a good sleep," he remarked as he scratched his stubbly chin. Although he was a tall man, he seemed comfortable crouching in the position as if he had been doing it for all his years. Daiyu's thighs burned from the long squat despite the many leg workouts she was trained. Crouching behind a bush for more than thirty minutes to hours was beyond different. She resolved in a kneeling position, but it didn't matter much because she was already short and small.
"I was worrying a bit last night," Daiyu said feeling slightly more comfortable talking to the man. "What if I mess up tomorrow?"
Cassidy laughed softly. "Don't worry, Daiyu. You'll be fine. I remember I was nervous on my first mission."
The girl widened her eyes. It was unbelievable that Cassidy, a calm man like Itzal, had worried on his first assignment.
"I was just thirteen years old on my first mission. It wasn't a complex task—fairly easy just like yours will be. However, I was anxious about the killing more than the plan itself. I was afraid that I would hesitate to shoot the man, and that would give him enough time to get me first. In the end, it didn't turn out as bad as I thought. I barely received any scratches as I was sniping from afar." Cassidy paused for a while and lowered his voice. "It was a family tradition to work for Corrigere. I had the option to have a normal life, but I chose to continue my family's line of assassins."
Daiyu arched her eyebrows curiously. "How come?" she asked. Indigo, although didn't participate in the conversation, appeared to be listening. He had heard Cassidy telling him the story many times before.
Cassidy smiled sadly. "I wanted to please my father. He's dead now, but I haven't regretted my choice since."
The girl wanted to ask him how he felt about his first assassination. She wanted to know if he ever felt regretted killing the person or had trouble pulling the trigger before the final kill. However, Daiyu didn't feel confident to touch upon the subject; it was too personal. Nevertheless, Daiyu enjoyed talking with Cassidy. His story comforted the girl and made her feel more confident. Unlike Itzal, Cassidy was much open and was willing to share bits of his life with her. Throughout the girl's years with Itzal in New Jersey, he hadn't shed much information about him except his faint childhood. He never told her his assassin work, but mainly it was because Daiyu never asked. Now the girl was curious about her mentor's experiences.
Several hours had passed, and the talking had shushed. It read 10:03 AM on Cassidy's cell phone, and Slate hadn't shown up yet. Right when Daiyu drifted into drowsiness, a high shrill voice was heard inside the house which snapped the girl awake. Daiyu clutched her gun inside the messenger bag and waited for the sound to progress. The sound of plates was heard somewhere in the left side—perhaps a kitchen was the girl's guess. The sound died away into the chirping of birds.
The three exchanged glances. "I doubt that voice belonged to Slane," Cassidy muttered. "It sounded very feminine—a young girl maybe?"
Daiyu shrugged. If it was a young girl, should she be killed too?
"Stay here," Cassidy commanded the two. "I'm going to look around the house." He moved his way smoothly out of the bushes and kept himself low through the greenery. Several seconds later, he vanished with no trace of him left.
It was now between Daiyu and Indigo. The girl strained her ears for any more sounds coming from the house. A creak from the front door shot Daiyu and Indigo alert. Trying to keep her breath steady, Daiyu stared intensely at the person whom stepped out of the house.
It was a little girl. The toddler had a patch of red hair and walked awkwardly with a blue ball in her yellow-mitted hands. The orange winter jacket kept her tiny body warm. Her large head fell out of proportion with her body; it appeared bigger like a science fiction alien. Daiyu unconsciously winced; the toddler was a very ugly creature. Did she looked like this too when she was younger?
"Sarah!" a voice which appeared to belong to Slane called out. "Get back inside the house! It's too cold to play ball."
Sarah giggled. "No, daddy!" Her short stubby legs carried her weight as she ran farther out of the house. She was getting a bit closer to where Daiyu and Indigo were hiding. On an impulse, Daiyu grabbed her gun out and loaded it. Indigo whirled around and stared bewilderingly at Daiyu.
His cold brown eyes held her confused gaze. "You can't shoot her!" he whispered harshly. "We're supposed to stick to the plan!"
"But what if she finds us hiding?" Daiyu retorted with a whisper.
Indigo bit his lower lip. He wasn't too sure either. The two children glanced back nervously where Cassidy had left. Where was he?
Sarah tossed the ball into the air, and it rolled several feet toward Daiyu's and Indigo's direction. The two assassins froze as the toddler approached the ball. Hands sweating, Daiyu clutched her gun tightly with her finger close to the trigger. She prayed frantically hoping the girl wouldn't see them.
Sarah picked the ball up. It seemed she was ignorant of the assassins behind the bush. Indigo and Daiyu sighed in their heads with relief. Right when the toddler was about to trot back around, she stopped in her feet. Her round blue eyes examined the woods as if she had heard something. Daiyu held her breath hoping that the toddler would return back inside of the house. Instead, Sarah hesitated, and her round eyes landed on the bush.
Damn it! she cursed in her mind. Through the thick foliage, Daiyu could feel the toddler's eyes on her. The girl was sure that she and Indigo were silent, so how did the toddler sense them?
Indigo stared back helplessly between Daiyu and her gun. He didn't stop her this time. The closer Sarah approached them, the closer Daiyu's finger touched the trigger. Fuck it, Daiyu thought bitterly. Pulling back the trigger, the bullet cut through the bush like a torpedo and pierced through Sarah's chest like a slicing knife. The toddler stumbled back with a cry and collapsed onto the floor.
"Sa—Sarah?" Slane stuttered. He stood stupidly in front of the door and watched the blood pool around his daughter. He arrived just in time to see his daughter's corpse. Sarah… Sarah… was dead! With no time to mourn, he fumbled his gun out of the holster. His hands trembled as he held the gun toward the bush. Daiyu stared emptily at the child she had just killed—she felt… nothing? Indigo panicked and grabbed Daiyu by her shoulders forcing her to snap back to reality. They had to get out of the bush now. Slane was going to shoot them any second.
"Sarah!" Slane hollered madly with tears flooding his eyes. "Damn you! Damn you, fucking bastards!" Right when his gun was about to fire, Slane was knocked off his feet with a bullet in his head.
Cassidy revealed himself from behind a tree. He lowered his gun limply and stared at Sarah and Slane sprawled on the ground. Lips curling into a frown, Cassidy stared at Daiyu and Indigo disappointingly. "It didn't have to turn out this messy…."
All the guilt plunged on Daiyu's conscience. It is my fault, isn't it? she thought. But what could she had done? Sarah was going to find them anyway and scream out to her father.
Cassidy popped his cell phone out of his pocket and called Itzal. "He's dead," he said calmly. "I'm serious… I got him just in time when he was about to shoot at Daiyu and Indigo. His daughter is also dead… What? Yeah, it appeared Slane had a daughter… Oh, all right. I'll tell you the details later." He turned off his cell phone. Glancing at Indigo, the boy hurried toward him without a word.
Indigo helped Cassidy drag the bodies inside the house. All Daiyu could do was watch the blood trail on the ground. She scolded herself for just standing and tried to get rid of the evidence by scattering dirt on the blood. It didn't matter much because the crimson liquid eventually seeped into the soil leaving damp splotches.
Itzal arrived in a manner of minutes and glanced confusingly between Daiyu and Cassidy. Cassidy explained that he was scanning behind the house, and minutes later, he heard a gunshot. He then quickly ran back and saw a dead toddler on the ground. Cassidy assumed Daiyu shot her because she was the only one armed while Indigo's rifle was left in the car.
Face flushed, Daiyu stared down shamefully at her boots as Cassidy continued the account. After he was done, Itzal approached the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Daiyu forced herself to stare at her mentor. Although he was frowning, he was not angry.
"You did okay…" Itzal murmured as a smell of cigarettes sank in her nostrils. "There was nothing else you could've done. You followed your instincts."
Tears damped Daiyu's cheeks. She smiled faintly and turned her eyes away from her mentor. She still felt everything was her fault.
Daiyu and Indigo watched silently as Cassidy and Itzal burned down the house. The existence of Slane and his daughter was being erased as they were being consumed by the flames.
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