Chapter Text
For Xiao, there was something comforting about the brief moment of calm before a kill.
The slow rise and fall of his chest, the pitter patter of rain from the sky, and the soft instrumental music playing from his earpiece were all constants he had learned to cherish over the years.
It was dark and gloomy tonight as well, the hustle and bustle of the city muffled by sounds of heavy rainfall, neon lights dimly blinking in the background. The melody he was listening to was not one he was unfamiliar with as he had made it an unspoken ritual to listen to this tune whenever he went out for work. On his worn MP3 player, it was untitled, a gift received from one of his old benefactors—the harmony of the track light and carefree like the wind.
Xiao breathed in the cool air, reaching up to click his earpiece off as the song reached its end. He let himself stay in the moment for only a second longer before adjusting the rifle at his hip.
The target was by herself several buildings away from Xiao’s. Her room, on the second floor, was dimly lit and Xiao could see her silhouette through the curtains. From Xiao’s position on the neighboring rooftop, he had a clear shot.
He bent down, quickly getting to work. In smooth motions, he spun out the scope, adjusted the gun’s angle to get the bullet to its destination, and stilled his breath, placing a finger on the trigger.
It was over in an instant.
The first time Xiao had killed someone in this way, it had shaken him to his core. Weeks later, he could still hear the shattering of glass, the shocked screams of others in the building, and the heavy silence that weighed on him as a reminder of what he had done to another human life.
Now, the noises were tuned out and things were a bit easier. It was a practiced motion: set up, aim, and fire. Leave before the cops get word.
It probably helped to listen to the song before he did the deed as well.
As he pulled his hoodie up over his head and swiftly packed away his rifle into a black guitar case, he wondered how much time he would have from now until the next time he was given an assignment. Generally, he would get one once a week, from which he would plan out a rainy day to execute his work. Just like the rest of his mundane life, it had become a part of his daily routine as a hired assassin by the Commission.
Yet, despite the familiarity of his job, somehow, it never got any easier.
Getting back to the Commission was easy enough—it was something of a second home to Xiao, if the run-down apartment complex he lived in could be considered his first. It was a large corporate building that was open during regular business hours to the public as an international ice supplier but open 24/7 for private, underground sectors—namely, for assassination work.
No, it wasn’t getting back there that was the issue, but more so, the pests that he would need to deal with on his way to report his successful mission.
“Good work,” a tall, lanky man with short and curly ginger locks flung an arm around his shoulders. Xiao immediately brushed him off, ignoring him in favor of making a beeline for the head office.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Aw, don’t be like that,” the man whined, the sound grating to Xiao’s ears. “Can’t a fellow assassin admire the work of another?”
Xiao stopped walking to glare at the man and he raised his hands to his chest in surrender, chuckling.
“Cold as always, smalls.”
“Don’t call me that, Ajax,” Xiao snarled, turning away once more.
“Can’t I get some tips from my senior on how to perfect the fabled ‘plunging shot?’”
“Is this how you talk to your seniors? It’s not like someone like you needs my help.”
“Wow, I appreciate the compliment,” Ajax smirked as Xiao rolled his eyes. He set up a brisk pace to try to lose him, but the ginger didn’t seem to get the memo, only trailing after him more intently. He started to talk about his recent assignment so Xiao tuned him out as they walked through the building.
Ajax, otherwise known by his alias ‘Childe,’ was one of the other assassins employed by the Commission, probably the closest thing that Xiao had to a regular co-worker. Although Ajax had not been working as an assassin as long as Xiao, he was one of the best in their field—usually deploying close-handed methods to dispose of his targets and reveling in the thrill of it.
Xiao did not like him.
The man was talkative and obnoxious, hungry for the spotlight at all times. In a dark underworld where assassins fought to stay hidden, he was the one exception, riding the fine line of dark and light. Ajax was toying with his profession and probably, toying with most people he met. Plus, there were rumors that he was from a rich family, only pursuing this profession as a game because he had nothing to lose.
It disgusted Xiao.
Still, there were similarities between them like the fact that they both worked alone as opposed to being partnered up with an operator. They both had pasts that they did not like to talk about, were extremely efficient in their jobs, and often spoke their minds. Although, for the last point, Xiao was sure that Ajax only did so to get a rise out of others.
Maybe these few similarities were why Ajax stuck to him like slime, always putting on a friendly act whenever he was around. It was like having an annoying fly around, one that Xiao could not exterminate given the man’s infamous reputation and closeness with the company head.
“Anyways,” Ajax was saying. “Speaking of the Tsaritsa, she wants you to take on a new assignment.”
Xiao paused, slowing his stride. “What?”
Ajax scratched at his chin, shrugging. “I guess this is a big one and she’d rather you take it because she feels like you’d be most suited.”
Xiao frowned, confused. He usually got his assignments from Qiqi, the little girl who stood as the middleman between him and the owner of the Commission. The boss was known to most as the Tsaritsa and she was generally someone who did not want to associate with many. Only a select number of the elite were allowed to meet with her, Ajax and Qiqi included.
So unfortunately, Xiao had no other choice than to believe Ajax was telling the truth.
“Plus, I personally recommended you for the job! Feels like it’d be good for you to have a change of pace, don’t you think?”
Nope, forget disliking him, Xiao hated him.
He whirled around, getting into Ajax’s face. “I didn’t ask you to meddle in my affairs. Tell the boss that I decline your recommendation.”
Ajax laughed, undeterred. “You don’t even know what the assignment is yet!”
“I don’t need to know—if you’re involved, I can imagine how dreadful it will be.”
“It’s just a simple undercover mission, is all!” Ajax smiled, digging into the pocket of his vest to pull out a photo and a slip of paper. Xiao glared at it instead of taking it.
The image showed a presumably young boy with dark hair that got a lighter more turquoise color towards the braided ends. The shade matched the color of his eyes that rivaled a bright blue sky. He was turned away from the camera, but looking back at it with a smile, holding up a violin by its neck.
“Should be easy enough—his favorite food is apples so you could do something with that, or perhaps something with his deathly cat allergy, or—”
“I don’t take undercover missions,” Xiao pressed, with as much venom in his voice as possible. He shoved the photo back. “I specifically pick my assignments the way I do because I don’t want to know anything about my targets.”
Ajax blinked. “Why not?”
Xiao snarled, finally walking away from the man as he stood in the hallway in genuine confusion. “Because it dulls the blade.”
What he’d told Ajax wasn’t completely wrong, except, it wasn’t the full truth either.
Xiao didn’t particularly like his job. He had come across the position in order to repay a debt to someone he owed his life. It was done out of obligation instead of legitimate care for his profession. It was different from the reasons that Ajax probably had in coming to the Commission. Because of that, Xiao didn’t think that they’d ever see eye to eye.
In all honesty, Xiao wasn’t sure if Ajax had a heart. He was known by many in the Commission as an openly bloodthirsty killer, as opposed to Xiao who took assignments quietly in the dead silence of the night, efficiently offing people at around the same rate that the ginger did. Xiao got so good at his job that he had been offered a seat among the elite, but had declined because he didn’t want to have any attachments to his work.
Because ultimately, despite his successes, Xiao didn’t like killing people. That’s why, when working with Qiqi, he asked her to keep his missions strictly one way—he only wants the ones with scumbags who deserve nothing more than the cold steel of his rifle.
As the name of the Commission implies, people send in anonymous requests to assassinate a target. There were no specific criteria that they had to meet to send these requests in because as long as they had the money to match the complexity of the case, an agent was bound to take the commission.
The people that Xiao focused on were usually politicians, animal abusers, and perverted old men. They were unfortunately fairly easy to come by, and made up the majority of Xiao’s workload. And thus, this absolutely deluded proposition that Ajax brought him was completely unacceptable for him.
Not only was an undercover mission a far cry from what Xiao usually did, they were also riskier and more complicated to execute. There were a lot of pieces that needed to go into this kind of operation such as researching the target, getting close to the target, and often dirtying one’s hands up close and personal in a way that seemed accidental. These missions usually involved well-known public figures, government officials, or celebrities. It was a conglomeration of elements that needed a particular kind of precision to work, especially because once assigned the mission, no other agent was allowed to interfere as it would put the Commission at risk of discovery.
After all, making contact with the target themselves in an undercover mission meant that the agent was prepared to throw away their life in order to keep the Commission under wraps. Two agents getting involved was not permitted under most circumstances.
Thus, it sounded like something that the daredevil Ajax would love, so Xiao was perplexed as to why he had given this assignment to him instead.
Thankfully though, Xiao had befriended Qiqi quite early into his work as an assassin and she had taken it upon herself, despite her forgetful nature, to make sure his assignments were to his liking. She was definitely a much more amiable co-worker than Ajax was, though she no longer took on many missions of her own. All Xiao had to do was to find her again during his off-time and get another normal mission from her, putting this whole ordeal behind him.
Unfortunately, much to his dismay, Qiqi wasn’t around when Xiao went looking for her. He made his way back home, resolving to go to the Commission later this week to search for her. Then, he could shove it into Ajax’s face that although the man held a higher elite status over him, Xiao was still his senior and should not be meddled with.
Xiao sighed, resolving to do that the next time he visited, pushing open the door to a music store he frequented near his house. It was a run-down place on the edge of town by the name of ‘Anemusic’ that didn’t have the latest hits, but the owner was quiet and kept to herself which was something that Xiao appreciated.
There was only really one song that Xiao listened to whenever he needed a peace of mind. It was the melody that sat at the top of his MP3 player, the untitled one that he turned on before any kill. However, he enjoyed finding similar music to that instrumental track and thus, it had become a routine for him to visit the music store on his days without an assignment. It was somewhat of a fun pastime for him—finding something that suited his interests, taking it home to his beat-up laptop, and downloading it into his MP3 player that he took with him everywhere he went.
If there was one thing that Xiao would say made him happiest in his current circumstances, this would be it.
The hits by popular pop artists at the top of the album box in the far corner didn’t interest Xiao. He only vaguely recalled their names as he swiped through the music labeled under ‘Xinyan,’ ‘Barbara,’ and ‘Barbatos’ to find the instrumental covers in the back.
There was one artist by the name of Kazuha that he thought did a pretty good job of capturing the light and airy tones of his favorite song. Xiao had heard some of his melodies the other day while scrolling through the internet and was determined to find a physical CD copy of his work.
After a few minutes of digging, Xiao finally found a copy at the bottom of the barrel. It was a bit dusty and the case was cracked slightly, but the title ‘Falling Leaves, Spoken Wind’ by Kaedehara Kazuha stared back at him like a symbol of triumph.
Xiao smiled, grabbing it like it was a trophy. He turned to go pay when he bumped into someone who was no more than a foot away from him, seemingly peering over his shoulder. Xiao sent the lighter man tumbling to the floor with the force of his shoulder.
“Oh, sorry,” Xiao said, extending a hand for the man to take. From what Xiao could see, the guy had a bucket hat on, some clunky shades, and a black mask over his mouth.
He looked incredibly suspicious, and that was coming from a hired assassin.
“Ah,” the man said, sounding slightly winded. He took Xiao’s hand to stand, dusting himself off. Xiao found himself fixated on the man’s braided hair for some reason. “You’re really strong, wow.”
Xiao felt incredibly awkward receiving the comment. “Oh, uh, I work out.”
“Do you just go around knocking people around or what,” the man laughed and Xiao followed awkwardly. Strangely, he wasn’t wrong as Xiao did actually go around ‘knocking people around,’ though, he didn’t need to know about that.
“Anyway, hi!” the man exclaimed, extending a hand to shake. “Name’s Venti!”
“Xiao,” Xiao muttered, not reciprocating.
“I was wondering, could I actually have that album copy? I’ve been looking everywhere for it!”
Xiao blinked, looking at the busted-up cover in his hand. “This?”
“Yeah!” Venti chirped. “I don’t know if you know, but maybe, probably you do, given you literally scraped that out of the bottom of that barrel, but Kazuha stopped producing music a while ago to go on a journey of self-exploration. He’s kinda just traveling around now and no one knows where he is, so his music is pretty hard to find.”
“Huh,” Xiao said, barely following.
“He used to be an old friend of mine and one day, he kind of said something about how he needed to become closer to nature. I told him, ‘Yeah, go for it! I’m sure a camping trip would be fun!’ and then he just up and left everything he owned the next day, can you believe it?”
No, he didn’t believe it. Less because of the long-winded tale that Venti was telling him, but more because of the fact that anyone had bothered to talk to him at all. He didn’t particularly give off an aura of approachability after all.
“Sorry, that’s nice, but—” Xiao tried to maneuver around the other man, bowing his head curtly in apology.
“How much?” Venti blurted, refusing to let him go past.
“What?”
“How much did you want for it? Name a price, I’ll buy it off you!”
“I, I don’t—” Xiao stuttered, taken aback. “I don’t need money.”
“What about one million mora? Or, two million?”
Xiao balked at Venti. The album cover was at most 500 mora, especially given that it was at the bottom of the barrel—quite literally. Yet, Venti had dropped an insane amount of money like it was nothing to him.
Who exactly was this man?
Money wasn’t an issue for Xiao, especially since he made enough to sustain his lifestyle through his assassination work, but this Venti person seemed rich and desperate, and Xiao wasn’t about to start a scene over one album cover.
“I, okay—” Xiao said, handing it over to him. “You can take it.”
“For two million?” Venti grinned.
“No, just take it. It’s clear you really want it.”
“Really?” Venti beamed, snatching the album from Xiao. He fished a phone out of his pocket with barely contained enthusiasm. “Thanks a lot! I gotta take a picture to show Jean that I finally found one from him!”
Xiao gave him a small smile in return, but it was short-lived. As Venti pushed up his shades and pulled down his mask to take a selfie with the album cover, Xiao froze watching very familiar bright bluish-green eyes appear from behind those sunglasses.
There was no way. In this back-alley music store of all places? At this time? Surely, there must’ve been a miscalculation somewhere.
Despite Xiao’s doubts, there was no mistaking it. The way the man’s smile lit up his surroundings, the way his eyes matched his hair, and the way his hair was done… No wonder the braids triggered some memory in him.
Still, what were the chances that he would meet this person here like this, unplanned and unexpectedly?
Yet, against the odds, Xiao stood there chilled to the bone as he watched his supposed next target snap a picture of himself, sticking his tongue out without a care in the world.