Chapter Text
Yoru couldn’t be happier. She had a secure job, a place to live, and all the basic necessities.
Only the job was assassination, and the place to live was an assassination camp. And she had no salary.
Still, it was better than being homeless.
She let out a sigh, turning over in her sleeping bag. She shared the tent with like 3 other people, and was the shortest in the tent.
She couldn’t sleep goddammit!
With a huff of annoyance she got up and walked out to the fire. The other four tents that shared their fire were filled with the sounds of sleep.
The stars above Yoru twinkled. As if teasing. “You’ll always be lonely.”
“I don’t care!” Yoru whisper-shouted back.
She plopped down on a log and began to mull over her last mission. It had gone well, the victim didn't even have enough time to blink before her bollock dagger gutted them.
Poor victim.
Yoru felt sorry for her victim. She didn't enjoy killing. But Yami-san always said, “If you want to stay alive, do what I say.”
Yoru wished she never met her.
“Yoru, you’re up late,” a voice said behind her.
She jumped and turned around. “Oh. It’s you.”
Tomo stood behind her with a slight smile. “It’s been a while, hasn't it?”
“...Yes,” Yoru said. She didn’t want to trust her. She didn't trust anyone in the camp.
“You should go to sleep. Yami-san may have a new mission tomorrow.”
“Ok.”
Tomo nodded and disappeared into her tent. Yoru stayed sitting for a few seconds.
Nobody here knew a life other than the camp. No one had a last name. Only a first name that Yami-san handed to you like candy.
It was like Yami-san took away what made you you, your name, your past lives, everything, and shaped you into a warrior, a killing machine.
But at least Yoru wasn't homeless.
She sighed again, and disappeared into her tent again.
-
At breakfast, Yoru sat with Mayu again. She always did. She didn't know why though. They never talked. Never made eye contact.
Yami-san walked up with a grin. Mayu glanced up before returning to her onigiri and miso soup.
“Hello Mayu, I have a mission for you!” Yami-san said in a sing-song voice.
Yoru let out a sigh of relief. Better Mayu than her.
“It isn’t going to be an easy one, mind you. You’re going up to Dai Castle and killing the whole family that lives there. Servants and all. Leave no one alive. You’ll head up there after breakfast.”
Oh. That sounded tough. Yoru wondered how long it would be until Mayu would return. Hopefully alive. Yoru liked her company even if they never talked.
Yami left them after that and Yoru picked up one of her onigiri. The flavours popped in her mouth as she chewed, but she wasn’t hungry.
She stood up, placing her tin plate on the ground and went back to her tent. It was pretty big, because Yami-san has pretty good designers on her side. The spaces were decided by different patches of cloth.
Her patch was a pretty big, orange patch in the corner. The sleeping bag was against the corner, her extra two uniforms were folded neatly by the sleeping bag, and in a leather case was her bullock knife. There was a small wooden box as well, filled with special items, like the plushie rabbit she had had for as long as she could remember, and her knife kit.
Yoru took out her bullock knife and knife kit, and went out under a tree. The camp was in the middle of a giant clearing in Yami no Mori, a forest no one dared to enter. Yoru found one of the oak trees and scaled it without breaking a sweat.
Balanced neatly on a branch, she began to polish and sharpen her knife. The action made her feel a bit more at ease.
“Hey Yoru!”
She looked down, already recognising that voice. It was one of the cooks, Haruto. He was about 17, with freckles and short scruffy hair. “What is it, Haruto?” she asked with an eye roll.
“Get down here, I need help! There’s a spider in my kitchen!”
A spider. Of course. She put her knife in her kit, and snapping it shut, she leapt down. Haruto led her to the wooden hut under a tree. Inside was a stolen oil lamp, a stolen portable BBQ, a stolen portable stove which ran on charcoal, sacks of stolen charcoal and a stolen matchbox. Actually everything was stolen.
“Where’s the spider?” Yoru asked with a sigh.
“O-Over there,” Haruto stammered. Haruto wasn’t trained as an assassin, but as a cook, so he had no problem showing fear. Yoru felt a sliver of jealousy before shaking it off, and killing the spider with her bare hands.
“I’m going now, go bother someone else next time,” she said coldly before stalking off. Trust Haruto to bother her, just as she was sharpening her knife.
She went to the “square” where there were assassins talking, and settled down in a corner.
The clearing was a bit like a village. There was a giant wood hut in the middle, which was Yumi-san’s house. Around it was the square. It was a place where assassins from other firehoods would meet. Around the square were firehoods. Firehoods were like neighbourhoods consisting of tents that shared a fire. They ate meals together around their shared fire.
This was her life, Yoru thought as she polished her knife, this was normal. And there was no getting away from it.