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"The palace sat atop the hill, like a display meant to be admired. To Chuuya, it looked more like a glorified cage.
He crouched on a stone ledge overlooking the south wall, orange hair covered by a dark hood. Below him, the guards patrolled the grounds in an organized manner, predictable if one looked closely.
For a kingdom that prided itself on its wealth, the security was laughable.
Chuuya's hand crept to the dagger strapped to his thigh.
The contract had been simple. Kouyou had been the one to tell him about it.
Prince Dazai Osamu, 22 years old and absolutely unfathomable. Somehow, he had managed to become both a nuisance and an embarrassment to the nobility.
Normally, Chuuya didn't think much about his targets; he was committing an assassination, not collecting bedtime stories. But, the rumors he heard about prince Dazai were... i_interesting_ to say the least. Brilliant, cruel and lazy– --, truly a questionable combination of traits.
Several servants admitted that he spent more time looking to escape his tutors than actually studying.
One of his personal maids even claimed she'd found the bastard sitting on a balcony, discussing methods of dying with a disturbing amount of passion. Chuuya dismissed that as some servant just wanting attention; ,plus, rich people were weird.
He slipped over the wall with practised ease. Minutes later, he had crossed about half of the grounds without detection.
The prince's room was in the east tower, top floor and private balcony. The guard presence was minimal. Either.the prince was trusted not to run away -which would be weird, considering how he was prone to escape lectures- or nobody thought someone would be stupid enough to break in.
It was stupid, and also made it hardly _his_ fault if
he happened to kill the prince.
The wind began to tug at his cloak as he entered the balcony.Drawing his knife, he stepped inside the room.
"You're late."
Chuuya froze, this wasn't supposed to happen, the prince should have been sleeping by now.If he screamed, how long would it take for the guards to rush in? Chuuya looked at the Prince once more, his face didn't betray any form of alarm, the idiotic bastard wasn't even reaching for a weapon!
Restraining himself from throwing a dagger straight at the idiot's throat, Chuuya attempted to speak
"..excuse me?"
Dazai sighed, looking utterly disinterested, and began to speak.
"I've been expecting you for hours!Do you have any idea how boring it is waiting to get killed?" he asked, acting as if this was a normal conversation someone would have over a cup of tea.
Chuuya gaped, this bastard was definitely insane.Dazai turned to him once more
"Hey! You're way shorter than expected, do they usually allow assassins to be this small?"
"What is wrong with you?"
"Lots of things, apparently"
The prince pointed at the dagger in Chuuya's hand
"Is that for me?"he asked, his face lightening up
"Wonderful.Anyways, I would really appreciate it if you could make this quick, I've had a truly exhausting week y'know?"
Chuuya's grip on the knife tightened, "I'm here to kill you"
Dazai's smile brightened, but still not fully reaching his eyes
"I know, and frankly, can
we get on with it?"
"I'm going to kill you"Chuuya repeated,dazed by the utter insanity of this prince
"Oh!” Dazai remarked “And you're welcome by the way, for me leaving the balcony door unlocked!" Dazai said with something that sounded strangely like pride
And that is the tale of how, for the first time in his life,Chuuya Nakahara didn't know how to finish a job.