1 Chapter 001: Interactions

Ren walked down the dark alley. He didn't understand why his parents had told him to come out here, but he would find out soon enough. Before he had left, his parents had promised to tell him everything once he returned, but he had to wait at least an hour before returning home. It had been about 15 minutes since he left and he was now a quarter-mile away from the house. He decided to climb the nearest building to stargaze. A few minutes later a shadow leaped from the previous building to the one he was on. Before he had time to respond, there was a knife to his throat, and a woman's voice in his ear. "How unfortunate, I hoped I'd at least get a chance to clean my knife before running into any witnesses." the woman whispered, a mocking tone in her voice. He didn't respond, so she said, "You're a quiet one, aren't you? Tell me, what's your name?" "My name is Ren." he responded calmly and simply. "Hm… You're the first person to remain calm after I put a knife to their throat." she said, curious as to why he was so calm. "Oh, am I? Sorry, should I scream? Or would that be too loud? Perhaps I should try to run? Or beg for my life?" he said, rolling his eyes. "Fair enough. Now, I've got things to do, so I'll make this quick. Don't worry, it won't hurt too much." she said, still mocking him. "Wait! What if- what if I can offer you something in exchange for my life?" he asked, choosing his words carefully. "Now, that would depend, but what could you possibly offer for me, Little Lamb?" she asked. "W-well, I managed to climb up this building, despite its height, and I'm pretty skilled when it comes to one-on-one combat, plus, I'm pretty good at getting people to tell me what I need to know. And, even if I tried to escape, you could just kill me, not that I would try to. Also, why call me 'Little Lamb,' if I already told you my name is Ren?" he asked. "Well, I am known as 'The Wolf' by many, so 'Little Lamb' is a fitting name, don't you think?" she said. He didn't understand what she meant when she said she was "known as 'The Wolf,'" but decided not to ask, he doubted she would give him a straight answer, anyways. "I've got to be going now, so just meet me tomorrow, the tower at the edge of town, midnight. Don't try anything, or I'll kill you. Understood?" she asked. "Understood." he replied. "Good." she said before disappearing into the shadows at the edge of the building. As soon as he was sure she was gone he climbed down the tall building and started heading back towards his house. His sister would be home by now so it would be best if he got back soon so that, hopefully, she wouldn't ask him too many questions. After about 15 minutes, he reached the house. As he was about to open the door, he paused. There were voices he didn't recognize inside and, judging by the tone in their voices, they were discussing something important. Then, a familiar voice chimed in. It was his sister! He listened closely to try to make out what they were saying. "...missing… find… brother…" he faintly heard those few words. He then opened the door and walked in, acting as though he hadn't heard anything. As soon as he entered the room, all eyes turned on him. Once his sister realized it was him, she ran over to where he was standing and started checking him for injuries. She quickly noticed the mark on his neck where the blade had touched skin. "Where were you?! What happened?! Who did this?! Was it The White Wolf?! Did she attack you because you saw her kill mom and dad?!" she was spewing out questions faster than he could answer them, not that he intended to, anyway. "Sakura. Calm down. I just slipped, that's all." he said, trying to sound as calm as possible. He hadn't realized the full extent of what she had said until now. "Wait, did you just say The White Wolf killed our parents?! How can you be sure?!" he asked. Everything was starting to make sense now. He hadn't just ran into some random hitman by chance, he had met the infamous assassin of Ashville, White Wolf.