6 "First" kill
After taking the bath and eating dinner, Ink went outside to sit down in a cross-legged position under the stars.
2 small urns were laid on the ground in front of him and he just silently stared at them while remembering everything that happened to him that day.
"?" Suddenly he felt someone placing a warm cloak over his shoulders so he looked up just to see Taeko smiling down at him.
"It's cold outside, I hope you don't mind my presence..." Taeko said and Ink just looked back down at the urns. After spending a few days with him, Taeko knew that silence in his case meant that she has "permission".
She sat down right next to him, hugging her knees while staring at the urns in front of Ink and occasionally checking Ink's expression.
"...Were they your parents?" Taeko asked with a grieving expression. She already killed several people and she has rarely shown any type of sadness. For Oarburgh, there was no good or bad, therefore she might have killed even some good people however she never thought too hard about it.
"...Yes, this is what remained of them." Ink said with a never-changing blank expression.
"...I don't know my parents, the earliest memories I can recall are already together with grandma" Taeko said with a slightly sad smile but she wasn't regretting anything, truth be told, she didn't even know why she said this.
"Look at me"
"?!" Taeko looked at Ink's face and a sad expression appeared on her face. Tears were slowly rolling down his cheeks however his expression never changed as if he could control his tears on a whim, however, what he said next completely caught Taeko off-guard.
"Look at me, Taeko...I am shedding tears but I am not even shedding them for my parents...I am shedding them because I feel nothing. Because I didn't even feel like shedding tears for them." Ink said full sentences unlike usual while looking at his palms before turning at Taeko with a slightly crazed expression.
'His heart rate is increasing at a dangerous rate!'
"?" Taeko suddenly hugged Ink and let him rest on her shoulder. Upon feeling her touch, Ink stopped shedding tears and just stared into empty space behind Taeko with a confused expression. This was the first time in several days that he has shown other expressions other than his usual blank one, although it was still far off from genuine ones, the start was decent.
'...Hmph' The older woman observing them from the shadows decided that she saw enough and left them alone.
After several seconds passed by, Ink's heart rate settled down and his usual blank expression reappeared on his face.
"Thank you..." Ink thanked her once they returned to sitting like before.
"I-It's nothing, more importantly...I am happy that you called me by my name, that was the first time!" Taeko said with a genuine smile and lightly reddened cheeks.
"..." Ink's apathetic eyes slightly widened, indicating his surprise at her words before the corner of his lips once again began twitching but this time it wasn't only for a short while, this time he managed to form a very small "smile", a bit too forced looking smile but he still smiled at Taeko which made her happy.
Suddenly, Ink took both urns in his hands and got up. He took a few steps forward, making Taeko confusedly looking at his back.
"...To be honest, I am starting to have trouble remembering memories of my parents. I didn't even know my name. I think it was a sign for me to leave everything behind..." Ink turned at Taeko and said with his small forced smile before opening both urns and spilling the ashes out just to be carried away by the gentle night breeze.
"?!" Taeko didn't know her parents but she still could imagine how much resolve it had to take for Ink to just simply get rid of those ashes, not to mention doing this with a smile on his face.
---
The next day everything went back to normal, the older woman finally introduced herself to Ink as Babara Oarburgh as if she finally accepted Ink under her wing. She started training Ink in hand-to-hand combat without any weapon while keeping an eye on Taeko's progress in her sword skills. She taught him the right footwork and all weak points on the human body.
As such the endless training sessions began and another week passed by.
Currently, Taeko was helping Ink with his training. She was holding a wooden sword and slashing it at him in adjusted speed for him to be capable of dodging.
'Being able to calmly dodge your enemy's attacks despite not having any weapon to defend yourself truly makes it easier to see the flaws in their attacks...Even if they are made on purpose by Taeko.' Ink thought while dodging Taeko's attacks.
"Ugh" Ink suddenly felt the wooden sword hit his right thigh, despite not feeling much pain from the strike, he was taught by Babara to at least act and use it to his own advantage, however, he was still having a hard time expressing his pain on his face.
"Don't think too much while being attacked by your enemy. Your brain and muscles aren't ready to think of a plan while cleanly dodging your enemy's attacks." Babara scolded Ink for his carelessness but after the week of training, she warmed up to Ink a bit more.
'This kid is improving at a tremendous rate despite not having any combat experience. He reminds me of time when I started training Taeko...no, he is an even faster learner than her but she has the advantage of being trained since her infancy.' Babara thought with a thoughtful expression on her face while touching her chin with her metal glove. However Babara knew that he might not necessarily be more talented than Taeko, it was his effort that got him so far in such a short time. Their usual training session lasted few hours but Ink usually trained for more than 8 hours even if it was just swinging the sword around. It was still good for shaping his muscles, getting accustomed to holding the sword, and increasing his stamina.
"...Understood" Ink nodded his head, completely fine with her scolding.
"Other than that, you are doing good. However, we will be leaving soon. We can't keep staying here in one place." Babara lightly smiled at Ink after seeing his diligence and attitude. He and Taeko were unlike other kids that usually complain about something that's not to their liking. Babara just wondered how would their young leader react to Ink once they return to their main base.
"Where?" Ink asked
"Probably just near another town, change of scenery" Taeko replied to Ink with a small smile.
"It's just as Taeko said...You two need to see all kinds of people and places to broaden your knowledge. As an assassin, you need the skill to read the people and their true nature. Everything comes with experience but for you to gather that, we must keep on moving from place to place. The most dangerous opponent for an assassin is another assassin, just because you live in shadows doesn't mean that you will be able to recognize people living in the shadows." Babara said with a serious expression and both Ink and Taeko nodded their heads.
"Besides...You have yet to kill a human, Ink. That guy from before doesn't count because your mind and body were affected by your emotions, moving according to them. On the way to our next destination, we will see to improving your facial expressions, you are still young and inexperienced, weak should just act and wait for strong to drop their guard." Babara said with a slightly vicious smile beholding of the person living in the shadows.
---
On their way to their new destination, Babara helped Ink with his facial expressions and she also taught him a few things about poisons and Oarburgh. Ink and Taeko grew even closer and despite Ink rarely showing any affection towards their friendship, it was still visible that he felt comfortable in her presence.
.
.
Inside the town, Ink was hugging his knees in the dark alley, leaning against the stone-cold wall of the building, he was looking like a homeless orphan. He was sitting there for 2 days straight by now without moving an inch.
"Hm? Hello, little one." A beautiful woman in her thirties approached Ink with a bald bodyguard. She leaned above Ink and asked with a melodious voice and a kind smile on her face.
"...Please don't talk to me, I don't want to cause you any problems." Ink replied weakly and snuggled closer to his knees.
"You-!" The bodyguard who almost lost his cool was immediately stopped when the woman raised her hand and glared at him.
"Where are your parents? If you perhaps don't have any, do you want to come with me? There are several kids like you at my place. I just can't leave hopeless children like you to starve to death." The woman placed her left hand on top of her big breast and asked with an almost pleading expression.
"?! Please..." Ink looked up with a "surprised" expression before looking down, mumbling something.
"There are others like you, how about coming along with this big sis?" The woman said with an inviting smile and hands on her knees, slightly crouching down to not appear too frightening for a kid like Ink.
"Y-Yeah, please!" Ink looked once again up and replied with a big smile and closed eyes with tears forming in their corners.
"You are a cute one, I can't imagine what you must have gone through to have such lifeless eyes...But worry not, this big sis will take care of you from now on." The woman said with slightly reddened cheeks before she ordered her guard to help Ink get up and carry him in case it was needed.
"Alright, up you go-..." The guard helped Ink get up however when he was about to up his arms around him to carry him, he felt pain and his adrenaline increased. He looked down at his body and saw a dagger buried near his heart.
"-kid like you...?!" The guard looked up just to see Ink's blank expression a few inches away from his face, seeing Ink's dull eyes staring straight into his without a single emotion.
"Hm? What's the matter?" The woman who stood behind the kneeling guard couldn't see anything of what happened so she asked her guard.
"Neesan, the big guy seemed to...fall asleep" Ink said while holding the guard's lifeless body in the same position. Thanks to all training until now, he was strong enough to do that for a few seconds.
"Huh? What are you talk-" The woman looked confused but she still took few steps forward to take a look from the side at what her guard is doing just to see a flash of light in the dark alley.
Her eyes widened and she put her right hand on her neck and then looked at her right palm, seeing it covered in blood.
"...Why kid like y-" *thud* She only managed to say a few words before she collapsed on the ground, blood spilling out of her mouth.
.
.
"Not bad work at all. Well done, Ink. Your smiles are still too stiff and forced though." Babara walked inside the dark alley and looked at Ink's handiwork.
Ink just nodded his head, feeling slightly annoyed at wasting 2 days of waiting here instead of training but he just bore with it.
"Can we get back to training?" Ink asked.
"...You don't want to know who you just killed?" Babara asked with a particular smile and holding her hands behind her back.
"...She gave off a creepy feeling but I don't particularly care...Should I?" Ink looked at the beautiful woman lying on the cold ground in the pool of her own blood with his dull green eyes before turning to Babara, genuinely asking for her "guidance".
