VIII
Leilyn stares up at the moon high up in the sky. The moon – which now looks like a banged up version of the planet Saturn – shone a perfect white, illuminating the area.
The moon, like many continents, became a casualty of the war. A malfunctioned missile found its way to the moon, destroying part of it. Said missile was a newly improved one those years ago. A certain country designed it so well, that instead of it didn't waste much time in hitting a target. An hour tops for a faraway continent. In the process of launching a specific batch, one malfunctioned as said, and with the increased speed it took due to its malfunctioning, it collided with the moon in such a fast rate and force that one third of the moon broke away. Luckily for earth, the big chunk of moon rock missed the planet, but little pieces still rained down. Even with the near death of everything, the war still continued. It wasn't until life on earth began to face a critical mass extinction rate that eyes were finally opened. Honestly, Leilyn wishes humans were wiped out, leaving the earth for the animals to enjoy. But oh well, you can't always get what you wish for. Now, humans were multiplying at a massive rate, chocking up the planet once more with their stench. But even still banged up, the moon served as a beautiful sight and a good base.
Leilyn's currently on her balcony, leaning on the stone baluster. Unconsciously she's humming one of her childhood songs, Akatsuki no Requiem, under her breath. The songs, like some others, calms her.
She closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath. A gush of midnight wind passes by, caressing her body, ruffling her hair and night gown. Her lips stretches into a bittersweet smile, her eyes opening slowly.
Somehow, tonight has the same feeling of a specific night held special in her memory and heart. Without even thinking too much about it, the memory starts replaying before her very eyes.
**********
The purr of four Negawasaki Volanten-Cursoriam 10 could be only heard for a second before they zoomed off, along with the cheerful laughs of their owners.
Amharic and her children were having a race, and they were almost to the border wall separating the land from the sea.
Amharic was in the lead, Alexandra next, then Leilyn and Damien. The kids tried to by-pass her, but she always took the lead. For an old woman, she was pretty bad ass, with her sharp curves, speed and rest. Heck, the woman even pulled off a back flip just to avoid a metal beam from colliding with her. Damien and his sisters just watched her in shock.
With how skilled she was, it was officially clear that their father held their mother back. Only a few months after his death, she was flourishing. It's like everything she touched was blessed to work out well. Heck, the company has been flourishing more so ever than before under her leadership – with their help too – and has become one of the top five company in the world. Its influence has already impacted all five continents massively and with the added improvement, it's no wonder they were in third place.
Soon, they made it to the wall. The water below them rippled – due to how they were close to the surface - as they passed. The four began to ascend up the wall, grips on their bikes tight, so as not to fall.
In the end, Amharic won the race, her angelic laughter ringing loud for all to hear.
"Again?!" Alexa groaned out.
Mother and children began to drive at a slow and tranquil speed, no longer needing to drive like maniacs. They removed their racing goggles from their face, placing them on their head.
"I don't know how you do it mother." Damien sighed out. "At least allow us to win for once."
"And lose my bragging right against you three? No oo!" Amharic laughed joyously.
Damien and his sisters smiled warmly at her, chest filling with warmth at her cheerfully laughter. Their mother was always meant to smile and laugh like this. Damien and Leilyn just wished they had done something about their father a lot sooner. Oh well, he's dead now. No need to dwell too much about him.
"Zoranne. Take over." Leilyn commanded. The A.I did as told and the lights of the bike turns purple, Zoranne's color.
Leilyn falls back on the seat of the back, eyes staring at the sky. Due to them begin far away from the city, the stars shone bright. She turns her head to the side, lips parted a little. She stretched her hand to the water, trending her through the surface gently. As the bike drives slowly, so did her fingers in the water. She ignored the cold which the water brought, mind only focused on how beautiful the blue-green sea was with the stars reflecting on it
From the corner of her eyes, she saw her brother stopping next to her, leaning on the handle of the bike. Her mother and sister stopped by her left, also leaning on the handles. They all stared at the sky, specifically the moon. Leilyn turned her neck and faces the sky, eyes focused on the moon.
Even in its banged up glory, the moon was still a beautiful sight to behold. The ring around it even made it more magnificent.
"It will honestly be awesome if humans build a base on the moon." Alexandra began, a soft grin on her lips. Her mother and sister turned to face her. "Maybe after that, we can finally explore the dark side of the moon."
Leilyn blinked owlishly, mulling over what her little sister just said.
Huh… a homebase on the moon… that will be extraordinary. A lunar project. i
If they achieve it, it will be a great success for mankind. Now, all that is needed is professional scientists and money. Lots of it.
Leilyn hummed. With a soft huff, she sat up right. She placed her legs back into riding position, commanding Zoranne to give her back control. With a smile, the teenager slowly drives few feet away from her family, before driving upwards. She touched the clouds as she went up. She stopped immediately when she felt as if she couldn't breathe, revising down a little.
With a peaceful sigh, Leilyn folded her arms before leaning on her bike, her agate eyes devouring the moon.
**********
Leilyn comes back to the present when she felt a soft and almost silent noise behind her. With a smile, she addresses the person.
"I take it that it's done?" She turns her neck to face them, her lips tilted in a ghost of a smile.
"Done and dusted. By eight AM tomorrow, they'll be dead. When the doctors and Enforcers pay them a visit, they'll find no foul play. Their body and mind just finally gave up."
Shinji walks up to her right, folding his arms and leaning on the rails. His thin mid-back length hair was free from his bun, held together by a black-silver metal hair band at the center of his hair.
"The Obake Masks you made just makes our work easier." The Aesian sighs in bliss. "We can sneak in and out of heavily crowed and protected places without suspicion. Thank you for the creation." He grins at her.
Leilyn gives a smile. "You're welcome."
Whilst working on the Lunar Project, Leilyn, out of sheer boredom, created the Obake Masks for the clan, with the help of Sensei and Shinji. When the wearer dons it on, it is unnoticeable to others, due to its transparency. With a voice command, the mask will scan the face of anyone the wearer wants and then structures itself into the scanned face, eyes, cheekbone, lips and all. Seeing as the clan already makes use of wigs, it makes their mission smooth and fast. Heck, with the additional voice change the mask comes with, their assassination, infiltration or various others missions has now become a child's play. But seeing as the clan is made up of blood thirsty assassins who sometimes like to get dirty in the blood of their enemies or play with their kills, the masks aren't used much until deemed necessary or if they were particularly lazy at the moment. Knowing Shinji, it was particularly the latter.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
Leilyn hums softly.
"Do you know that the moon is one of the major magik sources of earth?" Shinji begins. Leilyn blinks in confusion, turning her neck to face him. "To some, the moon is the giver of life. It rejuvenates the earth in specific cycles and grants untold power to some few. The moon is said to open the doorway to communicate with gods and goddess, just like Samhain is said to weaken the veil and allow people to communicate with deceased souls." Shinji turns to face her, sharp blue eyes staring straight into beautiful agate eyes. "All in all, the moon is a beautiful entity, don't you think?" He gives a small smile.
Leilyn cocks a brow, giving Shinji a look that says 'are you serious?' loud and clear. The woman scoffs, lips tilting in an amused smile. She turns her body, allowing it to lean sideways on the baluster.
"You don't really believe all that, do you?"
"Don't you?"
Leilyn lets out a snort like laughter, swiping her hair from her face and back behind her ear once again.
"No offence, but no." She answers bluntly. "If they were such things as 'gods'," she makes air quotes with her fingers at that word, "Then they're doing a piss poor job."
"And what do you think, Lyn-Lyn, is exactly their job?" Shinji cocks a brow.
"Taking care of earth, their domain, for one." She replies, spreading her arms a little. "And like I said, they're doing a piss poor job at that."
"Hmm." Shinji rests his elbow on the baluster, positioning his cheek on his fist. "But they don't have to Lyn. Humans are prideful and egoistical creatures. Their loyalties changes with the snap of a finger. They are on their own the moment they ignore the voices of their gods. You can't blame the gods for trying."
"Oh?" Leilyn cocks a brow again, this time it arches higher. "But what about the gods who're listened to by their brainless flock of sheep? Where are they? The Christian and Islamic gods for example. Their people slaughter their kind in their names. They terrorize the earth and bring forth untold suffering, tears and bloodshed, just to please both their gods and themselves. Take the last war for example. Different fractions battled for utterly stupid reasons; one of them being to help their god to rid the world of countless sinners and infidels." Leilyn spits out those two words with cold disdain. "Face it Shin; there are no gods, only fictional abstracts created and used by humans to murder and butcher themselves; along with the help of their internalized and long marinated hatred, wickedness and disgust for one other. Nothing more, nothing less."
A heavy silence descends on them as they have a staring contest. Shinji finally breaks it with a deep throated hn, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Never change sister, never change."
"With the bullshit I've seen concerning this topic, I don't think I will."
The dark red copper haired woman smirks at him. Shinji gives her his signature wide grin, eyes alit with amusement. Leilyn turns her head and looks up at the moon once more.
Leilyn suddenly heaves out a sigh, placing two fingers on her forehead as she shakes her head.
"What is it?"
"I still can't believe that most of the world's power is in the hands of the most destructive gender in all of human existence."
Shinji snorts. "Hey, not our fault that we're the superior gender in all of history."
Leilyn gives him a deadpan look. "I think you mispronounced inferior, dear brother." She says dryly, her African accent making itself known. "Men are the most impulsive, self-centered, judgmental, selfish, quick to anger, arrogant and the most annoying gender of all. If someone dares to step on your fragile egos, you lot tend to go to war and slaughter billions just to build back up your scattered pride. It's honestly pathetic."
"Ouch." Shinji hisses, a hand on his chest as he looks at her in amusement. "That stings, sis."
"Because it's the truth." She deadpans. "I still can't believe that Alex transitioned into the braindead side of humanity."
Shinji dissolves into deep snickering, not having anything else to say.
The wind once again picks up, ruffling Leilyn's hair. The woman holds down her raging bangs, frowning as her short hair blow in her face. She throws a glance at her brother and tsks inwardly when she sees that his hair isn't affected. They just swayed softly, unlike hers. How does he do it? How?
"Every day, I get more reasons to cut this nuisance." She grumbles, still fighting to keep her hair still.
Shinji chuckles, walking over to stand behind her. The wind suddenly stops, as if commanded, and Leilyn sighs in exasperation as her hair settles down.
"To be frank," he starts, coming his fingers through her hair gently, making the woman hum, pleased by his action. "Short hair will look banging on you." He grins out.
Leilyn snorts, amused by his wording.
"And I see you've allowed your hair to grow out too."
"Heh." Shinji shrugs. "I finally decided to give in to Hide's request of growing out my hair long. Don't want the kid to feel alone in his hair growing acquisition."
"But he's not alone." Leilyn points out. "Sensei's kids have super long hair for kids their age. Do you know how many times they have cut their hair after it reached their butts? Due to their unbelievable hair growth, I sometimes wonder if Sensei's Rapunzel in disguise, because I definitely know that they didn't get R's hair genes."
They both snort at that. The image of Sensei being locked in a tower and waiting for a prince to come rescue him is hilarious. But on a serious note, Sensei has unbelievable hair genes. Currently, both he and Leilyn's mother were battling for who has the longest hair in the family. Both have their hair reaching their calves. For an assassin with a hair as long – and to be frank, stress and heavy looking, especially when braided – Sensei pulls off all his missions with his usual grace. Amharic, also used to her long and full head of hair – unlike her children – moved with grace like no other, even when her hair is in their current box braids form.
"I can't wait for the kid to get tired of having long hair. I really wanna go back to my short style." The blonde blows out an exasperated breath, making Leilyn chuckle in amusement.
Leilyn stands still as Shinji braids her hair in her usual fashion. For an assassin, he sure makes a good hairdresser. His hands work through her hair like they were dancing, making knots and ties. It doesn't take long for him to be done, and in ten minutes, her hair is once again in her usual elegant French braid.
"There." Shinji throws the braid over her shoulder. "All done."
"Thanks." Leilyn runs her hand from her head to the end of the braid, feeling it, a small smile on her face.
"Welcome." Shinji retakes his previous position of leaning on the baluster, a, foot away from Leilyn.
The two stand in tranquil silence, eyes staying upwards at the beautiful night. The wind whispers at them, passing by softly. The silence, after a minute or two, is broken by Shinji, who heaves a knowing sigh.
"I know you're wondering why I behaved the way I did this afternoon."
Leilyn stares at him through the corner of her eye, not saying anything.
"Seeing as I can't tell you everything, I can only give you a warning."
Leilyn turns to face him, a deep frown on her face as she narrows her eyes at him. Shinji also turns, eyes - now bearing a serious glint matching his serious expression – once again meeting hers head on.
"Be careful." He says, making Leilyn's narrowed eyes to turn into slits. "I don't have much jurisdiction in this world, so I have not much say in how things go down. But that doesn't much I'll stand down and see anyone I hurt be in harm's way."
"Wai- what?" Leilyn blinks rapidly at him, confusion clear as day on her face. She straightens her back, body no longer leaning on the railing. "What do you mean? Shinji-"
"I honestly can't tell you much Leilyn." Shinji cuts her off. "Bonded not to."
The woman's expression becomes more serious, her brows furrowing deeply as her eyes narrow into slits. The moment Shinji called her by her full name, his grin completely wiped away from his face and his entire expression serious, she knew something's wrong. And ultimately, bad.
"How bad is it?"
"Seven."
Leilyn eyes goes wide in surprise. For something, or someone, to get Shinji's rating of seven, it's definitely bad.
"… is it the Rogers'?"
Shinji sighs, shaking his head at her.
"What aren't you telling me, Shinji?"
Shinji shakes his head again, an apologetic expression on his face.
Leilyn sighs. She goes back to her previous position of leaning on the baluster, staring into the woods.
"Oh well, keep your secrets then. The Cosmos knows I have mine too." She snorts.
Shinji leans back on the railing, his arms folded.
"But tell me one thing; are they a danger to me?"
"Yes, and no." Shinji replies. His answer gets him a cocked brow from Leilyn. "They won't be a danger for you if they are left alone. Try not to draw attention to yourself." Leilyn gives him a look. "Much."
Leilyn scoffs. "I'll try."
The two assassin stay in silence for minutes, once again allowing the cold midnight wind to blow against them. It was broken by Leilyn, who makes a chocked sound. Shinji looks at her, before looking at where she was staring at.
"Are you wearing heels?" She gives a snort like laughter. "Wait… did you wear heels to the mission?"
"What? Just because I was on a mission to off some pests doesn't mean I'll have to look like a peasant doing so." Shinji huffs. "Besides, my disguise was a female doctor."
Leilyn starts snickering, a hand on her mouth. "Wait!" She chocks out, pearls of laughter still spilling from her lips. "When- when did you have the time to- to invade my closet?! Even with Zoranne present!"
Shinji just give a shark like grin at her question. His mischievous grin and his decision to start posing in ridiculous ways has her cracking her ribs in laughter. She just thank the Cosmos that Zoranne activated the soundproof sequence.