Special Chapter: Neera's POV

There was darkness at first and the unmistakable feeling that I was falling.

A never-ending pit of darkness. A cold, dark and empty abyss. I have no light to guide me, falling into oblivion without ever touching rock bottom.

It’s the same dream all over again. Just plain nothingness.

Then, darkness would turn to crimson and I see the faces of the people I killed.

Something wet and warm touched the soles of my feet.

Out of nowhere, I heard woods creak, breaking me out of the vapid dream.

My eyes shot open and I see the dull ceiling wrapped in the dark of night. I let my hands grasp the twin katanas lying on each side of me. Both katanas were still in their saya beside my supine position as I listened and tried to identify the intruder’s identity.

Everyone knows that an assassin becomes vulnerable while they are asleep. Their lives become threatened at the period of their rest, that is why we’ve been trained to become light sleepers and go through great lengths to set up traps that would give away an intruder’s presence. In my case, the wooden floorboards which creak at even the lightest weight.

I heard steady breathing, and felt the strong presence of predators cloaked with the darkness. Only a killer would dare sneak into another killer’s den. It only takes one to know one.

Ah… so there are three of them.

The third one has the faintest aura which makes him all the more dangerous.

“What’s your business here?” I asked, knowing exactly whom I am speaking to. “Hatori and Kotaro.”

“You are as sharp as always,” a familiar voice responded from the darkness.

I sat up, just as two of the intruders revealed themselves from the shadows.

One of them had long black hair which stopped at his waist, tied in a high ponytail. He was donning a long coat that reached his knees and a nasty-looking blade strapped at his waist that has been drowned in the blood of dozens of enemy clans.

Beside him, stood another man, Kotaro. He had an impressive height and was famed as Hatori’s right hand. He has an austere presence about him which naturally makes people veer away. But as an assassin, his strong presence can easily give him away. That’s why he was never sent on missions requiring absolute stealth.

Kotaro threw a piece of cloth in my direction, which I sharply caught with my left hand. I unwrapped the cloth and found random blowgun darts inside.

“Are those yours?” Hatori asked.

“No.” One look and Hatori could have already tell it wasn’t my fukiya darts. But he still took pains to ask me. There was something off here…

“I gathered that as well. Who might you think it belongs to?”

“Perhaps a slovenly assassin or a random fool. Did it contain any poison?”

“No. It only had a type of sedative. Members of a mob fell victim to this unknown attacker while they were punishing a snitch. Their Don suspected it could be one of us. So, I was hired to find the culprit.”

“If you didn’t suspect me, why come here in the first place?”

“You’re becoming too shrewd for your own good…” he murmured. “ I just came here to pass you the assignment.”

“Because I know chemicals, poisons and specialize in this type of weaponry,” I finished for him.

“There’s that. But this job is not really worth my time, so I’m passing it to you.”

I gritted my teeth to prevent myself from barking in anger. “Dead or alive?”

“Dead. The man is leaving obvious traces. We cannot have anyone knowing of our existence.”

“You assume it to be a man?” I scoffed. “How misogynistic.”

As expected, Kotaro was quick to draw out his weapon at the offense to the man whom he has sworn his loyalty to. “Take back your word, you trash!”

“What’s spoken cannot be taken back,” I spoke defiantly to him. “It can only be refuted, if it’s untrue or unfounded. Otherwise…”

Kotaro was a silent man, but he was always quick to violence when it comes to Hatori’s name and honor. Just as he was about to swing his blade toward me, Hatori held up a single hand to thwart the graceless attack.

“Kotaro, sheath your weapon. We’re not here to fight.”

Kotaro bared his teeth at me like a rabid dog, but albeit his temper, he sheathed his weapon and took a few steps back. He gave a bow to Hatori before disappearing into the darkness.

“My apologies,” Hatori began after a few moments of silence. “This job is now yours, so I trust you will accomplish your mission flawlessly.”

“Play housemaid and clean up the trash,” I muttered in the most dispassionate tone I could muster. “Some things never change.”

Kotaro was no longer in the room with us, but I could still detect another subtle entity. However, it was hard to pinpoint its location, much less see it.

“That was not the only thing I came here for.” Hatori silently moved to the right side of my bed and sat at the edge, turning to face me. “Are you not pleased of my visit?”

“Not in the least.” Looking around my room, I asked, “Where’s the third one?” In the silence, my voice only rang with a disturbing resonance, and that was when I felt a sudden shifting movement beside me. On pure uncontrollable instinct, I drew out my sword and was met with a tall, lean figure.

The edge of my blade stopped just a hair’s breadth from the skin of his exposed neck.

My room was on the second floor of my house in the forest. There were only two ways inside, either through the door, or through the window located eight feet up the west wall.

Assassins have no scent, which we made sure to maintain meticulously. I was only able to identify Hatori and Kotaro’s presence through the movement in the air, the light creaking sounds of the floorboards and their aura. Even I was able to sense Hatori, who had always been graceful in his steps.

But this man, he has absolutely no presence at all. He is the ultimate phantom.

“For a moment, I thought you hadn’t noticed him,” Hatori began as I surveyed the unfamiliar assassin’s clothes. He had covered the lower part of his face, but his head and eyes were exposed to me. “I had hoped to introduce him to you. This is Itsuki. He has been under my tutelage for a month now. What do you think of him?”

Surmising that Itsuki was not a present threat to me, I withdrew my weapon. “I don’t have noteworthy thoughts about any shinobi or kunoichi. My opinion on that matter would be irrelevant.”

A fleeting smile graced the high-ranking shinobi’s aesthetically pleasing visage. In the darkness, his smile almost appeared to be ghostly. “Sou desu ka?”

“Sou desu.” It was unnerving to be flanked by two male assassins in such a confined space. What’s worse is that I was still in my nightclothes. My shuriken, kunai, and metsubishi powder were all stored safely with my usual clothes. My kakute ring and twin katanas were the only ones I could keep with me during sleep.

Hatori, having already known idle talk does not suit me, finally stood up to leave. He was a proud and strong clan leader. His figure has been etched into every clan’s mind and was the epitome of a trained assassin.

“Ganbare, Neera.”