Kyoto, Japan
Present day
Ochiru Tenshi stood in his garden breathing in the night air.
The fragrance of cherry blossoms filled the air as the petals floated softly on the breeze.
His emerald, green robes fluttered making the gold embroidered dragons dance in the light of the torches that were dotted throughout the garden.
He sighed as he opened his eyes to gaze at the cloudy sky, wishing for the moon to show its face.
He longed to bathe in its light one last time.
He would miss the moon and the stars.
He would miss the beautiful sunrise and the many hues of color it painted the sky.
He would miss the feeling of peace he gained whenever he watched the koi swim in the calm waters of his pond.
He would miss it all, for tonight death was coming for him.
Even as he stood on the bridge that arched over his pond, he could hear the fighting on the rooftops.
The air was filled with the sound of the guards’ hissing.
As they revealed their demonic forms, the assassin beckoned each to their doom, transforming each into sculptures of ice with her touch.
He had given the order that the assassin was not to be challenged.
They were to simply let her pass.
The stubborn fools, he thought to himself.
Soon all was silent.
Ochiru breathed deeply once more.
This time his nostrils were filled with the fragrant scent of myrrh.
The corner of his mouth twitched, trying to fight a smile.
“Perhaps you shouldn’t wear such a strong fragrance,” Ochiru said, still looking out over the pond.
“I knew you were here even though you did not make a sound.”
“That is intentional,” a voice with a slight Egyptian accent replied.
“I want my victims to know what is coming for them.”
Ochiru turned to look at his assassin as she strolled up the walkway to the bridge.
The cherry blossom petals whirled around her feet as she walked up the stone path.
Her long, black hair hung straight down to the middle of her back while a few carefully combed locks swooped over the right half of her beautiful face.
Her golden-brown skin shimmered in the torch light.
Her high cheekbones became even more prominent as a smirk spread across her full lips.
The breeze briefly blew her hair from her face revealing both of her eyes.
Her left eye was blue as ice, while the right was a dark abyss.
A large ornate ankh tattoo covered the right eye from her brow to the brim of her cheek.
The two-way zipper on the front of her dark jacket was unzipped high enough on the bottom to reveal a glimpse her tone abdomen while the top was unzipped low enough to accentuate her amply endowed chest.
Her petite leather-clad frame was not intimidating, but her demeanor demanded respect.
“Before you kill me,” Ochiru began, “may I give you a few words of wisdom?
I’m sure you will find them very insightful.”
The assassin smiled.
She was amused by the old man’s words.
“Insightful you say?
You may say your words, but do not think they will change my mind.
Someone has paid me an obscene sum of money so that your life will end, and one way or another, it will.”
“I have no intention of stopping you, child.
My death is a necessity for only through my demise will all reveal itself.”
The assassin scoffed.
“What exactly is going to reveal itself, old man?”
“The truth.”
“The truth?
About what pray tell?”
“That you are being used, Hatshepsut.”
Her eye widened with shock as Ochiru said her name.
Her reaction amused him.
“I’m not the first person your client has had you kill, am I?
All those people were protectors of humanity just like you and me.
Your client is trying to remove as many of us as he can before he completes his ultimate plan.”
“Which is?”
“To unleash a great power that will end the world as we know it.”
As he spoke, ice trailed along the ground from Hatshepsut towards him.
Ochiru could feel a thick layer of ice creeping up his legs.
He continued his speech as if nothing had occurred.
“Our purposes in this world are parallel.
Someone sent you here in hopes that we would destroy one another.
Imagine, you are getting paid not only in the hopes that you will succeed at your mission but also in the hopes that you are destroyed as well.”
“Who are you?” Hatshepsut demanded.
“How do you know these things?
How do you know my name?”
Ochiru smiled.
It deepened the creases around his eyes.
His smile only infuriated Hatshepsut.
He could feel the ice that had already encased his entire body grow colder and tighter around him, but he did not acknowledge the discomfort.
He was enjoying teasing this woman and he wasn’t done yet.
“How do you know my name?” Hatshepsut demanded again.
“That, my dear Hatshepsut, is of no consequence.
I know of things that you could never comprehend.
You have not lived long enough to understand anything of worth.”
“And you have?” Hatshepsut scoffed.
“How long have you walked upon this Earth?
Thirty-five hundred years?
Ha!
You are but a babe compared to me.
My power surpasses yours to the point of no measure.
As I have told you before, I am allowing you to kill me.”
Hatshepsut continued to stare at Ochiru.
Her mind was plagued with questions.
How does he know me?
Do I know him?
Hatshepsut began to look for familiarity in his furrowed forehead, his gray mustache and long goatee that framed his mouth or perhaps his long, salt-and-pepper hair that ran down his back in a single braid would make him known to her.
No, she had never laid eyes on this man before, but there was something about his eyes.
She felt as if she had seen those deep crimson eyes before.
She continued to look at him, this time with the tattooed eye.
Her eye would reveal his aura to her.
Then she could judge how powerful he really was.
Hatshepsut swept her hair from her right eye, revealing an empty abyss instead of an eye.
She looked at his aura.
It swirled around him like a red inferno.
Hatshepsut gasped.
She had never seen such immense power.
Ochiru was pleased with her startled expression.
“Do you believe me now?” he asked.
Hatshepsut did not answer him.
She could feel the pangs of conflict rising within her.
Should I finish the job or is this a trap?
What if he speaks the truth?
He is powerful enough to obliterate me.
Why does he not save himself?
Ochiru could see the struggle that raged in her.
“I promised insight,” Ochiru said, as he felt the ice beginning to weaken him.
“Let me fulfill my promise.
Seek out your ‘client’.
With him you will find all the answers.
Do it quickly or your life may be the one that you forfeit.
Now, do what you came here to do.” Ochiru closed his eyes and lowered his head.
Hatshepsut still struggled with indecision.
Finally, she swept her hair away from her marked eye.
Her ankh tattoo began to glow gold as the darkness of her eye began to swirl.
A gold ankh formed in the middle of Ochiru’s forehead as a thick, black fog began to seep from her eye and surround him.
Ochiru looked up at the sky one last time and smiled.
“The moon showed its face after all,” he said as the thick fog swallowed him.
Hatshepsut fell to her knees holding her face as the fog returned to her.
The weight of her exertion fell upon her heavily making it hard for her to breathe.
She kneeled quietly as she waited for her tattoo to stop glowing and for her strength to return.
Soon her mark faded back to its dull black.
She stood up renewed and ready to make her getaway, when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.
She clicked her earpiece.
“It is done,” she said leaving her icy carnage behind.
“Excellent,” a digitally altered voice said.
“The funds have been transferred.
I have another job for you if you feel up to the challenge.”
“What kind of job is it?” Hatshepsut asked, hesitantly.
“Your next job is not a kill.
I would like you to retrieve two individuals for me, two children.”
“I do not do kidnappings.”
“But these children are human and were abducted by a demon.
Their parents made this request of me.
They are very desperate to get them back and will pay a hefty sum.”
Hatshepsut thought about Ochiru’s words.
This job gave me information.
Maybe the next job will get me closer to the truth as well, she thought.
“Send me the information,” Hatshepsut finally said.
“Good.
Remember, they must be captured alive.”