Fatalize

[Daruma Doll~]

When Taiki reached out for her hand, she took his hand with both of her own to illustrate how confused and a bit scared Sakura was. Inwardly, Chihiro was counting her steps and direction, she had an extraordinary memory, plus she had the mental image of the blueprint Kazuya had given her, so it was only a matter of applying her footsteps to the blueprint.

Granted, once she got into the compound, she wouldn't need to exit until the mission was complete. It was a matter of being able to get out if and when all hells breaks loose. Then again, for that, the main entrance might not be the best idea. It was good to know though. She'd also need to know which direction to go to in order to retreive her actual belongings and bike from her hiding spot.

So for now, she was just following along, holding onto Taiki's hand and tripping up once or twice in her heels to illustrate that Sakura was disoriented even though Chihiro's senses were more accurately attuned.

[Kazuya Hikari]

Roughly ten minutes later, Taiki would come to a halt, one of the guys in the group gently taking hold of Chihiro's shoulders to prevent her from walking face first into the back of Taiki, letting go of her shoulders immediately after. A minute or so would pass by, before Chihiro would hear the sound of a mechanized door slowly opening. Taiki would then step forward, leading her inside.

The blindfold would then be gently untied, allowing Chihiro to view her surroundings, including the area outside of the main entrance just before the doors closed shut. It was pretty clear where they were though, they were inside the main terminal station to the underground subway.

["This way."]

Letting go of her hand, Taiki would turn and lead the way, Yoshiro bringing up the rear. Nearby, Chihiro would be able to see what was once a map of all the routes and stops on the subway, but had been re-worked to indicate all the various entrances/exits, apart from the main one. Heading down the stairs and onto the platform, a subway car would pull in, one of the gang members controlling it from the front, and once the doors opened, they would head in, taking off soon after. Their destination? The city hall station that led right up into the building itself.

[Daruma Doll~]

It had been a stupid move to take her blindfold off so soon. Not only did she get to see a glimpse of the city before the doors shut behind them, but the supposedly abandoned subway had a bleeding MAP on the WALL. Did they not expect her to understand any of that?

Well, no. She'd payed Sakura off to be a bit vapid. They had no idea they were dealing with a top assassin with an IQ of 130.

Chihiro looked around, pointedly admiring the tile work on the walls ('Pretty!') when the subway call pulled up. She walked, still hand in hand with the infatuated Taiki into the subway car, holding his hand just a teeny bit tighter as she stepped over the small gap into the train car. It was all the little things that slowly wound suckers like Taiki around her finger.

[Kazuya Hikari]

Turning his head slightly to look behind him as he felt his hand being held a little tighter, Taiki would give Chihiro, or Sakura, as he knew her to be, a small reassuring smile. Taking a seat in one of the empty seats, four of the members of their group would stand in front of both doors, two on each side, each with the same expression: a poker face.

A couple stops later, they would reach their destination, and stepping off the subway car, Taiki would lead the way up the stairs, emerging right in the city hall building itself. Stopped by one of two guards posted at the entrance, Taiki would speak to one in a stage whisper, before the guard nodded and stepped back to attention at his post.

["This way. Ayumu-sama is in the mayor's office, on the third floor."]

Swiping his ID card at the scanner next to the elevator, the doors would open, and stepping in, the elevator would rise after the doors had closed behind them. After exiting the elevator and a little down the hallway, they would reach the office, as he knocked on the door.

["Come in."]

Opening the door, Taiki would let Chihiro go in first, before following in after her and closing the door behind him, as they would see a man seated behind a desk, working on some papers.

["Taiki... So you've returned. And who is this?"]

["Ayumu-sama, this is Sakura-san. She's a civilian living in the city, and with your approval, I'd like for her to be a part of our gang. I do not wish for her to end caught up in what we came here to do..."]

["Step forward. Hmm... Taiki seems quite taken with you... Sakura was it? Why should I let you into my gang?"]

[Daruma Doll~]

Chihiro would take a seat next to taiki on the subway, crossing her legs daintily and keeping his hand lightly held in hers. She looked around but didn't say much, and dutifully got up and left the train with Taiki when they reached their stop.

Mayor's office? So they'd taken the city hall as their own. A 'we run this town' type of gesture...cute. But everyone knew that a gang worth their snuff were a little less show offy. They might as well be wearing a target.

As they stepped into the office, Taiki let go of her hand to close the door. She took a couple steps forward, placing her feet together and hands clasped in front of her with her head bowed. When he spoke, she dipped her head a little bit lower before looking up at him reverently. She took a step forward as requested.

"それはあなたに会えて光栄です。私はあなたについてそのような偉大なことを聞いたことがある。私は大樹様に語ってきたように、私の両親は、カリフォルニアを襲った爆弾で殺さ両方あった。私が今まで本当の家なしで以来、一人でてきた。私が期待していた...それはあまりではない場合、私はあなたと一緒に家を見つけることができる。"

Ayuma-sama, it is an honor to meet you. I have heard such great things about you. As I have told Taiki-sama, my parents were both killed in the bombings that hit California. I've been alone ever since without a real home. I was hoping...if it isn't too much, that I could find a home with you. She bowed her head again as a sign of respect for this favor.

[Kazuya Hikari]

["I see."]

From behind Chihiro, Taiki had given Ayumu the slightest of nods, indicating that her story had checked out, they had gone to her home, canvassed the place, and found it satisfactory.

["I am afraid I cannot allow you to become a part of our gang. However,"

Ayumu would say sharply as soon as Taiki began to protest, giving him a sharp glare to silence him, Taiki closing his mouth and clamming up immediately,

["I grant you permission to find a home here. Taiki, summon Yoshiro. He will show you to your room."]

["Yes Ayumu-sama. Yoshiro. Ayumu-sama has summoned you."]

Taiki would murmur into his mouthpiece, and a couple minutes later, a knock would be heard at the door, followed by Yoshiro coming in.

["Yoshiro, show Sakura to one of our vacant rooms."]

["Yes Ayumu-sama. Sakura-san, if you would follow me please."]

Escorting Chihiro out of the room, he would lead her to the second floor and down a hallway, passing by a few rooms before stopping in front of a door about halfway down the hallway.

["This is your room with an en suite bathroom. Our facilities are down on the first floor. Sakura-san."]

Bowing to her, Yoshiro would then take his leave, leaving her to her own devices.

[Daruma Doll~]

Chihiro wasn't surprised that she wasn't immediately allowed into the gang, she didn't appear to display any promising attributes besides being a pretty face with no home. If they knew that Chihiro was the top assassin in Japan and one of the top ten in the world, they would either welcome her in with open arms or bring a knife to her throat for getting so far undetected.

When he said she could stay, she beamed, nodding straight at the waist as a gesture of great thanks.

"あなた歩様ありがとうございます！あなたの寛大さは、メジャーを超えています！"

Thank you Ayumu-sama! Your generosity is beyond measure! Aaaaaaand she was in. She happily let Yoshiro lead her to her room, looking around in apparent awe, when actually she was checking out the air ducts system and otherpoints of interest. When he dropped her off at her room, she bowed again, nearly giddy with anticipation. This was going so much better than she thought.

She took a moment to look around her room. What does she see?

[Kazuya Hikari]

["You're welcome."]

Ayumu would say simply before returning to his work, Taiki moving into the shadows of the office just before Yoshiro closed the door after walking out with Chihiro. She would notice before the door was closed, that there was an air vent located right above Ayumu's desk.

Left by herself upon reaching her room, Chihiro would see the room was furnished rather sparsely, with a bed, wooden desk and chair, a small reading lamp on top, and a small bookcase. She would also see a decent sized window located above the desk, a doorway leading to the bathroom, and a small closet beside the doorway, but more importantly, built into the wall above her bed, was an air vent bolted into the wall with twelve screws, three on each side.

They looked secure, but can be easily unscrewed with time and patience.

[Daruma Doll~]

She scanned the room, not finding any cameras or bugs. The air vent above her head was screwed in, but they were flathead...she could disassemble those with her dagger easliy. She had a couple other toys stashed in her bodice: the tiny vials of poison, the dagger, a small tightly wound loop of fishing line, and a couple other teeny items that fit into secret pockets in her 'padded' bra. That way if she was strip searched, they would only find the dagger (as that is a little difficult to hide in a bra of any size).

She would wait until she retired for the evening before beginning her prepatory work. She'd imagine 'Kai-kun' would want to come say goodnight at the very least.

She stayed in her room for a little bit, taking mental notes of the various quirks and potentials useful items. Once she grew bored, she opened the door to her room and slipped outinto the hallway. She was a guest now, after all. She didn't need to be confined to her room, did she? Let's take a look around...

[Kazuya Hikari]

Speak of the devil.

Chihiro would hear a knock on her door, as the door was opened very slightly, Taiki just barely visible through the gap.

["Sakura-san? I just came to say goodnight. See you in the morning."]

He'd then close the door with a quiet click, his footsteps fading away as he headed back down the hallway and to his own room to go to bed, located on the third floor.

After growing bored and slipping out of her room, immediately to her right, she would notice a staircase leading up to the third floor and down to the first floor. Seemed like the elevator was used a majority of the time, leaving the stairs devoid of any presence at any given time.

If she went upstairs, she'd find herself just outside the hallway near Ayumu's office, and as evident by the soft glow visible below his door, he was still awake. Mostly everyone has gone to bed or is down on the first floor, as the rooms nearby are all empty, including the one just to her left, with an air vent grill that is connected to the one in Ayumu's room.

[Daruma Doll~]

"おやすみなさい、大樹くん、甘い夢!"

Good night, Taiki-kun, sweet dreams! She said sweetly, waggling her fingers until he closed the door. She waited until his footsteps had receded before heading into the hallway. She returned the way she came down toward Ayumu's office. The rooms nearby were free, she slipped in, closing the door and locking it with a swift, silent motion.

Now it was time to get down to business. She stripped off the kimono to reveal black compression shorts and a black racerback tank top. She pulled her hair out of the hair sticks, changing it to a simple ponytail that fell the the base of her shoulder blades. She tilted her neck side to side, cracking it and rolling her shoulders. Time to play.

She pulled the dagger from the holster on her thigh, and made quick work of the screws, setting them each quietly on the ground as she removed them. Once it was free, she tucked the dagger back in its holster, gripping the airvent cover with both hands and prying it off. She set it down quietly on the ground against the wall and climbed into the airvent. Once she was in, she turned around, leaning out the airvent and grabbing the cover, fitting in back into place behind her.

She crawled quietly and slowly until she reached an airvent beneath her that sat directly above Ayumu's desk. Like all good Japanese men, there was a cup of tea on his desk toward the upper right corner...he was right handed. Dark eyes scanned the room below for Ayumu as she carefully and silently pulled a tiny vial from her bosom.

[Kazuya Hikari]

Chihiro would see Ayumu sitting at his desk, deeply focused on the paperwork in front of him. From her vantage point, she would see he had maps, profiles, and lists of weapons and supplies, but it wasn't on his own gang. The profiles and maps were on The Flame Battalion, Kane's personal army he had sent with Kazuya, and on the very top of the stack of profiles, was Kazuya's file, his photo looking up at her.

Stifling a yawn, Ayumu would get up from his chair and disappear from Chihiro's line of sight, followed by the sound of a door closing. He had gone to use the bathroom. She had a window of roughly five minutes before he came back out and returned to his desk to continue working.

[Daruma Doll~]

She read the paperwork from her viewpoint in the air duct...so they were gathering intelligence on Kazuya's gang, huh? Chances were her file was in there! And she'd walked right in without any problem at all...They hadn't even subjected her to a background check or basic interrogation. Their operation was sloppy.

When Ayumu disappeared from the room, Chihiro quickly loosened the screws and opened the air vent cover to the room. She dropped in, cat-like, and began her work. She uncorked the vial and spilt the contents of the poison into the tea, stirring it up so it disappeared in the amber liquid. Next, she carefully went through the paperwork and removed her own file, she didn't need him stumbling upon that after briefly meeting her. She wanted to pull all the paperwork, but she didn't want to startle him from drinking his tea. First the tea, then the paperwork....and maybe when everything was said and done, she'd set fire to the establishment on her way out. Just for the hell of it.

She stashed the file back up in the air vent, and climbed up quickly after it. She ever so loosely screwed in the cover so she could easily remove it again once the fearless leader was pushing up daisies.

[Kazuya Hikari]

Luckily for Chihiro, her file is near the bottom of the pile. Seems like Ayumu was concentrating more on The Flame Battalion and Kazuya, and less on the Hikari-gumi and Kane's top assassins. As she grabs her file, she would hear the sound of flushing and water running and splashing. Looks like Ayumu was washing his face after washing his hands.

Just as Chihiro fits the air vent cover back on, she'd hear the sound of the door opening, followed by quiet footsteps as Ayumu returned into her field of vision. Sitting back down at his desk, he returns to his work, and picks up Kazuya's file, flipping through it. His expression grows grim with each passing second. The odds don't appear in his favor.

Reaching out with his right hand, he picks up his cup of tea, and begins to lift it to his mouth, only to halt in mid-air, his eyes widening in shock.

["Im... Impossible! How in the span of just two years did he manage to take down so many of the other second lieutenants!?"]

He takes a frustrated sip from his tea, setting the cup down after. At first, he appeared fine, continuing to read through Kazuya's file. But a few seconds later, the file would drop from his hands and clasping one hand to his mouth, the other hand clutching at his chest, he'd start coughing up... blood... Which began to seep through his hand. Unable to hold it in, he'd spew out the blood, coating the map of the territories in front of him, but the stack of profiles, list of weapons and supplies, and Kazuya's file were spared thankfully, before his upper body was splayed out dead on his desk.

Second Lieutenant Ayumu Koyama - Dead

1 to go.

[Daruma Doll~]

Poison affected each person differently, just like alcohol (which, alcohol is by definition, a poison). The one she used on Ayumu had various effects. She'd seen some people dribble blood from their mouths as they keeled over, some bled from the eyes, nose, ears, and mouth...and some, like Ayumu, just projectile spewed before collapsing in a pool of their own blood. Either way, it was effective.

Once the man stopped twitching, she kicked the air vent, dropping back down into the room. She leapt to the door, ensuring it was locked before moving on. Last thing she needed was uninvited guests. She returned to the desk, taking the papers that outlined her gang and Family, rifled through them to see just how much Ayumu knew, and then threw them into the fire. The edges blackened and curled, moving inward until the whole thing was aflame. They disappeared in less than a minute.

Now, for the second target, Otsuka Hayate. Kazuya had given her the assignment of the lieutenant's assistant then up to the lieutenant himself, but Chihiro had lucked out in being brought straight to the big man himself. Now it was just a downhill slide from here.