✿ Warning: Slight disturbing scene in the middle ✿

Jack stood frozen at the door. He didn't know what to do now. He had heard the loud crash earlier and in a panic, he entered the room without knocking. He had visions of a fight or something going on, but the sight in front of him was not what he had been expecting. At all.

The words stuck at the back of his throat.

"You didn't lock the door?" asked Kyle as he turned to stare at Xing Han with a frown.

Although the doorknob needed a keycard, it also had a unique function that allowed it to be unlocked. Hence, the keycard wasn't needed to open the door. Xing Han had unlocked it earlier as he had some stuff to bring in, and didn't want to keep on using the keycard to open the door.

"I didn't think anyone would come in and disturb us," replied Xing Han, knowing that Kyle hated people walking in their room without knocking. The lack of respect for privacy and treating their dorm as a common room wasn't nice.

Jack got even more nervous when he heard them talking. The words they uttered made it seem obvious that Jack had intruded on something. The rumours that he had heard the other day filled his mind to the brim. He blinked his eyes rapidly, taking in every single thing in front of him in stages ...

Kyle was lying helpless on the ground with a half-naked Xing Han on top of him. Xing Han's hair was utterly messed up, giving him the impression that there had been some intense foreplay while his towel had already exposed his fair legs. Xing Han's face was merely inches away from Kyle's flushed face, making Jack think that he'd walked in on them kissing before this. Xing Han's hands were even up the side of Kyle's shirt ... him 'possessively' on top of Kyle ... his legs in between Kyle's .... As these scenes exploded in Jack's mind, he couldn't help one silly thought: Kyle was bottom??!

Jack gulped, and slowly backed away, not saying a word, and telling himself that he would never. Ever. walk in again even no matter how loud the crashes were. He flipped the switch at the door to activate the keylock again as he backtracked out and closed the door.

Kyle pushed Xing Han off, saying, "Dang it Xing Han. You're heavy."

"Wonder what's wrong with Jack," mused Xing Han, holding on to his towel as he got up. He went to his closet and took out a T-shirt and pajama pants, putting them on quickly.

"Who knows?" shrugged Kyle, getting into bed, "Who cares?"

Xing Han agreed, switched off the lights and promptly fell asleep.

✿ Author only posts on w.e.b.n.o.v.e.l. ✿

Two hours later, Kyle was at Master Shifu's house. As normal, he would have 4 hours of sleep and then head off to Master Shifu for four hours of training then back to the dorm by 6am. Luckily, not only was Xing Han sleeps early, he was a deep sleeper, so Kyle could slip off easily each night by 2am each night.

Right now, Kyle was staring at Master Shifu, his eyes wide open.

"You want me to do what?" he asked again, tilting his head.

Master Shifu smacked Kyle's head with his cane. Kyle rubbed his head, thinking that he should burn that cane one day. It's not like Master Shifu needed it. He just kept using it to hit him with it.

"Have you gone deaf all of a sudden?" Master Shifu asked, rapping Kyle's head several more times, "Is anybody home? Sounds pretty empty to me."

Kyle just stood there as he took the hits, his mind actually deep in thought. He didn't dodge them because he'd get worse if he did; and it wasn't really painful anyway. This mission though. Was he ready? He felt it like it was mission impossible right now. He knew that this step was inevitable, but he wasn't sure if, when push comes to shove - whether he could actually do it.

Assassinate someone.

Sure, he had ordered several hits already through MIB. Having someone killed didn't go against his conscience because well, they deserved it. Even if they were prosecuted under the law, it would have been an inevitable outcome. Kyle was simply shortening the process.

However, having someone killed and actually doing the hit were two different things. On the outside, he was a guy that was supposedly tough and solid ... but inside? He was still very much Kylie. After all, he had lived over 30 years as a rather timid woman who had never even hit someone and now, he had to kill someone?

Kyle found that living as a guy for the past 13 years did change his personality a lot: partly due to his nature, partly due to the way he was brought up. He was much more open, confident and definitely much braver. His soul was stronger after being bathed in blood, but was it enough? Guess today's mission would determine that.

Master Shifu sighed, and put down his cane. Looking at Kyle squarely in the eyes, he said seriously, "All the previous missions were simply a starting point for this, and this is merely a starting point for what's really coming next."

'And even if you fail, it'll be a lesson learned. A painful lesson, but at least it won't result in death,' thought Master Shifu to himself, but be truly believed Kyle was ready. Yet, there was still a slight sliver of doubt and fear as well. He had been absolutely confident that his first son was ready as well and he had been horribly wrong. It didn't matter that the death was a result of betrayal, the end results were still the same: he had failed his son.

Kyle stood up straighter, his back ramrod straight. He thought of his children, waiting for him even though they didn't know it yet. He thought of the future that awaited them. He thought of the danger that they would be in. He knew he had to be stronger physically, better mentally, tougher at heart. He steeled himself, went down on one knee, head bowed with an arm behind him and the other straight with his fist on the floor.

"I hear, and I obey," Kyle said solemnly.

"You have one hour," Master Shifu said, "Go."

Kyle nodded, got up and quickly rushed off, blending into the night. For this mission, he was actually geared up like the ninjas of ancient times. The only part of his body that was exposed was his eyes, and even then, he had deliberately darkened the skin around it and wore black contact lenses. Having fair skin and blue eyes wasn't exactly a good thing as a ninja.

His target was a 40-year old man named Samson Johnson. He was only a pimp but had the disgusting hobby of enjoying the pleasures of the flesh with kids, specifically those who were around 8 years old. Boys, girls - it didn't matter. He relished in their tears and cries of pain whenever he ravaged them for the first time. No child ever survived his 'special attention' either.

Kyle knew that Master Shifu had chosen this target for several reasons, one of them being the fact that Kyle would be more prepared to kill such a scumbag. He also knew that there could be a possibility in the future whereby the lines may not be so clear anymore, but the hit would still need to be done.

Kyle had reached the target's house. It was an apartment block and Samson's location was the penthouse. Kyle took out the hand grappling hooks from the pouch by his side and wore them on his hands. The hooks were actually shaped like metal claws, and worn like gloves; and upon wearing them, it looked like the metal claws were extensions of his hands. His eyes surveyed the side of the walls, taking note of all the nooks and crannies before nimbly climbing up the wall like Spiderman.

Since no one would expect someone to actually scale the walls like so, the security was extremely lax. Kyle avoided all the lighted areas and reached the penthouse easily. He silently cut open a small hole in the window using a special tool that resembled a drawing compass. However, instead of a pencil, there was a sharp blade at the tip and instead of the metal point, it was like a suction cup. So he could cut an opening, and the cut piece would be pulled out without falling. Through the hole, Kyle unlocked the latch, opened the window slightly and slipped in quietly. He then closed the window and headed to the bathroom.

The blueprint of the room flashed in his mind once again as he made his move. He hadn't entered Samson's bedroom immediately, as that was too well secured. Instead, from the bathroom, Kyle pushed aside the opening in the ceiling and entered the space between the ceiling and roof. He silently made his way to Samson's bedroom and using his tools again, made a small hole to peer through.

The sight made him disgusted as Samson was busy spanking a small child while having his way with him. The child was already unconscious, blood coming out from various wounds and his private parts but that didn't stop Samson who was grunting as he kept thrusting hard. Kyle had to close his eyes and took several deep breaths to calm himself down. Losing his mind would not end well, and this was part of his test as well. A ninja must always maintain his cool, and take the most opportune moment to strike, no matter what was happening.

Thus, Kyle had to steel his heart at the scene in front of him and waited patiently until Samson was done. Kicking the child's body off the bed, he shouted at his men who were outside to get rid of the boy. Kyle could see the child's chest still moving, so he knew that he was still alive but wondered for how long it would be. Death was probably better than the sort of life that the poor child had to undergo here.

Kyle's eyes glinted with a resolve that had never been there before. As the images of what the child had been subjected to flashed through, with the thoughts of what the child had been feeling and thinking while being tortured like that ... and then, finally, the laughing faces of his own children ...

A switch flipped in his mind.