Chapter Three

Roppongi, Tokyo

Camila Rosenthal, also known as A-1.

She was the sole member in the Kynigoi ranks who was able to personally meet the council and she received her orders directly from the council itself.

Her combat abilities were a complete mystery to Kiochi, but he had heard rumours about how her strategic genius and how she could overwhelm entire armies with just a single battalion.

But that’s about as far as the rumours and stories went, the rest was hidden behind her cold expressionless face.

Her black hair and dark brown eyes didn’t help either, only adding more mystery to the woman who was Kiochi’s superior.

But why was she in his room and in the dark?

The only other reason two A ranked Kynigoi would be in the same room was if one was sent to eliminate the other.

Kiochi flinched at the thought of his impending death.

“Observation or Elimination?” He asked straightforwardly.

Camila’s expression didn’t change as she sat comfortably on Kiochi’s bed.

She was wore knee high boots that accentuated her height and skin tight jeans that highlighted her rather long legs.

Her black hair looked like it absorbed any light that dared touch it.

Camila looked expression remained blank as she responded to Kiochi’s question.

“I cannot answer that question. Also, is it so strange for the two of us to be in the same room?” Her head tilted slightly to side.

Kiochi let out a defeated chuckle as he walked over to the kitchen area to prepare some coffee.

In all honesty, he was scared for his life.

“Having a woman in my room wouldn’t be a problem, but since that woman is you, I couldn’t help but wonder.” Kiochi remarked calmly.

He needed to maintain level headedness in order to increase his chances of survival.

Camila shrugged his response off and laid down more comfortably on Kiochi’s bed and it might have been his imagination but her eyes looked like they were inviting him over.

Almost immediately after his gaze met hers, Kiochi’s thoughts went into overdrive and his muscles twitched.

Wouldn’t a man usually be happy in this situation?

So why was his gut telling him to hide somewhere safe and far away?

Somewhere like the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

“Am I that unapproachable? If so then I’ll have to increase the effect of my womanly charms, no?” Camila asked as she took of her gloves.

[TRAP!]

A voice in Kiochi’s head screamed, but he shook it off.

Kiochi told myself that if Camila wanted him dead, she’d have killed him a thousand times before he knew it.

After making two cups of coffee Kiochi sat on a chair opposite the bed and handed her one of the cups.

She took it and let out a deep sigh. “Not very romantic are we? You know, of all the men on this planet, you’re probably one of the few who who’d survive flirting with me every now and then.” Camila said.

Kiochi took a few sips of coffee before standing up and walking to her.

“I’m not the type who gambles with his life. But I have to agree on one thing, you’re probably the only woman who can scare the living hells out of me to this degree. Ok, I’ll play your game.” Kiochi said as he moved his fingers through her hair. It was silky and smooth.

Camila didn’t hesitate and unbuttoned Kiochi’s vest and slid it down his torso.

Kiochi and Camila had been acquainted with each other for almost four years and each of them stood at the top of their classes, but as far as truly knowing Camila, Kiochi knew next to nothing.

“Why must you be so paranoid? It may not look like it, but I too have tonnes of pent up stress that needs to be released every now and then.” She said in a monotone voice.

This would have been so erotic if her voice wasn’t so robotic, but Kiochi chucked the thought away.

“Ha, now I’m really scared.” Kiochi said.

He gently pushed down the warrior know as chaos blizzard onto the bed.

Her pale skin was soft to the touch and aside from the fact that her body temperature was quite low, she still felt rather warm.

Kiochi pressed his body against hers started unbuttoning his shirt.

But just as he undid the first few buttons he realised that his body was almost perfectly aligned with the window that faced the inner city where a bunch of tall buildings were conveniently located.

“Sloth.” Kiochi growled in a voice that came out and octave deeper than he intended.

Using every muscle in his legs, Kiochi dashed to his left and as he did a bullet came flying through the window and into the wall.

“Crap! You could have been a little less obvious, you know!” Kiochi looked at Camila but her expression hadn’t changed.

She looked at him briefly.

After letting out a deep sigh, she got up and got dressed.

“I’ll have to work on my acting skills then. Good bye Kiba and good luck.” She gave him a short bow before leaving.

Silence filled the room but it was quickly replaced by the sounds of footsteps heading in Kiochi’s direction.

He could tell that whoever was taking those steps was armoured because of how heavy they all sounded.

He needed to escape. But to where?

All Kynigoi had access to safe houses all over the world but that didn’t help Kiochi’s situation since the council was the one paying for all of them.

[JUMP OUT TH WINDOW!]

Kiochi swore that he heard someone talking.

The voice sounded like it came from just behind me so he walked over to the couch, grabbed his Nodachi and quickly unsheathed it.

“Who’s there? Identify yourself!” Kiochi yelled, he was actually panicking at this point.

[Do you know how stupid you look shouting at no one?]

The calm and rather feminine voice said.

Kiochi couldn’t piece any of this together.

But first things first, he needed to get out of the hotel and go somewhere safe.

The voice had told him to jump out the window, but he was on the hotels fourth floor. Doing that would definitely result in injury.

[Do you want to be caught and experimented on or not? If not, then jump.]

The voice said.

‘Dammit all!’

Kiochi screamed internally as he grabbed his coat, threw it on, ran towards the window that had a bullet hole and jumped.

The window shattered into a million pieces and his body flew out the window.

What came next was the ground and is was coming fast.

“What now? What now?” Kiochi yelled.

[Don’t worry, your body should be able to handle the impact.]

The voice said as he braced myself for impact.

Kiochi’s toes touched the ground first and he tucked his arms over his head as he rolled on the ground.

Fortunately, the streets were quite empty on that particular evening so no one got hurt.

Kiochi shot up and realised that he didn’t have a single scratch on his body.

Sure, his clothes were a mess but other than he was completely fine.

[Run to the nearest train station.]

The voice instructed.

Kiochi nodded and began sprinting towards a train station which was a few blocks down from where he was and that’s when he saw some men dressed in black suits coming out of the hotel.

He looked up to were his window used to be and he saw some men in black suits peeking out and pointing at him while shouting something.

Not that it mattered, so Kiochi kept running.

“So what exactly are you?” Kiochi asked under his breath as he weaved my way through the streets of Roppongi.

[I’m not sure either. I actually woke up a couple days ago when you ran into those giant humanoids. But I became fully conscious when you starting speaking to that scary lady.]

Kiochi processed what he or she said, but then just as he digested those thoughts he found myself on the receiving end of a tackle.

One of the men in black suits had managed to flank around by using the alley ways. That’s how he caught up so quickly.

The two men tumbled furiously onto the ground.

Kiochi elbowed his opponent in the back but the man wouldn’t let go.

Kiochi punched him in the ribs, breaking several in the process, but still the man didn’t let go.

Completely ignoring anyone around, Kiochi withdrew his Nodachi from it’s scabbard and sliced the back of the man’s neck with it’s razor sharp edge.

The man’s body went limp as blood sprayed outwards from the wound.

The man struggled for a little while, but stopped moving soon after.

Kiochi threw the lifeless body aside and continued his sprint.

[That was… lethal.]

The voice said.

‘Shut it!’ Kiochi thought but to his surprise the voice replied.

[Yes, Kiochi.]

After several minutes of tirelessly running Kiochi finally made it to the train station where he sat down on one of the benches.

‘So, you can hear my thoughts?’ he asked internally.

[Some of them, yes.]

‘Ah, I see.’ Kiochi sighed. Silence followed as his heartbeat gradually returned to normal levels.

‘So, what are you? I heard the council say something about some sort of self defence program, but I assumed that was supposed to be automated. You have thoughts and ideas. Is that normal?’

[I’m not sure what I am. But I assure you that I am not some digital program running on a chip in your brain. I feel more like I’m a part of you. That aside, there are several foreign components inside your body. Most of them are integrated with your organs and other tissues.]

The voice said after a short pause. Kiochi understood most of what it said, but it was still too much to take in one sitting.

He needed time and shelter. He knew where to get the latter but it was a long shot.

.

..

Back at the hotel

“I can’t believe you let a man touch you Camila.” A short man said with a chuckle.

“And I can’t believe you missed, sloth.” Camila shot back.

“Hey don’t call me that, either call me by my rank or my personal name.” The man said while puffing his cheeks.

Camila knelt down and looked at the shattered glass in the hotel room.

“Something didn’t feel right about this one, right?” The man asked.

She didn’t respond.

She was always like this.

Actually, the only person the man actually ever saw her talk to causally was Kiochi and even then, it was on rare occasions .

“I mean, Kiochi wouldn’t go rogue. He’s too much of a by-the-books type, you know.” She gave the man’s statement a slow nod.

Camila stood up and readied herself to leave.

The man asked. “How are we going to catch him? He’s way smarter than me and almost as strong as you.”

Camila stopped and looked up in thought. “Go get A-4 and A-5. They should be sufficient.” She said but that wasn’t the answer the man expected nor the answer he wanted.

“Oh, no. Not those two! I hate them! They’re too loud and annoying and dumb.” The man complained.

The man's name was Tony Martinez, otherwise as A-2 (one-shot-sloth) or just sloth.

He was second on the list of people who were considered extremely dangerous, but even he could honestly say that the two people that Camila wanted were way more dangerous than he was.

Camila and Tony left the hotel at around midnight, the streets were filled with cool air.

Tony sighed and faced Camila.

“Fine, I’ll get them. But you owe me one after this. How about we grab some coffee, no?” he asked casually.

Her expression didn’t change as she opened her mouth.

“No.”

Tony could feel his soul being crushed but it’s not like he didn’t expect that response and it’s not like this was the first time he had asked.

“Ok, I understand that, but if it was Kiochi would you have accepted?” Tony teased but her response made him sink deeper into despair.

“Y… yes. No.”

She actually hesitated!

“Oh, come on!” Tony whined.

A fire was born in Tony’s heart at that moment.

He would kill Kiochi, with or without A-4 and A-5.

After a few minutes of waiting a black car stopped by the hotel and Camila got in.

Tony walked over to the back door and knocked on the window which slid down shortly after.

“What are you going to tell the council? We both technically failed today.”

Tony asked and for a brief moment Camila’s eyes darted from left to right.

“Leave it to me. I’ll explain the situation to them.” She calmly said.

Tony gave her a quick nodded as the car drove off.

After sending Camila off, Tony made his way back to Kiochi’s room and pulled out his phone.

He reluctantly dialled a certain number and waited.

Shortly after a loud voice came from the speaker. “Well if it isn’t one-shot-Tony! To what do I owe this pleasure, man?” The voice bellowed.

“Don’t get your dreads in a twist, I need you and your brother in Japan.” Tony calmly instructed.

Some time passed before Tony got a response. “Elimination? Who is it?” The Jamaican asked with a coldness that made Tony instinctively flex my leg muscles.

“A-3.” Tony answered.

Another pause followed. “This ain’t gonna be easy is it.” The man on phone retorted.

“Ok. We in. Give us a day or so to get ready.” The man said and shortly after he disconnected the call.

Tony let out another sigh. “It’s about to get really loud.”

Authors Note:

Yes, I consider an author now. I kinda like the sound.

So, how do you like Tempered Edge?

I want to make an expansive world that might span several novels.

Some might be in the past, some in the present and some, like Tempered Edge will occur in the future.

But most if not all, will take place in the same place.