“Ugh, I feel disgusting. I smell like smoke and there’s blood all over my new black shirt,” Kisa complained to Tao. She put her phone onto her right shoulder and tilted her head to keep the phone in place so she could continue talking to Tao. Kisa slipped her black leather gloves off her slender fingers and disposed of them in the nearest dumpster and continued walking out of the alleyway.

Kisa heard Tao laugh on the other end of the line. “Yah, what’s so funny?” she asked him, clearly annoyed. “Well, you have like twenty other black shirts. And black jeans. And black shoes, black socks, black jewelry -,” Tao paused. “Say, do you have black lipstick? Because if you do, I’ll be seriously worried that you’re going Goth or emo.”

Kisa groaned and rolled her eyes. “Tsk, tsk, Little Huang. Don’t roll your eyes at me,” Tao scolded playfully. Of course Tao would know Kisa’s little habits and body actions. He was her older brother; the only family they had left was each other.

“Well, sorry to disappoint, but I’m neither Goth nor emo,” Kisa said, bored of Tao’s childishness. Tao sighed. “Can’t you get a sense of humor, lil’ sis? Or maybe at least a better wardrobe? The most fashionable thing you own is a black varsity jacket with silver skulls all over the back.”

“Yeah, I know. I recall you wearing it without my permission, you fashion freak. And there’s nothing wrong with a simple, one-color closet.”

“HEY! I only wore it because I had to meet a client in a club, and I needed something like that to fit in with that kind of environment!”

“Sure, sure, you girl. I’m going to hang up now, but I’ll see you at home in about 30 minutes,” Kisa said. She suddenly smelled the scent of sweat and dirtiness, but that could’ve been her own scent. Then hearing another set of footsteps advancing near her, Kisa raised her eyebrows. “You know what? Make that 31 minutes.” She hung up and put her phone in her back pocket and swiftly turned around to see her stalker.

A man with a brown fedora hat that tipped a bit over his forehead so you couldn’t see his eyes was leaning against the brick wall of the alleyway. He wore a white suit and tie with a black dress-shirt and shoes, but dirt stains ruined his entire classy-looking attire. “Sorry to see that your clothes are dirty. How much did it all cost? Twenty thousand? Thirty?” Kisa asked casually.

The man smirked. “I thought you weren’t much for fashion.” He took off his hat with his right hand and placed it over his heart, then bowed to her for two seconds. “Lovely to meet you, Miss Huang. And as much as I wish we can extend this friendship-,”

“I have no interest in being your friend. Who are you, and get to the point of this,” Kisa interrupted, losing her patience with the man.

The man smirked again. “I’m here to avenge Mr. Park.”

Kisa tilted her head in a slight confusion. “I haven’t killed anyone by the name of Park.”

“Exactly, Miss Huang,” he sighed. The man pulled out a gun from his pocket before continuing his sentence. “You haven’t killed anyone named Park … yet. So I’m here to prevent you from doing so in the honor of the Parks. We can take this the easy or hard way. Don’t fight, and your death can be quick and painless, because we don’t need to make a big scene, now do we?”

Kisa yawned. “Honestly, you’re so boring. And if you know me so well, then you would already be aware of the fact that I’m known for big scenes.”

She advanced in quickly towards the man to strike. A hard elbow strike breaking bones in his ribcage and a back fist to the side of his head caught him off-guard, so Kisa grabbed the gun quickly and fired all of the bullets at the ground to make his toes bleed. The man screamed in agony and cursed, but Kisa made no time to listen to what creative language he had to say. A ridge hand to the neck and a chokehold quickly made his eyes roll to the back of his head. She released the man of her death chokehold, and he quickly dropped to the ground, dead from lack of air.

Another effortless win in a matter of a few seconds, Kisa dusted off her hands. “Too easy.”

~

Kisa stepped out of the shower, feeling refreshed from being cleansed of all the earlier sweat and bloodshed. She whistled the tune of a song she didn’t know the name of as she dried her long hair with a towel. Kisa walked down the dimly lit hallway to go talk to Tao about the white-suited man in the alleyway, but then she heard Tao talking in frustration on the phone when she came closer to his room.

Kisa doesn’t believe in eavesdropping, but it’s one of the traits she had to develop as a skilled assassin. Now it’d become a habit that’s hard to overcome.

“No, I cannot let Kisa take this mission … I might as well be her guardian, I have that authority as her only family … She’s not ready for this …” Tao spoke seriously, his voice rising with each reply. Kisa clenched her fist in silent anger. What was she not capable of? There are absolutely two things she despises; being told what to do and being told she wasn’t good enough for something.

Kisa barged in the room. Tao looked over to his younger sister with a grim expression and then put his focus back to the phone call. “You know what, boss? I’ll call you back later. It’s been a long but successful day. Kisa managed to kill the female line of the Woo family, as well as wiping out their existence from any roots of ancestry … Okay, fine … Okay … I’ll get back to you on that issue.” Tao hung up the phone. He turned around and tilted his head towards his bed as a gesture for Kisa to sit down and get comfortable for a long talk.

Kisa sat down on his bed, preparing herself for whatever Tao was going to say. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He had dyed it blonde for disguise on a mission, but when the roots started turning back to their natural hair color, he dyed it blonde again because he thought he looked better with it. Tao rubbed his eye, indicating that he was a bit tired from the long day. He sat on the bed next to Kisa and lightly patted her back.

“Well, great job on the kill. You did it efficiently. I’m proud,” Tao commented. Kisa scoffed. “Thanks, now get to the real matter at hand. Exactly what am I not capable of?”

Tao chuckled lightly, but Kisa could tell that he was feeling stressed and nothing like laughing right now. Kisa softened and put her hand over her brother’s. “Sorry for the attitude … you had a real rough day, huh?” She rested her head on Tao’s shoulder. “It’s okay, it’s just that … Well, we’re leaving the assassin business.”

Kisa jerked and sat up straight. “Wait, what?” she said, alarmed. “You heard me right,” he said quietly. “Well, did we do something out of order? What happened?” Before Tao could answer, Kisa jumped off the bed and paced back and forth around his room. “No, we can’t leave the business. We do things others are too scared to do, and we are congratulated for our efforts with wealth. This job is how we survive. It’s our way of living. I was born to do this, and now everything’s going to be taken away from me,” Kisa ranted, panic slowly rising in her head with every word she says.

“Kisa,” Tao said. Kisa paced even faster around the room, ignoring Tao. “Kisa,” Tao repeated, but she kept talking worriedly as her hands started to shake. “KISA!” Tao yelled, finally breaking Kisa out of her trance. She stopped in her place. “Kisa Huang, calm yourself, take a seat, and let me explain the situation. Don’t speak until I’ve finished talking, you hear?” Tao said sternly. Kisa took a deep breath before nodding and returning to sit next to Tao.

“Look, we’ve been in this business for your whole life. Literally your whole life. You were born into this business, just because of our parents’ past, my past,” Tao started. Kisa opened to speak, but then remembered that Tao had told her to let him explain everything first.

“You’ve been trained to kill in every single form of martial arts, trained to specialize in every weapon known. And as your older brother, I’m very proud of you for learning so fast and growing up so strong and beautiful. Mom and Dad would’ve been proud to know that officially became a spy and an assassin when you were only seven, being ahead of the game of everyone else.

But you’re 17 now, almost 18 next month. You never deserved to live this kind of life. Yes, I know, you’re a natural for this lifestyle, just like how our parents were, but you need to learn how to live without coming home, knowing that you’ve killed another man. You need to know things like what colors go well with new shoes, how to make a guy you have a crush on smile and what’s great to eat at the beach. You need to start knowing how the simplest things will make you the happiest.”

“But I am happy! I really, truly am!” Kisa blurted out. “I understand that you’re trained for killing, Kisa. But taking the lives of others to make your own life better is not worth living in luxury. The boss is finally letting us go after our family’s long history of successful work, and you’ll be able to experience things I never could. You’re almost near adulthood, but you still get a sliver of living as a teen. It’s for your own good. I don’t just think so, I know so,” Tao said, determination gleaming in his eyes. Kisa trusted Tao with her life, and seeing him like this made her understand that she must do whatever she can to help lead a better life for not only her, but for both of them. She nodded her head, and Tao continued to speak.

“There’s only one condition, and then the boss will let us go. I really don’t want you to complete this mission, but I can’t stop you because I know that once you’ve been told not to do something, you do it anyway. You have to kill someone, but this is a very different situation. The victim is innocent, but a future and big threat. Our boss’ wife had an ex-husband who drugged and her during their unsuccessful marriage, and apparently had a son with his current wife. Their son is your age and would soon take over the company once he’s 24. The rest of the details aren’t known to me, but we don’t need to know the rest of the details.” Tao stood up and faced Kisa.

“So what is it exactly that you want me to do?” Kisa asked excitedly.

“You have to kill their son.”