In Cold Blood [Ash Lynx] - Banana Fish

Twenty-Seven - Let's Kill Tonight

Being born and raised as not only the daughter of a yakuza boss but also the hopeful heir of said syndicate had its perks —the beautiful house for one.

Her childhood home held a special place in her heart, a part of her that had slightly broken that fateful night the mansion burned down. That was the house she'd spent day in and day out living in, including when her parents would go away for business and she would stay under the watchful eye of her grandmother, maids and bodyguards. The same house she'd been home-schooled in as a child, where she'd eaten home-cooked meals and where her parents had read her stories to go to sleep. She'd learnt to walk, read and write in that house.

Elements of that house unlocked special memories in her brain; watching orange-coloured koi fish swimming in the pond from the engawa that encircled the whole house as she held her mother's hand; standing on the balcony of her bedroom and gazing at the moon with her father telling her she'd catch a cold and to go to sleep.

It's as Tora and Ash hide in the bushes across the road from her Uncle's house and she looks out at it that she notices the similarities between the two mansions and she becomes even more pissed off.

She scoffs. "He's even got a pond with koi fish, such a copycat."

"Are you done?" Ash looks up from his phone. "You've been complaining about his house for like, 10 minutes now. So they're architecturally similar, big deal."

"It's just one thing to betray your brother, but to then rip off the design of his house is another. The architectural elements from the Edo period that both the houses share are just too similar to be a coincidence."

Ash narrows his eyes at her. "Would you just focus?"

Tora raises her hands in defence. "Okay, I'm done now."

"Great. Alright, listen up," He points at his phone. "Your handler gave us the blueprint to his house."

She nods. "Our best bet is to enter from the front, the sides have motion sensors that can only be disabled from the front door."

"Only problem is the company we've got," He nods to the house from their crouched position. "There are two main guys standing guard but who knows what else they have in store for us inside, especially if it's a meeting with the top executives. We'll just need to hit their vital points."

Looking down at the strap across her torso, Tora slides the gun out of the holster. "This goes against my usual routine."

The pair are dressed in full black ensembles, sheaths for guns and bullets strapped to their chests and thigh.

"Oh yeah, you have got a weird thing with guns, haven't you," Ash mutters, checking his supply of ammunition.

"It's not a weird thing, it's just not what I'm specifically trained in," She tells him. "But tonight is different. Tonight I don't need to try and get information out of them and whittle down their defences, we're killing tonight."

"That goes against my usual morals," Ash retorts.

Tora rolls her eyes. "We both know that you only kill when you have to, and this time you have to. This is the yakuza we're talking about. Like the Corsican Mafia, they're not going to slip by with just a flesh wound. They need to be finished, no going easy, Lynx."

"Same with you, Tigress," He grins, a cheeky glint in his eye.

The pair grab each other's hand tight as they send the other a sincere nod.

"Earpieces at the ready." Ash taps at his ear. "On the count of three, we do this."

She nods. "One."

"Two." He replies.