The Ex Assassins

First Impressions

I was jumping from tree to tree to get to my destination, with my jet black with white streaked waste long hair flowing freely behind me, when suddenly I hear voices. I stop and stand silently on a tree branch and look in the direction of the voices and notice how close I was to the road. I jump to a closer branch quietly to get a better look at who it is. I crouch down on my branch and look to see four horses and a little further out is three guys.  One man has jet black hair, one has pearl white, and one has teal blue. There is also two girls with them. One girl has blond hair in a low pony tail over her shoulder and the other girl has apple red hair that went to her shoulders.
"Master what did you say?" The man with black hair asks.
"Really Obi, were you not listening at all?" The man with white hair replies.
"Sorry master I was distracted." The man called Obi says in an apologetic way.
The man with white hair sighs. "Mitsuhide please explain it again."
"Sure Zen." The man called Mitsuhide says. "We are going to check on Raxd Fortress and make sure they are still doing ok."
"Oh isn't that the place that mistress made them all feel better after they got sick from the firewood?" Obi asks.
"Yes it is." The blond says.
"Are you ready Shirayuki?" Zen asks looking at the girl with red hair.
"Oh yes I am." Shirayuki says shyly.
Mitsuhide gets on his horse and holds his hand out to Shirayuki to help her on his horse. She gladly takes his hand and he helps her up. Everyone else was already on their horses and ready to go. When Shirayuki was safely on the horse behind Mitsuhide they leave towards their destination, all except Obi who was looking in my direction.
"OBI!" Zen yells from the front.
"COMING MASTER!" Obi glares in my direction one last time and makes his horse catch up with rest.
I stand up and look in the direction they went.
"Shit, did he know I was here?" I ask myself as I start jumping the trees again.

~time skip~

I jump down from the tree branch I was on, scaring a couple of guys sitting around the fire.
"Hey Akari glad you're back. See anything interesting?" Tom asks me. Tom is the leader of our little group called the 'sleeping knights.'
"Oh yeah you said you wanted some real money right?" I say with a smile on my face. My violet purple eyes glowing with excitement at the thought of getting good money.
"Sure, I said that but what 'cha got in mind Akari?" Tom asks confused at my excitement.
"I just found a girl with beautiful red hair that would give us a great amount of money." I answer.
"Red hair?" He looks at me with confusion.
"Yeah she's goin' to Raxd. With a group of four others." I say taking my floor long black cloak off, showing my black belly shirt and black short shorts. Now that I wasn't wearing the cloak my tattoo of a red heart with wings around my belly button was visible.
"Four others?" He asks.
"Yeah three guys and one girl." I say sitting down next to him.
"Do you know who they are?" He asks me.
"Well I know their first names. Well, all except the other girl's name. But I know the guys names. The man with black hair is Obi, the one with white hair is Zen, and the last one, with teal blue hair is Mitsuhide." I say looking into the fire.
"Nice job." He smiles at me "How'd your mission go?"
"Could have been better, my target fought back." I look down in disappointment.
"Aww don't be like that. You're one of our best assassins." He says patting my head with a wide smile on his face.
I look up at him and smile "Thanks but I don't want to be second best I want to be the best." I pout.
He chuckles and gets up and puts some more wood on the fire. I lay back and look up at the stars. After a couple minutes of looking at the stars I fall asleep.

~ the next morning~

I was washing my face in the stream when I hear my name being called by Tom. I jump up and run back to camp.
"Yeah Tom what's up?" I ask as I stand next to him.
"Where was it that you said the red head and her party were goin'?" Tom asks looking at me.
"Oh they said they were going to Raxd." I say looking at him with curiosity in my eyes.
"Well looks like you have another mission." He smiles at me, "But this time you're leading a group." He points his thumb behind him for me to see a group of three others.
One of them was a short guy with spiky blond hair and bright green eyes named Shiro. He's a new guy, this is his first real mission with us; he's a little skittish but that's to be expected, around camp he's a goofball. The second guy has shoulder long royal purple hair light grey eyes. His name is Kai and he has been with us for six months; so, he's got some experience under his belt, but not even one third compared to a founder of the 'sleeping knights' like myself. The last, but defiantly not least, is Niko. He's got dark blue hair and baby blue eyes. Niko has been with us longer then the other two and has been on multiple missions with me.
"Yes sir." I say looking at Tom. "Mission details?" I ask him.
"Heh heh heh," he chuckles "you are to find the red headed girl and bring her here without being spotted or followed. If you are captured don't say a damn thing, you hear?" He says sternly
We nod in understanding.
"Umm sir, may I ask why I'm on this mission?" Shiro asks quietly.
"Because you will be of great help to me Shiro." I say looking at him with a smile. "Don't doubt your abilities ok" I say kindly.
"Ok!" Shiro says cheerfully jumping in the air.
"When does this mission start?" Kai asks with his arms crossed.
"You start as soon as this meeting is done." Tom says looking at Kai.
"Oooo that quick. Fast missions are fun!" Niko smiles and we laugh. And just like that, the meeting was ended. At that time, we had no idea things wouldn't go as planned like we hoped they would.