Running from the target (bailey, loolaalee)

Kaia looked straight into the boss's eyes with pure terror. His eyes were filled with insanity. Kaia wanted to scream, but she couldn't. Instead, she felt somebody grab her shirt and pull her back as a large earth spike shot out of the ground, impaling the man in the stomach. His eyes widened in terror as he realized what had just happened, then he collapsed, dead. Kaia could only barely see the stunned look on all the bandits' faces as they saw their leader dead. Then she was pulled into the room. She looked around and nodded, seeing Clarissa's crafty workmanship in defeating the thugs in the room. As Clarissa pushed Kaia against the wall, Kaia stared at the door, watching for who would come through.

"Mistress Kaia! Are you alright?" a young man, aged at about 16, asked as he walked in. Looking through the door, Kaia could see that this man had retrieved the local police force, who were now fighting or interrogating the thugs. "It's alright, Clarissa. He's one of my boss's agents." she said, reassuring Clarissa so she didn't kill the man. Kaia smiled at him, then looked down, and realized why he was asking her if she was alright. Her clothes were soaked in the blood of her victims, which probably looked like it was her blood. "I'm fine, David. But thanks for coming." she said.

Clarissa had spun around to face the man, her hood still drawn and Ranger now right next to her. Ranger still growled at the boy, not trusting anyone but Kaia near Clarissa. Clarissa didn't trust David, but figured she wouldn't attack him if Kaia trusted him. She relaxed and walked up to David. "Hello, I'm Clarissa." She shook his hand and turned to the hallway. "What happened to the boss, is he gone?" She looked out the door before turning back to Kaia.

Kaia looked out into the hall. She searched for the man's body, but it was gone. She looked down at the puddle of blood on the ground. She knew that the man was dead. It was likely that the police had taken his body away for an autopsy and for interrogating the others. "You killed him, Clarissa. I don't know what happened to his body, but he is dead. He won't be bothering us anymore." Kaia said with a smile. She looked around the building, then her eyes fell on one man: the man she was assigned to look for in the first place. She snuck up behind him and knocked him out, slinging him over her shoulders. "What in the world are you doing, Kaia?" asked David. "This was the only man Kyson told me to get. I figure I should probably complete my assignment." she said. Then she turned to Clarissa again. "We should head back to the hotel. Its getting late."

Clarissa was shocked when Kaia told her that she had killed the boss. Had she really aimed for the boss to kill him? Clarissa wasn't sure and almost couldn't move until she heard Kaia talking about getting back to the hotel. "Yes, let's get.. um.. going." She stammered out before looking at Kaia and following her out. Clarissa had never killed anyone before and it hit her a bit harder than she thought it would. Shaking it away from her for the moment, she petted Ranger's head and gave him a treat. He had started to whine as they walked.

Kaia noticed the pained look on Clarissa's face as they walked. Personally, Kaia used to not like killing people, but after being in the business for so long, she had gotten used to it. It was just sometimes unavoidable. If it happened, it happened. She only ever killed people in self defense or for the protection of others. "Look, Clarissa. That man...he would have killed me if you hadn't stepped in. I know it's hard...trust me. My friend Yami has a fear of killing people, because the first person she ever killed was her father. She avoids killing people as much as she can. However, there are some times when it is unavoidable. She tells me the only time she has ever killed people after that was to protect her friends. That's exactly what you did. Not only that, but you may have also just saved hundreds of other people! Those men were ruthless killers, who hurt people for the fun of it. Taking out their leader threw them into chaos, and it's all thanks to you. If that man were to survive...who knows how many more people would have been killed?" Kaia said, trying to cheer up Clarissa. She stopped outside the door to the hotel and gave Clarissa a reassuring hug.

Clarissa tried to cheer up and gave Kaia a faked smile as she walked. She knew that Kaia was right about saving others, but she still felt a bit wrong for hurting him. "I know, it's just hard. I wasn't aiming to kill him, I wasn't even aiming to impale him. Just wanted to scare him away from you so I could pull you through the door." She explained as they reached the hotel. She gave Kaia a hug back before opening the door for her. Clarissa kept quiet as she thought over what Kaia had said about helping to save friends. She realized that her closest friend was Ranger, and he never left her side. There was no one else, everyone at her village would either ignore or bully her for her blindness.

Kaia looked out a window. She could have sworn she saw somebody watching them, but she wasn't entirely sure. She shook the thought aside. I'm just a little shocked from earlier. That's all. My mind is playing tricks on me, she thought as they walked over to the desk, where David asked for a room key. "A room right next to Kaia's, please sir." he said. Kaia rolled her eyes at him. He ended up getting the room on the other side of Kaia's, so her room was between David's and Clarissa's. "Do you really have to request that, David?" Kaia asked. "Of course. If something were to happen to you in the middle of the night, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself." he said. Kaia raised an eyebrow at him and he turned away, blushing. He hastily walked into his room and locked the door. Kaia smiled, then turned to her room, first opening Clarissa's door. "Goodnight, Clarissa!" she said. She realized that since her mission was completed, she would be heading back home the next day, and would have to say goodbye. She shook her head. I'll worry about that tomorrow, she thought.

As Kaia walked into her room, she thought she saw the person outside again. But when she moved to look at the window from a better angle the figure was gone. Kaia walked over to the window, her knife drawn. Maybe i'm not just seeing things, she thought. The threw the window open and stuck her head out, looking around. When she turned her head to the left, she gasped as she saw a man standing there, grinning. His shirt was blood stained at his torso. Kaia almost screamed, but stopped herself and leaped back into the room, throwing the window shut. So he didn't die. Oh man, this could be bad, she thought. She walked out of her room and knocked on Clarissa's and David's doors. David came out of his room. "What is it, Kaia?" he asked, a look of concern on his face. He had his axe in his hand. Kaia turned to see if Clarissa was out of her room, then said "Clarissa didn't kill the boss. He's still alive. And he's here."

Clarissa walked into her room and laid down on the bed with Ranger curling up next to her. She had sensed something following them from the arena, but assumed it was someone from Kaia's group. She laid on the bed as Ranger began to growl. The footsteps grew closer to their rooms and it scared her. It wasn't until she heard Kaia screaming that Clarissa ran out of the room. She met Kaia and David in the hallway, a bit relieved that she hadn't killed the boss, but worried about what he might do. "What's the plan?" Clarissa asked as she shushed Ranger.

David, being the stubborn idiot he was, said "Kaia, you stay here. I'll take care of this man." He grasped the unusually long shaft of his axe firmly as if he were ready for an ambush. Kaia shook her head. "David, as much as I appreciate the offer, you can't take on this man yourself. I witnessed him kill a person just by looking at him! I won't let you go out there alone. Clarissa and I are going with you." Kaia said. She then turned around to Clarissa to see if she actually agreed with this or not. After all, if she really didn't want to be around the man, she didn't have to, and Kaia preferred to give her the choice.

Kaia thought for a moment. That man had died somehow, and Kaia could recall a brief flash of movement before he fell dead. She wondered if the boss had some kind of ranged weapon, maybe some fine point needles that he could throw instantly with the slightest movement. Unfortunately, she hadn't had the chance to examine the dead grunt's body, so she had no idea how exactly he had died. But the boss had also survived Clarissa's rock to the stomach. He was strong, and tough. Kaia looked around at her two companions. This was going to be a difficult battle.

Clarissa nodded, "Yes, David. This man is dangerous and you can't see which direction he's going to attack from." Clarissa pulled the hood off her head and moved her glasses to show David her blind eyes. "There are advantages to the things you don't see." She smiled as she headed outside. "Come on, Ranger, let's hunt." With a tap to her thigh, Clarissa and Ranger walked out into the darkness of the night. She could sense the man was nearby and he was almost filled with anger and hatred for the three of them. Sending out her senses, Clarissa moved through the darkness carefully. She didn't want to be seen by the boss before she got close enough to attack him with a sure hit. Ranger stayed right beside her, moving about an inch behind her.