UNEDITED

;A; Just keep in mind that I'm very bad at 3rd person... it's not my forte... Once I get better at it I'll be sure to rewrite this though - THANKS FOR READING! ^-^ I'd appreciate your feedback c:

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“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde

The 17 year old Nero had not understood the meaning of those words when he’d stumbled across them, but now, ten years later, he had never expected them to apply to his own life. The pathetic irony of it all had him on the brink of insanity.

He could count the amount of days left of his life on one hand. It was not a death god that would take his life though, it was his own brother – to be killed without ever having really lived, he couldn’t help but find himself pitiful.

“How pitiful.” A disembodied voice mocks, alerting him of its presence. He said nothing, thinking it was his own illusions. “Nero – you really are a pitiful being.” He heard it say, emphasizing its point before the sound of a gunshot echoed through the dark hall.

Nero’s breath hitched in his throat, an unbearable burning sensation in his left abdomen. He clutched his abdomen, hands growing moister by the second. It wouldn’t have struck him otherwise, but he was shot, his breaths growing raspy and vision blurry.

The burning didn’t cool down; it only grew hotter and hotter, making Nero wish he would just drop dead already, and before his body gave out to those desires, his eyes burst open.

He bolted up, panting and sweaty, and felt his abdomen. It was still there, the scar – though ancient, the memory was still fresh. He couldn’t dare forget it, the night he was shot. He hadn’t had any nightmares of the sort before; he wasn’t about to question why now however. He had a good idea why.

Ten years - he hadn’t been back here in Japan for ten years, he couldn’t come back. But now with Kaede Rossi’s inheritance ceremony in less than five days, he had no choice but to. He threw the covers off of himself and got up, eyeing the room. The bookshelves, office desk, curtains, everything was still the same and a tad too dusty at that.

Not that anyone would want to clean the room of a killer anyway… He silently mocked and got up. He had a party to attend in an hour and it was already nine in the evening, but before that, he had a job to do.

The path in front of him blurred causing him to stumble. He sighed, pulling his bangs down. As much as it got to him at times, he was practically blind in one eye. It always hindered his other eye and in order to prevent that, he grew his bangs long on one side to cover it. At one point he did consider an eye patch but thought it too tacky a few seconds later.

Well whatever, he would think, I only need one eye to snipe a target.

Nero sighed, playing around with the scope until the view made him comfortable. He was a freelance assassin working for the Rossi family, and as much as he didn’t mind it, he found it extremely annoying to wait for his target to show up. What are they doing? Bargaining for their life with the grim reaper?

He shrugged his shoulders. Today’s targets were a father and son; they proved to be future threats and thus, must be eliminated. He had a lack of empathy towards his targets – rather, he enjoyed taking their lives and he wasn’t ready to hide it. He was nothing if not honest. Having said that, he was still a pretty good liar.

A wicked grin took over his features as he spotted his target coming out the building in a hurry like the busybody that he is. Nero couldn’t help but laugh – this guy had absolutely no idea what was coming for him and within seconds of pulling the trigger, he dropped dead.

Had he been an elementary schooler, he’d probably appreciate a clap from his peers just about now, but no one in their right mind would actually praise a murderer now would they? At some point he had convinced himself that he was doing all this to protect Kaede. But somewhere along the line, he realized it was out of envy of those who were living. He was not living. That thought alone made him crazy with envy. And taking their lives, if even for a second, made him feel alive.

Pathetic irony.

The air began to grow chillier as people started to swarm around the corpse. If I was pathetic, then those people were hopeless. Had they not seen a corpse before? He rolled his eyes. His job was not done yet. He still had the son to kill, but he was not coming out, no matter how many minutes passed. What a caring son. He grit his teeth, growing impatient.

Guess I’ve got no choice…

As much as he would’ve liked to avoid this method, he had no choice. He had to look for the target himself, meaning he’d have to go inside the building. But he couldn’t possibly pull out his handgun in the middle of the hallway, he’d be done for. Though, that wasn’t the problem to address here. His remaining options had run short and he had no choice but to seduce his target. He cringed from the thought of seducing another male or seducing anyone at all. He didn’t have that kind of appeal anyway – right now he had to have it though.

 Seducing a man whose father just died - how sickening… he frowned. And what makes it even sicker is getting seduced by your father’s killer… Somehow the thought had taken a turn for worst and he began to find it amusing.

By now, Nero had lost count of how many times he’d sighed today, but he couldn’t help it. Sniping does not include moving around and looking for your target like they’re some lost pet. He sighed again. If one good thing had happened today, then it was the staffroom being left open. He was quick to snatch whatever uniform he found and was just as quick to exit.

His surroundings had been too engrossed in their business to even notice a new face had entered. Uninvited. Not that he cared anyway; it just made things favorable for him—a little too favorable. Again, not that it mattered anyway, all he had to do was head to room 61 and within the pull of a trigger, everything will be over.

He strolled through what seemed like endless halls until he stumbled across room 61. Finally. He gently knocked on the door and in a second, the door opens, surprising him. His suspicions grew when the thought of his target anticipating his arrival crossed his mind.

The person who stands in front of him is a tall, foreign-looking male, with shoulder length raven hair. He scowled, a menacing look in his eyes. “What’re ya doin’ here, N—?!”

“A—“Nero cut him off, swallowing back his pride. He forced a smile while striking a ridiculous pose, or more like imitated. The nearby maid café he’d laid eyes on before entering the hotel had its employees doing the same, more professionally, while saying the craziest sh*t he’d ever heard in his life and he never thought it would be of any use, until now. “Assassin 03 here to kill you with love~”

Though he hadn’t seen a picture of the target’s son, he figured he would be following after his daddy like all kids do these days, so whether or not this guy was his target was a mystery to him… but this is room 61 after all… and either way, he couldn’t allow the damn guy to live after seeing such a pride hurting side of him.

The ravenette blinked, dumbfounded, before turning around with a snort. “I see. C’mon in.”

Nero grudgingly followed after, closing the door behind him, and took in his surroundings. An expensive suite was how he would summarize what he saw – though what was exceptional was the huge bed inside this suite and he had a feeling he shouldn’t go anywhere near it.

However, while there were those silly worries and gut feelings, there was this guy – had he no sense of danger? Letting Nero in just like that, not even taking into account that he’s highly suspicious. Those thoughts left him quite uncomfortable. 

Nero walked on ahead, not noticing the other had stopped until he was roughly shoved down on the bed. He blinked before a frown found its way to his face. He attempted to fix himself up but the man’s overpowering palm on his chest kept him in place.

Perfect.

He whimpered, trying to move his hands and land a blow, but the other had supposedly thought ahead and pinned his wrists above him, his free hand tracing along Nero’s thigh until it reached his pocket. He dug his hand inside and grabbed Nero’s handgun, placing it on the nightstand next to the bed. “Don’t think I didn’t notice it, Nero.”

How does he know my name? Was the only thing Nero could seem to think of in this sort of situation. Did he know all along? How distasteful.

He leaned down near Nero’s ear and whispered, “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s have some fun~” His head bobs down lower and without warning, he bit down on Nero’s collarbone, causing his body to jolt involuntarily. 

Sick bastard.

“Oi oi, don’t make that face. Who was it that said they’d kill me. With love.” He leered, using Nero’s own words against him. Nero grit his teeth – when would this be over? That he would love to know, and with the jerk’s hand teasing up his shirt now, he really wished everything would end just about now. He was disgusted, stomach churning each time he felt the other’s flesh on his. “C’mon, it’s no fun to do it with someone who’s so stubborn. What should I do to make you accept me?”

“Well,” Nero took a deep breath and cut a menacing look his way. “If you let me kill you afterwards, I will consider it.”

In response, he chuckled and grabbed Nero’s chin, thumb tracing along his lips. “Words like kill should not leave such pretty lips.” He said, licking his lips and nearing Nero’s face, their noses slightly touching. The thought of head butting the offender just about now left Nero so very tempted, but he did not have the leisure to do so.

The thumb that had been caressing Nero’s lips just moments ago was now being forcefully thrust inside his mouth, as If ensuring his lips stay parted. He smirked, not wasting a second more and shoved his tongue inside Nero’s mouth, exploring the inside. The foreign object moved around freely and each time it did so, Nero’s saliva grew warmer. He could just throw up if this continued… he couldn’t let it continue, and so he did the only thing he knew he had the leisure to do, he chomped down on the others tongue and within seconds, he bolted up, covering his mouth.

“What the actual fuck, Nero?!” He yelled, cutting a glare Nero’s way. “You don’t just bite down on someone’s tongue like that!”

But Nero was too engrossed in his own objectives to even care. He rolled off the bed, grabbed his handgun, and pointed it towards the other’s forehead—and yet, he’s unfazed. “You are quite relaxed for someone who has a gun pointed at them.”

“You can’t harm me.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“You wouldn’t dare. After all,” He pointed a finger at his left eye, an egotistic smirk on his lips. “Close-range assassination is not your specialty.”

This guy… just how far does he know? “And, you are?”

“Not your target, ‘bout time you realized it.”

Nero frowned, confused by the sudden confession, but not taking it seriously either. “And? Where’s my target?” He didn’t understand why he’d want to ask this suspicious pest such a question in the first place, but he did anyway.

“Oh c’mon! For an experienced assassin, you sure are stupid.” He rubbed his temples and held up a card—it was the card that contained the hotel number Nero had been given—and turned it upside down. “First, your target is in room 19.” Nero’s face heated up at that realization, he’d made such an unsightly mistake and he dared to overlook it. The other raised a finger, gesturing for Nero to wait, seeing as he sensed his want to speak his mind. “Second, your target wouldn’t have come out even if you waited forever out there.”

“Huh?”

“…Seriously? You don’t get it? He’s dead. Dead. Dead. Should I spell it out for you next?”

“You are quite a disrespectful person.”

“Oh and by the way~” He dodged Nero’s insult swiftly, as if he was used to getting insulted, and pointed towards himself with a self-important grin. “The one who killed him is me~”

Why this guy had been messing with him and his job was beyond him, but he had no time for this. His job had been cut short, he didn’t like it, but what’s done is done. He turned around, heading for the door.

“Just for the record, my name is Ying~” He blabbed on but Nero had already lost interest. He pulled down the door handle and stepped outside. He may not have noticed it earlier, but he felt suffocated inside that suite. Ying yelled something but Nero couldn’t quite catch it, figuring it was not important now.

All that had happened almost made him forget about tonight’s party. It probably already started anyway. He sighed.

The amount of chatter and noise in the hall were unbelievable and Nero could use a break already. He grabbed a glass of wine, downing half of it in one go. Why am I so nervous? Is it because of Kaede—No, IT IS because of Kaede, and he knew it all too well… he hadn’t seen him since that incident ten years ago. He might’ve missed him, wanting to see his face at some point, but now, with the opportunity to do so, he wished he could just leave without ever doing so.

Kaede wanted him dead, that much he knew at least, and his wish would be answered. Once Kaede took over as the Rossi Family head in less than a week, he’d have full reign over everything and by everything, literally everything – Nero’s life included.

He gulped, taking in his surroundings. All types of people were gathered in one place, he couldn’t even take a proper breath without the disgusting taste of perfume entering his mouth. Really, women love overdoing it sometimes. His eyes continued to wander around the room, and it wasn’t long before he spotted that which he was searching for – Kaede.

Fear and anticipation were two of the things that he’d been feeling the moment he laid eyes on Kaede, as well as disappointment, disappointment in himself for not being able to be the one by Kaede’s side.

Nero gulped, feeling a lump grow in his throat. Seeing him after so long really had its toll on him. Kaede looked different – not the Kaede from ten years ago, and it made him wonder whether he knew him at all in the first place.

Knowing him or not, that was not the issue, he knew him at some point, it was Nero that suddenly changed for the worst and he wasn’t ready to hide it. He sighed, downing the rest of the wine. His eyes unconsciously followed Kaede’s every move, he couldn’t bare look away.

Kaede grinned, tousling the hair of the person next to him whom Nero immediately recognized. It was Yuna. Another person from his past, and just like the rest, she wasn’t particularly fond of him. She smiled, as tomboyish as she was, dressing as a guy; her smile immediately gave away her femininity. It’d take a blind man not to notice she was a girl, but no one told her that, in fear of crushing the image she worked so hard to protect.

Yuna’s smile faded when her eyes locked onto Nero’s. She was quick to avert her gaze and forced a smile back to Kaede, leaving Nero to drown in self-pity.

More and more people started to surround them, making it almost impossible to see them anymore. Nero didn’t like it. He hated it. But he couldn’t do anything about it. Everyone looked so happy, their lives still go on normally without him being a part of them. That sight alone left him quite suffocated.

But, he was prepared for all of this; he knew that would be the outcome when he pulled the trigger that night. Just like how someone’s life ends within seconds of pulling the trigger, the same could be said about the killer. Their life, without a justifiable reason to kill, will end.

Karma, was it? He smiled to himself apathetically, crushing the wine glass in his hand. He was already prepared for this, even if that which he had always desired will never fall within his grasp, it was fine. He would play the bad guy a little longer, even if it meant Kaede would live, and he would die.

Still, the feeling of your desires never being answered… it’s quite frustrating, isn’t it…?