Everyone had left the masjid after the Isha Salah, with the exception of Arkaan. He had decided to stay back, and told Ukashah he'd just be behind them.

He stood at the topmost minaret window, and watched as Zak carried Abdullah on his back as they made their way downhill. It really looked cute.

He wondered what it'd be like to have younger siblings like Zak had. At the time Zak had made to carry the little Abdullah, he had asked,"Abdullah, what happened to your hair?

Does Ammi and Abii know about it?"
Only to receive the snoring sounds of the boy at his back. As to whether he was fake sleeping or not, no one would know.

Zak just shook his head with amusement at his kid brother's antics, and didn't speak on the subject again.

Ukashah had Arkaan's very own bag of honey jars as he accompanied the two, walking down the mountain path.

Luckily for him, the pokerfaced boy had already deposited his harvest at home. If not, no matter how much he were to beg, Ukashah would definitely not have taken the extra 'load'. He had explicitly told him that.

As their shadows receded, Arkaan slowly descended to the main prayer hall again. The whole place was cast in a darkness with only the moon light sifting through the tinted windows in a ghostly fashion. Even Arkaan's footsteps as he got down were kinda eerie.

He stopped in front of the minbar, where the canvas was folded up once again.

He unfurled it.

The white cloth fell down in a sleek cascade.

Arkaan:"..."

He stood, silently watching it. After a long while looking at it, he breathed,

"Ar-Rahmân(The Benevolent God).."

For a moment, he stood there, just watching the cursive writing, lost in thought.

He didn't know when tears started to fall from his eyes..

"He taught the Qur'an..."

...

Arkaan walked out of the masjid, closing the large exquisite doors of the main prayer hall.

Even as he turned to walk down the mountain path, he noticed a figure at the very bottom of the naturally carved mountain stairs.

The lithe figure also noticed him.

For a moment, a pair of emerald green eyes gazed into another pair, one of doeful green, soft.

It seemed neither wished to break off. For in that single glance, a hundred words were left unsaid, and yet a thousand emotions transmitted, whilst the hearts of the possessors were left in chaotic feelings.

In one heart was a grievance, and in the other - heartwrenching regret, one that all the seas in the world might never be able to quench...

•••

In a dark alleyway, under the yellow waning moon, a young Asian boy slightly about thirteen years walked down the path in a leisurely manner.

He wore a brightly coloured yukata embroidered with the most beautiful peony flowers of red, pink, and white. These only went to accentuate him in good looks. He looked quite mature for his age.

Under the moon, on an obscure and slum alleyway in a far east part of the Chinese landmass, the youth held a finely polished jade flute, his hair tied in a ponytail with a ribbon waving to the night breeze, he played a tune that would enthrall the listeners.

In this fashion, he moved down the alleyway in all calmness and composure, playing his flute elaborately in the night air. It seemed no one would mind, for all doors and windows were locked at this time. It was the dead of the night.

At length, when he had walked a certain distance enough, he ended at a dead end - a wall which had Asian writing all over it. Beyond this wall was a flowing tributary of river Kawthar.

The boy approached the wall, so closely as there would have been only a few inches between him and it. Then, he gently tapped the surface of the wall a couple number of times with his jade flute.

He did this in so specific a pattern, and with such trained and nimble movements as would be unable to be mimicked by one who was close-by, intently following with just eyesight.

No sooner had he withdrawn his flute from the last brick than the stones on the wall beyond which was river Kawthar, moved.

After a few series of rearrangements by the bricks themselves through an unknown mechanism, a passageway opened underground. Beyond the opened ground of the wall, a flight of steps led to an underground chamber.

The boy looked around a last time, before walking down the fleet of steps, with steps so light he seemed to be floating on clouds. The passage door closed behind him.

Down the underground passageway, a trail of candlelights appeared at calculated intervals, illuminating the dark tunnel.

After a series of turns and bends, he ended up at an archway, wide and spacious. The entire place here looked like a small world on it's own.

If it were daytime, there would be a fewer number of people here, as the black market was mostly active during night. Thus, since it was midnight, the entire place was swarming with people here and there, a crowd one could easily get lost in. Haru wore a mask of a rabbit, with a black peony flower at its rims.

The people were engaged in buying and selling, pawning stuffs that wouldn't normally appear in the market above, rare and exorbitant.

This was known as 'The Jade Dragon', a hidden underground black market in the South of the island city. Pure moonlight refracted by the waters above filtered into a spacious hall he had just entered.

A beautiful flower crest appeared in sight, quite conspicuous and large. It had nine petals from nine different flowers; a flower hybrid.

Being the first thing he saw whenever he entered this cold room in the past, he never got tired of it. Just that this time, it was without his elder brother..

He remembered a youth who hid his fragile emotions behind his coldface, about five years older than him. At that time, they were always together; under the moonlight, flutes in hand, they played notes which were ethereal by nature.

Swords drawn, glinting silver from the shadows, they haunted the night as expert child-assassins purposefully raised to bring down people with bounties on their head for a price.

Right at a very young age, their hands were already stained with blood. Their souls were so darkened the King of Yomi would not accept them in the underworld. They had doomed themselves, in this life and the next.

One day suddenly, his brother came, after going on a mission to finish an exile with a hefty price on his head.

"I've found a new note, unmatched in this world.

When I listened, a myriad worlds to my heart were unlocked,

In each of these worlds I found hope.

Every tune was like from an ancient Deity,
making a call across eternal time.

Haru.., Come with me, let's leave.
Only then, can we truly be saved.

We might never attain true freedom for all those whose blood we're stained with,

But perhaps, we may finally atone for the sins we've committed in this lifetime."He looked to his hands, tears in his eyes.

"These hands are stained with so much blood. Even we were not spared, as children born into this cruel world..

No, the world isn't cruel. It's just we, and the choices we make."He seemed to remember something. Maybe those words were said to him by another.

This was the only mission I'd not followed him in. I did not know what had happened on it, but I suddenly felt that my elder brother who loved me much, he and I - were now worlds apart. I could see it in his eyes.

He had changed, and found conviction in something I could not comprehend.

I backed away from him, my face in horror.

"Haru.."He called out. But I was long gone, my cold back against him. I first disowned him.. Maybe I should have followed him that day. Then I would not have lost him..

That day, I returned to the place of our parting. I saw nothing but a broken jade flute, - a reminder of our past bond as a family.. a reminder of his severing of all relations with us - we were now his past.

Haha• never explained to me anything about the details of his mission, and for some reason - it was closed up. She was our Shishou•, after all. No one would be handed that mission after Sora. I would later learn that, it was because of him..

[Haha means mother in Japanese
Shishou is teacher\master.]

He sighed.

Raising his head wordlessly, he saw the mature woman looking out, as if staring into space. Until now, he wasn't aware of her presence in the room. It seemed she was also lost in thought, and he could guess why. Their mother was one of the elders of the Nine Flowers Heaven, an assassin guild across nine countries in the East; each country, a different flower.

In this eastern Muslim country, their base was situated on this small island province called 'Ta Ha'. He still had problem pronouncing it like the natives do. It was relatively a peaceful area even in the whole kingdom.

Scarcely would anyone pinpoint that location to find a base of assassins. Hence they also stayed low-key, carrying their missions in stealth.

In a way, this also was a form of protection to Ta Ha. Malignant figures known in their dark world, couldn't easily make a move in that place which was considered Nine Flowers Heaven territory.

So profound was the organization that, in this region, for the entire country, only twelve assassins were cultivated! They were known as The Jūnishi - representing the twelve zodiac beasts. Whenever they lost a person, one more came to join to make up the number. Whenever a new recruit was added to an already complete number, one more was transferred to another of the nine countries.

This country was the base of the Jūnishi, and although they spread throughout the country, rarely staying in their base, Tâ Hâ still remained so to them - a peaceful place to retreat and relax. All features of a countryside was present here.

Sora was the only person whose place hadn't been filled in by someone since he left. Even though he was one of the exceptional younger generation, their mother also had something to do with it. She was after all, one of the three elders of this country's branch. She always defended her son, saying he'd be back soon, and repent to his Haha-sama. The other elders understood her distress, and wouldn't speak about it again.

After all, until that time Sora had never disappointed her, being the first born..and since she held all the details of the mission Sora was assigned, no one else was allowed to interfere. She had said,

"Sora would atone for his deed by completing his own mission."

Haru made obeisance to his mother and elder, and greeted her in great reverence.

The beautiful lady had features as soft as scented flowers even as they were accentuated by her flowery wear. But a single look into her eyes would tell you that those eyes are as shrewd as a youkai• could ever be.

Her hands and soul were ever soaked with blood of many poor souls. Only Kami• knows if she could ever attain redemption and salvation in this lifetime.

[Youkai is a mysterious calamity\a mythical creature\a demon. All the meanings above depict what I imagine her to look like:)

Kami is God in Japanese.]

She made a simple gesture in acknowledgment. Her eyes contained that same lost look she had since Sora left.

I'd long since come to understand; whenever she saw me, she only thought of Sora.

I could never replace Sora in her heart.

Under normal circumstances, I'd be jealous. But losing Sora was a loss we both had to bear.

I had long since grown up, and let go. I knew Haha would never love me as much as she did Sora. Yet still that wouldn't change the fact that I loved my brother..even as much as I rivalled him for my mother's love and attention.

"Kono koro kara dokoni ita no?(Where have you been since all this time?)"

Haru lowered his gaze.

"Looking for Sora?.."Her eyes held conflicting feelings.

"Okāsan• --"Haru began.

"Masutā to yonde kudasai!"Her voice iced over.

[Okāsan means 'mum'.

Masutā to yonde kudasai! means 'Call me master!']

Whenever his mother was angry, Haru knew to stay calm, and let her anger pass away.

She looked at the calm boy in front of her. He had always been the outgoing child of the two. But since Sora left, he had come to know how to keep his heart sealed in. She knew because, - they had both been hurt. Her eyes softened.

"I know the loss of Sor--, ..him has taken a toil on you.. But you can't be doing what you did."

Haru looked at his mother in stupefaction. How'd she know - he facepalmed in his head. Yakuza elder and all, why not?

As if reading his thoughts, she spoke gently, and yet her voice was bizarre and frightening like a demoness,"I saw it myself. Visiting the same place that took him from us.. How far would you go?"

"As long as I'm able to find elder brother, wouldn't that be enough?" His sad eyes dolefully looked at her, yet his voice was firm.

She sighed, as she seemed to age visibly."I've a mission for you.."

Haru's eyes glinted. His mother had never assigned him to a mission since Sora left. She had essentially left him with nothing to do to take his mind off grieving.

She hadn't though.

The other two elders had been making use of his talent in assassinations to carry out secret missions, under the guise of getting his mind off problems. He knew they were just using him, but with every mission he successfully carried out, his built-up rage flew out.

Now she was calling on him, it crossed his mind but he would never have thought it true.

"Is it related to elder brother's mission?"He had his suspicions. His mother had essentially buried that mission, letting no other assassin to be able to know what it was, much less - carry it out. Although it's general nature was out, the details were kept secret, and without the order, one could not attain any reward even if they carried it out.

"Yes and no.. But they're linked. You would probably have a higher chance of finding news about your brother."

"I thought he had long left the island. What's the mission about?"His suspense was growing by the moment.

"South district's halakah•, - Inabah.." Her words floated into the air, Haru's eyes were lost in a daze. It had been five years since he last heard the name. Five years ago, his brother left them to join Inabah.

Memories of him surfaced.. memories of Sora. Only that now, - he had a different name, the name of the last person to die at his blade - Urwah.

[•Notice her pronunciation of halakah is different from the actual spelling I use, due to the pronunciation.]
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