Chapter 1

…

"The fear of death originates from a fear of life. A man who has lived his life fully is always ready to die." – Mark Twain

"I wonder if sleeping and killing most of my life counts as living." – Karma Ackerman

…

Once upon a time, an acquaintance once told me this:

"If you continue killing people like this, karma will come and get you some day."

I looked at him in the eyes and responded with a deadpan.

"How can karma catch up to me when I am never afraid of dying?"

Never would I have expected it to do so in a manner transcending my thoughts.

…

I died in a game of Russian Roulette.

There is not much to reminisce about. Simply put, a gang of us top notched assassins decided to get together for a round or five of this game. Boredom has weird effects on people sometimes.

I lost.

Dare I admit it? I was in fact rather jubilant about being killed.

Mark Twain once claimed that a guy who has lived his life fully will always be prepared for death.

I was one such guy, having already achieved everything I ever wanted in my entire life before my death. There was only one thing left up to the moment the bullet went through my head:

Eternal sleep.

Don't laugh. I am known to people as the 'Faceless murderer', 'Sleepy Assassin', even 'Narcolepsy Bastard' to some of my acquaintances.

I love to sleep, and death was just the one thing I have always wanted. Technically speaking, karma should never have been able to catch me. Doing so would only gratify me afterall, so why should it, right?

I would never have expected karma to make a joke out of it though.

I got reincarnated, with my memories and everything.

Staring blankly into the dark eyes of my supposed mother, my first thought upon my entry into this new world was that one cliché line everyone know:

Karma's a bitch.

Life as a baby is uneventful.

Besides the usual baby food and hygiene and humiliating experiences I rather not talk about, there is sleep.

Being a baby is like being in heaven.

Never in my life have I ever gotten the chance to sleep eighteen hours a day. I wonder why I never wrote this as my future career back in high school. Perhaps then I wouldn't have to sleep only ten hours a day.

My mother is a prostitute – But honestly, who cares? At least she's not a bitch. Not one bigger than karma anyways.

With a new life resolution of dying the moment I get my eyes on a knife, my first year in this new world passed in a constant sleep induced daze.

I was constantly locked within a small room which is supposed to be the woman's quarters. Not much of a surprise, considering her occupation. I was pushed into a cabinet whenever she has to attend to her duties. Well, at least she has the decency to do that.

Food is sometimes lacking, but I couldn't care more unless it starts interfering with my sleep. In which case, skipping meals actually gives me more time for sleep instead.

Ha! Let's see if karma is able to make a joke out of that!

Ironically, I died precisely because of that unhealthy habit.

For three consecutive days, I slept and whined whenever the woman tried to wake me up to feed me, leading to my impromptu death by starvation.

Well, you think that is the end, right?

You get it all wrong.

…

When I woke up, I was once more staring into dark eyes, held in the same position I was a year ago when I was born. Even that same grimy substances felt exactly the same throughout my body.

My brow twitched as the woman stared at me blankly, her silence holding for the same span of time it did before.

"Karma."

Damn.

"Your name is Karma Ackerman."

Did I mention this? Karma somehow even found its way into my name in my new life.

I may be lazy and sleepy, but I like to think that I am far from stupid.

Everything happened in the same routine as it did in my last life. I was treated like the same newborn I was before. There were sufficient hints for me to understand:

Damn it, karma. When will you finally stop chasing me?

Karma plans to put my second life on a repeat until I somehow stop wanting to die.

Maybe.

I don't know. Who knows what mission I am assigned by some invisible entity?

I wonder if I am cursed by someone in my first life.

I killed numerous people on my last count. Does that mean karma plans to haunt me for that number of times? Urgh.

Prudently, I stopped whining about food and obediently allowed myself to be fed this time round.

At the age of one, I lived long enough just to know that I was in fact going to have a brother.

"Another brat." As the woman so nicely placed it.

For nine months, I bore with the woman's emotional tantrums as best as I could by sleeping it off. I'm not so stupid as to kill myself off. It will only prolong my torture under this vixen.

The moment my brother was born, I had a sudden epiphany.

"Levi." The woman declared blankly to the eerily calm silver eyed baby. "You will be Levi Ackerman."

I choked on my spit and died.

No.

I wish I had.

One of my acquaintances had once termed me a two-faced bastard before changing his mind and re-terming me 'Blank'.

I can't blame him. I do have countless aliases.

However, the main reason for the initial number two was because of the two splits in my personality: Lazy, and hardworking.

I may be a lazy bastard, but I never let it interfere with my work…unless I'm fully certain that I would win, of course, but that's a different story.

As an assassin, I once had the job of being a teacher in a Japanese school.

Naturally, as a teacher, it is essential to connect with your students through various means. At least, until you turn around and stab them in the aback. One of the resources I used was precisely it.

Attack on Titans.

A long story about titans which somehow went back to talking about humans.

In that story, besides the numerous people dying in fear and tears, the one character I have always found realistic was Levi Ackerman.

And he's my brother.

It's hard to connect this always scowling baby with that always scowling soldier in the future. No, really. Levi looks different as a child. Except for the eyes and the scowl maybe. That's everything?

…Nevermind.

Like usual, I simply closed my eyes and slept through everything.

As long as you don't bother with him, nothing will change. I will live, perhaps, and the plot won't change too, perhaps. Can't say I care about humanity when I'm dying and reviving repeatedly.

I will not lie. The urge to kill myself is growing strong. But I endured it.

You recall what I said about my meals before Levi?

Oh, I didn't mention it?

My meals were measly, terrible-tasting, and all in all, crap.

Now, it only became three times worse.

Growing out of baby formula, I ended up switching to scraps from the bin. Originally, the woman's salary was never sufficient, so one more mouth only made things harder.

I died once because of that, and I endured another round of repeat to get back to step one.

Yay.

This time, before Levi was born, I devoted more of my sleeping time to training my reflexes and limbs. Assassination requires this bare minimum.

When Levi was born once again, I resorted to stealing from the occasional visitor for survival.

I have to wonder if something changed as a result of my actions. Levi warmed up to me this time for some unbeknownst reasons.

One first time into the cabinet, instead of staring wide eyed out from the slits like he did the first time round, he pinched his eyes together and leaned towards me silently.

…Wait. Did he do that the first time round? I can't remember clearly. I could have been sleeping instead of practicing my wrist exercises.

I flicked my wrist, imagining a pen between my fingers as I wrote. Mental imaginary does contribute to your skills even if physical ones are more effective.

To my muted surprise, Levi lifted his hand and copied the motion.

How old is he again? I was two and a half, so it should be half a year for him.

Gazing at him from the corner of my eyes, he gazed back at me petulantly, patiently waiting for another stroke of my invisible brush.

I wrote an 'a'. He copied a somewhat twisted 'a'.

I wrote 'Lazy'. I think he wrote 'crazy'.

I drew a smiley face.

And he gives me a deadpan face.

I buried my face in his neck to muffle my laughter. In the process, I pulled him into me – more than he had already been leaning on me anyways. There was a look of surprise on his face, one which only made my quaking laughter increase.

Well what do you know? The brat is cute despite his near constant scowl.

I do not know if Kenny did teach him about writing, but I decided to teach him anyways. Who knows? Even if it does eat into my nap, maybe this knowledge and bond will come handy one day.

His first word was a whisper.

It was the single word the woman used most around him.

"Brat."

I stared at him with lidded eyes and snorted, trying to hide a laugh, before returning to sleep.

If only Eren knows this, that hormonal teen would be so delighted.

"Karma." His second word was.

My eyes snapped opened at once, staring at him, stunned.

Levi only looks back with inquisitively waiting eyes, as if waiting to be praised or something.

I pursued my lips.

I am not a professional assassin for nothing. I am also one of the best actors, and I know what act I should take up in various situations. To be an older brother who is both lazy and good at the same time…I did not have any experience in doing so, but oddly enough, it came naturally to me.

"Levi." I replied in response.

The first time I was ever calling his name, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Good job." It felt like patting a dog in an odd, twisted sense.

I closed my eyes immediately thereafter, trying to ignore the odd warmth in my chest and how he was snuggling up to me.

Am I getting soft?

Me? The lazy assassin? Blank?

One reason I was termed blank was due to my lack of emotions. Other than sleepiness, but you know what I mean. I carried out my jobs professionally even if my target was one of the acquaintances I had been drinking wine with the night before.

I wonder if this is how Kenny Ackerman felt while looking after Levi.

My assassin is already identifying Levi as a major source of weakness.

In the future, I would most likely be killed because of Levi.

And I was right.

My life passed in a perpetual daze. As we entered the second year of Levi's life, which was also my third, Levi begun following me like a baby chick.

Perhaps it was just simple admiration. Perhaps, he just liked the feeling of security I gave him.

Regardless, I pretended not to notice and continued my routine of sleeping and stealing.

All would have been fine if somebody hadn't decided to mess up at that time.

No, it isn't me.

Nah, it's all my fault.

It was one single time when I decided to slip out into the streets. I haven't done so a single time so far, but it was fair time that I did it. An assassin needs his personal space afterall.

Making sure that Levi was not following me, I crept out of the door in the morning and left.

The day was sunny.

As if.

Our sky is the ceiling, so I can only describe the weather as blobs of lights hanging on cave walls and reflection of lights coming from the city.

I strode across the streets, ignoring the stares directed at me.

I can't blame them.

A three year old out alone in the streets? In my world, we either call them abandoned or geniuses.

Everything had gone perfectly fine. I laid down on one random rooftop and fell asleep.

When I awoke, it was to the sound of a hand slapping hard and a soft murmur. A familiar scowl was before me.

"Karma!" He whispered shouted.

Gazing blankly at Levi, I opened my mouth and yawned.

"What are you doing here?"

There was no need to ask, really. He probably just followed me again.

"I-"

I froze, eyes narrowing at the sound I heard.

Footsteps. Heavy ones at that, and they sounded as if they were encroaching upon us. They were on the rooftop, too.

From the angle at which we lay, they most likely couldn't see us, but they were searching for us.

Dang it all. I came out because I was willing to bet that I can protect myself, but with Levi-?

I cast an analytic gaze at him.

Levi seems to have noticed my odd behavior and was now paying attention to the same footsteps. In his silver eyes, I saw fear, but otherwise, he steeled his shoulders, remaining just as emotionless as always.

I smirked.

Attaboy.

As expected of Levi Ackerman.

"Pretend to sleep and I will take care of them all." I promised, slipping a dagger from my sleeve. "I didn't come unprepared."

He scowled and nodded, lying down limply.

With my silent steps, I hid in the shadows below the roof tiles and waited for those bastards.

The sound of gruff murmuring reached my ears, each laughing about how they're going to be earning some big bucks by selling an Asian kid.

I narrowed my eyes.

What failure of an assassin would I be if I let my own kin get kidnapped?

There were three of them, each buff as if they were on steroids.

The moment two reached Levi, I swung myself onto the rooftop.

"What the-?"

Why must I be so short?

I cursed inwardly as I climbed one man's clothes to reach his neck. Covering his eyes with my hands and jabbing two of my fingers into each socket, I slit his throat and jumped back to the ground.

Two more.

Climbing is too much of a chore, so I went for the nerve at the back of one's legs.

The man bent over, still swinging his axe wildly.

I could only snort, like all professionals usually do in face with amateurs. How dumb is he? He's evidently not even strong enough to have full control over his weapon.

Aiming one stone at his eyes, it punctured his eye and brain with a squashing sound and he dropped to the ground.

In that one moment, however, something went really wrong.

I had failed to notice the presence of another man creeping up on me. The forth man of their group.

"Karma! Behind!" Levi shouted.

It's ironic. The assassin caught off guard by another assassin. I was too arrogant.

A hand wrapped around my arms in preparation to slice my throat, but I lifted my hand before he could. The blade dug into my wrist, splashing blood around.

There was a grunt of surprise.

One hand is no big deal.

Using my other hand, I reached up and stabbed a finger into his eye.

There was a yell, and I was released.

For a short moment, my eyes flickered and just as I thought, I did not mistaken those raven locks. That man is…

I ran towards Levi and pushed him off the roof.

"Run back to Kuchel's or hide!" I yelled.

This life is over for me. I could tell as much.

Levi wouldn't die falling off a floor. Even if he is injured and no longer able to run, well, at least Kenny will be there to help him.

At least I managed to slip the woman's name in there somewhere.

A large hand grabbed me and I could see the other assassin's face from the reflection of the axe.

Kenny was yelling, horrified realization dawning on his face.

"STOP-"

And then, there was red.

…

All things would end eventually in the ways you least expect.

I reflected. I learnt.

I really shouldn't have been so clumsily arrogant.

For the following resets, I trained myself as though I was dying.

I made a new resolution to not go out again until I can fight off Kenny.

In the following three resets, I died.

Once was from Levi accidentally talking during the woman's sessions and having her snap into a fit. Another time is from robbing the wrong guy. The last is an unfortunate event when some shooting went on outside and killed everyone in the vicinity.

Sometimes, I hate luck.

It was my luck in Russian roulette which placed me in this situation to begin with.

I hate how I always end up playing babysitter to Levi. Something in me just kept wanting to protect him,

One time, I tried letting him die by himself. The guilt was sufficient to make me point the dagger to my heart. But either ways, it's pretty much decided that Levi won't be dying as long as I'm around.

If this continues, I have a vague idea of what is going to happen. Things will just continue to repeat, like that Higurashi series I heard about.

Upon entry into my fourth year, the food on our tables further lessened. As a matter of fact, they turned into ration bars.

From what the woman said, turns out that the plague mentioned in the first chapter of the series was happening above surface. I stole the bare minimum in this reset, wanting to avoid all unnecessary risks that could get us killed again.

Levi and I were scrawny to begin with, but my decision this time made our growth permanently stunted.

Our ribcages were visible, though not as bad as portrayed in the manga.

I trained Levi in basic self defence, wanting to make him less danger prone.

Despite the gnawing hunger, we lasted into my fifth year.

Then, the woman died.

…

A/N: That's it for now. Please tell me your thoughts on this story.