About: Hello everyone, I know you haven't heard from me for awhile. College have been driving me into a corner. I know I have not finished "Elucidation" yet, but I promise you that it's getting fixed up and I will be writing new chapters for it soon. This story has been in my mind for awhile now, and I finally mustered up enough courage to write it.

Little note~ I recall Kaku speaking like an old man, so I tried to make his speech a little off.

You might ask me why I live this life and truth be told, I don't know either.

Jumping from roof to roof, the wind whispered into his ears. Indecipherable noises they were, but distracting simultaneously. Their soft conversations clouded his mind and cleansed him of any guilt in his heart. There were also sounds of jingles in his left ear, echos from his three golden earrings clinking against one another. By his waist, his three swords felt heavy. Perhaps it was because of another burden he was about to put them through.

His right foot made a soft contact against the blue tinted roof. His lungs were filled with the chilly night air, and when he exhaled, the contrasts of temperature created a wisp of vapor from his mouth.

He sensed few strangers below and nearby, laughing and conversing, oblivious to the savagery of this world. Even few lovers who were senselessly drowning in the mix of sweat and passion.

He felt a streak of envy, for he had no one meaningful by his side.

His long nosed partner landed right next him. "Tonight, you aren't getting lost," his partner mused. In a way Kaku was a weird guy. If anyone saw him in the middle of the street, they would automatically assume that he's normal. A sheep in the flock. Perhaps someone cheerful and friendly.

"Approximately a minute left before our target arrives in a black limousine, guarded by two heavily equipped bodyguards." Kaku smiled innocently while cocking his pistol into gear.

So much for a normal guy.

Zoro, as well, prepared for the upcoming fight. He gracefully extracted his three swords, placed two into his hands and one in his mouth.

As expectantly, Kaku's estimations were one hundred percent correct. The limousine pulled over in front of a shady strip club within a minute. Three males exited, all wearing straightened suits. But it was an obvious guess to know which one was their real target. A short man, roughly about 5"3', wore a fancier suit than the two giants by his side. And as a further proof, the employees of the stripped club, wearing striped red and white uniforms directed their welcoming gestures singly and directly at the short man.

"We should have met the limousine awhile back. We can't attack him now when he's in a strip club. Henceforth, we should change our plans. I prepared for us, just in case something like this would take place." Kaku told him as he pulled out two fancy suits of their own. "Now we just have to infiltrate the place and pull him out of there somehow."

The green haired man nodded in agreement, knowing that Kaku's plans usually execute without a fault.

In the midst of this freezing weather, the two males had to change out of their clothes to put on a more polished attire. Zoro placed his three swords in an elongated briefcase made out of cow leather, where there were durable straps that enabled Zoro to place the briefcase diagonally across his back.

"Are you ready?" Kaku questioned, pocketing the handgun into the inner flap of his gray jacket.

After executing numerous numbers of mission after missions, year after years, Zoro couldn't have been more than ready by now. His blood pumped clamorously in his ears and a mischievous grin stretched aligned with the lines of his chin.

"Let's go."

[=]-[=]-[=]-[=]

"Excuse me, sirs. You cannot enter without paying." An employee in his striped red and white uniform daringly stopped Zoro and Kaku with his palms raised. "This club regulates a strict policy. We cannot just let anyone in here."

A dangerous look bypassed Kaku's eyes, and Zoro had to tap him to snap him back into reality.

"How much?" The swordsman asked while reaching for his pockets.

But the employee must have seen Kaku's expression because he abruptly drew back in fear. "Ah, I mean, please ignore what I previously said. Please go in, sirs, make an entrance to the right at the end of the hallway." His eyes were lit like a paralyzed deer that accidentally jumped in front of a speeding car, with Kaku being the driver.

Subtly, Zoro gave the employee a nod, which he had ignored completely, presumably because he didn't want to risk making another eye contact with Kaku. Understanding, Zoro just let him be.

A foul scent instantaneously filled his nostrils when he entered the building. The stench of sex: semen and sweat, mixed with an odd odor from the pipes. It was almost nauseating. The darkness that surrounded him only accentuated the fetid smell and encouraged him to speed up his pace.

When he made a turn at the end of the hallway, specifically to the right(with a bit of Kaku's help), an abrupt burst of cheers were loudly heard. He stepped inside the unexpectedly spacey room, with blinding lights blazing and loud dubstep music pumping in the background, and sweaty bodies constantly moving to the beat. A stage set in middle of the crowd, and a young woman seductively wrapping her leg around a pole. A wild cheer erupted from the crowd when she teasingly lowered one bra strap after the other. And those men who were close enough, threw their cash in heaps to the stripping brunette on stage, hoping she would notice them. Wild beasts they were, panting at the sight of a naked woman; howling and whistling to express their glee.

With a stoic expression, and appearing indifferent to his surroundings, Kaku approached the target without any hesitance.

The target was playing American poker, Texas Hold 'Em, with two blonde strippers by his side. With a thick cigar in his mouth, blowing out rings of smoke, he called out his bet. "Fifty dollars," he said in a heavy Italian accent.

The two other players called fold right after.

Kaku tipped his hat out of respect before speaking, "May I join you gentlemen in this fine game of poker?" he spoke with deeper tone of voice, conveying an air of polish and suavity, to fool these men into believing that he was much older than his actual age.

The target placed the cigar in between his index and middle finger, then lifted it from his mouth, before slurring his next words, "If you got cash, boy, that's all it takes. It don't matter if you got skills or not. Who's that big lad behind you?" He pointed his cigar behind Kaku's shoulders.

Zoro stood tall and did not speak. He had enough experience with Kaku to know whose mouth was more reliable in tricky situations like these. As always, Kaku fabricated a bullshit story with a laugh, "My fiance is awfully careful about having a bodyguard by my side at all times. She's a real sweetheart, but a huge pain in the ass." He pulled up a seat and handed Zoro his hat. "This guy's a pain in the ass too, but gentle. You don't have to worry about him."

The group consisting of strippers and gangsters laughed alongside with Kaku, clearly pleased with his amiable nature.

The four males placed their chips in the middle, called out their first round of bets and received two cards each. Zoro hardly played poker, or any card games for that matter, but there were certain aspects of this game that he definitely understood. Such as, when everyone else except for Kaku groaned the first round, he knew who had won.

"Was that pure luck or skill, kid?" A bald man in thick rimmed sunglasses, sitting directly across from their target, asked Kaku.

His long nosed partner chuckled as he drew in all the chips from the middle, "I'll say both."

For the next few hours, the four men intensely focused on their game. Their skills were evenly matched, but Zoro sensed that Kaku was purposely losing from time to time. Because if Kaku really wanted to, he could rob all of these men of their money with no trouble.

Zoro tapped Kaku on the shoulder, "I'm going to take a leak."

Kaku didn't reply, he simply nodded. The way his eyes were analyzing his opponents' expressions told Zoro that he was calculating his next move.

Unlike Zoro, who was all muscle in the organization, Kaku contributed as the brain and muscle, which made him more of a valuable member than Zoro.

The restroom was as distasteful as this whole place. The white walls were no longer white, with blotches of piss smeared everywhere. The whole placed smelled wretched, like every single person forgot to flush the toilets after their usage. And the brown smudges that he was overstepping, he didn't even want to know what they were.

He just wanted few seconds of peace and quiet to himself while relieving his bladder.

"Fuck you. Do this right or you're gonna get a taste of my bloody kick, you piece of shit."

Of course some obnoxious bastard had to have a loudmouth.

Peace and quiet? Definitely not.

Zoro heaved a profound sigh. He couldn't even enjoy a second of tranquility without some douche screaming his head off. What was so damn important that this idiot had to run his mouth? What a terribly annoying voice he had. Who has a voice like that?

In between the dirty sink and the empty paper towel rack, there stood a tall man. One of his knees was bent and his foot was flat against the tiles behind him, creating a perfect thirty-five degree angle. In his hand, he was furiously punching in characters into his phone. How he was seeing the screen with that curtain of blond hair obstructing his sight was a damn mystery. He wore a black, double-breasted suit; with six gold buttons that had unique set of engravings, three on each side of his chest; inside the jacket, he wore a solid navy blue buttoned shirt with a black tie. Under his breath, he continued to whisper foul profanities while chewing on the filter of his cigarette.

Zoro walked past the aggravated blonde, uninterested in his little issues, but still peeved by his obnoxious commotions.

He chose the farthest urinal from the corner where the blond stood. By the time he was finished with his business, the blond had already left the restroom. Zoro took his time with washing his hands before returning to Kaku and his gambling business.

When he spotted the four men who were playing poker few minutes ago, he saw that they were standing up and preparing to leave. Zoro wondered what the hell Kaku was up to now and how in the hell he was going to pull through this one.

"Boy, do you wanna have a smoke with me?" Their target spoke directly to the long nosed man while holding up a fat blunt.

A clear invitation.

Zoro caught a sly smirk on Kaku's face before he broke out into a friendly grin. "I've actually been dying for one." He accepted the offered blunt and placed it in his mouth, quite like how the blond had, except Kaku wasn't angrily chewing on it. "Since my bodyguard hates the scent, why don't we light it up outside?" It was clearly a psychological method he was using. I don't bring my bodyguard and you don't bring yours. Simple.

"We're all taking our leave. Your bodyguard should stray off for awhile then." The target's two bodyguards were by his side again, appearing formidable as ever. "I'll make my bodyguards stray too, so don't worry with them intimidating you."

Kaku rubbed his forehead, chuckling as he faked a sigh of relief. "That's a damn weight off my shoulders. I thought they wouldn't stop glaring at me and Malvin over there," he said as he jerked his thumb over towards Zoro.

Who the hell is Malvin? Zoro twitched inwardly.

"Now, shoo, shoo," the target told the green haired man.

In that moment, Zoro had a vivid vision of how he was going to slice the target's neck, and how relieving that would feel.

By the time they were outside, Zoro was sent away to bond with the two bodyguards; and surprisingly, he had a nice conversation with them. Of course, nice enough to keep the conversation going before Kaku called him back.

"Code 4001, the target has been annihilated. Meet me back on the rooftop so we can dispose of the body. I already contacted the boss. Hurry back." His tone of speech was short and articulated, and it had already gone back to its monotonic manner.

Zoro ran down the streets, passing by few drunken pedestrians who were chatting up some unfortunate girls; even so, it was none of his business.

His nose stung from rapidly taking in and expelling the frigid air from his lungs repetitively. It felt like drinking icy water with a mint gum in your mouth.

But the main problem was, beside the terribly arctic temperature, some piece of shit thought it was a good idea to watch Zoro from afar, pointing his gun directly his way. On top of the roof of some Presbyterian church, facing East from where he stood, there was a sniper who watched the swordsman's every move through his scope.

He whispered to no one but mother nature herself, feeling a bit high and mighty, "I can kill you with my eyes closed," referring to the man who was about to pull the trigger.

Having been an assassin since he was a little boy, this keen sixth sense had only developed to its epitome over the years. Even if the man on the rooftop did pull the trigger, Zoro had enough confidence to dodge out of the way. After all, a swordsman was not made up of sheer power and skill but the spiritual connection to the world surrounding him. If a bullet was to pierce through the air, he had enough reliance of his reflexes to either deflect or evade.

What he did not expect was a voice behind him. A muffled tone and a disguised presence that Zoro was surprised to know about. "Well, let's see about that."

Shit!

A strong force hit the side of his head, so unexpectedly fast that Zoro had absolutely no time to react.

The last thing he saw was the streetlight across the street on the other side of the sidewalk. The light had a tinge of orange and yellow. It blurred and expanded when his vision began muddle. And the last sound he heard was the bullet piercing through the air.

Guess I'm going to die, he thought before the left side of his head hit the ground. The dull thud of his body hitting the cement reverberated inside of his head before the blackness overcame his senses.