Okay... I know. I'm starting nother story without finishing my other one, but don't worry! Though updates may slow, I'll do my best on both stories! ^^

This chapter might be a little rushed and uninformative, but I guess this is kind of like a prologue...? Anyways, there'll probably be more info on chapter 2.

I don't own Ansatsu Kyoushitsu! Just Rina

Chapter 1 (Prologue-ish): Kill or be Killed

"Karma, run! Run!" The hoarse voice that split through the blood red sky was permanently carved into Karma's mind as she lifted her bloodied body, ignoring all the pain and aches that had been brought upon her throughout their fight. A few yards behind her was her comrade, injured and beaten to near death, but still granted the miracle to shout these demands to the young girl who was struggling to even move.

"Run...?" Karma echoed weakly, vision swimming and blurring with each aching step. She left a trail of red droplets and left her dying partner in the snow, her only focus being to fulfill their mission at hand. "Never."

In the dark secret side of the world that revolved around something as dangerous as real assassination, usually there was no time to mourn in vain, or to abandon the mission for their sake. If they risked their lives for the mission, it was only right to complete it. To assasins, it was the only way to fully avenge their dying partners. If they died, it was the fault of the enemy. An enemy that was to be taken down at all costs. And right now, Karma was going to avenge her partner, Rina, even if it meant death to herself. No matter if Rina told her to abandon the mission, she would kill their target without fail.

There was a little click heard before the building near Rina erupted into wild flames that lapped at the cold winter air. Karma heard Rina's painful shriek from the back, but ignored it and kept on trudging, hoping her eyes didn't show the grief she was truly feeling. She was strong. She had a heart of stone, so she'd stick to the assassins rules even if her entire being just wanted to go back and run to the girl she had only known for a few months.

Just up ahead was the powerful man they had been assigned to kill. Whoever worked under him was loyal enough to set off bombs anywhere just to kill them, but it seemed that they didn't know that their own leader was caught up in the fire. With freshly burned skin and clothes, the man looked at Karma with a gaze that complimented the burning buildings around them. It was the look that Karma had become accustomed to.

"I don't care if I die as long as you disgusting brats come with me!" he snarled, bloodshot eyes widening with finality as he shouted an order through an earpiece. Karma wanted so badly to go and strangle him, and she could've. She could've just ran up to the man and jump on his back, snapping his neck. Or she could've stabbed him right through the heart. It was so easy, but...

"Karma, run! Run!"

Those had been the last words of Rina. Karma was already feeling weak with blood loss and no matter how much she told herself to ignore her last words and finish the mission, she wanted to run. She wanted to hide and cower like the child she was. The adrenaline pumping through her failing veins wasn't enough to get her though an assassination. At least, that's what she told herself. Rina wanted her to live. That much was clear. But their job wasn't to live, but to kill. Even if it meant for themselves. Running away was weak and betrayal to the teachings they'd been told. But, Karma couldn't help but think to herself, I want to live too.

"Karma, what are you waiting for?" A cold voice demanded through Karma's own damaged earpiece. Karma's breath hitched as the decisions warped within her brain, twisting and turning to a point of sanity. Complete it or run away. Die or live. It was obviously a suicide mission, and Karma didn't want to go down today. But she had to. "Kill him!"

"I heard you were beaten up pretty badly by Akihiro-Sensei, Karma-San. Are you okay?"

Nagisa headed into the training room with his usual soothing voice in search for their combat instructor's latest victim. Despite his calm tone, his blue eyes showed concern for his redheaded friend whose dull golden eyes were fixed on the ceiling. After a few moments passed with no response, Nagisa crouched down and began to work on bandaging up her bruised and bleeding body without another word. There were many questions that he wanted to ask, but he held back after seeing the state Karma was in.

It was rare that Karma hesitated during a mission, let alone the fact that she ran away. Then again, it was the first time Karma had run into a deadly situation like that. Nagisa knew that Karma was talented for fighting which often led to easy kills, but since her kills had been so easy, she never had such a dilemma where a teammate was near death. She had always waved off the warnings about focusing on missions even if a member was close to death, but now that it'd actually happened, her weakness showed itself.

Nagisa understood that despite Karma's talent for fighting and her rough personality, she was a person to never leave a comrade behind. She was always confident in her ability with the intention of not letting her partner do much of the heavy lifting, but unfortunately it came to a point where Karma was a bit too confident, and it caused the death of their newest member, Rina.

Rina was a sweet girl who was a late addition to Class-E as an orphaned child that had been abandoned, but Koro-Sensei was kind enough to pick her up. The last to join, but she was also the first to die. There'd been other situations similar to theirs, but it was the first time someone from their specific group was killed. Often, the former Class-E students were paired with actual professionals, and the kids were the only ones to come back if they were to have been in a near-death situation. After watching their class practicing in the afternoon one Saturday, she was determined to join in on it, and they let her. She had shown great progress in just two months, but her skills were naturally no match for the rest of Class E, who had been training for over two years, which was why Koro-Sensei had paired her up with the never-failing Karma. But it seemed that it wasn't enough.

"It was her first mission." Karma whispered her first words that day. She clenched her teeth and covered her watering eyes with her bruised arm. "It was her last mission too."

It was sad for everyone, but it was obvious Karma blamed herself the most for it. "If I hadn't told her to sit still while I handled it... if I had known that she was so determined to participate, maybe she wouldn't have moved and got shot... we shouldn't have been so persistent of her having her first mission so early." Nagisa heard a sniffle from the usually enigmatic and cold Karma before he bandaged the last of her visible injuries.

Nagisa felt like reaching out to Karma, to comfort her as though she was a baby, but he didn't. He had known Karma long enough to know that comforting Karma was the least helpful thing to do. All he was able to do as her best friend was to sit silently and listen unless Karma reached out to him first. Instead, he reached over to her arms and gently helped her to stand before asking her to remove her shirt so he could finish bandaging her up. Normally, Nagisa would've been flustered and quick to turn away, but he knew they were in no position for embarrassment right now. He just had to suck it up and keep his eyes on her stomach only. After all, Karma probably still had enough strength to punch his daylights out.

"But was Rina helpful?" Nagisa asked, dabbing some ointment on her cuts that had been from the mission. There was a small hiss before Karma finally whispered, "of course. She saw some of that man's underdogs sneaking up behind me and jumped into action... If only I was more aware,"

The blue-eyed boy felt a wet droplet on his head and looked up to meet Karma's tearful gaze. Her honey-golden eyes that were usually filled with arrogance and mischief held nothing but grief and regret. It was painful just looking at the nicknamed "she-demon" crying so heavily. "Nagisa-Kun... I killed her!"

Taking Nagisa by surprise, Karma leaped into his embrace and wept uncontrollably, her hidden sobs coming into full focus in the soundproof room. Nagisa was stunned for a moment since this was the first time, in the five years he had known Karma, that she had cried so openly, but he quickly wrapped his arms around the girl who, for once, looked so small and vulnerable. He patted her messy hair and kept silent, waiting for her to calm down.

"Karma-San, it wasn't your fault. No one thinks that." he assured her softly, brushed a strand of red away from her face when it stuck to her tear-stained cheeks. Unable to find the courage to look Nagisa in the eyes in that state, Karma let out another ungraceful wail and buried her face in his warm chest once more. "You're lying, it is my fault!" she replied in a muffled voice.

"It's not." Nagisa assured her before leaning down and giving her a comforting kiss on the head. Rarely was Nagisa ever the one to offer a romantic gesture without feeling bashful, but it seemed that it was up to him to take any initiatives this time around. He pushed Karma away lightly before wiping her face with his sleeves. "It's not like you to be a crybaby." he joked, smiling bitterly as she attempted to hold back her running nose and eyes.

Karma only cried harder which caused Nagisa to give up and offered his embrace again. Nagisa's memories of Rina resurfaced and he had to hold back his own tears as well. If he cried, Karma was only bound to cry for a longer amount of time. They remained like that for quite a while, comfortable in each other's arms as they grieved for their dead teammate. Nagisa continued to whisper encouraging words to Karma to make sure she knew that it wasn't her fault, and that running away wasn't cowardly. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you, was the unspoken mesage he conveyed as he did this. Everyone was feeling the effects of her death, but most had tried to act as normal as possible, but it was only natural that Karma had a harder time due to actually witnessing the very incident. She had heard her final shrieks of pain, and she hadn't even avenged her properly. Of course the guilt was piling up without a break. But to Karma, relaxing with Nagisa like this was enough to take some of the weight off.

Nagisa and Karma were attending separate high schools now which limited their time together, but that didn't mean their care towards one another had shrunken at all. They were both busy with their own missions, but there was always time to spare just for each other. It was times like this when they both would relish each other's presence and remind themselves that they were still best friends (though both of them had been wanting more than that). Even if they didn't have as much time together, they'd always find a way to keep their relationship going. No matter what.

"I see the star couple in getting all lovey-dovey again!"

The duo hadn't realized that the door to the training room had opened, and standing there was none other than the female jokester, Rio Nakamura, with the usual mischievous grin on her face. Despite her light joke, the duo was quick to notice the red evidence by her blue eyes. She had been crying as well. Then again, out of all the other classmates, Rio had been the closest to Rina.

Normally Karma was the last to say anything resembling an apology when having truly done nothing wrong, but she saw fault in every action she did that day. She was ready to jump away from Nagisa just to grovel at Rio's feet and murmur apologies over and over for killing the girl she saw as a little sister. She didn't even avenge her properly. But just as she tried to even move, Nagisa seemed to read her thoughts and yank her right back into his chest, ignoring any bashfulness he was feeling.

"This isn't like you," he whispered, feeling a little more than desperate now. This wasn't the Karma he knew at all. This girl was more like a broken child, not the arrogant, confident, and spunky girl he had fallen for. Sure, there was obviously a softer side to every person, but there was no way Karma was this pitiful. He hated to admit it, but he hated seeing this side of her. He wished to never see it again for as long as he lived. Because this was the side of Karma that induced her to weakness. This was such a vulnerable side that was associated with sadness, and Nagisa didn't like it one bit. "This isn't like you." he repeated, but this time with more vulnerability in his own voice.

"We have school tomorrow, you two." Rio reminded them with a small smile. She walked over to them and threw her arms round the two of them as though everything was how it was supposed to be. She teased them as though it was another day of regular training. But it wasn't.

"Nakamura-" Karma began, only to have her already tousled red hair ruffled by the blonde who was wearing a sly grin. "Whatcha' sulking for, Karma? Did Nagisa-Kun not buy you a snack? Or that he saw you without a shirt?"

"Am I her personal assistant or something?" Nagisa sighed, already noticing Nakamura's pattern of thought. They both stared at Karma, waiting for her own retort with soft gazes of comfort and reassurance. Karma only blinked with surprise as the duo slipped out of the training room, signaling for her to follow. Their warm smiles were showing the forgiveness that Karma believed she didn't deserve. To Nagisa, it was forgiveness Karma didn't need in the first place.

"C'mon, Karma-San. We'll go eat out today." Nagisa offered, waving her over with an encouraging smile. Rina would've wanted you to smile for her. She wanted you to live. She wanted you to run. She wanted you to be you. Nakamura, with a kind voice that was rare to all, assured Karma, "It wasn't your fault. Rina wouldn't ever blame you for that. Ever."

Karma only responded by letting the last of her tears fall in apology for Rina's life, and the gratitude of her friends that stuck with her. After all, Karma Akabane was no weakling, and by the next week, the organization was welcomed back with pranks from the cruel, mischievous assassin. Nagisa smiled when he saw this because this was the Karma he knew and loved. This was how it was supposed to be.

Heyo! So I'm up and about with a new story which, I know, means possibly slower updates. Updates will probably continue to be abnormal without a schedule due to constant writer's block, hectic schoolwork, etc. you guys know the drill. Anyways! Sorry if this one seemed a little rushed nd confusing but I wanted to create the mood for this kind of thing without killing off any of our favorite characters.

And yes, Rina is me, I killed myself in the very first chapter of my own story TvT

Thanks for reading and reviewing, helps out a bunch guys!