I Have a Black Belt in Awesome [Closed]

[Kitty]

"Ah, I'd consider it more so destiny,"

"Well, well," she cooed in a sing-song tone. Being she did a lot of writing in her spare time, she knew that destiny and fate were pretty much the same thing. However, the way he said it, it was obvious that he had just said it to be flirtatious--not to correct her language skills. If he had said it to correct her word choice, he would have lost approximately fifty cool points in her eyes. She loved using different words and playing with vocabulary. There was no way she would be unsure of the definition of either "fate" or "destiny."

"I've seen you around,"

At first, she just responded to his comment by shrugging her shoulders. She took another sip of her beverage. It was hard not to ignore him and simply indulge in the chilly liquid before her. At the same time, Jin was fun to chat with, so she didn't mind all that much. Swallowing in a large gulp of mango-flavored sweetness, she decided to give him a better reply. "Not hard to believe," she remarked, "I don't stay in the same place for too long, most of the time."

Around the base, her and Rina were bound to be seen on a nearly daily basis frolicking from one location to another. Of course, there were days when they just stayed in their room and only moved to go to the bathroom or get food. They did just about everything together--sometimes, that included going to the bathroom. They would take turns--one standing in the shower with the curtain closed and the other using the toilet. Others probably found their closeness strange. They lived in a house of killers, after all. Was having such a close friendship really a good idea? Well, they had been friends before joining up with Sasayaita, and being "assassins" wouldn't change that.

“Ah, your little blond shadow?”

"That's the one," she chimed, eyes lighting up at the playful description of her friend. "I'm glad you acknowledge that she's shorter than me," she mused with a quick wink. The two spent a lot of time comparing heights, but in the end, Kat always ended up being the victor. Granted, she only surpassed Rina by half an inch or less, but victory was victory--no matter how close the race.

On that note, she decided that she would indeed wait to share it with Rina. Flagging over the waitress by staring her down until she noticed, she asked politely if she could get a container. The maid bowed, walking off with the plate of dango in order to wrap them up herself. Kat didn't mind in the least. It wasn't like the waitress's hands were filthy or anything. That, and it would mean less work for her to do.

“Don’t get too attached, I’m a bit insane. Lunatics are dangerous,”

Her lips curled into a smirk once again. It was obvious that Jin had heard the rumors about him being mentally unstable. Well, it was that, or he was admitting to being crazy. No matter, he definitely wasn't anywhere near as "dangerous" as others made him out to be in their talking about him. Anyone who lived in a house of killers could very well be labeled insane.

"Well then, I suppose you could call me a risk-taker," she replied with a wink of her own. "Though, I warn you," she added after a moment's pause, "I'm not exactly sane myself."

[xJaxx]

“Well, well,”

Thankfully, Cat didn’t mind his correction. She obviously respected the fact that he had a slightly better choice of words than she did. After all, being a smooth-talker was one of his part-time hobbies. Hell, if he wanted to, he could probably pass it off as a profession of his; he was that brilliant with it.

“Not hard to believe. I don’t stay in the same place for too long, most of the time.”

With a solemn nod, he agreed to her statement. He recalled the instances at base where he’d see her on the main staircase running the opposite direction of him, and in the next minute or so, see her end up in the same room where he was originally heading to. In his eyes, she was a magic trick on her own. Screw the black hats and rabbits, just give the girl a maze and she’d find ways to astonish you just by simply walking on her own two feet.

“I wonder how Leader-sama tracked you down then,” he muttered, a soft chuckle following his words. He could only imagine the leader in one of his dark trench jackets that he often wore when he ventured out into public sneaking around every corner trying to keep track of her. In the end, Jin just assumed that he up and instead asked his wife to take his place in the little game of tag.

“That’s the one,”

Taking a sip of his float, he nodded again. It was hard to be mistaken with that. After all, the two appeared inseparable. It seemed as if the two individuals blurred together at the base. He could recall passing conversations between people chatting about “Cat and Rina”. It was as if he never once heard just one of their names called without the other. They were considered more of a pair than the siblings that resided within the base were.

“I’m glad you acknowledge that she’s shorter than me,”

“Ah, that’s easy to tell,” he replied smugly. He always had a knack for being able to judge the difference of height between two people. He had a tendency to notice acute details that no one else seemed to pick up on. Hey, it at least worked for him.

“Well then, I suppose you could call me a risk-taker,”

A soft smirk crept onto Jin’s lips. She was a fearless little thing. For how innocent and timid she looked, she sure was a hard-ass. She was definitely an interesting one. He almost wondered why he hadn’t bothered getting to know her in the first place at base.


“Though I warn you, I'm not exactly sane myself."

“Hey, hey, hey,” he crooned, holding up his hands in a motion to get her to slow herself down. “Just setting this straight here,” he continued, pushing the brim of his hat back on his head. He thought the gesture made him look more serious and quite bluntly—sexy. “No one beats me in the category of insanity, got it girly?” He explained, offering a playful smirk. Yes, he was definitely the number one lunatic.

[Kitty]

“I wonder how Leader-sama tracked you down then,”

It was unintentional on Jin's part, but his comment sent her on a short trek down memory lane. "Well, technically it wasn't Leader-sama," she mused. "It was his wife." She would never forget that day when her life changed entirely. First, there was the strange encounter with her the fortune teller called Madame Katrina; this woman became her "namesake" after everything was said and done. Then, a bubbly woman with dark, curly hair approached her and Rina, telling them about these unbelievable powers they possessed. That day seemed like it was all just a strange dream, but every time she woke up, there she was in her room at base, sharing a bed with Rina.

"I was an entirely different person back then, anyway," she said with a small chuckle. Jin would never know exactly how true that statement really was. For one thing, her name was something completely different, except for the first character in her surname. "Ishiko" to "Ishimaru" wasn't too grand a change, but it was just enough to keep her identity entirely hidden. Though, she didn't look much different from back in those times. Eh, it wouldn't matter. The base was not anywhere too close to her original living arrangement. As far as she was concerned, there was little or no chance of someone from her "old life" coming up to her and blowing her cover.

Her eyes lazily lingered on the man who sat across from her. This was typically the kind of person she liked to hang out with, when it came to personality. He was funny and easy to talk to. Yet, at the same time, if it had not been for her sudden change in lifestyle, she would have never met him. Having a drink with a seasoned assassin was definitely not something she had pictured herself doing but now, it was no big deal.

“Ah, that’s easy to tell,”

Smirk spreading across her lips, she nodded as she sipped from her beverage. "That's good, then" she cooed, obviously approving of Jin's keen eye. Sometimes, it was hard to tell the height difference between Kat and Rina--especially when there were things such as slouching and shoe height to take into account. At the end of the day, she was the elder and the taller of the two.

"Hey, hey, hey."

Eyebrow quirking upward, she wove her fingers into a cradle for her chin once more. Smirk remaining on her lips, her expression read, 'Well? I'm waiting.' Of course, it was all meant playfully. Then again, nothing about this conversation seemed serious, so it should be fine.

“Just setting this straight here, No one beats me in the category of insanity, got it girly?”


"I dunno if I can accept that so easily," she sang, tilting her head to the side. "People've been calling me crazy for years now," she added with a small wink. It was entirely true that her craziness was worse when she was younger, but that didn't mean that she had gone entirely sane in her older years.

[xJaxx]

“Well it technically wasn’t Leader-sama. It was his wife.”

Jin nodded as he took another sip of his float. So his assumption was correct. Then again, he was a rather lazy person for being the head of an organization. Jin couldn’t remember the last time he saw Leader-sama actually do something. He was often found simply sitting at the head of the meeting table, barking out instructions as well as information on other assassin organizations that posed a threat. Hell, Jin couldn’t remember if he even caught Leader-sama standing from his chair or venturing around base. What the hell did he do all day, anyway?

“I was an entirely different person back then, anyway.”

“Hell, who wasn’t?” he muttered, more of a rhetorical question than anything. He was sure the organization changed all of its members, some more than others, but then again, what sane person went around killing on their own free will before being recruited? He couldn’t remember any stories like that involving the members of Sasayaita Namida. Sure, there were members who trained pre-recruitment, but none really had a similar life to the one they would have once a member, even if theirs did come close.

“That’s good, then,”

He watched as a smile formed on her lips. She was dead-set on being taller than her partner-in-crime, wasn’t she? Then again, he could’ve vouched for her. When he was younger, he was always determined to be the tallest in his ring of friends. For some reason, height signified dominance and strength. And in a world of assassins, you didn’t want to be considered the shortest, or else you’d be picked out as the weakest link.

“I dunno if I can accept that so easily,”

“Hm?” he hummed in a quiet tone, quirking his eyebrow. She didn’t believe he was the number one lunatic? It was official then, she definitely hadn’t heard the rumors spreading about his insanity. But then again, there were always some truth behind the rumors. Although he wasn’t considered mentally unstable enough to be forced into a psych-ward, he certainly didn’t have the clearest mentality.

“People’ve been calling me crazy for years now.”

A soft chuckle escaped his lips. “Ha, crazy? That’s nothing.” He commented, resting his chin on his palm. He considered the term ‘crazy’ to be a watered-down term. “I was once called ‘crazy’ when I was a young man,” he mused. “That kid went missing the next day. They found his body a week later in an old ravine near our school’s campus. His skull was fractured in two places, and a long laceration cut right down to his spine.” A memorable smile crossed his lips. “They still haven’t found the murder.”

Repositioning himself closer to the table, he leaned in. With his voice barely above a whisper he asked, “What do you think of ‘crazy’ people now?”

[Kitty]

“Hell, who wasn’t?”

It was strangely comforting to hear someone (other than Rina) say about the changes evoked by Sasayaita. A grateful smile warmed her features. It made sense now--she wasn't all that strange, and neither was Jin. In a weird way, everyone at base was connected. True, the only apparent connection was the power held by each individual. However, there was something more--a sort of unspoken kinship. From the outside, it looked a lot like the members would all end up killing one another. When push came to shove, whether they would admit it aloud or not, they would all help each other out. Thinking about all the people she met through Sasayaita Namida in such a warm, fuzzy way felt strange. Usually, she was darting around base with Rina, bad-mouthing Leader-sama, teasing Tamaki, crushing Danny's dreams--something like that. To put it bluntly, she could be a real jerk when it suited her. Now here she was, drinking fruity bubble tea and thinking about how much she had grown to like the other assassins. Her eyes swept over Jin. Leave it to the supposedly psychotic (yet still very attractive) guy to bring out her soft, mushy side.

At first, she thought that Jin's confidence was much like her own--playful and not at all serious. She was right about the playful aspect, but she was beginning to think that he wasn't faking it at all. From his relaxed posture to his smirk--even through his dramatic poses which he tended to strike occasionally--everything about him screamed "Yeah. I'm awesome. I know."It almost made her wonder if the confident facade she'd been wearing since locating to base was even remotely believable. Had she really grown up to be a kick-ass butterfly, or was she the same self-loathing kid she'd always been?

She almost shook her head, but then realized how weird and unexplainable that would be. No, she hadn't really changed all that much. On the inside, she still hated the way she looked. She still found herself utterly useless. But yet, whenever she would talk to someone, she would take on this entirely new persona, beaming with confidence and such. Maybe it had something to do with constantly being surrounded by people who seemed to completely understand their power. Hell, she couldn't even explain how she was able to use her strength, let alone what it precisely did. Somehow, she was this organization's "secret weapon. Something about that just didn't seem right.

“Ha, crazy? That’s nothing. I was once called ‘crazy’ when I was a young man. That kid went missing the next day. They found his body a week later in an old ravine near our school’s campus. His skull was fractured in two places, and a long laceration cut right down to his spine. They still haven’t found the murder.”

"...Okay. Maybe the rumors are true." No matter how insane she was, Jin seemed to definitely have her beat in that category. Regardless, he still seemed like the fun-loving person he had originally come off as. It was weird, to say the least; even after hearing his typically bone-chilling tale, he seemed completely likable. Maybe she really had changed.
"Doesn't scare me off,"she finally said, grin spreading to the point that her eyes nearly closed. No matter how weird it was, it was the truth. Maybe she had gotten so incredibly used to living with assassins, Jin's "craziness" seemed to be the norm.

The waitress, in the meantime, managed to finish wrapping up her dango. With a bow and a smile, she placed a bag on the table next to her. Kat noticed that the bag had handles, making it easy to carry. "Ëven the take-out bags here are awesome," she thought musingly. This cafe really was a great find. Something told her that she would be going there a lot in the future.

[xJaxx]

“Doesn’t scare me off,”

Jin had to hand it to her; she was one tough chick for not being scared off by a horror story from a psychotic man sitting within reach of her. It was that, or the fact that she was simply oblivious to the blood-thirsty killers set loose around her that made her admirable. Either way, he couldn’t help but hold her in high regard. Anyone in their right mind would fear the people that she was sentenced to deal with—it was only normal to be frightened by seasoned killers. Then again, she did mention that she didn’t consider herself particularly sane, either. Perhaps she fit right in.

“Then what does scare you?” he questioned, his lips curling into an amused smirk. He loved figuring out what made people tick, and half of that was learning what the fears that consumed them were.

Leaning back in his chair, he reminisced about his past discoveries. It seemed that no matter how badass everyone at base wanted to come off as, they were still afraid of certain things—most of them trivial. Some were afraid of drowning, which was incredibly stupid of them considering the nearest body of water was in the next village where most of them never even stepped foot on, others were afraid of common things like bugs—which was probably the main reason why the dude with the “I wear my sunglasses at night as well as all the time” mindset was disliked so much, and even some feared thunderstorms and the dark.

He almost chuckled at the thought of everyone being frightened by such stupid things. He had to be the assassin with the biggest balls in the entire organization. He was the irresistible Jin. And Jin wasn’t afraid of anything.

…Well, not anything. There was one thing that could get him to fall to his knees in a crumbled heap of shrieks and tears. Well, actually, make that two: the thought of karaoke going extinct and bees. Bees were one of the things that stuck fear into his very core for one reason: he was allergic. That, and the fact that they were fat heaps of flying black and yellow that buzzed like jet engines. That was just freaky in itself.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the waitress brought back Cat’s wrapped dango. How long had he sat wrapped up in his thoughts? Leaning forward to rest his chin in his palm, he was thankful he didn’t drool. But then again, he was hot enough, he could pull it off.

[Kitty]

"Then what does scare you?"

Asthma attacks. Hydroplaning. Abandonment. Those were the main three. There were things that grossed her out (watching rhinoplasties), or things that seemed horrible (being sent on an actual mission to actually fight). Her main fears, however, were still the same as they always were. There was no way in hell she would let anyone at base know these fears. She knew that they'd probably write them off or make fun of her for them. There was no way she would outright TELL someone the things she was afraid of! No one in their right mind would do that! Then again, this guy wasn't really in his right mind...

"That's on a need-to-know basis and you don't need to know," she chimed after a brief pause, shrugging lightly. That was probably the best response she could give. It was casual, calm, and somewhat intriguing, if she did say so herself. It kept her interesting and seemingly fearless.

As soon as the wrapped dango was delivered safely to her and she had her time to marvel at how innovative the new boxing technology was, she glanced up at the large clock on the wall to the right of her. She hummed softly to herself, realizing that it was about time to head back to base. She promised she would be back by the time that Rina was done so that they could stretch together. No matter how monotonous things got or how lazy they both were, Rina insisted on making sure they were both still able to do splits. Rina was the better dancer, but Kat did have a decent amount of flexibility as well.

The thought of practicing splits prompted her to let forth a yawn, stretching her arms in an almost cat-like fashion. It was time to head home. "Well, I hate to say it, but I believe it's time for me to get going," she said with a regretful sigh. "Though, I must say, your company has been nothing short of enjoyable."

She had to admit, she hadn't imagined having so much fun: especially without Rina there. This guy wasn't bad at all. Actually, he had reduced her to a smiley, giggling mess. Reflecting back on the entire conversation, she admitted that it was almost embarrassing. When she got home, she would be sure to have a good sulk and retell her tale to Rina with great joy combined with great shame in herself.

Standing up, she pushed in her chair, turning to Jin. "Thanks for treating me, but I'm gonna head back. We'll have to do this again sometime. Or at least do karaoke." Then, with a final smile and a slight wave, she mewed "Well, later," before turning and half-skipping out of the cafe, dango container in hand.

The day had all in all been a success. She went to a maid cafe, got free food from a guy (an actual cute one, at that), made a new friend, and had plenty of stories for Rina (which was perhaps the greatest accomplishment of them all). Nothing would make the day even better than retelling the tale of Jin's girlish shriek, his strange, semi-psychotic mannerisms, and the fact that assassins actually do go out sometimes. Yes, tonight would be filled with talk of the "beautifully stunning Jin" and all his antics. "Rina's going to pee herself when I tell her this one," she thought to herself, grin widening as she continued on the path back home.

[xJaxx]

“That's on a need-to-know basis and you don't need to know,” She replied slyly with a shrug.

Jin reclined in his seat; resting his elbows on the back of his chair. His lips curled into an amused smirk and he raised his chin, silently challenging her response. She had guts to speak to him in such an assertive manner. But frankly, he admired that in an individual; especially in a female.

“You’ll open up to me, Kitten,” He responded smugly with a confident grin. It didn’t matter how desperately girls tried to play “hard to get” with him. He had an unspeakable charm about him that changed that game into “come get me” or even more satisfying for him, “I’ll come to you”. He was extremely gifted with women and it was only a matter of time until they fell into his trap. Well, it wasn’t really falling into a trap; more so just becoming mesmerized by his brilliancy.

As soon as Kat’s dango arrived at the table, she allowed a cat-like stretch and offered a reluctant, “Well, I hate to say it, but I believe it's time for me to get going.”

“Awh, already?” he groaned, adjusting the visor of his hat to lie above his right eye. Their conversation was just becoming interesting and she was leaving? Perhaps that’d give him all the more excuse to find her back at base and strike up a conversation.

“Though, I must say, your company has been nothing short of enjoyable,” she said before rising to her feet and pushing her chair in.

He figured there was no use in drawing out his stay so he indolently rose to his feet and allowed a stretch of his own; nonchalantly comparing her height to his. He easily towered over her and he silently approved. Short girls were attractive. After all, it was such a nuisance to have a walking skyscraper in heels strutting next to you constantly. Talk about over kill. 

"Thanks for treating me, but I'm gonna head back. We'll have to do this again sometime. Or at least do karaoke.”

He smiled and nodded his head, kicking his chair into place. “Sounds like a date then,” he responded with a wink. He knew once she heard his voice, she’d be all his. And hey, he wouldn’t mind hearing her sing, either.

Then with a final smile and a wave, she uttered a “Well, later,” before strutting out of the café with her dango in tote.

He watched her exit until she disappeared out the door and past the front windows. With an amused smirk, he readjusted his hat and vowed to look her up at base some time. Maybe he was a cat person, after all.