Niko’s Eye

Chapter 1.

Niko flew first class to Japan.

The airplane felt like home to Niko, she'd flown in them so often. She could curl up and sleep as easily as dozing on the couch. The engines roared and the wind rumbled, it was her sky-born haven, rocked by the winds that were far above the ground. Even as the engines turned and churned, her brain relaxed into dreaming mode. There were thousands of miles to go and all she had to do was let the revolutionized bird fly her there.

She was a government agent in America and a social militant by nature. She only flew first class, in her private jet.

Awoken 3 hours later by the semi-illuminated sky, she looked down as they glided over the sea.

And there it was, everything that ever mattered to Niko. A woven tapestry of the cities and forests, far closer than any of them ever knew. It is a world without frontiers from above.

Land, water, and cloud. The shoreline had become a figment as if it were evaporated in the heat.

Niko wondered if the world was now but one ocean, the waves moving freely, gathering pace.

Perhaps that's what happens when you are drifting. You are afraid that the perfect circle of blue is all that exists out there. It feels as if the wind comes to bring some sensation of touch, a soft hello from nature. And Niko had learned, in the desert of company, that it was better to let the brain be as empty as that horizon rather than to suffer the loss of hope and the tide of emotions it brought.

And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to forget.

The sin of the assassin was written in many lines, each one of them identical, each one of them icy cold.

That is why she had trained for all of the necessary skills of an assassin and a spy, to take on her mission.

There are assassins and then there are armed angels, whom and what you fight for makes all the difference in the world.

For what is psychological maturity other than learning how to make wise choices to protect others? The glorification of greed was like a golden tricycle being pedaled in circles at the end of a cul-de-sac, yet believing itself a fancy car shooting into the far horizon. Greed is always the product of a brain with the underdevelopment of its more highly evolved features.

Through her closed lashes, the sun-rays still shone and her mind wandered to the day of her parent's murder.

There were 5 of them. Each one of them had a face of pure malice and evil. One was bobbing along behind the others, clearly suffering from a leg deformation. As she had grown older, the more she had thought about it, the more she realized that they had made sure to cut the power in their street so they could commit their horrid acts in the dark without fear of being recognized. The men had cleverly crept upon her father from behind. Niko and her little brother had been hidden behind a tree in their front yard so that they could surprise their father, but they had seen how the men had pushed him into the alley that led to their door. Niko’s younger brother and herself had watched in astonishment and horror as their little minds tried to make sense of what was happening. They quickly realized it as their father’s throat was slit open in a semi-circle, all across the front. They each finished him off by taking turns putting a bullet in all of the fatality areas. His heart, his head, his spinal column, and the center of his neck. The gruesome butchering of her father acted as fuel for her hatred. As if that was not enough. They threw a fire-bomb through the window of their home and set it ablaze. They had hired a man to make sure that everyone inside was dead. At that time, Niko and her brother had already run inside, to their mother, only to be trapped by the fire.

Niko's favorite color had always been blue. She had graduated in blue, with sunflowers in her hair, yet now, as she flew across the ocean, under an unbroken sky, she lost her love for it. Other than the unforgiving sun, there was only blue to see - she felt like a lover of sugar, offered only sugar to eat forever.

The airplane had already arrived within the Japanese archipelago as Niko noticed a group of Japanese people who were busy with the Yamayaki mountain burning. She glanced at her wristwatch. Just in time for the rust-colored skies, and leaf-strewn paisage.

Niko's aesthetic was the black heavens, the soulful browns of forest brethren, and the pure white of fresh snow. She was in love with the greens of springtime and vivid petal hues. She was in love with the simple, the clean blue sky and the expanse of ocean. She was in love with the complexity of the meadow, the ecosystem, the aromas, the buzz of insect chatter. She was a nature person, and she took her cue from the Earth in how to feel so wonderfully at home in both her skin and in her world. She also had her Japanese genes to thank for her great skin.

As soon as they stepped foot on the Japanese soil, the air had a rainbow swirl, as if bright inks were dropped into a current with precision. On the skin it felt like silk on a hot day, cool and smooth. It eddied around her fingers as if it were water in some magic wishing well. Niko looked around her and took it all in, allowing time to stand still just for her, breathing it in.

I'm home.

The aircraft hanger was so large that even inside it felt totally different from being inside any structure that Niko recalled. The breeze moved freely from front to back and the light cascaded from windows onto the planes as softly as the forest sun onto trees.

The aircraft was parked in a massive iron barn. Shrink it down and I guess you could call it a fairly basic shed. Yet on the scale, it was. Everyone found it inspiring, as if when you stepped through the doors it was another world, one of steel and grit. Her boots met the concrete floor, as her eyes adjusted to the silvery light as if the place was so large that it had another sun.

She had a private driver who was ready to take her to the mansion that had been bought for her stay in Japan.

Her team had already flown in a week ago, so she was not worried about anything.

Sporting round-framed Chanel sunglasses, she pressed a button on the special watch that she was wearing and made a phone call.

"Have the training center ready. I'll be there soon."

And within a space of 35 minutes, she was standing in the middle of the training room of the mansion, clad in a white karategi, meditating.

As she breathed in, she remembered the words of her sensei.

"When you become in sync with the enemy, you're able to read their next move."

Then, with speed, she grabbed onto the handle of the sword that was in front of her with accuracy and exquisite reflexes.

It was Excalibur, shining in the sun as if it were fashioned from the brilliant rays themselves. The broad silvery metal was warmed, as was the rock it rested upon. In all the landscape it was the thing that drew the eye, a symbol of the kind of bravery that enables others to find their own courage, to be more than they thought themselves able to be. Yet, like the moon, it was a reflection of the sunlight, of love's own energy and the duty of protection.

She imagined a swarm of ninjas attacking her as she killed them all in her head, with ease.

Jabbing here and there, slicing through the sunlight and watching her back in the process.

Sweating from the sword fighting she had just done with imaginary enemies, Akimitsu Hiro walked in on her, clapping his hands.

"Welcome to Japan. I see that you are ready, Jin-Ae." Akimitsu was one of Niko's confidants. He was the man who was behind all of the high-tech designs and inventions that were used to protect Niko and her apprentices when they were set to be on their missions. He was a scientist, and they called him sword master because his blades were the finest in all the known kingdoms of Japan and beyond its borders. No matter how the power shifted in the district, the master was always honored. They worked together in America and grew very close, so Niko had to have him in on her plans in Japan. Every single person that was acquainted with Niko had sworn loyalty and service.

Fight with me and you'll have my sword for eternity; fight against me and you'll feel my sword just long enough to realize that I have ended you and all that awaits your consciousness is the vast emptiness of space. You are at my side or you are dying. That's not a gamble, that's a certainty. I am a fighter, but I'm smart. Intelligence, strength, and empathy go together more often than folks imagine. Thinking that we only get one thing or the other keeps us from looking for more talents, to stack the advantages high and tall. Sports folk don't realize they can be a genius too; loving folks don't realize that they can be a fighter. I'm everything I want to be.

"Are we ready for the arms-dealing event in Hawaii?" Akimitsu showed Niko a few gadgets that they were to use on their mission. He nodded. "Always ready, Jin-Ae."