An Assassin's Respite

We're Coming Kari

Kazuna, Kagura, and Ria were crouched on top of a building looking over the edge. Some five hundred feet away, they could see the warehouse that Ria said Kari was taken to. 

"Why aren't there any guards?" Kagura questions.

"Because that would be suspicious. Why would a factory need guards at the front entrance? Most likely, once you walk through those doors, there will be guards on the inside," Kazuna states.

"I see," Kagura mumbles.

"Alright, here's the plan. I'm going to walk in through the front door," He says.

"Huh?!" Kagura and Ria exclaim in unison.

"You heard me," Kazuna says.

"But that's suicide," Kagura states.

"Why walk through the front door when you could easily sneak in?" Ria asks.

"Just listen. I'm going to burst through the front door, and when I do that, Ria, you're going to go invisible and walk past me and start looking for Kari," Kazuna explains.

Ria gives him a nod.

"What about me?" Kagura asks.

"You'll hide behind the stone wall in front of the entrance, and after about two and a half minutes after I enter the building, that's when you'll enter behind me. Then the two of us will move through the factory," Kazuna replies.

"Understood," She says.

"Are we all clear?" Kazuna asks.

"I still don't understand why you don't just sneak and take Kari back? It would be way faster and much easier," Ria says.

"This way, I can send a message that they shouldn't bother trying to take her back. Also, I have to pay them back for the hospitality that they showed Kari," Kazuna answers as he makes his way down the building.

Ria and Kagura smile as they follow behind him. Kagura gets in place while Ria stands next to Kazuna.

"You ready?" Kazuna asks.

"Mhm," Ria mumbles with a nod.

"This will be the first time I'll get to see how much you've grown, so you better show me what you've got," Kazuna says.

"Right," Ria says before she goes invisible.

"Now then, it's been a while since I let loose. Let's hope I don't go too crazy," Kazuna whispers.

He unsheathes his sword and cuts the door to shreds. He took a couple of steps in, but multiple guards surrounded him immediately. Kazuna pans over the guards.

"7...8...9. Nine guards. Just nine guards? They're sorely underestimating me," He says to himself while cracking his neck.

"I don't know who you are, but you've got some nerve busting in here like that," One of the guards says.

"You all took someone important to me. If you return her to me, we can forget that this ever happened," Kazuna states.

"You're in over your head, kid. You should stay in a kid's place.” Another man says.

Kazuna sighs. "Guess I'll just have to force my way through," He states.

"That should have been enough time for Ria to get past all the guards and find a way in," He notes to himself.

Just as this thought passes through his mind, one of the guards rushes him, but Kazuna disappears before the man reaches him. He searches desperately for Kazuna, but his search is cut short by the sound of one of his men's screams. He looks at the source of the shout, but before he could rush to the noise, he hears another cry from the opposite side of the room, then another in the back, and then one that came from just a few feet from where he was.

"Wha... What is this?" He asks himself.

He was sweating profusely, and fear had frozen him in place. Before he could gather the courage to run, he feels a frightening presence behind him and the cold touch of a blade pressing against his neck. He starts to hyperventilate, and his body begins to tremble. His mind struggles with whether he should run, stay frozen, or fight. 

"How much time has passed? It feels like I've been standing here for hours. How long would this go on? Am I going to die? Will I live?" He wondered.

His mind was crumbling from the fear, and at some point, he had wet himself. His heart starts to beat harder and faster by the second until Kazuna presses the sword father into his skin, drawing blood, and causing the man to collapse finally. In the end, he had only been standing there for a few seconds.

Not too long after the man passed out, Kagura walks in. She looks around and sees the result of Kazuna's assault. 

"How did you get rid of all these guards in that short amount of time?" She asks.

"Honestly, I thought that there would be more guards, but it seems that they underestimated me. I wanted to get information from this guy, but he fainted, so I wasn't able to get anything from him," He answers.

"I-I see," Kagura replies.

"He really is on a different level," She thinks to herself.

"In any case, we should get moving. Even though Ria is looking for Kari's location, we should search as well. We may find her before Ria does," Kazuna states.

"Right," Kagura responds.

The two start to make their way to the back of the room they were in. Towards the other side of the room, there was a door to their left. It was already open, and there seemed to be an arrow carved into the wall. He suppresses a smile as he pushes the door open. Kagura goes to walk down the stairs, but Kazuna stops her. 

"This is the last chance you'll have to leave, so if you're not fully committed, then I won't think any less of you for leaving," Kazuna says.

"Thanks for the warning, but there's no way I'm leaving when I know that Kari is down those stairs," Kagura responds as she gently removes Kazuna's arm from her shoulder.

"Thought so," Kazuna says.

The two make their way down the stairs and are treated to a hallway full of people.

"Please tell me you have a plan," Kagura says with a worried look on her face.

"Yeah, just watch my back. And don't bother drawing your sword. There isn't enough space for it, so rely on hand-to-hand combat and your power to get it done," He says.

"Not really a plan, but I’ll do my best," Kagura says.

Kazuna, as if he was getting ready for a sprint, creates a path in his mind, and after a few seconds, he bursts forward. He dances through the enemy, moving as fluid as water. He didn't need to put extra effort into making sure he knocked everyone out since he had Kagura there to clean up after him. 

The two breezed through thanks to Kazuna's marvelous martial arts, and Kagura's swift but powerful wind attacks. Once they dispatch the last obstacle, Kazuna takes a deep breath and exhales.

"Nicely done, Kagura," He says.

"Thanks, but I'm not sure if I really did anything," She deflects.

"No, you did more than you think. You being there allowed me to continuously move forward and not spend extra time on one opponent. If you weren't there, I would still be fighting, and I would have had to use my power a bit if I wanted to make it through without taking any damage," He states.

"So, you're saying you could have done it without me?" She asks, a bit depressed.

Kazuna flicks her on her forehead.

"Ow," She wines.

"You're thinking too small. We're here to rescue Kari, right?" He asks.

"Mhm," Kagura nods.

"Do you think we'll be able to save her without facing the guy that took her?" He asks.

"No," She answers.

"Then me being able to conserve my strength is a huge help. I'm limited to how much lighting I can use, and although Mrs. Kamina healed me, it's not as if my injuries are completely gone. The guy that we'll have to face is strong, and when fighting strong opponents, things that seem insignificant become instrumental," Kazuna explains.

"Are you saying that to make me feel better?" She pouts.

"When have I ever sugar-coated anything?" He retorts.

"True, you don't really hold your tongue," Kagura agrees.

"Come on, something tells me that there's still a lot of ground to be covered," Kazuna says.

They run through the basement of the warehouse with Kazuna bursting through doors, a decision that Kagura found uncharacteristic.

"Should we be going about this in such a rough manner?" Kagura asks.

"I know it may seem a little out of character, but by drawing attention to ourselves, we give Ria the freedom to search for Kari without having to worry about maneuvering through guards," Kazuna states.

"But wouldn't being stealthy help us as well?" Kagura asks.

"That's what they're expecting us to do?" Kazuna answers.

"Huh?" Kagura asks, still confused.

"When I was fighting the guy that took Kari, he said that I was as good as he was told. But who told him that? The guy I ran into I took to Yuu's agency, and you called special agents to take the three guys I ran into a couple of days later into custody, right?" Kazuna asks.

"Right," Kagura replies.

"Then that means he must have some other source for information. Someone that knows about my background as an assassin. If he has access to that type of information, then he definitely has access to some type of way to trap me," Kazuna explains.

"That's amazing how you were able to come to that conclusion from a single statement," Kagura exclaims.

"It comes with the territory. But truthfully, he made a mistake. I would have fallen into his trap if he simply changed what he said to 'You're as good as I thought you'd be,'" Kazuna states.

Kagura flashes back to Kazuna, saying that insignificant things can become instrumental. She had still somewhat thought that he had been trying to make her feel better, but what he just said removed that thought from her mind entirely.

"Do you think they'll be able to come up with a different trap?" Kagura asks.

"If I were to guess, their original plan would have been to leave Kari lightly guarded, baiting me to rescue her. Once I made my move they were probably planning on surrounding me. But with that plan out the window, they'll probably use her as a hostage of sorts," Kazuna replies.

"But isn't she important to them?" She asks.

"Yes, but she's also important to us, and they know that we won't risk her getting hurt on the assumption that they won't harm her. They clearly have physically abused her beforehand, so I'm sure they'll use some dirty tactics to get us to surrender," Kazuna responds.

"I can't believe these guys," Kagura says through gritted teeth.

"Be that as It may, we'll have to think of a way to foil their plan. The best way would be to move a bit more slowly and hope that Ria finds Kari's location first," Kazuna says.

Just as he says this, Ria appears in front of them.

"Speak of the devil. So, I assume you found her?" He asks.

"Yes," She replies.

"Great! But how did you find us?" Kagura asks.

"I may have put a tracking device on Kazuna," She answers, a bit ashamed.

"When did-" Kazuna starts to ask, but then he remembers that he had Ria go and get his change of clothes.

"Nevermind, at least you were able to find us. Actually, this is the best-case scenario. Listen close, this is what we're going to do," Kazuna starts to explain.