Mission Assassinate

He breathed in slowly, his eyes closed with a blindfold, shielding the world from his green irises. His ears hearing heightened, listening all around the room for the slightest sound, the slightest movement, the slightest breath. He would be ready when his partner decided to attack, to evade his personal space with slashes of metal.

Movement was heard to his left, and he moved accordingly. He moved swiftly, away from the slashing blade. It slashed air, right where his shoulder would've been. He grabbed his assailant by his shoulder and pushed him off his balance, moving behind him to grab the katana, holding it to his assailant's throat.

A lone chuckle immersed the room, coming from his pinned assailant. "You're better, Axel." Axel could feel the vibrations of the man's voice through the katana at his throat.

Axel lifted the blindfold from his eyes, releasing his partner from his grip. "Well, now it's your turn to be blind, Roxas." He undid the knot he had on the blindfold around his head, and wrapped it around Roxas' blue eyes, securing them shut momentarily. He tied the knot so the blindfold won't slip, but easily enough that they could take it off later.

The red headed ninja moved to the other side of the room, opposite Roxas, moving his feet as quietly as possible. "I won't go easy on you, y'know." Roxas grinned at the comment.

"I wasn't expecting you to."

A pair of nunchucks was pulled out from Axel's back pocket, and he swung it through the air. Wuff, wuff. The weapon made a quick noise in the air, swinging to his left, then right. Left, right. A slow paced pendulum, speeding up in pace until the mechanics of the clock were a whirlwind. They were in the air and moved towards Roxas' leg, aiming to latch onto it and pull him down.

Roxas moved swiftly away, dancing across the floor, moving away from that action of torture. Axel whipped the other one in the direction Roxas danced to, causing him to leap in the air. While doing so, Roxas unsheathed his katana, which was strapped to his hip. He landed on the floor, poised for another attack. He heard Axel's fluid steps to the right, and noticed they got a bit louder as he stepped more to the right.

One more step was all Roxas needed.

He lunged, cutting Axel's leg. Axel cursed and leaped away from the sword wielding nin, his nunchucks flying in the air. Roxas heard the sound, and swiped at one of the nunchucks, his katana sticking itself to the wood. He yanked at it, pulling Axel toward him, while simultaneously landing a blow to Axel's legs, causing Axel to fall. Roxas grabbed the end of the nunchuck that wasn't stuck to the end of his katana, and as he landed on Axel's torso, pinned the nunchuck to Axel's neck.

"Pinned ya."

Axel grinned, though Roxas couldn't see it. "That you did, Roxie. That you did." He paused. "Y'know, you look rather sexy in that blindfold." He was smirking as he said it, wondering what Roxas' reaction would be to that statement.

Roxas' returned smirk mirrored Axel's more than he knew, and he lowered himself to where he was right next to the red head's ear, keeping his hold on the nunchucks pinning Axel's throat. "I think you looked sexier, to tell you the truth," he whispered lowly, raking his tongue over the shell of Axel's ear, teasing, before sitting back up and releasing the nunchucks from Axel's throat. He rolled up off of the red head, and pulled the blindfold off, raking a hand through his golden locks.

"You fuckin' tease," Axel muttered, shaking his head and glaring at the blonde.

"I aim to please," Roxas replied sarcastically, and looked in the corner to his far left, noticing someone standing there. Axel turned as well to get a view of the figure.

A lone figure stood in the corner, arms crossed,his expression sullen. The man walked towards the center of the room purposefully, eyeing Axel and Roxas critically. "Better," he said. "You two are as quick as lightning on a plain." He picked up one of the pairs of nunchucks that were splayed on the floor a few feet away from Axel. He grabbed it carefully, as blades were imbedded in this particular pair of nunchucks, the other pair being free of blades. He handed it to Axel as he started to get up off of the floor, free from Roxas. Axel took the nunchucks, and the man noticed the cut on Axel's leg from when Roxas had swiped at him. "Get your leg cleaned before coming to see me. I have a special mission for you two."

Axel looked down at his leg, just now remembering that Roxas had sliced him. The wound didn't look too deep, but blood was gushing from it like a fountain. There was a small stin on the floor the size of half of a dollar bill, staining the wood with his blood. "We'll get him cleaned up," he heard Roxas' voice say from above, Axel still in mid-crouch on the floor, looking at his leg. He looked up to nod, but the man was gone. Their Superior had left as quick as he'd shown. Axel had to hand it to him, Zexion knew how to make an entrance and exit just as fast from it.

He rose up to his full height from the crouched position he was in, and winced slightly as his leg muscles tightened, and the air got to his wound. Roxas led him silently into another room so the pair could dress and tend to the wound. They found a bench in the next room and Axel sat down on it's red-painted exterior, propping his leg up for him and Roxas to tend to.

A hand towel was handed to Axel, and once it was taken by the red head, Roxas turned to find the hydrogen peroxide. Axel mopped the cut, moving to where it dripped down his leg, soaking the red up. His blood dyed the once white fabric to a spotty red, and he set it aside as Roxas sat beside him with hydrogen peroxide and a cotton ball, soaking the cotton and running it down the cut. The cut stung and Axel hissed, the air sucked into his mouth, only escaping once the pain ended.

The cut wasn't bleeding, and since there wasn't a bandaid made big enough for the cut, Roxas put gauze over it, securing each end with medical tape. "All right, then. Looks like it's about as tight as we're going to get it," Roxas stated, as Axel stood up. "Better go and see what special mission Zexion wants to send us on."

"I hope it's a good one. Our missions have been lousy lately," Axel drawled jokingly, as they turned the maze of turns to get to Zexion's room, knocking first before entering. Roxas slid the thin door aside to find Zexion sitting on a floor mat on the far end of the room, two floor mats placed in front of him. The table between the mats was but six inches in height off the ground, and an unrolled scroll lay on it, flattened out.

The closer the pair got to the table, the more detail they could see on the map. All of the areas to the northwest were painted red; the areas to the southwest painted yellow; blue painted the northeast; purple on the southeast, and white in the center, with a red dot signaling the dojo they were sitting in . They sat on the mats, Roxas crossing his legs, Axel sitting with his legs folded under him.

"Glad to see that your leg is bandaged up, Axel," Zexion said approvingly, eying the white bandage hiding the cut from view and infection. "I suppose I shall get to the heart of the matter: the mission I'm assigning you two on. It's S-Ranked, as always, but this time, it's a far more serious matter than the other missions I've sent you on."

Both Axel and Roxas looked at each other quizically before turning their attention back to Zexion. "How serious are we talkin' here?" Axel asked, leaning forward to look at the map.

"The assassination of northwest's Leader, Saïx," Zexion informed them, pointing at the red section of the map. "He's been giving the Northwest hell for two years, taking on dictatorship qualities. I would like to lighten the load and just end him all together, which is why I'm sending you two to assassinate him."

Blonde eyebrows arched up. "This is a serious matter, then, isn't it?" Roxas muttered, biting the tip of his thumbnail.

"We're in," Axel decided, excitement in his emerald eyes. He turned to Roxas, wanting to confirm his sudden outburst of decision. Roxas nodded an affirmative.

Zexion nodded. "You two certainly are ready for such a task." He got a pin out, swiping his slate hair from his eyes, as he stuck a place in the red close to the yellow. "His palace is on the outskirts of the Northwest region, more toward the Southwest. I think it would be best for you to navigate through the southwest to get to his palace, rather than go through our own to get there. The Southwest is rugged, with vegetation abound, so it'll be easier to conceal yourselves."

The two ninja before him nodded to show that they were listening, looking at the map as he suggested where to go. "As you know I wasn't here much a few days ago, and here's the reason why," Zexion said, bringing up the few days he was absent and they had to train under the eye of Xaldin. He pulled out a piece of rolled up paper, and unrolled it, setting rocks on either end to keep the ends from curling up. "I managed to snag the blueprints of the palace, and was able to figure out which room Saïx resides in."

Axel and Roxas were staring at the blueprint, their heads not but an inch or so apart as Zexion explained where to go, and how to get in without so much as a trace, and get out quickly.

"From the front of the castle," Zexion said, pointing to the side of the paper facing Axel and Roxas, "the office Saïx resides in is to the left, and at the very back of the building. His bedroom is right across the hall. From what I've seen, he stays in his office from 9 to 5, goes to the dining hall from 5 to 7, and retires for the evening at 8, usually taking the hour in between to do whatever he pleases."

Concentration was etched across Axel's face, Roxas nodding while looking at the blueprint for the castle. "You've been planning this for a while, it seems, to be able to know that schedule," Roxas noted carefully, his hand propping his head up as he was taking in the information.

Zexion nodded. "I've known about Saïx's behavior for awhile, and have been planning," he agreed, putting a black dot on Saïx's office, and bedroom to show which rooms the blue-haired leader would be in majority of the time. He then rolled up the paper, taking the rocks that were holding down the paper and re-rolling it again, tying it up with a piece of twine. He did the same with the map of the nation, rolling it up smaller.

A swiveling motion was made, plus a few steps in order to get the container to carry the documents in, Zexion closing the container before walking and handing it to Axel, who took it and swung the strap around his head, placing it on his back. The pair of ninja stood up, Axel stretching his leg slowly, but managing to get up at normal speed.

"It should take three days to get there," Zexion informed them, before bowing at them, the pair of nin returning the bow.

"We'll do our best," Axel replied, before the pair left the room to get their weapons in order and set out on the mission.

Like Zexion had predicted, it took them three days to reach the castle, and by that time it was nightfall. Perfect timing for an ambush, and perfect timing for slaying. Clad in dark clothing and masks covering their faces, they first set out to figure out which part of the building they had come upon, and would investigate further once that bit of information was clarified.

The windows were darkened, and the landscape around them was vast, not a gate in sight. Remembering that the gates were out front, they had figured out that they were in the backyard of the castle. Guards were lined up at the doorway from the back and front, preventing anyone from coming in that way without a reason to get in.

Roxas noted trees near the bedroom window, and the pair hopped branches, getting near the roof. They decided to go on the roof, and climb in through the vents instead of using the window. Roxas went first, raring back to the trunk of the tree, and making a flying leap to the roof, landing soundlessly. Axel followed, landing beside the blonde in the same pattern. They found a vent and slipped through it, reaching the inside of the castle quick and easy.

Blending in the shadows is what ninjas were taught to do the best, and they clung to the corners of the hallway like spiders on a web. The hallway they came in was large, and vast. Twenty-five feet high it seemed, there were plenty crevasses to hide in, and not a far walk to the bedroom where Saïx was known to be sleeping, where he would soon be sleeping forever.

Two guards stood watch outside of the bedroom, another two at the end of the hallway. Both Roxas and Axel pulled out shurikens and aimed for the farthest of the guards first. Their aim was precise, and killed the guards swiftly, both falling over. One had his head clean off, the others head halfway cut off.

This drew the attention to the guards at the door, who called out the names of the guards at the end of the hall and rushed toward them. Before they could speak another breath the oxygen was taken out of them by the pair of intruders, throwing more shurikens at their main points.

"There are going to be more of them, so we'd better hurry," Axel rushed, opening the bedroom door to an awoken Saïx, wondering what was going on.

"Who in the-"

Roxas got out three shuriken, and quick as a whip, aimed them at Saïx's head. One slashed his throat and stuck into the head board of the bed, another cutting his head wide open, the last of them skimming his head and sticking into the wood behind him. Blood spattered the bed, and head board, Saïx dead where he lay.

Commotion was heard in the hallway, and coming fast. They knew they needed to leave quickly, and so they did. Their deed was done, and they needed to head back to the dojo and report back to Zexion.