Right now I have him training with the wooden peg dummy, his least favorite thing to practice, mostly because it's the only thing that he hasn't mastered yet. He dances around it expertly, but at the same time erring on the side of caution, while I look on, bored. I turn my gaze to the ceiling and take in the image of the "Rising Red Sun", the j.a.panese military symbol and motto, and in my opinion, a whole bunch of stupidity. Apparently we are meant to rise above our enemies no matter what, no matter our injuries, we always rise, like the sun.

A yelp tears me from my thoughts. Shadow has gotten smacked in the arm by one of the wooden pegs, hard. His dagger goes skittering across the floor and the others in the training room look up and sn.i.g.g.e.r. A grin spreads across my face and I smirk down at him saying, "What? Pick up the dagger and keep going. You ain't done yet boy." He staggers to his feet, clutching his right arm in obvious pain. It's probably gone numb from the hit, not that I care though. I just want him to get back to his training.

"My name is Shadow," he growls at me. "Not boy!"

"Shut up," I retort, backhanding him hard across the face. I can feel his teeth clash against each other, as the blood sprays from his mouth. He steps back, his arm forgotten. "They always said the best way to feel better was to create more pain in a different place, and then you forget about your other pain. It seems as if they are right. Now get your dagger and get backk to work. I don't tolerate disrespect. And no more complaints, I know full well that you don't need your mouth to fight a wooden dummy." He obeys this time, and goes to pick up his dagger, Daku, from where it skittered across the floor when he fell. He attacks the dummy with renewed vigor, blood from his mouth speckling the front of his tunic. I can almost hear what he's thinking, how he's pretending the dummy is me in his rage.

Around the room the other a.s.sa.s.sins are training their apprentices and they turn their gazes away from me and Shadow. Thats right the shows over guys, I think, while imaging how I'll tear off their heads when the time comes. It should be anytime now, if Commander Airon was feeding me the right information, if he trusted me. I look around one more time, bored out of my skull, when my eyes light on this girl who just walked " I mean, she's beautiful." She has auburn hair with blond highlights and sparkling hazel eyes, that almost look like they have a diamond pattern around the pupils if you stare hard enough. Her name is Capt. Audrey, no doubt coming in on her routine check. The rumor is that if you do really good and she thinks you deserve a reward, you might just end up there. She keeps looking at me, and my thoughts are going haywire. I see her hands in my hair, messing it up, and my hands around her waist. Maybe she'll look at me and say I'm yours, and then I'll be like I know… Stop. You are the most highly trained a.s.sa.s.sin in the j.a.panese royal military. You can't be fantasizing about a girl right now. Get it together Bolt. I'm thinking about going up to her when she puts her hands on her hips and glares right at me. Holy c.r.a.p, holy c.r.a.p, this is it. I'm done for.