Red Lady Cigarettes

Chapter 1: "What does that make me?"

Tenko Kumori is a woman of ambitions. Ambitions that in many ways points to a tyrannical rule of her alone somewhere beneath the expanse of the underground society. Be it gangs, petty criminals, villains, undercover armies. She wanted a part of it, for profit, for her own gain, to rule something and prove that she's not to be trifled with.

She did establish a name, although it wasn't Tenko alone that induced fear. Villains know who she is, but she isn't quite the one that sent them running with tails between their legs. Somehow, when Tenko Kumori is associated in a feud between enemies, they'd end up dead before the argument could come into a conclusion. With certain death looming against antagonizing Tenko, it worked in her favour to be feared. Her enemies never saw Tenko fight, her words are proven to be more powerful than her physical prowess, so they never suspected her of killing those who've wronged Tenko by her own bare hands.

They wanted to know what she's hiding, rather, who is holding the scythe behind Tenko's shadows.

When the Meta Liberation Army had assembled to go against the League of Villains, she was there to fight for the side she chose. Before the battle had concluded, Tenko Kumori was one of the people that disappeared during the bloodshed. She was gone, her flames of ambitions snuffed out in an anti-climactic end.

No one knew who her shadow was, who did the work for her to attain such respected status in the hegemony between villains. Somehow, they could still feel the presence of this power in their bones, Tenko was gone, but something is still out to get them.

And when Tenko's fire disappeared, all that's left was her shadow, lurking in silence. Without a fire to control the darkness, who would've thought that it's better to get hurt by the fire, than be eaten by the shadows when it's gone?

And no one had ever felt the growing aftermath of her death other than Tenko's own advisor and right hand man.

Ganga's residence, in a May day eve is a grim sight to behold specially in the bleakest hour of the night while the rain is pouring hard. The old man, Ganga, was sitting beside the fireplace enjoying the warmth of the whiskey coating his mouth in a thin film. Just the right hit and sting, he thought.

"Good evening Monsieur."

A sudden jolt from the soft voice sent him to his senses, and he turned his head to see the empty chair slowly get occupied from the crimson smoke billowing to form a figure of a lady. He could feel his hair rise to the tip from the familiarity of the presence, there's just some sense of primal fear his own subconscious is telling him.

"Shinkiro? I thought you're dead?"

"I'm going to make this quick." Just as he remembered, the scarlet slits inside the orbs of her eyes sliced thinner as she asked a question. "Where is my mother?"

Ganga sighed in response, before pouring himself another round. "I know it's difficult for you to accept." He stated, taking a sip before continuing shortly. "But your mother died from the war. I advised her against it, but she believes in Re-Destro, and faith kills people." A chuckle subtly left his mouth before pointing a finger to the lady across the room. He noticed that he just couldn't stop shaking since.

"I'm sorry, little Shin, I truly am. You see, Tenko asked me to raise you as a dependent weapon. Something that could kill dozens of threats, but the biggest part was you'd have to be dependent to someone. In your case, your mother was the one who takes control over your actions."

"What are you trying to say?"

"You cannot function well without someone ordering you around. You're not cut out to live like other people, you're built different, it wasn't just your abilities to fight that was honed, your mind and your morale is crafted to be someone else's power. Don't you see it? Your mother treated you like filth and here you are looking for that fucking monster." Ganga shook his head before gulping the burn of the liquor on his tongue, and continued. "You were raised to serve, you can fill the gaps with money, luxury, liquor, and power. But you'll never feel whole."

"What does that make me?"

"Oh, I don't know." The man focused his gaze on the fire, as if he was reminiscing about the past, and he was. "I can't help but feel your rage Shinkiro. This is the same dead calm I felt when I asked you to kill those ten kids. You were just seven years old. I don't know if my words could have an ounce of sincerity at this point but I'm sorry. What you've become is not your fault, from here on out, who you will be is entirely up to you. Now that Tenko's dead."

The silence thereafter was filled with nothing but the sounds of the rain trickling down and the crackles of wood burning from the fireplace. Ganga's head rested on the back of his hands above the tip of his cane, he stared into the fire as if Shinkiro wasn't even there. Her heels clicked on the wooden floor, clicking twice when she walked two steps near the man and held out her hand to pull out her gun out of the crimson haze in a split second.

"Thank you, Monsieur. I'll never forget the lessons I learned. Consider this quick death an act of mercy."

Another click, and it was a different one. A click followed by a loud bang, which had put and end to Ganga. The body crashed down, flesh, blood, and particles smeared over the marble floor and splattered the carved walls. The old man's eyes soon dilated, she watched the pupils expand until it was lifeless.