Elena. Now that's a name I won't forget anytime soon. Simply calling her beautiful would be a grave understatement. She was magnificent: fiery ginger hair, an amazing figure, and the captivating way that she swayed her hips as she walked; but what caught my eye was her personality.

She was a deadly sniper, with the patience to support her profession. However, many of the the cadets thought of this and tried to use it to their advantage, and ended up facedown on the mat of the training room in rather, questionable contortions. After a few missions with her, I realized that she was as cold and vicious as the bullets she wielded in the field of battle. But when not doing her job, she had a more, carefree lifestyle.

As for me, I was busy in C Class going through the mundane missions, not really paying attention to the other agents. But I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a little bit excited when Elena asked me one day to accompany her on a hit mission the higher ups had called: the target was a sleazy ambassador with a less than pristine track record. I looked over the mission file.

"But couldn't you handle this on your own?" I looked at her when I finished reading. The guy rarely had any guards on him. There wouldn't be a need for a contingency plan.

"Sugar, if I wanted to do this alone, I would have." She smirked, sliding off the table she was sitting on, "So what'll it be? Ready for a trip to the city of Paris?" She said it like it was a vacation. I shook my head and tossed the file on a nearby desk.

"Wouldn't it be better if you took the other A Class agents, they're more qualified than me." I was playing coy of course, because I had a hard time believing that she would just ask me of all people. I was nothing special compared to the other C Class agents.

"Let's just say that the other A Classes... well..." She paused for a long while, "Okay, there's no real nice way to say it, but they've got their head up their asses." I snickered a bit and sat down in a folding chair.

"Alright, I'll go, let me get my bags packed and we'll head down to the flight deck. I need to stretch my legs a bit anyway, C Sector's getting a little too crowded..." I cracked a smile before heading down to the armory, loading up a suitcase of my custom built pistol, a G36C, and a Baretta .50 cal, as well as an Armani suit.

"Well ain't you the textbook definition of classy. Are you sure you're not compensating for something?" she said with a playful smile. I shake my head with a smile and head onto the private jet. Throughout the entire flight, we only made light conversation, I got to know a bit about her life.

She was orphaned at 13, parents had died in a car crash just off of I-90, spending her life bouncing from foster family to foster family. She joined the Agency at around 25, working her way up ever since. Standard procedure, all ties cut with any immediate family and personal records kept under lock and key, like our history was so dangerous. To the extent of my knowledge, I never had a file, or a record--My documents were somehow 'lost' when they found me-- like I had never existed.

"So who did you live with?" I asked, wondering how foster parents raised children in the States.

"Well, like I said, I bounced from family to family. But I remember this one couple, in Alabama, they were so nice to me, reminded me of my parents, except they had so many other children to take care of aswell, so it wasn't long before I had to transfer to another state, another family. Never stayed more than a year with a single family." I sighed when she finished, but was caught off guard when she turned her attention to me, "So what about you? I don't see a handsome fellow like you everyday."

In my mind, I envied her.

"I'm nobody special..." I balled up my fists in embarassment. She looked at me with a disbelieving grimace.

"Don't be silly darling, I read over your file." I perked up when she mentioned that I actually had one. "Don't worry, anything concerning you, the officials already cleared for me to tell you." She waved a hand, letting me relax a bit, then leaned back in her chair. "So, guy like you becomes heir to a living national treasure, good with a pistol, and trained in 3 styles of martial arts. Not bad, sug." She stated. She had a light country accent, probably picked it up from her living in the south.

"So be honest, starting with why you keep your hair so long. I mean look at you, I can't even see your eyes." I winced as she brushed back my bangs, revealing my dark crimson irises underneath. "Oh wow... I've never seen..." She paused. I half expected her to be afraid, but what she said really surprised me, "...such beautiful eyes before."

"Beautiful... heh... you must be mistake." I looked away, brushing my bangs back down, "All I've heard half my life was how evil I looked behind them..."

"Aww, now don't be like that..." She pouted "They're like little rubies."

"Tell that to the priests back in Kantou Prefecture, they've looked on them as bad omens." I slouched in my chair, leaning back against the headrest, "Sometimes when I think about how my life's been so far, I wouldn't blame them if it really was a bad omen."

"Come on now, you don't really think that, do you?" She asked, crossing her arms. "If it helps, I'm not really a ginger." I wasn't surprised, people dye their hair all the time, "My hair's actually white. I got picked on sometimes, called granny once or twice. Had to slug them, of course, but it never got me down or kept me from making friends, at least until I moved again."

"Do you still keep in contact with them?"

"Not since I joined the agency..." I decided to drop the conversation at that, staying quiet the rest of the night, looking out the window. I wondered what it would be like to actually be outside the plane, amonst the clouds...

The first night, we decided to actually enter the jazz club, plot the layouts, exit routes, etc. We acted casual, almost like regulars. I let Elena do all the talking since I had never taken the time to learn French. I was impressed, for someone with a country accent, she spoke as fluently as a native. I had to admire her for her adaptability. She passed by me, handing me a drink while whispering in my ear.

"Sleezebag at 2:00, apparently he likes to have a little more than a dance, if you know what I mean." I looked to my right to find the target, openly kissing a waitress with no one on the dance floor seeming to notice. I suddenly felt a tug on my sleeve. Turning, I find it to be Elena, suddenly drawing me close to her.

"Don't look at him too much, you'll draw his attention. I'll keep an eye on him for now." Her harsh expression turned into a shy one just as quickly, "So, how about a dance? It is a jazz club after all, and look, they're even playing my favorite number..."

"Huh, I didn't expect a person like you to have a taste for jazz..." I remarked.

"What, just because I'm a country girl?"

"Yes." I replied bluntly, she snickered a bit.

"Well, I guess I can't call you for a sweet-talker then, now can I?" I shrug lightly and take her hand in mine.

"I was never one to lie..." I said, placing my other hand in the small of her back, "Shall we dance?"

The next night was the last night we'd be staying in Paris, after all, once the shot's out, we have to get our asses out of the country before the borders are locked down. We stationed ourselves on the building across the street, overlooking the top floor of the club. The plan was simple, if Elena missed the shot, I was to take it within a tenth of a second time difference. I pulled open the stand for the rifle, positioned right next to Elena.

"From what I can tell, Mr. Casanova likes to hit it up with one of the waitresses upstairs," Elena explained, "right about... now."

The ambassador came in, amorously hugging the waitress from the night before. I looked through my scope, amplifying the view.

"Elena, we don't want to blow his brains out right in front of her." I felt her going for the trigger, "Wait until she goes to change."

"How did you-"

"Don't think about it, just concentrate on taking the shot." I kept my finger primed above the trigger. The rifle was rather bulky, but at best, it was semi-automatic. We waited 2 minuted before the waitress went to the bathroom. As soon as the knob turned, Elena fired.

The round burst through the window, hitting the ambassador straight through the temple, completely flossing through it with not so much as a spray of blood. The dead ambassador didn't even have time to start falling. I underestimated her skill until now, but now I knew that she was a master of her trade. She immediately got up and looked at me.

"Like I said, If I wanted to go alone, I would have," she stated with a smile. I got up and packed my rifle, starting after her. We jumped across the rooftops back to our hotel, grabbed as much of our belongings as we could, then took an immediate taxi to the private port. The pilot had been there for the full 48 hours, same plane and everything. In the distance, we heard the engines blare, but by that time it was already too late.

We made our great escape.

After many more missions with Elena, I started to grow accustomed to her company. We held an 'office party' to celebrate my promotion to B Class and had a few drinks, Elena out-drinking the all time beer-chugging veteran: Larry, A Class Combat specialist. I kept to as few drinks as possible, with Elena teasing me about how I was a lightweight, but it didn't matter, I was used to it.

More than used to it... I gew fond of her company, and later in the year, we started dating: a few dinners, an opera performance--which we both agreed to never do again-- as well as purchasing some vintage albums of Elena's favorite artists. After one date, however, things ended differently.

"I had a great time, Aoi, thanks again."

"It was my pleasure, Elena." I started to turn around to leave, but she grabbed onto my sleeve, a habit of hers that she did to other people she didn't want to leave just yet. I turned around and was caught by surprise with a full kiss on the mouth, her lip gloss slicking across my mouth. After a few prolonged seconds, she pulled away from me, somewhat embarassed by her advanced. I rubbed my lips, still wondering what exactly happened, then licked my top lip.

"Heh... taste like cherries..." I said with a warm smile. She looked back at me, her embarassment giving way to joy. Under the dim light of the waning moon, we kissed again.

It was the first time, and the last time I had ever kissed a woman. She was called on an assignment to Brazil, one she came back from bandaged from head to toe, barely alive. I stayed at her bedside in the medical wing as she slowly but indefinitely faded from this world. I clasped her hand so tightly, refusing to let go even when the doctors threatened to kick me out, one glare was all it took for them to turn a blind eye. She turned her head towards me, barely able to breathe.

"Aoi..." she wheezed. I looked up, glad that she could finally speak. But also saddened that she may be speaking her last, "I know it, and you know it too... I'm going to die, aren't I..."

I trembled at her question, knowing that it may well be true. I thought to myself if I could stand to tell her...

"Yes..." I wasn't one to grasp at false hope and fantasies... "Yes... you are..." She gave me a cherished smile, a tear tricking down her bandaged face.

"Honest to the end... I loved that about you, Aoi..." Her expression turned to one of regret, "I just wish I could have spent more time with you..." She started to gasp for air, grabbing my arm, "Promise me this, Aoi..." Her voice turned raspy, "Promise me... that you'll make... a new friend..."

"I... I promise..." I vowed, my voice choking with despair.

"Such... beautiful eyes..." She said as she struggled to reach up and wipe away a blob of red from my face, "Don't cry... sug..." My tears stained her bedsheet red, dripping from my face as she let out one last release of sustaining breath. I heard the EKG flatline in a loud whine, my face buried in the blanket that covered her...

I hated the world for taking her away...