4 ? Chapter 4 : Unexpected encounter

Wounded and bleeding, still, Lacian managed to stand. Her headphone was thrown away to the ground after receiving a hard kick on the stomach. Lacian grabbed the first thing that she found in the corner. It was a metal pipe covered with rust. She gripped it hard until her knuckles turned white.

"Come at me" Lacian taunted. She smirked evilly and wiped her bleeding mouth. The blue lips she had turned into a real bruised one. The assassin dashed towards Lacian in a full speed and attempted to hand stab her in the stomach.

"That won't do" Lacian smirked as the assassin failed to touch her chest and ended up receiving a knee attack on the stomach. The assassin coughed blood as his black mask got torn. Lacian used her long nails earlier and scratched the assassin's face while he was paying to much attention to the knee blow.

The torn mask revealed the face of the assassin, Lacian smiled bitterly.

"So it's you, Aaron" the guy named Aaron stared at Lacian blankly.

A long time ago when Lacian was still in the orphanage, she had a friend named Aaron. Aaron was a timid kid who suffers from asthma. Kids didn't want to play with him, afraid that they were to blame when the poor kid's asthma attacks suddenly. Lacian was the first person to play with Aaron. After the escape of Lacian from the orphanage, Aaron came a month later after her. They grew up in the city sharing the same faiths. Lacian taught Aaron about assasination skills and techniques. But when they reached fifteen, Aaron disappeared. He left no traces nor clues about where he had gone to. Lacian just hoped that his old friend was doing fine in life. Who could have better life living astray in the city?

"It's been years since I last saw you. How have you been, my dear friend?" Lacian turned her head to see Aaron's back with his knees kneeling on the ground. Blood dripping down from Aaron's mouth, he glared back at Lacian. There was something in Aaron's eyes which intrigued Lacian.

"Who would have thought that I'll be attacked by someone using my techniques?" Lacian chuckled and looked down at Aaron.

"Say, what happened to you? And what brought you here again?" clueless, Lacian hoped for an answer. She had these confusions ever since she was born: Why do people want me dead? Why does the government go after me? Why does it feel like I am bringing war as long as I'm alive?

"I needed money-" Aaron spoke and stood on his feet. He turned around to face Lacian and saw the female's wounded body.

"-they told me that I just have to kill you and I'll become rich after that." Aaron said.

"And you believed in them" Lacian concluded. Aaron nodded affirmatively.

"They even gave the money beforehand even if I haven't killed you yet." Aaron said.

"Now it looks like you're in debt. You can't do anything but to fulfill your task. But what will happen if you fail?" Lacian asked. She walked towards the side where her broken headphone was located and picked the poor thing up. She hanged it around her neck and looked back at Aaron.

"Say, I don't mind if you'll chase for my head and kill me. Go ahead and kill me if you can. I won't be mad either. You have your reasons, I believed. But..." Lacian paused and turned her back against the assassin. "... I'm glad that you're alive. Keep living until you can. And by the way, I forgot to tell you this before; I'm glad I met you. You were my first friend."

The assassin was left dumbfounded and shocked. He couldn't believe that Lacian still acknowledged him as her friend after what happened. Shame and guilt collided in his heart as he saw the pony tailed lady walking away.

'What am I gonna do?' Aaron thought and grabbed his head, it was frustrating. It would have been better if Lacian hated him, that way he wouldn't have been hesitant to kill her easily. But Lacian surprised him and left him confused.

Lacian was walking in the alley with her hands resting on both of her shoulders. Her wounds opened so her waist was bleeding again. The bruises on her lips itched a bit as she licked them wet.

"Bandages Bandages" Lacian murmured softly in between her whistles and went inside a local pharmacy. The pharmacist looked aghast when Lacian made an unsightly appearance inside the store. She looked like a gangster who just had a gang fight and bleeding badly. Some of her blood tinted the white tiles while the other people were staring at her, alarmed that she might hurt them.

"Tsk! tsk!, judgemental society as it is. Don't mind me, good people of the city. I'm being attacked by an assassin who is weaker than me, so I'm wounded. Stop staring at me like I'm a criminal, I bring no harm. I'm here to buy medicine and a lot of bandages, yeah" Lacian said loudly and headed towards the counter. The customer who was currently paying moved aside as far as she could when she saw the bleeding female standing beside her.

"Hey, sexy nurse. Can you please give me a painkiller and a lot of bandages. You don't want me seeing here very often, right? Just give me enough supplies that could last for a month. And make it hurry because I think I'm scaring your customers." Lacian smirked and rested her two arms on top of the counter, she left a dirt on the counter table so she hurriedly wiped it using her jacket.

"Oh my God" the woman beside Lacian gasped when she saw the blood from Lacian's jacket spreaded on the table like wet paint.

"Oops! Sorry, I thought it was clean." Lacian chuckled and made an apologetic smile. She withdrawed her jacket that looked like blood drenched rag and chuckled.

"But miss, we don't sell those drugs without the proper prescription, do you have it with you?" the pharmacist asked politely, as she too was fearing for her life to be taken away in a instant. Lacian threw a deathly glare towards the lady and talked with a threatening tone: "Just give it to me and you'll never have to worry about your life. If you're not going to give it, I'll kill you instantly the moment you step out of this store. Don't test me, you low life." Lacian placed her wallet on top of the blood stained counter table without taking her eyes off the pharmacist. People inside the store were starting to panic and another customer tried to dial the police hotline. The pharmacist immediately looked for the medicine she was asked for.

"It's no use calling the cops, they're my friends, trust me" Lacian said and leaned towards the counter while waiting for her painkillers. She was not feeling the pain at all but she might collapse anytime if she wouldn't aid her body. The pharmacist brought what she was asked for with trembling hands.

"There you have it. Please leave." the pharmacist asked in a polite manner while bowing her head. Lacian pushed the wallet towards the pharmacist with a smile.

"Here. You can charge the bill and you can use the excess money for treating everyone inside the store. Sorry for the inconvenience. Have a nice day" Lacian said with a smile and stormed out of the store. People were looking at her so she decided to take the narrow corners to avert the people's attention from her.

'I wonder what happen to that Aaron guy?' Lacian asked herself as she swallowed three painkillers at once.

The pharmacist trembled as she opened Lacian's wallet. Her eyes widened in shock, she covered her mouth using her palm when she gasped.

"It's too many" the pharmacist said and counted the money inside the wallet. The money was thick and valuable, too much for the said amount of the painkillers that Lacian asked for.

"What should I do with this?" the pharmacist asked herself while the other customers looked awed.

"It's too dangerous if you look for that lady again and give the money back." one of the customers said.

"Didn't she told you that you should use that money to treat us? Isn't she too kind?" the lady who called the cops said. The pharmacist smiled secretly as she realized how she admired that tall, cool and composed female.

"I think I should return her money" the pharmacist smiled genuinely and continued to serve her customers.

'I don't think she's a bad person at all' the pharmacist thought and cleaned the blood painted counter table and the floor.

'I want to see her again. And maybe, I can know her better. I want to treat her wounds too.' she wishfully thought.

"My my, what's wrong with me? I'm straight as far as I know" the pharmacist said to herself as she noticed how long she had been thinking about the other female. The store had no customers and the ticking of the clock never helped to get the pharmacist get the other female out of her mind.

"Is there even a chance?" the pharmacist sighed and rested her chin on her palms while waiting for the day to be over. She smiled as she stared at the wallet and thought about the cool female again.