The Last Rising Sun

It was December 19, 2003, in Novosibirsk-Russia. During a snowy night, a new life began in the mansion of the famous Gusev family.

It was a large room, with walls painted in light and dark blue colors. The big snowy blizzard outside was being quite strong, enough to hit the window next to the bed with force. At the same time, the cries of a newborn could be heard incessantly. The cry of that life that began amidst blood and non-existent tears.

A woman held the child in her arms. She smiled at the sight of her little son, so fragile and noisy. The baby stopped crying rather quickly as he lay in his mother's arms. He fell asleep with a peaceful expression on his face.

That was the day Alek Gusev was born....

***

Sakura didn't understand why she had seen this. It was like being present at the moment of that child's birth, but she didn't know him. She doesn't know anyone in this place.

The maids swarm back and forth bringing towels and all sorts of things for the newborn. The woman whose hair was light brown and her eyes as silver as those of the baby lying in her arms, looked to her side. There stood a man, tall and thin, with hair as brown as the woman's next to him, but with dark brown eyes. The man wore rectangular glasses and was dressed in an elegant suit, making him look like an important businessman.

"It's a boy," the woman said.

"What are you going to name him?" the man asked.

The woman turned her gaze to the newborn and, looking at the little boy, remembered that she had already thought of a name.

"Alek..., as in 'Helper of Mankind' - do you like it?"

"Don't you think it's a very ordinary name?"

"Not at all. It's a name that will suit you in the future. I think Alek Gusev sounds good."

"I guess it will be fine like that... In the meantime, Biserka, I have some business to take care of on the other side of the country. I'll be back as soon as possible to see our son."

Biserka Morozova, the woman's name. Although, since she is married to this man, Jasha Gusev, then she would be Biserka Gusev. She smiled at her husband in response. The woman's smile was beautiful just like her. A smile that radiated hope and kindness.

That was a good start from Sakura's eyes. Although she didn't understand why she was seeing this, in front of her eyes time marched on like blurred images, which from time to time became sharp. It was about the child growing up with a loving family. At almost seven months the little one spoke his first word. However, unlike other children, whose first word is usually mom or dad, Alek's was....

"Light..."

Just one month later he took his first steps, something that was not normal. Children learn to talk and walk between 12 and 18 months of age, but Alek was different. He seemed to be very different from other normal children.

Alek Gusev's life was quite normal in the following months. He proved to be a very intelligent, quick learner and memorized everything his eyes saw. At the age of three, the maids taught him the etiquette of a distinguished family and educated him with the best values, which was amazing because he could learn all that very easily. All this while Biserka and Jasha were each working in their various companies. Obviously they didn't want to miss out on their son's growth so they made time to be able to be together with little Alek.

"He's so adorable...," Sakura whispered. The little boy was so cute. His hair, his cool but kind aura look. His silver eyes that looked at everything with infinite curiosity. Everything about him aroused a certain sense of familiarity in her.

The boy's personality was very marked. He had the same beautiful smile as his mother. He always had a curious smile on his face. He even seemed to give off a certain angelic air, as if an angel had descended from the heavens taking the form of this child.

The maids were happy to have Alek with them. Whenever there were gloomy days, he would appear to brighten their day with his radiant smile and golden aura of happiness.

He was only three years old. His body was still very small, but he was ten times smarter than children his age. It was even funny to watch him walk with his short little infant legs all over that gigantic mansion. He always had something to say. He always wanted to help others.

"An angel on earth..."

"Mrs. Biserka must be proud of her son."

"In the future he will be the owner of all this..."

"I don't like the idea of seeing him grow up..."

"Yeah... what if he loses that angelic side that's always with him?"

These were things the maids constantly said. For them having Alek was like having another child. Of course, some of the maids have children who used to be in the gardens of the mansion playing. Alek used to watch them from the window as if he longed to play with them.

All the maids knew that Alek is afraid of society and more afraid of hurting others.

'What will I do if they don't like my presence', the boy used to think.

Even if the maids told him he could go and have fun with the other children, he would refuse with a polite smile. There was no way to change his mind as, despite being the light of this mansion, he was extremely stubborn. If he wanted to help someone, he would do it no matter what. He would help with laundry, cleaning the rooms. He even used to help in the kitchen. Whenever his hands touched the ingredients, for some reason the food tasted better than usual.

Seasons went by. Alek's birthday and then... the beginning of hell.

Sakura felt shivers as if she sensed something horrible coming. Unable to do anything but watch, she stood silently observing this story.

It was a sunny day, like a bright and happy memory, but it was in complete contrast to what was actually happening. Alek held a book in his hands. Something he had found in his father's study and taken without permission, so, taking advantage of the fact that his father was at home, he wanted to borrow the book from him.

He walked through the long corridors of the mansion, whose white walls were decorated with elegant brown paper. There were many tables with vases, lamps and dozens of expensive works of art hanging on the wall. It was undoubtedly the mansion of an influential family.

When he reached his parents' room, before knocking on the door with soft knocks, he was startled to hear two people shouting, causing the book to fall out of his hands. He bent down to pick up the book, but heard something that made him smile in fear and sadness.

"How dare you do something like that to me, I'm your wife! I must be the only one for you!!! How could you?" it was Biserka's voice.

"Are you forgetting that I never wanted to marry you? I was only with you because it was my obligation as part of this family. I already had my son, I don't have to keep pretending that I care about you when you know that I refused many times to be by your side."

"No, that's not possible. You love me! I love you! Why?!"

"You don't love me. You were always obsessed with me, ever since we were children. Now that I've fulfilled your whim, you should be happy. So let's stop talking about it. I'm tired."

"Why... why...? You told me you loved me... Why are you now sleeping with another woman...?"

Jasha ignored her and opened the door. As he did so, he was met by Alek. The little boy felt his father's hand on his head.

"Father... I have this book...", he said, nervously. "I wanted to know if I could borrow it..."

"You can take them all. No need to ask."

And the man went away and left the boy hugging the book in his little hands.

Alek, seeing the door open, entered the room and found his mother, who was crying on her knees on the carpet. He felt something inside his chest tighten painfully. He had never seen his mother like this. He walked over to her and bent down to look at her.

"Mother, don't cry. I have a book. Let's read it together-"

A loud slap was heard echoing throughout the room. Sakura opened her eyes in disbelief.

Alek was looking to the right as his cheek slowly took on a red color. He hugged the book tightly painfully, for at that moment, for the first time in his life, he felt like crying. He returned his gaze to his mother, who was looking at him angrily with tears streaming down her face. He opened his eyes in surprise, frightened and pained.

"I'm sorry, mother...", he looked down. After that, he sighed and looked up.

Sakura clenched her fist tightly.

The boy showed such an innocent smile at that moment, even though a small tear crumbled down his cheek.

"I won't bother you again," he said. "With your permission," and he left the room quietly.

Alek was four years old when that happened. And from there, his life became hell. She could feel that it would be like that. She felt what that child was feeling at that moment. Confusion, fear, but most of all, a deep sadness that would grow with time.

She watched him go into another room far away. Once there, Alek opened the book and began to read. As he read, his tears began to soak the sheets of paper.

***

There is an urban legend that has been circulating among the common people lately. In London, at almost midnight, a shadow is often seen standing over Big Ben. The shadow seems to wear a large black cloak that makes it become one with the darkness.

Some people started calling it "The Lonely Shadow". They even began to create a story for it out of rumors that changed as more people spread the rumor.

It is said that the shadow belonged to a young boy who was in love. But when he lost his beloved, he climbed to the top of Big Ben and threw himself from there, dying on the spot. Now his shadowy soul lingers at the top of the tower, watching the world in complete solitude.

"No way, Assassin boy, you're famous..." laughed Add. Right now they were in the office of Waver, who had called the two of them to inform them of this.

"People seem to like to make things up," whispered Assassin. "But I never showed up in my materialized form so I wouldn't know how anyone could have seen me."

"The thing is, someone saw you. There are common not so common people who are susceptible to ghosts. Someone like that could have seen you and that's where the rumor started," Waver said sitting back in his chair.

Gray took it upon herself to watch silently. After what happened yesterday with Reines, everything has been very uncomfortable for her. She even has a hard time looking him in the face.

"Why were you on top of Big Ben?", she asked to get the earlier thoughts out of her head.

"Because I like high places,", Assassin casually replied as if nothing mattered. "I don't see anything wrong with that...", and ended up crossing his arms judging Waver silently.

"Haa..." he shook his head. "Just don't be flashy. Hide your presence or something." That was common sense. Waver hoped Assassin understood that. He's basically giving him the freedom to do whatever he wanted without being seen.

"Since Sakura-sama is asleep, I haven't been able to hide my presence. Maybe it's because of that. Anyway, I won't do it again. Getting into this kind of trouble stresses me out."

But what was before was of great interest to Gray. The thing about Assassin liking high places.

"Why do you like high places?" she asked before realizing she let her voice out unintentionally. However, Assassin's reaction made her forget what they had experienced the day before.

He was silent, thoughtful, hiding the expression on his face inside his hood for a long five seconds, which made everyone confused. After that, as his body dematerialized, he said, "For nothing special. I like the cold wind of the heights."

He disappeared without a trace. Gray took this as if Assassin was running away from the question. That long silence he showed was even more suspicious. She looked at her mentor, who shook his head not knowing what to say.

'What is it that she has trouble telling us,' even asking that question would be hypocritical. There are things about herself that even she can't tell others. She didn't have the right to ask herself that. Assassin's thoughts are his alone and no one else's. No one could influence that.

"I'm going to follow him", she said after thinking it over.

"Take care that he doesn't do any more things that will expose his existence", Waver added.

She nodded her head before Add said anything.

"Let's find the mystery boy!", he exclaimed excitedly. After that Gray hid him inside her cloak.

Moving forward through the corridors, looking for that sad presence, she sighed.

'You were there in the past, ten years ago in a war that even my mentor refuses to tell,' she thought about it all. 'You don't remember, but you emanate a stronger sense of sadness when you're looking at Sakura.'

What lurks beneath that assassin's gaze. A child torn apart by what we all decided to call 'life'.

To be continued...