A Hiro's tale.

[Hiro]

Prologue

What has pushed me to my limits to the point where I feel the need to document my life? Fear. The past few years I've been living under the cruel, cruel hand of fear. A fear for my life, at any given moment if I slip up it would mean I would die. To most, it's a paranoia that somebody is out to get you even if it's not true but to me, it's the sole thing driving me to keep on pushing, to keep on running, and to an extent to keep on fighting. This story is a Hiro's tale, it's MY story.

A birth of a Hiro

I was the first born to a man and woman named Jack and Lessie, I'm pretty sure even as an infant I proved to be much more than the young couple could handle. Even as a toddler I must had kept their hands full because at that point, I was still an only child. Thinking upon it now, that must have been the easiest part in my up bringing for them. I wasn't what you'd exactly call a good child, yeah sure I didn't go around beating up the other kids, in fact I was the one being bullied by them probably for a good reason. I've always had what some would say a bad habit of "stealing" from others, when in fact I was only retrieving my property. What is mine is mine, what is your is also mine. It's a simple law of nature, it had started small with toys and sweets when I was little. I always had a soft spot for the ladies too, but at that age I didn't know how to express my feelings for them so I'd resort to the closet thing to violence I would ever, pushing them into the mud, punching them and running away, normal stuff for boys that age.

One day I had overheard my parents talking about my 'bad' behaviors when I was like 8 or something, while my father had thought it was some kind of phase my mother had wanted to send me to some kind of reform school for problem children. It was there where they tried to shape me into a respectable young man, teaching me how to read and write, respect for elders and peers, and cram some moral junk into my head. I guess the only thing that had stuck was the reading and writing part, this being evidence of it. A couple of other skills that I had picked up there wasn't something they had intended to teach me, I learned how to 'steal' pretty decently and if I had failed I had learned how to lie my way out of it. I had gained a sly hand and a silver tongue, not bad in my opinion. After a few years I had returned home a "changed" boy, something to make my parents proud, but what they hadn't known it was all an act. I had been able to play the 'good son' for quite some time after that.

Shadow Walker: The one who sticks to the shadows

That had all gone down hill when I was caught and arrested for breaking and entering. I had saw some noble lady with a pretty necklace, I knew it would make a perfect present for the ladies but I wouldn't be able to get my hands on it in the streets, I would have to wait until night and break into her home to get it. I followed her home, then for a few nights I would watch the house, keeping tabs on who came and went and about what time. I thought I had the perfect plan, so the night came that I would attempt to steal it. I was able to get in pretty quickly and quietly but that's where my luck had ran out. Once I was in it was like a wyvern in a china shop. Bumping into things left and right knocking things off of stands and my steps just as loud. I was caught pretty quickly and they had called for the town guards. I spent a couple of weeks in jail to reflect upon my 'crime'. Every waking moment I had replayed that night in my head trying to figure out how I could perfect my craft. I was wearing some pretty heavy shoes, I was walking around as if I was in my own home in the middle of the day, I just didn't pay attention to where I was going in the dark and my reaction time to something falling was pretty bad.

Once I was released I had reverted to just picking pockets, enough to buy a nice pair of shoes that were comfortable and light. The thought of just stealing the shoes did cross my mind, but I couldn't afford to slip up and make another mistake where I would be recognized as a thief, I was already cursed with a unique hair color that would make me easily recognizable. I had started small with my training, first I would try to sneak up on my parents in the house trying not to be seen by one as I made my way to the other. That went pretty decently, took me a bit but I was able to get that down fairly quickly. From there I moved onto sneaking out the house in the middle of the night, I would leave my room and travel to their's then out of the front door. Since I was out, I decided I would check out the night life in town. That's where I met Tom and Elise, they were some pretty cool people. After spending the night out with them, I knew I'd have to sneak back in with out waking my parents, who were early risers.

As soon as I made it back into the house, I took the same path I did when I left. The sun had just began to rise as I made my way through the house, I was pushing my luck but I had made it back to my room just as I heard my mom shuffling down the hall. I knew I was going to need an excuse to spend the day sleeping, when my mother poked her head in to wake me to start the day's chores I had played it off as if I was sick. Mission successful!

I spent the next couple of years honing my skills, spending nights out with Tom and Elise. Tom had a real knack for booze, for somebody his age he knew quite a bit, Elise and I had became quite close friends... with some benefits. It was about that time Tom had told us his dream of opening a tavern where alcohol would flow like a river as long as you had coin. The only problem was he was broke and his parents wouldn't give him a single coin. That's where I came in, I promised to help his funds with my abilities, as well as Elise using her looks to make some money. I had found some dude who was well off and picked him as one of my targets, that night I slipped on my black bandanna over my head and pulled up my black mask and snuck out of the house.

From there, crap got crazy. Once I was in the rich dude's house I had noticed it was quite, too quite. It could have been a trap or something but I pushed on anyways. Thinking back upon it, that was a stupid idea but it worked out for the better. I had almost tripped over a body, a dead body. The throat had been slit, I knelt over and stuck a finger in it, the blood was still warm so he had recently been killed. I heard something in the other room so I went to investigate and saw another man in the house moving around without making a sound. Man that guy had looked like such a pro compared to me. I had yet another stupid idea, maybe if I stopped him maybe I'd get a sweet reward for saving the home owner's life. I was able to sneak up behind the other guy before it dawned upon me. He just murdered somebody, was here to kill the home owner and I was unarmed. If I could wrestle his knife away maybe I could gain the upper hand, so I threw my arms around his body and locked my hands together as we fell.

He was stronger than me, much stronger actually. It took him almost no time to break free, take me to the ground, and sitting on top of my with his blade to my throat. Despite me being in a very, VERY, bad situation the thought of me getting the jump on an assassin brought a smirk to my face. I guess he was able to see that through my face mask, he asked why I was smirking even though I was about to die. "Well, I was able sneak up behind an assassin and could have killed you if I had a weapon of my own." is what I told him, or some crap like that, it's been a while so yeah. I guess realized how awesome I was or something because he told me if I didn't mess up his mission, he might have a job offer for me.

I wasn't in the place to just say no, so I had agreed to it. Sure it would have been cool to become an assassin but fighting and murderin wasn't my thing, but oh man how freaking sweet would it become a spy or something. That was my thought process after he got off me. I had stuck behind him, as he made his way through the house, I guess our little scuffle had alerted somebody, I had saw them before we rounded the corner where they would have saw us. I tugged on my new buddy's shirt and pointed at the new guy. He just nodded as he made his way around and his knife through the back of his neck as he covered his mouth. That was some crazy crap that I got myself into, but never the less it did look kinda cool.

The rest of that part is kinda hazy, all I do remember is he finished his job and we both left, I went empty handed but the prospect of a job did stick in my mind. When we got to his base of operations there were a few other men there. A couple of them looked like they could take my head off with a single blow, I was kinda scared but I guess I was safe since I came in with the assassin dude. He told him that they were a group who took jobs no matter how 'dirty' they were but weren't restricted to just that. They had a couple of body guard like guys, a spy, an assassin, and a couple others but were looking to add in a thief or somebody that could help the assassin in his job. I had tried to introduce myself before the man in armor that looked like a freakin wall cut me off, saying it was one of their rules to never share anything about their personal life, in the event one of them were caught, instead they used code names, which they never told me at that point. I would have to pass a few of their test in order to join them, or die. I thought I had passed with flying colors, but damn their requirements were strict as hell. I had barely passed, I was given the name 'Shadow Walker'.