Chapter 2 The No. 2

Within minutes, the house was set in flames.

As Ken and Kana watched the burning house, wherein only the Mayor was inside to be toasted, they both had a grim expression on their faces, hidden behind their masks. Ken was thinking that although another family has lost its head, the country has lost a snake.

Kana, on the other hand, was remembering how her own house was also set in flames, more than 10 years ago.

The next day, it was reported on the news that the Mayor has committed suicide and burned the house by himself after sending his family away. All his accomplices on the government office were captured by the police when an informant gave them some solid proofs of their illegal activities.

Almost everyone in the province was shocked, as the Mayor was treated with respect and many has never thought that he was a corrupt official. For almost a week, many people were saying that indeed, a book could never be judged by its cover alone.

----

Kana and Ken were some of the passengers on the plane going back to Tokyo. They were sitting on the same row, with another person between them. Kana was on the window side while Ken was on the aisle. They pretended not to know each other.

She kept on glancing at him anyway, as he has his eyes closed. But she knows that even the slightest movement would make him snap his eyes open and be ready for any unforeseen happenings.

She decided to send him a message instead.

Since they began working as partners more than a year ago, she kept on bugging him to give her his phone number. It took her a lot of pleading and trickery before he finally gave in, almost just a month ago.

'Ken, will you be going back to that place again once we arrived to Tokyo?'

That place that she was talking about is a tall and old building near the residential area at one of Tokyo's private subdivision. He would often stand there for hours in a day, whenever they don't have any specific assignment.

She saw from the corner of her eyes that he took his phone from his pocket, and once he saw who the sender was, he put it back without even opening her message and closed his eyes again.

She felt irritated at his apathy. Of course, he must know that she was looking at him and waiting for him to read her message.

With a cheeky look on her face, she sent him another message.

'Can you take me with you? I want to see what you were looking at. Or shall I say who?'

She grinned as she sent the message, and squinted a little while watching him at the corner of her eyes. He took out his phone again, and when he saw her massage, she saw that he frowned.

She was waiting for him to turn to her and give her a scowl but he didn't. Instead, the corner of his lips twitched in an annoyed fashion, which gave him a ruggedly sensual look. He deliberately let her saw how he turned off his phone with an irritated action. Then he put the phone back on his pocket, leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes again.

Kana could not help but feel victorious. Her grin widened even more when she saw how her effort to make him displeased just worked.

Yes, call her crazy. But all the emotions that she can elicit from him, even anger, would be welcomed by her with open arms.

It is because most often than not, Ken looked so melancholic and miserable. It's like when she looked at him, he would have this hollow and lost expression on his freaking handsome face that would drive her mad with hopelessness.

Kana wanted to see him smile, because he has the most lovely smile she has ever seen. And she had only seen it once.

It was a forlorn smile when he looked at Yuki Iguchi for the last time on the ship, making sure that she doesn't remember him anymore.

It was a sad smile, but it captivated her heart. She then promised that she would try her best, no, her all, to make him smile happily. And that smile would be directed only at her.

Once again, Kana smiled and contentedly leaned back on her chair as well. She closed her eyes and began to plan how to move towards Ken to make him soften to her.

----

Ken's eyes snapped open when he felt the sudden tremor in the plane. At first, he thought it was just a normal turbulence, as the pilot announced a few minutes ago. But then, he realized that it wasn't the case.

Suddenly, some men wearing masks entered the passenger's area, with guns and knives on their hands. He quickly glanced at Kana, who has her eyes closed. He knew then that she was really sleeping.

Some passengers began to panic, and the uproar caused Kana to wake up. She met Ken's eyes, and silent words were exchanged between them.

Terrorists!

They won't go down without a fight. They pretended to be common passengers who were scared and tried to hide themselves in between the seats. The man sitting along with them has long hidden in between them.

"Dear passengers, please relax. We are not here to take any of your beloved material belongings." One of the masked man said, he was holding one flight stewardess on his arms while his other hand was holding the knife that is aimed at the woman's neck.

"We are here to invite you all to be with us in welcoming our God. So I implore upon all of you to stay calm on your seats and don't make any unnecessary movements. You don't want us to think that you might be trying to do something stupid and it might cause us to retaliate into something...more stupid." The man's voice was cold and lethal.

Ken knew that they are suicidal terrorists. They will not rob them of anything, but they might be planning to take the plane down somewhere. They're not after material things, but their lives.

Foolish terrorists! He thought, hiding a smirk on his face as he began to think of all possible scenarios based from the actions that he's planning to take.

After a few seconds, it only took him a mere fraction to decide.

He motioned for Kana to look at the window, and she did without so much as a movement of her head. She noticed that they are still on the ocean. But she thought that the plane has started to decelerate.

It means that they are planning to crash on the ground.

She made a few motion with her fingers, not even once turning her head to confirm if Ken was looking at her. There was no need to confirm. For she knew that even the slight change on her breathing, at the very situation they are in, Ken would read all the signs.

He is, after all, the reigning No. 2, and would soon to be the No. 1.

Ken slightly shifted his head to the left, as if in a stiffed neck, and it earned the attention of the man who just gave them the foolish speech. His eyes squinted when he looked at Ken, in his contrasting features of both Asian and a westerner.

"You!" the man called his attention, but he pretended not to notice it. The man walked towards him, still with the stewardess on his left arm.

"Hey, you!" the man said again, almost just in front of him.

Ken looked up.

"Sorry, I don't understand Japanese." Ken said, acting like a foreigner.

The man has a confused look on his face, obviously did not understand what Ken said in fluent English. The man turned to the stewardess.

"You, tell him not to make any movement or you will die, "

The stewardess' eyes widened in fright and translated the man's words in English, she was stammering as tears fell on her cheeks.

Ken nodded after the stewardess said the words, and the man smirked in satisfaction. He inched backwards, but the moment he turned his back, something pricked the exposed part of his hand that was holding the knife.

He turned sharply at the woman thinking that she did something, but the moment he did, he felt the numbing sensation that moved from his arm to his head, causing him to look like he was being choked.

The knife fell from his hand, followed by the gun. Then his body slumped on the floor.

"Boss!"