Obsession

The making of an assassin

*K's POV*

"It's okay little girl."

I startle awake. That same dream again, same as every night. All I remember from before I came here is two bodies, blood and him. But I don't even know if he is real or made up in my head. Every night I see his face, hear his voice. The image of this monster of a man, with huge muscles, his olive skin covered in tattoos especially that of a snake that tended to squirm in my mind, short brown spiked hair and deep brown eyes that look almost black haunted me. His deep voice sending shivers through to my bones.

I stretch my stiff joints, I cannot remember the last time I slept through the night and comfort is a foreign notion to me. I grab my ratty towel and head for a shower, the water freezing as always. As I go back to the room that I share with eleven other girl, I dress in my ripped and torn clothes and sit on my bed to wait for Madam.

I don't know how long I have been here, but it is longer than any of the other girls. Some have even come and gone in my time here, but there are never more than twelve of us at a time. We all under go different specialist training, focusing on one skill until it is perfected before moving on to the next. I am proficient in all of them now, but Madam says I am too young to leave or be tested, so I now help her with the other girl's training.

I could run fast, for at least half an hour. Climb almost unsalable walks. I can throw a knife and hit any target, sneak anywhere without being detected, fire any type of weapon imaginable, from a longbow to a sniper rifle. I excel at any martial arts known to man and have even taken gymnastic and dance lessons. Madam says that I may have to blend in in social circles and needed to learn more than the others, so I have studies French, Spanish, Greek, Italian and Japanese, becoming fluent in all of them. I am currently studying Chinese but only in whatever spare time I can find. I also had special classes in what Madam called 'seduction', she said it works on men, although I have not had a chance to practice.

My training has been gruelling, I vaguely remember at first Madam hating me and beating me often for crying and being disobedient. I didn't want to anger her, so I quickly learned to do as I was told and studied hard. I had a few scars here and there from sparing with girls at first and them kicking my ass. That hurt, and motivated me even more to improve. I know more than any other girl past or present here, yet still I must remain. A part of me wants to get my test over with, and get out into the real world, but another part of me is scared at that thought.

The only way to leave is to be bought by a Mistress or Master and I was not even allowed to see them. My imagination was working over time when I thought of what they would be like. The girls who had passed their test would present themselves when a potential Mistress or Master came, and at least one would not return. The others never told me what they saw, leaving me in the dark on what to expect. Were they as bad as Madam and Sir? Were they worse?

I knew that boys were trained here as well, I had seen glimpses of them when I was doing my separate training in another part of the orphanage. But the only man I had seen and spoken to properly was Sir, and he seemed to like me as much as Madam, which was more than the other girls but not anything that gave me the fluttering feeling like when I had my dreams. I didn't know if I was scared of my ghost or liked him. When I asked Madam if she knew who he was, she beat me and I never asked again.

I don't know why I like to please people so much, but when our trains would praise me, it would make me feel so happy and proud of myself. Madam never praised me, she shouted at me, berated me and beat me, but never praise. Sir just tended to stare at me, as me about my training and suggest new skills I needed to develop, which of course I then would. He was the one that suggest gymnastics and learning languages, and I was thankful as it gave me a new goal to reach.

Of course to keep my training fresh, I would practice them every day, usually while teaching part of a class while the trainers watched on or took a break. They were the same trainers I had when I was learning and they were always happy to see me, which made me feel special. But the other girls didn't like me very much. Even though I helped them to improve, they hated me and I often heard them whisper that I was a know it all, ass kisser, show off. Some even said that I was never allowed to see the Masters and Mistresses because I was that ugly no one would take me. I had no idea what I looked like, having only seen my reflection in distorted windows, so they were probably telling the truth. Maybe that is why Sir stared so much.

Finally the door opened and Madam came in, she was not surprised to see me up and ready, though she never asked what had woken me or why I couldn't sleep. I stood with my shoulders straight and my head held high, the other girls waking and following suit. She nodded her head to one side and gestured for me to follow her outside. I dutifully did, hearing whispers from the others and more nasty comments.

Madam closed the door after me, before walking down the corridor. I knew to follow without question, knowing I would learn what I needed to when I needed to, and that questions only led to beatings. She took me to a part of the orphanage I had not been to before. The corridors smelled different, but not in a completely horrid way, in fact, it peaked my interest as to where I was going.

She led me to a large hall where Fourteen boys stood in front of Sir. I froze for a second, taking in their ripped muscular bare chests and tall masculine physique. I quickly recover though and walked over to Madam who was talking to Sir. "Are you sure about this?" Madam hissed.

"We will not know how truly talented she it testing her against the girls we have at the moment. We need to challenge K and the boys. I have had a few complaints about the people recently purchased. If our reputation keep plummeting we will be out of business soon enough." Sir responded in an equally venomous tone.

Madam nodded and then Sir continued in a louder tone to the rest of the room. "Today you will be sparring with K. She may be a girl, but I do not want to see any of you go easy on her. Understand?"

"Yes sir!" they chanted. Madam took this opportunity to leave and go and take the girls to their respective training.

"M, your up first." Sir yelled. A boy, well man, stepped forward. He was well over a foot taller than me and at least twice as wide. He smirked down at me, giving me a look I did not like or understand. "Begin!" sir bellowed.

M was quite fast for his size, as he lunged and tried to grab me. I was faster though and dodged out of the way, deliver a swift kick to in between his legs which seemed to shock him as he fell to his knees, cupping himself while a chorus of "Oos." came from the others around the room.

"K!" Sir growled stepping closer to me. "I know that you are used to sparring with girls, but do NOT hit a guy there unless you are fighting for real."

Shit! First fight and I had already f****d up. They did this a lot, put me in situations without telling me the rules and me ending up getting punished for it. Sir grabbed me and turned me around before hitting my behind, hard. Much harder than Madam did. God that smarted and even made me gasp a little. "M, you are done. N you're up next."

I worked through every man, fighting as best I could, as I had been trained, minus the kicking between the legs. Some where good and even almost beat me. Pinning me to the floor with their large bodies, some even grinding something hard against me before I would wiggle free. Some were not so good, especially P, who seemed to be quite new and I beat with a few punches.

By the end, I was bloody, bruised, sore and breathing heavily. But so were they, and I had had to face each of them. As I managed to pin Z to the floor, my arm wrapped around his neck until he tapped out on the floor, Sir clapped his hands. "Boys, you have disappointed me greatly. After lunch, I will ask you to work in pairs and see if that improves your odds against one girl. Dismissed."

The boys hobbled from the hall, a mixture of looks being shot my way. Hatred, disgust, envy and that one I did not understand. "Go back to the girls wing to eat and then come back."

"Yes sir." I nodded respectfully and left. Lunch was the same as always. A gloopy porridge like substance, that was apparently filled with nutrition. No one spoke to me or acknowledged me. My loneliness was defending at times, which is why I was thankful for being kept busy. It gave me less time to think of how I would always be alone, never have a soul to speak to. No one wanted me and Madam and Sir only used me to their own ends. I may be 'too young' as they always said, but I was not completely stupid.

I finished quickly and headed back to the hall, waiting for the others to return. My afternoon was spent much as my morning was. But this time I lost a few bought, the boys working together to pin me or hurt me enough so I would tap out, and exhaustion taking hold of me. As dinner rolled around, sir called an end to my agony. "Better, but tomorrow, I want to see even more improvement."

"Yes sir!" they rang.

"Dismissed." he said, and they filed back out of the hall. "I expected more from you K. You need to improve and fast." he spat before walking from the room. I hung my head in shame, yes they never praised me, but it had been a long time since I disappointed Madam or Sir.

I headed back to the girls wing and grabbed my ratty towel again, before heading to wash the blood that was now covering most of my skin. I was so tired, so sore. Sir was right, I had to get better soon as I didn't know how many more of those beatings I could take.