Once upon a time in a peaceful suburb during the winter season, a newlywed sat sewing at her window whilst watching the snow fall. "If only I had a child to share this with," she murmured and within a year she gave birth to a son who was named Ashton but called 'Snow White' by the beautiful woman because the boy's skin reminded her of snow and snow was her favorite thing to gaze upon in this world. Despite the happiness she felt after the birth of her son, the woman was still unhappy. Her husband was often at work and never seemed to have time for his wife or child. By the time her son was six she decided she had had enough and filed for divorce. The woman and her son, Ashton lived comfortably until a tragic accident took the woman's life and left her fifteen-year-old son without a mother. The accident forced Ashton's estranged father to take sudden custody of him. His second wife of six years was not happy about this.

Marissa was a good-looking woman, but she was proud and arrogant, and she could not stand it if anyone might surpass her in beauty or take attention away from her. The second her stepson came to live with them her husband suddenly decided to become the loving and attentive father, who left Marissa ignored and starved for attention. As time went on her step son went from an awkward, gawky teen to a beautiful young man and thus became the talk of the community with everyone constantly gushing about how lovely he was turning out to be and how he would go places with that wonderful singing voice of his. Her husband was also an important member of the community with money to boot and she was often used to having all the attention on her but with her step son in the picture she was shoved in the background as her stepson took all the attention from the media, neighbors, and even her own husband. The longer this went on, the angrier she became, unable to understand how a simple boy had out shined her and the more she held it inside the more deadly and dangerous that anger became until it got to the point where she decided she could take it no longer.

"Stupid little brat," Marissa hissed, glaring down at a picture of the smiling boy with short curly ebony hair. He was unlike most boys with his slender build and he could've easily passed for a girl. It angered her that her looks were being compared to this little fruit but what could she do? It seemed like she would always be second best to him. Throwing the picture against the wall, she sat down in front of her vanity and started brushing her hair, frowning as she did so. There were only a few wrinkles on her face and in her opinion she looked pretty damned good for forty. Why didn't her husband pay her any attention and give it all to that stupid brat of his? He was eighteen now for goodness sakes! He didn't need to be babied constantly; he was able to care for himself. She was sick of having him steal all the attention away from her. Marissa felt so much anger towards her stepson that she felt like she could almost... kill him. She blinked. Wait a minute... kill him? The more she thought this over the less crazy it sounded. It might just be the best thing. If she eliminated Ashton out of the picture then she'd have no one else to compete with and all the attention would be back on her.

With her mind set Marissa was unable to understand how childish and petty she was being. Growing up she had no brothers or sisters and all the attention was put on her. She was so used to being praised that she didn't know how to handle it when it was being offered to someone else and even if she didn't know how she was going to dispose of the little brat, she knew that no matter what- he would be out of her life for good. It was simply just a matter of /how/ to get him out of her life... which was something she hadn't thought of yet but she would. All she needed was time and once she had a plan. Ashton would no longer be a thorn in her side like he had been for the past two years.

He lay in bed, trying his best to sleep the morning away. He had been woken up early that morning by his stepmother's loud shrieking. The teenager didn't know what she was shrieking about and he actually didn't quite care but she kept him from sleeping for part of the morning and now he was sleeping in late which was something he hated to do. He and his stepmother, Marissa didn't get along at all. She was constantly glaring at him and trying to pick fights with him and he tried his best to just avoid her all together. Frankly, he couldn't care less what she thought of him. If she was so jealous just because his father spent so much time with him then that was her problem. He had never had a real relationship with his father and granted that was his father's fault and not his own, but he wasn't one to hold a grudge. His father had deserved another chance and he had given it to him- which probably only angered Marissa even more. Oh well. She'd just have to get over it sooner or later. It had been three years since he had moved in with them after all. How much longer could she stay angry for?

Ashton attempted to get several more hours of sleep but just when he started to /finally/ doze his door was thrown open and an angry looking Marissa appeared in the doorway, hands on her hips. "What do you need, Marissa?" he grumbled, yawning as he sat up in bed, dull blue eyes glancing over at his stepmother who just narrowed her own back at him.

"Your father sent me to wake you up. He says a soon-to-be-high school graduate shouldn't be sleeping in."

"Ah, I'll be down in a moment," he told her, wincing when she stalked off and slammed the door shut behind her. What was /wrong/ with that woman? He had always been civil to her and never once had he disrespected her just because she was his stepmother and technically not his /actual/ parent. Shaking his head, he decided it was best not to dwell on the strange actions and quirks of his stepmother as he dragged himself out of bed, quickly throwing on a simple pair of jeans and t-shirt which was a bit too large for the pale boy's slender frame. When he arrived downstairs, his father was sitting at the table scribbling something down while Marissa was sitting in front of her breakfast- ah. He understood why she was so cross with him this morning. His father must've insisted that they wait until he woke up to eat breakfast. Sometimes... his father was a bit too much. The man was so protective of him and seemed to dote more than a normal amount but Ashton just chalked it off to him trying to make up for lost time which was, of course, a perfectly logical explanation.

Breakfast was quiet and awkward like it usually was until Marissa spoke out of the blue, causing Ashton to wince slightly. Her voice was always so shrill. How could his father /stand/ such a voice for so long?

"Are you going anywhere today, Ashton?"

He blinked at the strange question and was tempted to just ignore her but that would be disrespectful and he hated to be thought of in that manner. "I was planning to take a walk in the park after breakfast and just spend some time by myself, so yes, I suppose I am planning on going somewhere today."

"Good... I mean, I hope you have a nice time."

He blinked again and tried to pass her response off as nothing. Since when did Marissa care enough to say such a thing? The woman had been acting odd throughout the whole breakfast and he could honestly say she was starting to scare him.

She watched with an impish smile as her stepson walked out to do whatever the hell he was going to do today and bid a goodbye to her husband before rushing over to her phone. She had been trying for weeks to think of a plan and, about a week ago, one hit her. The best way to get rid of Ashton was to have him killed and in order to do that she needed to find someone willing and who wouldn't turn her in. She had enough money to pay whoever she got to do the job and her husband would never notice because she took care of all the finances for the family. First she had contacted her brother who, as much as she hated to admit it, was a criminal and who would most likely know someone. He gave her a name just last night and today she was going to call the number her brother had given her. Apparently this Kane -the name her brother had given her- was a professional hit man or something along those lines. He took killing jobs and murdered people for a living- no matter who the target was. It was only the money that mattered to him.

"Hello?"

Swallowing, she trembled as she tried to gather enough courage to answer and eventually she did but not before causing the man on the other line to nearly hang up on her. She told him her name and who had referred her to him before the man mentioned that he'd contact her again in two days in order to get information from her and two days later he did just that. They met in a public place and there Marissa gave him a picture and everything was settled a few meetings later. Kane was given information on Ashton's schedule and he decided the best time to get rid of her little problem was to do it at night when he was home alone which wasn't difficult to pull off since Ashton was often home alone lately because he didn't much care for the fancy parties they attended. A week to the day she met Kane was the day it was supposed to happen. Ashton would be home alone and then Kane would come in after they left, abduct him, take him to a remote location, kill him, dispose of the body, and then present the boy's bloody shirt to Marissa so she would know that it really was done and Ashton was indeed out of her life for good.

It was a foolproof plan and absolutely nothing could go wrong or, at least, it was supposed to be a foolproof plan before Kane suddenly got a heart.

He was sitting in the living room watching television when Kane first showed up. The hit man was able to get inside thanks to Marissa 'accidentally' leaving a window open in the garage and before the boy could even scream, much less realize what was going on, a cloth was placed over his nose, the boy falling into a forced sleep a few moments later.

Ashton's eyes fluttered open a few hours later and for a second the boy couldn't understand what the heck was going on. Blinking a few times, he looked around once his vision had cleared up and then realized he was in a van. It didn't take long for the memory of being grabbed from behind at his home to sink in and he whimpered when he realized that he had been kidnapped. Was this person going to kill him? Would he be raped? He couldn't understand why he had been kidnapped though. Yes, his father was wealthy but there were plenty of people in the neighborhood that had more money than his father. Maybe it was someone who held a grudge for him... though he really couldn't think of anyone who would hold a grudge against his father. Lucas Winters was a very nice and caring man who made few enemies.

Shutting his eyes closed when the van came to a sudden stop, it felt to Ashton like his heart was going to burst right out of his chest as the person who was driving climbed out of the driver's seat and slowly but surely made his way to the back of the van, the crunching of the ground sounding out his clear steps. His breath caught when he heard the door start to open and the teenager slowly opened his eyes, blue locking with dark brown as he eyed his captor who was much taller and larger than his 5'5 frame. There was no way he'd be able to fight the dark haired man. He was going to die tonight... the boy was sure of it. When his captor started to reach into the van, he let out a small shriek, trying his best to scoot backwards despite his bound state. "Please, don't kill me," he whispered with wide eyes and for a second was sure he saw his captor frown and stop but it could've just been his imagination running wild.

Everything was going according to plan until the boy looked at him and asked him not to kill him in that pathetic, whiny tone. People had begged him to spare their life before but he had never listened and he certainly wasn't going to start now. Trying his best to ignore the boy he went to grab him again but stopped when he started pleading again, even adding a few tears in for show. Okay, chances were this was genuine fear and not a show but still. If it was all for show then this kid was seriously a good little actor. He growled after a third attempt. For some reason he couldn't bring himself to kill the little bugger. Honestly, it wasn't his fault his stepmother wanted him dead.

What the hell was he supposed to do now though? He couldn't go to the police. He was a professional hit man working under a false identity and there was a chance someone could find out his real name and haul his ass off to jail if he did something reckless. Going back to the step mother and telling her he had had a change of heart obviously wasn't an option and neither was letting him go which meant the only logical thing he could do was take the boy home with him. Ugh. When /had/ that become a logical explanation? If you thought about it the choice was far from logical but he didn't have many options and at least this way the boy would be semi-safe. Reaching over to untie the boy, he sighed and leaned against the van, blinking when he realized the boy was staring at him. "What? Didn't your parents teach you not to stare?"

"Why did you let me go?" Ashton asked, completely ignoring the man's statement.

"Because apparently I can't kill you," he grumbled, blinking when he realized he'd have to still present the bloody shirt which wouldn't be too hard to pull off. "Take off your shirt."

"Excuse me?!" Ashton cried. He was still having a hard time getting used to the fact that he had been kidnapped and his captor wasn't going to kill him but now... he wanted him to take his shirt off?! "I thought you said you weren't going to kill me!?"

"I'm not. I just need your shirt."

"Why?"

"You ask an awful lot of questions don't you?"

"Well if you would answer them then I wouldn't ask so many."

"I need it so I can make that damned stepmother of yours believe I killed you," he told him, blinking when Ashton's eyes widened. Crap. He had just blurted out that the boy's stepmother wanted him killed and it wouldn't be hard for the boy to put two and two together. The woman Marissa had said he was a smart boy.

"She hired you. Marissa /hired you/ to kill me?" Ashton asked in disbelief.

"This is why I can't let you go home. If I don't do it she'll find someone else who will," he explained but it didn't seem to help the boy at all... and besides no one would believe the boy if he decided to run off and go to the cops. What would he tell them? There was no evidence to show that she'd hired someone to kill him and the kid didn't even know his name. Basically, the situation wasn't looking to good for the kid and Kane didn't know why he felt /sorry/ for him… but he did and that was the whole problem.

….. Damn his big heart.

Everything was happening way too fast and he was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that his stepmother wanted him dead. He knew she had always disliked him but to resort to murder? Why do something so drastic?

He was given the man's jacket after he led him out of the car and let him sit in the passenger seat instead of tied up in the back of the van which looked rather dirty to him. Once he had climbed in the passenger seat, he curled up in the jacket, only glancing over at the pale man driving next to him for a second before tearing his gaze quickly away. It wasn't as if he was a scary looking guy. Yes, he was tall but he wasn't big and muscled like he'd expect killers to look, though the angry look that had crossed his face while he was attempting to pull him out of the van did scare him a bit. He could, at least, admit to that.

During the drive Ashton fell asleep and was rudely awoken by someone shaking him. When he failed to wake up fast enough, he was yanked out of the car and nearly fell over due to the shock of it. Glaring at the man, he followed him up to a nice looking two story house, pausing before they entered because he really hated the idea of all this. "Why can't you just let me go?"

"I told you why I can't," he grumbled in annoyance as glared down at Ashton who was turning out to be a pain in his ass.

"Well then it makes no sense for you to keep me here with you! Just let me go-"

"And what will you do then? She'll try it again and do you really want to live life looking over your shoulder?" Kane growled as he stepped inside the house. "If you really want to go then go ahead and leave. I won't stop you but remember- I did warn you," he added, smirking when Ashton glared at him but followed him inside. He knew in the end Ashton would come with him. It wasn't like he had many options anyway.

Following him inside, he noted to himself that the house was decent looking since it was located in a rather questionable part of town and plus the guy was a hit man. How much decorating skills could a hit man have? Blinking when he heard a noise, he looked to the right, lifting a brow when he spotted someone standing lazily in the kitchen.

"Fuck. You went and pulled a Hikaru didn't you, Kane?" asked the man, a snort coming from Kane as he flipped off the person the voice belonged to.

"I didn't pull a damn Hikaru."

"Then why did you bring back the kid alive?"

"Just shut the hell up, Riley," he grumbled.

Smiling, the brown haired man better known as Riley tilted his head to the side, took a sip of his water, and slowly shook his head. "Sorry, but this is too good of an opportunity to pass up," he told him, brown eyes full of mirth.

Glaring once more at the dark skinned man, Kane roughly grabbed the puzzled Ashton for a second time that night and dragged him to a bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind the boy once they were both in the room. "You can sleep here for the night. I'll just sleep on the couch."

"Who was that?" Ashton timidly asked as the man who he now knew to be Kane grabbed a sheet off the bed and a pillow.

"My roommate- well actually only one of them. I have six other roommates besides the asshole you saw out there."

"You all live here?"

"Yes."

"… and you all kill for all living?"

"Yes," he said again

"Wonderful," Ashton muttered. He was trapped in a house with seven hit men. Could his life get any more complicated?

"Good night, kid," Kane said, slamming the door shut behind him as he walked to the living room, glaring daggers at Riley who was now lounging on the couch. He should've been upstairs which was where his room was located and Kane was less then pleased to run into the male who was his best friend but the biggest pain in the ass anyone had ever met. "Why aren't you upstairs- away from me?"

"I just wanted to talk. Is that such a crime?"

"Yes because you hate to just sit around and talk."

"Well… okay your right but this time I really do want to talk… especially about the certain someone sleeping in your room."

"Go upstairs now. I'm sleeping on the couch and the last thing I want to hear is your mouth running while I'm trying to sleep."

"I'll stop talking if you tell me why you brought the boy here which I might add is a stupid decision on your part since he could expose us all and ruin everything but I'm not here to lecture."

"Go lecture Hikaru then. He's the one who's brought home more people than me," Kane told him with a sneer, referring to Riley's lover Hikaru who had taken pity on a few people in the past and instead of killing them he brought them home. This had caused quite a few problems in the past but never had Riley lectured Hikaru when he pulled such a stupid stunt so why was he lecturing him about it now? It was the first time he had ever pulled something like this so he thought he should've gotten a little leeway.

"Yes, but you know how Hikaru is-"

"You just don't have the heart to lecture the brat because he's got you wrapped around his little finger," he said, smirking when Riley finally decided to leave him alone and with a sigh he laid down, hoping to at least get a few hours asleep before he had to face tomorrow… and the kid he had let get to him.

Ashton was up by six o'clock the next morning but he didn't get up right away. The teenager just sat there on the bed, knees drawn up to his chest as he stared at the door. He wanted to get up and leave because he needed to use the bathroom but he was nervous about leaving. There were seven hit men living in this house. Seven men who knew how to kill and could easily end his life. Why had that man- Kane brought him back here? What was the point? He did appreciate it because if not for him he would've been dead by now but the man had been hired to kill him so should he really be so appreciative? Maybe Kane did have a change of heart and he had offered to let him stay which still puzzled him to no end but that was not the point. He had let him live and brought him home with him. If he had gone home his stepmother surely would've tried the same thing even if he accused her of attempting to kill him. He doubted Kane would've come forward to back up his story. He wasn't willing to put /that/ much on the line for him and if that had been the case then it would be his word against his stepmother's and as adored as he was there was simply no proof to back up his claim.

Shaking his head, he tried to clear his mind of all thoughts of his stepmother as he slowly slipped out of bed and shuffled towards the door, hesitating only momentarily before leaving the safety of Kane's room. Shuffling down the hall he turned a corner, wondering if he should go find Kane and ask him where the bathroom was located in this creepy house just before bumping into someone during his deep thought session. A bit stunned by the sudden collision he took a step backwards, blinking when he found himself face to face with a dirty blonde haired male, the male engrossed in the Nintendo DS that he was holding and obviously playing. Lifting a brow when the male looked up, blank brown eyes sweeping over his slender form before glancing back down at the game, Ashton could only blink and stare as he said nothing and simply walked past him, not even bothering to ask who he was as he went on playing his game. "What is wrong with him?" Ashton murmured to himself, jumping when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't mind, Simon. He's always like that when he gets a new video game," said a voice that was familiar and when he turned around he realized it was the same voice that belonged to the guy that was hanging around in the kitchen last night. "Morning."

"Good morning," Ashton managed to say, the teen's voice sounding rather nervous. He was still finding it hard to accept that he was staying in the same house that seven hit men also happened to occupy. Chances were that he would /never/ come to accept it. "Where is your bathroom?" he blurted out, thanking the man once he told him where the bathroom was. After relieving himself he headed back down the hall, this time running into Kane.

"So you sleep all right, kid?"

"It's Ashton, and yes I slept fine."

"Ah, well come on and get some breakfast. If you don't get it now then you'll be out of luck until lunch."

He led him to the kitchen and Ashton swallowed nervously, wanting to suddenly run back into the safety of Kane's room because the scene before him was like something out of an action movie or some kind of battle scene. Sitting before him at the kitchen table were six men and he recognized only the male called Simon, who was sitting at the end of the table quietly playing his game and nibbling on a piece of toast, and Riley, who was sitting next to Simon with a short, black haired male Asian clinging to his right side. The male clinging to Riley looked to be his age, choppy black hair falling into his face but his bangs were unable to hide those bright violet eyes which were obviously colored contacts.

"That's Hikaru if you're wondering," Kane answered as he tied his long brown hair at the nape of his neck so it would stay away from his face while he was eating. It really was a bother but for some reason the twenty-eight-year-old could not part with his long hair.

"He doesn't look old enough to be a hit man," Ashton commented, watching Hikaru play with Riley's shaggy brown hair and it was easy for him to tell that they were lovers.

"He's twenty-four. The brat just doesn't look it," Kane said as he made his way to the table, obviously done answering Ashton's questions because the food was disappearing fast and he wanted to get some before it was all gone. During the breakfast Ashton was slowly but surely introduced to everyone. Besides Simon, Riley, Hikaru, and, of course, Kane there were three other hit men living inside the house. Finnigan, Finnley, and McKenzie were their names. He found out quick enough that Finnigan and Finnley were twins which would be quite obvious to anyone who even glanced at them because the two Irishmen who shared the same bright red hair and green eyes. McKenzie was the one he didn't pay that much attention to. After studying him for a few seconds, the blond haired man locked eyes with him and it was hard for Ashton to forget those dark brown eyes that seemed to be plotting his death or doing something unpleasant to him in his head. Later, Kane explained that the tall blond was just a very grumpy person and not all that nice to anyone really. He still was a huge grump and a cold hearted jackass to his roommates, despite the fact that they had worked and lived together for over four years now.

Later that day Kane had the nerve to explain what he called 'ground rules' to him. He wasn't allowed to go outside by himself, contact his father, or anything of the sort. Basically, he was just supposed to lay low because his stepmother assumed he was dead due to Kane presenting her with the 'evidence' earlier that day. He really didn't like the sound of this arrangement even though he was able to just walk out. Kane wasn't forcing him to stay here… but he didn't want to accuse his stepmother without any evidence or risk her attempting to kill him again. It was true that he didn't have to go home but Ashton was somewhat frightened to be by himself… and he didn't have any money or a job. How could he survive; if he ever tried to go for a job there was a chance his stepmother would find out. The best thing to do was to stay with the seven hit men if he even wanted a chance to survive.

How fucked was that?