About
Roy Kristen Tashiro
On the surface he's an extremely easy-going Eurasian who makes light of any situation. But in fact he's a well-trained hit man trusted by the Sagano syndicate.He wasn't always a hit man, though. He use to work at a church/orphanage on land that once belonged to his father, going by his first name Roy. But when one of the girls gets gang-raped and the caretaker won't allow police intervention, he swears revenge. It's around this time Tashiro meets J.B., a trained hit man visiting the church. After a long while he convinces the man to train him to kill the men, in return he'll teach him Japanese...and give him his body. J.B. complies, but Tashiro ends up nearly dead himself when he hesitates in killing the rapists and J.B. does it for him. After sharing the night together J.B. disappears from Tashiro's life with the message for him to find another way to live.
But Tashiro decides to live as a hit man anyway in hopes of finding J.B. again. His job ends up taking him to Japan where the Sagano syndicate hires him out to kill the man who tried to mow down Kei with a car. Tashiro does the deed, but this further incites the wrath of the organization who sought Kei's death. Years later the Sagano syndicate hires him out again, this time to guard Kai from the same organization sending out a copy to do dirty deeds and sully the Sagano name. His upbeat personality annoys the hell out of Kai, who's trying to come to grips with his feelings for Ranmaru and Masanori. But he proves to be a very effective bodyguard while tracking Kai and eventually taking out the leader of the opposing organization.
It's during this job that Tashiro runs into J.B. again for the first time in 8 years. Unfortunately J.B. has been putting the Japanese he learned from Tashiro to good use and was hired by the opposing organization. In the end J.B. refuses to follow an order based on his own set of code and the two are reunited in the aftermath. Recognizing that Tashiro willfully chose the life of a hit man and he'd been looking for him all that time, the two hook up as a double team and do jobs together, while rekindling the flame they once had. [Wikipedia]
Jack Birnbaum Neeson
One of the best hit men in the world. He's very calculating in his jobs and he makes sure to follow through with them. But he's not a bloodthirsty killer; he's constantly ashamed of his profession and he has a strict code as to never harm any children. He had been the one originally hired out to kill Kei, but he refused because of Kei's age.On one occasion he frequented a church/orphanage after carrying out a job. Here he meets a very overeager Tashiro and becomes quite fond of him. When one of the girls at the orphanage is gang-raped and Tashiro is rearing to kill the men responsible, J.B. hopes to diffuse that notion. But Tashiro won't be silenced and J.B. relents and teaches him. Truthfully it was suppose to be a diversionary tactic, but Tashiro rushed in to kill the rapists anyway and it was only J.B.'s interference that saved him. J.B. didn't want Tashiro getting involved in such a dark life and even as he took the younger man to bed he was revulsed with himself for corrupting what he considered to be an angel. He ended up leaving Tashiro, hoping the younger man chose a different way of life.
He continues his life as a hit man until he gets a job in Japan to kill Sagano, Masanori, and Tashiro (the one who killed Kei's would-be hit man). Though he accepts the job he's not wiled about killing Tashiro and seeks the younger man out several times to try and get him to leave Japan. But Tashiro won't be deterred either and each attempt to carry out their jobs, though they're on opposing sides. But Tashiro is the only one who does his job, as J.B. can't follow through with an order since Kai (whom he considers a kid) threw himself in front of Masanori.
In the aftermath J.B. confronts Tashiro at the airport and they reunite as lovers again. He seems to have come to terms with the fact that Tashiro chose to be a hit man and they work together as a double team in carrying out jobs. [Wikipedia]
