When I was about 5 years of age, my parents took me and my little sister to New York City for the Elam family reunion. Being half Japanese and half American, my sister and I had dark brown hair, dark eyes to match that color, and raised cheekbones. Though my sister did have smaller eyes than me.
My father, Daijiro Kai, was born and raised in a small town in Japan. There, he learned the martial art of ninjutso, the art of the ninjas. He was young when he became a master, only 18. Then he moved to the United States and met my mother, Rachel Elam, soon to be Rachel Kai. My father never told us why he left Japan so suddenly, but he was glad he did.
Anyway, my sister and I grew up in Virginia, so going to a big city was a big deal, even though my sister was too young to really understand. All I can really remember from that trip was the day the changed my life and my family's life.
It was a rainy day, and I was playing in the puddles as we walked back to our hotel after the reunion. Three strange men, who seemed to be triplets or maybe even clones walked past us. One of them was carrying a small bag, that had something glowing inside of it. Me, being a curious 5-year-old, ran over to them and asked what was glowing in the bag.
"A child." One of them said. "A child has approached us. The child who has approached us appears to not be a threat."
"But the child who has approached us might have a weapon which could us or the thing that we carry." Another one of the said.
"I'm just curious." I said, tilting my head to the side. "What is it?"
"I have detected a weapon. The father of the child who has approached us has a weapon. The father of the child who has approached us is a threat.." The one with the bag said. "If the father is a threat, he knows about the mutagen that is inside this bag."
"Mutagen…" My father muttered. He did know something about it. A few years earlier, when my mom just found out she was pregnant with me, one of my dad's friends from Japan called him with a warning about mutagen. The friend who called him apparently got some on him, and mutated into a giant rat. His name was Hamato Yoshi.
My father charged the men, pulling out his small knife. They went down easily, but during that process the bag flew into the hair, a canister of green mutagen came flying out of it, and fell on top of me. I screamed as the canister broke and the ooze covered a small portion of my skin. I felt pain surge throughout my body. I was mutating.
My hair turned white, and my eyes ice-blue. The rain around me had stopped in mid-air, and began circling around me. All attention was on me now.
The three men ran as my father approached me. "Anna Mei." He paused. "Let's go home."
My father trained me and my sister in ninjutso for many years after that, wanting us to be able to protect ourselves if he wasn't around. The meditation helped me control my abilities to control water.
I was 16 when we were attacked by an evil ninjutso master who was known as the Shredder. He knew of my father and his friendship with Hamato Yoshi, so he saw my father as a threat. He killed my mother and sister with ease, having a harder time with my father. I had my skin-tight, white uniform with silver armor plates on my knees, elbows, and shoulders. I had a strap on each thigh that held my two small staves with double-hidden-blades on each end. I had my bow and sheath of arrows and my grey, hooded cloak. Shredder held my father to the ground. My looked me in the eyes and mouthed, "Run. Do not show your power to anyone." Shredder stabbed my father in the stomach. My father yelled this time. "Run!"
The Shredder looked towards me and stood up. "What's your name?!"
"Don't tell him!" My father was gasping for breath now. "Just run!"
A tear escaped my watery eyes as I turned and bolted out the door. Shredder was chasing after me but the stopped to yell. "You are no threat if you are afraid of a fight!"
I stopped an turned around. "You will see me again." I sprinted in the nearby woods.