Chapter One — INFERNO
My name is Sasume Kazana, your average high school student. I'm eighteen and in my last year. At first glance, I'm everyone's idea of a perfect citizen. I study hard and hand in all my assignments. I have faithful friends and a normal family: my mom and dad, my younger sisters Mika and Mira, and my cat, KiKi. But there's one thing that no one knows about. My secret life. Yeah, I know it's old. Every superhero has a secret identity, but I'm no superhero. I'm a ninja working for INFERNO Squad. INternational FedERacy Ninja Operations.
When I was sixteen, INFERNO recruited me, a top athlete at Kuname High School in Kuname City. On a dark night, I saw a shifting shadow on my bedroom wall. Slowly, I slipped out from between my covers and grabbed my baseball bat from under my bed. I made sure I had a good hold on it before approaching the shadow.
"Who are you? What do you want?" I held the tin bat threatenly. Anger was heated in my voice.
"My name is Kosuke. Captain Kosuke Asayaka. I'm a ninja working for INFERNO Squad." A young man, about my age, emerged from the shadows and into the silver light that eminated from the streetlight outside my window. He was tall, but I came to about his chin from the top of my head. He wore his long, white blond hair in a ponytail with a section of bangs loose over the right side of his face. He wore a black t-shirt that had a vee-cut neck, and a fishnet muscle shirt was under it. His shorts were white jean, and he wore what appeared to be open-toe sandals woven from grass or something.
"What do you want?" I repeated, ready to swing.
"I came for you, Sasume Kazana. INFERNO has chosen you to train exclusively. Under my guidance, you can help Kuname City and many other places that are struggling with crime rates." He spoke in a cool, calm voice. "We choose only athletes at the age of sixteen. You, dearest, have top marks in Physical Education, do you not?"
"Yeah," I said slowly. "Hold the phone! How do you know my name?"
"INFERNO has been watching you for a while. Three years to be exact." I noticed how his face held a soft, emotionless look and stared down upon me.
"Stalkers," I muttered, lowering the bat. Just as I was beginning to trust him, he disappeared. I gasped. I hadn't even blinked and he had just vanished! My light flipped on and I turned to the switch to see Kosuke standing next to it. "What is this? Some kind of rape attempt? 'Cause it won't work! I have a bat and I'm not afraid to swing!"
He moved toward me. "Sasume, if you don't come willingly then I'll have to use force."
"Get back!"
"You could be stronger. You could help to save the city from certain destruction. One ninja can—"
"Get out of my house!" I swung at him and he vanished, reappearing by my window.
"Please consider it. I'll be back tomorrow." With that, he climbed out my window and ran off on the tree tops that lined the road.
I stared at my window with my bat lowered. Consider it? Hell, no! Or maybe... Being a ninja could be fun...
It was at that moment that my parents burst into my room. Mom looked like some sort of alien in her cucumber face mask and giant hair rollers. Dad was wearing nothing but his favourite playboy boxers. Kind of gross if you ask me. The worst part, Mika and Mira were right on their tails. The twins were twelve then. Mika was wearing her favourite pink kitty pajamas. Mira was wearing her Akika pajamas, that were black flannel with the international punk rocker's name written over what appeared to be a mutilated heart.
Mika and Mira were ferternal twins, and they couldn't be more different. Mika loved cats and rabbits and anything fluffy, whereas Mira liked her animals to be pure muscle and able to shed skin. Mika always listened to classical music, because it apparently makes you smarter. Mira listened to nothing but Akika. They were both tall, slim and pale like Mom and I, but Mira had inherited Dad's blue-black hair which she grew out to her shoulders and almost always wore a black tuk over it. Mika had strawberry blond hair which she kept cut just below her ears. There was always at least one red star clip in it to hold her bangs back, as well.
"Something wrong?" Mika clutched our creme-coloured cat, KiKi, worriedly.
"Nah, I'm fine." I waved it off.
"You sure? You look pissed." Mira huffed. It was obvious that she had been sleeping.
"I said I'm okay, and I meant it. Just a bad dream, that's all."
They all went back to bed. Mira wasn't buying it. She was smarter than that.
Two years later, I was at the top of the game. Okay, close to the top. I was feared. I was Leiutenant Sasume Kazana, and by a single glare, the first-years would get chills up their spines. I was living a double-life. School girl by day, ninja by night. As Lieutenant, I usually got five hours sleep before someone woke me up to go on a mission. Just like one particular night.
I had fallen asleep on the wooden strip bench in the dojo. I was dreaming of my three best friends, Arime,
Tsuko, and Kosuke. I was dreaming about two years ago when I first met Kosuke in the real world (as we call it) after our almost fantasy encounter in my bedroom. Kosuke turned out to be a great guy, and we became fast friends. Tsuko and Arime fell in love with him as well, and we became a foursome.
"Sasume-sensei!" A sixteen-year-old that I tutored ran into the dojo. "Kiko and I have been looking everywhere for you!"
As she said this, her cousin, Kiko ran in behind her. He bent over with his arms bracing himself on his knees. He was panting.
"Am I that evasive, that I don't even have to move and you can't find me? Kiko, Mayu. You both need to work on your analyzing skills. Kiko, work on your stamina." I closed my eyes to go back to sleep.
"Sasume-sensei! Wake up! There's some crazy guy downtown, ruining everything! You've gotta go!" Mayu whined, tugging my forest green sash.
I looked up at her with dark chestnut eyes, pleading to her. Don't make me get up, please.
She stared down at me and I sighed, heaving myself up. I yawned and stretched, pulled down my yellow battle kimono and fixed the fishnetting underneath it. "Fine. I'm up, I'm up."
"Sasume, hurry along," Kosuke urged as I dashed down the hall next to him. The entrance to the hideout was just ahead and we both flew threw it in one clean jump. It was clear that I was almost equally matched to the Captain, but I still had a long way to go.
I give myself a 9 for skill, a 7 for style and a... 2 for stealth.
It only occured to me that I had tripped over a branch when I hit the ground hard. Usually I would have recovered and rebounded, but I wasn't all there that night. I had two tests to study for and hadn't slept in two days. Arime wanted me to come to a sleepover with Tsuko, and was begging Kosuke to come along as well. I had a major migrane and jumping around like this wasn't helping, so naturally I lost my balence and fell. Luckily, no one saw me. I was able to recover before one head could turn in a group of teens that appeared to be getting home from the new nightclub just down the street.
One of them looked up, but I used a Dancing Leaf Shadow. This is a high-speed taijutsu move used to remove yourself from your opponent's sight to position yourself away from their next attack. In this case, I moved myself into the trees and out of sight, then waited.
"Did you see that?" One of them asked.
Another shook his head. "No, you're probably just seeing things. You are kind of buzzed up."
"Yeah... And I forgot my glasses. I hate contacts."
I let out a sigh and continued.
Reaching the crime scene, I saw a rather large man who appeared to be having an emotional breakdown as two ninja tied him up. I recognized them as Commanders Mechryu and Rasachi. I jumped down to accompany them, landing silently next to Kosuke who was trying to calm him down.
"With all this racket," Rasachi tightened her knot. "People will flood the streets. We'll be found."
Rasachi was a tall and beautiful woman. She was twenty-five-years-old with almost waist-length hair that was fiery red in colour. She kept it up in a ponytail near the top of her head. I had never seen it styled differently. Not even when I saw her as my teacher every Friday in last period English Literature. She had a finely drawn head and large, clear eyes that sparkled a dark jade. She was usually pale, but this spring she had a light tan from all the sun and lack of rain. Also, I figured she had a crush on one of the Captains, Gin Takamaru.
Mechryu nodded in agreement. She stood up next to me. "Yeah, someone should gag him or something."
Mechryu was sweet and smart, unlike hot-tempered and rash Rasachi. She was also twenty-five, with mid-back-length ocean blue hair, that was always kept in a braid. Sometimes she wore it like Rasachi, like when she worked at Kuname High as the Art and Photograhpy teacher. She had pale skin and a perfectly held head. Her facial features were well-defined and simple, but she was still rather pretty.
"So, gag him and bring him in," I yawned. Just as Rasachi moved to obey my command, he screamed and broke free of the ropes.
"So not good." Rasachi said in realization of how tall and strong this man really was.
I shook my head, in sync with Kosuke. The man attacked, first with an amazing blow towards me. His arm swung with his hand curled into a tight fist. I jumped and front-flipped to land on his large arm. Mayu had been wrong. This wasn't just some insane guy. This was a First Gate Demon, one known primarily for possessing human beings. He went to grab me with a hand four times the size of any normal man's, which I grabbed and swung my self up on, holding myself in a handstand. I launched myself backwards to land on his over-sized shoulders, standing up straight.
"Sorry, but the fun's about to end," I chuckled a bit to myself.
This First Gate was just like any other that I fought. Tall and stupid. Solid muscle with no idea what to do with it. He was rather ugly as well, with rough skin that was now turning grey. I looked at it in confusion, Possession Demons usually had blood red or dark tan skin depending on gender; dark tan being the female, blood red being the male. This one had quite obviously been male, but it was as if some hidden power had been unlocked. He thrashed around wildly, screaming into the night. His eyes went from dark blue to entirely black. There was a four-point star in jet black on his forehead. I heard a siren wailing in the distance. Police.
"Kosuke... What is this?" I heard Mechryu ask as she and Rasachi stepped back with fear lighting every inch of their bodies.
"It's a Fifth Gate Demon. The Shapeshifter." Kosuke answered, staring straight at it calmly.
"Fifth Gate?" I asked, thinking back to my lessons. "The weakness is in... the star."
I quickly drew one of my two kantanas and slid it cleanly through the black star. "Hyah!" One clean slice. I drew the silver sword out once the demon had stopped moving and began to fall.
"I hope you wanted that dead, Kosuke." I stated before my frontflip dismount, landing right infront of him.
"Your analyzing skills are weak. Anyone could see that was a Fifth Gate," he said sharply. "Mechryu, I suppose you saw it right away, with your sharp eyes."
"Wha– Oh... yeah. Of course I did." Mechryu's face flushed a light pink and averted her eyes towards Rasachi's feet. "First of all, when he changed from human to demon, it was clean. Clearly a Shapeshifter Demon. Possession Demons shed the skin of the possessed human."
"Right, Commander." Kosuke nodded softly, then looked at me. "Sasume, nice work. Your Taijutsu has improved. Rasachi... good knot work." He turned on his heel and began to walk away. "All in all, good work. Now dispose of the corpse."
The three of us drew out a long rectangle of paper with a single character inscribed on it: Disintegrate. We all stuck them to the demon and it disappeared into a fine dust and flew off in the wind. Just as the sirens came into the five-way stop. Kiri Street, Taki Lane, Aka Street, Hime Cresent, Sessho Drive. I realized that we were standing on Kiri Street, a four-lane street. It was dead. All the lights were off and there were no cars. Same on the other streets. It was 4AM. Usually there were all kinds of people out. Tonight there was no one.
"I can't believe he said that," Rasachi's words broke into my thoughts as the three of us walked back together. "Good knot work."
"Well, that's all you really did, Rasachi-chan." Mechryu stated in a low voice, almost scared.
"You two were pretty pitiful." I agreed, quickening my pace. I knew, though, that neither Rasachi nor Mechryu would dare attack me. I was after all Lieutenant Sasume Kazana; whereas they were simply Commander Rasachi Noma and Commander Mechryu Takahashi. They were ranked though, not like the First Years and ninety-four percent of the Second and Third Years.
Commander was the third lowest rank. First, there were Leaders, who each lead a squad of three ninja. The term 'leader' was not used, however, in their title. For example, one of the leaders was a seventeen-year-old girl, who was refered to as Koiyuki Fujika. We also called her Koiyuki, and sometimes Snow, because of her extremely long silver hair which she kept in line with fighting tape down near the end of her hair. Beyond the tape was about five inches of silver silk.
Next was Corporal. There was nothing very special about them. They got to control three Leaders, and chose the ninja that were placed with each Leader. Really, they should've been the lowest rank in my opinion. Especially since most of them had no hope of ever getting a higher rank. I skipped the whole Corporal stage. I went from First Year to Commander. My least favourite of this rank was Corporal Tsunako Yagami. He was quiet and mysterious, and whenever he said something I wanted to punch him for it. Most of all, I hated his haircut. He had straight bangs that came right across the middle of his eyes and was long in the back.
After that was Commander, like Rasachi and Mechryu. Commanders fought in teams of two and were each in control of two Corporals and three Leaders. If back-up was needed, they could call in their teams at any given moment via wireless communications system. Wearing this little earpiece and the matching choker receiver was requirement. No matter how ugly. Personally, I liked them.
Then Leiutenant. Basically, we got to tutor First Years and lead one Commander each, plus anything along the Commander's line. Lieutenants were all automatically enrolled for a test everytime of of the highest ranks, Captain, was killed. This had happened just recently. Captain Roku Matsuyama. She was killed by a Tenth Gate Demon. There was only one, and he was otherwise known as Jazan, the Almighty Lord of the Underworld. It sickened me to know that there were people who warshipped him, and called themselves 'Jazanists'. Anyway, by this time, the first exams had already taken place. Only three passed. Sano Izumi, Raito Yamikira and myself.
Raito was twenty-one, and as far as I knew, living alone. She had soft features that matched her soft lavender-blue hair and blue-grey eyes. She always wore a knee-length, lavender battle kimono with navy blue cherry blossoms around the egde, and carried a wakizashi, which is a smaller form of my kantanas. Kantanas are a horseman's sword, used for the samurai who battled from horseback in the feudal era of Japan, such as the Lords or Generals. Wakizashis, however were shorter for close-range combat.
Sano was my age. He had a shag of black hair and ice blue eyes that reminded me of a huskey. He had three small silver hoop earrings on his right ear, and three silver studs on his left. He was pale-skinned and muscular, and always seemed to be wearing black, grey or white. He was my height. I noticed that when I turned around at the anual INFERNO Christmas Party and saw his eyes staring directly into my eyes. I also noticed that he was nice only to girls and people he knew and liked.
eyes.
