Mika was in a word frustrated. A deep sigh filled Mika's lungs as she watched the rain from the glass tower that Raizo kept her in. Since leaving her home 6 months ago, she had been subject to some of the best moments of her life. However, they had become some of the most aggravating. They spent just as much time apart as they did when she was still stationed in Europe. The only difference was she knew what falling asleep next to him felt like. Brown fingers lifted to pull her shoulder length hair into a messy ponytail. She needed to get back to work. She now had a company to run.
When word got out that Raizo was rebuilding the clan of Black Sand, ninja from all over defected and came to join him on the mountain. Not only was he rebuilding it. He was making it better. Raizo was making a counter task force that governments could hire to keep the threat of ninjas that operated in the shadows at bay. He stationed her here in the city as the liaison between the agencies that wished to use their services, and as HR for the "staff" that worked there at the tower with her. At least those who had made it to the tower anyway.
Mika continued to watch the rain outside of the window. The tips of her fingers moved to rest on the glass as she thought about what rebuilding that kind of empire entailed. The soft frown on her lips was starting to become perpetual. The training was brutal. Apparently creating an anti-ninja force did not mean kinder or gentler. The ninjas that came were battle hardened, and cold inside. They seemed to feel nothing. Neither heat nor cold fazed them. They were tireless in their zeal for getting whatever it was that made them join in the first place. The only time they showed any emotion was when they were in disguise. Going so far as to pretending to be in love.
"Enough of that, I have work to do…" Mika grumbled to the rain and no one in particular.
Mika pushed away from the window in frustration. That last thought was one that she didn't want to dwell on for very long. Choosing instead to focus on the paperwork on her desk. She lived in a suite inside of the tower. Raizo said that she would be more secure in that location when she was not on the mountain. She spent her days managing his company and transcribing scrolls brought to her by other ninjas. Some of the scrolls holding the secrets of ninja clans that had not survived into this new century. Some of the scrolls were even diary entries from various ninjas. The world they painted was a bleak one. Punctuated by the joy of completing their task, and coming home with the honor that was so important to their clan.
For them, there was no hope for normalcy, no care for redemption. It was what set Raizo apart from the rest of his clan. At least that was what she was hoping. From the training session, she saw the last time she was at the mountain base, she was harboring some doubts about how far Raizo would go to stop what had happened to him from happening to others. Even if it meant becoming the monster he was fighting
Her hand moved over one book with a symbol that she knew very well. It was the symbol for the Black Sand. Raizo's clan. In it was a diary of one of the female ninjas and her exploits. Everything from how to seduce a shogun, to how to play the dulcimer so that those who heard it would weep. Mika was up to the beginning of the ninja's training. She had to translate it as she read it. It was so old, that not every symbol was still in use. The training for the female ninja's had her side eyeing some of the women who joined Raizo's clan.
They were bred to be little ninja Barbie's of perfection. That could seduce with a look, and kill without a blink. They were beautiful and terrifying, and Mika wasn't sure if she was going to be able to be supportive if Raizo went down that path. She was his and he was her's, but if she had any delusions of a white picket ninja fence, and little Blasian babies these dreams would need to be checked at the lantern-strewn door.
"There is no rain, or water that can wash away the blood upon my hands. No Raven that can bring back the time that was stolen from me. There is only honor, and opportunity. Time and tide." Mika whispered the words that she had translated and looked up at the sound of heels tapping outside of her door.
There was a knock on the door, and her resentful shadow Takumi walked in. She was the only one besides Mika who had the password to get into her suite. Takumi let in the young girl at the door at the beginning of the day. They had a hate/hate relationship. Mika hated that Raizo assigned Takumi to her, and Takumi hated being assigned to her. Takumi was an aspiring ninja princess apparently. She was from the clan of the White Crab. A clan of mainly female ninja with the distinct gift of holding their breath underwater for long periods of time. Their clan was known for their assassinations on the shores of Japan. They were called "Ningyo" or mermaids.
"Hello. Ms. Mika. I'm glad to see you are at the office so early." She was being a bitch, but Mika was going to take the higher ground.
"Hello, Tell Raizo when you report back to him that I was just restless and decided to get some work done." Mika's lips twisted at the effort it took the girl to be cordial.
"I will thank you. I trust you have everything you need?" Takumi being sarcastic was just another day at the office. Mika tried to be understanding. She was a warrior that was given the task to babysit. It was just starting to wear thin.
"Yes Takumi, you can go back to the mountain to train. I will be here in the office for the next few days working on that special project for Raizo. Tell him that I don't need a babysitter. If he is that concerned about my welfare he can come, and see me himself. Unfortunately today was that day that she was tired of it.
Takumi's eyes grew wide with the irritation she heard in Mika's voice. She wasn't cross often, but Takumi was starting to rub her the wrong way. There was something about the ninja she didn't trust. Takumi looked unsure for about a minute, but she had no loyalty to Mika. Her sights were set on being at Raizo's side. Instead of being there, trying to garner his favor from Raizo, she was here babysitting his girlfriend. Sucked to be her!
Before Takumi could rally with anything else smart, Mika turned her attention back to her books. She truly did have a lot of work to do. Raizo has a meeting with the Stone Fox clan, and she had to translate and transcribe the information for Raizo to review before the meeting. It seemed they wanted to make a treaty of sorts. "You're dismissed Takumi. Have fun playing on the mountain."
"You should have more respect for Raizo! He is a great man!" The tone in Takumi's voice had Mika taking a long look at the ninja beneath her lashes. It wasn't love, but it was something.
"Yes, he is, but he's my man, and this is how we communicate." Might as well draw her line in the sand. Mika would hate for anyone to say they misunderstood their place.
"I would never treat him the way you do!" Takumi had moved her hand to her side where she would normally keep her weapons. Her hand dropping when she remembered, that there were no weapons allowed on to this floor of the building. Per Raizo. Mika refused to believe for a second that any real ninja left their weapons at home.
"Which is probably the basis of my appeal. Stay in your lane, and have a great day." Mika sat down at her desk and started turning pages of the diary. She suddenly didn't want Takumi to know what she was doing for Raizo.
Takumi stepped forward, her hands clenched at her sides. Mika could see the girl was practically seething. As far as Takumi was concerned she was being made to take orders from the Head of the Clan's mistress. "When Raizo gets tired of your… novelty. You will have to watch as he trains woman after woman to take up the path of a female warrior. It is the duty and privilege of every Kunoichi to be taken by the head of the clan. You will no longer be his weakness, and everyone will shun you. There is no place for concubines in the world of ninja!"
First off, over her dead body. Second off, whom did she just call a concubine? " If that were to ever happen I would leave, and never come back. Raizo knows that, and would never touch you. Not that it matters Raizo is nothing like other clan leaders. It's why so many follow him."
"Silly whore. To leave a ninja clan is to commit suicide. Raizo barely made it. How do you expect to?" Takumi smirked and turned on her heel. She knew that her damage had been done. Strutting out the door in some pumps that Mika begrudgingly thought were fabulous.
Mika watched her go. Refusing to give Takumi the satisfaction of screaming after her. Though what Takumi said had Mika wanting to drag her back by her hair so Mika could deliver some divine justice; it was only a bitchier version of what she had been thinking earlier. With one last sigh, she turned to the scrolls that awaited her attention.
***
Raizo missed Mika. No matter how he tried to get away from that fact he couldn't. It didn't matter if he was training himself or he was training the other members of the clan. She was never far from his thoughts. Pulling his mind back to the present, he called out a quick set of commands to the ninja gathered in front of him. They were inside a stone walled antechamber that he used for the shadow exercise. The room bounced the shadows around the room that allowed for ultimate concealment if one knew how to walk within the shadows.
They were the first set of his trainees that morning. Out of this group, he would choose his lieutenants. They would be his eyes, ears, and muscle when he could not be there. They would be the first to learn Ozouno's secret of self-healing. A jealously guarded secret of the Black Sand. These were ninja that he knew he could trust. Ninja that Raizo knew would die for their cause and for the clan. They would give their lives for the Black Sand the same as he. Another set of orders and he watched as they made their attempt to melt into the surrounding darkness. Their bodies almost dissolving into black particles like sand in the wind.
After about 10 minutes, Raizo melted into the shadows and began striking at the gathered ninja causing them to scatter. Each one was cut deep enough that they would need to heal themselves before going on to the next section. He reappeared and watched as they desperately tried to heal themselves in the end only 3 had managed it. It was as he expected. These three were the very best, and dedicated to their studies. "Hachiro, Katsuo, Aki, stay. The rest of you, go to the medicine man, and have him heal you. Afterward a hundred sword drills." He watched the look of disbelief on their face, and his expression hardened. "Now!"
He ignored the anger on their faced waiting until they had trudged out of the room. He knew the anger was directed inward at failing. Ninja were not allowed to fail; it could cost them their life. The ninja picked themselves up and made their way out. Hachiro, Katsuo, and Aki stood at rest waiting for their next set of instructions. Raizo was always trying to walk that tightrope of being efficient, without being brutal. The other side would show them no mercy.
"Prepare yourselves. You will leave with me in a week's time to the Sand Tower. We have a meeting with the head of the Clan of the Stone Fox. He will be bringing his grandson Rokuro." Raizo looked at the disgust on the faces of the men and nodded. It was good that they understood. That man was spoiled, and in never being given any boundaries had grown depraved. Rokuro was just a rabid dog with the name of ninja.
"Hai." They all said in unison. Apart the three before him were exceptional, but together they were a well-oiled machine. Katsuo and Aki were twins from the Clan of the Wind. They were the yin to the others yang. Hachiro was from the Clan of the Black Sand. He was in the last training group that Ozouno's had before Mika had effectively ended all of that nonsense with a well-timed government raid. It took a large amount of effort to keep his lips from twitching at the thought of Mika.
"Ozouno Raizo!"
Raizo inwardly cringed when he heard that name, and there was only one who dared to speak it out loud. "Asami-chan. What can I do for you?"
Mistress Asami was legendary in the world of Black Sand. She was the great, great, great-granddaughter of the famed Sand Lotus, Akane Sachiro. She came from a long line of Kunoichi that lived and breathed the world of ninja. Forsaking everything for the clan. At one time, Asami had been the most beautiful female ninja in the world. Poems had been written about her. But many missions and jealous lovers had taken their toll on her. Asami adjusted the jade comb in thick silver hair that had once been the color of onyx and smiled at him with what was left of her teeth at the endearment that he placed at the end of her name. It was one he remembered Ozouno calling her many times. She collected herself fixed her single eye on Raizo, and frowned deeply. He knew that whatever it was going to be it was not going to be good.
"Your female, who needs to come train with me, is at the tower by herself." The statement was made matter of factly, but Raizo could see that Asami found something that she approved of when it came to Mika.
However Raizo's blood ran cold, and something on his face must have worried his new lieutenants because they stepped back to allow him and Asami to talk unhindered. "Is Takumi dead?" That was really only the acceptable reason for Mika to be in that tower unattended as far as he was concerned.
Asami cackled and rolled her single eye heavenward. Raizo trusted her with everything. She was the only one outside of Mika that he told everything to. The last mission she had been on had gone terribly wrong. She had fallen in love with her mark. He had savagely raped and beat her then threw her out into the road to die. Raizo had found her completed her mission and returned her to the steps of the Black Sand without being seen. She had sworn her loyalty since then and trained all of the Kunoichi. Asami knew that he had no desire to give the female ninja their final test, and found other ways of completing the task. Raizo only helped with minor combat training, he had no interest for the rest of it.
"Your love has dismissed Takumi and said that if you were that concerned, you could come see her. When will you give her to me to train? Raizo frowned at Asami's words. It was like a broken record with her.
"I will not. She is not of this world Asami-san. We cannot make her into what we are. Would you have what happened to you happen to her?" Raizo hated saying that, but he had to make her understand.
"You three are dismissed!" Raizo blinked with the speed the ninja departed from the room. He had thought he was the only one Asami scared.
"You are a fool Ozouno Raizo! You think you are protecting her from you and your world, but you are only going to get her killed in it! Much worse then that mermaid tramp you sent to protect her is out there. Much worse then Ozouno is coming for you, and they will make what was done to me look like a spring festival!" Asami hissed at him angrily.
Raizo's lipped twitched at the description of Takumi. He didn't disagree. He felt that putting her in the tower where she could do no damage was best. "Asami, Takumi…"
"Was sent by the White Crab as a spy. You and I both know it. That does not negate that you are leaving Mika vulnerable to attacks!" Raizo had the good grace to look down. Asami was not a fool. "She should be under my tutelage so that I can mold her into to the rest of what you need."
"She is fine the way she is. Asami-chan. She should be n the city where she belongs. Away from this life. " Raizo knew on some level Asami was right, but he was tired of talking about it.
"You mean away from you" Asami snapped and Raizo was suddenly done talking about it.
"Leave me Asami." Raizo turned and began walking to the door.
"Ozouno…!"
"Leave me!" Raizo's uncharacteristic roar had Asami pick up her kimono, and stiffly walk out of the door leaving Raizo to think about his next step concerning Mika.