Life Perfect Honour

by D Ant

Chapter Two

Jiro came bounding out of Ichiro's room, skipping to the table and sitting. Ichiro followed far behind, stumbling out of his room and shuffling down the hall, rubbing his face with both hands before running them through his shoulder length hair.
"How did you two sleep?" Mayumi asked.
Ichiro didn't answer, only sat down at his place at the table and stared off with half open eyes.
"I slept good," Jiro said with a nod, smiling in excitement as his breakfast was set in front of him.
Goemon glanced up at Ichiro and then continued eating.
"Did you know Ichiro talks in his sleep?" Jiro asked with a laugh.
"I do not," Ichiro mumbled as he glared at Jiro.
"Who's Sakura?" Jiro asked teasingly.
Ichiro blushed slightly, looking at Jiro in shock. "Shut up, Stinky!"
"Goemon!"
Ichiro looked at his father and then once again threw his chopsticks down and stormed off in anger.
"Am I in trouble?" Jiro asked, looking up at his parents.
Goemon and Mayumi both sighed.

Danielle sat bored on the plane. She was dressed in her normal clothes, blue jeans, a long sleeved black button up shirt tucked into the pants, the first two buttons undone, and black steel-toed boots. Her hair was down, resting a few inches past her shoulders, a backwards baseball cap snug on her head.
She was fortunate enough to get a window seat, but unfortunate enough to only have a view of the ocean, the plane flying from Vancouver to Tokyo.
She stared around her before finally resting her eyes on her shoes. For her, life always seemed harsh. Now it just seemed cruel.
Her family was always moving since she could remember. The first time was when her father took her to New York. She was six at the time and her mother had been admitted into a hospital there that had a good reputation in caring for cancer patients.
There was nothing that could be done to help her, though, and she died four months later. Danielle remembered her dad crying that day. He had always seemed so strong and in control, never letting anything bother him. But on that day when he got the news, Danielle realized that her father was just like her, that he was human.
Her mothers death was the start of her bleak look on the world. It wasn't long after when her father returned to killing for profit. The two moved from state to state, province to province, country to country. If they stayed in one place for three months it was an oddity.
She had never understood the concept of taking money to end a man's life and she knew she never would. But, her father did just that for the next six years.
She never had any friends during those years, never staying in one place long enough to get to know anyone. She was mainly a loner, wandering the streets to kill time. Every so often she'd find a stray and take it in, but they'd usually end up running away or dying. She was a target of bullies, getting beaten, the things her father would buy her being stolen. None of these helped to brighten her outlook on life.
She gradually started to become more angry and violent, challenging others to fights and bullying those younger and smaller than her. By the age of eleven she was smoking and drinking, doing whatever it was that she wanted.
Seeing the drastic change in his daughter, Jigen quit the business, taking her and moving for the last time to a small place outside of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Danielle quit smoking soon after, but enjoyed drinking too much to give it up. Plus it was something she could do with her father. Also when the two drank they talked and she enjoyed getting to know her father just that much more. She'd often suggest the two have a drink, Jigen never turning it down, as sitting and talking with his daughter was something he enjoyed as well.
Life was finally starting to look up for Danielle. She was getting closer to her father and starting to look forward to the future. The two did things together, always talking about the big trip they planned for when she got out of high school. They were finally fitting into their roles of father and daughter.
The good life didn't last long, however. Five months short of her fifteenth birthday her father was gunned down. And she once again found herself packing and moving. Although this time there was nobody in the seat next to her to talk to. This time she found herself alone.

The plane landed and Danielle stood to get her bag from the overhead compartment, elbowing some man in the stomach as he tried to muscle his way past her to get his things. "Wait your damn turn!" she growled, turning and glaring at him as he held his stomach in pain.
Others on the plane glanced at her, some mumbling unkind words and giving her disgusted looks.
She ignored them and followed everyone off the plane and into the terminal. Glancing around, she noticed the signs were mostly in Kanji, a long sigh escaping her. She could speak Japanese moderately well, but couldn't read it, something she now regretted not learning.
She walked up to a worker and asked where her luggage would be, getting told the way and following the directions, finding her luggage without a problem.
With all of the moving she had done she never really accumulated too many things. The items she held dear were few, mainly photos and jewelry. The rest were clothes, a laptop, an MP3 player, a cellphone and some books and journals.
The bag she grabbed contained her clothes. It also had her fathers hat and one of his suits, both taken for sentimental reasons. She had always hated the way her father dressed, but could never really bring herself to tell him.
The backpack slung over her right shoulder contained everything else she had to her name.
She left the airport, standing outside and waiting for a taxi to drive up. After several minutes one did and she entered, telling the driver where she had to go. The man nodded and drove off.
The drive to the village was long and boring. Danielle stared out the window, watching as the trees and fields passed her by. The trip didn't get any more exciting than that and soon she refused to look outside, finding her boots to be much more entertaining.
The taxi stopped twenty minutes later. Danielle closed her eyes and sat there, refusing to look at her future home or even step inside it. Knowing she couldn't sit there forever she sighed, opening her eyes and paying the man before grabbing her things and stepping out of the car.
She let out a small whine as it drove off, wanting to chase after it screaming and begging for it to come back. She then growled and turned to face the village.
She had never once visited the place in her life. Whenever there were get togethers to go to, she always found herself at Lupin's Paris estate. That was where she wished she was, the giant place that held a lot of good memories.
Instead she stood staring at the front of a medium sized settlement, partly surrounded by a wall. It didn't look as small as she had expected and it looked more busier than she had thought.
She walked through the front gates, ones around stopping what they were doing to gaze at her in curiosity, she doing the same to them. Her mind wondered if she had passed through some sort of barrier that blocked the flow of time.
She let out another small whine, shuffling her feet as she walked, approaching a man to ask where Goemon lived. Pointed the way, she shuffled off again.
The buildings of the village were new enough, yet still modeled after something Danielle would see in a random ninja movie. All the structures were painted white with black tiled roofs. Some were two stories tall, but most were one. Towards the back of the village sat a much larger building, one that housed the temple and dojo.
"At least they have electricity," she muttered to herself as she eyed the wooden utility poles. "That's a plus..."
She finally reached Goemon's house, standing staring at the door for a few seconds before forcing herself to knock on it.
Inside, Ichiro and Jiro were in the living room finishing up their homework. Hearing the knock, they looked at each other.
"Are you ready to be beaten up and have your things stolen?" Ichiro asked with a big grin. He got to his feet and headed for the door.
Jiro let out a whiny growl, getting up and following his brother.
Ichiro opened the door, staring expressionless at Danielle as she stood staring expressionless at him. "Hey," he said, no excitement in his voice. "Let me help you with that." He reached towards her bag.
"I can handle it on my own," she said as she shoved past him and in the house, looking around. "So, where's my room?"
"You need to take your shoes off," Ichiro informed her.
"Why?" she asked, giving him a perplexed look.
"Because this is my house and you have to do what I say," he said in a bossy voice. "And besides, wearing shoes in the house is disrespectful."
"Shoes are disrespectful? And this house belongs to your parents, not you, so I don't have to do a damn thing you say."
Jiro let out a small gasp.
"No swearing in the house, either," Ichiro said, his voice raised as he glared at her. "We do have rules, you know."
"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes. She set her stuff down and untied her boots, taking them off and setting them outside with the two pairs of sandals set by the door. "They better not get stolen," she warned.
Ichiro's response was a sigh. "Come on. I'll show you your room."
Danielle grabbed her things and followed him, looking around as they walked through the house. "Where's your parents?" she asked.
"Where are my parents," he corrected, groaning inside as it was something his father would have done.
"I don't know. That's why I asked."
"No." Ichiro closed his eyes and sighed. "Nevermind." He got to the room that had been his brothers and slid the door open. "There was an emergency at the temple, so they're taking care of it."
"Oh," Danielle said as she followed him into the room, setting her things on the floor by the bed. "I hope it's nothing serious."
'Is she being sincere?' he wondered, shocked that she actually knew how. "Yeah, well, make yourself at home...or whatever." He left the room and shut the door.
"Yeah," she sighed, sitting on the bed. "Whatever..."