A Meeting in Helena's Room

Part 2

The Shinobi & A Heiress

-3 Days Later-

Three Shinobi angled down on gliders towards the deck of the Freedom Survivor and landed without a sound. Almost immediately they were surrounded by twenty heavily armed guards. When Hayate went to draw his katana and Ayane her kunai, Hayabusa stepped in front of them and blocked them.

"We are here to see the leader of DOATEC." His husky voice seeped out from behind his ninja mask. The guards aimed their weapons at him, but the Dragon Ninja stood his ground. Hayabusa stared at the guards and the guards stared back at him. It seemed like minutes had passed before a feminine voice with a Russian accent cut through the silence. "Move, move I said! Get out of the way you slaggering idiots!" After a round of pushing and shoving, a short woman finally made her way to the center of the group to where the ninjas stood.

The woman had a mess of short red hair that was cut off at the nape of her neck and she wore an expression on her face that told one that she was not to be fucked with. She was dressed in a black business suit with dark grey plaid pumps. She stood before Hayabusa and planted her hands on curvy hips. Squinting up at him with grey eyes, she spoke. "Dragon Child, what took you so long to get here?" Hayabusa took a single step forward and held out his arm. The redhead quickly took the proffered forearm and grasped it firmly. "I do apologize. There were some things that needed to be taken care of and it couldn't wait. We arrived as soon as we were able to."

There were few who could impress Hayabusa and even fewer still that held his respect. Not only did Hayabusa respect the older woman but he also thought of her as a sort of friend. The Russian shook her head and used her free hand to pat the arm she was holding. "Never mind that dear child, there is much to discuss with you, much to catch you up on.

" Leaning around him, she spied Hayate and Ayane. "I am Celtiltica Stephanov, but you can call me Celty if you like. You are Hayate, the Shinobi of the Wind, yes?" At Hayate's nod, she turned her grey eyes to the woman next to him. "And you are Ayane, the Killer Kunoichi, no?" Taking the narrowing of Ayane's purple eyes as a yes, she then turned her attention back to Hayabusa. "The Kunoichi of Destiny is already here," she said nodding to herself and released her grip on Hayabusa.

She turned around and faced the guards who were still surrounding them; she waved her arms to the sides in a shooing motion. "Go back to your posts. There is no trouble here. These here are friends," she stated in her thick accent.

After a brief hesitation, all of the guards dispersed, going back to their original posts around the deck before the ninjas had arrived. Celty then waved them forward towards the stairs leading to the upper deck. Following behind her they then entered through the door leading to the interior of the ship in silence.

Almost immediately narrowing his eyes, Hayabusa paused and looked around. Behind him, Ayane and Hayate sniffed the air. "It smells of blood," Ayane said wearily. "Three days ago, someone boarded the ship, killed practically all of the guards and tried to kill Helena." The three Shinobi looked over at Celty who was quiet up until now. She kept her back to them as she continued to speak and tread forward through the ship. The Shinobi had no other choice but to follow her, and the further they went, the stronger the smell became.

"A single assassin did all of this damage," Celty spoke in a low voice. It didn't take long for them to come to know the damage she spoke of. Upon entering the lobby/dining area, they spotted several men around, some were trying to scrub out blood stains and streaks that refused to detach from the walls, while some other men stood on guard.

Upon spotting the Shinobi, the guards lifted their weapons slightly until Celty raised her hand and shook her head at them. Lowering their weapons, the guards continued to eye the group until they had turned a corner and were out of sight. "These men here, they are scared, as they should be." Shaking her head Celty added, "Only a person with an insane want for blood could do something like this."

"How do you know it was an assassin, or only one person for that matter?" Ayane asked, her eyes never stopped checking their surroundings. Celty halted her steps in front of a door and turned to Ayane. "I would know," Celty spoke slowly as if to a mere child, "Because the Heiress told me so. And the one who did this, we know well enough to know that this would be a solo mission." Clearing her throat, she once again faced the door and slowly slid it open to reveal Helena's office.

Authors Notes: Well what did you think about that? I know the chapters are a bit short, but that's kind of how I like it. I apologize for it taking so long for me to put up this chapter. Hopefully the next one won't take so long. Originally this was supposed to be a one chapter story but as you can see, seems to be a bit longer. How long? I don't know. But I hope this is chap is good enough to sate you until the next one. R&R please! I really need to know if it's any good or not.