Hello again! I just wanted to say a quick hi, and a thank you to the two readers who reviewed yesterday: my sissy and garu0212. For some reason, having a Spanish reader makes me feel like this story is that much more special! :) (Or am I just a nerd?)

Whatever, on to the chapter!

…

Ugh! Come on, stupid story, write yourself! XP

April 13th

I'm glad I finally got my journal back. Tobe realized how important it is for me to write in here, so he decided to keep it as incentive for me to work well. Thankfully, he did give it back so that I could write tonight. But last night, when he found out about that sword I ruined when I was cleaning, he was determined to make me pay for it the next day.

He woke everyone up at seven in the morning. Apparently, he'd brought in a giant gong from out back and banged it as hard as he could. I was so startled when I awoke that I nearly fell out of my hammock. The other ninjas, however, were much less shaken by Tobe's wake-up call, and jumped down to the floor, lined up and bowed to him. I leapt down too after a moment, earning brief stares from everyone as I stumbled down from the top bunk.

"Okay everyone," he began as I found my place in the row of ninjas surrounding him, "now that we got all the cleaning done yesterday, the real fun can begin."

"Alright!" said the ninja next to me, jumping up excitedly. Another sighed and shook his head.

Then I noticed something that startled me: all of us, even the other ninjas, had their masks off. And underneath them, they were all completely different. The one beside me, for example, had short blond hair in the same style as Dada's, but a much more Asian face. Another had short ponytail and large light brown eyes, and another actually had long, dark blue hair that framed his angled face.

This surprised me; I had been fighting these ninjas for so long, but I never imagined what they would be like. I guess I just assumed that they were all clones or something. But now that I had a chance to meet them, they all had different faces, and different personalities.

I had to snap myself out of my reverie because I noticed Tobe had been talking the whole time. I looked around nervously, hoping I didn't miss anything important.

It turned out Tobe was just giving assignments out to the others. And to add to the theatricality, he'd saved mine for last.

"As for you, Garu," he said, "you remember that we're in need of a new sword, right?"

I groaned softly and nodded. Why was he making such a big deal out of it?

"Well, the one you ruined just happened to be one of my dueling swords."

Oh.

"So, today, you're going into town to get me a new one. And since you're new to this, let me clarify, I don't mean buy one." He smirked at my widened eyes. "Try to find one that matches this one!" The underlines are because as he said that, he grabbed his other sword from a rack on the wall and threw it at me.

It missed miserably and flew out the open front door.

I raised an eyebrow at him, and he just growled. "Well, what are you all still standing here for? Get going!" he yelled. The others obeyed, pulling on their masks and rushing out the door.

I slipped mine on and ran after them, picking up the sword as I started into town. However, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I whirled around to face one of the ninjas. The excitable blond one, I noticed.

He looked kind of nervous, but he kept his voice steady. "Um, I just wanted to say that… well, I'm glad you'll be working with us for now. It's an honor to have such a great fighter on our team." He sighed. "Even if there's no one to fight with you here."

I chuckled once. I never imagined I'd hear one of Tobe's ninjas talk to me, unless you count screaming curses and vows to destroy me.

"I'm Quan, by the way." His eyes were smiling.

I smiled back. Nice to meet you, I thought.

We walked together up until we reached the market. He told me not to worry about shoplifting, that he had been nervous the first time Tobe made him. But he said it wasn't technically you stealing if someone else orders you to. Of course I don't agree with him, but it was very nice of him to try and console me. When we came to town, we both went our separate ways.

I travelled mostly in alleys, or anywhere I could hide. I didn't want to be seen out in daylight with the uniform, even though I assumed they wouldn't know it was me underneath. Sooner or later, I reached the market, a long stretch of paths lined with tents and stores on every side. (You probably remember it as the place where I got "married".) It was crowded, so I slipped easily into the streets, unnoticed.

I looked around for a cart or something selling swords, glancing down at the sword sheathed by my side to remind myself what I was looking for. After a while, I found one that looked exactly like it… unfortunately, it seemed to be the main attraction at one stand, for it was displayed on the back wall above all the other weapons. What was worse, there seemed to be only one of them.

I gritted my teeth in frustration, but still wove my way over to the cart, slipping around behind it. After calming myself down with a few deep breaths, I peered around the corner, reaching out for the sword-

"Garu, what are you doing back there?"

I froze, turning to see who had spoken. So Chang was the owner of the stand… but how did he know it was me?

That's when I saw my reflection in a shiny shield up front. My pigtails stuck out! When I'd put on the mask before, I hadn't noticed it had two holes cut out in the top for them!

Chang still stared suspiciously. "Why are you wearing a mask?"

I had no idea what to do. There was no time for me to think. So, I didn't. I put my hands together in a quick, apologetic bow, then snatched the sword and ran away as fast as I could. But Chang, though startled, ran after me.

"Garu! What is the meaning of this? Get back here this instant!" He screamed this, and more, as he chased me through the streets. It seemed he was determined to let the whole village know who I was.

I was nearing drastic measures, but just as I was considering turning to fight Chang, several black streaks dashed at him. The other ninjas must have been watching. One of them came up to me. "We've got you covered, Garu. Keep running!"

I nodded, and took off again.

About a half hour later, everyone was back at Tobe's, done with their missions. If that's what you want to call them. Two of the ninjas were carrying grocery bags, and the other three (the ones that had helped me out) had DVD boxes. I really hope our assignments aren't like that every day.

Tobe was resting in a hammock, waiting for us. I noticed fleetingly that the house smelled faintly burnt, and wondered what he'd done. When he saw we were back, he jumped up and inspected each of our prizes. When he came to me, I held out the two swords in one hand. He stared at me for a moment, eyebrow raised. I put a hand on my hip, my gaze hopefully saying "what are you waiting for?"

"Pssst!" whispered Quan from beside me. I turned to him questioningly. "You're supposed to bow, remember?"

Oh, you've got to be kidding me, I thought. Tobe was probably smirking behind his mask. I dropped my eyelids in a bored stare and bowed my head in the most sarcastic way I could. Surprisingly, Tobe simply laughed and took the swords anyway.

"He'll get over it," a deep-voiced ninja sighed. I'm pretty sure he was the one with blue hair.

To reward us for doing such a good job, Tobe had made pudding while we were gone. Or at least, he attempted to. I have no idea how he managed to mess it up so much when the instructions were right on the packet. I guess he thought that you had to boil it while it cooked, and that didn't turn out very well. We ended up skipping that and going outside for sword practice.

...I'm not sure if he'd just forgotten to change it, or if he left it there on purpose. Either way, I ended up practicing on a dummy... of myself. I kept getting awkward looks from the others, who had identical dummies. Since I was the best swordfighter, mine ended up in the worst shape.

…I have nothing else to say about that.

For dinner, Tobe announced that instead of takeout, he'd be taking us to the Goh Rong for dinner. The others cheered like eating out was such a treat. I just gaped at him, my open mouth luckily hidden by the mask. Was he just trying to torture me?

His sneer in response to my expression seemed to answer that question.

I knew if I went into the restaurant with my hair like this, Pucca would easily recognize me (plus I'd be in deep trouble with Chang if he was there). So I had three options: 1) Go in normally without caring who saw me (yeah, right); 2) Get a different mask and wear it over my pigtails, which would probably pull my hair; or 3) Wear my hair down. I picked number 3.

The way over to the restaurant went normally. When we arrived, Tobe stood outside the door for a few minutes, digging around in his pockets until he pulled out a miniature smoke bomb. He cracked open the door, threw it inside, and we all ran into the smoke. As if I hadn't been embarrassed enough that day, I got into a coughing fit as soon as it cleared. Tobe glared hard enough that I swear if I'd have moved, he would've drilled holes in the door behind me.

He cleared his throat to direct everyone's stares to him instead. "We demand the evening special!" he announced. The others looked away and went back to eating.

Dada hurried over to us, carrying a precarious stack of plates. "Of course, sir. Follow me to-whoa!" He started to lead us to a table, but as the dishes tipped the other way, he had to run to keep them up. Eventually, he came to a different table, near the kitchen. "I… guess you'll be sitting here. Heheh…" he laughed nervously. I rolled my eyes and sat down with the others.

Oddly, nothing else bad happened at the restaurant. Ching and Pucca were both sitting a few tables away. Ching had pointed me out to her once, saying, "He's cute, huh, Pucca?" Pucca looked at me for a while, then shook her head. I chortled and had to bite my tongue to kepp from bursting out laughing.

When we got back, everyone was tired and eager to get to sleep. Even I was, but, as always, I still managed to find some time to write. Sorry if it seems shorter than usual.

I hope Tobe lets me keep my journal and doesn't take it up again tomorrow.

…I'm too tired to know what else to write. Bye for now.

Garu

Wow, that took WAY too long to write. I wish I knew a trick to writing faster.

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter in reviews! I kinda hate how it cuts off at the end, but I was a little pressed for time. I look forward to each and every review I get, so go ahead and tell me what YOU think! :)

…That's pretty much it. I can't think of anything else to say. :P Well, I think I'm gonna go now, so bye!

(PS: This is already getting to be a lot of work. I have a feeling, for both Garu and me, it's gonna be a loooong week…)