Another quick in between chapter, thanks for your patience, guys! Guess what. This is the second to last chapter. Chapter 5 will be the last chapter! I already have it written so I'll post it tomorrow, I think. Probably. Maybe. No promises.
Anyway, I hope everyone's school year or w/e is going well. I recently have been a bit under the weather which means more time to write but more ranty/rambly writing, haha, so forgive me if I'm a bit chatty with my writing in these next chapters.
ANYWAY x2 : SUPER THANKS TO MY REVIEWERS AND FOLLOWERS! Especially, Wandrian! Your review was just so sweet and I showed it to like six of my friends, haha. To those who favorited and follow this strange saga, thank you also! Specifically, EgyptianAssassin, Fallen-Autumn-Leaves, Lady Amazon, blackbeltgirl59, and soul painter!
You guys rock. Hard core. See you all for the next chapter! EEKS! Count dooowwwnn :)
Chapter 4
Amai was curled tightly in a ball, hands clasped to Jin's black cloak. She'd already tired herself out from screeching and yelling at Jin. Now she was a lump of terror, her worst fears realized. Though her eyes were squished tight, the wind rushed through her hair and lifted her shirt, tickling her stomach. Her bare foot was cold but not terribly so.
The ten minutes felt rather like an eternity, flying above trees and lakes and other, tinier villages. Amai occasionally found the energy to curse wildly to herself but mostly kept quiet for the last half of their trip. Her face was still pretty windburned, she noticed, despite having ducked her head most of the journey.
Her ears popped as they began their descent. Amai growled and covered her ears with her hands. Peeking an eye open, she saw the ground coming up fast and felt nauseous. She quickly closed her eyes again and eagerly awaited solid ground.
They landed lightly, so much so that Amai had to open her eyes to double check. The wind had stopped whistling through her ears, and her hair was falling into her face. She looked like a maniac. Jin must have looked down at her because he began to laugh raucously.
Amai pushed some of the hair off her face and wriggled angrily (as angry and threatening as a wiggle may be).
"Put me down," she demanded with a less-than-menacing squeak, her voice raw from screeching the first half of the flight.
Jin set her on her feet, which were awkward and heavy and cold. Amai stood as still as possible knowing a single step would have her tumbling in a mess of limbs. She bit her lip and stared at her one bare foot angrily.
"That," she started in a scathing tone, "was the worst experience of my life. Never EVER am I doing that ever again."
She took a wobbly step forward, testing out her rubbery legs. Amai sent an evil look in Jin's direction, though he was studiously ignoring her. Grumbling and stumbling, she began walking forward, leading though she didn't know where she was going. Jin easily caught up with her, loping languidly at her side.
They came upon the outskirts of the village. Amai's eyes widened as she took it all in. She was shocked at the similarities between the Urameshii village and her own town of Shino. She didn't even notice that her legs had acclimated, or that she still walked with a one-shoed limp.
The homes were small and close together, with a few other buildings spread about through the large clearing. There was a path through the trees opposite Amai that seemed to lead to another clearing.
"Thas the trainin' ground," Jin said, following her look and pointing. "We have one, too."
"It's huge," Amai couldn't help but be awed. "I mean the training ground must be as big as my whole village!"
Jin was grinning at her when she turned to look at him. A small smile of her own escaped, though she quickly replaced it with a grimace as he excitedly pointed at her face.
"There! Ya do smile! An' here I was, thinkin' you couldna do it!"
Amai rolled her eyes and walked a bit quicker ahead of him, "Hurry up, stupid ninja. Let's get this over with."
"Aye aye, cap'n Amai." She heard his chuckle behind her.
Amazing, how her name on his foolishly accented tongue could cause a pink blush to spread across her face, highlighting her windburn wonderfully. She muttered all the way to the village entrance about stupid sassy ninja.
The entrance of the village was merely two tall towers that stretched above the trees, manned by a teen not much younger than Amai and an old lady. While Amai was gazing upward, two more teens stepped from behind the towers. One had glasses and curly dark hair while the other was tall with equally heightened blue hair. The other teen from the tower leaped down, landing with ease beside the other two.
The bespectacled one straightened his glasses and narrowed his eyes at Amai. "Are you new to the Masho Clan? I don't have you in my files."
"Files?" Amai raised her eyebrows. "I don't see any files. So, how do you know?"
"Kaito's got mental files," the blue haired boy answered, tapping his finger against his temple. "So, are you?"
Amai shook her head, then realized how hectic her hair still was and began to rearrange it into a high bun. "No. Just a regular person. I live in Shino, the village where all you ninja nimrods do battle."
The three exchanged a look and Amai found herself once more ignoring Jin's laughter behind her. He placed his hand on the back of her head and lightly pushed down, making her bow slightly.
"Jus' intraduce yerself all polite-like, lass," he said between his cheerful rictus.
Amai shook his hand off of her head and grumbled a greeting. "Amai Nagori."
A strange clicking noise was emitted from the boy with glasses. Amai stared open-mouthed at him. The blue haired boy responded to her look.
"That's just his brain." He nodded to Amai. "I'm Yanagisawa. That's Kaito, and the blonde is Kido. Sensei Genkai is the one still in the tower."
Amai tilted her head back and looked up the tower once more. She leaned toward Jin and whispered conspiratorially, "Maybe she can't come down. How did she get up there, anyway?"
Jin simply smiled knowingly as the old woman materialized in front of Amai, who jumped back quite a bit. She swallowed the panicked shout of 'oh my gosh!' and managed to bow hastily without any prompting from Jin. This woman was obviously very strong and amazing for all that she was old.
Amai's name came out as one jumbled-together word to which the woman, Genkai, replied with an unimpressed huff. Amai peeked from beneath her wayward bangs and frowned. She hadn't expected people like this in a ninja village, though she should have. People that weren't what they seemed, people with extraordinary powers – that's what ninja were. Yet the two teams that were constantly fighting in Shino seemed so different from these teens and the superhero grandmother in front of her.
"The others have already arrived." Genkai said, turning and walking away from them all. She spoke in an annoyed voice. "Follow me."
Exchanging a look with Jin, who was still laughing at Amai's meek introduction. Grumbling, she grabbed his arm and pulled him after her.
"I'm gonna beat the crap out of you if you just keep laughing at me," she threatened as she followed Genkai.
Jin managed to stymie his laughter as they walked. Amai used the time to look around the village. There were small homes scattered around, and people going about their day. Amai's eyes were wide as she observed it all – a pair of twins following their mother and father, all carrying groceries; two giggling teenage girls walking down the street… Amai's brain couldn't contain it all. It looked a little like … like her own town, like Shino.
"Why d'ya look so surprised, there?" Jin walked in bent forward and peeked into her face. "Not whatcha were expectin' ?"
Amai shook her head and whispered to him: "I sorta thought there'd be like, a bunch of scary ninja all training and lifting weights and blowing things up."
He laughed again and Amai laughed a little too. It seemed a little ridiculous when she said it out loud and saw the somewhat normal village around her. Genkai turned around and narrowed her eyes at the two of them trailing behind her. Amai had the feeling that she was being assessed, and wasn't quite up to muster.
Genkai only snorted and said, "What the hell happed to your other shoe?"
Suddenly Jin was off in more peals of laughter, making Amai wonder if he was ever serious. Amai merely rolled her eyes and followed Genkai onto the training grounds, where the others were all standing around and waiting.
"It's a long story," Amai muttered.
