Ninjas of Love: The Adventure Continues!
A/N: Welcome, one and all, to Ninjas of Love! Woo! Not much to say to the few who read this crappy fic, except hi and you're awesome!
DISCLAIMER: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth, otherwise Ren would an epic chef. (He needs to be to deal with Nora.)
Yang leaned back in bed, smiling contentedly. She'd done it, she really had.
In her hands? The just-released first volume of the- thankfully smut-less- Ninjas of Love manga. She'd been tracking this manga down for weeks since Blake had begged her to buy it for her. Using the power of her antics- and, well, being Yang, that was a lot of power- she'd finally managed to beat the huge queues and reserve orders to acquire a copy for her.
Blake, of course, ended up being busy that day. She'd been seen dragging off her Persocom replica for repairs or something, muttering about Velvet or something. Yang shrugged, chalking it up to Velvet trying to kidnap Norn thinking she was Weiss or something.
Bored, the brawler sighed. "...I wonder what this manga's about, anyway?" She tilted her head. "I mean, it's Ninjas of Love...and if it isn't full of smut...then what is it?"
Yang struggled with the moral dilemma of reading her best friend's gift before reading it. Of course she would, she was Yang.
"I'm sorry, Blake, but I have to know!" The brawler read it curiously and slowly.
The party set off from the well, refreshed and basking in their victory over the mysterious Faunus ninja Taro. Kenshin patted Jigoro on the back. "You really stepped up there, Jigoro."
"T-thanks...Aniki..." Jigoro couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah. Pretty awesome of you, Jigoro." Yumi smiled and the young boy blushed.
"Y-You think so, Y-Yumi?"
"Mhm!" She smiled, moving her pink hair aside. "That creep had it coming to him."
"Yeah..." Kenshin sighed. "I dunno what that Yamada dude had against me...but he was a good fight."
"Good fight?" Yumi scoffed. "You nearly died."
"Nearly? I kicked his ass until he pulled out that crappy Semblance!" Kenshin scoffed.
"Y-Yeah..." Jigoro absentmindedly drank from his canteen. He was still blushing from Yumi's compliment.
"Tch. Onwards we go!" Kenshin pointed forwards as the party walked on.
The group walked along the dusty sand path that wove through the tall grass. A brisk breeze billowed behind them from time to time, cooling down their warm backs. They had walked for hours, and, by Yumi's reckoning, they would be at least halfway there soon.
She'd said that at least two hours ago.
"Hey..." Kenshin looked to Yumi. "Haven't we been through here already?"
"Huh." She tilted her head, looking at the map. "Hey...wait a minute."
"What?" Jigoro looked up.
The pinkette's eyes widened, before blushing in embarrassment. "Uh...eheh."
"What?"
"...I think...this map's outdated." She chuckled nervously.
Jigoro looked up, suddenly noticing that the road in front of them led onto a bridge. Or rather, used to lead onto a bridge; the bridge was gone, replaced with a very fast flowing, wide river, and a sign plopped in front of it.
Kenshin crouched in front of the sign, reading it. "Hm...'we're sorry for the inconvenience, the bridge was swept away in the floods of the rainy season, we'll repair it as soon as possible, Okina prefecture'- God dammit!" He grumbled. "How the hell do we get across?"
"We could...swim...across." Yumi studied the river, before shaking her head. "No...it's far too quick."
"Any chance of finding a ferry?" Kenshin inquired.
"On this current? No way."
"Actually..." Jigoro, who'd spent the entire time looking to the left, where the river flowed, shook his head. "We could walk up in that direction and see if there's a ford we can cross."
"Good point, actually." The pinkette nodded. "Shall we get going?" She called over to Kenshin, who was looking at the river, thinking.
"Hm...could I jump that-"
"Kenshin!" Yumi glared at him. "There's no way you could jump that?"
"Do you want me to try?" He smirked.
"Actually..." The blue-haired boy nodded. "We COULD use our Semblances to jump over."
"...point." Yumi nodded. "Yeah, let's try that. Wait, what about Kenshi-"
"See you guys on the other side!" The headband wearing man smirked, ran back, and then ran towards the bank.
"HHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Kenshin then vaulted over the river, his feet pedalling in the air, before landing on his knees, hand on his hilt, laughing.
"See? I made it!"
Jigoro laughed out loud, before drawing Emerald Zephyr and pointed it backwards. "Okay, Aniki, let me try!" He ran backwards, a green cyclone forming around the blade of his weapon, before running forwards and jumping, propelling himself upwards. He transformed Emerald Zephyr into its rifle mode, before using the recoil to drive himself across the river.
"This is fun-oh cra-" That was, until Jigoro's face met with dirt as he landed face first in the riverbank opposite.
"Ow..."
Yumi sighed. "Very well..." She flexed her fingers and clenched her fists, pointing down. The familiar light blue lines of her Semblance appeared around her feet, before she launched herself across the river, her pink hair flying in the wind, and landing with a roll, shaking her hair out when she got up.
Kenshin grinned at her. "Come on, you have to admit that was fun."
"...okay, that was a little fun." She smiled a bit.
"...ow..." Jigoro was still face first in the dirt.
Eventually, after Jigoro recovered from his abrupt landing, the party was again on its feet, moving on.
Jigoro wiped his face using his vest. "That really hurt..."
"On the plus side, pretty good technique back there." Kenshin laughed. "That was impressive."
"Impressive?" Yumi sighed. "You really have a weird idea of impressive things, Kenshin."
"Heh! The true judge of impressive things is how manly something is! The flame that drives the hearts of men on! The passion in which things are done! That is the true judge of manliness!"
"...are you sure Jigoro hit his head and not you?" The pinkette remarked, but she was smiling.
"No mere injury can stop me from spreading the message of true manhood!" Kenshin pointed to the sky, grinning...
...before his stomach rumbled. Yumi giggled.
"...and it appears the flame of manliness needs a little fuel."
"Heh." The man blushed.
Jigoro looked down at his own stomach, also rumbling. "...yeah...we should stop here for food."
"Let's. I'm getting a little hungry myself." Yumi nodded in agreement.
Jigoro slung his food bag off of his back, handing her and Kenshin the deer they had for breakfast earlier, before grabbing the last deer leg and taking a bite out of it, putting the bag back on.
"A bit cold, but I can handle it." Yumi nodded.
"Ahh..." Kenshin sighed in relief. "That hits the spot."
"Hehe..." Jigoro chuckled, before he froze. "Wait."
"Huh?" The pinkette and black-haired man stopped.
"...do you guys hear that?" The boy listened in closer. "...is that..." He tried to make out the sound. It seemed to be the sound of something pounding rhythmically on the ground.
Kenshin stopped and listened in closer. "Yeah, I hear it too..."
"Is that a...Boarbartusk swarm?" Yumi muttered, worried.
"A Boarbartusk? You mean those big, black boar things?" Jigoro shuddered.
"Those things like wandering around the plains." The pinkette nodded.
"We're in for a fight, aren't we?" Kenshin chuckled.
The party formed a circle, their backs to each other; Yumi drew Crimson Blaze, readying a shot of Dust, while Kenshin drew Hurricane Dragon and backed up behind her. Jigoro drew Emerald Zephyr and turned it to rifle mode, aiming at the road behind them.
The sound of pounding got closer. The boy's grip on his rifle tightened. Kenshin's eyes darted around, adjusting his grip on the bokken. Yumi tensed, aiming carefully at the bushes in front of her.
The sound drew closer and closer, getting louder and louder...until...
For a moment, there was nothing but dead silence.
Kenshin wiped his brow of sweat. "Phew...that was clo-"
The group was then thrown aside by a large Boarbartusk, slamming them to the ground. Kenshin landed with a grunt, Hurricane Dragon skittering into the grass. Yumi rolled, but lost the Dust shot she was readying, while Jigoro was thrown in front of the Grimm.
The boar monster stared down at him, its four crimson eyes unblinking. Jigoro was frozen in fear, his eyes darting up and down.
'No, this can't be the end...this can't be! A-Aniki will save me...O-Or Yumi...'
His thoughts, however, were interrupted by laughter. "H-huh?" Jigoro looked up steadily this time; this time, he could see that there was a shape on top of the Grimm; it looked like a man wearing a cloak.
"Well, well, what did we find?" He petted the Grimm, which bowed its head and made a satisfied oink, before the man looked down at him. "...a kid?"
"Uhh..." Jigoro paled.
"...hm." The man swished his hood back, revealing his face; he had blonde, spiked hair, with brown eyes and a rugged face. He grinned.
"Real sorry about that." He rubbed the back of his head, chuckling. Kenshin stood up next to him, groaning, before glaring at him.
"What the hell was the big idea?!"
"Huh?" The cloaked man looked at him.
"You smash into us, riding a Grimm and that's all you say?! You could have hurt my little friend!"
"I-I'm fine, Aniki..." Jigoro spoke up, but Kenshin ignored him.
"Hey, back off! Buoh here didn't mean to ram you guys over!" The man shouted back. "He smelled something, and normally he can control himself, but...I guess he was pretty hungry. What did you eat, anyway?"
"We just had lunch, okay?" Kenshin responded, still irritated, but less so.
"Heh. I'm really sorry about that." The man sighed.
Yumi came up last, her eyes studying the man's mount. "Is that a Boarbartusk?"
"I call him Buoh." The man stated proudly. "I raised him myself!" He patted Buoh on the head and it closed its eyes, rubbing itself into his hand.
Jigoro stood up shakily. "W-who are you?"
The man pointed at himself with his thumb, smiling confidently. "I'm Tamaki! Pleasure to make your acquaintance! And you?"
"I-I'm Jigoro..."
Kenshin scoffed. "I'm Kenshin."
"Yumi." The pinkette waved.
Tamaki laughed. "So, I assume you're adventurers, right?"
"Yeah." Kenshin nodded. "We set out from Hagakure just yesterday."
"Yeah. We're headed up to Ageha city through Okina town." Yumi nodded in assent.
"Through Okina town? That's not too far, actually." Tamaki noted. "I'm headed there myself! Do you want me to come with you?"
"We don't need you-" Kenshin started, but Yumi shut him down. "Well, the more the merrier, so why not?"
"Say what?!"
"Actually, Yumi's right." Jigoro spoke up. "T-then if someone l-like Taro shows up..."
Kenshin growled, looking between Jigoro, Tamaki and Yumi, before sighing. "Fine."
"So it's a group then, right?" Tamaki said, before leading the way on his Boarbartusk. Yumi and Jigoro followed.
Kenshin hesitated, before sighing in irritation and following straight behind.
"Hmph."
"So, Tamaki, where are you from?" Yumi inquired, as the party walked along the path to Okina town.
"I'm from Okina town, but I live in the wild." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Pretty chill life out here. Just me, Buoh and my trusty Aurum Drax."
"Aurum Drax? What a stupid name for a weapon." Kenshin scoffed.
In response, Tamaki drew his weapon; a gold and black, enormous shotgun, before shifting it into its melee form; a large lance with a drill bit attached to the end. "Stupid name, huh?"
"..." Kenshin grumbled, looking at his non-transforming, mundane Hurricane Dragon.
"Nice weapon." The pinkette noted. "Pretty handy to have on boarback."
"Yeah, Aurum Drax and I are pretty good together." The blond man laughed as he shifted it into shotgun form and holstered it.
"Hmph. Pretty swell weapon." Kenshin sneered. "You got any other tricks?"
"I'm not much of a Dust user." He chuckled.
"That weapon's pretty cool..." Jigoro admitted. "I've just got this." He drew his wakizashi, Emerald Zephyr, and Tamaki looked down on it.
"...that's actually pretty well made! You make that yourself?"
"Actually..." The boy admitted. "...A-Aniki helped..." He motioned to Kenshin.
"...I see you've got an eye for weapons too." Tamaki looked at him.
"Heh. I'm not completely worthless." Kenshin shot back.
"Hey, guys." Yumi interrupted them. "...do you recognize that village? It's not on my map."
"Huh?" Kenshin and Tamaki looked forward and there was indeed a village in front of them, barely five minutes away on foot.
"Funny." Tamaki rubbed the back of his head. "I never ran into that village before..."
"That supposed to be there?" Kenshin looked confused.
"It's not on my map..." The pinkette tilted her head.
"I'll check it out." Kenshin ran forwards. Tamaki shouted after him. "Hey, wait- god!"
"Don't worry. I'll go with him!" Yumi ran in with him. The blond sighed.
"Idiots...we'll just stay here." Tamaki sighed, looking around for any signs of what the village was.
Jigoro did as well, before spotting a paper tag abandoned in the grass just off the road.
"Huh?"
Meanwhile, Yumi and Kenshin walked through the main road of the village.
Normally, a village like this would be bustling on a warm summer's day like this, especially just after midday.
However...there was nobody around. This boggled the pair.
"...where is everyone?" Yumi inquired, as she peered through the house windows.
"Not a clue..." Kenshin rubbed the back of his head. "You'd think a big village like this would have a lot of people around."
"Apparently not." The pinkette noted. "This is...kinda creepy. Where IS everyone?"
"It's like it's a ghost town or something..." The man shuddered. "Hey, listen, you check out that side, and I'll check out this side, okay?"
"Uh, okay. I suppose." Yumi nodded and moved off into the houses to the left, while Kenshin went to the right, looking around.
"Hm...what the hell is going on?" He scratched his head.
"Where IS everyone?"
"H-hey...Tamaki."
"Huh?" Tamaki looked down at Jigoro
"What does that sign mean?" He pointed at the paper tag he'd found; there was nothing on it but a symbol of a cloud with a claw descending from it, looking as if it were grasping something. The cloaked man dismounted Buoh and approached it.
"Where'd you find that?"
"Just on the side of the road, lying there." Tamaki studied it for a moment.
"Hm...I think I've...wait..." He froze.
"Huh?" Jigoro looked confused. "What's wrong?"
"...oh god." Tamaki looked up.
"What's wrong?"
"...it's an ambush. A clan of criminal ninjas..." Tamaki shook his head. "...they must be setting up a trap for adventurers..."
"B-but Yumi and Kenshin just walked in there!" Jigoro's eyes widened in fear.
"...this is bad."
Kenshin entered a house, looking around. "Hello? Is anyone home? Hello?"
No response.
"Dammit. The first village we run into and it's a ghost town. Perfect!" He sighed.
"This is really just our luck..." He grumbled as he began to walk out...and was faced with a blade.
"Stop right there." The man in front of him was clothed in a plain, grass-patterned green yukata, with a strange badge of a cloud with a claw extending down from it. He tilted his head.
"Why the hell don't you have a shirt?"
"Why are you pointing a sword at me?" Kenshin shot back.
"It's not just me." The man whistled and more people in the same uniform approached or dug themselves out of the dirt in the roads, drawing similar weapons.
"...ninja?"
"We are the Ueda Shinobi!" The man holding Kenshin declared proudly. "We operate where we please! We're just waiting for some unfortunate idiots like you to walk through!"
Kenshin chuckled. He knew Yumi was probably in similar trouble herself, but he knew she could get out easily.
He sighed. "Man...you really don't know anything."
"Huh?" The ninja looked at him weirdly. "D-do you know who we are?! We are the Ueda Shin-"
"Shut the hell up!" Kenshin drew Hurricane Dragon, assuming a combat stance. "Ueda Shinobi? You sound like a bunch of idiots! I'll hit you back with a question of my own!
Just who the hell do you think I am?!"
Two of the ninja behind him exchanged weird looks, as if to say 'is this guy serious?'.
Kenshin span around, keeping his bokken at the ready.
"Who's going first? I'll show 'em EXACTLY just WHO THE HELL I AM!"
That was the last portion Yang read before Blake appeared in front of her.
"Enjoying Ninjas of Love?"
"It's surprisingly funny." Yang shrugged. "Hey-"
"I need you." Blake sighed. "...it's about Velvet."
"Huh?" Yang tilted her head. "What for?"
"...there are things I need to...sort out." Blake looked shiftily around.
"Things that I need to find out."
END
A/N: Foreshadowing and shenanigans and cliffhangers!
So, I hope you guys enjoyed that, leave your reviews, ideas, thoughts and criticisms and I hope you have a GREAT day! Until next time!
