DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters
"It's good to see you again," Kim and Ron said together.
"It shall be my honor to show you your accommodations," Yori said politely.
Kim thought the room was a bit plain and barren, but Ron told her it was better than when he stayed the first time.
"This is what you call a Washitsu or Japanese style room," Yori explained. "Sensei thought it best you learn some of our culture."
"That's cool," Kim said. "At least it will seem like we're learning something besides Ninjutsu."
"Yes, so you will be staying in the Washitsu," Yori continued. "A futon built for two is rolled up in the closet over there."
Ron looked to see a closet over on his right. "You'll also see we have provided you both with a sendai-tansu or a clothing cupboard."
Yori walked over to a short legged table with a blanket covering it (though the wooded top had nothing on it). "This is a kotatsu," Yori explained. "An electric kotatsu to be exact; you see Possible-san, Ron-kun, we do not have the best heating when it begins to get cold, so you can use a kotatsu to keep warm. They are very comfortable especially with these cushions called zabuton."
"So, this thing will keep us warm in the winter?" Ron asked inspecting the table.
"Yes, underneath the table is an electric heater and the blanket keeps all of the heat in. Feel free to use it as you please." Yori smiled fondly before pointing to the two rooms connected to their room. "The one on your left is your bathroom and the one on your right is your toilet room."
"That everything?" Kim asked taking in her new surroundings. It was quite comfortable looking she had to admit.
"Yes, I shall leave you for now." Yori stepped out of the room, but stopped suddenly and turned back around. "Oh and try not to break the sliding door or as we call it shoji. It is as you Americans say, 'a pain in the ass' to fix."
The two laughed a little and Ron grabbed the futon. The two unrolled it and immediately went to sleep since it WAS one o'clock in the morning back home.
Twelve hours later, Yori awakened the two members of Team Possible. "Good morning Possible-san, Ron-kun, it seems that the travel was more exhausting than we expected! You slept for twelve hours!"
"Twelve hours?" Kim said tiredly. "You'd think I wouldn't get so tired from all of the traveling I do…"
"Yeah, but KP you're usually still hyped up from the mission," Ron countered.
"That is true Possible-san, this time you came with nothing to do but sleep so your body must have picked up the chance to relax," Yori said. "But, that is not important as of now. It is time for the two of you to dress and I'll take you out to the yard."
"It will be our honor…" Ron tiredly joked and Yori giggled.
"Oh Ron-kun and your American style jokes still get me."
Kim cleared her throat. "Right…Yori, do you mind calling me Kim? I prefer you to use my given name rather than my family," Kim explained.
"As you wish Kim-san," Yori said pleasantly and she left them to get changed.
In each of their clothing cupboards, the two found a white gi to wear. Hurriedly putting them on, they rushed to meet Yori at the front and she led them to an open yard.
A man that Kim recognized was standing before twelve other people all in white gis themselves.
The man was the person Ron had exchanged with on his first trip to Yamanouchi: Hirotaka.
"Ah…The last of the combatants have finally arrived," Hirotaka said calmly upon seeing Ron, Kim and Yori.
"This is Captain Hirotaka and he will be the one to determine your fighting prowess," Yori explained. "Do not take him lightly; just because he is a third level and you are a second doesn't mean there isn't a large gap of strength between you. Hirotaka-taichou is currently the greatest Shinobi at Yamanouchi and reached the level of captain four years before anyone in the group. Consider yourself lucky if you manage to even scratch him let alone hit him properly."
Kim and Ron nodded in understanding. "Good morning Hirotaka," Kim said politely.
"Ah…Good morning to you as well Possible-san and I am finally glad to make your acquaintance Stoppable-san," Hirotaka greeted. "But, here I am not Hirotaka your friend, but Hirotaka-taichou, your superior. Do not expect me to go easy on you or you'll die.
That being said, when I say 'start' I want all of you to come at me with the intent to kill. Weaponry is forbidden and I want all of you to only use your martial arts, kung fu or taijutsu to hit me, understand?"
"Yes, Hirotaka-taichou!" The class responded.
"Good," Hirotaka said nodding. "Start!"
All of the recruits except Kim, Ron and one of the twelve immediately charged at him with the intent to overwhelm him.
Such a tactic was fruitless however as Hirotaka continued to dodge, weave and block their attacks. No matter what angle they attacked, no matter how they worked together, none of them could hit him.
Soon ten minutes had passed of this repetitious battle and the eleven combatants had fallen one by one in exhaustion. None could hit him, none could outmaneuver him and none could beat him.
Kim, Ron and the twelfth recruit just watched and analyzed the battle. However, once the eleventh and final recruit fell, the twelfth sprung into action.
It was instantly obvious that this fighter wasn't like the other eleven; he matched Hirotaka in strength and in speed. It even looked like he was going to manage to punch Hirotaka in the face, but it was all for naught when Hirotaka disappeared from the attack.
Before anyone had time to register what had happened, Hirotaka reappeared behind the recruit before knocking him down once and for all with a kick to the head.
"You are indeed a very formidable recruit, but you still have much to learn," Hirotaka instructed.
"W-What was that?" The recruit asked dazedly.
"That was Shunshin no Jutsu or the Body Flicker Technique; we use it to dodge or move at extreme speeds. It is one of the first things you'll be learning immediately," Hirotaka explained and the recruit nodded his head before he finally passed out.
Kim and Ron realized now was their chance, so as silently as they could they approached his back.
But, it was useless; once again Hirotaka shunshined from sight and reappeared in front of Ron. Caught off guard, he took Hirotaka's straight punch to the face and was blasted back nearly five yards.
Kim tried to take advantage of the momentary pause Hirotaka had after punching Ron to do a roundhouse kick to the face, but he blocked it with his forearm. She cursed and jumped back; she knew from that one moment she would have to fight seriously.
Hirotaka was confused when Kim suddenly didn't attack at him; he could tell she was preparing herself for something, but he thought this was foolish. They were in the middle of combat and focusing elsewhere would get her killed.
To prove his point he shunshined in front of her face and threw a sure hit punch at her face.
It didn't work.
She dodged his arm and then grabbed it; in one fluid motion she rolled him over, but Hirotaka was able to recover easily enough. Before she could register what happened he did a sweep kick of her legs causing her to fall over.
'I had forgotten that Possible-san knows sixteen styles of Kung Fu,' Hirotaka thought warily. 'While she is nowhere near ready to defeat me, she has many styles to trip me up with. I can't let down my guard.'
Kim while still on the ground used a spun kick that Hirotaka easily dodged, but Kim lept towards him. He bent back dodging her strike, but cursed when he realized she was using Snake style and quickly did a cartwheel to the right to dodge her dagger strike.
He was nearly caught off guard when Ron appeared and threw a straight punch, but he blocked it in time. But, the punch was a feint and Ron actually dropped to the ground and aimed a kick to his stomach. Hirotaka was not so easily fooled, and caught his foot.
Before Ron could counter, he picked him up and threw him at Kim.
Out of reflex, Kim dodged; she cringed when she realized that that was Ron, but she had no time to help him because Hirotaka shunshined again to press his advantage. Quickly, she hopped on one foot and dodged the blow without moving her lower body at all before changing her posture and tried to strike many fast punches at Hirotaka's chest.
Hirotaka caught her hands and knee'd her in the gut. Kim grunted, but she intertwined her fingers with him to start grappling.
Once again Hirotaka was nearly thrown off guard at the sudden changes in styles, but unfortunately for Kim Bear style won't help her since he was stronger than her. So, he lifted the girl off her feet and threw her.
She did a cheerleading back flip and landed smoothly on the ground. She charged forward like a bull and Hirotaka only had a moment to dodge without using Shunshin no Jutsu. Kim missed, but she stopped immediately and turned on the dime. Without a second thought she planted her feet in the ground and struck with a double open palm.
Hirotaka knocked her arms away and grabbed the front of her gi. With a mighty swing, he slammed her into the ground, but before he could finish it with a power punch he was forced to block Ron's basic karate chop.
Hirotaka wondered why he would use such a basic technique when he noticed that Kim had escaped once again. Elbowing Ron in the face, he looked around to see Kim staying a distance. With a Shunshin he appeared beside her, but she stayed defensive using her White Crane style to block all of his attacks while barely moving.
Finally, Hirotaka got annoyed and usurped the ground beneath her causing her to lose balance. Pressing his advantage, he sent a powerful kick to her side that caused her to scream in pain and fly away.
She managed to roll however to keep the pain minimum; Hirotaka knew it wasn't over yet, so he charged towards her only to nearly end up by her speedy jabs. Luckily, he managed to block all but the last one which he parried.
The parry threw her off guard and Hirotaka managed to step into it chop at her already hurt side. Kim fell over though like she was playing dead, but then she started to kick at him like she was a dog getting her belly rubbed.
He caught her legs though and swung her around like a bat. Kim wondered why until her head came in contact with Ron's side painfully for the both of them. He let her go, but she just back flipped to land gracefully.
She started to cartwheel towards him and then like a dragon stalking its prey, she tried to punch him in several places at once. He dodged each strike and she backed off for a split second only to return once again with a powerful kick that he blocked by knocking the front of her leg down.
The bent leg seemed to mean nothing all of the sudden and Hirotaka cursed mentally when he realized he had accidentally helped her set up the Panther style when once again he was forced to block her incoming punches.
He jumped back and then shunshined when he noticed Ron try to do a roundhouse kick using the little bit of teachings he had learned the first time he had come to Yamanouchi.
Reappearing behind the boy, he smashed his open palm into side to send to him flying. Kim was already beside him though and he nearly dodged her kick and punch she sent at the same time. He stepped back but due to the Tan Tui style she used, she managed to step forward with him to deliver another punch that luckily he managed to stop.
Kim then bent her knees low and punched under his guarded arms only to be blocked by his knee; she grunted when his leg swung out and kicked her in the face.
Hirotaka then punched her back several feet, but she gracefully landed back on her feet. Taking a deep breath she spread her arms out like an eagle and ran at Hirotaka so fast it was almost as if she was flying.
He prepared himself for the barrage he knew would come with this form and she did not disappoint. Like a fighting eagle she struck fast and hard, going onto one leg to change her balance when he countered her attack and tried to kick him in the face only for her leg to get caught by his hand.
Picking her up, he threw across the clearing; she landed on top of Ron in a heap. The two scrambled to stand up. Both were panting and holding their sides in pain.
"Darn, I couldn't even land a hit even after using all sixteen styles," Kim muttered tiredly as she watched Hirotaka stand there not even look tired.
"Y-You know KP…We nearly got him those times we w-worked together…" Ron panted.
"You're right Ron," Kim said with a wince.
"How about we do this mission style then?" Ron suggested after taking a calming breath and Kim jumped back.
"Okay…Mission Time!" Kim once again spread out like an eagle and charged with frenzy and once again Hirotaka blocked her attacks. He noticed they were much sloppier then the first time, but he chalked it up to fatigue.
That was until she jumped backward and Ron charged forward with a powerful punch.
Hirotaka blocked the punch, but Ron didn't stop pressing his advantage. Thanks to his Mystical Monkey Powers, he was just a master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar either, but ALL styles of monkey kung fu which included one of the most difficult styles to fight against: Drunken Monkey style.
So, Ron like an old drunk rolled around Hirotaka; when it seemed like he would punch he would miss by a mile only to have one of his legs nearly kick him. It wouldn't be so bad, but Ron's sudden appearance had thrown him off balance for a moment and he was having a difficult time getting back while fighting that style.
Still, he couldn't help but praise the two. "So, Possible-san only tried to distract me to leave me open so that you could deal me a very strong hit," Hirotaka said blocking a punch and catching Ron's legs with his own. "Very good."
Ron looked him dead in the eye though and smiled, "Sorry Hirotaka-taichou, but on mission I'm the distraction!"
"Wha?" Hirotaka asked, but he got his answer the second he felt Kim hit his head with a roundhouse kick.
He fell back a little way before rolling to and standing back up. The second he saw the two of them he started to chuckle a little. "Nice job you two; you really do work best as a team."
"Yeah, well seven years of fighting alongside each other does that to you," Kim said and Ron nodded fervently in agreement.
It was at this time that the sun had finally raised and Yori approached the trio. "It is time for breakfast."
Kim and Yori managed to snatch their food from the lunch lady no problem, but Ron was still having a little trouble. A quick peck from Kim though and he snatched it right away.
The lunch lady laughed a little and rubbed his hair affectionately.
"What was that about?" Kim asked as the three sat at their table.
"Lunch Lady-sensei had taken quite a liking to Ron-kun during his first visit," Yori explained with a giggle. "She thought it was cute how he wouldn't give up trying to get the food no matter what."
Kim giggled and Ron scratched the back of neck in embarrassment.
Thirty minutes later Sensei had summoned them all to the main hall. "It appears Sensei will give his speech to all of the students for the beginning of the training year," Yori explained as the trio walked there.
The main hall was in the center of the school and was quite large; large enough to actually fit in all two hundred members of the school.
"Hello young and old, masters and students," Sensei said from the front of the room. "A new year has arrived once again and once again we have some new recruits in our midst. That is why I am here to explain some things I can guarantee you do not know.
First of all, Yamanouchi isn't the last ninja school; oh no, there are two others: the Assassins and the Shingako.
We are neutral to the coming and going of the Assassins because their cause is pure, and many times we help each other in mutual endeavors.
The Shingako however are a group of hostile ninja who commit only the most atrocious of acts all the while keeping their true intentions secret from us.
You are the next generation of Yamanouchi Ninjas, you are the future Guardians. I know some of you are more prepared to take on missions than others, but it is only with the squad's Captain's invitation that you'll be permitted to go.
This afternoon your first class will begin; it is called Compressed Muscles and more information will be given there."
With his speech done, Sensei smiled at them before disappearing in a flash.
End of chapter 4
Not all the credit is mine; Writer Sage supports me a lot and helps me express the story in a more reader friendly writing style.
Next chapter some training some romance and more