Chapter 6: Ninja Hide and Seek
Otou-san left with almost all my nii-sans. He said they would all be back before morning and that I needed to be on my best behavior for Susu-nii. It was already late but I wasn't tired. Susu-nii was probably the only one of my nii-sans that I didn't see regularly. He was different from the others too. His eyes were always looking around, he definitely wasn't as large and tall, and he usually wore all black with a face covering. "Susu-nii." I called and his eyes zeroed in on me "Are you a ninja?" His eyes widened in confusion and then realization before he chuckled a bit "No but with how many people claim I am a ninja I am beginning to believe it."
It was rather boring to sit here in the room and do nothing so I proposed an idea. "Susu-nii how about we play a game?" One of his eyebrows went up "What kind of game?" Excited I near shouted "Ninja hide and seek!" His other eyebrow rose to meet the other before a grin broke out across his face. "Are the rules different from normal hide and seek?" He asked and I knew he was going to play. I nodded "Hai! We start in two different rooms and after ten seconds you have to 'hunt' me. If I hear you and turn around you have to freeze until I look away. My objective will be to get to a certain destination without being 'caught'." I stopped to think "What should be the safe area?" I asked him. He thought on it for a moment before coming up with "Gen-san is still here so how about his room?" It was a considerable distance from here, enough distance to provide a challenge to both parties.
I agreed and exited the room to go into the next one. Both sets of sliding doors were closed and I called out I was ready to Susu-nii. He began counting aloud and I was thankful that the next room happened to be the kitchen. As quickly and quietly as I could I climbed on top of barrels and shelves to get to the ceiling. Pushing up the ceiling tile moved and I entered the small space before covering the hole back up. Slowly but surely I crawled along the beams. I heard Susu-nii open the door to the kitchen before his footsteps indicated he had moved on to look elsewhere.
I had gone along this way for a while before deciding I was far enough and hadn't heard Susu-nii in a while. Like before I moved the tile and was thankful to find a dresser beneath. I hopped down quietly and replaced the tile before getting off the dresser. I eased the room's sliding door open to make sure the coast was clear. I opened it further and exited the room. Gen-oji's room was not too far from here. I needed only go to the next building and his room was a few doors down. As stealthily as I could I made my way there.
I had just made it to the next building when I heard approaching footsteps. If it was Susu-nii he was close. I skittishly moved along and stopped when I felt eyes on me. I turned quickly. There was no one within my sights. I turned to move only to hear the shuffling of clothes. I turned back but this time I was scared. There was nobody around unless Gen-oji was in his room and I was not sure whether or not the person was Susu-nii. Frightened I didn't care if I made noise and dashed into the room, relieved to see that Gen-oji was there.
He looked surprised by my arrival and asked what was wrong when he saw the look of fear on my face. "Susu-nii and I were playing a game and someone was following me just now but I don't know if it was Susu-nii or not." He pulled me into a hug and carried me with him to the door. He eased it open and looked outside. There definitely wasn't anyone there. "How about we go find Yamazaki-kun together?" Not wanting to be alone I quickly agreed as we made our way about the property calling out for Susu-nii as we went. Not long after he found us. He was worried as well because he had not found me and it had been quite some time since we began. I was exchanged between the two and taken back to my otou-san's room for the night where Susu-nii stayed with me.
*A/N: If you think I should get rid of the 'nii-san' let me know but I will probably keep one in specific for Hanae's favorite brother! (With this I will go back through and edit all previous chapters.)
~MM-B