Chapter 7: First Night Out

Jinx came back from her river bath feeling, despite her grumblings, nicely refreshed. The water was nowhere near as cold as in the meditation stream back home, which helped make the clean up process feel like a pleasant – if slightly cool - swim where she just happened to also soap up.

At camp, a fire was crackling in the pit and her four companions were sitting around it, looking frighteningly like normal campers relaxing by a fire; there was even a kettle next to the fire, although it was presumably for herbal tea rather than coffee since it was closest to Tommy. She joined them, sitting between her cousin and Snake Eyes.

"No training scheduled for the evening?" she asked.

Snake Eyes shook his head.

"Just a nice relaxing evening," Tommy confirmed. "Quality family time."

Kamakura didn't quite succeed in keeping his face neutral.

"What is it, Kamakura?" Billy asked, glowering at his fellow apprentice. "Don't like the idea of us both being in the same family, do you? Afraid you're somehow related to the Commander, now?"

Jinx sighed. "Quality?" she said, her voice barely a whisper and intended for her cousin alone.

He ignored her completely, as if he hadn't heard her.

"Why not?" Kamakura answered Billy. "I sure don't WANT to be related to him. Do you? You certainly did the last couple of times you were around. You made it real clear you didn't want dear old Dad to be hurt."

Jinx noticed both her cousin and Snake Eyes twitch, but both masters refrained from getting involved. Between this and the supermarket, it was becoming obvious that they were going to let the two boys bicker as much as they wanted. Her first thought was that they were hoping the two apprentices would end up talking things out, but she doubted Snake Eyes would be so naïve. It was more likely that they just wanted the boys to act naturally so that any apparent progress could be assumed real and lasting.

Billy was up, staring down Kamakura, who was looking up at him with a bored expression.

"Well forgive me for holding out hope that the man I remember from my early childhood might not be completely gone yet!"

Kamakura lost his bored expression in favour of an outraged one and stood up too.

"How do you think it feels to any of us that you're still attached to him?" he asked, his voice just short of yelling volume. "He's killed more people than I want to count; he terrifies the whole planet; he brainwashed YOUR sensei; he…!"

"I know EXACTLY how it feels to some of you!" Billy shouted back, cutting Kamakura off. "Do you think nobody tells me? DAILY? Do you think I'm blind and I can't see how people act around me even when they don't say anything?"

"YOU'RE SYMPATHIZING WITH COBRA!"

"He is not," Storm Shadow corrected calmly. "Back then, he was merely requesting that the death penalty not be applied to his father, the request being based on his belief that the Commander's criminal activities – including what he did to me - were the result of a severe mental illness. He's never expressed any sympathy for the Cobra ORGANIZATION or its actions. His decision to join the very army unit which opposes Cobra should testify to that."

"Apparently not," Billy grumbled. "I get people cornering me to interrogate me EVERY bloody day, usually more than once, and a good third of the base keeps their eyes on me or leaves the area whenever I'm around. Junkyard is at least more open, he growls at me outright. Even though he pretends to scold him, I'm pretty sure Mutt gives him treats for it when I'm gone."

"I doubt it," Jinx said. "I'd say Junk can just tell how Mutt feels and he's reacting accordingly."

"You can't blame them!" Kamakura said. "What are we supposed to do, just blindly trust you? How do we know you're not an inside man for your father?"

"You make me wish my ear infection was making me even deafer than it is, Kamakura, so that I may not have heard that," Storm Shadow growled.

Billy had been about to scream something, but he was not about to interrupt his sensei lecturing Kamakura. He clenched his fists and even refrained from asking where this sudden ear infection was coming from and to remark Tommy had been in a remarkably good mood all day, something that was beyond unusual whenever his sensei's hearing was not at a hundred percent.

"You have an ear infection?" Jinx asked Storm Shadow. "Since when?"

"Day I left the base," Storm Shadow lied. He had no ear infection; he was merely capitalizing on the opening Kamakura had given him to pretend he did and that it affected his hearing. "That's not the point," he continued a bit abruptly. He turned back to Kamakura and his voice deepened again to a low growl. "In answer to your question, we know he is loyal to us because I say so. I will not tolerate an insinuation like that against my apprentice again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Hawk happens to trust him too," Jinx added. "You'd think that'd be good enough for everybody."

Snake Eyes nodded through the glare he was directing at Kamakura, who seemed to be shrinking under said glare much more than from Storm Shadow or Jinx's words. He turned his instinctive reaction of trying to bury his head into his shoulders and his shoulders into his torso into a bow to Storm Shadow.

"Yes, Young Master. I'm sorry."

Storm Shadow huffed but his expression relaxed slightly and he leaned back in his chair. "Now both of you sit down and be quiet," he said. "As per tradition around a campfire, we need a story and I just happen to have a good one to tell."

He paused, cleared his throat, and when nobody turned out to be suicidal enough to openly protest, started.

"This is, by the way, a true story. It is the story of how the Kagenohi clan was destroyed."

Jinx frowned thoughtfully, trying to remember long forgotten history lessons. The name was familiar, and it was certainly not one of the clans around today, but she could remember nothing of how they may have been destroyed.

"The Kagenohi was once a very prosperous clan," Tommy continued. "They were ruthless and talented, which made them excellent assassins, and they charged their clients accordingly. Two of the many Kagenohi ninjas were particularly effective, and rightfully famous amongst ninjas. Even the Arashikage, back then as much as today, had nothing but praise for their skills if not for their character."

"Because they were both as outstanding as one another, and because they performed the same type of missions and were from the same clan, they were linked in people's mind as a pair, even though they were by no means a fixed team and in fact did not happen to often work together. One day, the younger of the two succeeded in a particularly high profile assassination: the shogun himself, slain in broad daylight while surrounded by his many bodyguards."

"Arrow?" Jinx asked.

"Yes," Storm Shadow replied. "The Kagenohi ninja had infiltrated the compound as a servant, snuck in a bow and arrows, escaped the notice of his masters, shot from the roof - one arrow that pierced the Shogun's throat - and escaped without even being seen. He was understandably very proud of himself. However, when he went out that evening to celebrate his victory, he heard many ninjas discussing the kill, and they were all attributing it to his older sword brother or in a minority of cases, to both of them. When he tried to correct the speakers, he was informed that his older brother had personally taken credit. His own words were thought to be the lies of a jealous young shinobi thirsty for ever more fame."

"But it's the older one who had lied," Kamakura remarked, his eyes opened wide, "and he refused to retract? The two fought over it?"

"He had nothing to retract: he had not claimed credit in the first place," Tommy said. "When the younger ninja confronted him, the older one reasoned that someone had planted the false information among the other clans in order to infuriate his sword brother. It seemed so obvious to him that he sneered at the younger man and called him a fool, recalling other instances where his brother's judgment had been less than perfect. He went so far as to suggest that the reason people had so readily believed the wrong information was because the mission was far too complex to have been carried out by one with such limited intelligence as his brother."

"Different versions of the story start diverging when it comes to the details of the ensuing argument, but it ended with the two impeccably skilled ninjas engaged in a duel to the death. The master of their clan attempted to stop them, but the two were so focused on their fight that they both struck at the intruder without recognizing him, each only concerned with not suffering interference that would grant their opponent an advantage. They realized what they had done as their master fell dead at their feet, and each blamed the other."

"Now you need to remember that the two were the stars of the Kagenohi; rightfully famous and on a more practical level, both important sources of income and respect. The clan divided on how to deal with the situation: some wanted to execute both, some only blamed one or the other and therefore wanted the one they felt was not responsible spared any retribution. Some blamed neither, arguing the master had committed a fatal mistake and was the only one responsible for the tragedy. Complicating things further, the group who wanted the younger of the two accidental murderers exonerated also wanted him to take the head of the clan, as its best fighter. The group who wanted his older rival cleared of any wrongdoing wanted the exact same thing for HIM, and the group who felt neither was guilty argued both had an equal claim to leadership."

"War raged within the clan until only a handful were left. The survivors dispersed and joined other clans, but no clan inherited the two incredibly talented shinobis who had started this massacre: neither survived."

Storm Shadow finished on a sigh and stared into the flames. Snake Eyes had his arms crossed and his brow furrowed, his eyes not focused on anything in particular; the perfect picture of someone lost in unpleasant thoughts.

"Hm," Billy said thoughtfully, leaning forward in his chair with his forearms on his thighs and his hands joined loosely between his legs. "There's a moral here, I just know it… possibly because you're kind of beating us over the head with it."

Snake Eyes twitched and Storm Shadow scowled at his protégé. "I'm glad you find it obvious," he said. "Why don't you share your thoughts with your brother?"

"There's no need, Young Master, I see the parallels to us as well," Kamakura said hurriedly. "I did not speak out because I felt it better to reflect on the lesson than to mock it."

Billy bristled at the reproach from his fellow apprentice. "Of course you did; you're such a perfect student," he said, rolling his eye. "Heavens forbid your brains start coming up with..." he stopped upon noting that both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow were glaring at him. "What I mean to say is, I wasn't mocking the lesson; it's just that the delivery was remarkably efficient, so err… I remarked on it."

"Actually, you were making fun of how blatant the moral was," Storm Shadow corrected, "and yet you proceeded to completely ignore it." He turned to Kamakura. "And you claim to understand the point I was trying to make as well, and even to have been trying to reflect on it, but the first words out of your mouth are to bring your brother down."

Snake Eyes nodded, clearly just as displeased as Storm Shadow, and signed that since the children were acting up, it may be best to turn in for the night.

"It HAS been a long day," Jinx replied with a yawn and a stretch. "And who knows what tomorrow will bring? Goodnight everyone." She got up and started for her tent.

"Just a moment, Kimi," Tommy said. "We need to assign guard shifts."

She stopped and tilted her head at him. "You mean you won't hear trouble coming?" she asked. "Your ears are that bad? And you haven't killed anyone yet?"

Tommy rolled his eyes at her. "I feel the purpose of this trip is far too important to allow myself to be distracted by pointless anger over an ailment that is nobody's fault."

Snake Eyes clicked his tongue to get everyone's attention and signed that they would draw for the shifts, instructing everyone to pick a letter from A to E. Once everyone had done that, he revealed the order of the shifts based on the letters picked, ending up with the first one for himself. Jinx would be next, followed by Storm Shadow, then Kamakura and finally Billy.


Billy's first impression when he entered the tent was that their backpacks must have exploded; there was stuff everywhere. The impression was quickly dispelled by the fact his backpack was intact, right where he'd left it in the far right corner. It was, however, now flanked by Kamakura's partly empty backpack.

Billy's eyes narrowed in distaste, but he drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly and took a long look around the tent again. It was a cramped space, after all: small enough that even a little bit of disorder would appear, at first glance, to be a horrible mess.

It only took two seconds to realize that no, it wasn't just the cramped space: the place really did look like a tornado had been through. The mats and sleeping bags, which had been neatly set up when Billy had put his bag in the tent earlier, had been kicked out of alignment and were on angles, with the sleeping bags hanging off the mats and further reducing what had previously been nicely useable rectangles of floor space.

As if the beds being as much of a mess as one could possibly make of them wasn't enough, there was a small pile of clothes by Kamakura's bed, although calling it a pile was generous; it was more of a flat-ish mound and was taking up more floor space than Billy felt was possible without it having been spread out on purpose. Between the two beds, and therefore as much in Billy's territory as Kamakura's, was a pack of water bottles with one bottle separated from the packaging for easy access, a box of tissues, two books, a notepad and a pen, and a toiletry bag. Not a single item was piled on top of another one to save room – even the pen sat NEXT to the notepad, and the books were only partly overlapping.

The fact Kamakura had tossed his bag next to Billy's felt like a promise of future spreading of the mess to the whole tent. Billy forced himself to take another deep breath, calming down just enough that he would probably have managed to put Kamakura's junk back in his backpack without so much as breaking any of it, but he never got the chance: Kamakura came through the opening of the tent and walked right in between the two beds, barely sparing his brother a glance.

Billy's eye fixed on the dirt from Kamakura's shoes, which his brother was dragging all over the tent, and his eyelid twitched. He pictured himself calmly explaining to Kamakura that he really should take his shoes off to keep the inside of the tent clean, especially if he was going to leave stuff on the floor, and imagined himself going on from there to pointing out that with so little space, it was best to keep everything contained until the very moment you needed it, so you didn't trip on everything. The visualization technique failed.

"COLLINS! YOU FILTHY PIG, TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF! AND…"

"Sheesh, simmer down," Kamakura cut him off. "It's camping: this floor ain't staying clean. Accept it."

The calm, condescending tone made the edge of Billy's vision tint with red.

"There is NO reason it can't stay clean," he growled, "provided you act like a civilized person! And LOOK at this place! Were you TRYING to make the biggest mess you could? Didn't they teach you to clean up after yourself in basic?"

"What are you on about?" Kamakura asked. "I just have my clothes for tomorrow out and a couple things for tonight! It's a tent, it's not going to look like a 5 star hotel!"

Billy could feel a vein throbbing on his forehead, but there was no way Kamakura was going to show him up on being calm and composed. He pinched the bridge of his nose, took yet another deep breath, and picked up the pack of water bottles.

"Do you actually need more than one bottle tonight?" he asked. "No you don't," he answered himself. He stepped over his bed and stowed the rest of the water back in an empty compartment of Kamakura's bag.

Kamakura rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said with a sigh. "Put it back in my bag so I have to dig it out each time I want some. Yeah, that makes TOTAL sense."

"Five seconds of effort every now and then to save what little floor space we have? Yes, it DOES make sense. Now, the books…"

"They go together," Kamakura interjected. "I need both of them out. AND the notepad. Sensei said…"

"Study material for the evenings," Billy cut him off. "Fine. Check this out, I'm going to do magic."

He pushed the notepad to the fabric wall and laid both books and the pen on top of it. He then gestured at the neat pile with a flourish. "Ta-da! Same stuff, no mess!" He gave a deep performer's bow.

Kamakura glared at him. "Great," he muttered. "You're a neat freak, too. There's just no end to… WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Billy was kneeling on Kamakura's bed and had picked up his sword brother's clothes. "It's called folding," he replied. "Something else I figured the army would have taught you."

"I know how to fold!" Kamakura snarled, snatching the pile back and throwing it back on the floor. "But we're CAMPING! And Sensei said minimal equipment! I only have two changes of clothes, they're not going to stay clean and wrinkle free! Which part of 'roughing it' did you translate as 'everything has to be shiny perfect'?"

Billy rolled his eye and picked the item on top of the pile – pants – back up. Kamakura tried to snatch them back, so he got up and stepped away to fold them. Kamakura followed and grabbed them.

The battle of the clothes went on for about five minutes before Billy got fed up and after feinting for the clothes again, grabbed the tissues, toiletry bag and water bottle from between the beds and dumped them on the other side of Kamakura's bed.

"I WAS going to help you figure out how to make all your crap fit in YOUR space, instead of where we both need to walk, but FINE. Enjoy your heap!"

Kamakura felt a scream rising in his throat, but he had a sinking feeling Billy would use the fact he hadn't moved his books with the rest of his things, and the fact he was letting him get away with putting his bag on the far side of the tent, to convince their senseis that he was being the reasonable one.

He shook his head. "You're such a baby," he sighed. He flinched when he noticed Billy was nudging the beds so they'd be perfectly aligned, but he clenched his jaw shut, told himself there was no harm in it, and changed into his boxers for the night.

Billy shrugged off the insult, content for now with Kamakura not trying to spread his stuff all over their tent. He didn't mind the bag on his side after all - it balanced the visual weight a bit - and he intended to sneak a peek at the books, so he was quite happy for them to remain between the beds.


Snake Eyes cocked his head when the noises coming from the boys' tent became too strange for him to identify. He signed to ask Tommy what was going on.

"They're fighting over the clothes," Tommy chuckled. "Billy keeps trying to grab them to fold them, Sean keeps trying to grab them back."

Snake Eyes' chuckle quickly turned into full blown silent laughter as the noises continued for a few minutes. It was only once the boys were done even talking that he finally managed to stop laughing enough to sign a remark questioning the wisdom of Tommy training Billy to share his obsessive tendencies when it came to neatness.

Storm Shadow snickered. "I don't think that was me, actually. I never TRIED to, put it this way. I think he just developed the habit himself. He's been living out of a suitcase, in other people's homes, for about three years… keeping his stuff tidy was probably the closest he could get to having some kind of stability in his surroundings, and if you're stuck in random impersonal rooms, wouldn't YOU rather be stuck in random impersonal CLEAN rooms, at least?"

Snake Eyes shrugged and, switching subject, advised Storm Shadow to get some sleep so he'd be well rested before he kidnapped himself.

Tommy snorted but got in bed to follow the advice anyway. Snake Eyes slipped out for his guard shift.


Author's Notes

Sorry for the wait, it's been crazy busy at work lately. I've also been kind of ill for about four months, and not only is it affecting my concentration, never feeling well is really starting to wear on me and making me plain lazy.

In an effort to finally give you SOMETHING, this chapter ends sooner than I had originally planned; the end of the night will be in the next chapter.

If you're wondering, the Kagenohi and their history is not genuine, I made it up entirely. Any resemblance to real people or event is entirely coincidental.

Many thanks to Asterisk78 and WillWrite4Fics for reviewing this for me.

Thank you all for reading, and please review!