Shuriken was purely annoyed. Firefly really irritated her, but her father INSISTED she start getting 'closer' to him. Apparently, he was someone her father would like her to hook up with. It didn't help she would probably get her internet access cut off, have all her music CDs taken away and would be locked in her room without food for days if she didn't listen.

And frankly, she like her supper and internet access.

And frankly, she didn't care if she liked Firefly or not.

"I hate him." She muttered, staring past her computer screen and into space. "I hate his guts. Everything about him, I hate. That smile of his, that look in his eyes, the way he talks. I hate those stupid flame swords and that annoying haircut. So if I hate him enough, I can put up with him, no problem. I AM Storm Shadow's apprentice; a COBRA agent, after all. I am an expert as deception." Shuriken went on, the sound of her own voice almost comforting her. She wanted to get away from all of this, but wasn't willing to admit it to herself, even. She stood up and glared at an imaginary person on her wall. "Oh, and by the way, I hate those Sigma's too. The only people I love are Mom, Sean, and Sensei. So the rest of you moronic people can just GIVE UP! I hate you all! I hate you! I-I hate you...Hi-Tech, Scarlett, Duke, Snake Eyes, Long Range, Spirit, Heavy Duty, Stone and Jinx. I hate all of you, so leave me alone. I-I...ahmmm..." Shuriken threw herself down on her bed, tears spilling over. She lay there a long time, crying like she was going to die. Deep down, she didn't want to hate them.

"...but this...this life...I can NEVER be a friend; a comrade, to anyone. Stupid COBRA...stupid data chip...stupid radio waves; they're so loud...stupid, moronic people sitting in that C-Titan out in the middle of some forsaken ocean somewhere..."

***

Kamakura let out something of a sigh and a hum at the same time. He was stretched across his bed, wishing he could be eating chocolate ice cream and drinking pink lemonade. It was mid-August, almost two months after Shuriken had escaped, and she hadn't been on Kamakura's mind at all since then. He hadn't seen her once, so there really wasn't any reason to think about her. Now, ice cream and lemonade were a completely different ordeal.
"It's so hot." Kamakura whined.
"You bet." Tunnel Rat, who(along with Jinx and Hi-Tech) was paying a visit to his room, answered. "It's swelte'in'. You'd think this hunk a' metal might have some decent aih conditionin', but nooooo, we gotta live with this heat."
"This isn't a hunk of metal, it's the result of the brainstorming of a technological genius! Don't take it's potential for granted!" Hi-Tech answered. He was cooling himself and Jinx with a large painted Japanese fan. Kamakura's entire room was filled with Japanese things.
"Yes, but it's still a military ship. No air conditioning; and with all these people in here, the heat is terrible." Jinx stated blandly.
"And Duke won't submerge for anything. I could give him ten million dollars and he would look me in the eye and say ' Did Hawk say it was okay? NO. So we aren't gonna do it.' AGH!!!" Kamakura had sat up, but then fell back onto his pillow.
"Well, we aren't dead yet, and these kimonos are actually very cool." Hi-Tech answered positively. All four of them were dressed in cotton kimonos which, along with most things in the room, Kamakura and Jinx had made themselves.
"But we'he neaw the Cahibean and he won't even give us Ah&Ah to spite all we'he doin' is sittin' awound." Tunnel Rat protested.
"Maybe we should try and think of a way to pass the time."
"Good idea, Jinx." Kamakura stood up and walked over to his CD player, put in a CD and went back to his bed. Soft and relaxing traditional Japanese music that spoke of cool mountain air, garden springs and quiet houses filled the room. Everyone settled into deep thought.
"Hey, we could watch anime on your laptop!" Jinx spoke up from where she sat beside Hi-Tech on a red couch with gold dragon print on it. Kamakura, who was across from her, looked annoyed.
"Why? It's so stupid." He answered.
"No it isn't! We should watch it in English, so Hi-Tech and Tunnel Rat can understand!"
"No way! Last time I watched your crazy Japanese cartoons, I had weird dreams about wacky hair for weeks!" Hi-Tech protested.
"But FMA! How can you turn down FMA???"
"Alright, alright, FMA isn't stupid, but the rest are scams. Who in their right mind would wanna watch a show about a bunch of rich, cosplaying, high-school-age guys who have nothing to do with their time but romance girls? And Naruto? It's really stupid. WE are REAL ninjas. THEY are FAKES. It's over-advertised, too." Kamakura continued. Hi-Tech and Tunnel Rat stared blankly at the two.
"What the heck are you guys talking about?" Hi-Tech asked.
"Anime. And you need to watch more of it, Kamakura!" Jinx answered.
"No."
"Yes!"
"Iie."
"Hai!"
"NOOOO!!!"
"YEEEEESSSS!!!"
Suddenly, Scarlett burst into the room.
"WILL YOU GUYS BE QUIET?!?!?! I am TRYING to sleep!" She yelled, slamming the door behind her. Kamakura glanced up as one of his Hiragana inscribed bells fell off the door and the rest jingled with irritation at the door being shut so violently.
"She knocked off my bell for 'Peace'..." Kamakura muttered. No one paid any attention.
"Fine. But you know, Kamakura's just trying to look cool. He really likes manga, see? He's got volumes upon volumes!" Jinx answered, getting up and leaning down to point at the rows of manga in one of Kamakura's bookcases. "I'm gonna read one right now, if you guys don't mind."
"No, our minds are gonna be focused on thinking about something to do on this perpetually boring afternoon, so we won't notice." Hi-Tech answered.
"How 'bout we play video games?" Tunnel Rat asked.
"Too tired..." Kamakura muttered.
"Well I ain't tired!" Tunnel Rat swung back and forth from where he was hanging upside down from the extra loft bed in the room.
"We can tell." Jinx answered, not taking her eyes off her book. Suddenly she threw it down. "That's it! Kamakura, that's it!"
"Honto? Nani?"
"There they go speakin' dat jibbehish again..." Tunnel Rat said.
"Well," Jinx answered, ignoring her bug eating teammate. "Just now I was reading about someone talking about their past and I was thinking..."
"That we should talk about our pasts? Easy for you to say, yours wasn't that bad. Some of us have had it pretty awful, y'know?"
"Yeah, Hi-Tech, but I don't think any of those people are here. And for another thing, I don't see what would be awful about your past...we've heard it before, and it's normal, actually."
"Jinx, I don't think that's a good idea...talking about my life has never made me any better." Kamakura protested.
"Okay, YOU don't have to, but I wouldn't mind telling mine. And I won't leave out ANYTHING."
"Really, you don't have to-"
"I was sixteen when I quit training at the clan, I think..."
"Jinx..." But Kamakura realized it was useless. She would tell them if she wanted to.
"I started working at a restaurant. I felt trapped in the Arashikage, and I wanted to get away. When Master told me I could leave at sixteen, I was over-joyed. Except for the fact I would be leaving Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow behind, I wasn't sad at all. So I left the Arashikage and went to live in Kyoto. I started working at a restaurant called the Ki Sakura. My motojime, or the man in charge of the restaurant, was tough, my apartment had only two rooms, and the neighborhood could be nasty. I started getting out of line, you could say." Jinx continued. Oddly, she glanced up to Kamakura. He gave her a very slight nod, as a prodding to continue. He wasn't sure what she was thinking, but it must have been a little tough for her to talk about her time as a worker at Ki Sakura and a Yankee. "I felt so alone in the world.
I found a boyfriend at some point. I discovered after a while that that boyfriend, Akira, was a Yankee; a member of a gang. Believing I could find a place in the world as a yankee, I became one, too. The gang didn't treat me any better than my motojime; they treated me worse. I was once again in a prison; just like I had felt I was in at the Arashikage. But this prison tortured people. It didn't even give you air to breath. You did what they wanted, you didn't complain. And if you said you were leaving, you were dead." Jinx was, surprising to Kamakura, still smiling softly. "Akira was kind to me, though, even when it got him in trouble. I think..." She blushed deeply. I had no idea Jinx had a boyfriend in Japan...only a few years ago, too. Why didn't she ever tell me about that? Kamakura thought to himself. "well, I think I really had found a true friend in Akira. He never hurt me like the others did...he never even raised a finger to hit me. He would occasionally give me a smile or two. But then, after I left the gang, I found this guy-" Jinx pointed at Kamakura. "He never stops smiling about anything, so I have nothing to worry about." Actually, Jinx had told Kamakura a million times that he needed to get more serious about life. But he WAS serious. She just thought he had a problem because she herself had one; she was too negative. "It was a long time before I met Kamakura, though. I got around stuff like underage drinking and drugs, vandalizing and hurting people. I did a lot of stupid things, y'know? Thankfully, I didn't get addicted to any of that junk, and one day, I woke up. I had been sifting through some old stuff I'd had when I first came to Kyoto and I found a pocket Bible Sensei had given me when I left. About two months later I was targeted by Hi-Tech and joined Sigma 6, completely reformed of my previous wrongs. I was a Christian after that; I was made new." She concluded, smiling up at the others.
"Dat...dat was a good stowy, Jinx." Tunnel Rat murmured, now sitting cross legged on a pillow on the floor and fidgeting with the tassels. Kamakura didn't look up to meet her gaze. He knew he was going to crumple under that smile of hers, and he didn't want to. He didn't want to fall apart after such a simple story. But the fact that he had been through the same thing and not been able to smile like that for four years afterwards, and yet she had only months afterwards, made him feel so weak compared to her that he just couldn't stand it. Suddenly the door flew open again. Scarlett popped her head in, looking a little dazed from her nap.
"Hi-Tech, Duke wants you in the control room. TR, Heavy Duty wants you to sample tonight's dinner. Kam and Jinx, do whatever." She instructed. Tunnel Rat and Hi-Tech left the room to follow orders, the door once again slammed shut, and another Hiragana inscribed bell fell off.
"She knocked off my bell for Happiness." He muttered again, not expecting Jinx to say anything, but she did.
"Let me help you put them both back up, 'kay?"
"Uh, sure. I'll put up Peace and you can put up Happiness, alright?"
"Mhm. Now, where's your string and scissors?"
***

Once again, had to put two parts in one 'cause it was so short. Sorry about not posting these, I haven't been able to write much and I didn't want to post anything until I was at least a few more pages ahead of what I was posting. :P Confusion...confusion...

Anyway, I only edited this a little. Not really expecting perfection. A fourteen year old girl juggling school, schedule, chores and a friend's birthday coming up can get a little slack, can't she?