TangentOne: Two! I need you to focus!
TangentTwo: But my hunk wasn't mentioned again! I don't wanna!
TangentOne: You need to still say something!
TangentTwo: *Puffs cheeks*
TangentOne: Not this shit again.
The next morning after meeting and bonding with my lost family, I was awoken from my slumber as the door to the room I was sleeping in opened. Alert and awake, but not sensing any bloodlust or killing intent, I just started to sit up from my futon and wiped my eyes. There was a girl standing in my doorway, silver haired and red-eyed. She was short, four foot six probably. I had set a marker for my height when I got in the room at the door entrance and she stood next to it unnoticingly.
"Good morning Takahiro-sama." She greeted happily, a smile popping up on her face.
She was definitely a ninja, and a damn good one too. Better than me for sure, but what got me is that she seemed like she couldn't hurt a fly. It was a facade, that much I was sure about, but it was a damned good one.
"Good morning, ahh..?" I half-pleaded for a name without asking for it.
"Oh where are my manners. I'm Hayashu Hisae." She replied bowing, the bow was deep, almost a parallel to the ground. I stood up quickly and bowed back, but not as deep. I remembered the clan name as the name of our vassal clan.
It seemed the people who worked close to our family were used to calling us by our first names because there were too many Sukikyo around to use a general name. I had no problem with it, I was never referred to as a Sukikyo before, so it didn't matter after.
"Well, good morning Hisae-san." I chose a rather neutral honorific to describe her, as I didn't know where I stood with the vassal family. If they were as loyal as I thought, they could see me as an intruder, or they could see me as another Sukikyo to serve.
She nodded pleased and moved out of the way to let another person in. He was a couple inches shorter than me, but seemed a couple years older. He also had silver hair and red eyes.
Another Hayashu? I thought.
He bowed deeply, and I returned the bow just as far as I did with Hisae. He straightened after I did, reacting on the sound of my morning gown ruffling.
"My name is Hayashu Kurono, good morning Takahiro-sama." When he said the honorific he bowed his head again slightly.
He takes his loyalty seriously. I mused.
"Good morning, Kurono-kun." I chose a more familiar honorific on accident, he just seemed like he could be trusted. When I saw his smile and the contented air steaming off of him, I realized it might have been a mistake. I took a close look at him, his abilities were harder to determine, but he seemed just as capable as Hisae, if not moreso. I wouldn't want to fight either of them in my current state. Granted they were only a year or two older than me.
They were both wearing similar clothing, Kurono wore a skintight black bodysuit underneath a white vest that had a lot of pockets, and had a flap that reached down to just above his mid-thigh on both the front and back. The flaps had a thin plate over the top, that wouldn't get in the way of movement. The legs were slightly baggy on him, probably to differentiate the gender. Hisae's outfit was skintight throughout, and the white vest was smaller to fit her frame better and had less pockets. She also had the flaps on the front and back which were plated. They both had their gear-bags tied around their right mid-thighs on top of a small covering of white bandages, and they wore only socks indoors, but I guessed they wore close toed sandals like the rest of the village seemed to do.
"We've been assigned as your teammates and bodyguards for the foreseeable future direct from the Kobun's orders." Kurono said smiling, still pleased at the familiarity I showed.
Hisae seemed a little angry, though I wasn't sure why. It was cleared up quickly though.
"Yes, and because of that, you can call me something less stiff." She huffed.
I laughed, for the first time in what seemed like forever, and Hisae blushed.
"Alright, Hisae-chan. I'll keep that in mind." I said through laughter.
Kurono had waited patiently until I stopped laughing.
"The Kobun has ordered us to train with you for the next few days to test you and see what the best missions for us as a team would be." Kurono recited what he was told and tossed me an order scroll.
I read through it quickly and noted that I was to be in charge during missions. Tou-san was putting a lot of faith in my ability before he knew what it actually was. I couldn't use the Bloodline yet, nor did I have actual mission experience. I did have experience fighting, but not in a life-or-death situation, and I certainly hadn't led people before.
"Well, it says I'm to be in charge during missions, but I'll leave the leading to you guys first so I can learn what I need to do. Other than that, you should probably know I haven't been on any missions yet and my experience is limited." I said as I rolled up the scroll.
They both seemed shocked. I didn't know what they expected from me, but it probably wasn't that I was this inexperienced. I was a member of the clan they served, they probably thought I was a natural genius or something like that. While I could admit to being smart, I wasn't a genius and I certainly had to work hard to graduate the academy a year early. Granted I learned later that the curriculum changed after the last war to make Ninja better at civilian subjects too, so a lot of what we learned was unnecessary to being a ninja, and ninja in Matsu wouldn't have learned the things I know.
"Don't worry, I won't drag you down." I promised.
They snapped out of the jaw-dropped state they were in and nodded fiercely. Determination set in both of them. I wasn't sure for what, but I figured I would be training pretty harshly these next few days as the testing began.
"I'll take the lead in missions for now, when you get the hang of it let me know. I'll try and explain things thoroughly for you." Hisae said.
She then noticed what I was wearing, which was just a nightgown over some boxers, and she turned around quickly.
"You should probably put on some clothes before we start training though…" She undertoned.
I looked down at what I was wearing and blushed. I wasn't embarrassed, per se, but I was certainly not happy about it. The two left after I agreed to get dressed. I felt their presence outside my door, probably talking about me. I enhanced my hearing with some chakra as I put on my usual clothes. They were talking about the best way to test me, which was a surprise. I thought they would have talked about how I had no experience. It was a topic they talked on, but nothing that seemed like they were talking down to me.
After I slipped my gauntlets on and strapped my spears sheath to my back I rolled open the shoji door and walked out onto the wood panelling that made engawa path. My room was a traditional room. I wasn't used to it, as I had lived in hunter's lodge my entire life. It was strangely comfortable to sleep on the floor, and it worked wonders on my back. When I stepped outside onto the engawa, the two bowed slightly and walked me to the front of the clan mansion. I had no real memory of the layout, though I do remember that I was guided to my room the night before.
When we reached the front, my boots were set aside on the genkan and I slipped them on, tucking my pants into them. I noticed that they wore boots that were similar to mine, just white. I nodded to them and they opened the front door. We travelled at ninja speed to the large training grounds by the natural wall of pine outside the village walls. The village was small, and was pretty much hidden. Ninja who knew of it didn't speak of it's whereabouts, and the village didn't get trade like the other, larger villages.
When we reached the training grounds, the Kobun was there. He was here in his official capacity so right now he was my boss, not my father. We landed right in front of his crossed arms and he seemed angry.
"Two minutes early, good." He said, a smile touching his lips. His eyes remained steeled, and his expression stayed deadly.
We bowed and waited for orders.
I don't think my body is going to like this.