A/N: Summer break!...for you guys. For me, it's my internship. Work without pay! I'm living the life! At least the stuff I write gets published. I'm working at a newspaper. But I have to write boring stuff like city meetings and…well that's pretty much it. Still got time to write for myself. So, just putting that out there
Disclaimer: Dead or Alive owned by Team Ninja and Tecmo. Tramps Like Us owned by Ogawa and Tokyopop
Kunoichis Like Us
Chapter 11
Alex was used to feeling uncomfortable around Kasumi. After all, she had the strength to break every bone in his body, the speed and reflexes to do it in the time it took him to sneeze, and the stealth and cleverness to get away with it and never be seen again. But today, he felt especially on edge. With Nanako becoming more aggressive and Alex falling back on his old habits of being cynical but passive, he was expecting Kasumi to do…anything. She was not yelling at him or lecturing him or trying to butt in like his sisters used to do. At first she was offering her opinion on the matter, but recently she had been strangely…neutral about the affair.
Or at least she seemed neutral. Who knew what she was really thinking?
He tapped the desk with fretted rhythm and stared into the family desktop computer. The computer was a sleek black number filled with word processor software since it was used mostly for writing stories and cruising the net. Now it was seldom used except for checking up on e-mails from the family or in his friend's case, looking up video game and manga sites, or if Seiji was involved, porn.
He was waiting for his weekly e-mail from his mother. He was afraid of what she might say as their last conversation came uncomfortably close to Kasumi. His mother was certain that he had a girlfriend and she had a reputation of being nosey. Well, to be honest, every woman in the Kane household was nosey about him. After all, he was 'the boy' of the household. Although he wondered what 'the boy' title actually meant. So far, it was an excuse for his sisters and mom to meddle in his life.
He refreshed his inbox. A rather pointless act as the computer would let him know automatically when he got a new e-mail, but he was too anxious to wait for a noise. No new messages. It was five past noon. His mother always sent her e-mail no later by noon. The only exceptions were when she wrote about something unpleasant. She said she takes her time writing those types of letters because she wants to accurately describe her feelings. He thought she did it as a scare tactic.
He refreshed again, still nothing.
"What are you doing?"
Alex almost screamed and turned around. Kasumi, wearing something that was part sweater, part T-shirt, was behind him.
"Damn it, Kasumi! What'd I saw about sneaking up on me?"
"I didn't sneak up on you." Kasumi said. "In fact I've been here for almost five minutes."
"Oh." Alex blinked, but still held his scowl. "Well it's not polite to look over someone's shoulder when they're using a computer." He turned back to his screen.
"You're angry. Why?"
"Because I'm about to be slaughtered when mom's e-mail comes in." Alex rubbed his temples. "These things are usually as long as light novels and if I don't read all of it, she'll get even madder."
"How would she know if you read them or not?"
"She quizzes me over them." Alex said dead-panned. "God, I hate this."
"You should tell your mother how you feel."
"She knows how I feel. That's why she does this." Alex leaned back in his chair and stretched. "To torture me."
"I believe you're being rather factitious about the situation."
"Fac-what?"
"You're constructing the situation into something it's not."
"I wish." Alex grumbled.
The 'you have mail' bell snapped him back to the computer. He accessed the message. His heart fell when he saw three thick paragraphs staring at him with a slider bar on the side of the window telling him there was more than the screen could show.
His stomach clenched when he saw Nanako's name in the second paragraph. It appeared that his little sister had spilled the beans. A half hour later, or at least what felt like a half hour, he was on the tenth paragraph with the subject still on Nanako. The only good thing was that Kasumi, or her pseudonym Sakura, was nowhere in the letter.
Speaking of whom.
He took a peak behind him and saw auburn hair.
"What'd I say about peaking over my shoulder?"
"I'm sorry." She said, actually bashful. "I didn't mean any harm."
"Bah." Alex shrugged. "You'd find out sooner or later. That's your thing, right?"
Kasumi did not reply, but he could feel her looking at him like….something was wrong.
"I'll write back later." Alex said and turned around to face Kasumi. "When I think of something to say."
"I think your mother is right about you and Izumi." Kasumi began. So much for her being un-opinionated. "Izumi is-"
"If you're gonna talk like my mother, you can just shut up right now!"
Kasumi blinked, hesitated, than relaxed her face.
Alex turned back. He did not mean to snap, but his nerves were essentially shot. Nanako, Kasumi, Rika, the girl with purple hair. It was too much. Seiji always wondered why Alex had no real interest in the dating world. To Alex, it was a headache he did not need.
He turned back. "Look, I-"
Kasumi was gone.
Alex did a quick look around. The room was empty.
"Huh." He huffed and turned back to the computer.
-----
"I've had a chance to go over your tests and I must say I'm impressed." Miss Shiina, Alex's English teacher, said. She held a thick stack of papers in her hand. "As a whole, the class average was a solid 80, an improvement."
Miss Shiina was rather plain, though it could have been the short hair and the glasses. Still, it did not stop the boys from going into detail on how they would 'hit that'. Alex had to admit that he had fantasies from time to time, but he knew better than to brag about it like it was something to be proud of. To him, it seemed kind of pathetic.
She walked past desks and handed back the papers. "Of course, not all scores were good." She said and gave a boy a piercing look. The boy, Kouji something, looked sullenly at his desk, and hunched his body over, trying to disappear.
"But there are a few that really brought the class up." Shiina placed a paper on Alex's desk. "Very good, Mr. Kane."
Alex looked at his paper; a perfect score. And his parents thought his English was getting rusty.
"Oh, wow, the kid from England does good on an English test. There's a shocker." Alex heard behind him. It was whispered, but Alex heard it clear as a bell.
"I thought he was from France." Another boy whispered.
"Oh, big difference." The first muttered.
"Yes, Mr. Nojima, there is." Shiina slammed a paper on his desk, causing him to jump. "Maybe if you studied better, you'd have realized that."
Snickers came from all over the classroom. Even Alex felt himself smiling.
-----
"This is perfect." Alex said as Kasumi and he entered the apartment. "This'll raise my grade big time. Plus it'll be the perfect way to respond to my mom. Good grades always make her happy."
Kasumi took off her glasses and began unbraiding her hair.
"I take it you got a high mark too?" Alex dug his test out of his bag. "You seem to ace everything in…well everything. This calls for a celebration. How 'bout we order out tonight? I'm in the mood for shrimp. How 'bout you?"
Kasumi smiled at him, nodded, and went back to unbraiding her hair.
Alex was silent for a moment. "Um…ok. I'll call 'round six or so. Sound good to you?"
Again she nodded, this time not bothering to turn around.
"What's up with her?" Alex thought. "She seems different."
-----
It had been a rather slow day. After school, Alex had to drop by his sister Mayu's place to discuss the bills on the apartment. After Mayu became a legal adult, she was put on the family bank account so she could pay the bills when the folks were away, which was almost all the time. This meant that Mayu was the big boss of the family. And that she wanted reports of what was going in Alex's life…and for him to move in with her and her husband, something about keeping an eye on him.
He refused. She had enough to worry about. Pleasing her new mother-in-law and all. Besides, he was not going to be the little kid that she led around by the hand anymore.
He was ten minutes early for the train, but he would rather wait ten more minutes on the platform with little kids gawking at him than bear another minute of Mayu's mother-in-law scrutinizing him. The woman had accepted Mayu, but not him. She kept mumbling about his apparent 'rebellious behavior' and 'antagonistic nature', like he was some punk on the street.
The woman was so wrapped up in old Japanese customs and culture she must be chocking on it.
There were not many people on the platform and only one kid was staring at him, but he was also hiding behind his mother and being quiet. He pulled on the hem of the T-shirt Nanako got him. It was black with 'Rage' written in red blocky English words, like the bottom of a rubber stamp used on shipping boxes. He ran it through the wash three times. It still itched sometimes.
"This better break in fast." Alex mumbled and scratched his chest.
He saw a young girl around Rika's age with a scantily-short skirt waiting at the edge of the platform. He had to shake his head. He would have blown a gasket if he saw Rika dressed like that.
A man was next to her in a long coat, odd considering the pleasant weather. He held a small travel bag by the straps, making the bag dangerously close to the ground. Alex was about to write the man off when he noticed that he was creeping closer to the girl while trying to keep behind her. Something gleamed off the bag.
Alex moved closer. The gleam was from something shiny. As he got closer he realized that it was something glass. A camera lens was poking out the bag, the zipper was closed all the way up to the lens, and the bag was almost underneath the girl's skirt.
Something snapped inside Alex that caused him to march forward and grab the bag from the man without thinking.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Alex, unable to think up of something witty, had to rely on a cliché.
The man was dumpy and downtrodden, like he had not slept properly for a week. His face was hardened with time. He looked like he was well into his forties. His mouth was agape and his face burned with fear and shame.
"I bet the boys in security would like to see what's in here." Alex held up the bag.
The man tried to make a break for it but was blocked off by another man who had witnessed the whole thing.
"You're not going anywhere, pal." The man said wearing the clothes of a construction worker.
"You pervert!" The girl in the skirt finally chimed in. "I hope they castrate you!"
The peeping tom was soon arrested, the entire time he never uttered a sound.
"Good work, kid." One of the officers said. "We need more people like you 'round here."
"Yeah." Alex said, finally soaking in the moment. Since when was he ever hero material? Some of Kasumi must have been rubbing off.
But why did he feel nothing? Why did the congratulations sound so hollow to him even though they were sincere?
"I have to go." He said.
-----
"Before we begin class today, the principal would like to say something."
Alex's homeroom teacher, the frail old man Uchida, motioned to Principal Ikeda. Ikeda stood almost six feet and had an odd mustache that had an old time twirl at the tips. He took the position at the front of the class and cleared his throat.
"Over these past few years, I have become troubled with what I see in the news. Muggings, theft, street gangs terrorizing decent folk. It's hard to pick up the paper and see a headline about such evil right here in our city. But today, I opened that paper and saw something that lifted my spirits."
Ikeda raised a newspaper, opened it, and folded it around. He held it up for all to see the section he turned to. Alex almost died in his seat. The headline of the article was: Peeping tom with hidden camera caught! Young man bravely turns him in! There was a mug shot of the peeping tom with his real name and age.
"To read about a youngster catching someone like this man was impressive, but what fills me with pride is knowing that this young man happens to be one of our students."
The class began whispering to each other, wondering who it could be. Normally, the military like Ikeda would have swiftly put a stop to it, but today he was too happy to care.
"Oh, shit, no." Alex murmured and sank into his seat. "How'd he know? I told that reporter not to put my name in there."
Ikeda pointed at him with the newspaper. "Mr. Alex Kane. Please stand."
Everyone's heads snapped to him with bewildered looks. Alex? Their Alex? Doing something good?
Alex somberly rose like a prisoner facing his judgment.
"Mr. Kane. On behalf of this school, I would like to personally thank you for standing up to this beast and for showing everyone that people in this city can still do the right thing."
Alex wondered why the principal was making such a big deal out of this. He caught a cowardly old man video taping up skirts, not stopping a terrorist cell from blowing up the National Diet Building.
The principal started to clap which soon spread through the class room until it sounded like the standing ovation to late night talk show hosts. And it was not faked either, some of his classmates had genuine smiles and looks of approval. And of course, Kasumi, as Sakura, was there clapping and smiling.
As soon as she caught his eye, something took over him. All the possible euphoria of being admired instead of despised was sucked out of him, like at the train platform.
What the hell was wrong with him?
-----
"Are you trying to make me jealous?" Nanako asked.
"About what?" Alex replied.
Nanako moved her back to the chain link fence. The school roof again, like she could not think up a better place to meet.
"Oh, don't play dumb. I'm talkin' 'bout yer little run in with the perv yesterday."
"You're jealous of that? What? You wanted to bust the guy yourself?"
"In case you haven't noticed, baby, you're hot shit right now. Almost every girl's done a 180 on their opinion of ya. I bet if you played your cards right, you'd get laid like a porn star." Nanako snickered.
"I highly doubt every girl in school suddenly likes me just like that."
"Oh, c'mon, think about it. First, you stopped a perv, which in their little eyes are the enemies of women, making you the hero. Two, you stopped him videotaping a girl. You were protecting her. God only knows how many girls have big brother complexes. And three, you took him on alone. That shows you got guts. The only way it could have gone better is if the guy was a rapist. Plus the faculty seems to be proud of ya."
"I'm just the flavor of the week." Alex said. "Next week, they'll be all over the next big thing. In a year, no one will remember what I did."
"I think you're selling yourself short…again." Nanako stretched lazily. The hem of her shirt rose to reveal her navel and she stuck out her chest. Her eyes caught his and he looked away on instinct.
"Did I just catch you ogling me?"
"No." Alex folded his arms and continued looking away.
Nanako pushed off the fence and walked to him. She reached up to Alex, took his chin, and turned him to her.
"The way you act, sometimes I wondered if you were, you know, that way." Nanako raised an eyebrow. "But I see you really are interested." She released him. "There's hope for you yet."
Alex watched her leave.
"I think I got off light." Alex mused. He was expecting teasing and pestering, but not a comment and quick exit.
Things were looking up. So why was there that niggling little doubt crawling around the back of his head?
-----
"I'm back." Alex closed the door behind him and slipped off his shoes. "Sorry for being late. Nanako got a hold of me again and I-"
He stopped in mid-sentence. Kasumi was sitting at the step, disguise free, staring at him with her harmless smile, like all was right with the world, a smile that had the opposite effect on Alex.
"What? You got good news or something?" Alex asked nervously.
She continued sitting and smiling, like a cat. Not a word came from her.
Than it hit him. His legs became rubber. He felt shocked and confused as to how he could have missed it.
Kasumi had not spoken a word to him in almost a week.
"Kasumi? What's wrong?" Alex asked. "Why haven't-"
She stood and walked away.
"Wait!" Alex went after her. "Kasumi!" He went around her and cut her off. "Why won't you say anything?"
She was still smiling when she gently grabbed his shoulders and moved him out of the way. He thought about struggling, but her grip was like a vice. Hard enough to know he had no way to escape but gentle enough to not hurt.
She walked past him again. This time Alex let her go.
"Shit." He hissed.
-----
"She's not talking to ya, eh?" Seiji said through the cell phone.
Alex leaned on the balcony's rail guard. Inside his apartment was Kasumi, doing some sort of needlework on her ninja…costume? Or did she call it an outfit? He did not know.
"Well you did something bad, that's for damn sure." Seiji continued when Alex did not answer him. "Can you think of something you might have said to her?"
"Um…I did say once…a while back…keep in mind I was under stress…I told her that if she was gonna talk like my mom…that she should…you know…shut up."
"Smooth, Casanova. Very smooth." Seiji said blandly. Alex could picture his friend pinching the bridge of his nose. "No wonder she's not talking to you. Hell, you should be thankful she hasn't kicked your sorry ass yet."
"That's the thing, she hasn't really done anything."
"That's what women do, man. They punish ya by ignorin' ya." Seiji said. "Worse case scenario, she starts messin' with ya."
"No, you misunderstand, she's acting like nothing's happened. She's acting like she normally does. She smiling, she's helpful, she's exactly the same-"
"Minus the talking, right?" Seiji finished.
Alex sighed. "Yeah."
"I wanna help ya man, I really do, but your in uncharted waters, my friend." Seiji said. "I never heard of a girl who doesn't talk to her man and is still nice to him."
"We're not like that."
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that cause if ya keep pulling shit like that, it's gonna be true."
"Thanks for your help, Seiji." Alex said and hung up.
He pocketed his phone and looked out into the cityscape for a moment. With a deep sigh, he walked back into the apartment. Kasumi was still at the kitchen table, working on her ninja…whatever it was. He plopped down on the couch and looked at her for a moment.
Seiji had a point. He was utterly clueless as to why Kasumi was not speaking to him. She did not seem mad or upset.
"Kasumi." He called out softly.
She looked up from her work and smiled.
"Could you come here for a second?" Alex asked.
Kasumi stood, walked over to Alex, and sat down next to him with a foot of personal space between them. Alex reached for her shoulders and drew her close. She did not resist as he held her. She slipped her arms around him to return the embrace. Since she was leaning in, her head came to his chest. He rested his hand on her hair.
"For what it's worth." Alex whispered to her. "I'm sorry."
She did not reply.
"I had a feeling it wasn't gonna be that simple." Alex thought.
-----
Alex continued to absent-mindedly stare into the plastic table of the burger joint he sat in. The place had a decent amount of people, but far from pact.
"It's been almost a week and a half now since she said anything to me. This is going far beyond being cross." Alex thought. "What if she's sick or something? I doubt I could get her to go to the doctor with me. Then again, she doesn't look ill."
"Hey!" Someone rapped him on the head. "Wake up!"
Alex jolted. Nanako looked at him from the other side of the table, arms crossed and miffed. She wore a red top with a rather deep neckline.
"Sorry." Alex said and leaned back in an attempt to relax. "Was thinking about something."
"You've been 'thinking about something' for the past few days." Nanako countered. "What's eating ya? There a girl ya like at school?"
"Sure. Why not?" Alex rolled his eyes.
"Smartass." Nanako chomped into her burger.
Alex blinked and gazed down to see a tray with a cheeseburger, fries, and a drink. "When did we get these?"
Nanako looked at him like he had asked her what color was the sky. "We got 'em before we even sat down! You carried that thing with ya! Don't tell me you spaced all that!"
The memory came back to him like syrup oozing out the bottle. "Oh. Right. Sorry."
Nanako face softened. "Okay, now I'm really worried about you. What's wrong?"
Alex already thought up of a lie before she finished talking. "Family problems. Mayu's been pushing hard for me to come live with her and her family."
"Oh?" Nanako asked cautiously. "Why's that?"
"She doesn't like me staying by myself. Says it's not a natural way to grow up. I told her no. She's got a husband and his family to live with. She doesn't need me to add weight to her workload. Besides, her stuck up mom-in-law doesn't like me."
Actually, the mother-in-law had changed her opinion of Alex when she read about him in the paper. She actually called him to apologize for her rudeness and say how proud she was to have a 'member of the family who heard the call of justice' or something to that extent. She was weird.
"I see." Nanako played with the straw of her drink. "Well, I got something that'll put a smile on your face." She brought up her purse and reached into it. "Close yer eyes."
"Huh?"
"Close…your…eyes." She said more slowly. "Do it or I'll close 'em for ya."
Her smile told him she was kidding, but rather than tempt fate, he reluctantly did as he was told. Something slid itself onto his face.
"Ok, open 'em." Nanako said.
His vision had gotten darker. His hands went up to his face and he felt something cold.
"Sunglasses?" Alex said and took them off to study them.
"Designer ones." Nanako said. "Well, knock-off designer ones. Had a regular at The Moonlit Mile hook me up. Those are pretty good, won't fall apart after a week like most of the stuff other losers try to sucker me with."
"Ah." Alex moved the glasses around. They did look fancy. Steel colored metal frames with dark blue lenses in thin rectangle shapes. "They're nice. Thanks, Na-"
He swallowed his words when she became incredibly close. He backed away slightly, but was trapped by his seat and the wall. She took the glasses from him and placed them on his head. With a focused look, she moved the glasses around on his face. When she got them to set one way, she frowned and tried another way. What she was after was lost on Alex as he found his vision full of Nanako's chest. The way she was leaning forward made her neckline far more revealing. He moved his sight to the wall.
"They're lopsided on ya." Nanako said and held the sunglasses up. "This is what I get for trusting a guy with a gold tooth and cologne that smells like dog piss." She put them back in her purse. "I'm gonna have him get me sumthin' better."
"I doubt guys that peddle counterfeit stuff have a return policy." Alex said.
"He will if he wants back into Scarlet's clubs. She finds out he's slinging defective shit on her property she'll have him drawn and quartered." Nanako sat back down.
Alex allowed himself a smile.
"By the way, I saw your wondering eyes." Nanako smirked back. "If you wanna see 'em, all you have to do is ask."
Alex snorted. "Like you would."
"I would if it's for you, Alex." Nanako said without her teasing nature.
Alex looked at her a gaped, but only for a moment. He looked away. "Don't say such stupid things."
Nanako chuckled and leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead. "You're a good guy, Alex. Don't let anyone tell ya different."
"Yeah." He said somberly as he thought of Kasumi. "I'm Prince Charming."
-----
Alex removed his shoes and stepped inside his apartment.
"I'm home." He said half-heartedly. Kasumi was not there, not that it would have mattered.
He made tracks for his room, but slowed down when he heard something. It was barely noticeable, but the room was quiet enough for him to pick it up. The sound was soft and muffled, making Alex deduce that it was coming from another room. It would stop and start again without a pattern. He walked around the apartment, stopping every so often to listen, see if he was getting closer. It did not take long for him to pinpoint the noise. It was coming from his parent's bedroom.
The sound was a voice. Was his father home? Or maybe his mother? Both? No, there was only one voice. Maybe the reason Kasumi was notably absent was that she bailed when one of his parents came back.
"No. I don't think he's a good for her. He's been bragging that he's slept with her already." The voice said. "I just know. Trust me."
He recognized the voice. He rushed in.
"Kasumi!" Alex almost yelled.
His kunoichi turned around. She was sitting on her parent's bed, talking on her cell phone. She turned back to continue the conversation.
"No, that was the TV. No, I don't have a boy over. I have to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow." She hung up and turned back around.
"Welcome back." She smiled.
"Oh, so you can talk now?" Alex clenched his fists.
"Of course I can talk." Kasumi said. "What made you think I couldn't?"
"What the hell are you…?" It hit Alex. "Wait. Were you screwing with me?"
She answered by making her smile bigger, so big that she closed her eyes. It was not a mischievous or cheeky smile. It was just her warm, I-love-everything, smile.
For a minute, Alex could not speak. Anger had gagged him. He turned to leave, to hit something.
She suddenly sprang from the bed and caught him by the waist.
"What?" Alex turned his head. "What do you want now?"
"It was a joke. I just wanted to show you that you should be careful about what you say." Kasumi said.
Alex gritted his teeth, trying to hold on to his anger. The act was futile as she drove it out.
Alex refused to talk. He refused to cry.
"I'm sorry, Alex." Kasumi pulled him closer. "I didn't know you were taking it this hard. I won't do it again."
Alex collapsed. Kasumi kept him from falling completely.
"Don't." Alex said, unable to look her in the eye. "Don't play pranks on me like that."
"I need you." He thought. "I can't be alone again. I can't."
-----
Kasumi held him to her chest. He was still too proud to cry in front of her but she did not want to let him go just yet. He was trying his hardest to keep it in, but it slowly leaked out.
She had to admit, it was difficult for her to pull something so hurtful on him, but she needed to break through his defenses of anger and apathy. If she was going to help him, she had to get closer, closer than he was allowing.
He would be stronger for it.
And she would too.
