Opi-chan is back! Yay, self-proclamation… Lame, I know. Anyway I had a great holiday! Went skiing, got to see some relatives, lots of people staying in a tiny space, beautiful stuff, yeah… So here's the new chapter, enjoy.
"Hey!" She shouted, jumping up and down in front of the person before her. "Hey, I asked you a question. Say something!" The man however, simply rolled up his newspaper and hurried past her, knocking her on the ground. "Jackass." Kushina mumbled.
For the past three days Kushina and Jiro had been asking adults, or for that matter anyone older then them, about the whereabouts of ninjas. Ninjas, however, seemed to be more of a legend then a real occupation. And while Kushina was often outright ignored for some reason, Jiro at least seemed to be getting some answers. Hidden Village. Left and right that was what they where told, that ninjas were from a Hidden Village. Naturally they could only ask where but most people couldn't answer that. Hidden Village indeed.
Pulling herself off to the side of the street, she leaned against a building and watched the people passing by. Something was different lately. People's eyes where different. It used to always be that no one would pay an attention to her, or to any orphan on the street. They blended in until they became part of the scenery and no one ever looked twice. It was still like that, usually, but every now and again people would stare. Jiro always maintained that it had never happened to him and maybe it never did, but Kushina was certain that she could not be alone in this. Of course she could find no reason for people to even look at her. Maybe they had found out what she had done to Natsuko… Why else would the look at her with such angry eyes?
"So Girly, what's this I hear about you wanting to be a ninja?" Kushina's eyes narrowed at the sound of that voice. Great.
"Go away Niida." Niida hopped in front of her and grinned.
"What? Doesn't the little shit want to know how to be a ninja?" Kushina turned and walked away.
"Not if I have to learn from you!" She picked up her pace but Niida had no trouble keeping up with.
"What could I teach you? I'm not a ninja." Kushina didn't say anything but kept on walking. "I mean, I probably could become a ninja if I wanted to." Kushina growled as she weaved her way through the crowded street, dashing by venders and their stalls, concentrating on getting away from Niida. However, as she was passing by a narrow alley, she felt herself pulled in as an arm wrapped around her neck and a hand clamped over her mouth. Kicking and punching, Kushina tried to harm any area of Niida that could reach but she found her blows to be useless. Once he was satisfied with the distance put between them and the rest of the world, Niida removed his hand but held Kushina tightly in place.
"Listen Girly, you'll never be a ninja if all you're going to do is ask about it." Kushina was fuming and tried to shake his hand off of her wrist.
"Why do you care?" She spat.
"I don't but I need you for something." He said.
"Why should I help you? Last time I did a house was set on fire."
"That wasn't me that was Toshi. Anyways, if you help me I'll tell you more about the Hidden Village." Kushina paused from her struggles and glared at Niida thoughtfully.
"Like what?" She asked.
"I can't tell you now, I-" But Kushina wasn't listening anymore. If Niida was lying then this whole thing was pointless. "Alright, alright, god." Kushina immediately stopped. "Well first thing, do you know what a village even is?"
"No." said Kushina. "All I know is that it's hiding." Niida sighed.
"A village is like a city, only way smaller. Less people live there but you still get things like shops and libraries and those kinds of things. So in order to find the ninja village you'd have to leave Taifu."
Kushina blinked. Leave Taifu. Was that even possible? What else could there be besides Taifu? Kushina had imagined that this Hidden Village was just a school up until this point. A place where one would learn how to be a ninja like one would learn how to read and write, but a whole city? That thought alone was overwhelming.
"So," She said, struggling with the concept, "The village is a city."
"Only smaller."
"And I would have to leave Taifu to find it."
"Yep."
Kushina thought that this was just nuts. How the hell does one hide a whole city? Certainly she could never lose track of Taifu. It just wasn't making much sense, maybe it wasn't real.
"How can a city be hidden?" She asked.
"Well, once again it is a lot smaller and secondly, point it out to me." said Niida. Kushina blinked.
"Huh?"
"See! That's how it's hidden, people just don't know where it is and not many people say where it is. I'm sure there are some people who don't know where Taifu is."
"What!?" Cried Kushina, spreading her arms. "But it's right here."
"But they aren't here." Replied Niida coolly. Kushina let out a breath. Slowly she was beginning to understand this.
"So how do I get there then?" She asked.
"I know a guy who hires ninja sometimes. That means that he sometimes goes to the village or he'll get someone else to go there. He can probably take you."
Kushina nodded. She was finally making some headway, and with Niida's help no less.
"Alright." She said. "Alright then. So. What do you need my help with, and it better not be bad!" Niida sneered.
"Bad? Since when do you care about being Girly? You burnt a house down."
"No I didn't!" Screeched Kushina.
"The papers say you did. Never mind though, just meet me by the river tonight, near all the big ships and warehouses."
And with that Niida let go of her arm and took off. Kushina rubbed the bruise, suddenly feeling very fearful about what she had just done. She found out something useful, something worthwhile, and though she was certain Niida was telling the truth, she wasn't so certain she would make it through this night.
Kushina looked up at the vent, set far above her head.
"I can't climb up that far yet." She mumbled.
"I don't expect you to climb up it." Sneered Niida. "Just wait right there and I'll find some things to climb on." At that, Niida scurried off, leaving Kushina in the dark.
The clouds had covered the moon that night, leaving only the street lamps in the distance as their source of light. Niida did have a flashlight with him but he refused to turn it on until inside the warehouse. A moment later he reappeared from the darkness, rolling an empty drum towards her, left it at her feet and ran off for some more. When he managed to assemble five more the duo stacked them as quietly as they could into steps for Kushina to climb up.
"Hold them still!" She whispered harshly as she swayed on the highest drum.
"Hurry up." Said Niida.
Kushina reached up and pulled open the screen. Then, using all the strength she had in her upper body, pulled herself into the vent. It was a tight squeeze. Niida definitely would have been too big. Even Kushina, shrunken as she was and without her coat, was having a hard time pulling herself through the tiny space. Struggling for breath, she paused for a moment before she realized that the reason she couldn't breathe properly was because she was too compressed in the vent. Niida had told her to wait until she got to the second opening before she got out but she couldn't wait that long. In a panic she squirmed forward until she reached an opening, removed the grate and tumbled out.
She bashed her head on something. Hard. For the few lost moments in-between the fall and total consciousness she remained unmoving on the floor. Dancing figures painted the ceiling until they dissolved into nothing. Sitting up, Kushina wiped the tears from her eyes and looked around. It was a small room with a desk and a file cabinet. An office of some sort. Looking back up she felt the panic set in again as she realized she was too small to reach the vent. Glancing around the room once again, she knew she could pile things up all by herself.
"Shit." She murmured, biting her lip.
Niida had warned her not to do exactly what she was thing but what choice did she have? Taking a deep breath, Kushina pulled open the office door and slipped into the hall as quietly as possible. She headed towards the direction she was supposed to but rather then another office, she encountered a door that opened to the main storage area. Closing the door behind her, she spotted where she should have exited. The vent was closer to the floor and she managed to open it so it would appear that she had done as was asked of her. She didn't need Niida kicking the crap out of her over this.
Running to the entrance, she managed to unlock in and Niida quickly slipped in.
"So what are we doing?" She asked.
"I just gotta get some stuff for some people and I need you to carry it as well." He whispered back.
She followed him through the walls of boxes, the smell of the sea reaching deep into the building. Niida shone the light on the rows, reading their contents, searching for his desired find.
"Here." He finally whispered, clenching the flashlight between his teeth. Pulling a small box from atop several others he placed in down on the ground. "Bait." He said, eyeing the package. Kushina assumed that that's what it was labelled as because she couldn't understand a lick of the written word. Taking a small knife Niida sliced open the tape and opened up the box only to find several more small packages. Stabbing one of them, he pulled the knife out and Kushina could see a fine white powered sticking to the tip of it.
"Rice flour?" She asked. Niida just sniffed the end of it, grinning in triumph. Kushina made a face. Why would someone sniff rice flower?
"This is it." Snickered Niida quietly. "Okay, so you can carry at least three and I'll take-" But then he stopped. Kushina had heard it too. Several dogs where barking.
"Shit!" Whispered Niida, pulling several boxes off the shelf and shoving them into Kushina's arms. "Go, go, go! Don't go back to your place though and stay out of sight! Meet me at the cemetery in the morning but don't go there right away."
Without a glance back Kushina took off, pumping her tiny legs under the heavy load as she ran. She ran into the alleys, twisting and turning. Ran past shops and stalls with their owners fast asleep in their upstairs rooms. She ran past burnt out and bombed buildings in deserted areas of the city. She ran until she collapsed behind some stairs leading up to an apartment and then she fell asleep, the small boxes tucked safely away in a dark corner.
Asato could only be described as pissed off at the best of times, as though he was a man born to live his life in frustration. Today wasn't the best of times. The poor messenger was already dead at his feet, the result of bearing bad news.
"Do you know who did it?" He asked Momo. The older woman appeared from around the corner. As an observer of this man for several years, it had led her to know where to stand and when, when in his company. Certainly not in the same room when bad news was to be announced.
"There was a small trail of blood leading from one of the offices. Had the dogs not picked up the scent then we'd probably be out for a lot more. They apparently came in from an open vent. Street children definitely. No adult could fit through there."
"And they took drugs? Curious." Said Asato.
"Pardon, sir?"
"Momo, everything important to us lies in our offices. Most importantly documents that could put us away for a hundred lifetimes, which is why we had the dogs on guard there. The drugs we ship however, only stand for a minimal area in our profits and can easily be excused away should it ever be discovered." Momo struggled from rolling her eyes. Asato was a ruthless business man. Here he had just killed a man and was now dismissing his reason for doing so as insignificant. "However," He continued. "Considering we mention the drugs even less so then any document that might pass through that building, how did they know where to go?" Momo's eyes darkened.
"An inside informant." Asato nodded and then nudged the body at his feet.
"Find those children, find out who they work for and find the rat. And then exterminate them." Momo bowed and left the room, passing several men who had come to dispose of the body. She never really liked killing children but that never stopped her before.
Niida breathed a sigh of relief as Kushina came into sight, three boxes bundled up in her arms. Behind him stood Toshi and his men, resting on the tombstones of those long since passed.
"So she delivers." Said Toshi, fairly impressed. "Well Niida, I think you better hang onto that bitch of yours."
"Not no ones bitch." Grumbled Kushina, having caught the last of those words. Shoving the packages into Toshi's arms she turned to leave, intending to meet up with Jiro and apologizing for not making it back last night.
"Hey!" She called over her shoulder, "You gotta take me to meet that guy later!"
"Yeah, yeah." Shouted Niida, who was already leaving with Toshi. "Tomorrow."
"And don't you forget about it!" Screamed Kushina at their retreating backs… "Bitch!" As she ran back she thought she heard Toshi's barking laugh.
"I'm sorry." Said Kushina sheepishly under Jiro's glaring eyes. This was the second time in just a week that Kushina hadn't made it back for the night. Once was bad enough as most people don't ever appear again after that.
"I though Niida said it wasn't going to take all night?" He stormed.
"I thought it wouldn't." Said Kushina. "But there where dogs and they knew we where there…" She trailed off, fidgeting in place. "So… Is there anything to eat?" Jiro sighed and pointed over to some scraps on a plate. Kushina hurried over, only to be pulled back.
"What the hell?" Cried Jiro. "You're covered in blood!"
"Wha-!?" Kushina looked down but saw nothing on her front. A second later Jiro was pulling off her coat and shirt, both of which had dried blood on the back. Seeing that her back was uninjured, Jiro grabbed a clean t-shirt for her and pulled off her hat, her hair sticking to it and matted with blood.
After boiling some rain water he sat her down, grabbed their only bar of soap and started to clean the wound on the back of her head. It wasn't terribly deep and it had stopped bleeding some time ago but it was quite long.
"How did it happen?" He asked sternly. Kushina shrugged.
"I hit my head…" She muttered. Now that she thought about it, last night was becoming more and more of a blur. The only clear thing she could remember was Niida and the boxes. When she had woken up that morning she had almost forgotten what she had been doing.
Jiro rinsed away the soap and wrapped a towel around her hair. It was reaching down to almost the nape of her neck, making her look a little more girly then usual. He suddenly became aware that he had never seen it stick out from her hat. It was always tucked away safely under the toque, her personal treasure. Noticing that she was drifting off, he pulled her towards the bed and laid her down, her eyes unnaturally unfocused.
"Don't forget." She murmured. "Niida has to bring us to the man." Jiro nodded and collected her dirty laundry. If he didn't wash that hat she'd still wear it. Blood or no blood.
When he came back that evening he found that she was still sleeping and had a small fever. Jiro decided then and there that should wasn't ever going to run off with Niida ever again. They would meet this man and that would be all.
He was desperate. He wanted to hurt her but he knew he couldn't. Two bodyguards flanked her sides, flexing their muscles as though to say 'Just try it'. She was terrifying. Her face was that of an aged woman, possible in her forties, but she was beautiful. Flicking a strand of black hair from her eyes she turned them once again towards the drug addict. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a small package, the white inside it clearly visible.
"I'll ask again." She said, grinding her foot into the drugs that she had knocked from his hand into the mud. His only thing, the only thing that was worth it anymore. Cruel bitch, he needed it. "Who did you buy it from?"
"A kid." He spat between toothless gums. "Some kid, works for another. Toshi I think."
Momo nodded and flung the package towards the man who was all over it in an instant. She had heard the name before, Toshi. Get to him, found out the brats he used and find the rat. She'd have to leave that to her boys though. She needed her sleep.
Done, yay! I hope you enjoyed it. Well, schools starting again. New, harder subjects. And by harder I mostly mean I'll have to work on them more. Ah well, that's life. Until next time, ta ta for now!