TALES OF THE WARRIORS: Nabiki

News about the destroyed buildings in the abandoned areas the night before spread like a wildfire around the city. Rumors went around that there was a fight, or that monsters had come to life. Of course the citizens didn't linger on the topic for long since they became more concerned about their businesses. Even so, there was always something interesting happening in the big cities or towns. Yijirou found himself watching an argument going on in the streets from the building he and Kira were staying in.

"What's got your attention?" Kira asked.

"Just a couple of teenagers arguing over something silly." Yijirou responded.

The clam popped up. "Really? Who?"

"Two Siamese cat girls and several dogs."

One of the cats was struggling to restrain her younger sister as she hissed angrily at a male dog, who was also being restrained by his comrades. "We need kids with real powers! Like a shapeshifter or some Phoenix warrior!"

"Well what are your powers cat!? You know besides yowling!?" The dog yelled.

"Cats rule and dogs drool! You know that right?"

Yijirou shook his head and carefully closed the window to block out the noise. "It is a rather ridiculous thing to be arguing about anyway."

"If you say so." Kira snorted before carefully placing himself on the futon. "Stupid Lin Quay. And those stupid ninjas. I oughta get them back for crushing me like that."

"Good luck, I doubt they'd let you do that."

Kira glared at the prawn. "This mission was completely pointless. Those ninjas clearly refuse to talk with us. There is no way the samurai will be able to form an alliance with them."

"We can and we must." Yijirou declared. "We need to find them again, and maybe we can convince them to listen."

"Like how?"

"Like by not attacking them the moment they appear like we did last night."

The clam scoffed. "It was a fluke. Besides the Lin Quay were there too. Anyways, while you think up a plan, I'm going to go back to sleep."

Yijirou sighed as the silent snores of the clam reached his ears. The samurai prawn sat back on the floor and began polishing his katana. To say that he was feeling unhappy with what had happened the night before was a bit of an understatement. If only he hadn't listened to Kira and tried to ambush the ninjas, they might have been able to talk with them. Then again the ninja were fighting the Lin Quay, who were surprisingly pretty good fighters though were still not at the same skill level as the samurai. The ninjas seemed to only be at the levels of apprentices perhaps, considering that they had a difficult time fighting. The monkey was more skilled than the other two, and the quail seemed pretty decent. The gazelle however baffled the prawn. She had strange abilities such as teleporting and that strange energy blast she conjured. She may not have been a skilled fighter, but her abilities were still very impressive. Were those the techniques of the ninja he had heard so much about? He knew the scrolls mentioned a clan that had those powers but the info was obsolete.

He wondered if she and the others were responsible for the destroyed bandit fort. It seemed likely that would mean that there was a clan near that place but as to where, he's not so sure. He didn't want to give up the search like Kira wants to. He wanted to go out and search for them once more. As soon a Kira recovers, he will convince him to join him at the place they battled last night and search for any clues. No matter how sneaky the ninja were, no one can prevent leaving behind clues. His katana was clean and sharp once more. Yijirou sheathed it and placed it on his belt. As he did, he became aware of another presence in the room.

"I know you are here." He muttered. "Come out and show yourself whoever you are."

Kira woke up and was about to tell Yijirou to shut up when something suddenly grabbed him and vanished in the shadows. Yijirou tried to follow but there was a flash of light, a scent of flowers and Kira and his captor were gone. A rope dropped from the ceiling but Yijirou quickly sliced them to bits. He saw another flash of light, and quickly spun to see who the intruder was. To his surprise, it was the gazelle ninja. Without a word, she grabbed him and there was a flash of light. Yijirou blinked his eyes as he noticed that he was now in some sort of cave. He pulled himself free and landed next to Kira, who looked sick from the trip. The prawn soon saw that the gazelle and her two companions were now joined by eleven other ninjas the same age as the trio.

"Hello samurai." A twelfth figure appeared, a Chongqing dog. "I believe you wanted to speak of an alliance."

Ooh, the ninjas got the drop on the samurai didn't they? Short chapter but it'll do. Plus you all now have a glimpse of two new characters who might have their own story in the future.