Chapter 5: One Step Closer

Alex and Nate found themselves waiting in the hotel bedroom while Sully remained in the living room, obviously trying to figure out what to do now that they had sprung up on him. Their response had been a mere smirk and the man could only roll his eyes and drag them along, obviously not wanting to cause a scene before they got to a more private place. But since they got to the hotel, they hadn't even been talked to yet. So, to occupy themselves, they were reading up on all the lore they could about the Kusanagi sword.

"So it seems like our best bet is going to the Atsuta Shrine to look, since that was the last place it was rumored to have been," Nate murmured, turning the page of a book.

"It's not that far from here, either. I have a feeling Sully isn't going to bring us. We might have to go ourselves," she said, leaning back against the bed.

"You're probably right. He wasn't exactly thrilled to see us."

She let out a short laugh and closed her book, thinking for a minute. "So they're gonna have a decoy sword, but if we can try and get into the restricted part of the shrine..."

"Shouldn't be hard for us," he chuckled.

Just as she was about to continue on with the vague idea of a plan, the door opened and Sully came along in. Both of them got quiet and waited for him to speak. Putting his hands on his hips, he let out a sigh.

"There's nothing I can do now that you two are here. Shoulda expected it. I'd bring you home, but I got business here. So for now, you'll be staying."

Alex smirked and pumped her fist.

"But! There's no lookin' for the sword. You'll stay here until I can get ya back," he said, giving them a sharp look.

"What?" she huffed.

"Come on! We're already here, we might as well help you," Nathan insisted.

Sully shook his head. "Not a chance, kid. Besides, I ended up turnin' down the job. No point in looking anymore."

"There's still the adventure!" she exclaimed. "And how much money we could make on selling that."

But she could see in his face that there was no convincing him to go along with this. With a huff, she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Alright, so now that we're clear on that... I have a business meeting to attend to. And the two of you are going to stay here until I'm done. And don't try any tricks, because I'll make sure that the front desk knows not to let you out."

Nathan let out a sigh and put his book down on the floor next to him. "Fine, I guess."

Sully looked at them suspiciously, probably because he already knew they were stubborn and not ones to give up easily. But when they didn't respond, he nodded.

"Alright. I'll only be gone a couple hours. I'll bring home some dinner, and we can figure out when you're heading back home."

With one last sweeping glance, he exited the room and closed the door behind himself. She remained silent until they heard the other door close and then she turned to Nate.

"Window, climb down and we're out of here."

He gave her a large grin and she hurried toward the window, taking a peek outside. Their window was facing the back of the building, so they could slip out without any trouble.

"Lemme go first. You know, in case you fall," Nate said, snickering.

She rolled her eyes, but moved aside to let him get access. He slipped open the window and looked down before ducking down to climb through. Leaning closer, she watched as he turned around and started to shimmy down the outcroppings. Once he was low enough, she climbed out the window too.

They were quite high up, much higher than Nate had said, but the two of them were so used to this by now that they climbed down with ease. Once their feet hit the pavement, they began their journey with what little coin they had in their pockets. Not enough to take a bus, so they'd have to walk. Out of sheer luck, they weren't too far from the shrine.

As soon as they stepped foot on the property, she couldn't help but be in awe. It was gorgeous and peaceful. Japanese craftsmanship had always been beautiful to her.

"Alright, so we scope the inside out, find the restricted section, and slip inside. I'm guessing we're going to need to pick a lock so that's where you come in. We'll make up the rest as we go," Nate said.

"Sounds good to me. Let's go," she answered, shooting him a sly smile.

Joining the rest of the tourists, the two of them headed toward the entrance. In all honesty, they didn't even have to pretend to be tourists. Both became enraptured in all of the history and Japanese architecture. They stopped here and there to really appreciate what the shrine had to offer, but it was only when they noticed a restricted section that they came to remember what they were actually there for.

Alex glanced through the crowd, trying to think of a good way to slip through everyone without being noticed. They could probably use the crowd to their advantage because it would conceal them enough if they were quick. She just had to make sure that the lock was something she could pick in a reasonable amount of time.

From where they were, she couldn't see what type of lock it was, but before she could point this out, Nate had already started toward the door. With wide eyes, she glanced around before following after, slipping her trusty hairpin out of her pocket and joining him by the door.

"We don't even have a plan," she hissed, taking a moment to align herself properly with the door so she could try to pick it.

"Who needs a plan?" he asked with a grin.

Rolling her eyes, she made quick work of the lock, and within minutes they had slipped into a barren hallway. No doors occupied the stretch, but she could see one at the very end of the hall.

"Guess we only have one way," she said, shrugging and starting toward it.

Nate kept pace with her, though he had a spring of excitement with every step that he took.

Once they reached the end of the hall, he took hold of the handle and slowly opened the door.

The room they came across wasn't what they expected. Maybe the grand idea of hidden artifacts had warped their minds, but all they came across was an empty room. However, etched into the walls were faded murals and Japanese calligraphy.

"What even is this?" she wondered aloud, making her way toward one of the murals.

"Could've maybe been part of the shrine and they closed it off?" Nate suggested.

"Maybe..."

Upon closer look at the mural, she realized that it seemed like something from Japanese folklore. Serpents and warriors...

"Wait! Nate come here!" she exclaimed.

He joined her side and she pointed out what one of the murals looked like.

"See, that's the serpent, the one that the sword came from...what's it called again?" she asked.

"Uh...Orochi, right? Uhm...Yamata-no-Orochi?"

"Yeah. Yeah! Okay, okay, I've seen this painting before! It's a famous painting. But I don't remember these markings..."

Alex ran her fingers across imprints in the mural. He followed suit, pressing his lips together as he thought.

"I think these are Japanese characters. They don't look too much like the modern Japanese. It could be Traditional Japanese, which would make more sense for the time period. This could be important," he murmured.

With quick hands, he pulled out his trusty notebook that he kept in his back pocket, along with a pencil, and opened up the book to a fresh page. Carefully, he pressed it against the imprint, using the pencil to make a rubbing and transfer the characters onto the paper. She went to work looking for more imprints, and she noticed that each mural was a popular painting that all had to do with the sword. How could everyone have missed this?

Together, they got as many imprints as they could, and were just about to get to the last one when they heard the loud bang of an opening door.

Alex sprang away from the wall, looking up to capture the shocked face of shrine security. After he recovered from the shock, he yelled something in Japanese, and she rammed against Nate to get him to move.

This wasn't the first time they would be chased by security for being somewhere they shouldn't, and it wouldn't be the last. Luckily, there was another door at the other end of the room and they could burst right through it in an adrenaline-fueled frenzy.

Everything that came past was a blur and she didn't know how or when they came back out into the main part of the shrine. The worst part, she came to realize, was that Nathan was nowhere in sight and the security guard had his sights set on her.

People's heads turned as she zipped past and she knew she needed to think quickly to get out of this situation. To her right, she could easily slip out through the door and head through the gardens, which would be much easier to run through, but gave him a clear line of sight for where she was going. To her left, she could slip into the crowd and probably hide herself much more easily, but also have trouble weaving in and out of everyone.

In a split second, she turned left into the crowd, sprinting through the mass of people and trying to get to the center of the crowd where she could get lost. Within minutes, she had engulfed herself in the people and wound up even stopping for a moment to try and get her bearings.

A hand suddenly latched onto her wrist and her soul practically left her body. Spinning on the spot, she prepared to lash out at her capturer, but it was only Nathan, half inside a piece of foliage.

He shushed her and yanked her toward him, pulling her close and squatting down so the foliage could cover the two of them.

Alex took a shaky breath, trying to calm her nerves and her galloping heart as she peered through the leaves. A group of searching security passed right by and she could only be washed by utter relief.

They remained silent, stuck between leaves for several more minutes, before he deemed it safe enough for them to remove themselves and get out of there as fast as they could.

Nate didn't let go of her wrist the entire time as they made their way speed-walking out of the shrine, and it was only when they were clear that he finally released words.

"Hell, that was close," he breathed.

"No kidding. We always seem to be running from something, don't we?"

She shot him a toothy grin and gathered herself, shaking out her limbs to get rid of the excess nerves.

"Did Sully ever say when he was getting back?" she asked, turning him to start walking down the sidewalk back in the direction of their hotel.

"No. We should probably head back," he said.

"Yeah but...do we even have a book we can use to translate this? If it's traditional Japanese, it might not be in the books we have."

"No, the one I've got on ancient Japan? It's got some characters. We can start looking through it and trying to translate this. I have a good feeling about it."

Alex could feel the excitement beginning to fill her lungs with each breath, and her steps became more bouncy and quick. Everything about history and stories always made her feel so alive, and she felt like she could do anything right now. They had a lead and it seemed to be solid. If the translation on the murals meant anything, it had to mean something important. Why would they be there? They weren't on the original paintings that she had seen….

It didn't take them long to get back to the hotel. Both of them had stayed quiet the entire walk. They often said few words when they were focused and their minds were racing. After growing up together, they knew each other in and out.

At the hotel, they knew the only way they could get back in would be up. The front desk was supposed to be watching out for them, and they didn't want Sully to know they'd been gone. But the side of the building they descended earlier was now surrounded by maintenance men, fixing a busted pipe along the road.

"I guess we find another way up?" Alex asked, turning her head toward Nate.

"Yeah. This sucks. I can see our window from here," he huffed, putting a hand over his eyes as he inclined his head.

"Diversion?"

"Nah. It'll take too much time. I think our best bet is to climb from the other side and make our way around once we get to the level our floor is on. We won't be out in the open for too long, less likely they'll see us," he said.

"Okay. Let's go around, climb up, and we're good as gold." She shot him a grin.

Together, they made their way around the building, picking a wall that was on a quieter street and still had enough places to climb.

"I'll go first, show you how it's done," Alex said with a smirk.

"Alright, be my guest." Nate gestured her forward, letting out a chuckle.

With a surge of determination, she moved up to the lowest outcropping. It was easy for her to pull herself up, but after that she needed to map out the rest of the climb. Nate followed after her, smirking slightly as he watched her think. Her eyes scanned along the building, picking out other outcroppings, window ledges, and pipes that could easily be climbed.

Alex moved carefully toward one of the gutter pipes, grasping onto it and positioning her feet on either side. She didn't want to stay on the pipe for too long in case the support wasn't great, so she only climbed up a couple stories before placing her feet on a window ledge.

"Are you keeping count?" Nate asked, joining her on the ledge a moment later.

"Yeah," she said, taking a deep breath and looking up.

Truth was, she completely forgot to count, but she wasn't going to let him know that. They'd be fine. She'd know their window and floor when they got to it, right?

A few more leaps and climbs, and they were ready to go around the corner and find their window. She moved first, keeping her body weight pressed against the wall of the building as she slowly snaked her way around the corner. In a moment of misjudgement, she started to slip.

"Shit!" Nate exclaimed, reaching out for her arm and catching her before she fell too far.

Her heart pounded loudly, clouding her senses and making her freeze up as she held onto his hand for dear life. She had been able to keep one foot secured on the ledge, and with Nate holding onto her hand, she was safe. But that didn't stop her legs from turning to jelly and her stomach from knotting up.

With a shaky laugh, she readjusted herself, pressing both feet firmly into the ledge and holding onto the side of the building with all her grip strength. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nathan make the shuffle much easier than she had. Of course. He was the perfect climber. She was glad he didn't try to rub it in.

Now that they were on the right side, she kept going at a much more careful pace, nearing the open window that was their own. A huge sigh of relief escaped her lips as she climbed in. They'd made it. Finally.

But as Nate climbed in after, she noticed that the room they were in looked a little bit different. The clothes and bags that were scattered across the bed were definitely not theirs. Did that mean….?

"I thought you said you knew which one it was!" Nate hissed, his eyes scanning the room frantically.

Alex couldn't help but feel a rush of hot embarrassment. "I guess I screwed up, dammit….."

There didn't appear to be anyone here, so maybe they could just slip out the door and find their way to their room? It would probably be much easier to do it that way than to climb back out and try to figure it out all over again. At least they knew the number of their suite.

Without giving Nate the warning, she began to creep forward out of the bedroom, listening for anyone. When she reached the door, she noticed someone slumped down on the couch, facing the opposite way. She held her breath, listening as hard as she could for any indication this man was awake. After a long silence, she could pick out a quiet snore, and that was good enough for her.

She heard Nathan's quiet protests, but she ignored them, making sure to keep her feet quiet as she slipped past the snoozing man. He didn't wake for the entirety of the trek, and soon the two had barricaded themselves in the hallway with exasperated breaths.

"I'm never letting you lead again," Nate huffed, nudging her.

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes.

"Gladly. Follow me."

Before she had a chance to say anything, he made quick strides down the hall. Judging by the numbers on the elevator, she had gotten the floor right. Just the wrong room. Within minutes, they'd found their suite, and decided to climb out the hall window to find themselves back in the right room.

The familiar books and clothes made her finally feel at ease, and she hopped on the bed, resting her back against the wall.

"Alright, we got a lot of work to do. This sword isn't going to find itself," Nate said.

And with that, the night of research began.

A/N: Hi everyone. I know I have no excuse for not updating, but I do wanna explain. The past few years have been really rough for me mentally. A lot happened and I kinda lost my passion for writing. Currently I am back in school after having taken a year long break, and I am also working. However, I finally feel that I am in a better place emotionally and have started to rediscover my passion for writing and have the desire to pick it up again. I'm also majoring in English with intentions of becoming an author one day so I wanted to start writing again to continue to strengthen my skills. Right now, I am planning on updating my stories in a cycle. I started with this one since I had a chapter 3/4 of the way finished so I wanted to crank it out. I'm going to update all the other stories that I have half-finished chapters for. After that, I'm going to update each story in the order they are listed on my profile. I want to make sure I give attention to all my stories equally.

Finally, I want to give you all one more treat. I have made playlists for a lot of my stories and made them public on Spotify. My username is iluvrocknroll7. If you go to my profile and find the story, you can listen to the playlists that I have created for my stories and characters. I hope you enjoy them!

Thank you guys so much for everything and for continuing to stick with me through all of this. I hope you enjoy my writing and know that I appreciate and love all of you so much :)