Ow.

The side of my head felt like someone repeatedly thumped my bare temple.

My swelling eyelids obscured the view of the pathway in front of me. I have to thank Makoto's fist for that. However, I could make my way through her home with her guiding voice.

"Just walk left. No! My left! Wait! Wait! Your left was fine! Geez!"

Haphazardly I might add.

Regardless of my previous complaints, I do feel better, emotionally that is. Thankfully Makoto's little cheering up exercise wasn't an excuse for unnecessary violence.

The anxiety of what's been happening at home doesn't fog my mind as much. I no longer feel that every second not spent looking for a cure is going to lead to certain doom. Perhaps I put too much on my shoulders. I couldn't be the only one searching for a cure. Yuta and some other village ninjas must've already approached doctors or at the most the Kanzuki Corporation. For now, I have other things to tend to, like my bloodied nose and Makoto's new burns.

"Aw, c'mon! You gotta tell me! Can you make shadow clones? Summon giant frogs? What about comets? Can you make comets come down from space?" Makoto listed off, eyeing me up and down as if I had a hidden element of power on my person.

I sighed and wiped my nose. A long red streak stained my forearm, "No. That show is just a stupid exaggeration of what Ninjutsu really is. Now hold still so I can apply the ointment." I reached forward only to have her retract, Makoto turned to me and made a series of obscure hand gestures with bringing her hands together and apart quickly. "Oh yeah? Well what about that?"

I snorted, "Hahaha. Alright. THAT part is real and takes years of practice."

"But you're good at it right? Can you teach me?"

"Later. Now how still! The burns covering your arm, fortunately, are just first degree burns." I pooled a good sized dollop and started at the least affected area, her shoulder.

"Uh huh."

"So pretty much what you got is sunburn. There will be itching and peeling after all of this is applied."

"Hm."

At first, Makoto's arm remained stiff and a little tense, yet after the ointment had time to warm up, she relaxed and enjoyed the message. Her muscular arm felt rough through the immense amount of vigorous training she put in through the years. It felt thick and tight just like a farmer's arm would.

Up and down, I ran my hand up her arm for who knows how long. Probably because I got lost in the feeling. Weird I know, but it just happened. For a long time neither of us said anything. From the looks of it, Makoto had fallen into a relaxed state from my action and the same to me.

Suddenly, the room coated in a bright flash of light.

KRAAAKOOOOOOM

The thunderous clap rattled through the home, "Woah! I could feel that one." Makoto stood up and approached the window. Just moments ago, the outside had reflected a mundane afternoon mood. Now it picked up to swirling grey clouds fighting, "Of course it would rain before the day of harvest," remarked Makoto.

"Tomorrow is the first day of harvest?"

"Well, duh, don't ya see how ripe the crops are getting. I don't keep them around fer show.

"Silly inexperienced me for not knowing that."

A miniscule chuckle came from Makoto, "There's a lot riding on tomorrow. So I gotta think of some way to turn a huge profit."

"Why the huge profit?"

Makoto rolled her head, "Not selling those months worth of crops really put me in a bad spot. I had to start dipping into the savings just stay afloat. After paying rent we're going to need money for utilities, food, competition entry. Plus if I can't stay on the repairs the dojo will fall apart."

"Makoto...if I had known I-" I said having trouble controlling my voice. She sighed and shrugged, "It's behind us. Ya can't change the past."

Both of our lips remained shut after that. Makoto kept her eyes out on the storm ridden field and me looking at the numerous blood stains on my clothes.

To think she may lose all of this and the dojo because of me.

The storm ushered in a breeze that flung into every corner of the room. In reaction, I got goosebumps all over my arms, "Damn, that was cold." Makoto, however, seemed unphased, "I'll just think of something," She said stretching her arms, "You worry about getting rest. Night."

"Night."

As of my first day living in Makoto's home, my bed consists of a wrinkled medium sized sheet and a flat pillow. The setup wasn't different from the one at home except I had patterned sheets instead of blank white ones and a better room. One that didn't have dust bunnies in every corner, but at least I had a blanket.

I withdrew the small metal cylinder holding my hair in a ponytail and set it beside the pillow. My thighs felt a tickle as my hair cascaded down my back, "Boy, am I long overdue for a haircut."

After laying my head on the pillow, I tried not to contemplate about anything. Not the ninja village, not Makoto's situation, or about my future.

I just need sleep to the pitter patter of the outside rain.

...

"Get up. Get up! GET UP!"

I could barely manage to open my own eyes. Makoto's rough shaking stirred me awake just a little, but not enough to get me out of bed yet, "Come on we gotta harvest! If I catch your head on the pillow your ass is grass." Makoto hollered jogging out of the room, her boots created heavy footsteps that rung my eardrums, "Well. I'm up now."

I wiped the drool from the side of my cheek and grabbed a napkin nearby.

The napkin had caught the crusty blood left from overnight. Judging from how my nose felt and the look from the mirror, my nose had healed almost completely. There was a bit of pain here and there, but at least, it didn't swell at all.

The clock on my cellphone read 2:30 AM. Barely five hours had past since my head touched the pillow. Outside, stars from last night still hung up in the night sky, "Just kill me now," I groaned throwing on the bloodstained clothes I wore yesterday.

Leaning on the wall beside the porch is the very basket I used to steal from this farm. I slung it on my back and trudged on outward. In my still drowsy state, I had forgotten how hard it rained last night. My first step dipped into a pool of cold mud that sent me flat on my back, "Careful, it's slippery out here." Said Makoto with her back also slathered in mud.

"Oh god! My shoes are covered in mud!"

"Forget yer shoes. We gotta get these crops in baskets. And take your time the mud is really slick."

Together we spent the next forty five minutes carefully yanking turnips, radishes, corn, apples, pears, and onions from the damp earth. Every minute spent messing around in the drenched soil the more mud I got on my clothes. At least at this point no one could see the blood stains on my pants.

After we filled the baskets up, we started to check the produce for worms and wash them off with ice cold water that chilled my fingers to the bone.

"I gotta say. Everything here looks pretty good."

"Yeah," Makoto smiled confidently swiping a bit of mud from her cheek, "As long as you got high quality soil vegetables can grow good and fast, ready to be sold."

"Say when does the farmers market open up? I could use a quick shower."

"In ten minutes."

"Damn it."

We set the numerous baskets into wheelbarrows and took them into a path Makoto said lead to the farmers market. The path cuts through the forest, nowhere near the ninja glade, and into the outskirts of town.

As we walked I looked up at the sky. The sky had a less dark shade of blue to it now. What wasn't that shade of blue would be the damp green foliage that came from the trees. Below, a damp, dirt path riddled with newborn frogs and fallen green leaves.

"It's so different down here. I always traveled by jumping tree to tree to get around the forest."

"Really? You forgot what it was like to walk through a forest?"

"We liv-I lived in the middle of the forest. Sometimes we got sick of looking at it, but now I forget why I did. It's so beautiful."

"Y'know. I've been walking through this forest for about eighteen years and I've never seen this Ninja Glade you talked about."

"That's because it's very well hidden."

"Uh huh."

By the time the sun had shon very little light on the land; The two of us had made it to the farmer's market just in time. Right before me, I could see others like us. Hustling to open their stands, display their products of labor and make an honest living. And boy are there a lot of them. Seeing it from the other side gives a totally different perspective. There must be nineteen other competitors in the market.

"So have you figured out a way to turn a huge profit?"

"Hmph. Sure did," said Makoto setting down the wheelbarrow and lightly clasped my face, "You!"

"Ya got the face that anyone will fall head over heels for and let's not forget those big boobs of yers. Lonely men will line up to buy something just to get a chance to talk to ya!" Makoto dropped her hands from my face, "Aw, this is going to be great!"

"W-What are you? Fine," I sighed, "As if I have a choice in the matter."

The look she gave just screamed high hopes, "Good. Now set the fruit up for me while I open up shop."

...

Makoto propped open the booth sign, "There open for busines-What the heck is this?" She exclaimed to my fruit presentation.

I had the produce set up just like an assortment of fruit you'd see in a store advertisement. Big fruits in back with small ones in front, yet ordered in such a way that nothing is obscured out of sight. All polished brightly with nary a speckle of dirt in sight so that the smallest glimpse of light reflects off the surface.

"I thought it would be nice to display it to where the display looks both presentable and organic." Only a second passed between her eyes scanning the display and the response, "Looks like crap to me, but it'll have to do." In the now sunlit path, customers started coming in by small groups, "Better get that pretty face of yers ready," she said pulling up a chair behind me, "Remember the prices I told you?"

"Sure do. Apples go for, uhhh, and cabbage goes up to, erm, no that's radishes."

"Look sharp!"

Sure enough, Makoto was right about lonely men lining up. This guy walked over with the most visible overconfidence I've seen in a long time. Judging from the comb over and leather jacket combo I'd say he's never got to second base. Let alone get a second date.

"Morning, sweetness," he said with artificial charisma, "Let me get three apples and time to get to know you better." My eyes glanced over at Makoto pursed her lips and shrugged.

"Oh hahaha! Sir, you are quite the charmer!"

I handed him three apples and in return he gave me roughly 2000 yen. He strutted off with confidence overflowing from him and a new twinkle in his bald spot.

"Did that really work?"

"Yep," Makoto chuckled, "That idiot will probably be back tomorrow."

Over the course of the day, I saw a few familiar faces back when I was just a wandering regular through here, mostly the boys that I flirted with. Additionally even more old perverts putting no effort into being subtle arrived in droves. I felt like my chest was doing more of the talking than I was.

Then of course came the questions:

"You work here now?"

"Why get this job?"

"Blah. blah. Blah."

Then came an elderly man who Makoto described as a returning customer. He greeted me by extending his liver spotted hand for a shake. He seemed very pleasant, "Between you and me. You're much easier to buy from than that scary girl over there." The man received a nasty snarl from Makoto. We exchanged product and money then had made his departure.

"You can't treat your customers like that."

"Like what?"

"Like shit. Like how you did him or even me in fact. Remember?"

She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, "It's fine. Say, how much money did we earn so far? Give me the box." I handed her the till box to which she opened with her face jumping to a surprise.

"What's the matter?"

"I-Its..." she slowly showed me her face with beaming eyes and possibly the brightest smile I'll ever see on her face, "Full to the brim! We're doing it!"

Aside from the small number of customers trickling in. Nothing was really happening at the farmer's market as it hit noon. Other farmers just talked amongst themselves or took naps at their booths. The only thing keeping myself entertained was watching people walk through. Makoto had nodded off in a few seconds ago. Complete with her usual tip of the sunhat and stating that she's "just resting her eyes".

Still this was much better than doing life threatening ninja assignments. Just not as exciting.

It got to that point that whenever someone came to our booth. Makoto would whisper some bullshit price into my ear and I'd charge that to the customers. Their bewildered face would lift into a smile once I put on the puppy dog eyes.

Some minutes later, the sun rose to the highest point in the sky. The heat from the sun went from bearable to treacherous in just seconds. I turned to Makoto who recently woke up. Sweat rolled from my forehead into my eyes.

"Very well. Take a break and scrub some of that mud off yer face. I got it from here." She didn't have to tell me twice. Aside from the mud on my clothes getting crusty, my jaw felt achy from all the talking I did. Being excused to take a break wasn't something I really wanted to do, however, Makoto did seem rather pleased with how much we made in such little time.

The break tent of the market came with a water jug, a basket of assorted fruits, and most importantly, shade. I sat myself down and picked from the basket. The fruit looked lumpy and off-color, "Guess these are the ones they can't sell."

"Naw. Those are just the ones I tried to grow."

I jumped back and looked around frantically. A silhouette dropped from the top of the tent. It stepped into the light to my relief, "Yuta! What are you doing at the farmer's market? More bad news?"

Yuta smiled with a wink, "Actually, I'm finally able to bring some good news. The treatment has made them feel, ehh, better, but it's no place for a cure. Guess you can say it stagnates the symptoms."

Despite the exercise Makoto and I did yesterday, I blew a big sigh of relief after hearing that. Although, something is strange about this, "I'm sure that this should've spread outside of the glade by now." Yuta's face came to one of discovery, "Huh. You're right. If it isn't contagious then something inside the glade has been causing people to get sic-Oh no."

A blur jumped into the tent, both Yuta and I yelped, "Somebody call me? Sorry to scare ya there. The name's Ono." A much older farmer extended his rough hand outward. "Oh, uh, as in Farmer Ono?"

"Why, yes. You must be the farm hand Makoto's been talking about. Ibuki, right?" I shook his hand. Geez, do all these farmers have extremely calloused hands. Hope that doesn't happen to me.

"So," Yuta nudged my ribs, "Pretty, little Ibuki is a farm hand now, huh? Now that you mention it, you gotta good tan going on." Being a ninja means living in shadows half of your life. From the looks of it I substituted shadow for good ol' sunshine. Nevertheless, "Shut up!"

Yuta backed off, nearing the entrance, "How's your roommate?" Yuta inquired peering from the tent, "Is that the dude over there?" He pointed over to the booth where I could see Makoto in a heated argument with a customer. Somehow an exchange was made of some fruit and a large sum of money, "Makoto is a girl and different."

"You can say that for sure. She's been a spunky firecracker since day one." Ono added.

"Say, speaking of she," Yuta fished out his phone, "Are you ready for today's guest?"

Farmer Ono scratches his scalp, "Guest? Nobody noteworthy really comes around the farmer's market. This isn't much of a place for high profile folk."

"Just who is today's guest supposed to be anyhow?"

"I've done a little research and read that THE Karin Kanzuki is going to make a special appearance today!" Yuta showed both Ono and I the update where she posted a photo of her limousine travelling close to the area.

"Research?" I snorted slapping Yuta on the arm, "You mean creeping on her social media page?"

"Can't help it! She's smokin' hot!"

"Tch. Typical Yuta."

"You gotta look at the bigger picture here, 'buki. The Kazuki corporation is mega powerful and even more resourceful. If either one of us could tell her what's going on with the glade, I bet her crack team of scientists could whip up a cure in no time."

Yuta peered out of the tent opening once again, "Looks like it's gonna be up to you right now."

"Why?"

He gestured for me to come over. Out into the market I saw a figure dressed in a mix of red and black. Karin Kanzuki, the heir and head of the all mighty Kanzuki Zaibatsu, slowly strutted around the market. The golden ringlets curls of her hair dangled around her shoulders.

The market had become deathly still like a blind snake slithering through a rats nest. Everyone's afraid to move a muscle or even incidentally give her a wrongful expression. The only other people moving were Karin's posy of two.

One was a sharply dressed butler, just as tall as Karin. His eyes were hidden behind the glare of his red-framed glasses. He had hair slicked back and styled extremely well. His face, like the others, is as still as a stone.

The other was a trashy looking mountain of fat meat. He stood tall, way over everyone's head. His lethargic walk came with the clinking of the chains wrapped around his log sized forearms. He, unlike the two he traveled with, had less of a graceful essence. He picked at his teeth and gave the others nasty looks.

I couldn't speak for everyone, but it looked like Karin was just taking an innocent stroll around the market. "Any idea what's up with everybody," I asked Farmer Ono.

"Karin Kanzuki. She's not easy to please. Just a few words from her have ruined some good mom and pop businesses."

"Now that you mention it. I remember the candy store she ruined some years back. Why would she be h-".

Then she stopped. The two people behind her stopped in their tracks. Right where she planted her two feet, she turned on her heel. Karin had finally found something that captured her attention. Interest in Makoto's stand.

"Oh shit!"

Farmer Ono took in a sharp breath, "Ibuki, you better-!" I instantly dashed from the tent to the booth. I made tracks until I stopped at the booth, "Makoto. Maybe let me take over."

I attempted to nudge her away only to feel tense muscle. She didn't even budge just a little, "No. I got it."

Karin's bright brown eyes scanned over my expertly crafted display, "Hm. Your product has been displayed in such a way that has caught my eye. Might I partake?"

Before Makoto could utter a word, Karin Kanzuki grabbed an apple and parted her mouth for her sparkling pearly whites to take a hearty bite. The brutish bodyguard next to her did the same, although with considerably less poise. The entire farmer's market somehow grew even more silent. Like nature muted itself just to fit the mood.

One chew. Two chew. Three chew.

"Bleh."

"Ms. Kanzuki…"

The red dressed blonde pulled out a handkerchief and spit the apple into it. She turned back to Makoto with the same pompous expression she wore before, "It seems like the crop from this particular farmer is of poor quality."

Makoto's face twisted and turned. I swear her skin turned red too.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Her raspy voiced roared.

Too quickly for me to react, Makoto leapt over the counter, stomping the toward Karin, "SAY IT AGAIN! SAY IT!" Karin didn't back down to Makoto's reaction. She instead spun on her heel, took a step forward, and cleared her throat, "I said that your produce is of poor qua-".

POW

In a blink of an eye, the back of Karin's blonde head struck the earth with an enraged Makoto standing before her.

"Oh, no! Oh, no!"

Farmer Ono came to my side, "You called?"

"We have to do something so break this up."

"Nothin' you can do 'bout it. Fighters gotta fight."

"Huh?"

Karin's sharp butler ran over to her side, "Ms. Kanzuki! I apologize for not-". The heiress forgone the aid of her butler, flipping back onto her feet, into a fighting position, "No need, Shibazaki," Karin wiped the deep red mark on her cheek. Brown dirt stained the back of her deep red clothes, "Allow me to show this commoner the divide between our class."

Then everything stopped cold in their tracks. Within the palm of her hand, Karin grasped Makoto's fist. Karin opened her mouth, speaking inches from Makoto's face, "You clearly lack class."

Makoto shot forward to unleash a violent assault, but with one mighty motion of her arm, Karin twisted Makoto in the air then with the force of her palm sent Makoto shooting across the battleground and headed towards our booth.

"WOAH! AAAAAAAH!"

This time, nothing slowed down for me as I dove out of the stand to catch Makoto only to miss and get a face full of dirt. She crashed into it splintering every piece of wood that the booth was built from.

"OHOHOHOHO, it seems like the commoners around here aren't much of a challenge. Come Shibazaki. Let's take our presence from such a commoner."

"Yes, Ms. Kanzuki."

"HEY WE'RE NOT THROUGH HERE!"

Makoto made a mad dash from the wooden rubble and pedaled across the dirt. Her feet kicked up a mad dirt trail as she closed the distance between her opponent. Both her fists were locked and loaded with the right being first to fire.

Karin once again spun around and blocked the fleet of punches and kicks Makoto out. However, blocking could only do so much as to soften the devastating blows. I'd imagine a great shooting pain in her forearms and shins.

It wasn't until Karin's guard broke that Makoto finally landed something.

"SEICHUSEN GODANZUKI!"

A flurry of rapid punches travel from the bottom of Karin's midsection to a brutal uppercut skyrocketing her into the sky. The crowd aimed their heads at the sky as Karin fell from it. She hit the ground rising dirt with a loud thud.

"That oughta do it."

Once the dust had settled, Karin, just like last time, flipped on her back. I was astonished that someone with neat poise could sustain such an attack, "Hah! Nice little trick you got there."

Over the course of a few minutes the number of bystanders in the crowd had doubled. Not a single one of them were trying to break up the fight, they rather sat by, observed and cheered, like this is a spectator sport. Then I got an idea.

I gathered what remaining food we had left to sell into a basket and walked amongst them

"Snacks! Healthy snacks! Buy them quick, they'll go fast!"

The fight commenced for a long while. Hours. It went until the sun started to set. The crowd hadn't dissipated, it only grew as time went on. People grabbed lawn chairs and kept their stomachs full of the fruit I sold.

It wasn't until sundown when someone subsided. Makoto gave Karin a stern kick to the chest. The heiress only managed one step before collapsing to her knees, "Oh no, Ms. Kanzuki!", her butler gasped rushing over. "Ha! It sure is nice to see blondie on the ground for a change." muttered the mountain of meat.

Farmer Ono turned to me, "What the heck does he want me for?"

"Just come with me." Ono rushed over with me to help Makoto. She stood a fair distance away from her downed opponent. When I faced her, she barely uttered a word, possibly too exhausted to move.

"Don't worry. I gotcha." I turned to Ono who looked glad that Makoto is alright, "Does stuff like this happen all the time?"

"Very rarely. You got it from here?" He asked.

"Yep. I appreciate the help."

Ono left. The still unconscious Makoto weighed heavily on my shoulders. Scaling the trial would at least take twenty minutes before we get back to the dojo. At least the sunset kept the trial well lit.

"What a first day working at the Farmer's Market."