This heat.
Out here there's no escape from what the sun provided.
Not even the inside of my home is safe. It's hot and muggy with every square inch being as stuffy and humid as the last. It's just like walking through a thick fog of hot air conditioner never really worked too well and as a few hours ago, Ibuki found out the thing died. It didn't matter though, I consider dealing with the weather a test of will.
Outside, there was an occasional breeze and slim chance of getting few minutes of shade, but it wasn't any better with the bare sun in our faces the whole time, "No use in standing around twiddling our thumbs. Let's do some repairs."
I hammered the nail into the roof. Embedding the shingle back into position. One down, a whole roofs worth to go. Ibuki squatted next to me, fanning the inside of her shirt.
"Shingle."
Nothing. My repair assistant didn't respond, "Ibuki?" I look up to see that her eyes are pointed anywhere but the task at hand, "Hey! Gimmie a damn shingle!"
I attempted to swipe it from her hand and ended up losing my footing. My chin scraped along the hot roof and I fell to the grass, "Uh. Damnit." Ibuki's head peeped from over the roof, "What are you doing on the ground?"
"Why are we torturing ourselves with this? It's so hot!" Ibuki pouted to me. "I gotta get these repairs done sometime. Besides, the shingles reflect the heat from the sun. Get it? Now hand me another." From the bag, she grabbed a new shingle and inched forward. A little too far actually. Her foot touched the one of the piping hot shingles, "Hot! HOT!"
Ibuki rolled off the roof and landed on the grass. I stuck my head from over the roof and shouted, "Hey, Ibuki. How's the weather down there?"
"Not funny!"
After hours of doing what should be a simple house chore, me and Ibuki could finally take a rest. Well, she did anyhow. I focused my remaining energy on the dojo training dummy. I jabbed and kicked it gently to get myself going. Once I imagined it wearing a red and black outfit with golden curls did I really start fighting with a fire under my ass. The dummy swung to and fro, receiving a blow no matter the distance.
"Shouldn't you be taking it easy?" Ibuki yawned with a stretch, "It's like a million degrees out here."
I shot my knee into the gut of the dummy, "'Taking it easy' makes ya soft. Leaves room for weaknesses to grow." I turned to her, "Don't want your skills to get dull. Speaking of which, why don't you come on up and do some training?"
Ibuki turned away, she reclined under a tree, "I've gone through enough training. Extensive training. It's-," She folded her hands behind her head and looked up toward the sky, "Nice to be able to relax and breath. And my skills haven't gotten dull."
"Prove it."
"I don't have to prove anything. I think you need to take a break. The heat is starting to make you more bothersome than usual."
I stuck my hands on my hips and sauntered forth, "Is that so?" I gently elbow Ibuki's sweat drenched side, "Not use to this heat are ya?" Ibuki shook her head, Ibuki keeps tugging at her top, fanning air in and out the stuffy heat. There's gotta be a lot of sweat pooling around the gigantic bosom of hers.
"You're one to talk. Look how drenched your armpits are."
"Yeah? So?" I crossed my arms, trying to ignore that the sun is beating down more than it was earlier. I got to do something to take our minds off it.
At the moment I saw an opening, I slapped Ibuki on the side. She shot up and slapped the side of my head, "Oh! No! You didn't!" The two of us ran around the field tagging each other with a slap before getting the other. It was a nice little distraction from the heat for the time being.
"Oh, you're going to get it now." The ninja grumbled, slicking back the damp strands of hair from her eyes. I was beginning to wind up another slap when a screeching came from a distance, "Do you hear that?"
I heard tires and the hum of an engine rolling over grass from outside. A black limousine climbed up the inclined hill and stopped out in the grassy field. Out from the middle of the limousine came a familiar face dressed in a black suit, "Hey, isn't that the guy who was with that bitch the other day?" I asked. Ibuki agreed with a puzzled look on her face.
The butler walked to the back of the limousine and opened the door followed by a bow. A leg extended onto the grass and out stepped Karin Kanzuki. Her red and black color scheme affair is the same as it was the other day. Although, I spotted something different about her. A little detail that made me smile.
Her eyes. Specifically, the right eye where I got her good. It's obviously swollen shut in contrast to her left eye that's wide open. Karin slathered makeup on her shiner to make the bruised skin match her skin tone.
My mouth whimpered and wavered, a big dopey smile crossed my face to Ibuki's surprise. She nudged me and caused the dam to be broken, "BWAHAHAHAHA! Did ya really think ya could fool anyone with all that makeup?"
Ibuki could hardly contain herself either, she turned away and hid her face, yet loud muffled laughing is enough to tell what she's doing. Of all people, Karin's butler even failed to keep a straight face.
Karin furrowed her brow, but kept a hard pressed toothy grin on her face and spoke through her teeth, "It is rather silly isn't it?"
"Ahahaha. Alright. Alright. What the hell do you want?" Karin was taken aback by my words, but pressed on, "I would like to take time to issue an, umm...you know, for my behavior the other day."
I stepped closer. Karin isn't deterred from my advancement, "Ya want to issue a what exactly?"
"I would like to say that I'm...uhh...for the...erm..." The blonde turned to her butler who hushed a few words to her, "The incident the other day." I blinked, hoping she would instantly vanish from the scene, nope, still there, "What didn't ya like about my apples?"
Karin tapped the side of her cheek and paced shortly, "How do I explain this...erm...," Karin's butler stepped in her place, "Have you ever happened to drink orange juice after brushing your teeth?"
"Once in awhile," Ibuki responded, "I get it."
"I'll accept yer apology," I snorted deeply and hocked a big, fresh loogy into the palm of my hand, "If you shake, that is."
Ibuki, Shibazaki, and even the limo driver looked on in disgusted anticipation. The princess crinkled her nose in disgust, "Why certainly...".
Karin's face twisted and she pulled her eyes away. Her hand rose from her side, trembling as it came closer to mine. Ibuki chortled which then turned into boisterous laughter and gasps for air. She hid her face from us.
"I WILL NOT!" Karin wretched. She whipped her arm away and stomped back into the limousine. "Shibuzaki! We are leaving! Now!" She barked without her grace.
Shibuzaki came toward me and he out a letter on a red velvet throw pillow. "Please, excuse the lady. She's not used to different customs. We hope you accept our humble apology and invitation for a free dinner at the Kanzuki Estate." I took the letter and bowed to him. The butler turned to us one last time and bowed farewell.
The vehicle crawled back down the hill, retreating toward Karin's cushy estate. Ibuki, came to me, red in the face from the lack of air, "I can't-haha-believe you did that!"
"Heh. It'll take more than a silly excuse like that to get me to agree to an apology. Dinner?"
"Sure. We haven't, heh, eaten anything all day."
I dug into my bowl of beef and rice like a starving animal. Slurping and sucking the seasoned grain and meat down while my mouth watered. Ibuki did more or less of the same. We've had the same meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for months now and I still haven't gotten tired of it. The way she changes up the spices to catch my tongue of guard is genius. I hold my tongue on the compliments, but I think she knows by the way I get seconds and thirds.
"By the way, we're out of beef." Ibuki muttered.
"Already? The hell happened to-"
"The rest? Spoiled. You left them out for so long the beef turned green."
"My bad," I rubbed the back of my head, feeling a bit bashful, "I just wanted to practice cooking and fell asleep." Ibuki playfully nudged my side, "I can just teach you."
"Yeah, but, erm, yeah." I went back to scarfing down the rice.
"But what?"
"It's nothing." On that I shoveled a bunch of rice into my mouth.
"Since we have no beef we should take up Karin's invite for a free dinner."
"Tch." I snorted, grimacing at the thought of stepping at her doorstep, "Like I'm ever going to show up at her place lookin' like a beggar." Ibuki set her empty bowl down, "To be blunt, it would be dumb not to. Turning down a free meal to spite her is pretty ignorant y'know." I set down my empty bowl and blew hot air, "Ignorant?! I ain't gonna go to that hoitty toitty idiot and ask them to feed me! I'd rather starve."
"Fine." Ibuki her arms up, "In that case, I'll take the invitation then. I'll enjoy everything they serve to me. Even the endless amounts of sushi and sashimi. They'll keep my wine glass full and probably give an after-dinner massage while you stay back here and stomp around in your foolishness."
Her words triggered my imagination. I could see it now, the butlers opening the silver platter lids revealing plentiful combinations of sushi and sashimi. I'll be able to have my fill and then some when I'm full! It'll be the feast to die for!
I shot daggers at Ibuki, but damn was she right, "Okay, fine," I wiped the sliver of drool from my mouth, "We can go Friday."
"Friday? That's four days away! We don't have any money for food! How are we going to make it until then?"
"My family has just the trick for that. It's called the ol' fishin' spot."
"Old family fishing spot?"
"In times of food shortage my dad, my brother, and me would go down to the riverbank and catch enough fish to last for weeks. Reckon we go down there first thing tomorrow morning."
"Waking up early again?! That's it, I'm having a drink or two. Might as well pass out with no air conditioning."
Later that night, I read over the letter time and time again and still don't get it. Karin took the time to write out the full apology, but struggled to even say it. The letter shows that her calligraphy and grammar skills aren't even up to par with average Japanese speakers. Doesn't she know how to speak Japanese?
"C'mon, Makoto! You're mishing the besht part." Ibuki drapes her arm over my shoulder. Ibuki barely managed to keep her balance while sitting down.
"So what's this movie about? Some ugly American with a camera?" Ibuki shot me a drunk look, mouth agape. She didn't have to open her mouth for me to smell alcohol heavy in her breath, "You-you have to sit and watsh." I watched and failed to see anything interesting, but a cameraman on a helicopter in the middle of a zombie crisis. If it ain't a Fei Long movie it's boring to me.
"You-you see thish ish the best part of the movie."
The names Frank...Frank West. And the whole world's gonna know my name in three days.
"Whatever, ya damn lightweight. Ya haven't finished half of a bottle of vodka and yer already out." Ibuki gave me a dopey intoxicated smile, "You know you're my best buddy right?" I pushed her on her back, "Take a rest. You're gonna get hung over."
BANG
We both jumped and looked at one another. The noise came from outside, it sounded metallic like someone kicking the trash can. Seconds later, Ibuki spoke up, "What do you think that was?"
"Don't know, drinky. Why don't you check it out?"
We stepped out to see the trash can completely knocked over. Ibuki stood by me and quietly tiptoed closer, "Careful." Suddenly, a fuzzy chubby tail wriggled from the opening. I grabbed a broom and poked the trash can. The wriggling stopped. I lifted the handle again and came crashing down creating a loud noise.
Ibuki flipped around and shot me an angry gaze this time, "Stop making all that noise!"
The tail retracted inside the trashcan and came out a second later as some sort of raccoon with a bloodied mouth. It looked right past Ibuki and let out a blood curdling hiss at me, it's angry beady eyes screamed 'ATTACK'.
"AH SHIT!" I raised the broom handle and aimed right for the damn thing. Before I even saw it, Ibuki slapped it right out of my hand, "STOP! Don't hurt it!" She tackled me to the floor, held me down and continued to shout in my face. "Don't hurt him! Stop it! Stop!"
"What the hell are ya talking about? It's vermin!"
If things couldn't get worse, the creature scuttled right in my face and shrieked again. I panicked and kicked Ibuki off me to flee somewhere.
"Don-chan! You didn't have to freak her out."
I peeked from the corner to see Ibuki cradle the vermin in her bosom. She straightens the red ribbon wrapped around its tail and brushes its fur.
"Wait, ya know that thing? Ibuki! They're savages!"
"He's harmless. See." Ibuki held him outward. It's grubby little paws reached out toward me, "Get that vermin away from me!" Ibuki stomped her foot, "He isn't vermin! He has a name you know."
I still held my spot in the corner, "A name? You named it?"
"It's Don-chan," She pouted, "His name is Don-chan!" I put down my defenses, sighing as I got closer to it. "Is it at least housebroken?"
"...yes...?"
"Good grief."
That morning, we both rose before the sun. Well, one better than the other. And made our way down to the spot.
"Could you drive a little more smoothly? My head is killing me."
"Oh, sorry," I replied to the Ibuki's cringed frown, "Let me get out and move every rock, twig, and speck of dirt that's in our way." I pressed my foot harder on the petal for the truck to climb over the hill. The engine rumbled louder than before to the ninja's dismay. "I told you to take it easy on the alcohol, but it's really funny when you don't listen, huh?" Ibuki curled up in the passenger seat, holding onto Don-chan for dear life, "Why doesn't this thing have seat belts?!"
"Seat belts? Whoops. Forgot to put them back in."
"And what was the point of not telling me you had a truck?"
"What would be the point? It's not like we can do anything with it."
"What?! There's a ton of stuff we could do!"
The brakes squeaked until the car stopped at the riverbank, "Whatever. We're here."
Through years of exploring, my family learned that the deep sections of the forest are home to nature's true beauty untouched by man. Curvy rivers carved by time, stretch through an extreme length of forest overgrowth and foliage. Strong century old trees grew overhead with their green leaves protecting us from the unbearable sunlight, yet contained the sweat induced humidity.
I breathed in and out. Gotta love that oxygen.
"You got everything I told you to pack, right?"
"Yup." Ibuki carried the supplies from the bed of the truck and opened them up. Bait, fishing line, water, a wood canoe, and fishing rods. "Ooh. I really like the look of the yellow one."
"NO!" I slapped her hand away, much to her surprise. My hand trembled and the pacing of my breath felt off. Ibuki stared at me, confused, "Uh...".
"S-sorry. Take the red one. The yellow rod...the yellow rod is special to me. It's my fathers. I mean, erm, it was my father's." I clutched the pole tight and walked toward the raft. Ibuki responded with something, but I didn't bother giving a listen.
I've had so many good times coming down here with my father and brother to fish. Every life lesson he taught, every laugh we all shared, every story he told, mostly happened on this river.
After all the years after his passing, I'd give anything just to have another afternoon of him telling his stories.
Ibuki and I drifted along the river on the raft. Nothing much to fish around here with such a calm river. All the action starts when the raft gets to the lake. Where droves of fish swim free, practically an easy dinner.
The reason we just don't go directly to the lake, as my father said, is to enjoy the journey there.
"Everything in life isn't strictly point A to point B. There are obstacles and hardships one wouldn't expect." He started his lesson, except this time with a big ol' smile, "For example, Motoko. When you left your room for a snack and tripped over thin air, did you give up and go back to your room?" My brother, the scholarly wimp that he is shook his head, "No, father. I kept going."
"And you got what you wanted! Or what about you, Makoto. When your opponent broke your ankle, who stood right back up and won themselves that first place trophy?"
The brights in my eyes grew ten times that second, "I did, father! I did it with all my heart!"
"Atta girl!"
For the longest time, I hadn't done anything else, but stuck bait onto the hook and cast the line. Still, I spent hours replaying the memories of my youth inside my own mind. My fingers held onto the pole tightly. It was only when Ibuki spoke up that I came back, "You're awful quiet back there," Ibuki asked, "You okay?"
We sat with our backs towards each other. Better to catch fish on different sides of the boat. "Yeah, I'm okay." She could sense the frog hanging around my throat. That didn't stop her from patting my back. Admittedly, I did smile a bit.
The sunlight from above shimmered like polished gold along the surface. However, the place felt absent. No fish had been biting for the hours we floated on the lake. We tried different spots, but nothing seemed to happen.
"Say, Ibuki. You got some super secret ninja fishing technique?"
"Yep."
The ninja reeled back the pole and cast the line. Several minutes passed by before I got it.
"Funny."
Again, hours passed by only for absolutely nothing to happen. With our hunger rising, the sun setting, and patience wearing thin, we had to pack up for the day. "We better get back to the campsite before it gets dark."
"Ah, this is bullshit! Not a single bite all day."
"Not a single bite. Just our luck, huh?"
"That's weird," I leaned over into the water, "The hell would the fish go?"
Later that night, me and Ibuki...and Don-chan I guess, sat around the campfire. The bright heat and crackling of wood warmed our faces beneath the starry night sky obstructing by giant trees. Granted it's still muggy out, but nothing's worse than being blind in the forest. Ibuki ruffled around in her bag and handed me some kind of bar. "What's this?"
"It's rations. Me and the other ninjas use it on missions when we're far away from home," Ibuki squashed a mosquito on her arm before continuing, "We also have a river running through to keep us cool day and night. Everybody loves it." I laid back next to her while she pet that sleeping vermin, Don-chan. I unwrapped the bar and took a small bite. Not too bad.
"Still miss home, eh?"
"Sometimes. It's been really nice living on my own...our own. No one to tell me what do to...kinda. Or send me on dangerous missions. Ugh, that was the worst part. I can't tell you how many times I've almost had my life cut short-"
I jumped up, finally something really grabbed my attention, "Wha-What? Really!? C'mon! You gotta tell me!"
"Fine. If you pipe down. He's sleeping," Ibuki took a deep breath, "I'll tell you the story of one of the most life threatening missions I've been on." The fire illuminated only part of her face, adding that extra atmosphere.
"I call this...'The Yellow Man'."
