A light drizzle started. Falling from the murky gray sky to the sodden brown earth, it painted a dreary picture of the world. The trees were a sickly green and their leaves hung in unhealthy clumps. The soaked faded green grass was patchy and surrounded by oceans of sticky brown mud.

The murky scenery went unnoticed to the cadets though. The mud, which was knee deep in spots, was just another obstacle that had to be crossed. The dead looking trees could be aid's or obstacles depending on how you looked at them; depending on how resourceful the boys were.

Shinobi Academy was a ninja training center for young boys. At the age of thirteen the boys were sent to the school and their training in the secrete arts began. But only if they could survive the intense survival exercise that was the only acceptance requirement. If you didn't pass the test, then you were usually never seen or heard from again. It kept the weak out of the school.

A small cadet with amber hair and honey gold eyes slipped in the muck. Immediately she pushed herself to her feet and took another staggering step foreword.

Kisa Souma wasn't a boy. In fact she was a small girl with a shy, timid nature. A nature that her militaristic father didn't like at all. When he had returned from his long absence in Africa he had arrived looking for his thirteen year old son. Instead he had found a young girl.

At first he had seemed completely okay with the mix-up. He hadn't ever gotten confirmation that she was a boy after all. "You can't help who you are," he had said simply to her.

Kisa had smiled shyly. She had been worried about being rejected by her father, but instead he had been so nice to her.

Of course that only lasted until her mother had gone to the store to buy some ice cream and strawberries for desert. Then he had struck her sharply on the back of her head, knocking her unconscious.

When she had woken up she had just applied to Shinobi Academy. Her father's parting words had been, "If you don't pass the test you die. If they find out that you're a girl you die. In either event, I'll kill your mother if you fail." Then he was gone.

And here she was. Hip deep in mud. Trudging through a murky, steamy swamp. Their were bugs everywhere and she kept losing her balance and falling into the mud, so her face was covered in grim. Actually she was covered with mud; it was everywhere. Inside her boots it squished against her toes. It rubbed against her legs and arms. Sweat cut tiny rivers through it on her chest and back.

The cadets had been given only a few survival aids. A couple of rations and an empty water bottle, (they had to find fresh water themselves). A short knife for defense or offense was issued along with a small compass and vauge directions to the compound where they were supposed to go.

From their starting point, the compound was ten miles east of them. Kisa had headed out in a straight line for the compound. No one else had. They had all taken a circular route, but she didn't want to attempt an easier route only to get lost. She wasn't military quality. Of that, she was certain. She was just too weak. The other children had been training at home in preparation for this acceptance exam.

Kisa was almost certain that she could survive. Walking through a swamp couldn't be that difficult after all. So long as in the end she came out with her life intact and her gender a secret, and of course if no one hugged her and there wasn't too much stress put on her body.

A strangled scream met her ears when she surfaced from a brief dip under the mud. 'What could that be?' she thought. The scream came again along with a loud cry from a predator of some sort. A loud thud shook the ground, causing Kisa to lose her footing and vanish beneath the mud again.

'They said that we might get lost or eater,' Kisa remembered. 'That means that there are predators out here.' Obviously whoever had screamed was a victim of one of the predators.

She didn't know why, but she started towards whoever was being attacked. She didn't know if she could help, but she had to try. She grabbed a decent sized tree branch and picked it up to use as a club; noting that her hand was trembling as she did so.

The scream came again, this time more like a whimper. Then she was in the clearing. The first thing that she noted as that the creature wasn't. . . . normal. It some sort of wolf-like creature, but it stood on it's back two legs and was holding a long curved sword in it's left hand. It long yellowish fangs were dripping with blood and poison. In front of it and laying half submerged in the mud, was a boy with black hair, but that was all that she could tell about him.

Suddenly the creature turned to look at her - a scolding hot yellow gaze raking across her. She pulled the branch into a defensive position like you would see on TV and waited nervously for the creature to make a move.

WHACK! It swung towards her and smashed into her club with it's sword. The sword's sharpened blade cut through the branch easily, and almost through her arm as well. At the last possible second she flung herself out of the way, saving her arm and getting a long gash instead.

She came to her feet awkwardly in the muck, losing her balance and falling face first into the mud just as it swung for her head. WHOOSH! She heard it sail past and felt her already cut hair lose a bit more off the top.

She scrambled to her feet, reaching for the small knife. Clasping it in her right hand she braced herself for another attack. The creature smashed it's foot into her arm, causing it to go numb and sending the knife to be lodged in a rotting tree.

Kisa moved foreword while it was off balance; surprising herself and the creature. She grabbed the creatures sword arm and held on for dear life. In retaliation the creature let go of his blade and closed his hand around her throat while laughing.

He shoved her into a rotting tree with enough force to make her see stars. She tasted blood in her mouth and quickly spit it out, noting that her lips were both bleeding at the same time.

"Looks like you messed up. . . . . " the creature growled. Out of it's hands claws emerged, digging into her chest as the creature prepared to rack down and split her open.

Kisa's hand closed around the small knife and she quickly shoved it foreword and into the creature's stomach. She pushed her hand with the knife until the hot, sticky blood prevented her from maintaining her grasp and then. . . . . she fell.

The creature was gone in a puff of smoke. She crawled over to the boy and checked him over. He wasn't really injured that badly and was looking at her strangely.

"What the hell did you do that for?" he finally asked.

"I was trying to save you," Kisa said.

The boy laughed. "Did you really think that I was losing?" he demanded. "You've got a lot to learn. In front of her eyes the boy morphed into a tall black haired man. "What's your name and home room teacher," he demanded.

"I - I - I'm just . . . . . I'm not a member of the school yet, I'm just -" Kisa stuttered.

The black haired man sneered at her. "Give me your compass," he ordered. Kisa handed it over in confusion. "I'm Briar, one of the teachers at the school. Let's see if you can make it without this," he said.

"Nani!" Kisa exclaimed. She was hopelessly lost without the compass. What was this man talking about? And didn't he feel grateful at all that she had come to save him?

He raised his hands in front of his face and moved his fingers in an intricate pattern. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Souma Ki -" she cut herself off before she got any further. Someone would have to be pretty stupid to name their son Kisa.

"Well the Ki. You have until tomorrow morning to return to the school. If not, then I'm going to have you hunted down and killed." Briar smiled at her astonished expression. "Don't take it personal, but when a student is talented enough to take on an advanced enemy ninja, the entrance exams are fairly simple."

Kisa watched as he disappeared like the other man had. 'At least it wasn't a monster. . . . . . .' she thought. That would have been too scary. If it were just a shape shifting man, well. . . . .she did turn into a tiger after all.

Thinking of tigers brought an idea to her mind. The man at the school had mentioned that their were wild tigers in the swamp. Since tigers were in tune with her, they wouldn't attack. She would be okay if she encountered one, but more then that she had her way to complete Briar's assignment.

Instead of trying to hurry out of the swamp she sat down in the mud and did something that she had never dreamed off doing before. She summoned a tiger to her.

It was a large rust colored tiger with eyes the same shade as her own. She walked up to him and started talking softly. She explained that she was lost and needed to get to the ninja compound. The tiger growled softly and crouched down.

Within moments she was on his back and heading towards the compound with all due haste.

As the sun was going down they reached the edge of the swamp. The tiger stopped moving and she slid off his back. "Can I get a ride back in a little while?" she asked. The tiger growled while nodding it's head.

Kisa ran over to the check point. "Ki Souma," she announced in a shy voice as the dark clad figures stared at her in disbelief. "I'm supposed to check in here, correct?"

One of the ninja nodded. "Yes," he said. He filled out a paper and handed it too her in a sealed envelope. "You can rest - " he began to add when she turned and started back towards the swamp.

"Hey!" he protested. "We'll take care of your injuries and you get to go back with to the - "

"I have to be back to the school by morning," Kisa said. "Briar ordered me to be there so I have to head out now." She presumed that they would know who Briar was, he was, after all, a teacher at the school.

With the tiger's help, she was back at the school by three a.m. She let out a sigh of relief and thanked the tiger again. It licked her face to show that it had been happy to help. He also promised to help if she ever needed it again.

She entered the school yard and headed up the steps, uncertain about where she was supposed to be going.

"I'm impressed," she head Briar's voice. "Come right this way, Ki, and welcome to Shinobi Academy."

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Okay, this got a little away from my primarily writing style (humor) however I like it. Does anyone else? Please Read and Review. I'd love to know what you think.

Thanks for reading,
Kissa-chan