Ninjas, Mercenaries, and a Solitary Soldier
thenextcujo: Thanks!
Gouki: Yup. Definitely a fun chapter.
Crystalline Tears: Your review is very, very helpful. Now, at least I know that the character personalities are somewhat appropriate. Thanks a lot, bud.
Clutch'd: Glad to see you're back. You've been MIA for about two weeks. You've got a lot of writing and reviewing to do!
Clutch'd Chapter 8: Thanks. I'm glad you liked it. It was a short chapter, though.
Clutch'd Chapter 9: I'm sorry to tell you this, but Bayman won't appear until much later, so you might want to cancel your celebration. You will see references about him from time to time, but that's it for now. And yep, Kasumi kicked ass. Hoo-yah!
Clutch'd Chapter 10: Weelll, there's always the next chapter, you know… ^_^
Wolf Runner: Wow. You wrote the longest review so far. Whatever gave you the idea that Chapter 10 was the final chapter? Right now, I'm thinking that I'll need around 40-50 chapters just to finish the whole story. Oh, and thanks for the long review.
Chapter 11: Kasumi
Yes, I admit that I have a dirty, perverted, sick mind, in no particular order, but there's one thing that's different about me: I am not a rapist. I'm not about to take advantage of any girl that I meet, even in these circumstances. After debating with myself about what to do to the unconscious beauty above me, I decided to let her rest. I carried her, and placed her just under a tree, so she can take a snooze. I examined her thoroughly, and no, not in that way, as I'm in a professional mood right now, or so I think. She was battered and bruised, and the bullet wound on her right shoulder started to bleed again, probably when I pistol-whipped her earlier. The bandage that she applied was now soaked, and the bandage on her back shoulder, because there was an exit wound, was in the same condition. I then decided to treat her wounds, but I'll do that later. Right now, I have things to do.
I searched her body for any weapons, and found a ton of shurikens all over her. They were inside the skimpy clothing she was wearing. I pocketed them, and I'll probably give them back, if she isn't pissed when she wakes up, and that probably won't happen.
I then retraced my steps to recover my missing gear. I found the Beretta, sans the silencer, of course, thanks to her, and combat knife nearby, as well as my backpack, which was pretty much lying where the slaughtered ninjas were. I'll do an equipment check later, so I just placed the pack on my back, but not after taking out some first aid stuff. I had to treat my wounds first, after all. I had a cut on my left hand, but it wasn't bleeding that badly. Still, I took off my glove, cleaned the wound, applied some disinfectant, and wrapped some bandage all over it. I also had bruises on my chest and probably my balls too, but I didn't bother treating them. As long as it's not bleeding, it's all good, I think.
Anyway, after playing doctor with myself, I made my way back to where Sleeping Beauty is, but before I reached that place, I stumbled across her short sword. I scooped the weapon off the ground and looked at it. It was about twice as long and twice as thin as my combat knife. It was heavily soaked in blood, and just looking at it mesmerized me. I took some practice swings with it, and the blood was scattered all over the place. I then wiped the sword on my pants to get rid of the remaining blood.
I then made my way back to her resting place, still holding on to her weapon, but she wasn't there anymore!
"Shit," I muttered. I was about to drop the sword and bring out my Beretta, but it was too late. A hand grabbed my face very roughly, obscuring my vision, and another hand darted from my right side, and I felt something sharp touch my neck. I could barely see ahead, but I was able to see a glimpse of the sharp weapon. It was a shuriken. I thought that I've taken all of her toys away. Next time I have to search a woman, I'm going to strip her of all her clothing. No ifs or buts, if there's a next time.
Well, now I know how that terrorist felt before I slit his throat. "Umm, hi?" I said. I was still holding the sword with my right hand, but it's not advisable to use it right now, let alone move my right hand.
"Why did you let me live?" Kasumi asked.
"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not your enemy. I just wanted my stuff back. I got it, now just let me be," I replied.
"You didn't…do anything to me while I was unconscious, did you?"
"Nope. I swear! I'm not a maniac!" I said. That took a lot of effort on my part to say that. "Look. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done that earlier, right?"
"Shinsei (True)," she said. She then calmed down a bit, and slowly relaxed her hold on me. I really hate it when someone sneaks up on me, so I decided to have a little fun with her.
With the shuriken far away from my neck, I quickly turned around and gave her a body slam. She was caught by surprise, and she fell. The second she hit the ground, I was already upon her. My knees were placed on top of her stomach and I pointed her own weapon at her own face.
"First rule of survival is to only think about oneself," I said, as the blade inched closer to her cute face. "Never trust strangers. And for that, you may die now."
A look of horror was shown on her face. She squirmed around, but after about half a minute, I suddenly started laughing out loud.
"Hahaha! I'm just fucking with you," I said. I then stood up, and helped her get on her feet as well. She had a confusing look on her face, and right now, she probably thinks that I'm fucking nuts. Well, whatever.
"Here." I then offered the sword back to her. I held the blade, so the hilt would be facing her. She just stood there, staring straight ahead. Now that we're standing still and close to each other, I'd have to say that she's around 5"1'. I stood at exactly 5"11', so she was staring straight into my chest.
"Hey. Lighten up, alright?" I said, as I moved closer and ruffled her hair a bit. That seemed to make her snap out of her mini-trance, as she looked at me and shoved my hand away. She also took back her weapon and placed it inside her sheath.
"You look very tired. You'd better get some rest," I said, and added "Want me to treat your wounds?"
"No, thank you. I can manage." She replied, as she sat down and placed her back in front of a large tree. She then started removing the dirty bandages and replaced them with fresh ones.
I then sat down right next to her, and started doing an inventory check.
**********
It was still awkward between us. We made casual talk, usually about the weather or whatever that's unrelated to the current situation. I wasn't really listening, just giving an "uhuh" or a "hmm hmm" here and there. I was too busy checking on my things.
"…so what's your name? You know mine, how about telling me yours?" she suddenly asked.
"Don't have one. If I did, I'm not authorized to tell you," I said in a mechanical voice. It's what I've been saying throughout the years. It generally kills the conversation, so I use that line a lot.
"I see. It must be sad, having no name."
"Nah. It's not sad at all. It's just…strange," I replied. I then pulled out the weapon I stowed inside my pack. Yep. It's my favorite submachine gun. The HK MP5 is one of the best firearms that I've ever used. It has a high rate of fire, and it's still controllable even when firing in full-auto. This sub gun is chambered for the 10x25mm pistol cartridge. It's definitely much stronger than your regular MP5 chambered for the 9mm. I then extended the retractable stock, and attached the silencer designed for the sub gun. It's slightly noisier than, say, the silenced Beretta, but it's definitely much quieter than your regular gun. Good thing this sub gun is still in one piece, and with the suppressor, I can now forgive Kasumi for screwing up the silencer on my Beretta.
"Do you have any family?" She said, interrupting my lecture to myself.
"I had a mom and a dad. That's it," I replied.
"Where are they now?" She asked, not noticing the past tense in my reply.
"They're both dead," I said flatly.
"Oh." She sounded sincere when she said that. "I'm sorry. How did they die?"
"I'd rather not talk about it," I replied hastily. There was silence after that. During that time, I stared and fooled around with my MP5, just to distract myself.
"I had a mom and dad too," she said, breaking the silence. "But they both died when I was young…"
"Look. I don't care! I'm not interested in listening to your life story," I growled inside my mind. I then fished out some plastic explosives from my pack, and examined them.
"…now, I only have a brother and a sister…"
C4. They're the best portable explosives. They have about 1.5 times the explosive power of dynamite, and will not explode without the use of a detonator, even when they are shot or beaten. I have a lot of them, and they'll definitely come in handy if I have to blow something up, like a bridge or a small house.
"…I miss and love them both so much, but…"
I took out a pair of goggles. Night Vision Goggles, to be precise. Now, combat and navigation in the dark will be a lot easier. These goggles work by amplifying light a thousand, or was it a million times? Anyway, as long as there's a little bit of light, they'll work. If there is no light at all, these goggles would be useless.
"…now, they hate me, and want me dead…"
What do we have here? Oh, it's the thingamajig. What was it? Oh yeah. The Laser Designator. With this nifty shit, I can lace a target and call in an air strike. Soldiers use this device a lot in the battlefield, but I've never used one before. Hope this thing will work when I use it.
"Are you listening to me?"
And of course, the pack had a ton of ammo for the sub gun and handgun. With the AK47, things will be a little bit heavier, but at least if I run out of ammo, there will be more to find. Just kill a terrorist and take the ammo for the AK. Simple as that. And I've also got rations and…
"Ooi (Hey)!"
She said, tapping my shoulder.
"Nani (What)?" I replied. I hate being interrupted while thinking.
"What was I saying earlier?"
"Uhh, you were talking about your dead husband, right?" I said. Eep.
"Was my story so boring that you didn't even bother listening?" She said in an annoying voice.
"Look, you don't have to tell me your life story."
"But I just did. Do you know what that means?" Yes, actually, I do. That means you're beginning to show some trust in me. Right now, I don't care about that.
"I thought I've found someone to talk to…I was wrong," She continued.
"Go talk to a wall. You'll get more responses there," I said.
"…you're a heartless bastard," she said icily.
"Tell me about it," I said, as I chambered a round into the sub gun.
Silence. I looked at her from the corner of my eye, and saw her lying down on the ground. "You planning on sleeping? It's lunch time. I've got some food here."
"I'd rather sleep right now," she grunted.
"OK. Just tell me if you're hungry,"
There was no reply. Not even a grunt or anything from her. Something was definitely wrong.
"Kasumi?" I looked at her, and she was still in the same position, but she wasn't breathing normally. I stood up quietly and looked over her, and saw a snake, just inches away from her nose.
I then took out my combat knife, and slowly circled around her. "Just stay still and shut up. Let me handle this." She would have nodded, but she didn't move at all. Good girl.
I then slowly stalked the snake from its side, and approached it. It was still fixed on Kasumi, and I could see that this one had fangs. Yup. A poisonous snake. If it bit her in the nose, the poison will go all the way to her brain and kill her instantly.
In less than a second, I decapitated the snake using my knife. Blood splattered all over the place, and it hit Kasumi's right cheek. She yelped, and rolled away. I examined the snake, and muttered "lunch time". Hey, can't let food go to waste. I have rations, but they can last for a long time, so they can wait.
She stood up, staring at the headless snake. "I hate snakes…" she muttered. Phobia, perhaps?
"Hey. You have some blood on your cheek," I said. Without thinking, I grabbed her head, moved it close to mine, and licked some of the blood off her right cheek. "Yum."
She then just stared at me like I had two heads. Her reaction was definitely priceless. She didn't even utter a word.
"You've got some more blood left…" I said, but she quickly looked away and wiped the blood off with her hand. Aww.
She then looked back at me and muttered "You…are…crazy."
I smiled. "I know."
End of Chapter 11
