Chapter 3

"I use bleach on my whites. You should, too."

I had been listening to the ladies' conversation for a while now. Brad was outside the laundry mat, entertaining some of the people by balancing spoons on his nose & receiving money in return. It was sort of funny. Brad was really tall, taller than everyone out there. He had to look down & they had to look up.

I turned from the window & continued to watch the machine wash my clothes while listening to their conversation.

"It gets all the dirt out. All of it."

I wrapped the jacket tighter around my body & pulled my sack closer to me. It was the jacket Brad bought. It was big to cover me up. I had only my undergarments on underneath it & the zoris so that was why I kept pulling the jacket tighter to make sure there was nothing showing.

I could see my obi sash colliding with my kimono & shinobi wear.

Hurry. I don't know how much more of this I can stand . . .

Hopefully, I wouldn't have to do anything to expose myself. I was really uncomfortable. I didn't want Brad to leave me in the laundry mat nearly naked, but he said he would only take a few minutes. And it was more than a few minutes.

"Oh, I don't use that. It ruined my dress last year."

I started to tap my foot & tap hands on my lap. I was feeling impatient. I turned back towards the window to see if Brad was anywhere near done. He was still entertaining the crowd, but now balancing something bigger: bowling pins.

Where is he getting these things? Are they giving them to him?

More people were coming to watch him.

Well, he does have talent . . .

A girl in the back of the crowd pushed through to get closer to Brad. He stopped, taking the pins off his nose to talk to the girl. He looked at me then back at the girl. I saw her jumping up & down to see over the crowd to find . . . me!

Oh, no . . .

It was Ayane. I recognized that hair anywhere. She was in search of me.

Oh, no, not here!

She pushed through the crowd to reach the laundry mat window. I started to stand up when she pressed onto the window & pointed at me with a smile on her face.

So you found me . . .

I couldn't run. She would reach me eventually. But I wasn't going to fight her. Not here in the city, around all the innocent people.

Ayane walked slowly over to the door, keeping her eyes on me. I went over to the aisle leading to the door & waited for her to enter. But I wasn't going to fight. When she was close to me, she surprised me by throwing her arm around my shoulders.

What is she . . .?

"What are you doing here, Kasumi?" she asked me.

Her face was so close to mine. I tried to pull away, but she held me tighter. She had her mischievous grin on her face. She must have been imagining ending my life right there in front of those people. But don't take me the wrong way, I love her, I truly do, but she doesn't feel the same for me. She hates me, because I'm the 'heroine' & she was born of unmarried parents therefore people treated her badly & treated me better. I never thought it was fair. And sometimes I didn't notice. I always tried to look after her. And she must have forgotten all the great things I've done for her, because of her jealousy. Saying I love you wouldn't fix anything. She wants so badly to get rid of me just to be respected among the clan.

"I'm here w-"

I stopped myself from saying anymore. If I were to say I was here with Brad, then he would be in for the worse.

"I-"

"I what?"

". . ."

"You know the code, Kasumi. You run, you die."

". . . Ayane, I'm not fighting you. Not here."

"Then let's go somewhere else."

She let me go, but took me by the hand. She pulled, but I didn't budge. If I didn't go anywhere, then I don't fight. She turned to look back at me with an angry look. I pried my hand from hers & she understood what I meant.

She put her hands on her hips, "Fine. Suit it yourself. You leave me no choice."

She pulled out a wakizashi from behind her back.

What?! Where did she get that?!

The people were staring at us now.

Ayane ran towards me, ready to attack. I had to run. I jumped before she get hit me with the wakizashi, landed on top of the bench, grabbed my sack, then headed out the laundry mat at a fast pace. I looked at Brad on the way & he looked at me, obviously curious. But I had no time to explain. I had to leave him for now to get away from Ayane.

I was running down the sidewalk, trying to avoid the crowd. But it was too difficult. I said sorry to all the people I bumped into or knocked over. It was the least I could do. I couldn't help them up, because I could sense Ayane only a few yards behind me. Then almost out of nowhere, a katana came straight for my head! I bent backwards to avoid it. It came at me again & I ducked to see who was attacking me. A ninja! He was dressed in all black & that was why I didn't see him.

When he came at me for the third time, I jumped, stepped on him, then went behind him to run again. I had to temporarily knock him down to get away. I could hear a woman scream & some of the people saying "Look!" & "He has a sword!" behind me. Hopefully, they wouldn't mistakenly hurt anyone.

It was too crowded where I was. The walk across the street from me was clearer. I had to go that way to keep the people out of danger. Before I could, I sensed someone behind me. I caught the wind & landed across the street onto the walk just in time to avoid the katana. I couldn't stop. I had to keep running. I ran across the walk into a park, passing the trees, & jumping the fences. They were far behind me. I was heading towards an alleyway. I could lose them there. But just before I could enter it, I was knocked onto the ground. I fell, my face meeting the dirt & grass. It hurt so bad, I was dizzy. I tried to stand up, but someone jumped onto my back.

"You think you can get away that easily?"

It was Ayane. How she was able to catch up with me, I didn't know. I must have been predictable.

I have to get up.

"Ugh!"

Her weight was lifted off my back & I was able to stand again.

What happened?

I turned around to see Brad, looking down at Ayane. She was on the ground, but she quickly jumped up ready to fight again.

"Is this what I think it is?" Brad said, "Are you trying to hurt your own sister?"

"Sister or no sister, she broke the code!" Ayane yelled at him, "Get out of my way or you will fall with her!"

Brad looked at me.

He isn't willing to stay & fight is he?

The ninjas landed behind Ayane with their katanas in hand.

He shouldn't.

"Brad, you should go!" I told him.

A smile appeared on Brad's face.

"This isn't your fight!"

"I'll make it my fight."