Chapter 6 – And so it Began

"Ouch," I felt a sudden pain as a hard object connected with my head.  I blinked blearily at the basketball lying at my feet before turning to frown at Tsukasa who was looking rather irritated as per normal.  I gritted my teeth, controlling my urge to do him some violence in return.   

"Serves you right for not paying attention!  Now stop daydreaming and come play basketball – we are one player short."  He yelled impatiently as he gestured towards the hoops. 

"Yeah stop being so dreamy, Rui."  Soujirou and Akira were fooling around as usual, making Shizuka laugh at their antics.  I stood up and stretched lazily, stifling a yawn as I threw the basketball to Tsukasa.  Without warning, the basketball was flung right back into my face.  Thanks to my quick reflexes, I caught it just seconds before it could do me any permanent damage.

"Tsukasa!" I heard a shocked gasp from Shizuka.

"That was just a wake-up call." Tsukasa smirked. "Come on, don't tell me you didn't get your twelve hours sleep.  I made sure that I called you only after ten …

…" I cut off the rest of his sentence by throwing the basketball back at him with equal speed and accuracy.  "Ok, that's better.  Let's go whoop their asses," he caught it with ease and nodded towards Soujirou and Akira.  I shrugged off my exhaustion and joined them in an extremely vigorous match.  It was a close shave but we won the game against Soujirou and Akira, leading by only two points.

"Exciting match and well played Tsukasa!" Shizuka who was acting as umpire smiled as she handed over the bottles of mineral water brought by a servant to our thirsty crowd.  It was a habit of hers to identify the best player at each game.  We trusted her sound judgment so it became a kind of game in itself for us to compete "fiercely" against each other in order to receive this highest accolade that was "awarded" each time.  I watched in secret amusement as Doumyouji's cheeks turned a little pink as he stuck out his chest proudly and started strutting around.  Soujirou and Akira pouted childishly.  Trying to hide my grin at their behaviour, I quickly gulped down the icy cold water, letting it slide down my parched throat.

"Mater Doumyouji," another servant bowed respectfully just as Tsukasa had finished showing off to the disgruntled pair, "your chauffeur has arrived."  Immediately, his grin was replaced by a scowl.  Muttering curses about spoilsports and dominating parents, he grabbed his bag and stalked off, growling a goodbye to us.

"We've got to head off too," Soujirou said glancing at his watch.  "Don't want to be grounded.  Shizuka, need a lift?"

"No, my mother's coming to pick me up.  She wants to exchange certain recipes with Auntie Hanazawa."

"Okay, Akira let's go." They waved to us and reminded us of the next meeting at Tsukasa's place the following week before leaving.  As the sound of their footsteps died away, I took a quick but cautious look around the garden, ensuring that Shizuka and I were the only ones in the garden.  From the corner of my eyes, I saw Shizuka adjusting her wristwatch.  After half a minute, she glanced up at me mischievously.

"Coast clear," she announced as I allowed a slight smile to grace my lips.

Faking a disgruntled look, I grumbled, "I don't see why you are the one with all the elabourate gadgets.  Ain't I the one with the ALL IMPORTANT job?"

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly at me, "yes Mr VIP, sir.  You know you don't need one!  I'm not the one working alone, I need to keep track of things around me … … For goodness sake Rui, stop acting your age!  The next thing you would be asking me to play video games with you, just like a normal ten year old brat." 

"What an idea!" I pretended to give it some thought.

"RUI!"

I chuckled at her indignant expression before turning serious and holding out my hand to her.  She stared back at me uncomprehendingly as I raised a quizzical eyebrow at her.

"Recipe?" I prompted, reminding her of the code word she used.  Understanding dawned on her lovely face, before she shook her head.  Ah, so my stepmother was really getting a recipe from her mother and she was not dropping off another diskette with material for me to decode.  Well, at least I can get a decent night's rest tonight.

"How's the practicing going along, Rui?"

"Not too bad, I'm kind of getting used to the routine."

"Any major difficulties with any of the pieces?"

"Not that I can't resolve at the moment.  What about you?  How's the dancing?"

"Good, even my mother thinks I'm improving.  I don't know if she'll let me take up dancing professionally though."  Anyone listening to our conversation would think that we were two kids talking about our hobbies.  However, practicing was the code word we came up with to describe my decoding work, while dancing was the code word for Shizuka's training as a first a messenger, and later as a spy should she prove herself capable. 

Let me explain before anyone gets any glamorous idea about Shizuka's job.  All she does is to act as a communication channel between the government and certain parties, passing news or messages discretely between both parties.  Currently, her "work" consists only of conveying pretty harmless albeit urgent messages or passing on certain less important coded messages for me to crack and vice versa.  Even should she be deem capable and complete her training as a spy in future (she has to be of legal age before she can do that), she will not have to perform duties of a female James Bond.  In fact, all she has to do is continue acting as a messenger with the additional unpleasant duties of learning to eavesdrop without getting caught. 

I think it is pretty boring compared to my heavy responsibilities and she knows it too, except that she would rather die than admit it to me.  There has always been this friendly rivalry between us that has been going on since I completed my training about one and a half years ago.  I guess it started because she was considered the most talented and youngest "employee" of the organization until yours truly came along.  In spite of her angelic looks, Shizuka has this extremely competitive streak – she simply hates to be beaten at anything!  Unfortunately, I am exceptionally good at whatever I do and being an only child, I am not used to giving in to others.  Moreover my pride refused to allow me to take second place when it is obvious (to anyone with a discerning eye at least) that I was the best  - I mean it was not as if I could help being a genius and picking things up much more quickly than others.  I think it makes things worse when I try to be a gentleman and give in to her in a condescending way.  It is quite amusing to see her try to reign in her temper and continue to act like the beautiful and charming angel that she is – most of the time at least … …

A sharp jab to my ribs stopped my musings and I quickly resumed a vacant expression as Shizuka tapped her watch lightly, signalling that someone was approaching.  Sure enough, our mothers appeared in front of us.

"Shizuka, it's time to go."  Mrs Toudou smiled her lovely smile as I bowed and greeted her politely.  "Rui, I heard that you have been practicing hard, and that your skills have improved tremendously.  Your teacher must be extremely pleased."  I nodded rather solemnly and her eyes twinkled mischievously, making her look years younger.  For a split second, I saw how Shizuka would look like in future.  I walked them to the car, enveloped by the familiar feeling of security and peace that her presence always provided … …

*Flashback*

I tried to control the slight tremor in my hands as I handed the signed contract over to the gentleman whom now I thought of as J (and was subsequently told to address him as such) when I met him in my garden at the appointed time.  He beamed at me as he accepted it and told me to follow him.  My unease grew as we slunk through the shadows and he headed for the woods near the back of my house. 

"Where are we going?" I was starting to get worried when we stopped in front of what appeared to be a clump of bushes.  He took a swift look around before parting the bushes and stepping through.  Trying to calm my irrational fears, I took a deep breath and followed him into the dense undergrowth only to find myself facing a dilapidated hut that had obviously been uninhabited for many years.

"You're finally here," another voice spoke softly as I jumped violently, spinning around to see Mrs Toudou appearing from the shadows where she had apparently been keeping a lookout.  She smiled at me gently as she took my cold and clammy hand in hers, giving it a comforting squeeze.  I calmed down instantly – she had kept her promise about taking care of me after all.  No longer frightened, I followed them through the hidden trap door in the floor of the hut into the cellar.  My eyes widened as J pressed on a wooden plank forming part of the wall near the trap door, and the opposite wall swung open revealing a dark passage.  We walked in silence for probably twenty minutes before coming across a metal wall.  J stepped in front of a small panel next to the door, keying in a code with one hand as he placed his other hand palm down on an identification pad.  He appeared to glance up casually (I was informed later that a retina scan was also conducted except that the ultra-violet rays were not visible) and the door slid open noiselessly.  I followed them into a brightly lit corridor and counted a total of three doors.

"Welcome to one of our offices, Rui," J finally spoke.  Just then, a door opened and a tall but thin man in what appeared to be his early fifties stepped out.

"I thought I heard voices," he commented in English as he shook J's hand and kissed Mrs Hanazawa on the cheek.  "Ah, good to see you Toudou, you're looking as lovely as ever."  Then, his light blue eyes fell on me and he held out his hand switching to fluent Japanese, "you must be my new pupil – Hanazawa Rui!  I hope you won't disappoint me."

"Meet Professor Jacob Schwartz – we call him Prof - he's one of the most brilliant people in the world and we are lucky to have him in our employment.  It's an honour to be trained by him personally, he only teaches the best."  I simply bowed respectfully.

"Let's get started shall we?  I don't want you to lose more sleep than you need and we have lots to get through tonight," he gestured to the open door and I followed him obediently into the room that I would come to know as my "classroom".

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Dear all,

Apologies for the lapse in updating – I was very busy so to make up for it, here's a specially long chapter!  Thanks so much for all your reviews – they keep me writing :)

Kensingtonkid: Hi!  Thanks so much for your kind words!  I'm glad you like I.N.K too.  It was quite fun writing it, the only thing having to stick to the plot most of the time.  I'm starting to let my imagination run wild with this … … :)

Twilightstarz: Thanks for your encouraging comments!  Tsukushi would probably not appear until a couple more chapters.  Actually strangely enough I have not read "A Beautiful Mind" or watched that movie, however, I guess this plot is quite "common" ne :)

*Yan*: Yes, I will probably watch that movie sometime.  It sounds really interesting!

chris37: Thanks so much for the bit of background about how Makino got into Eitoku!  I must say I never thought about this issue before but it does make sense.  I do so apologise for the long wait!

Shari: Thanks so much for your kind comments!  Urm do you consider this dragging his training?  I am fast forwarding his into the future and then providing his training as a flashback so that there's no need to go into too many details.  I guess this story is more focused on the development of Rui as a person so although he'll definitely meet Tsukushi in the near future, it didn't happen until he was in his late teens.  Probably in a couple more chapters - please bear with me ! ;)

Drina: I totally agree!  I feel although he can "see" most of the consequences, he can't really "comprehend" them because his intellect cannot make up for his lack of experience in life.  Love reading your opinion!

Chi5: I am not certain how the results are obtained, but in general they test certain skills including language, mathematical and (largely) analytical skills.  With regards to more girls going to university, I agree with you that intelligence counts.  Certain other factors to be taken into account also includes willingness to work hard, financial abilites and piorities/interests :) Thanks for reading! 

Fresh8: I see I overdid the death part ;)!  I guess I was trying to convey that the contract was worded in a way to make Rui realize that the severity and possible dire consequences!  I simply love to explore the intricacies and possible complexities of Rui's character.  I hope you will enjoy reading it as I do writing it ;)