The Dance We Do

Chapter One:

Meet Amaya

"Come on squirt, you have to get up now!"

Amaya rolled over at the sound of Taro's voice. "I don't wanna," she groaned into her pillow, thinking no one could hear her.

"Then I get your sushi."

Amaya could feel someone's hot breath against the shell of her ear, and she swatted at the air as the husky words flowed into her ear. She grunted as her mattress slowly sank down under the weight that was recently added.

Her covers were slowly pulled down from her body, and she shivered as the cool autumn morning hit her toasty body. She gripped her pillow, and grunted into it.

"Taro…" she muttered, kicking at the empty bed in an effort to warm her legs up. Taro laughed, and got up off her bed. Her body curled up into a little ball, and her butt stuck up in the air. All at once, she watched as her pillow got smaller, and smaller. She looked around, and noticed how everything seemed to be moving.

She started struggling, much to Taro's amusement. He heaved her over his shoulder fireman style, and walked out of her room. "I want down!" she grumbled quietly, not really putting up a fight. If she put up a fight, he would drop her. If he dropped her, she'd have to walk. Amaya didn't want to walk.

As they walked past a similar room to Amaya's, she growled at the lump in the bed. "Taro!" she whined. "Why doesn't Takara have to get up?" her older sister never had to get up as early as Amaya. Takara never had to get carried downstairs.

Taro chuckled. "You're much easier to carry downstairs. Plus-"

"What happens if I gained so much weight you wouldn't be able to carry me?" Amaya thought out loud, moving her midnight black hair from her eyes.

The two started their descent of the stairs. Taro skipped a step on purpose, just to scare Amaya. She gasped as her heart skipped a beat. She gave him a thump on his back, and he laughed heartedly. Did Amaya ever hate that laugh! It was almost like he was mocking her. "I'd drag you downstairs."

"What if I gained so much weight you couldn't drag me?"

"I'd think of something," Amaya noted that he had no way of getting her downstairs if she weighed as much as a house. Although, she doubted she would be able to get downstairs if she weighed that much.

"Taro," she whined. "I want down. I can't... feel my head!" Her head was throbbing, and turning a bright shade of red. All the blood was rushing to her head, and she felt like she was having trouble breathing. Taro stopped for a minute, and slid opens the door that led to the dining room.

"Taro..." Taro turned around, and Amaya's hair was once again draped over her face. Izumi Tsukiko, also known as mom, turned around, and scoffed.

"Taro honey, I asked you to wake your sister up. Not carry her downstairs like a fireman!"

Amaya huffed. "See Taro? Mum said to wake me up, not nearly sit on me, and kill me!" Mrs. Tsukiko gave Taro an unimpressed look. Taro sighed, and dropped Amaya down on the cushions lightly. Amaya sighed, and flopped down on her back dramatically.

"Get up honey, your food is going to get cold," Mrs. Tsukiko said calmly, setting a bowl and plate in front of Amaya. Amaya sat up at the smell, and grabbed her chopsticks eagerly. She dove into the sushi, and didn't even notice when Taro stole one of her grapes.

The second time, however, she slapped his hand away. "Go get your own!" she scowled.

Taro stood, and walked into the kitchen.

Amaya heard a thumping sound, as a figure appeared in front of the door. The door slid open, revealing Takara. "Hello Takara," Amaya said quietly, also through a mouthful of food.

"Hey squirt," Takara replied calmly, as she stretched and sat down in front of Amaya. Amaya put her chopsticks in the bowl, and scowled at Takara. Why did everyone call her that? She didn't have time to comment, before Taro came back in the room, and ruffled her hair. "C'mon Amaya, I'll take you to Ninjutsu on the way to work."

A big smile crossed Amaya's face, and she bounded up. She loved Ninjutsu!


Kagome heaved a small brown bag over her shoulder as she walked down the street. She was going to Yuri's for a study session.

She stopped when she heard a familiar voice. She looked across the street at the shrine. She blushed, when she noticed who was standing there. He had short dark hair, down to about his ears. It had no tints to it, just perfectly black hair. It stuck up messily in every direction, almost like he had taken a towel to it. That's what Souta's hair looked like when he towel dried his hair. He was wearing a white dress shirt, with light blue pinstripes. All the buttons were done up, except for the first two. The shirt was not tucked into his pants, but was hanging out.

To someone of royalty, he would be described as someone who was too lazy to dress himself properly, but Kagome thought he was really cute. Although she couldn't see his eyes, she knew they were hazel. Beautiful hazel eyes.

Then, much to her surprise, a girl immerged from behind him. A girlfriend? Kagome thought uneasily. So many people she had a crush on, excluding Hojo, already had their heart set one someone.

Her hair was just as black as his, only hers was down to the middle of her back. She didn't know what colour her eyes were, but she bet that they were beautiful. She was wearing this odd black happi coat, and pants. Did she take Ninjutsu? The guy probably thought it was sexy. Kagome sighed, and looked down at the ground. She didn't think she could impress a guy like that anyways. He was the most popular guy at school, until he graduated, and went to University. He was brother to Takara Tsukiko, semi-popular at her school. He was twenty, Takara was eighteen, and Kagome was fifteen. Five years difference. It would never work.

"Taro! Stop it!" Kagome looked up again, to see the man she had been crushing on slowly reverse out of the driveway. The girl in the ninjutsu outfit, was slowly running after it, and presumably scowling. Finally, she gave up, and stomped her foot. She turned around, and started walking back to the house.

Taro got out of the car, and chuckled, before scooping the girl up in his arms, and spinning her around. She, of course, shrieked, as he let her down. He then proceeded to almost smother her in a hug, and kiss the top of her head.

"That's so gross!" she yelled.

Kagome started walking again. She didn't want to know how this ended up.


"That's so gross!" Amaya yelled, pushing away from Taro. "I'm telling mum!" She began stomping towards the house. "Mum!" she called loudly. "Taro kissed me on the top of my head again!"

Mrs. Tsukiko's voice could be heard from inside the voice. "Taro, you know that bothers your sister, so just stop!"

Taro sighed in defeat as he walked back towards his car. "Come on Amaya, can't be late for Ninjutsu. Your Sensei will kill you."

Amaya knew that to be the truth. Sensei would kill her. He always wanted her to be punctual. As Amaya neared the car, she started wondering what weapon Sensei would use to kill her. The shaken? The katana? The throwing knife? The sai? Hm... she wondered when she was going to get to use the sai. She liked those.

Taro's black car pulled up at a deli. "Either me or Takara will come get you at two o'clock, okay?"

Amaya nodded as she got out of the car. "Bye Taro." She shut the door behind her, and Taro rolled down the window, smiling at her. "Bye squirt!"

Amaya stopped dead in her tracks, and her eyebrow twitched. S-squirt? She was about to turn around and give Taro a piece of her mind when she heard his tired squeal, signaling that he had already left.

No doubt right after he called her a squirt. He was such a pansy! She sighed, and began walking towards the deli. As she walked in the door, a bell sounded over her head. "Hey Amaya-kun."

Amaya smiled, and bowed slightly. "Hello Hikari-sama. How's work been?"

The nice old lady behind the counter sighed as Amaya came behind the counter. "Ever since that new Smart 'N Save opened up across the street, no one's been coming her. They've got better prices, and food."

Amaya chuckled nervously, and reached for the key. Just as expected, Hikari went into a huff. "I mean, I was here first! How could they steal my faithful customers?"

Amaya headed for the door again. "They obviously aren't faithful if they left…"

Hikari didn't even notice when the chime of the bells resonated as Amaya left the little deli. She dropped the key in her pocket, as she swung a left into the alley a couple of stores down from the deli.

This was a regular routine for her before Ninjutsu. Grab the key from the Suki Deli, which unlocked her Ninjutsu class. Her Sensei believed that this showed a sense of responsibility.

As Amaya made her way down the alley, she heard voices. Now, Sensei had taught her to figure out what kind of person she was listening to, by the pitch, and tone of the voice, and by the language used.

Unfortunately, Amaya wasn't too interested in that topic, and didn't pay much attention.

"No, I'll get the next one that walks by."

"What happens if it's a man?"

"You can have him. I want a girl."

Amaya stopped walking, and squinted. What was going on? The store to her left had a little dip in the side, so she couldn't see who was talking. Although, she was a little scared. If only she had been paying attention to Sensei…

Amaya took a deep breath. Just run! She urged herself to move, but she couldn't. Were these guys serious? Oh well, it didn't matter! She was master Kung-fu leader! Whatever the hell that meant.

"Shh man…"

Amaya held her breath again, as she looked down at her foot. She had accidentally kicked a metal pipe, and it skidded away from her. The guys stopped talking, which freaked Amaya out even more. She needed to hide. She ran to the left, but there was nothing there. "Shit!"

She ran for the right, but there was nothing there. "Shit!"

Totally forgetting about the previous moments, she ran for the left again, and was surprisingly confused. "Oh yeah…" she muttered as she remembered she had already gone over this.

She felt for the cold brick wall, and pushed her back up against it. "This way. I swear it…"

Amaya closed her eyes, hoping that would make her invisible to the people in the alley. Whoever they were. She heard footsteps coming closer. Or were they going away? It was hard to tell, since she was off in another world while Sensei was explaining that too.

The footsteps stopped, and Amaya was just about to open her eyes, when she felt something touch the bridge of her nose. Her eyes fluttered, but still remained closed.

"I think we have a stray chick or something…"

Chick? Who was he referring to? Was there an escaped chicken or something again? Two years ago, Hikari had had a live chicken in her deli to show how she would never kill a chicken, and how her husband has to do it.

"Hey." Amaya opened her eyes and looked at the guy in front of her. He had an... English accent. He wasn't from here. She tried to move, but he put his hands out against the wall so she couldn't go anywhere. "What's the hurry?" he laughed, before crashing his lips to hers.