Chapter Eight ~ Intrusion
Sarah graciously took the glass of water and tylonol that the youth offered.
"Thank you" she said quietly, as she watched the youth cross to the other side of the room.
"Hungry?" He asked. It had been the first time in hours that she had thought about it.
"Yeah famished" she muttered.
"Super supreme okay?"
"Whatever.." her voice trailed as the migrane hit her full force. Her cheek had even started to throb. Hestitaing, she reached for her hood and yanked it off. Sarah got up slowly and looked at a broken mirror on the wall. She did not look good. Her left eye was bloodshot and she was pale. She sighed and turned around and gasped. She did not expect the youth to be behind her.
"That looks nasty" he said as he screwed up his face.
"I'm fine" she said as she walked passed him, but came to a halt as the youth crabbed one of her arms.
"The name's Danny" Sarah looked up and faced him "Look, your secret is safe with me" Sarah grunted.
"Yeah trying telling that to the injured turtle"
"I realise what I've done" he hung his head in shame "I know that now, but I'm so confused..." Sarah unhooked Danny's hand from her arm and sat against one of the walls.
"What's done is done, but I'm warning you..." her voice trailed as he approached and sat next to her.
"You never told me your name" he said softly, changing the subject. She paused.
"Sarah" she said and began rubbing her temples again.
"Well ah.. Sarah, the pizza will be here in 30 minutes, join me for dinner?" She stopped and looked at him.
"I don't think so..."
"Ah c'mon, I owe you" Sarah gave him a faint smile.
"I guess you do"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They sat in silence as they waited. Sarah sighed as she looked into the night sky from beneath the sewer grate. So this is what it's like from them, she thought. She felt sorry for them, but knew how they must be feeling, for her sisters were in hiding too. They were young and their training was far from over. She was worried about them, they were young and impressionable. She sighed, she missed them so much. Danny looked at her.
"You okay?" he asked softly. Sarah paused.
"Yeah, I miss my family, that's all"
"So whereabouts in England are you from?" Sarah gave him a dirty look.
"I'm not English"
"Scotish?" Now she was getting annoyed.
"Look, I'm not European okay"
"Irish then?"
"I SAID I'm not European" she hissed.
"Gosh I don't know!"
"I'm from Sydney, Australia!"
"Okay, okay, don't get mad..." he paused as he heard a motorbike pull up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sarah woke late the next morning stiff and very sore. Exsalavanting around the sewers of New York City were now taking its toll. She rolled over rubbing the sleep out of her eyes only to see Casey's answering machine blinking. She was eager to hear from Casey, but she also knew there was nothing she could do at present. She slowly raised an arm to the end of the sofa bed and hit the message button. Two messages, hopefully one would be from Casey she thought. She waited.
"Hi Case, it's Anthony, call me" then "Where are you man? It's been days, call me" She waited and it had lead nothing but to more angrish. She was not only now extremely worried for her friend, but for the turtle as well. She sighed. Danny was now her best bet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah entered the sewer den in silence. She stuck to the shadows and kept her eyes open.
"Danny?" She called quietly after she was sure that the Foot were not present. Nothing. She walked in further only to hear the gentle breathing of someone asleep.
"Danny!" she said as she nudged him. He jumped as his eyes focused.
"Oh shit Sarah! You scared the crap outta me" Sarah didn' t say anything, but smirked.
"I see you look normal today" he commented as he noted the jeans, light sweater and a black tote bag.
"Yeah well, I don't expect to run into anymore of your friends today!" She hissed.
"Mmm, yeah well, I guess I deserved that" he commented quietly. She straightened up and offered him a helping hand.
"Remind me NOT to sleep on the floor next time!" He whined.
"It's your fault, besides, don't you have a home?"
"Yeah kinda, I rather not go there"
"Why not? Your folks are nice to you aren't they?"
"Yeah so?"
"Then go back, at least you have parents..." her voice trailed as she looked for a spot on the ground where she could sit.
"And what's that suppose to mean?"
"Exactly what I said!" Danny paused for a moment, Sarah had started to speak a little fast and he had trouble understanding the accent.
"What's your deal?"
"My what?
"Your story, where are your parents?" Sarah looked to the ground. They had died long ago, but the memories of her father's murder still haunted her.
"They're gone, mum when I was born, and dad was murdered" Danny looked at her wide eyed. He had regretted giving her attitude.
"Did they find who it was?" He asked quietly.
"No, but I know who it was..." her voice trailed. She knew she had to be careful, but then again, what did this boy know? ".... Oroku Saki"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They had spent a great deal of the morning together and she had left when she realised that the time had gotten away from her and she had wanted to call Julie for information. There was a fourteen hour time difference from New York to Sydney and she didn't want to call home too late. She popped on her sunglasses as she emerged from the manhole. She wasn't too sure how far from Casey's she really was. Something wasn't making sense. Oroko Saki was a japanese ninja and New York just happened to have a clan of its own. She realised now that Julie had indeed told her bits and bits of the Clan itself and had pointed out the Foot Clan symbol, but had never really told her what it meant, she had always assumed it was 'Foot' in Japanese, but now she wasn't too sure. Her train of thought was interrupted as she turned a corner in the alley only to be confronted by a group of thugs and a white van and she realised that she must have walked in on some kind of deal that was going down. She squinted. The men in the back were in all black! She gulped hard and went to turn, only to have the thugs step up to her. She took a quick count, two to the right, three to the left, and two at the back. Not good odds. She held her bag closer to her and ever so lightly put her hand in and curled her fingers around the can of mace she had in one of the side pockets.
"Get her! Silence her!" One of the men in the van yelled. One thug on each side crabbed her arms. She screamed as she pulled her hand out of the bag spraying the three closest to her with mace. They double over clutching their faces with their hands. The others backed off. One off the men stepped out of the van and Sarah immediately recognised him as a member of the Foot Clan. He raised his arms in defence. Sarah glanced around the alley. There was one way out.... she watched and before she knew it, the can was kicked from her hand landing in the middle of the alley near the way out. He stepped in and moved in for a left handed punch. Sarah blocked the punch with her left hand crabbing his wrist, took a step in, raised her right hand and ran it along his neck to the chin and pushed back, as she pushed she pulled his left arm toward her, throwing him off balance as she stretched him. She pulled harder and he hit the ground hard, she stepped in and struck him in the wind pipe. Sarah stepped over the ninja as one thug stepped toward her. She went into a low fighting stance and raised her leg, giving him a powerful forward 'push kick' which impacted with his stomach and sent him sprawling back onto his 'friends'. She saw a gap and went for it, going into a low foward roll, picking up the can of mace as she went past. Without thinking, she ran out of the alley and into the street.... she heard a car horn and turned to see a car coming her way. On instinct she jumped as it hit her, she rolled onto the windscreen, with her arms tucked close to her body, and as the car skiddered to a halt, she flew off and hit the asphalt hard. She opened her eyes and realised she had created a scene. She turned and looked at the alley entrance to see four pairs of eyes watching her. Sarah took a deep breath as she got up quickly, wincing as pain shot up the left side of her body. She grasped her right grazed arm and ran off with a slight limp.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah wrapped the towel tightly around her long black hair. That bath had done wonders. Nothing had been broken and she was now thankful that Julie had insisted on her perfecting her breakfalls. Her right arm was grazed badly, and she had a nasty bruise forming, but it could have been worse, much worse. Sarah sighed as she looked into the mirror as she applied a cooling mud mask. Her cheek had been thrubbing since the incident with the car that afternoon and the mask was soothing it a little. I really gotta work on my body conditioning she thought as she gasped as she applied the mask onto her cheek. She had been slack in that area since she had arrived in New York City and she realised now that she was paying for it. She had to keep up all aspects of her training, not just the sparing. When she finished she walked into the livingroom and looked at the clock. It was almost 8pm which meant that it was around ten in the morning Sydney time. She pulled out the first aid kit placing it on Casey's breakfast bar, then as she dialed Julie's number, she took a seat .
"Good Morning Sydney Martial Arts Centre" Came a tiny voice. Sarah's face lit up.
"Maree?"
"Dudette?"
"Yeah, is Jules there?"
"What? No hello?"
"This is not a social call" Sarah snapped.
"Gosh, what's happened? Don't be such a bitch!" The voice on the other line replied. A shocked Sarah could not respond as she heard the phone being put down as she heard Maree yell at the top of her lungs as she called Julie.
"Young lady, do I need to remind you of your language!" Sarah heard Julie scolding Maree. Sarah chuckled. It was unlike Maree, maybe she had been hanging around with Rachael too much, Sarah thought.
"Sarah?"
"Yeah"
"What's happened?"
"What happened that night dad was murdered?"
"What?" Asked a dumbfounded Julie. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play stupid with me! I've remembered everything" there was silence on the other end.
"And who's Oroku Saki? I remember the name"
"He's the head of the Foot Clan... why?"
"They have relocated..." Sarah's voice trailed as an image of someone flooded her senses. Sarah turned her head to scan the room as she did, the last thing she saw was the back of someone's fist. She cried out as she flew off the stool and hit the ground.
"Your mouth will lead you to great trouble!" One of the black clad intruders hissed. In the corner of her eye she noticed one of them hang up the phone.
"This is a warning" Sarah did not say anything, she was a little hazy from the hit. It had been hard and she could taste blood in her mouth, before she could react, one of them stepped foward, pulling out a stun gun as Sarah threw a weak punch. As he blocked it, he bought the stun gun to her neck. Sarah slumped to the ground unconscious.
~ Chapter Nine ~ Up Soon!
Sarah graciously took the glass of water and tylonol that the youth offered.
"Thank you" she said quietly, as she watched the youth cross to the other side of the room.
"Hungry?" He asked. It had been the first time in hours that she had thought about it.
"Yeah famished" she muttered.
"Super supreme okay?"
"Whatever.." her voice trailed as the migrane hit her full force. Her cheek had even started to throb. Hestitaing, she reached for her hood and yanked it off. Sarah got up slowly and looked at a broken mirror on the wall. She did not look good. Her left eye was bloodshot and she was pale. She sighed and turned around and gasped. She did not expect the youth to be behind her.
"That looks nasty" he said as he screwed up his face.
"I'm fine" she said as she walked passed him, but came to a halt as the youth crabbed one of her arms.
"The name's Danny" Sarah looked up and faced him "Look, your secret is safe with me" Sarah grunted.
"Yeah trying telling that to the injured turtle"
"I realise what I've done" he hung his head in shame "I know that now, but I'm so confused..." Sarah unhooked Danny's hand from her arm and sat against one of the walls.
"What's done is done, but I'm warning you..." her voice trailed as he approached and sat next to her.
"You never told me your name" he said softly, changing the subject. She paused.
"Sarah" she said and began rubbing her temples again.
"Well ah.. Sarah, the pizza will be here in 30 minutes, join me for dinner?" She stopped and looked at him.
"I don't think so..."
"Ah c'mon, I owe you" Sarah gave him a faint smile.
"I guess you do"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They sat in silence as they waited. Sarah sighed as she looked into the night sky from beneath the sewer grate. So this is what it's like from them, she thought. She felt sorry for them, but knew how they must be feeling, for her sisters were in hiding too. They were young and their training was far from over. She was worried about them, they were young and impressionable. She sighed, she missed them so much. Danny looked at her.
"You okay?" he asked softly. Sarah paused.
"Yeah, I miss my family, that's all"
"So whereabouts in England are you from?" Sarah gave him a dirty look.
"I'm not English"
"Scotish?" Now she was getting annoyed.
"Look, I'm not European okay"
"Irish then?"
"I SAID I'm not European" she hissed.
"Gosh I don't know!"
"I'm from Sydney, Australia!"
"Okay, okay, don't get mad..." he paused as he heard a motorbike pull up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sarah woke late the next morning stiff and very sore. Exsalavanting around the sewers of New York City were now taking its toll. She rolled over rubbing the sleep out of her eyes only to see Casey's answering machine blinking. She was eager to hear from Casey, but she also knew there was nothing she could do at present. She slowly raised an arm to the end of the sofa bed and hit the message button. Two messages, hopefully one would be from Casey she thought. She waited.
"Hi Case, it's Anthony, call me" then "Where are you man? It's been days, call me" She waited and it had lead nothing but to more angrish. She was not only now extremely worried for her friend, but for the turtle as well. She sighed. Danny was now her best bet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah entered the sewer den in silence. She stuck to the shadows and kept her eyes open.
"Danny?" She called quietly after she was sure that the Foot were not present. Nothing. She walked in further only to hear the gentle breathing of someone asleep.
"Danny!" she said as she nudged him. He jumped as his eyes focused.
"Oh shit Sarah! You scared the crap outta me" Sarah didn' t say anything, but smirked.
"I see you look normal today" he commented as he noted the jeans, light sweater and a black tote bag.
"Yeah well, I don't expect to run into anymore of your friends today!" She hissed.
"Mmm, yeah well, I guess I deserved that" he commented quietly. She straightened up and offered him a helping hand.
"Remind me NOT to sleep on the floor next time!" He whined.
"It's your fault, besides, don't you have a home?"
"Yeah kinda, I rather not go there"
"Why not? Your folks are nice to you aren't they?"
"Yeah so?"
"Then go back, at least you have parents..." her voice trailed as she looked for a spot on the ground where she could sit.
"And what's that suppose to mean?"
"Exactly what I said!" Danny paused for a moment, Sarah had started to speak a little fast and he had trouble understanding the accent.
"What's your deal?"
"My what?
"Your story, where are your parents?" Sarah looked to the ground. They had died long ago, but the memories of her father's murder still haunted her.
"They're gone, mum when I was born, and dad was murdered" Danny looked at her wide eyed. He had regretted giving her attitude.
"Did they find who it was?" He asked quietly.
"No, but I know who it was..." her voice trailed. She knew she had to be careful, but then again, what did this boy know? ".... Oroku Saki"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They had spent a great deal of the morning together and she had left when she realised that the time had gotten away from her and she had wanted to call Julie for information. There was a fourteen hour time difference from New York to Sydney and she didn't want to call home too late. She popped on her sunglasses as she emerged from the manhole. She wasn't too sure how far from Casey's she really was. Something wasn't making sense. Oroko Saki was a japanese ninja and New York just happened to have a clan of its own. She realised now that Julie had indeed told her bits and bits of the Clan itself and had pointed out the Foot Clan symbol, but had never really told her what it meant, she had always assumed it was 'Foot' in Japanese, but now she wasn't too sure. Her train of thought was interrupted as she turned a corner in the alley only to be confronted by a group of thugs and a white van and she realised that she must have walked in on some kind of deal that was going down. She squinted. The men in the back were in all black! She gulped hard and went to turn, only to have the thugs step up to her. She took a quick count, two to the right, three to the left, and two at the back. Not good odds. She held her bag closer to her and ever so lightly put her hand in and curled her fingers around the can of mace she had in one of the side pockets.
"Get her! Silence her!" One of the men in the van yelled. One thug on each side crabbed her arms. She screamed as she pulled her hand out of the bag spraying the three closest to her with mace. They double over clutching their faces with their hands. The others backed off. One off the men stepped out of the van and Sarah immediately recognised him as a member of the Foot Clan. He raised his arms in defence. Sarah glanced around the alley. There was one way out.... she watched and before she knew it, the can was kicked from her hand landing in the middle of the alley near the way out. He stepped in and moved in for a left handed punch. Sarah blocked the punch with her left hand crabbing his wrist, took a step in, raised her right hand and ran it along his neck to the chin and pushed back, as she pushed she pulled his left arm toward her, throwing him off balance as she stretched him. She pulled harder and he hit the ground hard, she stepped in and struck him in the wind pipe. Sarah stepped over the ninja as one thug stepped toward her. She went into a low fighting stance and raised her leg, giving him a powerful forward 'push kick' which impacted with his stomach and sent him sprawling back onto his 'friends'. She saw a gap and went for it, going into a low foward roll, picking up the can of mace as she went past. Without thinking, she ran out of the alley and into the street.... she heard a car horn and turned to see a car coming her way. On instinct she jumped as it hit her, she rolled onto the windscreen, with her arms tucked close to her body, and as the car skiddered to a halt, she flew off and hit the asphalt hard. She opened her eyes and realised she had created a scene. She turned and looked at the alley entrance to see four pairs of eyes watching her. Sarah took a deep breath as she got up quickly, wincing as pain shot up the left side of her body. She grasped her right grazed arm and ran off with a slight limp.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah wrapped the towel tightly around her long black hair. That bath had done wonders. Nothing had been broken and she was now thankful that Julie had insisted on her perfecting her breakfalls. Her right arm was grazed badly, and she had a nasty bruise forming, but it could have been worse, much worse. Sarah sighed as she looked into the mirror as she applied a cooling mud mask. Her cheek had been thrubbing since the incident with the car that afternoon and the mask was soothing it a little. I really gotta work on my body conditioning she thought as she gasped as she applied the mask onto her cheek. She had been slack in that area since she had arrived in New York City and she realised now that she was paying for it. She had to keep up all aspects of her training, not just the sparing. When she finished she walked into the livingroom and looked at the clock. It was almost 8pm which meant that it was around ten in the morning Sydney time. She pulled out the first aid kit placing it on Casey's breakfast bar, then as she dialed Julie's number, she took a seat .
"Good Morning Sydney Martial Arts Centre" Came a tiny voice. Sarah's face lit up.
"Maree?"
"Dudette?"
"Yeah, is Jules there?"
"What? No hello?"
"This is not a social call" Sarah snapped.
"Gosh, what's happened? Don't be such a bitch!" The voice on the other line replied. A shocked Sarah could not respond as she heard the phone being put down as she heard Maree yell at the top of her lungs as she called Julie.
"Young lady, do I need to remind you of your language!" Sarah heard Julie scolding Maree. Sarah chuckled. It was unlike Maree, maybe she had been hanging around with Rachael too much, Sarah thought.
"Sarah?"
"Yeah"
"What's happened?"
"What happened that night dad was murdered?"
"What?" Asked a dumbfounded Julie. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play stupid with me! I've remembered everything" there was silence on the other end.
"And who's Oroku Saki? I remember the name"
"He's the head of the Foot Clan... why?"
"They have relocated..." Sarah's voice trailed as an image of someone flooded her senses. Sarah turned her head to scan the room as she did, the last thing she saw was the back of someone's fist. She cried out as she flew off the stool and hit the ground.
"Your mouth will lead you to great trouble!" One of the black clad intruders hissed. In the corner of her eye she noticed one of them hang up the phone.
"This is a warning" Sarah did not say anything, she was a little hazy from the hit. It had been hard and she could taste blood in her mouth, before she could react, one of them stepped foward, pulling out a stun gun as Sarah threw a weak punch. As he blocked it, he bought the stun gun to her neck. Sarah slumped to the ground unconscious.
~ Chapter Nine ~ Up Soon!