Chapter Two — Rescue Arime
The school bell rang. I sat up in my chair and stretched, yawning. I had fallen asleep that day in last period, resulting in the now-glaring eyes of Rasachi. I gave her an innocent smile, standing and grabbing my books. I made a break for it, but Rasachi darted infront of me and closed the door. I hung my head.
"For shame, Lieutentant." She leaned back against the door.
"What? I was tired! You know I do almost twice as much work as the others, Rasachi. Please let it go this time." I begged, rubbing one of my eyes.
"For shame." she repeated. "You don't need to take all the missions. Five a week minimum, remember? You don't need to take all the missions."
"Yes I do. Kiko and Mayu idolize me. Not to mention, there's Kosuke to impress, a Captain's spot to fill. One ninja can make the difference."
Rasachi shook her head. "Lieutenant, go home and sleep. I'll tell Mechryu to lay off your homework by my order. And I'll tell Gin that you're not coming in tonight. Stay home and rest, Sasume. You need it."
"Rasachi's right," Kosuke stood up from his desk. I hadn't even noticed him sitting there. He was so silent. "You need to sleep. Infact, I'm going to take the night off as well. But first I have to go to a conference with Gin and Suigetsu."
He stood and Rasachi moved from the door, bowing slightly to him and I as we left. I stopped in a corner and focused intirely on my locker, closing my eyes. I felt a stirring in the pit of my stomach and a buzzing lit up in my appendages. When I opened my eyes, I was standing infront of my locker. Deep Shadow's Transportation, only mastered by a handful of INFERNO, including the captains. Luckily the hall was near empty and no one saw me. Quickly, I spun out my locker combination, gathered my books into my bag and slung my bag over my shoulder. I slammed the locker door shut, then pounded it twice with my fist. I had to or else it wouldn't stay shut. As I was making my way out the front doors, Arime dashed up to me and sighed.
"I have to work again tonight," She rolled her eyes. "My boss is such an ass."
"I know," I answered. "So's mine... Sometimes."
"You never talk about your boss. What's his name?" Arime asked, cocking her head slightly to the side.
Arime Kuroki is the kind of person you can't say no to. She's got pale skin, chestnut hair and green-blue eyes that give her a doll-like appearance. Normally, she's a sweet girl, but I didn't know anyone that would intentionally piss her off. She was smart and beautiful, what most of the guys in our school looked for. Yet Arime had never had a boyfriend and the guys just didn't seem interested.
"His name is... Gin. He works with his best friend, Suigetsu. Both of them can be a real handful sometimes. Especially Gin. He's got hawk-eyes." I laughed, hoping she wouldn't notice.
"Gin and Suigetsu? As in Principal Takamaru and Vice Principal Hamada?"
"No, of course not. I work as a photographer for the Nami Times." I said quickly. "You know the newspaper that covers Kuname City, Yukigakure, Atakatu Town, and that little fishing village out by Tsunade?"
"Oh. Okay." I saw the look in her eyes. Not buying it. In that way, she reminded me of Mira.
"So, Sasume," Mira slunk to my side as I entered the door. "Being home sick like I am, I know that a loving sister such as yourself would do just about anything to help me."
"What do you want?" I kicked off my shoes and dropped my bag next to them.
"Can you do my homework?" Mira asked. I looked at her. She had the Karin-Angelique look.
Karin-Angelique was one of my sisters' favourite movies. It was an anime about a guardian angel, Karin, who refused to do any actual guarding. The angel had to be thrown off her cloud before she agreed to guard him. This is only because she found out that when he decides he doesn't need her anymore, he gets one wish. And that wish could be in her favour. Throughout the movie, she tries to guard him, but she's too lazy and on top of that doesn't care enough for the boy's life. Eventually, she falls in love with him, but has too much pride and arrogance to admit it and it ends up damaging her wings. So he takes care of her, going to every extent possible to keep her happy. He even stays up all night at her bedside. It really was a sweet story.
Anyway, it wasn't a cute look.
"No, I have to work tonight."
"Aww, whatever." Mira sighed and trudged off into the dining room to get Mom's help.
I laughed and went upstairs, changing into my battle kimono. I carefully fixed my double kantanas to my back and hoped out my window and into the open sewer grate in the ally below. I walked through the darkness, my light footsteps echoing along with the sounds of dripping water. I rounded a couple bends and stopped at a white light from ahead.
"State your buisness." A voice came from above.
"Lieutenant Sasume Kazana. I have to talk to a few N.I.T.s." I called up. They made me take a finger print scan and an eye scan before they let me into the building.
"It's funny, Lieutenant. Commander Rasachi said you weren't coming in tonight." I heard a voice behind me as I climbed out of the sewer. Without turning, I could picture the source of the voice. A tall, young man with short light brown hair and dark chestnut eyes. Hot body and completely off limits.
"Sorry Captain Gin. I have to talk to Mayu and Kiko. I had training scheduled tonight and I want to move it." I gave him an innocent smile as I turned to face him.
"Fine," he sighed, brushing his hair out of his face. "But then straight home."
I nodded, then bowed. "Yes, Captain." I returned to a standing position, then walked off towards the dojo. I knew that when I entered, the Kahako cousins would be there. Maybe I would train them for a bit. They were counting on me, after all.
As I had predicted, they were waiting for me.
"Sasu-sensei!" Kiko exclaimed, jumping up. I was sure I had been over the whole 'Sasu-sensei' thing with him before.
He'll never change.
Kiko was short with chin-length black hair. He had onyx eyes to complete the look, and on top of that had pale skin. He always looked kind of sickly, but in truth he was extremely healthy. The boy was always in good spirits and had the I-just-devoured-a-bag-of-sugar attitude. Nevertheless, I loved the kid. He was one of my best students, being very skilled with a sword. His particular sword was made of pure silver and was perfectly balenced, meaning that the blade was the full width of the hilt. He had named it Daisuke, though he explained several times to me that it was a female.
It made me think about my own two kantana. I had inherited them after Captain Roku's death. One of them was black with a white hilt; the other silver with a black hilt. She had named them Yin and Yang for their partnership. For their harmony, she had once said to me. Roku and I had been close friends of INFERNO, and so I was given her swords.
"I-it's Leiutenant Sasume, or Sasume-sensei!" I growled, holding up my fist. He shook and gave me a weak smile.
"Sorry, Sasume-sensei."
"Good, then." I wiped off my hands, then crossed my arms, holding my head high.
"Good evening, Sasume-sensei." Mayu bowed to me.
She was a beautiful young girl, with violet hair always held in a ponytail and the family's onyx eyes. Unlike her cousin, she was tall and athletic-looking, with a healthy glow in her face. She had a light tan and had to be the most beautiful Ninja-In-Training. Though, she wasn't the brightest student and her sword play was definatly not the best. She, like the other ninja in her family, weilded a silver kantana. But on the cherry blossom pink hilt was an amber dragon twisted around a cherry blossom. She had named it Sakurako.
"I'm ready for your training, Sasu-sensei, no matter cruel and unusual!" Kiko saluted me. I rolled my eyes.
"We're not doing training tonight. Actually, I came to reschedule. I'm taking the night off." I pulled a black book out of a cupboard on the wall, then flipped to the right day. I drew a line through it, then copied the last note on another day, exactly a week later. "There we go. Now, if you two want something to do, Kiko can help Mayu practice with the sword."
I turned and walked out of the room, taking a left towards the exit. Kosuke came up beside me, shook his head and sighed.
"I thought you weren't coming in." I stated, staring straight ahead.
"Neither were you." he answered. "But I had a conference to go to."
"I nodded, slowly. "Touchez, Captain." I stopped to open the door for him. "Fleas before beauty."
"Only you could get away with that." He stepped out into the cool night air. "Look, Gin wanted me to tell you. The Second Stage Captain's Exam is coming up. I know it sounds stupid, but to qualify, you need to defeat one of INFERNO's best-kept secrets. Either the 'Head Rush' or the 'Insomniac'. We decided these two would be good matches for you. Whichever you don't take, however, Raito Yamikira must defeat."
"I thought I already qualified through the First Stage." I furrowed my brow, shutting the door slowly.
"It seems that you need to prove yourself again. They want to see you fight, not answer questions in a written exam." Kosuke kicked at a stone. "To be honest, I can't help you. Usually I'd help you cheat at something like this... Both Rini's Head Rush Attack and Usagi the Insomniac are highly skilled with their techniques. Choose wisely."
"I'll go... Usagi. I've met him before, it shouldn't be too hard. Right?"
"Don't be so sure. He may look sickly and half-asleep, but I asure you, he's a handful. One of the strongest Leiutenants, even surpassing you. However, he was unable to compete in the Captain's Exams for reasons unknown to me." Kosuke's eyes locked into mine. I knew when he was absolutly serious.
"All right." I nodded, trying to avert my eyes from his.
"You think you'll survive the Qualifier?" he asked, knowing the answer. I didn't have to say it, I just gave him a smirk overflowing with pride. "Can I walk you home, then?"
"No, Kosuke. You live on the other side of the city." I smiled at him, my eyes sparkling in the moonlight. "Besides, I'm a big girl. I can handle myself."
"Well, I booked of us both off tomorrow night. Wanna go to Midori's?" He scratched his ear and turned away from me.
"I can't. It's my favourite Sushi place and all, but no, Captain." I put stress on his title, so maybe he'd understand. We couldn't be together because of the Captain's exams. If I were to become one of the captains, they'd think it was only because of my relationship with Kosuke. I wanted everything to be fair this time.
"Okay. But whether you like it or not, I'm walking you home."
"Fine. Walk me home." I caved, rolling my eyes.
"Oh my God! I can't believe you'd even bring that up!" I laughed, forgetting that we weren't supposed to be so close. He had his arm around my waist and I had been leaning my head on his shoulder.
"Well, I thought it was a good memories." He shrugged. We had been walking for over an hour, just dawdling around and taking the long way to my place.
"I fell down the stairs infront of the gym. I almost failed the Leuitenant's Exam and made a fool of myself infront of Gin and Suigetsu. It was the worst night of my—"
A scream wrang through the cold night air. I recognised it.
"That was Arime!" Kosuke yanked away from me and ran after the scream. I chased after him to find my best friend curled in a corner, clothes ripped and blood seeping from a single stab wound in her hand from trying to defend herself. Kosuke had made it to her side first, despite the fact that he knew she'd recognize us. I came up to her next, silently.
"K-kosuke? What... what are you doing here?" She asked, her voice shaking slightly from shock.
"Saving you," he answered, taking a roll of bandage out of his pocket and wrapping her hand. "Sasume, go get the offender. I'll take care of Arime."
"S-sasume?" Arime asked, looking around. I stepped out into the street light's beam.
"I'm on it, Captain." I nodded and turned.
"Captain? Kosuke, what's going on?!"
I dashed off. The culprit hadn't gotten far. But he was wearing all black, which made him hard to see in the shadows, so I waited until he was in the light. Then I tackled him, drawing Yin and Yang, and placing them both to his throat.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Arime wimpered as I returned, wiping the blood from my hands on a black cloth.
"INFERNO is a secret organization. I wasn't allowed to tell you." I sighed, looking at Kosuke. She had weaseled it out of him.
"Now that I know, are you going to kill me?" She began to shake as I drew Yin from .
I wiped the blood with another black cloth. "No, just keep your mouth shut."
"So, you're not really a photographer? Gin and Suigetsu..."
"Are really Principal Gin Takamaru and Vice Principal Suigetsu Hamada," a soft, cool voice came from behind us.
"Captain Suigetsu." I hung my head.
"Vice Principal Hamada?" Arime asked, trying to stand up, but falling back. Kosuke put a hand on her shoulder to stop any further attempts.
"Good job, Leiutenant, but you didn't need to kill him." Suigetsu shook her head.
Captain Suigetsu Hamada, better known as Vice Principal Hamada was kind of creepy looking for twenty-four. She had silver hair that hung just below her shoulders. Her eyes were ice blue and they bore into your mind, making you feel like there were no secrets you could keep from her. The woman was intimidating, no thanks to her special ability. Like almost every other ninja in INFERNO she had her own nickname according to her special ability. I had never experianced her special ability firsthand, but she was titled 'The Water Moon'.
I didn't know many of the other titles around INFERNO, but I knew that Captain Gin was 'The Silver Hawk', Rasachi was 'The Resilent Flame', Mechryu was 'The Dark Wave'. I wasn't so sure about Kosuke's, but I think it was 'The Morning Mist'. I had not yet gotten a title. I hadn't developed a special ability, I was naturally good without one. Besides, there was only one title I was worried about. The Insomniac. I would fight him in less than a week's time and I didn't even know how to prepare.
Though I had decided to run it past Arime. She was smart enough.
"The Insomniac, huh? Sounds like he never sleeps." She mused, twirling a finger slowly through her hair.
"Yeah, I figured you'd say that." I frowned. "What d'you think?"
"The way you talk about the titling... His special ability might have something to do with the darkness or night, perhaps." She rubbed her temples, closing her eyes in thought. "It's hard to fight in the dark. You'd need a light or something."
"Only kunai knives, shuriken, senbon and summoning scrolls allowed as weapons." I sighed, exasperated.
"Did you just say... summoning scrolls?" Arime opened her eyes and grinned at me. "I've just found your solution, Lieutenant Kazana!"
Even with Arime's solution, I decided to look back on Roku's strategies. She was a best friend. She would've wanted me to have that place. Roku had many memories that could be accessed through her Mind Scrolls. These Mind Scrolls are top secret, not to get out to the INFERNO in the other cities. Like in ninja villages, we are at war with each other. Infact, the Captain of the INFERNO Squad in Tsunade was none other than Captain Akiko Koiyumi, international punk rocker. For a singer, she did put up a pretty good fight, so fortunatly Kuname City and Tsunade were allies at the moment.