Chapter Three — Captain Roku Matsuyama

There was a young girl, about thirteen-years-old. She stood in the middle of a park in the rain. Even under her umbrella, she still managed to get wet, so she moved under a set of trees and sat on the faded green park bench that was there. She sniffled, and wiped her nose on her sleeve. Her dark brown eyes looked as downcast as the weather did as she stared into a nearby puddle that reflected her shoulder-length chestnut hair that she always wore a white headband in, and her pale but creamy complexion. She kicked a stone into it, ruining her reflection.

This was Roku Matsuyama. A normal thirteen-year-old girl when she was around people. But her parents had died in a plane crash and it killed her inside. She hadn't told anyone that she knew. Just the boy who had taken her in out of pity. She hated to be pitied, yet she had taken a liking to him and vice versa. They were always together. Almost inseperable; he was the only thing that could make her smile. But he had told her to stay away after school. He told her to wait at the park for him, that he'd come for her. She was starting to think that he'd never come to get her. It had been four hours since school had let out. And the way he had raised his voice at her, and told her to stay away....

He forgot about me.... No, he just doesn't want me hanging around anymore. He's tired of me, she thought slowly letting it slip into her mind that all this time he never cared for her the way she cared for him.

He only pitied her. Now that she was thirteen, she was old enough to take care of herself. Maybe that was what he expected her to do. Survive on her own.

But I don't want to be alone. I can't live without him.

She closed her eyes, trying to stall the tears that burned to escape. To no avail. They created rivers of salt water down her pale cheeks. She bit her lip to stall for time. All it did was hurt her more. The tears came faster, and she tried to convince herself that a thirteen-year-old didn't know what real love was, she should stop crying over him. Roku wiped her tears and choked out a short whine. She tried to stifle it.

Eventually, the tears became less and less frequent as the rain let up. She stared out across the path to a feild full of white and violet irises. She watched the rainwater glide down the delicate petals slowly with the cool after-rain breeze. It was an almost happy thought, and irises were his favourite flower. She had always come here and picked him a fresh bouquet every week, and they kept the living room of the Takamaru House looking bright and airy among the lace curtains and white walls.

Roku twisted the white umbrella impatiently. She stared down at the kanji written of the hilt. They read Property of Takamaru House. The Takamaru House was a former restaurant that he bought for himself and his sister, Tori, with the money they had inherited from their parents when they were murdered. Originally, it was just for him and Tori, but somehow there had been a hollowness about it. Then, he had taken Roku in and for some reason, Takamaru House didn't seem so empty.

"You stayed out here all this time?" A voice came from her left and she turned to it. Suddenly, the clouds began to clear up and the sun shone through in salmons, oranges and crimsons. It was sunset already.

"Gin!" She stood and smiled brightly, then ran into his waiting arms. She buried her head in his chest. "You didn't forget!"

"Forget? No way. Like I could forget you, Roku. Remember, Takamaru House is empty without you." Gin smiled down at her. He had been seventeen then. His sister, known as Corporal Tori Takamaru, was only ten, same as I would have been.

At that time, INFERNO was being run out of a chemical plant that had been shut down, instead of Kuname High. He only became a teacher because he knew that the school would be a much better place to run INFERNO from. It was clean and the First-Years would know where to find it. Less of a risk of INFERNO being uncovered by some idiot stopping to ask for directions.

Gin had made sure that Roku was perfectly active so that when it came time for the N.I.T. Selections, she was the first choice. She was a natural. After her first year, she quickly went from Regular Ninja to Leiutenant, then passed the Captain's Exams when Captain Kie Fu retired. She fit perfectly with Head Captain Gin Takamaru, Secondary Captain Sakura Yagami, and Captain Suigetsu Hamada.

Then, three years later, Sakura was killed by a strong poison during an enemy raid. At once, Suigetsu was moved to Secondary Captain, opening a spot for Leiutenant Kosuke Asayaka. He was given the position because of the lack of time to prepare for another enemy onslaught. It was months later that the selections happened like they did twice a year. I joined shortly after that and befriended the twenty-one-year-old. Two years after that, she was sent out to seal the Tenth Gate Demon, Jazan, and lost her life. This resulted in my inheritance of Yin and Yang, and the upcoming Captain's Exams.

I growled in complete anger. I had forgotten that the Special Abilities were kept in seperate scrolls and were locked away, unlike the Memory Scrolls.

There are four types of scrolls used in INFERNO Squad Kuname. First of all, there's the Memory Scroll. Memories are sealed from the deceased's brain to store them for things we may need to know about their pasts. I thought I could use a Memory Scroll to tap into one of her fights. Unfortunatly, that falls under the Sp.A Scroll. These seal the Special Abilities used by a ninja and are top secret. The only way to get one is to obtain the key to the file cabinet. The only way to do that is to make Puppy Eyes at Gin, which doesn't usually work. Third is the Summoning Scroll. Anything can be summoned into battle: Weapons, Animals, Elemental Techniques.... Basically anything you can think of. The fourth and final type of scroll is the Sealing Scroll. These are used primarily to seal curses or minute amounts of enemy attacks. But to be able to seal an attack or summon one during battle takes great speed, cunning, spriritual balence, and chakra. To achieve spiritual balence in the midst of battle was something I needed to work on.

Chakra is the combination of physical strength, which is intensified through training; concentration, which is directed to the Special Ability or Scroll; and spiritual balence, which must be proportioned exactly. Chakra is difficult to build up into scrolls and that's why they're not seen often in battle. Then, there are some ninja who's expertise lays only in Scroll-Fighting, which is fun to watch.

In my case, I needed to learn how to summon a light. Fire, preferebly, since it was my ruling Elemental Summon. With Elemental Summons, there are seven basic types: The Fire, The Water, The Earth, The Wind, The Moon, The Tides, The Lightning. These can be broken down farther into different techniques and Special Abilites. The Elemental Type shows on the ninja profile along with age, rank, title, any relations within the INFERNO of their own city and quite obviously name. Put them all together and you get something like this:

Using Kosuke's younger brother as an example:

Commander Kin Asayaka, The Silver Blade

17, ETE

Younger brother to Captain Kosuke Asayaka

Kin was of the Earth Type. I had battled him before when he had taken the Commander's Exams. His Special Ability was to create silver blades with his chakra, which could act as a sheild or as a weapon. The boy did prove difficult, but I had expected it.

"Something wrong Leiutenant?" Gin was leaning in the door of the Info Scroll Room.

"No, Captain. I just wanted to take a look at Captain Roku's past." I explained as I stood and bowed to my superior. Through my bangs, I saw him flinch at her name. I wondered why he did that whenever someone mentioned her around him. He was supposed to be the strongest ninja, and by the code, a strong Shinobi was emotionless. It puzzled me, but I knew why her death had affected him so.

"Captain Roku's past? Why?" He shifted his weight. I noticed that because of the light shining from behind him, his form was silhouetted. He stood up straight, no longer leaning in the doorway. He closed the door, putting us in almost complete darkness, then made his way over to me, slowly. He sat on the chair next to mine.

"No reason, Captain. I just miss her, that's all." I looked over at the scroll, which eminated a flickering sky blue light. It illuminated our faces.

"We all do, Sasume." He looked over at the scroll, then his gaze switched to my face.

"I know, Cap—"

"Gin." he interupted. I looked at him in complete shock. "Call me Gin. No more of that Captain stuff."

"Oh... okay, Gin." I looked back at the scroll.

"You remind me of Roku."

"Huh?" I reminded him of Roku.... Strange things happen sometimes.

"You and Roku... you've got the same eyes. And if you think about it, she's got the Kazana's signature nose. The curvature is exactly the same in her and you... your sisters and your parents. It's.... kind of funny." He chuckled lightly.

"What's so funny about my nose?" I demanded, only half-serious.

"No... no nothing. I like your nose. And the rest of your face isn't bad either."

This made me laugh lightly. Then, my gaze was averted to the carpet.

Oh, carpet! Wonder of wonders! It's like hair for the floor!

"You weren't supposed to be in tonight. Kosuke booked you and him off again—"

"We're not together." I said quickly.

"Good, because I was going to—"

"Captain, no! You're seven years older than me and... my principal! And besides, you're completely off limits. You're supposed to be with Captain Suigetsu, everyone says so.... INFERNO and Kuname High!" I had a valid point, but I still didn't have to flip out on him.

"But, Sasume, I am your superior. You have to—"

"I don't have to do anything! And it's Leuitenant Sasume to you and any other fellow ninja!" I jumped back, knocking over my chair. "Just because you were in love with Roku doesn't mean you come onto me!"

I stepped backwards, ready to turn and run. Then I glanced back at the scroll.

"Hey, Roku. Wanna go out to Midori's tonight... like a date?" Gin kicked at a stone on the ground outside the INFERNO base.

"I can't, Gin. The Captain's Exams.... It has to be fair. If I win after going out with you, they'll think I was chosen just because I'm your girlfriend. Besides, you're four years older than me. I'm really sorry, but I'm going home now." She started walking down the sidewalk with her hands in the pockets of her knee-length wool coat. She had a red and gold scarf wrapped around her neck and black leather boots that came to mid-shin. Snowflakes began to flutter down from the sky, tracing intricate patterns of loops and whirls with each of their unique little fingers that were frozen with the icy heart of the winter.

"I'll see you at Takamaru House, then." Gin called to her. But she turned and shook her head.

"I'm twenty-one, Gin. I got my own little apartment on the other side of Kuname City. The only time I want to see you is when I come here, to INFERNO. The only problem with that is that I'm going to Veteranary Collage next year. It's a four-year program and I'll be back before you know it."

It became evident that as time had worn on, her love for him had turned out to be some little schoolgirl crush. Infact, the young Lieutenant had become secretly infatuated with both Mikoto and Chiyoko Shinguji, the brothers that watched the underground entrance to INFERNO Base and kept track of finances. Neither brother knew that she was secretly seeing the other. Though this made her sound like a player (which she sort of was), she really felt bad for both boys.

Mikoto was her age, twenty-one. He was tall and well-formed with long blue-green hair that kept up in a braided ponytail which reached his waist, and glowing red eyes. People said that he could see in the dark, but he rejected that. Mikoto used to be a Leiutenant, but as his skills increased, he was positioned where INFERNO needed him most. This was only because a flee-on-sight order was given to all enemy ninja who knew of him, The Demon of the Mist. Luckily, I had never had to go head-to-head with him.

Chiyoko, however, was a completely different story. He was average height, not too great of a body, and he wasn't very bright, either. But he was a talkative redhead with a quick temper and an attitude as firey as his shoulder-length waves. Chiyoko was only a Regular Ninja, but he had seperation anxiety so whenever Mikoto was in another room, Chiyoko would start crying. The guy was twenty-years-old. But, Roku pulled it out of him. It made him a much stronger Shinobi, and with his increasingly excellent skill and hot temper, he was just as awesome as his older brother.

"I've gotta go. Sorry, Captain." I turned and ran out the door and all the way home.