~Chapter 6~
I realised my surroundings to find myself staring at a wooden wall.
Myself.
As I blinked my almost definitely swollen eyes sluggishly, I turned my head to the other side, trying to get a good look at my place of presence.
I didn't recognise it, I thought looking around at the benches on the right side of the room, the door across from the end of my bed, the white chair next to me, would make my reality click into place and all of my problems and memories would come back to me like a tsunami.
It didn't, which made me look a lot harder. In order to do this, I had to lift my upper body and use my elbows to keep me in my new position.
I noticed the benches to the right were white and seemed to have some small boxes and packets on them (for example, I saw a box of gloves and a couple of packets of Band-Aids), but they remained orderly and had cabinets underneath them.
I looked, even stared perhaps, at the simple wooden door at the end of the unusually comfortable, yet plain, bed I found myself in. It had a common metal door knob and no lock, yet I kept staring for quite a while. It looked well-loved, yet well-kept. Surely I had some sort of attachment to it? Though it seems insignificant, I would have to remember using it to get inside, but I didn't.
So, I moved on.
And I lay there, paralysed almost, just gawking. As soon as I shifted my gaze from the overly-ordinary door to the white chair I saw it for its full glory.
It wasn't a white chair, it was cream.
But there was a sleeping figure in white on the chair. He was scarily pale, and un-gravitational blonde (almost white) hair that seemed almost entrancing. Like everything else, I waited for me to recognise him, but that prick at the back of my mind never came.
Hyperventilating slightly, I laid back down. I brought my hands up to my face to try to keep myself from crying. Just like when you were six and got lost at the shopping centre.
I was lost.
My mind was lost.
Zane's pov
The past few weeks have been rather uneventful.
The twins, Tara and Danni, began training and seem to fit in well. The rest of my brothers seem the same, except for the fact that every once in a while one of them would get oddly nervous.
I must admit, Tara's presence has been quite enjoyable. I love to be in her company, and I have even seem to become her confident.
Most of my time was spent tending to the sleeping girl. After we found her in the serpentine warehouse last fortnight, I took her to the infirmary, where she has been since. I even helped her broken leg by putting it in a cast.
Sadly, the day before last, Cole had told me that if she does not arise soon, we would be forced to take her to the hospital, where they would aid her further, and notify her loved ones.
Then I appeared to fall asleep.
Then a miracle happened.
She awoke.
3rd person
While the unnamed newcomer tried to keep her cheeks dry, she didn't notice the nindroid in the cream chair by her side as he began to gain consciousness, and exit his sleep mode.
After slowly regaining control of his body, Zane's eyes snapped open, ready for his nap to be over. He looked around the room, eyes scanning lazily, until they fell on the unfortunate young lady.
He seemed to stare at her for a moment, his eyes only half open, until they widened drastically. He clumsily got out of the chair and rushed to the girl's side.
By now, the woman was watching him back, gauging his reaction. Did he know her? What happened to her? She decided to wait for him to speak first in order to find out what was going on. She held her tongue with baited breath as he began.
"G-greetings," Zane stuttered uncharacteristically from sudden excitement. "My name is Zane; you are currently aboard Destiny's Bounty, home and training centre to the ninjas." He provided the information to the female just as he had practiced in his head as he awaited her conscious states arrival.
Then a silence as thick as Dareth filled the room as the two waited for the other to speak.
The dirty blonde wanted this 'Zane' to provide her with more information: such as her full name; date of birth; and her whole life story. Whereas Zane simply wanted her to say something, anything. He just wanted to know that she was in fact alright.
"O-Oh…" the youth said, testing out her voice, not having been used to it. "Oh, okay…" she answered uncomfortably. As Zane's sixth sense told him she would continue to speak, the serpentine victim mustered the courage to ask the man a question, and it wasn't the usual "Where am I?", it even slightly confused the nindroid.
"W-who am I?"
Kai's pov
"Just follow my steps" I heard Jay tell his two newest students. "Yes, that's right Danni," he continued "Just like that Tara! I'm really impressed with how far you've come with your speed and overall stealth!" As Jay kept encouraging the two girls, I tried to stay focused on the task at hand.
Cole.
His fists were up, defensive as usual. We had been circling each for the past thirty seconds, before that I narrowly escaped one of Cole's famous 'knee-capper kick's.
He had that look on his face, he was planning his moves. He abruptly brought down his not-so-golden scythe, making the wooden floor shake slightly underneath me. I lost balance just long enough for him to gain an advantage. He pivoted quickly to his left and followed through with his scythe, the back of it hitting the side of my head. Hard. As I stumbled sideways, my hand grasping the hurt area, Cole retreated back a couple of steps. He seemed happy that one of the few times he started the attack, it went well for him.
I lunged my katana in Cole's direction, hoping to get some sort of reaction out of it, so I could tell what the best line of attack would be, he blocked, yet cringed because he had to twist his wrist and arm awkwardly in order to block my attack. That's it! I'll use my-
"Excuse me, everyone!" Zane called to everyone, obviously wanting something. "Our usually sleeping guest has awoken!" Then Zane hurriedly rushed back down under deck, expecting us to obligingly follow.
Zane's pov
As I ambled into the infirmary once again, the girl was sitting in her bed, a seemingly permanent look of worry plastered on her round, yet petite face.
Upon hearing me enter, she immediately looked up into my eyes, them screaming at me, crying that she was confused, lost and scared.
Her already round eyes widened further upon seeing the number of people entering the rather ordinary infirmary. After everyone, including Sensei, silently filed into the room, a lot of staring took place.
"So, how was the weather in your coma state?" Jay used as a poor conversation starter. Everyone shifted their gazes to the blue 'man'. "What? Just asking…" he concluded.
"Well, I would introduce you, but sadly she does not remember her identity." After I told them the silent girl's problematic situation, the groups' looks turned from slightly confused to sympathetic.
"Oh, let me try!" Danni called out as if it were her turn on a carnival ride. Looking at her, silently asking for her to elaborate, she simply walked forward to the nameless girl's infirmary cot. "Lie down and calm down," Danni serenely commanded the mysterious girl. After Danni's order was followed, she then continued to place her hands in the air over the unknown girl's stomach and close her eyes.
"Okay, tell me if something clicks in your mind. Is your name… Stacey?" Danni asked, raising an eyebrow, yet keeping her eyes closed. As the rest of us (though probably not Sensei) all watched on, eyes full of confusion, yet slight amazement, 'Stacey' was thinking thoughrilly, mulling over the concept.
"Uh-hum, no, I don't think that's it…" responded 'Not-Stacey' timidly, making Danni sigh and frown in thought. The silence was tense, and I heard Cole cough a couple of times. I was almost inclined to interfere and halt the situation, saying that we should leave her to rest, just when Danni spoke up again.
"How about Ashton?" She finally opened her eyes and put down her arms down. Her last guess. Before 'Possibly Ashton' could even think to answer, Jay piped up and asked a question as soon as it popped into his mind.
"Ashton? Isn't Ashton a guy's name?"
The answer to Jay's question almost came faster than I could register.
"Ashton can be a girl's name!" retorted Danni, Cole and 'Not Ashton' rather dismissively.
Where to go from here?
Tara's pov
"No, I'm pretty sure my name isn't Ashton either." The amnesiac responded. I'll be the first to admit, I was more than a little confused. My head was churning out all kinds of questions as fast as it could.
"Then what shall we call you, young one?" Sensei made his debut sentence to the blonde, reminding us all of his presence.
She began to squirm as all our eyes landed back on her. After what must have seemed like forever to her, she made her decision known to us. "I think I would like to be temporarily called Persephone while I do not remember my real name."
After leaving Persephone to rest further, we went back on deck to continue training. We all stood in a line, facing Sensei as he explained what we would be doing.
"Now, my students, I want you to all know how to keep a straight look when facing an opponent, enemy or not. Partner off, face each other and steadily stare into their eyes. Nya, if you would be so kind as to be my partner." Sensei explained, gesturing for Nya to stand in front of him.
I turned to Danni, her silently accepting my partnership. When I turned to my right I could see Cole and Kai facing each other, and Jay and Zane looking at one another.
I had a clear view of Danni's face, and I could see the ghost of a flirtatious smile on her face even when staring blankly at her twin, the way she held her head high as if she were blind in any other angle and the way her brown eyes twinkled in confidence; experience, rather than in the youthful naivety they used to. Something had changed; I knew it. Before I could even guess what had happened in the only year I hadn't been with her a cackling laughter broke the focused silence, tearing through my thoughts like a bear's claws.
Everyone in the room turned to Jay.
"Oh, MAN, Zane, your face…" He barely made out, his poor excuse causing Sensei to sigh, even though he knew Jay wouldn't make it. "The look on your face Zane!" No one had to ask what his face had looked like; it was blank. Much like it usually was when nothing particularly exciting was going on. Jay must have found it pretty hard to stare at him without even smiling. Jay is always the one smiling and laughing. I just felt sorry for him.
My sister and I have been training here for a fortnight, and I think I'm getting used to how the system works here. It's pretty strict. Coming from someone who messed up more often than not, you really don't want to. The reason we didn't laugh with or at Jay is because we all felt sorry for him. He was going to be staying behind, making up for his little mistake. While the rest of us would be inside, enjoying our evening.
