It was their third night on the run and they were both tired, dirty, and hungry. Both Kai and Inari had trudged along for hours before finally spotting a small inn and spa that they could take a much needed rest. The Lazy Dragonwas a small family run establishment from what they could tell as they walked inside the entryway into the lobby. They received a kind look from the elderly women from behind the counter even though they looked like a pair of filthy street urchins.
"Hello there and welcome to The Lazy Dragon. Are you in need of a room?" the kindly old lady asked with a smile on her face.
"Yes, oh god, yes" Kai muttered as he shifted around in his pockets and took out a small bag of money and plopped it in front of the old lady. "We'll take whatever you've got left"
"Wonderful" grinned the elderly women, snatching up the money. She plucked a key off of the wall behind her and headed down a side hall to show them to their room. "This is it, Room 12. Enjoy your stay here at The Lazy Dragon. The baths close soon so I suggest that you use them now." With that, the old lady smiled and left quietly down the hall.
The room itself was nice considering that they didn't pay much for it. Inari was overjoyed that she would be able to sleep in a real bed for the first time in ages and leapt upon it, rolling around on the covers. That is until she realized that the bed she was on was the only one in the room.
"Heh, sorry. I guess you'll be taking this one" she said glumly as she began to get off.
"Nonsense. You need it more than I do, no offense. And besides, I'm use to sleeping on the ground. No need to change that now" Kai said with a smile. "I'm going to take that old ladies advice and use the baths before they close and I suggest that you do as well"
"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Inari shot back.
Kai, immediately realizing his mistake, tried to cover it with "Nothing, nothing. It's just that after 2 weeks of not bathing, anyone would enjoy a nice hot bath."
After taking a quick look in the mirror, she had to agree with Kai. They were both caked with mud and grime, hair all messy and undone with hair sticking up every which way, and was pretty sure that they didn't smell like a rose garden either.
On the way to the baths, the other guests that were still up gave them uncertain glances. To everyone else, they looked like a young man with the eyes of a psychopath and a young woman that looked like a hurricane had just hit her.
Splitting up and entering the appropriate bathing areas, Inari was glad that she was the only women there. She took off her black cloak, grey servants clothes, and slowly unwrapped herself of the bandages that constricted her. It wasn't easy having a figure like her, wrapped with bandages, running about for days, and not be uncomfortable. Placing her clothing into a small washer/dryer, she grabbed a towel to wrap around herself and stepped into the steaming pool.
Oh my god, this is heaven Inari thought as she relaxed in the hot water, stretching out her sore muscles, enjoying every bit of it. As she sank deeper into the steaming pool of water, her mind drifted back to the first day she had spent with Kai.
He had been running for hours now, and at the incredible speed they were going, Inari had no idea how far they had gotten. Kai had been keeping the pace up and signs of fatigue were finally showing. Inari noticed that he was breathing heavily and that their pace was slowing down by a bit. Though it didn't seem to matter all that much because Inari had never seen anyone move so fast for such a long period of time.
After a couple more hours of traveling at breakneck speeds through the countryside, Kai finally decided to slow down and look for a place to rest. He had come upon a small clearing in the woods they were heading through and deemed it suitable for their needs. Before she could ask any questions, Kai had collapsed where he stood into a deep sleep. Not sure what to do at first, she curled up next to him, hoping that no one would find them while they slept.
Inari had been awoken with sun in her eyes and a delicious smell wafting towards her. She turned around to find a blazing fire crackling as fat dripped off into it. It seemed that while she slept, Kai had managed to catch a few rabbits and roast them above a fire he had set up. She drooled over the sight of the cooked meat that now rested in front of her.
Kai had noticed that she had woke up, he beckoned her to come join him. Having been only sustained on bland ration soup for the past week, she hungrily snatched up the food and began devouring it with tears in her eyes. To her, this meat was the first real meal she had had as a free woman in a long time. After eating in silence for a minute or two, it now dawned on her that she was sitting in a clearing with a strange man that had saved her for no apparent reason.
"Why did you save me?" she said, mouth still half full with rabbit meat.
Kai looked at her surprised. "Would you rather have me leave you there?"
"Well no but……..you didn't have to save me in the first place. Why are you doing all of this for me?" Inari asked with a determined look upon her face. "And why aren't you dead! The first time I met you, I saw you die!"
"No, you saw me get stabbed with six kunai, but you never saw me die. As for your first question, you looked like a person in need and I decided to help. Same with the second time, you were in need and I decided to help" He said, then asking one of his own questions. "That fat bastard and his son were the ones I first met when I brought you back. Why were you even with such people in the first place if they treated you so horribly? Why not just leave?"
She adverted her eyes away before answering. "I had wanted to be a ninja and my parents had taught me all that they could. After I turned 15, my parents starting looking for someone for really shinobi training and in need of some fresh blood. I needed the real life experience, so they made a deal with Lord Cho that if I swore to protect him as a ninja bodyguard, he'd have his son train me." She felt tears coming to her eyes but tried to suppress them anyway. "Things went well for a time, but then I started making small mistakes that sometimes put my comrades in danger. Every time that I made a mistake, I'd get nervous and start doubting myself, and then the next mistake would be worse than the first. The last one I had made was running away from my superior in a fight and, well………..you know how that turned out.
Kai was stunned to learn all this and leaned in to hear more of her tale.
"After you took me back, I was stripped of my rank and demoted to a common house servant. And so I remained until several days ago when Lord Cho's carriage was attacked, I almost ended up dead thanks to his son and my former sensei, Kiku." Inari sat motionless for a while, saddened by her own depressing story, not wanted to remember all that had happened.
'Then why don't you just start over?" suggested Kai "Everyone thinks you're dead anyway."
She was shocked upon hearing his proposal. Start over? She couldn't just start over, could she? Nothing was that easy.
"I could teach you a few things myself, seeing how that I am a ninja after all" Kai said smiling.
"You are? But you don't have a forehead protector" She said mentioning to his head.
"Yeah, well, neither do you" He said pointing back to her.
"Well I did, but it was taken away when I became a servant!" tears filling her eyes.
"Right, but they didn't take away all of your skills and knowledge, did they? Just because someone takes away a stupid piece of metal with some carvings on it doesn't make you any less of a ninja."
She immediately cheered up upon hearing this. "You would really do that for me? But what about you, if you're a ninja, where's your forehead protector?" but regretted saying that because she saw that he suddenly seemed to become a different person. His smile and cheeriness went away and was replaced with an almost sad expression she had never seen before.
"My circumstances are a little bit different than yours but with no less the amount of sadness. Lets just say that I can no longer go back to where I came from and because of that, I no longer needed the forehead protector." He said glumly gazing at the ground, a small look of longing on his face.
Inari wanted to dig just a little but more but was cut off by another change in mood. Kai suddenly became more cheerful and active as he began to pack up some stuff, all the while eating his food.
"You ready to go? We need to start moving just incase that there might be people coming after us."
"Mmhmm" she nodded with a newfound sense of purpose as both she and her new mentor got up. "Ahh!" escaped her mouth as she almost toppled over. She was sore as hell and could barely walk.
"Here, let me help" as Kai scooped her up into his arms once again and began jumping from tree to tree. She was glad that he was focusing on the trees instead of her so that he wouldn't notice the small blush on her face.
Snapping back to reality, she leaned back to gaze at the stars for a while. Decided that it was about time to finish up, she began to wash her long hair when a noise from next to her caught her attention. The men's and women's bath were only separated by a wooden wall was probably a little bit too aged for its purpose as it was dotted with small holes and cracks. She decided to ignore it until she heard Kai voice coming from the other side.
"What do you want?" she heard as she made her way over to the wall and found a small crack that she could get a good view from. Inari could see the head of Kai poking out above the water, seemingly enjoying the bath as much as she was, staring back at two men who had just entered. They were large men, with muscles bulging out of their bodies, both of them holding kunai in a threatening manner.
"We want to know where all of your valuables are" the bigger of the two said.
"Yeah, yeah, and where that woman of yours is!" the second one exclaimed.
"Tell us now before someone gets hurt"
"Piss off" was all that Kai said before going back to relaxing
"HEY! We're talking to you, you fucking runt!" said the larger one she guessed to be the leader. Kai just kept on ignoring them which seemed to just piss them off even more.
"You little punk ass, who do you think you are!" screamed the second.
Kai just rinsed out his hair and replied "Leave me alone"
At this, the enraged leader hurtled his kunai toward a relaxed Kai. Inari shut her eyes and turned away as she heard the knife hit flesh. She opened her eyes and waited a moment, only to see that bloody red water had began to seep its way between the boards and into the women's bath. Kai! She turned to peak through the boards to see what had happened. The two goons were now just standing there, dumbfounded, staring back at Kai. Instead of catching the knife or dodging out of the way, he had put up his hand and let it pierce all the way through, becoming stuck between his bones in his hand.
They remained quiet as he yanked the kunai out and threw it back at them, lodging it in the side of the building, barely missing the two would-be muggers. Both Inari and the muggers watched in silent horror as he rose up out of the water with only a towel wrapped around his waist. All three of them could see that his whole body was covered with numerous scars that ranged from cuts, burns, slashes, punctures, and to what appeared to be claw marks.
When he finally spoke, Inari noticed that his voice had changed. It was no longed the cheerful tone that he normally used, but a darker, more threatening tone. "I said, Leave." They cringed, "Me." They turned, "Alone." They ran.
Moving away from the wall slowly, not being able to believe her eyes, Inari stayed motionless as she heard Kai get out of the water, get dressed and leave, shutting the door behind him. Feeling extremely uncomfortable at this point, Inari came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea to end her bath now and head back to the room. She left the bandages on the ground, putting on her freshly washed grey servant clothes and black cloak. Inari was met with the stares of gawking men as she left the bath to head to her room. The warm water had done wonders for her vanity as her skin was now gleaming, her hair straight and shining, and her figure no longer bound by the restrictive bandages. Inari felt embarrassed by all of the sudden attention she was getting and hurried off down the hall to go hide in her room but encountered Kai heading the opposite direction towards her.
"Ah, Inari, I was just heading to the bar to see if they had anything to eat. Want to come with me?"
She just nodded in agreement, trying not to look down at the hand that must have a huge hole in it. Just as they reached the lobby, they were greeted with the sight of the two large men from the bath talking to a small old man. At the sight of them, the two large men whispered something to the old man, before he began walking over towards them.
"Ah so you must be the young man from the bath. I am so sorry for what happened. My sons aren't the brightest kids in the world. I'm Mr. Takawasi, the owner of this fine establishment that I run with the help of my wife." He said motioning to the elderly lady they had met earlier. "As an apology, I'd like to treat you both to a meal and to propose a deal."
"A deal?" Kai asked suspiciously, eyeing the old man. "What do you mean?"
"All in good time, can't really talk here. But if you'd like to follow me…." Mr. Takawasi said as he walked off into one of the back rooms with his two sons in tow.
Kai turned to Inari, as if asking for her opinion. Still being a bit dazed from what had happened in the bath; she just shrugged and followed Kai and the old man.
Mr. Takawasi was sitting in a comfy looking chair as they walked in, his two sons nowhere to be seen.
"Take a seat, please" he motioned but Kai didn't move. "We'll stand thanks. Now, what is it that you want?"
"Ha, straight to business. I like that. Fine. From what my sons have told me, I would assume that you are a shinobi, correct?" A nod from Kai confirmed his suspicions. "I have a little business venture that I'd like to make but I find myself unable to do it myself and short of reliable shinobi. Sound interested?"
"Would I be working alone?" was the only question Kai asked, ignoring the obvious like What do you want me to do? or How much?
"Course not; you'd have the self proclaimed Ghost Slayer as your partner. Boys, if you will" Mr. Takawasi said and the door where they had entered opened once more to reveal a familiar face walking towards them.
Inari visibly tensed up and broke out into a cold sweat as Kiku stood beside them. She began thanking God that the room was poorly lit and that their faces were hidden in shadows. But Inari wasn't the only one to react to Kiku's entrance. Kai stood there smiling at his good fortune as he began ruffling through his cloak for everything he was going to need in just a moment.
"Who's the broad?" asked Kiku totally ignoring Kai. "Ah come on babe, don't be like that" as she scooted away from him. Kai took this opportunity to move in between the two, facing Inari with his back turned to Kiku.
"Who the hell are you pal?" Kiku demanded angrily.
Inari saw the smile on Kai's face as he raised his hood and dawned his blank white mask, turning back into his alter-ego known as The Ghost. She saw him pull out another mask similar to his but noticeably slimmer and more feminine. He raised her chin to take a good look at her before placing it on her face, raising her hood as well. He leaned in to whisper in her ear "Run chakra through it to see" and pulled back out. As soon the smallest amount of chakra ran into the mask, it seemed to fade away from her vision. She could tell by the small amount of weight on her face that it was still there but everything seemed to have a slight glow around it, some more than others.
"Who the fuck are you?" Kiku asked again.
"Me?" said Ghost as he turned around. Inari was glad that she could see with the mask on so that she could see the look of horror on Kiku's face.
"I am The Ghost and this here," Ghost said reaching out to take a hold of Inari, "is my new partner Gossamer."