Chapter 3

"Kana! Kin! I was hoping to run into you here!" said a tall girl with long black hair. She was coming out of a bookstore, with a bulging bag on the verge of breaking, and clutching five large, leather bound books entitled Shinobi Skills: A Guide to the Secret Arts. Her eyes were wide behind her glasses. "Kana, check this out! I saw this and thought of you immediately." Yuzuru said, placing the thick books down and digging around in the overstuffed bag. She pulled out yet another thick book and handed it to Kana.

"Famous Ninja Clans: A Genealogy." Kana read aloud from the cover.

"Looked cool. It also has some of your family in it too, along with a brief history. I thought you would like it." Yuzuru said.

"Yeah. Hey thanks Yuz. This is awesome." Kana said, flipping through the pages, stopping every couple of pages to read a paragraph or two. "Thanks. Hey, do you want to come with us? We're off to the Armory."

"Thanks, but I can't. I have too much stuff already, plus I have to cook today. My parents are on a mission together, and they'll be gone all week, so it's only me and Nii-san (big brother)." Yuzuru replied.

"It's cool. Catch ya later then." Kana said and she and Kin headed off to the armory while Yuzuru navigated her way to the exit.

The armory was only called "The Armory" by ninjas, especially academy students. It's real name was Utori's Secret Arts Emporium. It sold normal weapons, such as kunai knifes, shrunken throwing stars, and senbon needles; scrolls that revealed how to perform secret and mysterious jutsus; and a selection of special weapons such as fan blades, short swords, and different specialized blades, including the one that had caught Kana's eye last time she was in there.

"The flame glave; extendable handle, light weight, easy to maneuver, aerodynamic, and very sharp. It's a deadly weapon." the shop clerk said. "The only problem would be finding someone to teach you how to use it in the aria. Glaves aren't a normally used weapon because of their size. Most of the offers we've received have been from blade collectors and we normally don't sell to them, unless we can't get someone who will use it to buy it."

"It does seem a shame to let someone who is never going to use it, only hang it on a wall buy it. Kinda beats the purpose of owning it, doesn't it?" asked Kana turning to look at Kin.

Kin wasn't paying attention though. She had a blank look on her face as she stared at a shelf, tears streaming from her eyes. She was also muttering a song to herself. Kana recognized it as "que sera sera" after a short time.

"She is horribly off-tune." Kana said with only mild concern.

"Will she be all right?" asked the clerk. Kin was now swaying on the spot, and appeared to be drunk.

"She'll be fine. She's only playing with my mind and she's doing a very bad job of it anyway." Kana replied. "Anyway, how much?" Kana asked pointing at the glave.

"We have a 100 offer from a 'user' and a 250 offer from a 'collector'"

"Who would be me." came a high, whiny sounding voice. "Risu." Kana said turning around, and sure enough, Risu was standing there, flanked by her two groupies, Ana and Yatsu.

"Hello to you too, Kana. How was your punishment? Dreadfully boring, I suppose," Risu sneered, which still somehow managed to sound more like a whine then anything else.

"You're always behind the time Risu, especially in fashion. But I thought that even you would have heard by now. I was in a fight." Kana said in retort. "But then again maybe you wouldn't have heard. It's only the whole village that's talking about it." Risu blushed and Kana continued on. "That's right. I was allowed to beat up three graduates from the Water school."

Risu's blush deepened. "How did you manage to get into a fight?" She snapped. "You only went on a resupplying mission." Her voice was rising with her temper. She must not have realized how loud she was as she continued. "You messed up all my hard work! You're impossible! Why can't I beat you?" Risu gasped as she realized what she had said. Kana smiled cooly at what Risu had let slip.

"So you framed me. That's why I ended up with a low mission. It wasn't just the ramen. I knew that would only be worth a couple of laps at most. So, what am I doing that I don't know about?" Kana asked, her smile getting wider with every sentence. Risu glared at her.

"None of your business." Risu snapped again. She turned away, sticking her nose up.

"It's amazing how you sound like you'er whining no matter what you say," Kana pushed nonchalantly. That was it. Risu whipped herself around, aura raging, and took two steps forward. Kana felt the threat in her aura and matched equally with a cool blast from her own aura. Then she raised her power, wiping out Risu's. Risu took a step back, intimidated by the intense power. Then she smirked and looked at the store clerk.

"I'll give you 150 more." She said smugly.

"Sorry, I can't sell to collectors. Our policy is against it." The clerk said.

"150, use." Kana said, knowing that she would more than likely win this match. Kin had stopped singing and was now crying.

"I'll give you 200 more!"Risu shouted.

The clerk ignored her. She took a quick glance at Kin then looked back at Kana. "If you have the money, it's yours," she said. Kana reached into her purse and pulled out the money. She handed it to the clerk who then took the money, entered it into the cash register and pulled out a brace for the weapon. She handed both the weapon and the brace to Kana. "This comes with the weapon." she said. "It has a clasp release," she explained showing the small device on the strap to Kana. She also pointed out what the two smaller straps attached to the latch where for. "They allow for the clasp to be released quicker. When you throw the clasp open, it drops the smaller straps, which are attached to the glave's handle. The straps also have a slip grip for better hold."

"Pretty cool." Kana said. She released the straps, slid them onto the handle and tightened the slip grip and then slid the body brace on. She then latched the glave into its position. Then she sank into a stance, released the clasp, and swung the glave outward, as though practicing what she would do in a fight.

"That seems to work really well," the clerk said. "Yes, I think it will work nicely in a real battle."

Kin was staring in disbelief that Kana had just bought the glave with her own money. Her eyes were still a little red from all the crying. "We can send it to you or you can take it now. I should warn you that if you take it now, they probably won't let you into other stores with it." the clerk said.

"I'll take it now. I don't have much money left so I probably won't be doing anymore shopping anyway." Kana said, replacing the glave into the latch. "Kin, are you coming?"

Kin snapped out of her trance and started to glare at Kana. "If you had the money for it in the first place then why did you look like that when I told you that I would buy you something?" Kin grumbled.

"One, your face was hilarious, totally worth it. Two, I really am going to hold you to that promise you made me." Kana said, her grin starting again.

"Oh no! Don't tell me that you mean..." Kin started, sounding devastated.

"That's right! To the food court!" Kana replied. "And I am hungry!"