Chapter Two
In Which How It All Began


"Read between the lines --- because sometimes there's a ninja there." - Ask A Ninja, Question 2: Ninja Sayings


Almost One Year Ago...

A pair of deep grey eyes stared out the semi-clean window of a eleventh story apartment, a lazy and unamused look glowing deep within their gaze as they watched the traffic down below on the afternoon streets of Manhattan. The sounds of the city came back to a pair of ears, muffled and horribly mixed like some awful attempt at background noise. A heavy sigh escaped out over a pair of young lips, the grey eyes blinking as the head turned away from the endless cityscape view outside and shifted to stare at the open front door that two grown adults were bustling through with large cardboard boxes in their arms.

"Sweetheart, can you get the door for me?" The woman out of the pair called out, her path of direction aiming towards the kitchen area just off to the right of the doorway upon entering.

One lame sigh and shrug of the shoulders later, and a young teen was pushing herself up off the large windowsill of the bay window she had been using as a chair. Pattering over to the front door, barely a sound coming from her steps thanks in part to the fact that she had only socks pulled on over her feet bearing a rather vivid shade of red dye through the cotton weave. Shutting the door, the teen looked over into the kitchen where the woman was already unpacking the large box she had been carrying in her arms. Tableware, place settings, and other little kitchen oddities were starting on converge upon the small island counter top, giving the rather bland cream colored space a bright punch of color set in a rather playful Japanese restaurant theme.

"I'm surprised they let you into this city with those pieces." The girl muttered in comment towards the taste in kitchen themes the woman had. "Seriously mom, that's gotta be considered a high offense to the Japanese culture."

The woman glanced up and over at her daughter with a raised brow while setting down the traditional teapot she had carefully wrapped within a few layers of newspaper. "You know I appreciate your creative criticisms Sara." She replied, a rather playful smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth as she took the shots to her taste in kitchen style with the witty and dismissive humor that only a mother could posses.

Scoffing at her mother's comeback, Sara rolled her eyes while wandering off to track down her father who had seemed to disappear upon entering the apartment right after her mother. Moving was never an easy task, and this one was no different to say the least. The Reeve family had been uprooted from their home of near eighteen years in Colorado and moved out to New York when Mr. Reeve had been offered the chance to transfer to the company's big HQ in Manhattan. With him came his wife Minako and their sixteen-year-old daughter Sara. The family of three moved into a rather pleasant apartment complex just outside the heart of the city itself. Even though both Mr. Reeve and his wife were excited about the move and the change of scenery it was going to bring, their daughter was far their level of excitement considering the fact that she had to change schools and leave behind friends.

Further into the apartment, Sara found her father rummaging through the box he had brought in, pulling out the last of what had been packed away in the master bedroom. Pausing within the doorway, Sara leaned against the frame, arms coming up and crossing over her waist in a casual manner. "Is that actually the last of everything we own?"

"Indeed it is." Her father replied with a grin as he looked back towards her direction from his kneeling position on the carpeted floor. His dark brown eyes stared at her from over the top of his wire rimmed glasses that had slid down the bridge of his nose to rest at the middle. "What's your mom doing?" He asked, attention returning to his duty of unpacking the large box while also pushing his glasses back up to their initial position.

"Unpacking those color blinding pieces of kitchen utensils she calls 'unique'." Sara replied with a sarcastic sense of humor oozing over the last word to leave her mouth. "Dad, I still don't understand why we had to move. Why couldn't the company just promote you and keep you working in Colorado?" She asked, the look on her face dropping from the placid and even stare to one that had the corners of her mouth pulling down slightly. Her grey-eyed gaze held a mix between both angry and sad in response to the situation.

Pausing in his chore, Sara's father exhaled quietly beneath his breath before standing up to turn and face her. "Sara, you know if it was possible I would have taken that opportunity. I know it's going to be hard to get used to the change, but we'll do it together as a family." He assured her, his hands coming to rest on either of her shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze. "You're friends from back in Colorado will stay in touch with you, and you'll make new friends here in Manhattan. Who knows, maybe you'll find friends that you never knew existed, ones who will understand more about you Sharon and the others did."

Sara grunted quietly in her throat while pulling away from her dad, gaze adverted to the side as if the door frame held a more comforting scene to look at. "Dad, there is never going to be anyone who will understand." She muttered while leaving to retreat off to her new room.

Standing within the doorway, Sara's dad watched her trudge down the hall and then disappear into her room, the door shutting with a loud click. Exhaling, he ran a hand through his hair before catching sight of his wife coming up to his side with a look on her face he tried to dismiss with small smile. However, Minako Reeve knew better than to just take her husband's small smiles as an answer or reassurance, and decided to pursue her curiosity. Setting her hands upon his arm, she leaned against him, head lightly touching his shoulder.

"It's not going to get any easier on her." Minako stated quietly, eyes staring off towards her daughter's room. "It's only going to become more difficult with each passing year. She'll never feel like she fits in, and it'll be an ongoing fight for her to make sure the world about her knows she exists." She murmured in a tone of voice that hung heavy with deep sadness. Her eyes glistened with a worry she knew could no longer be acted upon, but merely acknowledged to an extent. "Richard, we're not going to be able to tell her it'll be alright."

"I know honey, I know. It's just that, I would give anything to just see her smile again without it being sarcastic or hallow." He replied.

Patting him on the arm, Minako nodded before heading back down the hall towards the kitchen while her husband lingered a bit longer in the hall before returning to his work in the master bedroom. While her parents finished the last of the unpacking, Sara opted to hide out in her new room, flopping down on her bed that had been hauled out to Manhattan from their old home. Lying out on her back, eyes turned up to stare at the ceiling above her, Sara traced the fine swirling patterns of the plaster that had been smoothed on to give it a more finished texture. They had all been up since four in the morning, and the fatigue of the whole move was starting to take its toll on the teenager. With hands tucked behind her head to set a barrier between her and the new beddings her mother had picked up that afternoon, she seemed uncomfortable just lying on her bed.

Exhaling through her nose, Sara rolled over on to her side, eyes closing before they could stare across at the wall for long. It only took a brief few minutes before the teen had conked out and was napping soundly in the confines of her new environment. Her mind dreamed of various things, the memory of her school days in Colorado, hanging out with her friends, being scolded by numerous teachers for her rambunctious outbursts during class, and even of the massive family gatherings she would attend with her parents. However, as her dreams remained serene dwelt more within the fonder moments of her life, Sara's dreams soon started to warp and shift like a scratched video. The scene changing at a family gathering far back to her very first memory as an infant, normally something that not even the most photographic of memories could pull off.

The large traditional Japanese sitting room that belonged to the grandparents on her mom's side of her family, normally a warm cozy place to reside in, twisted and grew dark as it warped in upon itself. A dank and misty aura started to slowly swirl into the room as all light seemed to vanish within the consuming mouth of the dark. All around, candles sitting within blood red paper lanterns burst to life and cast red shafts of light in a criss-crossing pattern throughout the whole room.

Set me free. Break the seal. Let me out!

The darkness of the room erupted from the last shred that cowered in a far back corner, springing forth like a crawling disease that blotted and consumed everything in its path. As the darkness rushed up to swallow her whole, Sara shot up in bed wide awake and panting. Sweat beaded across her brow as the dream turned nightmare had caused a sense of deep panic to surge through her at the last second. Staring across her dimly lit room, Sara's grey eyes remained wide, pupils near constricted from the adrenaline pumping through her body as it trembled beneath her clothes. It was just a dream. But that voice...I've heard it before...somewhere -

"Sara!" Her mother's singing call was muffled through the closed door and from the distance between her room and the kitchen where her mother was still in.

Blinking a few times to refresh her vision, Sara ran a hand through her dark hair and cleared her throat as she started to push herself off the full sized bed. Again her mother called for her, this time the volume of her voice suggested that she had stepped into the hallway to make sure she was heard. Groaning in response, Sara stood up and trudged over to her door and pulled it open just in time to see her mother standing there with hand raised in a curled gesture as she had been ready to knock. Giving her mother a tired and unamused look, Sara lifted a groggy brow in question.

"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie. Did I wake you up?" Her mother asked, brow scrunching to create worry lines across her older but still attractive face. A slow sluggish shake of the head in response to the question was enough for Minako to take as an answer, and thus she nodded back. "Okay, well would you mind going out and picking up dinner for me?"

"Dinner? Where at?" Sara mumbled while stifling a yawn behind her hand.

Minako smiled at her daughter while holding up a twenty dollar bill. "There's a pizza place a few blocks from here. Your dad ordered about a half hour ago and it should be ready by now." She explained, hoping that she would agree to go pick it up versus pulling the stubborn card.

Looking between the twenty and her mom, Sara rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders while reaching over to the small computer chair sitting halfway between where she stood and the empty desk sitting against the wall. "Fine." Grabbing the dark blue zip-up hoodie from the back of the chair, Sara started to pull it on as she moved to leave her room. "Anything else?" She asked while shuffling down the hall with her mother following right behind.

"Nope. Just make sure you take your cellphone with you." Minako reminded while reaching over her daughter's shoulder to remind her of the twenty she was going to need.

Taking the twenty and grabbing her phone from its place on the kitchen counter, as it had been charging since the afternoon, Sara paused at the front door to pull her shoes on. Calling out a good-bye to her dad, wherever he was in the house, and after allowing her mother to plant a kiss on her forehead, Sara headed out the door tucking her small flip phone into the front pocket of her jeans. Why do I always end up being the errand runner?