Author Note: Before this next chapter starts, I would like to point out that the idea behind Sara's doppleganger technique that she used comes from the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu from the anime/manga NARUTO used by the title character himself – Uzumaki Naruto, created by Masashi Kishimoto.
Chapter
Three
New York Rarity: Ninjas In The Subway
"I'd like to think that ninjas speak the international language of pain." - Ask A Ninja, Question 45: Ninja Omnitrois
Sara stood looking rather dejected before the open door of the apartment her family had moved into, her fingers not sure as to whether or not she hold the pizza box with a steady and firm grip or a loose and cautious grip. She could hardly give her mother a steady look as she stared down at the dented pizza box and remained quiet, therefore creating a rather awkward situation half way between the inside of the apartment and out in the hall. Minako Reeve stared down at her daughter, curious as to what could have taken her so long to return home, and why it was exactly that dinner looked as though, the Noid trampled it after tossing the box into the gutter. Minako smirked quietly to herself, knowing that there was the possibility that her daughter may have or was thinking this exact same thought as well.
After another odd minute passed, not a word passing between mother and daughter, and so Sara decided to hand the box over to her mother by holding it out towards her. The sound of the barely surviving pizza shifting across the inside cardboard scraped out in a muffled tone. Brows lifting in response to her gesture, Minako slowly took the box from Sara, and once she had the cardboard box in her hands completely, she began to giggle. "Honey, what happened?" She asked, her laugh tainting each and every word as she moved to the side and gestured with a nod for her to come back in.
"I killed dinner." Sara replied while walking into the apartment, unzipping the front of her hoodie as she did. Peeling the extra layer of clothing off, Sara tossed it down rather strongly on the back of the kitchen table chair. Yanking the same chair back away from the table, she sat down and then proceeded to bang her head upon the table top without so much as another word.
Coming around the corner of the hallway, Richard Reeve appeared, glasses perched upon the top of his head and the sleeves of his sweater shirt pushed up into the crook of his elbows. He smiled at his family at first, only to suddenly pull a questioning look towards his wife while gesturing at the sullen Sara bent over the table with forehead planted firmly against the table top. Minako grinned while shaking her head as she lifted up the lid of the pizza box to reveal the disfigured meal. A laugh escaped Richard's mouth suddenly as he glanced over at his daughter once more. "The Noid."
Dinner that night consisted of battered pizza and whatever quick preparation food that had been dug out from the half filled pantry by whatever Minako had picked up on her few errands out that day. By the time dinner was finished, the table cleared, dishes cleaned and set to dry, it was well proceeding towards the wee morning hours; 1:00 am to be precise. Splitting off from her parent's company, Sara made her way towards the hall bathroom that she would use as her own since the small bedroom she now lived in was without one of its own. Such was the fate for anything outside a master bedroom even in an apartment. A quick shower and the teen was in bed by the time her digital clock clicked over to glare 1:45am. Grey eyes closing, her mind feathered with worry as to whether or not that voice was going to speak out in her dreams again.
A dreamless night passed, and at 9:30 am, the alarm clock switched over to the radio and began playing the preset station that Sara had slid the tune dial over. The radio personality quoted the day's traffic report that had come in and reminded the listeners of the date before switching over to the preselected single to further jump start the day. The groggy and sleepy-eyed Sara pulled her head out from beneath one of the three pillows she had on her bed. Her dark hair was a mess, the long bangs of her hair obscuring her vision and forcing the teen to run a hand through the nappy mess to push it out the way. Glancing over at the clock, and licking her lips to rid her mouth of stale cotton taste, she groaned at the red numbers staring back at her from the clock face. Another day in Manhattan. Yeah me.
Twenty minutes later and the only daughter of the Reeve household was pulling on her left sock and yawning as she stood up from her bed, fully dressed and somewhat ready for the day. Walking out of her bedroom, a black hair tie clamped between her lips as she gathered the long layers of her hair at the back of her head. Swiftly looping her hair together with the tie, Sara entered the kitchen to find that it was rather empty. Her parents were nowhere to be found sipping down the first cup of coffee of the morning, or reading the paper at the kitchen table. In fact, "Mom? Dad?"
Her calls went unanswered. Curious, Sara wandered further into the kitchen were she came face to face with a note tacked to the freezer door with a magnet. Pulling the paper free, she quickly scanned the handwriting from her mother, learning that until the evening she was on her own and that a spare key was left on the door hook if she decided to step out. Shrugging her shoulders, Sara set the note aside and began digging out breakfast from the fridge. Settling on a breakfast bun and a glass of orange juice, the teen headed off into the living room to watch TV. The Channel Six Eyewitness News was the first thing to pop on the screen, the anchors already speaking about whatever had been setup for them. The covered piece revolving around the mysterious disappearance of Max Winters and the slowly increasing crime rate that had sprouted suddenly in Manhattan.
The news had never really excited her before, and right now didn't have any further affect on her as she turned the TV off. Swallowing the last piece of her breakfast and dumping her empty glass off in the sink, she made a beeline for the door. Snatching the spare key and pulling her shoes on, Sara left the apartment behind to take to the streets of the city and do some exploring. Walking back down to the pizzeria, Sara passed it up and moved further into the city to check out the local stores and restaurants.
By mid afternoon Sara had located a Subway, McDonalds, Taco Bell, six different Starbucks locations (all within walking distance from one another ironically), a Dunkin Donuts , numerous Chinese and Japanese take-out spots, and the random assortment of shopping outlets varying from clothes to books and everything in between. After having walked nearly two miles from where her family's apartment was located and taking the subway another good mile or so further out, the teen decided to take a break. Taking a seat on a public bench inside a park she had come across, Sara stretched her legs out before her while looking up into the milky grey sky overhead. It was overcast again, just like yesterday, and the winter chill was breathing in from over the ocean waters further out.
Geez, this place is almost like back home. Except for the morons roaming around the streets at night. A smirk cracked along the corners of her mouth as she recalled the other night. Smoke and mirrors my ass, and Criss Angel and kiss it as well! A laugh cracked behind her lips as she closed her eyes for a moment, only to open them again as that same precognitive sixth sense of hers picked up on another presence. A presence that was trying to remain hidden and inconspicuous. Those grey orbs stared up at the sky, squinted in response to the light of the sun that was still trying to break through the cloud cover. Whoever it is, they're good. I almost didn't even pick up on them.
Leaning further back in her seat on the bench, Sara let her neck lull over the back so that she stared into the trees and thick bush cover behind her. The dense cover made it difficult to pick out anything unusual, but her eyes could spot even the slightest difference in unfamiliar areas. Common sense, rule of thumb, or just years of playing the eye spy book games and "does this belong" at school, whatever you want to call it, Sara was able to catch rougher surfaces mixed within the glossy leaves of the ground bushes. "Hmm." She mused quietly before narrowing her gaze on that one certain spot, focusing intently to make sure she was picking out the right difference. "Nani, nani, nani?" She murmured in a sing-song tone of voice, fingers strumming across the top of the bench back. "Just what is it that looks rough and almost rock-like amongst the bushes?"
A gulp sounded from the bushes, causing Sara to lift a curious brow as she turned in her seat so that way she sat sideways on the bench and stared at it right-side up. Hearing someone gulp from within the bushes was the last thing she had expected to hear. I really didn't expect to hear that. I thought maybe it was just a rock I was seeing. But there's someone really in there. Her gaze never once blinked as that would break her concentration and the diamond pattern shapes she was picking up through the leaves. As her body tensed, readying itself to react for whatever the situation would bring. However, the sudden rush of several bikes zooming passed broke her concentration, her gaze momentarily looking back over her shoulder to watch the bikes fly by. Grunting quietly at her allowance of distraction, Sara looked back towards the bushes, eyes scanning for that odd appearance amongst the leaves. Alas! no matter how hard she could look, or how keen her vision was, the teen wasn't going to see it again.
"Crap." She muttered beneath her breath before shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket and started off down the park path. Her walk through the park only lasted a half hour before she left and decided to head back home, but not before catching a street vendor hot dog to munch on.
The return trip home seemed much less of an adventure and held none of the minor excitement that Sara had felt walking around that day, free to go wherever she wanted for the moment and to do what she pleased. Sitting on the subway, her mind drifted back to Colorado, her friends giving her upset looks after the announcement about the move, and the last day of school she spent sulking through each of her classes. A sense of loneliness began to creep across her emotions, overtaking her with a dark gloom to the realization that she was alone and had always been alone. She may have called them her friends, and they of her, but not one of them really knew anything about her beyond likes and dislikes. None of them would understand.
Slumping down in her seat, eyes glued to the floor, she stared at the rubber padding while her hands twitched within her lap. Even if I told them, they wouldn't accept me after that. They'd think I was either crazy, or would think I was a freak. A monster. Her facial expression twisted into a grimace for a few seconds before flattening out as the subway car pulled to a smooth stop and the name of the stop was called out over the intercom. Getting up out of her seat, she followed the crowd pushing out of the car doors, stepping out on to the subway platform and waited for her transfer to arrive. The meter overhead winked out each individual time, Sara's needed train not arriving for another good twenty minutes or so. Within two the platform had cleared completely and the train departed, leaving the teen to herself with no one around. Off down the tunnel the train horn blared, the echo bouncing back as a last mournful good-bye.
Exhaling heavily through her nose, Sara leaned up against one of the tile covered pillars supporting the hallowed out passage beneath the streets of New York. Crossing her arms over her chest to shrug out the damp cold that seemed to only be found in the subway, Sara closed her eyes and allowed her ears to play look-out for her. It didn't take long before those grey eyes of hers opened almost immediately in one swift motion and narrowed in a studious manner. Someone else was in that subway terminal, a lot of someones to be more accurate, and they stood behind the sixteen-year-old in a uniform group dressed head to toe in black, save for the red band tied about their brow. Slowly, Sara turned her head to glance back over her shoulder, pausing midway so that only the lower portion of her face could be seen in profile while her long bangs obscured the view to her eyes.
"You of the Haruno Clan; we have been waiting for you." One of them at the forefront spoke up, his tone of voice accented heavily with an Asian influence that Sara picked up on immediately, and knew it to be of Japanese origin.
What the hell?! How did...? Sara's face lifted, her grey eye staring out at the group behind her with what looked like a lifeless glare as he eye was missing its usual peaceful shine. Her face remained frozen with tight lipped look that spoke neither anger nor surprise to what had been said.
The forefront of the group snickered quietly beneath the all consuming face mask, his cocky grin hidden from view. "You are the container they have spoken about for the passed sixteen years. And as such, there is someone who would like to meet you." He stated, a finger pointing at the teen.
In return, the corner of Sara's mouth twitched with a smirk before she vanished like a shimmer in the air, evaporating from view, only to reappear high above the group of black dressed persons and came shooting straight down with right foot and leg fully extended out. Every piece of her young body crawled now with anticipation, the sole of her shoe bound foot aimed right for the one who had speaking to her. The speed in which she seemed to have moved in was beyond impressive as it left the group stunned and looking about wildly, but not well enough as the bottom of Sara's foot collided with the temple of the speaker. Pushing force forward, her blow slung the man off to his own far right, and as she pushed off it added to the momentum in which would be used to inflict a rather serious headache after impact with the first pillar his body caught. In her push backwards off the guy's head, Sara tucked her body down so that as she landed, the balls of her feet were the first to hit the pavement while the rest of her foot followed to help absorb and redistribute the shock of the landing.
Her eyes focused in on the headbands that the others bore, her mind picking out the kanji stitched across the front in black thread and matching it to a symbol she had been repeatedly shown in her childhood by her grandfather. A symbol of an enemy to the family...to the Haruno Clan. "The Foot." Her lips muttered the word as she sized up what stood before her, weapons drawing and swinging to scare her and demoralize her own sense of courage. Huffing an unimpressed laugh, Sara crouched low, her leg muscles tensing as they built and readied a supply of power to be used in the next second as she pushed off the ground, her body arching forward in a lung and then disappeared again like the first time.
The Foot ninja were prepared, ready to defend themselves and then attack at once. Their goal was to overwhelm the teen with their numbers, but whether or not that was going to work would have to wait patiently as for the moment, they were oblivious as to where she had disappeared to at the moment. Without any clear sign of warning, Sara appeared from the side, rushing in with a quiet lung that went unnoticed until she planted a foot in the side of a ninjas' head and rebounded off in time to miss being hit with a nunchaku that had been swung out at the hand of much more observant ninja.
The fight had officially been initiated, and one teen now faced off against a group of twenty Foot Ninja that were taller and physically bigger than her. As they rushed her, the teen pulled her arms up to sit level with her chest as she slipped her feet apart, widening her stance as she prepared to either strike or move as the first one reached her. Unarmed combat came first, the Foot ninja swinging out at her with a precise and well aimed fist that swept in quickly from the right. A forearm blocked the blow while she pushed her body forward to drive a shoulder into the chest of the ninja before pushing off the ground in a jump. Planting her free hand on the ninjas' shoulder, Sara used the taller man as a vault of sorts, flipping over him and clearing his six foot frame with relative ease, and landed behind him.
A roundhouse kick caught the next ninja in the side of face while the spin pulled into Sara off into a low crouch as two more of the Foot gathering sprung for her. Coming up at them in angle, a right punch across and then a left hook took both grown men down leaving the teen to duck as another tried to swing at her in midst of a blind spot. Planting her hands on the cold concrete of the platform, Sara kicked up and out as if heading into a handstand and twisted sideways to throw herself down again in a pose reminiscent to that of a comic book superhero web-head. Seeing the numbers close in around her as the impressive display of combat skills on her part weren't enough in a solo assault, Sara pulled her hands up before forming a hand seal that took the index and middle finger of each hand to cross over one another.
Immediately the group was surrounded with several other distinct bodies that were undeniable copies of the same teen, and each one stood with a smirk on her face. Standing up as well, Sara dashed forward, her dopplegangers following in and attacking the Foot with real punch and kick combinations that sent a mass frenzy through the group. The real Sara skirted through the midst of the group, her low punches and sweeping kicks felling a few here and there and moving on to leave her dopplegangers the task of making sure they didn't get up all too soon. Sliding out from the middle on her feet, right hand extended out with palm tracing the semi-smooth surface of the platform as she finally came to a stop with her back up against the nearest wall (unfortunately).The several dopplegangers that had given Sara the upper hand for a moment, were struck down by the few aptly skilled ninja. The dopplegangers gave short cries before disappearing in individual puffs of smoke that drifted off down the dark subway tunnel, leaving Sara on her own. Damn!Still holding herself in a kneeling crouch, Sara quickly started noting her options and realizing that she could be in serious trouble now. Guess I don't have a choice. Grimacing at the thought, Sara began forming hand seals yet again, a sequence that included – serpent, hare, boar, dog, bird, ram, monkey...her hands almost pausing for the last seal, as if her mind toyed with the thought of not pulling out her new trick upon the Foot. Well what choice do I have?! It's not like anyone will pop up out of nowhere – That final thought was suddenly interrupted, as what sounded like a battle cry, exploded from off to the far corner of the where the subway tunnel bloomed into the open platform.
Both the Foot and Sara glanced over towards the source of the cry, distracted for the moment from their personal fight. Fortunately enough for the teen, the Foot grew rather agitated as they pulled weapons to the ready with all bodies turning for a new fight. Not seeing what it was they were, Sara looked to their numbers once again with a look of uncertain curiosity before looking back again to watch as four distinct bodies appeared amidst the Foot. Blinking a few times and even rubbing at her eyes, Sara felt a sense of uneasy shock come over her as she watched what she could only describe as four humanoid turtles begin battling the Foot.
Grey eyes pulled open in a wide stare, shocked to see such a sight as four human sized turtles moving about with a speed that was near as fluent as her own. They ducked, weaved, and bobbed through the Foot, striking out at the same time to catch one or more at the same time in a succession that had the teen dumbstruck and stunned silent at the same time. Watching turtles take on a criminal ninja platoon was not an every day occurrence, let alone anything you saw on the rare occasion, and thus the frozen slack-jawed state that one now found Sara Reeve standing in as she watched Foot ninja fall left and right. That dumbstruck state wouldn't last much longer as Sara's grey eyes caught sight of several ninja making a break for her direct position as they had not forgotten her presence in the subway.
Smirking as her body automatically pulled into an opening stance, Sara held her left hand out towards them while her right went up above her head in an angled position. Within a few seconds the ninja closed in, and Sara pushed down on her heel while kicking off with her other foot to spin her body left with arms swinging out. Her hands found points that once struck caused the first ninja to hit the ground and wither in agony. Ducking out of the way from a follow up blow that another ninja launched, Sara's right foot found a mark in the face of the same ninja as he tried to move in for a new strike. Taking a few running steps to meet the next Foot ninja, Sara pushed off the ground in her last step, springing forward at the ninja as if taking a high step while pulling her right leg straight up and almost over her head. Planting her left foot in the ninjas' chest, she brought her right leg down to drive the heel of her foot down into the shoulder of her enemy. Sara's blow struck hard, cracking the bone in the top of the ninjas' shoulder and used the momentum she had created to front flip over the now stumbling enemy who was dropping quickly to his knees.
Landing expertly, Sara started to turn her gaze back over her shoulder to smirk in her victory, only to not find that bit successfully completed as the back of her neck was struck with the blunt chop of a gloved hand. Without realizing it or seeing it, Sara had missed a Foot using the shadows as cover to slink up behind her while his comrades acted as a decent distraction. Her vision became blurry as the pain of the blow sprawled up through the back of her head, crawling forward down her forehead and disrupting her ability to see. A sickening pinch twisted her gut as she realized what had just happened all to late for a proper response. Falling forward, vision fading out into a fuzzy mess, the last thing she caught sight of before things went black, was the shape of something much more bulkier than a Foot coming towards her. The last thing she heard was the thwack and gurgle of someone being struck as she herself fell forward with the last thought of how incredibly painful it was going to be when her body slammed down into the merciless pavement.
While that would have been the result of her own run of bad luck, Sara was spared this unfortunate fate that she herself had bestowed upon many of the Foot who had come with the sole purpose of taking her prisoner. The Foot who had struck her, hit the pavement first, bouncing once before rolling on to his side and lying still. For Sara, the collision with the concrete never came. Instead she was caught just after her knees hit the ground first, lean muscular green arms catching the teen and giving support to keep her still as she blacked out.
"Man, that was close!" The youngest of the turtles sighed while stepping around his older brother and the human girl he had caught, making his way over to the Foot ninja he had struck via another Foot ninjas' tonfa he had nabbed and thrown. Prodding the ninja with his own foot to make sure he was completely knocked out.
"No kidding." The eldest of the four agreed while shifting the girl in his arms so that he was able to pick her up. With her neck resting against his left forearm and her long legs draping over his right, the turtle looked over towards his other two brothers who were surveying the heap of black clad ninja groaning in response to the beating they had received. "By the way, nice shot Mikey."
"Ah, it was nothing." The younger turtle grinned while tucking his hands behind his head sheepishly. "Is she gonna be okay Leo?" He asked while bouncing up beside his brother, a look of deep concern pulling its way across his face, eyes scrunching beneath the orange colored band that tied about to the back of his head.
For a moment he was quiet, his own amber-eyed gaze narrowing a bit in a studious stare down at the girl in his arms. "I'm not sure. She's still breathing, which is a good sign. But we need to get her to Splinter to be on the safe side." He replied, brow furrowing out of a sense of slight frustration beneath the blue mask that tied about his face like his younger brother.
The other two turtles joined them, the one wearing a purple mask over his face held a curious look as he peered over his brother's shoulder at the unconscious girl. "She used that same technique again, replicating copies of herself to fight the Foot." He mused with an intrigued sense of admiration for her talents.
The second turtle grunted, arms folding over his chest in an annoyed manner. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just get going before anymore of the Foot show up and we have to mow through them." He muttered while almost stalking off towards the dark entrance of the subway tunnel, his more fiery amber eyes narrowed beneath his red mask. Somehow, he seemed much more irritated than the other three, for whatever reason that was only he knew.
Shrugging, the other three turtles knew better than to fight at this point when they were already in agreement to leave anyways. Taking the lead to his two younger brothers; Leo followed after his brooding brother and the second oldest out of the four, taking care not to jar the teen girl he was carrying off in his arms and further broaden whatever injuries she had sustained in the fight with the Foot Clan.
Author's Note: Hand seals being used to activate ninjutsu techniques are a reference idea picked up from Masashi Kishimoto's NARUTO and even influenced by Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven during the complete collection of I think eight or ten stealth kills to gain a new attack or special move.
