Chapter 44

The old man froze, his faintly trembling hand shaking the contents of his small shot glass. He slowly placed it down and crouched down behind his desk. He was certain he hadn't imagined it. He was certain that someone else was in the house right now. Being night, all of the servants had left, and wouldn't be back for several hours. Perhaps they were coming for him…or maybe there were just burglars.

Either way he had to try and survive. His wife was long dead, but the town still turned to and needed him. Though he was certain soon enough he would be discarded, for now he had a job to do. And he would do it to the best of his abilities…besides he knew he only had a few years left anyway. His chest ached frequently, he got exhausted walking from one side of the town to the other…

Sctrch!

He heard movement against the carpet. He peeked up over his desk to find no one there. He was certain that a person had been across the room from him just now.

"Too slow old man" said the masked man standing behind him as blood splattered across the desk.

Tomo sat on her back, looking up at the unfamiliar ceiling. Even though she had eaten a lot she didn't feel tired, couldn't fall asleep. She'd tried just laying with her eyes shut, but after twenty minutes her eyes had started to ache. She had gotten one of the larger rooms, sharing with Osaka.

"Hey Tomo" said the girl.

Tomo turned, slightly surprised at hearing the voice.

"Oh hi Osaka" she said. "I thought you were asleep."

"I tried to fall asleep" said Osaka quietly. "But I just couldn't. I got another headache, so I can't sleep."

"Well welcome to the club Osaka" muttered Tomo. "I'm sure we'll both feel like crap in the morning." Tomo groaned. She bet she would end up feeling how a hung over person would feel- only without the booze!

"Tomo, can I ask you something?" asked Osaka.

"Sure I guess" replied Tomo. "I'm not going to be sleeping anytime soon and it's too late to do anything else."

"Well…how did you fight that guy? He beat up Kimura pretty bad. And Yomi said you ended up in pretty bad shape. When I first saw you there was quite a bit of blood."

"Well I guess I just got lucky" replied Tomo.

"Did you use the Demon fox spirit?" asked Osaka. Tomo let out a surprised noise. "Don't worry Tomo, most people in the village know about it- it's one of the major stories. My parents always told me not to tell you."

"Oh" said Tomo.

"Besides, I know you did something weird when we fought the assassin guy and the person with a mask. I could feel your energy for a moment."

"Really?" asked Tomo. That sounded kind of cool to her…

"Yeah…I kind of feel a bit jealous that you have all of that potential power" said Osaka. "It was a great power I felt. A great power to possess" she said.

"Well you know what they say…with great power comes the temptation to rob banks" joked Tomo.

"Tomo" said Osaka in the darkness.

"Yes?" asked Tomo.

"I'm changing aren't I?" she asked. "I feel different."

"Well…I don't know. Maybe a bit" said Tomo.

"It feels good" said Osaka. "I finally feel…well competent I guess would be the word. Well, night Tomo."

Tomo yawned as she stepped outside with Sakaki. She was surprised to find a large gathering of people. They all seemed confused, as though not sure what to do. They certainly didn't seem like they were busy shopping. She glanced up at Sakaki and then back to the crowd.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asked one of the passersby.

"T-the mayor is dead" said the woman. "He was found this morning- they say he was murdered!"

"Oh" said Tomo, not quite sure what to say. "A mayor is like a leader right?" she said- she was used to the person possessing the title of Hokage as leader.

"Who are you?" asked the woman.

"Me? Oh I'm no one, I'm just a stranger from out of town who arrived recently" said Tomo. "Just a mysterious stranger. Hey!" she called out as the woman quickly walked away from her.

"I guess outsiders aren't trusted at the moment" said Sakaki. She knew she would want to be cautious, especially following the recent attack on her village, her home. She was just glad her parents had remained unharmed. That had surprised her- Kuraigu's attack had killed some of the village ninja, but all of the civilians had managed to reach shelter.

"Yeah well I don't trust them" said Tomo, sticking out her tongue.

"We're supposed to protect these people" said Sakaki, looking down at the ground.

"I guess- they don't have to shun me like that. I'm here to protect them."

"But they don't know that" replied Sakaki. "We should probably go and tell Kimura about this."

"About the avoiding me?" asked Tomo.

"About the murder."

"And then we'll tell him about them avoiding me" replied Tomo.

"Kimura sensei will probably make a sarcastic comment" said Sakaki.

"I don't doubt it."

Neither of the girls had noticed Osaka leaving the building, as both were too focused on the fact that the mayor of the town had been murdered. Tomo was busy thinking about what would be for lunch, Sakaki was wondering about how long it would be until people started to suspect them. As Tomo said, they were strangers who had arrived in the town recently.

Osaka didn't spot them through the milling crowd, and instead chose to walk down one of the back alleys, taking an empty route. She wasn't in the mood to be around people. She felt strange. She really didn't want to be around anyone…yet at the same time it seemed to feel wrong to her. She was certain that normally she liked to be around people- she'd spent all that time with Tomo and the others.

She leant down and reached into a pouch attached to her belt. She paused for a moment- her parents had given that to her as a present when she had joined the ninja academy. She had had it for several years, a keepsake she liked to keep close by. But looking at it now she felt nothing, while before it had been comforting.

She watched in surprise as the pouch slipped away, kunai knives falling to the floor. The first two hit the floor, but she reached out, grabbing the last three perfectly, with ease. No sign of clumsiness. Osaka glanced around quickly. She hoped no one was around, she remembered that they weren't "supposed to be" ninja in this town. The enemy weren't to know that they had come to the town.

"Oh my" said a male voice, Osaka looking up. Munro stood waiting before her. A fake look of fear crossed his face. "Weapons? You wouldn't have been involved with the assassination would you?" he asked.

"No" said Osaka. "I haven't."

"Actually I thought you wouldn't have been" said Munro. "Actually I thought you were a ninja, I'd been trying to get in contact with you." Munro neglected to mention the fact he had tortured a messenger into admitting he'd been sent to get help. Iroto wasn't the type of man to not notice a messenger vanishing for a week. He was however the type to have spies out in the countryside.

"Get in contact with me?" asked Osaka. "What do you want?"

Munro stepped forwards, removing something from his pocket. "I have a photograph of someone who committed the murder- I saw them. I happen to know where they will be going very shortly."

"And why do you want to talk to me?" asked Osaka.

"I know you are younger then me, but I know age means nothing for a ninja" said Munro. "Someone like you could achieve amazing things, far beyond what I could hope to achieve. I wouldn't be able to do much…but you…you could do noble things."

Osaka paused. She should go back and tell the others, she knew that- but she didn't want to. She looked down at the knife in her hand. She could do great things. Right now she could go and stop this man- dawdling around trying to talk to the others could let him escape.

Besides, it wasn't like any of them respected her. This time she didn't have doubts- they didn't respect her did they? She had never been serious before, she had always been seen as slow.

"You could do great things" said Munro. "But are you being held back?"

Osaka picked up the fallen kunai and stood back up.

"Tell me where he is" said the girl. "He killed this person?"

"One hundred percent he did" replied Munro. "He is a cold blooded murderer. I saw it with my own eyes. This man was a former ninja- and he has killed the mayor of this town."

"Tell me where he is" said Osaka, gripping one of the knives.

Authors note: Wow a few days ago this story reached the second year anniversary! Even with starting University, an occasional sulk, and a four month dead zone during my first term at uni, this story has still just about limped along. And with this being the second anniversary, it also marks the second year of me being involved in the Azumanga Daioh fanfic scene. Even if I've been less active recently!

~R.o. TR