Chapter 38

Hitomi had just gotten out of class and walked towards where she had placed her bike. She had a cheerful grin on her face because today was the day. A week ago she had turned eighteen and a few days after that she had finally managed to earn her 1st Dan, the black belt.

"It's only the first step on the way to perfection." Her father had told her as he handed her the belt that had been her goal for as long as she could think. "Never forget that."

"Yes, sensei," she had said and bound it around her waist.

Afterward he told her that he would teach her some of the more advanced techniques of their style and Hitomi, eager to learn more, had been overjoyed by that.

And today would be their first lesson. He would teach it to her in private, letting the other instructors handle the lessons for a while until he had taught her everything.

Saying goodbye to her friends she got on her bike and rode off in the direction of the dojo. She had taken all her training clothes with her to school this morning because she wanted to waste no time by going back home and get them. And even though she was a bit hungry she wanted to train first. Food can come later she thought.

At the dojo she quickly changed and headed to the training room, asking one of the instructors where her father was waiting. He pointed to the small, separate training room and Hitomi thanked him politely before knocking on the door and walking in.

Her father was sitting on the floor in seiza position, his eyes closed and his face perfectly calm. "Come here."

Hitomi closed the door and walked over to her father. She sat down opposite of him, also taking in the seiza position.

Hopefully they wouldn't sit like this for long because they legs always started to hurt from this position.

Joachim opened his eyes and regarded his daughter with a look. "First of all I want to tell you how proud I am of you. When I was your age I could only dream of achieving 1st Dan."

"Thank you." Hitomi said and bowed. Joachim looked at her for another moment. His little girl had grown so much. But in the end she would always be his little girl, no matter what.

And that was why he had to do it.

"Tell me, for what purpose do we practice the art?"

"To seek perfection of character and to protect those that can't protect themselves." she said without hesitation.

Joachim looked at the wall. "What is the first rule of Karate?"

"Karate begins and ends with courtesy."

"Good. And the seventh?"

"Accidents arise from negligence."

"The third."

"Karate is an aid to justice."

Joachim turned to her and nodded. "Very good. I asked you because what I'm going to show you today is very different from what I taught all my other students up until now. The world is a dangerous place and we have to defend ourselves in any way possible. And sometimes that means we," he hesitated for a moment. "Might be forced to take more extreme measures."

"Papa?" Hitomi gave him a confused look. What was wrong with him? This was so unlike him.

"Back when your mother was alive we argued heavily on this subject and I'm sure she would still be against it, but you're my daughter and I want to protect you in any way I can." he said, his voice never wavering

"So today I'm going to prepare you for a time where you might have to go against some of our values." he explained to her. "Karate is very dangerous and can do a lot of damage if you don't know to control your strength. And I'm going to show how you purposefully don't hold back with some things I learned back in the Bundeswehr. But you have to promise me that you'll only ever use this when it's a matter of life and death. 'Never use violence for personal gain'." he quoted.

Hitomi's eyes widened in surprise. Did she really just hear what she thought she heard?

She didn't know how she should feel. On the one hand she was happy that her father entrusted her with something of this magnitude but on the other the idea of killing another human being just made her sick, even if it was in self-defense or to safe someone else.

Hitomi inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. She remained like that for a moment, her father patiently awaiting her answer. Letting out the breath of air she opened her eyes and locked them directly onto her father. The man that had raised her for eighteen years now, who had been there for her all the time and more so after her mother died years ago.

She knew that whatever he had decided that it would be the best for her.

"I'm ready, sensei and I promise to never use what you teach me lightly." she said with determination evident in her voice and eyes.

Joachim gave her a small smile and nodded.

"Let's begin then."

"Osu!" she said and stood up.

A gasp of pain escaped her as she awoke again. Her body hurt all over from the stress of the day and the beating she just got. Hitomi cracked open one of her eyes to see that the two Ninja she had beaten were already on their feet again, talking with the one that had defeated her so soundly.

Luckily for her they didn't pay her any mind as she rolled onto her back and hissed in pain. She was pretty sure one of her ribs was cracked, if not broken, and her side hurt from the impact on the ground. But that was nothing compared to the pain in her muscles.

She felt something pressing against her tongue and noted that she really had gotten one of her teeth knocked out. Great, if I get out of this I'll have to go see a dentist.

If she got out of here that is. Her eyes found the Ninja again and she tried listening in on their conversation.

"Master Jinosuke, we're sorry." said one of them to the scarier one.

"Yes we're sorry." the other one joined in. She half expected him to lash out at them but it seemed he didn't really care.

"Find me that Hajinmon bitch, alive." he told them. "She can't be far."

"What about the girl?"

Hitomi quickly closed her eyes to still appear unconscious and listened intently to what he said.

"We'll take her with us. She could be useful for the ritual." he said.

What ritual? Hitomi wondered and when she felt that it was safe enough she opened her eyes again. She saw them disperse to look around. Panic ran through her as she saw one of them starting to approach the lodge where Ayane was still lying in.

Gritting her teeth she rolled back onto her stomach and placed her palms on the ground. She inhaled and exhaled deeply, counting down from ten, and tried pushing herself onto her feet, but she only managed to fall flat on her face, making the blood that streamed down from her nose mix with the dirt.

Dammit! She couldn't let them get to Ayane. Who knew what they might do with her? And what was this ritual they talked of?

No she couldn't just let them have their way. She needed to do something. And the first thing she had to do was getting back on her feet. The German closed her eyes and tried to focus. She steadied her breathing and tried to remember what her father had told her.

The most important thing was her spirit, that was more important than technique and strength. A strong spirit could accomplish anything. The pain started to subside little by little and she tried once more to push herself of the ground.

Don't think of winning, think how you don't lose. She recalled one of the rules.

This time she didn't fall back down. Slowly she got onto her knees and from there back onto her legs. She could do this, she had to do this!

And today, it seemed, would be the first day that she had to use what her father had taught her years ago. She still didn't like the idea, but she couldn't let her morale get in the way here. It was, as her father had once told her, a matter of life and death.

And neither Ayane nor her were ready to die. Immediately her thoughts turned to Leifang and she found her resolve strengthening tenfold. If she didn't fight she might never see her again.

The three Ninja still hadn't noticed her and she narrowed her eyes in determination, fixing her gaze on the one that headed for the building.

Not today buster! She spit out the loose tooth and with a shout she ran towards him. The adrenaline shot through her, giving her a boost of strength. The Ninja didn't have time to react before she was upon him, his hand already reaching out to the door handle.

"Over my dead body you will!" she said and grabbed his shoulders from behind. Hitomi rammed her knee deep into his back, with so much force that she lifted him of the ground, letting him dangle a little on it, before bringing her elbow down to his face where it connected with a sickening crunch against his nose.

As if he was of no further consequence she let him sag to the floor and turned towards the other two. The scary one was nowhere to be seen, but the other one was running directly towards her. She met him head on.

Hitomi aimed a solid punch at his head, which he blocked of course, but that was exactly what she had wanted him to do, and he responded in kind.

Make adjustments according to your opponent. Instead of blocking she waited until the last moment to duck past him. She placed her left foot on his knee and used this as leverage to jump and slam her own knee into his face. Tumbling backwards from the impact it left him open for the fists that she brought down upon his torso utilizing all her strength and with each hit that she landed on him she heard the cracking of ribs.

She twisted around in time to dodge the attack from the first one, that had gotten back onto his feet more quickly than she had anticipated and was wielding a kunai now. That was a close one, but the attempt had left him open though.

Hitomi grabbed his right hand with her left and put her right hand behind his neck, then pulled him forward so that he fell onto his knee as she let go. The German pulled in her right leg and kicked him solidly against the forehead before quickly moving to the side, pulling her leg up in an almost 90° angle and using that momentum to stomp on his back with all her might, connecting against his spinal cord with a loud crack.

He wouldn't get up anymore.

Movement out of the corner of her eyes told her someone else was trying to lift himself up though. As she turned towards him he was already back on his legs.

But that was as much as she was willing to let him do. She grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him towards her, pushed her elbow out and slammed it right into his gut, then used its force to throw him over her back, never letting go of his arm. She planted her foot on his shoulder blade and at the same time twisted the arm painfully before jerking it to the right, followed by a sickening crack as it broke under the pressure she put on it, before letting go and kicking him in the ribs with all her might, feeling them finally shatter under her foot.

The Ninja coughed and she could faintly see the blood seeping through his mask. Out of mercy she aimed a solid kick against his temple to knock him out.

Without any medical attention he wouldn't last the night, so might as well make him not live through that.

Hitomi looked around, trying to spot the missing third one. Then, out of thin air he appeared before her. Taken aback she left herself open for him to grab her by the neck and lift her up. With a growl he tightened his grip, intend to squeeze the life out of her.

The German fought for air and tried to figure out how she could loosen his grip. Her eyes darted back and forth before finally focusing on something.

Victory depends on your ability to distinguish vulnerable points from invulnerable ones. Hitomi swung her legs up and delivered a kick directly against one of his eyes.

With a cry of pain he let her go and Hitomi fell to the floor. Gasping for air she got back onto her feet and immediately went into the offensive. Pulling her arms back she slammed them against his ribs, making him move back a little and, without giving him the chance to recover, spun in a 360° and kicked him hard against the torso.

The way he grabbed at it meant that she had done some damage. Good.

Not letting up anytime soon she dodged the angry swipe he aimed at her, ducked under it and brought her fist down directly onto his cubital joint, rendering the arm useless and leaving it hanging by his side.

With a furious cry he aimed a low kick at her, but she simply stomped on his foot with her own, pulled her arm back and punched him hard enough to send him flying backward.

He landed hard on the ground, like she had done, but unlike her he was back on his feet in a matter of seconds. His mask had come loose, revealing a face that used to be handsome, but was now marred with veins that ran through pale skin directly towards his almost glowing eyes.

He looked at his arm, grabbed it with his remaining one and set it right without even flinching.

What the hell are you? Hitomi's eyes widened at this. And in the blink of an eye he was gone.

Only to appear directly in front of her.

She couldn't react fast enough anymore as he threw himself at her, wrestling her to the floor and straddling her hips. He shot his hands out in front of himself and began forming hand signs with it, muttering something that she couldn't understand.

Suddenly the air around her started to charge and she saw Japanese characters forming. Panic gripped her once again and she tried to escape, but to no avail.

Then there was a movement in the air, followed closely by another, and blood hit her face as a blade stuck out of his chest. It was joined by another one not even a second later.

She heard two voices cry out and closed her eyes out of reflex as the swords were started to be pulled into opposite directions. She felt some more blood hit her torso and then there was no one on top of her anymore.

Opening her eyes again she was met by the familiar appearance of Hayate and Ryu Hayabusa.

"Hitomi." Hayate called out, his voice calm as ever, and held out a hand towards her. She took it and he helped her back onto her feet. "Are you alright?"

"I've been better." she said and felt relief wash over her. "But yeah, I'm fine."

She looked herself over to see her green and white jacket stained with blood. "Wish I could say the same about my jacket."

Hayate nodded at her. "Where's-"

"Ayane is in the lodge. She was injured, but she's fine." Hitomi said and could see the relief wash over his face and his shoulders becoming less tense.

He looked at her for a moment and said "Thank you."

All three of them turned to the building as the door opened, revealing the lavender-haired Kunoichi leaning against the door frame, holding her injured arm.

"Master Hayate..." she said and walked over to them. Hayate met her halfway and placed a hand on the shoulder of her good arm, giving her a reassuring smile. Hitomi could see Ayane averting her eyes and biting her lower lip in embarrassment and couldn't help but smile to herself as she finally understood. So that's how it is.

Hitomi turned to look at Ryu. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest and was staring at her.

"Very impressive." he said. "Not everyone can hold their own against Black Spider Ninja. It shows that you have come a long way on your way of becoming a true master."

"Thanks. That means a lot coming from you." Hitomi said. Ryu Hayabusa didn't give out compliments lightly. The man was a legend in his own right, so Hitomi couldn't help but feel a bit proud of herself.

Suddenly the pain in her side was back again, probably because the adrenaline stopped kicking in, and she placed her hand on it mostly out of reflex. Then she noticed something.

Strange, that hole wasn't there before. She thought and felt around more. And why does it feel like something's...sticking...out?

Hitomi pulled her hand away to look at it and noticed that it was stained with blood. Her blood.

Immediately her eyes darted to where she had been lying before and noticed one of the Ninja swords resting there. It had blood on it and was missing a good chunk of its tip.

The brunette felt her legs give out. "Oh shit..."

Thankfully Hayabusa was there to catch her and lie her gently down. "Hayate!" he shouted as he did so.

Hitomi felt herself grow cold and she looked straight up. Soon Ayane and Hayate entered her view as well.

"Hitomi!" Hayate called.

"She needs help, and quickly." she heard Ayane.

"Hayate, you and Ayane bring her back into town. I'll stay here and keep an eye on things." she heard Ryu say.

Their voices sounded hollow, as if they were far away. Her gaze turned towards the starry sky, and she saw the beautiful face of her girlfriend.

Call her...Need to call her. Tell her that I'm not mad anymore.

"Leifang." she managed to say.

And then the world went dark.

MUAHAHAHAHAHA. I know I'm an evil, sadistic person, so you don't have to tell me.
And look Joachim taught Hitomi some of Ein's moves!

See you next week.