Senshi (A Katana Novel)

by Cole Gibsen

  “No.” He opened his eyes and looked at me. “I’m not strong like you and the others. I’m not a samurai.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why you hang out with me. I’m weak. I slow you down. I can’t fight so I only get in the way.”

  I jerked him forward so our foreheads almost bumped. “That’s BS. The kunoichi’s infection is making you think that.” But I wasn’t sure if that was true. Did Quentin really feel that, because he wasn’t a samurai, he didn’t deserve to be my friend? “Q, you are the bravest person I know. When that mugger attacked us last summer, you jumped in front of me without hesitating. And tonight, you were ready to fight Whitley—and he’s psychotic.”

  A pained smile pulled at his lips. “Maybe I’m just stupid.”

  “No. It means you’re a good friend. The best friend I have. You’re the only one who hasn’t abandoned me. And you were able to fight a mind assault from a powerful kunoichi. You are strong, and I’d be happy to have you fight by my side.”

  The smile dissolved from his face. He closed his eyes and fell silent. When he didn’t move for several moments, I leaned forward, my lungs tight with worry. “Q?”

  He opened his eyes, only they were no longer his eyes. Gone were the beautiful green irises, replaced instead by a milky white haze.

  “Q!” Threads of fear laced across my chest. What if I’d been wrong? What if, by trying to help him, I’d only helped him root the infection deeper into his mind. What if he was … gone? I placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him hard enough to make his head bobble on his neck. “Look at me!”

  He blinked several times, and gradually the white haze faded, leaving his eyes shining with relief. He smiled. “It’s gone.”

  I stared at him, afraid to touch him and shatter this too-good-to-be-true moment. “Are you sure?”

  Q threw his arms around me and crushed me to his chest. “I’m sure.” His voice hitched around a sob. “Ri-Ri, I’m so sorry. I never meant the awful things I said to you or the horrible way I treated you.”

  I hugged him back. “It wasn’t your fault.” And it wasn’t. The kunoichi better hope Whitley found her before I did. Either way, I was going to make sure she paid for the hell she’d put me and Quentin through.

  Q didn’t answer, only continued to hug me to his chest. Locked inside his arms, I realized the knot of tension had been the only thing keeping me together. Now that it was unraveling, I felt myself coming undone. A sob escaped my throat and Q brought a hand to the back of my head. I was so tired. So tired of the ninja, my heartache, and so tired of feeling like I was in this alone.

  But now I had my best friend back. And I was going to do whatever it took to make sure the kunoichi didn’t mess with us again.

  40

  I never would have guessed after being chased through a museum by security guards, the next night I’d be doing something even less fun.

  Carson and I exited the mall’s movie theater and walked down the wide aisle between the clothing shops and jewelry stores. He shuffled next to me, his stride uneven as he struggled to match the pace of my short legs.

  I shouldn’t be here. It made me twitchy just thinking about the kunoichi and what she might have planned next. I should be with Whitley, hunting her. Not on the world’s most uncomfortable date.

  As we walked aimlessly, our swinging hands accidentally brushed. I flinched and Carson jammed his hands into his pockets.

  This was going to be a long night.

  “So, uh … ” Carson’s voice broke our marathon of silence.

  I looked at him expectantly. He had to realize this date was a disaster. We hadn’t said more than a couple of words since he picked me up. We barely made eye contact. I didn’t know about him, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I silently wished he would suggest we call it a night.

  “Do you want to grab a bite in the food court?”

  No such luck. I shrugged. “Sounds good.” Even if the date was a disaster, that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy a greasy egg roll.

  As I walked with Carson to the food court, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d ever find someone I’d love as much as Kim. Just thinking about him made my heart clench in pain. How long would it be until I could go out with another guy and not spend the entire time thinking about Kim? How long until the mention of his name didn’t rip claws through my chest? How long until I could walk through the mall without seeing him exit a luggage store with a brand-new carry-on set in tow?

  Wait. What?

  I hadn’t meant to stop walking, but my feet had rooted themselves to the ground and wouldn’t budge. I couldn’t breathe. He was really here. Close enough that I could run up to him and throw my arms around his neck.

  But no. I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t do that ever again.

  “Rileigh?”

  I blinked at the flannel-shirt-wearing boy next to me and tried to remember who he was and what I was doing with him. I shook my head, forcing my eyes away from Kim. “Sorry, Carson. I-I know that guy.”

  Carson glanced at Kim and a pinched look crossed his face. “The guy from the theater. I remember … Do you want to say hi or something?”

  I barely suppressed a laugh. That was the last thing I wanted to do. Actually, I wanted to punch Kim in the face. Really hard. I wanted to make him suffer, make him bleed for ripping out my heart and pretending I didn’t matter.

  But at the same time, I wanted to throw my arms around him and kiss him. I wanted him to admit he still loved me. That he was sorry for hurting me. I wanted him to take back all of the hurt he’d inflicted on me and promise he’d never do it again.

  And then I’d hit him again. And kiss him again. And I’d keep doing both until I’d burned every ounce of torment from my body.

  Yeaaaaah. That didn’t sound healthy. But I’d worry about that later.

  I shook my head. “I don’t want to say hi. We were friends once. But now … not so much.” I thought of Yoshido and all the nights we’d spent entwined in each other’s arms. I thought of his kisses and the words he whispered hot against my neck. I shivered. “Yoshido is dead.”

  Carson’s eyes widened. “Who’s dead?”

  I laughed nervously and waved my hand dismissively. Stupid Rileigh. “Nothing. Let’s get some food.”

  “Okay.” He smiled and held out his hand.

  I paused, staring at his open palm as another awkward moment passed between us. Finally, Carson dropped his hand and looked away, but not before I saw the hurt pass through his eyes.

  God, I was making this so much worse. “No. I’m sorry.” I snatched his hand and curled my fingers around his. His hand felt weird entwined with mine. His fingers didn’t overlap quite right with my much smaller ones. We didn’t fit. Not like Kim and me. But there was no Kim and me. There was only me, the mall, and Carson. Who was a cute boy. A nice boy. This could work. I would make this work.

  Carson stared at me with an unreadable expression. “You’re a hard one to figure out, Rileigh Martin.”

  “Yeah, I know.” We continued to the food court. I resisted the itching inside of me that ached to watch Kim walk away. I couldn’t help but wonder why he needed a new suitcase. But it didn’t matter. Nothing Kim bought or did was any of my concern. “I’ll give you the Wikipedia summary and save us some time.”

  Carson waited.

  “Likes—skating and greasy food.”

  He nodded. “Both good things.”

  “Dislikes—getting stabbed.”

  His laugh was both surprised and nervous. “Yeah, I’m not a fan of getting stabbed, either.”

  I smiled back. We had things in common. That was good, right? Maybe I could do this dating thing, after all. Easy-peasey.

  As we approached the food court, the smells of frying oil and salt greeted my noise. Ahhh, heaven.

  “What would you like?” Carson asked.

&n
bsp; I surveyed the various fast-food counters with everything from the greasy Americanized version of Chinese food to the greasy Americanized version of Mexican food and everything greasy and Americanized in between. “One of each, please.”

  He laughed and pulled me toward a pizza counter. “How’s this?”

  I opened my mouth to answer him when a prickly, cold sensation spread across my body. A feeling that could only mean one thing: Someone here wanted to hurt me, and not just in a clog-my-arteries-so-I-die-of-heart-disease kind of way, either.

  Son of hibachi.

  “Uh, Rileigh?”

  I glanced at Carson, who was staring at my white-knuckled grip on his hand. I quickly let go. “Sorry.”

  He flexed his fingers as he shook his hand. “Did anyone ever tell you that you’re kind of strong for a girl?”

  I ignored him and surveyed the food court. It was almost eight o’clock, so there weren’t many diners. Two young mothers and their toddlers sat at a table to my right. To my far left sat a man surrounded by shopping bags; the woman he was with chatted away on her cell phone. Definitely not ninjas.

  But they were here. I could sense them … somewhere.

  “Rileigh, are you okay?”

  I shook my head as I continued surveying the passing shoppers. “I don’t think so. All of a sudden my stomach feels all flip-floppy. I think it was the jalapeño nachos I ate at the movie.”

  “Really? You seemed fine a second ago.”

  “Funny how fast those things work through your system, huh?”

  I grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the food court, retracing our steps toward the theater and the parking lot beyond. I had to get Carson out of here before whatever was going to happen happened.

  I half-jogged, half-pulled Carson through the thinning crowds of shoppers. But the pressure under my skin continued to build until I felt like an overinflated balloon. Somewhere, somehow, the ninja were closing in.

  I pulled Carson into the nearest store, hoping to lose the ninja by ducking through the racks. And then maybe I could catch a glimpse of whoever was after me.

  “Um, Rileigh … ” Carson fidgeted in place, his face crimson. He looked really uncomfortable.

  And then I spotted the table full of bras next to him and realized why. I had pulled him inside of a Victoria’s Secret. Lovely.

  “Hi!” A perky blonde with a French twist and a black pantsuit approached us. “What can I help you find today?” She pulled a measuring tape off of her shoulder. “I’d be happy to measure you to make sure you’re wearing the correct cup size.”

  Carson stared at the ceiling, his cheeks burned so red they bordered on purple.

  “Um … ” Sometimes I missed the simplicity of being a samurai long ago. If someone was after you, you could just cut their heads off. And if you did it in public, odds were people would even cheer. If I did that now, I was pretty sure I’d no longer have a social life. “My cups are fine, thanks.” As soon as I said it, I wanted to bash my head against the nearest wall.

  Before the saleslady could argue, I pulled Carson out of the store. So much for hiding. Walking through the mall, the sensation buzzed below my skin greater than before. My skin crawled and my pulse skipped. I half-walked, half-ran toward the parking lot, lugging Carson behind me like a frightened pony. We’d just turned a corner around a cell phone kiosk when I spotted them.

  A tall, dark-haired boy wearing a black T-shirt and jeans walked briskly in my direction, followed by a dark-skinned girl with mocha hair and chili pepper lips. Her smile oozed acid.

  They weren’t the same ninja from my street fight, but if the buzzing beneath my skin was any indicator, I had no doubt these two intended to bring the hurt.

  So, I had a decision to make and fast. Of course they were here to kill me. But what did I do about it? They didn’t want to throw down in the middle of the mall, did they? But of course they were ninja, so anything was possible. Either way, I couldn’t let them get close to me or Carson. They’d use his inexperience against me.

  If I could just make it to the parking lot, maybe I could convince Carson to leave without me. And then I could take care of the ninja on my own. But if Carson wouldn’t leave, well, I doubted he had Be killed by ninjas penciled in on his schedule. I only hoped I could get us out of this in one piece.

  41

  I kept my gaze locked over my shoulder, watching the two ninja close in on us from behind. If we could pick up the pace, we’d reach the doors to the parking lot. Just a little farther …

  “Rileigh.” Carson jerked free from my grip. “Look out.”

  Before I could glimpse what he was warning me about, I collided into something hard—something that smelled like sandalwood.

  Son of hibachi.

  I wobbled back, dazed from my Kim impact, when Carson took my hand and pulled me against him. “Sorry about that. My girl isn’t feeling so great.”

  My girl? I fought the urge to make a face at him. I had more important things to deal with than Carson’s sudden possessiveness.

  I watched the ninja, who hung back but still watched the scene with interest. At least I knew they weren’t going to make their move around bystanders. This was good news. Maybe I could find a way to ditch Carson, after all.

  “Are you okay?” Kim asked. His soft tone pulled at the slivers of thread keeping me together. God, I’d missed his voice.

  I locked my jaw and dared to look at him. To my surprise, I didn’t burst into flames of agony. But I did feel the knife of pain, still buried in my heart, twist. I would never forgive him for doing this to me. Not in this lifetime. Not in a thousand lifetimes.

  Carson cleared his throat, pulling me back to the world that existed beyond me and Kim—a world with ninja who wanted to kill me.

  Right. Focus, Rileigh.

  “We have to go,” I told Kim. I tightened my grip on Carson’s hand, knowing it was the only thing keeping me rooted in place. Even now, with all my anger, I could still feel his pull, the need to stand next to him, to touch him, to—NO! I had to focus. “Later.” I only hoped it hurt Kim to see me with someone else as much as it hurt me to see him with Sumi. Still holding Carson’s hand, I brushed past Kim, not bothering to keep my shoulder from bumping against him as I walked past. I didn’t have time for personal drama. I had staying alive to worry about.

  “Rileigh, wait.”

  My feet stopped moving. Just like that. Despite the fact I’d rather be trapped in an entire room full of ninja than to be in a five-mile radius of Kim, he still had the ability to stop me in my tracks. And I hated him for it—for the hold he had over me. Anger simmered in the pit of my stomach. Anger at Kim for making me love him, and anger at myself for being unable to stop.

  Carson’s hand slid out of mine.

  “What, Kim?” I didn’t bother to hide the acid in my voice.

  Next to me Carson snickered. “His name is Kim?”

  Kim frowned, as if noticing him for the first time. His eyes traveled over Carson’s frame and I knew Kim was sizing him up.

  Awesome. Not only did I have ninja to deal with but now I had a pissing contest between two boys.

  I tried to ease the tension by smoothing the anger out of my voice. “Is there something you wanted?”

  Kim looked at me, but his gaze kept flicking to Carson. “Yes … I need to talk to you.”

  I wanted to laugh. He had a month to talk to me. So why now, on ninja date night, was it so important? “Now’s not really a good time.”

  “Why?”

  “We’re kinda on a date, dude.” Carson’s shoulders tightened.

  I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Of course this was happening now. I considered waving the ninja over. I would have preferred fighting them to this.

  Kim let go of his suitcase. “This is more important than your date, dude.”

&nbs
p; Carson’s eyes narrowed. “Get a clue. Rileigh said she doesn’t want to talk to you.” He took a step forward. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but I had to stop him before he got hurt. In a way, it was cute to think he thought he was defending me. Little did he know, I could break every bone in his body using only my index finger. I placed a hand on Carson’s chest and pushed him back.

  “I got this,” I told him.

  Slowly, he backed off. But he didn’t look happy about it.

  Kim, on the other hand, was smiling a stupid cocky grin. So annoying.

  I placed my hands on my hips. “Look, Gimhae, you want to talk to someone? Remember those three friends I made outside the art gallery downtown? Their buddies are here. Why don’t you go talk to them?”

  The smile melted from his face as his eyes widened in shock. He scanned the passing shoppers. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.”

  He stared at me a moment longer, as if trying to tell me something—but I wasn’t getting the message. Finally, he gave a curt nod. “You know, maybe I should be going.”

  Carson folded his arms across his chest. “That’s probably a good idea.”

  Ignoring him, Kim grabbed the handle of his suitcase and wheeled it behind him. “Where are you parked?”

  I nodded to the exit down the hall. “Out there.”

  He smiled. “What a coincidence. That’s where I’m parked, too.”

  Carson scoffed. It wasn’t like I believed Kim, either. But if we were about to have a showdown with ninja, I definitely didn’t mind the backup. Now I just had to figure out what to do with Carson.

  As we started down the hall, the ninja followed. Kim watched my gaze and nodded to let me know he’d spotted them too.