Senshi (A Katana Novel)

by Cole Gibsen

  Our subtle communication was second nature. It re-newed the ache inside me. The hurt reminded me of the way things were and the way they were supposed to be. But I needed to pull myself free of the past. Whether I liked it or not, Kim was no longer a part of my life and it was time to kick some ninja ass and move on.

  The moment we stepped outside, the energy pulsing beneath my skin accelerated. I clenched my teeth together to keep from grimacing. The attack was moments away.

  I stopped walking and Carson stumbled, tightening his hand around mine. “Rileigh?”

  My mind raced as my skin burned from the cold beneath it. I had to think fast. “Carson … I … uh … I don’t think I can go with you.” I flinched at my own words. God, being a bitch was hard.

  “What?” Hurt flashed in his eyes. “Is it because of this loser?” He gestured to Kim.

  “No.” I had to clench my teeth together to keep from defending Kim—always my first instinct. We’d been protecting each other so long, it was habit. “This has nothing to do with Kim.”

  “Then why are you ditching me? Not even fifteen minutes ago you wanted to get something to eat.” Angry heat flushed his face. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’d like some answers.”

  Kim stepped forward before I could answer (which was a good thing considering I had no idea what to say). “It’s not what you think,” he said. “Rileigh’s not ditching you. There’s something else going on.”

  “Like what?” Carson folded his arms.

  For one terrifying moment I wondered if Kim was actually going to tell Carson we were moments away from a ninja attack. But that notion was quickly squashed when Kim took another step and struck. He moved so fast that I barely registered the impact as more than a blur of motion.

  Carson blinked once before his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the ground.

  “You knocked my date unconscious?” I ran forward and kneeled in front of Carson’s unmoving body. I placed my fingers against his neck and found his pulse steady and strong. I rocked back on my heels and stood. “Don’t you think that was a little dramatic?”

  Kim smiled. “I just hit a pressure point. It’s not like I gave him a concussion. He’ll be fine.”

  “You’re an ass.” I scowled at him, even though I secretly appreciated his quick thinking. And I knew Kim had extensive knowledge of pressure point combat. Carson wouldn’t be hurt when he woke, but he was going to have one hell of a headache.

  Kim ignored me and surveyed the parking lot. “How long have the ninja been following you?”

  “A better question would be, ‘When aren’t they following me?’”

  He whipped his head back to me, his eyes wide.

  “You didn’t know?” Sarcasm dripped from my words like venom. “Then again, how would you? You’re obviously much too busy going to the movies with Sumi and taking shopping trips to the mall. How would you have the time to find the ninja you promised to take care of?”

  He frowned. “It’s not like that.”

  My emotions rolled inside me like a washing machine on spin cycle. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. I wanted to hit him hard enough to break through his rib cage and pull his heart from his chest like he’d done to mine. “What sign have you given me otherwise?”

  He opened his mouth, but before the words came out, someone laughed behind us.

  I turned to find one of the ninja, the tall boy, walking toward us with the girl in tow. Both grinned widely. “How do you like that?” The guy motioned to Carson’s motionless body on the sidewalk. “They started without us.”

  The girl flexed her fingers. “That makes our job that much easier.”

  I shook my head. I missed the days when you could fight without the clichéd banter. Nowadays, it was all, “Blah, blah, blah … you don’t stand a chance … blah, blah, blah … revenge will be mine.” I missed the simplicity of get in, kill, and get out.

  Kim brought his hands in front of him into a defensive position. For a moment, it was all I could do to remember there were ninja who wanted to kill me. Having Kim beside me, ready to fight, was just like old times when, together, we could take on the world.

  God, I missed him so much.

  “Ready?” he asked me, his eyes locked on the ninja.

  So ready.

  The ninja smirked at each other. They reached into their pockets and withdrew small black sacks. A second later they hurtled them in the air. As the sacks tumbled toward us, their contents spilled out in an arc of twinkling powder—like fairy dust from hell.

  Crushed glass. Not awesome.

  “Metsubushi!” Kim cried. “Close your eyes!”

  Metsubushi, or bags of crushed glass, was a really sucky weapon to come across. If you got even a little bit of the crushed glass in your eyes, it could blind you for life. And I was a big fan of looking at things. But they were ninja, so of course they played dirty. And despite all of the misery Kim had put me through, I couldn’t—wouldn’t—let him get hurt.

  “I got this.” I stepped in front of him and let go of my ki. Energy poured from my outstretched fingers, painlessly and without effort. A shimmering blue wall stretched above our heads and collected the shower of glass. I raised my other hand and, with a conscientious flick, sent the broken glass hurtling back at the ninja.

  They cried out in surprise and pulled their jackets over their heads as a shield.

  “Nice.” Kim straightened his stance. “I see you’ve regained control of your ki.”

  No thanks to you, I thought.

  After the dust settled, the ninja uncovered their faces and brushed themselves off.

  Kim raised his fists. We were lucky it was late in the evening and no people milled about. “Which one do you want?” he asked.

  I turned away from him, my defensive stance mirroring his. As good as it felt to fight beside Kim, I knew it wouldn’t last. I was on my own, and it was something I had to get used to. “Both of them.”

  Kim didn’t say anything for a moment. But then I heard him move back. “I’m here if you need me.”

  Words. Empty, meaningless words.

  I pushed thoughts of Kim from my mind and concentrated on the energy swirling within me. I had to be careful; ki was the energy of my spirit. And each time I used it, it took time to replenish. If I used too much? Well, when your entire spirit left your body, the odds of survival were pretty slim.

  The two ninja charged, their eyes zeroed on me. After all, ninja were a dishonorable lot. If I was the one they were getting paid to kill, they’d avoid dirtying their hands on anyone but their target.

  My ki moved from my center into my hands where it pulsed against my fingertips. I held my stance, the energy building, my fingers burning, second by second, until a groan escaped my throat.

  The ninja were almost to me and Kim hadn’t moved. He got a few brownie points for that. He trusted me to take care of this and I would.

  When the ninja were only a few feet away, I released my ki, letting out just enough to form another shimmering wall in front of me.

  The ninja didn’t see what hit them. Literally.

  Both of them cried out and stumbled backward. The girl doubled over, covering her nose. Blood seeped from the cracks of her fingertips.

  The guy got off a little easier. Rather than hitting face-first like his friend, he lay on his back with his knee pulled against his chest. I called the ki back to me and it answered in a rush, fluttering the hair around my face in its return. Easy-peasey, now that the kunoichi was out of my head.

  I lifted my fists in front of my face and licked my lips. Thanks to the kunoichi messing with my ki, it had been awhile since I had the upper hand in a fight. I missed it. “You don’t have to do this,” I told the ninja. “You could return the money to whoever paid you and we could all go home and watch television in our jammies. This fight
? So not worth it.”

  The guy slowly rose to his feet. “You’re pretty cocky for someone about to die.”

  I sighed. How anyone could choose a fight to the death over a movie night at home was beyond me.

  He rushed me. Before I could move, he ducked down and grabbed my wrist, pulling it behind my back. A twinge of pain coursed along my shoulder and he twisted it farther, daring to pull it from the socket.

  Kim stepped forward, but I gave him a look that stopped him in his tracks. “I got this,” I said between clenched teeth.

  I crouched down, jumped up, and pushed off of the ninja’s thighs. I flipped over backward and landed on my feet with my arm untwisted in front of me. Locking my fingers around the ninja’s wrist, I pulled him closer to me.

  His mouth gaped in surprise.

  I whispered, “We could be home in our jammies.” With our hands still locked on each other’s wrists, I used my free hand to push hard against his chest. He stumbled back, and I used his lack of balance as the moment to yank down on his arm. As he fell forward, I ducked down and balanced on one foot while kicking the other until my heel collided with his head.

  He crumpled to the ground without a sound.

  “Well done,” Kim said.

  I stood and cracked my knuckles. The fight wasn’t over yet. The remaining ninja watched me warily from the ground, her blood-coated hands still cupped around her nose. I kneeled beside her. “I want this to stop.”

  The girl dropped her hands and smiled, her teeth stained pink from the blood streaming from her nose. “I’m sure you do. But do you think she will stop? Even if you kill me. Even if you kill us all. She will find more. She won’t stop until you’re dead.” The ninja shook the blood from her hands.

  I stood and brushed my hands on my jeans. “I thought you might say that. That’s why you’re going to give the kunoichi a message for me.”

  “Kunoichi?” I could hear the surprise in Kim’s voice. I should have known he wouldn’t have a clue about anything going on—so wrapped up in his new life with Sumi. “Rileigh, what’s going on?”

  I shook my head. It didn’t matter if he knew or not. It didn’t change things. I fought alone now. Well, unless you counted Whitley, but that was too weird to think about.

  I gathered the remaining energy swirling inside of me and pushed it into a ball inside my core—so tight my body shook. My fingers trembled from the force of harnessing so much energy into a space so small. I’d never done this particular trick before, but I needed to prove a point. It was going to work or it wasn’t.

  “The only message I’m going to deliver is your head.” Her eyes narrowed with hate.

  “Yeaaaah, no. I’m keeping my head and you’re going to tell the kunoichi that her Jedi mind tricks didn’t work. Not only did I unlock my powers, but they’ve grown.”

  The girl laughed. “That’s impossible.”

  “Is it?” Viper fast, I grabbed her throat and squeezed down with enough pressure that I could feel her pulse struggle against my hand.

  She gasped.

  My ki exploded, swirling my hair above my head like an invisible tornado. I pushed it into her screaming mouth and down her throat until I found my target. If I closed my eyes I could feel them—her lungs and the air within.

  “What are you doing?” Kim asked from beside me. Funny, I hadn’t noticed him move. There was something in his voice. Fear maybe? I didn’t have time to think about it. I couldn’t break my concentration or my hold on her would be lost. Instead, I concentrated on drawing the oxygen from her body.

  She gasped and clawed at her throat. I let go of her neck; I could keep my hold on her without touching her. It felt like invisible lines of silk connecting the spaces between us. I pulled on the invisible lines and she fell to her knees, a hissing croak escaping through her flapping lips.

  I stared at her. “You will not breathe until I let you. Got that?”

  She nodded, her eyes impossibly wide and lined with swollen veins, threatening to burst. She clenched a hand into a fist and beat it against the concrete, over and over until her skin split and blood coated her knuckles.

  And yet, all I could do was watch, transfixed. I wanted her to suffer. Suffer for the pain she’d caused me in this life. And suffer for the pain ninja had caused me in the last life. I wanted her to hurt. I wanted her to stare into the eyes of death and see that he had no pity and played no favorites.

  “You’re killing her.” Kim’s voice was a whisper in my ear. Matter-of-fact, without a hint of condemnation. I wondered if he harbored as much hate for the ninja as I did.

  But as much as I would have loved to rid the world of one more ninja parasite, I needed her. I crouched beside her, cocking my head as I watched her struggle. “And you’ll deliver my message? You’ll let the kunoichi know that I’m through playing games?”

  She nodded her head so fast it looked like she was convulsing—maybe she was.

  “Good.” I let go of my hold on her.

  She released a ragged gasp. Her chest shuddered and her back arched as she sucked in gulps of air. “The kunoichi’s not going to like this,” she said when she was finally able to speak.

  “I really don’t care.”

  “You should.” The girl glared at me a moment longer, as if deciding something. Finally, she gave a curt nod and rose unsteadily to her feet. “I hope you have a plan. She’s not going to stop until you and the boy are dead.”

  I lifted my chin. “You let me worry about that.”

  She nodded, spun on her feet, and trotted away, disappearing into the shadows of the parking garage.

  I glanced at her abandoned partner, motionless beside Carson’s unconscious body. Ninja ethics. I snorted. A samurai would never leave a fallen comrade behind.

  I stepped toward Carson only to come nose to chest with Kim. I stumbled back before I collided into him. “What the—?” I had my ki, he had his annoying super-fast movement.

  He crossed his arms. “You want to tell me what the hell is going on?”

  I walked around him. “Nope.” What good would it do? It was better that I kept him out of my problems, and out of my life.

  “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.” He grabbed my shoulder, my muscles tightening under his fingers.

  “I neither want nor need your help.” I fought the urge to shake his hand off.

  He let go of my shoulder and I continued walking to Carson.

  “I’m leaving.”

  I paused. “Yeah, I kinda figured. You’ve been away from Sumi for what? A whole hour? You better run along before she gets herself killed by bandits.” I flinched inwardly as soon as the words left my lips. It was a nasty thing to say, but that’s what heartache does. It doesn’t play nice, it doesn’t care about feelings, it pulls the worst from you and lays it on the table.

  “No,” Kim said. “I’m leaving the country.”

  That stopped me. “What?” Turning slowly, I saw his eyes locked on the new suitcase by his side.

  “I’m going back to Japan.”

  Something inside of me cracked and I couldn’t breathe. Pain unlike any I’d experienced before ripped through my gut. “For how long?”

  He shook his head. “Rileigh, I’m … I’m not coming back.”

  I didn’t think I’d ever feel agony worse than the moment I’d thrust my own dagger into my gut to end my life. I was wrong.

  And still he wouldn’t look at me. His eyes remained locked on the damned suitcase. “Sumi wants a fresh start away from … ” But even though he left his sentence unfinished, I knew exactly whom Sumi wanted to get away from.

  “Me.” My voice wavered. I balled my fingers into fists to keep them from trembling. But my effort was for nothing. The tremors traveled from my arms into my chest and down into my legs until my entire body shook.

 
“Yes.” His voice choked with what sounded like regret. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

  I didn’t remember walking toward him, but there I was, within touching distance, my empty hand reaching for … I had no idea. Realizing what I was about to do, I dropped my hand to my side. “Why?” I asked. “I still don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

  “I know!” He looked at me then, his eyes wide and full of pain. “I don’t understand it entirely, myself. I just know it’s the right thing to do. I feel it. I owe it to her.”

  I wanted to shake him, no, hit him. Anything to get him to realize that he was making the biggest mistake of his life. “You don’t owe her anything! Her death was not your fault.”

  He shook his head and stepped forward, but instead of stopping in front of me, he sidestepped so that he stood next to me, our shoulders touching, but each of us looking a different direction. “I miss you so much. God. It’s killing me.”

  Surprised, I looked at him. His eyes were closed, but even so, he looked every bit as miserable as I felt.

  His fingers entwined with mine and the jagged pieces of my broken heart climbed inside my throat and threatened to choke me. But I couldn’t let go. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t let go.

  “I’m worried,” he continued. “I know danger premonitions are your thing, but I can’t shake the feeling that something really bad is coming for you. That’s why I told Sumi I didn’t want to leave yet. That I couldn’t leave until we caught whoever was after you.”

  “And what did she say?”

  He sighed. “Honestly? I don’t remember. All of our arguments seem to blur together nowadays. Something about you being able to take care of yourself.” He shook his head. “I love you, Rileigh. I’ll never love anyone else the way I love you.”

  I stared at our entwined fingers, the gesture, like everything else, was a lie. Anger rose from the shambles of my heart like a phoenix, igniting my entire body with its heat. “Sometimes, Kim, I hate you.”

  He nodded. “I know.” He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulled me close, and kissed me.