Relax, I'm A Ninja

by Whipple, Natalie

  Courtney looked down. “I told you I got recruited at five, right? That’s not normal. In Okinawa an ex-Akuma sensed my spiritual strength. I’m possibly half of an Inyo. So they forced me into the Saburau and told me all these pretty stories about how someday I’d find my soul mate. They’d bring boys with strong spirits to see me and make me kiss them, but nothing ever happened. I stopped believing that I’d ever find my other half. Until just now I didn’t even think it was possible.”

  I couldn’t find words. She honestly thought she’d be alone forever. I wondered how it would feel if that happened to me. If Mom hadn’t hidden me from her Clan, would I have been shipped off somewhere and paired up with random girls until we glowed? And how would I feel if it never happened? It sure explained a lot about Courtney.

  “That’s why you …” Amy stared at her, but this time with surprising concern. “You thought Tosh might be your other half. You had to see just in case.”

  “What? I …” Courtney’s eyes were wide, her face bright red. Then she looked out her window, as if eye contact was too hard. “Yeah, I’m sorry. If I had known you were Inyo, I wouldn’t have.”

  Amy pursed her lips like she was trying to decide what to say. “I’m sorry for thinking you were a major bitch. That sucks.”

  Courtney smirked, glancing at me briefly. “It all evens out. At least I know it can actually happen. Maybe it’s not over for me yet.”

  “We’re young. You have plenty of time,” Amy said.

  Courtney smiled, a warm, pleasant sight in comparison to the smug grins I was used to. She turned to me, a strange kind of relief on her face. “So, what’s the plan?”

  If I’d known a little common ground was all it took to get her on board, I would have told her the truth right from the start. “We want to take out the Akuma, but we’re not stupid enough to do it without backup.”

  She nodded. “I can manage that. First we have to find them.”

  “Have the Saburau found any other suspects?” I’d hoped that Eddie was off the hook and I didn’t know it. He kept going to that comic book store, and the owner wouldn’t talk to us.

  “We’ve investigated several leads, but nothing’s come of it.” She hesitated a moment, scrunching her face. “I haven’t mentioned Eddie. We have to look into that ourselves.”

  I sighed. There was still one other person I could push. “What about Logan?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re still going on about that? Look, I’ve checked into it. He’s clean, no matter how suspicious you think he is.”

  “Well, Eddie’s clean, too. If we’re suspecting him, it’s only fair we check Logan as well.” I folded my arms, angry that no one would listen to me. Maybe I was being stubborn, but I didn’t care.

  “Fine, we’ll check him out if Eddie’s clean. That okay with you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Any deaths?” Amy asked after we’d planned how to test Eddie.

  “Three. If they get one more, there’s no doubt they’ll attack the dojo.” Courtney stopped pacing and took a deep breath. “Sensei, your mother, is about as bullheaded as they come, so she might never admit this, but we need you two. Desperately. The Saburau can slow the Akuma down, maybe get a lucky kill, and protect the kami from oblivion. But we can’t stop them, not permanently.”

  I nodded. I had a feeling the Saburau were hurting. Three more deaths—we needed to stop this before we had murders every night, before they had enough kami to attack the dojo and kill my dad.

  “Should we try to convince Marty to help?” Amy asked.

  Courtney’s perfect nose wrinkled up. “He’s worthless.”

  “He is not,” I said. I’d learned from Saburau training that Marty held back a lot on purpose. No one expected much of him, which gave him an element of surprise. “We need all the help we can get, and I trust him more than the others. Can you get a hold of him?”

  Courtney rolled her eyes, but grabbed her phone and scrolled through her contacts, finally putting her phone to her ear. She let out an exasperated sigh. “Shut up, Perry. How close are you to my house?” I thought she might crush her phone as she listened to him. “You wish. Get over here.” She hung up.

  Once Marty showed up, we told him the plan. He was all for it, motivated by the idea of working so close with Courtney. He spent the whole time flirting with her—she spent the whole time insulting him. I started to wonder if he actually liked her.

  “Sounds good.” Marty sat up from the bed and ran his fingers through his curly blond hair. “Call when you need me, Court.”

  “Get out.” She threw a shuriken at him, which he caught it mid-air. Impressive. He went to the window, cracked it open, and then winked at her before he jumped out. The smallest smile crept onto her lips. “Idiot.”

  “I guess we’ll do this tomorrow.” I stood up, and Amy took my hand as we headed for the door.

  “Yup.” Courtney was staring out the window. “Tosh? Amy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I hope you know just how hard this will be. Don’t get cocky because of your powers. The Akuma have them, too. You could get hurt.” She looked back to us, concern in her eyes. “You could die.”

  “We know,” Amy said, squeezing my hand.

  “We’re prepared,” I added. Though if I thought about it too much, I wasn’t sure it was possible to be ready for what we were about to face.

  32

  My dad didn’t bat an eye when I told him we were going out that night, but I had a feeling he knew something was up. He had to have known. We’d been like hungry bears in training—one-track mind on the picnic basket. No games. No joking. We had to be the best we could for the possible fight.

  We were both quiet as we geared up in my room. Though we’d gone out in ninja gi before, it was the first time we were going out with a full bag of tricks. If Eddie wasn’t innocent, we had to have all the tools to face him and whoever else showed up. I still didn’t know if I could fight him…hurt him. I pushed the fear down. If he was an Akuma, he wasn’t the friend I knew. He was a demon who wanted to kill my dad.

  “Where the heck do I put these?” Amy held up her sai, and I smirked.

  “Here.” I took one from her. Then I pulled the waistband of her pants out and slid the weapon in until the prongs sat right on her hip.

  She had a wide smile on her face. “Care to do the other one?”

  “Sure.” I wasn’t about to pass up that opportunity. I grabbed the other sai and slid it in place. “How does that feel? Can you move?”

  She took a few steps around the room, sat on the bed, did a high kick, and a few squats. “Yeah, feels weird, but I should be fine.”

  “We’ll have to get you a harness for next time, that way you can carry them on your back. Mine definitely won’t fit you.”

  “Well, now I have to survive.”

  “Good.” I grabbed my sword. Since I didn’t usually take it out, it felt strange to strap the sheath to my waist. The blade only went to my mid-thigh—shorter so it could be drawn faster and concealed better—but I didn’t feel safer having it on me. Bringing it meant I might have to use it.

  “What next?” Amy asked.

  “Shuriken—in your leg wrap, tips down so you don’t accidentally prick yourself. They have Serpent Scale on them.” I divided them between us. Then I stuffed my half in between the dark blue fabric around my calf.

  I grabbed four black eggs and handed two to her. “This is Bat’s Eye. Throw that in their eyes and they’ll be temporarily blind. Left pocket.”

  She nodded and took the little eggs. I pulled a wooden box from under my bed and turned the lock to the correct code. Amy laughed. “Um, pyro?”

  “No, most of these explosives only emit smoke. Good way to distract and find a place to hide.” I pulled out four round smoke bombs and held one up for her to see. “Pull this little string and it’ll spew smoke. Right pocket.”

  I gave her two and stuffed mine into my pocket. Then I grabbed a couple of noisemaker
s.

  “These will make a small explosion to get people looking or running in the other direction. Throw them against something hard. Inside pocket.” I handed her a few and she smiled.

  “I’m running out of pockets.” She tried to stay upbeat, but her voice quivered. Geared up like this, the reality of the situation was setting in for me, too. My palms already sweated too much.

  “One more thing.” I went to my desk and grabbed two vials of Spirit’s Grace. I put mine in the pocket right over my heart. Amy took hers and did the same.

  “That’s it.” We had all the tricks we could carry and just had to put our headgear on. We looked at each other for a moment, and the same doubt I felt flitted across her face. Tonight could be nothing—Eddie could just be Eddie. But the other option weighed on me. Could we really fight four Akuma if they all showed up? Things had been better between us, but it wasn’t perfect. Hopefully we’d be strong enough, because if our connection failed we’d be dead.

  “Okay, then come here.” She hugged me so tight it hurt, but I hugged her just as hard. I focused on her, on our relationship, as we shared one more kiss. We had to be one tonight and put all our troubles in the past. I soaked in everything about her, and we glowed an ethereal green. We were so close she may as well have been me.

  “I…I love you.” It felt weird to say it out loud, though it was true. I figured it might make us stronger, and she had to know in case it all went wrong tonight.

  “I know. Love you, too.” She nuzzled into me and we glowed brighter.

  “Let’s head out.” I reluctantly let her go. Then we put on our headgear and climbed out the window. We ran over rooftops in the darkness. It was approaching nine—about the time Eddie would leave for the comic store. I sped up the pace so we wouldn’t miss him. If he changed his pattern, we had to be there to know.

  I didn’t see Courtney or Marty, but I didn’t expect to. They were supposed to meet up at her house and stay far behind us in case Eddie could sense the Saburau like Courtney said. We couldn’t have him bolt and call in reinforcements.

  Eddie’s house was barely lit when we got there, mostly because his parents preferred to use electricity for their computers and not the lights. A dim blue shone through his blinds and two windows downstairs, and we stayed hidden in the shadows while his parents’ town car pulled in front of the house and honked.

  The light from his room disappeared. I held my breath, waiting for him to leave the house and listening for any signs of trouble. He came out, dressed in the same long trench coat from the other nights. He scanned his surroundings and shifted something underneath his coat. He looked on edge as he stalked to the car. I felt sick. The way he moved reminded me of Simon the night Amy got stabbed. He was hiding something.

  Amy pulled at my hand. “We gotta get running.”

  “Right.”

  We sprinted for the next house, keeping an eye on the town car. We knew its likely destination, so we didn’t have to stay too close. With stoplights and traffic, we were never far behind. It got more challenging when we hit downtown. Amy and I scaled the smaller buildings, but we had to jump into the alleys once they got too tall and slick. No use climbing a forty-story skyscraper when your target was on the ground.

  The comic store was near Chinatown, where some signs had kanji characters as well as English. The town car pulled over. Eddie got out, waiting until his driver left to make his move. Amy and I hid across the street under a truck. I peeked from behind the wheel as Eddie teetered on his feet for a moment before disappearing into the alley behind the closed comic store.

  My heart pounded as I waited for a clear moment to cross the street. When it came, we ran into a dark shadow by the alley dumpster. The light from the door at the back made the grimy fog glow a sickly gray.

  “Eddie, just in time. Do we have a treat for you,” a man said with a heavy accent. My mind raced over what kind of treat it could be. It could be something completely innocent, but then again, what if he walked out glowing? I shuddered.

  The door slammed and all was dark and hazy. Amy and I crept from our hiding place toward the back door. It was a narrow alley, but surprisingly long. It felt like minutes before we reached the end.

  “So, I guess this is it, huh,” Amy whispered as she took my hand.

  “Yeah.” I swallowed hard, knowing what we had to do. Our glow had already waned from following him at such a pace. We’d have to kiss to lure him out. But we had decided on our own to be bait this time—that was what made it okay.

  A big part of me didn’t want to kiss Amy. I was terrified of the truth about Eddie, terrified of discovering once and for all if he’d been the one playing me this whole time. All the people I’d blindly trusted in my life had turned out to be secret ninjas or ex-evil ninjas. Eddie would be the last straw. I would never trust my own judgment again.

  “You okay?” Amy rubbed my arm. “Do you need a minute?”

  “No. Let’s get it over with.” I took a deep breath, pulling my headgear down so I could kiss her. She did the same and then wrapped her arms around me. We leaned in slowly, like we both wanted to put it off for a few more seconds. Finally our lips met.

  “Tosh!” Courtney cried just as we’d got going. I whirled around, drawing my sword as a precaution.

  She came into view, and it wasn’t pretty. Her hair was a wild mess of knots. Mascara ran down her cheeks from horrified eyes. Her left arm was drenched in blood. She hugged it, shaking as she heaved breaths.

  “What happened?” I took a few steps forward.

  She burst into tears, but I could still make out the words. “He tried to…he almost killed me.”

  My heart sank. So, it was Eddie after all. I really was that stupid. He must have met her out front and attacked. This had to be a trap. I should have confronted him sooner, should have forced myself to stop thinking of him as my best friend. He obviously didn’t see me that way.

  “You’re going to pass out.” Amy pushed Courtney to the corner and made her sit while she looked at the wound.

  “I’m such an idiot. I had my Spirit’s Grace, but I wasn’t prepared …” She didn’t seem quite coherent. She wasn’t wearing her gi, so maybe she hadn’t suspected Eddie as much as I thought. Even with the proof, I still struggled to accept it. “It won’t be long before—”

  “I’m here?” I turned around, shocked. That wasn’t Eddie's voice.

  I held my sword defensively, watching the four glowing figures approach, their dilated pupils shining against the whites of their eyes. I frowned. None of them had Eddie’s build. Then it hit me. Courtney wasn’t talking about Eddie. That was why she was crying.

  Logan laughed. Of course it was Logan. All my senses went into overdrive. My heart pounded as I gripped my sword. The Akuma in front of us were massive, except the woman. How could we hope to take all four? And if Logan was smart enough to fool Courtney, we had more of a fight on our hands than we thought. Not to mention he was lit up like a Christmas tree. Who had he killed? I gulped. Marty wasn’t here yet.

  No, it can’t be. At least I wished it couldn’t be.

  “Well, well, this worked out better than I hoped,” Logan said. “Here we thought we’d have to waste time hunting you after I killed Courtney. Should have assumed she was stupid enough to lead us right to you.”

  The Akuma let out cruel snickers while Courtney sobbed.

  “She was supposed to lead you here so we could kill you,” I said, hoping to put some doubt in their minds. I analyzed my opponents, waiting for them to make the first move. The girl wasn’t much smaller than me—she’d be fast. The two men were solid. The shorter one leaned heavily on his right leg. Was he injured? Maybe.

  “Sure she was.” Logan pulled out his sword. “Eddie? Really? He wouldn’t be able to handle getting the tattoo, let alone suppressing the hunger. Damn Saburau know nothing. I didn’t have to do a thing to throw you off the trail.”

  “Leave me,” Courtney said to Amy. “You have more important thi
ngs to worry about.”

  Amy nodded, then drew her sai from her waistband. She stood by me, fierce and strong. “At least I have no problem killing you, troll.”

  Logan growled, his pupils inking the rest of his eyes while his chest doubled in size. “Good luck with that.”

  He lunged at me, and I deflected his sword. He was strong, but I threw him off balance for a moment. Then the woman came, and I blocked a slice to my head. Logan was back, so I kicked him hard. He tried to grab my leg, but my strength was enough to save me.

  We were cornered and outnumbered, but my dad had taught us how to manage a situation like this. Defense was key. Sometimes the turtle’s best attack is hiding in his shell. The least we could do was protect Courtney. Who knows what would have happened if we’d had no warning?

  One of the Akuma facing Amy yelled, and metal clanged on the ground—she’d disarmed the shorter guy. I was tempted to help take that one out, but that would leave us too open on my side. They might go for Courtney, who nursed her wound by tying a piece of her pant leg around it.

  They were all strong, but Logan was brutal. His muscles bulged, augmented with fresh kami, as he charged again. I grabbed his arm and twisted as hard as I could. He yelled when I stomped on his foot. If this got any louder, Eddie and whoever else was in the store would hear. Then they’d be dead.

  I tried to kill Logan right there, but my small victory only spurned the woman into action. She came at me fast, and I barely dodged her blow. Luckily, she left herself wide open. I grabbed her sword arm, kneed her in the stomach, and wrenched the sword from her hand. Where I’d hesitated against Simon, I didn’t think twice about what I had to do. I swung her poisoned sword across her leg. She didn’t scream as she fell to the ground convulsing. I cursed when she pulled out her own vial of Spirit’s Grace.

  “You’re useless!” Logan did the worst thing I could imagine. Instead of charging me, he held his hand out to the female Akuma. Her kami came out like a laser beam, and he swallowed it whole before I could react.