by Cole Gibsen
“Psst,” Michelle whispered to me. “What are you doing? Get into position.”
I stared blankly at the sword in my hands as if by looking at it hard enough I could somehow remember how to use it. But no such luck. The only cool breeze sliding along my skin came from the A/C duct overhead. “Um, I have a slight problem,” I whispered back.
“Can it wait?” she asked without looking at me.
“Uh, no.”
She sighed. “What’s the problem?”
“I … don’t know how to fight.”
Michelle looked at me, her eyes wide. “Wait, what?”
But I didn’t have time to explain. From across the room, Kim shouted for us to begin.
The fight was on.
25
I took a step backward. “Michelle, what do I do?”
She jerked her head past her shoulder. “Get behind me!”
Before I could take a step back, a pressure began to build inside my chest. I immediately recognized the sensation. “Oh no,” I whispered. “No no no no.”
“What are you doing?” Michelle hissed. “Get out of the way!”
I tried, but my legs refused to cooperate. The pressure rolled against my ribs like a tidal wave and I cried out in pain.
“Rileigh?” Michelle said.
I hugged myself with one arm. “It hurts,” I panted. Like it had the night with the bikers, a heaviness stretched and pulled from my chest to my stomach.
“I think we need to stop,” Michelle called to Kim.
He shook his head. “Keep going.”
I shot him a seething look. Before I could give him the words to match, the pressure left my body in the form of a powerful wind, fluttering my hair and stinging the lines of sweat running down my temples. My muscles reflexively tightened, and my body coiled like a wire ready to spring.
Michelle, still holding her sais, ran her fists along her bare arms as if fighting off a chill. “What the heck was that?”
My eyes, I knew, were as wide as hers. “I don’t know,” I whispered. “But be happy you’re still standing.”
“I don’t believe it,” Michelle said, her face a paler shade than usual. “Did you just move your ki?” Before I could ask her what she was talking about, she snapped her head over her shoulder, and turned to meet Braden’s sais with her own. The two twisted against each other, breaking apart only to clash together again.
I ducked just in time to miss the naginata’s blade as it bore down on me. Luckily the shift from clueless shampoo girl to skilled fighter happened in a matter of seconds. I knew what to do and, better still, the inner voice was quiet. Interesting. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to figure out the change.
I spun to the right, bringing my blade up in front of my face as the naginata appeared close enough for a shave. Apparently Drew, like Michelle and Braden, fought better with his weapon of choice, and this was not going to be as easy as the other night when we all held katanas.
He stooped low, sweeping the naginata with him, trying to catch my feet. I jumped over the rod and answered him by bringing my sword, broad side down, on his shoulder. We weren’t, after all, trying to kill each other.
He cried in surprise, and then the gloves came off. He lashed out like a whirlwind, answering each of my blocks with another attack, his speed not allowing me the chance to make an advance of my own. Not that I would have been able to make much of one anyway. Just as he said, the naginata kept me well out of striking distance. If this continued, he would wear me down before I landed another blow. Then I had an idea.
He struck out again, but this time, instead of blocking the blow, I dropped to my knees and tumbled forward. I rose to my feet behind him. Before he could turn to face me, I brought my free arm up under his arm, over his shoulder, and behind his neck, bending him over in a painful angle that put me safely out of range of his flailing arms. He was bigger and weighed much more than me, but the angle of the lock I held him in left him helpless to counter.
After a minute of struggling, he gave a frustrated cry and dropped the naginata onto the floor.
“Drew, out!” Kim ordered.
Drew bowed to me before retrieving his fallen weapon. He left the ring and joined Kim.
Michelle’s in trouble. I groaned as the voice blew inside my head. I knew the silence had been too good to be true. I pivoted and instinctively jumped over the fallen girl, sensing her placement on the floor without looking. I crouched down and fed my blade to the sai arcing toward her.
Braden hesitated. “How did you move so fast?”
“Beats me,” I grunted through clenched teeth. With a yell, I pushed Braden back a couple of steps, which gave Michelle time to scramble to her feet.
Braden regained his footing and came back at me. He swung a sai up, caught my sword, and attempted to wrench it from my hand. It almost worked, but I tightened my grip and pulled my katana back toward my chest. The sai spun from his hand onto the floor.
Michelle came up beside me, smirking at Braden. His eyes darted nervously between the two of us while he twirled his remaining sai. I wanted to wait for his next move, but Michelle didn’t have my patience. During her charge, Braden caught her two sais with his single one, twisting his arm to lock them in place. While she struggled to free her weapons, he brought his leg back and planted a side kick into her stomach.
She grunted, dropping her weapons as she flew backward. Crap. I jumped forward, catching her around the waist, spinning us both around, before releasing her safely to her feet. I turned to Braden.
“Nice,” he told me, smiling.
“Thanks.” I smiled back.
I watched Michelle sneak up behind Braden during our exchange, but by the time he noticed, it was too late. The roundhouse kick to his back knocked him forward. As he stumbled for balance, I gave him an additional spinning back kick to the side. He crumpled with a thud, his remaining sai landing a good ten yards from his hand.
“Match over!” Kim smiled.
Michelle turned to me. “Nice match, girl!” She held up her hand.
I hesitated, not sure how to respond. I finally shook my head and returned the high-five. I didn’t need to over-think everything.
She beamed.
“Nice job, Rileigh,” Drew said, patting me on the back.
I suppressed the flinch. I could do this. I could act friendly around these people even if trust was still an issue.
“Yeah,” Braden chimed in. “Nice job saving Michelle’s ass!”
“Hey!” Michelle poked the handle of her sai into Braden’s stomach.
“Well done,” Kim said. He turned for the break room, stopped, gave me a wink, then continued on his way.
To my annoyance, a heated flame licked the inside of my stomach. I was getting a little tired of the way my body warmed and my heart fluttered when he was around. I stuck my tongue out at the back of his head as he walked away.
Michelle, who watched the exchange, giggled. “Come on. We have a locker for you.” She motioned for me to follow her and the others as they headed toward the door in the back.
Drew and Braden were already stripping off their sparring pads when I entered the plain, windowless room and looked around. A short counter complete with a sink lined the side wall. In the middle of the room, a card table was set up with several folding chairs scattered about. Along the far wall stood a row of full-sized lockers, twice as big as the half lockers we have in school.
“That locker is yours,” Michelle said, pointing to the farthest one against the wall.
I counted the lockers. “Why are there only five?”
She just shrugged and smiled. “That’s all we need.”
I fought the urge to huff at her answer that wasn’t an answer. Instead, I stripped off my pads and loaded them into the locker. When I finished, I turned to find Drew creeping up behind Kim, who was pulling on a black T-shirt. I started to ask what he was doing, but Drew placed a finger to his lips. A sinister grin spread across his face.
Michelle appeared at my side and elbowed my arm. “Brothers,” she said, rolling her eyes.
Was she crazy? There was no way Drew, with his lily-white skin and blond hair, could be blood-related to Kim. “Was Kim adopted?” I asked.
She smiled. “No. In the old life, Drew’s name was Seiko.”
I didn’t bother to hide the skepticism in my voice. “Are you kidding me? Psycho? Like the personality disorder?”
She laughed. “It’s spelled differently, but it’s fitting, right? He was Kim’s older brother. I guess some things never change.”
Together, we watched Drew as he slowly crept forward. When he positioned himself behind Kim, he crouched low to the ground and gave us a thumbs-up.
Michelle snorted.
“What is he doing?” I whispered.
“Getting his ass kicked,” she whispered back.
Just then Drew let out a cry and kicked his leg out. He would have swept Kim’s legs out from under him—only Kim was already in the air lashing out with a roundhouse kick.
Drew fell back and had to flatten his spine to the ground to avoid Kim’s foot from smashing into his face. After Kim landed, Drew pushed off the ground and landed on his feet in one fluid movement. He held his palms flat and across his body in a defensive stance and laughed. “Thought I had you that time.”
Kim grinned and moved his arms apart like he was pulling an arrow back on an invisible bow. “Not in your wildest dreams. How do you expect to sneak up on someone when you have the stealth of an ox?”
Braden stepped up next to Drew and opened his arms wide. “Don’t worry, Drew, I got your back.”
Kim laughed. “I think you were better off by yourself.”
Michelle jerked me back by the arm just as Braden leapt at Kim.
“What the—” I tried to flatten myself against the lockers in an effort not to be hit by flying limbs. “We need to get out of here!”
“Nah.” She tugged my shirt to get me to follow her. “They do this all the time. Drew and Braden have been trying to best Kim for … ” She smiled sadly. “As long as I can remember. Come on. Do you want something
to drink?”
I followed her to the small kitchenette, flinching every time a foot or a fist entered my personal space.
I watched as Kim caught Braden’s sidekick and used his foot to thrust him backward. Braden fell to the ground and tumbled backward into Michelle who stood at the sink filling two glasses with water.
She gasped and dropped the plastic cups into the sink. “Braden!” She spun around, pulled a sai from her waistband, and twirled it in her hand. “Unless you would like to meet the pointy side of my sai, I suggest you play somewhere else.”
Braden grinned and lifted his eyebrows. “I would love to get to know the pointy side of your sai.”
Michelle huffed and tucked her sai back into her pants. “You’re stupid. That doesn’t make sense.” But as Braden shrugged and jumped back into the fight, I watched Michelle’s eyes soften into … adoration? Or was it something more? Love? She turned to me and shook her head. “Stupid boys. Wanna try this again?”
While Michelle refilled the cups with water, I carefully maneuvered the card table around the fighting boys and set it up against the wall along with two folding chairs. Once I sat down, I watched a laughing Kim duck under Drew’s spinning kick.
Michelle set a cup in front of me and sat down.
“Why don’t they do this out in the dojo where there’s more room?” I asked.
She snorted. “Because that would make too much sense.”
Braden yelped as Kim twisted his arm behind his back.
Michelle took a drink. “At least it looks like they’re winding down.”
I nodded, even though, to me, they appeared to be fighting with just as much vigor as they started with.
“Did you have fun tonight?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I guess so.”
She sighed and ran her finger absently around the rim of her cup. “I know it sucks.”
I looked at her.
“I’m just saying that I know how you feel. Like at school, you hang out with the skaters. I never see you without that blond guy by your side. What’s his name?”
“Quentin.”
“That’s right.” She nodded. “Anyway, it’s not like that for me at school. I don’t really fit in and I was wondering if you might feel the same way. Sometimes—” Her voice trailed and her eyes lowered to the table.
“What?” I waved my hand in front on her face.
“Sorry.” She blushed and met my eyes. “I just thought it would be cool if we became friends.”
I blinked at her. Friends with motor-mouthed Michelle? I wondered if it would be easier to buy a talking parrot.
She looked away. “Never mind. It’s stupid, I know.”
A knot of guilt tightened inside my stomach. Way to be a jerkface, Rileigh. “No, Michelle,” I said, tapping her clasped hands with my fingers. “It’s not stupid. Of course I want to be friends.” And the weird thing was, I really did.
“Really?” She glanced at me, the corner of her lip curling into a half smile. “You mean it?”
I smiled back. “Totally.”
“Yay!” Michelle clapped her hands together. “I just know that we’ll be great friends! We’re going to have so much fun. We can have sleepovers and talk about boys! Oh!” Her face lit up. “Speaking about boys, you see Braden there?” I followed her gaze to the mop-haired boy that Kim held in a headlock. “We’re a couple.” She leaned her chin against her hand as a coy smile played on her lips. “Are you seeing anyone?”
“I went on my first date with Whitley Noble,” I said, shrugging. “But I think it’s too early to call us a couple.”
“Whitley?” She wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. He asked me out a bunch of times last semester, but he’s not my type.”
I hoped my face didn’t show my shock. Whitley had asked out Michelle I-need-a-hot-oil-treatment Walters? Crazier yet, she turned him down? “You have something against tall and gorgeous?”
“Looks aren’t everything.” Her eyelids lowered dreamily and her chin sunk deeper into her hand as she continued to stare at Braden.
When she didn’t move for several seconds, I cleared my throat loudly.
“Huh?” Her eyes fluttered wide. “Oh, sorry.” She rubbed her hand along her burning cheek. “Have you ever been in love, Rileigh?”
I tried to respond, but the answer lay thick and sour on my tongue. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be in love, but I seemed unable to choose a guy who saw me for who I was. Maybe this time, with Whitley, it would be different.
She opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it. “Never mind. What were we talking about? Oh yeah—boys. By the way, I was a boy once.”
I choked on my water.
Ignoring me, Michelle continued. “In my other life, my name was Yorimichi. My twin brother Kiyomori and I were the youngest samurai in our army.”
My throat burned, but I managed to form words between gasps for air. “That can happen?”
“Yup,” Drew answered, pulling up a chair and flopping down next to us. “Some people believe in karma and its effect on who you will become in your next life. As far as I can tell there’s no pattern between who someone was in the past and who they are at present. Rebirthing is a mystery.”
I turned back to Michelle. “How do you do it? You were a boy, and now—isn’t it confusing?”
She smiled. “You know, it’s not as weird as you think. It really doesn’t matter who or what I was in the past.” When I made a face, she laughed. “Look, I remember who I was in the past, but that person’s dead. A shadow. By transcending, I’m able to remember the past, but that doesn’t bring it back. Who I am now is who I’m supposed to be for this life. Nothing can change that.”
Both Braden and Kim pulled up chairs next to the table. Braden collapsed into his, panting, but the only sign that Kim had b
een fighting was the sweat glistening on his skin.
“Nobody can be the same person they were,” Drew said. “Each new life brings new experiences, which, in turn, shape the person you were into someone who can deal with the current world. A person is like the earth itself, covered in different layers and always changing. At the core we’re the same molten fire rock that blazed
to life millions of years ago, but we transform through each phase.”
“Our souls make us who we are,” Kim added. He pressed a hand against his chest. “This is only a shell. Inside, our souls have no shape. No gender. The only thing we carry from life to life is our essence.” When I made no sign of understanding, he continued. “Think of it in terms of color. Our shells may change from life to life, but what’s inside stays the same. Our souls may fade or darken depending on our experiences, but the color, the essence, never changes.”
I frowned. “This sounds a little too new age for me.”
“There’s nothing new about this way of thinking,” Michelle said with a giggle. “But that’s beside the point. From the moment I saw you fight, I had no doubt in my mind that you were Senshi.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but she stopped me with a raised hand. Surprised, I leaned back in my chair.
“There’s also the way you act and the faces you make,” she said. “They’re the same. And the attitude—it’s been a lifetime, but Senshi’s attitude isn’t something easily forgotten.”
Braden snickered, but stopped after I shot him a dirty look.
Michelle continued. “There’s also your fighting style.” She tilted her head. “But there is a difference. I just can’t put my finger on it.” She squinted her eyes, and I had
the uncomfortable feeling that she was trying to see through me.
“It’s her eyes,” Drew spoke up. “They’re not haunted.”
“Haunted?” I repeated. This was getting weirder by the minute, and I couldn’t help but think how unfair it all was. It wasn’t even a week ago when I’d been perfectly happy living my nice, normal life—before everything fell apart. What I wouldn’t give for some glossy-toothed TV host to burst through the door and tell me I was on a hidden-camera show.