"Until now, I was content to let you think that you were ‘everything,’ and I was ‘nothing,’ just to keep from having to fight, which I hate to do. But, with the Warui ninja present, I had no choice but to reveal myself.”
“What do they want with you?” asked Shawna.
“Our clan has been at war with the Waruiyatsu for nearly five hundred years,” explained Yoshi. “The Funakoshi came to America to leave the fighting behind, but they followed us.” She removed her mask and she continued, “Our clan is led by my family, from whom the clan gains its name. Should all of our members be killed, then the next family to take leadership will be the Shokato, the largest family. They are as violent as the Warui and, thus, most in our clan do not approve of them. If they were to take leadership, it would most likely cause a civil war.”
Buster looked at Jamie. “So what do we do now?”
Quickly counting the students, the young ninja answered with a question. “Do you think you can drive a school bus?”
* * *
Dave bounced heavily in his seat in the front of the long, yellow vehicle as Buster hit another bump in the road. “Hey, dude,” bellowed the big teen, “watch the road! Where’d you learn how t’drive?”
“Hey,” snapped Buster defensively, “gimme a break. I’ve never driven a bus before!”
Dave rubbed his bottom and muttered, “I can tell!”
Jamie, sitting across the aisle next to Yoshi, watched this exchange with some humor. It felt good to smile.
Max’s voice caught his attention. “So what’s gonna happen to the ninja that you guys tied up in the coach’s office?” The junior-high student had leaned over the back of their seat with his head perched between those of the two ninja.
Jamie turned around and replied, “Hopefully, once we get out of this town, they’ll send in some army guys . . . or something.”
“So I guess the ninja suit wasn’t just a collectible, huh?” pressed Max.
Jamie just smiled and shook his head in response.
“How often do you practice?”
“Yoshi and I get together three times a week,” explained Jamie. “I’ve also built an obstacle course in the woods behind my house.”
Then he and Yoshi slammed into the padded wall behind the driver’s seat as Buster hit the brakes.
“HEY!!!” exclaimed Max as he flew over the seat to land between Jamie and Yoshi, his head between the seat and the padded wall and his legs sticking up in the air.
“Guys . . . ,” began Buster warily.
Jamie stood and moved to stand next to him, bending slightly so that he could see out of the front window. He could hear Yoshi swear in Japanese, even as he gasped in shock.
The bridge was gone.
* * *
Buster sat on the bleacher, praying silently. He needed guidance. This was not what any of them had expected. Or was it? No. None of them had even expected to survive the fight, let alone win it.
But the Warui ninja had seen the possibility. After leaving the eastern bridge, the bus had headed back through town toward the Current River bridge. Jamie had not been optimistic, and with good reason. This bridge, too, was gone.
Buster finished his prayer, then looked around the gym. The school was the only place they could think of to go. The Warui prisoners, still tied and stripped to their underwear in the coach’s office, had refused to speak when questioned as to how many of their comrades were still free in the town. Yoshi had been the only one that they would even deem to honor with speech. But this was only to remind her that the Warui still had the upper hand.
Then Jamie had come into the room. Buster could still remember the pure hatred that the men had shown for his friend and teacher. But, then again, was it truly hatred? Or could it have been fear? That would have made sense. Jamie had shown a fighting prowess far beyond his age when they had first encountered him the day they killed Yoshi’s parents. He had killed one of them that afternoon. Easily. He had also nearly taken out their mission leader for trying to kill Yoshi.
Yes, they feared Jamie. This was why they had set the explosives in the bridges. They had expected the possibility of Jamie, Yoshi and Tanemura defeating all twenty of them, even without the wildcards that were the rest of Adventure.
“Hi,” came a voice behind him. He turned to see Yoshi. Of course, he realized, only Yoshi could have moved up behind him without being heard on the old, creaky bleachers.
He smiled at her. “Hey, what’s up?”
She seated herself next to him. “You simply looked lonely, sitting here all by yourself.”
His smile widened. “I’m never alone.”
She nodded knowingly. “God is with you.”
He patted her on the shoulder. “He’s always with you, too.” Clasping his hands over his lap, he explained, “I had been praying, actually.”
Mirroring his pose, she asked, “Did you get any kind of response?”
Buster sighed, obviously frustrated. “Sometimes His answers are like getting a spiritual anvil dropped on my head.” He helplessly ran his fingers through his hair. “Sometimes, He speaks really softly.”
“And you cannot hear Him over all of the noise in the gym.”
The young preacher chuckled. “Well, Christ did tell us to pray in a closet.”
Yoshi raised an eyebrow. “In the dark?”
“Actually,” he explained, “I think He was just trying to tell us that we’re not supposed to make a public spectacle of it.” His smile widened even more. “Of course, He knew that there would be times like this, too.”
“And it doesn’t bother you to pray in front of people?” Her tone was curious, not accusing.
He shook his head. “Nope. I won’t deny my Father before man.”
* * *
Jamie dropped the phone back onto Mrs. Brown’s desk, not even bothering to put it back on the cradle. This was the last phone in the building. And, like the others, the line was dead.
“Why do you suppose they’re not working?” asked Max, who had gone with Jamie and Pete for a way to contact the outside world. “The lines coming into the school look unharmed.”
“They probably did something to the phone company,” reasoned Pete. “There probably isn’t a working phone in the whole town.”
“So what are we going to do now?” asked Max.
Jamie sighed as he ran his fingers through his light brown hair. “I guess we’re going to camp in the school. We’ll post watches in shifts and discuss our options with everybody in the morning.”
As the teens filed out of the room, Jamie could hear Max telling Pete, “Jamie could’ve really saved himself a lot of trouble if he’d told everybody this big secret of his when he first moved here.”
Jamie sighed. He knew that it was not that easy.
Chapter Nine
September 11, 1986
Thursday, 1:48 PM
The office was frigid. Jamie’s nose was cold. He half expected his breath to come out as steam.
Next to him, Dave cracked his knuckles as he looked toward the door to the principal’s office. The big teen sighed, then dropped his hands onto his lap.
The steady tapping of the secretary’s typewriter formed a chorus in Jamie’s head in time with the pounding of his migraine. He sighed, reaching both hands up to rub his temples.
“Dude,” whispered Dave. “You got nothin’ t’be ashamed of. Dennis had it comin’.”
Jamie glanced down at his gray Batman t-shirt. Dark spots were already drying on the fabric. Drops of crimson marred the yellow of the bat insignia. He had no illusions that he would ever be able to wear this shirt again.
The door that led to the hallway opened and Jamie’s parents walked in, followed by Dave’s mother and Tanemura. Dave’s mom, Lynn, settled her gaze on her son. “Who’d you beat up this time?” she demanded.
Dave’s eyes widened. “Me? I’m innocent, Mom.”
Lynn crossed her arms and regarded her son coldly. “And I’m supposed to believe that?”
Jamie’s mother, Pam, looked at Jamie. “What happened? Is that blood on your shirt?”
“It’s not my blood,” responded Jamie. “Dennis Long wouldn’t leave me alone and he tried to hit me in the face with my math book.”
“So Jamie creamed’im,” finished Dave.
The three parents looked at Jamie in shock, while Tanemura sighed.
The principal’s door opened and he stepped out, followed by a red-faced woman with a dark perm. “Mr. and Mrs. Raleigh?” Mr. Banton said as he extended his hand. Jamie’s father, Chuck, shook it.
Mr. Banton opened a manila folder that he was carrying. “This is a highly shocking case, I must admit.” He looked down at Jamie, his eyes narrowing. “Until today, Jamie hadn’t so much as gotten a tardy for class.”
“I don’t care what his background’s like!” yelled the woman who had followed him out of the office. “He broke my son’s nose! What are you going to do about him?”
At that moment, the door Jamie and Dave’s parents had just come through with Tanemura opened and Mr. Filker, the middle school Social Studies teacher, stepped in.
“I’m a little busy right now, Fred,” said Mr. Banton to the newcomer.
“If it’s about the fight, that’s why I’m here,” regarded the teacher calmly.
The principal’s eyes widened. “You want to shed some light on what happened?”
Mr. Filker nodded. “I saw the whole thing. Dennis has been picking at Jamie all year. Jamie has held himself in check the whole time until Dennis physically attacked him today.”
Mrs. Long’s eyes bulged. “If my son attacked this one, then why isn’t he hurt?”
Tanemura now spoke. “I have been training Jamie to defend himself.”
Mr. Banton regarded Jamie calmly. “Is this what happened?”
Jamie nodded. “I don’t like to fight. As long as he was just insulting me, I didn’t let it bother me. He’d been doing it ever since everybody found out about my training.”
“And my son isn’t going to get into trouble with us for defending himself when a kid tries to hit him,” stated Chuck.
Jamie looked at Mrs. Long. “I didn’t mean to hit him that hard. I just wanted to make him stop attacking me.”
Mr. Filker laid his hand on Jamie’s shoulder. “Dennis swung at him several times before Jamie finally stopped warning him.”
The woman looked around at all the adults present, then finally sighed. “I can see he’s going to get away with it.”
“No more’n yer son gets away with on a daily basis,” grunted Dave.
Gathering her dignity, Mrs. Long pushed past the assembled adults and walked out of the room.
Jamie risked a glance at Tanemura, who mouthed the words, We’ll talk later.
Chapter Ten
November 17, 1991
Saturday, 2:37 AM
“Mind if we take a seat?” asked a pretty girl with bleached-blonde hair who stood next to an attractive brunette.
Of course not,” smiled Yoshi. “You two are on Sera’s Quiz Bowl team, are you not?”
The brunette nodded.
Yoshi’s eyes narrowed in thought. Pointing at the girl with the blonde hair, she said, “You are Shawna Westin and this is your cousin, Amy.”
Shawna smiled. “Good memory.”
“Not half as good as yours,” returned the kunoichi. “You stomped us in our last match.”
Shawna blushed. “Well, we have a good team.”
The two Sera teens took a seat, then sat in awkward silence for a moment, before Shawna finally asked, “So, where’s Jamie?”
“He went with his cousin, Pete, and Steve Adam’s brother to see if any of the phones were working,” explained Buster.
“Are we still hoping to get out of here tonight?” asked Amy.
“You mean, this morning?” asked another Sera girl who climbed the bleachers with Max’s brother. Her brown hair was cut just below the neckline and she appeared to be the only girl who had worn pants to this dance.
Yoshi narrowed her eyes in thought again. “Leslie Ringstaff.”
Leslie smiled and nodded.
The female ninja noticed that Shawna was looking at the cross she was wearing. “Is something troubling you?”
“You’re wearing a cross.”
Yoshi cradled the holy symbol in her right hand. “And you want to know why a ninja would wear a Christian symbol.”
Shawna shrugged. “I’m not meaning to be rude, or anything.”
“My family was the first of our clan to come to this country,” explained Yoshi. “My uncle came many years before my parents and I followed him.” She smiled at the memory. “He converted to Christianity soon after his arrival, when he was in his mid-twenties.” She shrugged. “My parents and I went with him to his church in St. Louis the weekend after our arrival. My father and mother accepted Christ that very evening and I was simply raised from that point with our Savior being a fact.”
“Wow,” commented Amy, “a Christian-ninja family!”
“Is Jamie a Christian?” asked Leslie.
“He believes in God,” responded Yoshi. “As do his parents.” Her brow furrowed. “He does not go to church, though. His mother used to take him, but that was before his father got sick.”
“With emphysema,” concluded Shawna.
“Yes.” Yoshi regarded her curiously. “You know much about him.”
Steve closed his almanac. “They’re friends,” he explained.
Amy chuckled. “Friends? I think they want a lot more than friendship!”
Shawna smacked her cousin in the shoulder with the back of her hand, then turned away, her face bright red.
“It’s true,” commented a blonde boy who climbed the bleachers and took a seat next to Steve.
“I’d smack you, George, if I could reach you,” stated Shawna indignantly.
Steve Adams looked at Yoshi and changed the subject. "Ever since I've seen you at Quiz Bowl, I've wanted to ask you something."
Yoshi looked at him expectantly.
"Isn't Yoshi a boy's Japanese name?"
Buster chuckled as Yoshi smiled politely and explained, "My given name is Yoshika, but I have always been what you American's call a tomboy. It is my preference to be called Yoshi."
At that moment, Jamie and the other two teens that had gone with him walked in the door Dave had knocked down. They approached the flock of teens that were surrounding Buster.
“Any luck?” asked the kensai.
Jamie shook his head. “They didn’t want to take any chances.”
“What are we going to do now?” asked Shawna.
“I guess we’ll wait out the night here,” replied Jamie. “Some of my friends and I’ll take turns at watch through the night. We’ll decide on another plan tomorrow morning.”
“DUDES!!!” Dave called out from the stage to no one in particular. “I got it working!” He was still fidgeting with the stereo.
“Your cousin’s cute,” commented Amy. “Personality and a bod. A winning combination.”
Jamie chuckled. “And he’s an accomplished fencer.”
Jamie’s smile turned to a cringe as the sound of feedback echoed through the large room. He looked up at the stage to see Dave operating the dials of the sound system. As Jamie and his friends watched in fascination, Dave stood and walked to the front of the stage, turning his back to the students.
“When did he change into his blue Hawaiian shirt?” asked Pete.
“While you guys were looking for a working phone,” replied Buster.
Suddenly, the words, “I’m too sexy . . “ filled the gymnasium. Most of the students went ballistic as Dave began to dance and lip-sync to Right Said Fred’s hit. He flowed with the music, doing dances that coincided with the words, which seemed to make the girls in the room squeal with del
ight.
Jamie looked around at the students, amused by how much they were enjoying the spectacle of his outgoing relative performing for a group of strangers. Even Laura Blanton, who was sitting at the far end of the bleachers, had her eyes glued to his cousin. The young ninja cracked a smile, until he watched John Bowers walk up to the cheerleader and grab her forcefully by the shoulder and say something to her. She flushed and turned away, her head lowered.
Jamie climbed to his feet and started to make his way toward the couple. For the past year and a half, everyone had sat by and let the basketball player beat her into submission. But the young ninja no longer had anything to hide. He would sit idle no more.
Shawna caught his arm and shook her head. He sat down beside her and put his ear up to her face so he could hear her over the music. “She’ll resent it if you interfere,” she explained. “Trust me. I know.”
Jamie looked back at the two and now noticed that she had her head lying on his shoulder, his arm around her. With a sigh, Jamie nodded his understanding. It would, eventually, be Laura who would have to stand up to his abuse. Then, he noticed that she was grimacing in pain, but saying nothing, as John dug the fingers of his left hand into her left arm. The young ninja hoped that she would have the sense to do something before it was too late.
The song finished to a standing ovation. Apparently, Jamie and Shawna had been the only ones to see the exchange between the basketball player and cheerleader.
Dave stood on the stage with the index finger, pinky and thumb of his right hand extended into the “I love you” symbol. The cheering was deafening.
Jamie smiled. He wished he had his cousin’s confidence.
* * *
Jamie lay awake on the cold, hard science room floor. Dave snored peacefully next to him. The big teen had brought a sleeping bag along and had unzipped it so that he could flatten it out for both to use. But Jamie couldn’t sleep. He wasn’t cold, though the students hadn’t been able to find much in the way of blankets. Each classroom had a temperature control and Jamie and Dave had set theirs for seventy-five.
Jamie examined the towel he’d procured from the Home Ec room upstairs. He had rolled it up into a pillow. It was soft and comfortable. This wasn’t it, either. “How do you get any sleep in a situation like this?” he whispered to himself.
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