by Sally Keira
“If your rope is long enough then this is the way we go. I’ll secure it well enough that it will remain an exit option for us down the track, should one of us need it.”
Kaiya nodded, hiding a smile because Kazuo would never turn down a challenge. They were similar in that regard.
Kazuo stood ready to proceed before Kaiya was done resting. He secured her longer rope to a sturdy tree trunk, dropped the line over the cliff, and clipped his harness into place.
“I’m ready to go,” Kazuo said, strapping his backpack on.
They were both good at free climbing with just ropes. However, they would not risk attempting this decent without proper abseiling equipment.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Kaiya said.
Kaiya forced herself to her feet and clipped her harness and backpack into place. Without further hesitation, she followed Kazuo over the edge of the cliff.
About an hour later they made it to the grey stone walls of the dojo, which loomed much taller than Kaiya had predicted from their earlier mountain top view. They entered through a thick wooden door into the bare courtyard, kicking dust from the ground as they walked further inside.
Earlier they had heard a small plane fly low overhead and had watched a lone figure parachute over the grey walls. When they entered the courtyard, they saw a large foreign man with a bald head roughly folding a parachute together in the dust. The man was solid looking and appeared to be in his late 20s. He had an unattractive large nose and a prominent scar cutting through one of his eyebrows and part of his cheek.
“I can’t believe we spent two days hiking here and that foreign guy just parachutes his way in here,” Kaiya said, disgusted. “Weren’t we supposed to keep this destination a secret?”
“Clearly, he didn’t get the memo,” Kazuo said.
“Or maybe he thought that the same rules didn’t apply to him,” Kaiya said.
Kaiya and Kazuo walked further across the dusty courtyard, looking around them. Kaiya gazed up at the four small grey stone pagoda towers and noticed that they all were only two stories high. The pagodas were basic in design, with traditional double stacked roof-tops with upward curving eaves. Each building stood along one of the walls of the dojo. There were six stairs facing into the courtyard at the entrance of each pagoda. No one has bothered to add any decorative design to these bland buildings.
“Look at all of those cracks in the surrounding wall,” Kaiya said. “And there are missing tiles on the roof. This place looks like a ruin.”
“And look. Oil lanterns over there, and a well over there,” Kazuo said, pointing. “I was right, no plumbing or power!”
“That’s just great,” Kaiya groaned. “Wipe that smirk off your face, because you have to live here too!”
“Yes, but I’ll cope knowing that you are struggling more than me,” Kazuo said.
Kaiya rolled her eyes at Kazuo.
“Welcome, Kaiya and Kazuo,” they were interrupted by a conceited sounding voice. “I can see that Tatsuya couldn’t decide which one of you to nominate for this training.”
On the pagoda steps to their left stood, Yoshito, one of their nemesis’ who worked for Tadao Takahashi’s ninja clan. Kaiya’s father hated her uncle Tadao. Their blood feud was well known in Tokyo business circles and was repeatedly played out by the ninja clans of the rival brothers. Often with deadly consequences. Kaiya herself had never spoken to her uncle but had had many unfortunate encounters with Tadao’s ninjas. Kaiya’s hands were often bloodied from carrying out some of her father’s cut-throat orders. She did not always agree with her father’s decisions but she never hesitated to follow his commands.
Kaiya recalled that she had fought Yoshito only once, which meant he was quite high up the chain of Tadao’s security team. Tadao liked to keep his elite ninjas close to him. That was probably because he could never drop his guard against a potential attack from Tatsuya. It was about six months since Yoshito had caught her off guard. At the time, she had just stolen some legal documents for her father. The documents had turned out to be next to useless and she had wondered later if they had been planted. Kaiya recalled how skilled at fighting Yoshito had been. And he had shown no hesitation with fighting a woman. Kaiya had had to retreat from his samurai sword attack, but not before he had sliced a chunk off the bottom of her braid. It had taken her almost this long to grow her hair back! Kaiya frowned at the memory.
“I’m surprised that Tadao had any worthy ninjas to send here at all,” Kaiya responded.
Yoshito shrugged, unaffected by her snide comment.
Yoshito was in his early 30s and on the taller side of average height for a Japanese man. Kaiya noticed that Yoshito had grown his hair down to his collar since their past encounter. He also now had a neatly trimmed moustache and beard. He was a handsome enough man, despite his angry eyebrows. Kaiya felt irritated that Yoshito had made the cut for this current training, based on her inherited dislike of anyone working for her uncle. Kazuo probably felt the same because he appeared as tense as she felt, and he had merely nodded in response to Yoshito’s greeting. Kazuo was also flexing his fists, which partially confirmed her suspicion that Kazuo had fought Yoshito before as well. She would ask Kazuo later for more background Intel on Yoshito.
Yoshito was currently standing with a pleasant-faced, agile looking man. This other man was of mixed Japanese and Caucasian appearance.
“Hello. I’m Satoshi,” he introduced himself in an American accent. “Pleased to meet you both.”
Satoshi was clean-shaven with short spikey black hair. He was average build, although still quite strong looking. He appeared to be a similar age to Yoshito, or maybe even mid-30s, she thought. Kaiya seized him up as she exchanged greetings. She suspected he might have a US military background of some sort. Her gut told her not to underestimate his relaxed nature, there was something tricky about this guy. Satoshi also seemed to be sizing her up as well. The way he looked at her in a curious and thoughtful way after hearing her name told Kaiya that Satoshi must have heard of her reputation.
A tense silence followed between Kaiya, Kazuo and Yoshito. Satoshi clearly did not like being drawn into the awkwardness of the silence.
“I see that you three know each other. Excuse me while I will go grab a refreshment,” Satoshi said politely in Japanese, and casually strolled several metres away to the well in a corner of the dojo.
On the other side of the courtyard the bald man had finished stacking his parachute and was now watching them all. Kaiya was aware of a sickening smile that crossed the bald man’s mouth when his eyes locked on her for the first time. Kaiya rolled her own eyes. Here we go, she thought, as she braced herself for his approach. Kaiya was used to dangerous men. None of her opponents would have qualified for this training unless they were the best of the best at fighting and killing. Japanese ninjas built their reputations through skilled fighting and discipline. In Kaiya’s experience, foreign fighters often seemed to prefer undisciplined aggression and intimidation.
Kaiya disliked the bald man immediately as he stalked toward her with his ugly nose, making no attempt to hide that he was undressing her with his eyes. He was huge but she was not one to be intimidated. He spoke in a coarse accent, using English rather than Japanese.
“Good of them to supply us with a Geisha girl to service our needs!”
Kaiya’s instantaneous fury from his crude misogynist comment snapped her into attack. Kazuo barely had time to move out of her way, as she swung a high kick above her head. Her foot connected with her target, and a satisfying faint cracking sound told her that she had just broken the bald man’s nose.
The bald man was ropable. His hand flew to his nose, unable to stifle the blood spurting heavily out of it.
“Schas po ebalu poluchish, suka, blyad!” he raved, spitting out what sounded like a series of Russian curses, as he advanced toward her with a death look in his eyes.
Kazuo and surprisingly, Yoshito as well, both stepped between them halting hi
s intent.
The bald man spat blood on the ground and yelled again in English. “Move aside, I need to teach this bitch a lesson!”
No one moved as tension crackled through the air. Kaiya stared the bald man down from her much smaller height.
“It is I who have taught you a lesson!” She declared in English, because he clearly did not understand Japanese.
The altercation was interrupted by another man’s deep chuckle coming from the steps of the pagoda to the right. They all turned to find that the man lounging on the steps laughing at the scene in front of him was also a foreigner. None of them had noticed him arrive despite him now sitting clearly in sight of them all. He sat next to his large backpack, but even seated Kaiya could tell he was quite tall. She noticed that he also looked around early 30s, but Caucasian in appearance with lightly tanned skin. His short hair was a sandy blond colour and somewhat ruffled, as though he had just gotten out of bed. Kaiya noticed his striking blue eyes and the rough stubble on his chiselled square jaw. Her eyes drifted down to his thick muscled biceps, strong forearms, a large chest and narrow waist outlined under his fitted black tee-shirt. Her gaze trailed down further to his casual black trousers and finally his black combat boots. His legs were spread a part in a dominant sitting position.
Kaiya registered how masculine and handsome this man was. She shook her head at that last involuntary thought. No, he was just another brutish opponent, and all of her opponents were strongly built.
The man on the steps seemed to chuckle again whilst smiling at her. Did he just notice her check him out? In an amused tone he introduced himself to the party, using English.
“Hey opponents, I’m Nicolas Lawson. My mates call me Lawso. Us Aussies tend to use shortened versions of our names as nicknames. I apologise that my Japanese is still a bit rusty. I can understand more Japanese than I can speak.”
Some introductions were exchanged in a mix of Japanese and English, but Kaiya and the bald man just nodded in Lawso’s direction. The bald man continued pacing around agitated, but Kaiya stood her ground. She was glad that Kazuo and even Yoshito had remained standing between them. Satoshi approached the bald man with his hands raised in a non-threatening stance.
“Why don’t you check out the infirmary in the eastern building? It seemed to be well stocked. There are plenty of cotton balls to plug your bleeding nose with,” Satoshi suggested.
The bald man realised that he was not going to get near Kaiya for revenge at this time.
“I will deal with you when I get back,” he sniggered at Kaiya, before turning in the direction that Satoshi had pointed.
The tension eased in the bald man’s absence. Kazuo and Kaiya exchanged meaningful glances. They both thought he had deserved her kick.
“Don’t drop your guard around that one,” Kazuo said quietly to Kaiya, nudging his head in the direction that the bald man had disappeared. “I can’t promise to have your back in here.”
“Duly noted. Although, you of all people know I can take care of myself,” Kaiya said softly enough for only Kazuo’s ears.
“His nose was an interesting choice,” Kazuo smirked.
“I didn’t think he had any balls to kick,” Kaiya grinned back at him.
Satoshi walked over to Lawso and sat next to him on the stairs. They easily fell into small talk together in English. From the ease with which they conversed Kaiya would have wondered if they were already friends, had they not been asking each other background questions. Neither one disclosed yet who they were working for outside of this training. Yoshito decided to join them and also sat down next to them on the stairs.
“Yoshito and I arrived around the same time, about four hours ago,” Satoshi said. “The living quarters are very basic, but no expense has been spared in the actual training equipment.”
“I’m used to roughing it. But it is nice to hear that we have good gear to work with,” Lawso said. “Any signs of our Sensei?”
“Not yet. No training schedule left lying around anywhere either,” Yoshito said.
Kaiya was surprised to hear that Yoshito seemed reasonably fluent in English, as he and Satoshi started filling Lawso in on the layout of the dojo. Kaiya and Kazuo remained standing together just quietly taking in their surroundings and observing their new opponents. Kaiya had never asked Kazuo if he could speak English. But she could tell that he was also subtly following what the other opponents were saying.
When the bald man returned to the courtyard a loud speaker announcement cracked them all to attention. The voice making the announcement was a strong commanding male voice with a thick Japanese accent. The voice initially greeted them all in Japanese. The voice continued the rest of his announcement in Japanese, pausing at intervals to repeat himself in English. Kaiya had been taught English at the best private school in Tokyo, so was fluent in both languages. Her father had insisted that both his daughters learn English. Probably because Tatsuya had used it regularly in his line of work and believed that fluency in English was advantageous. Kaiya found it interesting that the trainers of this elite training program were willing to make concessions, such as allowing foreigners to participate. It was even more surprising that they even provided a translation for them. Her opinion was that they should not be here if they were not Japanese and could not speak their language. She turned her attention to the announcement.
“Good afternoon and welcome to my Mizuchi Ninjutsu dojo. I see that you have all arrived. Although, Anton has broken the first rule by disclosing this location to a pilot. I am very disappointed and I am weighing up whether to expel you from this facility.”
The bald man, who now had a name, Anton, pointed his finger aimlessly in the air and defiantly expressed his own irritated opinion.
“I was not given enough notice to arrive at this remote destination in time without that plane!”
“Silence, Anton,” boomed the voice, and to his credit Anton shut his mouth. “I have decided that given Kaiya has probably already broken your nose, you can think yourself lucky that I will choose not to dish out a harsher punishment that I was considering for you.”
The voice continued speaking, addressing the whole group again.
“Now everyone, you will find your sleeping quarters upstairs in the northern pagoda. It appears Satoshi and Anton have already used the infirmary in the eastern pagoda. The kitchen etc. lies in the western pagoda and the weaponry is in the southern pagoda behind where Satoshi, Yoshito and…. Lawso are seated. There is also a natural hot spring bath just outside the northern wall. We have limited generator power in the kitchen. Please make yourselves at home.
“Two important rules for the next six months, take heed. Number one, you are not to kill another opponent, even by accident or you will be expelled from the program. You must learn balance between defence and killing. You are also to refrain from inflicting deliberate serious injury as this is a training facility. However, should you become incapacitated and unable to recover in time, you will exit the program. Should you cause another opponent to exit the program, you will face my judgment regarding your actions.
“Number two, at the conclusion of the fifth month you will have the opportunity to make a final challenge toward any opponent. If your opponent accepts your challenge, the winner will receive Mizuchi Ninjutsu status and the loser will be forced to challenge someone else. At least one of you will not receive Mizuchi Ninjutsu status. I have decided not to join you as yet, as I wish to observe your interactions for a period of time first.”
Before they could ask any questions of the Faceless Japanese man, the crackling of the loud speaker ceased.
Chapter 2
Kaiya located the basic living quarters in the second floor of the northern pagoda. There were three rooms on each side of the single corridor, all separated by traditional shoji white paper and lattice wood framed walls. She slid open a couple of shoji doors until she found a vacant room and claimed it for her own. The floor in her room was made from stiff khaki colour
ed woven mats. She stepped around the unmade futon, basically a white mattress on the floor with a white folded quilt on the end of it. There was a small oil lamp on the floor next to her futon and a single wooden chest in the room for her belongings. If she slid open a shoji window she knew she would be able to look down into the courtyard.
Kaiya grabbed a white towel robe out of her large pack and some toiletries. Perhaps she could use the hot spring bath house before the men thought of it. She was filthy from the journey and wanted to relax before the gruelling challenges likely commenced the next day. Kaiya changed into a strapless two piece black boob-tube bikini, just in case she did not get the bath to herself. There was no way she was letting any of them see her nude. Once her clothes were back on, she slipped some flip-flops onto her feet and brought a small dagger with her for protection. She decided that she would definitely not be without a weapon with that Anton character around.
Once outside the pagoda, Kaiya located a wooden door on the northern wall of the dojo. She stepped through into the cool forest air. This side of the dojo had been mostly hidden from view when she and Kazuo had gazed down on the grey structure from the mountain edge, a couple of hours earlier. There was a slight rocky drop, a couple of metres down to where a stream flowed past. Several roughly placed stone stairs led down to a wider part of the stream, where a circle of larger rocks formed a moderate sized bathing pool. The stream also flowed onward further past the pool and disappeared into the forest trees.
The hot spring “bath house” was not enclosed and it did not have a cover over it. Once next to the hot spring, Kaiya stripped down to her swimmers and placed her dagger, soap and shampoo on a stone next to the edge. She slid quickly into the blissfully warm water when she heard two male voices approaching. The water was a decent depth. She could sit on an underwater rock next to the edge with her shoulders fully submerged. Her dagger remained on the rock next to her, within view of the others as a warning to them.
The voices belonged to Satoshi and Lawso. They had each only brought a towel and soap with them.