Ninja Assassin: Attraction

by Sally Keira

  “Hi, Kaiya,” Satoshi nodded politely at her, before turning his back to undress.

  Lawso didn’t greet her. Instead he deliberately smiled at her whilst he removed his shirt over his head.

  “This is more like a small swimming pool, than a bath,” Lawso said to Satoshi.

  “It looks warm though, I can see steam coming off the water,” Satoshi said.

  Kaiya tried not to stare as the two well-muscled men began to strip off their clothes. Satoshi did so with his back to her. She noticed that Satoshi had an impressive large bald eagle tattoo over his left shoulder blade and bicep. Yet her eyes were involuntarily drawn to Lawso, who was still directly facing her as he stripped off his clothes.

  Lawso continued to openly watch her with his intense blue eyes, not even looking down as he undid his boots. Kaiya was sure it was an unspoken challenge so she daringly kept her eyes on Lawso, despite feeling heat creep over her face. The man was well over six foot tall and radiated confidence and masculinity. His biceps seemed even larger without his shirt on. The curly sandy hair sprinkled across his broad muscular chest fascinated her, as did the thin trail of his hair from his navel down into his pants. It was hard not to compare him to Japanese men, who could be almost hairless. His dangerous body displayed several scars, mostly on his arms and chest; signs that he had been in many fights.

  Lawso stood then still staring directly at her. He decided to remove his trousers and jocks in the one quick downward movement. Kaiya turned her head away embarrassed, but not before she took in his thick long muscled legs and the large cock hanging flaccid between his legs. Lawso was actually smirking at her as he entered the pool. She could not believe how bold he was. Satoshi also joined them in the pool while Kaiya’s head was turned.

  "I think she likes you mate," Satoshi joked in Lawso’s direction, using English.

  “Yes, she did look her fill, didn’t she?” Lawso smirked.

  “She probably can’t speak English. What is your first impression of her?” Satoshi asked Lawso.

  Lawso turned away from Satoshi to appraise Kaiya.

  “Hmmm, what do I think about our tiny female opponent?” Lawso pondered, taking his time. “My first impression of course is that she is beautiful. However, she probably uses her looks as a weapon. Earlier, we saw that she has a decent kick on her. But regardless of whatever skills she thinks she has, she will struggle with her strength disadvantage in this training program. That hint of feistiness she showed us in the courtyard though, I hope we see some more of that. Because that was entertaining. Also, I heard her speak English.”

  Turning abruptly, Lawso swiped his arm across the top of the water, sending a wave into Satoshi’s face. Wiping his eyes, Satoshi laughed loudly in response. Lawso also laughed. He had a deep yet lively chuckle.

  “You are both laughing like school boys,” Kaiya scolded using English. “And yes, I am fully fluent in English.”

  Her response made them laugh more.

  “You men are all the same, obsessed with size. I welcome you to make the same mistake as baldy did. Go ahead and underestimate me,” Kaiya challenged.

  “Actually, I’ve heard of you, Kaiya. Your reputation precedes you,” Satoshi said.

  “Her reputation or her temper?” Lawso asked, grinning.

  “Both,” Kaiya snapped.

  Lawso smiled at her again and reached for his soap. Surely her heart did not just skip a beat.

  Kaiya had some difficulty redirecting her thoughts from the fact that she was in the same natural hot spring as two naked buff men, who were both strangers and killers. Lawso and Satoshi continued to chat and joke around while they washed, and Kaiya somehow started to relax around them. She quietly looked up through the overhanging trees to the darkening sky. The crisp air on her face was a refreshing contrast to the steamy water. There was something peaceful about the quiet trickle of the stream flowing over rocks, in and out of the pool. Kaiya enjoyed being hidden in this almost untouched wilderness. She had not often ventured out of the concrete bustle of Tokyo. It was also nice to be away from her controlling father for a while.

  Kaiya finished awkwardly washing beneath her swimmers and started to unpin and unravel her long thick braided hair. Kaiya submerged briefly to dampen her untangled locks so that she could wash them. When she resurfaced she noticed a serious look exchanged between Lawso and Satoshi. Lawso started to edge toward her as quick as he could manage without disturbing the water.

  “Remain as still as you can,” Lawso told her firmly.

  Frowning, Kaiya reached her hand over to grip her dagger.

  "No, Kaiya, snake," Lawso stilled her movement with the urgency in his voice.

  Kaiya felt alarm as something slimed against her stomach, but she did not move. Lawso was very close to her now, his face concentrating as he scanned the water around her. His strong arms suddenly flew into the water. There was rapid movement and splashing.

  “Got it,” Lawso said, as he flung a snake out of the pool onto the rocks. The snake recovered and slithered into the trees.

  Lawso was standing very close to Kaiya. He looked down into Kaiya's widened big green eyes and took in her small nose, the perfect curve of her cheekbones, and her full and sensual parted lips. He felt his cock twitch as he noticed how exotic and small she looked standing in the water, with her long shinning wet hair sprawled about her. He could not believe that this harmless looking beauty had made the cut for this training program for elite killers.

  Lawso continued to deliberately stand in Kaiya’s space, obviously amused that Kaiya seemed to not know where to look. His gaze dropped deliberately over her chest, across her bikini top. Even though she was not naked, he still had a decent view of her shining wet, ample cleavage, now above the waterline.

  “Not game to go naked, huh?” Lawso asked her in a cocky voice.

  Her body warmed with embarrassment and she shook her head. “No. Some of us aren’t blatant nudists like you.”

  Kaiya was acutely aware of Lawso’s nakedness. Water droplets glistened and thin streaks of water ran over the muscles of his strong upper body. His lightly sprinkled blond chest hair was slightly darker now that it was damp. She was glad that the water hid his lower body from view. Why was he still standing so close to her? It should not be possible that a male opponent was making her feel uncomfortable in this way. Usually she was the one using her feminine charms to her advantage by distracting her opponents.

  “As far as I’m aware, most people generally bath naked,” Lawso smiled.

  “Well, bath naked in your own space,” Kaiya snapped.

  “I’m in your space because I just saved you from a snake bite,” Lawso said. "I owed you one for leaving that rope up on the mountain edge. I didn't pack rope that length, so I would have had to make a timely detour to get here."

  Kaiya narrowed her eyes at him.

  “The snake wasn’t venomous, fool,” she told him.

  Satoshi laughed in the background. Lawso shrugged and stepped backward, submerging down into the water. He resurfaced a couple of metres away from her.

  "How did you know it was my rope?" Kaiya asked curiously, almost as an afterthought.

  "I was tracking two people. It saved me a shitload of time and effort to not have to carve my own virgin path through that jungle.”

  Kaiya made a mental note that Lawso was a skilled tracker. He had managed to follow her and Kazuo, and arrive at the dojo unnoticed only minutes after them. Somewhat impressive she supposed. Now, what could she find out about Satoshi? He was not arrogant like Lawso and he had given next to nothing away about himself as yet. But Kaiya’s plans for subtle interrogation were put on hold. The three of them snapped to attention as a microphone speaker abruptly screeched on somewhere near the pool. The commanding faceless Japanese voice from earlier had returned.

  "Kaiya, Satoshi.... Lawso, pay attention! Nice to see you three relaxing in the bath with no clean clothes nearby and just one knife between you. Congratulations on fo
rming a team of idiots for your first challenge. The other team are preparing to hunt you. I believe they are done in the weaponry room. They were allowed to select one weapon and one other device. They are waiting for my signal to come after you. Your challenge is to avoid capture until sunrise. If ANY of you return or are returned with force to the dojo before sunrise, ALL three of you will receive a penalty. Your opponents are seeking to avoid a penalty through your capture and will only require one of you to do so. If you are all still out there by sunrise you may return to the dojo. I will give you an unspecified number of minute’s head start. You may begin.”

  The three of them shot out of the bath in a flurry of splashing and dripping over the rocks. Kaiya grabbed her knife and dirty clothes in a bundle, with her useless flip-flops and took off. She left her robe behind because it would be too bright to hide with and would become baggage later. Satoshi pulled only his jocks on and bundled his dirty clothes and boots into his arms, scrambling after her into the forest without his towel. Lawso straggled behind putting only his boots on without socks, bundled up his clothes and ran naked after the others. Lawso easily caught up to the others because he was not hurting his feet on the rocks.

  “You are seriously not still naked?!” Kaiya said to Lawso.

  Lawso’s response was a cheeky grin. He ran ahead of them and somehow managed to step into his jocks without removing his boots. Kaiya could not believe Lawso’s lack of modesty. Although, who could blame him she supposed, his body was masculine perfection. Kaiya was glad when he finally covered the distraction of his big cock, sandy-haired balls and that firm looking butt, because she needed to put her mind toward their escape. Sliding her flip-flops on because her feet were hurting, she tried to pick up the pace.

  "Let's sprint parallel to the stream and head back into it further on, so that they lose our tracks,” Kaiya suggested.

  "Good idea, you're too easy to track in the bush!" Lawso said, probably because he did not like her taking charge.

  "If I'd wanted to conceal my tracks, you'd still be wandering around aimlessly in the forest!" Kaiya snapped back at him.

  Satoshi was grinning at them as he paused to slip a shirt over his head. Kaiya shook her head.

  “The stream will get deeper up ahead so if you want dry clothes we should cross shortly. I know because Kazuo and I briefly studied this terrain surrounding the coordinates, which is why I packed that longer rope.”

  Kaiya was correct about the stream widening. They decided to cross whilst the water line was below their waists.

  “Don’t wait for me while I take off my boots,” Lawso said. “I’ll catch up.”

  “I wasn’t going to wait for you,” Kaiya said. “My flip-flops are going to slow me down.”

  Satoshi was already wading across the stream.

  “This water is definitely coming from a difference source than the bath water. This is freezing,” Satoshi said.

  On the other side of the stream Kaiya threw her clothes on over her damp swimmers, and raced off awkwardly in her flip-flops. Lawso and Satoshi were taking more time to put their boots on after they crossed so she left them behind.

  Carrying her dagger in one hand, she scrambled along at the quickest pace she could manage across the rocks. For several minutes they were all running over rocks, boulders and tree roots along the edge of the stream, and wading through deeper pools of water. The men eventually caught up to her.

  “I’ll scout up ahead of you both. I want to find a suitable location to exit the creek to minimise our tracks into the forest,” Satoshi told them, now matching Kaiya’s pace.

  While he was talking one of Kaiya's flip-flops caught between two rocks and the strap snapped. Kaiya halted, cursing as she launched her useless pair of shoes a fair distance into the bush. Satoshi and Lawso exchanged amused looks at her mini-tantrum.

  “Women. Always wearing useless shoes,” Lawso commented, shaking his head.

  Kaiya narrowed her eyes at Lawso. “My shoes were appropriate for a bath, I didn’t know I was going to be hunted.”

  Lawso grinned back at her.

  Satoshi took off at a run over the rocks ahead of them, yelling over his shoulder. "Lawso, just carry her over the rocks!"

  Kaiya pointed her dagger at Lawso in warning.

  “I can manage fine by myself,” she told him under her breath.

  “We’ll see,” Lawso said.

  Still grinning, Lawso shrugged his shoulders and picked up the pace, expecting Kaiya to fall behind. Lawso conceded that he was impressed with her barefoot pace for a while after that. Kaiya was really agile despite her height, and she could almost keep up with him even without boots or shoes on.

  Eventually Lawso noticed Kaiya’s grimacing face and knew she must have cut her feet.

  "If you bleed on the rocks they'll track us easier,” he decided.

  Ignoring her dagger, he bounded over some rocks toward her and was beside her in seconds. Before she realised what he intended, he swooped her up into his arms and continued running with her.

  “Hey!” She complained, because she was mortified at being man-handled and pressed too closely against his hard chest. His strong arms were locked securely under her legs and around her back.

  “You are so light,” Lawso said.

  Kaiya was not a damsel in distress, so she pressed the knife to his neck in protest.

  “Put me down before I slice you,” Kaiya demanded.

  Lawso looked down into her green eyes with an amused expression.

  "Piggy back then?" Lawso proposed.

  Before she could answer he easily flipped her around his body, onto his back. It was surprising that he was able to throw her around like that without losing much pace. Reluctantly, she wrapped her arms around his neck so that she did not fall. Kaiya noted how powerful this man felt beneath her, as he continued running and bounding over the rocks. Although Kaiya hated accepting assistance, she realised that could not stop to bind her feet until they found cover.

  "Your knife is in my face!" Lawso complained, feigning irritation as he continued running.

  "Well, keep your face out of its way then!" Kaiya snapped back at him.

  “So feisty!” Lawso chuckled.

  They caught up to Satoshi who had stopped up ahead. Kaiya was actually glad to have been able to rest her raw feet for the short distance but she would never admit that to him. Satoshi was waiting for them on a flat expanse of rocks sloping downward into the forest.

  “It would be harder for our opponents to see evidence of us disturbing foliage here, and we won’t leave footprints at least until we reach the soil further in,” Satoshi told them. “Also, if we keep on low ground, our silhouettes will be less obvious if our opponents catch up to us while the light fades.”

  Lawso set Kaiya down onto the smoother rock and she turned her back on him, without any acknowledgement that he had carried her. She crawled downward into the forest after Satoshi. Once under the cover of the trees, Satoshi assessed the condition of Kaiya's feet.

  “Give me your knife and I’ll tend to your feet,” Satoshi told her.

  Reluctantly, Kaiya gave up her knife. Satoshi cut some large strips off the bottom of his shirt and securely bound them around her feet.

  “Thanks,” Kaiya said to Satoshi.

  Lawso had remained up near the stream lying still on his stomach, yet to climb down. He was gesturing wildly with two fingers and started to reverse crawl down the slope. They all kept low and crawled further into the temporary safety of the forest.

  “I just sighted Kazuo and Yoshito a fair distance down the stream,” Lawso updated them. “I don’t think they saw us.”

  Satoshi led the way into the thick foliage at a moderate pace so they could retreat quickly. They all refrained from sprinting to limit the noise of their movement. No one needed to voice this tactic. Satoshi led them away from the creek in a curved direction. Once they were further under cover Lawso quietly told them what he had seen.

  "They appear
ed to be using a classic search formation. Which means Anton must be deliberately lagging a distance behind in case we double back. Also their weapon of choice appears to be rifles of some sort, it was hard to see from that range,” Lawso said.

  "The rifles are loaded with tranquillisers,” Satoshi assured them. “Yoshito and I thoroughly checked out the weaponry room before you all arrived. Plus, I would say that they would have chosen either radios or night vision from the other options in the weaponry room. Personally, I'm hoping they picked radios or we're in for a quick defeat.”

  "Kazuo would have insisted on radios," Kaiya remarked. "I know he'd prefer a coordinated approach, and at least both he and Yoshito would prefer to win through skill."

  "And would Kazuo know you'd prefer to follow the stream?" Lawso asked quietly.

  "Probably," Kaiya admitted in an irritated tone. "But even so it was still the most tactful course of action."

  After a thoughtful pause Kaiya suggested the beginning of a plan.

  "We need to take out the solo player, that Anton guy and secure his weapon. I think two of us should be able to do this, whilst the other one distracts Kazuo and Yoshito with a diversion.... Maybe a fake booby-trap, since we've only got one knife to cut materials up with. Or even if in worst case scenario the person making a diversion does take a bullet and passes out; the other two would just need to prevent our opponents from returning one of us to the dojo. The rules didn't mention that we couldn't get shot. Maybe we can shoot a couple of them too and even the odds!"

  The men nodded their approval at her plan.

  “I can lead us in a circle back to an earlier part of the route so we can set up an ambush for Anton there,” Lawso suggested confidently.

  “Ok, good,” Kaiya affirmed. She was determined to stay in charge of her plan. Kaiya turned to speak to Satoshi.

  "You CIA guys are good at distraction and booby-traps aren't you?"

  Satoshi started to protest, "I never said I was-"

  "You can spot a CIA operative miles away!" Lawso humorously cut him off.