Ninja Assassin: Attraction

by Sally Keira

  "Kaiya, even you could have fallen then," Kazuo told her sternly.

  “Unlikely,” Kaiya dismissed his comment with a raised eyebrow and a confident shake of her head.

  Kaiya was ready to commence her lesson now that she had gained their full attention.

  "Good morning my fellow opponents. Apparently today I shall be leading our group in wall and mountain climbing exercises. Let's get started, shall we?"

  Kaiya was satisfied when all five of them eagerly stepped forward to meet her further instructions.

  Lawso was impressed by Kaiya's speed and technique when she propelled her petite body up the wall. He had never seen anyone run up a wall before. And her risky gymnastic display on the top was both shocking and captivating- he had never seen anyone like her. The wall climbing lesson was enjoyable and he conceded that Kaiya was actually better at this than he was. His training had primarily involved climbing suspended ropes, abseiling, and scaling various obstacles that he could usually get at least a foothold on. Technique rather than strength was more critical in climbing a vertical wall.

  After some time, Kaiya finished with instructing on wall grapple throwing and rope climbing techniques. She moved on to climbing horizontally across the wall using metal claws, called shukowas. Lawso found himself checking out her tight rounded butt as she moved across the wall in front of him. He barely registered the microphone screech on and the stern faceless Japanese voice simply announced,

  "ONE".

  Lawso looked up from Kaiya's cute butt just as Kazuo knocked him down to his knees with a series of kick combinations. A final kick to the back knocked Lawso's face forward into the dust.

  "What the fuck, Kazuo?" Lawso rolled over on the ground, expressing his irritation.

  "Not my fault you were distracted by her butt, Lawso," Kazuo laughed down at him.

  Kaiya climbed down from the wall and glared at the both of them. The microphone screeched on again and boomed out,

  "TWO.”

  Yoshito quickly took Anton down in a similar fashion with a rapid combination of kicks. Anton's face ended up planted in the dust and he swore at Yoshito in Russian. The amplified voice returned and boomed out,

  "THREE".

  Kaiya and the three men still standing looked at each other cautiously, until Satoshi suddenly knocked Kazuo down to the ground, also with a series of kicks.

  "Well whose butt were you looking at?" Lawso mocked an irritated Kazuo, who was lying next to him on the ground.

  "Opponents, you must all learn to be ready for an attack at any moment. Now continue with Kaiya's lesson," the faceless voice commanded via loudspeaker.

  Kaiya was clearly not the only one who had received a scroll that morning.

  Kaiya was proud of how the training progressed that day. She was a natural leader and relished the opportunity to show to the others why she had earned her place in this elite training program. The opponents even witnessed her earn Anton's reluctant respect whilst they were climbing one of the canyon walls after lunch. On that occasion, she had challenged Anton to a rock climbing race to make a point after he had tried to undermine her authority. After she flogged him at it, she had harshly critiqued his technique and brought him up to standard with the rest of them.

  Later in the afternoon Kaiya’s lesson had relaxed and they had all just enjoyed free-climbing the canyon walls. They of course used safety equipment, periodically hammering metal piton spikes into cracks or seams in the rocks, to provide an anchor for their ropes. At one point, Kaiya lost her footing and found herself hanging by her hands; as she kicked about unable to find another foothold. Unfortunately, she had placed her last piton several metres down and was careless not to have added another one by then. She realised she would probably scrape herself quite badly when she dropped.

  “Kaiya get a foot hold, that drop is too far!” Kazuo’s voice echoed urgently across the expanse of rock.

  “That’s not helping,” Kaiya yelled back. “I can’t find one, this boulder is dead straight!”

  Kaiya tried to keep the panic out of her voice as her feet scraped ineffectively at the smooth rock face. A couple of the others had fallen smaller distances previously. However, it had been her lesson today, so she did not want to lose face by hurting herself. Kazuo was climbing at a similar height on a different rock face twenty meters away, which is why he could see her. He would not be able to help her from there. The others had climbed out of view. Except for Lawso, who was the only one climbing remotely nearby. He was lower down, around the bend of the same boulder.

  “Hang on, I’m coming,” she heard Lawso call out.

  It did not take him long to close the distance between them. Kaiya was surprised when he managed to quickly climb up level with her, whilst she dangled from her weakening hand hold. He reached one strong arm out toward her.

  “I can hold your weight,” Lawso sounded determined.

  “Alright,” Kaiya agreed, offering her left arm to him.

  “Gotcha.”

  Lawso grabbed her wrist in time, just as her right hand lost grip off the rock. Kaiya felt a rush as she dropped. She was relieved to find herself swinging from Lawso’s grip. Somehow, he managed to handle her full weight whilst simultaneously keeping his own grip on the vertical rock face. Lawso held her steady until she found new hand and foot holds on the sheer wall.

  “Can I release you?” Lawso asked.

  “Yes. I have a secure hold now,” Kaiya said. She did not thank him.

  While Kaiya quickly hammered another piton into the rock, she heard Lawso doing the same. Lawso’s last anchor point had been even further down than hers! The man’s strength and guts was impressive. Not many people could hold the weight of a second person whilst free-climbing a sheer wall. He held on to her despite how injured he could have been, if he had fallen much further than she would have. Kaiya looked up and smiled to herself about the distracting view of Lawso’s tight butt now climbing above her.

  “Nice,” she muttered to herself.

  “What’s that? Did you just thank me?” Lawso called from above.

  “No, I was just… No, I didn’t,” Kaiya said.

  Lawso glanced down and shook his head at her. He turned away with a hint of a smile and continued climbing. Kaiya decided to continue upward in the same path as him.

  After several more metres climb upward Kaiya reached a small ledge and pulled herself up. There was just enough room to sit down next to Lawso. Kaiya smiled sweetly, as she made herself comfortable beside him.

  “This is a nice spot,” Kaiya said. “Actually, this view is spectacular.”

  “Yeah. I think I’ll stay here until we climb back down,” Lawso decided.

  They dangled their feet as they rested together more than half way up above the canyon. There was a misty waterfall about thirty metres away from them, cascading down over the boulders from a height above. This view of the canyon was just as beautiful as the mountain top view she had shared with Kazuo on the day of their arrival. But this time she felt invigorated. Kaiya noticed that Lawso was quiet, probably taking in the serenity. He seemed to enjoy watching the down rush of the waterfall and their breathtaking view of the canyon.

  Lawso turned to look at her, somewhat expectantly, she realised.

  “I’m glad you didn’t fall,” Lawso said.

  “You were stupid to take my weight on the wall without hammering in a piton first,” Kaiya said, refusing to thank him and even shoving Lawso roughly in the shoulder.

  “You were out of time and I already knew I could hold your light weight,” he said, surprised by her attitude.

  Lawso deliberately but less roughly shoved Kaiya in her own shoulder in playful retaliation.

  “Yeah, but you would have fallen even further than me if you’d lost your grip,” she argued.

  “You’re welcome, Kaiya,” he smiled at her poor attempt at a thank you.

  The pair fell back into an almost comfortable silence. Neither one wanted to continue climbing b
ecause they would not find a better spot to rest. Kaiya had never really thought about how beautiful Japan was. This was the sort of heart-stirring view that Kaiya would have liked to share with someone she loved. What a pleasant reward for their hard day of climbing! There was a look of contentment mirrored on Lawso’s face as he shared in the scenery.

  “So what’s your story, why are you doing this training?” Curiosity motivated her to ask him.

  “Interested to know more about me huh?” Lawso’s smile was annoyingly charming. “I did my time in the Special Forces. After three trips to Afghanistan and one trip to Iraq, and losing a couple of mates, it was time to discharge from the army and see more of the world. I have travelled quite a bit of Asia. I like Japan and gravitated here despite my rusty Japanese, which I’m hoping will improve. My middle brother, Steveo, lives in Yokohama with his Japanese wife. I was staying with them for a while, while I trained in Ninjutsu again with a former Mizuchi Ninjutsu master. Not sure what I’ll do after I win this competition.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you, but you’re not going to win,” Kaiya told him confidently, taking the bait.

  “We’ll see about that,” Lawso said, overly confident.

  Kaiya was not even sure if there would be a single winner in this training program. It sounded like a few of them may be able to finish the program with Mizuchi Ninjutsu status. They would find out eventually. But how easily Lawso had diverted her intent away from seeking further Intel on him!

  Unbeknown to Kaiya, her shirt had bunched in her harness, exposing the curve of her hip. Lawso reached out, lightly stroking the small patch of her exposed skin with his finger.

  “Hey!” Kaiya jumped at his brief unexpected touch.

  She turned to find him quietly watching her. Her breathing had quickened from his light caress. Narrowing her eyes at him, she pulled her shirt down over her hip.

  Lawso smirked at her reaction.

  Kaiya retaliated by kicking Lawso’s closest swinging leg. The same leg playfully kicked her back. So she kicked him again, harder.

  “That’s it!” Lawso said in an amused tone.

  Lawso grabbed her forearm and tugged. Her grip on the wall barely prevented her from toppling of the ledge. Her look of outrage was met with by his cheeky grin.

  “No, over you go,” Kaiya said.

  Kaiya grabbed his wrist and gave him a taste of his own medicine. Except the brute was strong and barely moved when she pulled on his wrist.

  “You’ll have to do better than that,” Lawso laughed.

  “You’ll be sorry you said that.” Kaiya tugged harder, using her feet to help her push him off the wall.

  “Shit, you’re going to send us both over the ledge doing that,” Lawso said, still amused, as he gripped on more firmly to the wall behind him.

  The next thing they knew, they had hold of each other’s arms, locked in a mock battle of trying to throw each other over the ledge. Kaiya could not help laughing with Lawso at their childish behaviour. No doubt Lawso could easily throw her over the ledge, but she would of course pull him over with her if he really tried it.

  “Hey, stop it SAS boy!” Kaiya blurted.

  But as she said it Kaiya inwardly cringed at her flirtatious comment, and replaced her grin with a frown. Not long after they quietened down again she heard Kazuo’s voice calling out.

  “Kaiya, the sun will set in an hour, do you want to head back?”

  “Thanks, Kazuo, let’s head back now then!” Kaiya yelled back.

  Kazuo often acted like a bossy older brother but she was used to him. She still could not see the others from her position on the ledge, and had almost forgotten about them. The other opponents all called out acknowledgement of the plan to start climbing back down.

  “So, is Kazuo your ex?” Lawso asked her.

  “What makes you think that?” Kaiya was surprised by his question.

  “Just trying to figure out your relationship. He seems protective of you. Yet he’s not the one who catches your eye,” Lawso said.

  “And who catches my eye?” Kaiya asked, already knowing where this was heading.

  “Me,” Lawso said smugly.

  “No, actually you don’t. But you do make my eyes roll though,” Kaiya said, making a show of rolling her eyes.

  “You like me!” Lawso persisted, grinning back at her.

  “You’re still kidding yourself,” she told him, shaking her head in denial.

  Kaiya bit back a smile and pointed a finger at Lawso in warning. “I’m climbing down now, keep your hands to yourself.”

  Lawso playfully captured Kaiya’s finger before she could move to commence her decent down from the ledge.

  “You didn’t answer my question about Kazuo,” Lawso persisted, holding onto her finger just firmly enough so that she could not retrieve it.

  “Kazuo is my friend, but also my main competition for leadership in our ninja clan. He is in love with my sister,” Kaiya disclosed.

  Satisfied with her answer, Lawso released Kaiya’s finger. No further words were exchanged because she climbed down out of his view.

  On the way back to the dojo Satoshi volunteered to prepare their dinner that evening. The group were in good spirits and were strangely starting to bond. They were all joking around as they filed in through the northern door of the dojo, with their heavy packs full of climbing gear. Kaiya noticed that Lawso had lagged behind and decided to wait for him. The others were well inside the dojo when he reached her.

  “I was just enjoying the quiet of the forest,” Lawso said, this time trialling some broken Japanese.

  That charming smile of his dazzled her. Lawso reached out and twirled a stray lock of Kaiya’s hair in his fingers.

  "Your lesson was great today, Kaiya. I enjoyed watching you," he told her huskily.

  Something about the way he spoke told her he had been watching her rather than her demonstrations.

  "Did you just?" Kaiya responded, confidently meeting his challenge.

  “Yes, very much so,” Lawso said.

  They stared at each other for a bit longer, neither one wanting to look away first despite the growing tension between them. Lawso was still twirling that lock of her hair. Kaiya purposefully pulled the strands of her hair out of his fingers, with an eyebrow raised at him. Lawso chuckled when she turned first and hurried into the dojo. Kaiya retreated feeling flustered by Lawso’s obvious flirting. The man’s cocky attitude was insufferable!

  Chapter 4

  And so the Mizuchi Ninjutsu training program continued. Each day the opponents awoke to new challenges. Sometimes some of them found scrolls next to their futons with written instructions. Other times the faceless Japanese voice on a loud speaker would make commands or set challenges without warning. Often, they were all working on different tasks without each other’s knowledge. They soon learnt not to drop their guard. Over the weeks they each also led the group in demonstrating training in their strength areas. Overall, the Mizuchi Ninjutsu program was harsh and the challenges were not always fairly weighted. The opponents came to know each other’s characters well and were continually reminded of each other's skills at the most inopportune timings. The opponents also learned the hard way that their faceless instructor liked to repeat that same penalty from the first day's challenge, for all of the bigger group challenges. They all learned to hate that penalty.

  Satoshi and Lawso had remained friends from the first day. Kaiya thought their relaxed natures were a commonality between them. The two of them often shared jokes and seemed to hang out a lot in the evenings when they had down time. Satoshi made an effort to be friendly with Kaiya and would regularly draw her into conversation. She decided that Satoshi was the most pleasant opponent to be around. He was also the only opponent that she did not mind losing a challenge to, because he was never openly cocky. Satoshi was extremely patient and quietly skilled in most areas.

  Kaiya also noticed a friendship forming between Kazuo and Yoshito, the two more disciplined opponent
s. They both approached the tasks with such seriousness. Yoshito was a few years older than Kazuo, slightly more experienced, but also much politer and reserved in character. Yoshito even seemed somewhat formal toward Kaiya at times. Kaiya decided early on that Yoshito was probably the strongest competitor. Yoshito’s teams seemed to win most of the group challenges and he was very well rounded. To her disgust, he did not seem to have any obvious weaknesses. Kazuo and Lawso also seemed more competitive with Yoshito than the others. So they probably thought he was the opponent to beat as well. It was almost as if Yoshito and Kazuo had forgotten that they were natural enemies. Kazuo’s indifference to Yoshito’s background really irritated Kaiya. So much for them respecting her family's blood feud, she thought.

  Anton was a wild card and no one really took to his brash attitude. Kaiya liked him the least and the feeling was clearly mutual. Anton had not been overtly physically aggressive toward her since she had broken his nose on the first day. Unless of course they were paired to spar. Because, in that case Anton thought he had an excuse to put in everything he had to try to take her down. His antagonistic comments were almost expected now, especially when she lost a challenge. Usually she steered clear of him, mostly because she could not be bothered to even engage him in superficial conversation. Kaiya was a very confident woman and fighter. She did not remotely care what Anton thought of her. They had found out that his cultural background was Ukrainian. To Kaiya’s knowledge none of them had asked him who he worked for. He was probably just a freelance killer. Kazuo seemed to give Anton no time or respect either, since that first day that Anton had insulted her. Kaiya was quietly satisfied about that.