Ninja Assassin: Attraction

by Sally Keira

  But then he released his hold on one of her wrists, the one with the dagger. Kaiya screamed again because she thought he was dropping her. She flailed about helplessly with the dagger, as she hung from her other arm.

  Lawso got his bearings and looked over at the balcony they had just dropped off of. Unsurprisingly, Kazuo was standing there with a gun pointed at him.

  "I'll fucking kill you if you drop her!" Kazuo yelled out fiercely.

  Lawso grinned obnoxiously across the space at Kazuo. Using his free hand to control the abseil device, he dropped himself and Kaiya downward several metres. Kaiya screamed again as they fell, not knowing that Lawso was waving goodbye to a furious looking Kazuo.

  "Kaiya, drop the dagger!" Lawso commanded.

  He was still roughly lowering them, further away from Kazuo. In her terror Kaiya continued to hold onto her dagger with her dangling hand. If she let it go she would be completely at his mercy.

  “No, you drop your gun first! If you drop me, Kazuo will shoot you. You still need me to get out of this alive,” Kaiya demanded.

  Lawso shook his head at her defiance.

  “So typical of you to attempt a ridiculous bargain from your vulnerable position,” Lawso said. “I told you to drop it.”

  Lawso pushed his feet off the side of the building and deliberately slammed Kaiya's body hard against the glass wall. She groaned from the force of the contact with the building wall. The dagger fell out of her grasp, dropping downward toward the street below.

  "Come here you little wench!" Lawso growled and started yanking on her arm.

  Lawso lifted her upward with some assistance also from his feet.

  "Wrap your arms around my neck and straddle my hips over the harness," Lawso commanded, once he had her in his arms.

  Kaiya did as he asked and wrapped herself tightly around his hard body. She felt one of his large hands move up to cup her butt, holding her tight against him.

  “I cannot believe that you’re laughing,” Kaiya snapped.

  "You should see how wildly beautiful you look, with your wind-blown hair and wide, frightened green eyes,” Lawso said.

  “I hate you,” Kaiya said.

  Intense blue eyes stared at her as they swung about together, suspended on the long line of rope.

  “I doubt that very much,” Lawso said. “I’m sorry if I scared you. You should know I’d never drop you.”

  Lawso swept some hair off of Kaiya’s face in a tender gesture. She felt electricity from his touch to her cheek. Kaiya was overwhelmed by the rush of adrenaline from their fall and the mix of intense emotions she felt toward him, including hatred and passion.

  Lawso smiled at her in his sexy way, as they continued swinging in space. The way he was looking at her made her breath catch. She felt an invisible pull toward his lips. His lips were so close to hers. The urgency to kiss him overcame her, although he beat her to it.

  Lawso kissed her slowly and deliberately, moving his tongue sensually against hers as they continued to sweep back and forth in the wind. Kaiya had never felt so alive and out of control. They could have killed each other minutes earlier, yet now they could not get enough of each other. Her eyes were closed. There was nothing else in the world in this moment except for the pounding of the chilly wind, the caress of his warm mouth and the strength of his strong arms holding her against him.

  Sometime during their kiss, Lawso managed to release her GPS bracelet from her wrist and secured it in his closed fist. He pulled his lips off of hers, smiling as he released the abseil device, to drop them a few metres further down.

  “No…” Kaiya weakly protested, unsure if it was her bracelet or his delicious mouth that she wanted back.

  “I’m going to get us out of here now,” Lawso said. “Keep holding on to me because I need both of my hands. Ok?”

  Kaiya nodded and continued to cling to his neck. Lawso started running them across the face of the building. When he was close enough, he threw her bracelet onto another balcony. He swung back in the opposite direction as he dropped them lower still.

  When Lawso regained his footing, he kept up his momentum as he switched direction. He ran at the next balcony down below the one he had just thrown the GPS onto. Once he grabbed the lower balcony, he easily climbed onto it with Kaiya still wrapped around him.

  Lawso unhooked his abseiling harness and discarded it on the balcony. He forcefully kicked open the balcony door, shattering the glass. Charging inside that apartment, he kept holding onto Kaiya. They encountered a startled looking elderly couple lying in the bed in that room. Lawso had his assault rifle pointed at them instantly.

  "Shhh, don't make a noise or I'll shoot,” Lawso demanded.

  Kaiya slipped out of Lawso’s hold, harshly kneed him in the stomach, and took off. She hobbled toward the front door of the unit, as fast as she could with her swollen ankle. Lawso chased fast behind her. When she struggled to get the security chain off the front door, he caught her.

  “Nice try,” Lawso said.

  The cold barrel of Lawso's gun pressing into her back was beyond frustrating. Not so gently, Lawso shoved her chest against the door.

  "Place your hands behind your back," he commanded with an authoritative tone.

  Kaiya whimpered and obeyed because one of his feet was putting pressure on her sore ankle. Kaiya felt Lawso binding her wrists together behind her back. Lawso must have pulled the duct tape out of his webbing. He had probably intended to use it on her sister.

  “I can’t believe that you’re using duct tape. What, are you a serial rapist now?”

  “Is that a suggestion?” Lawso asked, as he squeezed one of her butt cheeks.

  “Only you would take that as a suggestion,” Kaiya said.

  "I've captured you, beautiful!" Lawso whispered seductively in her ear, caressing her other butt cheek. “I recall that you like being captured by me.”

  “Not anymore,” Kaiya snapped.

  “That is too bad. Come with me," Lawso commanded, yanking her off the door by her arm, ignoring her further protests and struggles.

  Kaiya knew she needed to get away, so she tried to resist by kicking at him. Lawso smirked at her as he wrapped an arm around her waist from behind and lifted her. This hold was familiar, it had worked on her at the dojo well enough. With her hands bound he had her, just. If she would only keep still.

  “That’s good. Keep struggling like that. You’ll make it harder for your friends to get a clean shot off.” Lawso said.

  Neither of them were surprised to find a couple of ninjas waiting to intersect them in the corridor.

  “They would have split themselves across a few levels, not knowing if the GPS location was correct,” Lawso said.

  “You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” Kaiya said.

  “Yes,” Lawso said.

  “Over here! Shoot him!” Kaiya yelled down the corridor.

  “That’s not nice,” Lawso said.

  Lawso’s left arm tightened around Kaiya’s waist and he repositioned his gun with his right hand. When the ninjas closed in, Lawso used Kaiya's struggling body as a shield, as he had told her he would. The ninjas realised their error at not keeping cover and tried to retreat. Lawso fired his gun twice and two ninjas slumped to the floor.

  “See I am smarter than them,” Lawso said. “Your ninjas are so predictable.”

  Another ninja yelled out from around a corner, but dove for cover when Lawso fired off several rounds. Lawso only stopped shooting when the service elevator finally opened and he yanked Kaiya inside. Lawso produced a key card from his pocket and was able to send the lift down to a public car park level. Kaiya continued to buck about and scream, but Lawso held her securely against him. He was still laughing at her, which infuriated her more.

  “You do realise, I’m turned on by you struggling,” Lawso whispered in her ear.

  “My ninjas are going to finish you,” Kaiya promised, mortified by the jolt of arousal between her legs from his words.
/>   “I think part of you is hoping they don’t finish me,” Lawso said. “Because you and I are not finished with each other.”

  “I am finished with you!” Kaiya insisted.

  “No, you’re not,” Lawso said, reaching down to tilt her chin toward him.

  “Yes, I -”

  Lawso silenced her with another slow yet forceful kiss. Her mouth betrayed her. She kissed him back. So much rage and passion was exchanged in their kiss.

  The lift doors opened and shocked Kaiya into reality. She remembered that she needed to get away from him. But Lawso kept hold of her around her waist, ignoring her futile kicks. He dragged her out of the lift and into a car park level that she had never used before.

  Using his gun, he smashed the back-door window of an ordinary silver Nissan Serena. With a reach of his arm through the broken window, the driver’s door was quickly unlocked.

  “In you go,” Lawso said.

  “Hey!” Kaiya exclaimed as she was roughly thrown into the passenger seat.

  “Behave yourself while I get this car going,” Lawso said.

  Lawso slid into the driver’s side beside her and went to work hot wiring the car. Kaiya swivelled about in her seat. Perhaps she could move into a position where she could kick him in the head.

  Once the engine revved to life, Lawso reached over and grabbed both of Kaiya’s feet in one of his large hands. He forcibly threw her feet down off the seat. He secured a seatbelt around Kaiya, then himself.

  “Do you want me to tape your ankles together too?” Lawso demanded. “Because, if you kick me one more time, I will do it.”

  “Fuck you!” Kaiya snapped.

  Lawso raised an eyebrow at her. “There will be time for that later when we’re not being chased.”

  With a screech of tyres, he took off through the car park to find the exit. Kaiya knew that she had lost her window to escape. There was not a lot she could do with her hands bound behind her back.

  When they neared the exit of the car park, Lawso pressed his assault rifle against Kaiya's temple. As he anticipated, there were several armed ninjas waiting for them out on the street. They all pointed their guns at Lawso. Some of the ninjas were even close enough to touch the car. Lawso knew they could not shoot him with his gun pointed at Kaiya, so he kept driving past their frustrated faces.

  As they drove off Lawso smiled smugly. At least until he realised that there was an armoured hummer and two motorbikes on his tail. Lawso groaned and adjusted his rear mirror.

  "You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you?" Kaiya smirked.

  “For a minute there, yes,” Lawso said.

  Lawso flinched in reflex as a bullet passed through his side of the car. The shot narrowly missed him and shattered his side of the windscreen.

  “Fool,” Kaiya said, but he ignored her.

  "Why did I have to break into an automatic car?" Lawso muttered to himself.

  Taking an abrupt sharp turn across some oncoming traffic, they headed down a narrow laneway. The motorbikes followed but the hummer missed the turn. More bullets peppered Lawso's side of the car, as he drove erratically through a series of side streets to get away. Kaiya was impressed by his accurate sharp turns and his ability to miss unsuspecting civilians in his path. It was a good thing Lawso had secured Kaiya’s seatbelt. Otherwise she could have easily been flung onto the dashboard.

  After several minutes Lawso seemed to lose the motorbikes in the maze of streets. He would have relaxed had he not caught a hint of a smile on Kaiya's face. Lawso reached over and cupped her chin in his hand, forcing her to look into his eyes.

  "What aren't you telling me, Kaiya?" Lawso demanded.

  "They would have put a tracker on this car when we exited the car park," she told him, realising that she did not want him to get killed.

  Lawso screeched to a halt at the next intersection and got out of the car. It was not long after sunrise but there were plenty of civilians walking around in this precinct of the city. Lawso pulled a black wallet of out his trousers and produced a wad of cash, waving it in the air.

  "Can someone dump my car a block from here?" Lawso asked in Japanese to civilians passing by. A teen volunteered despite the state of the car, and eagerly took the cash off him. The teen drove off with the car after Lawso pulled Kaiya out. Lawso half-hid his assault rifle in his webbing, and pulled Kaiya slightly in front of him to help conceal it. He led Kaiya by the arm into the small crowd.

  “Keep in front of my gun,” Lawso commanded. “Now, head into that store.”

  Lawso directed Kaiya into an all-hours conbinis convenience store, just before one of the ninjas on a motorbike drove past. He grabbed a navy women's tee shirt off a rack and tugged Kaiya toward the back of the empty store.

  "I'm an undercover cop. This woman is under arrest, but will need a new shirt. I’ll take that canvas bag too,” Lawso spoke pleasantly in Japanese to the elderly store clerk.

  The store clerk looked them up and down through her thick glasses, as she took his cash. She seemed indifferent to his story. Lawso shoved the shirt into his webbing for later. His gun, he quickly concealed in the bag. A flabbergasted Kaiya was yanked through the rear exit of the building onto a back street. Lawso could not believe his luck as he easily hailed a taxi on the curb outside.

  “You’re going to steal a taxi?” Kaiya asked incredulously. “Are you going to hurt the driver?”

  “That depends on you and whether you cooperate,” Lawso said.

  Unable to escape, with her hands bound and Lawso gripping her forearm, Kaiya found herself forced inside the taxi. She attempted to kick Lawso in the face but he caught her legs, pinning her feet together in his steel hold. He scooted over and shut the door, shhh-ing her attempt to verbally protest to the driver. Lawso needed a change of story fast before they were either thrown out of the taxi or he was forced to use his gun. Lawso leaned forward and smiled charmingly at the female driver, speaking smoothly in Japanese.

  "Mam, this woman is a family friend. She has a serious drug addiction and is really unwell. She has been missing for days and was violent when I finally found her. That is why I unfortunately had to restrain her. I need to get her home to her family so that they can sedate her and get her washed out. I will tip well for your assistance."

  Lawso told the driver an address, a few doors down from his actual destination. The driver looked at Kaiya's torn singlet as Kaiya screamed in protest and bucked about. Still firmly restraining Kaiya’s legs in his arm pit, Lawso shrugged his shoulders as if to say, decide for yourself. The driver was convinced and sped off toward Lawso's address.

  “He’s kidnapping me!” Kaiya yelled in Japanese.

  Lawso shook his head at her incredulously.

  “Am I going to have to show the driver what is in my bag?” Lawso said in English.

  “You wouldn’t?” Kaiya said in English.

  The look on Lawso’s face told her that he would hold the driver at gun point, if the driver decided to evict them from the taxi.

  “Please try to ignore her, she is really unwell,” Lawso said in Japanese, to the driver.

  “You’re the one who is unwell,” Kaiya snapped in English, still trying to kick him.

  “I just warned her to stop kicking me. But she refused. Unfortunately, I will have to tape her ankles together now, so that she does not damage herself or your taxi,” Lawso calmly explained to the driver.

  “Let me go, asshole,” Kaiya snapped in English.

  Somehow, Lawso held her legs still, long enough to duct tape them together. The bastard was too strong for her. The taxi driver kept anxiously glancing at them in her rear mirror but Lawso’s calm smile seemed to reassure the driver somewhat.

  “Don’t worry, driver. If I were really kidnapping her, I wouldn’t have got in a taxi with her,” Lawso said convincingly. “I just wanted to get her back to her parents as soon as possible.”

  After a while Kaiya started laughing hysterically at her situation. Lawso tri
ed not to smirk as she made herself look even crazier. When they arrived on a nice suburban street, Lawso thanked the driver and gave her a generous tip as promised.

  "Her family are waiting inside and will be pleased that I have brought her home safety. Come on Fuji, let's go wake your parents up," Lawso said pleasantly to Kaiya and gently pulled her out of the car.

  "That's not my fucking name!" Kaiya screamed in frustration.

  The taxi driver was clearly uncomfortable, as evidenced by the way she rapidly sped off in her taxi.

  “You’re a naughty girl. I almost had to shoot that lady,” Lawso said, shaking his head. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

  “I can’t walk because of your duct tape, fool,” Kaiya snapped.

  “So, you can’t,” Lawso laughed triumphantly as slung the canvas bag over his left shoulder and bundled Kaiya up over his right shoulder.

  Kaiya thrashed about in protest despite her bound wrists and ankles.

  “Where are you taking me?” Kaiya demanded.

  “My home,” Lawso said.

  Using his strength advantage, Lawso held Kaiya in place with one arm pressed tightly across the back of her legs and a large hand cupping her butt. He carried her across the quiet street like that, and entered a small modern two-story house. There was nothing she could do with her wrists and ankles still bound. She was going to kill him for this.

  Chapter 20

  Lawso carried Kaiya inside his home, still over his shoulder. Her struggles ceased because she was curious to see where he lived. Once they were inside he gently dropped her down onto a comfortable grey lounge, downstairs in his entertainment room. There was a large TV and state of the art electronic surround sound system, plus a retractable movie screen. Kaiya rolled her eyes as she spotted his PlayStation hooked up to his TV. He probably played shooting games online like Kazuo and the rest of the male ninjas. On the walls were some anime paintings of scantily clad female ninjas or superheroines. The paintings were quite good, she had no idea that Lawso was an artist. She wondered how Lawso would portray her if he painted her.