“A secluded spot eh, Hitch?” Saeko chuckled at the offer, realizing full well that it was her old friend’s plan to bring her and Jo together, and hopefully at the same time give her friend some alone-time with Enjeru. The bubbly girl may not have looked it, but she was in fact a romantic sort, and derived great enjoyment out of setting other couples up together. The irony was that Hichiko had never really entered into any of her own relationships, preferring to endure Enjeru’s company whenever possible.
I’m sorry, but my brother is extremely unreliable…then again, you know that full well, Saeko thought sadly. “Sounds like fun! Jo?” she asked her companion, receiving an affirmative in response.
“
Come with me if you vant to live,” said Hitch in a strangely accented tone, rising from her chair and extending a hand to the couple.
“I saw that movie once. It was horrible,” said Enjeru, rolling his eyes.
* * *
Okay, seriously, what the hell? thought Saeko, marveling at her surroundings. It had turned out that the place her mednin friend had in mind was not far from where they originally started – really, she had taken them to the back door of one of the nondescript buildings nearby (with mandatory “No Trespassing” sign of course), taken out a key hidden in her décolletage, and ushered them inside. Despite Enjeru’s constant and verbal misgivings about entering a shady and potentially germy place, they had made their way up the stairs to the top floor and from there, had passed through yet another nondescript entryway. Saeko had surmised that Hitch was probably taking them to a secret balcony she knew about, but was surprised when the final door had opened to reveal a posh, opulently-appointed luxury suite!
And the place meant luxury: Not only did it boast a king-sized bed with down comforters and a gorillion pillows, it also had a fully-stocked wet bar, large-screen monitor, and even a weretiger-pelt throw complete with the creature’s taxidermied head still attached to it. One side of the room was entirely glass, allowing an unobstructed view of the night sky as well as the glow of the festivities below.
“Ta-Da!” cheered Hitch, upon opening the door.
“Next, you're gonna say: ‘Hitch, what the hell is this place and why do you have access to it?! -Touyoo!’” she smirked, striking a dramatic pose from the popular manga series ‘YoYo’s Abnormal Misadventures’.
“Hitch, what the hell is this place and why do you have access to it?! ...Shit!” asked Saeko, catching herself at the last minute and scowling at Hitch.
“Connections! I AM the daughter of Nara Bii-Ryu, close personal friend to ex-Raikage Takao! This is one of his apartments! Oh, don’t worry, the former Raikage never actually comes up here, if that’s what you’re wondering,” she said, giggling.
“Are you sure it’s okay for us to be here?”
“Totally! I crash here a lot! Don’t bother with the TV though, it’s all pay-per-view porno,” she shrugged.
“Hitch, sometimes you scare me,” she said, smiling. The mednin smiled back and patted Saeko’s hair. “Hey, so are we going to watch the fireworks from that window?”
“You and Jo are going to. See, Enjeru has allergies…” Hitch sighed, although with a wink.
“Actually, this place has very few contaminants, I think I’ll be fine-“ began Enjeru, stepping in, before Hitch grasped him from behind in an affectionate headlock and started to drag him backward.
“I
said…Enjeru has
allergies…” she purred menacingly, dragging them both away and shutting the door. Now it was simply Saeko and Jo left in the room.
“She’s a really nice person,” Saeko smiled, chuckling a bit. “I think they might start up pretty soon. Shall we watch?” As she spoke, the first explosions of color started to illuminate the night sky – a dazzling array of greens, reds, and purples. Sparkles of light tore through the darkness, at one point even painting a brief portrait of the goofy-but-recognizable Raikage Hayata Shin. Her hand slipped into his as they stood together watching the show. As they marveled at the fireworks, a distant memory came flooding back to her…
”Starting today, Blue Raven Class’s homeroom sensei will be replaced by a new instructor. Please introduce yourself, Takaoka-sensei,” said the Headmaster, as he stood in front of the assembled academy students in their tracksuits and bloomers. The students looked at each other with uncertainty and surprise.
“Hey guys! My name is Takaoka Ringo, and I look forward to working with you!” said the man who stepped forward. In his forties by the look of it, he had a burly physique with a rather large belly, but anyone with sense knew that such bulk was pure muscle as opposed to fat. Still, he had a friendly face, even if the eyes were a bit beady to look at.
“Headmaster Fujinami! What happened to Kotaza-sensei?! She’s been our teacher for the last two years!” one of the students blurted out.
“She’s been reassigned,” said the Headmaster, shrugging nonchalantly. “Anyway, work with Takaoka-sensei and strive to become legitimate shinobi.”
“Aw, don’t be sad! Look, I know your former sensei meant a lot to you guys, but I want you to know, I think of you all as family already. Look, I even got some treats for all of you!” said Ringo, smiling benevolently and bringing out a bag full of assorted pastries. The students, used to relative deprivation, immediately forgot their earlier misgivings and dove right in, taking pieces of pie and slices of cake. He had ingratiated himself into the class instantly.
The next day, Ringo assembled the students together outside.
“Alright, my children, here are your new training regimens! Unfortunately, one of the things I noticed is that Kotaza-sensei let you guys fall a bit behind in terms of physical training and endurance, so we’ll correct that. Don’t worry though, I’ve got your backs,” smiled the burly man as he passed out flyers to each of them. As the students looked over the schedules, however, a wave of disbelief washed over the class.
“Takaoka-sensei…this schedule…it’s all hard-core endurance training and there’s no room for our other subjects, I mean, our ninjutsu training is only ten percent of what it was before, and there’s no room for leisure time either,” said one of the students with trepidation.
“First of all, I want you all to call me ‘Father,’ because again, we’re all family here!” said Ringo, placing his hands on his hips. “Second, you’re being trained to be shinobi. That means soldiers. And soldiers must be strong above all else. As I said, I’ve got your backs! Now, let’s begin immediately. I want the class to start with three hundred squats…”
“But sensei…” continued one of the students. He did not get a chance to continue, as Ringo immediately smashed a ham-sized fist into the boy’s face, spending him tumbling to the ground, blood leaking from both nostrils.
“We’re family here, and in a family, the father’s word is absolute!” Ringo intoned, a glint of madness now breaking through his smile. “So don’t question your father, Itou-kun!”
Over the next few days, the students of Blue Raven Class started on their new training regimen for real. And it was not long until the next wave of trouble hit.
“Come on, kids! Another kilometer and I’ll reward you with ice cream for everyone!” cheered Ringo as he ran ahead of the struggling column of students. One of them, a small girl named Maria, fell to the side, overwhelmed by the weight of her pack. As one of the boys started to help her to her feet, Ringo approached. “Leave her, Tomo-kun. She’ll only drag you down with her,” he said, shaking his head.
“But Father, aren’t we supposed to work as a team? Isn’t that the key to victory in battle?” asked Tomo, struggling to support his own weight. He did not get any further, as Ringo’s knee immediately crashed into his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him and sending him sprawling on the ground. Another boy who possessed a stronger physique now stepped forward.
“Takaoka-sensei, I am sorry but I cannot abide by this any longer. You are in violation of several academy codes that forbid excessive physical punishment of students, and your training regimen is only going to cause us to incur casualties during our upcoming genin exams. Punish me if you wish, kill me if you wish, but those are the facts,” said the boy, Rai, with a formal bow. Ringo’s arm drew back as if to slap him, but instead the Sensei started to laugh.
“Ikeba-kun, you are on the student disciplinary committee, right? Ah, I guess you’re technically right. But the thing is, that when you get out there in the real world, when you have the enemy trying to kill you, this is going to pay off because the ultimate means of survival is strength. I’m trying to teach you kids strength. ...But if you think I’m going about it the wrong way, then let’s take a test right here. If one of you, in a one-on-one, can hit one of my vital spots with a knife, I’ll withdraw and get Kotaza-sensei to come back. I will be unarmed, and won’t use handseals or even strength-boosting jutsu. But if I win, then you all must do whatever I say from now on, without question. Is that fair?” asked Ringo, smirking. “Oh, and one more thing: when I say ‘knife’ I mean an actual knife, not the vinyl training blades you guys use in sparring,” he said, drawing a serrated Kai-Bar combat knife from a sheath on his waist and flicking it toward the group of students.
It landed point-down in the soft earth – a challenge issued. The students looked at each other with incredulity. They knew how to fight with knives, and even sensei’s physique was not impossible to overcome with the right technique. Objectively, his being unarmed was a major disadvantage in a knife fight against a skilled opponent, and there was an even chance for a senior academy student to win. But none had ever actually killed a human being before, and if Ringo was asking them to strike his vitals, that was a distinct possibility. No one had thought it would go this far – to potentially kill another human, and an academy sensei to boot? They stood stock-still, uncertain, as they stared at the knife.
“I volunteer,” said Saeko, raising her hand from the back row. As she stepped forward, the rest of the class raised their eyebrows. She was only mediocre in melee combat, no traces of an innate bloodline had manifested themselves, and to top it off, she was small and thin. Someone like Ikeba Rai, who had issued the original complaint, would have been a far better candidate to fight Ringo. Still, no one else seemed to want to come forward. Saeko’s expression remained neutral as she pulled the Kai-Bar out of the ground. It was large, and felt clumsy in her hand as she took a few practice swings and thrusts with it. Behind her, some of the students groaned in despair.
“Oh, you want to have a go at it, Saeko-chan? Your father is a retired ANBU Captain, eh? Well, I expect you to show me some skill!” he laughed, licking his lips in anticipation. He had done this many times before to many other shinobi he had trained. Fighting another person with a blunted and thick vinyl blade was easy, because they only inflicted bruises at worst, even with a direct thrust to the ribcage. But the first time they handled a real blade, against a real opponent, every prior student of his had choked up at this stage. They hesitated even when deliberately given an opening, or attempted to make a weaker slash instead of an effective thrust, or tried to aim at an extremity instead of at the torso or neck, or even just threw the blade as a feint and attempted to grapple him into submission. It failed every time, and every time he had brutally retaliated and sent the trainee to the hospital, or if he were sloppy, killed them. Such a display cowed the group into submission – even when given a distinct advantage, they were powerless against him, and had no choice but to obey forever. It was a necessary sacrifice, in Ringo’s opinion. Today, this lanky, noodly-limbed girl Takaki Saeko would be his lamb for slaughter.
Saeko held the knife in a standard combat grip, pointed straight forward and with her thumb near the hilt. She walked calmly toward Ringo, who hunched into a defensive stance. His eyes met hers, and he relaxed. She was weak like everyone else had been, and would probably either make a lame attack or would drop the knife entirely when push came to shove. After all, there was no tension on her face.
With no more than a hand’s breadth worth of distance between them, Saeko started to make a sideways slash at Ringo’s right shoulder… He inwardly rolled his eyes – this was going to be easy. He would overhead parry with his right arm, follow through on the motion arc, and trap her limb between his armpit and torso. With her knife useless, he would counter with a haymaker to her shoulder, dislocating it and forcing her to drop the knife, before raining a hail of blows to her face and abdomen. Overwhelmed by the assault, she would quickly fall, and he would end it with his knee on her chest and his hands around her throat. Really, he thought, this was going to be stupid…
Ringo’s eyes widened as Saeko, instead of completing the slash, suddenly pulled away as he raised his arm to block the attack. Instead, her left arm shot out to counter his parry, and she now thrust with her right, with the knife aimed right below his anterior fourth rib! Ringo’s left arm had already drawn back to make an assault on her shoulder that never came, and in panic, he attempted to target her face. But she was already too close, and…
With a sickening gush of air and blood, Saeko thrust the blade into his chest up to the hilt and pulled it out immediately, the better to inflict a fatal tension pneumothorax and let the target exsanguinate faster. Ringo fell back in shock, futilely grasping at his chest to try to stem bleeding that would not stop. Before he hit the ground, his chest cavity had filled with blood from a ruptured right ventricle and pulmonary artery, and he lost consciousness, convulsing on the ground.
“CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE!!!” screamed another instructor who materialized in a flurry of smoke. Immediately, Saeko’s arms were restrained behind her back and her face pressed into the ground. The other students started to shout and panic, but were quickly subdued by what looked like an entire company of shinobi who had descended on the scene.
“Third-year student Takaki! What is the meaning of this?! What have you done?!” shouted a sensei as Ringo was quickly loaded onto a stretcher by two mednin and carted away. Saeko blinked, confused.
“Did I not use the proper technique?” she asked. She never received an answer, as suddenly a wave of electricity from a shock-rod hit her consciousness and she passed out.
The next few days were a blur of activity. Her parents were called in from Inaba to have closed-door meetings with various officials and higher-ups in the village. Eventually, she was cleared of wrongdoing in absentia – Takaoka Ringo had, after all, provided lethal weaponry to his students and instructed them to strike him in a vital spot. His death was ruled as an unfortunate training accident, and the rules regarding student-teacher sparring were tightened.
Once she returned to class, though, things had changed. She had never been especially friendly with her classmates, but now, they all seemed to look at her with either fear or disgust. “Bakemono*…” was a term she heard often in hushed whispers. “Sociopathic tendencies…” was a term she often heard when eavesdropping on sensei conversations. Even Ikeba, Tomo, and Maria were avoiding her.
The day after genin graduation, a dark-suited man knocked on her apartment door. She opened it partway, peering at him suspiciously.
“Takaki-san? My name is Takayama Shimada, a Captain in the Kumogakure ANBU. May I come in? You are not in trouble, by the way,” he said, not unkindly. She wordlessly opened the door. She did not bother making him tea, but instead sat down across him in her sparsely-finished room, on the tatami floor.
“I am a friend of your father and your mother, who as you know, was Grand Commander of our corps many years ago. I also am familiar with your role in the incident regarding Takaoka Ringo-sensei. I have no doubt that you have suffered much as a result, although I would venture to say, probably because of the social isolation from your peers, rather than being haunted by his death or anything,” said Shimada, knowingly. Saeko nodded, wordlessly.
“The Main Branch has not entered you into their rolls, have they? And I don’t believe you ever applied to the Medical Corps. Is that correct?” asked Shimada, to which she nodded again. “So basically, you are jobless right now. The reason is because Sennin Hayata of the Main believes your particular talents best suited for our branch rather than his, and because your academic performance during the academy did not qualify you for medical school. That leaves…”
“The ANBU,” said Saeko, sighing.
“Correct. Or, you would be, if not for the fact that you have been barred from our ranks as well,” said Shimada, clearing his throat. “As a former Grand Commander, your mother has forbidden you from being inducted into the AiT program, and not even Sennin Akira Saito may override her wishes. Otherwise, we would have immediately scouted you for our ranks. You would already have been in living in the Sileo Tempestas by now.”
“Why did my mother do this?” she asked, gritting her teeth.
“In the ANBU, we are especially keen on scouting and recruiting students like you, who display certain desirable psychological traits. Perhaps the most desirable is the trait you possess. It is labeled by the Mednins as ‘sociopathy,’ however, that is too broad a term, and too pejorative of a label. The vast majority of human beings, even shinobi, have an ill-defined but very strong innate resistance to taking another human life. Mind you, we are a violent people, but there is a difference between being willing to get in a fistfight and being willing to actually kill. If someone in the majority does in fact kill another human being, they often undergo a great deal of mental anguish which can diminish their willingness to kill again, even in service of the Raikage. Based on how you handled the incident with Takaoka-sensei, however, and after a review of your academy record, it seems you are not affected by this innate resistance. You can kill freely, calmly, and without inner conflict, and you can do this again and again. Such a trait is extremely rare, and thus highly desirable in an ANBU operative, for this is our day-to-day job.”
“So I’m truly a monster after all,” said Saeko, burying her face in her hands. “They were right. I tried to force myself to feel bad for what I had done, but I can’t. So why won’t my mother allow me to join the ANBU, then? I still want to serve the village, you know. It sounds like your corps is the perfect place for a creature like me.”
“I would agree, and you would make an outstanding operative. Your mother, Santaru Rin, stated quite plainly to me that there was no place in her corps for you. She refused to give any other explanation why.”
“Was she concerned for my well-being?” asked Saeko.
“No. She said she did not care if you lived or died.”
“I…I see. Thank you for being honest with me, Captain Takayama…” said Saeko, darkly.
“It is my duty to be truthful. Your father however, has an alternative arrangement in mind for you, that would allow you to receive specialized training, continue your shinobi career, and also start over in a new location away from your peers,” said Shimada now.
“And that is?”
“Are you familiar with the Democratic Kagoshiman Republic, or DKR for short? It is ruled over by a…’president,’ really a tribal dictator, named Date Daisuke. Khal Date is married to a Jounin of this village named Kimura Rei. She is a Hashigaki by blood, and a close personal friend to your father’s…”
“I know the history. They were lovers in the past,” said Saeko, shaking her head.
“Correct. In any case, Jounin Kimura has heard of your situation and contacted your father, who contacted me. She is offering to take you on as her personal student for as long as you wish. You will be her genin apprentice, and will also provide security services for the Khal. I am here to ask you if you are willing to pursue this opportunity.”
“I guess…I don’t really have a choice, do I? It’s either do that or stay here and die slowly, isn’t it? Very well… I accept…”
She opened her eyes now. The last few fireworks were going off, and soon the show would be over. The memory of that time still haunted her, as did the memory of her mother’s words as relayed by Shimada. For a long time, even under Rei’s loving tutelage, she had felt alone. She was still a monster inside, and for that reason, unworthy to connect with other human beings on a meaningful level. Teasing and flirting with men was easy – one of the first things Rei had taught her how to do – and of course when Narashi Jo had first come into her life, she had merely toyed with him as she did with all other men and women. And yet he had wanted more. The connection between them had grown – it had frightened her how much she had wanted to respond in kind.
“Jo…” she murmured, as the show ended, glimmers of dying red still reflecting in her glasses. “When I came back, I actually intended to stop us from going further. I wanted to show you my true nature, and for you to be repulsed, and for me to be done with the whole thing. I wanted you to tell me something like: ‘That’s horrible! Don’t you feel bad for the people you’ve killed?!’ or something similarly cheesy, like from a shounen manga. I would’ve accepted it gracefully, and gone back to Kagoshima with an unburdened heart. I’d have been free. But you…you wrecked my plans,” she said, her eyes now watering.
“I’m not supposed to fall in love with anyone. That’s not what killers like me do. I might murder you in your sleep one day. If the Raikage ordered it, I’d do it, and I wouldn’t feel terrible about it at all! Do you really want to be with that kind of woman?! Don’t you want to be with that other girl you liked, Ren? She’s a pure girl, Jo, as are many others in this village. Don’t make a mistake with a monster like me. This is your last chance! Please, leave me. Please, for you own good and for mine as well, because if we continue I won't be able to bear to let you go,” she said, openly sobbing now as she clutched his chest.
”Good evening, sir.” The driver said, opening the rear door of the cab with a bow. Jo returned the greeting as he climbed in, the door snapping closed behind him. Once the driver returned to his seat on the other side of the partition, he called back to the genin in the back seat. ”Where to, sir?” 
