Fan Fiction ❯ Little Flower ❯ Tip of the Iceberg ( Chapter 4 )

Title: Little Flower

Author: Chisha

Category: General

Warnings: This fic contains an original character, created by the author herself cause she's such a pathetic person. If you do not like possible pairings with this character, do not read any further and press that cute little Back button on your browser. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except Kohana. The rest of the characters is owned by Tecmo. (Too bad…)

Author's Note: Not a very long one, I suppose. Getting to the end of what I've written down now… Though it's not the end of the story by far!!! This is gonna be a long one. You still have time to turn and run!!! ;) And I have to say I still suck at making up titles.

Chapter 4 - Tip of the Iceberg

'Let go of me! Let go! Let go!' She struggled - there was someone holding her down, what if it was the assassin? Scared, she opened her eyes as she struggled more.

'Kohana!' It was Hayate, looking at her with his intense brown eyes. He was holding her by the shoulders, bent over her slightly, and probably a little worried. 'Kohana!'

She gasped as she calmed down a bit, seeing it had all been a dream. A very bad dream. 'H-Hayate-sama,' she stammered, half of her ashamed, the other half of her still scared from the nightmare.

Kuso, Kohana, it was just a nightmare, don't get so worked up about it.

'Are you alright?' he asked softly, as she sat up, with his hands still on her shoulders. 'I could hear you scream. Actually everyone else could, too.'

'It… It was just a bad dream,' she said with quivering voice, pulling herself loose from his firm grip. 'It was scary, but it's gone now…'

'What about?'

'I don't have to tell you that.' Her pride had returned full force, she felt, and he would not ashame her by knowing what her nightmares were about. It was none of his business, not at all.

He gave her a long stare, and she wasn't sure what to make of that look in his eyes. Was it because he too just woke up? Or because of the lights?
She shook her head, trying to shake off his staring, but when she looked again, he was still observing her. That was the word… observing. Staring was different, especially with a man. What was he observing?
After a full two minutes, he got up and turned around, walking back to the door, without making a single noise. 'Try not to scream so loudly next time. It disturbs the others,' he said, before leaving and quietly shoving the door closed.
Kohana shook her head again, this time from confusion. What a strange man…

***

'Time for your first operation, Kohana.' Hayabusa said it as if he were an automated wake up message. So he was back at the order again, she guessed. He had been gone for the past few weeks. His visits to the clan were getting less frequent. Hayate must have been sending him out very often.

'Get dressed quickly, grab your stuff and we're off. Hurry.'

Kohana grumbled in her pillow and shifted her body a bit to the side, shielding her eyes from the candle light that was shining in her face, and trying to ignore his hand shaking her gently, for his usual way of acting, that was. Some people were just way too "optimistic" in the early morning. This was actually a bit strange for a person like Hayabusa.

'Come on, wake up!'

She grumbled again. 'Operation?'

'Yes, and it's a long day travelling from here, so you'd better get up quickly. Hayate and Ayane are already waiting. Get your clothes on.'

'Travelling… what?' She rubbed her eyes, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

Hayabusa let go of her, to walk back to the door. 'Someone put different clothes down here in your room yesterday. You should know what to do with it.'

'Hnn? Oh, right…' Yawning, she slowly got up. 'What time is it?'

Hayabusa put the candle he had been holding down. 'Four in the morning, I believe.'

'And what are we doing at four in the morning?'

'A mission. Come on.'

'What kind of mission?' Kohana started to get her clothes on. She decided to go in simple travelling clothes, as Hayabusa didn't seem to be wearing his usual attire either. She packed her stuff, including the ninja "uniform", complete with the mask that went over the lower half of one's face. No one should remember the face of a ninja. Realizing this, she saw Hayabusa had packed some of his things as well. Only the necessary, of course.

'I believe it has something to do with the army trying to find out if there's any secret organisations around. They're doing that without our permission, so we're trying to prevent them from discovering any of us or other clans. We have to catch up with them and get rid of them. It may be hard to find them, since they're high up in the mountains, and there's a lot of snowstorms in this time of the year.'

By the time he had finished, she was ready, and followed him outside. The sun wasn't even up yet.

'Get rid of them? I suppose you mean "kill them", am I right?'

Hayabusa nodded, smiling slightly. 'You're a quick study.'

'I've read something about ninja society before I came here. In uncle Makoto's library.'

'I see.'

It was a long time of travelling from city to city, relying on trains and trucks and sometimes even the subway to take them there. Kohana just sat there and moved vehicles or walked a bit whenever she needed to, but had no thoughts or feelings. She was strangely calm and indifferent, but after a while she did start to wonder why they had to get up this early. She felt sleepy and didn't see the reason. At some point where they sat in a desolated wagon on an old train with no living soul except for them on it, she dozed off without knowing it.

A few minutes later she woke up again, trying to contain her panicky breaths. Another dream about the assassin, this time without Makoto. The image of the cold blue eyes still lingered in her mind, and she slowly shook her head with her eyes closed to get rid of it. This had been the so-manieth dream since that first one. Every time she would close her eyes, the assassin would appear again. She muttered something under her breath. It would be a long journey…

Soon, she dozed off again, but a little push from Hayate, who was on her right side, woke her up again.

'Stay awake, Kohana.'

She didn't see the use, but she figured she could stay awake if he really wanted her to. Then something Hayabusa had said came back to her. 'Hayate-sama?'

'Hai?' He looked at her from the side.

'Ryu-san mentioned something about getting rid of the Americans… And I thought he meant we have to kill them, to which he said yes…' Kohana hesitated for a moment. 'Do we really have to kill them?'

It took the ninja leader a while to answer that one. 'Maybe some of them, but surely not all of them,' he finally decided. 'We have some people there already, but it's taking them too long and those soldiers keep moving.' That was a small lie. No ninja ever hesitated to kill anyone, especially not if it was a soldier.

'We?'

'I don't like talking about just myself when I'm talking about the clan.' He pondered for a moment, 'I trust you won't hesitate when it comes to having to kill them?'

'I… I believe not,' she answered, 'but I've never actually tried to hurt anyone on purpose before.'

'No?' His eyes settled upon her face, and she couldn't look away, as always when he did that. Sometimes being his trainee was just impossible, with those annoying eyes of his.

'Okay, maybe I have,' she finally admitted when it appeared he could keep staring at her like that for another hour if he wanted to. 'But only when they angered me first.'

'And what about the training sessions?'

'Okay, then too. But that was training. It was meant to learn how to hit people where it hurt. Besides, I don't believe I actually did hurt any of you.'

Hayabusa muttered, 'You wish!' under his breath.

Kohana frowned. 'You mean I did?'

That question remained unanswered, as she could have guessed. Unsatisfied, she went back to staring in front of her. These people were so complicated, she mused. How could she ever learn all they knew? Because she was smart and she could do it just as well as them. If they could, she surely could.

***

'What's our status?' Hayate asked the team leader softly, as if they were in the army.

The older man with pitch black hair and grey eyes looked at the younger ninja leader. 'They are still moving, Hayate-sama. They have two jeeps and enough weaponry with them. We have no idea how they are trying to do this, but as I wrote already, the main idea is that they want to spy on us. I personally don't think we should protect the other clans since they are rivals, but we can't afford to be discovered.'

'I trust they have not discovered any of us so far, then?'

Again, he was talking about "us" instead of "you". Kohana did not understand the reason of this, and hoped she would discover it soon.

The team leader shook his head. 'Of course not. You know us better than that, Hayate-sama.'

'I was just checking,' Hayate retorted calmly. 'How are you and the others doing, Iwataka? Still holding up?'

'I'm glad you ask. Some of the younger ones are complaining about the lack of food. Some of them still appear to be growing, even now.' Iwataka laughed. 'But besides that, they're not even complaining about the cold or the storms up here.'

'Have you had many storms?'

The older ninja shook his head. 'Not really, but they were pretty heavy, and it seems another one is approaching. I can smell it coming from miles away.'

Hayate nodded slightly. 'I know. So what is their exact location?'

'Nine hundred meters around that peek over there,' Iwataka pointed out. 'They have no idea that we are here, those idiots. Soldiers can be so backward at times.'

'Don't let your prejudices get in the way, Iwataka,' Hayate said. 'In their department they are probably a good team.'

'I know. But here in the mountains, they really suck.' The man grinned at his leader. 'Do you want to check them out immediately?'
'I think we'll have a meal first, and then see what we're up against. I expected you would be short on food, so I decided to prevent having to get you new supplies.'

'That's very clever of you, Hayate.'

'Arigatou.' Hayate took the compliment just as calm as he took everything that came at him. It never ceased to amaze her. Did this man have nerves made of steel? Did all these ninja have that? And why did she start thinking about this so late? Thinking back, she noticed not many of the ninja actually relaxed much. When they did, it was still a calm way of relaxing, always totally at peace with themselves. This cold and collected way of acting made her realize this was true ninja behaviour or something.

As soon as Iwataka finished his explanation about the enemy camp, he walked with them towards the main tent, where more ninja had installed themselves with their dinners.

'Forgive me for asking, Hayate-sama, but who is this? I don't recognize her,' Iwataka suddenly said, looking at her.

'My apprentice, Iwataka. She came with me to learn more.'

'Of course. It's wise to take every opportunity to learn something new, isn't it?' The ninja nodded to Kohana. 'What's your name?'

'Kohana, sir.'

'Gambatte, Kohana,' Iwataka said formally, nodding slightly to her.

***

'Those two are the leaders,' Hayabusa pointed out to them, through the steady fallling of the snowflakes. They were lying on their bellies, behind a few rocks and with a white sheet draped over them so they wouldn't be discovered by the soldiers in the white landscape.
'Have you been out discovering on your own, Ryu?'

'Yes. You know I have my own ways.' What did that mean? Was Hayabusa not a member of the Tenjin Mon?

'I went with him, Hayate-sama,' Ayane's voice came softly from the other side of Hayabusa. 'These soldiers are well equipped.'

'As I expected them to be.' The ninja leader squinted at the camp, trying to see something through the snowfall, which was getting heavier every minute. 'Have you had the time to count them?'

'I think there are about forty in total,' Hayabusa replied. 'Though we have to watch out. They have two helicopters as well.'

'That must have been the sound we heard through the wind,' Hayate commented.

Hayabusa nodded, the movement barely visible. They couldn't move much; the soldiers would probably see them.

Kohana was getting very cold in the meanwhile. She started to violently dislike oncoming snowstorms in mountains. How much longer did they have to stay here to watch the army men? She thought that everything that could be seen now had been seen, and the increasing snowfall was beginning to prevent them from seeing any more. They could leave, now. There wasn't anything else to see here. She couldn't feel her hands anymore either. Couldn't they just go back to the camp?
Finally Hayate made a small gesture and shifted his body backwards, slowly creeping out of their hiding place. Ayane immediately followed, and when they were gone, Hayabusa followed as well, with Kohana right behind him, who was trying not to make any noises like chattering teeth and so on.

They said nothing while on their way to their own camp, quietly concealing their movements in the snow. Kohana noticed that Ayane was dragging the white sheet behind them, making it drag through the snow. That must have been to erase their tracks.

'We attack when the snowstorm hits,' Hayate immediately decided when they walked into the relatively warmer main tent. 'That way we will have the advantage of surprise. Iwataka!'

The elderly ninja came rushing to them. 'Yes, Hayate-sama?'

'Gather everyone in here. They need to know their part.'

'Of course.' Iwataka turned and quietly left the tent.

'And while they gather in here, I will have a short talk with Kohana.'

The red-haired young woman suddenly looked up, hearing her name. 'Hai, Hayate-sama.'

'Outside, if you don't mind.'

Actually, she did mind a little, but soon got over it and followed the leader outside, where he kept walking until the camp was barely in sight. Kohana didn't fear she did something wrong again, this time. She was sure he wanted to tell her something else.

Hayate turned around slowly, already speaking before he finally looked at her.

'You know being a ninja is not all about fighting techniques.' It wasn't a question, but Kohana felt she had to answer.

'Hai, I do.'

'A ninja knows how to anticipate, how to use normal objects from daily life for a weapon in case other weapons aren't available, a ninja knows how to move without even the slightest sound. Which one of these do you think you've learned so far?'

Kohana thought. Anticipate, but probably not to the extent. Not in the sense Hayate was talking about. 'Anticipating, partially. Weapons, I'm sure I haven't gotten that far with the boken and thus the katana. Moving… Easy.'

Hayate looked at her with those piercing brown eyes for a brief moment. 'Almost true. What about accuracy? Speed?'

'I think you are the best judge in that, Hayate-sama, with all due respect.' That was one thing they'd beaten into her by now: respect.

'Try to answer my question anyway, even though you're not sure of the real answer.'

Tricky man, she thought with a little bitterness. But still, she thought of it. She searched her memory and the feeling of her very body to see what the answers would be. 'I think accuracy can use some more work, but speed… almost there. But that's what I've been trained in in the past few months.'

'Indeed.' A long silence fell, the snow whirling around them, blown in circles by the wind, which was increasing in strength now. The storm sure was close. Thinking of what Iwataka had said, Kohana tried to feel out how far away it was. Not far, according to her senses, which suddenly seemed to have sharpened. Thinking back, she suddenly realized it wasn't just the ninjutsu she'd learned. Her senses had gotten better because of the first lesson she'd kept in mind. The realization that Hayate had been very subtle in her training all along almost made her take a few steps back to keep her balance. But even that had improved, from hours of standing on small banisters or on rooftops.

'Why didn't you tell me, Hayate-sama?'

'I can hear that you've finally discovered my way of teaching. Only that is merely the tip of the iceberg.'

'Why haven't you informed me in advance?'

'It would have been a long period of stories that you could learn through actions and other training. It would have taken a lot of time to tell you everything before we started. Given your age, I figured I had to start immediately.'

'I know most ninja start when they're very young…' Kohana said, realizing she was one of the biggest exceptions a ninja leader would ever make.

'I was three.'

It came quickly, so it took her a while to start being surprised. That was the first thing he'd ever said about himself. Not that she really wanted him to tell her anything about his personal life. It was none of her business. 'I-I… see…' she murmured, startled.

'Try not to lose your composure so easily.'

'Are you judging all of my actions?'

'I already was. I'm just telling you about it from now on.' Hayate stared in front of him, not seeing much, but probably just watching the snowflakes, lost in thought. 'You see,' he started after another period of silence, 'teaching is an art by itself. You're ready for the heavier things now, so I'm starting with them.'

'… Heavier things?'

'Mental training, fighting with weapons, but also your entire being a ninja. Once you're done, you'll be a kunoichi, and you'll never be anything else. Even if you ever retire, you'll still have to stay within the village.'

'I don't plan on retiring very soon,' Kohana said softly.

'I know that.' Another silence, this time much shorter. 'We will start the next step in your training as soon as everyone knows what they have to do. Your task will be easy but complicated at the same time,' he finished the "talk" as he turned around and walked back to the camp.

Kohana merely nodded at his back, surprised and strangely fascinated by this new step in her training, and followed him back to the camp.

'I want you to pay attention to anything that I say from now on, Kohana. This may become dangerous in the near future.'

'Hai, Hayate-sama.'

~~~

Author's Note: Heh, no one knows if this is gonna go right or wrong… except for me. Oh yeah - don't think Kohana, you or anyone else knows how tricky Hayate really is. You have no idea. Now that that's outta the way…

TigerEyes: Oooh thanks for the so-manieth nice review in a row! You were the first one to review on this one as well. You keep being the first one, ne oneechan? ^_^

Wolf Runner: I don't think she'd be that good with the sickle and chain… But I don't think the Mugen Tenshin clan uses those often. I could always try and check, but in any case… you'll see how good she is with weapons in the near future. ;)

Kochan: Thanks for the help on the Japanese! ^_^

Japanese Words (in order of appearance):

Kuso: Damn

Hai: Yes

Arigatou: Thank you

Gambatte: Good luck

Well, that's it for now! Ja na!