Relax, I'm A Ninja (24 page)

She shook her head. “Not a factor. Courtney is too smart and experienced. Now, if you two kiss in front of this guy, we’d know if he’s an issue.”

I clenched my jaw, angry that my thoughts got ignored yet again. How could she trust Courtney over me? “So, you want us to play bait?”

“Exactly.” She went to get some plates.

I didn’t like this scenario any more than the torture. We’d be in serious danger, and it might not even work. “What if they planned this? They could be using us to set a trap for you guys.”

“That’s irrelevant,” she said. “You’re prepared to fight if it is a trap, and so is your father. There’s backup in the area.” She started eating, not a drop of worry on her face.

Amy and I exchanged glances.

I didn’t understand my mother anymore. I knew she loved me, but she treated me like I was disposable. How could she protect me from her life all these years and then throw me under the bus? Either she was pretending to be a loving mother, or she had far more faith in me than I deserved.

“If one of us gets attacked by this guy, we’ll both get hurt. We’d be running a huge risk. Don’t you think backup is a little late at that point?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Don’t get hurt, then. You will do this for us.”

There was her command—strong and forceful like a tiger growl. She was used to everyone following her orders regardless of the consequences. That was how Clans worked. I took a deep breath, ready to stand up for Amy’s sake.

“No, we won’t.” I stood as tall as I could, preparing for who knows what. I’d never said no to my mother. She stopped eating and stared at me. Amy took my hand. I squeezed it tight, treasuring the touch I’d missed so much.

“Excuse me?”

“We aren’t Saburau, Mom. And we don’t plan on being Saburau. We’ll give you all the information and help we can, but we’re not taking orders.” I couldn’t believe how strong I sounded, because I sure didn’t feel strong. Inside I quaked when my mom stood up from the table, scowling.

“And why, may I ask, have you decided this?”

“Because you want to use our relationship like a weapon! We won’t be torture tools or bait unless
we
decide it. Not you.”

“You think I’ll allow this?” Her voice grew louder, on the brink of a yell.

I took a deep breath. I couldn’t believe what I was about to say. “You don’t have a choice.”

“I’m your mother! Even if you aren’t Saburau yet, have you no respect for my wishes?” Now she really was yelling, and it sounded a lot less threatening than I’d imagined.

“Not these wishes.” This was too important.

“Fine!” She threw her hands in the air and walked out of the room. The front door slammed.

“Where’s she going?” Amy’s voice was weak.

“To get my dad.” I sighed. “We don’t answer to her, but we do answer to him.” Dad was our Clan Master, and we had to do what he said. She must have really wanted us as Saburau if she planned on pulling him out of lessons. He hated that.

The door opened, and now both my parents stood in front of us. “Tell them they must listen to me, Ken. They’re jeopardizing all of us with their selfishness!”

I shook my head. “We’re not jeopardizing anyone! We’re willing to cooperate and help hunt the Akuma
.
I didn’t say we wouldn’t help! We just can’t be expected to follow orders that use our relationship in ways we don’t like. I…we barely glow after what Mom made us do. You know we got in a huge fight because of a certain Saburau. Now we’re so weak I can’t even beat Marty.”

I looked down. My parents knew too much about our relationship. Kissing Amy had been the best thing in my life. Now I wondered if I’d ever get to again, or if it would ever be as great as it was at first.

My dad glared at Mom. “What did you do?”

Mom tilted her chin up. “What had to be done to get the information we needed. We would have never known about the spy or the others if I didn’t.”

“What did you do?” My father stood strong, and Mom gave in and told him. His scowl deepened. “Hisako, it was bad enough that you even suggested they kiss in front of me. How could you use them so recklessly? Forcing Toshiro and Amy like that probably set back their full union by years. You should know that.”

Full union?
I wasn’t even going to ask what that meant.

“I…I needed to protect you!” she said.

“No, you need to protect them.” He took a step closer. “You are tempted by their power, and you aren’t ready to direct it.”

“Me? Tempted?” The fire in her eyes flared. “Speak for yourself! I’m not the one who might kill them!”

“My whole body burns when they’re together, and yet I have done my duty and protected their connection. You have taken advantage of them too many times for me to ignore it. I’m not handing them over to you.” My father folded his arms, his authority clear.

Mom screamed.

Amy and I stood there speechless as they argued. I’d never seen it before. I wasn’t sure if I should interrupt or let them hash it out. Would they start throwing punches? I had no idea, but I did know that I was grateful for my father defending us. I didn’t know much about his life, but I knew the kind of man he was: strong, restrained, and pretty damn noble for a ninja.

“Fine! We won’t use them at all if they can’t follow orders. You can all stay out of Saburau business until you listen,” my mother finally said. “If you truly think they’d be safer under your watch, then they’re all yours. Try not to kill them.”

She started heading for her room, but then stopped, came back to the table, and grabbed a whole stack of sushi boxes. After she slammed the door, my father sat down at the table. We stared as he opened a box of sushi and ate one.

I didn’t know what to say. Thank you? That didn’t seem like the right thing. I was grateful for what he’d done, but also worried about how he’d train us.

“Excellent tiger treats.” He ate another sushi.

Amy took a seat. “Too bad they didn’t work.”

“Yeah,” I said. We’d been cut off from Saburau information. But there was no sense in wasting all that food, so I grabbed my own box.

“They worked—she didn’t hit anyone.” My dad didn’t look up, and it was probably good he couldn’t see our mouths hanging open.

“Will she ever not be mad?” I asked.

My dad smiled. “Toshiro, birds may fly for miles, but they must land sometime.”

I nodded. Though I felt guilty for making my mom so angry, the weight on my shoulders had lightened. Amy looked lighter too, so it was worth it.

30

Amy looked hot when she wielded her sai. With her black hair and determined expression, she reminded me of a panther now more than ever. She gracefully mimicked my dad’s moves while I caught my breath from sparring with him. His skill made my mom’s look trivial (though I would never say that to her face). I’d have a huge bruise on my arm tomorrow.

Amy and I had been back together for almost a week, but she still hadn’t kissed me. I didn’t push, too scared that she’d disappear again. Every day it seemed like things got better. She smiled more often, joked around, flirted. I did everything I could to show her how much I cared.

Dad had managed training us better than I thought he would. The first day was the worst. He had to leave the room five times. By the end, he was sweating as much as we were.

Now he’d worked out a few things to handle our
kami
. He sparred with us individually instead of having us fight each other, which made us glow a lot. He’d also fight both of us at once to teach us how to work together. I loved that part. It was more accurate to what we’d be doing in the field. We were better equipped to protect each other.

Also, he left when we did spar against each other. It was easier for him to avoid the temptation before it started. He could tell when we were finished. Sometimes “finished” meant half an hour these days, since Amy had pretty much caught up to my level. When we fought, the
Inyo
principle shined. It felt like a whirlpool spinning us around. Attack, defend, attack, defend.

As Dad guided Amy through disarming techniques with her sai, I could tell he was reaching his limit. His usual serious expression turned aggressive, and he gritted his teeth. Just as his lip curled into a snarl, he pulled back. “Excellent, Sato. Spar while I meditate.”

My father bowed and we both bowed back. As he left to go upstairs, I sighed out the guilt of putting him through so much pain. It was his choice. He would have given us to Mom if he didn’t think he could handle it.

Amy sat next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her. Today felt…better. A lot better. The wall between us was thinner.

“I like learning from your dad.”

“Why’s that?” I played with her hair, soaking her in. She hadn’t cuddled with me for a few days, and even then she had quickly pulled away. But this time she climbed into my lap. I froze. Had she forgiven me? I sure hoped so. Then she slipped her hand between the flaps of my gi. We lit up instantly, brighter than we’d been in weeks.

“Your mom’s a good fighter, but I don’t get her. Your dad makes sense.”

I attempted to find my voice. “He’s more chill.”

“No kidding!” She laughed. It wasn’t fake—it was her sweet, perfect laugh. I took a risk and leaned my head on hers, breathing in the coconut scent of her shampoo. I didn’t say anything, afraid to break the spell. She leaned into me. She felt so new, and yet still familiar.

My mind wandered to Mom briefly as we sat there. I hadn’t seen much of her since the fight. She was still mad at us. I think she felt betrayed on some level. We had no idea what the Saburau had discovered the past week, though I had a feeling it wasn’t good. She’d upped the guards around the dojo like she expected an attack any day.

“Weapons or not?” I asked. We were supposed to be sparring, but we’d spent a good five minutes sitting on the floor cuddling. It seemed like forever since I’d felt so connected to her.

“Just a sec.” She put her soft hand on my cheek and slowly moved it to my neck. The glow intensified as my heart raced. Her eyes glittered as she took in my face. Could she want…? She pulled me closer. She did want it, and there wasn’t anything I wanted more. It had been so long. Even if we’d kissed before, it felt exhilarating all over again. The glass separating us vanished.

As our lips touched, I could tell it would be a serious make out session.
Zing
. This kiss was a real kiss—the kind that made me weak. She pushed herself against me, and I pulled her as close as I could. Everything was gone but her and those perfect lips that fit mine so well.

I didn’t have to open my eyes to know we glowed brighter than a lighthouse beacon. The green light burned through my eyelids. The room disappeared from my consciousness. All I knew was that Amy was with me, and I was closer to her than ever.

She was on top of me, and in the back of my head I felt guilty for how far we’d taken it. I couldn’t pull myself away from her, and it sure didn’t seem like she was interested in stopping. Since I was just happy to have her back, I wasn’t about to ask what had suddenly changed.

The resonating sound grew louder and louder. It started to get uncomfortable, almost making me wish I could stop kissing her soft neck. My ears were about to burst, but we kept going.

Then the resonating changed to something that sounded like whispers. We stopped kissing, stopped breathing. It felt like we weren’t alone. I tore myself away from her though it felt like I was ripping myself in two. Everything in the room gleamed so bright it hurt my eyes.

“What is that?” Amy got off me and rubbed her eyes. “Is someone here?”

“I don’t know.” It sounded like the noise of a party in the distance, but without the music. Chatter. Whispers. Laughs. I went to the door leading to the larger training room and looked out the window. “There’s no one there.”

We stared at each other from across the room. My head was barely coming out of the clouds, and the shock of where we were about to go hit me hard. After not kissing for so long, how had we managed to do that? Amy bit her lip, probably realizing the same thing.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me,” she said. “I just wanted to kiss you. I didn’t …”

“Me too. I didn’t mean to.” I couldn’t slow down my breathing, and then she started crying. I ran over and hugged her. “Oh, babe. I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t know why I’m crying!” She snorted and sniffled. “I’m acting so stupid, because that was incredible, but…but …”

“Too soon. I know.” She cried for a while and I held her close. “Maybe we hit a breaking point, you know? We’ve been through so much crap since you got hurt. Dam finally burst.”

She nodded into my chest. “I hate crying. I feel so stupid.”

“Don’t. It had to come out sometime.” I kissed her forehead. We had been avoiding our problems too long.

“Oh, and where are your tears?” She tickled my sides.

“I bawled like a baby more than once when you left me.”

“No fair, I didn’t get to see.” She squeezed me tight like everything was back to normal. It would probably still take time to work things out, but for the first time it seemed like it eventually would.

“It was ugly. You’re lucky you missed it. You would have been embarrassed to be my soul mate.”

She laughed. “I’d never be embarrassed.”

“Just mad. You did kinda get the short end of the stick.”

She looked up at me with a smile. “Shouldn’t we, you know, spar?”

“Oh, fine.” I kissed her on the cheek. “No weapons.”

We spent the next twenty minutes dodging each other’s blows. Amy smiled the whole time, which made me smile. I was usually frustrated when I couldn’t beat her, but it felt stupid to fight. I only wanted to hold her.

She did a few backflips and then stood with her hands on her hips. “What’s the deal? You’re not even trying to beat me.”

“You’re not trying either.” I sighed. “I don’t want to fight you. It’s like I finally found you.”

Amy ran over, and I scooped her off the ground. “Tosh, it’s been so terrible. As mad as I was, I hated being away from you. I was scared we’d never work it out.”