Ninja (Major Editing)

Chapter 3

Yuki caught up with Arata and the sentry. They were headed into a room which must have been Arata’s.

“Thank you, Daichi,” Arata said. He had lowered himself onto his bed and pulled the blanket over himself.

“That’s alright. I’ll be back in the morning,” the sentry, Daichi, said and he walked out the door. Arata noticed Yuki’s presence as he watched Daichi leave the room.

“Hi there Yuki. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, except I should be the one asking you that,” Yuki said.

“I’ll be up and running in a few days with enough rest.”

She nodded and looked around his room. There weren’t a lot of things hanging on the walls, but it wasn’t as plain as a new sheet as parchment paper either. “Nice room you have here.” Then she added, “Daichi is going to look after you right?”

“I think so. He knows his medical stuff.”

“That’s good.”

“Um… If you don’t mind, can you let me have some time alone?”

Yuki blushed with her embarrassment. She didn’t realize she was disturbing him. “Of course.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I just need some rest.”

“I understand.” She smiled and left the room, closing the door behind her. Daichi had been outside the whole time and he led her to the guest room that she would be staying in.

Arata looked up at the wooden ceiling once the door closed and drifted off to sleep within the next minute.

The Master was already awake before anyone else the next morning. He wanted to think things through and check on some details again. He pulled a scroll from his library and opened it up on his round table. The scroll had the background information of the man whom Arata had killed the night before. There were no descendants to that family.

The Master was confused for a whole minute before he had a good guess to what was really going on. He walked out and climbed onto the roof to watch the rising sun to think things through.

Daichi brought breakfast for Arata and left him alone in his room, telling him to stay in the room as much as possible. Arata had protested and said that he felt fine, but Daichi wanted him to fully recover before doing anything too physical. So, despite how much he wanted to get back to training, Arata stayed in.

Yuki was having a hard time adapting to her new environment. There were few women in the base and most of them kept to themselves. The Master’s wife - who wasn’t a ninja and stayed in the base at all times - helped her get around in the morning.

“Daichi,” the Master called.

“Yes?” Daichi looked up to see the Master on the roof.

“Come up here for a second.”

Daichi jumped up with the help of a beam that was sticking out. He gave a small, respectful bow before sitting down on the spot the Master had offered beforehand.

“There’s a possibility that people will have found the two carcasses from last night already, but I need you to go investigate,” the Master said.

“I may not be my place to ask, but why Master?” Daichi raised an eyebrow.

“According to my resources, that man that I sent Arata to kill had no descendant. He didn’t even have a wife.”

“So what’s wrong? Maybe he adopted a son to follow in his footsteps or had an illegitimate son.”

“There’s no time to ask so many questions Daichi. Will you go? It’s not a command but a request, so you can decline if you wish to.”

“Of course I can. But Arata is still recovering.”

“Yuki is eligible to take care of him for a few days.”

“Then I will accept. I will go pack a few things now.”

Daichi bowed again to dismiss himself and jumped down from the roof, landing as gracefully as a cat. The Master watched him go to his room and jumped down himself.

“I love to see you do that, Haru.”

The Master turned. His wife, Aki, stood there with some laundry and a smile on her face.  He went over to her in a few strides and kissed her on the forehead. “How has you day been?” he asked.

“Just fine, but I think Yuki will need more time to get used to things around here. Maybe it’s because the other girls won’t talk to her.”

“I’ll get one of the cheerier ones to stick around her.” He looked down at the laundry. “We have shifts for a reason you know.”

“It’s not only this you know. You should really look at the shift schedule before sending people off everywhere.”

“Whose turn is it today?”

“It doesn’t matter much. Yuki has already volunteered to help with the cooking and sweeping. She seemed bored so I thought that it was a good idea for her to do something.”

“Where is she now?”

“She’s in the kitchen preparing for lunch.”

“All right. Put these down and relax.” He pointed at the laundry in her arms.

“After I do everything, I will relax.”