Through Fire and Water

Chapter 9 - Infiltration

This chapter is dedicated to Irene6014! Happy reading! :)

~~~~~~~~~~

Izumi pov:

"Yo! Good morning I-zu-mi chan!" Haji san greeted cheerily as he joined me and Koharu as we walked to the training hall. Besides the loud greeting, he put an arm around my shoulders roughly and caused me to stumble forward a bit because of his weight and inertia.

"Good morning, Haji san." I greeted in return with a smile while gently shoving his arm off of me. But he only put his arm over my shoulders again so we could walk together.

"Oi oi, did you just ignore me, Haji? She's not the only one here, you know." Koharu said with a frown since Haji san hadn't bothered greeting her along with me.

"Who wants to greet such a gloomy face first thing in the morning? Izumi always looks bright and cheerful and it's the same today too! But you on the other hand....ugh, look at the dark air around you. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today?" Haji san asked while making a face. He sounded teasing and I raised a brow at him before looking at Koharu who looked right about ready to explode.

Haji san chuckled and let go of me so he could dodge a fist that Koharu sent his way. He stuck out his tongue like a little kid before sprinting to the training hall before Koharu could try to punch him again. I shook my head with a laugh and looked at Koharu who was looking to the side with an expression of anger and annoyance.

"Are you okay? You've been rather irritable since this morning." I commented, hoping that she wouldn't threaten me with her fists too.

"Who wouldn't be irritable after a night with less sleep?!" She snapped, though not particularly at me. "Those idiots next to my room were having a drinking night and they wouldn't shut up till the wee hours in the morning! I barely got two hours of sleep...."

"A drinking night?" I questioned with a raised brow.

"Haji was the one who suggested it to celebrate the capture of a rebel who had been slipping through our fingers for the past two months. Of course, his teammates agreed and they bought a lot of sake on the way back from their visit to the market. And they just had to celebrate in the room next to mine." She grumbled unhappily.

I didn't comment on what she said. I knew how Koharu could get when she was angry and let's just say, I wanted to play it safe. Haji san was the one she was angry about and seeing how he had teased her just a few minutes ago, he had probably scheduled the drinking party in the room next to hers on purpose. Haji san seemed to enjoy annoying Koharu, mainly because she was quite short tempered when it came to him – she either had a crush on him and didn't know how to express it or she was genuinely belligerent with him like an elder sister towards her troublemaking little brother. Whatever the case, she probably knew about the hidden motive behind the drinking party as well and she was sure to get back at Haji san for it soon enough.

When we made it to the training hall, I noticed that Ichirou san was talking to Haji san, Asahi and another Captain whose name I couldn't quite recall while standing in one corner of the hall. The air around them was tense and they all looked so serious. I narrowed my eyes just a bit while staring at them and twitched when Ichirou san momentarily stopped talking to glance at me. He watched me passively, which was strange, but went back to talking while ignoring me.

I shrugged slightly assuming that they were probably talking about some new mission that only the higher ups could handle. I walked with Koharu to one of the mats on the floor and got ready to do the usual set of sit ups and push ups as warm up before training in hand to hand combat and kenjutsu.

Most of the day passed in a blur. No missions were given out to any of us and most of the Elite Division was cheerful. But the tense atmosphere around the four who had been discussing something in secret in the morning remained so – enough to make me feel like something wasn't quite right. I didn't get a chance to ask about it and I had a feeling that my question would be passed off without a proper answer even if I did ask about it.