Deeper Than the Knife

Chapter 2- I Team Up With The Enemy

Before I left with the power hungry cousin that is my cousin Jack, I spoke with my uncles in their private room.

I found my uncle Sawyer pacing back and forth in front of his bed. My uncle Arthur, who was a white man with short blonde hair from an American branch of one of the lower clans that were loyal to us, was sitting on the bed watching his husband pace. Uncle Arthur was the first person from a lower clan to marry into our family in its whole history. Not to mention the first American- not that America existed 8,000 years ago. Originally, all 8 Noble clans originated from Japan, then they spread out, after we had somehow received our powers, to places that better fitted our elements. We still have some physical properties from our Japanese ancestors, namely the shape of our eyes. For my family, we happened to be living in the Sahara dessert, but due to a new law created about 200 years ago, every member of each 8 families had to speak at least English and Japanese. We were free to learn other languages as well, but two was enough for me. 

Ok, I got a little side tracked again, back to my amazingly gay uncles. 

When uncle Arthur noticed me in the doorway, he motioned for me to sit next to him on the bed. 

"Sorry about him," uncle Arthur pointed to uncle Sawyer, who was still pacing. "He's nervous about your mission." 

"Of course I'm nervous!" Uncle Sawyer said, stopping his pacing to look at us. "She's going up against a whole family of ninjas and assassins with only her power hungry cousin!"

"At least you can see how power hungry he is." I muttered.  

My uncle Sawyer grabbed my shoulders, "do not die." Great advice there uncle, totally didn't think of that. 

"Uncle, I'll be fine." I tried to reassure him. 

"How many weapons do you have? Do you have enough throwing stars? What about-" "dear, you're over-reacting...again." "-your swords?" 

"Uncle," I sighed, best to tell him or he'll just end up coming with me. "I've got two dozen throwing stars, two katana's, a small knife, my chain-sickle, and like five smoke bomb." That seemed to satisfy him.

After saying goodbye to my family (the one's I like that is), I headed above ground- yes, I don't know how or why, but our home was built under the Sahara desert- and found my cousin waiting by a small plane. 

To be honest, I hated flying. It wasn't the height, it was just- I don't know, I just hated flying. Jack gave me a disappointed look before boarding the plane, I followed suit after flipping him off. 

The U~ōtāsame house was located in Rio, Brazil. It was an ingenious plan, be hidden a populated city, right in plain sight. Of course when that house was built, there was no Rio, or Brazil. The plane ride was bumpy, and quiet, as we prepared to end one of the 8 Noble clans.

The co-pilot told us that they can only slow down a little when we reach the house, so we would have to find our own way down. Which basically meant, we were jumping out of the plane and free falling. How wonderful. 

When we reached our dropping point, my cousin insisted on going first. Show off. I braced myself, clutching the straps of my parachute, then jumped out of the plane.

Good news, I survived the fall and ended up getting separated from Jack. Bad news, there were now a bunch of leaves in my hair that'll take forever to get out. And, I dropped right in front of a member of the Kōri no Kuma Clan, I could tell by their pendent. Damn it. 

The rules of our two clans were that we were to kill each other on sight, for a reason that happened to be too long of a story to tell at the moment. I was on my ass at the moment, and definitely not ready to fight this woman.    

"Do not worry, member of the Hi no ōkami  Clan. You are not my target." The woman's voice was cold, closed off, and very serious. She was eastern Asian, but her skin was a light brown. Her eyes were icy blue, like a glacier, her stare sent chills down my spine. Her eyes were cold, but beautiful. Wait, why am I thinking of that? Shut up gay thoughts.

My gay thoughts refused to shut up, because I noticed her icy blue and black hair that fell gently over her shoulder.

Her outfit was pitch black- like mine was- the sleeves and pants clung tightly to her body, while the fabric around her torso was loose and flowy. Her clan's symbol, a polar bear paw print that looked like it was made of ice, was pinned on her torso.

I shook my head, stood up and patted my outfit to see if I lost any of my weapons. They were all there. Good. 

I looked her up and down, trying not to linger on any part of her, she only had a sheathed katana that was hung around her waist. I should definitely say something cool.

"You know we're supposed to kill each other on sight, right?" That wasn't cool! What the hell is wrong with you Char?

The woman rolled her beautiful glacier eyes. "Do you want me to kill you?" 

"No, not really." I probably looked like a complete idiot. "What exactly is your mission?" I asked, remembering what she had said before. 

She looked over at the giant house that belonged to the U~ōtāsame Clan, that was to the left of us. She then looked back at me, was it just me or did the temperature drop a couple of degrees?

"My mission is to eliminate the U~ōtāsame Clan." 

I'll admit, I was a taken back. How could it be that she had the same mission as I did? This was freaky as hell.

"That's my mission as well." I looked around, I didn't see anyone else. Was she doing this alone? Or did she get separated from someone like I had? "Are you doing this alone?"

"Aren't you?"

I shook my head, "no. I'm with my bas- cousin." I stopped myself from cursing him out, probably not the best idea to do that right now.

"I'm willing to guess that if I see him, he'll kill me with no hesitation." She grabbed the hilt of her katana. 

"Then, come with me." The hell was I talking about? She's the enemy!...Right?

She looked at me in surprise, trust me, I was surprised myself. "What are you saying?" Currently asking myself that same exact question right now. 

"We complete the mission together, my cousin would be our distraction while we kill the actual family members." I said, but I had no clue as to why I was suggesting this.

She looked at the ground, completely silent. She looked back up at me, her piercing glacier eyes staring straight into my fiery red eyes.

"Alright. But we tell no one of this, we'll both be killed if anyone finds out we didn't kill each other." She said, unsheathing her katana- which was encased in a thin layer of ice. 

"Understood." I grabbed my kasarigama- my chain-sickle. "I'm Charlotte, by the way." Hey, if I'm going to risk my life on multiple different levels, we should at least learn each others names.

"Yukino."

I smirked, and then we ran towards the house.