(Book the Fourth) In the Shadow of the Red Dawn

Child in a Straw Hat

"Did you hear?"

"There's a rogue ninja in this area..."

'Ah right. Doesn't he seek money, and then murders his victims? We should lock our doors."

"What good would that do? It's a ninja isn't it? He could just break it down! We should ask the mayor to request some foreign village ninja to help us. I have a wife and two children to take care of...The ninja's really good with camouflaging himself too..."

The two conversing people continued to stroll down the street. They walked past a figure with a traveling cloak and a straw hat. The figure continued to walk before reaching a street corner, before it paused, lifting it's hat a little higher. The person stared at the sun, "A camouflager... that's something new."

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"So let me get this straight," a man with a grey beard scrutinized at the person sitting at the table, "you're traveling, without your parents, or any adult supervision."

"Haha, yeah..."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Um...you technically don't have to...the fact doesn't change-"

"Well you speak like an adult alright! How old are you, eight? Nine?"

"I'm ELEVEN."

"Little liar."

"IT'S TRUE!" The child snarled, "I'm just a little...but I'm a ninja! Listen, I just need a place to stay. I'm not going to cause any trouble... I even have money. I need a room for one night..." The person turned away to look out the window, "I'll be leaving tomorrow."

"One night is really ALL you need?" The man said suspiciously, "Just one night."

"Oh yes," the child turned her head back, a bright face with a single white scar near the forehead. The child had glittering black eyes with an innocent sense of slyness, and she had black hair to the middle back. The child, a girl, put her chin in the palm of her hand, "By tomorrow morning, I'll be finished with my business."

The man was slightly astounded, "Well...Also legally, I can't just give a room to a child who's only eleven."

"Are you going to let a 'child who's only eleven' starve in the streets?" the girl smirked, "And what about that recent rogue ninja?"

The man flinched.

The girl sighed, "I'll take care of the room and pay you double. I can take care of myself too." The girl fingered her katana absentmindedly, "I'm pretty strong. So...I've never been to this town before. I heard there's been a rogue ninja."

"Ah..." the man shrugged, "it started about two days ago. The rogue ninja has been to other places before, and he mainly robs where the most money is kept in a town, before moving on. He recently attacked a neighboring town. HIs target is no doubt this town because..."

"Because?" the girl prompted.

"Because our town shrine..." the man hesitated, "we recently donated a lot of money to create a solid gold idol to place there. Right now the mayor has moved the idol into the center of his home, but what difference does it make? The rogue ninja's just going to search through our villagers, probably killing the whole lot of us. Many have run away but some of us can't afford to leave our property behind..."

"I heard he can camouflage himself. That's a pretty convenient ability huh?"

"That's what makes him so dangerous," the man dropped a pair of keys in front of the girl, "there, take them. If the townsfolk charge me of giving keys to an eleven year old, I expect you to pay the fine."