Relax, I'm A Ninja Read online

  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 distan
ce, 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.”

  “Me too.” I carried her out the back door and up the stairs. I didn’t stop in the living room. I went straight to my room and tossed her on my bed.

  She laughed nervously, carefully pulling the covers over herself. “Didn’t we just agree it’s too soon?”

  I ignored her teasing. “So, you’re okay?”

  She took a deep breath. “Mostly. My gut still kind of hurts if I think too hard, but I want you more than I want to punish you.”

  I kissed her since I didn’t have a reply. She kissed back, and for a moment it felt like none of the bad stuff had ever happened. When I pulled away, her eyes were filled with tears again. I wiped her cheek. “Did I do something wrong?”

  “No. I’m just being a baby today.” She grabbed my arm and put it around her shoulder.

  “It’s cute. Nice to see you act like a girl sometimes.”

  She punched me. “Ha ha. You’re so funny.”

  Now that things felt better, my mind moved on to the one thing we couldn’t do while we were apart. “So, we have some Akuma to deal with.”

  “Yeah. We should probably try to take them out, huh.” She sighed. The Akuma had to be making headway. Along with the extra guards, Mom was barely home and Courtney looked drained at school.

  “I wish we didn’t have to fight them, but I think we’re the only ones who can. My mom definitely won’t help if we don’t give in. If we tell her we’ll face them anyway, she’ll think we’re bluffing. But I’m worried about taking on four at once without help.”

  “Then we need to get some backup. There won’t be a better time to attack. They’re weaker if they haven’t taken kami, right?”

  “So they say. Any plans, my beautiful genius?”

  She tensed, digging her fingers into me too hard. “I think so, but it’ll take a little orchestrating…and a deal with the devil.”

  “The devil?” I could barely believe she was willing to work with Courtney, but I wasn’t about to argue. Sadly, she was our best bet for backup. The sooner we could get rid of the Akuma, the sooner we could get back to normal. Well, normal for ninjas.

  31

  “You sure this is the only way?” I asked as we walked to Courtney’s house. Amy had a good plan, but I didn’t want to beg the cheerleader after saying I didn’t need her help. She’d rub it in my face and refuse.

  Amy’s hand tensed in mine. “Unfortunately, yes. She’s not like the other Saburau. Haven’t you noticed?”

  “No.” Actually, I had noticed, but I wasn’t about to tell Amy now that things were looking up. She might take it the wrong way. I couldn’t risk losing our connection over something so small.

  “I don’t think she likes being what she is. If any Saburau will defect, it’ll be her. The others might tell your mom.”

  “I guess I can see that.”

  She sighed. “You should do the talking. Charm her, whatever. If I try to convince her we’ll just end up fighting, and then she’ll never agree.”

  “What? I don’t want—” I stopped walking. Was she testing me? I didn’t want to charm Courtney after what had happened the last time I’d tried to persuade her.

  She got on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek. “I don’t mind, okay? That’s how bad we need her.”

  “Fine.” I rang the doorbell, mustering my so-called charm.

  Courtney answered. When she saw it was us she tried to close the door, but I put my foot in the way. “Please don’t make me break your foot.”

  “We have a proposition for you,” I said.

  “Don’t care. Even if I wanted to—which I don’t—I’m not allowed to work with you.” She pushed on the door, and I pushed back.

  My mom was on one serious power trip. She’d even stopped making dinner. She’d said something about me not acting like a son, so she wouldn’t act like a mother. I wasn’t really listening. Her tantrums only confirmed that we’d made the right decision.

  “You like truth, don’t you?” I asked.

  She hesitated. “I already know everything.”

  “No, you don’t. How about we do another info trade? No harm in that, is there? We’ll tell you what’s up, and you can decide if you’re interested in helping.” I held my breath as she mulled it over.

  Her whole body screamed “conflicted.” She shifted on her toes like she was balancing between the options, and her eyes darted back and forth. I tried to keep myself calm. Did she know how much we needed her?

  “Ugh, fine.”

  I smiled, trying to be charming, and we walked in. “Thanks, Courtney.”

  Her house was pretty over-the-top. It looked as Victorian on the inside as it did from the street. I felt like I was in a museum—not good when I tended to dent stuff unintentionally with my kami-fueled super strength. She took us to her room. I guessed for privacy reasons, since there were two blond boys on the living room couch. I didn’t realize she had siblings.

  Being in her room brought back a lot of strange memories. I was such a different person that night—and I didn’t know jack about the ninja world I lived in. Amy hid her face when we sat on the hot pink love seat, trying not to laugh and doing a terrible job. The pink was pretty funny, and it was way worse in broad daylight.

  “Shut up. It’s my cover.” Courtney sat on the bed and glared at us.

  “We know…I think,” I said.

  “Whatever. Spill it.” Courtney flipped her hair back and pulled it into a ponytail.

 
I shook my head. “Question for question, just like last time. You can go first.”

  “How will I know you’re telling the truth? You lied through your teeth last time.”

  “I didn’t. You’ll see.” I motioned for her to start.

  “Okay, Tosh, if you aren’t Akuma or Saburau, then how can you sense kami?” she asked without hesitation. I didn’t particularly want to answer, but we had to gain her trust.

  “I can’t sense them—I can see them. Have you ever heard of Inyo?”

  Her eyes went wide, a hint of devastation flickering in them. “Yes.”

  “Amy and I are two halves of a whole. When we’re together, we can see kami. They make us glow. Akuma with kami in them glow, too.”

  “That’s how you beat Simon. I knew there was something weird going on…No wonder Hisako kept you a secret from the Saburau.” Courtney put her head in her hands and sighed. “You weren’t lying before.”

  “No, and what do you mean by my mom keeping me a secret?” Did the lies and deception never end? Every time I thought I had answers, I discovered more missing pieces.

  Her face softened. “Not just anyone can be Inyo. They say you have to have huge spiritual power to begin with. Your dad probably sensed it when you were born, and probably with Amy too. No Saburau knew you existed, or you would have been recruited young like me. They’ve probably been hoping you’d connect.”

  Amy and I looked at each other. That’s why my Dad recruited Amy—Mom probably told him it was time. And that’s why my Mom didn’t stop us from cuddling and kissing. She’d totally used us.

  “I’m sorry you didn’t know,” Courtney said. I turned back to her, surprised to find sympathy on her face. She’d never looked so sad, so…vulnerable. “It’s a hard thing to deal with.”

  “How do you know?” Amy asked, barely keeping back her bitterness. She had to feel as manipulated as I did. Of course, I was happy to have her, but it was kind of sickening to learn your life was a carefully planned charade. At that point, I wasn’t sure I’d let my mom help if she offered.