Clash of the Clans: Shinobi 7 Companion Book #1 Page 11
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By the time I had the lukewarm cup of tea in my hands, the rings were already finished with open hand kata. “What time is it, anyway?” I asked Yami. I would tip my head up and look at the glass ceiling... but my neck wasn't craning that far back anytime soon... not after my performance.
Yami took no issue with checking for me. “Wow, it's already 3:00,” he answered.
“That late?”
“Yup, I can't believe it either.”
I took a long drink of my tea. There was only sparring left, according to what Geisha Rose said earlier. Maybe this whole thing will be over in an hour and we can finally go home. I yearned to be back in the sector house at the clan, safe within my room divider walls, and cuddled around my soft comforter.
“Hey, Cassie-Chan?” Luna's voice asked.
“Hmm?”
“It looked like you were falling asleep,” Luna told me, “and you still have your tea in your hands. I didn't want you to spill it.”
Now that I think about it, I was dozing off, wasn't I?
“Thank you,” I said, “I wouldn't have wanted to spill on myself.” Although, the thought of dumping a bucket of cold water over my head seemed like a great way to keep myself awake. Maybe Tabby was right, this decaf tea was actually making me sleepier.
Luna was the only one who sat next to me on the sidelines. That is, until I felt a shuffle on the opposite side of me. Hanran sat on my other side. He had his eyes down and looked at his feet instead of looking in my direction. As silly as this sounds, it made me happy that Hanran went out of his way to sit next to me. Maybe he doesn't think I'm a dork, maybe he thinks I'm cool!
“Hey Nigaru-Sa—ah!” I shrieked.
As I was greeting him, my arm involuntarily jerked and I ended up splashing tea on Hanran's lap. My muscles are so stretched and worn out that they're going into spasms on their own accord!
Good job, my head noted sarcastically.
“Gah, sorry!” I exclaimed.
Luna started laughing, “Hahaha! You got TEA'D, Nigaru-San.”
Hanran merely took a rag that he had in his back pocket (how is it that he's so prepared all the time?) and padded the rag on the wet spot. That was all. He said nothing.
I felt like crawling under a rock for the rest of the day. Spirits, I think I'd rather perform in front of the judges again instead of sitting right next to Hanran after spilling tea on him!
“Sorry,” I apologized again. “That was so clumsy of me, I'm sorry.”
“It is what it is,” Hanran answered simply. He didn't sound very happy with me.
“It was jasmine tea,” I randomly informed him. “Decaf jasmine tea. It tasted kinda funny, almost like chamomile tea. But that's odd to think, isn't it? Jasmine tea tasting like chamomile? I mean, in what world does that happen? I think decaf tea confuses the flavor.”
Yeah, I just babbled on like an idiot talking about tea. Luna tried to hold down her giggles. She found this whole thing hilarious, I guess. This is what I mean when I say that Hanran intimidates me!
“Sorry...” I stammered. Okay, now I'm done talking.
Hanran finally stopped looking down and stared point blank at me. “Cassie-Chan.”
“Yes?”
“It's fine.”
I released a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness! So what's happening now? I see that the judges are clearing people out of the four outer rings. Are they only going to hold sparring matches in the big center one?”
Hanran didn't seem to mind me questioning him. “It would seem,” he replied plainly.
“Ah man, that's gonna take awhile,” Luna said.
“Not necessarily. First one with three points wins and they move on.”
Only three points? That's unexpected. Here I thought that the sparring would be the biggest part of the day and would drag on and on. I saw the competitors who planned to fight stretch out their legs and practice kicks. Some of them were lightning fast; five kicks without setting their leg down and a follow up of even faster hand strikes.
Wow, I'm really glad that I don't have to spar!
Hanran gently elbowed me in the side. “Akira.” He got up from his seat and I followed suit. Luna came too, of course, and she held onto my arm so I wouldn't fall if I lost balance. We followed Hanran to the middle of an empty corner ring, where Akira and the rest of Sector 7 were waiting.
“Ooh! I know what this is! This is a team hustle, right?” Luna grinned.
“Team huddle,” Yami corrected.
“I ain't huddling and I ain't cuddling,” Kuroi grumbled.
Akira held up her hand. “Quiet, all of you. While the other judges are setting up the ring for sparring, I've decided to go over the final game plan for today.” She was in no mood for fun and games, that was for sure. “Now, the sparring in Battle Month is different from the sparring in our clan. You're expected to use precision and control.”
Kuroi seemed to have a problem with that statement. He tensed up and it seemed like he was close to objecting. Did he want another kunai to pin him to the ground? I'm sure Akira's kunai will jam through this concrete floor.
“Speak,” Akira growled.
“That's total bull!” Kuroi growled, speaking as soon as he was given permission to. “I've seen the fights before. Those guys don't use precision and whatever else. They brawl. That's what I wanna do, I wanna brawl.”
Akira stared down my defiant team leader. “Do you want to win?” she asked him.
“Of course.”
“Then don't get hit. Can you take a punch? Sure you can, everyone in this room can take a punch. You don't get points for absorbing damage. You get in, score, and get out. That's all.”
This time, Kuroi didn't have any arguments for Akira's orders. “Fine,” he finally growled.
The second-in-command smirked in victory. “I'm also changing the game plan. Meko-Chan, you are the only one who hasn't competed today, correct?”
Tabby didn't expect to hear her name. “Er, yeah,” she replied.
“Good. You will continue to do nothing for today. Next time don't forget your weapons.”
“Yes ma'am,” Tabby answered dejectedly.
Akira turned to Hanran, who still stood on my left side while Luna stuck to my right side. “I said you and Kaze-San would fight, yes?” she asked the middle boy of our team.
Hanran nodded. “Yes.”
Our teacher's gaze flickered over to our youngest member. “Do you know what sparring is?” she questioned.
Luna's eyes widened. “Yes!” she exclaimed. “And really, if I had known what ka—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Akira interrupted. She released a heavy sigh, like she was trying to make a difficult decision. “Nigaru-San, you're out. Luna, you're in. Kuroi Kaze and Luna will represent the Kitsune Clan for the sparring division.”
There was more than one harsh reaction after that statement.
Kuroi shouted, “Are you serious?” at the exact same time Yami shrieked, “Not my sister!” which was at the same moment Luna cheered, “Awesome!”
I was surprised to hear this myself, although I kept my mouth shut about it. “You've gotta be kidding me,” Kuroi growled.
Akira glared holes into him. “I am not,” she stated seriously.
“Sensei, my sister could get really hurt!” Yami pleaded.
“Hey!” Luna objected.
Everyone needed to calm down. I reached over and put a hand on Yami's shoulder. He was breathing so hard that his shoulders heaved up and down erratically. “We're only one point away from victory,” Tabby told the team. “The Tiger Rage Clan leads with 153.9 and thanks to Cassie's high scores in kata, we're up to 153.8. We're so close, we even made it to second place! We can win this, we really can.”
Kuroi crossed his arms stubbornly. “Except the Tiger Rage Clan has won the past ten Battle Months,” he stated sourly. “The only real shot we had was me winning and Nigaru-San winning.”
Akira straigh
tened herself up and put her hands on her hips. “If you choose to believe we've lost, keep it to yourself, Kaze-San,” she ordered, “my word is final. Get ready to fight.”
Yet again, Akira walked away from us and rejoined the group of other judges.
There was an uncomfortable atmosphere left over after she left. The six of us looked at each other, neither one saying a word, merely soaking in the challenge of the last division.
Please, I thought to myself, we're so close to victory. Please let us do well.
Luna's POV:
~You already screwed up once~
~Whoops~
~Now try and redeem yourself!~