Clash of the Clans: Shinobi 7 Companion Book #1 Read online

  ~*~*~*~

  We arrived at the Black-Sho Clan early the next morning. Akira stayed true to her word and returned to our camp at five in the morning. She merely said, “Let's go,” before we took off again. Today wasn't like yesterday, our team wasn't rushed to travel. Akira probably wanted the six of us to conserve our energy, that or the school wasn't too much farther from us.

  The forests of Viper Country began to get thinner and thinner as we walked. It was only an hour before I saw the outline of a building off in the distance. It was still far away because the building looked like the size of my thumb. I've still got a long way to walk.

  Therefore, I chose to walk next to Kuroi. It wasn't for the sake of his company! I walked next to him to try and get information out of him. My team leader has been at the Kitsune Clan for three years and for two of them he was all by himself. He knows a lot about the shinobi clans, even if he chooses to be a jerk about it and refuse to clue his team in.

  “Getting awfully close there, Meko-Chan. Hoping my badass skills will rub off on you?”

  I purposely gagged after hearing Kuroi's comment. “You wish!” I exclaimed.

  He smirked at me. Smirks from Kuroi Kaze weren't nice, they were always intended to be taunting. “So why walk so close to me, then?” he asked me.

  Dang it, Kuroi caught onto my plan. “I'm just walking,” I replied.

  “So go walk next to your gal-pal, Yami-San.” Kuroi often teased Yami about how sensitive he was and constantly told him to “be a man.”

  “Quit being a jerk. I just wanna ask you more about Battle Month.” There, the truth finally came out of me.

  Kuroi gave a short snarl. “I shoulda guessed that you or Yami-San would come bother me about that. It's not like I'm some expert or whatever, I've only been to a Battle Month once.”

  “Really? You've been there once before?” I asked with enthusiasm. My eyes instantly glued to Kuroi, I wanted to hear what he had to say more than ever.

  He nodded. “Yeah. Once. Three months after I arrived at the clan.”

  Back when Kuroi had his old teammates, I thought to myself. A red flag went off in my mind. Kuroi never talks about the old Sector 7, never. I need to be careful and not ask him about that.

  “Which clan was it?” I asked him. I lost a peg of previous enthusiasm.

  Kuroi furrowed his thick eyebrows, anger making its way into his face. “This one,” he growled, “the Black-Sho Clan.”

  Uh-oh.

  I turned my head around to the front of me. We were almost at the building! A moment ago the place was miles and miles off, now it's almost in my face. What in Shaaku Den? I thought.

  Kuroi saw my look of perplexity. “It's called an illusion, Meko-Chan,” he told my dryly.

  The Black-Sho Clan was all indoors with an infrastructure made of creamy marble. The building was shaped like a large rectangle but it was hard to tell because of how big the place is compared to how small I am as a human. The open doors were almost as tall as the ceiling, which ascended above us by two stories. We stepped through the threshold and into the clan.

  “Wow,” Cassie and I awed simultaneously.

  The ceiling was made out of glass and the view of the bright blue skies was overhead. The floors were a simple concrete. On the outside wall of the clan, it was creamy marble that covered the building. Once I walked inside, the walls were a shiny black marble that gleamed and glistened brightly. That's so cool!

  My awe didn't last long. I paid attention to what was in the room versus the room itself. There was plenty of open space around us and the room was already crowded with hundreds and hundreds of people. All these people... they're all shinobis... oh spirits!

  The room had rings that the competitors would perform in. Five square shaped rings, each separated with bright red lines. There were four on the outside and one huge one in the middle. I can't say for sure, but I'm gonna go ahead and guess the center ring is for fighting. Plus there's bloodstains in the center one. That helps the guess, too.

  “Kaze-San, we're competing against all these people?” Yami asked.

  Kuroi nodded. “That's kinda the point, yeah. We represent the Kitsune Clan and all those other people represent their grandmasters. Look, there's Jian-Sho over there.”

  I turned in the direction Kuroi had pointed. All the way across the room was a man that looked elderly like our own Master Kitsune. Jian-Sho was a short man with tufts of white hair scattered across his head, small round glasses resting on his small nose, and a plain white uniform tied off with a black belt. He looked like a simple man, one that I would have never guessed to be the host of this Battle Month.

  Kuroi must have read my mind. “Jian-Sho is one of the thirteen grandmasters, just like old man Kitsune,” he told me.

  “Looks are deceiving, I suppose,” I muttered.

  “I wonder if he's ever thought about growing a beard,” Luna then commented. Everyone ignored her.

  I saw Master Jian-Sho signal for someone to approach him. A woman walked over to him. “She looks like a geisha!” Cassie exclaimed.

  The woman helped Jian-Sho sit down. She was a pale woman with skin almost white and hair that was raven black and covering half of her face. The reason Cassie thought she looked like a geisha was because of her clothes. She wore a dark purple kimono and a black obi belt to tied around her waist. The kimono sleeves were long enough to touch the floor.

  “Geisha Rose,” Hanran stated in a low voice. Only the ones who stood close enough to him heard what he said. This time it was me and Cassie. That was the first time I've heard Hanran speak since yesterday morning, after his explanation.

  “Who?” Cassie asked, turning to face him.

  Hanran had his arms crossed with the same indifference in his eyes. If he was nervous then he was hiding it very well. “That's Geisha Rose, Jian-Sho's student and the Black-Sho Clan's second-in-command.”

  “That means that she has the same position as Sensei Akira,” I said. Kuroi snickered. “What's so funny?” I asked him.

  He gave me a toothy grin, “I've heard rumors about how Geisha Rose and Akira can't stand each other. Hopefully we'll find out if that's true.” Typical Kuroi, hoping to see a fight happen.

  Geisha Rose made her way through the crowd. I couldn't help but watch her. I probably looked like a moron just standing there and staring. Geisha Rose stood in the center of the ring. “Welcome, my fellow warriors!” she then announced.

  Immediately after she spoke, the people inside of the room ceased their talking. Everyone was eying Geisha Rose; the woman's bright red lips turned up into a smile. She apparently loves the attention on her.

  “Today is a day of competition,” Geisha Rose continued, “but most of all, today is a day we come together and observe the Ninjutsu Art. Today we will observe three aspects of our art: kata, weapons, and sparring. Open hand kata, the choreographed patterns and movements that is used for self defense. We will be looking for each performer to have grace, balance, power, and most importantly, focus. The same goes for weapons. As for fighting...” Geisha Rose paused long enough to smile even wider, if that were even possible. “All I can say is, you better block,” she then said.

  Her words sent a chill down my spine. I exchanged worried looks with Cassie. Yami looked unsettled himself, Hanran looked the same as he did before, Kuroi looked fired up and ready to brawl, and Luna looked like she was ready to laugh.

  Geisha Rose wasn't quite done. “Let's start off this tournament!” she hollered.

  “Yeah!” the crowd cheered.

  “First up, weapons kata! So starts Battle Month!”

  So starts the beginning of my dread.

  Yami's POV:

  ~Grip your bo staff tighter, make sure it doesn't slip~

  ~Your heart pounds louder in your ears~

  ~It's your turn to compete, go out there~