Arc II Chapter 2
<strong><b>II</b></strong>
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<strong><b>Arc II Chapter 2
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Using the darkness of the night and cloaked by the heavy rain, the trio headed for the mansion, avoiding any potential patrols.They overcamethe exterior stone wallwith ease, enteringthe garden. The mansion was quiet. No lightcould be seen.
Hagane gave a sign. The missionmenced. From here on, no return was possible. Only sess or failureawaited them.Ibuki and Akihiro nodded in silence.They dispersed,rushing toward their assigned objectives.
Ibuki''s task was tosecure her mother for the second stage,while Hagane clearedthe rest of the mansion, eliminating unintended visitors, ntinbustion tags everywhere.They had to cover up the abduction.And what served better than a little fire?Nobody would miss a singlebody when they burn down the entire mansion. She was just a little girl.
“Dammit, where is she?Where is the girl?”Akihiro grew increasingly erratic.He was searchingfor her bedroom, but the girl wasimpossible to find. The mansion was just so fucking big. Too many rooms, too many floors, too many doors everywhere.
A certain room down the floor caught Akihiro''s attention. The paper door was richly adorned with paint and other ornaments. Conspicuous, wasn''t it?
Akihiro was convinced that he got the rightroom. He found the little princess.Heslid the door open,only to be surprised by a kunaiwith an uncanny degree of uracy.He duckedto dodgethe attempt on his life. The kunai missed,embeddingitself in the wall behind him.
“This was ... unexpected.” Akihiro scanned the room for his mysterious attacker. He found a little, terrified girl standing before him. She held on to another kunai. Her nervous hands trembled in fear, but he wouldn''t be deceived by her meek appearance. The girl was suspicious. Not only was she awake, but she also expected him to enter the room. Her kunai was timed perfectly. Her attack wasn''t a mere coincidence.
Judging by her still sleepy eyes, the girl was still half asleep, a fact that he could use thatto his advantage.
“Don''t worry, stay calm. I mean you no harm. I am your friend. You can trust me.”Akihiro tried to soothe the girl, with littlesess.
The girl narrowed her eyes. Her open malice took Akihiro by surprise. “I don''t think so, my friend. You may im toe in peace, and yet you have broken into my room without permission. So who are you? And what are you doing here?” The girl tightened her grip on her kunai.
Akihiro clicked his tongue. The fuck, still sleepy and confused. From one moment to the next, her personality had changedpletely. Gone was her insecurity, reced by determination.
It was time to relyon his acting skills. Akihiro cleared his throat.“I am part of the local ANBU surveince squad stationed in this sector. My colleagues and I have detected a group of unidentified intruders entering themansion. We have decided to investigate thecase and apprehend them.We are still searching for them.”
The girl raised an eyebrow. “An ANBU? Don''t ANBU normally wear masks?”
Akihiroughed. “Hehehe, yes, normally, but not always ... You see, weare from the ANBU police branch, so we don''tneedany masksas we operate mostly inside the vige ... They aren''t that useful when you are supposed to operate undercover.”
“I see, that makes kind of sense”, the girlconceded.“Then what should we do now?”
Akihiro smiled. “Come with me, I will bring you somewhere safe. After all, the rest of my squad should be somewhere nearby. So let''s go searchingfor them and your mother. Understood?”
The girl nodded happily. “Understood. Just wait a moment, ANBU-san. I have forgotten something.”
Asami trotted back to her bed to procure a sword ced on a weapon stand. It wasn''t her only sword. In fact, the girl possessed a vast collection of des, which made Akihiro wonder.
Why did a little girl possess an entire arsenal of swords? She spotted some dolls here and there, but the room was filled with swords, a lot of swords. Was this an armoury or a bedroom?
The girl returned with her sword against her chest, smiling. “In dangerous times like these, a girl needs to be armed, right?” She definitely liked swords. She liked them a lot.
“True.”Akihiro offered a weakugh.
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Still sleepy, Asami yawned, rubbingher tired eyes. Theyripped her out of her peaceful slumber, wakingher up at such an uncivilised hour, which wasn''t niceat all.Carrying her swordsand clothed in herfluffypyjama,shewas wanderingthrough the darkness of the mansion, followingthe unknown stranger.His little ANBU story was quite believable. Unfortunately, their chakra signaturesbetrayed since the beginning.There were no other intruders. It was them who were the intruders.
One of them went afterOkaa-san, while the othersearched the rest of the house. She hoped for the sake of their existencethat they didn''t dare toy even a single finger on her beloved Okaa-san.Otherwise, they wouldfeel her wrath. Her main objective was thus now to link up with Okaa-san and assure her safety.
One question, however, remained, who were they? And what were they doing here? They weren''t burrs. That much was obvious. Considering how he dodge her kunai, it was clear that they were probably trained ninja.Yet they weren''t assassins, otherwise they would have tried to kill her on the spot. Instead, they wanted her alive. But why?The only option left to her was to ask.
Asami tugged atthe man''ssleeves.“ANBU-san, ANBU-san, ANBU-san, ANBU-san, ANBU-san, ANBU-san ...”
“What is?”The manclicked his tongue, slightly annoyed.
“ANBU-san, ANBU-san, ANBU-san, do you know why these men are here? Do they want to hurt Okaa-san?”Asami was worried.She could defend herself, but Okaa-sancouldn''t. They held Okaa-san hostage. As long as they had Okaa-sanin their hands, she had to act carefully.
“Maybe, maybe not, who knows”, the mandeflected.
“ANBU-san, ANBU-san, ANBU-san, are you sure they don''t want to hurt Okaa-san?”
“I said, I don''t know.”
Asami feigned sadness. Her eyes became watery. “ANBU-san, ANBU-san, ANBU-san, can you promise then you will protect Okaa-san?”
“I promise”.The mansighed, hoping that shewould finally stop bothering him. Shewas annoying, extremely annoying.
“ANBU-san, thank you for protecting Okaa-san.”Asami beamed. Shehad him. Shealmost had him. If he loweredhis guard just a little bit more.
“No problem.”The mansmiled back.
Asami tilted her head, curious. “ANBU-san, can you reallyprotect Okaa-san?”
“Yes, I can.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Really, really?”
“Yes.”
“Really, really, really?”
“Enough is enough! For thest time, yes, I will protect her and now shut the fuck up! Stop bothering me!” the man exploded.
Asami rolled her eyesandplied. No sense of humour. This was going to a long night.
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Akihiro ignored the girl and kept walking.Something was wrong with her, very wrong. Her presence, her aura, her eyes, everything about herunsettled Akihiro, makinghim feel uneasy. His instincts warned him, the girl was dangerous, more dangerous than she might look.
Wearing her warm pyjama,thesleepy girl tagged along, following him. She carried a sword in her arms, visibly strugglingnot to trip over her tiny feet.The girlwasharmless, harmless and innocuous. In the end, she was anormal little girl, and nothing more.
Akihiro rxed. His uneasiness was just the product of his imagination, a phantom of hisrampant paranoia...
The girltripped and fell,nding hardon the wooden floor. She dropped her sword. “Ouchie~.”
“...”Akihiro blinked. And he really thought that the girl was dangerous just a moment ago.
“Can you help me up, ANBU-san?”the girl asked.
“Sure.” Akihiro leaned down, but his arm froze. His whole body refused to move. There it was again. This strange sensation. This uneasy feeling he had felt before. A cold shiver ran down his spine. His senses sharpened, and his instincts screamed danger.
Akihirodidn''t notice the shimmering kunai hidden within the sleeves of Asami''s pyjama, a kunai on which was written his name.Unbeknownst to him, heeluded death. He didn''t lean close enough for Asami to stab hisneck. He stopped before Asami ever got the chance to ram her kunai down his cor.
“ANBU-san, is something wrong?”The girlfreed Akihirofrom his sudden stupor.
“Nothing, it was nothing.” Akihiro shook his head. Hehelped the girlupand together they resumed walking.Soon they reached their destination.
“We have arrived. Your Okaa-sanis inside there, waiting for you ...What are you doing with thekunai, and ... the explosive tags?” Akihiro blinked. Where did she get thekunaifrom? Not to mention the explosive tags. They were the real deal. He didn''tseeher carrying any before.
The girlgripped herkunai. “There are three peopleinside the room. Okaa-sanand two other unidentified people.”
Akihiro''s eyes widened in shock. Unidentified what? How did she know? Was she a sensor type or what? Quite unrealistic considering her age.
“Put the kunai and the explosive tags away,ss.You won''t needit”,Akihiro reassured her.“Don''t worry, they are part of my squad.”
“Are they?” The girl raised an eyebrow.
Akihiro nodded. “They are. And now put your kunai away, and the tags. We don''t want to hurt anybody, do we?”
The girl followed his advice and stowed her kunai away, and her tags.
Akihiro sighed in relief after averting an unmitigated disaster. This was a close call. Anice little fireworkin the middle of the night was thest thing they needed.Causing argemotion was not in their interest.
Akihiro opened the door. Theyentered.
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