忍ぶ感情 Shinobu Kanjyo
Title: Part 3: Shinobu Kanjyo
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Genre: action, AU
Chapter: seventeen
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno Satoshi is the student of a strong ninja lord who has lived his life following his teacher’s strict guidance. But what happens when he slowly learns he has to live for himself?
Part 1: Shinobu Ishi ( Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter three, Chapter four, Chapter five, Chapter six, Chapter seven)
Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro ( Chapter eight, Chapter nine, Chapter ten, Chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen)
Part 3: Shinobu Kanjyo ( Chapter fifteen, Chapter sixteen,
After keeping a close eye on Yokoyama for two weeks straight, Jun eventually became tired of not finding anything out of the ordinary and toned down his surveillance. He had other work to do anyway, and he could only skip out on it for so long until Sho and Jyani started to nag him, so it was easier to just let the rivalry he had created inside his head dissipate. Besides, he was missing out on the time he could have spent with Ohno by following his apprentice around the city trying to figure out if he was up to something or not.
But there was still no information on the new guy, not even the reason he had moved to the village, although a lot of people speculated it was specifically to get Ohno to train him, which was another mystery. And Jun still hadn’t figured out why Leader had agreed to such a thing when he had been so avid about avoiding it in the past.
He hadn’t come out and asked him, though. Of course not. Jun didn’t want to seem jealous, although he knew inside his head that he really was, and that it was a stupid reason anyway.
On one of the rare afternoons he had with Leader, the two of them left the training grounds together after a full workout session (Jun had opted to ditch his lesson with Nakai, which were only about once a week now, in order to hang out with his crush). Jun was making lighthearted talk about a trick he saw one of the ninja-in-training do a few days before and although Ohno still seemed tense, he was genuinely laughing at the illusionist’s impression and therefore the whole day had been worth it.
They had just returned to the Main Building in high spirits and Jun was about to suggested they bathe together, even though Ohno had been strictly avoiding him in that area since the first time they had been naked with each other. It seemed like the older man would simply wait until Jun was done in the bath house before he’d get in, and when the illusionist started delaying his arrival or departure, Ohno would simply skip the bath altogether, even though Jun knew he loved them.
So, after this had happened four times, Jun just started arriving earlier than before so the other man would have plenty of time to complete his own process.
It was one of the many things that made him depressed about his relationship with the swordmaster, but Jun was too much of a coward to confront it, just like he was with everything else. He didn’t want to see that awkward, sad look on Ohno’s face and so he just steered clear of the situation instead of talking about it.
But he was feeling good today and he thought maybe he could get some sort of suggestion out. It had been a while since he’d seen Ohno’s naked body and he was already getting excited about the prospect, even if it was one only likely to come true inside his mind.
Of course, just as always, before Jun had even started to form a convincing look on his face, they were interrupted right in front of their private rooms.
“Ohno-san?” the young man asked tentatively, and Leader turned to him with a curious expression. “Jyani has requested you take this mission.” The ninja, who was apparently on the board that processed the jobs that came their way, handed the swordmaster a scroll and bowed lightly as Leader opened it to examine what was presented to him.
After he glanced over it (Jun wasn’t close enough to see the details before Ohno slid it closed again), the captain looked up at the man with a furrowed brow.
“Why does he want me to take it?” he asked casually, tilting his head to one side and genuinely at a loss for why Jyani was calling him out.
“Well, you see,” the other man started to reply in a hurried voice, “Actually, he wanted Yokoyama-kun to take it, but he needs a little help since he doesn’t have much experience. So Jyani immediately thought it would be a good time for the two of you to bond.”
Jun tore the scroll out of Ohno’s hands and glanced over the details himself while Leader simply looked surprised and let the younger man do as he wanted.
Trying to hold back his fury, the illusionist shoved the scroll back at the mission employee, and said in a controlled tone, “It’s easy. Make him do it by himself.”
The ninja looked momentarily disgruntled and distractedly pushed his hair, which was almost long enough to hit his shoulders, out of his face.
“Jyani said-“ he began to answer immediately in a haughty voice, but he was interrupted.
“Don’t worry, I’ll do it,” Ohno replied neutrally, looking at Jun in a curious way as if it was obvious he was overreacting to the request.
“I’ll do it,” Jun said with pursed lips, almost glaring at his captain. “Tell Jyani I wanted to bond with Yokoyama myself.” He really hated the prospect of spending three days with said ninja, but if it kept Ohno from being alone together with him for that long, he would do it.
“Jun, stop it,” Ohno reprimanded sharply, his voice low, and the illusionist completely froze. He stared into the shorter ninja’s eyes and was unable to say anything else, argument or not.
The last ninja looked at Jun as if he couldn’t understand him at all but somehow felt for him, and then tightened his grip on the scroll before turning around, not offering a word to either of them as he left.
Once they were alone, Ohno finally dropped his stern gaze as if he was embarrassed he’d had to use it, and then gently slid the entrance to their private rooms open.
But Jun didn’t follow him inside, even though the door hadn't been closed. Instead, he stared at it for a second and then turned and walked towards the entrance of the Main Building.
+++
Sho and Nino were out again, so he didn’t have anyone to complain to about the scene, even though they both probably would have affectionately told him he was overreacting and that Ohno could take care of himself. And Aiba was busy with Ken, as was becoming usual recently, even though the herbalist hardly ever had anything substantial to say about the subject. But at least Jun could have talked it out of his system that way.
And so, before he even realized it, his feet were headed to the place Mao was living, which she was sharing with another female ninja. Jun stood in front of the building, swallowing and trying to decide whether he really wanted to confide in her or not. She had let him have his space since they had been reunited and Jun certainly didn’t want his crush on Ohno getting around the village. But he had always trusted Mao, and even though it had been a while, he still felt like she could help him.
He knocked on the door lightly and waited patiently for an answer.
“Ah, Jun-kun.” It wasn’t Mao that answered the door, but her roommate, whom Jun smiled politely at.
“Yuuka-san. Nice to see you again. Thank you for taking care of Mao for me,” the illusionist replied formally. “By the way, is she in right now?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll get her for you.” The woman offered him a wink which made Jun roll his eyes as soon as she turned away, but he managed not to mumble anything under his breath, which was a miracle in the state he was in right now.
Mao was at the entrance a second later, dressed in the black attire that was commonplace around the village, and she quickly slipped on her ninja boots. She sent the man a smile in greeting, but could immediately detect his sour mood and didn’t say anything else until they were already leaving. Jun thanked Yuuka again with forced congeniality and then led the way as Mao scurried to keep up with him.
“Jun, what’s wrong?” she asked under her breath with worry, unsure what to do with her friend looking so temperamental.
But the illusionist didn’t speak at all until several minutes later when they were almost completely into the forest and had their own private area to talk in. The sun was close to setting, but Jun was brooding enough not to care about the fact that he would be out late or that he was keeping his friend up or that they were out in the dark together.
They sat on what appeared to be the same log that they had occupied when Mao had first entered the village and Jun sighed loudly, trying to calm his nerves.
“Okay, you’re right. It’s Ohno.”
Mao nodded slowly with an apprehensive look on her face, as if she had wanted to know but not quite under these circumstances. “I… see…”
“He got assigned a mission with Yokoyama, just the two of them,” he added, trying to make the reason for his mood clear.
The girl suddenly looked like everything inside of her head had clicked and she continued to nod, but now she was looking amused, trying to hide a smile.
“So that’s why you’re so mad…” she said knowingly, repressing a chuckle.
“It’s not funny!” Jun immediately replied, looking at her incredulously.
“You’re cute, Jun.”
He swallowed, unsure how his old friend meant the words, whether she was hitting on him or just making more jokes at his expense, and therefore didn’t know what to do in return.
“You must really like him to get so flustered over something like that.” Her eyes were twinkling and Jun thought that maybe he had made a mistake in approaching her for help.
He looked down at his hands, suddenly losing all of his steam at the sweet words from his childhood friend, and wasn’t sure how to explain his situation to Mao, especially the part about Ohno rejecting him over and over again.
“Oh, you do,” she teased in a sing song voice, elbowing him lightly in the side.
“Yeah, so what?” he mumbled. “He doesn’t like me back…”
The girl suddenly turned serious and furrowed her eyebrows. “He doesn’t?”
Gulping again and looking up at the sky that was slowly turning from purple to black, Jun tried to keep his emotion repressed as he explained the situation to her.
“No. Every time I drop a hint or try to kiss him, he pushes me away. He told me that he can’t fall in love, that it would only mess up everything that we’ve made as a group.”
Mao nodded in understanding again, only this time looking sober. “That’s… depressing.”
“I don’t know what to do. If I get jealous he doesn’t notice, if I try to make a move he rejects me, but at the same time he won’t push hard enough that I’ll never come back…”
There was a short silence while Jun waited on Mao’s opinion. She was a girl, after all. She should know a lot about this sort of thing. She should know what to do.
“Well,” she began in a small voice and Jun immediately turned his attention to her, although he couldn’t make out all of the details of her features in the dimming light. “Have you come straight out and told him that you love him?”
The ninja’s face fell and he turned forward again, anxious about both the question and the answer.
“Well, no. I just figured that if I showed him-“
“Jun,” Mao replied in a firm tone with what appeared to be a gentle smile, “boys are stupid. Being one, you should know that already.”
She laughed softly and Jun’s expression turned disgruntled as he floundered for words. That statement was so general, and even though he knew he was an idiot sometimes (as was Ohno), he didn’t see what that had to do with making a confession of love.
“You have to tell him straight or he won’t understand,” Mao said, patting Jun lightly on the shoulder.
“But, he does know,” Jun replied immediately. “I know that he knows, even if I haven’t said anything.”
The girl looked thoughtful, like she didn’t want to disregard Jun’s intuition but at the same time had to make the point she was trying to.
“Okay. Maybe he does know. But aren’t you giving him an excuse to not respond by keeping quiet?” she finally asked after a second.
Jun hadn’t thought of it like that before now. A love confession sort of did kind of deserve a well thought out answer, not the ones that Ohno was giving him currently by just pushing him aside and responding in the same way that Jun was approaching.
The illusionist nodded, knowing that Mao had just given him the best idea in the world. He really should confront Ohno straight on about it. Instead of trying to convince Ohno that it was okay to fall in love, he really needed to put himself out there so that Ohno would be forced to choose. He didn’t like backing him into a corner like that, but now that the idea was planted in his head he felt like the emotions were going to sneak out of him and run off to find Leader anyway if he didn’t. At least if Ohno said to his face that he didn’t love him in return, Jun would be able to back off for a while, until he had come up with a new game plan anyway.
“Mao-chan, thank you,” he said happily, ruffling her hair in the same way he did with Nino. She immediately pushed him away and tried to straighten the long locks with a silly offended look, but Jun just laughed as she did so.
He was suddenly feeling very confident about the whole thing. Not confident that he would get a good answer from Leader, only that it was a way to get the things that had become stagnant moving again.
Since the discussion was over, Jun was the perfect gentleman and walked his friend home, as it was dark now, and then distractedly started for the Main Building on his own. It took him longer than usual because he was thinking of anything and everything that he wanted to tell Ohno besides the fact that he loved him, and he almost didn’t hear his name being called behind him as he passed the missions hall.
“Jun-kun.”
It was the same employee that had presented Ohno with the scroll a few hours ago. The illusionist raised his eyebrow in wonder, but approached the hall to see what the man wanted.
“I talked with Jyani… If you have a second,” he trailed off, implying that Jun should step into the room behind him. Still not fully understanding what was going on, the Arashi member simply followed the other ninja into the mission hall and took his usual seat up in front of Jyani a moment later with the other man seated at his side.
“Ah, Kame, you found him.”
“Yes sir, he just came in.”
Jun looked curiously from the employee to Jyani, wondering why the air was so light, like the two had been friends for a while.
“Kame here told me you wanted to go on the mission with Satoshi and Yuu,” Jyani said, obviously addressing Jun.
“Yes, sir,” he replied and nodded in return, glancing back to the ninja beside him who was becoming more and more interesting by the second.
“Well, I don’t care what you want,” Jyani stated bluntly, although it was obvious he wasn’t finished. “But, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s you or Satoshi that looks after Yuu either, as long as it’s someone with experience. But, Kame,” he motioned to the man sitting next to Jun, “he found another mission that required more than just two ninja, so that you both can go with him.”
Jun’s brows furrowed and he blinked at the man that had gone out of his way to help him, feeling a rush of gratitude towards the missions ninja. “Thank you,” he mumbled under his breath, not believing how lucky he’d been.
“There’s a problem, though,” Kame replied immediately, addressing Jun himself. “It’s a mission that will need at least four ninja, even with you and Ohno being top rank. It’s just a simple escort, nothing too difficult…”
But as the man trailed off, Jun immediately spotted the problem. With Yokoyama, him, and Ohno that was only three, and the rest of Arashi was either out of the area or already disposed. Aiba probably wouldn’t be capable of taking time off for it, Touma and Yamapi were out on their own pair mission, and Nakai hadn’t gone out of the village in almost a year.
An idea came to mind, but Jun could only see the whole situation getting messier than cleaner. But his other choice was letting Ohno go on a mission with Yokoyama by himself…
Jun chewed on his lip distractedly and the other two men waited for the proposal that was apparently coming soon.
“Well, I can suggest someone else… but…” Jun swallowed and forced himself to continue, “She doesn’t have much experience…”
“That’s fine, it’s a simple mission. Yokoyama is only a novice, too,” Kame replied in an optimistic tone.
“Even though he’s progressing quickly,” Jyani added, seeming somewhat disgruntled at Kame’s current lack of respect for the other boy. But Jun was liking his newfound comrade more and more by the second.
“It’s just to give them a little experience… a little equity, if you will,” Kame explained with a small grin.
With the problem solved, the missions officer bowed curtly to Jyani and Jun nodded when Kame politely asked him to accompany him to his desk to fill in the details, not even waiting for Jyani to properly dismiss them.
+++
Jun had spent most of the night up talking with Kame, which was actually quite fun and fine by him, since things were still a little tense with Ohno.
But when they were due to leave the next afternoon, all the paperwork in order and notifications delivered to all of the participating ninja, the swordmaster was acting like everything was fine between them and that he absolutely didn’t care that Mao was accompanying Jun as his half of the group.
Ohno took the lead, of course, and Yokoyama was right behind him, leaving the other two to bring up the rear side by side. Jun was a little upset at the distance, but at least he could keep an eye on both of them that way.
While they traveled to their destination, Mao tried to begin chatting with Yokoyama, but her questions were met with vague and curt answers, and so she eventually just fell into the usual conversation with Jun.
But, as it was bound to happen sooner or later, Mao ran out of things to talk about and Jun didn’t want to encourage her, so the group moved on in strained silence.
They met up with their customer before the sun had set and promptly made their camp just a few paces away from the caravan.
Yokoyama had begun pulling out the equipment to brew some tea over a small fire and Ohno had gone to get some water. But of course Jun wouldn’t give up a chance like that, even if he wasn’t ready to confess yet, and so he immediately offered his help to the captain.
They walked without exchanging words, just as they had all day, but at least now it was the comfortable silence that said that Leader simply didn’t have anything to talk about instead of blatant avoidance. Ohno seemed as relaxed as he usually was, but Jun had always had a hard time distinguishing any of Leader’s moods from the rest, since he almost always looked bored anyway. The only time it was obvious was when Ohno’s facial features shifted, and that had only begun to happen after Mao arrived at the village.
As he was reaching down to fill a water skin from a stream, Jun stepped up next to his friend, looking distractedly at the running water sparkling in the light of the moon.
“Leader,” Jun began softly. He waited until Ohno turned to him with a questioning look, his hands in the current along with the container. “I’m sorry about earlier. I was being stupid.”
Ohno averted his eyes back to his work and didn’t offer a response. But Jun hadn’t really expected him to.
“Thanks for putting up with me. I know this whole thing got kind of switched around…” he added, trying to force a smile, his gaze following Ohno’s back as he leaned out further over the water.
Quickly he stopped talking, since he wasn’t getting a reply, and simply continued to watch Ohno as he finished his task, a serene and thoughtful look on the captain’s face the entire time.
As they turned back to where Mao was once again trying to talk to Yuu, who was half-heartedly smiling at her and actually offering a response this time (although it was forced by the looks of it), Ohno nervously glanced between Jun, his hands, and the other two ninja.
“It’s okay,” he mumbled before heading towards the campfire.
Jun repressed a grin and followed him, feeling like the whole situation had been magically fixed.
+++
Much to Jun’s displeasure, but following the outline of the mission and the plan that had been created before they had even left the village, Ohno and Yokoyama were paired at the front of the caravan and Jun and Mao at the rear.
It was boring. Almost deathly so.
It had been at least three years since Jun had been assigned to such a simple mission. Mao was asking a few questions about what to do in their situation or in ones that might arise, but even she got tired of exercising her brain by midday.
They stopped for lunch and the ninja met up under the shade of a group of trees. The weather was a little cool, but they had been walking all morning and Jun, at least, was sweating even though Mao chose to sit in the bright sun a few feet closer to the caravan. The group was eating rice balls for their meal, which had been purchased at the general store before they had ever left the village, and Jun was thoroughly enjoying his salmon flavored one, which he was allowed to buy since Ohno didn’t care as much about finances as Nino did.
A middle aged woman was making her way over to them, looking somewhat apprehensive but trying to be cordial, and after arriving, offered the four of them two fillets of cooked fish, which she explained her son had caught that morning.
Ohno smiled lightly at her and accepted the gift with a soft thank you, and she returned the words with a curt bow before leaving again.
With a look between Yokoyama and Jun, Ohno was obviously trying to decide how he should split up the special treat. It made sense for him to share with Yuu, since they were technically partners on this trip, and besides, for his apprentice to split with Mao one of them would have to move.
Jun was pretty sure Leader’s indecision was apparent to all of them as he waited for someone to say something about it, but the illusionist was just happy that Ohno hadn’t gone straight to Yokoyama. It probably meant he wanted to share with Jun even though it made more sense to share with the new recruit.
“Ah… Ohno-san, I’ll cut those up if you’d like me to,” Mao offered with a tense smile, as if she couldn’t stand watching the older ninja any more.
“I don’t need any,” Yokoyama interjected, looking at Mao with a neutral expression. Ohno tilted his head as if he couldn’t fathom someone passing up a piece of fish, and then glanced down at his delicious food. It would be next to impossible to split the two filets three ways.
Jun tried not to laugh at the comic expression on his captain’s face. He was really too adorable right now, looking all confused and torn like that.
“You can have my part, Oh-chan,” he offered with a smile, and Mao sent him a knowing look that almost made him blush. But he held it in.
“Ah, no, that’s okay, Jun,” the older man turned to the woman seated a few feet away from where he’d been standing and asked, “Do you want Yokoyama’s part?”
At least he’s still calling him Yokoyama, Jun thought with an inward sigh of relief.
Mao looked guiltily at Ohno, then shifted to Jun and then finally her gaze fell on Yuu before making a circle and landed back on Ohno.
“Is it… okay?” she asked slowly with a forced smile, as if she didn’t want to be rude or seem like a pig.
Ohno laughed at her and handed her the full piece, which she took gingerly, staring at it with a pleased grin.
Jun tried to repress his own ecstatic expression as Leader sat down next to him, close enough that their knees were touching lightly, and the captain quietly said thanks for the fish once more before he brought the meat to his lips and tore off a piece. He offered it to Jun afterward, and Jun was trying his hardest not to laugh at Ohno’s eating habits before he slowly took a bite himself, careful not to get any of the juice on his face.
Handing the filet back to Ohno, who had just swallowed, the two of them continued to share the food that way until it was gone, intentionally watching the caravan the whole time. They were still on edge, since they couldn’t take a real break until the whole mission was over and they no longer had anyone to protect.
Jun’s brief moment in paradise was finished with too soon for the man’s liking, and once again he was at the back of the group, with dust as a desert for his heavenly lunch.
Mao was nudging him happily in the side and at that teasing, Jun couldn’t hold back his self conscious grin.
“Seems like the two of you made up, huh?” she asked with excitement shining in her eyes. Jun averted his gaze from her and tried to reject the blush that was coming on full force.
“Sort of, I guess…” he replied sheepishly.
“Good for you!” Mao was suddenly full of energy and began asking questions about missions again, trying to support her progress through the ranks as much as she could.
+++
The rest of their mission went smoothly, as usual, but some excitement came up on their return trip to the village.
Jun noticed Ohno acting strangely before they had even gotten halfway back. He opted to watch instead of ask, if only because he knew that whether it was unconscious or not, Leader wouldn’t tell him the reason for his change in attitude.
The swordmaster was still leading the quartet, but instead of heading there directly, Jun promptly picked up the fact that he had started to veer north. It wasn’t enough for anyone but Jun to notice, which is why it caught his attention.
After one full hour of going slightly off course, Jun finally figured out why Leader wasn’t taking the correct path.
Someone was following them.
They were pretty stealthy, but a ruffling of leaves that could not have come from their group alerted the illusionist, although he tried not to show his reaction to the realization.
Ohno made a signal with his hand, just a flick of his wrist, but Jun noticed it as one of the signs that Sho had created specifically for their group, and it meant that there was danger coming.
Instead of focusing on Ohno, Jun began watching Mao, since he was absolutely sure that the girl couldn’t protect herself if it came down to something like a fight. She had picked two short swords as her weapons of choice, but had only had a few weeks experience using them, and was more likely to injure herself in a panic than an enemy.
But she hadn’t noticed there was something wrong and it didn’t look like Yokoyama had either. They both seemed sweaty and dazed, something that could easily happen when you traveled as directly and fast as they were required to, and something that was also quite a danger in a situation like they were currently in.
Suddenly, just as Jun was expecting, a man in a ninja gear similar to their own (with slight variations), jumped out in front of Ohno as he was about to cross a small river. The enemy shot three shuriken directly at him, but Leader had moved out of the way before the man had even gotten the weapons out of his hand. Yokoyama immediately froze, looking completely surprised at the attack, and Jun pushed Mao down to the ground as another set of stars came at her head.
Jun confronted the ninja that was coming up close behind them, brandishing his knives in front of him, and the two of them danced around each other, each trying to land a hit. Lucky for Jun, this man was equipped with nun chucks, which was a good match for his own blades; they would have to fight close to each other instead of Jun worrying about closing in on a ranged weapon.
It was obvious that the target of the group was Ohno, though, as the three other attackers went straight for the swordmaster. Jun wasn’t sure if that was because he was the captain, designated as the strongest and therefore had to be disposed of first, or if he had just drawn their attention in some other way. It could also be because Ohno was doing his best to protect Yokoyama, who had pulled out his sword but was looking startled and like he wasn’t sure where to start. But Leader was holding off the men who were coming at him, and Jun knew that he needed to dispose of the enemy he was in direct combat with so he could help his friend.
An arrow shot past his head and, in the split second he had between strikes, Jun shifted his attention to where it was headed, right where Ohno was standing.
Leader automatically dodged it, which caused the projectile to be lodged in the arms of one of his adversaries, and Jun took a breath of relief.
Mao had gotten up off the ground and was brandishing her short swords much like Yokoyama was, unsure of what to do and not confident in her own abilities to jump in where Jun and Ohno were already occupied.
There was the sound of water sloshing around as Leader moved and Jun allowed his concentration to only drift that much as he finally began getting the upper hand on his opponent. He had already memorized all of Ohno’s sword moves, so as long as the vibrations were coming steadily and as expected, Jun wasn’t going to worry about him until he had need to.
Landing a blow on the man’s stomach, promptly causing the enemy ninja to double over, Jun followed up with the handle of his knife hitting him in the side of the head, sending him unconsciously to the ground.
Turning back to the other struggle, Jun’s eye landed on the haphazard clump of black clad men just as Ohno began slipping backwards. The enemy injured from the arrow was laying face down in the water, his body moving with the pulses of the shallow stream, but the other two had somehow advanced on Ohno enough that he was retreating, and it was evident why.
The swordmaster was trying to protect Yokoyama, who was standing stunned a few feet behind them, and one of his adversaries, who was wielding scythes, was attempting to get past Leader in order to reach the recruit. Meanwhile, Yokoyama had completely stopped any actions and was unable to move in his evident panicked state, making him open to an attack, assuming the enemy could get past Ohno.
Another arrow came out of the bushes, and Jun immediately followed the trajectory backwards from where it stuck into the ground, just barely avoiding Yokoyama’s foot. He released one of his throwing knives in the same direction, following the exact path that the arrow had just taken in the way that Nino had taught him to.
A second later a ninja fell out of a nearby tree, the one that Jun had been aiming at.
Although he was already generally confident in his skills, Jun was certainly pleased that he didn’t have to waste two knives on killing that pesky sniper.
Realizing he’d neutralized all of the other problems, Jun vaulted closer to Ohno just as the swordmaster finally fell into the water, sliding on some of the rocks. Yokoyama had at least moved forward now that he had no choice, and was trying to protect the captain, but Jun quickly realized that he was actually only getting in Ohno’s way and was stopping the older man from fully utilizing his movement. Even when he was on the ground, the captain was still a deadly adversary, since the position almost forced him to become desperate in his movements, something that Ohno’s usual technique didn’t call for.
Yokoyama was trying to stand over Leader now, but he was still behind him in an awkward position, and was sliding on the wet rocks himself and all over being more of a hindrance than a help.
Jun would have been irritated at Ohno’s apprentice if this hadn’t been such a touchy situation.
He released his second knife at the group, hoping his aim was as good as it had been a moment ago. The projectile nicked Yokoyama in the side, his arms raised high above him in an over-exaggerated movement, but it stuck deep in the chest of the man who had been on the verge of killing him, preventing the attack from succeeding.
The enemy ninja staggered and fell back, joining his immobile companion who had gotten caught on a rock and had ceased movement past more than the gentle lull of the stream around him.
Before another heartbeat had passed, Ohno had cut the last man down, his leg spurting blood as he also collapsed, and Jun finally allowed himself to breathe again.
Mao was looking at him with a cross of shock and admiration, while Yokoyama helped pull Ohno out of the water. Jun could have gotten upset at the action, but he knew that Leader would deduce who had really saved him. And even if he didn’t, for some reason Jun didn’t want to seem as overprotective as he actually was right now. He wanted to find any weaknesses that Yokoyama had, but he wasn’t cruel enough to boast about beating the other ninja in a situation like this, especially considering their different experience levels.
“That was… amazing,” Mao told him with her mouth hanging open. “You really are professionals, aren’t you?” she asked, looking from her old friend to Ohno and then to the sniper that had fallen out of the tree. The illusionist was already on his way back down the path to the victim, intending to collect his weapon from the dead man and look for any clues as to who they were, even though he knew that ninja were smart enough not to carry anything like that on them.
He pulled the knife out of the enemy’s throat, realizing his shot had been more on target that he ever could have hoped for, and pulled the mask off of him.
There were no distinguishing marks, and there was no way to even tell which clan this man had come from without more information.
He tried to check any pockets, but there was only a pouch at the man’s side, full of emergency rations and a short length of rope.
Sighing, Jun just wiped his knife on the man’s shirt until it was clean and then returned to the group.
Yokoyama was twisting the bottoms of his pants with a sour look on his face, trying to get the water out, and Ohno was watching Jun with approving eyes. He handed the second knife to his team mate as they met together and Jun tried not to beam at the silent gratitude he could feel radiating off the older man.
“Are you okay?” Ohno asked Mao politely, focusing his attention on her even though she hadn’t been involved in the fight at all.
She smiled nervously and nodded, not complaining about the attack but certainly looking disturbed at the unexpected battle.
The group took off again, towards the village this time, and the entire way Mao wouldn’t shut up about how incredible Jun and Ohno were, and how unbelievable Arashi must be to see in action.
+++
A/N: Hmm, not much to say. This was a pretty happy chapter, wasn't it? And then some action there at the end. :)
Still not completely recovered, but I'm far from sick.
Reminder for my contest! If you want to participate in making something you still have plenty of time! But only a few days to drop me a word prompt before I get started on the story!
Chapter eighteen
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Genre: action, AU
Chapter: seventeen
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno Satoshi is the student of a strong ninja lord who has lived his life following his teacher’s strict guidance. But what happens when he slowly learns he has to live for himself?
Part 1: Shinobu Ishi ( Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter three, Chapter four, Chapter five, Chapter six, Chapter seven)
Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro ( Chapter eight, Chapter nine, Chapter ten, Chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen)
Part 3: Shinobu Kanjyo ( Chapter fifteen, Chapter sixteen,
After keeping a close eye on Yokoyama for two weeks straight, Jun eventually became tired of not finding anything out of the ordinary and toned down his surveillance. He had other work to do anyway, and he could only skip out on it for so long until Sho and Jyani started to nag him, so it was easier to just let the rivalry he had created inside his head dissipate. Besides, he was missing out on the time he could have spent with Ohno by following his apprentice around the city trying to figure out if he was up to something or not.
But there was still no information on the new guy, not even the reason he had moved to the village, although a lot of people speculated it was specifically to get Ohno to train him, which was another mystery. And Jun still hadn’t figured out why Leader had agreed to such a thing when he had been so avid about avoiding it in the past.
He hadn’t come out and asked him, though. Of course not. Jun didn’t want to seem jealous, although he knew inside his head that he really was, and that it was a stupid reason anyway.
On one of the rare afternoons he had with Leader, the two of them left the training grounds together after a full workout session (Jun had opted to ditch his lesson with Nakai, which were only about once a week now, in order to hang out with his crush). Jun was making lighthearted talk about a trick he saw one of the ninja-in-training do a few days before and although Ohno still seemed tense, he was genuinely laughing at the illusionist’s impression and therefore the whole day had been worth it.
They had just returned to the Main Building in high spirits and Jun was about to suggested they bathe together, even though Ohno had been strictly avoiding him in that area since the first time they had been naked with each other. It seemed like the older man would simply wait until Jun was done in the bath house before he’d get in, and when the illusionist started delaying his arrival or departure, Ohno would simply skip the bath altogether, even though Jun knew he loved them.
So, after this had happened four times, Jun just started arriving earlier than before so the other man would have plenty of time to complete his own process.
It was one of the many things that made him depressed about his relationship with the swordmaster, but Jun was too much of a coward to confront it, just like he was with everything else. He didn’t want to see that awkward, sad look on Ohno’s face and so he just steered clear of the situation instead of talking about it.
But he was feeling good today and he thought maybe he could get some sort of suggestion out. It had been a while since he’d seen Ohno’s naked body and he was already getting excited about the prospect, even if it was one only likely to come true inside his mind.
Of course, just as always, before Jun had even started to form a convincing look on his face, they were interrupted right in front of their private rooms.
“Ohno-san?” the young man asked tentatively, and Leader turned to him with a curious expression. “Jyani has requested you take this mission.” The ninja, who was apparently on the board that processed the jobs that came their way, handed the swordmaster a scroll and bowed lightly as Leader opened it to examine what was presented to him.
After he glanced over it (Jun wasn’t close enough to see the details before Ohno slid it closed again), the captain looked up at the man with a furrowed brow.
“Why does he want me to take it?” he asked casually, tilting his head to one side and genuinely at a loss for why Jyani was calling him out.
“Well, you see,” the other man started to reply in a hurried voice, “Actually, he wanted Yokoyama-kun to take it, but he needs a little help since he doesn’t have much experience. So Jyani immediately thought it would be a good time for the two of you to bond.”
Jun tore the scroll out of Ohno’s hands and glanced over the details himself while Leader simply looked surprised and let the younger man do as he wanted.
Trying to hold back his fury, the illusionist shoved the scroll back at the mission employee, and said in a controlled tone, “It’s easy. Make him do it by himself.”
The ninja looked momentarily disgruntled and distractedly pushed his hair, which was almost long enough to hit his shoulders, out of his face.
“Jyani said-“ he began to answer immediately in a haughty voice, but he was interrupted.
“Don’t worry, I’ll do it,” Ohno replied neutrally, looking at Jun in a curious way as if it was obvious he was overreacting to the request.
“I’ll do it,” Jun said with pursed lips, almost glaring at his captain. “Tell Jyani I wanted to bond with Yokoyama myself.” He really hated the prospect of spending three days with said ninja, but if it kept Ohno from being alone together with him for that long, he would do it.
“Jun, stop it,” Ohno reprimanded sharply, his voice low, and the illusionist completely froze. He stared into the shorter ninja’s eyes and was unable to say anything else, argument or not.
The last ninja looked at Jun as if he couldn’t understand him at all but somehow felt for him, and then tightened his grip on the scroll before turning around, not offering a word to either of them as he left.
Once they were alone, Ohno finally dropped his stern gaze as if he was embarrassed he’d had to use it, and then gently slid the entrance to their private rooms open.
But Jun didn’t follow him inside, even though the door hadn't been closed. Instead, he stared at it for a second and then turned and walked towards the entrance of the Main Building.
+++
Sho and Nino were out again, so he didn’t have anyone to complain to about the scene, even though they both probably would have affectionately told him he was overreacting and that Ohno could take care of himself. And Aiba was busy with Ken, as was becoming usual recently, even though the herbalist hardly ever had anything substantial to say about the subject. But at least Jun could have talked it out of his system that way.
And so, before he even realized it, his feet were headed to the place Mao was living, which she was sharing with another female ninja. Jun stood in front of the building, swallowing and trying to decide whether he really wanted to confide in her or not. She had let him have his space since they had been reunited and Jun certainly didn’t want his crush on Ohno getting around the village. But he had always trusted Mao, and even though it had been a while, he still felt like she could help him.
He knocked on the door lightly and waited patiently for an answer.
“Ah, Jun-kun.” It wasn’t Mao that answered the door, but her roommate, whom Jun smiled politely at.
“Yuuka-san. Nice to see you again. Thank you for taking care of Mao for me,” the illusionist replied formally. “By the way, is she in right now?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll get her for you.” The woman offered him a wink which made Jun roll his eyes as soon as she turned away, but he managed not to mumble anything under his breath, which was a miracle in the state he was in right now.
Mao was at the entrance a second later, dressed in the black attire that was commonplace around the village, and she quickly slipped on her ninja boots. She sent the man a smile in greeting, but could immediately detect his sour mood and didn’t say anything else until they were already leaving. Jun thanked Yuuka again with forced congeniality and then led the way as Mao scurried to keep up with him.
“Jun, what’s wrong?” she asked under her breath with worry, unsure what to do with her friend looking so temperamental.
But the illusionist didn’t speak at all until several minutes later when they were almost completely into the forest and had their own private area to talk in. The sun was close to setting, but Jun was brooding enough not to care about the fact that he would be out late or that he was keeping his friend up or that they were out in the dark together.
They sat on what appeared to be the same log that they had occupied when Mao had first entered the village and Jun sighed loudly, trying to calm his nerves.
“Okay, you’re right. It’s Ohno.”
Mao nodded slowly with an apprehensive look on her face, as if she had wanted to know but not quite under these circumstances. “I… see…”
“He got assigned a mission with Yokoyama, just the two of them,” he added, trying to make the reason for his mood clear.
The girl suddenly looked like everything inside of her head had clicked and she continued to nod, but now she was looking amused, trying to hide a smile.
“So that’s why you’re so mad…” she said knowingly, repressing a chuckle.
“It’s not funny!” Jun immediately replied, looking at her incredulously.
“You’re cute, Jun.”
He swallowed, unsure how his old friend meant the words, whether she was hitting on him or just making more jokes at his expense, and therefore didn’t know what to do in return.
“You must really like him to get so flustered over something like that.” Her eyes were twinkling and Jun thought that maybe he had made a mistake in approaching her for help.
He looked down at his hands, suddenly losing all of his steam at the sweet words from his childhood friend, and wasn’t sure how to explain his situation to Mao, especially the part about Ohno rejecting him over and over again.
“Oh, you do,” she teased in a sing song voice, elbowing him lightly in the side.
“Yeah, so what?” he mumbled. “He doesn’t like me back…”
The girl suddenly turned serious and furrowed her eyebrows. “He doesn’t?”
Gulping again and looking up at the sky that was slowly turning from purple to black, Jun tried to keep his emotion repressed as he explained the situation to her.
“No. Every time I drop a hint or try to kiss him, he pushes me away. He told me that he can’t fall in love, that it would only mess up everything that we’ve made as a group.”
Mao nodded in understanding again, only this time looking sober. “That’s… depressing.”
“I don’t know what to do. If I get jealous he doesn’t notice, if I try to make a move he rejects me, but at the same time he won’t push hard enough that I’ll never come back…”
There was a short silence while Jun waited on Mao’s opinion. She was a girl, after all. She should know a lot about this sort of thing. She should know what to do.
“Well,” she began in a small voice and Jun immediately turned his attention to her, although he couldn’t make out all of the details of her features in the dimming light. “Have you come straight out and told him that you love him?”
The ninja’s face fell and he turned forward again, anxious about both the question and the answer.
“Well, no. I just figured that if I showed him-“
“Jun,” Mao replied in a firm tone with what appeared to be a gentle smile, “boys are stupid. Being one, you should know that already.”
She laughed softly and Jun’s expression turned disgruntled as he floundered for words. That statement was so general, and even though he knew he was an idiot sometimes (as was Ohno), he didn’t see what that had to do with making a confession of love.
“You have to tell him straight or he won’t understand,” Mao said, patting Jun lightly on the shoulder.
“But, he does know,” Jun replied immediately. “I know that he knows, even if I haven’t said anything.”
The girl looked thoughtful, like she didn’t want to disregard Jun’s intuition but at the same time had to make the point she was trying to.
“Okay. Maybe he does know. But aren’t you giving him an excuse to not respond by keeping quiet?” she finally asked after a second.
Jun hadn’t thought of it like that before now. A love confession sort of did kind of deserve a well thought out answer, not the ones that Ohno was giving him currently by just pushing him aside and responding in the same way that Jun was approaching.
The illusionist nodded, knowing that Mao had just given him the best idea in the world. He really should confront Ohno straight on about it. Instead of trying to convince Ohno that it was okay to fall in love, he really needed to put himself out there so that Ohno would be forced to choose. He didn’t like backing him into a corner like that, but now that the idea was planted in his head he felt like the emotions were going to sneak out of him and run off to find Leader anyway if he didn’t. At least if Ohno said to his face that he didn’t love him in return, Jun would be able to back off for a while, until he had come up with a new game plan anyway.
“Mao-chan, thank you,” he said happily, ruffling her hair in the same way he did with Nino. She immediately pushed him away and tried to straighten the long locks with a silly offended look, but Jun just laughed as she did so.
He was suddenly feeling very confident about the whole thing. Not confident that he would get a good answer from Leader, only that it was a way to get the things that had become stagnant moving again.
Since the discussion was over, Jun was the perfect gentleman and walked his friend home, as it was dark now, and then distractedly started for the Main Building on his own. It took him longer than usual because he was thinking of anything and everything that he wanted to tell Ohno besides the fact that he loved him, and he almost didn’t hear his name being called behind him as he passed the missions hall.
“Jun-kun.”
It was the same employee that had presented Ohno with the scroll a few hours ago. The illusionist raised his eyebrow in wonder, but approached the hall to see what the man wanted.
“I talked with Jyani… If you have a second,” he trailed off, implying that Jun should step into the room behind him. Still not fully understanding what was going on, the Arashi member simply followed the other ninja into the mission hall and took his usual seat up in front of Jyani a moment later with the other man seated at his side.
“Ah, Kame, you found him.”
“Yes sir, he just came in.”
Jun looked curiously from the employee to Jyani, wondering why the air was so light, like the two had been friends for a while.
“Kame here told me you wanted to go on the mission with Satoshi and Yuu,” Jyani said, obviously addressing Jun.
“Yes, sir,” he replied and nodded in return, glancing back to the ninja beside him who was becoming more and more interesting by the second.
“Well, I don’t care what you want,” Jyani stated bluntly, although it was obvious he wasn’t finished. “But, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s you or Satoshi that looks after Yuu either, as long as it’s someone with experience. But, Kame,” he motioned to the man sitting next to Jun, “he found another mission that required more than just two ninja, so that you both can go with him.”
Jun’s brows furrowed and he blinked at the man that had gone out of his way to help him, feeling a rush of gratitude towards the missions ninja. “Thank you,” he mumbled under his breath, not believing how lucky he’d been.
“There’s a problem, though,” Kame replied immediately, addressing Jun himself. “It’s a mission that will need at least four ninja, even with you and Ohno being top rank. It’s just a simple escort, nothing too difficult…”
But as the man trailed off, Jun immediately spotted the problem. With Yokoyama, him, and Ohno that was only three, and the rest of Arashi was either out of the area or already disposed. Aiba probably wouldn’t be capable of taking time off for it, Touma and Yamapi were out on their own pair mission, and Nakai hadn’t gone out of the village in almost a year.
An idea came to mind, but Jun could only see the whole situation getting messier than cleaner. But his other choice was letting Ohno go on a mission with Yokoyama by himself…
Jun chewed on his lip distractedly and the other two men waited for the proposal that was apparently coming soon.
“Well, I can suggest someone else… but…” Jun swallowed and forced himself to continue, “She doesn’t have much experience…”
“That’s fine, it’s a simple mission. Yokoyama is only a novice, too,” Kame replied in an optimistic tone.
“Even though he’s progressing quickly,” Jyani added, seeming somewhat disgruntled at Kame’s current lack of respect for the other boy. But Jun was liking his newfound comrade more and more by the second.
“It’s just to give them a little experience… a little equity, if you will,” Kame explained with a small grin.
With the problem solved, the missions officer bowed curtly to Jyani and Jun nodded when Kame politely asked him to accompany him to his desk to fill in the details, not even waiting for Jyani to properly dismiss them.
+++
Jun had spent most of the night up talking with Kame, which was actually quite fun and fine by him, since things were still a little tense with Ohno.
But when they were due to leave the next afternoon, all the paperwork in order and notifications delivered to all of the participating ninja, the swordmaster was acting like everything was fine between them and that he absolutely didn’t care that Mao was accompanying Jun as his half of the group.
Ohno took the lead, of course, and Yokoyama was right behind him, leaving the other two to bring up the rear side by side. Jun was a little upset at the distance, but at least he could keep an eye on both of them that way.
While they traveled to their destination, Mao tried to begin chatting with Yokoyama, but her questions were met with vague and curt answers, and so she eventually just fell into the usual conversation with Jun.
But, as it was bound to happen sooner or later, Mao ran out of things to talk about and Jun didn’t want to encourage her, so the group moved on in strained silence.
They met up with their customer before the sun had set and promptly made their camp just a few paces away from the caravan.
Yokoyama had begun pulling out the equipment to brew some tea over a small fire and Ohno had gone to get some water. But of course Jun wouldn’t give up a chance like that, even if he wasn’t ready to confess yet, and so he immediately offered his help to the captain.
They walked without exchanging words, just as they had all day, but at least now it was the comfortable silence that said that Leader simply didn’t have anything to talk about instead of blatant avoidance. Ohno seemed as relaxed as he usually was, but Jun had always had a hard time distinguishing any of Leader’s moods from the rest, since he almost always looked bored anyway. The only time it was obvious was when Ohno’s facial features shifted, and that had only begun to happen after Mao arrived at the village.
As he was reaching down to fill a water skin from a stream, Jun stepped up next to his friend, looking distractedly at the running water sparkling in the light of the moon.
“Leader,” Jun began softly. He waited until Ohno turned to him with a questioning look, his hands in the current along with the container. “I’m sorry about earlier. I was being stupid.”
Ohno averted his eyes back to his work and didn’t offer a response. But Jun hadn’t really expected him to.
“Thanks for putting up with me. I know this whole thing got kind of switched around…” he added, trying to force a smile, his gaze following Ohno’s back as he leaned out further over the water.
Quickly he stopped talking, since he wasn’t getting a reply, and simply continued to watch Ohno as he finished his task, a serene and thoughtful look on the captain’s face the entire time.
As they turned back to where Mao was once again trying to talk to Yuu, who was half-heartedly smiling at her and actually offering a response this time (although it was forced by the looks of it), Ohno nervously glanced between Jun, his hands, and the other two ninja.
“It’s okay,” he mumbled before heading towards the campfire.
Jun repressed a grin and followed him, feeling like the whole situation had been magically fixed.
+++
Much to Jun’s displeasure, but following the outline of the mission and the plan that had been created before they had even left the village, Ohno and Yokoyama were paired at the front of the caravan and Jun and Mao at the rear.
It was boring. Almost deathly so.
It had been at least three years since Jun had been assigned to such a simple mission. Mao was asking a few questions about what to do in their situation or in ones that might arise, but even she got tired of exercising her brain by midday.
They stopped for lunch and the ninja met up under the shade of a group of trees. The weather was a little cool, but they had been walking all morning and Jun, at least, was sweating even though Mao chose to sit in the bright sun a few feet closer to the caravan. The group was eating rice balls for their meal, which had been purchased at the general store before they had ever left the village, and Jun was thoroughly enjoying his salmon flavored one, which he was allowed to buy since Ohno didn’t care as much about finances as Nino did.
A middle aged woman was making her way over to them, looking somewhat apprehensive but trying to be cordial, and after arriving, offered the four of them two fillets of cooked fish, which she explained her son had caught that morning.
Ohno smiled lightly at her and accepted the gift with a soft thank you, and she returned the words with a curt bow before leaving again.
With a look between Yokoyama and Jun, Ohno was obviously trying to decide how he should split up the special treat. It made sense for him to share with Yuu, since they were technically partners on this trip, and besides, for his apprentice to split with Mao one of them would have to move.
Jun was pretty sure Leader’s indecision was apparent to all of them as he waited for someone to say something about it, but the illusionist was just happy that Ohno hadn’t gone straight to Yokoyama. It probably meant he wanted to share with Jun even though it made more sense to share with the new recruit.
“Ah… Ohno-san, I’ll cut those up if you’d like me to,” Mao offered with a tense smile, as if she couldn’t stand watching the older ninja any more.
“I don’t need any,” Yokoyama interjected, looking at Mao with a neutral expression. Ohno tilted his head as if he couldn’t fathom someone passing up a piece of fish, and then glanced down at his delicious food. It would be next to impossible to split the two filets three ways.
Jun tried not to laugh at the comic expression on his captain’s face. He was really too adorable right now, looking all confused and torn like that.
“You can have my part, Oh-chan,” he offered with a smile, and Mao sent him a knowing look that almost made him blush. But he held it in.
“Ah, no, that’s okay, Jun,” the older man turned to the woman seated a few feet away from where he’d been standing and asked, “Do you want Yokoyama’s part?”
At least he’s still calling him Yokoyama, Jun thought with an inward sigh of relief.
Mao looked guiltily at Ohno, then shifted to Jun and then finally her gaze fell on Yuu before making a circle and landed back on Ohno.
“Is it… okay?” she asked slowly with a forced smile, as if she didn’t want to be rude or seem like a pig.
Ohno laughed at her and handed her the full piece, which she took gingerly, staring at it with a pleased grin.
Jun tried to repress his own ecstatic expression as Leader sat down next to him, close enough that their knees were touching lightly, and the captain quietly said thanks for the fish once more before he brought the meat to his lips and tore off a piece. He offered it to Jun afterward, and Jun was trying his hardest not to laugh at Ohno’s eating habits before he slowly took a bite himself, careful not to get any of the juice on his face.
Handing the filet back to Ohno, who had just swallowed, the two of them continued to share the food that way until it was gone, intentionally watching the caravan the whole time. They were still on edge, since they couldn’t take a real break until the whole mission was over and they no longer had anyone to protect.
Jun’s brief moment in paradise was finished with too soon for the man’s liking, and once again he was at the back of the group, with dust as a desert for his heavenly lunch.
Mao was nudging him happily in the side and at that teasing, Jun couldn’t hold back his self conscious grin.
“Seems like the two of you made up, huh?” she asked with excitement shining in her eyes. Jun averted his gaze from her and tried to reject the blush that was coming on full force.
“Sort of, I guess…” he replied sheepishly.
“Good for you!” Mao was suddenly full of energy and began asking questions about missions again, trying to support her progress through the ranks as much as she could.
+++
The rest of their mission went smoothly, as usual, but some excitement came up on their return trip to the village.
Jun noticed Ohno acting strangely before they had even gotten halfway back. He opted to watch instead of ask, if only because he knew that whether it was unconscious or not, Leader wouldn’t tell him the reason for his change in attitude.
The swordmaster was still leading the quartet, but instead of heading there directly, Jun promptly picked up the fact that he had started to veer north. It wasn’t enough for anyone but Jun to notice, which is why it caught his attention.
After one full hour of going slightly off course, Jun finally figured out why Leader wasn’t taking the correct path.
Someone was following them.
They were pretty stealthy, but a ruffling of leaves that could not have come from their group alerted the illusionist, although he tried not to show his reaction to the realization.
Ohno made a signal with his hand, just a flick of his wrist, but Jun noticed it as one of the signs that Sho had created specifically for their group, and it meant that there was danger coming.
Instead of focusing on Ohno, Jun began watching Mao, since he was absolutely sure that the girl couldn’t protect herself if it came down to something like a fight. She had picked two short swords as her weapons of choice, but had only had a few weeks experience using them, and was more likely to injure herself in a panic than an enemy.
But she hadn’t noticed there was something wrong and it didn’t look like Yokoyama had either. They both seemed sweaty and dazed, something that could easily happen when you traveled as directly and fast as they were required to, and something that was also quite a danger in a situation like they were currently in.
Suddenly, just as Jun was expecting, a man in a ninja gear similar to their own (with slight variations), jumped out in front of Ohno as he was about to cross a small river. The enemy shot three shuriken directly at him, but Leader had moved out of the way before the man had even gotten the weapons out of his hand. Yokoyama immediately froze, looking completely surprised at the attack, and Jun pushed Mao down to the ground as another set of stars came at her head.
Jun confronted the ninja that was coming up close behind them, brandishing his knives in front of him, and the two of them danced around each other, each trying to land a hit. Lucky for Jun, this man was equipped with nun chucks, which was a good match for his own blades; they would have to fight close to each other instead of Jun worrying about closing in on a ranged weapon.
It was obvious that the target of the group was Ohno, though, as the three other attackers went straight for the swordmaster. Jun wasn’t sure if that was because he was the captain, designated as the strongest and therefore had to be disposed of first, or if he had just drawn their attention in some other way. It could also be because Ohno was doing his best to protect Yokoyama, who had pulled out his sword but was looking startled and like he wasn’t sure where to start. But Leader was holding off the men who were coming at him, and Jun knew that he needed to dispose of the enemy he was in direct combat with so he could help his friend.
An arrow shot past his head and, in the split second he had between strikes, Jun shifted his attention to where it was headed, right where Ohno was standing.
Leader automatically dodged it, which caused the projectile to be lodged in the arms of one of his adversaries, and Jun took a breath of relief.
Mao had gotten up off the ground and was brandishing her short swords much like Yokoyama was, unsure of what to do and not confident in her own abilities to jump in where Jun and Ohno were already occupied.
There was the sound of water sloshing around as Leader moved and Jun allowed his concentration to only drift that much as he finally began getting the upper hand on his opponent. He had already memorized all of Ohno’s sword moves, so as long as the vibrations were coming steadily and as expected, Jun wasn’t going to worry about him until he had need to.
Landing a blow on the man’s stomach, promptly causing the enemy ninja to double over, Jun followed up with the handle of his knife hitting him in the side of the head, sending him unconsciously to the ground.
Turning back to the other struggle, Jun’s eye landed on the haphazard clump of black clad men just as Ohno began slipping backwards. The enemy injured from the arrow was laying face down in the water, his body moving with the pulses of the shallow stream, but the other two had somehow advanced on Ohno enough that he was retreating, and it was evident why.
The swordmaster was trying to protect Yokoyama, who was standing stunned a few feet behind them, and one of his adversaries, who was wielding scythes, was attempting to get past Leader in order to reach the recruit. Meanwhile, Yokoyama had completely stopped any actions and was unable to move in his evident panicked state, making him open to an attack, assuming the enemy could get past Ohno.
Another arrow came out of the bushes, and Jun immediately followed the trajectory backwards from where it stuck into the ground, just barely avoiding Yokoyama’s foot. He released one of his throwing knives in the same direction, following the exact path that the arrow had just taken in the way that Nino had taught him to.
A second later a ninja fell out of a nearby tree, the one that Jun had been aiming at.
Although he was already generally confident in his skills, Jun was certainly pleased that he didn’t have to waste two knives on killing that pesky sniper.
Realizing he’d neutralized all of the other problems, Jun vaulted closer to Ohno just as the swordmaster finally fell into the water, sliding on some of the rocks. Yokoyama had at least moved forward now that he had no choice, and was trying to protect the captain, but Jun quickly realized that he was actually only getting in Ohno’s way and was stopping the older man from fully utilizing his movement. Even when he was on the ground, the captain was still a deadly adversary, since the position almost forced him to become desperate in his movements, something that Ohno’s usual technique didn’t call for.
Yokoyama was trying to stand over Leader now, but he was still behind him in an awkward position, and was sliding on the wet rocks himself and all over being more of a hindrance than a help.
Jun would have been irritated at Ohno’s apprentice if this hadn’t been such a touchy situation.
He released his second knife at the group, hoping his aim was as good as it had been a moment ago. The projectile nicked Yokoyama in the side, his arms raised high above him in an over-exaggerated movement, but it stuck deep in the chest of the man who had been on the verge of killing him, preventing the attack from succeeding.
The enemy ninja staggered and fell back, joining his immobile companion who had gotten caught on a rock and had ceased movement past more than the gentle lull of the stream around him.
Before another heartbeat had passed, Ohno had cut the last man down, his leg spurting blood as he also collapsed, and Jun finally allowed himself to breathe again.
Mao was looking at him with a cross of shock and admiration, while Yokoyama helped pull Ohno out of the water. Jun could have gotten upset at the action, but he knew that Leader would deduce who had really saved him. And even if he didn’t, for some reason Jun didn’t want to seem as overprotective as he actually was right now. He wanted to find any weaknesses that Yokoyama had, but he wasn’t cruel enough to boast about beating the other ninja in a situation like this, especially considering their different experience levels.
“That was… amazing,” Mao told him with her mouth hanging open. “You really are professionals, aren’t you?” she asked, looking from her old friend to Ohno and then to the sniper that had fallen out of the tree. The illusionist was already on his way back down the path to the victim, intending to collect his weapon from the dead man and look for any clues as to who they were, even though he knew that ninja were smart enough not to carry anything like that on them.
He pulled the knife out of the enemy’s throat, realizing his shot had been more on target that he ever could have hoped for, and pulled the mask off of him.
There were no distinguishing marks, and there was no way to even tell which clan this man had come from without more information.
He tried to check any pockets, but there was only a pouch at the man’s side, full of emergency rations and a short length of rope.
Sighing, Jun just wiped his knife on the man’s shirt until it was clean and then returned to the group.
Yokoyama was twisting the bottoms of his pants with a sour look on his face, trying to get the water out, and Ohno was watching Jun with approving eyes. He handed the second knife to his team mate as they met together and Jun tried not to beam at the silent gratitude he could feel radiating off the older man.
“Are you okay?” Ohno asked Mao politely, focusing his attention on her even though she hadn’t been involved in the fight at all.
She smiled nervously and nodded, not complaining about the attack but certainly looking disturbed at the unexpected battle.
The group took off again, towards the village this time, and the entire way Mao wouldn’t shut up about how incredible Jun and Ohno were, and how unbelievable Arashi must be to see in action.
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A/N: Hmm, not much to say. This was a pretty happy chapter, wasn't it? And then some action there at the end. :)
Still not completely recovered, but I'm far from sick.
Reminder for my contest! If you want to participate in making something you still have plenty of time! But only a few days to drop me a word prompt before I get started on the story!
Chapter eighteen