The Making of a Hero Pt 3

**An hour later.**

Turns out an empty carriage is a lot heavier than it looks. Getting it up and out of the cave was the hard part, but it has been ‘smooth sailing’ since then. Except for the uphill climb from the cave to the base, that was a workout. The other three opted to walk and slowed down to match her pace. After a while of walking, the go-abouts inside the base were within an earshot. Suzi split off from the other three to climb the walls under the cover of the trees, while the three came to the gate, where two guards, along with some in towers above, resided. Because of the poorly lit forest, the guards were unsure of the carriage as all three heard them unsheathe swords and shout questions and orders at them in Japanese.

“Let me handle this…” Hanzo walked up cautiously, “Nē, nē, watashitachiha haitatsu no tame ni koko ni imasu…”

“You understand Japanese?” Fuma asked the fox, she shook her head. “I guess he’s still the only one.” Hanzo then lit a torch to show his armor and the carriage.

“Ōsawagi suru hitsuyō wa arimasen,” Hanzo stated, looking as innocent as possible, “anata wa watashitachi o irete moraemasu ka?”

“Kamotsu wa nanidesu ka?”

“Mi ni kuru,” the raccoon replied, motioning them behind the carriage. The two nodded and came around back to check the nonexistent luggage, out of sight from the tower guards, and all Kyani heard was one body hit the ground, someone pulled free a blade, a short yell for help, and another hit the ground. There was no response, as Suzi likely already cleaned up the towers. “You got it, Suzi?!”

“Hang on…” after a short while, the gate opened, and the three carried on. The base was bustling, despite being night, with patrol units, regiments traveling across the place, important officers entering towers, and even some that seemed off duty and were beyond drunk. She took note of how every section’s entrance and exit always had guards. The whole place was lit up with torches, whether mounted on walls or carried by guards. Hanzo walked up to the fox’s left, and whispered in her ear.

“You see Suzi up there? On the tower, to our left?” Kyani looked around and spotted a glint made by the torches’ light reflecting off Suzi’s blade. The fox could barely make out her silhouette behind it, but that was pretty much expected. “She’s gonna clear a path to the storage, just follow her and don’t get too close to the guards. If we need to bail, your weapons are in the back.” Kyani nodded, and kept her eye on the weasel.

After taking turns here and there, they made back alleys of some sort. Narrow passageways, just wide enough for the carriage, with short, stout buildings and lamps hanging off of them. Hanzo and Fuma had to walk either in the front or back because of the tight space. It was quieter than the main part they were in before, but there was the occasional patrol guard or group that was quickly taken care of.

They finally made it to a large warehouse-like structure, and Fuma entered, his sword drawn, before coming back out not long after. “It’s all clear.”

“Good,” the two took as many burlap sacks they could carry, and Hanzo turned to the peasant-dressed fox. “Stay out here and wait. Don’t take any fights, Suzi will do it for you. This may take a while.” She nodded, and Hanzo went inside with his sacks.

“You wanna talk?” Suzi asked, startling the fox a bit. “Sorry.”

“I thought you didn’t talk a lot…”

“I was the only girl around,” she answered. “Do you want tips?”

“Umm…” Kyani didn’t know if this was the best time, but she also didn’t know when she was going to get this chance again, “sure.”

“Hanzo looks for fights sometimes, so don’t give it to him,” Suzi told her, taking a seat on the roof of a building next to the carriage. “You butt heads with him too much.”

“Are you saying to back down?”

“Yes… and no. Be smart about the fights you pick.”

“I don’t follow…” Kyani admitted. “If he’s doing something dumb, shouldn’t I put him in his place? You didn’t have a problem doing that to me.”

“You know what, let’s make an analogy. It’s like fighting,” the weasel started to explain as she dropped down next to Kyani.

“This is gonna be confusing, isn’t it?”

“Stick with me for a second. Say you’re going up against a big tough guy, right?”

“Right.”

“You’re not going to try and fight him straight on, then you would be in his world, working to his strength, right?”

“Right.”

“You would use your size and speed against him, you would finesse him, then you would be working to your strength.”

“What does this have anything to do with Hanzo and I disagreeing?” Kyani asked, still a bit confused.

“Since he’s the leader, our go-abouts are in his world,” she explained. “If you battle him there, you’ll get slaughtered.”

“Then what’s my world?”

“That’s not for me to figure out.”

“Thanks… I guess…” As they finished talking, a patrol with quite a few approached them.

“Duty calls, good talk,” the weasel whispered before hopping back up to the roof and dashing over to the glow of a bunch of torches. The fox watched as she threw down a smoke bomb directly in the middle of the group, clouding the area. As she continued watching Suzi make quick work of them, she didn’t notice a lynx sneaking up behind her.

A paw went around her snout before she was dragged back, and in moments, the two were skirmishing. The lynx was about Kyani’s height, in a grey jacket and green trousers, and looked famished. Because she was weak, the fox disarmed her rather quickly and had her pinned to the ground. “I don’t who you are, or what you want, but-”

“Wait,” the lynx interrupted, “Kyani?”

“What?”

“Kyani! It’s me, Sarah!” She pleaded.

“Sarah?!” The fox let her up. “What are you doing here?!”

“What am-... Kyani, what are *you* doing here?!” She took a look at her clothes. “Wait, they put you in delivery?”

“What?! No, I’m a-” the fox then paused. Did she really want to tell her she was a ninja? Not only that she didn’t want to go around telling people that, but especially since Sarah knew her dad, and what Daju taught her. “...I’m a delivery person, but I’m part of the rebellion. My friends are gonna be here any minute, so I think you should go.”

“Why? I’m part of the rebellion, too.” Not words she wanted to hear. “We should-”

“Sarah, trust me on this,” Kyani stated, looking her straight in the eyes.

“Ok…” she looked at the carriage, “can I get a ride, though? Just out of the base?”

“Fine, but you can’t make a sound, ok?” The lynx zipped her lips, threw out the make-believe key, and smiled. “Good, hop in. Don’t cut yourself.”

“What would I cut myself o- oh my gosh!” Sarah looked at the luggage in astonishment. Weapons of all kinds were back there. “Where’d you get all this from?!”

“Um, a lot of armory raids.”

“Mind if I take-”

“No!” Kyani shouted, a bit louder than she’d like. “I mean, no, you can’t take any of them.”

“Sorry… I didn’t know you were so protective over swords and daggers and… whatever this pointy star lookin’ thingy is…”

“Just… get in, alright?”

“Ok, ok, getting in…”

As if right on queue, Suzi walked over, cleaning her blade with a towel. “There were a lot more than it looked, turns out there’s a prisoner loose. They’re tightening up security.”

“Oh… are they?”

“Yep, but it shouldn’t be a problem,” the weasel replied, sheathing her dagger. “I mean, those guys weren’t.”

“I’m glad to be on your team.”

“You’re intimidated by that?”

“Mm… just a little bit.”

“Don’t be, you’ll be at my level someday,” she assured the fox.

After a while, both Hanzo and Fuma came out, sacks full of food, and even some herbs. “Alright, Fuma, load ‘em up.”

“Actually, lemme get that for you,” Kyani dropped the poles and went around back the carriage, much to all of their confusion, “you guys just keep a lookout.”

“Oh… kay…” he gave her the bags, who struggled a bit to load them up. “You sure you don’t need-”

“No, I’m good,” her attention turned to the lynx who was looking at the bags of food rather strangely. “Do *not* touch these,” she whispered.

“But-”

“Sarah, no.” Despite Sarah’s ‘sad’ face, Kyani finished loading up the sacks and they kept going.

“See you guys outside,” Suzi ran forward on the roof, showing the glint to guide them.

Inside the carriage, the starved lynx eyed the open bags of food with desiring eyes. “Maybe one apple wouldn’t hurt, they wouldn’t notice…” She went through an apple rather quickly, and eyed down a rather savory piece of bread. After inhaling that, a banana caught her attention. Before she knew, Sarah had finished half a sack. Not to mention that she didn’t know where to put the trash.

“Uh oh…” Then she thought for a second. If she finished all the food in a sack, she could use it as a trash bag and throw it all out. There were quite a few sacks in there, and one missing wouldn’t be a problem. Also, she was still a little hungry.

Two minutes later.

A “little” was an overestimation. Famished one moment, and full the next. There were a few more apples, but she didn’t feel like she could eat anymore. The lynx groaned as she tried to take a bite.

“You heard that?” Hanzo motioned for the fox to stop, right before they entered the base’s common area. “Did that come from the back?”

“Did it? I don’t think it did…” she tried to direct their attention away, but both Fuma and Hanzo were already slowly making their way to the back, both with their paws on a weapon hidden in their armor. They opened the door and were greeted by a sight to behold. A bloated lynx next to a burlap sack full of trash.

“Oh sh-, Kyani?!” Sarah yelled, as she dug through the luggage for the weapons under the sacks.

“Kyani?!” Hanzo repeated. “You know this… slob?!”

“Um… yea, but you can trust her.”

“You said *wha*-”

“Hanzo, that’s the least of our worries right now,” Fuma pointed out, turning to the group of patrol guards staring at them. They looked confused as to what they were doing, but at such a fragile moment, Sarah decided it was the perfect moment to stick her head out.

“Hey!” Everyone turned around to a pair of patrol guards eyeing them with weapons drawn. “You're smuggling a pris-!” Suzi struck him down along with his partner, but it was too late. Anyone who had heard him yell had got the memo. A long horn sounded in the background, and officers started crowding around them.

The commanding officer, a shepherd, was yelling orders at them, telling them to hand over Sarah, along with some threats. As Hanzo tried to make up a story for them, Fuma walked over to the fox.

“If shit hits the fan, you take the carriage and book it. Hanzo and I can handle ourselves.” They both watched as the commanding officer got more and more irritated with the raccoon. He raised his voice as the guards behind him started drawing their weapons.

“What is he telling him?!” Kyani asked, getting more anxious by the minute.

“I don’t understand Japanese,” Fuma told her, “but I don’t think this dude’s buying the story.”

Eventually, the commanding officer threatened to kill him on the spot, as per usual, and that’s when shit officially hit the fan. Suzi came down from her hiding spot, Fuma and Hanzo drew their weapons, and the sound of clashing metal filled the air.

Kyani, as told, made a rush for the gate, and she was noticed not long after. Arrows rained from the top of guard towers, piercing through the hood of the luggage area.

“Ah!” Sarah screamed from the back as an arrow flew through the hood and landed in a half-eaten apple just above her head. “Kyani, what the hell is happening?!”

“Our cover’s blown,” she yelled back, as she opened the gate and rushed through. She hid the carriage in some thick brush next to the beaten path, went around, and opened up the luggage. “Get out.”

“Are you seriously gonna kick me out with what’s going on right now?!” Sarah exclaimed.

“Oh my-” she sighed, and grabbed her gear. “How do I know you won’t eat anything?”

“Do I look like I’m in the condition to eat?”

“Fine…” she moved the sacks over and grabbed her dual kodachis along with the wakizashi, ripping off the peasant clothes, and heading into the battle.

“Kyani…” she turned back to the lynx, who was confused and a little scared, “wha… what’s…”

“We’ll talk about it later, Sarah,” both of them nodded to each other, one more reluctant than the other, and the fox headed into battle.

Clad in a brown ninja uniform, she attracted quite a lot more attention than in peasant clothes. She made quick work of the guards in her way, parrying their attack with one kodachi and striking them down with the other. Arrows continued to shower on the now lockdown base, giving the fox a run for her money as she dodged them and retaliated with some kunai of her own. She joined the battle with the other three, slashing at the officers that were attacking them.

“What are you doing here?!” Hanzo exclaimed as he kicked the legs out from under another officer and stabbed them in the back. “Who’s watching the carriage?!”

“A friend,” Kyani replied, dodging an attack and slashing her opponent's neck.

“Don’t tell me it’s-”

“Yes, it’s the lynx,” Kyani answered, disarming and killing the last of them.

“Guys, we have to go,” Suzi shouted from atop a roof, taking notice of two more groups of baddies about to turn the corner. By the glow of their torches, there were a lot more than before. “Now.”

“Got it,” Kyani popped a smoke bomb and threw down some foot spikes as a parting gift in the narrow alley. Everyone booked it to the gate, avoiding the reinforcements, and to the carriage. “Everyone get on.”

“You think you can carry us?!”

“Just do it, Hanzo!” The three escapees obeyed, hopping into the carriage, and she began pushing it down the hill as the guards gave chase with their bows and arrows. Once it got far enough from the gate, it started to pick up speed from the downhill path. The fox jumped in the luggage next to Sarah, and started nailing targets with kunai and shuriken, despite the bumpy ride. None of their opposition had a clear shot at the fox in the shaking carriage as it rolled down the hill. The lynx stared frightened and amazed as the samurai dropped like flies, one by one, until there were none left who were foolish enough to continue chasing.

Once they got to flat ground and came to a stop, everyone got up, and the other three, with mixed feelings, watched Kyani help her best friend. “I’d hate to see you go off by yourself, but… as you probably can tell-”

“You’re a ninja… you’re all ninjas...” the lynx answered, a little timid off the mysterious three behind the fox that she called ‘friends’.

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone?” The fox pleaded, as she gave Sarah her bag of trash. “Especially the others from… you know where?” The lynx reluctantly nodded, still frightened of the three that were watching them. “Thank you. Best of luck to you.”

“You too, Kyani…” she ran off into the forest with the sack, half-panicked.

Kyani turned back to the three behind her, and understood why Sarah was so scared. Fuma was bandaging up one of his wounds, Suzi was cleaning off her weapon, and Hanzo was staring at the fox, looking beyond furious. Courtesy of the unknown forest and confidentiality, they traveled in silence, but once they got back, Kyani was in for it.

**A little over an hour later.**

“So you think we’re not gonna talk about that shit you pulled?!” The raccoon shouted as both of them stormed inside.

“I got us in the mess, and I got us out of it.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you blew our cover!” She turned around.

“Like I said, I made sure your sorry ass wasn’t on the ground, dead.”

“For years, they were none the wiser to what goes on,” he continued, disregarding what she said, “not until you came along!” She turned around and kept walking. The raccoon made chase. “We’re not done, get back here!” In anger, he grabbed her shoulder, and in anger, she slapped his paw away.

“You keep your paws to yourself.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll bash your skull in with them,” the fox growled, stepping up to him.

“Woah, chill!” Fuma ran over.

“Break it up, guys!” Fuma and Suzi separated the two, the dog shoving Hanzo away, and the weasel dragging Kyani away. “Relax, Kyani. This isn’t your world.”

**Two years later.**

Despite what took place the first time she joined their scavenge, Sensei Figi insisted she stayed on their team. As much as he wanted her out of his business, she proved time and time again that she had a place on the team, much to Hanzo’s ill temper.

The fox was finishing up a sparring match with Suzi in the afternoon, when Hanzo decided to walk in. The raccoon stopped and watched, just in time to see Kyani get put in a tight submission hold and tap.

“Some things never change…” the raccoon added.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The fox responded, getting up. “And why do you always *have* to get your two cents in?”

“You still don’t know how to fight. Maybe pulling a carriage fits you.”

“And sitting in it fits you,” she shot back, taking a sip of water. “I’ll carry your ass home, ‘leader’, hop on.”

“You’d find a way to screw over the ride before I get there.”

“I’d kick you off ‘cause you have to have a soul for a ride,” Kyani replied, getting up. “Was I supposed to leave her there?”

“Guys, this was over two years ago,” Suzi interrupted, but it went unheard.

“If she was so hungry, give her something to eat and send on her way! I don’t care about some fruit and a few slices of bread.”

“I was giving her a ride out the base,” Kyani explained. “That’s it.”

“What good is a ride if we’re dead?!”

“Then what do you suppose I should’ve done? Hm?” She said, following him as he tried to walk away. “I’m sick of you picking fights for no reason.”

“And what’re you gonna do about it?”

She thought about it for a moment. “Teach you a lesson.”

“This isn’t your world, Kyani…” Suzi reminded her.

“No, Suzi, it’s ok,” Hanzo looked her dead in the eyes. “You know my policy. If we’re fighting, we fight to the death.”

“This is stupid,” Suzi exclaimed as she walked to the two of them. “You hotheads need to cool it.”

“I’m not gonna miss you,” Kyani replied, again ignoring Suzi. “Tonight, right here.”

“Any weapons,” Hanzo added, “unless that’s too much.”

“Weapons are fine,” she agreed, not knowing what she was getting into.

“You look worried.”

“For you, maybe,” Kyani shot back. “See you tonight.”

“Best of luck, Kyani. You’ll need it.” They glared knives at each other until he left.

“You just signed your death warrant,” Suzi muttered, taking another sip of water.

“Maybe I have,” Kyani replied, now realizing what she talked into it, “at least it’ll be on his conscience, maybe enough to change his ways.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Umm… no?”

“The raccoon can’t tell an enemy from a rock on the ground,” Suzi explained, “and he’s been wanting to get you out of here ever since you joined. It doesn’t help that your father’s a samurai, making you like the-”

“Wait, what did you say?”

“He wanted you out ever since you got here?”

“No, after that…”

“Your dad’s a samurai?”

“How do you know that?!” The fox hollered.

“Hanzo told me,” and that pissed Kyani off. “*You* didn’t tell him?”

“What makes you think I would tell him that?!” And the fox stormed off.

“What have I done…” she muttered to herself.

**A few minutes later.**

Kyani marched into Hanzo’s room, with Hanzo laying on his bed and Fuma coming out of the bathroom. The raccoon sat up on his bed at the sight of her. “Look who it-”

She interrupted him with a punch across his jaw, and the two immediately started scuffling. Once again, Fuma and Suzi had to hold the two of them back. “You stay the hell out of my business!”

“What are you talking about?!” The raccoon yelled back.

“You know damn well what I’m talking about!”

He thought for a moment, then a smile spread across his face. “Did I touch a nerve, princess?”

“Call me ‘princess’ *one more time*!”

“Someone got Daddy issues…” The fox tried shoving past the weasel, but Suzi kept her restrained.

“You need to calm down, Kyani,” she whispered to the fox. “This isn’t your world.”

“You know what? She’s right,” Kyani backed off, and started to leave, beaming at Hanzo. “You’ll die soon anyway.”

**That night.**

Sensei Figi was fast asleep, but his students were far from it. Suzi and Fuma were making remarks about how stupid of an idea this was, only for their warnings to go unheard. Hanzo was sitting around, dressed in his gear and twirling around a knife, when the fox entered the chamber, also dressed in her gear.

“I didn’t think you’d show,” the raccoon uttered, putting away his knife and standing up. “You look nervous.”

“Skip the pleasantries,” the fox pulled free a pair of her blades.

Hanzo unsheathed his own sword. “Glad to.”

And so it began. Kyani charged at him, hollering as she did. After slashing down with her right and up with her left, both of them being evaded, she shot her right blade forward, only for Hanzo to catch her arm and jam a knee under her shoulder. A distinct *pop* let everyone in the chamber know that her shoulder was dislocated, as she dropped the blade.

“Weren’t expecting that, were you?” In retaliation, he slashed back at her, missing the agile fox. Again and again, he attacked, but could only seem to score shallow cuts. Nonetheless, the wounds tattooed around her body did not tickle, but she kept fighting. Another attack, this time shooting his katana towards her head, was easily evaded. He followed up slicing at her side, but she jumped over the blade, landing on it, and propelled off it. Hanzo gazed on in astonishment as she flew over and behind him. The minute he turned around, she slashed his face with her good arm. He touched his cheek and gazed at the blood oozing out. “You’re gonna pay for that…”

He flicked out two shuriken, cutting the back of her knees, making her collapse to the ground. The raccoon switched to a reverse grip on his katana and looked down at his fallen foe. “Any last words?”

“I hate you…”

“Fuck you, too,” he smugly replied. As he brought the sword down on the bleeding fox, he was blindsided by none other than the Suzi. She had him pinned to the ground in seconds. “What the hell are you doing?!”

“Talking some sense into you,” the weasel shot back, “you seriously were about to kill her?!”

“Suzi, stand down!”

“No, you stand down! She’s just a kid, look at her!” The fox was struggling to get up, even with Fuma’s help. She was covered up and down in her own blood, her right arm dislocated, and both her legs hardly functioning. “The hell is your problem?!”

“She agreed to it-”

“And why did you?! ‘Cause you couldn’t stand someone running their mouth?! Their empty words, Hanzo, she obviously had nothing to back it up!” Kyani couldn’t help but hear what was being said, and even if it was true, she was a little pissed. “You were gonna kill her to protect your ‘alpha-male leader’ shit?! You’re crazy.”

“Let me up!”

“No, not until she leaves,” because of the weasel’s hold, Hanzo couldn’t do anything but watch as Fuma helped a quiet Kyani walk away, yet he still couldn’t stand to see her alive.

“You don’t belong here…” he managed to get out before the weasel banged him against the ground.

“You shut it!”

Kyani didn’t bother responding as Fuma helped her to her room. She wanted to cry, but was too enraged to cry. She was never going to shake this, this would always be on her record, and there was nothing she could do about. Even if he was denied the kill, Hanzo was going to rub this in her face from then on. She kept her cool as Fuma walked her to her room and cleaned up and bandaged her wounds. “I don’t know how to help you with your shoulder, but-”

“It’s ok,” she interrupted, looking down and holding her shoulder, “you can leave now.”

“Ok… get your rest.” As he left, a worried Suzi took his place.

“Are you ok?”

“No,” the fox kept her head down. “Thanks… I guess.”

“Lemme get your shoulder for you,” she felt around the shoulder, grabbing her collar and corresponding arm. “This is gonna hurt just a little. Ready?” She nodded. “Ok. 3… 2…” *Pop*.

“*Ah!*” The sudden pain forced silent tears out, and she turned away from Suzi.

“You ok?”

“Yea, I’m…” the fox faltered, “just go.”

“Ok…” Suzi set the fox’s weapons that she had left back in the chamber on Kyani’s bed, and walked out, where she ran into Fuma. “She’s not feeling good.”

“I wouldn’t either. That’s kind of embarrassing,” the dog replied. “To be fair, she did have it coming.”

“I don’t think it should cost her her life, though.”

“Well, yea,” Fuma agreed. “Speaking of which, he’s in his room. Not in the best mood, and insisted for me to leave him alone.”

“I think they need time to cool down,” Suzi suggested. “We’ll have to keep an eye on them from now on.”

“Sounds good to me, are you going to bed?”

“I think I’ll stay up a little longer,” the weasel answered, getting some water. “Tensions are high, and someone needs to make sure they both stay in their rooms.”

“Well, Mom, I’ll be getting some well-needed rest,” he teased. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Fuma.”

As it would be quite disappointing to Sensei Figi to know two of his students had tried to kill each other, it’d probably be best to keep this under wraps. She started cleaning the chambers of the blood, and thought about what had gone down. Even though Kyani had said what she said, she was still a kid. It wasn’t fair to try to take her life, especially since she didn’t know any better, at least in Suzi’s mind. Ever since Kyani had joined, something had gotten in Hanzo. Made him less of the bigger person, the example he was supposed to be, but not to the fox’s fault. Hopefully, things would get better and they’d look back at this and laugh, but right now, the tension in the air was palpable.

**A few hours later.**

The weasel was nearly done when her ears picked up slow, quiet steps echoing through the cave. She hid, a blade ready in her paw, when the roamer appeared to be Hanzo. It was clear by the way he was trying to stay silent that he had ill intentions, and she immediately knew what he was up to. She made a beeline for Fuma’s room, and the perks of being a ninja let her sneak past the raccoon, leaving him none the wiser.

“Fuma!” She lightly and impatiently tapped him. “Fuma, wake up!” It eventually turned into shaking, and finalized in a straight out punch.

He woke up, instinctively ready to fight someone, but calmed down at the sight of Suzi. “Suzi… it’s like… midnight… what do you want?”

“You’re a ninja, not a college student, get up.” She hoisted him up and slapped him awake. “Hanzo’s up to no good, come on.”

Kyani had been practically losing her mind in rage. The tears had taken their course, but the fox was pissed. This was her chance, and even if she hadn’t killed him, she could’ve at least won. Instead, in a show of inexperience, she was destroyed. Kyani knew she was woefully inexperienced, but still decided to take the fight because of her emotions, her ego. She had already torn apart her bed, and was now sitting, head down, with her back to the entrance. She had lost her chance.

In her anguish and agony, she was a sitting duck for the raccoon slowly approaching behind her. Fuma and Suzi rounded the corner in time to see Hanzo enter the chamber with his eye on the fox. Knowing Kyani wouldn’t respond in the way to save her life from her name and not wanting to hurt either of them, she flung a kunai into the chamber and towards the cave’s wall directly in front of the fox in a display of quick-thinking. The loud *clang* the metal made hitting the stone wall was more than enough to get Kyani’s attention, immediately realizing she was in danger, and she sprung up off the bed as if she hadn’t just got sliced over and over again just a couple hours back.

The fox’s instinct kicked in, and she didn’t care who was in front of her, she was fighting to survive and kill. Not expecting her immediate reaction, Hanzo tried to end the ordeal before it started by slicing at her, only for his target to pull something similar to what she did in their previous fight. She jumped off the cave’s wall, up and over the raccoon, and landed behind him. He ditched the katana, pulled out his knife, and jammed it towards the fox’s throat, but to no avail. Kyani caught the arm and, without hesitation, snapped it in two with a palm strike to his elbow. Following the shout Hanzo let out, she started choking him out while he had only one of his arms to even try and pry her off.

As the fight continued, he saw the other two approach, and realized things were going downhill fast. Trying to take care of two birds with one stone, he popped a smoke bomb in the fox’s face, letting the boiling water in it run its course.

It took care of one problem and temporarily the other as the smoke engulfed the chamber and he felt Kyani release.

The fox, as Sensei Figi had taught her, knew she didn’t need a lethal blow. She just needed to debilitate her assassin enough so that her life wasn’t in danger. And that’s exactly what she aimed to do. After getting over the initial shock of boiling water on her face, she threw punches and kicks in the smoke in an attempt to hurt her attacker, and she eventually connected with a powerful hook kick across her adversary’s jaw. Now knowing where her opponent was, she followed up with a back kick to the raccoon’s gut, launching him across to the room and onto the cave wall. Hanzo soon realized this was *not* the same Kyani he fought a few hours ago.

Fuma and Suzi had finally arrived at the room, and reluctantly entered the smoke. Little did they know, they were entering a room they wouldn’t leave.

When you’re a ninja, not being able to see your own nose in front of you because of lingering smoke may not be the best thing for a sense of security. So when she felt Fuma’s paw on her shoulder, her immediate reaction was to throw him, luckily only slamming him on her bed. Nonetheless, she had power, and it didn’t tickle. While he groaned, she found his head, one paw went on his chin and the other on the back of his head.

“No, Kya-!” And a distinct *snap* marked the untimely end of Fuma.

Hearing the dog die, Suzi tried to restrain the fox by putting her to sleep, which only made her more desperate. Unfortunately, Kyani squeezed a paw into the choke’s space, not allowing herself to fall unconscious. She slowly undid the weasel’s choke, escaped, and started fighting what she thought was a third assassin.

“You-” Suzi couldn’t get a word out as a rushed punch found her head. The weasel retaliated with a roundhouse, only for her opponent to somehow catch the leg. In a split second, Suzi shot up her other leg and kicked the fox away from herself.

She fell on the bed, but bounced back at her, now with a dagger unsheathed. Following a quick back and forth, Kyani swung with her blade, and by the time Suzi realized she was attacking with a weapon, it was too late. The weasel collapsed, dead, with a slit throat.

By quick-thinking, muscle memory, and some luck, Kyani had taken care of two of the ‘assassins’. This was something to tell the others, she thought, given if she survived.

Now that both Hanzo’s teammates were dead, he felt a duty to kill Kyani. To kill her painfully. To make her suffer. He tackled her and pinned her down to her bed as the smoke started clearing. In all out rage, he started pounding her face in.

Though the smoke cleared, the fox’s vision went blurry as she slipped in and out of consciousness. She struggled, with her dizziness, to do anything. As Hanzo continued beating the fox to a pulp, with a stroke of luck, her paw found the handle of a kodachi on her bed. She picked it up as the raccoon raised his knife to bring it down on the fox, and with one last attack, the fight was over.

The raccoon practically froze in time in shock as his breath left him, staring at the blade that went straight through his chest. At that moment, Kyani’s vision cleared up, just in time to watch a dead Hanzo fall over on her bed. Her eyes widened while she looked around her room at what she had done. If she hadn’t just slaughtered three of her teammates, the young fox would be pretty impressed with herself, but at that moment, Kyani was filled with shock. The fox rushed to her sensei’s room, in absolute shambles, and woke him up. It took him a while, but seeing his student in hysterics put him on alert. “Kyani, are you ok?!”

“They’re dead…” she muttered through tears, “I killed them…”

“Who’s dead?!” After hearing her mumble while she cried, he took a deep breath to collect himself before telling her. “Breathe, Kyani.”

She took a deep breath, and continued on. “I was sitting and… t-they came in, and… I just did what you said-”

“And you did good,” he assured her, seeing she was alive and fine, minus the bandages from earlier, “but what happened?”

“They’re dead…”

“Whose de-”

“The others…” His eyes widened, and they both rushed to her room.

“Who killed them?!” He turned the corner expecting to see a dead assassin, samurai, or attacker of some kind, but there was none.

“I did…” she broke out in tears again. “I didn’t know, Sensei, I’m-”

“*Shh…*”

“Sensei-?”

“No, *shh…*” He fell to his knees at the corpses of his students. What Kyani didn’t know was that the three she had just taken out were like kin to the aging hound. They had grown up with him, fought with him, protected and lived with him, gone through strife with him, and only one night, just like that, they were dead.

“Sensei, I...” she kneeled next to him. The fox had no words, and for the first time, saw her sensei tear up. The fox just leaned on his shoulder and cried with him, since that was the only thing she could do.

<-- Part 2

Part 4 (Last) -->