Friday, 6:00 PM
Buster’s minivan pulled into the long driveway of the baby blue home of Tanemura and Yoshi Funakoshi. As Jamie stepped from the front passenger’s seat, he marveled at the vehicle. The entire van was silver in color, yet the passenger’s door was brick red. He would have to ask Buster about that later.
Jamie stepped upon the front porch, followed by Dave and Buster, and pressed the dimly lit button that perched next to the door. He could hear the doorbell sound within the house and footsteps running toward the door. As it opened, the three caught their breaths, which they always did when the first looked upon Yoshi.
The young kunoichi was a vision. Her long, black hair fell to her waist and was cut straight across, giving the ends of it an even edge. Her slanted, brown eyes alluded to her Asian heritage. The full, red lips, already perfect in their own right, framed a row of smiling teeth that couldn’t possibly get any whiter. Her arms, visible because of the tank top that she wore, where slightly muscled. They weren’t body-builder large, but attractively slim, and the three boys had seen her use them to put enough force behind a punch to knock teeth from attackers’ mouths.
Apparently noticing that the boys were at a loss for words, she cleared her throat and, showing her beautiful smile, asked, "Are we ready to go?"
Buster smiled and said, "B.J. and I have our skates in the van."
Yoshi’s smile left. "B.J. is here?"
Buster’s smile faded, as well. "My mom made me bring him."
Yoshi rolled her eyes and shook her head. "That is unfortunate."
Buster looked offended. "You know, Zack bothers more of us than B.J.."
Jamie knew that Yoshi always spoke her mind. And she continued, "Yes, Zack is a group problem, but B.J. always ruins your fun." She patted him affectionately upon the cheek. "I just want you to have a good time, that is all."
Buster seemed to soften at this. "I appreciate that. But I’ll be fine."
"Very well," she muttered, obviously unconvinced. She embraced each of the three, beginning with Dave and ending with Jamie. To the latter, she whispered, "I will try to stay near you so that you will not fall if you lose your balance on the skates, brother."
"Thanks," he returned. "I don’t understand it. I can walk on tight-ropes with no problem, but I just can’t seem to skate very well."
Yoshi giggled. "The tight-rope would have to be less than a foot off of the ground, or that horrible fear of heights that you have would kick in."
"Hey!" exclaimed the male ninja. "I’m working on my acrophobia!" He could remember the first time that he had told her about his little fear. She had commented that a ninja who was afraid of heights was the most ridiculous thing of which she’d ever heard.
Zack’s voice sounded out from the minivan. "Hey, toots! Stop with all the huggin’! We wanna go skating!"
Yoshi pulled reluctantly away from her clan brother. Eyeing the young pervert with contempt, she muttered, "I am going to get near him on that rink floor and trip him."
* * *
Shawna sat on the bleacher, watching the dancing couples in boredom. Out of all of the girls who had come to this dance, she was the only one not trying to show massive amounts of skin. Well, there was Steve Adams’ girlfriend, Leslie Leigh, but the tough-girl who was competing with her own boyfriend for valedictorian of their class had worn pants. Even her own cousin, Amy, had worn a dress that totally went against school policy, with its low-cut neckline. She supposed that the teachers all realized that, if they sent all of the non-complying girls home, there wouldn’t be much of a dance left.
The young honor student’s eyes settled upon Sheela and John. They were dancing, his hands constantly moving below her waist. "What does she see in him?" she wondered aloud.
"He’s cute," replied Amy simply.
Shawna turned to her cousin, annoyance flowing from her narrow eyes. "You’re disgusting!"
Amy crossed her arms indignantly. "At least she has a date, which is more than I can say for either of us!"
Shawna looked back at her friend and John, who had finished their dance and were walking over to the two girls. "I’d rather be alone than date him."
John wrapped his arm around Sheela’s waist and nibbled on her ear, apparently enjoying the look of anger and disgust that Shawna gave him while he did this. "What’s’a’matter, Shawna? Couldn’t get a date?"
Shawna crossed her arms and looked him in the eye. "I wasn’t asked by anyone, if that’s what you were wondering."
At this, Freddy came walking forward, handing a glass of punch to John. "Maybe you should have come with Jamie Raleigh," commented the follower. "’Nerds of a feather.’"
"Jamie was having company tonight," replied the peeved honor student.
Sheela spoke up. "Leave her alone, Freddy."
"Let’im have his fun, Sheela," ordered John.
Shawna rolled her eyes when Sheela lowered her head in defeat. The honor student looked over at her cousin, who was now staring intently upward. "What’s wrong?"
Amy squinted, as if trying to bring something into focus. "There are people up there."
"What?" Shawna looked toward the ceiling. Sure enough, there were several figures crawling around in the rafters.
John had looked up by now, as well. "Maybe they’re fixin’ somethin’."
"In the middle of a dance . . . in a room that’s lit only by the colored lights from that machine and from the disco ball?" quizzed Shawna, as if talking to a child.
At that moment, each of the figures dropped to the floor on what looked to be very thin ropes. There was the sound of metal on metal as each figure pulled what looked like a short, straight-bladed sword from a sheath at his waist . . ..
* * *
Yoshi skidded to a halt next to the table where Jamie, Dave and Buster had sat to enjoy their hot pretzels. Dave looked up at her in the flashing lights of the rink and smiled his normal, friendly smile. "Sorry, dudette. I got ya a soda, but I forgot that ya don’t like root beer." He had to raise his voice to be heard over the music.
Yoshi seated herself next to Buster, which placed her right across the table from Jamie. "That’s okay, Dave. I will purchase a Sprite."
Buster looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "I forgot that you didn’t like it, too."
Yoshi grabbed Jamie’s pretzel and pulled a piece of it off. "I do not ingest tree bark." She then stuffed the warm, slightly salty snack into her mouth.
Dave looked at the kunoichi and asked, "So, where wuz yer uncle tonight, dudette?"
Yoshi finished chewing her bite and swallowed it, then responded, "He is at a Bible study. He goes every Friday night. He has it with several of the men from our Baptist church in Aurthur."
Dave shook his head in awe. "That is so weird."
Buster shot him a glance. "What’s so weird about it?"
Dave looked at Buster apologetically. "Not that bein’ a church-dude is bad, but ya just don’t expect ta see the leader of a ninja clan as a religious dude."
Jamie now joined the conversation. "Actually, the ninja were religious, per se. They just weren’t Christian. The kuji kiri, or kuji no in, were originally brought over from the Mikkyo sect of Buddhism."
Dave looked at Jamie in total confusion, so the young male ninja explained, "The ninja hand symbols that all the old eighties ninja movies used to say ‘focused the ultimate power of purpose.’"
Dave rubbed his chin absently. "Do you use these symbols?"
Jamie shook his head. "Nah. Master Tanemura taught them to me because they are part of our clan’s culture. But, since he converted to Christianity, he doesn’t believe that they hold any real power."
Jamie looked around the rink to see if he could find his younger friends. He noticed Jack and Pete doing some stunt skating while holding on to each other’s wrists. They would crouch and spin two and, sometimes, three full circles together so fast, the young ninja could tell that, if either released his hold, both would go flying backward.
B.J. had latched onto a video game and was in danger of using all of his spending money.
Zack was standing in front of a girl, saying something into her ear. A look of shocked rage crossed her face and, when he pulled back for her reaction to what he’d said, she smacked him. Same old Zack.
Yoshi brought Jamie’s attention back to the table. "So you gave up going to your school dance to be here with us tonight." She was smiling playfully.
Jamie shook his head, smiling sarcastically. "Trust me . . . It wasn’t much of a sacrifice."
Dave looked at Jamie, his eyebrows raised. "Why not?"
Jamie sighed and took a sip of his root beer. "I have a few good friends, but the rest of the school pretty much follows a guy named John Bowers as if he were a shepherd and they were sheep . . . or something."
"So?"
"He’s the school’s star basketball player and everyone wants to be him. He decides what’s cool for all the students . . .," Jamie’s face distorted in disgust, " . . . and what’s not."
Dave caught on to what was being said. "And, ta him, you and yer friends ain’t cool."
Jamie nodded.
"Ya know, if ya smack’im around a little bit, he might just lose that popularity." Dave slammed his right fist into his open left palm for emphasis.
Yoshi responded, "He has kept his training a secret from those at his school."
Buster looked at his friend and mentor. "Why?"
Jamie looked his student in the eye and asked, "Do you remember when it first came out in Jameston that I was learning ninjutsu? Remember all the people who used to try to pick fights with me, and the few who wouldn’t leave me alone until I did fight them?" At a nod from Buster, he continued, "I don’t want to have to fight like that anymore. If I never have to get into a real fight again, it’ll be too soon for me."
* * *
At the eastern bridge, the black, early nineties-model van came to a stop. The sliding, passenger’s side door opened and four black-clothed figures climbed from the vehicle, carrying three civilians. The strangely dressed men dragged their bound and gagged prisoners, which included one man and two women, away from the Chevy and toward the northern end of the bridge. As they arrived, the three figures were unceremoniously dumped to the ground.
Two of the antagonists backed away as one leaned over and pulled a short dagger from his belt. One of the three bound figures, a high school teacher by the name of Tim Brown, glared at the armed man, but was shocked to note that his attacker’s eyes lit up with humor at his attempt at bravery.
"Do not fear," began the man, as he cut the ropes that bound Tim’s hands. "We are not going to kill you." His accent, like that of all the men who had attacked the school, sounded Asian.
When Mr. Brown’s hands were free, he reached up and pulled the gag from his mouth. "What about the students?" he managed to ask.
The man sliced the ropes that bound his feet as he replied, "They will not be harmed as long as you follow our instructions and the ones for whom we are looking come to the school."
Tim rubbed his wrists. "And what are your instructions?"
The man with the knife looked at one of the other two and said something in his native language. That one reached into the vest that he wore over his strange suit and produced a scroll then handed it to the first man. The man turned back to Tim and gave him the parchment. "Our instructions are written here in English, but there is a note that is only in Japanese. This is for the eyes of our enemies alone. Have this shown on the television, and they will know what to do."
The man arose and followed the other two back to the van. After they had climbed in, it made a U-turn and sped back toward the town.
Tim looked at his watch. It was 8:30 PM. He swore in frustration. After untying the two women, his wife and the English teacher, Mariah Black, he knew that they would have to walk at least a mile before they reached the nearest house to use the phone. And any news crews that came would have to drive all the way from the Bluff. They hadn’t given the three teachers much leeway . . ..
* * *
Jamie slid from his place at the table and pushed himself into a slow roll toward the refreshment counter of the skating rink so that he could get a refill on his root beer. He looked around to see if anyone was eyeing his "skating prowess," or lack thereof, with humor. No one seemed to notice him. The skates were a heavy pair, but they didn’t bother him that much. The weights that he had worn on his ankles while learning to kick; now those were heavy.
He looked at his watch. It was 10:30. They would need to be heading back to Sera soon. He happened to glance up at the television that hung over the refreshment stand in time to see Tim Brown being interviewed. He couldn’t hear what was happening, but Mr. Brown had a few cuts and bruises on his face and looked worried.
Next, a note, in Japanese writing, was shown. "Yoshi!" he yelled.
His fellow ninja was standing next to him in an instant. "What is the matter?"
Jamie gestured toward the television and her gaze followed. As she read the note, her eyes widened. "We must gather the others and get home at once!"
Jamie looked at her in frantic puzzlement. "What did it say?"
"I will explain on the way. Let us just hope that we can reach Uncle Tanemura."
* * *
Pain. Steve’s head swam in the steady throbbing. He felt as if he were in the deepest part of the ocean, with the pressure of the water baring down upon him. He was smothered. He couldn’t see. But, somewhere in the distance, he could hear voices. At first, he couldn’t figure out what the voice was saying. After a short moment, the single word became clear. He was hearing two familiar people calling his name. He listened intently, determined to follow them to their source . . . determined to leave his sea of pain.
The oppressive darkness ended as he slowly opened his eyes to see . . . his girlfriend, Leslie, and his younger brother, Max. The two helped him to sit up. He rubbed a lump on the back of his head as he looked around the room to find that he was in the women’s locker room with the rest of the students that had come to the dance. "What hit me?" he groaned, memories of the strange men in black costumes flowing back to him.
"A ninja," replied his younger brother matter-of-factly.
"A what?" demanded the genius.
Max stood. "A ninja." He looked down at his brother, folding his arms across his chest. "You know, those Japanese assassins Jamie’s always reading about."
Leslie sat cross-legged and put Steve’s head in her lap. "I don’t think that he’d ever want to see one up close," she muttered.
The male honor student noticed a spot of blood on his girlfriend’s shirt. "Are you hurt?" he asked.
Leslie shook her head seriously and gestured toward the door to the room. "It’s one of theirs."
Steve narrowed his eyes as he realized that his younger brother, a junior high student, was with them. "Wait a minute! What are you doing here?"
Max smiled his mischievous smile and said, "I snuck in to the dance"
"Why?"
Max seated himself on a bench next to Jeremy. "Why else? To bother you."
* * *
Jamie sat in the middle of the center seat of the minivan, leaning forward to be between Buster and Yoshi, who were in the front, bucket seats. "Yoshi, what did the note say?" he demanded.
Yoshi sighed, reaching up and rubbing her eyes warily. "I caught something about evacuating Sera and for the enemies of the people who wrote the note to be at the school by midnight, or they will start killing the hostages."
Buster appeared confused. "Who are their enemies?"
Yoshi looked at Jamie’s student. "The note bore the seal of the Togakura jonin."
Jamie rested his forehead on his right hand, the elbow of which was propped on his right knee. "So we’re the enemies they were talking about."
By now, Dave had leaned forward next to his cousin in the middle seat. Jamie noticed his presence, but was somewhat surprised to notice a lack of something to say on the big teen’s part. After a moment more of silence, Jamie ordered, "Buster, turn on your radio to 96.9."
"Why?" was his student’s response.
"That’s the closest radio station to Sera. It’s in Doniphan. Maybe they have something on about what’s going on at the school."
Buster reached over and flipped on the radio. There was static as he tuned in the station that his teacher had asked him to find. The newscaster, a man by the name of Del King, was speaking, " . . . has been evacuated from the town, per the instructions on the note. The county sheriff’s office has requested a language expert from the governor to decipher the Japanese wording on the note. The governor hasn’t yet stated whether or not he will be requesting military troops in the area at this time. Again, an army of ‘strangely dressed, Asian men,’ as quoted from Tim Brown, has taken over Sera high school and, now that Sera has been evacuated, the town, as well. We’ll keep you posted of any further developments as they occur."
Jamie interlaced his fingers on both hands and rested his chin on his knuckles, deep in thought. Finally, he spoke. "Even without telling anyone my secret, I’ve still put my classmates in danger."
Yoshi looked back at him compassionately. "You cannot place blame upon yourself, Jamie. The Togakura have long been known to do things of this nature. If not to get to us, then to gain wealth, or power, or notoriety."
The remaining thirty minutes of the trip from the Bluff to Aurthur went quietly. The older members of Adventure explained the details of what was going on to the younger, then everyone sat silently in the van, lost in his or her thoughts.
As the van pulled into the driveway of Yoshi’s house, she swore. "Uncle Tanemura is not home, yet." As soon as Buster had placed the vehicle in "PARK," she leaped from the passenger’s side and burst toward the front door, followed closely by Jamie and Dave. She reached into her pocket and fished out her house key, shoving it into the doorknob and turning it. The door swung open and the three walked inside.
Yoshi rushed to the living room phone and dialed the house where the bible study was held. "Hello, Mrs. Wagner? This is Tanemura’s niece. Is he there, by chance?" There was a pause as the person on the other end spoke. Jamie watched Yoshi’s face contort in panic, but the feeling didn’t creep into her voice. "Okay. Thank you." She placed the receiver back on the jack. Looking at Jamie, she declared, "All of the men in the group but Uncle Tanemura and Mr. Wagner have food poisoning. It was apparently bad meat. He has taken them to the emergency room." She sighed. "I suppose that it is good that Uncle does not like pork."
Jamie walked over to the cabinet upon which sat the phone and opened one of its two side-by-side doors. Reaching in he pulled out a phone book and flipped through the pages until he found the hospital’s phone number. He grabbed the receiver from Yoshi and dialed it.
A voice answered, "Southern Missouri Regional Medical center. How may I direct your call?"
"Emergency room, please," replied the young ninja.
After a few clicks, a familiar voice answered, "Emergency room. This is Cheryl. How can I help you?" Cheryl had admitted Jamie’s father for pneumonia (caused by his emphysema) so many times that the woman could quote their address.
"Cheryl? Can you tell me if you admitted a bunch of men with food poisoning tonight?"
"Hi, Jamie!" exclaimed the middle-aged woman. "How is your dad?"
"He’s fine," replied the young man impatiently. "But it’s really important that I find a Japanese man that was with the men who were brought in tonight."
"You know, now that you mention it, I do remember them." She typed a little bit. "Yes, six men were admitted tonight for food poisoning."
"And the Japanese man who brought them in?"
"He stayed here for about an hour to see if they were okay," she continued, "but he just left."
"He just left?"
"Not five minutes ago."
"Thanks, Cheryl."
"Tell your dad I said ‘Hi.’"
"Will do." He hit the phone button on the receiver to hang up. Looking up at the other two, who had now been joined by the rest of the group from the van, he said, "He just left."
Buster looked at his watch. "Let’s see, it took us half an hour to get here from the Bluff and twenty minutes to get here from Jamie’s house. It’s a quarter after eleven now. If we wait for Tanemura, that won’t give us enough time to get to Sera before they kill the first hostage."
Jamie glared at his student. "What do you mean by we and us?"
Dave looked at his older cousin. "C’mon, dude. Yer pretty good at that ninja stuff, but you and Yoshi, and even Tanemura, can’t fight a whole clan’a ninjas."
"Ninja," declared the male ninja, emphasizing the end of the word. "The plural form of ninja is ninja." He folded his arms across his chest and continued, "And this isn’t your fight."
Buster spoke next. "It became our fight when those monsters killed Yoshi’s parents." He looked at her apologetically for bringing it up, then continued to Jamie, "They were good people and some of the only members of your clan who didn’t treat us western kids like barbarians, or me like an abomination because you were teaching me to use the nunchaku."
"Yeah," continued Pete, "and we proved we’re capable of fighting the Togakura that day, too."
The group looked at Zack, who inquired, "Are there any good-lookin’ girls in your school?"
Yoshi rolled her eyes at the pervert as Jamie replied, "Of course."
His younger cousin smiled and said, "Then count me in."
Jack tipped his cowboy hat back and commented, "And my trigger finger’s itchin’. Count me in."
The group now looked at B.J.. "What are we supposed to do with my brother?" asked Buster.
B.J. shot his brother a glare and squealed, "I’m goin’ with ya."
"Oh, no you’re not!" exclaimed the nunchaku student. "Mom and Dad are gonna be mad enough when they find out I went."
"We could drop’im off at Jamie’s house," suggested Pete.
"I’m goin’ with you!"
The group ignored B.J. as Jamie responded, "We can’t. My parents are home by now and they’ll wonder where we’re going this late at night." He sighed. "They’d never agree to me going to the school to fight a whole clan of ninja."
Yoshi jumped in. "We will just leave him here." She had been writing a note for her great-uncle. "He can explain everything to Uncle Tanemura when he arrives home."
"I’m going with you!"
"Good idea, ‘Sis,’" said Jamie.
B.J., by now furious, kicked his brother in the left shin as hard as he could. "I’m going with you!"
"OOOOWWWWWW!!!" exploded Buster, hopping on his right foot and holding his left leg.
Jamie glared at the child. "You are staying here, whether you like it, or not." He placed his right hand on B.J.’s shoulder. "We’re doing this for your own good. And we need for you to tell Master Tanemura what’s happening."
B.J. slumped his shoulders in defeat. "Okay."
The young, male ninja looked up at the rest of his friends. "Well, guys. Let’s get ready."