Smoke and Mist

 

     His bag fell to the floor with a soft thump, his body repeating the noise as it flopped into the black leather of the couch.

     The girl looked over at him, moving nothing but her head. Her legs were folded in a yoga-style position, legs crossed with both feet on top. Pale hands with slender fingers were clasped around a steaming teacup; the billowing sleeves of silk settling around her wrists. Purple-tinted irises only stared at the floppy dark red hair of the boy for a moment, until they gazed back upon their reflection in the tea. Konake, the young teenage boy turned, and stared at his sister. She was unblinking, and didn’t return the gaze.

     “What are you staring at?” The girl replied, still not making eye contact.

     “Uh, well…” He muttered, shifting his gaze from her pink cherry blossom embroidered kimono to her long shimmering hair of the same color.

     “You want to know what the heck I’m wearing.” She noticed he’d adjusted his line of sight out of the corner of her eye. As she apathetically said this, a pang of awkwardness flew over Konake.

     Sometimes she scares me…Koanke thought. He was amazed that she could practically read his mind without even looking at him.

     “Er, well, yeah- just, what’s with being so traditional all of a sudden, Mayumi?”

She confuses me! Koanke thought, wishing they could have a semi-normal talk for once.

     Out of nowhere, a paper fan whacked him upside the head.

     “Ow!” he cried out, now rubbing his forehead. Konake slumped backwards, limbs sprawling over the edge of the furniture.

     “Konake, you dimwit!” Mayumi hovered over him. The fact that she was a good foot taller made him feel even more at a disadvantage.

     “For goodness’ sake, you’re the one who looks…” With a slightly disgusted expression, she moved her hand up and down his body, gesturing at his outfit. She started with the dirty t-shirt, moved down to the torn and baggy jeans, and then finished with the untied sneakers. “…American.” Violently, she shuddered.

     “What’s wrong with experiencing another culture?” He mocked. The last three words were one of May’s own arguments; he knew using it against her could give him the upper hand.

    “There’s nothing wrong with that. But I highly doubt you can be a ninja wearing…that.” His fists clenched, and he glared at his sister. A sound that reminded Mayumi of a blender became Konake growling, and he pointed at his sister.

     “Sumo-ku! Mistuo! Tokkan hanone!”

     As the teenage boy commanded in another language, the elder female flicked open one fan in each hand. One covered the lower part of her face, the other blocking her chest. Her eyes darted to the backpack, where she knew the attack would spring from. Nothing had appeared yet, so she dropped her guard.

     “Tokkan hanone!” Koanke shouted again, desperately pointing at Mayumi.

     She quietly worked her way around the back of the sofa, looking at the yellow

backpack lying in a row of messy, mismatched shoes. The redhead panicked, diving for his bag and nearly tearing the zipper off as he forced open the flap.

     “Lightning attack fang” Sumo-ku? Mistuo?”

     “Oh.” Mayumi put a hand on her forehead, with the fan still in it. “Konake, how can you lose two ferrets?!?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     In the last five minutes, it’d looked like a tornado, hurricane, and an earthquake had all chosen their home as their destruction zone.

     The scene replayed through Mayumi’s head, the dark red head flinging pillows across the room. He’d knocked down a portrait, had broken two vases, shattered three picture frames, skidded the coffee table across the room (thus spilling her green tea on the cream carpet in the process) and had completely dumped the contents of all the kitchen cabinets onto the floor.

     Konake had a …brain condition. When he was angry, excited, frantic, or had any form of extreme emotion, he began having serious violent spasms. It never hurt the poor boy, but is sure created a scene. And Mayumi was always stuck dealing with it.

     “I am not cleaning this.” She said, turning to her brother, who was nearly in tears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     The clock struck nine, and there Mayumi was waiting.

     Konake walked out onto the wooden porch with his backpack on one shoulder. He was still wearing the same sneakers, but they were laced. The t-shirt was switched with form-fitting black workout shirt, which was at least clean. He remained in the baggy jeans, but had at least thought of adding a belt to the ensemble.

     Casually he strolled down the long driveway, finally emerging on the sidewalk of the neighborhood. Under the oval of the street light, he stood, tapping his foot.

     Something silver shot out at him nearly chopping off his nose. The boy blinked, and then slowly turned around.  There, jammed into the lamppost, was a classic throwing star. He took a step closer to it, observing as if he were a doctor on a patient. Flicking the side, he noticed it twang.

     “May? Where are-“

     Koanke squeaked, cut off by his own surprise. Another shuriken had flown past.

     “You really are dense, my brother.”

     The slice of steel had come shooting at him from above. He tilted his head back to get a better overhead view, but became distracted by the starry sky.

     “Geez, you’re so…” Mayumi said to herself, balancing on a branch “UP HERE.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     The two raced between the tress that lines the sidewalk. Leaping from limb to limb in a blur, the two made haste.

     “Where exactly are we going?” Mayumi asked in a loud whisper. She was a half-jump ahead of her brother, but she was holding back so he could easily keep up.

     “Shin’s, probably.”

     “What makes you think he’d have your battle ferrets?”

     “I was over there this afternoon.”

     “Mmm-hmm. But he would’ve called if he’d seen tiny furry creatures suddenly mauling him. His name, after all, does mean ‘true’.”

     Konake sighed, and nearly took his sister with him into a klutzy concrete landing. She steadied herself with one hand on the tree’s fork. With her free hand, she grabbed the piece of fabric that covered her nose and mouth.

     “Where else were you today?”

     Konake pondered this, staring at Mayumi’s zentai-like outfit. Her entire body was covered in a material similar to that of dancewear, except for her eyes. The dark blue

color of the outfit made her practically invisible-while he felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb.

     “School. That’s the only other place you were today.” The elder of the two interjected. “That’s where we go.” She grabbed his wrist, and they dashed to the building.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     “Uhhhhhhhh.” Konake moaned, lying on the school’s tile floor. He was exhausted from the traps he’d already faced. In a few places he was bleeding, thanks to a sudden swarm of needles. Arrows had been shot at his back, dogs had been tramping on his heels, and he’d even fallen for the classic “illusion hole.” It had taken Mayumi a good ten minutes to lug his sorry bottom out of the hidden pit.

     “What kind of an academy does this to their students?” He said, flopping back against the floor.

     “A ninja academy.” Mayumi replied motonously. She was hard at work, making the laser beams all visible to the pair.

     “What kind of parents send their kids to a ninja academy?”

     “Ours.”

     “Yay, Mom.” Konake muttered, giving May a chance to kick his sneaker’s sole.

     “Crawl!” She ordered her brother as she began a well-rehearsed handspring between the beams.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     A few hours later, the two sat on the roof of the dojo-style building with their legs hanging off the edge. They were black silhouettes against the moon, but hardly moved.

     “Your locker.”

     “Checked.”

     “All the classrooms?”

     “Checked.”

     “Well, what about-“

     “Hai. We checked there too.” Holding up a finger, she added, “And the dojo.”

     The fifteen-year-old paced on the thin beam, attempting to figure out where her brother’s animals had gone. It’s a ferret. How does one lose a ferret? But…poor Konake, he loves those little furry fluff balls. They’re not just tools to him…

     A high-pitched squeal scared Mayumi, and she jumped backwards. The dagger she’d tied in her belt was now in her hand, and she held it up. From her crouching position, she was ready to strike the enemy she hadn’t quite spotted.

     “Kyuu!”

     On her left shoulder now sat a white ferret with gray splotches, the other on the right cream-colored. Konake turned around, to see what was going on, and his eyes lit up.

     He looked at the one on the left first. “Sumo-ku!” He turned to the other.

“Mistuo!” The beings leapt to his body, and rubbed against his cheeks.

     Mayumi couldn’t help but smile. When Konake was happy, she was happy.

     “That’s the last time you name any pets Smoke and Mist, all right? Those little guys are really hard to find as it is.”

     “Um…May?”

    “What, K?”

    “I…I can’t find my backpack.”

     Mayumi made one loud moan, and whacked him once again with her fan.