Ninja Girl

An hour later they were back on the rooftop across the street from the Teller building. Nick had a meal of fast food splayed out on the rooftop before him. He was sitting cross-legged, devouring a ketchup soaked fry. Anya did not have any food of her own. She stood across the rooftop watching the Teller building and waiting. A silent sentinel devoted entirely to her mission.

Nick popped another fry into his mouth as he watched her. “You sure you don’t want some?” He asked her again.

“You eat too much,” she replied simply.

Nick blinked, somewhat taken aback by her statement. “What? Seriously? I’ve barely eaten at all since I’ve met you. And need I remind you, the last time I did eat it was because you said you were hungry.”

Anya shrugged her shoulders in begrudging consent but said nothing.

Scoffing, Nick took a big bite of his cheeseburger and chewed it thoughtfully. “Maybe,” he said between bites, “maybe you just don’t eat enough. Did you think of that?” He reached into his bag, dug around, and pulled out an item in a wrapper. “Look, see? I got you some egg rolls.”

She made a small movement with her head, and Nick knew she was rolling her eyes again. “I don’t want any of your… processed American foods. A ninja is trained to not need food. And what food they do eat they must be very careful about. Bad foods can cause the body to produce foul odors. Those odors can mean the difference between life and death in a stealth situation.”

Nick nodded his head. “Foul odors,” he repeated, then took another bite of his cheeseburger.

“You know,” he said after a time, “you don’t have to be so angry all the time.”

“What!?” She snapped, turning to shoot him an angry glare.

He shrugged. “I’m not saying I know what life has been like for you, or what you’ve been through, or the kind of things you’ve had to do just to survive. I’m not saying I know you. Obviously, I don’t know any of that. But I’m not saying I have to. There’s no reason you can’t take some enjoyment out of life.”

“If there’s anything I’ve learned,” Anya responded softly, turning to face away from him, “is that there isn’t much about life to be enjoyed.”

“Sure there is. Look.” Nick grabbed a fry and one of his drink cups and rose to his feet. He crossed the roof to Anya and held the fry out to her. “Here. Take the fry.”

She gave him a funny look that seemed to suggest that she’d sooner punch him in the face than take the fry.

“I’m serious,” he said. “Just take the fry.”

She licked her lips, uncertain, but reluctantly reached out and took the fry.

“Good,” he said. “Now, this…”

His voice trailed off as he popped the lid off the cup, revealing the swirl of a chocolate milkshake.

“If you tell me to dip this fry in that milkshake, I really will kill you,” Anya said.

“Oh come on, what could it possibly hurt? Have you ever tried it?” He waited for her to answer. “Have you?”

“No,” she admitted.

“Then you gotta try it. At least once. Come on, ninja girl. What’s this compared to your other battles and conquests? You’ve probably… I dunno. Faced down monsters and armies and dragons and stuff.”

“Monsters and dragons?” She asked, incredulous. “Really?”

“Hell, I don’t know what ninjas do on a day to day basis. I’m just guessing here. But I do notice you didn’t say anything about armies. So you’ve faced down armies but you’re afraid of one little fry covered in some milkshake?”

Her expression changed to one of bemused amusement, but she made no effort to dip the fry. It hung in the air just inches away, almost forgotten in her grip.

“Look, I’ll make a deal with you. If you completely, absolutely hate it, then the next guy we have to sweet talk, I’ll flirt with him.”

“Oh, you are so on,” she said, and in a flash dipped the fry through the milkshake and raised it up, heavy and covered in the thick brown froth of the ice cream. She hesitated then for an almost imperceptible moment, her frown deepening with disgust at the sight of the milkshake smothered fry.

Then she ate it.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then she chewed, slowly, as if hesitant to admit to herself that she really had food in her mouth. Her frown of disgust somehow managed to deepen even further, but that quickly turned into begrudging acceptance, which quickly sank into a scowl of defeat.

“See?” Nick chided. “Good, right?”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far.”

“But you didn’t completely, absolutely hate it?”

Anya sighed. “I didn’t completely, absolutely hate it.”

“Ha ha!” Nick cheered, pumping his fist into the air in triumph. “Victory! You want another one?”

“Absolutely not.”

Nick chuckled. “You just got to learn to enjoy the little things,” he said as he made his way back to his cheeseburger. Just as he was about to sit back down he heard her clear her throat. He turned back. “Did you… want something?”

Anya grimaced, as if it was hurting her just to even think about the words she was about to say. “I guess…” she started, hesitantly, “I guess I will take those egg rolls.”

Unwittingly, a smile forced its way across Nick’s face. He considered teasing her about this concession, but decided it best to not risk destroying what little progress he had managed to make in denting her cold exterior.

“You got it,” he said, and reached back into the bag for the egg rolls. He handed it to her and then sat back down with his food.

He watched her for a time while he ate, amazed at just how motionless she remained the entire time.

“What are you watching for?” he asked.

“Any strange movement going on around the building. Any guards making rounds. The pattern of security cameras.”

“There’s security cameras?” Nick asked, genuinely surprised. He had not noticed any.

“Yes,” she answered simply.

Nick decided not to press her any further on the point. He continued eating.

“Maybe you should teach me some karate,” he said after another long period of silence.

Anya turned to him and gave him a look of surprise. “What?”

“Maybe you should teach me some karate,” Nick repeated.

“Are you being serious?”

“Yeah. I mean, why not? Like you said, what we’re doing, it’s probably really dangerous. What if we get attacked by some of Ryerson’s goons? It might be good if I know how to defend myself.”

“Do you know what ‘karate’ means?”

Nick blinked, surprised by the question. “Uh, I think like, ‘open fist’ or something like that.”

“It means ‘empty hand,’” Anya corrected.

“Yeah, same thing.”

Anya sighed with annoyance. “Do you know why it’s called that?” Nick shook his head. “It’s called that because the primary goal of karate is not to do harm. Karate was primarily developed as a means of defense, for otherwise defenseless farmers to protect themselves from the armed military occupying their lands.”

Nick waited for Anya to finish, but that seemed to be all she wanted to say. “O…kay,” he said, by means of prompting, but Anya only turned back to face the Teller building again.

“You’re point being?”

“My point being that I do not practice, ‘karate.’ I practice ninjutsu.”

“Oh, right,” Nick said, as if it all made sense now. Again he waited for Anya to continue, but again she seemed to think this was explanation enough. “The difference being?” he prompted.

Anya stared at him in surprise, as if even a child should have grasped the concept she was trying to communicate.

“The difference being,” she said, emphasizing each word, “that ninjutsu is not intended for defense. The goal for a shinobi is to kill. Specifically to kill very swiftly, very quietly, and then disappear. It is not what you might call a ‘martial art’ like karate, but more of a military strategy.”

“Sounds bleak. So… you’re saying you don’t know any karate?”

Anya’s jaw hardened. “I am trained in a multitude of styles in order to be an effective warrior, should I need to fight.”

“Including karate?”

Anya was standing with her arms crossed over her chest, like normal. Her knuckles were white from how hard she was clenching her grip around her arms. “Including karate,” she admitted through gritted teeth.

“Well, maybe you can teach me some,” Nick said. “I don’t need to know how to kill, but I might need to know how to defend myself.”

Anya sighed and turned back to face across the street. After a long moment she said quietly, “I’ll think about it.”

Nick smiled but said nothing. He finished eating and leaned back against the wall of the structure he was up against. “Do I really annoy you that much?”

Anya turned her head just enough to cast Nick a sidelong glance through narrowed eyes. “Do you really want me to answer that question?”

Nick thought about it for a moment. “No, I guess maybe I don’t.” His smile didn’t diminish, though.

Leaning his head back he closed his eyes. Dimly he was aware that he had been up for over twenty four hours now. He could easily say that this had been the longest day of his life, for so many reasons.

With his eyes closed, he felt like he was out on the ocean, being rocked back and forth by the gentle flow of the waves. He let himself fall into the sensation, and let the darkness swallow him whole.