First Rule of the Ninja 1-2

The smell of salt and old wood brought him back to the world of the living. Nothing like the kind of salt that stung at the eyes, but the kind that had been ground into the same old wood of the floorboards for years, heavy and damp with years and years of seaside living.

He bit back a groan, moving slightly on whatever surface he was laying on. It wasn’t as hard as wood or any simple floor, but it was far too soft and much too thin to be a mattress worth the name.

Whatever it was, there was no denying it smelled a lot like dried grass and old soap. It wasn’t uncomfortable, not exactly, but it was definitely cheap and without a doubt worn-down. Just like everything else he’d seen since waking up on that beach.

Beach. The word bobbed to the surface of his mind, dragging a fuzzy image of rock-littered sand and a sky so gray it was downright sad.

Blue eyes dragged themselves open as he took in a new sky.

Nothing like the gray of last time.

The ceiling above him was low. Low, rough, and unevenly spaced; wooden planks looking like they hadn’t seen better days since long before he was born. The light in the room was as gray as ever though, sunshine filtered not through glass but flimsy paper screens that didn’t manage to keep out the chill of the coastal air.

Blue eyes blinked again, a soft trill of a noise pulling him from the ceiling above back down to the ground. He turned his head to look, muscles in his neck protesting dully as the ache spread higher.

Dratini.

His snake friend was there like he remembered, that thick coil of technicolor blue wrapped around the edge of whatever he was laying on top of. Over five feet long, she was huge and decently wide, but she didn’t feel threatening.

If anything, her weight near his legs felt almost grounding; an anchor in a strange ocean. 

He didn’t know this place. He didn’t know this house.

He didn’t know the woman standing in the doorway, either.

“You’re awake.” Her voice was practical and steady as she walked further into the room, stopping near a small low table just a few steps away from him. Her hair was long and dark, wooden spoon gripped tight in one hand as she held it carefully in front of her apron. Her kimono was simple, the dark colors of it faded as she looked down at him with lined weary eyes that didn’t fit her young-looking face.

“Yeah.” The single word came out as rough and salt-scraped as he expected, forcing him to clear his throat with a sound that echoed out. “Yeah, I am.

She didn’t move closer as she just watched him — Dratini’s soft sounds fading into the sounds of the ocean outside — taking in the dark skin of his face, the blue of his eyes, and the irregular white patches splotching his tangled dreadlocks. He knew the pattern of that stare; that little bit of knowledge bobbing up like instinct, all of it too familiar as people tried to piece the individual parts together to try and make sense of it. This woman was no different, at least not until her gaze fell down to the massive blue serpent and then slid back up again to meet him.

“You’re not from around here.”

It wasn’t a question.

He looked down at his own hands, unsure if she even needed an answer. His palms were dirty, mud-stained still, and thick with callouses. “No… I don’t… I don’t think I am.”

He looked up again, a small movement catching his eye. Peeking around the doorframe was a boy, no older than eight, with messy hair and a face that was trying very hard to look as mean as a little boy could look. Unfortunately, the way his dark eyes were fixed squarely on Dratini, he was failing pretty hard at that.

“Smooth.”

“Inari…” The woman spoke up, all mom-voice with as much terseness as she could manage to fit in just one name. “Don’t bother the… the nice shinobi.”

Shinobi?

His unspoken question went unanswered as the boy stepped slightly further into the room. “I’m not, mom.” He said that even while taking another step, gaze still glued to the giant blue snake trilling peacefully.

Said snake lifted her head, still trilling and thrumming as she looked over at the boy. Inari blinked, shifting back slightly, even as Dratini nudged her snout closer toward his outstretched hand.

“Careful, Inari.” That tone sharpened just a bit.

“It’s okay.” 

Her gaze turned towards him, still lying there on the thin futon, mouth half-open.

“Dratini won’t hurt your son.” He was as sure of that as he was sure Dratini wouldn’t do anything to hurt him either. “I promise.” 

Like he expected, Dratini didn’t snap or move away as the little boy extended his hand again, fingers brushing the scales atop her head. “He’s smooth, Mom. Like glass.”

The mother looked back at him as her son smiled, dark eyes studying him just that little bit more. “Where… where are you from?”

He blinked, eyes turning skyward to the ceiling to study the wooden planks there again. Where am I from? The question echoed in that hollow space in his head, bouncing off empty walls as he tried to grasp for an image, a memory, or even any sort of feeling that would lead to an answer.

But it all just went nowhere, slipping through his fingers.

After too long spent in silence, he looked back at her, a simple admission heavy as it fell from his lips. “I… I really don’t know.”

Her brows met in the middle of her face. “You don’t know?”

“No.” He shook his head, dreadlocks brushing his shoulders. “I don’t. I just woke up on the beach with…” He gestured over to the still-cooing Dratini, his girl resting her head on a smiling Inari’s knee. “With her.”

Her expression tightened for a second, easing up only as she found another question. “Well, what’s your name then?”

The empty space rattled again as he searched it for a single clue. This time… this time, there was something. A sound, a shape, a pattern; Koda.

“…Koda.”

Two syllables came free and with them, a smile too as he found something his own. Something that wasn’t unfamiliar or strange, but that fit just right. “I… I think my name is Koda.”

“You think?” The sleeves of her kimono shifted as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You don’t know your own name for certain, but the name of that… that creature comes easy?”

Koda shook his head. “She’s a Dratini. That’s not her name. It’s what she is.” How he knew that was also another question to be answered, but he didn’t think any answers from that would come easy.

Not right now, at least.

“Alright, then… Koda-sama…” The woman’s eyes softened along with her voice, her face appearing kinder even as he still heard the edge underneath. “May I ask what village you serve?”

“Village…” He tested the word, hitting the ‘v’ hard as he let the vowels widen, dragging the end of the word out. What does that…  “I don’t serve a village. What do you mean ‘serve’?”

She blinked again, eyes hardening for a split second before he watched her force them soft again. “My apologies, shinobi-sama, for my misunderstanding of your role in your village. I should have known, seeing you without a hitai-ate. I would never dare consider shinobi-sama a serv-”

“No, no, no.” Koda interrupted her, shaking his head as he bit down a grunt and forced himself to sit up. “That’s not…” He shook his head again. “That’s the… the third time you’ve called me that.”

“Called you what, shinobi-sama?”

His mouth pulled down in a frown as he stared at the older woman. “See, you already did it again. Number four right there. What is that?” He blinked at the word. “What’s a shinobi? I don’t know what that is.”

Her eyes widened, real hardness and fake softness disappearing completely for unguarded disbelief as she stared back at him. “You… you don’t know what a ninja is?”

Koda stared at her. “Ninja.” 

“Ninja.” She nodded slowly, as if unsure she was saying the word right herself. “Yes.”

The word belonged to something else in the back of his mind, something entirely different and nothing actually real. That was all shadows, stories, masks, and movies. What does that have to do with anything? “Ninja?” He frowned again, parroting the word. “Like assassins and spies running around in black?”

“Yes. Ninja.” Her eyes didn’t leave his, lips pressed tight into a thin line. “Shinobi. The powerful beings who jump into the sky, run across water, and breathe fire. Are you not one of them?”

“…Yeah, no…” He looked down at the colorless rags covering his chest as he lifted a hand, calloused pads of his palm facing her. “Do I look like a ninja?”

She looked at the too-tall blue serpent nuzzling the back of Koda’s knee. “Non-ninja do not usually travel with sea-monsters.”

“He’s not a monster.” Inari muttered from behind her.

The woman ignored him, not looking away from Koda as she stared at the dark-skinned man sitting in her home for a long, heavy minute. Whatever she found in his face was enough to make her shoulders drop as she finally sighed and made her way over to a small kitchen with a pot already simmering on the stove. “I’m Tsunami. That is my son, Inari.” She picked up a wooden bowl, the spoon coming in handy as she ladled something hot and steamy into it. “If you are not aware, you’re in the Land of Waves.”

She walked over to him and handed him the bowl with a piece of bread in her other hand. “This is stew. It’s mostly broth, but shipments are closed off for the next few days so it’s what we have for now.” 

Tsunami definitely wasn’t lying about the stew; the brown liquid was a little watery with some beef and just a few pale vegetables floating around inside the bowl. It definitely wasn’t much but the smell was enough to make his stomach clench in a good way. “Thank you.”

“Just eat, Koda-sama.” The woman nodded at his thanks as she spoke back, the natural hardness in her gaze disappearing. “You look like you haven’t had anything in days.”

Koda really wasn’t sure how true that was and didn’t want to think on it too much, just in case it actually was. He took the bowl, the warmth seeping through the wood into his trembling hands almost as comforting as his very first spoonful. It was a bit over-salted, and the beef was a bit overcooked but in that moment, it was the best thing he’d ever had. 

He kept eating in silence, the only other sound in the room just the soft murmur of Dratini and Inari talking nonsense back and forth to each other.

Evening bled the gray light out of the paper screens soon enough, replacing it with the deep black of a coastal night. As soon as the sun finally set, the front door slammed open with a harsh clatter of wood meeting wood.

The sound was almost enough to make Koda flinch, but the smell hit the room before the man outside did. The stench of cheap alcohol, heavy sweating and the sharp bite of sawdust rolled in with a man somewhere in his late fifties, face weather-beaten and gray beard unkempt as he swung around a half-empty bottle in a calloused grip.

Heavy sandals thumped against the floorboards as the man’s eyes flicked down to him, staring past his thick glasses and giving Koda an eyeful of pure suspicion. “Tsunami!” The voice was loud and gravelly, all the blunt force of a man who worked with his hands and yelled over the ocean battering the wooden walls of the house. “Tsunami, who is this?” The question came out with a half-slur at the edges, the man tugging at the towel draped over his neck. “The hell is this?
Koda sat with his back to the wall, knees drawn up around him as he stared back at the older man. Unsure what to say, he simply said nothing at all.

“Keep your voice down, Dad.” Thankfully, he didn’t have to at all as Tsunami stepped out of the kitchen, the woman of the house wiping her hands on a cloth. “The neighbors.”

“The neighbors are bastards who’ll shut up if they know what’s good for them!” The old man took a stumbling step forward as he looked back at the still-quiet Koda. “Why are you bringing some Land of Lightning looking motherfucker into my house?”

What?

“Father…” Tsunami let out another sigh. “Watch your language. Inari’s young.”

“Bah!” The old man waved his hand in front of his face, a scoff leaving him with force. “He’s heard worse.”

“Yes, from you.”

Her father raised an eyebrow. “Then what’s the problem?” 

Before Tsunami could answer that, the old man shook his head with a grunt. “Seriously, who is this?”

“This is Koda-sama, father.” Tsunami answered respectfully to both him and the old man. “He washed up from a shipwreck and collapsed in the village.”

Shipwreck? Koda blinked at that, not remembering seeing anything close to a shipwreck when he woke up. Was there even a ship on the shore?

“Collapsed?” The older man scoffed, choosing a different part of what his daughter said to pick apart. “He looks fine to me. He also looks like trouble. Some kinda beggar is he? What kinda hair is that even?” The old man took a step closer, eyes narrowing as he took in Koda again, everything from his skin to his hair to the… 

The old man whipped his head around at the sight of the massive blue serpent coiled up on the futon Koda had let Dratini have. “What the hell is that thing?”

“She’s a Dratini, grandpa.” Inari piped up in her defense, the litle boy sitting cross-legged not too far from the serpent. “She’s really nice.”

“I didn’t ask you, boy.” There was no heat in the words even as the old man snapped, turning his glare back to Koda. “You with the stupid hair. What’s your business in my house? You another one of Gato’s boys?”

Koda blinked at the question, that name from before popping up again. Gato…

“Well, speak up, boy!” The old man barked, raising the bottle to his lips. “I asked you a question!”

“I don’t know who Gato is… sir.” Koda’s voice dropped lower as he met the man’s eyes, refusing to look away. “I’ve only heard that name twice that I can remember.”

“…Oh, have you now?” The old man took another swig of his bottle, before letting his hand fall back to his side. “So he’s a liar and a weirdo. Good job, Tsunami.”

“Father, Koda-sama doesn’t remember anything.” Tsunami stressed two words, teeth almost gritted as she pleaded with the older man with just her eyes. “I think it’s that thing they call amnesia. He must have hit his head in the shipwreck.”

“Amnesia.” Her father almost spat the word. “Convenient. Very convenient. Too convenient, Tsunami. You know my situation and as soon as a strange man washes up on our shores, with some monster, you bring him into my home? Just because he says he happens to forget where he came from?” The older man took another pull from his bottle. “I didn’t know I raised my daughter a fool. Gato’s men have been sniffing around ever since Kaiz…”

Inari flinched, Koda not missing how the little boy’s hand stilled on Dratini’s back.

The little boy’s grandftather clicked his tongue and sighed. “Ever since last year, Tsunami. We can’t trust anyone. Especially not some Cloud village vagrant.”

“I am not throwing him out.” Tsunami’s voice was quiet, but it cut through her father’s liquor-drenched bluster anyway. “Koda-sama… if he is a shinobi, he can help… maybe.” After a  moment, she shook her head as if considering her own idea. “And if not, he’s just one more mouth to feed until he leaves.” 

“I’m not a ninja and you don’t have to call me sama either.” Koda held his hands up, palms out to both father and daughter. “I don’t want any trouble.”

The old man’s jaw clicked shut as he grunted again, one hand rubbing his face. “No one wants trouble, boy. Trouble usually wants you, though.” He turned away, muttering under his breath as he headed into the hallway. “Just keep that blue thing away from me.”

The room fell silent with a different kind of peace, stillness lingering in the air as Tsunami walked her way over to Koda. “That’s my father.”

Koda nodded. “I put that together.”

“His name is Tazuna and he’s building a bridge.” She continued on, her voice returning to a steady rhythm that grew less strained the more she spoke. “It’s the only way to connect our island to the mainland. To bypass the shipping monopoly Gato has on us. It’s… it’s dangerous work.”

Koda listened, the words washing over him as he began to piece the situation together. “I… I see.”

Tsunami nodded. “You do not have a home.”

“No.” That much was as honest as he could possibly be. “No, I don’t.”

“I need help around the house. Someone to keep an eye on Inari while I’m working, keep Gato’s men away from him.” She crossed her arms across her chest. “You help me with that and you can stay here. Until your memory comes back… or until you find somewhere else to go.”

Koda looked back at her, eyes drifting down to Inari, and then Dratini. The sea-snake lifted her head, purple eyes meeting his blue. STAY?

His gaze slid back to Tsunami. “Okay. You got a deal.”

The moment the words left his mouth, something shifted deep in his chest; like a lock tumbling into place, securing a door that hadn’t been there a second before.

He blinked, the sudden weight of the agreement pressing down on him; the absolute certainty of his own promise weighing down on him. What the…

Tsunami didn’t seem to notice anything different as she just nodded, tension in her shoulders easing slightly. “Good, we’ll find you some better clothes tomorrow.”