Ninja Girl
Chapter Twelve

Anya stood near the door, quietly, hands held out before her like she was feeling for vibrations. After a moment she stepped back and shook her head. They moved a few steps down the hall to the next door, and she repeated the process. Something about this door seemed to be different. Instead of moving back after a moment, she moved closer. Pressing her head against the wood she closed her eyes and listened.

Stepping back, she nodded decisively. “This one.”

“Great,” said Nick eagerly. “Do you know how to pick the lock?”

Anya reached for the door handle and turned it. There was a crunching sound, and she pushed the door open.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll just stop asking you that question, huh?”

Anya lifted her arm to display the knob still in her grasp. “It wasn’t me,” she said innocently. “Looks like the wood rotted.”

“Thank the lord for ramshackle tenements,” Nick spit sarcastically.

They stepped into the room and looked around. As Anya had indicated, this one was empty, barren even. It looked as though no one had lived in the room for years.

“How the hell did you know?” Nick asked.

Anya shrugged. “You just… learn to sense these things. A ninja can sense their surroundings, sense if they are surrounded, sense if someone is sneaking up behind them… It’s not all that different to sense if a room is empty or not.”

“Through a door,” Nick added.

Anya shrugged again. “I can’t really explain it.”

Nick was not interested in pressing the point. He hurried on past her through the room in what appeared to be the direction of the bathroom.

Though he had not really intended to, he had ended up falling asleep on the rooftop after he had finished eating. When he woke, he quickly came to two realizations. The first was that he must have slept quite some time, as the world around them was already beginning to fall into dusk. The second was that he needed to use the restroom.

Upon waking, he had also caught Anya – who at some point while he slept had switched back to her ninja garb - in the middle of what appeared to be some kind of exercise, but as soon as she realized he was awake she had stopped.

“I need to go the bathroom,” he had told her.

She had responded with a look of disbelief. “So go,” she said.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s not exactly adequate facilities on the rooftop.”

“So go inside and look for one.”

“It’s an apartment building. It’s gonna be all apartments and stuff in there.”

Anya released one of her trademark sighs. ”Fine. I’ll help you replace an empty one.”

Emerging from the bathroom, despite the realities of his current situation, Nick actually felt pretty good. He was rested and refreshed now, and was even starting to feel a little bit excited about their goals. As he stepped back into the living room and saw Anya – standing by a window to continue her watch over the Teller Communications building – he smiled slyly and somewhat sheepishly at her.

She noticed and raised a questioning eyebrow. “What?” she asked, in a tone that suggested that she was unsure if she really wanted to know.

“Oh,” Nick replied tersely, waving a hand in dismissal. “It’s nothing.”

“What?” Anya asked again, more insistently.

“It’s just… I thought I might catch you doing more of your exercises.” Anya turned her head away. It was hard to tell in the soft glow of twilight, but it looked like she was actually blushing a little. “That’s right,” Nick said, teasingly, “I did notice you.”

“It’s not important,” she snapped.

“No need to be embarrassed. You’re clearly in great shape, and I’m sure you didn’t get that way by standing stock still twenty four seven.”

“I do not need your admiration. Or your permission.”

Nick shrugged, not really having a response for that. “So, what are we waiting for? Night to fall?”

Anya nodded. “Yes. There should be a time right as the sun sets that the city will be at its darkest. That will be the best time to cross over again.”

Nick waved one finger in little circles in the air before him, clearly not very thrilled at the prospect of jumping between the rooftops again. “Yay,” he added aloud, in a markedly unenthusiastic tone.

Anya watched him for a moment, a strange expression on her face. “Come here,” she beckoned, waving him over.

Nick’s eyes went wide with shock. Despite her command, his entire body froze in place. “Um. W-what?” he stammered.

“Come here,” she demanded, more impatiently, motioning at the floor in front of her.

Nick’s body seemed to move of its own accord. He didn’t recall commanding it to do anything, but somehow it made its way across the room just as Anya had commanded. He felt extremely self-aware about each one of his movements, for some reason fully convinced that something about the way he walked just then must have made him look like a cartoon rubber band trying to walk like a person.

He finally, thankfully, reached the spot Anya had indicated and came to a complete halt.

“Good,” she said. “Now hit me.”

“What?” Nick blurted before the words had fully sunk into his brain. “No!”

Anya took one step back into a fighting stance. She lifted a hand and waved her fingers in a beckoning motion. “Come on, hit me.”

“I… I don’t want to hurt you.”

Anya looked unconvinced. “That is not a concern,” she replied dryly. Nick still hesitated. “Look, you said you wanted to learn karate, right? Well, let me see what you’ve got to work with. Try to hit me.” When Nick still didn’t responded, she punched him on the shoulder.

“Ow!” Nick yelped, grasping his shoulder. “That hurt!”

“Attack me or I’ll do it again,” Anya said.

“Okay, okay! Psycho.” Nick adopted what he felt was an adequate semblance of a boxer’s stance and held up his fists to attack.

“Well?” Anya demanded.

Nick threw a punch. Anya casually knocked it aside and it went wide.

“Actually try this time.”

Nick growled in frustration, but she was right. He hadn’t really tried to hit her. He threw a second punch, this time going for her solar plexus. However, Anya still had no trouble dodging. She stepped outside, letting the blow sail harmlessly past her, and then stepped in and brought her open palm into Nick’s chest. The blow sent him collapsing on to his back on the floor.

“Good. Again.”

“I need a moment,” Nick squeaked, the wind having been knocked out of him the moment he hit the floor.

“You don’t have a moment. Get up. Try again.”

Nick groaned and rolled over. He dragged himself to his feet and resumed his stance. He threw another weak punch that Anya simply batted aside again. “Can’t you do better than that?”

On his next punch, she rolled inside of it and slammed her back into his chest. Nick staggered back but managed to keep on his feet this time.

“Your punches are terrible,” Anya said, moving over to stand beside him. She kicked at one of his legs. “Try keeping one leg forward, one leg back. Punch with the side that’s back and step while you do it. Move your hips some. That’s where the power is.”

“The power for my punch is in my hips?” Nick asked, incredulous.

“Yes. Try it.”

Nick shrugged but did as he was told. He punched at the air before him, stepping as he did so just like Anya had said.

“There, didn’t that feel more forceful?” She asked.

“I guess?”

“Try this, too,” she suggested, throwing a slow punch. “Roll your arm like this as you punch. It will help you focus your strength behind the blow.”

Nick tried her suggestion. He had to admit, it did seem to make the punch feel more controlled.

“There you have it,” Anya said. “That’s a pretty standard karate punch. Bend your knees more and try it again. Good. Now, me again.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Nick frowned but did as he was told. Mid punch, Anya caught his blow and used the force from the attack to spin him around, bending his arm up around behind his back and forcing him to his knees.

“Youch!” Nick cried in pain. “What the hell? Why?”

Anya let him go and stepped back. “Your movement is too forced, too broadcasted. There’s no speed or grace. You’ll never fight like a ninja.”

“Especially not if you break my arm first,” Nick moaned, cradling his shoulder which now felt like it was on fire.

“You’re also a bit of a baby.”

“Hey, I resent that. Maybe you’re just sadistic.”

“You have no pain tolerance.”

Nick frowned, but could not really deny her words.

“We should probably start you with a form.”

“Form?” Nick echoed, a befuddled expression clouding his features.

Anya struggled for a moment, her mouth moving like she was having trouble chewing or trying to lick a persistent bit of peanut butter off the top of her mouth. “You would probably say… ‘kata.’ I’m sorry, it is difficult to know how to control the translation.”

Nick blinked back his surprise. “I… kind of forgot you were translating. So everything you think is in Japanese?”

“I suppose. I feel like I’m more… communicating ideas than words. I do expect to speak in Japanese, yet it comes out as English. But I understand what’s being said. It… it doesn’t make much sense.”

“Well, until we know more about what’s going on with you, it’s probably best not to worry about it. We’ll probably just make our heads hurt. So, anyway, what’s a kata?”

“It’s a basic part of karate. It is much like a dance made up of blocks and strikes. It trains your body to be loose and make the motions necessary for battle. Here, try and follow my movements. Always start in this stance.” She drew up into the ready position. Nick did his best to imitate it. “Now this is the first movement. Try to follow.”

One step at a time she led him through an entire kata. At almost every step she would stop him to adjust his stance or redirect his movement. “No, like this,” she would say, and then grab his arm and force it into the position she wanted. “Think of it as if you want a droplet of water to flow smoothly down your arm,” she said of one position.

Once they had finished going through the whole kata, Anya had Nick do it again on his own. She watched him, continuing to make corrections every few moves. Then they repeated the process again, and once more. By the end of his fourth time through the same kata Nick was feeling a little worn out.

“Again,” Anya commanded.

“Can’t we stop for now?” Nick asked, exhausted.

“I thought you wanted to learn.”

“I do, but this is exhausting.”

Anya crossed her arms, looking a little disappointed. “Fine. I suppose it is time to go anyway. But you should practice this at every chance you get, if you are really serious about learning.”

“Right, you got it,” Nick said, bending down to put his hands on his knees and catch his breath.

“Let’s go,” Anya said, not interested in giving him time to rest, and headed for the door.

Nick did his best to swallow back a groan and turned to follow her out of the apartment.