The New Ninja (Ninja Assassin Fanfic.)

Chapter 8: The Foreigner

About two weeks passed since I saw the foreigner in the alley. I hadn't thought about him since then. It was morning and I was getting dressed when someone knocked on my bedroom door.

"Come in!" Fixing my collar, I let Aoi come in. It had become a regular thing, him coming over in the morning to do my hair and makeup for work. Even though I knew he was tired from being up all night with his own actual hairdressing work, he still always showed up to help get me ready. I had never asked him to, he just started showing up in the morning, and said he was going to get me ready. I really appreciated his help, it made things easier for me.

"How'd you sleep?" He lit some incense that he had been leaving in my room lately for me. Laying out his hair dressing tools, he let me sit in front of my mirror.

"I slept OK." As I sat down, I yawned.

"Still tired? What's wrong? Couldn't get to sleep?" He peered at me worriedly in the mirror as he combed my hair.

"That's not it. I slept fine, but I didn't actually get to sleep until very late. The job that Soji and I went on last night went longer than expected. The target didn't show up where we thought so we spent a lot of time looking for him. I guarantee he's still sleeping." I covered my mouth as another yawn slipped out.

"That makes sense. You don't work tonight, right? Just go to sleep early. Don't want to get dark circles under those pretty eyes." I raised my eyebrow at that comment.

"You think my eyes are pretty?" I bit back a smile when I saw a blush creep up his cheeks.

"Wha- I don't... Just be quiet. You're making me lose my concentration." Returning focus to my hair, Aoi's expression turned gentle. Since he had showed up earlier than normal this morning, he was spending more time doing my hair, saying he wanted to try out new styles. I began reading a new book I had gotten from Natsume the day before, enjoying the feeling of Aoi's gentle touch on my hair.

Soon both my hair and makeup were finished and I said goodbye to Aoi who went home to sleep. I started heading to the entrance of Kyokatei when I bumped into Kinshiro who was heading the same way. I stopped short when I saw him. It was the first time I had ever seen him like this. He was more dressed up than I had ever seen him. Normally he was dressed more casually, some might say a little sloppily. But now he was wearing formal clothing and looking very handsome.

"Hey, Keomi! Heading to work?" He smiled when he saw me and I smiled back, walking next to him.

"That's right! Aoi just left. So where are you going all fancy?" I nudged his side and laughed, making him grin.

"I have some business to take care of today. You seem to forget that I am the magistrate of the south ward." He went to pat my head, but stopped when he saw my hair and instead placed his hand on my back.

"I think you seem to forget that you're the magistrate yourself, considering how I have never actually seen you like this before." I snickered at his pout.

"Hey, I work hard." There was something funny about seeing a grown man like Kinshiro pouting.

"I know, I was just teasing you." I reached up on my tip toes and pat his head, making him happy. When we got outside, we said goodbye and parted ways.

I got something to eat before going to the tea house. When I arrived shortly after noon, I found it already packed. The business had got significantly more busy since I began performing. I was happy that my boss was less stressed. Apparently thanks to me, he was no longer in debt.

A couple hours after I started my performance, I hopped off the stage for a break and some tea. I had my own small table in the back of the tea house that was normally just reserved for me so that I would always have somewhere to sit. As I was sipping my tea, I felt someone walking behind me. Even though there was a number of people around, I didn't hear any footsteps approaching me. But I knew someone was. Before I could turn around, someone stood next to me and I looked up, slightly surprised. It was the blond foreigner I saw before. He was smiling kindly down at me and I saw his eyes, a beautiful and captivating shade of blue. He was obviously a good looking man. Even from sitting down, I could tell he was taller than Sion, who was already significantly taller than me.