Deeper Than the Knife

Chapter 4- WHY IS YUKINO'S BOUNTY HIGHER THAN MINE?!

We didn't stop running until the sun came up.

We collapsed from exhaustion in an alleyway. My lungs felt ready to explode, I couldn't feel my arms or my legs, and I really wanted to sleep and a cheese burger. 

Yarah left my arms and moved over so she could cuddle in the spot between me and Yukino, and quickly fell asleep. Oh, what a blessing it is to be young. 

After what felt like an eternity, in reality it was probably just an hour, I was starting to breath normally again- but I still needed water, food, sleep and preferably a shower before another fight.

"I know a place where we will be safe." Yukino said. Despite saying she hates kids, and didn't want to be a mom, she was holding Yarah in a soft, gentle manner. It made me smile. Just a little bit. 

"You just happen to know of a place where we can hide out from our murderous families?" I didn't have enough energy in me to get angry or riled up. I just wanted to sleep, so badly.

Yukino nodded, "yes, I do." I waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't. "We'll be safe there, we can seek help there as well." 

I looked at Yarah, the little girl I was supposed to kill, but who I'm now going to raise with Yukino- who I was also supposed to kill- as our own. In all honesty, the only thing I was worried about was how I was going to take care of her hair. It was so different from mine, and the only one I knew who had hair closest to hers was uncle Arthur, but he always kept it short.

But I realized that I'll have to cross that bridge later, right now I had to focus on keeping the three of us alive.

"Can I ask, what is it? Oh and, where? And does it have beds, showers, and a cheese burger?" What? I couldn't ignore the grumbling in my belly. It was telling me to eat a damn cheese burger, and I had to agree with it.

"It's an underground organization called, 'The Order Of Shadows'."

"Super cool name."

"Shut up, and let me finish. It's a group of rouge, out lawed, and targeted ninjas and assassins who banded together to keep people like them- and like us- safe from those hunting them." Yukino explained.

"So it's like the underground railroad that happened in America?" My uncle Arthur liked to tell me stories about his life in America, the things he learned, and the people he meet. Shit...I wasn't ever going to hear another one of his stories again.

"I'm unfamiliar with this 'underground railroad'." 

"Trust me, you don't want to know, that whole story of it is ridiculous."

"There's a branch of 'The Order Of Shadow's here in Rio." Yukino continued. "Once we prove we're only there for safety-"

"Woah, wait a second. Once we prove? The hel- heck?" I decided it wasn't the best idea to curse in front of the sleeping 6 year old. Wouldn't set the best example.

"We are from the 8 Noble clans, many of those people are being hunted by our families." Yukino explained. Although I still wondered how in the hell she knew about this place.

"Then we get rid of our pendants." I looked down at my pendant, I remembered how proud I was when I first got it. I wore it proudly everyday, marching around my house proud to finally be an official ninja. But now, it was a reminder of everything I just threw away, so I could save the life of a little girl.

"We will, but we both have the physical characteristics of our clans. They'll know the moment they see us." Yukino said, unpinning her clans symbol.

She stared at it for a moment, her face was unreadable. She looked at Yarah, still asleep in her hold, and threw the pendant across the alleyway.

I took mine off, I whispered my apologizes to my uncle Sawyer, uncle Arthur and my cousin Daniel. I would always hold them close in my heart, I could never fight them no matter what. My uncles loved me more than my own mother did- and for that, I thank them. But now, I had my own family I had to protect, and to do that- I had to rip myself away from my clan.