Relax, I'm A Ninja (14 page)

“What the hell?” she said.

I put my finger to her lips. “Something’s going on.”

“No kidding.”

“I can’t tell you until she’s gone. So you’ll have to pretend you’re okay sleeping with me…like really sleeping…not …” My face heated up. This should not be so awkward with my own girlfriend.

She smirked. “Sure, I can
pretend.
Why would I ever want to sleep with my boyfriend?”

Amy jumped on the bed and I gulped. Dude, I was scared. How was I supposed to pretend to sleep? I didn’t expect to be facing this scenario for another few years. She pulled off her hoodie, revealing a green tank top.

“Coming?” She seemed to hold back a laugh.

“Uh, yeah.” I pulled off my own sweater and got in. We stared at each other. “I don’t know how to do this.”

She giggled and pulled the covers over us. “Are there rules?”

“Aren’t there?” I wished there was some kind of instruction manual at least.

“I don’t think so. We’re only sleeping, right?” She laid her head on my pillow and looked at me, a soft smile on her lips. “Come here.”

I took a deep breath and lay down. I wasn’t even touching her—we’d cuddled closer on the couch—but everything seemed different in a bed. Expectations? Maybe that wasn’t the right word. I didn’t want her to think I was pushing her there. I respected her. We’d just started dating.

Amy didn’t seem nervous like me. She grabbed my arm and put it around her waist. She was so small, and she felt even smaller as she snuggled into my side.

“Is this okay?” she whispered.

“Yeah.” There were no words to tell her how incredibly “okay” it felt.

We lay there for a while. I was nowhere close to sleep even though I should’ve been. She kept playing with my hair and running her fingers across my back. I couldn’t stop staring at her porcelain face. I swear it glowed in the dark. Maybe it was because I was crazy for her, but it seemed like she had a slight glow whenever we were close.

“Tosh?”

“Hmm?”

“Why are you acting so afraid of me?”

“What?”

She looked away. “You’ve been so tense lately. And right now you’re like…I don’t know…petrified. Am I that gross?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re not gross at all. How could you think that?”

“Well, you haven’t kissed me yet, and now you’re acting like you don’t want to touch me at all. Are you having second thoughts about us being together?” She bit her lip, and I couldn’t believe she was worrying about this.

“Amy.” I hugged her tight. “I don’t want anything but you. I…I don’t want to freak you out by being too forward. You mean a lot to me. I can’t explain it.”

I couldn’t say it out loud, but something deep inside me
needed
Amy. On every level. We were connected—we always had been. Even when I was trying to ignore her curious stares in elementary school, she was always in my subconscious.

She nuzzled me and sighed. “I was starting to think I was insane for being so crazy about you this soon.”

“I know what you mean.” We’d spent every second we were allowed together over the past weeks, and I still missed her like hell when she left.

“So, when are you going to kiss me?”

“I don’t know, seems like it should be special, shouldn’t it? Like when we were on your roof. That was…well, romantic.”
Man, do I sound like a girl or what?
The idea of my mom
wanting
me to kiss her also made it hard to give in.

“Aw, that’s so cute.” She spread her fingers over my chest. “I’ll be patient, then.”

I held her close without worrying about her getting mad. I had finally started to doze off when I heard the door click open. I slammed my eyes shut and kept my breathing even, positive it was my mom checking on us.

“
Kawaii
!” she squeaked in the softest whisper. She called us
cute
. Then she shut the door.

“Okay, that’s freaky how she’s not flipping out,” Amy whispered. “What’s going on, Tosh?”

“I’ll tell you, just hold on.” After waiting a few minutes, I slipped out of bed and cracked my door open without a sound. I searched every inch of the house for signs of life. Nothing. Then I went back to Amy, who stood by my small desk. I sat on the bed.

“Where’s your mom going at one in the morning?” Amy folded her arms. I told her what I’d overheard my parents talking about, and her eyes went wide. “It?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what ‘it’ means, but I think we’re something important.” I didn’t want to scare her, but I wouldn’t lie like my mom did. So what if she thought she was protecting me? I didn’t feel protected—I felt exposed. “I think it has something to do with that Clan my dad warned us about.”

She went absolutely still. “Why do you think that? That…that thing…I don’t ever want to see it again.”

“I know, me neither.” I pulled her close, wishing I could do more to comfort her. But I had to keep going. I told her about what really happened the night I ended up in Courtney’s bedroom, and how she thought I was one of them.

“Wait.” She stared in disbelief. “Courtney Petersen is a ninja?”

I nodded.

She pulled away, glaring at me. “No way.”

“It’s true. She’s the one who saved Todd—the one we ran into the night of your birthday, I swear. Cheerleader is a good cover, you gotta admit.” I put my hands on hers, praying she’d believe me. I needed her to believe me. If she got mad and called me crazy, I didn’t know what I’d do.

She wrapped her fingers around mine. “You didn’t throw the pencil at Logan. You threw it at her and she dodged.”

I smiled. “Yeah. That was really stupid.”

“So, she knows about that other Clan?” Amy melted back into me, and I breathed her in. I told her how I fought Courtney and what she said about the Akuma and
kami
.

“Do you think that green light in the park was
kami
?” she asked.

“I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe. It looked kinda like that vine light thing. Same color, at least.” There were still too many pieces missing. Amy and I were something important, but what? The Akuma were after us, but why? My mom said we needed more training, but for what?

Amy went to the bed and flopped onto the mattress. Tapping her fingers on her stomach, she stared up at the ceiling. “We need more information. Shouldn’t we ask your parents?”

I lay down next to her. “Honestly, I’m pissed off at them right now. They’ve decided
not
to tell us what’s up. They’d probably say it’s not time to know or something.”

“Probably. Then we’ll have to trap Courtney.”

“She’s pretty slippery. I’ve been trying to corner her for weeks.” I put my arm around her bare shoulder, and she came closer.

“Ah, but she doesn’t know about me, does she?”

I smiled wide. “No, she doesn’t. We could set a trap for her or something.”

“Could I take her?” Her face was so close it was almost impossible not to kiss her. But I held strong.

“Hmm, hard to say. She’s good. You might need more training.” Amy got better every day, but Courtney was hardcore. I didn’t want to send her against the cheerleader without being sure she’d win.

“Okay, train me.” She seemed determined to beat Courtney, almost excited. “I can tell my mom we’re practicing more for another big competition…not like she really cares at this point. Having a boyfriend makes me cool.”

“All right, I bet two or three weeks and you could beat her.” I could train her in sai, which would be perfect against Courtney’s sword. And I already knew a lot about Courtney’s fighting style, so I could easily show Amy how to counter it.

“Sweet.” She pulled herself up and kissed my cheek.
Zing
. That was the best way to explain it. Her lips made my skin
zing
. It had felt like that even with the self-defense kiss. She laughed at my expression. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Should we sleep now?”

“I should take you home.” It sounded stupid, but I really wanted to be the good guy.

“Nope. Not after all this. You said
we
were going to bed—you’re just gonna have to deal with it.” She pulled her phone out and typed a text to her mom, then she rolled over and pulled the covers above her head.

I sighed, but wrapped my arms around her anyway. “Don’t think this is happening tomorrow.”

“Fine.”

As I dozed off, things didn’t seem so bad. We’d figure this out, and when we did, maybe we’d stop the Akuma before they killed again. At least that’s what I hoped for, even if part of me whispered it was impossible.

18

My dad had no problem with us training more. Actually, he seemed deeply pleased about it, just like my mom was pleased with our cuddling. He moved his meditation period upstairs to his room so we could have more space.

Amy and I stood across from each other in the training room. Amy smiled in a way that made it hard to attack her. I hated attacking anyone to begin with, especially my girlfriend. But I ran at her, ready to smash my elbow into her face. That’s the only way she’d learn. She ducked and pushed my arm to throw me off balance. Next thing I knew she was on my back, arms around my neck. I flipped her off me and she landed on her feet.

“Much better.” I’d been showing her how Courtney fought so she’d be prepared.

She nodded, breathing hard as she went over to the drinking fountain. When she came back, she plopped down on the mat and stared at me with her panther eyes. The dance was in a couple of days, and I couldn’t wait to get that over with so I could have her to myself again. I sat close and took her hand.

“How come you never attack first? You’re just as good at that as defending,” she said.

“You can tell a lot about your opponent in those first moments. How they like to fight, how confident they are, how much training they’ve had. I like to learn all that before they know anything about me.”

“And here I thought you were chicken.” She laughed at the scowl I gave her. “I’m kidding!”

“Not a fan of being called that.” I kicked her playfully. “Kids on the playground used to call me that when I wouldn’t test my ‘karate skills’ on them.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, sorry. I won’t call you that ever again. Anything else I shouldn’t call you?”

“Short.” That brought me back to junior high when I was Amy’s height. Eddie, Stu, and Todd towered over me back then. Even as my friends, they made sure to point it out. It hurt, though I tried to laugh it off. I was average height now, but I still felt short.

“How could I ever call you short? You’re way taller than me!” She scooted closer.

“I’m still the shortest of my friends.”

“Well, I hope you stop growing, otherwise I’ll get neck aches whenever you decide to kiss me.” She smiled wide, and I sighed. She’d been dropping serious hints. No pressure there. Now I couldn’t possibly measure up. I should have gotten it over with sooner.

I stood. “You ready for a real fight?”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re going down this time.”

“Okay, sure.”

She got up, standing about six inches away and staring up with an enigmatic grin. I stared back, determined not to crack a smile. Five minutes passed. She loved to wait like that, just to see if I’d cave and attack first. I’d stood in front of someone for over fifteen minutes, so this was nothing. She grew antsy—an attacker at heart.

“Have you always been this hot?” she said in a low, sexy voice.

“Not really. I’d say maybe for the last six months.” I maintained my glare. She pursed her lips so she wouldn’t laugh. I totally checked her out. “When did you stop being such an awkward tomboy?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Maybe six months ago.”

That got her going. She tried to knee me in the balls. Her own boyfriend. Shameless, and yet a smart move. I jumped back to dodge the blow, and she landed a punch to my face. My girlfriend hit me, and I was proud of her.

“Sorry!” she cried.

I laughed. “Don’t be sorry. That was excellent.” I bent down into a traditional karate stance for kicks. “Keep it up.”

She smiled and charged. Amy put up her best fight yet. Either she was starting to figure me out, or I was too distracted by her to focus. As I blocked a blow to my knee, I caught the look in her eye. Total animal. She went for my head again, staring me down. She went on pure instinct. She fought from her gut, from her soul.

I ducked out of the way and then jumped to avoid getting tripped. I flipped backward to kick her, but she dodged. She did a flawless job of covering any hold I could get. I grabbed her around the torso; she used her momentum to rip my arms off. I locked her arms behind her back; she twisted out of it.

We kept going. I stopped thinking about the moves altogether as I watched her. It was like a silent conversation: her attack a question, my defense a reply. I was entranced, at least until I saw the opening.

I pounced on it like a fox, tripping her. Finally, she was on the ground and I pinned her fast. She glared at me, genuinely angered that she’d lost the fight. Her chest heaved up and down as she caught her breath. And then her eyes glinted. She’d hatched a plan. I don’t know how she did it, but she got her legs free. Wrapping them around me, she pinned me in the same hold from her first day of training. Her heels dug into my spine, and she leaned in close to my face.

“Hmm, how did you get out of this one again?” Everything about her screamed smugness, and yet she was so sexy it hurt. She’d beaten me, she really had. Freaking her out with a kiss wouldn’t work this time. In fact, I was sure she wanted me to kiss her.

So I did.

She released her hold and grabbed my neck. It was
incredible
. I didn’t know if we were doing it right or not, but it didn’t matter. Her lips felt charged, every kiss like a shock to my system.

Zing, zing, zing.

I felt warm, and my eardrums vibrated with a strange sound that seemed familiar. Amy kept kissing me. I had my hands on her back, crushing her to me. I couldn’t get her close enough. It felt like we should have melted together.