The Ninja and The Samurai (X-Men)

A Wolverine Love story.

Chapter 1: Fire

Astriea Clark sat on the windowsill in her room after taking the screen out. It overlooked an ally way below the apartment building that her family owned. She could see her mother throwing away some trash in the large dumpster. Her long, black hair was pulled up into a pony tail and her dark brown eyes were looking in front of her. Astriea could see her mother’s slim shape and how short her mother was. She had to reach to get the dumpster all the way opened. Mrs. Clark turned and saw Astriea sitting half out her window. “Riea,” Mrs. Clark called up, using Astriea’s nickname. Astriea looked at her mother and sighed.

“I’m fine, Mom,” Riea yelled down.

“Astriea Bailey Clark, You get down from there this instant,” Mrs. Clark yelled up to her fifteen year old daughter.

“Whatever,” Riea mumbled as she sat down on her bed. Riea didn’t understand why she couldn’t sit on her windowsill. It didn’t matter if she fell; Riea was fast enough to grab the windowsill. Even if she wasn’t, the dumpster was opened below. She knew just how to fall so she wouldn’t be seriously injured. She was, after all, a ninja.

Riea’s father was a ninjutsu master. A true master, unlike most who clam mastery over this difficult martial art. Mr. Clark was currently training his daughter this difficult art. He owned a small dojo where he taught Tai Kwan Do and trained himself and Riea. He had told her that soon she wouldn’t need a master and that she would be able to train herself until she became a true master. She only had a couple more years to go.

Riea smiled at the thought of becoming a master. It’s what she’s always dreamed of. Mrs. Clark wasn’t as enthusiastic as her husband about their daughter becoming a ninja. Mrs. Clark had always been slightly overprotective of her only child and it took immense amounts of persuasion for her to even think about letting Riea become a ninja. Riea had always hoped that Mrs. Clark would lighten up when Riea started to quickly rise up the ranks, but to her displeasure, Mrs. Clark became even more protective, not even wanting to see when Riea finally got real weapons to work with.

Riea turned and looked at the few things that Mrs. Clark did approve of. Getting up, Riea walked over to her two violins, one acoustic; the other electric that were leaning against her bookshelf in their cases. The electric had seven strings, so she could play the parts of many different instruments. She ran her hand over the various pedals that were sitting next to the violins that allowed her electric violin to achieve the desired sound she wanted. She looked at all the different books she had. All kinds of genre, authors, titles, colors, and thicknesses filled the tall bookshelf, except for the bottom shelf that was stuffed with binders and sketch books. The binders held copies of her writings and the sketch books were filled cover to cover with drawings and doodles.

Turning once again, Riea went to her rack of weapons. A multitude of swords, daggers, a couple sets of nunchuku, two Bo Staffs, three kusarigamas, four spike balls and chains, and a bunch of small throwing objects, such as kunai and shuriken sat upon it. She even owned a battle ax and some spears. She was planning on getting more weapons as she mastered them, but she knew the true weapon was herself, according to her dad.

Riea was snapped out of her thoughts by her dad’s voice. “Riea,” Mr. Clark called.

“Coming,” Riea yelled down. Mr. Clark’s bright green eyes and soft smile greeted Riea as she came down the steps. She took in his dark brown hair that was graying above his ears. He was muscular and fit for his age. “Yeah?” she asked.

“We need milk,” was all Mr. Clark said as he handed his daughter ten dollars. “Oh, and see if Mr. Kingston and his son will come over for dinner tonight at six,” he added. Riea nodded and left for the store. She walked down the street, careful not to bump into anyone. All too soon, she was at the small, family owned grocery store that was only two blocks down from Mr. Clark’s Tai Kwan Do studio. She walked into the brightly lit store, causing the bells on top of the door to jingle. The boy at the register with brown, shaggy hair looked up from his book, titled Marked, and smiled at Riea.

“Hey, Riea,” Zach called. Zach was a student at Mr. Clark’s studio also Riea’s best friend.

“Slow day?” Riea asked. She adjusted her studded belt that helped hold up her tight black skinny jeans and pulled down her black button up shirt with a loose red tie and leaned on the counter a bit.

“Yeah, you’re my first costumer in two hours.”

“Your dad here?”

“In the back,” he replied. “Why?” Riea shrugged.

“My dad wants to know if you and your parents will come over tonight for dinner.” Zach smiled.

“Cool,” he said. “Maybe this time I’ll win when we spar.” Riea laughed.

“Yeah, and maybe I’ll win the beauty pageant this year,” she replied sarcastically.

“You might, if you actually join.” Zach started to chew on the cap of his blue pen, a bad habit he had.

“There is no way in hell that I’m gonna join a show where girls prance around on stage like trained stage horses,” Riea said, forcefully. Zach laughed.

“Trained stage horses, that’s a new one,” he said.

“Well, how else would you explain the way they act on stage?” she asked. Zach looked at her and he could tell she was dead serious. He laughed. Just then, Zach saw his father come up behind him.

“Ms. Clark, to what do we owe the pleasure?” Mr. Kingston asked.

“Milk and an invitation to dinner,” she said.

“Well, you know where the milk is and we would be delighted to come over for dinner. What time?” he asked.

“Six,” Riea answered. She looked at the clock and it said five forty-five.

“Sounds good. Get your milk and then we’ll close up and walk back with you,” Mr. Kingston answered.

“I can always help lock up,” she offered as she walked over to the milk and grabbed a gallon. She walked back to the counter and handed Zach the money.

“We couldn’t ask you to do that,” Mr. Kingston said. Riea shrugged.

“You aren’t,” she said. “I’m offering. Besides, Zach helps me close up the studio, so I kinda owe him.” Mr. Kingston sighed.

“Alright, Riea, you can help Zach lock up,” he said. Riea smiled and took the change form Zach that he held out to her. She went over to the door while slipping the change into her pocket and flipped the sign to “Closed.” After everything was locked up, Riea followed Zach and Mr. Kingston out of the store the back way. She walked with Zach, talking and laughing with her best friend the entire way, That is, until she saw the smoke coming from her apartment building.

“Mom, Dad,” she said softly. She quickly pushed her way though the crowd and was stopped by an officer.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am, but you can’t come though here,” he said.

“That’s my house,” she shouted at them. “My parent’s might be in there.” One of the firefighters came over.

“Let her through,” he said. “If that’s her house, she’s got clearance.” The officer stepped aside and let her though. She ran to the fire chief.

“Sir, did you find my parents?” she asked, her voice filled with panic. He turned to her.

“We found them,” he said. Relief filled Riea. “But, I’m afraid we were too late, miss.” Riea’s world came to a screeching halt. Falling to her knees, Riea let out a giant sob. She stayed there like that for hours, crying and refusing to move for anyone. Zach finally had to carry her back to his house.

Chapter 2- Police Station

Riea opened her eyes and looked around the room. It definitely wasn’t hers. It was Zach’s. She could clearly see his random band posters that covered his white walls and the guitars that lined his wall, resting on the ground. His bookshelf was full of mangas and comics and other books. She was lying in his bed, covered by his lime green comforter. Trying hard to remember why she was here, Riea sat up. Then memories from the night before came flooding back. The fire, her parents’ death, the walk to Zach’s house filled her mind and it was too much. Riea broke down and cried.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal Zach standing in the doorway. He was looking worriedly at his best friend. He came over and sat down on the bed, wrapping an arm around the sobbing girl’s shoulder. She curled into him and cried for a while. Pulling back, she wiped her eyes.

“The police said that you can come and get your stuff. The upstairs was untouched by the fire. Things just smell like smoke now, but that can be taken care of,” Zach said softly. Riea nodded and got up. Going into the bathroom, she fixed her hair and smoothed the skirt she was wearing.

“Will you come with me?” she asked, turning to Zach. Zach nodded.

“Sure,” he answered. He got up and escorted Riea down to the kitchen.

“There you are,” Mr. Kingston said. “How are you feeling, honey?”

“I would tell you that I’m doing well, but that would be a lie,” Riea said. “But I can say that I’m as well as to be expected”

Mr. Kingston nodded. “Do you want me to drive you and Zach down to the station?” he asked. She nodded. “Alright, grab something to eat and we’ll be on our way.”

The drive to the police station was quiet and uneventful with Riea looking out the window, watching New York pass her by. A few tears escaped, but for the most part, she kept her feelings locked within, not wanting to deal with them. Zach watched his friend with worried eyes. He could still clearly remember the walk home last night.

Mr. Kingston pulled up to the station and parked. “I’ll wait here,” he said. “You two go in. Zach, come and get me if you need me for anything.” Zach nodded and got out of the car along with Riea. Entering the station, they walked up to the desk.

“Can I help you?” the man behind the desk asked.

“Yeah, I’m Astriea Clark and I heard you guys have my stuff from the fire last night on 66th street,” Riea said.

“And how do you spell Astriea?” he asked.

“A-s-t-r-i-e-a,” Riea answered. The man typed on his computer and then clicked on something.

“Here you are,” he said. He handed Riea a clipboard. “Just fill out these forms. I’m afraid that only the things in your upstairs bathroom and bedroom were found. Everything else was too charred to be recovered.” Riea gave a nod and quickly filled out the paper work. She handed him the clipboard when she was finished.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll have some one bring your stuff up front.” After paging for someone, three cops came up. One had two large garbage bags full of stuff in his hands and the others had only one and one of her violins. “Oh, and I must be inclined to tell you that your weapons collection shall be in our custody until we have proof of purchase and your paper work for them,” the man behind the desk said.

Zach looked at the four bags. “Is that all?” he asked. “I’m sure she had more things.”

“There’s one more bag full of her pedals for her electric violin along with her binders and a couple purses,” the cop that was carrying her acoustic violin. “We also have all her furniture, which we will gladly turn over to her once she finds a place to live.”

“Well one of those purses might have my receipts for my weapons as well as my paper work for them,” Riea said. She took the bag and violin away from the cop and set them down as she waited for him to retrieve the bag. After he returned and a while of shifting through her stuff, she gathered all of her paper work. “Here is my driver’s license, my weapons license, the receipts for all my weapons, and my paper work on them.”

“Wonderful,” the man behind the desk said when she gave the stuff to him. He entered all the information and smiled when he handed her things back. “Everything checks out. We can give you the smaller items, like your swords and various daggers and the larger stuff, like your battle ax and spears will be returned to you with your furniture.”

“Thank you,” she said and waited as the cop once again left to retrieve her things. The cop came back carrying another garbage bag that had the handles of her swords sticking out. There was no doubt that her daggers and projectile were in the bag as well. Picking up her violin and the garbage bag, she led the cops and Zach out to the car. Mr. Kingston saw them coming and opened the trunk. Riea’s bags were placed into the trunk as well as into the back seat of the car. Riea and Zach then climbed in and Mr. Kingston started the car. “Mr. Kingston?” Riea asked.

“Yeah?” he answered.

“Can we stop by my old apartment?” Riea asked.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” Mr. Kingston asked. Riea nodded.

“I’m sure.” Mr. Kingston nodded and back out of his parking spot and went to Riea’s old apartment. Riea got out and told everyone to wait in the car for her. “I’ll only be a minute,” she said.

Getting out of the car, Riea walked through the front door and looked about her old home. The man at the station was right. Everything was burned out. But then something caught her attention amidst the ash. A bright read cloth was sticking out of a pile of ash where Riea remembered a blanket to be sitting. She went over and picked up the cloth and brushed some of the ash off to revile a kanji. Riea looked at the kanji and immediately recognized it. It belonged to her family’s rival, Kenji Kuran. Gripping the cloth tightly, Riea’s eyes narrowed. Stuffing the cloth into her boot, Riea got up and went out of the house, her face blank and got back into the car.

“You alright?” Zach asked as Riea got back in.

“Peachy,” Riea said. When Zach gave her a look she added, “I’m fine, really. I needed that.” Zach nodded. Riea was silent once again on the ride home going over everything in her mind. By the time Mr. Kingston turned off the car, there were three things she was sure of. One, the fire that killed her parents was not an accident. Two, Kenji Kuran was the one who ordered the attack. And three, she now had to go to Japan to avenge her parents’ death and restore honor to her family by taking the life of Kenji Kuran.