I wasn’t really the type for long goodbyes, but I made sure to give everyone I had met while here at least a word before I left. Lee actually hunted me down the next morning before I could leave and thanked me profusely for what I had done. It was the first time we had really talked after everything had happened, and I found him quite easy to get along with.

Naruto was as energetic as ever and made me promise to drop by Konoha sometime in the future. Sakura wanted me to do something similar, but for different reasons, primarily to show Tsunade my bizarre technique, I told her I would think about it. I had no intention of displaying any weird techniques to the Hokage unless I was getting something out of it, especially while Danzo was still hanging around. I had already given Yuna a long goodbye yesterday, so all that was left was to find out where on this boat I would be sleeping.

I found Karenbana at the docks talking to one of the ship’s crew. Her knee was still bandaged, and she was still limping. She looked pretty annoyed with whatever the man was telling her, but he had an expression on his face like he couldn’t do anything about it. Karenbana didn’t look like she was about to kill anybody so I chanced going over.

“Hey,” I chirped, “Kakeru said I was getting a free ride back to the mainland, can you help a man out?”

Karenbana stared at me with large pink eyes. I noted distantly that she was ludicrously short, like under five-foot short, really, really short. How embarrassing, I wonder if she’d ever figure out the mystery of what was on the top shelf?

I knew what was up there.

“Yes, Sora-san, correct? I’ve received word of you already.” The man said simply, “Please feel free to board at your leisure. We leave in an hour.”

I nodded in thanks.

“Come on, then, let’s get off this island,” I said cheerfully and bravely put my hand on the ninja's shoulder.

Karenbana let me keep my arm as I turned her towards the ship, and the shipping-guy made a strangled noise in his throat but didn’t make any move to stop either of us as we slowly made our way onto the ship. I let go of her shoulder immediately after she had turned around, just in case.

“I’m glad you didn’t chop my hand off,” I said honestly, “That would have been super awkward.”

Karenbana didn’t say anything; she just silently followed me onto the ship. I refrained from needling her, more out of self-preservation than anything. This was my last good deed, Kakeru. I’ll get her off your island, buddy.

I looked around the ship for a moment, it was as big as a cruise liner, not that I’d ever been on one and made mostly of metal. I had absolutely no idea where I was supposed to go, but I was assuming that I must have had a room to sleep in at least, so I just looked for the nearest guy that looked like he worked here.

“Hey, buddy, I’m Sora.” I said smoothly, “Where am I staying while I’m on this thing?”

The man, Satou, judging by the name floating about his head, smiled pleasantly.

“Yes, yes, of course.” Satou said happily, “I’ve heard of you. We have a room prepared, please follow me.”

He’d heard of me, how about that, was I famous? Fuck yeah.

Satou led me down into the ship, and I awkwardly noted that Karenbana was still following me. I got you onto the ship, what more did you want from me? Go, do your ninja thing and hide somewhere!

We eventually ended up in front of a small door that in turn, led to a rather small but comfortable looking room. I honestly expected worse considering this was a cargo ship. There was a bed, a small circular window with a view of the ocean, and that was about it.

What more could a man ask for? A second window? Fuck off.

Satou rattled off directions to the nearest bathroom, the eating hall, and several other locations on the ship. He also said that the area containing cargo was off-limits, no idea why he told me that I had no intention of going anywhere near the shipments.

Then he left me with Karenbana.

“Hey,” I said awkwardly, “What’s your name anyway?”

Karenbana stared at me silently for almost ten seconds before pushing past me into the small room. I turned around slowly to find her sitting in the corner of the room on the floor with her arms crossed and the little bag by her side. I stared at her, but she didn’t say anything.

How rude.

I stepped into the room and shut the door before flopping down onto the small bed. It wasn’t as comfortable as the bed in the castle, but it was still infinitely better than laying on the dirt and sand in the forest.

We sat in silence for almost half an hour before I finally cracked.

“Hey, why haven’t you tried to kill me yet?” I said curiously.

That seemed to get a reaction.

“Why didn’t you tell them I was on the balcony?” Karenbana said quietly, “You knew I was there.”

I had just killed someone, and I didn’t feel like immediately being responsible for another person’s death. I didn’t say any of that; instead, I just shrugged.

“I’d say sorry for shooting you in the knee,” I offered, “but I thought you were about to kill pinkie.”

Karenbana scrunched up her brow at the comment.

“Why did you aim for the knee?” Karenbana said, annoyed, “This is going to be a pain in the ass to get fixed.”

“I was aiming for your ankle actually, you just moved,” I said cheekily.

“Idiot.” Karenbana murmured darkly.

“No, you,” I said immediately.

Karenbana scoffed, and then we fell into another uncomfortable silence, but I quickly grew impatient, fine, let’s clear the air a bit.

“Sorry about your teammates,” I said honestly. “They seemed like real stand up guys.”

I honestly wished we could have done the entire thing without killing them, Karenbana scoffed.

“Want me to fix it for you?” I said curiously, but she didn’t reply. “Your knee, not your teammates, they are super dead.”

It was pushing the line, but she was pretty stubborn, almost a minute went by before she spoke again.

“You’re the one that reversed the petrification on the king,” Karenbana said quietly.

“Guilty,” I admitted. “Offers still on the table.”

I wiggled my fingers at her to lighten the atmosphere a bit, but it had the opposite effect.

Karenbana shot up in blinding speed and forced my hand away from her roughly. I stared at her in confusion for a moment, before realizing that she had seen me use Line Spear on Shabadaba. Oh, and he had also shot her in the knee that one time.

“I wasn’t going to shoot you again,” I said dryly. “I could have done that the other day, or even while you were arguing with that guy before.”

Karenbana’s grip tightened for a second before she let go.

“Fix my knee,” Karenbana said quietly.

I wagged my finger in her general direction but made sure not to point it at her, and she narrowed her eyes.

“What’s your name?” I asked again.

I really didn’t want to accidentally call her by her name before she had actually given it to me.

“Karenbana,” Karenbana said tightly. “Fix my knee.”

I patted the bed by my feet, and after a moment of tense silence, she slowly sat down, but her eyes were locked onto my hands.

“The technique is bright green, don’t freak out,” I said dryly.

I slowly reached out and used Heal and watched as her health quickly rise back to full. Karenbana turned to stare down at her knee for a moment before unwrapping the bandages, but the skin was completely unmarked, she pulled the collar of her shirt forward as well.

I flopped back on the bed, hoping she didn’t decide to stab me or something now that she was better, but she just remained on the edge of the bed quietly.

“What are you going to do now?” I asked thoughtfully.

“I don’t know.” Karenbana huffed.

“Karenbana,” I drew the name out slowly and received a narrowed eyed stare. “How much do you guys usually charge for a long-term bodyguard mission?”

“Define long-term,” Karenbana said quietly.

“What is this, answer a question with a question day?” I said wryly, “Six months?”

Karenbana frowned, was that a really long time for a mission? What was the usual mission length for the bigger ones? A month or two? Six shouldn’t be that strange.

“Guard against what kind of opposition?” Karenbana asked evenly.

Hm, bandits might try and gank me, but I think I could handle them. It was any encounters with ninja that I was worried about, but I wasn’t exactly seeking out fights with them, not yet at least. I don’t know what Mount Koryū was like in this world though, either the dragons, the red-haired girl, and her crazy brother were alive, and I might have to fight them, or they might not be, and I wouldn’t.

The quest had revealed that the Dragonblade did actually exist here, or at least I was taking it as proof that it did. I mean, the mountain existed, and there was apparently a story about dragons involved because Kakeru had immediately known what I was referring too.

“I’m not seeking out any fights with ninjas, not yet at least,” I said thoughtfully, “But if I do get attacked by one, I would certainly like my bodyguard to actually save me from them and not stand back because I underpaid them.”

Karenbana just watched me silently.

“Assume ninja will appear at some point and you will have to beat them up, what’s a full team worth for that type of mission?” I asked curiously.

“Two-hundred-thousand Ryo for a three-man team per two months,” Karenbana said quietly.

How much was that in moon dollars?

I silently opened my inventory and activated the money icon to select the amount in Ryo before switching currency. Just under two thousand moon dollars per two months, or one-thousand moon dollars monthly, that seemed cheap as hell for one supernatural bodyguard, let alone three of them.

“Karenbana, be my ninja-butler-slash-bodyguard-slash-sparring-partner for one-hundred-thousand a month until I run out of money.” I offered “Deal?”

Silence.

“Deal,” Karenbana said quietly.

Nice.

“Karenbana?” I asked curiously. “Why are you so fucking short, though?”

Karenbana stared at me with dangerous eyes.

“What exactly are you trying to say?” Karenbana said darkly.

Two days of being stuck together for long periods had done wonders for our growing friendship. Actually, if I’m being honest, it just allowed me plenty of time to find all the buttons that I wasn’t supposed to be pressing.

“You're like in your twenties or something, but you’re still under five-foot.” I said, amazed, “It is remarkable.”

“Lots of people are short,” Karenbana said, annoyed. “and I’m twenty-two.”

“Hey, I’m twenty-two as well.” I shrugged, “But I’m not fun-sized.”

Karenbana narrowed her eyes at me.

“What the hell does fun-sized mean?” Karenbana demanded.

I wasn’t explaining that one, I enjoyed remaining in one piece.

“It's two weeks until we make land at Sakai,” Karenbana said suspiciously. “But you still haven’t told me where we are going after that.”

I had already planned out the journey back with Kakeru, well, a rough outline of it, at least.

“You ever heard of Mount Koryū?” I asked curiously.

Karenbana scrunched up her face in thought before shaking her head.

“It’s in the Land of the Mountains,” I said smoothly, before raising an eyebrow at her. “Know where that is?”

“That’s on the other side of the continent, near the Land of Iron,” Karenbana said quietly. “We would need to cross Wind country first, then Birds? Vegetables?”

“Land of Vegetables, I want to make sure we stick right on the outskirts of the Land of Demons after that, and Bird Country would mean more travel time overall,” I said easily.

That’s what Kakeru had told me anyway when I said I didn’t want to go through the middle of a place with fucking ‘demon’ in its name, that’s where that shadowy bastard was.

Karenbana pressed a finger into her cheek, thoughtfully.

“If we’re avoiding the Land of Demons, that means we are going through the Land of Neck?” Karenbana guessed, and I nodded.

“Then the Land of Woods is the last country before we get to the Land of the Mountains,” I said easily. “That’s pretty much the plan anyway.”

We fell into a small silence before she spoke up again, there wasn’t much else to do besides talk, after all, she had long since moved from the floor onto the end of the bed. The metal floor of the ship kind of sucked, and it was cold too.

“Why do you want to go to Mount Koryū?” Karenbana said curiously, plucking at the sheet between her toes.

I watched her wiggle them around for a moment while wondering how much I should tell her. If I told her nothing, she would probably resent me, and if I lied, she would be pretty pissed off when she figured it out later. It’s not like she could even go into the mountain herself, because of the chakra draining effect.

“Why are you staring at my feet?” Karenbana asked with a smirk. “Idiot.”

I blinked before glancing up at her face.

“I’d tell you what I was thinking about, but I’d need to see your ID first,” I said dryly. “You look a little young, missy.”

Karenbana narrowed her eyes at me dangerously.

“I am twenty-two!” Karenbana said darkly.

I ignored the comment because I knew it would piss her off.

“There’s a legendary sword hidden in Mount Koryū,” I said smoothly, “I intend to acquire it before I start my ass-kicking conquest across the land.”

Karenbana stared at me with wide eyes.

“A legendary sword?” Karenbana said intently, “What is it called?”

I smirked at how curious she was. I was going to make her work for it.

“I’ll answer your questions,” I said slowly, before pointing at her hair. “When you tell me what you did with the real Karenbana!”

I shouted the last part dramatically, and she just stared at me.

“What?” Karenbana said, confused.

“Did you think you could trick me?! Take off that wig this instant! It looks stupid!” I demanded, “It’s not even real hair!”

“No.” Karenbana pouted.

“Take it off, or I’ll never tell you about the amazing magical sword that can do all of the things!” I teased.

“Fuck off,” Karenbana said immediately.

I crossed my arms and leaned back against the bedhead, and this time it was Karenbana that cracked first.

“Fine!” Karenbana said darkly, “If you laugh, I’m going to throw you off the ship.”

I mimed zipping my mouth shut, and Karenbana tugged the wig off without fanfare. It was just a couple of inches of brown hair, cut close to her head, how disappointing.

“Lame, I thought you were going to be bald or have an eagles nest or something else hilarious.” I pouted.

“Idiot.” Karenbana muttered.

I noted that she made no move to put her wig back on, though. Brown hair pink eyes; it was a strange combination, mostly because pink eyes didn’t exist wherever I had come from.

“Well?” Karenbana demanded.

I tilted my head at her and shrugged.

“It looks fine to me. I suppose it would look pretty if you grew it out, though,” I said easily.

“Idiot!” Karenbana said, cheeks red. “I’m not talking about my hair, tell me about the sword.”

I blinked in surprise.

“Oh,” I said sheepishly, “It’s called the Dragonblade, it can do a bunch of things.”

Uh, what did it do again? It had been a long time since I’d played the game.

“It's super sharp, and it can cut through chakra and uh, absorb it? Oh! It allows you to use all five elements.” I rattled off from memory, “Although it’s a pretty small blade if I recall, about as long as your arm maybe?”

Karenbana just stared with wide eyes.

“How the hell do you know about this?” Karenbana said intently, “Why haven’t any of the hidden villages recovered it yet?”

I shrugged.

“There’s this bizarre effect around the mountain that drains all chakra,” I explained, “They wouldn’t be able to get close to it before passing out from chakra exhaustion or some nonsense like that.”

“How do we get it then, if you hadn’t realized we both have chakra,” Karenbana said frowning.

“You might have chakra,” I said smoothly, “But I most certainly do not.”

“Of course you do,” Karenbana said strangely, “I’ve seen you use multiple techniques, you used medical ninjutsu on me two days ago.”

“Nah, that’s a different form of energy, besides I’m not even a ninja. I don’t have any chakra at all,” I said honestly, “Not even a teeny-tiny little Karenbana sized bit.”

Karenbana didn’t appreciate the comment and punched me in the arm.

“Ow.” I pouted.

She didn’t have to hit me that hard.

“Fine, you think you can withstand the chakra draining effect,” Karenbana said seriously, “I can’t say the same for myself.”

I shrugged.

“How long is it going to take us to get there anyway? Six months? More if we stop to do some training along the way.” I said easily, “I’ll almost be out of money by then, and you’ll be six-hundred-thousand Ryo richer, you’ll be able to retire or something if you don’t feel like waiting for me to come back from Mount Koryū.”

Karenbana frowned, and we fell into another silence.

“What do you plan to do once you have the Dragonblade?” Karenbana asked quietly.

“I have a very specific list of people's asses that need to be kicked in a very specific order.” I said carefully, “I’m going to travel around and do that.”

Karenbana looked curious at my sudden vague answer.

“You’ll tell me about this priceless legendary sword, and where it's hidden,” Karenbana said intently, “But you won’t tell me who you’re going after? That is very strange.”

I just shrugged.

“It's super important. It’s not really the kind of thing you can tell a woman on the first date,” I said cheekily, “Not even one as cute as you.”

Her cheeks went red again, and I patted myself on the back for a job well done.

“Well, I just told you all of my secrets,” I said smoothly, “Tell me some of yours, ninja girl.”

Karenbana sat back against the wall again and tucked her chin into her knees.

“Like what?” Karenbana murmured.

Hm.

“Where are you from? How’d you end up becoming a ninja? What type of ninja are you?” I suggested, “Stuff like that, we are going to be working together for a while, we may as well get to know each other.”

“I was born in the Land of Flowers,” Karenbana said evenly, “It’s near the Land of Earth.”

I’m glad she elaborated because I had absolutely no fucking idea about any flower place.

“When I was, uh, nine?” Karenbana sounded unsure, “The Uemon Clan recruited me.”

Karenbana didn’t elaborate on that part and judging by how her summary said “forcibly recruited at a young age” it probably wasn’t pleasant.

“I trained when I was told, I went on missions when I was told, I fought when I was told.” Karenbana shrugged, “Most of them were bastards, but there were few good ones.”

It was interesting to see her talk about it, almost like she had distanced herself from any attachment in some way, or perhaps she’d never really had one in the first place.

“The Uemon Clan had made a few enemies over the years, and they ended up being wiped out while we were out on a mission years ago.” Karenbana said, amused, “A survivor of one of the recruitment missions hired one of the big five to take them down; that’s what we thought at the time anyway.”

A nail that’s sticking up gets hammered down.

“Ishidate, Kongo, and I were the last ones left, so we stuck together.” Karenbana said simply, “Ishidate was a complete piece of shit, but Kongo was alright when he wasn’t is one of his moods.”

Not a fan of Ishidate, huh? He had sounded pretty intimidating when he ganked us in the forest and took Michiru. It made me wonder why the three had taken on such a high-profile mission in the first place, three non-sponsored ninjas assassinating a King?

“Ishidate was a piece of shit, Kongo was alright sometimes,” I said thoughtfully, “What was Karenbana like?”

“Angry,” Karenbana said quietly. “Lonely.”

I thought I could understand a little, not about the ninja nonsense, but the loneliness. I’d never been one to make friends easily; my personality came off as pretty abrasive to most people. Kakeru was an exception in that regard. I think he was just secretly happy that someone had the audacity to talk to him like he was an actual human being, that and the whole petrification thing probably gave me some leeway.

“Well, it’s you and me now, buddy.” I said quietly, “We can be lonely together.”