Being a Ninja

The key to unlock

Mara's POV

I'm still crying but the funny thing is, since you're underwater, no one can see that you're crying. I hold my tail next to me and get my head over it. I keep crying until I feel one gentle hand touch my shoulder.

"There, there, sweetheart... Everything will be alright..."A gentle voice says

"No it's not! You don't know anything!" I say, still crying with my head on my tail

"I know more than you think" The voice says

*Wait a minute!* I think and get my head up to see who's talking.

It's her. It's Goddess Oryna.

"But... It's impossible! You're dead!" I say

"I am. And that's why you are the only one who can see me" She says

"The only one...?"

"Yes. I am here to help you with the prophecy. It led you here, but it still doesn't tell you how you are going to fulfill it" She says

"And you're here to tell me what to do next" I say

"Yes"

"Well, I'm tired of it! My whole life was guided by that prophecy of yours and now you want to tell me what to do?! Ha! I'm sick of it!" I say, getting up

"I know this whole situation hasn't been fair to you, but it will change once the last beast disappears" She says

"How much will it change?" I ask

"Well, you are still going to keep my heart with you, as well as my powers, but you will be free to do wherever you want with your future. There won't be any destiny waiting for you related with this village"

"What about the powers?"

"I won't lie to you. They will change your life a little, but you can choose whether to use them or not. When this is over, you will be able to follow your own destiny"

"Ok. So how can I fulfill this prophecy?" I give in

Oryna smiles.

"You just need to use your powers to defeat the beast" Oryna says

"But I don't know how to control my powers!"

"Use your heart. Not mine, but yours. It will help" Oryna says

"What do you mean by that?"

"You will have to find out by yourself. You will be my key to unlock the door to my dear Yuka"

"You can't see him? But why?"

"Because of my sacrifice. I am not a soul like the other ones. So I can't stay with them. But once you destroy the beast, I will be free at last and I will owe you my gratitude" Oryna says

I smile.

"Then I will fulfill the prophecy! Just so you and Yuka can be together again" I say, placing a hand on my heart.

Oryna smiles and puts a hand on my cheek, looking into my eyes deeply.

"I wish you good luck, my dear" She says and starts vanishing, vanishing completely with a small blow of light.

I start swimming back to the village.

Once I get there, I push Garu's house door and everyone inside looks immediately at me. I hold my arm behind my back and put in an innocent smile.

"Where tha shell have ya been?!" Cain starts

"Let's not make questions today" Soren says

"Yeah, you are all very tired and you need to rest" Garu says

"I already got some beds for you to sleep in" Claire says holding Lara on her arms, being fast asleep.

Garu and Claire say Good Night and go to their rooms, leaving me and the guys alone in the living room. There are some places where we could sleep in. I sit up on my "bed" and look up at the guys. They too are getting ready to sleep.

"Look, guys. I want to say sorry for exploding like that and for running away... I hope I didn't get you worried" I say, with my head down

"It's ok, Mara. We know how hard this is being for you" Luc says

"Yeah, you don't need to say sorry! It's not your fault!" Miclair says

"We understand you wanted to stay alone for some time" Soren says

"Ya! An’ why should we worry with such a pipsqueak like ya?!" Cain says, smirking

"Ha Ha!" I say, sarcastically, but smile. They are all trying to cheer me up.

"Good night, guys" I say and roll over in my "bed"

"Good night, Mara!" They say

After a few hours of rolling over, I realize that I can't fall asleep. Maybe it’s because of being underwater, or maybe it is because I'm still thinking of what Oryna said. Use my heart. What the hell does that mean?!

I roll over again and almost scream with scare. Miclair is right in front of me and he scared the hell outta me!

"Miclair! You scared me!" I say in a low voice

"Sorry. It's just that you were just rolling over and I was getting worried. Thought you could have had a bad dream. After all this and everything..." Miclair says

"Oh... I'm fine, Miclair. I just can't get to sleep, that's all. Sorry to wake you up" I say

"You didn't wake me! I can't get to sleep neither" He says

"Guess we're on the same situation here" I say, looking up

"Hey, Mara... Um... I was wondering if... ah... um..." He starts

"If you could sleep with me? Ok" I say, smiling at him

He cheers and lies down next to me. I get closer to him and place my hands on his chest. He places his arms around me, pulling me closer. It feels so good to be like that, on his arms. I feel safe.

Miclair falls asleep quickly and I start to feel sleepy myself. As I fall asleep, I realize how my heart feels so happy when I'm with Miclair...

Use my heart! That's what she meant! My love for Miclair!

Besides the sudden excitement, I'm still tired and I drift off to sleep, still on Miclair's arms.

**********************************************************************

"How that hell did ya got there, Miclair?!" A voice says

I slowly open my eyes and notice I'm still on Miclair's arms and the guys are looking at us with a smirk on their faces. We both blush and get up from bed really fast.

The guys all smirk and laugh. Suddenly, there's an earthquake. Garu and Claire come swimming into the living room.

"What's going on?!" Garu asks

A sleepy Lara comes from a room and Claire grabs her and holds her tight. The earthquake gets worse and we hear a huge roar.

We get out of the house to see a terrible thing to be seen: The huge beast found the hidden village and it is destroying it with all its strength.

"We have to do something!" Soren says and starts fighting the beast.

All the others follow him. Claire hides herself with Lara behind a rock and Garu grabs a spear. I just stand there looking to that awful scene.

*This is not gonna work!* I think

But then the beast hits Miclair, throwing him against a rock.

"Miclair!!!!" I swim fast to him

He is very wounded and unconscious. I look back at the beast, with anger in my eyes, which start to turn white.

"You guys better get outta here! And take Miclair with you!" I say, starting to glow a bright white.

They all look at me, eyes wide open, but they all hide behind the rock where Claire and Lara are and Cain takes Miclair with him.

I look into the eyes of the beast.

There's a sound like a heartbeat and then a huge blow of light spreads from me.

Everything turns blank, both for me and for the others, and when they can see again, I'm gone.

*Dream*

I slowly get up to my feet as I feel my body again. I'm human again. I look around and everything around me is black. There's nothing and no one around, not a single sound. I start to panic.

"Hello! Is anyone there!?" I scream

Nothing.

"Hello!!!"

But no answer is heard. I fall to my knees and start crying. It happened to me the same thing that happened to Oryna.

"Use your heart" A far away voice says

I look up

"Use your heart, Mara" It's Oryna's voice

"But I don't know how!" I say, still crying

"Just follow your heart. It will show you the way" Oryna's voice says and starts vanishing

"Wait! Wait!" I shout, but she's already gone.

I look around again. This time, I find something lying on the floor, not far away from me. I get up and run to it. As I get there, I fall onto my knees again.

It's Miclair, and he’s still unconscious.

I get closer to him and lay my head on his chest, crying.

"I'm sorry, Miclair. I'm sorry. It's my entire fault. I love you" I say, crying on his chest.

Then, I get my head up from his chest and kiss him gently on the lips.

A light appears from both our hearts and everything turns blank again.

Cain's POV

I hold onto Miclair as the light starts disappearing. He is still unconscious. We all look up the rock and both Mara and the beast just vanished. There is no sight of them.

"It happened... The same happened as many years ago. Both the Pure One and the beast disappear after a huge blow of light" Garu says

There's a sudden c***k and Garu's necklace breaks.

"That means the prophecy is fulfilled" Garu says, sadly

"But Mara can't have disappeared like that, can she?..." Luc says

"Unfortunately, she can..." Garu says

We all start crying. I look at Miclair again and he is still unconscious. How will he react when he finds out Mara's gone?

I let him rest on a rock and get to the other villagers who are preparing a tribute to Mara. As I turn my back at him, a light appears from behind me. When I turn around again, I find Mara kissing Miclair, still lying on the rock.

I get in complete shock. Mara breaks the kiss and Miclair starts waking up. They smile at each other with love in their eyes.

"What tha hell is goin' on here?!?!" I shout.

The others stop what they’re doing and look back as well, seeing Mara and Miclair together.

"Y-you’re alive!" Garu says, cheering

"Yes, Garu, I'm back. Miclair here saved me" Mara says, smiling

"Really? Well, I don't remember doing anything!" Miclair says, getting up.

"Of course you don't! You were sleeping like a rock!" Mara says

"No I wasn't! I was unconscious! And you should be more careful, my head still hurts a lot!" Miclair says

"Yeah sure, Mr. Weenie!" Mara says

We all look at them fighting, confused and relieved at the same time, but they still owe us an explanation! I'm still not getting anything at all!

Mara's POV

Me and Miclair are still arguing, when a light appears, making us stop. We all look at the light and Oryna appears alongside Yuka.

"Thank you" She says and Yuka smiles

"You’re welcome!" I say brightly

The couple hug each other and start disappearing. They completely vanish with a small blow of light.

All the villagers that are left start searching the remains of the village, looking for things to build a new village.

"You can go, now. We will be eternally grateful to you all. Thank you" Garu says

"You're welcome! But what about your village? It's completely destroyed!" I say

"We will build a new one. Better and bigger! Now we don't have to worry about monsters anymore" Garu says, smiling

"We are very grateful to you" Claire says

"Will you come back?" Lara asks, making puppy dog eyes

"I don't know, Lara, but I'll always remember you and you will always be my little mermaid!" I say to her

She chuckles and hugs me. I hug her back.

"But... How do I become human again?" I ask and then everyone looks at me, like they haven't thought of that before.

"The necklace gave you the power to become a mermaid every time you touch the water. Once you come out of the water, you become human again" Garu says

"Oh! And how am I suppose to take a bath if I transform into a mermaid when I touch water!?" I ask

"It only works with salt water" Garu says, kinda amused.

"Ooooooohhhhhh!" I exclaim

"We should go. Master Itsuki must be worried" Soren says

I nod and the guys say goodbye from Lara, Claire and Garu and we all swim back to the surface. We swim to the port where that flash of light hit me before.

Like Garu said, as soon as I get out of water, I transform back, being covered in some kind of light, and when the light is gone, I’m human again. I sigh in relief for having my own legs back.

"Boy, I missed these!" I say

The guys laugh and we all walk back to the sewers and into the island. It is very dark inside the house and it gets hard to see.

"Where's Master Itsuki?" Luc's voice says, from behind me

"I'm right here, my sons" A voice says and the lights turn on

Master Itsuki is in front of us, with a not very pleasant face.

"Where have you been? You should have told me you were going out for this long!" Master Itsuki says

"We know, Master Itsuki, but unexpected things happened. But we also have good news" I say

Master Itsuki tells us to sit on the floor and to tell him the whole story. We tell him everything we can remember. The prophecy, Goddess Oryna and Yuka, Garu, Lara and Claire, the village, the big beast... When we finish, Master Itsuki taps his chin and seems to be in deep thoughts

"So you already know about the origins of the "key"" He says

I nod.

"Then you should start learning of how to control your powers, now that you know where they came from" Master Itsuki says

"But... How can I learn it? Who will teach me?" I ask and then Master Itsuki answers:

"The Council"