Being a Ninja

To the Farmhouse

Mara's POV

"Now, it's just you and me, punk!" I say.

Miclair seems terrified. All his brothers are gone and he is all alone to face me.

I create another thunder ball and throw it to him. He jumps and it fails him by an inch.

"You don't wanna do this!" He says.

"Oh yes I want!" I say and throw another thunder ball at him.

It fails again and I lose sight of Miclair.

"Oh Miclair! Come out!" I say.

Miclair appears from nowhere and jumps, trying to grab me. He fights to keep me still but I kick him really hard in his chest.

He falls to the ground, in pain.

"Now, let's finish this! Once and for all!" I say and create another thunder ball, reading myself to throw it to him.

*Pure Mara's Dream*

The green ropes are still grabbing me, keeping me deathly still. I don't even know if I'm conscious or not. I can't tell what's around me, because it's all black. At least the other Mara isn't here… But that only means she's hurting my friends... and Miclair...

A tear rolls from my closed eye down my cheek. I don't even know if he is still alive...

A bright light makes me close my eyes harder, but my curiosity makes me open them again.

It's the "key". The "key" is in front of me, floating, its light so pure, that it fills my heart. The green ropes start disintegrating and I get onto my feet.

Something weird happens. The wound in my heart starts healing itself. Now, I'm as good as new.

"It's time for you to fight for what you love" A voice says from the "key".

My katana appears in front of me and I grab it. I nod and run into the darkness. It's time to end this, once and for all!

I continue to run through the darkness. I find the evil Mara standing up ahead, holding a thunder ball ready to throw.

"Stop!!!" I scream.

She turns and sees me. Her jaw drops.

"How's it possible?-" She murmurs.

"It is possible!" I say and run to her, holding my katana.

She blocks it with her claws, which appeared out of nowhere. In here, the powers of the "key" don't work.

We keep fighting for a while.

She strikes me, but I dodge. Still, her claw hits my ponytail and releases my hair. I step back, breathing hard. I hold my katana hard and run forward.

My sword goes through her chest.

She starts falling, but before she hits the ground, she vanishes in an explosion of light.

I stay there, breathing hard and holding my katana, until the "key" appears floating. It continues flying forward, as if saying for me to follow it.

I run after it, leading to God knows where...

*End Pure Mara's Dream*

Miclair's POV (since a while ago)

Mara is ready to hit me with that ball. But suddenly, she looks back and her jaw drops.

"How's it possible?-" She murmurs.

Then, she seems to be blocking a sword with her claws and she starts fighting with the air!

I look at her, as if she had gone mad.

After a while, it looks like she's dying and a huge light spreads from her. I get up, protecting my eyes from the light.

Mara's hair releases itself and her face turns friendlier, like it was before she took the potion.

At that time, I know she’s changing back. She starts falling, slowly. I catch her, noticing she’s unconscious.

"Miclair... What happened to Mara?" Luc asks with a weak voice. He is holding to the wall.

"She came back to normal!" I say with a big smile.

"Then we should get out of here. Let's find the others" Luc says.

We walk back to where the others are. Soren and Cain are getting up, helped by Jack.

"What tha hell happened ta Mara?!" Cain asks.

"She's on our side now" I say.

"How can ya be so sure?!"

"I just know it!" I say.

"Enough! We have to get out of here!" Soren demands.

"And we can't go back home. The Destroyer already knows where it is!" Luc says.

"You can come to Amelia's! She won't mind" Jack says.

"Yeah! But Amelia's house is too little to all of us! And we need time to heal our wounds" Soren says.

"Then you can come to my grandma's farmhouse! It's cozy and it has lots of room. No one has lived there for years" Jack says.

"Ok then, but we have to warn Master Itsuki first" Soren says and takes his cell out.

"Hum.....Where does this thing turns on?" Master Itsuki's voice says.

"You already have it on, Master Itsuki…" Luc says.

"Oh!" Master Itsuki says.

"We came to some... problems. We are heading to Amelia's house. We need you to go there. The island is no longer safe" Soren says.

"Very well, I will go to Miss Amelia's house, but you won't get rid of the punishment for disobeying my orders!" Master Itsuki says.

Soren turns the cell off.

"Ok, let's go" Soren says and starts running as fast as he can with his wounds.

We get to Amelia's house. It's still night. We ring the bell and Amelia opens the door.

"Guys! You're hurt! What happened?! What's going on?!" She says.

"Long story!" Cain says and gets in.

We all get into the house. Soren starts explaining everything to Amelia. I put Mara on the couch. She is still unconscious, but now it looks like she's just asleep.

We get bandages on our wounds and wait for Master Itsuki. He arrives moments later with supplies for a whole month, including new clothes for Mara.

Now we just have to wait for Mara to wake up for us to leave...

Mara's POV

I moan and slowly open my eyes. I realize that I'm in Amelia's house, on a couch. Everything is back to normal again. Evil Mara is back where she belongs!

"Morning, sleeping beauty!!" Miclair says, right next to me, with a huge smile on his face.

"Miclair..." I murmur.

Miclair smiles and gets ready to hug me, but before he can do that I hug him first, with all my strength, tears pounding down my cheek.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't want to do that! I'm sorry!" I say.

Miclair hugs me back.

"I know it wasn't your fault. You don't need to blame yourself for this" He says, releasing me and looking into my eyes.

I smile to that blue eyed face. For a moment, we are about to kiss, but Cain enters the room.

We look away from each other, conscious that we're blushing. I look up to Cain. He's smirking but I take a hand to my mouth, shocked.

Cain has bandages in his leg, apparently broken and he needs a stick to walk. He also has bandages in his chest.

He notices my shocked face.

"Don't cha worry! It could be 'lot worse! Now go and dress yourself! I don't wanna see ya in that ninja clothes anymore!" He says and throws me some clothes. I am still wearing a ninja suit.

"Right!" I say, smiling, but I still can't stop feeling guilty for him to be like that, even if I can't remember what I've done to him exactly. I get up and enter the bathroom.

I dress myself with warm clothes (It's already Winter and it's snowing out there) and put on my ponytail. I get out of the bathroom and walk to the kitchen, where Amelia is.

"Hey, Mara! I'm glad you finally woke! The guys are waiting for us outside preparing the van" She says.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"Since you guys can't go back home, we are going to Jack's grandmother's farmhouse. I had a friend of mine come over to watch over the warehouse while we’re out" She says and readies the last things to take.

"Ok! Let's go" She says and walks past the front door.

It's still night. I think that is weird. It was almost morning when I nearly killed the guys!

"How long did I stay sleeping?" I ask.

"One day and a half" She answers. I slip in the snow and nearly fall.

"O-One day and a half?!" I ask, shocked.

"Yes. We were kinda thinking you would never wake up, but Miclair never lost hope" She says.

I smile to myself. He never stopped hoping…We get to the garage where the van is on.

"Mara! You are really awake! I thought Miclair was driving nuts!" Luc says. Miclair makes a mad face.

I am just staring at the damages I caused without wanting. Luc has one arm broken and has bandages on his knee. Soren has one foot broken and, as for Cain, he needs a stick to walk. He also has bandages on his chest. Jack is also there and he has bandages in his chest too. The guys are all putting their things inside the van.

"I'm happy to see that you're back again" Soren says.

"Yeah! It's me again and... I'm sorry" I say.

"It's ok. It wasn't your fault" Soren says.

"It's all packed up! We are ready ta go! Who's gonna get Mara and Amelia?" Jack's voice says from the other side of the van.

"We're already here!" I say happily.

"Oh! Hey, Mara!" Jack says, while coming from behind the van.

"Then let's get this trip started! My grandma's farmhouse is still far away!" Jack says and enters the van.

We all follow. Luc is driving and Soren and Jack are next to him. The rest of us sit on the back seats. I sit next to Miclair, on one side of the van, and Amelia and Cain sit on the other side.

Cain is still smirking to me and Miclair. Amelia is just looking from me and Miclair to Cain.

"What?!" Me and Miclair shout.

"Ah, nothin'! I was just wanderin' how yer marriage will be!" Cain says.

"Keep dreaming!" I say, but I know I'm blushing.

We keep travelling for hours. Me and Miclair had to find something to have fun. We found a karaoke DVD and started singing our favorite songs.

Too bad 3 hours later we couldn't sing OR speak anymore. Cain seems quite unpleased with that.

"Ah! Ya stopped singin'! Finally!!" He says.

Me and Miclair make a mad face, unable to shout anything at him. Ah well, one hour later we could speak again and we used that ability to bother Cain even more.

"Aaahhhh! Why did ya have ta speak again?! Couldn't ya just be silent for 3 thousand years?!" He says.

"Nothing lasts forever!" I say, smirking.

"We arrived!" Soren shouts and the van stops.

"Finally!" Amelia says and gets out of the van.

We follow her, running. The farmhouse is right in front of us.

"Man! The house is practically falling to pieces!" I say.

"At least we can still live on it!" Jack says and grabs one bag, walking to the house.

"Think he got annoyed by what I said?" I ask silently to Cain.

"Naaah! Ya know Jack! Ya just hurt his pride, that's all!" Cain says.

"Gee! Why doesn't that make feel better?!" I shout.

"'Cause I don't want ya ta feel betta!" Cain says, joking.

"Leatherhead!" I say, smiling.

We all grab some bags and get inside the house. It doesn't look so well on the inside either. It's all dusty and full of spider webs.

"I can't believe we will have to clean this house!" Amelia says, and starts tidying up some things in the house.

We watch as she starts cleaning up as we start getting our stuff out of the van.

"All we have ta do now is ta regain strength and beat that Destroyer off!" Cain says.

"Yes. But we need to train some more to be able to defeat the Destroyer. Especially you, Mara" Master Itsuki says.

"Me? Why me?" I ask.

"Because you have great powers that you do not even understand. You need to learn how to control those powers or they will overcome you" Master Itsuki says.

"Yeah... Those powers... How could you create those thunder balls?" Luc says.

"Thunder balls?! I don't even know what you're talking about! What exactly happened when I wasn't myself?" I ask.

"You mean you don't know?!" Miclair asks.

"No! The only thing I remember was to help myself from killing you, twice!" I say.

"That makes sense, because those were the only times when you could control your body again" Luc says.

"Oooooh! What about that time when you were fighting with the air? It was pretty weird" Miclair says.

"Evil Mara wasn't fighting against the air, Miclair. She was fighting against me, only that you couldn't see me 'cause I was inside her head" I say.

"I don't think I understood" Miclair says, scratching his head.

"Duffers!" I say, smiling.

"Then you don't remember you created those thunder balls?" Soren asks.

"Nope" I answer.

"It was evil Mara who was creating them. She hadn't the fears Mara has, and was able to use the key’s powers" Master Itsuki says.

I gulp. *How can he know that?!* I think.

"What fears? As far as I can see, Mara doesn't fear anything that stops her to use her powers" Luc says.

I look down.

"That's not entirely true..." I murmur.

"Mara entered the tournament in the ultra-dimension when she was only a child" Master Itsuki says.

I keep looking down. I remember that place. Once a year, a huge tournament is held in the ultra-dimension joining many people and other strange creature from all over the universe. They join to test their strength and battle one another. My dad and Master Itsuki were a few of the winners back in their days. My uncle brought me there when I was still a child, after I got summoned too.

"You entered tournament too?!" Cain asks.

"You also entered?" I ask.

"Hell yeah! Miclair here won! And Masta Itsuki also won, once, such as yer dad!" Cain says.

"So that's how you know..." I say, looking down again.

"It's normal you earned fears. You were far too young" Master Itsuki says.

"But how could you enter if you were only a child?" Soren asks.

"That's when the fears come in" I say.

Everyone stays silent.

"I entered the tournament after the one my father won. My uncle thought it was a good idea. He wanted to test the key’s powers. But I couldn't control the powers… I can't even do it now! And in the c****x of which battle, my tendency was to blow up... Until I won the final battle and became champion" I say.

"Excuse me. Blow up?" Luc asks.

"An explosion of light. Seen that I can't control my powers, they free themselves and form an explosion, and after each explosion I pass out. That's what I'm afraid of: Those explosions" I say.

"Wow... So you were that little girl's statue" Miclair says. I nod. They make a statue of every winner of the tournament. There is a massive hall of statues in the ultra-dimension. My child self is one of those status, as I’ve won in the year I participated.

"They called me Prodigy Child, for having such powers on such a young age" I say.

"But you can face those fears. You must do it! Or your powers will take over you if you don't control them!" Master Itsuki says.

"But... What can I do?..." I ask.

"First of all you need to understand your powers. I can teach you something about them, but you will have to be the one finding the origins of the key" Master Itsuki says.

"Very well then. When can we start?" I ask.

~A While Later~

I'm lying on the farmhouse's roof, looking at the stars. Master Itsuki's lessons will start tomorrow. I still can't think of the possibility of exploding again. It all happened so long ago, and still, it seems like it was just yesterday. I remember every detail: The crowd screaming, my opponent, the huge pain in my heart, the explosion and my opponent lying on the floor... dead.

I close my eyes, not wanting to remember that again.

"Hey!"

I open my eyes and look up. It's Miclair, with his huge smile.

"Hey" I say.

"You don't look so cheerful, what's the matter?" Miclair says.

"How would you feel if you had to face your painful past?" I say.

"Right! Sorry about that" He says.

I smile.

"It's ok. I have to face it, one way or another."

"Yeah, but you don't need to be afraid!" Miclair holds my hand. "I will always be here! And if you actually explode, I will help you getting up!"

"Thanks, Miclair" I say, with a soft smile.

I lean closer to him and kiss him.

Miclair puts his hands on my waist and I put mines around his neck.

I realize now how much I love Miclair. We will always fight, there's no doubt, but we will always love each other a lot, no matter what happens.

We break up and smile at each other. I grab a hand full of snow and throw it to his head.

"Hey!! What was that for?!"

I laugh and get up, running away from him. He grabs a handful of snow and throws it to me. It fails and we continue our snowball fight on the roof, laughing.

Soren's POV

Me and Cain are watching Mara and Miclair playing on the roof. They look so happy. Luc, Amelia and Jack join us.

"Awww! Aren't they cute?" Amelia says.

"Naaah! They still seem two sickenin' lovebirds ta me!" Cain says.

"Ya just say that 'cause you don't have any lovebird for yourself!" Jack says.

"Ya, and ya have Amelia, right?!" Cain says.

Both Amelia and Jack turn bright red. Me and my brothers laugh. I look up at Mara and Miclair again. They are now sitting on the roof, hugging each other and looking at the stars. They sure make a good couple.

~Next Day~

Mara's POV

I'm sitting on the floor, listening to Master Itsuki. He is explaining about the five main elements.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with my powers?" I ask. Master Itsuki sighs.

"Your element is light, and that element can control all others. So, it is better for you to know about them"

"Oh! But why does the "key" have such powers?" I ask.

"Like I said, I cannot answer about the origins of the "key". They were a mystery, even for Mr. Morrison"

"My uncle didn't know about its origins?" I ask.

"No. The "key" was given to him when he was at the beach. A mermaid came and gave him the "key", saying that only a pure heart could keep it safe, and he gave it to you, Mara"

"So the "key" came from the depths of the ocean? I always thought that it had come from my uncle's home world"

"Your uncle searched information for many years, but the only thing he could find was that only darkness could take the "key" away from you, and that it would most probably kill you, if it happened"

"Now everything makes sense" I say.

"Yes. I am afraid I don't know more about the "key". The rest will be left for you to find" Master Itsuki says. I smile.

"Yup! I will do my best!" I say, getting up.

Master Itsuki smiles too.

"Well, you can go now" He says.

I nod and run through the front door. Everything is white, except for the four teenage boys who are training outside.

"Hey, guys!" I say.

"Hey, Mara!" Miclair says, blocking Cain's knives.

I take out my katana and join the training.

Everything seems to be back to normal, now. Well, except for these powers of mine. I still have to learn about their past and learn how to control them. But I know I will make it! After all, I'm not alone...