Case 30 - The Neighborhood Part 1


    It was a nice, sunny morning in Garden City.  Not very warm yet, but nice, rather than painfully cold and wet winter weather.  Once she had dressed, Keiko headed outside to, essentially, get a good look at the sun, something she hadn’t seen in a few days.

    Sean turned into her driveway just as she picked up her newspaper.  He was on his way to work, and decided to stop in and say hello before he went.  He got out of his car, walked directly to Keiko, and hugged her, tightly holding her against his chest.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I guess you had a good night.”  Keiko giggled.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Spectacular.”  he corrected.  “You were so right.  It’s really nice having my own house to take a girl to.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m glad to hear you had way too much fun.”  Keiko quickly responded with a smirk.

    Sean shrugged off her somewhat icy comment and moved on to the next topic.  “Last night I wanted to ask you something...I was supposed to bring it up during dinner, but I forgot when we didn’t have dinner together.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Which is?”  she prodded.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Well, you know your past as an assassin?  It’s in your file, Keiko.  They don’t have a list of victims, but it’s officially an open investigation.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Because they confirmed it with the I.A.?”  she asked.

    Sean nodded.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hmm.”  She shrugged.  “Well, no matter.  I suppose it was inevitable.  I’m keeping myself clean and clear now, so it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a cold case file.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I have to get to work.”  Sean suddenly said.  He kissed Keiko on the cheek and said, “Thanks again.”

    She smiled as she watched him get into his car and drive away.  Then, as she turned to head back in, she noticed a teenage boy across the street, watching her with binoculars from an upstairs balcony.  As soon as she looked his way, he ducked beneath the railing.

    Keiko crossed the street and stood beneath the balcony.  “I saw you,”  she said.  “You may as well get up.”

    There was a pair of eyes and the top of a head peering over the railing a moment later.  It ducked back down.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m not going away.”  she said.  “In fact--”  Most people in the neighborhood didn’t bother to lock their doors when they were home.  Keiko took advantage of that, opening the front door and heading straight up the stairs.

    When she finally reached the balcony from the inside, the kid was lying on the deck wide-eyed, holding his hands in front of him.  The binoculars were on the floor next to him.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Please don’t kill me!”  he begged.

    Keiko sighed and rolled her eyes as she offered him a hand to pull him up.  “I’m not going to kill you.”

    He started to sit up slowly, but didn’t take her hand.  “You promise?”  he asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes.”  Keiko replied.  “What makes you think I’ll kill you anyway?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I...I heard what your friend said.  You used to be an assassin.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh, that.”  She rolled her eyes again, kneeled next to him and said in a near whisper, “Look, I retired from that.  And even if I hadn’t, nobody paid me to kill you.”

    The kid was interested then.  The first question he could think of was, “How much do you get?  For killing, I mean.”

    She sighed deeply.  “More than you could afford.”  she said.  “More than your parents could afford.  What’s your name, anyway?  You know mine, since you overheard my friend.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Corey,”  he replied quickly.  “Could you kill this guy at school?  He’s kind of an as--...I mean jerk.  Or scare him at least.  He keeps starting fights with me.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, I don’t do that.”  Keiko replied quickly.  She paused for a moment and then added, “But if you’re parents approve I suppose I could teach you some self defense basics.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Really?”  he asked.

    It was that point when Keiko turned and looked through the open door behind her and noticed the many posters in the kid’s room in tribute to ninjas, and Chuck Norris.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes.”  she replied.  “I use a combination of karate and ninjitsu.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Really?”  the kid suddenly perked up, and became exciting.  “So you’re like...a real kunoichi?”

    Keiko smiled, though she was a little taken aback to hear a kid use that word...likely popularized, in reference to female ninja, by ninja-themed Japanese manga and anime becoming popular in the U.S.  “Yes.”  she replied softly, trying to hide her amusement at hearing that.  “I suppose I am.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Cool!”  he said excitedly.  “That guy, was he...a boyfriend?”

    She laughed and shook her head.  “He was once.  Now he is just a friend.”  She raised her hand again as she watched him open his mouth, and issued a quick reminder.  “You’re much too young for me, you know.  Not to mention not quite legal.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah, I know.”  Corey complained.  “By the way, if you meet my parents...my dad has this secret Asian porn fetish...my mom doesn’t know, but I found his video collection.  He’ll probably like, hit on you or something.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’ll try to ignore it.”  Keiko promised.  “If it’ll make you less uneasy about me meeting them.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What do I tell them, though?”  Corey asked.

    She shrugged.  “The simple truth.  That I live across the street, and we happened to meet, and that I will teach you self defense.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I can’t wait to tell my friends!”  Corey said.  “I know a real kunoichi!”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Don’t spread that around too much.”  Keiko advised.  “It sounds a lot less impressive to most of the world.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah, I guess.”  he replied with a sad shrug.  “People at school think I’m a loser anyway.”

    Keiko looked up as a distant rumble of thunder called attention to a passing spring storm which had just started rolling in over the horizon.  “Do you mind if we move this conversation indoors?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Okay.”  Corey stood and headed inside, and Keiko followed.  She was about the same height as he was, but he would grow quite a bit more.  He shut the patio door once she was in his room, to keep out the wind.

    She took possession of his desk chair, sitting in it cross-legged so he had to find a spot on the edge of his own bed.  “I was quiet in high school.”  she told him.  “I was still new in this country, I had a strong accent, and I didn’t speak English well.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You do now.”  he observed.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“A result of months of speech training.”  Keiko told him.  “Part of being ninja, Corey, is learning to blend in as much as possible...to be as ordinary as you can.  That way nobody will expect anything you plan to do.  So I learned to speak, dress, and behave like I’ve lived here my whole life.  I learned to appear less shy than I was.  All so I would be above suspicion.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No offense, but you won’t exactly be completely invisible unless you have major surgery.”

    She smiled at the teen’s assessment.  “I know that.  No cover is perfect.  Part of being ninja...and an assassin...is knowing what you can control, and what you can’t.”

    There was a long pause while Corey at long last pondered the one question he could no longer bear to resist asking.  “Could you kill me from there?”

    Keiko nodded in honest response.  “Before you knew what happened.”  she admitted.  Then she gave him a disarming smile.  “You seem unusually interested in my former career.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“So?”  the kid asked.  “Maybe I wish I was an assassin.”

    Her smile disappeared, and she said softly, “It’s not healthy, Corey.  Whether it’s a noble career or not...you would have to associate with some awful, awful people.  It’s the reason I left.”

    Corey wasn’t smiling either when Keiko finished talking.  “I didn’t know that.”  he said.  “Are you still a kunoichi?”

    Keiko laughed, her smile returning.  “I always will be,”  she replied.  “I suppose more than ever, because now I truly have no master.”

    There was a moment of silence between them when the only sound was the wind creaking the house, and a rumble of thunder sounded closer.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I suppose I should go home.”  Keiko suddenly announced.  “Before the storm causes me to lose my chance.”

    Corey sat upright suddenly as there was another noise, one he recognized.  A car had turned into the driveway.  “My parents are home,”  he said.  “Could you um...talk to them?  About training me?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“So you really want to do it?”  Keiko asked.

    The teen nodded quickly.  He was starting to look hurried as he told her, “Can you uh...wait in the kitchen?  I’ll talk to them first, and bring them to meet you.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Of course.”  Keiko smiled inwardly and stood, heading to the kitchen as stealthily as possible.  She knew Corey was frightened of what would happen if his parents discovered him talking to a strange female neighbor, unless he explained it first.

    Just as she arrived in the kitchen via the rear staircase and sat down, Corey entered through the doorway from the living room with his parents.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“This is Keiko.”  he introduced.  “She’s the one who’s going to give me lessons.”

    It was easy enough for Keiko to put together the part of the conversation she missed.  She smiled and stood, bowing politely to each of them in classic Japanese style.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“This is my dad, Edward, and my mom Cathy.”  Corey introduced as politely as he could.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Good afternoon.”  Keiko greeted them.  She looked at their faces.  Edward seemed curious, Cathy had her arms crossed and looked very unimpressed, yet trying to hide it out of politeness.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What kind of things are you planning to teach him?”  Edward asked.  His wife was nodding, as if she thought of the same question.

    Keiko replied quickly, to try and boost their confidence in her.  “Basic self defense.  Learning not to get hit, or to stop an attack.  Protecting himself.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I don’t like violence.”  Cathy suddenly spoke up.  It sounded more like a warning than an observation.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Corey tells me he’s been victim of violence.”  Keiko told her calmly.  “If I teach him correctly, he won’t any more.  When bullies find they’re unable to harm him they will leave him alone.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I guess that sounds reasonable.”  Edward said.  His wife gave him a cold look, and pulled him aside.

    She began whispering to him.  “What if she’s one of those women who wants to seduce a teenager?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I was a police detective, and I worked with a man who’s still a close friend.”  Keiko interrupted them, having overheard Cathy but not wanting to embarrass her directly.  “I work now as a private detective.  And if you are still uncertain of my abilities, you are welcome to join our training sessions, or just watch.”

    Edward and Cathy looked at each other, until the wife relented slightly.  “I guess it can’t hurt,”  she finally said, “for Corey to learn how to defend himself.  If he doesn’t start hurting people.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“That goes against the discipline I plan to teach him.”  Keiko replied honestly.  “There are many self-defense disciplines.  At your request I will refrain from teaching the more advanced ones.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“So she can teach me?”  Corey finally asked.

    Edward looked at Cathy, and then they both nodded.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes!”  Corey cheered.  “I can learn from a real nin--”  He looked at his parents and then corrected himself.  “Um...a real expert.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“How much is this going to cost?”  Edward finally asked.

    Keiko thought about doing it for free, but that would have sounded suspicious.  Why would she teach a strange teenager for free?  “I’m sure we can negotiate a reasonable rate.”  she said.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“When’s the first lesson?”  Corey asked.

    Just then, it started to rain very hard outside, and the thunder rumbled much closer.  Keiko didn’t relish the idea of running across the street and being soaked.  “I suppose now would be a good time to start.”  she said.


TO BE CONTINUED
    


-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2008 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
--    reprinted without permission.  
-- World Class and all characters therein are property of 
--    Strike Two and Jason Froikin.