Chapter 5: 

The rays of the warm Japanese Sun filled the Hoshira dojo for another day of intense training for all of the ninjas, except one. For Yumi, it was a whole new perspective of a mission: One that she was actually passionate about. As she walked downstairs in her freshly carved geta*, She was already flooded by the sound of clinking swords and the sight of grown ninjas zooming past the main room. Yumi didn’t mind it, and went straight to the kitchen to make her favorite tea. She was peacefully making it, until Jae came around. 

“What’s up Yum’s? How did you sleep?”

Yumi slightly tensed from the sound of another ninja, but quickly relaxed after realizing who it was. “Oh! Hey Jae…I slept fine, just another night for me…”

She said as she kept making her tea. Jae was keeping his distance, as he was off to the side making his miso shiru*, occasionally humming a song that he heard that morning. It would have stayed that way, if it weren’t for Yumi wanting to break the awkward silence. 

“Jae…have you ever thought of like…love before?”

 Jae froze for a minute, and set down his whisk gently. “Uhh…it's, kind of been a long time since I thought of something like that, Yum’s…”

 Yumi’s expression changed at the thought of her cousin's changed tone. “W-What does that mean, Jae?” 

“You don’t want to know Yum’s…trust me.”

 The room fell silent, only the boiling of soup and the occasional slash of a sword outside. It wasn’t until Jae, his voice barely above a whisper, finally spoke. 

“Follow me…”

 he started to walk up to his room, his back turned to Yumi, and she finally started to follow. 

As they both headed up the stairs, Yumi tried to get Jae to talk. 

“W-Why do we have to go upstairs? Do I really need to do this? What is going on?” 

Nothing was said from Jae. They finally reached his room, and Jae started to dig through his closet. He was mumbling incoherent thoughts to himself, and never batting an eye back at Yumi. Yumi nervously and stiffly sat on his bed, still awaiting what he could possibly pull out. What got her attention was Jae’s sigh, and him turning to face her, and he was holding a red box. He looked very grim and emotionless, and he finally spoke. “Yumi…what do you think is in this box?”

He said darkly. Yumi sat up right, still on edge of the whole situation. 

“Uhh…I-I’m not sure Jae…” 

He looked her dead in the eye, and finally confessed.

“In here…is the last piece of her…”

Yumi looked at him with concerned eyes. 

“W-Who?”

Jae started to tear up as he looked at the box and her. “My…My first love, Katsuki… my last pieces of her are in here…” 

He slowly opened the box to show a bright pink hand fan, with it having slight spots of blood and rips all over. 

“This was hers…she always carried it around for good luck, and I wanted to keep it after I…”

He fell silent with tears, and almost fell to his knees. Yumi immediately helped him up, and laid him on the bed. She saw the state he was in, but was still confused about her. 

“W-What happened to her, Jae…?”

His voice almost went silent, and he finally managed to get his words out. 

“I…I had to kill her…”

Yumi’s heart stopped at his words. He looked as if his soul left him when he said those words. Tears started to fall from his eyes, his mask taken off to allow him to breathe through his sniffles, and holding the box as if it’s the last thing he ever had in his life. 

“She was so special to me…she never cared about me being in this stupid clan, and only saw me for who I truly was.”

He looked to the ceiling of his room, his tears slowly starting to dry. 

“She was truly something else. Her calm and gentle voice, her long and beautiful hair, her natural beauty…and now she’s gone, all because of me…”

Yumi hesitated, but sat by Jae’s side on the bed as he broke down. 

“Jae…I’m so sorry you had to go through this…”

 Jae tried not to lash out at his cousin, but he started to get agitated from talking about katsuki. 

“Yumi…you don’t get it. Having any kind of bond in this clan is dangerous, and it’s not worth it. I had to take her life because of this terrible clan. I wanted to build a life with her, we would run our own fan making business, and…”

He looked down at the box next to it, a smaller, crimson one. He opened it to show a beautiful diamond ring, still fresh and unworn. 

“I…I was going to propose to her…but I never had the chance…”

A single tear fell onto the ring, and it glistened slightly brighter than before. 

He was broken. From the loss of his first and only love, the trauma of being forced to kill her with his bare hands still replaying over and over in his head. 

“It’s…It’s like I can still hear her pleading for mercy, all because she was scared of me.”

He held himself close to his blanket that Yumi gave him, the sound of her final words still playing in his head. “Jae-Kun…what are you doing? I thought you said you didn’t have any missions today…”

“Katsuki…It’s clan orders…”

The tug of his sheath filling the forest, and his katana shining in the light of the moon. “J-Jae…are you okay? What’s going on…?”

 She said through her own fear of seeing him with the katana. He gave her a dark stare, almost emotionless, as he raised it at her. 

“Jae…w-why are you doing this? This isn’t you…t-this isn’t the Jae-Kun that I know…”

As his katana reached its peak, he shed one single tear that ran down his hidden face. Before he sliced, he only had one thing left to say. 

“I’ll never forget you, my love…”

 That was it.

He had killed her, his future bride, his everything, slain by his own katana. Yumi was on the verge of tears hearing everything that her cousin had to go through. 

“Jae… I never knew that the clan did something like this to you…”

Jae finally lifted his head, still slightly shedding tears “Yumi…I’m telling you now…you shouldn’t go down the same path that I did…no one should. I should have never fallen for her, since it only resulted in her death and my trauma. I can’t have that happen to you, not now, not ever.”

He laid his hand on her shoulder, giving her the best advice that he could. 

“This clan…it’s terrible Yumi. They took my everything, and once you asked me that question, I needed to tell you upfront. You can not put yourself in this kind of danger, the clan…they’ll do terrible things for this kind of behavior.”

Yumi gave him concerned eyes, but already knew not to ask anymore questions.

“I understand, Jae…”

She could barely say, still stunned from his backstory. The sound of the training bell went off, and Jae immediately straightened himself up and got ready. Yumi got ready with him, and they both shared a look, a look that showed that they may be ninjas of this clan, but having a true life should be more important. 

As Yumi kept walking to the training grounds, passing many other ninjas and equipment, she was still on edge from the story of Katsuki. 

“Was that…really true? No…I-It can’t be, the clan wouldn’t do something like that…”

She mumbled to herself, trying to console herself once more. Yet, she looked at all of the terrible punishments the other ninjas got for the smallest mistakes. 

“Do it again! What are you, a twig!? Again, again, again! You’re pathetic to this clan, you know that!?”

Toshi yelled in their ears. Yumi watched from the other side of the training grounds, her father still giving the same harsh commands to anyone who couldn’t do his orders to his standards. She started to zone off, if it wasn't for her father catching her with a hollar. 

“Yumi! Get back to training! You have no right to stop until you reach our ninja code, which is…” 

He asked, putting her on the spot. 

“Stealth, Steal, Slice, Father…” 

“Good, now back to training!”

He ordered, clearly triggered from his best unit falling

Yumi continued to train as usual, but now she kept thinking about her father, and all of his ridiculous rules on the clan. 

“He’s always been like this…demanding, harsh, abusive…I can’t stand it anymore…”

 She said slightly triggered as well. She always wanted to be the perfect daughter to him, always taking orders perfectly, training days on end to be a deadly weapon for him, and learning his terrible ways, all for his respect. “Jae was right…this clan doesn’t respect anyone…”

She said angrily, remembering what her cousin told her about his past experiences. 

“Well now…I’m not going to stand for it.”

She thought to herself, thinking about what her mom told her. After a moment of thought, she said her plan to get back at him. She had her plan in mind, and all she had to do was wait for night to fall for her plan to take flight.

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