aiko preview: WAP and Problem Child

wap 40 excerpt

Aiko hung outside long enough to watch Hanako, Aiko, and Momoko follow Furi-san like ducklings out of sight into the heart of the village. Furi-san was doing this to get gossip first. The whole town was going to be asking her questions about the strange ninja man who had appeared in the middle of the night.

More power to her, Aiko decided, turning back to her room. That meant that fewer people would try to ask Aiko. What a winning situation. Everything was great. Her mood lifted with the sunlight. She indulged for a moment in watching the sun rise over the mountains. It would only be better with a hot drink in hand, she decided. 

She went back inside and discovered with a snort that only one of the girls had properly put away their bedding. Tobirama got up while she took care of it and silently mimicked her actions to fold his own bedding. 

“Wash your face outside?” Aiko asked absently, rubbing at her eyes with a finger. She yawned and pulled on a red haori to nod at public decency. “Come on.”

He lifted a white eyebrow and followed her without comment. Aiko knelt at the little private stream for this purpose and splashed water onto her face to wake up. She gargled water and rubbed at her teeth with a sprig of wood that she knew to have antibacterial properties.

Tobirama hummed, once. She glanced at him but couldn’t guess what it meant. He copied her anyway. “Will you change?” He didn’t look at her.

Aiko looked down. “I’ll put shoes on,” she decided. She yawned again. “Ugh. I’m too old for these late nights,” she complained. She struggled her way back to the shrine. “It felt different when I was 15.”

Problem Child 13 excerpt

“I think he’s a floor down.” Marvel whispered.

She nodded to confirm that she heard him. The service staircase had ended, so they had to cross racks of clothing and open tiled space to use the stopped escalator. Aiko stayed near his heels, genuinely a bit stressed that Marvel’s bulk was blocking her visibility. Should she back off, walk on the ceiling? He was clearly doing this for her benefit, since he could fly. Why? What was his reasoning? Would he have made a different call if he knew that she didn’t need to use the escalator to get down?

‘I should have talked tactics for these situations before,’ Aiko realized miserably. She couldn’t go so far off script mid interaction. It was a safety issue. She might accidentally undermine Marvel’s tactics. So she endured, escaping to the side as soon as they cleared the escalator. There was no enemy immediately there, hidden by his bulk. Her nervous system backed down a bit.

He turned a circle. Aiko’s heart rate went down and she took a deep inhalation. She knew before Marvel told her: “One more floor down.”

She nodded grimly. They started down the next escalator.

It turned on with a jerk. Marvel bumped into her. Aiko fell backwards to sit awkwardly on the escalator, which was- going upwards. 

“Cops!” shouted someone, who definitely was not Herkimer. Oh, hell, were they here for no reason?

“Guess again!” shouted Marvel, and blasted off into flight. Aiko was left sitting on the stairs alone, slowly traveling upwards. 

For a moment, she considered letting it deposit her back on the 5th floor and waiting for Marvel to clear out whoever was scrambling down below.