Chronicles of a Self-Made Shinobi: Riding the Wind to the Starting Point (chap. 1)
Sun slanted through the drawn shades. It struggled to shine through the rusty edges of aging metal, and clouds of dust that gather no matter how hard one tries to brush it away. In the middle of the aging shed a tarp covered an awkward looking object, whose shadow loomed in the darkness. Lying on the floor near this object a girl was sleeping, her breath disturbing the dust that had gathered around her face during the long night of work and sleep in the shed. A small bell rang.
Kumiko opened her eyes then closed them quickly as the dust tried to fill that small space between her eyes and eyelids. She sat up and brushed herself off. Her khaki cargo pants leaked dust and her normally black tank top was more gray than black. The bell rang again angrily and she reached into her pocket and turned a small dial to make the ringing stop.
“Hn, why am I up? It’s not even noon yet, is my bell broken?” she turned her head side to side then stopped her gaze on the covered figure next to her. Suddenly life sparked in her eyes.
She ran to the shed’s doors and kicked them open with a bang. Hands on her hips she smiled into the morning light as the rays chased the gloom away. A small breeze ruffled her unkempt short brown hair. She ran back into the shed and ripped off the tarp, showering herself and the rest of the shed in dust and flung it off into a corner. Sun rays glinted off shiny blue painted metal and Kumiko ran her hands over a sanded wooden surface. Twenty foot sky blue wings lay bound to the sides and a feather cushioned cockpit hung down. “Today is when we show them what we’re made of,” she said.
Kumiko ran out of the shed and leaped onto the roof of Lee’s dojo. She then dropped through the broken skylight holding onto a rope she secured to the edge and hung upside down in front of Lee. He was sitting with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.
“HOY LEE!!” she shouted in his face.
“Waahhhh a challenger has come to beat the master of the dojo! I accept your challenge!!...eh?” he looked into her beaming upside down face. “Oh, it’s you Kumiko-san.”
“Today is the day!” she said and dropped to the floor. “It’s finally finished.”
Lee jumped up. “You mean you finished your flying machine, already?”
“That’s right,” she said smirking proudly. “I tested it yesterday and today is the real challenge. It’s going up with me as its pilot! Come on Lee, I need your help to bring it to the cliff-tops.”
Lee and Kumiko loaded up the flying machine onto wheels and pushed it out of the shed. She grabbed a rope attached to the front and Lee shoved from the back. Both of them created a path through the forest to the top of the mountain with the Hokage faces. She explained that didn’t want anyone seeing her before it was 100 perfect. It took until far into the afternoon to haul it up the mountain while remaining hidden, but soon they crested the top and looked upon Konoha from high above. The machine was positioned facing away from the village to the forest beyond where no eyes would see it take flight.
Kumiko pulled a backpack out of the cockpit and fished around for her goggles. She fitted them onto her head and placed them on her forehead. Then she wrapped a white scarf around her neck and donned a green jacket with many pockets. She turned to see Lee looking out over the edge, then turn to her.
“Kumiko-san, are you sure this is ok? I mean, are you sure it’ll work?”
She laughed. “Lee, you of all people should know the answer to that question. You and I are the same. We fight against all odds to prove to everyone that we are equal to them. You already fought your way to become a shinobi, and now it’s my turn,” she smiled at Lee then pointed to the backpack. “But I’m not stupid. I’ve got a parachute in my backpack, when I pull this string a piece of cloth, kind of like an umbrella, will open up and I’ll float down safely. No worries.”
Lee smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. “Well, you’re right. We promised to become shinobi together so, hurry it up!”
Kumiko smiled and ran off to the machine and leapt into the cockpit. She snapped the goggles over her eyes and tightened the seatbelt. She donned brown leather gloves and with her hands on the steering levers turned to Lee who was waiting in the back.
“Pull the ropes!”
With a whip of his arm he let the wings go and watched as they rose parallel to the ground.
“Fire up the engine!”
He scurried to the front of the flying machine and cranked the propeller until it coughed into motion. It sputtered uncertainly and crawled toward the edge of the cliff. Kumiko ground her foot into the gas pedal and the machine lurched forward, wobbling from left to right.
“C’mon baby let’s go!” she shouted and steadied the nose forward.
The cliff edge was approaching quickly and the machine wasn’t moving fast enough. “Chikushou!” she shouted and kicked the gas pedal. Suddenly the flying machine reached the edge of the cliff and fell nose first toward the bottom. Kumiko grabbed the lever and pulled it back with all her might. Just before it hit the treetops the wings filled with air and lurched into the sky.
A gust of wind flew it high into the air and she shouted her victory. Behind her on the cliff side Lee was shouting and pumping his fists in the air and she laughed as his small green figure jumping up and down. Turning back to face ahead of her she felt the wind on her face.
Kumiko patted the side of the machine. “Success.”
For the rest of the day she practiced turning, rising and falling, and memorizing the ways of the winds. She taught her hands to feel when the wind could take over and let her glide forward without using gas and how to drop from the drafts. Though it was her first time out she was almost an expert with the feel of her flying machine, after all she had made it with her own two hands.
The sun had almost dropped behind the trees and she turned back toward the cliffs to land. She reluctantly positioned herself over the airstrip Lee had set up in her absence, regretting leaving the skies. As it neared the ground she gently pulled up on the lever so the nose was facing the air and the wheels touched the ground, bounced, then rolled ahead. Eager to meet Lee she jammed on the breaks and the plane spun around and skidded to a halt.
Kumiko leapt out of the cockpit and removed her goggles, placing them on her forehead. Her face was red with wind burn and slightly sooty from the plane’s exhaust. Lee ran at her and swept her into a bone crunching hug.
“You did it! You did it Kumiko-san! You really are a genius! The Hokage will have no choice but to see your worth as a ninja now.”
He pulled away from the hug and kept and arm around her shoulders. They both stared up at the magnificent flying machine as the last rays faded. It was too late to try and bring the machine back down the hill so the two friends pulled out blankets and slept on the ground under the machine’s sheltering wing.
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