http://clampfix.fanworks.net/ccd-fix/how3.txt </head><body><pre>How It All Started By Shara My capture was a lady who called herself Casablanca. She tried to threaten me into giving myself over to her. I refused," Nokoru's eyes darkened a harder look crossing his refined features than Nokori had ever seen her uncle wear. Nokori shivered at the sight. She'd seen her father with a look like that before and it hadn't bowed well for those the look was aimed at. But such intensity coming from her cheerful and charming uncle was a little frightening. "I am sorry if I frightened you, Nokori. But the memory isn't a pleasant one for me. I don't like it when people I am responsible for are threatened. You see, she threatened to hurt Suoh if I did not agree to do as she required." Nokoru explained gently rubbing his niece's back when he noticed Nokori's shaking. "Oh no!" Nokori exclaimed fretfully. "What did you do?" It was easy for Akira to picture Nokoru staring defiantly up at his captor, the Rijichou might be flighty at times, but when a life hung in the balance he was deadly serious. A serious Nokoru-rijichou was not someone anyone would want as an enemy. Still Akira couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for the woman who threatened his two best friends. "There was little I could do," Nokoru answered with a shrug. "I couldn't let your father get hurt on account of me. So I said that I understood what she was telling me. A moment later your father burst into the room." With a loud cheer Nokori bounced happily up and down until her uncle placed a gentle restraining hand on her shoulder to keep her from tipping the chair over. "I was glad to see that he was all right, but I knew if he continued to fight he'd very likely get hurt. I didn't want that so when he tried to pull me out of the room I resisted. I had gotten him into this mess, but I was determined that he wasn't going to suffer any more than he already had because of me." "He let you stay there?" Nokori squeaked in disbelief. That didn't sound like what her father would do. Warm laughter filled the room dissolving some of the tension that had built up. Nokoru shook his head a tarnished halo of short wavy blond hair that reflected the light from the lamp on the desk. "Not at all, in fact he was most insistent that we leave. But he stopped when I told him I didn't want him to get hurt. We just stood there staring at each other. It was as if time had stopped. Something changed between us at that moment. Perhaps it was the very first time your father actually saw me for who I really am. That is when the inklings in the back of my mind suddenly made sense and I understood the connection between your family name and Suoh's martial prowess. I knew then that if we could work together we had a very good chance at escaping. Armed with this new knowledge I began searching the floor." Nokori gave her uncle a nonplused look. "Your father reacted much the same way," Nokoru said smiling, good humor shining from his blue eyes. "Why were you searching the floor? Did you find what you were looking for?" The blue hared pixy scrunched up her face totally baffled. "I found exactly what I was looking for. There was a trap door. I had heard the sound of gears earlier in my confinement and reasoned that it was probable a trap door was hidden somewhere in the room. All I had to do was find it. Suoh managed to distract the kidnappers giving me enough time to find the hidden exit." "Then you escaped?" Nokori looked hopeful. "Not quite yet, after running through several corridors with shutters sealing off our path we managed to get up to the roof." "But how did you get off the roof?" Nokori's eyes were saucers as a thought came to her. "You didn't try to jump off did you? Were they still after you?" "Hai, they cornered us on the roof only a few moments later. Chuckling Nokoru shook his head in a definite negative. "But no, we didn't jump. We used my secret weapon." "And what was that?" Nokori asked with a grin because she knew her uncle's love of gadgets. "My penguin." "A p-penguin? You were being chased by a bunch of mean people and you stopped them with a penguin?" Nokoru laughed at the utterly lost look on his namesake's face. "It wasn't an ordinary penguin. And I never said we stopped the kidnappers with it." In the hallway Akira's lips were making a O as he finally understood the connection between Nokoru's penguin blimp and his friends first meeting. Nokori stilled then, as her uncle's face grew more serious. It was almost as if he had forgotten that she was in his arms. "Casablanca was very angry that I had refused to do as she asked. As she promised she pulled out a gun and was fully intending to shoot Suoh. I will never forget the sound of that gunshot . . ." Clutching Nokoru's arms Nokori looked up in horror, firmly reminding herself that everything had worked out. Both her father and Nokoru were still alive and well. "What happened to father?" Nokori finally found the courage to ask though her voice sounded far more timid than usual. Akira nearly jumped out of his skin as a strong calloused hand fell to his shoulder. Only years of being a thief enabled him to keep from crying out as he turned to face his assailant. He ducked his head guiltily as he looked into the guilded eyes of Nokori's father who offered an amused smile in return. Suoh trained in the ways of a ninja was probably one of the few people in the world who could have caught him so off guard. Suoh leaned over Akira's shoulder to rap on the door before the thief could do anything to stop him. "No, wait..." Akira pleaded reaching up to hold onto the ninja's arm with both hands. But it was already too late. The door swung open and Suoh stepped inside. Akira pushed himself up from the floor. There was no reason for him not to enter the room now. He knew for a fact that Nokoru had seen him. Picking up the tray he quietly walked over to the desk and set it down trying hard not to look at his friends. Having heard his daughter's question, Suoh knew what Nokori and her uncle had been discussing. It also explained why Akira had been crouched in front of the door. "Nothing happened to me, Nokori." The tall wide shouldered ninja assured his little girl as he straightened his dark blue suit coat out. Looking up at the sound of Suoh's voice Nokoru smiled at his old friend as Nokori slipped off his lap to bow to her father before bounding up to give him a hug. When Nokori felt her father had been properly and thoroughly welcomed golden eyes lifted to meet an identical set of eyes. "If you weren't shot, what happened? Was she a bad shot?" Nokori asked her father. "No, the kidnapper was a good shot. I didn't get hit because your uncle stepped in the way of the bullet so it would hit him instead of me." Suoh was looking at Nokoru who was staring down at a fan that had suddenly appeared in his hands. "And you let him?" Akira asked the blue haired ninja his large silver eyes wide with surprise. "I would have stopped him if I had known what he was going to do. But it happened so fast there wasn't anything I could do to stop it." Suoh admitted to Akira before he turned his attention to his golden hared chosen. "However if you ever try something so foolish ever again you will have to deal with me." Silence rained as Nokoru suddenly became very interested in the pattern of wood grain on the floor. He would certainly try to abide by Suoh's wishes, but when push came to shove he didn't think he could make any promises. Nokori turned back to her uncle her face stricken. "Did it hurt?" "Yes," Nokoru answered slowly not looking up. "It was quite painful. But it didn't hurt nearly as much as it would have, if I had been responsible for your father's death." "Is that when you knew you wanted to chose Uncle Nokoru?" Nokori asked turning to look at her father. Suoh nodded crossing to stand next to his old friend to drop a comforting hand on Nokoru's shoulder His normally serious face softened with understanding. "That confirmed it, though I think I had actually decided before that point." Nokoru gave his ninja with a grateful smile, lifting an elegant hand to cover the one on his shoulder. "Did anything else happen?" Akira asked beaming as he watched the interaction between his two best friends. It dawned on him then that he owed a great debt to Suoh. If the ninja hadn't come along when he did and befriended Nokoru, he might never have had the chance to meet either of them. From what he had heard Nokoru had been well on the way to driving himself crazy with loneliness. No one as empathic as the Rijichou was could have survived being so totally cut off from everyone for very long. "Not really, he bandaged up my wound and then we escaped on the penguin." Nokoru replied softly as he rubbed his shoulder remembering. Nokoru reached out to take a cup of tea, spluttering when he realized how cold it was. "Akira how long were you sitting outside the door?" Akria blushed about three different shades of red. "Ah... Gomen nasai," Akira bowed his apologies deftly taking the glass from his friend's hand. "I think I'll go make some more tea." Setting the cup down he picked up the tray and fled the room. "Wait for me Uncle Akira, I'll help." Nokori rushed after her tall dark uncle. "Nokori, what do you say when someone is kind enough to tell you a story?" Suoh's resonate voice stopped his daughter mid-step. Whirling around in a flurry of yellow skirt Nokori bobbed down in a hasty bow, "Arigatou gozaimasu, Uncle Nokoru, for telling me the story!" Nodding as she looked at him for permission to go Suoh rolled his eyes heaven- ward. Nokoru's soft chuckle brought his attention back to the twinkling blue eyes that were looking up at him filled with delight. "You can pretend that you aren't enjoying yourself all you like. But you aren't fooling me." Giving his friend's hand a squeeze Nokoru turned back to the work Nokori had interrupted. Suoh didn't respond aloud, but the warmth of the smile on his strong face as he glanced over Nokoru's shoulder to see how far the he had gotten was answer enough. The End</pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>