Aimee inhaled deeply, her chest tightening as the words formed. “Underneath that role, I also have the experiences and sometimes memories of other lives...other versions of myself.” Her palm pressed against her chest, fingers curling briefly before falling away. “But it’s still the same me. Same body.”
Her gaze stayed fixed forward, the corner of her mouth quirking. “Which is not sixteen, by the way. The pervy Hi Haven elders came up with that one.”
Her gaze dropped. “Anyway.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, thumb rubbing once before releasing a tired huff. “So you see—I’m not sixteen. I’m not really anything. Just a jumble of lives stacked on top of each other, all blurring together in a body that never seems to make it past thirty. Sometimes forty, if I’m lucky, before I get yanked into the next round.”
Kiba scratched his chin. “Are you sure you're not insane?”
Aimee paused, then let out a huff of laughter, shaking her head. “Well, Kiba, I suppose I might be. But if I were insane, I probably wouldn't be the one to answer that question, now would I?”
“I suppose not.” He sighed, the corner of his mouth pulling up. “You could have just told me you lied about your age. That would have been easier.”
But then he grew more serious, reaching up to pull the Hi Haven bandana away from his left eye, revealing a striking silver wolf’s eye beneath it. It was rumored to hold the power to see through deception, to peer into the truth of things. There was something almost magnetic about the way he studied her now, the eye gleaming in the fading light.
“I don’t know what to make of this, Aimee,” he said quietly. Both eyes, one dark, and one silver, locked onto her, examining her as if trying to strip away the layers of mystery.
She swallowed and looked away. “Me neither these days,” she admitted. “Usually, it’s easy. I just…meld into my new life. The memories of what came before are blurry and distant. I carry the skills with me, but not much else.” She paused, her gaze drifting to the horizon. “Hell, I’d probably have ended up with Iruka or even Momoka if...” Her voice trailed off.
“If you hadn’t met me that night,” he finished for her, the tension bleeding out of him as the last word hung between them.
“Yeah,” she replied. “And now I’m having a harder and harder time reconciling the sixteen-year-old girl I’m supposed to be playing and the woman I know I am.”
“It sounds crazy.”
“Yep.”
“But it’s the truth. At least as you know it,” he said, holding her gaze as they walked.
“Yes.”
“And you're loyal to Hi Haven?”
“As long as nobody starts trying to destroy the world,” she said with a wry smile, though, in truth, she was deadly serious.
Kiba let out a soft grunt, and, after a moment, a quiet acceptance seemed to settle over him. His shoulders relaxed, the tension easing from his face as he came to terms with what she'd said.
With a small nod, he reached up and pulled the bandana back down, covering his silver eye. “I have more questions, but—”
Before he could finish, Aimee stumbled over a tree root, pitching forward into his arms just as a shuriken sliced through the space whereher head had been. The blade buried itself in the ground behind her, narrowly missing Momoka’s feet.
“Where’d that come from?!” the girl shouted.
Aimee barely registered her squadmate’s words as her gaze locked onto Kiba’s wide eye. His arms tightened around her for a moment, and she could feel his heart thundering beneath her hands.
The realization hit them both at the same time. They were under attack.
Chapter twenty-two
“Momoka!Taiga!GuardOba-chan!”Kiba yelled through the trees.
Aimee barely had time to register his order before three figures dropped down from the canopy, their movements heavy, the dull thud of their boots on the soft forest floor echoing in the quiet. They wore dark, mismatched cloth pulled tight across their faces and arms, the ragged layers of their clothing hanging loosely, patched and frayed. The gleam of blades peeked from their belts, a haphazard collection of weapons that suggested scavenging rather than skill.
“Looks like a babysitter with a couple of children,” one of them sneered. “I’d have thought Hi Haven would have at least sent real shinobi.”
Aimee and Iruka moved into position, flanking Kiba on either side, their feet digging into the soft forest soil. Behind them, she knew Taiga and Momoka would already be scanning the trees, watching for any movement in their blind spots. It was a standard protection formation they’d drilled on hundreds of times since becoming a squad.
These poor idiots, Aimee thought as she sized them up.
Their stances were sloppy, and their weapons were held carelessly. They weren’t shinobi, just thugs playing dress-up in scraps of gear. Even Momoka could probably take one of them without much trouble.
