Kibum flopped onto his bed and sighed heavily. Being a student of Ninjitsu was no piece of cake. The hard trainings, the aching muscles, the fact that you know that what you do is never good enough for some of the masters here.

Well, almost all the masters.

Kibum smiled. Thank goodness he had Jinki. Jinki was the one person who ever saw all the goodness in him. He knew how hard Kibum had trained and worked to get to where he was today. He was Kibum’s closest friend.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Kibum had friends. Well, he had one friend. But she was a good friend, the best he ever had. When Kibum had first showed up at the school, she was the only one to come up to him and treat him like a normal person, and not an outsider.

Her name was Kwon Ha Young. She was an excellent ninja, and why shouldn’t she be? Her parents were ninja masters here in the school, where Ha Young and her elder sister Ra Hyo, had spent nearly all their lives.

Kibum scowled at the thought of the older Kwon sister, Ra Hyo. She was alright. When he had first met her, she was indifferent; being the best student had made her cold and serious. She had started to train at almost every waking moment, and never showed any fear. Ha Young constantly defended her sister, and told him that her parents always pressured Ra Hyo to be strong and to look after her younger sister Ha Young, but Kibum still didn’t like Ra Hyo that much. She somehow managed to the fun out of everything. At least Ha Young was fun and had a sense of humour.

Just then, Kibum heard the door creak open.

Well speak of the devil.

“Kibum-ah! What are you doing? Lazing about right?” Ha Young said with a smirk. Despite being several years younger than Kibum, she never bothered to use honorifics; she had known him too long.

Kibum sighed and propped himself up on one elbow. “Yah, Ha Young. Don’t you know I’ve been training from 5 am till now? That’s 13 hours I’ve spent under the hot sun. Just let me have my break.”

“You’re always complaining about training, oppa,” Ha Young teased, bouncing onto Kibum’s bunk, “but admit it, you love being a ninja.”

Yes, he did. He loved being a ninja. It was the only thing that gave him any purpose in life.

He turned to Ha Young. “Yes, I like it okay? Now get out, how did you even sneak into the boy’s dormitory anyways?” He tried to push her out of the bunk.

“I have my ways.” She said and got up.

“Don’t let you sister catch you. You know what she’ll do,” he warned.

“Tell our parents and then run into a lecture, I know.” She rolled her eyes. “But don’t be so harsh on her, Kibum. She’s really nice. You don’t know what she goes through, being top ninja and my sis –”

Kibum cut her off. “Yes yes, I’ve heard it all before. I’ll wait till she starts being nice to me.” He simply stated. “Now come on, I want to go to sleep. Shoo!”  Kibum made a face as he waved her off the bunk.

“Fine, fine, I’ll go.” Ha Young turned towards the door. But just as she put her hand on the knob, she suddenly stopped.

“Kibum, did you hear that?”

“What now?” Kibum mumbled into his pillow.

“Kibum, there are footsteps outside. I heard it. But nobody’s supposed to be out of their dormitories right now.”

“Wouldn’t that mean you’re violating the rules?”

“Shut up, I’m serious. The other boys are in the lounge. And I know the girls are at our dormitory. What could that b-”

“BAM!!!!”

They heard a blast, followed by a high-pitched scream.

“What was that?” Kibum jumped out of the bunk.

But Ha Young had already run out of the room to investigate. Kibum followed behind her. Suddenly, he was intercepted by ninjas. Kibum noticed the red shuriken insignia on their boot. He snarled. Their rivals from the school of Yang had come to pay them a visit. The ninjas launched an attack. But Kibum was ready for it. He ducked and dealt them blow after blow, knocking them out one by one.

Just then, one of them brought out a pair of Nunchaku, and began to attack.

Kibum was in trouble now. Or was he?

He grabbed the broom handle that was sticking out of his room, and fought off the ninja. He blocked off every blow, left right and center. He struck hard, and the ninja lost hold of the weapon.

Kibum reacted instantly. He grabbed the Nunchaku, and began a fierce fight, knocking out all the ninjas one by one. Finally, with one last blow, the last ninja fell to ground with a hefty thud.

Kibum had so many questions, but that could wait, he decided as he ran through the corridor into the open courtyard. He could not believe what he was seeing.