Part 8

Ryoushi
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A/N: For any of you who's wondering why Chaeyoung became a target of the Myohizaki Clan, this is the answer:

On Part 2:

"Nayeon brought the duo in the conference room, which, for Chaeyoung, reminded her where all the insanity with her involvement with ninjas actually started. From that day, nothing was the same. She should have known better, but at that time, it was very exciting to her to make such a discovery. If it wasn't for her conflicting feelings toward Mina, she would be able to admit that this would also be very exciting."

That basically means Chaeyoung discovered the existence of ninjas, specifically the Myohizaki, so of course, for the sake of preventing exposure, the Clan had to eliminate the threat which was Chaeyoung. 

All right, on to the story~ Enjoy!

 

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Later on that night, the team was at the hotel as Nayeon went about sorting out any connection between the targets. While Jihyo got some sleep in her own room, Chaeyoung sat on her bed, her mind racing about the events of the night. Momo's taunting smile, the words she spoke, and the look in Mina's eyes told her that, for once since she met her, there was a real crack in Mina's armor. And that worried her. She'd never known Mina to show those kinds of wounds. This was something worse than anything physical she had ever been through.

Against her better judgment, she decided to go to Mina's room to check on her. The ninja had already healed up most of her injuries at the sight of the fight but Chaeyoung wanted to make sure. That was the lie she told herself. The truth was she really wanted to talk. She figured she'd admit that to herself after she admitted it to Mina.

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Mina glanced over her wounds in the bathroom mirror to make sure there was no lasting damage. She knew there wouldn't be though as none of those attacks were meant to kill her. Momo was toying with her. Mina blinked and realized it was worse than that: Momo was testing her, seeing if she was worthy of the fight. Mina felt insulted but, in truth, what she hated worse was the fact that she knows that Momo let her live. Mina couldn’t believe that the assassin who’d been doing all these killings in the past years was Momo, it disturbed her the most. Moreover, aside from being highly skilled in fighting, the encounter proved that Momo had another even more dangerous ability- she was a master of mind games and a well-informed one, at that.

The Pink Shuriken got inside her head and Mina let her. One mention of Tzuyu and Sana, and Mina was taken off of her game. Mina knew that she couldn't let that happen a second time. She would be killed for sure; Momo didn't seem the type to allow that kind of weakness a second time. But the encounter was proof of something Mina questioned for a long time. Now, she had her answer.

The past still hurt. She had resolved most of it when she killed Sana. But she knew that that wasn't where it ended.

She heard a knock at her door. Still wearing her tights from earlier, she slid on a loose white top and went to the door. She opened it to find Chaeyoung standing there. She was surprised to see her and, for once, she couldn't hide that fact.

"Hi," Chaeyoung greeted.

"Hi," Mina replied.

"Can I come in?"

Mina nodded and moved out of the way so Chaeyoung could enter, closing the door behind her.

Chaeyoung walked into the room and sighed.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better now."

"That's good." Chaeyoung turned and looked at Mina, "Can… we talk?"

Mina nodded in response, ignoring Chaeyoung’s earlier request to wait until this was over to have any kind of discussion.

The truth was Chaeyoung hadn't forgotten either. But she couldn't get this is out of her mind. She felt a resolution needed to happen before this mission went any further. Since after what happened today, she knew that anything could go horribly wrong in a fraction of second. She sat down in a chair in the room while Mina sat on the bed.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'll recover fine."

"That's not what I mean."

"I know."

"I don't think I've ever seen you lose to one person before."

"I have. Just not in a long time." Mina leaned over, clasping her hands together. "Momo did something that no one has been able to in a long time."

"And that is?"

"Get in my head. I mean, the fact that the killer is her already caught me off guard. Then she used my past against me. No one has been able to do that except Sana.”

"And all of those names?"

"Apparently, she's… extremely well informed. She did say she speak with the other Clans to know everything about me."

"So… everything she said…"

"Was the truth."

Chaeyoung nodded, understandingly. She then decided to tackle the elephant in the room.

"So… the girl that Momo mentioned…"

Mina looked down a little at that. It hadn't escaped her that Momo mentioned her name. Despite the secrecy, it was only mildly surprising that the Pink Shuriken knew about Tzuyu since the conflict between the Myohizaki and the Yang Xing was considered as one of the most historic battles in ninja history.

"Tzuyu… right?"

Chaeyoung’s question brought Mina back to reality. Yet, she didn't answer. Something was stopping her; an emotion she was unfamiliar with. Apprehension.

"Was she the reason you left the Myohizaki Clan?"

"She was one reason."

"Was she the main reason?"

Mina gazed into Chaeyoung’s eyes. But she had to look away. It was starting to be too much. And it was only too much because it was Chaeyoung asking her. This was a night of firsts for her.

But Chaeyoung didn't need her to answer. She knew a "yes" when she saw one, even one coming from Mina. And that bothered her.

"So… she was killed by the Clan for what? What did she do?"

Mina looked back at her.

"She ran away."

"Like you did?"

“With me. But we didn’t get far.”

Chaeyoung suddenly felt a prick inside her chest. She tried her best to maintain her composure.

“Oh...”

Mina exhaled as the memory of that whole incident came crashing back. "They got us cornered and I couldn’t defeat them all, I was weak… Sana was about to stab me with her sword and I was ready for it… Then…” Mina shook her head. She couldn't believe that this was still a difficult memory. “The next thing I saw was her standing in front of me… Sana’s sword poking right through her chest… I failed her."

Hearing the story made Chaeyoung’s eyes glisten. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how painful it must have been for Mina.

"And you couldn't make that mistake a second time."

"No. I couldn't."

So much finally made sense.

"She… must've been important to you, then… right?"

"Yes."

"Like… a good friend?"

Mina paused at that.

"Yes."

Chaeyoung then moved on to the most difficult question of all.

"Did you love her?"

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Comments

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Oncemidzy #1
It is an amazing story. The way the story flow. It is beautiful
wanderer_once #2
Chapter 24: Glad i found this story of yours author-nim. I maybe a little bit late but i must say that this story is AWESOME! I'll include this on my lists for sure. I really like the Michaeng assassin theme kind of story. Hope you do more of this if you have time. Fighting!
iNeedRomance2
#3
Chapter 24: wow this is one hell of an exciting roller coaster ride that kept me holding unto my seat!!!! great story author-nim!!!! thabk you for the wonderful ending!
PumpkinJump
#4
Chapter 24: This is so good one of the best michaeng action fanfic story i’ve ever read the fight was intense i can potrayed it! Thank you for the story author-nim! <3