Go back and read "Knife-Throwing" if you haven't yet. (I should just call this series of short stories a full story at this rate. 8| )
Another short one.

---

Damn. He's good.

When the coast had cleared in the kitchen and my head had stopped making my life misery, for some reason I was curious -- we've established I have too much curiosity by now -- about what the ninja was up to. So I waited a bit, then went out back where he'd gone. I had to pass some of the forest to find him, to one of the few trees that managed to grow in the middle of all this bamboo.

So here I was, watching him throw knives with expert skill. It was pretty crazy to watch. I guess he went into some sort of "zone" or something since he hadn't noticed me here yet. I wasn't really that far away...

Th-clang! Thud.

I felt myself wince. That had been a bad throw. I backed off, making sure I really was out of view.

There was another sound of something hitting the ground, followed by a bigger thud.

Ok, that was far enough! I turned around to see what happened.

Kinsha had slumped to his knees on the ground, staring off somewhere. He must have been seeing something I wasn't, because only the target he'd been using was there.

What was wrong? I almost went there to ask, but stopped myself as he seemed to shake himself from it and get to his feet to retrieve his knives.

Oh, shoot! He was heading this way! No time to hide!

Nowhere to hide. Crap.

Too late. He froze when he spotted me.

I blinked.

Was that a blush?

Ok...not what I expected...

His eyes shifted away to look anywhere but at me. "Hey..."

Now I really wondered what was wrong. Maybe having someone watch him throw knives embarrassed him? No...he taught a class throwing knives, so that couldn't be it. "You alright?"

And that made him jump. What was going on?

"Uh, yea. Fine." You don't seem fine. "My head just hurts a bit still."

I don't have good people skills, but even I could tell that was a lie. Unless he drank a lot more than I assume, that concoction of Suiren's should've taken care of that.

I wouldn't push him though. I had a feeling that would be a bad idea.

But I did need to answer. "Alright."

He nodded distractedly, still not looking at me as he walked by to head back towards the house.

I blinked after him, still wondering what was wrong.

Maybe I should talk to Suiren. She seemed like she'd know what was up.

...

And what had she meant about us "looking cozy"? I had to find out.