The sun began to ease below the bamboo-studded horizon of the forest, gradually staining the sky a darker shade of purple. Everything looked quiet around temple that housed Tomoko and Kamiko. It was a gorgeous sunset; both Kamiko and her stately mentor came out of the large sliding doors of the temple to walk outside. Kamiko however was dressed up in her special outfit, the skin-tight blue rubber body suit which covered almost her entire body, except for the top half of her head. She had both her grappling arrow and her sheathed katana strapped onto their respective wrists. Her shiny jet-black ponytail dangled and waved with each step she took, reflecting the purple luster of the sky.
Tomoko followed Kamiko’s footsteps; she felt both confidence and anxiety over the mission that her newly-trained apprentice would embark on. It was not supposed to be a tough mission, but there were guards and other possible environmental threats that Kamiko would face. Despite these concerns, Tomoko felt that she explained the situation to Kamiko in full and understandable detail, and hopefully her plucky pupil had absorbed the info and taken it to heart.
Now Kamiko was near the edge of the clearing. First she stared towards the towering bamboo stalks in front of her, and then she gazed towards the purple dusk sky. A single drop of sweat creeped downwards across her temple, and trailed right into the edge of her mask. Before she began her pneumatic transformation, she took three deep breaths, and on the third one she expanded her slender athletic body into a large sphere, fifteen feet across. She quickly flew into the calm darkening sky and floated beyond the bamboo tips, out of Tomoko’s sight.
“Please do your best Kamiko…” pleaded Tomoko.
As Kamiko flew above the vast bamboo forest, she kept looking ahead, searching for its end. She thought of Tomoko’s directions…
“Keep following the path of the rising moon, and there you will find the end of the forest.”
Quickly, Kamiko turned herself to the right horizontally until her eyes found the dim visage of the half-moon hovering above the dark earth. She stopped and kept flying towards it, like a fish attracted towards a worm on a hook. Currently Kamiko was flying at a speed comparable to thirty-five knots. If the wind blew behind her, she could increase her speed at least ten knots more.
After about five minutes of brisk air travel, Kamiko spotted the edge of the forest. Now she thought about the other set of directions Tomoko-sensei gave her…
“When you reach the end of the forest, you will eventually run into a small lake, turn to the east once you are over it, and then you will keep traveling straight until you finally reach the coast. When you arrive over the beach, look around and spot the single solitary island near the tip of the point; that island will be Aoi-Jima.”
Her keen eyes caught the silver glare of the moon that shone off of the small lake. It was still a ways in the distance, but Kamiko could reach it within three minutes.
One she glided over the lake, she quickly brought her mid-air glide to a halt. Immediately she swiveled her bulbous body ninety degrees to the right, halted herself, and then continued her journey.
Any attempts to scale Aoi-Jima’s treacherous rocky cliffs and the walls of the fortress would be considered suicide. This was the reason why the fortress had relatively few guards on duty, a grand total of ten kept watch over the entire compound and island itself. Naturally the sentries themselves felt confident about their competence, despite their meager numbers. Hiroshi strolled quietly along the edge of the cliff’s edge, looking over the pristine and calm moon hovering far above the ocean.
“Another quiet night, what a surprise.” Hiroshi thought.
“Maybe we should invite some bandits over to attempt a break in, just to give us practice.”
Unbeknownst to Hiroshi, a bandit was calmly hovering below the vertical cliff’s edge. Kamiko kept flying straight and steady along the cliff’s wall, keep at least a distance of six inches between her side and the rocks. As she meandered around she took more of Tomoko’s instructions to heart.
“At midnight, the guards will run inside briefly to take a rest and report to the keeper. They tend to spend at least ten minutes inside the compound, talking to their boss in the main hall. At the top of the main tower in the middle of the walled enclosure is where the documents are stored. Once you are certain the guards are gone make your move.”
Kamiko looked momentarily towards the sky to catch a glance at the moon, it was situated almost at the top of the dark starry sky, midnight was almost here.
As Hiroshi strolled towards the side of the cliff that faced the main gate, he spotted another guard, Kaede.
“Oe! Kaede! How goes it?”
“Absolutely nothing, you?”
“Same here.”
“The moon’s in the middle of the sky, think we should go in now?”
“That’d be nice, I have a sore leg today. I need to give it some rest.”
When Hiroshi met Kaede, they both turned to face the gates and strolled casually towards them. Once they reached the entrance, one of the guards on top spotted them and quickly opened the two large red doors up.
Kamiko looked over the edge of the cliff and spotted the two guards as they disappeared into the closing gate doors. She waited until the guard on top went out of sight and she made her move. Her ball-like body arose into the air, and flew towards the gates, keeping her body low to the ground. When she reached the large walls of the fortress, she hovered upwards and rotated herself to allow her head to peek over the edge. She saw four guards chatting casually in the main courtyard. They were talking about weird stories, just to liven themselves up after the dull and uneventful patrol they just did.
Drops of sweat seeped out of Kamiko’s forehead. “Go in! Go in! Damn you!” She impatiently thought. Finally, one of the guards appeared at the main doorway to the building and waved his arm, signaling them to quickly come in. They heeded his command, scurried into the doorway and vanished inside. Kamiko perked up and hoisted herself over the fortress wall. She crept forwards slowly, reached the other end of the wall, and looked downwards. Quickly she swiveled herself, left and right, trying to catch a glance of any more guards lingering around the area. She saw none. Finally she flew towards the tower’s roof. Again she brought up Tomoko’s instruction within her memory…
“Once the guards leave, fly towards the tower of the roof and you will spot a door. This is sometimes used by the inhabitants of the fortress to keep a watch on ships that travel near the island. Obviously you will not to fit yourself inside while you are inflated, so let all the air out of yourself when you land, and quietly! No hissing! Then sneak inside via the door and into the storage room.”
Kamiko heeded Tomoko’s sage advice word by word. She gradually increased altitude, moved right over the tip of the roof, and swiveled her bottom towards the ground. As she allowed herself to descend, she slowly let the air stuffed inside her tight and round body to leak out of her mouth. Thankfully she was able to control the speed of the air flowing out of her body enough to make no sound. Slowly her blimp-esque figure transformed into a more humanoid appearance, legs and arms started to form back into long puffed-out rods, and her round tummy kept shrinking and eventually flattening out. After about ten seconds of deflating, Kamiko was now totally deflated. Just to make sure her balance was good she swiveled her arms around in slow circles and squatted down on her knees. She grabbed the edge of the door in front of her and steadily lifted it up, trying her best not to make it creak. Carefully she swung her slender and firm legs over the edge and into the opening. With swift dexterity she grabbed the edge, and slipped her entire body downwards, hung on for a brief moment to rim of the hatch, and gently alighted upon the floor of the chamber.
After Kamiko entered, she remembered the last part of the instructions Tomoko gave her…
“Inside the library, you will see three walls with cabinets lining them. Within them all are the scrolls. The ones you are looking for are located on the wall in the middle. Look for a nook in the right which has a label that says ‘Hoshino.” There should be at least five scrolls within it, take all of them.”
Kamiko walked towards the middle wall, which was right in front of her. She quickly looked around for an opening that had the “Hoshino” label on it. Finally she found it, and all five scrolls inside of it. Quickly Kamiko slid the five scrolls out of their place and grasped both of them within her arms.
“Now to bundle them up and get out.” She thought.
Kamiko raised her left hand and reached her right hand over to grab the arrow on her grappling device. She tugged and stretched it out until it had six feet of string dangling behind it. After unraveling the rope, she wrapped it around the scrolls, making sure it tightly kept them all grouped together. Then she tied the strings up, let the scrolls dangle under her wrist, and shook them around a couple of times. The string would hold during her trip back to the temple.
Just as Kamiko hoisted herself back onto the roof and closed the door behind her, she heard some noises coming from the hall on the bottom floor. The guards inside were about to come outside. Kamiko knew she wouldn’t be able to fly right off the tip of the tower; the guards would probably spot her. She ran over to the side of the roof that faced the back of the fortress, away from the main entrance and gate. Deep inside herself, Kamiko knew the move she was about to do was a big risk, and if she choked up, it would be the end of her. As she balanced herself over the edge of the roof, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled, and then jumped. As she fell towards the ground, she took in a huge gulp of air and inflated herself quickly to fifteen feet within a matter of two seconds. While she fell and inflated, she kept her concentration focused and managed to stop her fall. Immediately she opened her eyes and looked in front of her. The ground was a mere ten feet away from where she floated. Wasting no time, Kamiko rocketed into the sky, flew over the gate, and over the cliff’s edge.
As the guards walked outside of the main building, one stopped in his tracks.
“Hey, did any of you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Kaede said.
“There was this windy whooshing sound. Think there’s someone on the island?”
All of the guards looked around, keeping a sharp eye for anything suspicious. They could not find anything.
“Otomo, it must be your imagination. There’s nothing here on this damned island.” Spoke Hiroshi.
“Maybe a big wave just banged onto one of the cliffs.” Added Kaede.
The platoon of guards just kept on moving towards the main gates. They opened up the mammoth doors to expose the placid moon shining across the sea.
Tomoko sat quietly to herself in the middle of the candle-lit main hall of the temple. She was more in a state of meditation, and most of her worries about Kamiko were still in the back of her head. It had been an hour and a half since Kamiko embarked on her mission.
Suddenly the temple doors slid open; Kamiko stood at the opening with the stolen scrolls grasped firmly between both her arms. Tomoko stood up and approached her.
“Well done my student. Was the mission hard?”
“I had some close calls, but nobody saw me.”
“Excellent. My directions came in handy then?” Tomoko stopped in front of Kamiko. The blue ninja girl extended her arms forward and let her sensei take the scrolls from her hands. “Besides, that fortress was fairly easy to penetrate. It would be almost impossible to enter if you could not fly, the guards there are actually very well trained.”
“Even if they were not, I didn’t feel like fighting them off.”
“Good, you would have been unpleasantly surprised.”
Both Tomoko and Kamiko walked back to the center of the room. Tomoko went to a lantern on the wall and sat underneath it. She put the scrolls down and unfurled a couple of them. Studiously Tomoko read them, while Kamiko sat down beside her, anxious to answer some questions.”
“Sensei…” Tomoko pulled her mask down and revealed her mouth and chin.
“Hold on please, I’m looking for something. Make yourself comfortable.”
Kamiko just shrugged her shoulders and took Tomoko’s advice to heart. She crossed her legs and took in a quick gulp of air and instantly plumped her entire body outwards a bit. Her tummy distended a foot outwards and her limbs billowed out slightly like marshmallows in a microwave. Ballooned and softened up, Kamiko then fell slowly backwards onto her backside and laid down, staring at the ceiling. She stiffly wiggled her arms and legs, making squeaky sounds in the process.
“Shhh! Quit moving so much! I need concentration!” Ordered Tomoko.
Not wanting to disturb her teacher, Kamiko stopped her wriggling about. It was hard to imagine that she felt so uncomfortable when she first learned how to inflate her body. Now Kamiko could expand herself without any qualms, and she enjoyed the benefits that came with her new uncanny ability. First of all, she was able to enter and exit the fortress unseen, a feat that would be extremely difficult for even the most seasoned traditional ninja veteran.
Also Kamiko enjoyed the way her body looked and felt when it inflated. She would feel her soft shiny round sides and press down, feeling the billowy and taught skin depress and stretch outwards. The rubber suit that she wore also gave her an erotic jolt whenever she would feel her pneumatically enhanced body. Tomoko said it would not only give her flexibility, but would also keep her body from rupturing and exploding when she had greater amounts of air pressure inside her. Kamiko got a great sensual feeling when the rubber stretched to its limits and rubbed itself across her own tightening skin. Still staring at the ceiling, Kamiko laid contently on her pillowy backside, enjoying the calm comfort that her inflated body offered to her.
“Hmmmm, the memories are much clearer now.” Tomoko spoke up. She stood up and walked towards the ballooned-up Kamiko. She bent over and looked into her pupil’s eyes.
“Back when I was a noblewoman, I worked for a great lord. His name was Satsuma Hideyoshi, a kind and wise man by all accounts. When he ruled the domain I was in, he always made sure the people had enough to eat, had high morale, and were loyal as well. However, he always was a bit more independent than most other people, not only did he expect his subjects to be enlightened, but the populace he governed over as well. He was always radical in his thinking. This is probably why he had a woman like me as an advisor.”
Kamiko listened carefully to her teacher’s words. She had never been in the presence of a noblewoman before.
“I was never his fiancée; in fact he had a devout wife at his side. But sometimes he did tend to trust my judgments more than Lady Minako’s. He even encouraged my martial arts pursuits, despite the strange nature of Fuusen no Ninjitsu.”
“A few years passed and things went well in the realm, but soon Hideyoshi-san became very ill. It was a terrible kind of illness that let him linger on but in a great amount of pain. I and his advisors tried to help make decisions for him, despite his suffering. One of his friends however took advantage of his illness much more than he should have: that man was Taro Kitami. I always knew he had his own agenda buried underneath his seemingly blind devotion to Hideyoshi, but when Hideyoshi’s illness began his personal aims became even more apparent. He would pass all sorts of strange laws, curtailing rice production and setting up import taxes. He argued they would help make the production cycle move more steadily, but I and many others disagreed.”
Kamiko couldn’t help but be engrossed by Tomoko’s story. She thought that all this talk of corruption between the daimyo and the shogun were just wild tales, but they might be true.
“Finally poor Hideyoshi-san himself fell even deeper and deeper into his illness, people were starting to lose hope in his recovery. Finally on that warm noon day in autumn he finally passed away. It was a sad day for the people of the realm, but even sadder things would come soon after that. For a week Hideyoshi’s wife ruled the people, trying to keep things going the way they were. Without any warning, a small army of samurai warriors and soldiers came and surrounded the castle. That rat Taro had organized his own private army to take the domain over with threat of force. He even managed to give the shogun his reasons for doing so. From these scrolls done by my old friend Hoshino, I am trying to figure out the details and hopefully unleash the truth back onto the people who are still under his reign.”
“What happened to Minako, and you?” Kamiko asked.
“Well, Taro just offered his demands to her. He would take over the domain, but if she married him, she would still be able to have some influence. I warned Minako that Taro would never let her have any share of the power; he just wanted to take everything over for himself. Since I was more headstrong back then, I tried to take on Taro’s army with my Fuusen no Ninjitsu skills. The fighting was fierce, and Taro’s samurai were about to completely overwhelm me. That is when I flew away, and exiled myself to this secluded temple in the middle of the bamboo forest.”
“But why out here sensei?” Kamiko questioned.
“Why? Because I knew I had to find more support for my cause. I came here to meditate and focus, as well as hone my skills as a Fuusenkunoichi. I need to have my own army to fight off Taro’s manpower, and I heard that many young women came through this forest, looking for opportunities when they traveled away from home. I found many, but none of them were willing to dedicate themselves to becoming fighters.”
“And then you found me sensei.” Kamiko answered.
“That’s right my girl. You are truly the unique one of the bunch. But considering my troubles in trying to find more people to help me, you will need to aid my pursuits.”
“You’ll need ideas from me?”
“Yes my pupil. That mission I just sent you one was just the first step in my plan. But the other steps I have that lead up to the goal still need to be created, and I just need to know, are you willing to help me build them?”
All Kamiko could do was continue to stare into the dark brown eyes of Tomoko. She could tell that behind the stern and aggressive demeanor of her teacher was a woman and a domain in need of help. Kamiko thought about the time when Yoshi died and how the family of orphaned children he had created could only survive by breaking apart to find new opportunities. As she pondered, Kamiko felt that not only could she help these people Tomoko spoke of, but also maybe find a way to help her siblings.
“I’ll do it.” Kamiko said to Tomoko.
Tomoko just smiled at the shiny and puffy girl on the floor below her.