In The Dead of Night

[Deleted User]

Hayate jogged across the Yuurei compound, panting slightly. It had been a long day, and he was not lookin forward to night training at all, tonight.
It was such a bitch, he thought, to lead a stinking double life, skulking around in the night, trying to one-up the rest of the Kumogakure village-nin. He stood before the doors of the main dojo, the obsidian frames glinting mockingly in the bright moonlight.
Every night, he entered these doors, only to emerge from them every morning bloody, bruised, and tired. Every morning he would lay in the hyper-restoration chambers behind the dojo; glowing green tubes covered in ugly black seals with thick, snake-like wires roping them and connecting them to an underground power source.
Though the chambers themselves were representative of incredibly advanced sealing and healing ninjutsu techniques, they looked as if they were ripped from the scenes of nightmarish horror movies; they had a sinister aura about them…an aura that every Yuurei in his family seemed to exhibit more and more as they each got older.
Hayate slid the black door open, slipping on a mask of indifference as he stepped inside the brightly lit fighting hall. His head was slowly beginning to fill with doubts; ever since he’d met his teammates…shinobi who had no qualms about expressing sincere emotions…thoughts of leading a normal life, with normal goals…to protect and serve Kumogakure, instead of constantly living on the edge of betraying the village, swaying only for pecuniary needs…it was a sick way for a thirteen year old to live, for anyone to live…or so this new voice in his head kept whispering to him.
“Hayate.”
Hayate slowly looked up to meet the sharp, arrogant voice that called his name. He said nothing, inspecting the speaker closely. It was a ‘recruiter’, an agent for criminals; smuggled into the village through means Hayate knew nothing about…yet.
This man appeared to be a no-nonsense figure; a man who had been in the constant company of strong warriors, and knew how to hold his own…but as his light grey eyes met Hayate’s yellow brown, Hayate’s piercing gaze looked through his strong façade, his ‘manly man’ attitude and saw a weak, nervous wreck, bullied by whomever he served to do whatever the task at hand was.
The man tried to hold his gaze, but ended up stepping back a bit, as if this little boy had shoved him roughly with nothing tangible to man.
He cleared his throat and spoke again, his stance a bit more humble, and his voice softer, in a sign of respect.
“Hayate-dono, do you know who I am?”
“No, sir.”
“Do you know what I do, Hayate?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you willing to fight for me?”
“No, sir.”
The man raised an eyebrow and looked back at the panel of shadowed figures sitting in a dark corner of the dojo before looking back at the boy before him.
The other dark-haired children stood in line, just as motionless and blank-faced at Hayate as the recruiter paced the line.
“They tell me you children are soldiers. Swords for hire.”
“Yes, sir,” chorused the Yuurei clan children.
“Can anyone tell me why Hayate will not fight for me? He is skilled, is he not?”
The majority fell silent, knowing exactly why as they each looked at him confusedly. Was it not obvious to him?
“You haven’t told him what you’re going to pay him.” muttered a skinny little girl with purple eyes. “He wants to know what’s in it for him.”
Hayate watched the recruiter as he walked back up the line to face him.
“Hayate, this is a practice match, I am not reqi”-
“The hell you aren’t,” drawled Hayate lazily. “We can spar with our cousins and siblings whenever we wish it so; everyone here has a reason. Some of us fight for money, some for loyalty, some because there is appeal in bloodshed. Whatever the reason, the price is always upfront and first. For a recruiter, you’re quite…green, aren’t you, recruiter-san?”
The nameless man stepped back, a silent snarl twisting his face as he lunged forward and snatched Hayate, raising him in the air by his collar.
In a split second he was surrounded; the ‘business end’ of over thirty different types of bladed weaponry held threateningly close to his body as half of the Yuurei children neatly surrounded him in an impressively complicated battle formation ranging from the younger genin (standing on shoulders and backs to brandish kunai, shuriken, senbon, crossbows) to the older chuunin and special jounin cousins (supporting the genin and brandishing swords of all kinds, maces, war fans, spiked brass knuckles, tanto, staves, bonbori). A single sword slid past the recruiter’s neck, the glinting metal snaking up to kiss his throat as a voice whispered in his ear, tickling him while the displaced air from so many moving at once ruffled his short red hair.
“You should put Ha-kun down now.”
Another voice giggled from behind him as he felt a sharp tip digging threateningly into his back.
“He didn’t even cuss at you, mista, like Shina cussed at the last guy~”
The other half of the line of children hadn’t even moved, but it was very clear to the new agent that if by some miracle he got out of this setup, the Yuurei left in the line would quickly dispose of him.
Hayate looked bored as the recruiter swallowed harshly before placing him back on his feet. The minute his toes touched the ground, a slight wind blew again as the Yuurei clan members moved back to their spaces between their cousins as swiftly as they had come.

A voice echoed from the dark corner as the agent fell to his knees, shaking in fright.
“Are you going to play with the children all night, or are you going to test the ones you have shown a liking for, Torino-san?
The recruiter nodded wordlessly, gesturing to Hayate and another slightly taller ninja, a girl.
Her dark hair was tied in two pink-ribbon pigtails, and her thin red eyes glinted dangerously as she bowed robotically with Hayate to Torino before stepping out of line.
At the sound of a shrill whistle, the remaining cousins disappeared in small bursts of smoke, reappearing on the balconied upper floor. They crowded and craned their necks to watch as Hayate and Shina walked to opposite ends of the dojo.