ROSE TYLER, NINJA ASSASSIN

Chapter Four

"Still having fun?" Donna said sarcastically to the Doctor while she was tied to the wooden stake.

"Well, I'm a bit confused. I thought we were going to be spared and here we are, tied to a stake, how did that happen?" the Doctor said.

"Maybe because they lied?" Donna said.

"That's true. I used to be able to read people like a book. Must be getting slow in my old age," the Doctor said.

Donna wondered if the Doctor was kidding her or being completely serious before deciding she really didn't want to know. She watched as people began to come out of the wooden houses and head towards them. All of them had hoods over their faces to hide their identity. She glanced up and noticed one green clad ninja was near the top of the mountain, heading down the steep mountain path they had been forced to come down.

"Making a fashionable entrance, that one?" Donna said.

"Hmm?" the Doctor said.

"Look up. There's a straggler."

The Doctor looked up.

"Oh. He's dressed like our captors. Probably was out in the forest and just returned," he said.

"And I'm sure he's eager to watch the torture with the rest of em," Donna said.

One man emerged from a house near the back but his face was uncovered. The man was ancient looking with a wizened face and long white hair that was tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing a dark blue kimono and used a wooden staff like a cane to weave his way through the crowd.

"The headman?" Donna said.

"Perhaps. One of the village elders at any rate."

"Good. Maybe he'll call this whole thing off then," Donna said.

The man stepped up onto the platform and stopped a few feet away from the Doctor. The Doctor smiled warmly at him while he studied him.

"Who are you?" the elderly man finally said.

"I'm called the Doctor, this is Donna," the Doctor said, nodding his head towards Donna.

"English?" the elderly man said.

"Yes," the Doctor said.

"Why are you here? Did you come to trade with us or are you working for the daimyo?"

"Neither. We're travelers and we were exploring the forest when we ran into some of your villagers," the Doctor said.

"You have come far in your travels. Not many venture here. There is much danger."

"Especially from sword wielding yobs," Donna said.

The elderly man turned his attention to her.

"It is unusual to find a gaijin woman out this far," he said.

"Gaijin?" Donna said.

"Japanese word for foreigner," the Doctor said.

"Oh. Yes. Well, I'm a bit of an adventurer," Donna said to the man. "We meant no harm. We're just exploring like the Doctor said."

"Taro said you were ambassadors," he said.

"We are," the Doctor said. "But we're on our day off and we're traveling around and seeing your beautiful country. It's gorgeous."

"It'd be even more gorgeous if we were away from these wood poles," Donna said. "So could you set us free, please?"

"Not yet. We must make sure you are who you say you are. The daimyo has been using gaijin as spies to find us so he can destroy us. We don't want spies in our midst."

"Oh, we're not spies, just travelers," the Doctor said.

"Yup. Just travelers, that's us," Donna said.

"Perhaps. We shall see. I will send a few of my men to spy on the English and see if they make any mention of you. If you are valuable to them, they will be missing you in a day or two."

Donna cursed under her breath, thinking how sometimes it wasn't worth it being the Doctor's companion. She figured after a day or two they would become impatient and figure they were spies and have them executed. She hoped the Doctor could come up with a plan before they were beheaded or burned at the stake.

"Everyone go back to the village. There's nothing we can do except wait," he said to the crowd. "I want to see Jiro and Ieyasu privately. I have a mission for them."

As the crowd began to drift away, Donna glanced up and noticed the ninja was now running down the path in a seeming panic. While the elderly man started to walk away, they heard the ninja calling to him.

"Toshi-sama, wait!" the ninja was yelling.

"Toshi," the Doctor said. "At least we know his name now."

"Good. We'll probably be screaming it out in agony when they burn us," Donna said.

Toshi stood and watched while the ninja ran down the path and then across the open area. When the ninja reached the platform, she stopped and stared at the prisoners. The Doctor noticed two things. One that her eyes and skin were Caucasian and two, the ninja was staring at him in shock and horror.

"It's him, Toshi-sama, the kami," the ninja said, pointing.

The Doctor was surprised. The ninja was female. Intrigued by that and the suggestion he was a kami, he kept his concentration on her as she stepped up onto the platform.

"Oi, what's a kami?" Donna asked the Doctor.

"Nature spirit. In the Shinto religion, they believe that all things in nature like rocks and trees and rivers have a spirit," the Doctor.

"But you're a man," Donna said.

"Are you sure this is the kami?" Toshi said to the ninja.

"Yes, Toshi-sama. This is the star man."

Now the Doctor went from feeling mild surprise to shock and Donna's mouth dropped open.

"Who are you?" the Doctor said to the ninja.

To his further shock, the ninja dropped to her knees in front of him. As she knelt in front of him, she pulled off her hood and all Donna heard from the Doctor was the sharp intake of breath when they saw Rose Tyler staring up at him.

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