Reddeye

soi-of-the-abyss asked: How do you get past writer's block?

Depends on when I get it, and how I plan on writing my story. Such as when it comes to my stories, such as Blue Spirit which I am stopping for now. However when it comes to “Shadow Samurai” I actually forgot about tumblr and have just returned with a ready to create another post. So you should see that tomorrow.

Now as to a cure for it I will often try to picture myself in the world before I go to sleep because that is usually when my imagination will take control of my mind before I pass out, showing me parts of the story I haven’t developed, or even just giving me brain storms on what to do next. After this is all done I just need to remember to get back and just write.

• Part 2 - Demon! (1 of 2)

  Waking up to a bright sun just over the hills outside of Osaka, Taka couldn’t help but smile, but she was also very uncomfortable. As it were she had just freed three people that she saw earlier the day before in a fight, well two of them were fighting the third seemed to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. When she broke the two men, and a ninja woman out of their cages, they quickly went to grab their weapons, making time for their escape harder. They had gotten away though, but had been chased outside of Osaka where they lost the officers in pursuit. They didn’t have a place to go and stay, but being tired, and at night they decided to find a grassy area to sleep, the other three spoke that if anything came near they would be ready for it.

 Taka couldn’t keep herself from smiling, she felt that now with three people with her, she could finally travel north and find the warrior of warriors. She just wondered though, where they would go, if these people would stay with her, would they hold to an oath to protect the person who freed them just until she gets to where she needs to be, these questions would have to be answered in time, Taka could only hope that she made the right choice in these people. If she made the wrong choice however, she knew her journey would probably end before it even truly begun, and the odds of her soul being able to withstand such an impact would be low indeed.

  Hearing a rustle Taka turned to notice that Ino had been the first awake, after her of course. The woman gave a yawn, her eyes hardly half way open, until she began to move did she notice something. Quickly Ino’s head turned to look behind her, Taka looking in the same direction, out of reaction. The two both gave a wide eyed look to see that the white haired man from earlier, Gojiro, had been spooning against the large box he carried on his back, but his right hand had been extended, and took hold of Ino’s much much lower back. With a quick snap the woman brought her arm down to smack the sleeping man’s hand away, causing him to quickly jump in a yell.

“Ah, damn that hur…” Gojiro was cut off quickly when Tonzo awoke, katana unsheathed and placed to his neck. As it seemed if something were to have tried to attack it would have been killed, by this Samurai at least.

“Um, p… please put that away.” Gojiro said with his eyes glued to the blade that came really close to beheading him. His arm had seemed to have reacted, but not in a good way that would have saved him. Instead of it moving to his own blade in order to bring it out to block the attack, or shooting it up to smack Tonzo’s arm so as to redirect the sword, it looked more like the had tried to slam his arm upward, but something stopped him and caused it to shoot down to the ground again.

“Hm.” Tonzo had let out before pulling himself back twisting his sword around to meet the blunt end of his blade against this scabbard, pulling it along side before reaching the tip of his blade to the opening, sheathing it until the clap of his guard hit the case.

  The two women watched this, Taka with eyes wide as she figured that she was about to watch the white haired Gojiro die, and Ino with eyes glued to Tonzo in a ready to kill glare. She almost wanted Tonzo to do harm to the strange man with them, so she would have more reason to attack this man. Staying where she was, and the group now relaxing from the sudden ready to slash movements, Taka began to stand, dusting herself off, before turning her back to Osaka, and pointing toward the North.

“To the North we go!” Taka called out in a happy tone, pointing to the direction they would be heading in.

“Why to the North?” Ino asked with her head tilting over a bit, causing Taka’s arm to fall.

“Yeah, what are you looking for in the North?” Gojiro asked with a smile, brushing the back of his left hand against his eye so as to relax it and hopefully get himself more awake for the day.

“Hm.” Tonzo let out.

“Is that all you say?” Gojiro asked with his head quickly cocking over to the silent man with them.

“Hm.” Tonzo let out again.

“Creepy.” Gojiro said as he kept staring over at him.

“We are heading to the North because I saved you people from your cages back there.” Taka said with a smile to them, almost waving it over their heads that they owe her.

“I could have gotten out on my own.” Ino quickly said as she looked to Taka with an irritated look.

“No you couldn’t.” Gojiro said as he looked to her with calm eyes, seeing right through her lie. At that Ino only puffed up and turned her head away.

“You people will protect me until I get where I need to be, right?” Taka asked as she looked to them. Her eyes began to shine a bit, hoping they would say yes, almost giving them a puppy dog look that quickly caused Kiryu to stare at her with sorrow.

“We already said we would go with you.” Gojiro said as he stared to her, his eyes wide as he couldn’t help but fall for the look that she was giving out.

“Yeah.” Tonzo and Ino both said at the same time before looking at each other with dirty glares of hate, but they knew they already promised to travel with Taka and would not be killing each other, today at least, but they didn’t know how long they could handle each others company.

 Quickly the group began to stand up, Tonzo adjusting his purple robes and dusting himself off quickly, checking his blades quickly. Ino stretched for a moment, and began to go through all her bags, checking her blades, and started to jog in place for a moment. Taka only need a moment to dust herself off, and pull her hair back so as to make it look at least presentable. Gojiro had to quickly slip his blades to his side, check his koto, slipping it onto the large cloth covered box, which he next slipped onto his back, and smiled as he looked to the others.

 -

  After what seemed like a days journey, the group had arrived to a new town, and a damaged one at that. People were working hard to rebuild what looked to be fresh damage, and not any from natural causes. At some parts of the location there had been what looked to be large hand markings forced into the wood of houses. Gojiro had been quick to inspect the size by placing his hand into the mark, which had literally been three times the size of his own. Taka, Ino, Tonzo, and Gojiro all looked to one another for a moment, and began to make their walk, before a growl hit their stomachs at once, Kiryu being the first to drop into a fake faint.

“So hungry!” Gojiro yelled out as the other three just stared at them.

“If you have some coin young fella’, We can feed you.” An old man called out with a smile on his face at a large building, which had destruction as well, but even this did not seem to cause the man to stop serving food, one has to make money some how.

 The four of them all looked to one another as they brought their hands out to show how much money they all had, in total they had one silver piece, from Taka, and a total of twenty copper pieces, lucky enough the silver piece had bought all of them a helping of food, and drink.

“What happened here?” Taka asked as she began to eat slowly, looking to the destruction. The old man sat at the table with them at the edge, awaiting for their request if they wished for anything else. The old man had given a sigh as he lifted his eyes, they were gray but so warm and caring.

“Its our curse you see. There is a demon roaming around this town who only appears three times a month at night, but there are never any warnings as to which night, so it makes it hard to be ready to defend against him.” The old man said with a calm expression still, giving off a small sigh. He stood up for a moment, he had been a rather tall old man, and walked carefully with each step.

 Though the outside of his shop seemed to be broke, the inside was well put together, he had a strong door of a good material, a total of eight tables in his building, with some box places to sit for other guests who wish to relax on the floor. His walls had what looked to be some old decor, including that of a large staff weapon, what looked to be a metal pole tipped and very sharp. This had actually been an interesting set of weapons to see, the rest of the wall held paintings, some of the ocean and a great turtle of a size beyond that of imagination, with trees, dirt, and rives all over the top of it’s shell. Another painting had shown a man, looking much like that of the old man, if he were twenty years younger, with a woman and a young boy.

“Wait, did he say demon!?” Gojiro called out after a moment, some of the food hanging from his mouth, but it didn’t hang for long as he quickly slurped it up into his mouth, slowly returning to chow down.

“Yeah, strange. Maybe that large hand print we saw was from the demon.” Ino said as she slowly brought the food before her to her mouth, eating it calmly, and not making a mess like Gojiro.

“Hm.” Tonzo let out, getting hold of Kiryu’s attention again with that.

“Yeah, I said demon, and if you saw a massive hand, that is the demon. His name is Akira, around here he is known as Akira the Slayer. He has taken a number of lives away, and progressively he has been getting worse about it. Before he would only kill warriors, murderers, and just criminals, causing damage to the town as always. Eventually he started to kill anyone with a weapon, sometimes people just holding farming equipment he would take down.” The old man said as he looked to them, taking a breath for a moment. As he sat down he place a cup of tea before himself, sipping it quickly.

“But about two years ago he started to kill innocent lives, but that wasn’t the first time this happened with him taking an innocent life. No, about fifteen years ago, about when Akira first started to show himself, he took my wife, and before I knew it he took my son.” With that said from the Old Man, Taka began to stare at him, as did the others, Gojiro still with food in his mouth as it began to fall out. Ino however was not very happy about that.

“Does anyone know where this demon is?” She asked as she looked to the Old Man, her eyes full of fire.

“There is a young man by the name of Daichi Yuuta, he lives outside of town, kind of a strange man, but he says that he knows where Akira sleeps and keeps himself at night and when he isn’t here in the village.” The old man said with his eyes scanning over to the swords and blades of Tonzo, Ino, and Gojiro, but got taken away by the box.

“Young fella’, you know there is a large box on your back, whats in it?” He asked to the white haired young man, who only looked to him with a questionable look in his eyes.

“Oh, just something an old friend of mine gave me a couple of years ago. I made a promise not to talk about what it is, or even look at it except for when I got it repaired in China. Sorry, but I can’t say whats in it.” Gojiro said with an expression that began to show how sorry he was, his left hand brought to the back of his head, placing is fingers into his snow white hair.

“Oh, well that only makes me more curious young mr… Um, what are your names?” The old man asked with a laugh in his tone. At that moment all four of them began to blush as they noticed their rudeness to their elder who had taken them into their building, even when it had been wrecked.

“I am Ibaraki Taka.” The young woman said with a smile.

“Arai Tonzo.” The samurai said with his expression still calm and relaxed as always.

“Saito Ino.” The Ninja expressed out to him with a relaxed smile.

“Kiryu Gojiro, sir. Um, whats your name?” The white haired young man asked to the Old Man, the elder only laughed.

“SusumuTadashi.” He spoke to them with a smile, one which held such warmth that it could melt the coldest of hearts. He kept this smile on as he began to stand up again, finishing up his tea, and taking the dishes that the four people who came to his shop had eaten off of. He slowly began to walk off towards the back room, before turning around to look at them.

“I don’t do this often, but you four are free to stay here tonight, I have about ten rooms in this small Inn, the stairs are behind this door here. Oh, and I won’t take no as an answer.” Said Tadashi as he made his way beyond that of the sliding rice paper door and into the kitchen where he had a wooden sink where he placed the dishes into to soak them with water, quickly getting to cleaning them.

 He left the four of them stuck as they knew they would have to be traveling again, and with how much money they had left, twenty copper pieces, they doubted that they would have any chance of finding even a hole in the ground too sleep in. They knew of course that something would have to come of this and that chores would have to be done, but it would be worth it to have a place to actually sleep in, the ground was not a very comfortable bed on their backs. The day had already gone by, and so they would have to rest for today, but they were not going to just sit back and do nothing and just sleep, first night would have to arrive.

“Well, I won’t stay in dept, I am going to go wash the dishes.” Gojiro said as he stood up and began to make his way to the back room.

“What is it you want to do… No no you don’t have to do that.” Tadashi said with a laugh in his voice, but a few unheard words came from Gojiro, and the old man only let out a laugh.

“I’m going outside to train for a bit.” Tonzo said as he stood, making his way towards the front door, he gave a reassuring look to Taka that he wasn’t going to take off and run away. As he moved outside, Ino had started to follow him.

“I am going to look for this so called Yuuta, if there is a monster roaming around and killing the innocent, then I want to stop it.” Ino said as she took off in a run, arms seeming to fall behind her back in a limp looking motion, and in no time she had been outside of sight. Tonzo on the other hand was easily visible from the entrance of the building, quickly on the tip of his feet squatting down, then shot forward to land on one foot, a leg extended backwards from where he was originally, and his blade in his right hand slashing from the left to the right of his body. It didn’t stop there as he quickly took a few steps forward, swinging the blade into what looked to be rotating slashes, and brought himself to a turn, angling the blade of his katana to point straight to the sky.

“She’s right you know.” Taka called out to Tonzo who continued to practice with his sword.

“If there is a demon killing innocent people, I think you and the others should put it down and save this place. I mean, you and Gojiro are Samurai, and Ino is a Ninja. You three should be able to kill whatever it is.” Taka called out with her eyes looking around the town being rebuilt.

“I don’t think Gojiro is a Samurai, his walk is strange, and he has not even pulled his blade out once. Even a student would have made an attempt to unsheathe his sword if one was pulled to their neck.” Tonzo said as he quickly jumped into a rolling motion, catching himself on his right foot, and left knee, lunging his sword forward into the air.

“Yeah, I thought it was strange too, plus he doesn’t even seem like he knows how to fight.” Taka said as she brought her left hand to her chin, thinking about how Ino and Tonzo stand with what appears to be an awareness and a ready to fight at any moment. The two could walk side by side, and if something were to happen their weapons would be out and ready. Gojiro however walked with a more happy look about it, and back when she first saw him he acted more like a playful child than any Samurai. When Tonzo and Ino were fighting, he tried to stop them with words, he didn’t even attempt to pull out the two swords at his sides.

-

 Hours had passed only for Ino to return tired, and without any information about the man other than he lived somewhere to the west outside of town. She spoke that they would have to get up in the morning and make the walk, then afterwards it would be nearly nightfall before they were able to get back from how far he lived, unless they somehow acquired horses. But with that done the four had a plan for the next day, since it seemed Taka and Ino agreed it is needed to investigate and fight this demon. Gojiro had only agreed to it because he wanted to see what the demon looks like, and Tonzo knew it would be futile to argue since it had been three to one, so he simply nodded before the group all took their rooms and moved to sleep, they knew that they would have to travel something long just to get knowledge of where this demon could possibly be.

When Star Wars battles just get awesome.

• Part 1 - First meetings are not always good…

  Edo Era Japan, the Tokugawa Family reigns supreme over Japan as their leaders, but two clans have come into power, challenging each other as they grow in size and strength, even the Shogun of the Tokugawa cannot stop them with ease. Many swords of the three have clashed, and with the end result, the ruling family has become greatly weakened. The two clans in war with each other each hold terrible leaders continuing their march in order to take the country, and they plan to do it in one war, one last war in which they sent in their whole armies, Samurai, Shinobi, and the lot of just warriors fighting for their clan’s right to rule Japan.

  They marched onto the battlefield, each step shaking the ground beneath the two massive clans, metal clapping loudly, and weapons at the ready. The two clans had met with each other on the battle field, holding a stand off as the leaders came in, looking over the field, and deciding that this time would be the greatest of moments to gain the honor of showing that they fight with their warriors, and they of course wanted to take their greatest enemy out so as to truly hold victory. They continued to just stand and watch each other with breaths coming in, the two large clans holding ready as the sky darkens, clouds filling them, the sun setting, air growing cold. With the sound of a horn, followed by the yells of many warriors, a quick sprint came in, the charge of horses, and finally a clash sent in as blood began to shoot into the air, waves and waves of men going in, killing, and being killed. Screams of victory, and fear filled as warriors took the honor of taking out an enemy, or being taken out.

  At the ready in the distance, a group of men watched, artists, and poets taking in the war as it was preformed. This was a horrific, and something to be remembered in History as the great Civil war for the control of Japan for these two groups, because the victor would have enough power to over throw the Tokugawa family. So with fear in them, scared of Japan’s future, they continued to watch as the war continued on, breathing heavily. None of them enjoyed this, not the end result that would happen anyway, but they were able to get in good views, and write good parts as they watched, the battle getting harder and harder to see as clouds continued to grow, and the night taking the day completely now. Thankfully they had their lanterns as they watched, doing their best to take the chaos in. Before they knew it, a quick flash shot past them as a creature with long hair ran towards the battle field, it had almost no armor on, and a long blade, a Masamune. The being’s movements were swift, blade unsheathed in it’s great length, it was just a shadowy figure in their view. Before they could believe it the air around them went silent as it continued to run, and on first impact to the battle, the Shadowy Warrior made a single slash, cutting warriors completely in half. The artists and writers watched this, no sound between them, their heart beats felt all over their body, breaths being held. They couldn’t believe this, a single warrior running into a battle field and making one attack, they watched and kept their eyes glued to this shadowy figure running in.

  Unlike nothing they have ever seen before, this being continued on through the battle like a demon, slashing through them, blocking off attacks and taking out the two clans as if it were a hobby. The group couldn’t help but watch intently as they had in view an astonishing feat. At random moments they would look to each other, only to return their watchful eyes back onto the battlefield, one man stepped forward as he began to draw and write more and more. He had looked as if he found himself a god, a hero, or perhaps maybe an even more monstrous creature bent on taking Japan for it’s own corrupted uses, but his hopes were higher than that, this man truly believed that the warrior on the battle field was something more, something good.

“What is that thing, Maru?” One of the other men watching the the battle asked to the one standing in front of the others, doing what he could to get a better glimpse as screams began to erupt from the warriors down below in the battle field. It was strange to watch, large armies at first going against each other only slowly depleting, and now with one being moving in with a long blade, the armies had already been cut to half of what they were, and still killing each other, some that could see the shadowy figure in the distance killing off their fellows began to back away like dogs with their tails between their legs, these warriors were probably the only wise ones of the armies, because in the end, the Shadow Swordsman had destroyed the two armies, and left the leaders dead, headless even. The battle field full of cadavers, blades from all types from katana, naginata, to any other weapon that could be found on this warrior graveyard full of Shogun.

“Can you believe this?” Maru asked as he turned around to look at the others for only a moment before he began to draw the image he saw now. He viewed a dark battle ground, corpses everywhere, and a dark figure sheathing a blood stained long blade into it’s scabbard. It was remarkable, until he realized what he had just drawn, and how he took it in, the Shadowy being was heading his way, and towards the group he was in. Knowing this person’s speed, they wouldn’t be able to run to get out reach.

“Oh no…” One of the other said as his voice almost cracked in fear, all of them frozen in fear as this long haired being, hair looking like spikes as it shakes with each step, some of it splitting apart and forming back into each other as the being got closer and closer. The men couldn’t believe this, the very being that killed off a whole army, except the remainders of the clans that escaped, was now only a couple of yards away from them, and they were all stuck, bodies betraying them to the fullest extent.

  Maru began to take a deep breath as he watched the Shadowy figure approach, now the closest it had been to them, only a couple of feet, and still covered in shadows and darkness, no face seen, and with him out of reach of the lanterns, it would stay like that. The men had no intentions as it seemed to see him, but they wanted to know the face none the less. The being however ignored them, but the group still held their breath in fear as they looked to this Shadowy creature, this possible Shogun of some other kingdom beyond human imagination. Maru just had to know, and against better judgement he took in a breath as he took a few steps towards the victor against two clans, the killer of what could have been almost hundreds, to even thousands of men, doing it all alone, and could destroy one person without even breaking a sweat. But Maru just looked to him, inhaling deeply as if he could not get a hold of his breath.

“Who… Whe… What are you?” Maru asked as he looked to the being, eyes wide, he was so close to this creature that had possibly just saved not only the Tokugawa family, but all of Japan from one of two leaders that would have taken the country and ruled it with a blood thirsty iron fist. Maru just could not leave this be, he had to know, someone had to know in order to tell a legendary story. He felt so close to this creature, so deeply close that he almost couldn’t help himself but stare at the figure that gave away no color, but simply a figure not good enough to make any descriptions that would be easily noticed.

  Turning, as if to look at the man questioning it, the Shadowy figure placed it’s hand on a side mounted scabbard, palm resting on the butt of the sword hilt. The being didn’t move closer, but seemed to stare at them, if not looking through them, as if visually piercing their souls, or perhaps sizing them all up. With a silent breath the creatures chest slightly expanded, and it pointed to the north of their direction.

“I am one who serves no man, but I instead serve all of a nation. I am the server of Japan, I am Japan’s Samurai. If I am needed once more, search for me in the north, I will know the name you give me. For better odds of finding me…” The voice spoke out rather calm, no heavy breathing, just a relaxed tone, but a slightly deep pitch voice, smooth even. The voice was male, and the spoken words of this being had set the group watching the war into some ease, but they were still very tense. Maru was quick to bow, and even drop to his knees to give further respect to the warrior who had graced them with his voice, and even give away his intentions through his words that he had no means to take Japan for himself, but instead he only protected it.

  Maru felt heavy, the very presence of this person was so great that it had been like the gravity in the world around him had increased. The being began to walk away, moving into a forest path where he had emerged from, and it was only believed now of course that he was moving to the north.

“Th… Thank you, Samurai, Shadow Samurai…” Maru called out calmly, and full of the most respect he had ever had in his life. He stood and looked to those around him as they gathered with each other to tell this tale and spread it all over the country. It was the legend of the Shadow Samurai, the faceless being with the long blade, and power of a Dragon, but the service to a country that no man has ever preformed, by protecting it from the inside. Before long the country would know of the Shadow Samurai, first not believing it, until many more began to visit the battle ground and saw every warrior just about dead, including that of both the leaders, holding the exact same kind of decapitation. It was unbelievable to many, but the story truly did spread, and it stayed, and would stay with the country for many years to come perhaps.

5 Years Later

“Taka, get back out there and serve those people!” A man yelled as a young woman walked out in order to hand out a big dish of food, steaming after they had left the flame. The young woman is known by the name Taka Ibaraki, better known for her father, Maru Ibaraki. The young woman is around the age of eighteen, has long brown hair, wears a green, pink, and red kimono with a knot and bow on the back of it. She had deep blue eyes, and a smile that could shake the core of almost any person she came across, among a few skills that would catch some people off guard as well.

  The daughter of the artist that had been the only person who met the Shadow Samurai, now a figure still talked about to this day as some kind of a great figure, used in many bed time stories, plays, and many more things, but Taka doesn’t get any real special privileges. The woman now works around in many different places in a town called Osaka, doing what she can to make any form of money, but she can’t often keep enough to survive at the end of the day. People normally would expect someone like her to still be with her parents, especially because her father had been the one that drew and written about the Shadow Samurai, but unfortunately her parent were both killed a little over two years ago from this time from a group of warriors that come from a terrible clan that has been gathering power over the years, known as the Hino Clan, started by a terrible monster of a man.

  So Taka lives day by day trying to gather money, remembering all that her father said about the Shadow Samurai, even mentioning that if at any time things start to look as if the country would be falling apart by war, that only one being could end it, and that would be the living legend. The girl was also stuck with this the day her parents were murdered, going to her father during the last moments of his life. Eyes fading, blood leaking from his nose and mouth, and hand gently on his daughter’s shoulder and face.

“Oh Taka, I know things look bad now, but you have to head North and get the great Samurai. Get people to take you there, and you will know him when you meet him, he is like no other living person.” Those were among his last words to her, and Taka couldn’t help but promise her father that she would seek out the Shadow Samurai in order to help save Japan. Taka works hard to get money in order to try and start her journey North in order to stop the rising Hino and finally meet the person who her father held some of the highest respect for, but the costs of eating and getting new clothes when she needs them, and just living is very difficult that she knows that she will never be able to travel and is just about to lose her will for it, which kills her on the inside.

“Taka! Get back to work.” The man yelled out again.

“Yes sir!” Taka called back out as she returned to the kitchen in order to place out some more plates of food and serve cups of tea and bowls of sake. Once she sat them down she noticed that someone had crawled into the building, and before she knew it, Taka had placed everything down and moved over to the man quickly to see if he needed help.

  With a loud whinny, a horse began to trot through Osaka with a man and a woman sitting next to him. The man looked to be rather old, full of wrinkles, and a woman around the same age. The two were slowly going over a bridge right on top of a dug out river dug through more than a number of years ago. The two stopped as they began to hear the sounds of an instrument, a koto. They began to look to the east and noticed a boat coming down the river, and just looked down to it. They were curious to the sound and who must be making it, because the person had been making some popping sounds onto it like a small drum as well.

  Looking over the edge a bit they noticed a young man in the boat with short snow white hair, slightly tanned skin. The man wore a black shirt with blue trim on it, and a white gi with red trim on it, the gi was also covered in light blue cloud like formations that seemed to travel all over it. He wore loose pants that shot all the way down to his ankle, they were dominate black, but held light blue clouds all over them as well. He also were a nice set of sandals in which have been very cleanly tampered with that has metal nailed into the sides, front, back, and on the bottoms having nearly a look of no bents, or any issues to make it look uneven or messy.

  The man had in hand a koto as he played it, two katana, mounted on his hips, three brown packs on his left side, a back, and in between the two. The man had bright green eyes, and a calm look on his face. The young man seemed far to laid back to be of any threat. He was of a thin body with lean muscles that could be seen in his outfit, but he still did not look like much of a violent person. The man just held a happy smile, and only began to breathe gently. The closer his boat drifted to pass beneath the bridge, the better they could hear him.

“Like a fool I lost control.

Letting the river steer the boat,

I only wonder where it will lead me.

Will the stars take me further on, or will it all end here.

Like a fool I lost control,

but in the end it was meant to be.

It will lead me somewhere to be.”

  The young white haired man sang as he continued to drift, playing the koto gently with his fingers while quickly bringing them to pop the wood of the instrument to send out a drum like sound to enhance the music a bit. The man was happy where he was, relaxed, but quickly stopped playing when his boat had hit the dock. With a smile he stood up and grabbed hold of a large rectangular box that he had sitting next to him. It was covered in cloths, and had a chain and lock placed around it, and slipping the koto onto a pouch connected to the box, the young man got off of his boat and began to make his first steps onto Osaka. The air here was clean, and it also seemed like a busy town as there seemed to be a lot of people walking around, some of which seemed to be farmers selling their goods.

  He was about to head out when he was stopped by an elderly woman that had watched him drift in with her husband. She held a calm and gentle smile as she looked to him and held out a copper coin to him.

“You have a very nice voice young man. Here, I know it isn’t much, but it is yours. I needed something to calm me down after a long ride, but only if I get your name.” The elder woman spoke over to the young man as she gave a slight bow to him.

“Oh, thank you so much. My name is Kiryu, Gojiro Kiryu.” Gojiro said as he began to bow down lower to the elderly woman to show her greater respect. Once his name was given, the old woman handed him the coin and returned to her husband as they began to ride off again through the town slowly.

  With a smile, and placing the coin into the pack on his left hip he began to walk on the road through the town, but slowly began to hunch over a bit. He was already tired of walking and moving around, the white haired young man had become bored of it and wanted to relax as soon as possible. People started to notice this and began to back away from him thinking he might be insane. Gojiro didn’t care though, he was bored and tired, and just over all a lazy young man, and he used this time to look around his location. With each look around he spotted more and more people, buildings, houses were a good number of them, others were black smiths, and finally a place to eat.

  Dropping to the ground, over exaggerating now with how tired he is, Gojiro began to crawl into a place that had a wonderful smell coming from it. With each pull he strained himself, he didn’t feel like walking, and he knew he could probably use this to score some free stuff. Kiryu loved getting free things from time to time, but at others he couldn’t bring himself to do it because he began to feel like an ass.

“Taka! Get back to work.” A man’s voice called out as Gojiro looked up as he continued to crawl in.

“Yes sir.” A woman’s voice called out that Gojiro quickly assumed to be Taka. The girl had laid down some plates of food, cups of water, and a bowl of sake before she rushed over to him. Gojiro could only half smile as he placed his face into the ground to give off a more hard worked soul kind of image to himself. He was lucky when he did it, because as soon as he felt his face was dirty enough he heard the sounds of sandals against the ground.

“Um, sir, are you okay?” Taka called out as she began to gently roll Gojiro over to look him in the face.

“Help… I need… I need…” Gojiro said as he gave a weakened look to Taka. He knew it was wrong, but he was thirsty, and he had only just made a copper piece, how often would someone get lucky enough to make money randomly, and with that luck he hopped to get a free drink.

“Need what?” Taka asked as she began to panic, she was afraid that this young man was going to die in her arms and that there was nothing she could do about it from how he was acting.

“Wa… wa… Sake.” Gojiro said as he held his hand up to Taka, only for the girl to drop Gojiro from her hold, her face now gone blank with annoyance as she stood up and looked at the man. She so badly wanted to kick him, but he was possibly a paying customer and she knew her boss would get very angry at her about that.

“Do you have money?” Taka asked with her annoyed tone very easily found as she looked to him dead in the eyes.

“A little.” Gojiro said as he smiled to Taka, she was very quick to react, and had enough fire in her to just drop him, she already had a liking from him. He expected this to end quickly as he got up and looked to Taka, the girl just crossing her arms a bit as she waited to see the money. Kiryu knew that was what she was waiting for, so Gojiro pulled out a couple of copper pieces, luckily the one that the old woman had given him was enough for a small bowl of rice with meat and about two bowls of sake. Taka just looked at the money, and began to force a smile on her face, which caused Gojiro to give an even bigger smile as he noticed that this must have been killing her on the inside to have to smile at someone who had pulled a prank on her.

“What would like, sir?” Taka asked as she looked to Gojiro, looking at the amount of money held, it was enough to buy food and drinks.

“Um, I would like rice and pork, with two bowls of sake please.” Gojiro called out with a smile as he took a seat, Taka quickly walking into the back. The white haired young man began to sit down near the end of a table as a few people began to place money on their tables and began to leave, speaking good bye to let them know that they are leaving. Right as soon as they made their exit, a young man began to walk into the building, this one had a dark purple outfit on, his gi was nicely fitted, and looked very expensive, his hakama looking the same, but all around the shoulders, and around his hakama, there were white Lotus shaped objects that gave away this man as a high class Samurai, his Katana and Wakizashi were a dead give away of this as well. Whats more is this man had the smell of fresh blood about him, and the odds of him just very recently killing a person had increased. The two of them made eye contact for a moment, and this man had also eyed Gojiro’s weapons as well.

  Next event had been the entrance of a woman wearing a strange and rather tight set of clothes, fitting her somewhat snug, but loose at the same time for movement. On her had been a set of two small blades, a couple of packs that could quickly be assumed to be filled with many projectile weapons, the woman also had a steel pole on her back. With a quick breath the woman looked to the man, and unsheathed both her small blades, each about the same length of her forearm. The woman seemed to have a very annoyed look on her face.

“Hino scum!” The woman yelled out in deep anger.

“I am not Hino, you idiot.” The Samurai said as he placed his hand onto the hilt of his sword.

“Then why did you kill those people in the street!” The woman yelled out before she stopped for a moment.
“Wait… I am not an idiot you ass!” She yelled out after she had caught herself quickly on the man’s insult.

“Those people needed to die you stupid girl. If you were not there earlier, they had just killed a…” The Samurai said as he looked to the girl, but she yelled out in anger interrupting him.

“I am not stupid, stop calling me that you ass!” She yelled out, and just around that time Taka had walked out from the Kitchen, and held Gojiro’s food and drink in her hands, looking to the fight about to break out. Kiryu only looked to her, and back at the argument.

“Stupid… girl.” The man said as he turned around to look at the woman, who only let out an animal like howl as she ran forward to the Samurai, and just as quickly he had unsheathed his sword into a stab, but the woman had anticipated it as she slid one of her two blades along it and brought her foot up to kick the man in the face, but he dodged it quickly in a twist to bring himself down to one knee, and make a quick horizontal slash to the woman’s legs, only to see no more feet, and looked up to a woman who had jumped into a flip, catching herself onto a beam on the ceiling of this building, making a slash downward to the Samurai.

  With calm steps into an active city a young man with dark brown hair, almost black, could be seen near a taller person wearing a straw gasa, with dark red robes, and a blue belt, face completely covered, and a naginta on his back. The two walked further and further into the town of Osaka. The smaller young man is wearing a dark purple gi, and a dark purple hakama with white lotus symbols on his shoulders and going around the bottom edge of his hakama. His hair was pulled into a pony tail, weapons, such as his Katana and Wakizashi mounted on his left hip. His face gave away the strictness that is his personality, and the way he walked gave away the fact that he came from a high family, a Samurai family.

  The two stopped as the younger man looked over to see a group of young men, robbing and killing a young woman. With a few steps away, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to look to the man he walked with.

“Tonzo, as it seems this is our final good bye. We both knew this day would come, but I must go, and not because I don’t like you, but I do hope we never see each other again.” The man called out with a deep voice, a raspy tone in it as he turned to walk away, a large eight pointed star in bright green on his back, holding an X mark in the middle of it in black.

“Yes, I know.” The young Samurai called out, Tonzo. And with a quick run he started to chase after the murderers. His eyes were very cold looking as he continued to run, catching up to the group as the ring leader of the murdering thugs tied the money purse onto his belt. At this time Tonzo had unsheathed his katana, and let out a breath to have the man know he was there. In total there were six of them, each looked to be either farmers, or just men that had it rough lately, but it was no excuse to kill an innocent woman.

“What are you going to do, kill us here in the streets? Don’t people have some kind of a code about not doing that.” One of the thugs called out in attempt to get the Samurai to hopefully sheathe his sword while one of his friends circled around Tonzo, dagger in hand, and with a heavy run shot towards the Samurai’s back, only for the man to turn quickly, taking two steps to the right of the attacking thug, and brought his sword down onto his back, cutting into his spin, and slicing open his skin deeply, shooting blood out when the sword quickly left him. Now there were five of them.

  This killing of one of their friends had set off the thugs quickly as they took out their daggers and began to charge at Tonzo at one go. Three were coming from Tonzo’s left, the other from his right. With careful timing the man brought one foot up to meet a man’s face, coming from the right side, turning quickly as he gave a angled slash across one of the three to his left coming at him. The man then rolled out of the way of two men coming in to stab him, only to have them stab each other thanks to their momentum and mindlessness in combat. This left only two left, one of which had been knocked over, and the other now running at the Samurai, only for him to make a slash that missed thanks to a quick jump back, followed by a powerful lunge sending the katana through the thug’s gut.

  Pulling his blade out of a thug cadaver, Tonzo stepped over to one of the thugs, brought his sword up, and slashed the man’s arm off, walking away and towards any place he could go to get away from this place. He just needed one moment to slash his blade through the air to fling as much blood off of it as possible before sheathing it back into it’s scabbard. He didn’t much enjoy killing those five thugs, which is soon to be six of them if the man bleeds out, but it had to be done because of their murder of a woman without cause.

  Tonzo stopped for a moment as he noticed a white haired man, probably no older than himself, began to crawl into a building. This had been interesting, and so he began to head in that direction as well as he began to notice the scent of food, his stomach growling at the thought of it, and so with that he began to walk into the building. It wasn’t long that he felt the gaze of the white haired man on him, the person seemed tired, or just strange, but also carried weapons on his person as well, including an over sized long box on his back. This was interrupted by a young woman who insulted him by calling him Hino, and that was just plain idiotic in Tonzo’s point of view, and for this woman to address him as anything, especially without their symbol, was just stupid. This woman already annoyed him, and because of that he didn’t like her, so he used this to insult her.

  Pushing through people quickly a young woman in somewhat right and very loose clothes for free movement had bee walking around. She had very light brown hair, and matching eyes. After a moment of trying to get through a crowed she eventually started to punch people in the sides with angry grunting as she made her way through. She wore a black and red outfit, her belt red, socks red, and wrists of her top red as well. She wore pants, not a very often thing to see, but at the same time it wasn’t extremely uncommon to see a trained woman in the martial arts to walk around in pants, most of all if meant for combat. On her person she carried two forearm length blades, a pack full of kunai, shuriken, needles, and even darts. (Some laced with poison.) The young woman also had a very beautiful face, and a somewhat full body, curved very well like an hour glass. This woman also did not wear sandals at the moment, but instead wore shoes for easy access to climbing, and had a pair of sandals actually tied onto pack just above her rear.

“Get out of my way, I am Ino Saito, and you get out of my way!” The woman yelled as she continued to throw some punches in the heat of her anger, and when she came through, she noticed a man in purple fling his sword to send blood off of it, and there were five dead men, and a sixth missing his arm. Ino ran quickly over to the one missing his arm, but he only gargled something that sounded like the word “Hino” as he pointed towards the Samurai, and the man seemed to have bled out quickly from his arm.

  With anger that a Hino could be here and has already killed six men, which seemed kind of a low count for a Hino samurai inside of a town like this, Ino got up and began to run towards the location of the Samurai. During this she began to remember that there was a march of the Hino clan, some of which could have headed in this direction, so it was not unlikely that this man could be scouting the location out for his masters to come in later.

  With a spit of disgust and rage building up like always with just some of the slightest annoyance, but the sight of six dead men without cause, from what she saw anyway, sent Ino into a rage. She couldn’t help but run after the Samurai most of all when she noticed him run into a building that had a good smell of cooking meat in it, but she was far to angry to notice her hunger right now, so she rushed in and looked right at the man’s back, noticing another one in the room who seemed to be eying the Samurai she was after as well as the man had been eyed as well. It was easy to tell that this place had some sort of a tension about it before she entered, but that only made things once, most of all when she opened her mouth.

“Hino scum!” Ino yelled out as she moved her hands slowly to unsheathe her two forearm length blades, peering over to the Samurai for a moment.

“I am not Hino, you idiot.” The Samurai said as he placed his hand onto the hilt of his sword. This only caused the woman to be come curious, but she wasn’t going to buy into it.

“Then why did you kill those people in the street!” Ino yelled out before she stopped for a moment. She couldn’t believe she just missed the most important part of the man’s words, he had insulted her and now she was getting even more angry about that.

“Wait… I am not an idiot you ass!” Saito yelled out after she had caught herself quickly on the man’s insult. The fact that it took her this long just to catch it only made her feel even more foolish, and her blood had been pumping with fire now, but she wasn’t going to just attack him right now. He did mention he was not Hino, and he was not wearing anything that looked to be the Hino symbol, but that still didn’t excuse him from killing six men in the street, and especially for calling her an idiot.

“Those people needed to die you stupid girl. If you were not there earlier, they had just killed a…” The Samurai said as he looked to the girl, but she yelled out in anger interrupting him.

“I am not stupid, stop calling me that you ass!” Ino yelled out, and just around that time a young woman had walked out from the Kitchen, and held a plate of food and drink in her hands, looking to the fight about to break out. Ino only looked to her from the corner of her eyes, but she just looked to the man, this insulting Samurai.

“Stupid… girl.” The man said as he turned around to look at ino, who only let out an animal like howl as she ran forward to the Samurai, full of rage and hate because of how many times he called her stupid or an idiot, her biggest weakness of almost any insult. Just as quickly as Ino had gotten to him with both her blades out, the Samurai had unsheathed his sword using it into a stab, but Ino had anticipated it as she slid one of her two blades along it and brought her foot up to kick the man in the face, but he dodged it quickly in a twist to bring himself down to one knee, and make a quick horizontal slash to the woman’s legs, only to see no more feet, and looked up to a woman who had jumped into a flip, catching herself onto a beam on the ceiling of this building, making a slash downward to the Samurai.

  With a quick release of her legs on the beam she dropped herself to make a downward falling stab at Tonzo, the young man quickly jumping out of the was as she brought herself up from the stab only to kick the man in the side, causing him to bring himself into a defensive stance as he hit himself up against a table. Ino didn’t miss a beat as she tan up to him to bring her blades to cut him open, only to cause the girl to feel as if her stomach had gained a large heat, and the young woman started to fall back. Tonzo had kicked her in the gut causing her to fly back, and he quickly regained his stance to run after Ino, placing his blade at an angle while he held the tip of his katana behind him, looking to the ceiling of the restaurant.

  Ino after getting kicked move to catch herself by preforming a small back flip, landing on her feet and left hand to balance herself on a table she landed on, looking up to see the Samurai Tonzo coming after her. She knew what was about to happen from how he ran at her, but then it changed, the man dropped his blade into a blunt end slash, making the girl bring herself to lower her placement by just about laying down on the table, only to curse under her breath when the man moved his hands around after making the blunt end attack only to make a vertical downward. Ino had to move fast because if not she would die, so she rolled quickly and jumped up from her spot on the table, barely dodging the sword going right through the table as if he had only cut through it like air. She couldn’t believe that she fell for the blunt end attack, but this didn’t matter, she just had to make sure that she didn’t get killed and that she took this man’s life for the ones he took.

  Watching the two fight, Gojiro stood up with a calm expression on his face, the two were going to get blood everywhere, and from how they were moving, they could have gotten closer to Taka and even injure her, which would be no good. So moving himself over to a table that a group of customers were eating at only moments ago. So with his run, he almost lost balance, because of how quickly he got up he became slightly light headed, but Gojiro just pushed through, grabbed hold of two plates, and looked to Ino and Tonzo. Take quick aim Kiryu threw the plate, breaking them over both of their heads.

“Hey, stop fighting in here, there is an innocent girl here.” Gojiro called out as he looked over to the two, in which case both of them did stop fighting to place their hands on their head in pain. It wasn’t long before they looked to Kiryu in deep anger, the white haired young man only placing both his hands up in the air as he almost jumped in fear.

“No need to be mad at me, it was the only real way to stop you both. But really, stop fighting, there is a girl here, and it wouldn’t be right if you killed her.” Gojiro said to them once again, but this time the two of them sheathed their weapons, and Kiryu began to walk over to them.

“He is right, fighting a stupid girl in here only to risk a worker’s life is a disgrace.” Tonzo said as he looked over to Taka before giving a small bow to show his apology to her.

“Yeah we… stop calling me stupid you ass!” Ino yelled out as she was ready to hit Tonzo in the back of the head in order to get some pay back for all the times he insulted her, but her arm was stopped by the hand of the white haired young man, Gojiro. This had caught her by surprise, the man had been rather fast, but he seemed very laid back about how he did this.

  Taka watched carefully about this, the two that were fighting seemed very skilled, and the white haired man was really fast, she was actually surprised by his movements to catch Ino’s hand the way he did. These people seemed interestingly skilled in combat, except the white haired man who seemed to rather just try and get a free meal by pretending to be on the pathway of death. She wanted to see about asking them a question about travel, if any of them were going to head North and if she could go with them. As she watched the white haired young man place his hands on both the backs of Ino and Tonzo, she smiled for a moment and opened her mouth, only for it to be shut off by the fact that a group of men came in, which were the law of Osaka, they quickly tackled the three of Ino, Gojiro, and Tonzo. It seems that Tonzo was in trouble for not only killing people, but Ino was viewed coming after him, and Gojiro had just been caught in the middle making them all look like friends and partners in the killings.

  The three tried to fight back, but were taken down and dragged away, and before long they were for sure going to be placed into cages. Normally a person would view this as a chance lost, but not Taka, she just viewed this as an even better chance to head North in order to find the Shadow Samurai like her father wanted her to. The girl knew to go right home after she had left work, grabbing a dagger that her parents always had for protection, the blade was green and orange on the scabbard and hilt, the guard of it holding a very clean steel round look. The girl also grabbed hold of a few different things, such as some slightly thick metal needles, and other pieces she could find. She had to get to the North as soon as possible to find the Shadow Samurai, but she needed protection, and the two warriors seemed very well skilled and she needed that, but if it wasn’t for the white haired man they probably would have killed each other or even just turned her down, so she knew she would have to help him too.

  Waiting until night fall, Taka moved out from her home and began to move down the streets of Osaka. Each building she passed, every person she walked near and away from. This place really was crowded all the time, but the girl could only enjoy that, it was home and all she knew, but that didn’t mean much since the last visit of the Hino had gotten her parents both killed, so now she had to go North to find this legendary Samurai, a warrior of warriors. With each step she got closer to a large wall that was not only the prison grounds, but the execution grounds as well. For the lives of six men, the three of them were surely doomed if she didn’t save them.

  Once at the wall, Taka began to search around, but stopped when she passed a cart that had a few large wooden crates on it, it was enough for her to be able to climb over the gates, but once there she would be stuck unless she could get the three of them to help her. Taka wasn’t a fool and she understood that they would have no choice but to assist her after she saves them from execution in the morning.

“Well, it is better than being trapped outside without a place to sleep.” Taka heard as she began to crawl over the wall, it was Gojiro, the white haired young man from earlier.

“Oh would you shut up, we are in jail!” Ino yelled out in anger.

“Hm.” Tonzo just making a sound to let them know he was active.

“Yeah, I guess that is true, but there is no point in getting angry and working all our energy away.” Gojiro said as he began to lay back, yawning calmly from his cage. He didn’t have any sign of fear or distress about being in a prison cell, if anything he seemed remotely happy about it.

“They are going to kill us in the morning, and you are just going to sleep!” Ino yelled out as she looked over to Gojiro, her anger only growing.

“Oh no! What?! They can’t do that, I don’t like waking up in the morning, that is way to early for me, I like to sleep until the sun is dead center in the sky.” Gojiro said with his lack of care about dying, he was just more worried about not sleeping as long as he would like to. This only caused Ino look to look over to him, followed by Tonzo giving a confused look as well.

“You are a strange person.” Tonzo said as he looked to Gojiro.

“Yes, I understand that, but in the end, are we all not different from each other. So what is strange, what truly is, strange?” Gojiro asked as he looked up to the night’s sky, stars filling it as he began to relax. With a momentary twitch, he looked over to hear a sound coming from the wall. Ino and Tonzo were paused for a moment, probably because they had been stumped, but they also began to feel like there was no point in trying to insult this man.

“It is about time you showed up, I was starting to think I would never get my sake.” Gojiro called out with a smile as he sat up, and at this time Taka fell to the ground, shocked that the white haired man had so easily knew it was her. Did she have some kind of a smell about her, or was he just able to read her so easily. That couldn’t be possible, but it didn’t matter.

“Wait, you are that girl from the restaurant.” Ino called out as she looked to Taka.

“Yes I am, my name is Taka, who are all of you?” Taka asked calmly as she looked to the three of them.

“Well, you already know me from the moment I crawled in, but these two don’t, so I am Gojiro Kiryu, but what are you doing here, and what are you wanting from us?” Gojiro asked as he looked dead at her. He knew very well that a young woman wouldn’t climb over a wall to speak to three people in cages that had just been in a fight right before her, without some kind of a want.

“Tonzo Ibaraki.” The Samurai said calmly as he looked to the woman, he too had gained curiosity as to what Taka wanted, but luckily Gojiro had already asked before he did.

“Oh, I have an offer. I am trying to head North, in fact I am going to be heading very North, and I need protection. I would feel safer with more than one person to protect me, so I am going to free all of you, but you all have to promise me that you will all travel with me to help me get what I want.” Taka said as she looked to all three of them.

“Well, I don’t really want to be woken up in the morning, that is just cruel, and I kinda don’t want to die, so I will come with you, but I have to get my stuff before that happens.” Gojiro said with a calm smile on his face. The girl had truth in her, and she was smart enough to come to them when they were in most need of help, so he felt it as his duty to come along with her, but he would be no use without his stuff.

“Ugh, you really have got me in a position where I can’t say no. But like Kiryu said, we have to get our stuff back before we can even help you.” Ino said as she gave Taka a small smile, she felt very happy now that she was going to be released, even if she was now going to have to assist this girl up North, but it was worth not dying.

“Agreed, I will accompany you.” Tonzo said as he looked to Taka, the girl now smiling happily as she had began to work on unlocking the first lock on Gojiro’s cage, and with just a few clicks the man was now getting up slowly, and standing outside of his cage, stretching a bit as he looked down at Taka, the girl unlocking Ino, and finally Tonzo. The four of them stood up, and began to look around, Kiryu holding a lazy look like always, and taking the lead was Taka, followed by Tonzo, Ino, and Gojiro. They had to move fast to find their equipment, most of all when they turned the corner a whistle went off and a group of men began to run in the direction of it, this was a sign that their prisoners had escaped. Thankfully the ones guarding the weapons and other items that belonged to the group had run off to go after the sound, and before Taka could react, the three she freed had ran forward, Tonzo busting down the sliding door and quickly took hold of his weapons, Ino grabbing all of her equipment and tying it on quickly, where as Gojiro began to take his sweet time.

“Hurry up!” Ino quietly yelled at Gojiro.

“I have more stuff than you, so give me a moment.” The whited haired young man said as he slipped his long rectangular box on his back, slipping both his swords and tying them to his belt, and finally moving his koto on the box, with his packs not tied on as well. The group had to move quick, Taka was now at the door with them, and any moment now the guards would return. It was just only a matter of minutes, and they were quick to run, heading right to the main gates of the walls, guards coming after them when a yell was heard.

“I found them!” One of the guards yelled out as many more began to appear ready to chase, weapons in hand as they ran.

  Tonzo began to push the gate open, getting quick help from Ino right behind him, followed by Gojiro and Taka, as soon as they had enough room to fit, they ran out one by one, Taka taking the lead as the four of them shot into a sprint, luckily enough they had gotten out just in time that the guards had no room to fit, since they kept pushing against each other, ruining their chances to truly chase after the three prisoners and the girl who freed them. They of course didn’t stop just there, but they had lost sight, and the group didn’t stop running, not until they reached the end of town, going right onto the road near a large wooded area, and stopped to breathe. They had escaped, but they were not going to celebrate just now, so they continued to move into the woods to hide as they began to head North of town, Taka taking lead with heavy breathing.

“That was the most fun I have ever had.” Taka said with a smile as she turned to look at the Samurai in purple, Tonzo, a strict look on his face. A young woman with a slight smile, but a very agitated look whenever she placed her eyes on Tonzo. And finally a strange man with white hair, weapons, and a strange outfit named Gojiro. These were the people she would be traveling with, but what would they be getting into, what messes would they be trapped in. Taka could only look forward to what fun they might have, and she could only look forward to finally meeting a man of legend, a being of the greatest of all honor and power, the Shadow Samurai of the North.

• #3 - The Azure Warrior Rises

Making his way back the Ruina Perussi tank, Spirit had a calm look in his eyes, annoyed, but calm. Each step this warrior made fell with a small echo, even with the tanks themselves shooting out noises, but the tension that came from this masked blue being made it all seem silent. The strange aura this warrior had about him, the outfit, the rabbit on his shoulder, and the fact that he had been moving towards an army of guns, with only a seemingly simple katana. The gang still hiding behind a wall all watched this man, Laura at the bottom of everyone, Mira on Luara, Chat upon Mira, Daniel upon Chad, Jenny on Daniel, Anthony on Jenny, and the other two guys had taken a run for it already, almost leaving a trail of fire from how fast they booked it. Mira had only shaken her head for being all over those two like she had, in her eyes they were no longer men, but this one in the Blue Outfit with the rabbit on his shoulder, to her that was a real man now.

“If he doesn’t die, I want him.” Mira said bluntly, but then slammed her left hand onto her mouth, she was shocked she said that out loud.

“Good luck with that.” Jenny said with sarcasm out loud, which had everyone around her turn their heads away from Blue Spirit just to look at their quiet friend just make a sarcastic gesture of luck, which had them all notice she too was getting an eye on this faceless man.

The attentions all returned to Blue Spirit, except for Anthony, he had a hint of jealousy now. He continued to look down towards Jenny, and very slowly turned to look at the man in the blue outfit who all of a sudden had a glowing energy around the katana. Anthony had gained jealousy for so many reasons because of this man. The power this person had should be impossible, the greatness only drew Anthony into a want, a drive for power. His eyes watched every step and tried to look for some external reason this man has powers, they even noticed the rabbit on his shoulder. He had just saw the rabbit only a moment ago transform from a machine and back into that animal form, to Anthony that was a probable reason that this man had such abilities, and if he could get his hands on it he too might possess powers, then maybe Jenny would notice him as well. His want for power was cut off when he had been filled with fear from what this Blue Spirit had started to preform.

“Spirit, no killing innocent lives.” Lumen said as he kept his perch on Blue Spirit’s shoulder. The rabbit Spirit Guide’s eyes moved to look at Spirit’s, the two sharing the same color red eyes. The Rabbit didn’t want more lives to be ruined because of a battle between this so called “Savior” and these monsters with their guns. Luckily people that were alive had made their run before Spirit had began to charge up energy into the sword. Lumen knew this technique rather well, he had watched it preformed when the Spirit Guide from Persia only eight hundred years ago first create it. Back then a Spirit Guide was a Tiger, and when the attack was first used, it split sands into a great storm, killing nearly a whole Persian army in one swing. The attack had been dubbed the name “Devastator” but this Blue Spirit had given it a new name, which he likes to refer it to as “Blood Pool” since his first use of it had actually made a small pond of blood with his enemies.

“If they get in the way of my Blood Pool then there is nothing I can do.” Blue Spirit said as he placed a large amount of energy over the blade he held, feeling eyes move from their location behind a large wall. Moving his right hand, the sword in a tight gripe, he held it behind himself. The man began to take a strong position, a tank taking aim at Spirit. The two must have known who was aiming at who, since a small stand off had been made, silence filling the location quickly. Taking his body low, Spirit began to spread his legs apart only for a moment, his right hand beneath the guard of his katana, his left hand reaching up to take hold of the butt of the hilt. With this another object in Blue Spirit’s possession could be made clear, his compass. The Compass that belongs to Blue Spirit is a strange thing indeed, it shows four different directions, first it holds the North, East, West, and South directions while also giving him directions to the largest body of his Enemies, and one can even show him something he is after or needs, and the final piece of this compass shows him where Lumen is, if the two happen to get separated. The issue about the compass is that only the Directions to North, East, South, West, and the finding of Lumen are accurate, the other two only really work with an ideal location to search, it does not give an direct directions.

With his stance held strongly, the feathers on the inside of his robes now still, his breathing becoming his only movement, other than the massive amount of dark blue energy on his blade, he looked at the tank. The man’s red eyes scanned outward to the machine, a small concentration had been made, and the tank held it’s aim strong. The tension had grown so tight that it could have been cut with a knife, time felt slower only for those moments, but ended with a movement from the tank as it fired it’s shot at Blue Spirit, Spirit returning wit his own attack by slashing his sword in a vertical slash from behind, slashing into the ground, and upwards to the sky, releasing the energy around his sword directly at the tank.

The power of the slash moved right next to the shot coming at him, breaking the tanks blast into the ground right before Blue Spirit, the aftershock of it knocking him backwards rather hard, but it caused Lumen to fly right off. Lumen has shot passed the group, and right into the wall of the building behind them, Anthony quickly jumping up from where he was to grab the rabbit, the others joined to pick it up, while the all watched still as the blue shot moved across the ground. The attack had great destructive power in it as large blocks of concrete flew from the streets and into still standing cars, through the glass of buildings, and right into the tank, slashing it in half, and many other Ruina Perussi war machines behind it. The explosions started to send shrapnel into other Ruina machines, causing them to take on damage, or explode as well. All of it had Blue Spirit feel very well about what he had just preformed, a great kill he had just made against the enemies, even Lumen shouldn’t complain about this.

“See Lumen, my power is for vict… Lumen?” Spirit looked around for his Spirit Guide, only to be a bit confused as to where the Rabbit could have gone to. He didn’t think to look at his Compass at first, but instead look in all directions from up high, to around him, and that was when he noticed a girl waving to him.

“We have your pet.” Laura called out to Blue Spirit. She had a calm smile to him, she wasn’t exactly afraid of him, but she was nervous about how much power he had. She and the other witness him destroy a whole army in one slash of his sword, but he didn’t seem to be evil, in his own way he had been the hero. Laura knew that this man wouldn’t hurt him, or he would have done it when he first saw them after he crashed down into the ground as he did.

With his head tilting a bit about the wave, Blue Spirit began to walk towards her because she mentioned pet. He of course understood this as being Lumen, so he followed after this young woman’s direction. Each step was calm, strong, and fast. He allowed himself to get right up next to the brick ally that the girls and boys were in, with Anthony holding Lumen in his hands, the Spirit Guide was breathing, but unconscious. It was then that Spirit moved to grab hold of Lumen, but paused because something began to move in his direction, and he knew it was a Ruina machine, but there was something strange about it, something familiar. Turning around quickly to see if he could notice anything, a thing of three large bike like objects zoomed past, one of the people on it had been holding a weapon with him. It looked like a dagger with a deep blue blade, and a strong gold handle, the hilt of it had some kind of robe hanging from it with a symbol that Spirit just couldn’t make out. Once the Bikes were out of view, a large siren shot out, a victory siren, this was not good. He wanted to dash towards the ships and lay them out with destruction, but his Blood Pool attack had weakened him a bit, plus he felt something tap on his shoulders. He turned around quickly to look right at Laura, she had a puzzled look on her face, and allowed an inhale right in Spirit’s view.

“Who are you?” Laura asked Spirit with her tone calm, and relaxed, even if her heart had been beating nearly a hundred miles an hour.

“Yeah, what’s your name?” Mira and Jenny both said as they had jumped right next to Laura, their eyes almost completely taken over at the beauty of Spirit’s outfit, but took a swing into confusion when they noticed the blood red eyes and hair. It was so strange to see so much blue, black and white on one person’s outfit, then notice the iris color had been like one of a demons.

“My name is Blue Spirit.” The man in azure said to them, the girls became a bit confused at the name, but Chad could be seen easily liking the name.

“That’s awesome.” Chad had said, Daniel nodding in agreement with him.

“It’s stupid.” Anthony said with jealousy in his voice, Laura, and Mira giving him an annoyed look for his reaction about Spirit’s name.

“Well it may be different, but it isn’t stupid Anthony, which you have no right to call something that seeing as you pressed the button that probably lead all those Ruina Perussi here!” Lura shouted out to Anthony, she had become very annoyed, and very angry with him at this point. She wanted so bad to just run at him, and punch him in the face, but he was holding Lumen in his hands, and she didn’t want to risk the rabbit getting hurt anymore than it already was.

“Yeah, don’t be so mean Anthony.” Jenny said as she turned her attention to him, her eyes filled with what looked to be the essence of innocence. This caused Anthony to nearly melt as she spoke.

“I’m sorry.” Anthony said as he now became putty in Jenny’s hands.

During the strange conversation, Spirit had made his walk towards Anthony, grabbing hold of Lumen’s ears, and began to hold him like it was some kind of rag doll. The man was about to start flinging Lumen up an down in an attempt to wake his companion, but stopped when he had noticed one of the women appear before him. He had looked to her strangely, Mira was just standing before him with a seductive smile she had used to try and lure her prey into like a trap. In her mind it was always effective, but when she noticed it only confused Spirit, and she could tell by his eyes, Mira began to pout.

“What is this one?” Spirit asked as he looked back to the others.

“Her name is Mira, watch out, she will try and eat you alive.” Daniel said with a chuckle in his voice, only for the others to laugh, Mira on the other hand turned around and threw a small thing of concrete no bigger than a pebble at him, causing Daniel to duck quickly.

Spirit on the other hand just held Lumen and began to walk away, only for a voice to call out to him, it was Laura again. Spirit didn’t understand her from the laughter still going on from Mira trying to kill Daniel for saying something that, in her mind, ruin her chances with Blue Spirit.

“What?” Spirit asked quickly.

“If you don’t have a place to stay, why not come with us? After today we are all probably going to be staying in the same dorm, and it would be nice if we offered you and your passed out friend a place to stay.” Laura said to Spirit, she was hoping that he would agree to it. She did want to be nice in offering him a place to stay, since if it wasn’t for him they would all be dead more than likely. Laura also secretly wanted him to come along because he would be the best person to have with them if more Ruina Perussi were to come again.

“Yeah, come on Blue Spirit, I want to get a close look at those clothes.” Chad had said as the girls, Anthony, and even Daniel all looked at him strangely. Daniel already knew of Chad’s love of foreign clothes, but he had no idea that he would be touching up on someone’s outfit while they were still wearing it, but that was just what had been on everyone’s mind, no one came into basic thought he would want to just get a look at the clothes while Spirit had put something else on.

“Hm.” Blue Spirit let out his thought in sound, causing the group to get on edge. Everyone but Anthony wanted him to come and stay, until he thought about the chances of learning this beings power could come up if he did stay.

“Lumen does need sleep as it looks, and so do I.” Spirit said as the group all began to smile, Mira and Jenny became extra excited because they really wanted to get close up and speak with Spirit on a personal level. The two girls made this clear to the others when they had jumped onto Spirit, both grabbing onto his arms, Mira on the left, and Jenny on the right. Spirit’s first reaction was about to be one of slamming the girls against the ground, put he didn’t, they did nothing hostile and they gave him no reason to attack.

“Well, lets go then, before the cops show up.” Laura said as she and the others began to make their way back to the dorms, they tried not to look at the chaos that had been around them. They knew that the government would soon start to pour in the military in order to protect and save anyone that had been trapped, or injured. So for now they made their walk towards the Dorm, Spirit holding Lumen in his hand, Mira and Jenny holding Spirit. Daniel noticed this and made a crack about wanting to hold something too, and grabbed onto his brother just to make a laugh.