Sasume and Haru placed the blade of Katsumi on the ground next to her. Haru looked over to his sister who was rather silent and still after the whole ordeal. He thought maybe she was shaken up from the intensity of the battle or having to kill someone after getting what she had to acquire. He walked over and sat down next to her as he followed her eyesight over to the still corpse of the ronin they just fought. He sighed softly and turned to her with words to say but was cut short by the single tear that formed in her eye.
“Sasmue, you’re crying.” Haru said, turning his full body towards her. “Why?”
“Why did you never teach me this lesson?” she asked him. Haru eyes widened at the question. “You knew as well as I did that in some missions, the Samurai will need to kill in order to succeed in their mission. Why did you never tell me this?”
Haru stayed silent as his sister slowly turned to him, looking in the crystal clear tear of her eyes that spoke more for her than she needed to say. He placed a hand on her shoulder and quickly pulled her in for a hug. Sasume was left stunned as Haru then pulled back and cupped her cheek in his hand. He figured if there was anytime he had to tell her something this important, it would be now.
“I didn’t keep from you as a means of hurting Sasume. I held from you until the time was right. Not every mission will involve us taking a life, you are true. I was waiting for a more serious mission to arrive for us so I could give you the lesson privately. That is why I said nothing on the subject.”
After telling her the reason, the two stayed silent and listened in as the wind blew by and the fierce battle that was happening not far away from them. Sasume’s tears stopped as a small smile slowly began to form on her face. She wiped her tears away stood along with her brother as they walked over to collect the weapon.
“Did you believe what I told you?” Haru said as his sister turned to look at him.
“Yes, I believe you.” Sasume spoke sincerely. “You and Master Kanata are right. I simply can’t expect to kill on every assignment we go on.”
They smiled at each other and placed a fist over their chest and bowed to one another, feeling new and a much grown respect for each other. They then made their way over to Orochi and Nanami to defeat their other opponent, one that Haru knew wasn’t much for letting people live.
*****
“Mizu no nami!” Orochi yelled, as she sliced the air with blade and spawned multiple sharp water blades towards the fox demon.
Each magical blade sliced through trees and branches with an explosive blast. Nanami giggled and danced around each attack before sprinting towards Orochi at inhuman speed and leaving several cut marks on her arms and shoulders. Ororchi stood up straight and turned around to see her rival also standing with a few slice wounds to her body. She turned around as well and inspected her body, looking through the hole in her kimono fabric before turning back to Orochi.
“Awww, this was my favourite one too.” she pouted, taking on a different stance for the fight as Orochi held her blade close to her cheek to see the edge of her blade building with ninpo. At that time, Sasume and Haru stood silent behind a tree that a good distance away from the fight. “Wanna continue?” Nanami asked.
“Only until one of us decides it’s enough.” Orochi calmly stated, getting an irritated glare from the kitsune.
“I always hated that smug tone of yours. Honō no ōra!!”
Nanami flicked her blade to the side and felt magic quickly rush into the blade. A fiery aura surrounded the blade and almost looked like it extended fully into a longer katana blade than before. She held her blade with two hands as Orochi smiled more and twirled her blade in specific patterns before taking a stance that neither Haru or Sasume has seen. She held one hand palm out while her blade was angled behind her with her knees slightly bent.
“What is that?” Sasmue asked, seeming to be very intrigued in Orochi’s fighting style.
“There is much we do not know about her.” Haru explained, watching as the intensity of the battle got ready to heat up.
They both rushed each other and connected their blades instantly. Their speed increased tremendously as their attacks and counters were barely visible to the naked eye. Nanami was baring her teeth while her enemy was as calm as ever. Orochi easily kept up with the fox demon as she ducked and dodged the flames that flicked off Nanami’s weapons. Orochi then smiled and ducked before appearing behind the fox demon and gearing her weapon up high and bringing it down with inhuman speed across her back with a long white streak.
“Howaitosutorīku!!” Orochi cast her blade of white trail, making a deep long incision in the back of the fox demon.
Nanami was heard crying out in pain as a searing pain was spread all the way down her back. Her flame sword waved out and became its normal length as she fell to the ground silent and unresponsive. Her body hit the ground with a hard thud and Orochi landed softly and kneeled on her knee. She sheathed her blade and looked over the body of the fox demon, seeing her animal like eye still staring back her.
“I couldn’t kill you.” Orochi softly said as Sasume and Haru ran up next to her with their hands on the handles of their swords.
“I can’t believe you just won that.”Haru said, completely astounded by what he just witnessed. “You defeated a Yokāi!”
“Let’s go. We have what we came for.” Orochi said, turning around and walking away along with Haru and Sasume as they stared at Nanami before walking away. “Tell Kanata that we only acquire the sword and killed the ronin. If we tell him about our encounter with that kitsune, it will pose problems.”
*****
Orochi, Sasume, and Haru arrived back in their village and told Kanata what had happened. Back in the small hut, Nanami sat in the back, letting the wind flow by her and her wounds heal. There was nothing but silence as she meditated with a small ire still being shown slightly. Out from a tree, a kunai was thrown at her at high speed. She caught it flawlessly and opened her eyes and looked at the small blade that was very familiar with her.
“Hello, Kaito.”
Jumping down and landing in front of her, a black clad ninja appeared. He pulled of his head mask and revealed spiky white hair that very ominous itself. His skin was white like a normal persons and didn’t show any injuries or spots. He slowly picked his head up to show bright red eyes that seem to pierce even Nanami’s eyes. His clothes were of fine material that were also edged off with small metal bearings. On his chest was the Japanese kanji for ‘Silent Killer’. He grinned at her and placed a hand over his heart.
“Greetings, my Master.”
