It was the sound of a struggle. Flailing arms, gasping breath and kicking feet hitting the ground trying to leave the deadly embrace of a strong arm and the prospect of that dull gleaming trench knife nearing his throat. His life was literally an arm with a leather gauntlet reinforced with steel plates. The struggling body in the shadowy figures arms finally stopped as the trench knife whipped across his throat. There was a small horrible gurgle as the red blood splattered on the brown-red tree trunks and the colourful flowers nearby.
The figure let the dead body drop onto the ground with a fleshy thump and a small crack as the man’s skull hit the sharp edge of a protruding stone. The scene became clear as the morning sun fully peeked over the tops of the horizon. There stood the survivor of that fight in the clearing of a mountainside forest. His clothing dark and ragged, the right side of his face bandaged and his body splattered in the blood of his foes and his own. In the clearing lay several unmoving bodies. Some with horrific injuries, arrows stuck out of branches, gunshot holes and empty shells filled the scene and the cawing of crows as the feast of the dead began.
He sheathed his trench knife in the sheath on the front of his belt holding his black trousers up covering the leather black boots he wore. He wore a ragged dark grey jacket but the zipper had broken so mainly he was exposed to the elements as he didn’t want to wear deadman’s clothing. He was about 2.2 metres tall and had short white hair and his left eye was a firm blue that shone like a sapphire yet was a dying sapphire. The blazing blue flame was slowly being extinguished.
“That’s what you get for fucking with me” the figure said spitting on the freshly deceased man as he walked down the mountainside of Mt. Fuji.
He was the long forgotten son of Watanabe Shigeru. Koike Tsuki. Now 18 and all grown up. He had more than just two knives now. He carried a P90 by his side, which seems pretty useless considering people use magic but they were useful when he ran out of his aura, or his magic energy.
Over the eight years he since he left Tokyo for his own safety. He had been living in isolation on Mt. Fuji, training and surviving on what he could find. Luckily there was a hunting outpost he used as a base where the hunters there let him stay and every 6 months they would bring up extra provisions and new clothing for Tsuki until 3 years ago when he returned to the outpost to find all the hunters massacred.
Since then he had been moving around the mountain after he learnt that he had a bounty on his head. His main priorities: food, water and weaponry. So he did, he found some old firearms and used them. He returned to his spot where a cloth sack and two crescent shaped bladed tonfa leant up against the trunk. He sighed and placed the two bladed tonfa either side of him in metal loops, the leather and cloth ones kept getting cut so steel was the last resort. He pulled the strings on the sack to close it up and he wrapped the string once around his left hand and flung it over his left shoulder.
‘But now, I need to head to Sapporo, I heard that they accept mercenaries’ Tsuki thought as he walked down the mountain as the morning finally became bright and cheerful. He judged the time to be around 8am by the shadows, temperature and position of the sun. Mainly though he judged it by temperature, he didn’t like the sun that much it was too much of a bother for him. Especially when people look at him funnily because of the bandage covering a section of his face.
Sapporo was the northern area of Japan which was called Hokkaido. Sapporo was located a little less than 100km south west of the centre of Hokkaido. It was where the Inari Clan was located and that’s where he was headed.
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2 days later…
Tsuki walked on the road to Sapporo. It had been two days since he left the mountainside. Not much had happened. In this era: tarmac was something of the past. Now people could use magic circles to teleport instantly to cities, towns and even to other countries! It was an efficient way of travel that cut costs and helped the environment. But some used hovercrafts or the underground subway system in Japan. Not many people had time to walk or have lengthy travelling, but Tsuki was quite poor and didn’t have money for fancy vehicles. So he walked, conserved his aura and enjoyed the slowly passing scenery of Japan.
He tugged at the bandage end that covered his face, the bandage grew thicker here and had several steel nails in it that was nailed into a plate under his jacket.
He continued to walk in the mid-morning sun. Whistling a light tone as he walked. He noticed the sakura petals falling from the trees that lined the side of the dirt road. He had lived on Mt. Fuji and he never really witnessed the falling of the sakura before, only in Tokyo where the great sakura tree that sporuted in the centre of the city began to shed her mighty petals.
He remembered his mother holding his shoulders and speaking to him as the springtime rain of pink came around. He remembered standing on the balcony of her room and watching as the surroundings in front of him began to turn pink. It was a sight that warmed his heart during his terrible time as a child there.
“Remember as the sakura petals fall upon the land like this, it is a brief beauty” Tsuki’s mother said to him.
“But what about the petals? Where to they go after they fall?” Tsuki asked in a worried tone. His mother hid a smile under her hand. Tsuki was about 4 at the time. She looked up slightly as she closed her eyes, remembering something from her childhood.
“They don’t die Tsuki…they get reborn again when springtime rolls around again”
“But how?”
“You’ll know in due time but always remember that not all beauty is physical”
Tsuki snapped out of his memories as he noticed someone on the road ahead of him. The figure was shorter than him, had grayish-blue hair poking out from behind the white kitsune mask that was decorated with red and blue paint. The figure wore a sleeveless light grey yukata which had dark grey hems, white socks that went past her kneecaps and on the figure’s feet were tado (sandals).
There was a silence as Tsuki faced the figure which he noticed wielded an oversized naginata which had a 1.6 metre shaft and about a meter katana-like blade with three rings in the blade near the crosspiece. They were connected by links of chain to a larger ring on the crosspiece that linked to a white and a faint red piece of cloth that trailed in the light breeze.
“Hello, get past please? I need to head north” Tsuki stated nicely enough.
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‘Friend or foe?’ he thought though. He needed to be sure as he flicked the safety on the P90 off. He looked onward at the path ahead, the figure did not move nor did he/she respond.
“…”
“…”
Tsuki was beginning to fidget now. The uncomfortable silence with only the wind, birds and the trees audible. He was studying his potential opponent though, he guessed that the figure was female due to her figure and the presence of breasts. Also the fact that the yukata the figure wore was meant for a female.
“…die” the figure said almost inaudibly to Tsuki’s ears. The single word triggered something in his subconscious. As he reacted almost immediately, his vision turning from normal into focused. Although there was no physical change in his eyes. His mind changed completely. He had to cut off all of his emotions and become cold, yet he couldn’t this time.
‘I need to not kill her’ he thought firmly.
“Huh?” Tsuki asked as he looked ahead and flinched as the figure seemed to have disappeared from in front of him. His eyes widened as he heard the sound of rustling behind him and he leant back narrowly dodging the blade. He jumped up and swayed as the heavy blade slammed down into the ground.
‘What terrifying strength’ Tsuki thought impressed, which was the appropriate time as he smoothly grabbed his trench knives and bent his knees as he crossed over the bowie bladed knives and blocked the descending blade. He instantly began to struggle as the position he was in was not preferable for this situation…or battle.
“Give up” the girl said a hint of triumph in her voice and the words said. Tsuki didn’t like that, he wasn’t going to lay down and die.
“Fuck…off” Tsuki grunted under the strain of the weight. Then he suddenly roared loudly scaring the birds and animals within a 100 metre radius. As he suddenly unleashed a fury of swings, jabs, slashes and stabs as the trench knives proved more agile than the oversized naginata that the girl wielded. But the tables can turn in a fight with just a snap of finger. As proven was Tsuki faltered as the girl stopped retreating backwards and instead stood firmly. He staggered a little but it was all the girl needed to cast a spell.
“ Tails of Kyūbi no Kitsune – First Tail: Sacrifice Inferno” the girl cried as a bright orange flame consumed Tsuki. The sound of snapping and sizzling was heard as the flames died down and all was left was a standing figure consumed by flames. Yet Tsuki did not fall, he stood there.
“Shadoukattā – First Blade: Shadousuraisu-fū” Tsuki said darkly and the shadows formed by the fire leapt up from the ground and solidified to become crescent shaped blades of shadow.
“Shit” the girl exclaimed as she jumped back avoiding the wind of black blades, sharp and extremely concentrated with aura. She looked back at where she last saw Tsuki and saw nothing. Suddenly she backed back into something.
“Don’t move” a voice said simply, and the blade of a white curved blade lightly touched her throat. She gritted her teeth. He had trapped her. She dropped her naginata and lowered her arms.
“I surrender” the girl said sighing as she took off her mask. Tsuki studied the face from where he was. It was a cute oval shaped face with topaz eyes that glowed brightly, a small cute nose and beautiful lips that almost any man could fall for. And yes, almost. She threw him her charming smile that could melt anyone’s heart.
“…why are you smiling?” Tsuki asked blankly, but in the girl’s eyes it was a sinister and threatening leer that fitted something from a horror novel.
“Noooo, reason” the girl replied realising her charming strategy had failed…miserably. It was not something you could use to win over Tsuki.
“Whatever” Tsuki said in a bored tone. He let her go, placed his trench knife into its sheath and walked away slinging his sack over his shoulder. The girl looked down and placed up her naginata then back at the man she had been attacking. In truth she just wanted to test her skill against someone and Tsuki was the first person she saw. Luckily she was a focused battler.
“Hey wait up!” the girl yelled placing her mask on the side of her head before picking up a concealed sack just next to the road and slinging it over her shoulder as she ran towards the retreating man.
Eventually she caught up to Tsuki, gasping for air. He was a fast walker and easily covered a kilometre within 15 minutes of walking. He looked beside him at the girl and sighed.
“What is it?” Tsuki asked exasperated.
“Where are you headed?” the girl asked curiously. Tsuki looked at her and sighed, deciding that she’d be long gone before he reached his destination.
“North to Sapporo” Tsuki answered and he felt a niggle of worry in the back of his mind. There was something about the fight and Sapporo that sort of made him regret saying where he was headed.
“Oh! That’s my hometown!” the girl exclaimed with sparkling eyes. Tsuki groaned silently and mentally face-palmed himself. Of course it was her hometown.
Sapporo as mentioned before was one of the seven cities of Japan that has a Clan. Sapporo so happens to be the home to the Inari Clan. The Goddess associated with foxes and the girl used a unique Art within the Clan called the Tails of Kyūbi no Kitsune, or Tails of the Nine Tail Fox. A fire based Art that has nine stages or tails.
“Let me guess, you are part of the Inari Clan in Sapporo?” Tsuki said looking rather annoyed but the girl couldn’t see the expression seeing as half his face was covered with bandages and the hood casted a shadow over his left eye.
“Yeah. My name is Fukuyo Yuki” the girl said introducing herself. Tsuki thought for a second before sighing and decided that he should be polite. The girl, Yuki, after all was a strange one.
“My name is Koike Tsuki” Tsuki said introducing himself as he placed his free hand on his chest to indicate that his name belonged to him.
“Sorry about the fight earlier, I just wanted to test out my skill” Yuki said bashfully and Tsuki looked at her with a look that said ‘but why the fu-?’
“Why come so far south then?” he challenged her.
“M-my Clan sort of exiled me until I found my-” Yuki hesitated and Tsuki looked at her with one eyebrow raised, although she couldn’t see it so she suddenly finished with, “my true strength! Yeah t-that’s what it was, hahaha”
‘Already I find this girl a bit annoying’ Tsuki thought mentally rubbing his brain as they continued to walk along the road. His mind already preparing itself for the long journey ahead.