The forest seemed to grow very still as Chiharu collapsed to the ground. Enough time was given for her to turn her head in the moments that slowly passed to see the moonlit stained blade rise. Surprised, all she could do was look on in shock at the trick she had fallen for.

Chapter 44 – The Beast in the Forest

Chiharu could only see the black form of the man engulf her as he drew closer to her. Everything that surrounded her faded from sight. She couldn't even feel or see what happened next. Blackness came over her eyes as the sound of blood sprayed through the air. The dull sound of a blade penetrated flesh. ‘…Grandfather…’ Paralysis held for the moment as Chiharu simply lay where she was unable to move.

A branch snapped and plants shifted from someone walking. The noise alerted Chiharu immediately, restarting her body and snapping her back up to her feet. Realization didn’t set in for another second. She saw one of her family’s dogs standing over a bloody man. Her mind replayed the events coming to the conclusion that the dog had jumped in killing the man. They were trained to hunt and track with them. ‘But we didn’t send out the dogs… they weren’t found… where were they?’ Another footstep rustled the plants nearby, spinning Chiharu around with her short blade held up ready to strike.

“Your pets seemed restless…” said a voice from out of sight that had a familiar sound to it. The noise came even closer to Chiharu until it appeared in front of her. Out of the shadows of the forest came Haruo wearing the kimono that he had been given after the bath.

Chiharu narrowed her eyes with concern, but relaxed her muscles. “I thought you were still sleeping…”

“…I was…” Alongside Haruo came another one of Chiharu’s dogs keeping at his side as though it seemed natural for the animal.

The scene left her off balance getting a strange feeling from him. Unlike when she tried to fight him, he looked committed. ‘He couldn’t have left when we did. He’d have to have gone before or during the attack. What’s going on?’ Chiharu tightened her hand on the hilt of her blade, becoming suspicious of the boy.

However, both of their attentions were drawn away by a scream. Haruo ran past Chiharu with the dogs keeping pace. Chiharu stood frozen, unable to move for a moment. ‘…I…Grandfather…’

‘…Chiharu!’

‘Grandfather?!’ Her eyes blinked and she could feel her body moving again sprinting through the forest. It became clear to her that there was someone running followed by a second possibly third person. She tracked the sounds into a small clearing in the forest. The dogs already leapt into action as she arrived.

Saki stayed ahead of the two men that chased her. However, they cornered her in the clearing. It was the dogs, with Haruo, that rescued her. Yuki arrived slowly behind them holding his arm with a shallow cut.

“Chiharu!” they called, as she came out of the forest.

The two men beat off the dogs, sending them yelping to the ground. They pulled themselves together into a defensive stance with the changing tides. In a better light, it became clear to them that they were dressed in similar attire as Chiharu. They both had medium length katanas drawn.

Chiharu saw the two men and couldn't wait a moment longer. She charged towards them. “Die assassin!” Her short blade rose towards the first man, who parried her strike. Force from the charge was sent through the clash rattling the blades as they sparked. Chiharu jumped back and dodged around them as the second man came in for support. Her eyes were pulled down with her brow in wrinkled rage as she yelled with each strike she made.

The fight between the granddaughter and her murderers began. Saki and Yuki watched, hesitant to make a move. In a fast paced exchange of blades, they were both out of their element. As an athlete and a brawler, this fight left them out of their depths. Yuki rested his hand, from holding his wound, on Saki’s shoulder to give her some reassurance.

‘Saki wants to help… but knows there’s little she could do.’ Yuki watched on the edge of his toes. He had seen Chiharu briefly fighting with Saki to know how skilled she was, however what he was seeing now went beyond it. It felt as though her rage and anger drove her to be faster. ‘She can’t see, but her instincts are sharp enough to make up for it. It’s the only thing keeping her alive.’

Rage fueled screams drowned out the clashing blades. Chiharu struggled to keep her ground against two targets. The two ninja worked together to strike in quick succession. The man playing back up for the moment came around striking. He forced her to parry unevenly.

Off balance from the strike, she turned away from the incoming strike from the other. She was unable to get away quickly holding up her metal guard on her forearm to catch the blade. The katana’s blade sparked off the metal cutting into it a little. It scraped by in the thrust to cut into the upper arm of Chiharu. Wounded with a shallow cut and bleeding, Chiharu nearly tripped over her feet to back up into a defensive position.

Pain heightened her awareness starting to cut through the fog in her head, but it was working to dull her instincts as well. She flipped backwards out of the way the next strike while leaving herself open for the second attack from the back up. The blade ran shallow along her back missing for being out of range.

‘She’s going to die at this rate!’ Saki couldn't take the sidelines any longer and pulled free from Yuki. She sprinted forward to quickly close the distance. Chiharu was left completely open from the last series of attacks. “Chiharu!”

The two ninja swarmed her to push their advantage. Saki was still out of reach and Chiharu could not defend herself quickly enough. The two swords came down upon her. Two streaks flew by the two ninja knocking their swords from their hands. Surprised, but not finished, the two ninja went for their secondary weapon. Several more streaks flew from the shadows, this time digging into the men. They were kunai that were thrown at vital spots to disable their arms.

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Saki came to a stop. Caution moved her out of the way as she saw someone silently come out of the shadows of the forest behind Chiharu. Covered in black with only his eyes seen, he looked down at Chiharu. He made no move to help or hurt her, but simply stared at her in silence.

Chiharu blinked slowly before she returned to her feet. She stared down at her blade in her hand and back to the disabled ninja. This wasn't how her first kill was supposed to be. It wasn't how it was planned. She pulled up her blade and reached out with her free hand to grab the man by his garb. Her hand held the blade trying to keep from shaking as she pulled back. ‘…they killed Grandfather! They killed him! I can’t show…’

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“…Chiharu…” Masahiko knelt down to help up a six year old Chiharu who had fallen. The rigors of training exhausted her and all she had was frustration and anger. “You can’t let your emotions control you, Chiharu.”

“I know, Grandfather!” Chiharu said, narrowing her eyes looking ready to continue.

He shook his head as he looked down at his granddaughter. “You recite that, but you don’t understand. You can’t show emotions to your enemy. You can’t feel emotions when you’re fighting. They cloud your eyes and weaken your strikes. Emotions are weakness.”

“Weakness!”

Masahiko stood straight up in front of Chiharu. “A ninja can’t have weakness. A ninja kills the weakness inside. You are nothing but a weapon! A weapon breaks if there is weakness! A broken weapon is useless!” He threw out a punch at Chiharu knocking her to the wood floor. “No anger! Stand up!”

Chiharu coughed weakly, taken back by the attack. She crawled, in spite, to her feet standing up to look back up at her grandfather. The look was still in her eyes and he swung at her again, sending her back to the floor. When she stood back up with tears in her eyes she was beat down again.

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‘…I-I’m a weapon… Weapons can’t have weakness… I’m a weapon…’ Chiharu repeated the words to herself as she heard them from her memories. She pulled the blade in her hand further back still feeling the shaking in her arm. An empty stare in her eyes began to form that steadied her hand. “…I’m a weapon…” Her arm released, finally pulling down the blade for the killing strike.

“Chiharu!” Saki shouted, but was overpowered by Yuki shouting out to her. It had been enough to halt her hand just before piercing the neck of the man. Saki was relieved to see her back away, dropping the blade. The man that had rescued Chiharu turned away and quickly executed the two men. Chiharu disappeared into the forest with Saki chasing after her.

Yuki stared at the man left standing still unknown with his face held behind a mask. A narrowed glare from Yuki connected with the man. “You’re strange, old man. Giving her the kill after saving her, but killing them anyway. You knew she couldn’t do it and yet you tried anyway.”

Masked behind the cloth there was almost certainly a smirk or grin on Tamotsu’s face as he looked back at Yuki. “No more strange than a teenager that doesn’t flinch at the sight of death while acting innocent. You could’ve saved her as well, but didn’t.”

“Perhaps…” Yuki didn’t like the knowing feeling that he got from the old man. They barely knew each other and he had already seen so much into Yuki. “Not going after her?”

“Age has taught me when I’m needed…”

“…I see…”

Chiharu ran through the forest still hearing the echoes through her mind. They were like ghosts haunting her. Each shouted words of disgust and disappointment. She couldn't escape them however fast she ran. ‘…Grandfather… …I’ve dishonored you… …I couldn’t…’

The forest seemed to grow darker around her, blackening out everything from her. An empty void caught her plunging the remains of the world in utter darkness. There was no ground making her fall endlessly as she heard the shouting of the voices out at her. She screamed to drown them out, but they reached her ears perfectly to be heard. Her hands clasped against her ears to prevent the voices from entering, but it was as though she was doing nothing. Slow paralysis worked over her as she continued to fall helpless.

“You’re a failure!”

“Worthless!”

“A broken weapon!”

“You couldn’t even avenge his death!”

“Shut up! Leave me! I didn’t… I-I… I’m not!”

“You can’t even convince yourself!”

“You’re weak!”

“…You’re human…” a new voice said, breaking through all of the others around her and bringing silence to the chaos. Chiharu looked up with shrunken eyes seeing someone pierce through the void.

The silence was welcoming, but Chiharu shook her head at the new voice. “No! I’m not weak!”

“Yes, you are weak! All you have is weakness!” said the taunting voices once more.

The figure entering the void remained without color yet held a calming tone. “…It’s alright to feel weak…”

“I don’t need them!”

“Yes, the only way not to be weak is to throw them away!”

“…They’re closer to you than you realize. It’s with you…”

“Don’t listen! You don’t need them!”

Chiharu’s body started to accept the soothing feeling coming from the space. It made the voices feel more distant bringing her peace for once. The void began to fade away as the voices tried to fight to be heard. A blanket of warmth wrapped around her easing her heart. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so relaxed, it almost made her want to smile.

Saki held Chiharu against her with her arms wrapped around her slowly rocking. She had found her collapsed. “It’s alright to be scared. You lost the most important person to you tonight.”

Chiharu was half awake listening to the calming voice of Saki. When she heard her mention her grandfather her eyes opened quickly. She could see images of him in her mind from her past. All of the training that he had put her through played for her. He had always been there since she could remember. “…he’s gone…”

“…yes… …You don’t have to be afraid anymore…” Saki put her hand up against Chiharu’s head as she felt her body starting to tremble. “You don’t need to hold back, Chiharu. It’s just us here.”

The forest was empty for them. No one was around. “Alone?” This realization started to sink into her. Her eyes started to water up almost out of nowhere.

“Yes, just me here. You haven’t cried in a long time have you?”

Chiharu did not completely take in what Saki had said. All she could think about was her Grandfather. “Grandfather…he’s…” She couldn't hold back the tears at that point. Chiharu wept.