Andromeda

The forest seemed to grow very still as Chiharu collapsed to the ground from the trap making the noise of the man bursting out from brush accented. Enough time was given for her to turn her head in the moments that slowly passed to see the moonlit stained blade in the man’s hand held up to strike her down. Surprised, all she could do was look on in shock at the trick she had fallen for. “The Chinen Clan dies tonight!”

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 and she could not even feel or see what happened next. Blackness came over her eyes as the sound of blood sprayed through the air and the dull sound of a blade penetrating flesh. ‘…Grandfather…’ Paralysis held for the moment as Chiharu simply lay where she was unable to move still out of her body not aware of her surroundings.

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 did not set in for another second when she saw that there was one of her family’s dogs standing over a bloody man that had attempted to attack her. Her mind replayed the events coming to the conclusion that the dog had jumped in preventing the attack and killed the man. They were trained to hunt and track with them in her line of work. ‘But we didn’t send out the dogs… they were not to be 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 appearing in front of her. Out of the shadows of the forest night was 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 center getting a strange feeling from him. She had tried to fight him earlier seeing how strong he must have been, but it was different from before. ‘He couldn’t have left when we did. He’d have to been 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 taking up sides keeping pace with him. Chiharu stood frozen unable to move for a moment. It could not be explained, but nothing answered her calls. ‘…I…Grandfather…’

‘…Chiharu!’

‘Grandfather?!’ Her eyes blinked and she could feel her body moving again bursting through the forest following the noise that was picking up in front of her. 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. When she came in sight of the fight her dogs were already leaping towards two of the assassins.

Saki had been keeping ahead of the two men that were chasing her after Chiharu had run off. However, she had become cornered by them in the clearing when she was rescued by Haruo and the dogs. Yuki arrived slowly behind them holding his arm with a shallow cut. “Chiharu!” said the two of them upon seeing her arriving still alive.

The two men beat off the dogs sending them yelping to the ground. They pulled themselves together into a defensive stance seeing that they were now out numbered. In a better light it became clear to them that they were dressed in similar attire as Chiharu making it clear that they were ninja as well. They both had medium length katana drawn keeping their movements careful.

Chiharu saw the two men and could not wait a moment longer as she charged towards them without a care to the others. “Die assassin!” She brought her short blade to bear on 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 to play as Saki and Yuki watched hesitant to make a move. In a fast paced exchange of blades that they were witnessing they were both out of their element. Saki had speed and reflexes, but weapons were not her thing and Yuki had experience in street brawls, albeit in the past. They wanted to help her, but they would have been in the way. 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 thought to himself as he watched on the edge of his toes at the fight. 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 were driving her to be faster even though she was being blinded at the same time. ‘She can’t see, but her instincts are sharp enough to make up for it. It’s the only thing keeping her alive.’

Clashing blades echoed through the forest were brought to a pale dullness when compared to the screams followed up by Chiharu as she struggled to keep her ground. The fight was drawing her back to give up ground as the two ninja worked together to strike in quick succession. The man playing back up for the moment came around striking awkwardly at Chiharu that forced her to parry unevenly. Off balance from the strike, she was turned away from the coming strike from the main. She was unable to get away from the strike 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 as it passed 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 had 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 could not take the sidelines any longer and pulled free from Yuki. She sprinted forward to quickly closing the distance as Chiharu was left completely open from the last series of attacks. “Chiharu!”

The two ninja swarmed her to take advantage of her position ready for the final blow. 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 saving Chiharu’s life once more. Surprised, but not finished the two ninja went for their secondary weapon, but 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.

Saki came to a stop seeing the change. 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 being seen he looked down at Chiharu. He made no move to help or hurt her, but simply staring at her in silence with the stance that he was communicating with her.

Chiharu blinked slowly before she returned to her feet. She stared down at her blade in her hand and back towards to the two ninja disabled. This was not how her first kill was supposed to be. It was not 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…’

“…Chiharu…” Masahiko knelt down to help up a six year old Chiharu who had fallen on the ground. The rigors of training were exhausting her and all she had was frustration and anger. It slipped her up. “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 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.

Training was all that she knew in her life to become an assassin. She was molded to be a weapon that would not have feelings or fears. It was a lesson that was repeatedly beat into her through tests and physical means. She could hear the echoes the lessons stripping her of her feelings, but all she could hang on to was anger. It was all she knew and the only comfort she could find.

‘…I-I’m a weapon… Weapons can’t have weakness… I’m a weapon…’ Chiharu repeated the words to herself as she hear them being spoken to her 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 said, but was over powered 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 did not like the knowing feeling that he was getting from the old man. They barely knew each other and he had already seen so much into Yuki. Words games were not going to solve the matter at hand. “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 shouting out words of disgust and disappointment. She could not escape them however fast she ran. ‘…Grandfather… …I’ve dishonored you… …I couldn’t…’ All of her training had proved useless for her when she needed it. Now she was abandoning it and her grandfather. She could not face looking at him anymore.

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 was starting to accept the soothing feeling that was being emitted through the space. It was making the voices feel more distance bringing her peace for once. The void began to fade away as the voices tried to fight to be heard, but continued to be shut out. A blanket of warmth wrapped around her easing her heart that had been racing and tense. She could not remember the last time she felt so relax 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 from all of the running and mental exhaustion. “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. She had never known anyone else other than him. “…he’s gone,” she said softly almost not believing it.

“…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, but the two of them. “Alone?” This realization was starting 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, but it was having a reaction on her that she could not control. All she could think about was her Grandfather. Her mind could not stop thinking about him. “Grandfather…he’s…” She could not hold back the tears at the point. Chiharu wept.

To be continued…