Chapter 30: Fire under the moon
One more time, a soft melody danced with the wind in the flower capital. The people living in the Capital had become accustomed to the melody soothing their souls, every once a month, the song would stay in the air for a few minutes before disappearing into silence.
Yasu strolled through the capital streets whistling an all familiar melody for everyone in the city. Still dressed in the clothes Kyomi gave him Yasu an oniric look walking under the moonlight followed by his gentle whistling. The moment the music spread through the night, every other sound fell silent to listen to the song.
Shadows moved in the darkness following the white glint across the night. Entering an alley, the song got closer and closer to the end. With silence taking over, as if given permission to speak, every other sound in the city at night came to life simultaneously with one almost inaudible sound behind Yasu.
Dropping down at one end of the alley, the masked ninja slowly grabbed a kunai. Having followed the geisha all the way from the castle, he wouldn't get a better opportunity to kill her than in the alley, making no effort to hide anymore, the masked man calmly walked over to the geisha, prepared to plunge his kunai into her.
As expected, the geisha turned around having noticed him. "I don't like doing this, but it's your head or ours. You brought this to yourself" No more words were said, with only the ninja thrusting the kunai towards the geisha
Moving to the side, the kunai passed harmlessly by Yasu. With a quick spin, Yasu kicked behind him, forcing his assailiant to cross his arms to block the kick being thrown back by the force of the kick.
The masked ninja originally in front of Yasu dispersed into a cloud of smoke, leaving only the masked ninja that got kicked away. He tried to get the geisha's attention with a clone for him to stab her in the back while she was distracted, but somehow, the geisha saw right through it, not only dodging the kunai but also managing to hit him.
Before, he had his suspicions, but now? Now it was evident. This was no ordinary geisha.
Those movements were not something a naive fighter could do. His forearms felt numb from the kick alone. The situation turned from an assassination into a fight too quick. Whoever she was, this was not a fight he could take lightly.
"It's very rude and weird to spy on a little girl, don't you think?" Letting his hair fall down from the previous ponytail he had, Yasu spoke, his tone sending shivers down the ninja's spine. "And something strange surrounded the room, what was it?"
The ninja's heart rate spiked with only a few words from the geisha. Not only did she know about them watching over Kaido's daughter, but also about the seals placed to hide her.
"Who are you?" Only one question came out of the ninja's mouth. Although his nerves were getting the best of him, he couldn't let it show in his voice.
Without answering, Yasu ran towards him.Panicked, with his free hand, the ninja reached for a few of his hidden shurikens before throwing them against Yasu.
Grabbing the tanto he had been carrying with him and flipping it into a reverse grip, Yasu easily deflected all the shurikens, getting in close range of the ninja.
Now that both of them were close, Yasu slashed upwards at his opponent cutting strands of his hair, the masked man having leaned to the side avoid having his chest open by the geisha.
Bringing the knife down on his opponent, Yasu tried to stab the ninja in the head, only for him to cross his arms over his head, stopping the tanto from piercing his skull. His arms trembled trying to keep him alive while the end of the blade scrapped against his mask. Steeling his grip over his kunai, he swung at the arm aiming to gouge his eye, out only to cut nothing but air.
Looking down at Yasu, the image of the blade on its way to stab him, this time in the chest, assaulted him. Tanto and kunai clashed, the ninja again having avoided death by a mere second.
Going for the offensive, the man rains down his kunai over Yasu. He wasn't the best among his peers, but still he was chosen as one of the Shogun's personal Shinobis. He alone was enough to take on a simple geisha...
'So why am I incapable of landing a single hit!?' The man was screaming inside his head. Every swing with his kunai was met with Yasu's blade in a show of sparks, and unlike him, the geisha seemed to do it effortlessly, exchanging swings with him and following his rhythm.
He felt like the geisha was toying with him while making it look graceful. 'Screw not drawing attention. At this rate, I'm going to die!' Leaning back to avoid his neck being cut open, the ninja gathered all his strength in his legs, leaping into the air as high as he could.
"Ninpo- Fire release technique: Judgment blaze!" Making a hand sign, the four balls on his back lit up on fire, lighting up the night sky. Like meteors, four fireballs shot from the man's back against the geisha in the alley, consuming everything in an explosion and making the ground tremble.
Landing at the end of the alley, breathing heavily, smoke filled the man's lungs, making him cough. The ninja's eyes focused on the cloud of smoke left from the explosion.
"At least it's over. Now that geisha is nothing more than ashes, and my head will stay on my shoulders where it belongs" He could feel his legs shaking. The fight had exhausted him more than he would care to admit.
Letting his shoulders drop with a heavy sigh, 'I got to inform Fukuro-' Before he could react, a hand came out of the smoke, instantly grabbing him by the mask and lifting him off the ground. Between the fingers of the hand, a smile, he could see the person he thought he had just killed smiling through his fingers.
It only took a second for him to feel the hard ground smashing against the back of his skull, blurring all he could see. Darkness crept from the edges of his vision, accompanied by a wetness at the back of his head.
Before darkness became all he could see, a blinding light chased the dark away from his eyes, letting him focus his vision once more and see strange white flames crawling down the geisha's arm, getting closer and closer by the moment.
Heat nibbled at his skin through his clothes the closer the flames got. Desperate, the ninja clawed at the hand holding him, any rational thought gone, with only the primal instinct of survival left in his body.
His own blood staining his torn fingers and nails from clawing at the hand with no air left in his lungs to scream. It was torture, the flames moving very slowly, letting him see and feel his inevitable demise.
One last scream haunted the capital before it all again was consumed by silence.
Alone in the alley, Yasu stood there cracking his neck as if nothing happened while ash vanished into thin air. 'I really really needed that...' Stretching his arms over his head, Yasu let out a small groan. '...Thanks to that creep, I managed to let some steam out. A little more and I would have come back to that dammed castle and burned it down'
"THE EXPLOSION CAME FROM OVER HERE, QUICK!!' Breaking the earned silence, shouts and bells echoed through the night, signaling the arrival of the Doshins to investigate what had happened, only to find an empty alley burned to the crisp.
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"I'M HOME!"
Having finally reached his home where he lived with his father, Yasu made sure that his presence was known across the house. It wasn't long before Shimazu came out of a room holding a lit candle.
Looking at Yasu since the last time he had been here a month ago, Shimazu saw him wearing geisha clothes and heavy makeup.
Yasu his head towards his father, neither of them speaking.
"..."
"..."
"...So...Want to talk about it?..."
"...No..."
"Understandable. Good night"
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So... it's been a while since I wrote the last fighting scene, and I felt a little rusty, so I again have to ask for opinions. This one was shorter and not so action focused but still, I don't feel up to standard.
Also, I saw that I released the fight between Juzo and Yasu in July and I almost fell off my chair. 2023 has been a very tough year, but from now on, I'm gonna get sure that I release at least 2 a week at minimum.
Thanks for being patient.
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