2/29/04

Yay! It's time for the girls! And it's a Leap Year! Funness! I'm on a roll…evil, evil me. I abandoned my writing in order to prepare for Otakon 2003… and then NaNoWriMo… and College English…but I am now back and as good as ever! (I hope.) A break every once in a while is refreshing, ya know? I'm having fun 'escaping' into my OWN imaginary world, as opposed to the imaginary worlds of others, which is a nice change. I haven't done that in a long while. Midterms being almost over, I decided to take a break and do some creative writing… hopefully I'll be able to find a way to fit it back into my life as a regular thing. ::crosses fingers::

Note: Whoever decided that the 'Insert' key should be RIGHT next to the Spacebar should be drug out into the street and shot.

X.x =DOA (Dynamic Online Author)

Fallen : Twilight of the Soul

By Kobi-chan

THE THIRD SOUL : THE NINJA

The young woman breathed in deeply the cool, damp air of the summer evening. It had been stiflingly hot earlier, but now it was quite pleasant. Standing upon the roof of the dojo, her home, she looked appreciatively around in the gathering twilight at her familiar surroundings. A beautiful red orange sunset coloured the world in bright tones as the day faded away. She suddenly glanced to her left, expecting…

Nothing.

She closed her eyes. When would she outgrow that stupid reaction? When would she move on? Never… The irritating little voice whispered in her head. You'll always be waiting and watching…

Suddenly, the view wasn't as spectacular as it had been a moment ago. Sighing, she moved to the edge of the roof in order to hop down onto the green grass that surrounded the house where she had lived her entire life. She allowed herself a small flicker of pride as she noted that her feet made no noise at all on the roof tiles.

She was a kunoichi, a female ninja, and stealth was her way of life. It had not always been so; she in fact had had to rediscover her natural talents in the area. When she was small, she had often displayed unnatural stealth and grace, but after her mother died, she was often berated for 'sneaking around', and thus unconsciously trained herself not to be stealthy. In fact, she had been quite clumsy, although fairly well trained in normal martial arts. A couple of years ago though, while practicing with an annoying jerk who was also a skilled martial artist, her forgotten ninjitsu skills had returned to the fore. She had been obsessively training them ever since.

Now, none saw her unless she wished it so, she was a graceful shadow that came and went as it pleased. It was a great feeling, knowing that you were good at something, that you had achieved a level of skill that few others could. That there was something unique about you that not only couldn't be replicated, but would also be remembered and missed once you were gone. That the memory in others of the skill you had possessed would grant you a place in eternity, however small. Heavy stuff.

For a moment she thought that maybe this was why that guy had been such a jerk… but then dismissed it. She was nothing like him. He was born an ass, as far as she was concerned. She was better off now that he was gone. Long gone.

Wasn't she?

Abruptly deciding that this was not what she really wanted to be dwelling on right now, she pushed all thoughts of conceited, infuriating males out of her head, and focused on becoming one with the darkness that was her ultimate ally, her element. Every night, she traveled the streets, rooftops, even nearby forests and mountains, honing every one of her skills to perfection. She was so silent now that she could sneak up on sleeping birds in the trees, and leave again without waking them.

That being the case, she had often found that animals were the best judge of her abilities. After all, their senses were much sharper than any human's, plus it was a basic necessity of the life of a ninja that one be able to evade things like watchdogs. Something of a sad result, she had found, was that animals generally disliked and feared her now. The neighbour's chow, for instance, went rather psychotic whenever it caught sight or scent of her. All she'd done was to sneak up on it that one time… and didn't they say that a dog's memory span is only a few minutes or so? Bullshit.

The human shaped shadow detached itself lightly from the roof eaves, slipping unnoticeably into the blackness underneath the nearby trees. She took a deep breath, savoring the rapidly cooling night air, and darted across the lawn on silent feet. To the wall, over it, and down the narrow alley behind the training hall, she let her feet carry her as they would. Escaping into the feelings and the focus of supreme skill, her world narrowed to each step as she took it. If someone were to decide to, say, shred her throat with shadow claws at that moment, she would never see it coming…

Or maybe she would. Twisting her entire body as if around an invisible pivot, the female ninja dodged the lethal talons by less than an inch. Expertly controlling the motion of her body, she bounced off of a nearby wall to make a light three-point landing with her toes and left hand about fifteen feet away from the tall shadow that had just tried to decapitate her.

The elongated black head twisted around on a disturbingly serpentine neck to follow her trajectory, burning yellow eyes a pair of pinpoints of light in the encompassing darkness. The shadows cast by the buildings and trash littering the alleyway seemed to gather around the creature, greeting one of their own. The sickly orange glow provided by the streetlamps failed to truly penetrate into the impromptu battlefield, leaving a human shade to battle a demonic one.

The ninja rose to her feet, warily eyeing her unforeseen adversary. Silently, she readjusted her stance to a defensive posture, one foot in front of the other and both arms up. Calling on some of her ninjitsu skills, she enhanced her vision so that the demon shade was abruptly lit up as if it were daylight to her sight. She observed it cock its head, reminiscent of an enormous dog, opening its mouth slightly to run a long black tongue over wicked fangs.

A Wraith? What the hell is that doing here? The young woman was honestly puzzled. I haven't pissed off anyone who'd have access to one of these lately… have I? Her inner musings were cut short, though, when the beast spoke.

"You're pretty quick, human." The sleek Wraith purred maliciously. "But we'll see how swift you are after I remove your legs."

"Oh? Dealing out threats already?" The lithe fighter took a stance with hands on her hips and her head tilted slightly back to look down her nose at the other. "Well, what kind of ninja would I be if I were scared of a few shadows?"

With that, she decided that the conversation was over and acted accordingly. In other words, she launched a vicious attack towards the unsuspecting Wraith, aiming first for the knees and feet in order to swiftly cripple the beast. At least, that was the intent. Her first plan was foiled by the demon leaping straight up into the air to avoid her attack, but she wasted no time in moving on to Plan B. Landing hands-first where the shade had stood only moments before, she pushed off from the ground, moving her momentum from sideways motion to vertical. Thus, when her powerful legs shot out, they impacted solidly with the stomach of the Wraith above.

Demon or not, even Wraiths need to breathe, and the human's attack had not only forced all of the air out of its lungs, but had left them temporarily paralyzed as well. Twisting in the air to land as far away from its opponent as possible, the living shadow landed heavily on all fours, its muzzle twisted into a silent snarl as it attempted to pull air into its lungs.

Meanwhile, the kunoichi had managed to flip herself over while airborne so as to land back on her feet facing her winded adversary. She quietly sized up the current situation anew, looking for an opening that would allow this to be over quickly and painlessly. Well, painlessly for her anyway… she had no intention of letting the Wraith get away with anything less than very serious injuries to as many parts of its body as she could get a hold of.

The demon finally managed to pull a gasping breath into its aching lungs, the inflow of oxygen giving it new life to pursue its mission to utterly maul the little human female that had dared to cause it pain. Staggering to a bipedal stance, its taloned feet grated on the stone of the alleyway floor. Bunching its massive legs underneath its midnight black body, it prepared to launch itself at the other who was standing roughly twenty feet away. A flicker of the phosphorus orange glow of the streetlights, and it was barreling towards the young woman, murder on its mind.

Not really wanting to die quite yet, the ninja reacted quickly to the new attack, collapsing one leg in order to roll out of the demon's path while drawing and throwing with lethal accuracy several of the many tiny daggers she kept in a satchel at her waist. The blades impacted on several main joints of the shade's body, including the left knee, causing the creature's mad dash to become an uncontrolled tumble towards the back of the alley.

The girl, having come to rest next to the wall, quickly rose to follow its path to its resting place. No sense in assuming that it would be down for the count already. No, that would be far to easy, as this thing was actually the first decent opponent she had had in quite a while. Her arm, now oozing fresh blood from a passing swipe of the Wraith, was testament to that fact.

"Well, it seems first blood has been drawn on both sides." She stated almost conversationally as she watched the other dragging itself to it feet, one leg no longer truly functioning.

Its leg may not be in fighting shape any more, but the hit I got has taken my arm out of the action as well. I suppose I could use it in a pinch, but not without causing a lot more damage. The muscle is damaged, and more activity will only cause it to tear completely… The kunoichi analyzed her situation in the momentary battle lull. I need to end this quickly now. No more playing around!

With that thought, she launched her counterattack, putting her speed and power to good use in ricocheting off of the alley walls and floor, fire escapes, dumpsters, and anything else along her path. The Wraith tried desperately to follow her zigzagging path, being just a little to slow to see the first hit coming.

The next thing it knew, there was a burst of black fire in its skull as the human's kick impacted the top of its skull, driving its chin into the stone ground with a crunch. Reacting almost instantly, it used its forelegs to push its face out of the small crater it had formed, leaving a few of its longer fangs embedded in the ground, with a few more falling out as it rose.

Damn! That hardly fazed it! Doesn't it have a brain in that skull, or is it all teeth?! The young woman had come to rest on a ledge about fifteen feet off of the ground and was watching the Wraith recovering with trepidation.

"Well, you're a tough one aren't you?" She queried as she noticed its glowing yellow eyes lock on her new position. "I guess I'll have to get a little more serious, eh?"

In truth, she was a bit worried; her damaged arm was a dead weight, slowing her down and throwing off her balance a bit. Wraiths may exist at the bottom of the demon food chain, but that meant in order to survive they were incredibly resilient, to balance out their lack of power.

Her thoughts were interrupted by movement below, and suddenly her danger sense flared, prompting her to throw herself sideways and down from her perch, just avoiding the attack of the Wraith who had shifted in an attempt to attack her without requiring the use of its legs.

As she landed, the female ninja let loose a volley of her daggers, this time aiming a little higher. She was rewarded by a screech of pain, cut down to a revolting gargle as one shining sliver of metal penetrated the demon's right eye socket, followed shortly by one to the throat. The creature dropped to the alley floor, pawing pathetically at its neck and face, drawing more blood in the process.

"There is no point in continuing this fight any longer." The human advanced, drawing her kodachi sword from its sheath at her hip, preparing to remove the Wraith's head from its shoulders.

"I quite agree." She froze in her tracks as a new voice broke into the battlefield.

"Who's there?!" She extended her senses, trying to identify the new possible threat.

"One who has been sent to extend an invitation to you, Kumori Kagemusha."

"What?" She was honestly confused. One minute she was fighting for her life, the next this weird guy was saying something about an invitation!

Momentarily ignoring her query, the voice addressed the pathetic remains of her opponent. "Wraith! You are beaten. Leave now, and return to the palace."

Unsurprisingly, it did not argue, giving one last pitiful wail before shifting out of existence, leaving the ninja and the disembodied voice alone. "Now then… You have passed this first trial, young ninja, and my master desires that you come before him."

"He does, does he? Well, messenger boy, you can go tell him to kiss my—"

"You will come." Her retort was cut short not only by the voice's interruption, but also by the writhing darkness that was growing around her feet.

"What the- ?" She attempted to leap out of the way, only to have the fluid darkness follow her up, swallowing her legs while she was in the air. Kumori Kagemusha struggled as more and more of her body disappeared into the black void, but in the end, she was completely encased, and unconsciousness came upon swift wings.

There was time for one final thought.

I am so screwed.

NEXT TIME: 'The Fourth Soul : The Archer'

As always, C&C are appreciated!