A red-eyed crow flew overhead, holding everything in its unassuming gaze. It traveled the world, looking as conspicuous and ordinary as any bird of its kind... except for those who had an eye for such a thing. The intent for which a bird was trained forever tainted their aura... and these birds were used for reconnaisance. That of a most sinister kind, indeed. The avian had its eyes gaze along the landscape of Japan, busying itself with a war that it would not win. It looked upon the troops massing for battle- the grounds would be ripe for soul reaping when it was all over. The land would turn dark and the seas would turn red with the blood of countless fallen men. However, there was one bastion of purity and sanctity within all this chaos. While the bird did not care for the scenery... much less the purity... it saw people. The grounds were active, as well as the surrounding forests for a good fifty-foot radius. Those outside of the protective aura... must have had skills that purified negative energies. Meaning that there were even more inside, which meant that there were plenty of strong warriors within who did not entirely want to be disturbed. How the bird came to this conclusion, one will have to speculate about. However it did, and turned back towards its point of origin. Chapter 13- Shadow War (Conclusion) ________________________________________________________________________ The winds reached her as they always had. Talim was asleep in one of the rooms within the temple grounds, next door to Mi-na and Xianghua. Her subconscious mind was doing what it was trained to do- read the winds. Listen to the murmurs and whispers and any clear messages; dive into the spiritual plane using the air currents; try and find something wrong or out of place. A small sound greeted her; spoke to her. As if in a dream, she could sense the stirrings of something wrong. She could almost see it, even from here. Something was coming up from the earth, preparing to take its fill of illness and destruction. She heard sounds of surprise, gasps of shock and revulsion. Whoever it was had seen it... and it saw them. In a blink and with a blur, the presence was gone... and then it was there again, carrying some sort of weapon. Flashing and twisting, cutting into those surrounding it. She could feel auras dissipating as the weapon cut through flesh and bone, tearing limb from limb. She could sense more people now, rushing towards the battle to give aid. The twisted aura sensed them coming and made its way down the tunnel -for the fight was in a tunnel; a familiar one at that- Made its way towards a wide room. She had seen this room before as well. The underground shrine... But the aura was so twisted and convoluted that she could not make out who it belonged to. Still, it made its way towards the box containing the pieces of Soul Edge and was barred by the rest of the group. She could make out what they were saying as if she were there. "That's far enough," one of them said. "That box and everything in it is ours now- if you plan to take it, we'll have to kill you here!" Brandishing their weapons, they prepared themselves to defend what they assumed was theirs in the first place. Rushing almost simultaneously, they were cut into by the weapon which the aura carried, a wide, circular motion that was barely defended against. (Such a distorted wind... but I can sense no trace of the evil sword. This person is already this way.) She could tell that it was a person by the fact that the aura was alive- pulsing with energy that came from blood and muscle and a spirit bound in flesh. But who? However, she had no time to ask- the battle was coming to a close. The person in the middle of the bristle of weapons made two viscious swings, turning in a blurred circle of death. Their armor would not last for much longer if this kept up... And as expected, the warrior broke through. The weapon did its work and cut through anything that did not offer proper resistance. The rest of the unit that was sent in was completely destroyed. Taking a good look around, the mysterious person spread his or her arms as if in jubilation... and all at once, screams and ghostly wails of like victory sounded off. She saw lights and colors of both beauty and terrible power rush towards the figure, joining with the already twisted aura of energy. A laugh- the laugh of a woman- sounded off as the power suffused through her. Talim could not place the laugh, but it sounded all too joyful... almost insane. The woman looked toward the box and strode towards it... Then looked straight at Talim, as if finally noticing her. The shock of being noticed, even within the spiritual plane, was enough to wake her up with a shout. Talim was in a cold sweat, her body trembling. Not with exertion, but with dread. That box... if it were opened... "No," she whispered. "It can't be..." "What can't be, Talim?" The door had opened quietly, revealing two very concerned women. Mi-na and Xianghua had heard the outcry, and the moment they saw Talim's state, they knew something had happened. "You saw something, didn't you?" Mi-na asked, understanding almost immediately. Talim nodded. Xianghua walked over quietly, sitting next to the Sybil and placing a hand on her shoulder. Talim seemed to calm down some, her breathing slowing as time went by. Mi-na couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. (That was fast... and it didn't look like it took much effort. What's going on?) Then she shook her head. The thought had come unbidden, and almost sounded resentful. She wasn't like that- she was happy for both of them. But even as she looked, there was a slight tightening in her chest. "Explain what you saw," Xianghua said. "We might be able to figure it out." Talim nodded, then looked at Mi-na. Her older friend smiled, but Talim could tell that something wasn't quite right. "Mi-na, come on over. I'm sure you'll want to hear this too," she said with a smile. The Seong progidy nodded and walked over, trying to stifle whatever had risen within her. There were more important things than her own doubts. "The wind spoke to me in a dream... There were sounds of a battle taking place. The person who the others were fighting againt was a woman- someone with a twisted wind around them that had its own sickness. The person was uneffected by Soul Edge, yet was not an ally of any sort to any natural thing." Mi-na understood; Xianghua simply nodded and listened, not even pretending to be in tune with nature or the spirits. "I couldn't place the voice or the face, but it was someone who was strong. She fought off and killed everyone within mere minutes, and made her way towards the underground temple that we were in earlier. It seemed that she was looking specificly for the box at the feet of the statue." Xianghua and Mi-na froze in place. The box with the pieces of Soul Edge inside of it. If it were opened and the seals broken, another copy of the cursed blade would be born, and everything they were fighting for would have one more drastic setback among many. Or would it? Could the pieces somehow stay seperate until they were joined with the host again? Did the one who held them all now have the capability to do such things? They didn't know... in fact, throughout this entire journey they thought they knew so much, and yet realized now that they knew so little. But there was more. "Near the end," Talim continued, her voice almost in a trance-like cadence as she recalled the events, "I could have sworn she saw me. She looked straight at me, as if I were so obvious that no one could have missed me... That's when I woke up, with her laughing in my ears." The young priestess shivered visibly and lightly covered her ears, as if she heard the sound now. "I just want it to stop." Mi-na couldn't help but reach for Talim, the tightness in her chest loosening at the plight of a kindred soul. She could feel her distress and pain through the link between them- she knew that Xianghua could as well. She felt Talim relax, and the tightness eased even further. (I don't know what I was thinking,) she mused to herself in relief. Looking at Xianghua, she noticed that the former guard was doing the same thing. Remembering what had happened earlier, Mi-na almost scowled, the tightness returning with double intensity. It was irrational, but even now she felt jealous. (Dammit, she got the comfy spot,) she said as she saw Xianghua cuddle against Talim's chest. (And how can she look so peaceful there? She used to do that with me...) It was there that she caught herself. She almost let go of Talim, who had settled against her own body for warmth, as the realization hit her full-on. (I... I *am* jealous, aren't I? They're so comfortable with each other that I feel like I'm out of place in all this...) She considered for a moment, then concluded, (Maybe I am.) "Mi-na?" She was snapped out of her reverie by Xianghua's voice. "You okay over there?" (The nerve of her, asking me if I'm all right!) The older woman blushed, both at the sudden, thought that came forth and at her own blunder of not listening. "Sorry, guys. I'm just... preoccupied with something." The two of them listened intently, both wondering what exactly was wrong. But Mi-na effectvely countered them, giving them something just as important. They didn't need to know her insecurities; at least, not yet. She was the unofficial leader of this whole thing, and people were depending on her. "If the box is opened... and the seals are broken, then what do we do? To tell you the truth, I don't know if we're ready to take on another Soul Edge- not until we find the other three bearers of the Divine Treasures." Talim and Xianghua had to consider for a moment before shaking their heads. Mi-na sighed. "I thought so... well, we'll just have to make do with what we've got. For now, let's not worry about it. I'm sure everything will be fine if we just stick to it." It was reassuring enough to hear this; and frankly, Xianghua and Talim secretly sighed in relief that Mi-na could still show such confidence. For a while, they both wondered if there was a problem, from the way she was staring off in the distance. They had no idea... just how wrong everything was with their older friend. No idea at all. ________________________________________________________________________ Over the course of their days within the Shinto shrine and temple grounds, the four of them were getting stronger. For three days, each of the women had undergone training which would be considered some of the harshest of its time. An attack could come at any moment, and thus they had to integrate themselves within the clan as quickly as possible. The thing about this was, they were surprisingly quick studies. Their teachers were impressed with how fast they had picked up on the easy things, and how easily things that came to so many others in months and years came to the three of them in days. However, Kilik refused to train in anything; he said that he was fine with defending the shrine while the others were busy. So then, that was his duty- making sure that if the spiritual barrier was ever breached, that the grounds would not fall to an intruder. It was during these training sessions and in-between them that the four of them made themselves known around the Fu-Ma ninja, which was the point of coming here in the first place. By the time it was all over, they had all been accepted as clan members, whether they stayed on or not. And not a moment too soon... Scouting parties arrived on the fifth day of their stay, reporting that there was a disturbance at Hoko Temple. Members of Toki's faction had returned... only to be completely obliterated. Corpses and blood lined the hallways; jagged ruts were carved into the walls from the strokes of some sort of weapon; and the souls that had been wandering at the temple itself were no more. Not only that... but the pieces of Soul Edge were gone, the seals destroyed and the box empty. Ookamikingin and the other members of the council considered this grave news and how best to report it to the others. The members of Toki's faction were good- very good. Some of the best warriors of the clan were on his side. There were a total of twelve bodies reported in the cave... one person had killed twelve elite ninja. Taki grimaced as she heard the news from the council themselves. She had considered the offer that was made of taking a seat among them for a while now, and had finally agreed to participate. "This isn't good," she said with a face that looked hewn from stone. "If those shards meld together, it could be a catastrophe. We can't have another Soul Edge in existance- there are already too many copies. We have to deal with this threat now, before anything else." The rest of them nodded in agreement. "How are your companions doing?" Kishiumi asked. Taki couldn't help but smile, radiating pride. "They are better than even I had expected. They learned the basics quickly- it only took them three days to get the concepts down. The only thing they have to do now is build on them by themselves, which is well enough for their journey." Kageboushi piped up just then, adding "The one called Xianghua is not too bad. She's learned how to infiltrate a system in such a short time, and knows how to use all sorts of tricks of her own. The only thing I had to teach her was how to impersonate someone else, from the way they walked and acted to the way they spoke. Of course, she'd have to learn a few more languages, but that's the cost of being able to do this stuff. The other two- I dunno, really. I haven't had a chance to talk with the ones who've taught them what they know." The leader raised his hand to silence any more conversation. "Excellent," he began. "Everything is going according to our strategy. This setback won't interfere with anything, though Taki does have a point; we do need to take care of this threat before anything else happens. However, we have no way of knowing where this person is, nor do we know who it is. So then, the problem still stands: what do we tell everyone else?" They all deliberated over this when a knock on the door was heard. Making sure that everyone was silent about what was spoken, Ookami said "It's unlocked- please come in." The door was opened, and standing in the entrance were Mi-na, Talim, and Xianghua. "I heard you guys were in a meeting- I figured I'd lend my two cents," said Mi-na, radiating a sort of authority that signified that she was somewhat in charge, and yet allowed the other members of her party to have their say. Not surprisingly, everyone in the room felt it. She had a natural charisma about her that seemed to call her to attention when she walked into a room, and it wasn't just how she dressed. Her very personality, intense as it was, drew people to her like moths to a candle flame, regardless of whether they were burned or not. Ookamikingin nodded. "Then enter and be welcome. I'm sure that any input you have might be useful to us." After they made their way inside, and the door was closed and sealed behind them, silence permeated the room. They were intent on hearing what the three of them had to say... and for a few brief moments, nothing was said. Then, taking a deep breath, Talim began to speak, starting off with a question. "The temple... a battle took place there, didn't it?" The council was in shock. Had their seal not worked? How had the three of them heard about it? "That's impossible," Kishiumi said, her tone grave and serious for the first time in five days. You could not have been here when we spoke about it, and even if you were, this room is protected against intrusion and eavesdropping." Mi-na and Xianghua nodded. "That much was obvious," she said in agreement. "And you're right; we weren't even here. Before you ask how we know, though... just listen." Mi-na nodded towards Talim, and she continued. "A dream last night- no, a vision. I saw it while it was happenning, as if I were looking at the battle from the air. I could not make out the face, but the fighter who killed all those people was a woman." They were still silent as Talim recalled her dream in vivid detail, as if she were there when the battle broke out. The part where she woke up coincided with the shards being missing. Then again, there were no conincidences when one was a ninja. Ookami began to speak again, but Mi-na raised her hand. "Sorry, but it's not really over. You'll have to forgive my interruption, but the story that she told isn't the news; although by the looks on your faces, I'd say it's accurate. Well then, what if I told you that we've figured out who killed them all? I mean, judging from the place it happened and the timeframe in which they were killed- which can't be long- we made a guess at who exactly has all those Soul Edge pieces." Ookamikingin nodded. "And what conclusion have you come to?" Mi-na took a breath and began speaking. "A girl with a ring blade named Tira. Apparently, what I did to her wasn't enough to kill her last time we fought." The leader of the council looked intently at Mi-na. "You've... fought this Tira before?" After Mi-na nodded, he placed one hand on his chin, closing his eyes in thought. When he opened them again and nodded. He adressed the coucil and the women in concert. "Explain. From the beginning. We need to destroy those fragments before something terrible happens... if it hasn't already." ________________________________________________________________________ The patrols outside the shrine grounds were ever-vigilant, hidden from sight and searching for those that came across this place in order to see what shouldn't be seen. As they searched the area silently, they heard the telltale sound of footsteps, though barely discernable. A patrol headed towards their location, leaping across the treetops until they had them in sight. Blurs of motion underneath them were confirmed- several of them. Too many for that single patrol to encounter. They had to do something- warn someone. As they made their way back, quickly informing those of their allies who were nearby of the impending force, the call to defense was raised among the Fu-Ma in charge of keeping intruders from the grounds. From the speed of approach and the silence of approach, they were ninja. Whose ninja, they knew not, but the fact that they knew about this place and headed there at such a speed suggested that they were of Toki's faction. They had to be stopped before the gates were reached. A battle was brewing. ________________________________________________________________________ As the conversation continued, the council got more and more wary of the one known as Tira. Her frame of mind and thirst for blood meant that she had no retraints what-so-ever about killing anything in sight until there was nothing left. And now, with the power of the spirits and the fragments of Soul Edge on her person... "Enough," Ookamikingin spoke. "We've heard all there is to hear and have gained all there is to gain about this woman. The order will be given to attack her on sight. We still don't know of her capabilities, but we can't let her continue with her actions against our clan, be they of a different faction or not." They all agreed, but Taki had a bad feeling... she did not speak, however. They all seemed prepared to give their lives and fade away, when they didn't even know of the opponent's ability to defend herself. She knew that they didn't have much of a choice, either- they had to act immediately, or be wiped from the face of the earth. Mi-na could feel her blood growing hot. She wanted to clean Tira's clock ever since she had wounded Xianghua. Now, she would get another chance to do it. But as soon as she began to suggest that she join the fight, Kishiumi pointed out an important fact... "Taki, your scouting party- the ones searching for Hachibei... they need to be warned." She had almost forgotten! "You're right. Since I sent them out, I may as well get them." The council was against this. "We need you *here* of all places Taki," Kageboushi replied. "I know you think it's important, but being here is a lot more helpful right now. Why not..." He pointed towards the three women who were still sitting on the floor. "...Send those three? It'd be a good test of their training so far." Mi-na's mouth was agape. (Wait, us? But Tira might be coming here at any moment! I'll lose my chance at revenge!) Before she could protest however, Taki had already considered it. "You are right about that... are you all willing to do so? Believe me, it would be a great help." Her defense was taken from her immediately. She wasn't here for any personal vendetta- she was here to helpl a friend. Sighing to herself, she nodded. "Yeah- we can take care of it, no problem. Just have faith in us, okay? We'll get your scouts back as soon as we can." The council decided then to send them on their first mission as Fu-Ma ninja: Warn the scouts that are on the search for Hachibei of the impending danger and bring them back at all costs in order to aid the defense. But before they could adjourn, a knock was heard on the door. "Enter," the leader said, sounding a bit hasty. "Sir!" It was a young ninja of about seventeen years old. He looked winded- possibly from running... or retreating. "We have confirmation of an incoming force moving at attack speed. We believe that it might be Toki's faction approaching this area! Orders?" A disturbed murmur went through the members of the council. Ookamikingin was supremely calm however as he considered his options quickly. He nodded to himself and gave the order. "All units should assume defensive positions until my arrival. Let me repeat that- attack only when an opponent attack is made. We will not be the ones to start this conflict, if it does happen. Go!" The young man nodded, then ran off again, his figure blurring as he moved with preternatural speed. "It seems," Ookami said with a sigh, "That we'll be getting exactly what they think is coming to us for that attack at the temple. I'll try and talk sense into them once I get there- you three get moving with your task as soon as you are ready. While I respect your fighting skills, this is not a battle for new initiates. The rest of you prepare for defensive manuvers- they may breach the walls at any time. These are still Fu-Ma, and they are not amatuers. Stay safe, but be watchful. Move, now." The last two words were terse and full of command. The council stood and hastily ran to their positions, preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. "Damn," Mi-na cursed to herself as the room was clear, save for herself, Xianghua, Talim, and Taki, who would be going with them for the duration of the recovery mission. "Why do people always treat me like I'm some kind of kid? I can do this..." Taki shook her head and replied, "No one is treating you like a child. But he is right- this is a battle between ninja. Do you really think, even with your newfound, yet untrained speed and skills, that you can withstand a force of this size?" Mi-na opened her mouth to protest... and then the pesky thing called a brain processed this information. She closed her mouth, opened it again to speak; ended up closing it again. (Oh, who am I kidding? She's right! I'm totally out of my league here. I should just do what I'm told- maybe it *will* help, in the end.) With that, Mi-na sighed dramatically, though she gave a smile afterwards. The smile made Xianghua and Talim feel much better- there didn't seem to be anything wrong with Mi-na now, not like earlier. "Guess we'll just have to go with it and see what happens. I just hope that brickhead Kilik will be all right without us!" They all managed to laugh as they got ready to leave. And outside, standing guard at the gate, Kilik sneezed. To Be Continued... ________________________________________________________________________ Yes, this is the official end of the Shadow War saga. No, I'm not going to show the fight between the two factions of the clan yet. Yes, Tira is alive. No, she won't be attacking the compound... yet Yes, Mi-na's jealousy will be resolved, and there will be WAFF-ness and a fresh lemon scent all around. It'll just be later. So bleh. Yes, the last part was my attempt at being funny. Tell me how it went, please. Thanks to Lemon Master (AKA Lemon-sensei, for he inspired me to write a decent fanfic) for the advice. Thank you guys for reading. Please, vote in the poll and post your opinions in the thread. Laters- I'm in the bed.
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