Chapter 1
"What have I gotten myself into?" Spoke a black clad figure who stood within a clearing just outside the gates of what look to be a large Japanese style looking castle.
The person in question appeared to be female sporting long blond hair that extended past her shoulders.
Her attire consisted of a smooth black leather outfit, though the outfit covered most of her body while her stomach was left exposed in a V shape revealing her curvy figure.
Her face appeared soft and angelic with light brown hazel eyes that held a look of longing as she stared intentively at the castle that stood before her.
The castle in question looked to be ancient in its design appearing to be worn down Sporting a colorless gray look to it. At the very center of the castle appeared a large symbol of a character. The character in question resembled the figure of bishamonten. Which is the buddhist god of war.
Though the color scheme was not much to marvel at the size of the structure would leave anyone speechless. As the massive castle extended 21.85 square meters and 15,000 sq ft.
Along the castle appeared large walls located on each side making the structure appear even larger.
The youthful teenage girl in black proceeded to turn away from the scene as her longing expression was soon replaced with a determined one as her soft brown eyes began to burn with passion.
"No matter what happens." The teenage girl began to whisper to herself.
"From this point forward, I will complete my mission for him...that is my vow." The teen whispered ever so softly as her blond hair began to blow soundly with in the breeze as if mother nature was acknowledgeing her words and urging her forward.
With out delay the girl clad in black began to sprint swiftly across the land which was apsent of vegitation, only a rugged moutain path was paved out for the teenage girl to run on.
From a distance behind the wall of the castle stood a small wooden house. Inside the said house sat a lone figure that currently sat crossleged and though the person's body appeared feminine he was in fact a male.
The man in question was currently sipping tea while delicately siting on a green matt with in the insides of his i-ma living space.
Despite being a male decent this man had a graceful yet elegant appearance that lite up the very room he was in.
His face appeared youthful despite being a tad pale and his over all complection appeared to be as white as a sheet resembleing snow.
The man also sported a white cap that covered both sides of his face mixed silky white scarf was also wraped around his neck complimenting his over all apperance.
His clothing consisted of a white shielding that supported his upper body.
The man was also wearing a light green body suit underneath his shielding. A refined clear white cape was also present behind the man.
The calm looking man also sported armored black boots that where knee high, white gloves that were also supported with silver arm guards.
Though the mans appearance was flashy He held a dignified air to him.
The peaceful looking man continued to sipp the contents of his tea. As he gazed out his window located to the right of him with his teal green eyes.
The window reflected the bright rays of sun light that the man seemed to enjoy. For he allowed himself a moment to bask in its rays before speaking.
"Kasuga.." The man spoke softly as he stared out his window.
"May you have the blessing and divine protection of bishamonten on your journey my young angel of the blade." The man spoke to no one in particulare as he proceeded to continue drinking his tea with his eyes closed appearing to savor its flavor.
Not far from the location of the casthle pass the hills and moutain range of Echigo did a black blur appear moving with speed to fast for the human eye to follow. Kasuga made her way through the forest floor moving soundly and swiftly.
As she moved her blonde hair whipped behind her due to the speed in which she was traveling.
"I still cant belive I'm doing this.." Kasuga spoke to herself as she came to a complete stop and proceeded to leap onto a tree branch steadying herself with balance.
Kasuga proceeded to survey the area she was in very carefully as though she was being watched.
Her surroundings consisted of large pine trees like the one she was currently standing on.
The trees in this forest were so towering to the point that the suns rays could only be seen as a glitter in the sky.
All in all Kasuga had to admire Kenshin's tasth in location, choosing to have his castle built just outside this serene yet maze like forest.
Not only was it a beautiful sight to behold, but It also was a good tactic to confuse enemy's with if there intent was to launch an assault, for if you were unsure of where you were going you could easily get lost in such a enormous place.
Kasauga proceeded to sigh heavily as her thought's drifted to the man known as Uesugi Kenshin who she was currently on a mission for.
"I barely know this man...so why?" Kasuga questioned herself despite making a vow to serve Uesugi Kenshin she could not help but wonder why she had agreed to serve a man she was originally sent to kill.
Kasuga was a ninja after all, a rookie ninja at that but still a ninja never the less.
She had trained for over a year in the art of ninjutsu and was originally hired by a rival warlord of Uesugi Kenshin.
Her mission was to assassinate Uesugi Kenshin and present his head to the man that hired her.
Assassination was a common occurrence by ninja with in this era which was the sengoku era.
Uesugi Kenshin despite having a gentle appearance was still a warlord. And just like many other warlords were looking to rule the entire country of japan under there own ideal's.
Uesugi Kenshin stood out from the others however for his strategies and his battle tatics were considered legendary. Such a reputaion has earned Kenshin the title of war god.
Kasuga despite herself fond her mind drifting to her first encounter with Kenshin. Slowly the images began to menifest themsleves with in her mind as she began to relive her fateful encounter with a man that changed the course of her destiny.
Kasuga went on to momentarily close her eyes as the memory's became increasingly clear. And before Kasuga could stop herself her mind was fully assaulted with the events that lead to her blissful encounter with Kenshin.
[Flashback]
It was another mission just like any other.
At least that's what Kasuga kept telling her self as she stared out into the immense castle belonging to the war god known as Uesugi Kenshin.
The sun was slowing peaking its head over the horizon indicateing that it was early morning.
Kasugas light brown eyes stared intently at the structure before her in a crouched down position hiding among the plaints and trees located just outside Echigo.
"So this is the place." Kasuga spoke while pulling a scroll out of her back pocket. She proceeded to open the scroll and looked over it briefly.
"This is were the warlord known as Uesugi Kenshin lives." Kasuga spoke while eyeing the scroll carefuly.
Kasuga had traveled long and far for this mission inorder to assassinate Uesugi Kenshin.
Her orginal plain was to devise a way attack under the cover of night fall for her abilty to move undetected was better served at night.
Kasuga silently cursed herself as her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment at the horrible predicament she fond herself in the previous night.
Due to not being use to traveling in such a large forest Kasuga had fond herself lost several times that evening. And as a result it took her the entire night to navigate herself out the forest complex.
Afterwards Kasuga was forced to devise a way to butcher her target within the bleak of morning.
"Oh well..whats done is done." Kasuga muttered while adopting a serious look.
"Its too bad..but your time to die has come Kenshin." Kasuga spoke while proceeding to stand.
"Though I do not enjoy killing you will die by my hands today." Kasuga spoke confidently as she proceeded to roll the scroll up and placed it in her back pocket.
No sooner did Kasuga go on to dash from the forest area making a b line for the castle.
Kasuga upon realizing the lack of place to take cover around the outside of Kenshins layer made haste toward her destination realizing she needed to get past the castle gates quickly for fear of being spoted.
"I must think of a quick way to get inside unnoticed." Kasuga thought already developing a strategy in her head as Kenshins fortress appeared to be getting closer by the second.
"There appear to be no guards surrounding the outside area which is strange." Kasuga thought while inexpecting every corner of the gate she was approaching.
"This man must either be over confident or a fool." Kasuga thought as she came to a stop mere meters away from the castle gates and was unable to detect the presence of another person on the outside where she stood.
Kasuga took a moment to contemplate scaling the large walls that existed on both sides of the castle but quickly casted that idea aside fearing she might get the attention of her target by doing so.
"I guess I could use that technique." Kasuga thought to herself as she proceeded pull out two seprate scrolls from around her waist line.
She then proceeded to unravel them while placeing them unto the ground in front of her.
Kasuga then brought both her hands together in a hand sign. "Arise Eight points!" Kasuga voiced loudly as her scrolls exploded in smoke.
The smoke however subsided quickly to reveal two large circular twin shuriken.
With out missing a beat Kasuga picked up both shuriken and proceeded to cross her arms.
"White Night!" Kasuga voiced as her body began to spin rapidly giveing her the look of a mini tornado.
No sooner did Kasuga make a small leap into the air while spining like a drill and aimed her Twin Shuriken attack into the ground located in front of her.
The result was Kasuga submergeing herself into the ground by way of tunnling with her attack.
Moments later Kasuga fond herself emergeing from a small hole on the other side of Kenshins castle but before she could proceed further Kasuga saw something that took her breath away.
Though Kasuga understood Kenshins reputation she was in no way prepared for what to expect upon infiltrating his headquarters...
Her eyes fond themselves glued to the front of Kenshins living quarter's and Kasuga fond herself overwhelmed by what she saw.
The first thing Kasuga noticed was the grace and beauty of the sakura petals that were whirling around a small wooden house that appeared to be made of expensive top of the line bambo wood.
The petals were being scattered by the wind, some even traveled toward Kasuga in a mystic way as if welcoming her.
Kasuga was caught up not only by the sakura petals but by the beauty of the sakura trees that stood on each side of the wooden house.
The tree's along with the petals painted a majestic scene. It gave the appearance of a painting.
"Oh my..' Kasuga voiced in awe as her hand fond its way to heart completely over taken by the feeling of peacefulness swelling inside of her at what she was seeing.
As Kasuga began to inspect the wooden house more she could make out the window's of the house that appeared to have plain white clafs that appeared to be spotless as they two swayed in the wind in rhythem with the sakura trees.
"He must clean those every morning." Kasuga voiced softly overtaken by what she was seeing.
Kasuga's atention was then focused on the small lake that was placed on the outside of the house.
The water was clean and crystal clear and gave Kasuga the impression that Kenshin took pride in it and he more than likely meditated around it in his spare time due to the peacefulness that the clear water added to the already majestic atmosphere.
Kasuga then took notice that Kenshin's home was located off the ground.
Most likely to keep his house from flooding when it rained.
Kasuga briefly viewed the patio that extended around the house made out of bamboo.
She then noticed the wooden bamboo stairs that were conected to the hand rails that were Leading up to an open door.
It was at that moment that Kasuga snaped out of the trance she was in.
Which was a good thing since it was at that very moment that Kasuga's ears picked up multiple foot steps coming in her direction.
Kasuga had to bite back a curse at allowing herself to become distracted on her target's home turf.
Kasuga would soon recover however and made a quick hand sign.
No sooner did Kasuga's form poof out of existence only to be replaced with a log.
The foot steps were soon followed by voice's as two men made there way forward toward Kasuga's direction wearing clothing that symbolized that they were samurai
There outfits consisted of gray shield armor with the symbol of bishamonten pasthed on the front in light blue.
Underneath the armor they both wore light gray shirt's and light gray long pants.
Needless to say both of these men where wearing standard identical outfits representing that they both served in Uesugi Kenshin's army.
The only thing that stood out among the two was that one man wore a dark gray Iron helmet symbolizing that he was of hirer ranking than the other solider.
"That was to close." Kasuga thought while in her bambo log form.
"Judging from there attire..these men must serve as Kenshin's guards men." Kasuga thought while briefly analyzing the individual's that wordlessly passed her while heading toward the gate.
Once reaching the gate Both guardsmen halted their movements much to the discomfort Of Kasuga who for a brief second feared being exposed by them.
Kasuga in her haste to transform before being spotted had taken the form of bamboo wood that closely resembled Kenshin's wooden house hoping not to arouse any suspicion of the two guardsmen.
It was unlikely that the samurai were aware of her presence but Kasuga went on to listen inattentively to the conversation they were now having.
She mentally prepared herself to cancel out her transformation at a moment's notice and attack if they had in fact noticed her presence.
"Ok open the gate and lets get to work." Spoke the guardsmen wearing the iron helemet gruffly to the man standing oppsite of him who wordlessy nodded his head before proceeding to walk away from the scene.
Despite being in her transformed state Kasuga continued to watch the movement's of both men more than a little surprised that niether of them took notice of the mini sized hole that was placed in front of the gate compliment's of her attack.
At that moment the said gate began to rise from the ground proceeding to open.
The guardman responsible made his way to stand next to the one with the iron helemt.
Once the gate had fully risen both men wordlessly went on to walk out obviusly to start there guard duty.
No sooner did the gate begin to close as they made there exit.
It was at that moment that a poof of smoke was released To reveal Kasuga who cancelled out her transformation.
"That was too close" Kasuga thought realizeing that she narrowly escaped being exposed.
Kasuga shook her head at the lack of observation skills that Kenshin's soilders seemed to possess.
While her transformation was flawless and hard to see through both men had failed to not only take there guard shifts seriously but also by allowing there post to be unocupied which allowed Kasuga to be able to slip in Kenshins layer with little effort.
But they had also overlooked the hole she had created upon entering, most likely dismissing it as unimportant.
It was this lack of observation and creative thinking that seperated a ninja's mind set from that of a samurais.
Men who were trained to be samurai were so use to being straight forward in how they delt with there work, though there were exceptions to this of course.
The average samurai lacked the creative thinking that a ninja had to possess inorder to survive and carry out there missions. For a ninja had to be both crafty and a master at the art of deception.
This was a perfect example why so many warlords were fond assassinated with no clue of the cause due to there inabilty to see underneath the underneath.
"I can't belive how unreliable Uesugi Kenshin's men are." Kasuga thought as she replayed the events that she witnessed between the two soilders.
"If all his men are as brain dead as those baffoons were its a wonder why Kenshin was not assassinated a long time ago." Kasuga thought while shaking her head.
"But that just makes my job all the more easier."Kasuga thought as her eyes darted to the once agian open door of the wooden house checking to see if the events that took place aroused the attention of her target.
"It's strange that this man allows his house to exist without a door." Kasuga thought eyeing Kenshin's house.
"Despite it not being very smart, it makes his house seem almost inviting...does he really not fear being attacked?" Kasuaga spoke admireing Kenshins house one last time.
"All things considered this does not look like the place that a war god lives."
Kasuga began to strech out her body. "Ok its time I finsh what I...?" Kasugas eyes widened as her skillfully trained eyes caught movement with in the wooden house as a figure shrouded in darkness began to move toward the open door.
"Hmmm...what have we here." Spoke the man who desended from the shadows of the house to reveal none other than the war god himself Uesugi Kenshin who stared at the scene in front of him with a curious eyes.
However Kenshins teal green eyes were only greeted with the front of his gate for the place that Kasuga once stood was now occupied with swirling sakura petals.
Kenshin allowed himself to glance at the swirling petals a few moments longer with his expression unreadable before he silently walked away from the scene only to retreat further into his compound.
Kasuga allowed her hand to slap her four head at yet another close call as she was crouched down from her position now on top of the wooden house roof.
"Sensei would kill me for making so many mistakes on one mission." Kasuga spoke mentaly annoyed with herself.
Kasuga could not figure out what it was but from the moment she set foot on Uesugi Kenshin's compound she fond herself making amateur mistake's that were unbecoming as a ninja of her caliber.
It was once again due to her quick instincts alone that she was able to perform a teloportataion technic before once agian being exposed by her target.
"Alright no more playing around!" Kasuga declared from her position on top of the wooden roof.
"Its time to end this so I can move on to the next mission, for I am just a human tool after all." Kasuga spoke wanting to end this mission as soon as possible as she proceeded to move slowly across the roof in her cructh down postion.
Once she got to the center of the roof she proceeded to lay down while placing her ear on top of it checking for the movement's of her target.
Kasuga was able to immediately pick up the movement's of her pray as being a skilled ninja allowed Kasuga to delovope sensitive hearing and just by listening on top of Kenshin's roof Kasuga could estimate Kenshin's speed of movement and hiswhereabouts inside his house.
She could tell that he momentarily stopped moving and was most likey in his living room quarters.
Kasuga pulled out a knife from her back pocket.
She then proceeded to stab her blade inside the roof and began to slowly drag it forward proceeding to move along with the blade slowly creating an opening in the form of a square.
Kasuga carefuly moved stealthy around the edges of the roof draging her blade along it to increase the openings length that would allow her to slip inside Kenshins residence.
Once she was satisfied with her work Kasuga proceeded to place the knife with in her mouth and delicatly placed her hands on both sides of the square imprint she had created with the use of her blade.
She slowly lifted it up and placed it to the side of her.
Kasuga then allowed herself to slowly peer inside of the opening she had created.
Kasuga was pleased to see the top of Kenshins head who appeared to be sitting cross-legged writing with in a scroll placed on a wooden table before him.
Kasuga without missing a beat stood up from her crunched down position and began to slip in the opening she had created leg's first.
Slowly moving with grace only she was capable of.
Once her lower body was in she proceeded to slide the rest of her upper body inside and allowed her hands to grip the edges of opening she created.
Kenshin who appeared to be to engrossed on what he was writeing seem to not detect Kasugas presience as she entered.
Kasuga at that moment allowed her full body to enter as she slowly made her landing directing behind Uesugi Kenshin.
Kasuga then pulled the knife from her mouth and glared darkly at the back of her pray.
"Prepare to die Uesugi Kenshin!" Kasuga spoke darkly as her blade shimmered.
"I have traveled a long way for this"! Kasuga declared as the man known as Kenshin began to turn around upon hearing Kasuga's voice.
It was at that moment that time seem to slow down for Kasuga as Kenshin turned to meet her eye's.
To be Continued