Chapter 1
She was running again. The wind whipped relentlessly at her exposed skin, the rain tearing at her flesh like icicles driving down from the sky. Her pain was numbed only by her burning lungs as they ached for air; her white boots carrying her quickly across the muddy grass, through the great woods, and into the village that suddenly seem to appear out of the mist like a ghost town. It was a town she had visited once before, but that time seemed so long ago, and the town itself appeared quite different to her now. When she had walked the path down from the mountains no more than a year ago, this town had not been her refuge.
She started to run for the nearest inn, moving past dark cottages and fields of tall grass that seemed to stretch on and on and never end, trying to breathe as the rain pounded against her face. Thunder roared over the mountains behind her and she ran onward for miles, bounding headfirst through the night like a speeding bullet shot from a gun. Out of breath, and on the verge of collapse, she was thankful when she spotted the familiar neon motel sign across a great dark expanse of mud and rocks to her left. She looked back and saw that no one was following her down the dirt road that disappeared into the fog. Lightning illuminated the sky as her sore legs carried her over a small gate and off into the darkness.
.....
Cloaked figures on horseback stopped suddenly as they came to a rural town at the base of the mountains. The breath of the beasts on which they rode blew out from each pair of large snorting black nostrils, and the figures were silent as they gazed down the muddy road that would lead them to their target.
One of the figures looked down at the mud and pointed.
"Look, there," a female voice commanded, six heads following her gaze.
"Very good, then. Find her," a deep voice bellowed as a large figure gestured down the road, and with sharp cries, the seven riders had vanished from the edge of the woods, the footsteps of their prey leading them closer to the inevitable.
......
It was only minutes later when the bell of the motel door jingled as she entered the establishment.
"Hello?" a frightened voice called out to her from behind the desk.
The lobby was small and the lighting was dim, and she was thankful that only the desk boy was around. Her light steps carried her hesitantly to the rear of the room, where the young man sitting behind the counter watched the dark silhouette step into the light, his eyes suddenly going wide as the orange glow revealed the stranger to be a girl. In his wildest dreams, he would never have expected a young woman to come venturing in at this time of night.
This girl was not what you would call an average-looking young woman, either. The boy examined her bizarre blue and white outfit that barely covered her small, yet curvy form. It looked like a female version of a martial arts gi and he could just make out the hilt of a short sword floating horizontally across her lower back. He swallowed down the lump in his throat, and tried to hide the girly manga he had been reading beneath a stack of papers. He met her big, reddish-brown eyes with his own and felt himself getting very hot as the blood rushed to his face. She was so beautiful -- probably the most beautiful girl he had ever laid his eyes on -- and she looked so innocent and helpless. She was soaked down to her toes, shivering a bit as she hugged her waist; water dripping from her matted auburn hair as her mouth opened and a soft, trembling voice crept across her lips.
"May I have a r-room, p-please."
The boy leapt up, nodding his head so rapidly that the girl was sure it would fall off.
"Y-yea...sure...just take a second."
He swallowed once again, turning to the computer as his fingers furiously began drilling the keyboard. The girl felt her face go red as she stared up at the pimply faced desk boy, feeling quite embarrassed as she caught his eyes looking down at her breasts. She tried to inconspicuously cover her exposed bosom by pulling her open top over her breasts, and the boy quickly looked away. She brushed long red hair clinging to her face off her cheek and swept it behind her ears with her hands, listening to the soft tapping sound his fingers made against the keys.
"Can I have your name, miss?" he said in a low, hurried whisper.
She noticed he was turning a deep shade of crimson, and it only embarrassed her more. Even his large ears were burning red.
Yumi....Yumi Hazuki," she lied, clutching her hands over her chest as she watched him intently.
Every second that he spent under the scrutiny of her gaze made him want to hide away in a corner. Being the lovely young woman that she was, she probably thought he was the ugliest man in Japan, and there he stood, lusting for her like a hopeless romantic fool. She was probably a prostitute that had run into some trouble, and what chance did a poor fellow like him have with a girl like her?
"Do you have an ID, miss?" he asked as politely as he could, trying to avoid eye contact with her.
She lowered her eyes and shook her head slowly, and suddenly the boy was facing a dilemma. He already knew he could not turn her away -- not in this storm -- even at the expense of losing his job. He didn't question his morals, amd did not stop to wonder whether or not he would have done the same for the usual trucker who came and went along these dirt roads.
"Please, I'm very sorry, but I will only stay for this night and I will be gone before morning. Please..." she begged him, and from the sound of her voice, the boy guessed that she couldn't be older than seventeen.
"No...it's all right, Miss Hazuki, I will help you," he said with a bow of his head, before turning to the wall to get her a room key. He lifted a brass one off its hook and placed it into her small, open palm.
"Thank you," she whispered, closing her fingers around the key with a bow of her head.
The boy smiled, looking to the clock hanging on the wall; it was already past midnight. He turned back to the girl, hoping to find out where she had come from, only to discover to his mild surprise that she had vanished.
He stared wide-eyed around the lobby, calling out for her like a lost child. He nearly jumped over the counter as thunder reverberated off the wooden walls that surrounded him. As he sat down in his chair, clutching his forehead, he tried to picture Yumi's face in his mind. Had he dreamed up the whole thing? Had he simply imagined her?
He shook his head, pitying himself as he looked down at the edge of the manga that was peeking out from underneath the stack of papers.
"You're sad, Yoshi," he said with a self-loathing sigh as he swept a hand through his jet-black hair.
It was then that he saw a few rosy pink petals floating slowly down from over his head. The boy caught one in his hand and held onto it, his eyes widening once more. He opened his hand and looked down at the petal that rested there in his sweaty palm. He looked down the hallway on his right that lead to the stairs and smiled.
"You're welcome, Miss Hazuki. It was my pleasure."
.....
She made it up to her room in a hurry, unlocking the door with the key the desk boy had given her before stepping cautiously inside, shutting the heavy door behind her to hear it automatically lock shut with a click. Her fingers felt for the light switch, every muscle in her body tense. Being on the run for so long, she was constantly uptight. She knew it was foolish to even think for a second that they would be waiting for her here as if they were predicting her every move, but her instincts told her otherwise. Always be on your toes.
She let out a deep sigh as her shoulders sunk an inch, and she opened the door on her right, her feminine from greeting her in the bathroom mirror as the fluorescent lights automatically hummed to life. She jumped at the sight of her own face, watching her pale reflection gasp for breath, and instantly collapsed to her knees. She couldn't take the fear any longer. She couldn't even look in the mirror without being afraid. She pulled her short sword from its scabbard and held the sharp edge to her stomach.
What did she have to live for? Her entire life was gone and all that was left was the fear. She let the tears fall down her face as she sobbed on the floor, her hands trembling around the hilt of the sword as she thought of her brother.
No...she didn't have a brother. Not anymore.
But still, she wanted to go back to the days when she didn't have to live in fear every waking moment of her life. She saw her brother holding her in his strong arms after their mother had passed away. She saw her half-sister training with her on the edge of the cliff that overlooked their entire village, the sun setting behind the mountains as the sky turned a fiery red hue. She remembered playing with the children in the forest. She remembered every name of every shinobi that had ever died bravely on a mission. She remembered he names of the runaway ninjas.
Kasumi was one of those names now.
She shook her head, looking down at the floor of the room as a tear fell from her cheek and onto her thigh. She remembered how disdainfully the adults spoke of the runaways when she was a little girl and as the thought of her name flowing off the tongues of those same adults filled her head, she could hear the same distinctive hatred in their voices and clenched every part of her body that could be clenched until it hurt.
The shame hit her harder than any blow she had ever felt. Her weapon dropped from her hands, and she lay down on the floor in a fetal position and cried loudly into her long reddish-brown locks, and for the first time in months, she was no longer afraid of anyone hearing her.