The Moon Cast Shadows
Chapter 1: Blood in Moonlight—Yuzuki
She appeared outside of her lord's door with her head bowed and on one knee. She had just returned from her mission and she knew that after she reported the success of the previous mission she would automatically be sent on another. "Yuzuki Hitomi, I have returned to report the success of my mission Lord Hanbei." She heard the voice of her lord and opened the door to stand before him. "Since I can assume that your mission was carried out with no problems I have a new mission that I will be entrusting you with." She nodded her head waiting for further instructions. "Yuzuki I want you to go to the land of Kai and assassinate either Sanada Yukimura or the Tiger of Kai. Kill whichever one you come across first and if you think your skills are up to it, kill them both."
"Understood, lord Hanbei. I will return with both of their heads." Her lord nodded. "Glad to hear it. Now hurry up and come back quickly." Yuzuki stood up and bowed to her lord. "Sir." And with that she disappeared into the night. She leaped through the trees with speed and grace wanting to finish the job before the sun rose. She entered the territory of Kai and quickened her pace with anticipation.
She stopped and whipped out her katana deflecting a kunai knife aimed for her head. She looked up to see a man hanging upside down in one of the tree branches in front of her. Even in the dim moonlight she could see a grin plastered on his face as he dropped from the branch to one below. "I haven't seen you around before. So what's your name kunoichi?" Damn! She had been caught be the Sanada ninja. It would be just her luck to run into the legendary Sarutobi Sasuke! "My name is Yuzuki Hitomi. If you don't mind I have something to take care of." The ninja pulled two large shuriken from their resting place in the weapons holder on his back. "By something to take care of do you mean assassinating my young master and lord Takeda?" Yuzuki had no choice now. She pulled her katana out and sighed. A fight was the last thing she was looking for especially against an older more experienced shinobi.
Sarutobi Sasuke made the first move, his shuriken clashed with her katana. He had an advantage in the strength department so she tried out maneuvering him by lashing out with a quick series of slashes and jabs. He dodged every attack but one. Sasuke let a small gasp of pain escape his lips as her blade grazed his side. Even though it was small it was still an injury and even if it was only a little is would slow him down. Thinking the same way Sasuke let lose a few smoke bombs shrouding her in smoke. It's sent told her that it was just ordinary smoke and not poisonous. Then she felt a sting in her arm as a kunai cut past her. She found herself in the middle of a kunai storm. Yuzuki evaded the knives as best she could but by the time it had stopped raining kunai she was on the ground with several injuries.
There were many minor injuries in which she was thankful but she did have a couple severe injuries preventing her from getting back on her feet. Moving her head to look up at her opponent was hard and painful; she must have landed on the ground the wrong way. For once in her life she was truly scared. It was one thing to kill, killing only made her sad and regretful. She knew that when she looked up at Sarutobi Sasuke she was staring death in the face, and all she could feel was fear. A few more ninja from the Sanada ninja corps arrived at the request of their leader. She was starting to get dizzy when two of the ninja lifted her up and carried her into Kai.
Yuzuki awoke as the light of midday filled the room. Shingen Takeda, Yukimura Sanada, and Sarutobi Sasuke walked in. She tried to sit up but found that she was bound to the bed. Her muscles were sore and her energy levels were at a low from the late night shinobi battle. The most she could manage to do his look at the three angry men standing in the room. Yuzuki was prepared to hear the Tiger of Kai give her a death sentence or worse but all he did was stand there and stare at her. The look in his eye was questioning and thought full as if he hadn't yet decided what he was going to with her. It didn't seem like they planned on killing her since they went through the trouble and supplies to bandages her wounds. Sasuke was leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed and his head bent as if he was dozing off. Yukimura on the other hand was looking franticly between his ninja and his lord fiddling with his fingers as he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do. The uneasy silence was making Yuzuki nervous. She could feel sweat on her head and the back of her neck as she looked back at lord Shingen. Then she took a deep breath and decided to break the silence. "Um….so what are you going to do with me…..lord Shingen?"
"Tell me girl what's your name?" The question seemed odd to her for some reason but answered it nervously, "Yuzuki Hitomi s-sir." He nodded and sat down in the chair at the other side of the room. "And tell me Miss Yuzuki who sent you to assassinate me?" Now she was getting really nervous. "Hanbei Takenaka; of the Toyotomi army." Shingen nodded again. "So you work for Hanbei Takenaka then?" And then she sighed, "I wish I didn't have to but yes." He moved his elbows to his knees and rested his chin on top of his folded hands. "What do you mean you wish you didn't have to?" This was going to get interesting. "Well for one he pays me only ¾ of what he should be paying me, and he treats me like shit all day long. If I had other option I'd leave a soon I could but he was the only one willing to hire me at the time so in order to get money to survive I had no other real options. Such is the life of the Shinobi." The Tiger of Kai grinned with amusement as he stood up and walked over to her. "Well what if I told you I had another option for you?" She couldn't possibly imagine what he was thinking about. "Like…..?" Sasuke apparently caught on to his lord's train of thought and aroused from his position at the door frame. "You could work here under my ninja corps?"
Yuzuki couldn't believe what she was hearing! A few hours ago she was trying to kill these people but yet here they were offering her a good job and a second chance. "I would love to work here as one of the Sanada ninja! I really appreciate this I mean I really really appreciate this!" She would have loved to of hugged one of them but considering she was injured, tied to the bed, and she knew that would be awkward it never happened. Sasuke walked over and untied the rope and gave her a smile. "Now look just because you're not tied to the bed anymore doesn't mean that you get to move around a lot; not with your injuries anyway." She was caught off guard by his sudden kindness and couldn't help but smile back. "Thank you." His smile turned into a grin. "No sweat and besides you'll like it better here anyway; you'll get the correct amount of pay and it's kinda fun working in Kai" Yuzuki nodded. Yukimura, and lord Shingen had left the room while Sasuke pulled the chair closer to her bed and sat down. "So Yuzuki tell me a little bit about you."
She thought about it and there really wasn't much to tell. "What do you want to know?" That seemed like it would make the first question easier to answer. "Well for starter what your favorite color?" He sat there with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face as he asked her simple questions in teasing tones. By the time the sun started getting low she had told him that; her favorite color was red, your favorite flower was the wood poppy since it was simple but still beautiful, her favorite thing to eat was dango, and that her favorite weapon was her katana. In return she discovered that; his favorite color was green, his favorite flower was the cherry blossoms, and he favored his large three pronged shuriken. He told her that he didn't really have a favorite type of food because he'd pretty much eat anything.
They talked and laughed for a while and then he asked one final question that caught her way off guard. "So do you have any friends around the country?" Yuzuki got quiet and looked down at her hands. "I….I did have one friend but he's…dead now." There a moment of silence before Sasuke said, "Was he close you?" Yuzuki nodded. "Yea he was my best friend. He always made me laugh and he knew almost everything about me. But he was killed on one of our missions." Sasuke put his hand lightly on her shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that, I really am." Wanting to change the subject Yuzuki poked his forehead and said, "So what's Yukimura like he didn't say much when I saw him earlier?"
Sasuke smiled. "Oh Danna you'll like him. He can be extreamly dense and a bit of a dolt but he's fun to be around. He has good intention most of the time but his actions may seem strange." Yuzuki giggled. Yukimura sounded a lot like her old friend. Suddenly she heard lord Shingen yell out Yukimura's name. At first she was worried something might of happened but then she heard Yukimura yell out to lord Shingen. The exchange of greetings kept going on and on. They sounded excited for the most part but every now and then she would hear a loud thump as if they had run into something or fell really hard. Sasuke saw her confused and worried expression and laughed. "Yuzuki calm down this is a normal thing for them. They can get pretty dramatic but there just fooling around…you get used to it." She looked at Sasuke with a look of disbelief. "Are you sure because they're pretty loud and it last for a while." Sasuke just laughed again. "Trust me you get used to it. You wind up having to listen to it almost every day. But it's getting late and it sounds like they've stopped so why don't you get some sleep. Those injuries need to heal quickly so that you can get to work." He smiled one last time before shutting the Shoji door behind him as he left.