Fate's Creed

This Fiction is rated Teen for elements of Violence,
Suggestive Themes and Profanity.

Reader Discretion is advised.

Prologue

The blood thundered in my ears, as my mind cleared and my focus became razor sharp. The thrill of the kill overtook me, making my palms begin to sweat.

With little conscious effort, I dropped a hand into my pocket, my hand carefully grasping the cloth-wrapped handle of the kunai that was deposited there.

His life...is mine.

My lips curled into a grin as I took a step forward, bringing my quarry into full view. He was, by all accounts, an intimidating presence. He stood tall, casting a six-foot long shadow at his feet. His long, sweat-drenched brown hair fell onto his face, and with an audible sigh he swept it back.

His clothes were of a peasant farmer, no doubt. Rough hands held the tools of his new trade: a hoe and shovel. The man shook his head and brought his attention back to his work.

Satisfied, I brought my gaze back up to his surroundings. The man stood in the middle of a rich brown field, surrounded on all sides by thick trees. A small house sat on the far end of the field, with a lazy column of smoke from the chimney spiraling upward into the sky.

No problems here, either. It almost seemed too easy, but who was I to question my good fortune?

Without a second thought, my hand twitched upward, withdrawing the kunai and flicking it at the farmer. It burrowed itself into his chest, and he fell with a pained cry.

Cursing my poor shot, I leapt from my perch and sprinted to the man's side, my dutiful chakra helping to propel me at superhuman speeds. A short second later, I stood beside the man.

"Persistant, aren't you?"

The man's face paled. "Wh-what...?"

The hollow shell of a smile turned my lips. "I have just given you a way out, yet you persistantly cling to life. Why is that, I wonder..."

A shiver ran through the man's body as waves of recognition washed over him. "Please...I'm not the same person as before...I have a family...children..."

The breeze picked up, filling the air with the gentle sounds of trees blowing the wind. The moment was tense, charged, alive.

"...Do not worry."

Suddenly the man's face lit up, the possibility of a last minute reprieve seeming to be almost too much for him. "I-I, will you...?"

The question seemed to hang in the air, awaiting my answer. My narrowed eyes rolled across his face, taking in the shining hope that was seemingly etched into his very being.

"They will join you shortly."

Faster than the man could respond, I withdrew another kunai and drove it into the man's heart, this time on target. His lips fell apart slowly, and his eyes closed. Dead, no doubt.

A smile, a true one this time, crept upon my lips. I had waited too long for this. Without a second thought, I knelt down and withdrew the pair of kunai out of the man's body and stood up.

The sounds of the breeze fell off, and silence overtook the area. The smile still lingering, I wiped my hands on my long, black robe. The blood smeared one of the large red clouds that lay upon its dark surface, but it was no matter.

I slowly turned to the house in the distance. To work...