There are many stories that go through the history of time that tells people that the Ninja Princess saved the country from Lord Oda and his wrath. There are stories of her falling in love with a ninja who was served to protect her. And the story goes that after the war, the two got married and lived the rest of their lives together. But we all know- that is not what really happened.

I, Kotaro Fuuma, only son of the Fuuma clan, know the truth.

I was there.

It was after I promised Princess Akane that I wouldn't throw my life away. That I was gonna protect her because I wanted to; not because I had to. She just broke through my hard shell and she made me able to love again. I felt this feeling again after five years of locking it away. My heart dry of happiness and eyes were deserts. All feeling was gone; until I met the Princess. I wasn't afraid of death, I welcomed it till Akane made me realize that I was more to this world then just a pile of shit.

That day, when Oriku kidnapped the Princess, I can't explain what happened. It was too sudden. Oriku must have saw right through me when I shot her. Taking that chance to grab the Princess by the kimono and pull her over the cliff, she knew I would go after her. She took that chance to stop me from saving her. I wasn't the one that fell over the cliff that night; it was our only symbol of the Ninjas.

After that night, I couldn't handle myself anymore. Mentally or physically. I wanted to save her, even though I knew she was already dead. The only person in the world who broke through my shell was killed in action. I blame myself for that. I call myself the murderer. Anger was built up in me from that point on that I nearly killed myself when I walked through the front doors of Oda's mansion and assassinated him on the spot. The war has ended, but not my wrath.

I grew violent. I shouted more then I would speak, I barely ever ate or slept, I didn't do anything normal for once. It has been three months already and I still haven't gotten any better. Saizo, Sasuke, Goemon, Hanzo, and Kuma have been coming in once in awhile to check up on me; which I don't need. Hanzo also asked Renn to check me out and see why I was acting this way, and from what I have heard; I have a sever case of PTSD. And can take months to finally cure or even treat it. But Renn didn't even bother to even try to help me because he knew I would reject his help.

"Kotaro, Renn is just trying to help you." They would say.

"Yeah, well I don't need it!" I would reply with a sound of me punching the wall following my shout.

I sat in the middle of my room on the futon and sat with my elbows on my knees and a blank expression on my face. I could only stare into the empty wall that was in front of me and remember every little detail of that night. It was those quick few seconds of watching her fall to her death as I just stood with the shuriken in my gut.

I still had the bandage wrapped around my stomach area and it was painful to move. My wound somehow grew infected from not being treated properly and me neglecting to even look down at the reminder of my failure.

The sliding door to my room opened and closed. I didn't move a single muscle as the ninja walked towards me silently. They then sat down on my left and placed a canteen in front of me with a mild thud.

"You're not gonna survive in this room with oxygen alone." Saizo comments bluntly at me as the silence stood between us. "What happened to Kotaro? Whatever happened to the most loyal ninja in all of Japan?!" Saizo shout at me with a slap of his hand hitting the ground in front of him.

We continued to keep the silence between us until I finally picked up the canteen and drank the spring water from it. I gently place it in the same spot that Saizo had it in and continued my stare into the wall without saying one word to the ninja next to me.

"We all wish for the same, Kotaro." I finally look up at him as he stood up to his feet and begin to walk away. "No matter how much it hurts, maybe you should just bury it down into your heart again." I hear his footsteps silently walk away from the door and down the hallway before I tighten my jaw and punch the ground under me.

I don't have the heart to bury it in anyways.