Tenshi sat perched on the roof of the old shrine, long locks of black hair blew into her face, but she impatiently brushed them aside and stared into the inky blackness that lay before her. Tenshi quickly scanned the line of thick trees searching for movement, but she saw nothing, except for the swaying trees and twinkling stars around and above her. Suddenly Tenshi felt movement at her side, she whipped around and was greeted by Kenjutsu's Smiling face "what are you so antsy about?" he said in a playful tone. Tenshi stared annoyed at Kenjutsu "I was waiting for you...but you were late as usual" she snapped. Tenshi rose to her feet and quickly marched to the edge of the roof "well...now that you're here, we best hurry, we don't want to keep Ojiisan waiting" and with that she slipped smoothly off the roof and landed gracefully on her feet. As she turned to wait for Kenjutsu, she distinctly heard him mutter "show-off." Once Kenjutsu had successfully climbed down the side of the old shrine, Tenshi headed for the small hut that lay the distance.
As Tenshi neared the door she heard Ojiisan's voice raised to its maximum volume, shouting several inaudible curses. Kenjutsu grimaced as he reached out for the door, suddenly, before he could move, the door swung open and knocked Kenjutsu to the ground "hey! Watch what your do-"Kenjutsu was unable to finish his sentence; his jaw fell slack at the sight before his eyes. A beautiful red haired woman angrily stepped out of the door and into the night air. Kenjutsu jumped to his feet, but was simply pushed aside as the woman rushed past him saying "get out of my way!" Kenjutsu peered after her mumbling more to himself than Tenshi "well, she was nice" Tenshi shook her head in annoyance and pulled Kenjutsu into the hut. The hut was modest, it was made up of one room that had been separated into three by using long wide curtains; Ojiisan's room was the largest of the three, containing only a small mat for sleeping, and the fire pit, Tenshi's was directly across from Ojiisan's, and Kenjutsu's room neighbored hers. Tenshi quickly walked into the hut and over to a fuming Ojiisan "damn that woman! She's so hard headed!" Ojiisan angrily hissed. Tenshi awkwardly placed a hand on his shaking shoulder "Who was she Ojiisan?" she calmly asked. Ojiisan's eyes softened and he sat down on the ragged mat on the floor "she is none of your concern...at least not now, I may tell you of her in the future, but now you, Kenjutsu and I have much to discuss." Tenshi sat beside Ojiisan and pulled Kenjutsu down beside her "what do we have to discuss?" Tenshi asked puzzled. Ojiisan looked first at Tenshi and then at Kenjutsu "I'll start with you Tenshi. When I took you in Tenshi you were only a child, an orphan, lost and alone. Well now you are 16, a young woman. Now is the time in your life when I should begin training you, preparing you for all the dangers you may face, so tomorrow we will begin training, hopefully you will catch on quickly, you should have been fully trained by now, but I felt you would learn better if I trained you when you were older." Tenshi tensed upon hearing Ojiisan's words, puzzled she asked "What am I going to train with exactly?" Ojiisan simply smiled and reached under the thin mat "this was your fathers, he asked me to give it to you when you were ready" Tenshi gaped, Ojiisan's wrinkled hands were firmly clasped around the sheath of a Beautiful Katana, it was long, thin and perfectly crafted. Tenshi eagerly grabbed the Katana out of Ojiisan's hands and pulled it partially out of its sheath, the blade was razor sharp and it glistened in the light of the fire. Tenshi looked at Ojiisan's wrinkled smiling face "it's perfect!" she beamed. Ojiisan quickly smiled and turned to face Kenjutsu who was silently admiring the Katana. "and as for you Kenjutsu, you remember your mother leaving you with me, she also gifted you with a weapon, one that should take extreme concentration on your part" Ojiisan this time lifted the long curtain that separated his and Tenshi's rooms. When he pulled his hand back he revealed a long black box, Kenjutsu looked at the long box, deeply confused he asked "What am I supposed to do with that?" Ojiisan rolled his eyes in annoyance and flipped the clasp holding the box closed. The box sprung open and revealed two long knives that were unlike any Tenshi had ever seen before. Kenjutsu lifted one of the knives out of the box and asked with pure pleasure flooding his voice "What kind of knives are these?" Ojiisan shook his head as he responded flatly "there is no name for these knives, they were made especially for your great-great grandfather, and they have been passed down through the years, they have now made their way to you." Kenjutsu slid the knife back into its case and took the box from Ojiisan. Ojiisan angrily glared at Kenjutsu then snapped "look at the side of the box you fool!" Kenjutsu reopened the box and looked at its side; in the very far back corner there was a tiny flap, just big enough for the holder of the box to see, for anyone else it would be near to impossible. Kenjutsu lifted the flap and pulled the shelf the two knives were sitting on up out of the box, down below was a secret compartment in it were two armguards that had been turned into a sort of makeshift sheath for each knife. Ojiisan took the two sheaths and wrapped them around Kenjutsu's forearms, he then slid the knives into the sheaths and explained that when the knives were in the sheath they could be concealed under ones clothes, and make the weapons virtually invisible to ones enemy. Kenjutsu was greatly pleased and retreated into his room to look over his new weapons. Tenshi watched him leave then turned to face Ojiisan "Thank you Ojiisan." She shyly whispered. Ojiisan waved his hand in a manner that suggested 'it was nothing' Tenshi grabbed her new Katana and slipped behind the curtain into her room. Tenshi's room was much like Ojiisan's only slightly smaller. In the middle of the floor there was a neatly folded mat and against the wooden wall there was a small shelf that had several random objects and books neatly placed in small rows. Tenshi sat down on the mat and examined her Katana more closely, the hilt was black with a tiny red piece of leather wrapping around the top and bottom, Tenshi weighed it aimlessly in her hands 'so this was my fathers...' she thought to herself. Tenshi sheathed the sword and placed it beside the mat; she lay down and closed her eyes, and before long sleep overcame her.
"Tenshi...Tenshi...where are you? Come find me Tenshi..." a voice was calling Tenshi, but it was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Tenshi helplessly spun around trying to find who was calling her, off in the distance Tenshi saw a door, she ran, thinking the voice could be coming from inside. Tenshi pulled the door open and quickly jumped inside, the door swung closed by itself, and Tenshi was locked in. Across from the door there was a narrow hallway that was lit by tiny lamps hung on the walls at appropriate intervals, following the hallway, Tenshi came to another door. "Come find me Tenshi!" the voice eerily jeered. Tenshi pulled the door open and was swallowed by darkness. When she emerged Tenshi was surrounded by black landscape and a blood red sky, hanging in one of the ghastly black trees was a stick figure, and wrapped around the stick figures tiny neck was a noose. Tenshi ran to pull the figure down but a large crow suddenly swooped down in front of her and began furiously pecking at any and every patch of uncovered skin on Tenshi's body. Pain clouded Tenshi's eyes and she soon heard herself cry out "Who are you! What are you doing to me!" the voice never answered Tenshi, instead Tenshi saw a man running in the distance, soon his path collided with Tenshi and he headed straight for her. Tenshi looked at his shadowed silhouette and saw a long Katana raised high above his head. Tenshi screamed.
Tenshi awoke to the sound of her own screaming, sweat poured from her body and she wrapped her arms around herself to stop her shaking. Suddenly Kenjutsu's Head appeared from behind the separating curtain "What! What happened! Why are you screaming!" he said half asleep. Tenshi furiously shook her head and said "No, its nothing, just a bad dream...go back to bed." Kenjutsu curiously watched Tenshi before finally retreating back to his own room. Tenshi quietly stood up off of her mat and peeked around the curtain separating her room from Ojiisan's. Ojiisan was lying on his side, fast asleep, "You always could sleep through anything Ojiisan" Tenshi playfully muttered to herself. Tenshi returned to her mat and lay down once again, after some time Tenshi grew tired and before she could quell it sleep overtook her.
Tenshi awoke late that morning. She slowly brushed the hair out of her eyes and grabbed the Katana lying beside her. Tenshi looked in both Kenjutsu and Ojiisan's rooms only to find that they were both still asleep. Ojiisan, still lying on his side, normally was the first one up, but Tenshi assumed the fight with the red haired woman had taken a lot of his energy. Tenshi walked outside and breathed in the crisp morning air, quietly humming to herself. Moments later Kenjutsu wandered out of the hut yawning and complaining about how there weren't enough hours to sleep anymore. Tenshi smiled at Kenjutsu and silently made her way to the small stone well that was adjacent to the hut. She slowly turned the crank on the well several times and finally once her arm grew sore the bucket appeared. Tenshi pulled the dipper off of a small nail that was nailed into the wood of the well. She dipped it into the cool water and took a sip, the rest she splashed on her face. Tenshi lowered the bucket back into the well and started to head back towards the hut, she had taken no more then three steps when she suddenly heard a loud crash that was quickly followed by a short yelp. Tenshi ran into the hut and saw Kenjutsu peering down at the sleeping form of Ojiisan. Tenshi looked at Kenjutsu's face, seeing the horror in his eyes, she quickly shouted "What...what's wrong?!" Kenjutsu swallowed as he held a shaking finger in Ojiisan's direction. Tenshi rushed to Kenjutsu's side and peered down at Ojiisan. Tenshi felt her eyes fill with tears; drove down deep into Ojiisan's heart was a long thin dagger. "Who..." Tenshi began, but stopped at the look of pain plastered on Kenjutsu's face. Tenshi wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and slowly reached out towards the dagger, she couldn't bare seeing Ojiisan like that, she had to remove the dagger. Her hand was quickly intercepted by Kenjutsu "No, don't...I'll do it" Kenjutsu whispered. Tenshi held her breath as Kenjutsu slowly reached for the dagger, he paused once his fingers grasped it, then without warning he jerked his hand back and the dagger slid out of Ojiisan's chest. Kenjutsu dropped the blood-soaked dagger to the ground and slumped back against the wall. Tenshi walked over to his side and sat beside him, she searched for words of comfort, not only to comfort Kenjutsu, but to comfort herself as well, but there were none. Tenshi again felt tears slip from her eyes, this time she let them come, she covered her face with her hands and she wept. Tenshi and Kenjutsu sat like this for what seemed like forever; finally Kenjutsu rose to his feet and lifted Ojiisan's body up off the floor. Tenshi followed as Kenjutsu carried Ojiisan's lifeless body out to the back of the hut. After several hours Tenshi and Kenjutsu had dug a shallow grave, Tenshi's arms ached but she still helped lift Ojiisan and place him in the grave. The sun began to set and Tenshi finally persuaded Kenjutsu to go back inside the hut, once they had retreated back inside, they both sat in Tenshi's Room until they had both fallen asleep.