Shadows of the Past
Inside the Kamaya Dojou in the middle of the night a figure dreamed while tossing and turning in their sleep.A woman's plea......
A whimpering child.................
The sound of a blade slicing through the air.............
A thudding noise echoed through the dream as the blade met flesh..........
The screaming began as blood sprayed in wide arcs to splatter the roadside................
Eyes, bluer than the morning skies glowed through the darkness of the dream. A feeling of dread shook the sleeper as the once innocent eyes of a child, changed; dulled and then, they glowed aqua with the promise of death!
The dream changed as another scene began to take shape:
A shadowed face that resembled that of the child...yet older, colder and...deadlier..............
The clashing sounds of swords and the sound of blood as each drop hit the ground........
Loud booms shook the air and the crackling sound of fire rang through the night. Sounds of men screaming as they died while the figure smirked coldly before the slaughter continued........
The dream shifted:
The scene zoomed in to reveal the streets of Kyoto. Shadowy figures danced on the walls of some buildings. The scene changed again, revealing the face of the Battousai as he fought off his attackers. His back facing a wall as the leader quietly approached from above. The Battousai was oblivious to the oncoming danger from above. Suddenly an unknown shadow detached itself from the darkness. The leader of the group raised his katana for the killing blow and brought it down with a loud whistling sound as it descended for the Battousai's head.
The katana's decent was halted by another katana, blocking its deadly decent before the leaders katana met with flesh. It was pushed back with a strong shove. Quickly, before the leader could recover, the shadow hikitori slashed downwards in a violent motion, cutting the leader deeply. The leader fell back with a cry before regaining his equilibrium and running for his life while shouting, "I will find out who you are and when I do, you will die!"
The shadow hikitori paused, breathing steadily while unconsciously, it flicked its wrist to rid the blade of blood. Bunching strong leg muscles, the Shadow Hitokiri prepared to retreat, but was halted by the Battousai's voice, "I thank you for your aid. I will repay you if I may." The darkness concealed the figure completely to the Battousai's eyes, taking another step closer, he asked,"Who are you?"
The Shadow Hitokiri glanced backwards, glowing aqua eyes met amber and the shadow laughed softly at the Battousai's slight start of surprise at the sight of its glowing eyes before replying in a disguised tone, "I will take you up on that offer someday Battousai, but for now, consider me a friend.....but you may call me Shadow for short. I'm known by the title that was given to me by the people, they call me, The Shadow Hitokiri or Shadow blade. I'll be seeing you around....." With those words, the glowing eyes disappeared and the Battousai tried in vein to find the shadow's ki, but he could not.
The person was jolted out of their dreams by a loud boom of thunder that shook the walls of the doujou. Sweat glistened on their skin as the figure lifted its hands to cover its face. Breath escaping starving lungs in harsh gasps, the figure shuddered as a foreboding chill crawl slowly up its spine. "Why! Why can't I shake this dream? It has been twelve years since I fist had this ...this nightmare....why does it haunt my nights! Why can't I have peace! I left the war early and made sure that my tracks were covered. Why now?"
Rolling out of bed, the figure lit a taper, reaching under a loose floor board the figure's hand searched briefly before grasping the hilt of a katana; bringing the weapon into view, the figure tried to drown out the memories of their recent dream. "My past life....why does it haunt my dreams?.....and why are my memories of the past starting to haunt my nights? Is it because of what I once was? This feeling..." the figure shook its head while another bloody memory ran through its mind and another shiver ran down its spine, "I feel like there's going to be trouble...but, I don't know if I should go back to being that.....my friends...I can't be what I once was. I don't know what to do........"
A feeling of strong foreboding made the figures fingers tighten on the sheathe
on the katana as more memories of the past began to surface, one name in particular
passed the figures lips in denial, "No! I can't go back to being the
Shadow Hitokiri! But, I must protect the ones I love even if it means revealing
my secret."
Shaking its head in denial, the figure sent up a prayer to the distant heavens
as a premonition of danger shook its soul, "Please Kami, please protect
my friends and let me make the right decision....I have a feeling that trouble
is coming and I'm at the center of it...."
