Chapter 1- On the Edge
"Midori try again! This time focus on the feel of being underwater," Midori's older brother Zanzet stood in front of her, slightly bruised from training.
She focused all her ki to her hands and closed her eyes.
She pictured the ocean and then the feel of the water surrounding her.
"Henkō Bun: Aqua lung!" She yelled, aiming her palms at her brother.
Instantly, he felt his lungs fill with water. He started gasping for air and fell to his knee.
She slowly lowered her arms and Zanzet was free.
"Great! You are beginning to learn the art of Henkō Bun, or mind altering ki technique. You made my brain feel like I was drowning and it all felt so real. Go get some rest because tomorrow ill teach you some more intense techniques,"
Zanzet smiled at her.
"No... I wanna keep going Zanzet," Midori breathed heavily" I wanna work on my sword skill. "
"All in due time," her father Hugo chimed in with a smile.
Midori went inside and began meditating to restore her ki.
In the Shinigami territory, another young ronin trained.
"Doku you will never beat me with that!"
Doku Shinigami, an adopted 15 year old stood and face his opponent. Zaikuru Shinigami, his adoptive father.
"Heh... Whatever old man! Take this!" Doku swung his katana hard and clashed with his father.
"Shingami Ude: Hell Rift!"Zaikuru slashed at Doku with incredible strength as his blade was engulfed in mysterious black flames.
Right before the blade clashed with Doku's, it disappeared. From below Doku came a huge ray of black fire which knocked Doku at least 6 feet away.
"I win again Doku" his father smiled.
"Whatever. Ha one day you'll get yours," Doku laughed.
Outside the gate to their mansion were two men. Both wore strange white cloaks with blue flames at the bottom and both wore masks. One wore a animated fox mask and the other wore a owl shaped mask. The taller of the two, which had the owl mask, carried a war hammer on his back while the shorter carried a sheathed katana.
A royal gaurd approached and asked,"How may I help y-"
Before he could finish, the shorter man had punched through the mans chest and ripped out his heart. Then he scorched the wound with fire and left the scroll of a fire technique near the body with the word "Datta" written in blood. Datta means war, which would ignite soon.
Right before two walked into a portal created by the taller man, the shorter man fired a massive fire ball at the gate.
"Knock knock bastards" we're his only words as the two then disappeared into the dark portal.
The minute the gate flew through the courtyard, Doku was up and sprinting to where the gate should be. He saw Matame, a royal gaurd, lying dead on the ground. His heart was ripped out of his body and a small fire burning his massacred corpse. Doku picked up the scroll and saw the word written on it. As his father saw the scene Doku said only one thing. The tears of anger rolled down his cheeks.
"War," he said.
"The fire clan huh? I guess your right. I'll send a message to the Sasaki to tell them to send back up. Doku you need to rest and repair your body. I need you to be in fighting condition. We will begin planning tomorrow," his father had never been so serious.
"Yes sir," Doku walked away and clenched his fist.
"They won't get away with this" he thought.
The Sasaki spared no time in arriving at the Shinigami village. They had sent Zanzet and Midori to discuss the plan of action. Two other clans were expected to be on their way, but would arrive later because they lived further away.
"The messenger said this was urgent. I knew war was about to start. I just hope father teaches me the family technique soon. I need to be able to use that power if we are really going to attack the Fire clan," Zanzet said with a worried look in his eye.
"I need to learn more offensive ki attacks. Since we are early I'm going to the general store here to pick up some scrolls. I'll study them and be over afterwards," Midori began walking a different way.
"We only have three hours so make them count!"
Midori held a thumb up as she walked away.
Midori finally found the store and had bought a lightning technique scroll and two water technique scrolls. She placed them in her satchel and began walking toward the mansion. She figured she could study them at the mansion so she wouldn't be late. As she was walking, she heard footsteps behind her. Midori sped up and took a right down an alleyway between buildings. The footsteps grew louder. When she turned and drew her sword she was facing two masked men in white cloaks with a blue flame pattern. Both were tall and built. One had a shark mask and the other was a panda mask.
"Who are you?" Midori snarled as she began to shake.
The ki flowing from these two was ridiculously high.
The two said nothing, but instead began to walk towards her.
She raised her ki to alert Zanzet and began shuffling backwards.
As she backed up into a wall she felt two arms hold her in place. She looked and it was a clone of the panda masked man.
The two men now stood before her and the shark masked man placed his palm on her forehead.
"This is one of them," he said to his partner.
"Mark her," the other replied.
Midori felt immense pain as the man thrusted his palm into her stomach, creating a huge symbol on her stomach.
The two stepped into a portal and were gone.
"She's here Doku! Hurry!" It was Zanzet and the Shinigami's Doku.
As they reached her Midori began to faint.