Sighing with impatience, Rikimaru silently awaited his partner Ayame's arrival. Crouching behind a boulder on a dirt trail, he started to worry. What could be taking her so long? He thought. The two were ordered to kill a wealthy traitor, who secretly worked for Motohide, Lord Gohda's uncle. Motohide despised Gohda and his compassion for his people. "The people of the land mean nothing to me! I care for only power and wealth." Motohide had once said. But Lord Gohda disagreed, " No uncle! You are wrong, the people are the soul of the land!" It was the dark of the night, and the moon washed over the land. What was the traitor's name? Thought Rikimaru. "Now I remember! Its Yoshimitsu!" Rikimaru said out loud. " I'm here" Rikimaru heard the voice of his partner, Ayame. "What took you so long?!" " I got caught by a few guards, that's all." "Alright, let's go." Said Rikimaru.
The two ran swiftly and silently all the way to Yoshimitsu's palace. As they approached the palace's front gates, they spotted a guard, " I'll take care of him." Said Ayame. Rikimaru watched as Ayame slit the guard's throat. " Man your getting good." Said Rikimaru as she came back to meet her partner. " Now you don't even give them time to scream." They ventured into the palace and were spotted by a guard. Right when he opened his mouth to scream, Rikimaru Jammed his sword down the guard's throat, and blood seeped out of his mouth like a red fountain. "Ow" said Ayame in sarcasm.
The two entered the next room and Rikimaru motioned Ayame to stop. " See those holes in the wall? They're traps. They shoot arrows at unsuspecting intruders. If we walk any further, they will start shooting at us." " So what are we supposed to do about them?" asked Ayame. " We could jam them with our shriukens." "Okay." she said. The two ninja aimed and threw their shriukens in to the small holes in the wall. "Looks like it worked." The holes in the wall fired no arrows as they walked across the room. " Hey what's this?" asked Rikimaru. There was a small paper on the floor, " It looks like a map of the palace." "Good. It will come in handy."
After looking at the map over and over again, The ninja finally made their way to the main room. " This is probably where Yoshimitsu is." Ayame said. " Let's try to make this a silent and quick kill, okay?" replied Rikimaru. They looked around at the main room. "It looks like there's no one here." Said Ayame with relief. " Wait, do you hear footsteps?" "Yeah" The two quickly left the room and peeked at the doorway. A healthy young man entered the room. This must be Yoshimitsu! Thought Rikimaru in disbelief. I thought he would be an overweight old man! To the two ninja's surprise, Yoshimitsu started to talk to himself. " I can't believe it! Gohda does not suspect a thing about my loyalty to Motohide, or my betrayal!" "But his ninja do." Said Rikimaru bursting into the doorway, his voice quivering with anger. " So much for "silent and quick kill," Ayame said to herself as she followed him in.
"Who the hell are you? And why are you here!?" Asked Yoshimitsu, sword-drawn, and ready to attack. " I am your death." Said Rikimaru, also drawing his sword. " Gohda sent you, didn't he?" Yoshimitsu said, his eyes narrowing. " Rikmaru, do you need assistance?" asked Ayame. " I will kill this bastard myself." Replied Rikimaru. Yoshimitsu charged with his sword pointing at Rikimaru, but Rikimaru easily dodged the attack. The two began a duel, swords clashing, and sweat pouring. At last, Rikimaru knocked the sword out of Yoshimitsu's hand. With that, he took out a shriuken from his pocket and threw it at Rikimaru with all his strength. It struck Rikimaru in the left arm, and blood seeped out like a dark-red blanket on his arm. "Dammit!" he yelled in agony. Seeing that she had no choice, Ayame swiftly dashed at Yoshimitsu and struck him in the neck-cutting off his head. When she was through, she saw that Rikimaru was on the floor, and she helped him up. "You okay?" "yeah" "well," said Ayame as the two Azuma ninja made their way to down the dirt road to Gohda castle, "At least when we get there, master will be impressed."
"Oh……….." Rikimaru was under great pain.
"Does your arm hurt?" "Don't worry, I'll put Band-Aid on it when we get there."
" I want the kind with the fluffy little bunnies on them…." Said Rikimaru in sarcasm.
And the two joked all their way home….
THE END