Chapter 2: the lost boy

Mirage was now old enough to enroll himself in the ninja academy. He had started school not 3 months prior and was already a star student. One day Mirage came home and found a note from his parents saying:

"Mirage your mother and I have been sent out on a mission. We will be gone for a few days. If you keep working as hard as you are now, then maybe one day we can all go on missions together! Wouldn't that be wonderful? Mirage we are so proud of you.

We love you son

Dad & Mom"

Mirage wasn't surprised. This must have happened a thousand times… he wasn't worried. What did surprise him is that Hitoshi or Hideaki hadn't come by to watch him. "Maybe they are out on a mission to" thought Mirage, "O well. I'll manage" he smiled to himself "I have the hole house to myself… this'll be fun." Mirage walked up the stairs to his room and started his home work. Once he had finished he ran outside to his friend Masa's house. Such was the routine for the next the days

Masa lived quite a ways away, but it was always worth the walk. Masa was his best friend, and they always thought of new and more devious ways of prank people and having fun. Many of the villagers joked that they were really two halves of one hole because more often than not they could finish each other's sentences.

On the third day after his parents left on their mission mirage was feeling overwhelmed by his school work and his chores. So he figured skipping one day won't matter. After dropping his things off at his house he headed straight for Masa's house.

Mirage finally could see the smoke rising from Masa's house. He paused a moment and hoped with all his heart that Masa's mother Ayame was baking her apple dumplings. He loved them so much. The dough was her special secret. No one else could make apple dumpling like her. Just the thought of them made Mirage's mouth water.

Mirage crested the final hill and looked down at Masa's house. It took him a moment too realize what he was seeing. The smoke he had seen earlier… it was not Ayame baking… it was Masa's house in flames! And there were men all over the place, but none of them were trying to put out the flame. There was yelling and shouting then two figures darted from the shed that the men had begun to surround. It was Ayame and Masa. The men closed around them and pulled the two apart and killed Masa when he tried to fight back. Ayame's scream sent a chill up his spine and raised the hairs on his neck. He stood in horror watching this episode. He couldn't believe his eyes! What is going on! He screamed inside his head. He couldn't understand it at all! Why had they killed his friend! What were they doing too Ayame!

Suddenly his fear over powered him. He turned and run. He ran as fast as he could. He reached his front door, bolted through it, and slammed the door shut behind him barricading it as best he could.

Mirage could feel the seconds ticking by. His mind was racing "what is going on? Why were they doing those things? Why did they kill Masa and his family?"

His thoughts were interrupted by the front door rattling as if someone was trying to get it. There came a loud pounding on the door and the frantic voice of his father trying to get in. Mirage unblocked the door and flung the door open to see his parents bewildered faces. After the shortest of pauses he ran into their arms, trying to explain through frantic sobs all that he had seen.

"Mirage, slow down. We can't understand you." His mother crooned softly

"Son, take a deep breath. It's ok. Just slowly tell us what happened." His father said calmly

And so Mirage slowly explained all that happened. When he had finished his father rushed out of the house to see if he could help Masa's family… but they all knew he was too late. The purge had reached the sand village.

Hours later Kotaro returned with a sullen look on his face. He stated what everyone had already known "I was too late. They were all dead, and their house burned."

Kotaro put Mirage in bed and, without a word went downstairs to talk with Akane about what should be done.

Mirage was awoken just before dawn by a loud crash and scream that was cut short in the middle.

He ran out of his room to see what was happening. He was already on edge for the day's events; he was scared out of his mind.

He ran for his parents' room. When he got there, he opened the door. What sight his eyes beheld then made his insides churn and his head grow light.

Both his parents were dead and a score of dark figures standing around the bed of his murdered parent. The figures spun around, followed by frantic whispering. Mirage could barely make out words suck as "kill" and "quickly".

He bolted away with the figures darting after him. Just as he reached his front door he felt a hand seize him and pull him away. He was flung to the floor in the center these men who had murdered his parents. His head felt light once again. The room began to spin faster and faster, his vision narrowed to pin pricks.

Mirage awoke some time later, he looked around at the clock and saw the time. It was noon. He realized that he had been out for at least six hours. He looked around him and realized quiet calmly that he was surrounded by the corpses of the men who had killed his parents, but more than that they had all slain each other with their own weapons.

Mirage got up and walked out of his house. He paid no attention to where he was walking, he didn't even care. By the time he realized where he was, another ninja was shaking him yelling at him. He couldn't understand why this stranger was yelling, nor could he comprehend the meaning of the words he was saying. Mirage simply stared at the man with dead eyes.