The crisp moring air filled his lungs as he felt the cold morning dew at his feet, the sun was just barely peaking out through the tree's, telling the world that day was about to break,
With the eyes of a deadman, Heishiro stacked the last stone unto the grey pile that rested over the undisturbed earth beneath,
The grave that held his whole Family.
Heishiro had spent the whole night burrying them outside of their house,
The house was so empty and quiet now, the silence screamed the horrid truth that stained Heishiro's mind still.
The apparent truth was still to the point that Heishiro wanted to wretch whenever he thought about it,
How his Parents hated him, or how his Brother's feared him, all for nothing,
Thats all it was to, it was all for nothing, there was no reason for any of it, none.
Yet still, Heishiro layed his Parents to rest, in the hopes that they would find their peace in the next world.
He still loved them, no matter what they did, or how they felt, not even the way that they made him suffer was enough to sway that.
Not even how much he hated them!
Heishiro wordlessly backed away from the grave, he was dirty from the all-night dig, his hair was a frazzled mess that hung over his shoulders, and lifeless face, his eyes, though they were always stoic, today, they were lifeless, symbolizing the shell of a boy that he had become, after learning that the Family that you loved never loved you, its enough to kill your compassion completely, it felt as though his heart had been torn out of his chest, then someone died it black, then placed it back in.
He felt dead, almost as dead as his Parents rotting Corpses beneath the cold earth.
Yet there was still one silver lining in his thoughts, one that kept the flame in his dead heart from burning out completely,
Taki.
Asashi lay in pain, covered in bandages over the wounds that Taki had inflicted, he sat there in waiting, waiting for his Master to at long last end him, or maybe one of his fellow Students.
He couldn't help but think of Taki, and remember the tears she had shed,
Tears for him,
An amazing Warrior-to-be like her actually cried for a pathetic lout like him!
He smiled a crooked smile at that, he could die a peaceful death by simply knowing that someone cared enough to cry for him.
All of his life, it was only him who shed the tears,
Tears for the harsh life for which he had lived,
A life where your Parents are brutaly slaughtered right in front of you when you are far to young to fight back and defend them.
Only able to watch helplessly from a closet, seeing their red blood spraying like a puddle after a storm.
But he didn't have to leave the world behind with the knowledge that someone actually cared,
Taki did,
That was enough.
His eyes narrowed when he heard the door slide open, and in walked Riostu, a fellow student of Asashi, and inspite being a boy of only 12, he was Master Raizo's unofficial right-hand man, willing to lie, cheat, and kill, for his Master, as he slithers his way to the top like the Snake that he was.
" Hello, Asashi." He said with an unpleasent grin, full of malice and false kindness.
" Just do as you will, Rio, we both know what you were sent here to do." Asashi said, far from the timid boy from before the match, he was now stalwart and focused, ready to accept his fate.
A devilish grin slowly appeared on Rio's 12-Year-old face, " Yes, I'm so sorry that it had to come to this, dear Asashi." He said with false empathy.
" Liar." Was all Asashi said as he slowly sat up.
Then he looked Rio dead in the eye, the gleaming ferousity that shone brightly in his eyes sent a slight chill of fear down the Snake's spine.
" If you must kill me, then don't pretend that you give a damn about doing so, we both know you lack such empathy, Riotsu." Asashi said darkly.
" Fine, fine, I'll skip the pleasentries." Rio said, waving his hand absently, with a look of arrogance on his sharp, angled face.
Then, with his evil smile reappearing, he slowly pulled out his Washizashi, then held it up with the intent to kill gleaming in his red Snake-like eyes.
" Is there anything that you wish to say before you die, Asashi?" He asked, his voice almost slithering with bloodlust.
" Yes, no matter what you do to me, absolutely none of this will fall at Taki's feet!" Asashi demanded.
Rio shrugged." I'll see to that, I may be the most amoral son of a bitch you'll ever meet, but I do keep my promises."
Asashi chuckled bitterly." I wish that I could believ that, I really do." Then a smile in turn appeared on his face. "Farewell, you foul piece of scum."
" Farewell, Asashi." Was all he said befor he slashed his Blade, and all there was left was the color red, and a loud thud...
Taki flew through the lavish green forest, jumping from branch to branch, hardly able to contain the excitement she felt at the thought of seeing Mitsurugi again!
I sure hope he isn't mad that I'm a day late. She thought to herself as she grabbed a branch, swung around it, and flipped onto the soft green grass on the ground.
She stood before the Bamboo forest were she met Heishiro 8 days earlier.
A light blush appeared on her face as she thought of him,
The Swordsboy with the stern facade of a one much older then himself, but underneath, Taki saw very clearly that he at the end of it all was just as shy, confused, and unsure as she was whenever they were together.
I can't wait to see him, I hope that he's still waiting for me. She thought as she ran into the forest, she ran through the many stalks of Bamboo, then she came to the clearing where they first met, and found,
Nothing.
It was completely empty, save for a few stray leaves blowing in the wind, swirling together in an elegant dance.
" Where is he?" Taki asked herself. catching the leaves in her hands,
She looked at them in innocent curiousity,
One was a perfect green, with only the slightest cracks with brown edges in its center, the other, was almost completely dead.
" Strange..." Taki mumbled as she felt an unpleasent chill run down her spine, as the wind picked up again, she looked in the direction of Mitsurugi's house with a serious look on her young face.
" Heishiro." Were the only words she spoke as she let the leaves fall out of her hands and onto the wind, so that they may ride it on a journy to their destination, and meet there fate.
She, while not quite adept at the teleportation skill yet, she placed her hands and forfingers together, and disappeared in a swirl leaves,
I'm coming.
Heishiro sat in the very center of the den of his empty house, with his Father's Katana, Korefuji.
It was still as flawless and strong as he remembered.
Not at all like that pathetic waste of flesh that was his Father.
He had to figure out what to say to the villagers who are wondering what happend, and why his Parents suddenly disappeared.
He would have a hard time explaining that, but he would have to think of something soon, lest they believe it was him.
And thats probably the conclusion that they will come to, the Villagers hate and fear him as well, aside from Taki and possibly Yukari, he had nowhere to go,
He didn't want to stay here, where the ghosts of that traumatic expierience still haunted him thoughout the walls, endlessly screaming with the deafening silence, reminding him that no one loved him,
No one ever had,
And chances are, that no one ever would.
Be it life, or death who is responsible, somehow, he would always get left behind.
Then, he heard the sliding of the Shoji doors, and shattering the silence surrounding him, he heard light footsteps clattering about, towards him.
He turned around and to his surprize, felt a pair of arms wrap around him!
" Hi, Heishiro-Kun!" Taki said, smiling and laughing happily as she clung to a very surprized Mitsurugi.
" T-Taki." He whispered, suddenly feeling his arms shaking.
Taki feared that her worries were true, she pulled away slightly, " Heishiro, what's the matter, are you okay?" She asked, and when she looked at his face, she saw that there were tears running down it!
" I, I don't think that I am, Taki-Chan." He answered, his voice shaky, and a strangled smile on his tear stained face.
Taki on instinct pulled him into another hug, she held him tight, as though to contain the warth that was steadily leaving his soul.
" Heishiro, what happend?" She asked again, her head resting on his chest,
With shaking arms, he hugged her back, clinging to her body for dear life, like a desperate man drowning!
Or a frozen man about to die from the cold, longing to feel warmth.
" My Parents, their, dead." He said, though the tears of his sorrow remained, his voice leaked out the bitterness from within.
" Their dead, how?" Taki asked, shocked to hear of such a tragedy happening to her dear friend, and only a week after she last saw him, no less!
" Sit down, I'll explain." He said, his stoic demeanor returning to him, as he broke their embrace.
For the rest of the afternoon, with the dead eyed look of a decapitated head, he told Taki the dreadful, shameful story of his Family's demise.
Taki sat silently the whole time, letting her friend get it all off of his chest,
Then, when he stopped talking as the Sun began to set, she spoke.
" My god!" Taki breathed out in a sharp whisper.
She couldn't believe it!
Heishiro's Mother seemed so sweet and kind when she met her, she would never have guessed in a million years that beneath that kind face was nothing more then mere faceless deception,
Same could be said for the rest of his Family!
Taki almost couldn't believe that it was all just a sick play, an evil scheme, a cruel joke played on an innocent boy.
Taki was infuriated!
But she wouldn't let him see that she was, he had enough to think about already.
" I know it probably won't mean anything at the moment, but, I'm sorry for everything thats happend, Heishiro." Taki replied to the now silent Mitsurugi.
" Your wrong, Taki, it means everything." He responded with a broken smile.
It broke Taki's heart to see him in this state, but after losing your whole Family, as well as finding out that they never truly loved you in the first place, no one would be okay after such a discovery.
She wished with every fiber of her being that she could take his pain from him, and let him rest easy for once.
But things were never that simple, not for them.
" What are you going to tell the Village?" Taki asked, breaking the silence that took place.
" I will tell them, that they all passed away from illness." Heishiro answered.
" And then what will you do?" Taki asked, figuring that he did not want to stay here.
" I don't know yet, I do plan to train under the Murakami clan, but I'm not old enough to make that journey yet." Mitsurugi explained.
" Where will you go untill then?" Taki asked.
" I'm going to see if Yukari will take me in untill then, she was always much kinder to me anyway," He continued, looking nonchalant.
Then his eyes darkened,"For real, at least."
Taki flinched at the words that were spoken, she could see his pain so clearly in his eyes that it made her feel pain as well.
" Heishiro, are, are we still going to be friends when this is over?" She asked with a timid voice.
She was truly scared to lose him,
But this experience would change him so much, that maybe his heart would be far to dark to care about things like friends anymore.
In her world, the Ninja world, there was no honesty,
Just deception, and mindless backstabbing.
" Of course we'll still be friends, Taki." Misturugi answered, actually looking surprized that she would ask such a question.
" Really?" She asked quietly.
" Yes, really." He said with a smile.
A light shade of pink appeared on her cheeks, " I'm glad."
" Me to, and not just for us still being friends, but just because, your here,
Here with me, when everyone else disappeared due to their own ignorence and fear,
Your here like a true friend should be.
Thank you, Taki." Heishiro thanked his first and only frind.
Then he felt Fatigue overcome him from his sleepless night of burying his Parents, he leaned against the wall.
" Theres no need to thank me, Mitsurugi-Kun, I feel the same way." She said as she sat beside him.
Then, as she noticed that his eyes were closed, she slowly curled up against him.
And wrapped a blanket around them to protect their skin from the cold of night.
As sleep overtook her as well, she, barely conscious, uttered words that she never thought she'd ever say to anyone,
" I love you."
There you go, :)
