Chapter four

Encroachment

Six years later…

Taidide and Hirota sweated as their blades met again and again. The two friends were now both seventeen and full of energy. The two sparred everyday. Another flurry of sparks exploded.

"Esunid Taihoji sho tsarta!" screamed Hirota as he took the fire blade stance and released a tremendous wave of fire. Taidide replicated the move and sent a wave of fire hurtling toward the teen. Sakuya watched in boredom as the two waves exploded in front of her canceling each other out.

"This is stupid. I'm leaving." She murmured rising to her feet. She walked toward the dojo as the two screamed and attacked each other behind her. The two fought long and hard until evening fell. Sakuya returned and spoke to the two exhausted samurais.

" You must both return to the dojo, Sensei is acting funny." She said in a worried tone. Together the three returned to the dojo and entered the sensei's lair. They found the sensei sitting on his knees meditating. The three stood there puzzled.

"Sensei?" asked Taidide curiously. A few minutes went by before the sensei suddenly blurted out.

"Hirota, fetch me a pale of water from the river, we are low on water."

Hirota gave him a confused look, "Sensei? The water pale is already full." He said with a confused tone.

"Dump the water and fetch me a new pale Hirota, It is a mission." Commanded Omaru as his black eyes opened and met Hirota's.

"But sensei…."

"Do it Hirota!" yelled the sensei. Fear shot through Hirota and he ran off to the pale of water and dumped it, he gave one final glance at the dojo before disappearing into the dark forest.

"My students…go rest…" said the sensei as he turned his back toward them and began meditating again. Taidide shrugged at Sakuya and whispered, "Maybe he's having a bad day. We better do what he says."

Sakuya nodded in agreement and the two left the room to their bedrooms. For a very long time the sensei sat there humming to himself. When the sun set and the moon appeared he opened his black eyes and spoke loudly and firmly.

"Why have you come to my dojo?"

There was a low breathing behind him as a male's voice responded.

"We've come for the Shiyuri, Omaru Kenji."

"Hirota is not here, so I suggest you leave the dojo at once." said Omaru as he rose to his feet and turned around. There in the glow of the Japanese lanterns stood six figures covered with black clothing. At their sides were thousands of shirukens and a long blade covered by a black sheath; Ninjas. The ninja standing in the middle breathed heavily and spoke with a strangely filtered voice as if he was possessed by a snake demon.

"I think we'll stay here for awhile Samurai boy." Snickered the ninja.

"You know you are a full to come to my dojo with only six ninja." Said Omaru as he slowly began to walk toward the ninja.

"Try six…thousand. Kenji, You should already know about the Shiyuri family." Said the ninja standing straight. Omaru stopped and gritted his teeth.

"What has the Shiyuri family done?"

"Well old man, Just a few months ago the emperor received a notice of the Shiyuri family's "Little plan"." The ninja couched once and his red eyes met the sensei's. "The family was working secretly to retrieve the Blackblade."

"The Shiyuri! Blackblade!" exclaimed Omaru.

"That's right Kenji, your student has been working to revive the sword you sealed yourself just years ago! They were plotting to overthrow the emperor with it!" said the ninja. Omaru stared at the polished floor as his hands rolled into tight fist. His eyebrow twitched.

"In all my years as a sensei! I have never heard of such a rotten betrayal!" yelled Omaru. For a second he did not speak and the tension on his body subsided. "Yet…I can assure you…there is no Shiyuri here in my dojo…"

The ninja growled. "Stop playing games old man! If you do not surrender you student to us, we will take him by force." The ninja withdrew his blade and took an offensive stance followed by the other five ninjas. Omaru smiled and went slowly to a poster that was labeled "Flames of hell" in Japanese. He slowly removed the poster. To the ninja's surprise there was a small opening in the wall where a perfect red suit of samurai armor hung. The old man began removing the pieces of armor and putting them on himself, as he did so he began talking.

"The cub does not bear fangs to it's enemies, thus making it defenseless. It poses no threat, yet gives no threat. Yet always there are poachers who seek the cub, not for the cub's fine fur, but for pure enjoyment." Said the old man as he finished putting the helmet atop his head. "My duty as a samurai…is to dispose of all poachers…."

The ninja's eyes narrowed. He snapped his fingers and out of the shadows appeared thousands and thousands of ninjas. At the same time the ninjas withdrew their weapons. The first ninja put his fist together by the knuckles and spoke softly. But in the utter silence it sounded like a scream.

"Kill the samurai and all the students…corruption has befallen the fire blade dojo…" Utter silence followed, then out of nothing the battle began.

"Urragggh!" screamed the ninjas as they tossed thousands of shirukens at the sensei at once.

"Esunid Taihoji sho tsarta!" screamed Omaru loudly. He reached for his katana. With lightning fast speed the blade let off a huge arc of fire. It melted a portion of the shirukens but left many flying towards him. He began blocking the shirukens with his sword. But as he did so ninja's flew out of the ceiling onto the ground around the samurai. With great skill he blocked the shirukens and the ninja's sword all at the same time. A few rooms away Taidide's eyes shot open.

"Omaru sensei!" but as he rose up off his bed a ninja fell from the ceiling and stabbed his sword into Taidide's bed. Missing the student by a hair. "Sakuya! Ninjas!" screamed Taidide. Sakuya shot up off her bed and reached for her sword. The ninja turned to her and screamed violently. With great force Sakuya began screaming in Japanese and took her fire blade stance. The ninja hopped off the bed and called her a bitch in Japanese.

She growled and ran towards the ninja. Out of nowhere shirukens flew threw the sliding door flying right into Sakuya's side and coming out the other.

"Sakuya!" screamed Taidide as he pulled out his katana from underneath his bed.

"Tai…" said Sakuya weakly as three ninjas burst through the sliding door.

"Sakuya stay right there!" commanded Taidide as he took his fire blade stance. "God help me!" he screamed as he ran toward the ninja that was still standing beside his bed. The ninja gasped seeing how fast Taidide was running. Frantically the ninja withdrew a sword and within seconds the swords met in an explosion of sparks. The metals scraped against each other making a high pitched squeal. Taidide gasped as he realized the Ninja was much stronger than he was. With power the ninja repelled him and jumped onto the wall. Taidide stumbled backwards onto the floor feeling drained of all his strength already. Suddenly there was a loud scream as the three ninjas that had busted in through the door grabbed Sakuya. Two of the ninja held her tightly while the third one withdrew his blade and prepared to stab Sakuya in the gut with it. Taidide quickly jumped to his feet and ran towards the ninja that had withdrawn his sword. With great precision and speed Taidide ran pass the ninja. There was a bright flash and Taidide slide onto his knees spinning in a full 180-degree angle. The Ninja that was holding the sword stood there, immobile.

"What are you waiting for kill the girl!" yelled one of the ninjas that was holding Sakuya. The ninja only responded with a bloody gurgle, as his abdomen split in half and blood splattered onto the floor.

The ninjas gasped and let go off Sakuya. Taidide sat there in total amazement.

Did I do that…Did I just kill someone?

As soon as the ninjas let go of Sakuya's arms she elbowed them both in the face and kicked them behind hind their heads, knocking them out. She stumbled over to Taidide as her sides bled.

"Taidide…We have to help sensei…" she whispered weakly. Taidide snapped out of his trance and turned to her.

He quickly rose to his feet and ran to her.

"Sakuya! Don't die on me!" he shouted. Suddenly he felt a cold blade go through his upper arm through his muscle and bone. Warm blood ran down his arm. Taidide screamed in agony. A hand covered his mouth and a low voice spoke to him through his ear.

"You missed one…" said the ninja as he removed the sword from the arm spun Taidide around. His cold hand grabbed the student's neck and lifted him up into the air. With the other freehand he prepared to stab Taidide through the heart.

"Let him go!" screamed a voice suddenly. The ninja turned around to see a boy standing there with an Esunid Taihoji stance.

"Shiyuri!" screamed the ninja. He tossed Taidide's body into the wall and turned to Hirota who stood there with a frown on his face.

"How dare you come into my dojo and invade? If you were real ninja, you would have killed me with stealth and not invade. You will pay for attacking my friends, You will pay for being bad ninjas, You will pay for being foolish!" Screamed Hirota. "Esunid Taihoji, sho Tsarta!"

The ninja screamed graphically and started throwing shirukens madly. With one stab into the air with the sword, a huge fire spear was created and sent flying through the air towards the ninja. When the fire hit the shirukens they instantly were obliterated. The ninja screamed insanely as the spear flew straight for him. His pupils shrank…and he was evaporated.

"Taidide are you ok?" asked Hirota calmly as he helped his friend onto his feet. Taidide looked at him and frowned, "Why are they attacking Hirota? And how do they know your name?" asked Taidide firmly.

Hirota was about to respond but was interrupted by Sakuya's faint cough. He turned to find her rising to her feet.

"I am a samurai…I will not die today…We must help the sensei!" she screamed suddenly. She picked up her sword and took off to the sensei's room. Hirota turned to Taidide, "We don't have time friend. We must help our teacher!" Taidide grunted and nodded in agreement. The two took off behind Sakuya.

"Well, sensei…looks like I have you in this hold now don't I?" said the ninja with that had the filtered voice. The sensei was on the ground bleeding and was pinned to the ground. The ninja was on top of him holding his neck, with the other hand he held a kunai knife to the Omaru's neck. The three students ran into the room only to be grabbed instantly by six ninjas.

"Sensei!" screamed Sakuya.

"It appears we have your students…" said the ninja as he brought his face closer to Omaru's.

"Hirota is not corrupt like the rest of his family! He is a fine samurai!" screamed Omaru. "What about when you were accused Yuichi! Don't you remember what the ninja did to your family!" shouted Omaru.

"How did you know!" screamed Yuichi as Omaru removed the black cloths that covered the ninja's face. His long silver locks covered his red eyes and long face.

"How could I forget you Yuichi? You were one of my greatest students…before you decided you wanted to be a ninja and abandoned your dojo…" said Omaru with sad eyes.

"I was...one of your favorites?"

"You WERE…" emphasized Omaru. Suddenly with great strength the old man propelled Yuichi into the air. Yuichi's eyes narrowed as he was hurled through the air. With ease he performed a flip and threw a kunai knife at the samurai in the process, landing perfectly.

The kunai knife penetrated Omaru's leg armor and made him wince.

"Don't you remember Yuichi? When the Hung family was accused of treason? Don't you remember what they did to your family?" asked Omaru as he attempted to rise to his feet, but failed.

Memories flashed back to Yuichi's childhood. He began to remember returning to his home only to find it burnt to the ground and his family slaughtered.

"Don't you remember how the empire laughed when they found your family never committed treason?"

'"How could I forget?" said Yuichi as he slowly walked over to the old man.

"Then why are you doing this? You're going to do the same thing to Hirota? Your going to make him go through what you went through? Are you that cold hearted?"

"I am no longer a member of the Hung family…because it doesn't exist old man, I belong to the demon of the serpent now…I HAVE NO HEART!" screamed Yuichi. The old man's eyes opened with fear.

"Jubihe! It can not be!"