"Ha! You? Take me to Hell? Don't be ridiculous. You and that wench of yours will be the only ones to die tonight," Hari coldly said.
"Why you sick bastard!" Bankotsu growled
"Ku ku ku. Why Bankotsu, I didn't know that you were so passionate about things like this. And here I thought that a mercenary like you had no heart. You've really suprised me."
"Cut the crap Hari. Any sane, normal human being has a heart. To bad you don't have one though. I wanted to rip it out of your chest!"
"Ku ku ku! Temper, temper. Very well then Bankotsu. If you and Nieci can get pass Sargeant Takahashi and his most skilled ninjas, then I shall grant you two a shot at me." I looked over Hari's shoulder to see that four men, dressed in all black were comming towards us. They stopped in front of my uncle acting as a sort of sheild for him. "I'll be awaiting for you two in the castle. If you should survive that is. Come on Jiro."
"Yes M'Lord," Jiro said. The two men turned and began to walk back to the castle.
"Oh hold on you're not getting away do you?!" Bankotsu yelled as he tried to charge after him, but the ninjas got in the way.
"Not so fast young blood!" Sargeant Takahashi cried out. He pulled a match out of his pocket and threw it a few feet behind him. Instantly, a ring of fire sprung up all around us, leaving us completely trapped.
"What in the hell?!" Bankotsu snapped.
"Ku ku ku. Lord Minamoto wanted me to make sure that you two had to get through me and these ninjas first. There is absolutely no way out. Ha ha, I guess you could say that the fires of Hell caught up with you before you could catch up with them."
I gritted my teeth as I stared at each of the ninjas. Like the one who had tried to ambush me and Bankotsu at the house, they all had bandanas with the crest of Lord Sanyo on them. "Takahashi! Tell me why do all of your ninjas belong to Lord Sanyo?" I asked. A small smirk played at his lips.
"Lord Sanyo and Lord Minamoto made a deal with each other. It seems as if M'Lord isn't the only one who has a grudge against your father Nieci. To be honest with you I respect your father's legacy, but what I don't respect is some half witted girl who has the nerve to call herself an assassin."
"I am an assassin. Don't take me lightly, Takahashi, or you'll end up dead."
"Stop playing games Nieci. Bankotsu might be a barbarian, but what he is is a true fighter. A true warrior cannot be trained. No, a true warrior is born with a fighter's spirit. Just because you are Mokoto Kasugi's only child doesn't mean that you have the talent like he did. You're in a man's world now. Its very different than 'tea time'. You should have just stuck to playing with your little dollies and makeup. You truly are a foolish girl."
"You know, I can tell that you work for my uncle because you are full of shit just like him." Takahashi scowled at my comment. "Don't get me wrong Sargeant, but I have no reason to fear this so called 'Man's World' of yours. From the looks of it, it seems as if some of your own men that you yourself trained have already fallen victim to my meteor hammer. And let's not forget that I'm the one who took out Sasuke Fujima. So before you start to declare your victory over me, just remember one thing. I earned my right to be an assassin. I earned my right to become Fukushuukotsu, the First Lady of the Band of Seven. I earned my right to wear the Kasugi last name. And I have also earned the right to kill your lord. So if you want to die tonight just to protect some coward man who doesn't even give a damn about you, be my guest. Then we'll really see who's the fool." By the time I'd finished my little speech, Sargeant Takahashi was all fired up and ready to go.
"Hmph. How...touching Nieci. Men! Front line!" The four ninjas all came in front of Takahashi. "These four men in front of you are highly skilled assassins. On the level of your father, Nieci. They are part of the Ritsu Clan from Setsuna Village. Sanosuke Ritsu, Kenshin Ritsu, Aoshi Ritsu, and Saito Ritsu. I'll be suprised if you and Bankotsu even last five minutes against these guys. I hope that your speech wasn't wasted Nieci. If you survive, I'll take you on myself." I rolled my eyes and smirked at him.
"Heh! Bring it on!" Bankotsu cried out lifting up Banryu. I walked over to my boyfriend and stood so we were back to back. Two ninjas for him, two ninjas for me. "Nieci, I just want you to know that no matter what, I love you." I smiled, trying to hide my nervousness.
"Ahhh stop it Bankotsu. You talk as if we won't make it out alive. You can tell me how much you love me later. And you can show me how much too." I heard him laugh.
"Enough of this romantic crap! Lets go!" Aoshi Ristu cried out. He and my other opponent, Sanosuke Ritsu came charging at me while Bankotsu handled Saito and Kenshin Ritsu. Sargeant Takahashi waited patiently, all little off to the side. Aoshi and Sanosuke were tough opponents indeed. They were super fast and very flexible so they were able to dodge my attacks with ease. If it would have been one on one, the fight would have been level but I had two freakin cheetah-like men to worry about. I didn't know how Bankotsu was fairing either, but it sounded like he was having a tough time as well. Sanosuke had a long katana and while I was distracted by Aoshi, he snuck up behind me and stabbed me in my side. I had jumped out the way so he wouldn't get my back. Lucky for me, my armor was so tough that it didn't so much damage, but I was still wounded. I could feel the warmth of the blood flowing down my side. My injury didn't stop me though. It only fired me up even more.
The battle between us an the ninjas lasted for quite a while. It had now began to storm outside, putting out the ring of fire around us, so we had more room to fight. And as we got more room, Bankotsu and I got more steam. I had managed to slay Sanosuke Ritsu and he had managed to slay Saito Ritsu. However, Bankotsu still had two opponents to fight, for Takahashi had now joined the mix taking Saito's place. In the back of my mind I was hoping, praying that he would be okay, but there was nothing that I could do for him. I had to concentrate on killing Aoshi before he killed me.
"I thought the rumors were false when they said that Mokoto Kasugi's daughter had become a dangerous assassin. I guess I was mistaken. You are as deadly as you are beautiful," Aoshi said. A small smirk played at my lips.
"Don't think that flattery will get you any sympathy."
"Ha ha. I didn't expect it to. Still, if I should be slain by you as my brother was, I'll be happy that it was another Kasugi rather than some low life like Lord Minamoto."
"Glad to hear." I swung the weight of my meteor hammer over my head and began to send attacks at Aoshi. He avoided them. He then sent attacks at me and I avoided his strikes. This exchange of strikes went on and on until I finally managed to hit him with my hammer in his side. I grimaced as I heard a few ribs break. He fell to his knees, blood pouring from his mouth. I walked over to him, ready to deliver the final blow. "Sorry it had to end like this," I said.
"Nonsense. Such is apart of an assassin's life," he said before I killed him with my weapon. Three down, two to go. I turned and ran over by my boyfriends side.
"I'm your opponent now Takahashi. You said that you wanted me, so here I am."
"I'm suprised you made it past the Ritsu brothers, little girl. Don't think you can make it past me though."
"We'll see!" Me and him began to fight, while Bankotsu continued to ward off Kenshin Ritsu.
"I'm sorry I can't go easy on you. I have to avenge my brother's deaths! I hope you understand!" Kenshin hollered at Bankostu.
"Oh, I understand completely!" I heard Bankotsu yell back before the sound of clashing metal rocked through the air.
The storm had now intensified and it was raining very hard. It was kind of hard to see with all of the water falling, but I was still able to ward of Takahashi. He truly was the toughest opponent that I had to face so far. His skill was at great levels. Still, I kept on fighting. He was the only man who stood in the way of me getting my revenge on my uncle. Kenshin Ritsu had now been slain, so the odds were in our favor now. As soon as Bankotsu withdrew his blade from the dead ninja, he rushed over to my side.
"Dammit Takahashi I expected more of a challenge. Those ninjas were easy to take out. Thanks to you, I've slayed my 999th man. One more to go and I'll have an even one thousand!" Bankotsu declared. Sargeant Takahashi began to slowly back away as we began to close in on him.
"Hmph! No matter. You two still won't get past me."
"Idiot! We killed two men by ourselves! I'm sure we can kill ONE together!" I yelled. Still, Takahashi had on the same smirk. Like he was planning something. We both began to battle Takahashi and his twin swords. We definitly had the upper hand for I was able to snatch one of the swords away from him. We would have killed him right then and there, but something happened to cause us to stop. All of a sudden, an arrow came from the castle entrance. I was able to dodge it, but somebody wasn't. I looked up to see that the arrow had hit Bankotsu and was now sticking out his chest! It had pierced his armor!! "BANKOTSU!!!" I cried out as I began to run over to him, but before I could reach him, another arrow had been shot. Once again, it pierced the armor and it looked like it had gotten closer to the heart. Bankotsu hit the ground, blood flowing from his lips. I flew to the ground beside him and rested his head in my lap. "Bankotsu!! Bankotsu!!" I cried out again, my eyes beginning to get wet.
"Don't worry Nieci...I'm...okay" he gasped out.
"BANKOTSU!!" I screamed, tears flowing down my face now.
"KU KU KU!!!" I jerked my head around to see Takahashi laughing wildly. "What kind of assassin are you?! There are no tears on the battle field!" I laid Bankotsu back down and rose to my feet. My body shaking with rage. Never EVER had I been as mad as I was now.
"You...BASTARD!!!" I screamed through tears.
"Ku ku ku! Like I said, what kind of an assassin are you, crying like that?! How shameful!" He came running towards me with his single katana. He saw it as an opportunity for my weapon was now on the ground. Too bad for him though. He should have waited. Before he could hit me, I impaled my hidden blade right through his stomach. Sargeant Takahashi's eyes widened upon being stabbed. Blood flowing from his mouth. "Gasp...A...hidden...sword?"
"That's what kind of assassin I am, bastard! Now you can take the memory of being slain by a woman to Hell with you!" I quickly reached down and picked up my weapon, hitting him in the head with the weight. He fell to the wet earth dead. I then turned around and rushed back over to Bankotsu's side. His breathing was very shallow and I could tell that we was going to black out in any second.
"Bankot...Bankotsu," I sobbed, pulling him into my lap again. He weakly smiled up at me.
"Don't stain your beauty with tears Nieci. I'll be fine. Just know that I love you okay."
"I...love...you...too," I sobbed. I leaned down to kiss him before he went completely unconcious. After about a minute or so, I stood back up. I looked all around me. Every single person who was on the battlefield was now dead, the rain washing away their blood. Bankotsu and I were the only surviors out of anyone and now he was on the brink of death. There were countless medical supplies in the castle, but in order to get them, I had to get through Hari first. The final showdown had finally arrived. Me versus my uncle. And this time, I wasn't going to be the loser.
