A/N: This is a special author's note….There is only one week left to vote for your favorite TMNT stories and authors from 2015. Pop on over to the voting booth at the TMNT Fanfiction Competition Tumblr page, to complete your ballot. The last day to vote is April 21st.
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Chapter 10-Demon Bridge
The rain had cleared sometime during the night, bringing with it blue skies, and the start of what looked to be a beautiful day.
Leonardo was rubbing the sleep from his eyes, when someone began frantically calling out.
"Samurai! Samurai! Come quickly! Please hurry!"
Now wide awake, Leonardo quickly sheathed his swords and ran out of his room. Usagi met a confused Leonardo in the hallway.
Still tying the strings on the hakama, Leo asked. "Usagi, what's going on?"
Usagi shrugged his shoulders and hurried towards the stairs. "I do not know, my brother."
Reaching the bottom, the two warriors found themselves face to face with one frantic innkeeper.
"Samurai. Please, hurry!"
Exiting the inn, Leonardo and Usagi followed the rushing innkeeper towards the bridge. As they approached, the voices from the crowd carried to their ears.
"What is that?"
"Do you see what it is?"
"Someone disturbed the demon!"
"Look, there they are!"
The crowd parted, giving Leonardo and Usagi a clear view of the bridge. A small mound of something unidentifiable from the shore line, was lying on the floorboards, halfway across the bridge.
Narrowing his eyes, Leonardo asked. "Usagi, what is that?"
Usagi shook his head. "I do not know."
Slowly approaching the bridge, Leonardo felt the tension in his muscles rise with each passing step. The young ninja gingerly placed one foot on the floorboards.
Nothing happened.
A second step.
Nothing happened.
Leo slowly took a third step and then a fourth. The blue masked ninja remained tense and alert as he cautiously crossed the bridge. As the object came into view, a voice from the crowd called out. "What is it?"
Leo titled his head to the side, as his brain processed what he was looking at. Lying alone on the wood was what appeared to be a severed hand. The edges around the wrist were straight and clean.
Leo's eyes widened in realization.
Only one thing could cut a clean edge like that, a sword.
Before the blue masked turtle could reply, the severed hand twitched once.
Leo stopped his advance, confused.
Did that hand just move?
Noticing the blue masked turtle's sudden stop, the surrounding crowd held a collective breath.
The severed hand twitched again. Then the grotesque appendage curled its fingers and pushed off from the ground. The demon hand lunged forward, aiming directly for Leonardo. Startled, Leo was knocked backwards onto his shell. The hand gripped Leonardo's neck tightly and began to squeeze. The struggling turtle placed both of his own hands against the demon hand, attempting to tear away the hand so that he could breathe.
When Leonardo's shell hit the floorboards, Usagi let out a cry. The samurai ran towards the bridge.
"Leonardo!"
A new voice carried over the din of the crowd. "You will go no further samurai."
Before Usagi's furry feet could touch the first floorboard, a tall, dark figure appeared on the bridge, blocking the Ronin's path. The dark figure laughed, a high pitch sound that felt like tiny axes picking away in his head, causing Usagi to cringe.
With a growl, Usagi withdrew his long sword. "Let go of my friend demon!"
Paralyzed by fear, silence fell among the surrounding townsfolk. No one dared to speak, least they attract the demon's attention away from the two warriors and onto themselves.
The demon's laughter morphed into a chant. "An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth! Your comrade has taken my hand."
The demon struck out with a powerful blow, knocking Usagi backwards into the crowd.
"And now I will take one of his!"
Leonardo heard the demon's laughter, as dark spots began to form in front of his eyes. The dark figure stopped in front of the suffocating ninja. The demon hand moved from Leo's neck, to his right forearm, pinning his arm to the floorboards.
Leo gasped greedily at the fresh air, struggling to regain his breath. Before Leo could recover, the demon stood over the young ninja and pinned Leo's other arm against the floorboard with his foot. The menacing figure laughed at its struggling prey.
"An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth!"
Withdrawing its sword, the demon's voice lowered.
"A hand, for a hand!"
Leo began frantically trying to twist his arms out of the grip of the demon, but the beast's hold was like iron.
Leo kicked out and realized that his legs, were still free. Ceasing his struggles, Leo watched the demon raise the sword over his left hand, near the wrist, ready to strike. With a twist of his hips, Leo shifted sideways and kicked out, using his powerful legs to knock the demon off balance. Startled, the grip on Leo's arms loosened. Using the momentum from his scissor kick, Leo rolled to the side and quickly sprang to his feet.
The demon let out a roar and charged forward.
Leo quickly moved to withdraw his sword. As his front hand grabbed the handle, the weapon tilted downwards.
What. The. Shell?
Looking down, Leo saw that the demon hand had approached him from behind. The obnoxious appendage was at the bottom of the sword sheath, pushing upward. This caused the top of the sword, where the handle was, to point towards the ground, thus preventing Leo from withdrawing his sword. A feeling of dread began to wash over the turtle ninja.
Oh no, not another fight without his swords. Quickly growing annoyed, Leonardo scowled. This was really turning into a habit lately.
Leo ducked low as he dodged to the side, avoiding the first swipe of the demon's blade. The demon hand let go of the sword sheath and quickly scampered up the turtle's leg. The cold appendage was moving fast as it began to scurry along Leo's shell, heading up, seeking the turtle's neck. Leo shivered in disgust, his skin crawling from the cool touch of the demon hand running along his body. The blue masked turtle tried to remain focused on the larger threat, the demon itself. But the hand scampering along his shell and skin was really starting to freak him out.
Usagi's voice called out. "Leonardo, catch!"
Diverting his eyes for a precious second, Leo saw Usagi withdraw his short sword and toss it towards the bridge. With a feint to the right, Leo ducked under the swipe of the demon's blade, then lunged left. The demon hand followed Leo's path, hoping to grasp the sword first. Reaching for the sword's handle, Leo kicked out at the demon hand, sending the hand spiraling towards the end of the bridge, and directly into Usagi's path. Landing on Usagi's leg, the demon hand quickly crawled along the samurai's fur as it advanced up his body.
Leo landed on his knees with a grunt, Usagi's sword in his right hand. Leo spun around and brought up the short sword in just enough time to block another strike from the demon.
The demon roared in anger. "Your hand will be mine!"
Now armed with a weapon, Leonardo began a series of offensive strikes against the demon. No longer distracted by the scurrying demon hand, Leonardo focused on winning against the beast.
A grunt from Usagi caused Leo to glance over at his friend. Having reached the edge of the bridge, Usagi found himself struggling to fend off the body-less demon hand. The demon hand scampered around the rabbit's body, first pulling on his ears, then tugging on his tail. Usagi's long sword was proving useless to defend against the fast moving, and close proximity, of the scurrying demon hand. Usagi growled as he tried to land a blow onto the pesky object.
Leonardo's turned his attention back to his opponent. The blue masked ninja refused to lose. His friend needed him. After a few heated moments, Leo's superior swordsmanship skills allowed the blue masked turtle to deliver a killing blow. With a cry of agony the demon fell backwards onto the floorboards. The demon hand, which hand managed to find a spot on Usagi's shoulder, fell limply to the ground.
Panting, Leo focused on regaining his breath and he stared at the floorboards. Usagi's panicked cry caused the tired ninja to look up.
"Run Leonardo!"
Looking across the bridge, Leo saw that Usagi was already off of the bridge, staring at him in horror. A cracking sound rang out in the air. The floorboards were snapping in half, then tumbling down into the river. Leo's eyes widened and he began to run across the bridge. As Leo ran the floorboards fell away, underneath his feet. Jumping the last two steps, Leo let out a grunt as he landed on his hands and knees, gripping the edge of the shoreline. Usagi's furry hands grabbed Leonardo's forearms, helping the young ninja upwards. Both warriors turned to see the last of the bridge fall into the river below.
Usagi began checking Leo over for injuries. "Are you alright my brother?"
Nodding, Leo fought to regain his breath once again. "Yes, I'm fine."
Satisfied that the young teen was uninjured, Usagi patted Leo on the shoulder. Leo grinned at his friend as he rose to his feet. They were both ok.
A hush had fallen over the crowd. They looked at the two warriors in shock. The innkeeper stepped forward, stating the obvious. "You've destroyed the demon bridge!"
The two warriors glanced warily at each other, unsure how to atone for this latest development.
Another villager approached. "The demon bridge is gone!"
The excitement quickly spread among the crowd.
"You've freed us!"
"Thank you samurai!"
"We are finally free!"
Gently tugging on Leo's arm, the innkeeper beckoned. "Please, have a drink on me before you leave young warrior."
After finishing a free bottle of sake with Usagi, Leonardo shoved another biscuit into his mouth, then rose to follow the rabbit to the stables. As they began preparing their horses Usagi spoke. "From here it is a two day's ride to the outer edges of Lord Noriyuki's lands. Then another five days to reach White Heron Castle."
Leo nodded. It had been a while since the blue masked ninja had seen the young Lord of the Geishu clan. Finished with tightening the saddle's girth, Leo's eyes roamed among the town's inhabitants. This town was busier than the last, filled with both villagers and visitors, some of them samurai.
Between arriving late at night during the storm, and then the excitement from earlier on the bridge, Leo did not get a chance to observe the bustling activity until now. A samurai passed by on his horse, sitting tall and proud. Leo couldn't help but let out a gasp at the sight before him. In his possession, the aristocratic warrior carried a collection of heads!
What the shell?!
Usagi turned to follow Leo's gaze.
Puzzled Leo asked. "Usagi, why is he?"
The rabbit samurai finished Leo's question. "Carrying heads?"
Leo nodded, his large eyes never leaving the warrior as he passed.
Usagi watched the honorable warrior for a moment before he answered. "When a battle has ended, a samurai can attain many things. Land, gold, silver, rank. Sometimes, even restore his honor, if he presents the heads of defeated rivals to the general."
Usagi turned and faced Leonardo. "When my lord, Lord Mifune fell in battle, I escaped into the forest to perform my duty."
Leonardo swallowed a lump in his throat, not sure he was going to like hearing what came next.
"To prevent the enemy from desecrating my Lord, I buried Lord Mifune's head in the forest. Then I eluded Hikiji's forces until they left."
Usagi looked at Leonardo with a sympathetic gaze. "Leonardo, as warriors. Defeat. Loss. Those things are a part of the lives we lead."
With Usagi returning to his task, Leo glanced around. The land was beautiful to the naked eye. But to the inhabitants living here, it was a violent world. The people were constantly fighting for more land, more money, and more power. The life of feudal Japan and the code of the samurai were in full swing in Usagi's world.
Leo's gaze fell upon his friend, as Usagi adjusted his stirrups. Leo always knew that Usagi's world was harsh. And as the wielder of the double katana, Leonardo was all too familiar with the damage a bladed weapon could cause to the enemy.
Pulling on the leather, Leo tightened the girth on his own horse, as he continued to muse to himself. The longer he spent here, the more Leonardo realized just how difficult the life on this world was. Unlike his battles at home, every time Leo fought here, it ended with weapons covered in blood. Bodies sprawled on the ground, dead. Even though Leo had just fought off a demon, somehow observing another warrior carrying heads, as if it was nothing unusual, just made the dark side of Usagi's world feel even more real.
Looking up, sad eyes beneath blue silk fell upon the back of his comrade. And then there was Usagi's duty to his fallen lord.
Leo frowned.
How many more truths would he learn about his samurai friend during his visit?
A/N: Leo and Usagi have run into ghosts and demons. I wonder what or who they will run into next? Virtual Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing to those who review!