I was walking down a road lined with trees. It was dark, and the branches cast eerie shadows along the ground. However, I was not scared. I felt at peace, even when the mist started flowing in through the trees.

Amaya…

A voice whispered my name, sighing it into the darkness.

Amaya…I will show you what you want to know.

I looked, and a great door appeared in front of me. I hesitated, and then pushed the tall doors open, stepping into a light that blinded my path.

The first scene that greeted me was my village, the Hidden Mist. It was older then…the buildings were only small huts, and old fishing boats lined the waters around the beaches. Actually, at this point, it wasn't even known as the Village Hidden in the Mist. It was just a tribe of people living in the water country, and it was primitive. I saw a woman with white hair directing people where to go. As she turned and faced where I was, I caught my breath. She was absolutely gorgeous. And…her eyes…her eyes were the same unmistakable deep blue that mine were.

"Kasumi!" a man's voice called. He was standing on the beach, walking towards her. She smiled at him, and as they met, he kissed her ever so gently. She had her hands on her stomach, and he looked down at it lovingly. Kasumi was pregnant.

The scene shifted. A war was being fought in the village, from a neighborhood tribe. Kasumi and her husband were at the forefront of the fighting, but suddenly, one of the huts burst into flame behind them. They looked at each other, and Kasumi's husband ran back to the little house. Kasumi continued fighting.

Her husband later came back out of the house, holding a small girl in his arms. Their daughter. As Kasumi turned to look at her daughter, she was caught by the enemy's sword slicing through her side.

"No!" yelled her husband.

Kasumi's eyes started glowing, and as a last act, she summoned forth the water around the village to wash away the remainder of the opponent. Then, she died as her husband and child watched on.

After Kasumi was buried, a white phoenix emerged from the depths of the waters and searched the land for the husband without a wife and the child without a mother. It was her bright spirit returning.

The scene changed again. This time, Kasumi's child had children of her own, but this was also when the hunter-ninja were coming to kill the great phoenix they had heard about.

Kasumi's daughter did what she thought was necessary, and sealed her mother's spirit into one of her own children, a girl named Hamako.

The village was able to fight off the hunter-nin, and as Hamako grew, she came into control of four of the elements. She lacked the use of lightning. She became well known throughout the village, and began to help domesticate them. She went on to become one of the greatest kunoichis in Mist Village history. She lived to an old age, and then died in her sleep peacefully. When Hamako died, Kasumi's spirit left the body. However, because of her own daughter's sealing technique, she couldn't live without another human, and therefore entered the body of Hamako's grandchild.

The child's name was Harou, and he also mastered four of the elements, excluding lightning. He, unlike his ancestors, began traveling the world, showing off his powers and claiming to be a god. He was later assassinated in his sleep, and Kasumi's spirit found it's way back to the waters of the Mist Village. Because she now could not survive without a body, she began a process of entering a human every one hundred years or so. The child, however, had to be one of a line of her own offspring.

Harou's sister had great-grandchildren, one of which became the next carrier. Her name was Kairi, and she lacked the control to master any of the elements, therefore never using them. She married and lived the life of a housewife, rather than a ninja. When she died, Kasumi's spirit chose a bright young girl named Isoko, one of Kairi's great-grandchildren. She trained hard and was the first to understand the use of lightning, writing many books about her technique. However, she was never able to use it before she died.

Three generations later, a little boy named Kaimu was born. Kasumi entered him, but he began to lock the secrets of Kasumi away, and her legacy became a myth among the village. He realized that her power posed a great danger, and tried to make her story disappear. Kasumi's family line began to fall into the unknown. Kaimu thought that he had locked Kasumi away for good, but after he died, she entered yet another child, Kaya.

Kaya was Kaimu's great-great-grandchild, and she came upon the secrets of Kasumi by herself. By this time, the Hidden Mist had forgotten about Kasumi, and thought that she was a demon. When Kaya was grown, she started teaching her children the secrets of Kasumi based on Isoko's writing. When the villagers found out about this, they killed Kaya and burned the books.

Three generations later, to a family with the surname Momochi, a young girl was born. Her name was Amaya, and Kasumi chose her. Amaya was the last of Kasumi's bloodline.

I am Amaya.

The scene closed and I found myself back on the path with all the trees. I turned around and jumped, because the great white phoenix herself was peering at me through blue eyes that mirrored my own.

"Amaya…what a beautiful name…" her voice was ethereal in the darkness.

"Kasumi?" I asked.

"Amaya, you have been gifted with many talents…and you have been through so much…you only deserve to know what happened and what your own history is."

I thought about everything Kasumi had shown me. I stepped closer to her and put my hand on her head, stroking the feathers. She cooed.

"If…if I'm the only one left in the bloodline…what happens to you if I die?"

"I cease to exist. The protection my daughter gave me is also my curse, but at the time, neither she nor I knew what was going to happen. When I was granted a spirit form, I was told that if I am killed in this form, I will move on into the afterlife. It was a second chance to be with those I loved. When my beloved child sealed me away, I was cursed to wander this earth at someone else's bidding for the rest of eternity.

"You are my last surviving descendant, my dear Night Rain, and I have but one thing to ask of you…"

"Please, Kasumi, I think I know. You want me to release you so you can move on into the afterlife and be at peace with those you love. Just tell me what to do, and I will do it."

"You are wise, child, and ever so kind. Before you can set me free, however, you must learn what those before you failed to acquire…the use of lightning. Only with all five elements will you be able to break the eternal seal that binds me to you. My own daughter used the five elements to seal me, and only the same technique will set me free."

"Kasumi…if and when I am able to release you…what will happen to me?"

"Ah…that I am unsure of. Isoko wanted to release me, but she died before she had the ability. You have come farther in the mastery of the elements as she did, but without her knowledge and her writing, you'll have to find your own way."

"Her writings were burned, though, when Kaya was killed."

"Yes…but you see, Kaya was wise. She knew the books would be destroyed, so she made a copy for herself and sealed the real manuscripts in a cove beneath the sea. If you can find that cove and recover the information, you will likely be able to master the fifth element. Before, however, you must have competency in your strength, otherwise you will die as Isoko died."

"How…how did Isoko die?" I asked hesitantly.

"She attempted to use the fifth element. She, however, lacked the strength and the control, and she died before she was able to complete the seal releasing ceremony."

I was silent for a second.

"Amaya, you are my last descendant, and only you will be able to free me."

"What if I can't? If I don't, will you be able to live through my own children?"

"Yes, but my child, don't you understand? It becomes riskier and riskier for me through each generation. I may not live to see the afterlife…my spirit will cease to exist if your own disappears. Would you choose a fate like this for your own offspring? To make your own family line search, to cause them the pain that I have caused you…I would wish that on no one. I believe that it is your fate to do this, Amaya…you see, you share her name."

"Who's name?"

"My daughter…my husband and I named her Amaya because of the deep stillness we saw in her eyes. They have a depth to them, and purity, like a cleansing night rain in the middle of summer. They were exactly like my eyes were…and they are the same as yours. The difference…your eyes hold not only the clear depth, as if you can see anything at all, but they also have a fire behind them…passion. That is why I believe you are the only one that can free me. Please, my beloved Amaya, please."

Everything faded to blackness.