Prologue
(Nine years earlier...)
Screams of terror and pain rang throughout Hana Village. With Madara expanding his reign of Kon, not even this pure place had any chance against his darkness. Right now, the green village was being swarmed by skeleton soldiers and spinster-scrubs that, when they weren't attacking the demons of the forest, were planting seeds that produced large, monstrous spinster-weeds.
As the monsters were conquering the village, only a few of the demons were able to actually stand and fight. Amongst them, was a young badger-demon with gray hair and glasses...
"Everyone!" Shichibi called out, "We can't keep fighting like this! Head for the Lost Woods and find safety in there!!"
"But what if we become lost?!" One demon cried out. Shichibi shook his head before answering,
"Children of the forest can't become lost, young one. Now go, hurry!" In a bit of a stampede, the demons who hadn't been slayed rushed towards the entrance to the Lost Woods. Shichibi made sure that everyone was inside before disappearing in a grey flash of light...
...And reappearing in Hachibi's Meadow. The badger-demon had something to get before fleeing the forest and he had to see to the remains of Hachibi and the Mother Tree. However, he gasped in horror when he saw that a gang of monsters were busy dousing both the dead Tree and the body of the eight-tailed snake in oil. "No!!" He screamed, holding out a hand before a staff appeared in it from a cloud of smoke. The demon charged at the monsters, forcing them away the best he could with the staff. But, as he was busy with a few of them, one of the skeleton soldiers shot a flaming arrow towards the tree.
The effect was immediate; flames began licking at the tree and the snake carcass. "No!" Shichibi cried out, slamming another monster out of the way with his staff. The brutes simply laughed before rushing off, glad with their work. "Hachibi-sama!!" Shichibi cried out before trying to find a way through the flames. The demon finally found enough of a gap to jump through and he ran into the Mother Tree.
The fire had already begun devouring the inner-workings of the Mother Tree when Shichibi made it inside. "Where is it? Where..?" Through all the smoke and flame, it was damn near impossible for anyone to see anything. "I can't just leave it here to burn, he would never forgive me... Wait!" Shichibi squinted his eyes before he saw something. "There it is!"
"Shichibi!!" Zetsu called out as he rushed into the Mother Tree. Seeing as how he was a plant-demon, the smoke and flames were torturous to him, but he couldn't worry about that now. "Shichibi! Come on, we have to go! Now!" The badger-demon nodded before he picked up the item that he had come in to get. Coughing and hacking, Shichibi grabbed onto Zetsu before making a hand sign.
Right before the Mother Tree fell into a pile of burning ash, both demons disappeared in a flash of light.
There was a flash of light in the Lost Woods. When it dissipated, Shichibi and Zetsu stood in front of one of the many passage-ways. Shichibi held the item that he had gotten from the Mother Tree, a medium-sized, dark green chest, to his chest and spoke up, "Zetsu, I need you to do something for me."
"Anything."Zetsu bowed softly.
"I need you to guard the pathway that I take. Guard it with your life until someone who knows my Anthem comes here." Zetsu gasped as the badger-demon turned to leave and grabbed him, saying,
"Where are you going?"
"..To do something that Hachibi asked me to do." Shichibi gave a calm smile before breaking into a swift run through the forest.
As fast as he could, Kyuubi ran through Kon Field. Running on all fours, he quickly rushed across the plains of dead grass and broken remnants of the demons that had passed through. After around an hour of running, Kyuubi and Sakura found themselves in front of the cave that led to Hana Village. Sakura shivered, catching Kyuubi's ears with the movement. "What is it Sakura?"
"I don't know..." The pink fairy started, "Usually when we're near the forest, I get a warm, welcome feeling. But now, all I'm feeling is cold." Kyuubi shook his head at the statement. Somewhere deep inside of himself, he felt the same. But he wanted, nay, tried to push it back. He couldn't think that way because he had to know if Shichibi was alright...
"Let's go." Kyuubi stated, running blindly into the forest.
The bridge had seemed the same as the day that he had left, so he took that as a good sign and kept running.
"NO!!!" Kyuubi and Sakura screamed in horror as they saw what had become of their home. The air was thick with a deep green mist and it seemed as though there hadn't been any life here for ages. Yet, amongst the desolate village, monsters ran wild.
"Kyuubi look out!" Kyuubi heard Sakura's cry just in time to jump out of the way of an attack from a spinster-weed. Only, this spinster-weed was bigger than a usual one and it was a bright blue, with large dripping fangs. "That's a big spinster-weed."
"More like a hag weed!" Kyuubi growled back as he charged at the plant and cut it down right at its root. When the plant was dying on the ground, Kyuubi asked Sakura, all the while keeping an ear out for any attackers, "Where would they all have gone? I am not going to stand here and believe that everyone in this village was killed, Sakura!" The fairy hummed as she thought for a moment. Then she stated,
"The Lost Woods always gives sanctuary to the children of the Forest. They could have possibly--"
"Come on!" Kyuubi grabbed his fairy and ran towards the entrance of the Lost Woods. In front of it, however, was an angry spinster-scrub who didn't even look like it could talk. After getting shot once, and a bit of slashing, Kyuubi was able to get through the entry-way.
"We're lost again..." Kyuubi groaned as he wandered through the Lost Woods. They had actually ended up being lured back out and back in twice before Kyuubi stopped and said, "Wait a moment." The demon completely stilled himself before taking a deep inhale of the air.
"Look, even if I was going to let you in, which I'm not saying I will, you can't go to see Hachibi-sama without proper defenses. And you don't even look like you could carry a weapon, especially with that weird hair of yours!"
"Zetsu!" He whispered before he started to run through the woods.
"What? Zetsu?" Sakura questioned, zooming after the rushing demon. Kyuubi was strictly by instinct and drive as he followed the scent that his nose had picked up. He turned at least three times before he stopped.
There, blocking a path (he always seemed to have to do that), was a grown-up Zetsu. The plant-demon was fiddling with a piece of wood that he had found and seemed to be deep in thought. Clearing his throat, Kyuubi walked over and spoke up, "Zetsu." Said demon looked up and began growling in defense before he blinked at the sight of Kyuubi. He circled the orange-haired demon, asking,
"What the hell...", he finished his circle, "..are you? You seem to be demon, but you can't fool me, outsider!" Kyuubi sighed as he remembered Sakura's advice. "I promised Shichibi that I wouldn't let anyone come through here! Ever!"
"Shichibi..." Kyuubi thought for a second before he brought out the Metronome of Time, set it to a familiar beat, and singing,
'The Forests
deep in Kon
shine so brightly
like an Emerald.
A treasure...'
Zetsu's yellow eyes widened and he gasped, "That melody?!" Kyuubi stopped and allowed the green-haired demon to speak. "Shichibi plays that song all the time when he's deep in thought. Hey you!"
"Yes?"
"Do you know... Shichibi? Do you?" Kyuubi nodded. "That song... Shichibi only taught that song to those he cared deeply about... Hmph." The air was tense as Zetsu thought for a moment. Then, "Okay, you seem trustworthy enough" The fly-trap demon moved out of the way and gesture for Kyuubi to walk on through.
"Thank you..." Kyuubi bowed softly and began walking through. Suddenly,
"Hey!"
"Yes?", Kyuubi blinked. Zetsu gave Kyuubi an intense stare before he spoke,
"Though you look so strange... You seem familiar. Have we met before?" Kyuubi chuckled before replying,
"You can say something like that.", and running through the pathway.
With a lot of help from his nose, Kyuubi finally found his way back to the Sacred Forest Meadow. It seemed just as peaceful as he remembered it and this time, there weren't any wolfos waiting around. "Let's go, we have to see if Shichibi's okay and--"
"Stop!" Sakura flew in front of Kyuubi, causing the demon to growl,
"What is it now?"
"I sense... something foul in the pathways. You should be careful, Kyuubi." Kyuubi shook his head, thinking that there were probably a couple of spinster-scrubs blocking the way. The orange-haired demon walked through the entry-way and was about to go on, saying,
"They shouldn't be too hard to-- Agh!!" There was a loud bellowing noise before Kyuubi was slammed into with all the grace and force of a falling boulder. With a splash, Kyuubi fell into the nearby pool of water. Sputtering and panting, Kyuubi broke the water's surface and looked for what had caused his meeting with the pool.
There was a massive creature walking away in the opposite direction. It looked like a filthy mixture of a pig and a human and was clad in rusty armor.
"A moblin?!" Sakura gasped in fear, "I thought they only exist in nightmares! Kyuubi, we should go back!!" Kyuubi scoffed at the fairy's fright, saying,
"Even if I agreed with you, which I don't, we aren't, because we can't!" At that moment, Kyuubi remembered the gift that he had received from Daigo. "Maybe..." Kyuubi pulled out the Hookshot and aimed it towards the moblin's back. There was a sound of shaking metal before the Hookshot extended and hit the moblin right in the back. With a loud groan, the moblin collapsed and disappeared in a green plume of flame. "That was easy enough..." Kyuubi stated as he pulled himself out of the water.
There were about three more moblins surveying the maze, so it resulted in a lot of painful tackles and aiming practice with the Hookshot. When they finally made it out of the maze, Kyuubi growled when he found that there was yet another moblin guarding the entrance to the main part of the Sacred Forest Meadow. "Okay, now this is getting annoying!", Kyuubi growled before taking out his Hookshot and aiming it at the Moblin.
Yet, the monster sensed his movement and brought out a giant club. It slammed the weapon to the ground, causing a powerful shockwave to rumble through the ground. Kyuubi barely dodged it in time and retaliated with the Hookshot. The attack seemed to only stun the monster, but Kyuubi took every opportunity to squirm past the beast and enter the Meadow.
Slowly, however, he realized something. The stump that stood in the middle of the clearing was clear. The Meadow was empty. "Where... Is he?" Kyuubi asked, looking around for any sign of the badger-demon.
Slowly, from the shadows, a soft noise could be heard. Kyuubi almost prepared himself for an attack before he realized that the sound... didn't sound threatening. In fact, it sounded... like music: the soft plinking of a stringed-instrument.
Soundless except for the musical notes, a figure stepped out from the shadow. Kyuubi turned and whispered, "Shisa." The Youkai Ninja was calmly walking towards Kyuubi, playing on an ebony lute. His delicate fingers created an elegant dance across the strings before he looked up, those masked eyes giving off a calm smile, and spoke,
"'The flow of time is always cruel... Its speed seems different for each person, but it changes for no one...'" Still playing softly, he stopped a foot away from Kyuubi and continued "A thing that doesn't change with time is a memory of one's youth..." Kyuubi shook his head and asked,
"Where is the demon that used to tend to this Meadow?" Shisa shook his head,
"I can't answer that question because I don't know. I would think that..." The young ninja looked up towards the ledge that rested just above them. "Perhaps he is in the Forest Temple somewhere." Kyuubi flinched,
"That's the Forest Temple?!" Shisa nodded.
"I do wonder how Shichibi got up there...", but then he said, "Kyuubi, surely you had a little trouble getting to this place?" Kyuubi huffed with a smirk,
"Oh no... I made the most wonderful friends with those Moblins..." Shisa chuckled, saying,
"Well, what if I said that there's a shortcut? Just in case you ever need to come back here?"
"I'm listening." Kyuubi's ears perked up. Shisa brought up his lute and stated,
"If you ever wish to come back to this place, play the song that I will perform for you: The Minuet of Forest." After giving a few practice plucks of the strings, Shisa played a calm, happy melody. It reminded Kyuubi of the fresh forest around them and, despite himself, Kyuubi found himself thinking of the happier times when he was smaller. Everything seemed so much simpler back then...
'If I could... go back in time...' The ninja sang before playing a bit on his lute.
'I would have... to make the choice...' There were more notes from the lute.
'Those carefree days of my childhood...' Shisa's fingers glided across the instrument.
'How could we have understood..?'
Kyuubi was almost in awe. Shisa had such a beautiful voice! It was almost like... a certain someone's singing voice. But so much richer and deeper. Besides himself, a light blush grew on the orange-haired demon's cheeks.
'Long ago... when we young...' The sounds from the lute floated in the air.
'When we played in the Forest deep...'
'We never thought we would part...'
'Now the future is clear to me...'
When the music stopped, Kyuubi almost didn't move until Shisa spoke, "Aren't you going to get out your Metronome and sing with me?"
"Oh! Of course!", Kyuubi jolted before bringing out the blue Metronome. It took a few moments to remember the exact beat of the song, but when he did, he set the Metronome to it. Shisa smiled before playing and singing,
'Long ago... when we were young...'
'Long ago... when we were young...' Kyuubi repeated. They both sang the line,
'When we played in the Forest deep...', together. Shisa sang,
'We never thought we would part...'
'How could we know that we would part..?' Kyuubi sang from his own heart before they sang the last part together,
'Now the future is clear to me...'
It was quiet; nothing moving except the wind through the trees. Sakura flew over and stated, "You learned the Minuet of Forest, Kyuubi. And it's so pretty." Shisa chuckled,
"Although hearing your voice singing it made it ten times more beautiful, Kyuubi." Kyuubi looked away, a blush dusting his face,
"Th-thank you..." Shisa put his lute back in the satchel on his back before stating,
"I will see you again... Kyuubi.", then Shisa smiled softly before making his hand-signs and disappearing in a flash of light.
"Wait!" Kyuubi tried running over but was too late. "Shit..." Sakura looked up towards the ledge and asked,
"How in the world are we going to get up there?" Kyuubi took the fairy into his hand and spoke,
"Hang on, Sakura." The fairy did as she was told. Then Kyuubi aimed the Hookshot towards the branch of the tree that stood near the ledge. Immediately, they were pulled up and landed on said ledge. After getting his bearings straight, Kyuubi looked to Sakura and, after a brief nod, walked into the crumbling Temple.
A/N:
I personally think that for Shisa a harp would have been a little girly, so I gave him a lute! It's basically an Egyptian guitar.
Note: This week, for The Legend of Hoshi: Metronome of Time I decided to do a post of three chapters, seeing as how the reflection chapters are so short. That doesn't mean don't read the reflection chapters, but still… Please review!
Next time on The Legend of Hoshi: Metronome of Time:
"Kyuubi, something isn't right here."
"What do you--AHHH!!!"
The spiritual haven of Hana Village, the Forest Temple!
-Tyranno's girl.