Still Breathing in the Light
Disclaimer: I don't own Ninja Scroll or Wrath of the Ninja/Yotoden. Only their respective companies do. This special crossover takes place after the events of Yotoden/Wrath of the Ninja and the final episode of Ninja Scroll: The Series. Read & Review and please, no flames!
Chapter 1: Ayame Meets Jubei
In the year, 1583, it was all over. But, it came at a difficult cost. Much like from what happened to her fabled village, all of Ayame's comrades have perished at the Azuchi Castle, thus being the only survivor left from the final confrontation. Right after she left, the Azuchi Castle itself was burned to the ground until there was nothing left of it.
In the weeks that followed the travesty, Ayame's heart and soul has been filled with nothing more than loneliness and despair. The first was the destruction of Kasumi Village, where she originally grew up with her brother, Shinosuke. However, during their escape, he was killed and before his demise, he gave her the enchanted blade and to fulfill the prophecy of combining the three sacred weapons to defeat the evil warlord.
Although successful, her colleagues were sacrificed and was the last person standing. With her head down in defeat, she continued to walk endlessly into the forest until the sky began to darken. When she looked up, she could hear the roar of thunder, a flash of lightning and within seconds, it started to rain down hard.
With nowhere else to turn, Ayame was getting soaked from the rain but that didn't bother her. For several minutes, she was unable to find shelter from the ongoing storm that's occurring.
Luckily for her, she spotted an old abandoned hut and was able to head inside in order to keep herself warm.
The rainstorm continued to pour down throughout the night. During the midst of things, Ayame began to cry softly.
Her memories were filled with nothing more than pain and sadness. From her childhood days back at Kasumi Village all the way to the destruction of Azuchi Castle, there was nothing that Ayame could do except cry. Tears of sorrow filled up her beautiful eyes and strolled down on her cheeks, while the rain kept on pouring. Then, she fell fast asleep and hoping to move forward in her future while trying to put her past struggles behind.
Morning came and birds starting to chirp happily outside. A morning sunbeam peeked through the window and onto Ayame's face.
She feels the warmth coming from the sun. As she got back up, it shined on her and covered her eyes. The aftermath from yesterday's rainstorm have left the forest all soaking wet, along with the hut that she slept at. Still, it didn't bother her to rest after escaping from what was the original location of the Azuchi Castle already gone.
Before she makes her exit, she notices a strange glitter that was coming from the desk with a chair next to it and it was covered with dust and cobwebs. Feeling very curious, she walked up to it and picks it up. It was a small silver pendent watch with a medium-size turquoise gem on top of the clock with the small hand on the 6 and the big hand on the 12. At first, she wanted nothing to do with it. But as she rubs the dust off from the mysterious gem, she accidentally pushed it and it made a loud clicking sound by pressing down. That made her gasp in shock.
A couple of seconds later, the gem starts to spin faster and faster until it lets out a big wave of light that covered the entire hut with Ayame inside as she screamed very loudly. And then, the unusual light had disappeared and so did Ayame; leaving the hut abandoned again with two empty rooms, a desk and a chair.
Shifting forward into the year, 1619, a vagabond mercenary ninja has successfully guarded the Priestess of Light known as Shigure from both the Hiruko Clan and the Kimon Shu while giving the Dragon Stone to her. Afterwards, he continued wandering by going deep into the forest. His name is Jubei Kibagami.
Later on in the evening, it was becoming dark and the full moon shined brightly in the sky with millions of stars while the owl howled across the forest. He smiled to himself to see a peaceful night for himself and maintains his stroll.
Along the way, he spots an empty house with a pond next to it and its condition was fairly intact. Given the opportunity to finally have a good rest, he walks up to the building and sets up for the night. He slides open the door and it lets out a small patch of dust.
The floors were fairly clean, the lights were slightly dim and there were only four rooms with the exception of another room in the far north. As he inspects the place, there was a bathroom, two bedrooms and an unlit fireplace. It would seem that he has the entire place for himself until he sensed a strange presence coming from the last room in the upper corner. Treading cautiously, he walks slowly with his sword in hand.
By sliding the door open, he finds only to see an empty large training room facility that is pitched black and so, he sheathes his sword. "Damn. It's so dark in here."
Fortunately for him, he spots some unused matches that were left behind and lit up some torches to brighten the place up. As soon as he does, he makes a remarkable discovery several feet away from him: lying on the ground back first is a female ninja with a strange item in her hands.
As he bends down on one knee, he glances over at her pretty face. "Hmm. I wonder what's a pretty woman like her doing in here?" When he moves in more closer just to stroke her hair, her eyes were opened and he gasped in surprise while he backed away from her.
She draws out her blade and charges at him in rage. Luckily, he was able to draw out his sword and block her attack. No matter her efforts, he kept on blocking and parrying her blade attacks.
On the next one, their swords were locked in a tight struggle where it's causing some serious sparks. During the scuffle, they both share their words to each other.
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" she asked him.
"Me? I was going to ask you the same question, lady."
She elbowed him in the chin and tries to attack again. But just like from before, he blocked again and it angered her even more. "Shut up! You were going to harass me, is that it?"
The samurai raised his eyebrow in question. "Huh? Why would I want to do that? I was checking to see, if you were fine. After all, you're the first one that came here before I did."
Suddenly, the female ninja gasped in astonishment and her eyes grew in bewilderment. "I...I was?"
This caused an opening for the wandering samurai by disarming her blade and shoved her down to the floor. As she tries to retrieve her weapon, he points his blade straight at her; declaring himself as the victor.
"You're not half-bad...for a woman."
Ayame scoffed and turns her head away. "So, what? Just finish me off."
"Eh? No way." He sheathes his blade and smiled. "That's not my style. I would never hurt the innocent. Especially with pretty women like yourself."
The young female ninja gasped in awe. She couldn't believe that her opponent had not only spared her, but also detected a sense of justice from him by glancing at his appearance. But that was the least of her worries. As soon as she stood up and surveys the place, she asks him an odd question. "Wh-Where exactly am I? This feels so different."
By rolling his eyes, he replies back. "Duh. It's feudal Japan. What else would you expect?"
At that very moment, Ayame gasped in horror and her eyes flashed in fear. Not only that, her legs began to tremble. Upon placing her hands on her head, she realizes that the strange item she picked up from the empty hut has transported her to a different world. "Oh, my god." She turns to him. "If this isn't the Sengoku period, then what year is this?"
"I'd say it's the year, 1619. Why?" After replying back, he gasped to see Ayame's face filled with sadness and tears appeared in her eyes. "H-Hey! Was it something I said?"
Before he could get a response, she sank down to her knees and began to cry uncontrollably, while burying her face with her hands.
As he folds his arms and watch her sob for several minutes, he recalls a familiar woman that bears a slight resemblance to her and it was the late Kagero. With a deep sigh, he bends down in front of her and placed his hand on her shoulder in order to find out who she really is and how she ended up here.
"If you tell me your name and why you're feeling so miserable, I will trust you."
Once she removed her hands from her face, it was covered with hot tears streaming down on her cheeks. Somehow, she managed to calm down a bit.
Jubei smiled. "That's better. Now, tell me everything."
Knowing that he's not an enemy, she wiped the tears from her eyes and responded back. "Alright, then. I'll tell you as much as possible."
Before their conversation started, Jubei used a couple more matches to lit up the fireplace and burn up some firewood in order to keep themselves warm. Not to mention in time, since it already began raining outside heavily.
For nearly an hour, Ayame tells Jubei about her fabled Kasumi village burnt down by a three-headed demon monster, her brother killed during the attack and defeating the dark warlord by utilizing the sacred weapons while her comrades were sacrificed and was the only survivor remaining.
Right after listening to her tragic backstory, Jubei narrowed his eyes. "I see. So, you were the only one left standing and the castle was destroyed after you departed. That still doesn't explain as to why you're here."
"Oh, I almost forgot." She takes out a small silver pendant watch that contained a medium-sized turquoise gem in the centre. "I believe this is what brought me here."
"This small thing? I've seen a lot of strange items, but that's silly. That sent you from the Sengoku period all the way here?" he smiled to himself. "No wonder you didn't turn old and grey."
Believing that he insulted her age and appearance, she physically slaps him across the face. "How dare you say to me! What kind of man are you to tease me so rudely like that?"
After feeling his right cheek that had a small red mark, he retorted. "I'm a wandering vagabond ninja and master swordsman, what else?"
"What? You're a ninja too?" gasped Ayame.
He makes a slight nod. "And the same goes for you, right?"
Much like him, she also nodded. "I had no idea that we're the same, but from different eras." Then, she remembered something. "By the way, I didn't get your name since I gave you mine."
"It's Jubei Kibagami."
"You don't do this for money, do you?" thought Ayame.
"No, I'm only protecting others. In fact..." He placed his hand on Ayame's face and continued. "You remind me of someone I loved and yet, she's a goner."
Ayame can feel the pain coming from his heart, regarding the loss of a loved one. "I'm terribly sorry about that." That's when she noticed something wrapped around his sword's hilt. "Is that..."
He glances at the headband that Ayame had noticed. "Yeah, it once belonged to Kagero. Truth be told, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be alive today since her kiss removed the poison from my body and I'm keeping it as a token. Still, I think you're more beautiful than she is."
"Huh?" this resulted of her cheeks forming a hint of redness on them. "Th-That's not true. The last man who deeply cared about me was Sakon. He was about to tell me something, but then he forgot about what it was and then he perished."
"It's obvious that he was infatuated with you. Maybe, that's why he didn't tell you before his death" told Jubei.
She turns to him in shock. "H-How can you tell? You weren't even around at that time!"
Jubei smiled back. "I just wanted to see the look on your pretty face."
Much like from earlier, he again teased her and with anger in her eyes, she tries to punch him in the face but he immediately caught it; just a few inches away.
"Hey, hey. Don't get so worked up with that attitude of yours. If you come charging in without a full-proof plan, you might end up in the same place like your comrades" informed Jubei to her.
"I know that. I am a strong fighter, but I get emotional. In regards to your words of advice, I'll consider it as a reminder. For right now, I will fight by your side."
"Good. It's about time that you saw reason." Jubei smiled, while holding her punch and unknown to her, he was pointing his sword at her stomach until she looked down and her eyes were widened with surprise.
"Huh?" Knowing that he came fully prepared after he blocked her punch, he lets go of her hand and she smiled back at him. "Offer one hand, but arm the other. Quite a bold move, Jubei."
He informs her. "Don't worry. I wouldn't hesitate to draw my sword during combat." As he stares at the window, the heavy rain continues to pour down hard with roaring thunder and flashing lightning. Then, he also noticed the fire had already burned out and it was already evening. "Besides, it's probably late right now. Let's rest here for the time being and perhaps, we can move on from this old place."
"We?" She folds her arms and turned away from him. "I don't recall us being together. Also, there's no telling what's out there, once this storm passes."
"That's true. However, I've defeated foes much worse than your last opponent. I mean, all I wanted is to find a quiet place to rest until I got involved with a conflict between two clan factions."
"Oh? Was it about protecting a certain someone?" thought Ayame.
Jubei sighed. "I suppose, it can't be helped."
Much like with Ayame, he too shared his background to her. The first was saving Kagero multiple times, second was defeating Himuro Genma, a former Yamashiro ninja leader by engulfing his whole body into gold after it turned into molten and sunk to the bottom of the sea, and the third one was securing both the sacred relic known as the Dragon Stone and its owner, from the Hiruko and Kimon Clans' forces. Long before meeting her inside this palace due to a strange object that transported her to a different timeline.
After he was finished, Ayame became very amazed of how much accomplishments Jubei has gained over his status as a vagabond ninja.
"I'm...speechless. No wonder that you're very skilled. Probably more than I am."
He raised his eyebrow in question. "Is that so? Care to try again?" he asked relating to another duel with her.
"N-No, thank you. I'll pass this time and you're right about earlier. We should rest until the next day." Afterwards, she went to one of the empty rooms by sliding the door open. Before she does, she makes one last reply. "By the way, thanks for the chat. It was very pleasant."
Once she closes the door behind her, Jubei noticed a small smile upon her face. "Looks like I have another adventure with me. Only with a pretty lady."
Right after he makes a big yawn, he rests against the wall and falls into a deep sleep.
End of Chapter 1