invisible
To Kasumi, McDohl's secret sweetheart. ^_^ Cheers.


Many suns have risen and fallen since we were last at each other's side, Sukune. The lily-scented silk with which I wrapped you still smells as fresh as the day I laid my eyes on you for the last time. Do you remember that day, Sukune? The cold morning when he left us, never to return?

"Captain, Lord Jinkou has given the signal to deploy."
"Move out with the others. I shall meet you in front."
"Yes, captain."

Again I find myself on the battlefield, commanding an army of soldiers who would give their lives for a boy not yet old enough to drink. No, I do not doubt his abilities. I have seen him in combat, I have seen him fight hard and fast and well. Only one other has been capable of so much heroism, so much inspiration at such a young age. You and I both know him. He was supposed to be our king, but he left us behind instead.

"Are you hesitant, my lady? Uncertain of today's outcome?"
"It is not wisdom to think you can win all your battles, Sir Miklotov."
"Indeed. But as long as I can wield a sword, I try. You do, too."

I almost envy the leader of the Blue Knights as I watch him stride confidently to his mount alongside his trusted partner, Sir Camus. They both rely on the force of their honor and the courage of their steel to triumph, and hundreds of men cower in their very presence. I, on the other hand, am a living shadow, feared only by the ghosts of those that the raking talons of Max Sakura leave behind.
It is the art of being invisible, the art of concealing everything, in which I have been trained from the day I first drew breath in Rokkaku. I have been taught time and time again that the brutish warriors and their heavy swords are no match for the stealth and the silent death that my people bring to bear. Still, I wonder sometimes, what it would be like to be one of them. Maybe, if I had known differently, if it was all right to speak my heart, he would still be here.
But I am ninja. I cannot speak because it would betray what I truly feel. I would lose my shadow, lose my hiding place, and I would be naked to a world that can never see me as I am.

"Hey, ninja girl, aren't you coming along?"
"I will be on the battlefield before you leave Vorpalik, Sheena."
"Right. Anyway, I'll be seeing you later, I hope."

He is right, though. I must go soon. But I do not leave without you, Sukune. Not this time. Your sleek red saya hooks to my back as if it were always there, as if somehow I was incomplete without you. And I am, I think. I have been for a long time.
Did I tell you why I tucked you away, Sukune? I never did, and you must be angry with me. I deserve that. And you deserve an answer.
Whenever I look at you, my face is reflected on the smoothness of your surface, and I see myself smile. I do not even look at my smile in the waters where I bathe. I have only seen it in one other place.
In the reflection of his shining ebony eyes, just before he disappeared.
He was the last man - yes, to me he was a man already, and more - that I ever wielded you for. Your saya caught my tears as they dripped down your blade. I knew then, that I loved him deeply, the only man I will ever love, and he went away because I could not tell him that.
So I swore to myself that I would never carry you again, not the way I carried you for him. We are bound, Sukune, but the part of me that could lift you left me with him.
Why, then, do I call upon you now?

"Strike swiftly and silently. The archers do not know we are here."
"As always, Mondo."

My unseen form flies across the blood-stained fields of Highland to the front of the castle where Jowy Blight awaits Lord Jinkou and the five valiant stars who will accompany him to put an end to this war at last. I am not chosen, but I am not unhappy, for I have fought hard and fast and well like the rest. Last wishes of good fortune and reassurances go around.
Oulan, Lord Jinkou's formidable bodyguard, nods and smiles at the self-proclaimed members of her "fan club".
Wakaba, the tomboyish martial artist who has become Lord Jinkou's best friend, shares a few sparring kicks with her sensei.
The mighty soldier Georg Prime and the ominous archmage Mazus exchange wary glances at each other before taking their positions around Lord Jinkou.
And I approach the young man at Lord Jinkou's side. He smiles at me, pulling out his black staff, which drops to the floor as I wrap him in a tight embrace.
"K-kasumi," he stammers, but I tell him to hush.
"I love you," I whisper in his ear. "Come back alive."
"I will." He kisses me on the cheek as I let go of him, and the gates close behind the future of this conflict.
Everyone is looking at me, Sukune. Everyone can see me inside out.
I don't care.