TENCHU: Assassin Resurrection
Chapter 4
Hunted Shadows



Minutes had passed like hours and though few in numbers, it felt like days had gone by. Lord Ghoda sat on the floor, staring blankly at the half-burnt note on the floor. He was at a loss for what he could do, he had encountered the Burning Dawn in his youth and now they'd returned and it seemed that they were even stronger than before. If he did nothing then in less than an hour his people would die, innocents would die. All because of...

"Ayame....this is your fault. How dare you defy me...because of you the innocent will die..." he said quietly to himself.

"Father!" Lord Ghoda looked up to see Kiku at the door.

She walked in and sat beside him but he wouldn't look at her, he only continued to stare at the note. Kiku picked up the note and tried to make out what it had said.

"Bring Riki....fail to do so....kill....kill?! Father what has happened?" She said.

Lord Ghoda stared at the ground.

"It is all because of Ayame! They will die because of her selfishness!" He shouted.

"Her selfishness? What do you mean?" She asked.

Lord Ghoda told his daughter of what the note had said and of the 'falling out' between him and Ayame.

"Her selfishness! They will die because of her!" He said.

Kiku slowly stood up with a grim look on her face and headed towards the door. She stopped at the door and turned to her father.

"I cannot believe that you would think that about Rikimaru! I thought he was your friend but I guess even I do not know my own father!" She shouted and then she turned and ran out of the room.

Lord Ghoda stood up and tried to go after her, but he stopped himself and turned to the window.

((Ayame, where are you?)) He thought to himself

~

All was quiet in the Azuma village. Lord Ghoda's guards had not yet reached it to search for any trace of Ayame. There would be nobody there to question of her whereabouts anyways.

She had arrived soon after leaving Lord Ghoda's castle and had informed the village to leave without giving a reason.

After everyone had escaped, she had quietly slipped down into the cave below the village where she and Rikimaru had trained together. There was a small room past the river that flowed through the cave where there was a bed, firewood and other provisions in case of another attack by an opposing faction of Ninja.

Ayame had laid Rikimaru down on the bed and started a fire. She had left some food in case he waked up and had sealed the entrance to the room with a boulder. Here, she believed he was safe.

When emerging from the cave through the exit under the waterfall, she looked up at the moon and then at the position of the shadows on the ground. 25 minutes, that's all she had to carry out her plan. Ayame felt that she must keep the innocent safe but she also wanted revenge on Lord Ghoda for being so stubborn. So, she'd decided to find Nyanko and speak with him.

For some reason, she did not think of him as an enemy and what was more, he knew things she did not. Surely if she were to join forces with them she could not only act out her revenge on Lord Ghoda, but she could discover all that Nyanko knew about Rikimaru, including how it was that he was alive.

She thought out the quickest and most quiet route to where the Burning Dawn were stationed and set out on her way.

It wasn't long until she had reached the walls of the castle, now all she had to do was follow the walls to find Nyanko. Before she could continue any further, Ayame was alerted by a noise coming from the trees.
She quickly drew her swords and looked through the trees for any movement. The movement stopped. She stood for a few moments and waited to see if the sound would come again. Her senses told her it was somewhere to her left. She took out a shuriken and threw it to her left.

The shuriken brushed the side of a tree and caused sparks to come from it. This caused Ayame's stalker to come out of hiding. Ayame heard a screeching sound and a figure scrambled out of the shadows and stumbled to the ground.

Ayame stared blankly at what appeared to be a young girl in a ball on the ground.

"Whoa that was really close. I thought I was almost hit there." Said the girl.

Ayame drew her swords and the girl's rather ridiculous expression faded.

"Who the hell are you?" Asked Ayame.

The girl stared at Ayame's swords with wide eyes and pushed herself back a bit.

"Hey those are sharp you know. You could hurt somebody with those things." Said the girl in a nervous tone.

"That's the idea." Said Ayame.

"Now tell me who are you and why were you following me?" She asked.

The girl stared for a moment and then stood up and smiled.

"The name's Washi. I'm the third general of the Burning Dawn." Said Washi proudly.

"You're a general for Burning Dawn?" Asked Ayame. The girl nodded lightly.

"You're the best they've got? Not a comforting thought." Said Ayame in her joking manner for the first time since meeting with Ghoda.

"Hey you don't have to be mean about it." Said Washi. "I was just distracted that's all." She added.

"By what?" Asked Ayame.

Washi put her hands behind her back and kicked the dirt while looking at the ground.

"Um....a shooting star" she said quietly.

Ayame blinked and began to quietly giggle.

The girl looked flustered. "Hey! It's not funny!" Shouted Washi.

Ayame lightly brushed her hair from her face.

"Well, I don't have the time to be worrying about that. Where's Nyanko?" Said Ayame.

"Who wants to know and why?" Said Washi.

"Look girl, I don't have time for games now tell me where he is!" Ayame demanded.

"All right, all right I'll take you to him. Man you're touchy!" Said Washi, ushering Ayame to follow her.

They hurried along the side of the wall until they reached the western side. From there Washi told Ayame to wait for her and assured her that none of the civilians would be harmed.

"I'm not sure what Nyanko will say to your terms." She said before rushing through the woods.

Ayame leaned against the palace walls and cautiously looked about to see if any of Ghoda's soldiers were around. She hadn't planned on killing any of Ghoda's men, but if she had to, she would. After a few minutes, Washi emerged from the woods.

"Follow me." She said.

Ayame followed her through the woods to a clearing, where the ninja of the Burning Dawn were on guard for a battle that could start at any moment. Ayame looked around, trying to catch site of the civilians, but to no avail, she simply followed Washi to a small hill at the edge of the clearing where Nyanko was waiting.

"So, you've betrayed your Lord and Master? That's not something I expected from you." Said Nyanko.

"Where are the civilians? Have you already released them? I'll warn you now not to cross me, I may be a woman but I-" Nyanko cut Ayame off with reply.

"You needn't worry; we've already set them free. Now then, lets talk about what you said you're going to do in return for us." He said and then he walked over to a tent and stepped inside.

Ayame followed and found him sitting at a small table.

"Please, sit down." He said.

Ayame paused and sat down opposite of him.

"Explain to me what it is that you're doing?" He asked.

"Didn't she tell you I plan to keep my reasons to myself? And that I wish to remain Anonymous to all of you?" She said.

He smiled lightly and looked her over through his cat mask.

"Washi can be forgetful, but she is skillful, and for once she did tell me everything. However, I cannot agree to your request. In order for us to cooperate I must know your reasons. I shall allow you to keep your name secret; it is a danger to us if we knew anyway." He leaned over the table and stared at her eyes.

"Now indulge me, why did you betray Ghoda? What do you plan to do....what is your goal?" He asked.

Ayame looked at the ground and then returned her eyes to meet his. Nyanko was quite a mysterious looking character; he was obviously foreign to Japan. His eyes were proof of that. They were a leaf-like green and seemed to be focused on Ayame's eyes. This distracted Ayame for a time. She was not used to this kind of attention on her, especially from a man. He had not taken his eyes off hers and whenever she tried to look away they seemed to call to her to face them.

"Well?" He said.

Ayame looked down again this time focused on the ground, making sure to not look at his eyes.

"I don't like your eyes..." she said quietly. He squinted one eye at her.

"I don't like the way you look at me with your eyes." She continued.

"Well now, how should they look at you?" He said.

"They shouldn't at all...look away from me if you want to know why I chose to betray my Lord." He looked her over once more and then turned to stare at a lantern in one corner or the tent.

"I will no longer be thought of as dust, he was willing to give up Rikimaru just like that, without a second thought. This time he doesn't have something to kick around and do his dirty work for him. I only hope Rikimaru will forgive me for what I'm going to do." She said.

"Well, then it seems we can come to an agreement. You see, our objective is not conquest as it was in the past, this time we ask only to integrate into the society and be able to honorably serve under a Lord as you did. Of course we knew that this would not be accomplished so easily so we needed a way to persuade the nobles, and merchants that we can be useful. This is also not so easily accomplished either. Rikimaru is a nameless hero, if we had him on our side, then surely we could somehow win this." He said.

Ayame looked at the lantern.

"You're lying. That's not the reason at all, I know it. You've got something else in mind and you know something about Rikimaru that I do not. Now you will tell me and you will tell me now, otherwise you will never find him." She said.

Nyanko narrowed his eyes at the lantern, making sure not to make eye contact with her.

"It doesn't matter to me what you do now. The civilians have been released and believe me, you won't pull that off a second time on Ghoda." She smirked in triumph.

"Very well." He said.

"There is an opposing faction of ninja forming, they're strong, and they're getting stronger by the day. Their skills are almost immeasurable. It is true that we do wish to integrate; however our reasons for attacking the city are simple. The city is a valuable asset, you know as well as I do it relies on itself. Its military supplies are almost limitless, but Ghoda's men are too stupid and poorly trained. They cannot stand against us much less this nameless faction. I know that many will die for this cause, but even more will live. Our need for Rikimaru is as it is only there is another reason. You see we learned of Rikimaru's backgrounds, the leader of this group knows of his power. He is not a normal human. At birth he was blessed with a great power, that power can either be used to our benefit, or if it is in the wrong hands it will destroy us. That is why we must keep him within reach at all times, and we must guide his power or it will consume him. It has already awakened we cannot halt it's progression. All we can do now is nurture it." He said.

Ayame's face grew grim at this new revelation. "What kind of power?" She asked nervously.

"He has the power of the stars, in him is invoked the stars' power.The power of the beast god's seishi stars. Everyone knows what sort of power one such as he can invoke. This is what brought him back from the dead and this is what shall help us destroy our enemy. We cannot ever bring out his full power, and we will only need a small percent of it to manifest. I assure you he will not be harmed from all of this. Understand that it is to his benefit." He said.

"How do you know all this?" She asked.

"Because..." said a young girls voice from behind. Ayame turned to see a young girl will long platinum hair at the entrance to the tent.

"I am Kyoushuu, Rikimaru's younger sister."

Next Chapter: Ayame discovers the truth behind Rikimaru's past, revealed by his would-be sister. Now Nyanko has allowed her to return to Rikimaru for a short time. However Ayame must face the fact that she must now truly abandon the only life she has know and she must stand as a pillar for Rikimaru in this time of great emotion. Next Chapter, Broken Swords.