XenoMark's Note: Hi, sorry for the long wait, but Crystal's computer has been down for a while. Unfortunately, it's still down, so I had to update without her, but I got her permission to do so before I wrote this chapter. Anyway, I'm afraid I'll have to update this fic without her until she gets her computer fixed. I'm sorry if this upsets you readers. Anyway, in this chapter, Aoshi and Hannya make an appearance, so watch out for it. Oh, and the chapter's slow at first, but give it a bit and then it'll get interesting.

Chapter 2: Demons Begin to Rise

(Shion's POV)

Darkness, the sight that fills my vision, it has been plaguing me ever since I joined the Ishin Shishi. My entire world has always revolved in the shadows, from my days as a hitokiri, to my new life as a yurei, the color of black is always within the midst of my eyes. I remember the first day I became a yurei, my entire being seemed to be floating endlessly. I was on the verge of death, my eyes sealed shut and my ears deaf from the sounds of the mortal realm. Everything felt so cold: the air, my skin, everything. I had been waiting patiently for Death, the ferryman of the Sanzu, waiting in this darkness for who knows how long. A light suddenly began to enter my vision, pulling my eyes away from the darkness. It was so bright, the color of black was being replaced with white. The sound of birds began to fill my ears shortly after, and more colors began to fill my eyes. The white had virtually disappeared in a moment, replaced with the color of straw. Texture soon became apparent in the straw-colored surface before my eyes, each piece of the dry grass slowly came into view. The chirping of the birds soon became more apparent, and suddenly I found myself staring at a ceiling I had never seen before. My head began to tilt up a little, my eyes finding the color of white once more. There was a blanket over me, along with linen wrappings on my arms and other parts of my body. I was alive again, reborn before Death could even take me.

'How?' I thought to myself. 'How am I still alive? Why am I still alive?'

I wanted to ponder over those matters, but suddenly another sound soon filled my ears. It was a shifting noise, it was coming from the other side of the room. Slowly I turned my head to the source, finding another person in the room with me, her back pressing against the room's wall. She was dressed in a black uniform, free of sleeves, and covering down to a few inches below her torso. Gray bandages wrapped around her slender legs and netting covered her thin arms. A V-shaped opening was found on her uniform, starting from her neck to the middle of her chest. The opening was covered in the very same netting as her clothing, it looked rather thin based on how it overlapped her skin. I turned to her face after, the expression it wore looked like the woman was having some kind of pain. Her eyes would shut tighter than they already were every few seconds, her teeth clenching in between. It was obvious she was having a nightmare, but I wasn't sure of what. Her hair was tied in pig tails, they gave the impression of a butterfly's wings a little bit. It was of a dark brown shade, the same color as chocolate. A large silver pin rested on the base of the right pig tail, and a chop stick-like device rested on the base of the other.

A moment after observation, images of what I thought just happened began to reappear. I recall seeing five men I knew somewhat well, all of them staring at me with sinister grins stretched across their faces. My body suddenly began to ache as I began to recall each of them. Their visages were quickly washed away as a splash of crimson entered my vision. After the geyser had subsided, I remember seeing some sort of figure that gave me the impression of a butterfly. The figure's face began to come into vision a moment later. It was the face of the woman I saw sleeping in front of me.

'It's that ninja,' I thought to myself after remembering the events that happened, 'what's she doing here?'

Just as I had asked myself that question, her eyes suddenly opened, her pupils as wide as mochi and a large gasp escaping her lips. Her entire figure shot forward as drops of sweat flew from her face, her body slowly returning to it's previous position a second later. I couldn't help but notice her arms moving to her chest in the form of a cross, her hands taking hold of her breasts as if someone was touching her.

'Slept a little too well,' was my first reaction until I noticed her next action.

Whimpers and sniffles began to escape from her mouth as rivers of tears flowed down her cheeks. She began to scrunch her body in further, the cries growing louder with each inch she moved. I then remembered something else about that woman, I had seen her before, about a year ago. It was the day before Kodomo-No-Hi when I first saw her, she was engaging Mina in combat. They were fighting on top of a roof and Mina's alter ego tried to...

"Naze?" her voice returned me to reality. "Why do I have nightmares of her even now? Hitokiri Kensai, why? Why did you try and take away one of the few things that I haven't dirtied yet?"

She sunk face into her palms after, releasing more whimpers. After a few moments, her head suddenly came back up once more, her eyes now looking into mine. Quickly, she wiped away the remaining contents of her tears, and quickly stood up, trying to brush away her sadness with the straightening of her lips.

"You're finally awake," she said in a calm and collective voice, as if nothing happened a few moments ago.

I didn't know how to react, so out of instinct, I turned my head away. Her hand began reaching for my shoulder, but I pulled myself away at the moment of her touch. Being touched was the last thing I wanted at that time, not after what happened. I didn't care who it was, I just wanted to be left alone.

"Gomen," she apologized as her hand returned to her side. "You've been out for two days since I found you," she changed the subject. "My name is Misanagi," she introduced herself, "leader of the Sanada Ninjas. May I ask who you are?"

Again, I responded with silence. I was scared of her at first to be honest, despite the sincerity in her voice. I was scared of everything at that moment actually, and I'm sure you would be too. First being ravaged by men you thought you knew, then left for dead, and now suddenly awakening in a room with a person you had never really seen before.

"I see...," she broke the moment of silence once more, "I can't blame you for how you are. I suppose I should leave you alone then."

She began to turn away, making her way toward the door. My lips began to move suddenly as her fingers took hold of the shoji door, and my voice escaped my throat as soon as the door began to slide.

"Shi...on," my name barely escaped my lips.

"Hm?" she turned around to face me once more.

"My name... is Azumi Shion," I introduced myself, hesitating as I spoke.

"Shion," she practiced wording my name.

"Leader!" I heard the voice of another suddenly call.

"Excuse me, Shion," Misanagi bowed. "Kaita!" she suddenly called.

"Hai?" a man with a rather bulky face suddenly appeared.

"Can you take care of our guest?" she asked the man.

"Hai," he nodded.

"Shion, Kaita will tend to anything," she told me.

Out of impulse, the grip around my blanket tightened and my body began to jerk back. Men, I had been scared of them at that moment, I couldn't help but feel so dirty whenever I saw them back then, especially with the look on that one. His face was rather bulky, and the rest of his body was rather chiseled. He wore the same uniform as the shinobi leader, except that he wore pants of course. The smell of blood was rather strong on him, yet not as powerful as the scent on her. His pupils were as small as peas, and as dark as a raven's feather. His jet black hair was tied in a high pony tail, but a few strands strayed away from the hair's bind. I remember trying to crawl away, but for some reason, my body wouldn't respond after crawling a few centimeters.

"Don't worry," my grip suddenly loosened with her voice, "Kaita won't do anything to harm you, if I can trust him with my life, I can trust him with yours."

"...ari...ga...tou," I nodded.

Another man dressed in black suddenly appeared after, and Misanagi glanced at him for a second and nodded. The man began running back to where he came from and Misanagi began to follow. Before she could take more than two steps, she turned back to me once more with that monotone expression still on her face. My lips curled for a mere second only to have them straighten once more with the call of the man's voice.

"Leader, come on!"

"Coming!" she responded and quickly returned to her duty.

(Misanagi's POV)

'Why now of all times?' I thought to myself as I headed toward the entrance of our base. 'That woman finally woke up and now...'

It had only been a few weeks ago in the current time of my story that the Ishin Shishi had taken over the government. They called it the "Meiji Government," named after the new emperor they brought to the throne. How I hated those Ishin Shishi bastards, not just because of what Hitokiri Kensai did to me, but also the fact that they overthrew our main employers. During the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the emperor would often hire the Sanada Ninjas for numerous jobs, normally assassinations. They didn't need us for an information network, they already had one in the form of the Oniwaban-Shu.

Che, don't let me even get started on those fools, those so-called "Protectors of Edo Castle." Despite the fact that we had the same employer, we always hated the Oniwaban-Shu. They called themselves "ninjas" when they abandoned the old ways so long ago when they sold their souls to the Shogunate. We, the Sanada Ninjas never sold our souls, the Shogunate just happened to be our biggest source for money. But now that they were gone, our clan was having financial issues, I was sure something of the sorts was going on for the Oniwaban-Shu as well.

"What's the problem?" I asked my men waiting for me at the entrance.

"Gendo and his party have not returned from their patrol yet," one of them answered.

"Gendo is always very efficient in his work," I responded, "of course he hasn't returned yet. Why, what time did he leave?"

"It was about six this morning, Leader," another responded.

"It's about two in the afternoon now," I recalled the time on the clock in Shion's room, "this is late even for Gendo..."

"There have been a few Ishin Shishi wandering around the forest lately," one of my men brought up, "you don't think that they were caught by them, do you?"

"Of course not," I answered, "men such as the Ishin Shishi couldn't hold a candle to the ninjas of our clan."

"Then what about the ones you encountered two days when you found that woman," another brought up, "those men had rifles, didn't they?"

"...you're right there," I responded, "I can't help but worry about them now. All right then, Takumi, Keichi, and Shinbo will accompany to find Gendo and his party," I decided, "the rest of you will stay here. If the four of us don't return within an hour and a half, I want you to venture out and search for us along with another squadron, is that clear?"

"Hai!" all my men nodded.

"Good, let's get going, people!" I ordered.

The Sanada Ninja base exists on top of a mountain surrounded by a forest. The rocky terrain is impossible for any individual to climb, but a horse is still able to climb up the rocky path, though not without some trouble. Going down the mountain path leads you to the forest that surrounds the mountain, one can easily get lost within if they do not follow the forest's trail. Fortunately, the entrance to our base cannot be found if you travel down that path, but you can, however, see the base through the trees by looking past the trees in the forest. Our normal patrol route was simple, five miles in the uncharted part of the forest, from the entrance from our base to the river. A usual trip usually takes an hour if we didn't catch any intruders or anything, but Gendo normally takes three hours since he likes to take alternate routes and the such. During our patrols, we simply scared away any intruders we found and used force if necessary, which was pretty rare actually.

My men and I had traveled to the river in about twenty minutes, but there was no sign of Gendo or his party. Everything seemed normal, the sound of the stream, the birds chirping, nothing seemed unusual.

"They're not here," Shinbo stated the obvious. "I guess they must've gotten lost, that's all. Nothing unusual since this entire forest is basically a maze."

"True, but it's highly unlikely they got lost," Todo said, "after all, we were all lead through the forest during our training so everyone in the clan should know this place like the back of their hand."

"Leader, is something wrong?" Keichi asked realizing I had heard something.

There was an irregular sound coming from near the river. Plip, plip, plip, it was the sound of liquid dropping. I knew that it couldn't have been the dew left by the rain three days ago, these droplets sounded more heavy. There was also another scent in the air, a scent I never did enjoy.

"Leader, what is it?" Takumi asked a moment later.

"Blood...," I said before dashing to the source.

The source of the drops were only a few steps away, I knew I was heading in the right direction as the aroma grew stronger. I found myself at the source soon after, but there was nothing to be found. I began to stand in place, listening once more for the source of the drops, only to pick up the sound of the steps of my men.

"Stop," I ordered them before they can say another word.

The sound of the drops grew clear again, they were as loud as ever, I could feel it, I really could. Plip, plip, I knew where it was coming from, the source was coming from above.

"Holy...!" Keichi practically screamed upon looking up.

"What the...?!"

"Sweet mother of...!"

I was the only one who didn't react to what I saw above us, despite how much I really wanted to throw up inside. Above his, hanging in the trees, was what was left of Gendo and his men. The leaves were no longer a bright green, but now a dark crimson. Shreds of black cloth were plastered on some of the branches, and shades of red tainted random spots of the trees. I couldn't help but step back a second later, only to hear a small crunch underneath my feet. I turned to the source to find what seemed to be human teeth. The white tabs had been broken and scattered, one could not tell which piece could fit with another. I turned back to the trees' branches to find huge chunks of meat supported by several branches. Huge craters were embedded in the chest area of each of them, as well as blade marks filled with pools of blood. I tried to avert my eyes away, only to find the skulls of Gendo and his men where I had turned. Their mouths were wide open and secreting a white foam with streams of ruby flowing down their lips. Their faces were slashed repeatedly, I could not tell whose face was whose looking at the rotting meat. The winds began to blow suddenly as I looked into the remains in their eyes, their stench suddenly drafting to my nose in the process.

"Who could have...?" Shinbo began to step backward.

At that moment, another draft of wind began swirling in our direction. Something was odd about this one, I could hear the sound of steel whistling with this wind. Without even thinking, I jumped away, my back hitting against the nearest tree as I tried to regain my balance. Upon turning to where I had jumped from, I found several pieces of steel embedding themselves into Todo. I remember his screams before he died, remembered how wide his eyes were and how he landed into a pool of his own blood.

"Todo!" Keichi began running toward his body.

Another whistle flew into my ear at that moment, it was the same as the last one.

"Baka! Watch out!" I yelled.

It was too late, another barrage of shuriken had been embedded into one of my men shortly. Another scream, but this was short after another metallic star embedded into his throat.

"Shit!" I spat as I reached for the ninja-to on my back. "Shinbo, don't move!" I ordered, trying to prevent him from the fates that fell before my other men.

Again, I began to listen. Another gust of wind, this one more powerful than the last, this one was coming from behind this time. Launching myself forward and turning to the source at the same time, I swung my sword at the source only to find my blade slicing branches. I stared at the source of the last wind for a moment, I was sure that I felt something flying in my direction back there.

"Ugh!" I quickly turned back to my remaining ninja to find a fist embedded in his ribs.

"Shinbo!"

The fist quickly pulled back into the shrubbery, pulled back by a red and black-striped arm. Shinbo fell as soon as the hand left his ribs, his nose catching his fall. I ran to my last remaining man only to find his eyes already shut and his breathing at a halt. His ribs had been crushed with the punch, and the broken fragments of the bone must've made their way to his heart. Whoever was able to take out my men with such ease was very skilled, I knew the culprit couldn't have been an ordinary soldier of the Ishin Shishi, if they even worked for the Ishin Shishi at all.

"Bastard, show your face!" I called after.

Another blast of air followed after my cry, this one coming from my side. I swung toward the source, engraving my blade into the fist of my men's attacker. I couldn't help but look shocked by the outcome of my attack. My blade was caught in my attacker's fist, yet there was no blood. Taking a small gulp from my own saliva, my eyes began crawling up the striped arm of my attacker. The arm lead its way to a dark blue gi with violet lining and trimmings. My eyes then turned upward, crawling up a neck covered in black cloth and stopping before what looked like yellow fangs. I couldn't help but step back upon looking at the visage of my opponent.

"O...oni...," I muttered as I began to step away.

"Close, but far from it," the demon began to speak, his mouth remaining open as he spoke.

His eyes were of a dark violet hue, though you can barely see them as his lids were barely open. Yellow horns stuck out from his brow, and a black hood had engulfed the back of his head. I knew at that moment my opponent was only wearing a mask and who he really was.

"Oniwaban-Shu Ninja," I collected my cool after.

"That is correct," the man answered, "I am Hannya of the Oniwaban-Shu. I presume you are Misanagi the Flying Arrow, Leader of the Sanada Ninjas, correct?"

"Who wants to know?" I responded. "Are you the one who did this to my men?"

"I ask you the same thing, who wants to know?" the masked man responded.

"I suppose asking you why you're doing this will get me the same answer," I sighed. "Doesn't matter, anyone who trespasses in our territory will die."

I didn't waste another second wasting my breath with anymore words, I decided to take action before another syllable could escape his lips. Clang, the ringing of steel erupted once more as my blade met with his fist once more. My feet began to press against the ground for a mere second before launching me a few steps back, steering me away from his counter punch.

"You have steel gauntlets underneath those gloves I see," I observed after evading his last attack.

"You're quite observant, but then again, I shouldn't have expected anything less from the leader of the Sanada Clan," the so-called ninja remarked.

Again took the initiative, this time taking to the air for a mere second and using the tip of my sword to lead my dive back to the ground. Ting! Again, I had struck his gauntlet instead of his face, and again, he followed with another counter. His fist swept through nothing but air as I used the lock of our weapons to push me to the other side of the battlefield. Again my feet met with the ground, but only for a mere second. His fist was once again pulling in my direction, and I began to press my legs against the floor once more. Just as I had jumped, I felt a force striking against my cheek suddenly, ruining my jump and knocking my back against the nearest tree. As soon as I turned toward my opponent once more, I found that navy-gloved hand plunging forward once more.

"Shit!" I quickly ducked, only the have some of my hair get caught in the attack.

I ignored the pain of the strands' pull, instead rolling to the side to avoid his follow-up punch. As soon as I was able to face my opponent again, I couldn't help but notice a new web of cracks in the ground and a crater where his fist was.

"I see, I've heard of this technique before," I said as I returned to my feet, "the Shin-Wan Spell, you use the stripes on your arm to make you opponent misjudge the distance between you and your arm so things appear wider than they appear."

"Again I am impressed by your observations, Misanagi the Flying Arrow, however..."

A clip of steel suddenly took the place of his words. I turned to his fists once more to find several blades hanging from the top of his knuckles. Claws, that was probably how Hannya cut up Gendo and his party.

"Save your tricks for the carnival you freak," I spat as I readied my blade once more.

He took the initiative this time, the claws on his right taking the lead. Not wanting to jump anymore, I tried another tactic. I quickly dug into my pocket and removed several darts, tossing them forward as soon as I took hold of them. Thunk, thunk, thunk, none of them had hit their intended target, all of them had been embedded into the nearby trees. A gust of wind suddenly came forward after my miss, and suddenly I felt a sharp pain coming from my side.

"Argh!" I screamed as three blades scraped against my skin for a mere second.

I had no time to focus on the pain any longer after that, I had to focus on his next attack. Out of instinct, I swung my blade in the direction of his left arm, trapping it by locking the blade with one of the claws' inlets. I knew instantly that his right arm would follow, but I caught his wrist in the pit of my arm. Without even thinking, pushed my leg into his chest, knocking the masked man back and leaving him open for an attack. With a twist of my hand, I was able to lock my blade in his claws and was able to pull him in once more. With my left hand, I quickly reached for the tanto in my back and struck at whatever part of his body I could. A spurt of red followed after my strike on his chest, I knew there was no way he could counter, so I went for my final strike at his neck.

"Die how a ninja should!" I yelled as I pressed my blade forward.

Instead of another geyser of crimson, I got nothing but a swirl of wind. My opponent had suddenly disappeared, but I didn't know how. There was no sign of him, the only thing I saw were the marks on the trees and the random spots of ruby that came from our bodies. The sound of the forest had returned to my ears soon after and at that moment, the pain in my side began to return. My palm began pressing against the wound as I tried to avert my attention back to nature, only to have my ears catch another sound. It was the sound of palms rapping in somewhat consecutive beats. Someone was applauding, but who? Without even thinking, I tightened my hold on my sword and turned to the source to find a man I had never seen before and the unconscious "ninja" I was about to finish.

"Who...?" I tried to ask.

This man, he had a rather straight face. His eyes were narrow, I could barely see his ice blue pupils between the inlets of his eye lids. His nose was father sharp, his hair cut short, but he still had bangs. His face wore a monotone expression, the same expression I usually wore. A rather large coat was worn on him, and underneath that coat was a purple uniform and a kodachi on his belt.

"Impressive," the man said with his face still not changing expressions. "It's been a while since Hannya has met his match."

"I presume you are the leader of this man," I spat. "Shinomori Aoshi, I've heard about you, Leader of the Oniwaban-Shu, you've only been leader of a dead clan for a year now."

"And you for two years if I'm not mistaken," the man responded cooly. "I look forward to facing you someday, Leader of the Sanada Ninjas."

With that said, the man and his colleague began to walk away. I knew I had no need to pursue them, especially in the condition I was in.

"Fuck, I underestimated that son of a bitch!" I spat as I pressed my wound even more.

There was one thing I didn't understand after that fight. What were the Oniwaban-Shu doing in our forest, and why did they attack Gendo and his party? I figured that they simply wanted to end the grudge between our clans now that the Shogunate was overthrown, but I would later figure out, there was something more to this whole thing.

(Shion's POV)

"Won't you eat something?"

Again, I turned my head. It had been a while since Misanagi had gone on patrol, and ever since then, Kaita has been trying to talk to me. Despite what Misanagi had told me, I still didn't trust the man.

"Come on now, I'm sure you'll feel better if you ate something," he said as he tried placing the piece of fish at the end of his chopsticks into my mouth again.

I turned my head away for what seemed like the millionth time that day. I didn't feel like eating to tell the truth, I didn't feel like doing anything.

"Are you not hungry?" he asked.

As usual, I responded with silence. I just turned my attention to the wall, turning my vision away from him. The thought of what happened days ago just couldn't get out of my mind. The conversations Kaita tried having with me just weren't helping, even though they had no hint of what had happened.

"I see," I heard him say, "I suppose I'll just leave you alone then."

His form entered my vision only for a mere second, but he only appeared so he can exit the room. As soon as he was gone, I turned my attention back to the front of the room. My mind was once again blank at that moment. Blank, it was better than thinking at that time. My eyes couldn't help but linger throughout the entire room now that Kaita was gone. I paid attention to every little detail there; I must've counted one hundred lines total on each of the shoji doors and a million strands of hay in the ceiling. That was all I could really do at that time, take my mind off things by counting pointless things. After I was done counting, my eyes soon turned to the spot where Kaita had sent. My pupils couldn't help but widen at the shimmering object he had left there. It was a tanto; it was pretty careless of him to leave a weapon in a room like that, but I didn't think so at the time. My fingers began to twitch at the sight of the small piece of steel, and my arm began to move forward. Slowly, my hand began stroking the handle of the knife, stroking until they came to the edge of the hilt. My fingers then wrapped around the handle and the steel began hovering before my eyes. I could see my mahogany pupils widening at the sight of themselves, widening at the glimmer of the steel. I don't know why I did what I did next, but I brought the tip of the blade to the center of the cross which was scarred over my heart. The blade began to sway across one of the marks, barely gliding against my skin's surface. I began to close my eyes, and my arm began pulling away from my body with the knife still in my arms. Without even thinking, my arm suddenly shot backward.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I recall my words to Mina that day I stopped her from bringing the same fate unto herself. "Are you okay? You can't die now, what would your brother do if you were to die? Would he cry, would he simply go on with his life as if nothing happened? Aren't you worried about what might happen to him?"

I remember how she nodded in between her tears, how she wore the same expression I was wearing at that moment.

"You can't take it, can you?" I asked. "You can't take away the guilt you have for all those you killed?"

"How did you know?" she answered, recollecting her emotions with a sniff.

"As a hitokiri you are tasked to write your role in history with crimson ink," I said, "and that ink... comes from your victims. This is the role Fate has given me, the role as the Grim Reaper to those I come across in battle. The pages of my destiny are written in blood, the blood of those I killed. One would think this hasn't effected me, but in truth, it has. I was a samurai's daughter before I joined the Satsuma Clan," I began recalling my past, "I lived in a rather furnished house with my mother, my father, and my little brother, Kintaro, in Edo. My parents had tasked my brother to uphold the family's warrior spirit, I was tasked to just be a simple housewife by the time I would get married. I was supposed to be married two years ago when I was fourteen. I had a wonderful fiancéé, his name was Keisuke."

"Keisuke?" she asked. "That was the name you spoke of when I saw you crying the night before I left the Satsuma Camp."

"So you were there?" I asked. "You saw me cry?"

"Hai," I nodded, "just as you saw me cry just now."

"Arigatou," I thanked her, "it's nice to know someone knows of my pain."

"Can you tell me about Keisuke?" she suddenly asked.

At that time, I had not talked about Keisuke or family to anyone. The thought of Keisuke brought back much sadness, but at the same time, it made me happy. So taking in a deep breath, I decided to continue my story.

"Keisuke was...a wonderful person," I continued, "he was always smiling, willing to help others out, even if it was out of his way. He was great with my ten year old little brother, the two of them got along like real brothers. Keisuke was a year older than me, he always had a crush on me, just as I had one on him. We knew each other since childhood, our families lived next to each other. He proposed to me on my fourteenth birthday and of course, I said yes at the first opportunity. It was also that same year that this war began, Father was called to assist the Bakufu in here in Kyoto. My family and I would never see him again after he left, he was killed in battle by a group of bandits. Our family name was ruined after learning this, the other families had turned their backs on us. Keisuke was the only one to stay by my side, although his parents disapproved of it. His family couldn't bare to see their son hang around the daughter of a disgraced samurai family, they even turned their backs on his proposal to me. And then it happened during the month of December, it was the middle of the night, Keisuke had decided to sleep over, telling his family he was going to a friend's house instead. It was a wonderful evening, Keisuke had, well, I don't want to speak of it, it's somewhat embarrassing, but as we slept in the comfort of my futon, there was a loud crash coming from the kitchen. I decided to check things out and there was Keisuke's family along with some members of other samurai families, each them bearing arms and torches. I took my naginata resting on the nearby wall, ready to defend my home and I was engaged in combat. I wasn't very skilled then, I was barely even able to defend myself, I always found myself falling to the floor after my naginata caught an attack. Some time during the fight, I lost sight of Keisuke's father, and he went for a stab from behind. Keisuke suddenly appeared and pushed me out of the way, taking the blade into himself. Mother and Kintaro finally realized what was going on, now that the smell of smoke was quite abundant in the house. They ordered me to take Keisuke and run, to escape while we could. I should've stayed, but instead, I ran, dragging Keisuke with me. We were far from the city before I knew it, Keisuke wasn't doing so well, I knew a doctor wouldn't be able to save him. I swore that I would get revenge, that I'd kill the ones who did this to Keisuke and I, I swore I wouldn't rest until justice had been served, but it was then that Keisuke told me his last words. 'Be strong, Shion, no matter what happens, always remain as you are now.' And with that, he died in my arms, his body now just an empty shell resting on my lap. I contemplated suicide many times, just as you have, but I wouldn't because the thought of someday reuniting with him through reincarnation always went through my mind before each attempt. Mina, do you see now why I fight, why I wear the mask of happiness in front of others? I live so that I may avenge Keisuke and my family, so that I can destroy a government that started this whole 'honor' system. I live so I can honor Keisuke's last words, to continue living as the woman I was before all of this. I live...so that my family's death won't be in vain!" my voice began to crack with my last sentence.

My hands were beginning to ball into fists, as if I was wringing the neck of one of those samurai who burned my house. My teeth were clenching against each other at that moment, scraping against each other from side to side, creaking as they did so. Clear rivers poured down my cheeks, slowly falling to the tatami below in single drops.

"Shion," she spoke after the moment of silence, "do you...know what happened to the rest of your family?"

"No," I shook my head, "for all I know, they were killed as I escaped with Keisuke. I hadn't set foot in Edo since."

"I see," I couldn't notice but see her turn back to the floor.

"You are the only one I have ever told this story to," I admitted, "will you keep this story away from the ears of others?"

"Hai," she answered, "I will."

"Himura-san," I placed my hand on her cheek afterward, "you have a reason to live after this war, you still have someone to go back to, I have no one. I'm sure your brother thinks the same, that's probably why he continues to live, so he can live the rest of his life with you, to live in a war free of corruption and bloodshed."

"Arigatou, Shion," she nodded, "to give me such kind words, you're not as bad of a person that I thought you were, that you aren't."

"Continue to live, Himura-san," I told her as she rose from her seat, "but for me, once this war is over, my reason to live is over."

"Shion, live in the era that we are to create," she said a moment later with her back turned, "live so you can continue to fulfill Keisuke's last wish and for your family, they died so you can live after all."

"Keisuke!"

The blade had come to a halt before my skin. My thoughts had finally turned elsewhere, turned to the past I had forgotten in a short amount of time.

'She's right,' I thought to myself, 'Keisuke and my family, they all died for me, and yet, here I am trying to throw away my life as if their sacrifice meant nothing. Arigatou, Mina, thank you for those words you had given me back then.'

At that very moment, the shoji door had flung open once more. I turned to it for a second to find the woman I had seen when I had first awoken. I couldn't help but notice part of her clothing had been torn on the side and white linen wrapped on the skin underneath.

"Are you okay?" she asked a second later.

"I should be asking you," I said, bringing a small smile to my lips.

"What's with the smile?" she asked. "I would think that..."

"That incident has still not left my mind," I admitted, turning back my vision back to my lap and my smile melting away, "but I can't let it get to me. Someone told me that I should not waste my life if others already sacrificed theirs so I could live."

"Whatever," I heard the shinobi sigh. "You're a strange one."

"Whatever," I replied with a smile.

Chapter 2 Liner Notes

What does "naze", "hai", "gomen", "baka", "oni", and "shinobi" mean?- "Naze" is the English equivalent of "why", "hai" means "yes" or any other word like that. "Gomen" means "sorry" ("gomen nesai" means "I'm very sorry"), while "baka" means "stupid", "idiot", or any other word

that deals with stupidity. "Oni" is the name of a certain species of demon, while "shinobi" is the old word for "ninja".

Next time: "A war is beginning to brew, the demons that once protected Edo Castle are now coming to the front of the Sanada base. My men are prepared to combat this new threat, but with this woman, I believe I can end this war in the blink of an eye. Shion, her quick recovery from the incident will mean a quick end to this war..." -Misanagi the Flying Arrow

Author's Note: Well, I hope this chapter is satisfactory to you readers. I know Shion's recovery seems too quick, but in truth, she hasn't recovered much, she's only able to talk now. She still has a way to go before she has recovered, right now she's only smiling because she remembered Mina's words, other than that, she still feels bad. Anyway, go ahead and leave a review, but no flames or anything like that, okay. If can, go ahead and check out "Crimson String Book II: A Rurouni's Path" as well to see what Mina's up to. That and this fic will cross paths in chapter 5 if you don't know, so watch out for it. Later people!