Tenchu: Sins of Shadows
Chapter 3: The Mission, The Warning
"It smells here."
"You should have brought a mask," Rikimaru replied with a grin.
Ayame looked around dully. This cemetery was a disgrace. All the holy signs had been taken down, replaced with curses and hexes to keep spirits at bay. The moon didn't even show itself on a night like this.
"Just what are we supposed to be looking for?" Ayame asked nonchalantly, pressing her back to a tree and peering over a ledge.
"There's a small temple in the woods about halfway through here," Rikimaru said darkly. "We'll try to come back the way we came in."
"Fair enough," she said with a shrug, then bolted for a small tunnel ahead. Suddenly there was a shrill, unearthly laugh and a stone slab fell behind them.
"Come on," Ayame growled, marching onward. Her footsteps became light and silent as she peered around a corner. The dust fluttered up around her feet. The dim light that came through broken wooden shafts in the wall was all she had to see by. And what she saw was freakish.
A woman stood with her back to them, dressed in a white kimono that was torn and grayed. As she turned around, Ayame could see that her skin was gray and clung rotting to bones. Her face was sunken, tendons showing in her neck. Her long black hair had bits of congealed blood clinging in it. Wrinkled eyelids stretched over empty sockets.
Suddenly she stopped and turned. She seemed to stare at the spot where Ayame stood, then uttered an unearthly scream and lunged at Ayame. Claw-like fingers scraped against the wall and around the corner, ever moving towards the warmth of Ayame's body.
Rikimaru was the first to act. Unsheathing Izayoi, specially blessed for the purpose of this mission, he hewed the phantom in half. Ayame was quick to act afterward, cutting it in half the other way. It held together for a moment, then exploded into dust.
"We must have sinned really badly," Ayame said flatly, "because we're in Hell."
"This is just one level of it, then," Rikimaru said darkly. "Hell is worse than this."
Ayame nodded quietly and rushed onward. Rikimaru followed, clutching Izayoi tightly. He could sense a ki nearby, and flattened himself against a wall, peering around it. Pacing there was a samurai in a moldering blue-and-gray uniform. He was in much the same condition as the last…thing they had seen. But Rikimaru noted a gruesome new detail: his stomach was cut open, and something thick and once slimy stitched his eyes shut. He shivered, and allowed Ayame to run forward and slaughter the thing.
"Not bad," he commented. Ayame was getting better at his kills.
"Oh? I was expecting complaints about…woah!"
Ayame teetered off the edge of a small cliff, by the look of it. Rikimaru gasped as he tried to catch her, and found himself looking at a red floor. No, not a floor, for Ayame landed with a splash. She was standing in a river of blood.
Ayame felt she would gag. First of all, the blood was strangely warm. Second, she was halfway up to her knees in it. As she watched, Rikimaru threw himself downward, sword unsheathed. Ayame lifted her blades to parry, but he stabbed something next to her. As she turned, she saw it was another samurai. It let out a strangled cry and died a second time. But to her left Ayame saw a shrieking female, blood clinging to the hem of her kimono. Ayame drove her blades into the gut of this one and she fell, one hand over the spot where the samurai had died.
"Strange," Rikimaru said quietly.
"Repulsive," Ayame spat.
He smirked. "What? No thank you for saving you?"
Ayame grappled to a new ledge above them. "I was thinking about it," she said, continuing when they were both on the ledge. "Why hurry it? I could thank you properly when we get to the Palace again."
Rikimaru said nothing. His face was brilliant red beneath his mask.
They continued with less trouble, now that they knew their enemies. Finally the two stopped at a shabby wooden fence. Rikimaru took Ayame gently by the arm.
"We don't know what's in that temple," he said quietly. "Promise me something?"
"That I won't do anything stupid?" she guessed, grinning. "Rikimaru, you know that goes against my nature."
Rikimaru sighed heavily. "Unfortunately for me, that's why I love you." He spoke with irritation, but Ayame could see him grin. "Alright. Just follow my lead."
"Like I have a choice?" she grumbled as he slung himself over the fence.
Gaida stifled a laugh as he watched the ninjas from above. Turning, he went to where Kagura stood surveying the surrounding woods.
"They're here?" Kagura asked, her lips curving into a smile.
"They are weak, my love," he said walking to her side. "They are not only partners, but a leader and a follower. The man is the Clan Leader, as you well know, and the two are in love."
"That is interesting," Kagura muttered, "very interesting…."
"I have sent Keiko to kill them."
"No!" Kagura gasped. She then took Gaida by the shoulders. "You don't understand. Keiko must not kill them!"
"Kagura, why not?" he asked with a frown.
"The girl is of more value than you can comprehend," Kagura purred. "As for Rikimaru…well, I wish to toy with him."
Gaida nodded. "You wish to cause the two trouble."
"Have Keiko poison the girl…your own poison, for the mind, not the body," she instructed. "The rest I will make clear later."
Gaida looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "Keiko," he commanded to a shadow, "you heard the Lady. Do it."
There was a soft hiss, like leaves rustling in the wind, then silence.
Kagura smiled. "Now, Gaida," she said gently, "let's return to my palace. Our work here is done."
The temple was a shabby building, though it must have once been grand. The red painted columns had begun to fade and peel. Statues had begun to crumble into dust, and moss covered their faces. Walking along the path to the altar, Rikimaru felt overcome by a great sadness. This place was once beautiful. What had happened to it? And though she would never admit to it, Ayame thought and felt the same.
Ayame walked ahead of Rikimaru peering intently into every corner. Rikimaru hung back, lifting Izayoi and looking back toward the doors. Something swooped overhead, and he hurriedly looked around the room. Nothing.
Ayame stepped up to the altar, looking at what was on it. There was a bowl of blood, many scriptures written on paper strips. A broken strand of prayer beads lay there as well. And there were footprints. Ayame followed them through the dust. Suddenly they were on the wall, with handprints as well!
"What the hell?" she whispered.
"Ayame, look out!"
Ayame whirled around and gave a small cut to another undead creature. But this one was different. She hadn't rotted so much. Her skin was just gray. And her coarse black hair was loose, flowing around her shoulders. Her yellow eyes were bulging and wide, and she wore a gruesome smile. Her kimono was once bright red, but was now a muted sort of maroon, with dark bloodstains on it. Her claw-like hands made a grab for Ayame, who jumped and ricocheted off the wall, over the head of the creature.
"What the hell is that thing?" Ayame gasped.
"You don't want to know," Rikimaru said, rushing at it wish her. But it stepped into the shadows, disappearing from existence. Suddenly it reappeared next to Ayame, shrieking something in a demonic tongue as it slashed her arm open.
"Same to you!" Ayame snapped, cutting her arm almost off at the elbow. Rikimaru backed off a bit, seeing that she had it under control. Growling, Ayame landed a series of harsh blows on her, including her stomach. Finally she plunged her blades into the creature's lungs.
The creature let out a shriek of pain, falling to its knees. It's head lurched downward, hair falling over its face. When it looked up, it appeared to be a beautiful woman.
"Who…why…?" she choked, blood dribbling from her lips. "Rest…"
Rikimaru felt a stab of pain watching her. She couldn't have been more than nineteen when she died. Walking forward, he laid her gently on the ground, Ayame helping him.
"You're going back to your rest," he said.
"Be careful…" she rasped. Her eyes were wide with terror. Suddenly she choked, and her body fell slack. As the moonlight peered in, washing over her body, her flesh and body melted into a bloody pulp, and Rikimaru was left holding up a few bones held together by scraps of silk. Ayame had a few crumbling finger bones in her hand and a bit of blood. Nothing more remained of the young Princess.
"Let's go home," Ayame said at length.
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Author's Note:
Don't worry guys, more Gaida/Kagura action soon! And same with the Rikimaru/Ayame one…can't get enough of them…
So far, we've been updating steadily. But now, things are starting to get busier so that's when we get to the part where we practically kill you guys with suspense and the wait… -evil cackling-
Thanks for the reviews so far q re and FAMAS! Review please...this'll just keep getting angstier and angstier as the story progresses but that's all I'm saying...