A Twist Of Faith

Intermission

Sun is setting in the land of Gohda. A pack of birds fly off into the sunset.
A gold yellow glow fills the sky. This is peace, this is nice, but this isn't the way of the shadow.

"Yaa! Hai! Hoo!"

The sounds of a ninja perfecting his skill. It's Rikimaru, practicing with his Izayoi.
A warrior who has seen countless battles, who spilled more blood than a butcher.
A warrior who stared death in the face numerous times.
A warrior of honor and valor, who is loyal to his master.
After a full evening of intense training, Rikimaru returns to Gohda castle.
On his arrival he notices that something's wrong. Most of the lights are out, and only the lights around the main house are burning.
With caution, Rikimaru sneaks inside. To his surprise, he finds that the halls are empty and dark.
'Lord Gohda!' He thinks, and rushes to the main room.
He slams the sliding door open, draws Izayoi and steps inside.
Again, all he finds is emptiness and darkness.
Then, out of nowhere a small light appears.
In a reaction, Rikimaru jumps towards the light.

"HAPPY BIRTH…"

Rikimaru launched a lightning fast horizontal slash.
Suddenly all the lights went on , and everybody appeared, but no one spoke a word.
In front of Rikimaru stood a paralyzed princess Kiku, holding a birthday cake with the tip of the candles cut off.
Surprised and somewhat embarrassed, Rikimaru sheathed Izayoi and scratch the back of his head. Ayame appeared behind Kiku, shaking her lightly to get her out of shock.
Kiku finally pulled herself together, and Ayame turned to Rikimaru.

"Eh, happy birthday Rikimaru…"

She handed him her gift.
Rikimaru took the gift and looked around.

"Ah, you guys, you shouldn't have."

He looked down to the ground and blushed. He looked back up at princess Kiku.

"Sorry about that princess…"

"Oh, it's okay, at least you didn't cut off my ponytail like last year!"

Everybody started laughing, and the party could finally begin.
After they had a piece of cake, it was time to open the presents.
He got a nice dagger from Ayame, a pendant from Kiku, A book about war strategies from Gohda, a folding fan from Sekiya, and a honorary guard uniform from the guards.
After the celebrations, Rikimaru got up on the rooftop, to look at the stars.
Then, he felt a presence, a presence that he knows very well.

"Show yourself Onikage!"

Onikage stepped out of the shadows.
Rikimaru jumped up.

"What do you want?"

"Well…uh…it's like…uh…I heard it's your birthday today."

"It is."

Rikimaru replied.
Onikage acted very weird, Rikimaru wasn't too sure what to think of it.

"Well…uh…since we're kinda like rivals and stuff…I…eh…here."

He threw a package in front of Rikimaru and vanished. Rikimaru raised an eyebrow.
He opened the package. It contained an animal mask and a letter.
The letter reads:

"Dear Rikimaru,

Congratulations with your birthday. I made this animal mask for you, hope you like it.

But this doesn't change the fact that we're still mortal enemies.

Next time we meet, I'll kill you for sure!

Greetings, Onikage."

Once again, Rikimaru raised his eyebrow.
He looked at the mask.

"At least it's better than the homemade shirt he got me last year…"

The end.