COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: The characters here only belong to CLAMP, well probably for some of those that I created myself. Other than that, they are strictly the property of the CLAMP manga team of four women and they rock!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi again! I've been rather busy with my work so I was unable to update my story. To give you readers a treat, I shall post 4 chapters at one go while I continue my Fullmetal Alchemist story at the same time too. Anyway, please enjoy this seventh installment. And oh yes, I'd like to thank some of the people who had reviewed.

PeachPonta – Yes! I've been waiting for you to update your story and you did! Thanks again for encouraging me to continue my story while I was rather busy at work. Don't worry, the latest four chapters won't be a disappointment to you.

Dust-in – I know you hate yoai, but I have nothing to comment about. HahaZ. Anyway, please continue to support my story if you must, and I really appreciate the great support you've given me all these time too.

asga – Hi asga, once again I thank you for your reviews. You're one of the core supporters of my story too and I thank you once again. To answer the question in your review, please read the following chapters. Have a nice day reading my story!

KakashiLvr – It is quite compelling…well, it has to depend on everyone's opinion too. HahaZZ…I do hope you can continue to patronize reading my story too as well. Thanks again for yer' review!

With all to your respect, I shall continue this story after these bouts of special thanks.

BULLETIN OF REDEMPTION: (Yay! I named it after myself!) Anyway, I'll be standardizing my chapter release dates too. From now on, each chapter shall be released around each weekend with the exception of this time where all four chapters shall be published at one go to compensate the loss of time for you reviewers waiting for my next chapter to appear.

CHRONICLE SEVEN: ENTER KUROGANE THE NINJA!

In the heat of the summer afternoon, there was barely anyone on the street except for the stall holders peddling their wares on the various avenues of the city centre. The temperature was scorching hot and no one would be in the right mind to stroll across the street without something to protect the head.

In a nearby small inn, the young ninja Kurogane drank another cup of tea. His mind was still raging over the decision to collect a bounty if he saved the so-called princess Tomoyo, who appeared to have a nostalgic name located deep within the chasms of his mind.

"Kuro should save the princess!" His good spirit, a smaller version of Kurogane, exclaimed as it appeared beside his shoulder in a puff of smoke. Kurogane ignored his good spirit and continued to drink the tea.

"What rubbish!" Another spirit wearing a simple black cloak materialized on the other shoulder. "That is a waste of time! Kuro should do something more important!" It shrieked in his ear which the ninja was oblivious to the two voices raging in his own world known as his mind.

"Shall!" The good spirit exclaimed back.

"Shan't!"

"Shall!"

"Shan't!" The bad spirit was always rebutting back the good spirit. Instead of helping the ninja boy, they were bickering over his decision. A stress mark materialized on Kurogane's forehead as his peace was being slowly disturbed.

"Will you shut the hell up?" Kurogane banged on the table and suddenly realized that he was actually talking to himself as his imaginary two friends vanished in puffs of smoke. Everyone in the inn was staring at him, shocked by his sudden outburst. Shades of redness had appeared on both his cheeks.

"Sorry," came his only reply as he took his katana and exited the inn. And of course, into the scorching weather with no covering on his head. "This is stupid." He spoke to himself as he pondered whether to save the princess.

"But what bounty is there worth acquiring?" He stood in the hot sun with many people amazed to see how he could be oblivious to the rays of the sun especially when he was wearing an outfit almost black.

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Tomoyo sat on the floor in the middle of a circular pattern. The circular pattern was in the design of an ancient philosophy, that of Taoism. It had been drawn perfectly to resemble an onmyou symbol that was reported to have mystical effects when activated.

"Hanako-chan…" Tomoyo whispered softly as she looked at her handmaiden who has stood on the edge of the circle. "What is it that I had offended you for you to betray me?" Her handmaiden only remained silent, standing at the edge of the magical circle.

"You shouldn't talk too much, hime-sama," the man commented as he held a black book supported by one hand. "You'd need to conserve your energy for our tapping…"

"Tapping?" Tomoyo questioned. "What in the world are you doing?" The man flipped a few pages of the book before turning up to look at her in the eyes again.

"Don't you see the significance of this circle?"

"The onmyou circle?" She looked down at the uncanny pattern of the circle which she was placed in the middle of. "Isn't it only the symbol of an ancient religion? There seems to be nothing much to it."

"Very wrong, hime-sama, I'm disappointed in you," the man replied. He lowered the book and walked towards the edge of the circle as well, alongside her handmaiden. "You shall see the powers of what this circle can do, especially magically." He closed his eyes and began to chant a few words before whipping out a yellow talisman between two fingers of one hand. Rapidly as he could, the talisman was quickly thrown onto the circle which made the portion around it glow with a light blue light.

"North gate sealed," he spoke out as he looked at the first quadrant of the circle glowing. Tomoyo's eyes widened as she felt something being ripped from her body painfully. She fell to the ground, trying to suppress the pain within. "So you felt that? The circle is ripping the magical energy that was bound to your soul. The more it is strongly bound to your soul, the more it will hurt when the power is removed." Soon, a Chinese character formed on the quadrant of the circle, representing the word 'North'.

"What are you going to do with this magical energy after it's removed?" She questioned as she got up from the ground with the pain already lessened. Her eyes turned to see that her handmaiden was glowing with the light blue light. It had seemed that the circle was meant to transfer the mysterious energy within her into her own handmaiden. "You're using her?"

"She willingly wanted to be used," the man answered back to her. He turned to see her before whipping out another yellow talisman that had several characters painted over it in dark red, the colour of dried blood. "As a vessel to contain all your magical energy."

"A vessel?" Tomoyo exclaimed at the fact that her own handmaiden was using herself to acquire this strange power. It was definitely no time to be calm and silent, for there was a crazy man who had already removed a quarter of her so-called mysterious power. She looked at herself to see her entire body being surrounded by the same light blue glow as well. "She was hypnotized?" It struck her mind.

"You do live up to your reputation as a knowledgeable royal, don't you?" He smirked back at her, holding the talisman in his hand. Again as rapidly, he threw the talisman on the adjacent quadrant next to the glowing on of the circle. It began to glow a brownish colour as it engulfed Tomoyo, causing her to feel excruciating pain again. She fell to the ground, shrieking in the pain in which the power was slowly torn from her soul.

"West gate sealed," he chanted out loud as he continued to look at the book in one hand. "When I have sealed all the gates, all power would have been ripped from your soul. From the looks of it, you'll most likely die from all of these extractions." He closed his eyes and chanted a few more words in which the half of the circle now had a more intense glow of a brownish light. As Tomoyo turned her head, she noticed that the light was linked between her and her handmaiden who had started to levitate in the air, carried by the power of the glowing light.

"My father the emperor will get you if I die," Tomoyo responded back to him.

"Your father? The emperor?" He looked slightly amused at Tomoyo's response and gave a loud sinister laugh. "After you die, I'll use this magical energy to usurp the throne of your father and I'll declare myself emperor of a new dynasty like how the Chinese do!"

"You can't!" Tomoyo began to reason with him more, bearing the pain that was tormenting her body. "My father is descended from the Sun Goddess! The family lineage is divine."

"Yours are talks of rubbish," the man replied back and turned his face towards Tomoyo again. "If he was divine, he would be a compassionate ruler. Your family is to be blamed for exiling me, the head of the Oda clan into the wild east and executing my entire family!" The princess had a sudden look of surprise and shock on her face. "Talks of divinity are complete rubbish," he continued his criticism. "Only common folk would believe in such imperial crap!"

His mood was now more intense as he whipped out another talisman while chanting some strange words again. "Now is the time to seal the East gate of the circle," he gave an evil smirk back at her with his dirty brown eyes. "By the time it is sealed, you'd have been half-dead and it would be fulfilling some of my ultimate revenge against the emperor!" Tomoyo could only do nothing but look at the madman's ploy. After all, a certain spell had now bound her by the arms and legs, rendering her unable to even move let alone escape.

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Kurogane ran across the dirt path. It was extremely hot but he did not mind it. There was an attractive bounty to take after all, since it was an imperial princess he was saving and not some noble's daughter. His mind filled with the prospects of saving an imperial princess which would award him several desires he could never ever ask for in a lifetime.

"There is a strong imbalance in the atmosphere," he thought to himself as he followed the leads of a strong imbalance in mystical energy. There was some magical spell occurring which was hopefully where the princess was captive there. "Someone is trying to do something nasty about this…"

The young ninja could also sense it by the presence of jaki too. The negative aura was formed whenever there was a magical imbalance which would cause its formation. If nothing was done to curb the growing jaki, it could form a powerful miasma that would be harmful to any living thing, be it animal or plants. The spell being cast was already generating too much of jaki which made Kurogane rush towards the site where the jaki was at its strongest.

"Not so fast, my dearie ninja," he heard a feminine voice as he made his way towards the centre of evil aura. He turned his head to see a woman approaching, with similar gear as him. It was another ninja but he had a strong sense that she employed a different technique from him. "It seems that you're eager to take that princess…before the spell is finished casting."

"Pah! I'm only here for the bounty," Kurogane tried to act cool as he closed his eyes. "Anything other than that does not concern me at all." He reopened his crimson eyes to stare at the female ninja who had a smaller katana in one hand.

"You're quite courageous, aren't you darling?" She walked closer to him, holding the katana still in its sheath. "A ninja should be able to detect others, yet you can't detect my grand entrance." She drew the katana rapidly and encircled her arms around his neck with her weapon ready to slice the young ninja's throat open.

Kurogane had an expression of surprise for a while before regaining his calm posture again. "A simplistic approach by a ninja," he replied back to her. The female ninja sliced his neck only to find him vanishing in a puff of smoke. What was left was a small humanoid-like shape of a paper.

"How smart," she looked down at the paper before being suddenly caught by Kurogane with his own katana ready to slice her neck this time. "I see that you know how to use shikigami. I don't see much ninjas like you practicing such an art." She shrank her eyes as she held Kurogane's body by her two arms, emitting blue-lightning style that made him fold. He clutched his stomach and fell on the ground.

"You shouldn't underestimate me either," the female ninja replied back to him. "I, too, have an art not seen by many ninjas as well." Kurogane only looked at her in anger as she walked towards him in small but rapid steps.

END OF CHRONICLE SEVEN

CHRONICLE EIGHT: THE MYSTERY OF PRINCESS TOMOYO'S POWER

CONCLUSION: As everyone has seen, Kurogane has failed to even reach Tomoyo bad. How bad. Can he save Tomoyo in turn, while at the same time attempt to defeat the mysterious female ninja who intercepted him on his way? Can he come to her aid before the exiled noble seal the last gate of the onmyou circle? Find out in the next chapter The Mystery of Princess Tomoyo's Power!

GLOSSARY:

Onmyou – something like the Taoism's 'ying-yang', check an encyclopedia

Jaki – as mentioned earlier, it is negative energy that can turn into miasma (well, for this story…)

THANKS FOR READING THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE AWAIT THE NEXT CHAPTER SOON! REVIEW IF YOU WISH TO SAY ANYTHING, THANK YOU!