The day started off unusually to begin with. First, her Squad Leader, Temaro had woken her up almost as soon as she had gone to bed. Said something about a very important mission.Next thing she knew, she was here,outside the gates, along with her two other team mates, Ja and Ten-Li, as well what looked like all the shinobi in the village. Neither Ja nor Ten-Li seemed to have a clue what was going on, and Temaro had completely dissapeared. She had said something strange before she left however,..."Above all things, remember, your duty lies not to your village, but to your soul and the soul's of your friends. You all must promise me that when the time comes, you will be able to displace the thoughts of a shinobi. Thoughts of me. And think only for yourselves. That is the true ninja way" Ja raised his hand, then asked icily"But Temaro sensai, isn't the way of the ninja to..."
"Dammit Ja, stop trying to be such a know it all for once and listen to me!" She shouted. Everyone was taken aback. This sudden show of emotion was not like Temaro sensai, and Deishi could tell that Ten-Li and Ja were both rattled. Especially Ja. He was her favorite. She had left not too long after, talking to them individually before leaving. Deishi thought she had seen tears in her eyes. Ten-Li had remarked that it was very unprofessional of her. Ja had told her to shut up. And here they were now. She sensed something was wrong. Very wrong.
All around them, squad leaders were all hugging their teams and talking to them as if it were the last day on earth. And now Ja seemed to be worried. Ever so slowly, Deishi was beginning to get very frightened. The noises were getting louder. The wails in the distance. They were coming closer. Only Ten-Li seemed unaffected.
"You know..." she said picking in between her teeth ", I don't know what the big deal is anyway. Why is everyone getting so riled up over nothing?" Deishi ignored her and kept staring into the distance. "I just don't get it. Why is it that adults take things so seriously?" Deishi glanced over to where Ja was sitting on top of the gate to the village. He wasn't moving. "They just sit here and waste our time. Look at this! I'm not even fully dressed. I only have one sock on!"
"Shutup!" yelled Ja from his perch. Both Deishi and Ten-Li jumped backwards, surprised by the viciousness in his voice. He stood slowly, his eyes squinting. His hand slowly reached down to his trademark weapon, the Blue Mantis-a long, blue chain, and unwrapped it from around his waist. Suddenly, Deishi noticed that many of the other shinobi were doing the same thing. What they felt, she didn't know.
A deafening roar shattered the silence. It was so loud that it knocked Deishi and Ten-Li off their feet. The ground shook, and several voices came from the front of the large group of shinobi. The tremors continued, and Deishi struggled for a weapon, barely managing to draw out a shuriken in all the shaking. The roars became defeaning, and many of the younger genin fell to the ground in pain.
Then, as if nothing had happened, there was quiet. Deishi was on her back panting; she looked up with wide eyes at Ja-bent low, as if ready to spring into action on a moment's notice. An uneasy silence had descended on the group of ninja. All of them were breathing heavily and had a death grip on their weapons. What was happening?
Ten Li stood up holding her shoulder. "What the hell was..." she didn't get to finish her statement. Before the last syllable came from her mouth, her whole body exploded in a shower of blood and gore. Deishi screamed as she was covered in red. Ja moved with lightning reflexes. More screams errupted from all over the brigade of shinobi as blood burst out of unsuspecting ninja everywhere.
The roars suddenly resumed with more intensity than ever. There...there was a figure in the distance. Several ninja moved with blindingly fast reflexes. Weapons gleamed in the sun. Shuriken flew in all directions. Deishi looked up just in time to see the rib cage of another genin explode from the inside out.
She ran blindly, her hands reaching out in all directions. Grasping for something. Anything. She saw a streak of blue as Ja swung his chain. Unearthly screams pounded in her eardrums. Another body crashed to the ground in front of her, it's face completely eaten away. What was was this?
She pushed herself up, the ground slippery with blood, and took off into a full sprint. She didn't know which way she was running. She just ran. She ran, and ran, and ran. Her arm burned intensely. It felt numb. She kept running, but felt something hot dripping down the side of her shoulder. She couln't feel her fingers. She slipped on the groun, and fell face first in the mud. She tried to scream, but no words came out. She moved backwords, her feet kicking up the ground furiously, desperately trying to get away. She stopped as the screams began to die down, being replaced by...by what?
Suddenly, she realized that the screams were dying down because of the wind. Wait. The wind? Why would would there be...? She slowly turned around, her eyes arching upwards. She stared...into the giant nostrils of a demon.
It had Glowing yellow eyes, and a huge, sickening snout. It stood at least twenty feet tall, with great, long horns spirlaing from it's forehead. It's skin was bubbling as if it were aboil, and it's hot, stinking breath smelled like rotting carcasses. It reared back, looked directly at her, then let out an earsplitting roar. Deishi could only stare, her eyes wide in terror. She was going to die. It had all happened so fast. So much death. So much pain. The beast opened it's enormous jaws. So much pain.
A lone figure stood on a far away tree. It had taken him awhile to find them. He had doubled back around the side of the mountains several miles off, and had followed the larger demons to the foot of a gigantic hill. There was a town on the hill. He remembered it vaguely. As if it were a memory. Like a water painting in his mind.
At the base of the hill were people. Many people. The figure thingyed it's head. They must be like him. They wouldn't be fighting the demons otherwise. He shifted his stance, letting his colassal sword sit comftorably on his shoulders. He titled his face towards the sun, the fiery glow giving him the outlined appearance of one burning. His bright orange hair added to his likeness of a flame. Without further hesitation, he dissapeared into the distance. He had finally found his prey.
Oni Kiga was having fun. Humans could be so foolish. To attack them with bombs and gases didn't work, so they send warriors. What kind of logic was that? He grinned feircely, blood dripping from his enormous, over-bite fangs. He raised his famed sword, the Terragobi, and smashed it down into a densely populated area of ninja. He loved it when they screamed. So feeble. So weak. What was the point of their existence?
His eyes searched the battlefield (if you could call it that) laughing heartily as his brethren tore apart the measley enemy with almost as much viciousness as he. Almost.
He raised a colassal hand to smash away a pathetic fireball and a giant dagger. His laughs made mortals quake in their boots. His anger made their souls take flight. His swords could crush mountains. His steps made craters. He was Oni Kiga! Lord of the Demons! No mortal could stand up to him! He raised his sword once again. It never got old. Whoof!
Something stung his hand. It hurt! His great sword fell from his grip, creating a huge cloud of dust as it hit the ground. "Who dares!" he shouted, his voice blowing shinobi into the air. He spun on his heels, screaming into the wind. "Who Dares strike the Lord of Demons"
"Down Here"
A small voice came from below him. His beady eyed gaze shifted downwards, falling upon a young man. He was tall, and was dressed in strange, ornate clothing. A sash hung around his waist, and a large, taped sword was draped over his back. His hair was a blazing orange, glowing as if it were a flame. Two, strange black marks dripped down from eyes like tears.
"What is your name Flame-Hair? I wish to know so I may scream it into the heavens as I wipe your soul from the face of the Earth!" Oni Kiga spat vehemently.
The man grabbed the hilt of his sword, whipped the tape off of it, spun it around his head, and brought it down pointing at the demon in one, fluid motion. "My name is Nekomaru. And it is you who shall be wiped from this earth"
"Such Mortal Ignorance!" The demon roared, and reared back an enormous claw. Nekomaru, with the sword over his shoulders, broke into a full on run toward the monster, nimbly leaping over it's gigantic swipe, landing on his arm with the grace of an acrobat, then leaping onto it's chest and stabbing the sword into it's heart. Oni Kiga screamed and thrashed widely at the tiny invader. "Get...off you insect!" Nekomaru withdrew the sword as the demon slashed the area in front of his torso. He free fell towards the ground, using the sword as a grappling hook to stab it into the Oni's arm, swinging up on top of it, then slashed downwards, the sword going completely through it's wrist.
The demon bellowed wildly. "My Arm!" Nekomaru didn't waste any time. He left the sword where it was, then lept onto the beast's neck, quickly pulling himself up to his ear, then swinging around in front of his face. "Give me your power" Nekomaru said coldly. With one hand, he thrust his fingers into one of the demon's eyes, it's screams catching the attention of the other beasts.
His hand began to glow a steady blue, and a strange purple streak exploded from the demon's eye and up his arm. Despite being covered in the demon's blood, puss, and eye material, Nekomaru held his hand firm. The demon's screaming seemed to not even faze him. As the purple streak grew brighter, Oni Kiga's flesh began to get more wrinkled, his mouth getting thinner,a bleeding rib cage becoming visible.
The purple streak suddenly expanded, covering Nekomaru's entire arm. His body shook for a moment, before he seemed to come under control of the energy. "Demon Lord...You, are finished"
"Nooooo! Noo!" Oni Kiga shrieked. Nekomaru brought his arm back, the pure, purple chakra condensing around his arm. His hand closed into a fist leveled directly at the demon's forehead.
"Goodbye" he said quietly. With that, the Flame thrust his chakra coated hand into Oni Kiga's head. An explosion, so large that it completely blinded every shinobi still in battle filled the early morning sky. A sonic boom blasted back a huge cloud of dust, followed by a tremendous quake that made the earth seem to tilt sideways.
When it righted itself, and the dust cleared, all that remained of Oni Kiga was a large crater in the middle of the battlefield. Standing in it's middle, hair being tossed wildly by the wind, was Nekomaru, his golden eyes glowing an unnatural purple. He turned his head slowly, gaze becoming fixed on the remaining demons.
"If you wish to die, then stay and fight me. If not...well, you really have no choice in the matter. You're all going to die anyway" He wrenched his enormous sword out of the ground and leveled it at the demons. "I am your death. I am Nekomaru, the demonslayer! Come to me"
He yelled into the wind. He charged at them then, head bent low, the god of death in his stead. The demons would soon become closer to the god. Much closer.
(Whew! That was long! And that's all she wrote folks! For the prologue anyway! Expect chapter one of Red Horizon soon!)