Tainted Souls, Tainted Swords

Chapter Seven: Lesson in Respect

The Assassin's bare fingertips reached down and touched the crimson stained earth, and when he pulled his hand back to examine the bloody dirt he discovered a small piece of torn fabric stuck to his hand. Fabric as red as the blood that soaked it. He allowed it to fall and drift back to the depression in the soil. A struggle had occurred recently, far more recently than whatever wiped out this village, "She was here."

The second Assassin who had been kneeling beside the first one held up the severed hook that had apparently belonged to the chain along with a dozen other hooks like it. As the first Assassin took the small barbed item, the second assassin gestured towards the small pile of them and commented, "I don't envy the time she had getting these out."

Glancing over the sheer number of hooks correctly removed, "If the pain from these didn't cripple her progress, taking the time to get these out without doing more damage would."

The two looked at each other and agreed, "We have her now." Unspoken was the relief that they had found some concrete proof of their target's direction. Out of the four infidels who made a scene in the Riverport Arena and managed to escape, this Japanese woman was the only one their employer was interested in spending the money on to have tracked down and killed. The service of the assassins guild was expensive, and Assassins of this caliber even more so.

Little did they know that Taki would prove the most difficult to track, and the most difficult to sneak up on.

Both Assassin stood up and mounted their horses alongside their four fellow Assassins, each of whom carried a sword with a heavy curved blade, "Stay sharp." One of them began.

The second one finished, "The wench could not have gotten far."

Unspoken: they hoped and prayed she couldn't have gotten far . . . Lord knows they won't collect this paycheck at the rate they were going before stumbling upon this.

---

On a dock in southern France, Mitsurugi left the Koreans without saying good-bye. Not that it mattered since the two were so fed up with one another they wouldn't have heard him. The moment Mina and Yunsung snuck off the boat, they headed for the first unoccupied pier they could see. The Samurai headed into the city, looking for information on the location of Soul Edge and perhaps a quick and simple mercenary job to earn some pay.

In the back of his mind, he hoped these two would get their differences out of their system and return to their home. The powers behind Soul Edge were dark and powerful ones, and these kids were not up to the challenge . . . especially with how divided they are now. Besides, they had no business getting involved with Soul Edge in the first place.

The two Koreans faced each other alone on the platform that extended about fifty feet into the Mediterranean Sea. Yunsung cracked his knuckles, then brought out White Storm and warmed up with a few weapon drills. "Don't blame me if you get hurt."

Mina, by contrast, didn't warm up. She stood in a readied stance, and simply answered, "Likewise."

Adrenaline and endorphins flowing, the assortment of cuts and scrapes they acquired during their escape from the Italian Riverport faded out of their consciousness (even the wound to Yunsung's foot.) Later, it'd all come back with a vengeance, but for now they were insignificant.

Back on the shore, a few of the workers noticed the standoff and pointed the scene out to their friends. The two Koreans would have an audience (not that they cared).

Yungsung begins with a charge across the platform, and the second he's within range Mina swings low at his legs once, knocking one leg out from under him. Yunsung barely keeps his balance, but Mina spins around and swipes again and pulls him off his feet entirely. The Korean man lands abruptly on his butt, and laughter explodes from the distant spectators. Mina doesn't stop, she hops forward and drives the staff end of her zanbatou into his gut with as much force as she could summon.

"Oof!" He coughs violently, the wind knocked from his lungs with that blow. White Storm swipes harmlessly at Scarlet Thunder, but doesn't connect with anything.

The pitiful strike earned about a half dozen unintelligible remarks from the rough crowd ashore, most of which along the lines of "what was that!" "you fight like a girl!" "no wonder he's getting his ass kicked!" "how 'bout you come over here baby and fight a real man?"

Yunsung slowly and cautiously rose to his feet, slightly distracted by the insults aimed at him, struggling to regain a steady breathing pattern. He began circling her . . . until the rude awakening that the pier wasn't wide enough dawned on him. Maybe he could circle if her weapon didn't have twice the range of his. 'Damn her,' he thought to himself, casting a hateful glare at her. 'Hiding behind that thing's range—'

With lightning speed, she thrust the blunt end of Scarlet Thunder in his direction and nailed him square in the face like a billiard hitting a ball with a cuestick. His head snapped back and he backed himself nearer the edge of the pier. Another explosion of distracting laughter One hand rose to his face, and when he looked down he saw blood. 'If I could just get that thing away from her,' he thought to himself.

"Running out of room, Yunsung," Mina pointed out, as she cautiously but consistently advanced slowly working the kid closer to the edge. She was completely focused, completely unphased by the catcalls, sexist comments, and other remarks the jerks on the docks were making. Her mind stayed locked on one thing: another twenty feet, and he'll be swimming. "Maybe if you ask nicely and give me White Storm back, we can stop this here."

Seventeen feet from the edge, now, and fully aware that he needed to do something and quick. "You're really asking for it, you know that?" On the final words, he launched another sudden attack – he leapt forward with White Storm leading his charge. Once again, though, Scarlet Thunder's superior range defeated him. Mina easily backed off so White Storm never had a prayer at hitting her, and the second Yunsung's feet touched the platform Scarlet Thunder slid between his legs, knocked them apart, and then Mina smashed him in the groin.

No laughter. No comments. All the men on the shore watched with dropped jaws and disbelief. Soon after they'd go back to work, minding their own business.

White Storm fell out of Yunsung's grasp as he curled up and weeped like a baby. Mina finished out the lesson by poll vaulting up on Scarlet Thunder, and then she brought the weapon down with tremendous force across Yunsung's back. The man moaned weakly.

Mina collected White Storm, then slid her foot under the broken boy to roll him on his back. Then she knelt over him, pinning his arms with her body's weight, as she pressed White Storm to his throat. "You run away in a time of war, taking my family's sword – that makes you a thief and a deserter—"

"You gave White Storm—"

"That was my mistake, and I plan on correcting it by bringing you back in one piece." She confessed, unapologetically, "The only reason I don't finish you right here for what you said to me is because this is my own fault. The Sword of Salvation is Evil, Yunsung . . . it was stupid of us to chase it."

"Says some Japanese girl—"

On a frustrated sigh, Mina proceeded to spell out the obvious. "Her name is Taki, and she spared us when she didn't have to. In fact, she defied those damn Italians to let us live for crying out loud. Do you think anyone associated with the invasion is going to do that for a couple of Koreans searching for Soul Edge? Hm?"

"I don't trust her."

"Well I do." She said, "And maybe you didn't notice, but your friend Mitsurugi was also Japanese. Or is he immune to your prejudice since he didn't humiliate you in front of a couple hundred spectators." Kinda like how Mina just humiliated him in front of a few dozen spectators just now.

"Mitsurugi didn't abandon us." He challenged with flawed logic, but that never matters in the heat of an argument, "Taki did."

Mina shook her head, dismissing that entire tangent. She had a gut feeling his prejudice against Taki didn't come from her being Japanese, it came from her beating him in three moves. And having just won a single sided fight in front of an audience, convincing him didn't seem very promising. Instead, she pursued another topic: "Haven't you listened to the stories in these parts? The Evil Seed? The Nightmare? Our Sword of Salvation is Soul Edge – the same sword responsible for these atrocities. The sword might win the war for us, but it'll bring about our own destruction too. Is that what you want?"

"You don't believe that, Mina." Yunsung grumbled. Through that whole speech, something about her voice gave it away. "You're trying to convince both of us, aren't you?"

Narrowing her eyes, Mina glared. This would be so much easier if she, herself, knew what to think of Soul Edge. Truth was: Mina wanted to see for herself. She tried unconvincingly to dismiss it, "It doesn't matter," and after a moment, Mina eased off Yunsung, "I'm going home, and I'm not going to drag you back because you're bigger than me and weigh too much. White Storm on the other hand, is coming back with me. Feel free to tag along or go off searching for Soul Edge without a weapon. I don't care." And Seung Mina prayed he wouldn't call her bluff because she honestly would not let him go but at the same time had no clue how she would get him back to Korea. Maybe she could use her good looks and feminine charms to persuade some primitive beast of burden (one of those dock workers) to help.

"Fine." Yunsung agreed.

So Mina stood, but she didn't help him up. She slung White Storm across her back, put Scarlet Thunder over her shoulder and then she headed towards the city's square, "C'mon. Let's see if we can find another arena. We're gonna need to earn some money and get supplies." The journey East would be a very long and taxing one.

Yunsung followed her around the city, but they couldn't find a Coliseum anywhere. Apparently in these parts Coliseum-style battles were illegal and inhuman and uncivilized, but duels were something completely different for reasons Mina and Yunsung couldn't figure out. So Mina challenged some wealthy French swordsman to a "duel" and made a wager they couldn't possibly pay if they lost.

Fortunately, she did not lose. And as Yunsung watched, he observed that once again Mina capitalized (or as he saw it "hid") behind her weapon's greater range to defeat her opponent with ease. Her weapon swept through the air with grace and precision, landing exactly where Mina needed it to be for all of her offensive and defensive maneuvers. And all the while, Yunsung grumbled to himself about how his fight would have turned out differently if she didn't have such an advantage with the range. His eyes stayed locked onto White Storm which hung from Seung Mina's back.

He really wanted to see her lose and lose miserably. He wanted to see a weapon with greater range than Scarlet Thunder beat her down. Or maybe just see how she'd do fist on fist, him versus her with no weapons. Something. And then he remembered France was a long ways from Korea . . . sooner or later they're bound to meet up with someone who'll teach her a lesson, and he'd be there to enjoy it and get White Storm back.

And who knows, maybe the Sword of Salvation was somewhere between here and home. Maybe they'll run into it on their journey . . .

---

A man in a dark green, knelt amidst the same village Taki battle Tenebrarum in, the same spot where several hours earlier the assassins had knelt. His very light attire, nearly black in its dark shade of green, blew slightly in the wind. A katana was mounted on his back; he need not draw the supernatural weapon to sense the lingering aura of evil from the demon who fought Taki. He was concerned with something else entirely. His trained eyes stared down at the hoof prints left by the assassins who followed the kunoichi.

Counting up the number of prints, he whispered, "Only six?" With quite a bit of amusement, he shook his head and continued the thought, "I hope they catch up to you, Taki. And I hope I get to see it. I could use a good laugh."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow, the 2nd longest chapter is the one that gets "too short" comments. Weird. If the chapters can be done longer, I won't be timid anymore about making them too long, but one thing you can (hopefully) count on me for is to keep something short instead of writing lots of words just to inflate the length.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, and I will wind up putting it as an M rated story in the near future (probably with one of the next updates).