Chapter 1: Petal Rain

Spring brought out the hidden color of the cherry trees. She had always taken it to symbolize a hidden attribute, a trait all creatures had. It wasn't very often that she got to see the beauty of the usually common looking trees. Though the Shikyo-te village was surrounded by forest, no such trees grew in the immediate area. The Shikyo-te village put emphasis on hiding, on concealing hidden attributes. It only made sense such a flashy tree would go unwelcome. The leaves fell, petals rained over the soggy landscape. The grays and pinks forged a startling contrast.

It was making it hard for her to focus. The ease at which her current mission was progressing didn't help either. She had never imagined that her mark would be so effortless to observe. His bright orange hair made sure of that. She could even watch him from the tree tops, and at quite a distance. Grandmaster had warned her to take extreme caution. They had told her she was chasing a demon, one that was more dangerous then he appeared.

The request had come from Haruki Sohma himself. Even in her secluded village she had heard of him, had desired to meet him. He was the best swordsman in the province, and perhaps all Japan. She had heard he was rather handsome, her missions had allowed her to stay abreast of the rumors in the province. She had not expected him to be so delicate looking. The right hand of the famous Sohma family was nothing more then a boy. But she wasn't too hard on him for it. She was young herself, but with gifts few could imagine. It must have been the same with Haruki. She hadn't been allowed any direct contact with the young Sohma man, but she had made a vow to herself that she would see him again; even if she had to disobey Grandmaster to do so. She would need a little relaxation if this mission proved as difficult as Grandmaster had warned.

She looked to the neighboring branches. She had nearly fallen earlier from a branch that was breaking away from its tree. She managed to jump to another branch as soon as she felt it give way under her weight. She was lucky she didn't give herself away, only her distance from her mark had allowed such fortune.

She decided, as her mark started moving towards her perch, that she had observed enough. It was time for a first encounter. The purpose was to attack fast and hard then fade away. She wasn't planning on a win, she was hoping to strike fear into her mark. Have him constantly aware that she could attack again at any moment, coming out of the darkness like a wraith. She needed to collect tactical information. He didn't look strong, but she would not have been hired were he as easy to capture as he looked. She needed to assess his strengths and weaknesses. She needed to take every caution she could. The Sohmas wanted him back alive.

Her target moved underneath her. She prepared herself. The element of surprise was on her side, and it wasn't the only element at her disposal. She dropped down from her bough, into the petal rain. The muck sloshed, she bent her knees to soften the impact. She stood slowly and announced, "Prepare to defend your self. The white devil, Hakuma, has come for you," her voice cut through the air like an icy wind. The orange haired man, who looked to her to be a member of the samurai class, threw her a glance over his left shoulder. The look was accompanied by an amused smile that baffled her for a moment.

"I wondered if I'd have the opportunity to meet you, with you lurking around like that. Tell me, what is so interesting that you would want to watch me all day?" he turned to face her.

She did not let this throw her off. She only narrowed her eyes. "The Sohma family have contracted me to bring you 'inside'. You know what that means don't you . . ." she was sure he did, Hakuma on the other hand didn't. There was no need for him to know that. "Why they'd want a demon back is beyond what I'd call good sense. Good thing I only follow orders," a wry smile caressed her lips. Something flickered on the young mans face, was it concern? Whatever she had just said had made him uncomfortable. Would it throw him off balance?

It bothered her on a deep level that he did not move to defend himself. He was underestimating her, being a woman would make no difference on how much pain she would issue him. The wind shifted, a wall of pink petals collected, dividing the adversaries. She charged at him, bursting through the curtain. The petals danced behind her, the quickness of her movement causing small cherry blossome vortexes in her wake. She jumped as she came to him, lifting her foot up and placing a firm kick in the center of his chest with her black tabi covered foot. Using the solid surface she propelled herself backwards into a flip landing on her feet a good distance from her opponent, surrounded once again in a blizzard of pink petals.

As he recovered from the force and shock of the swift blow, he grabbed the hilt of his katana. He was finally getting serious. She had wondered if her little acrobatic performance would send a message. He came running towards her, the blade carried low. He wildly slashed upwards as he came within sword length of the ninja. It took little effort to dance out of the way of the demon's careless swords play. It was a special kind of carelessness she had recently come up against before, and thus she recognized the intent. He was testing her reflexes too.

Where had she seen this style before, it was so recent she shouldn't have had trouble remembering. She quickly pushed it from her mind. She needed to keep her mind on her mission, no matter how easy it was turning out to be. Accidents always favored the inattentive. She was beginning to think she could best him here, there was no reason to drag it out.

Then an odd sound she did remember interrupted their fight. As the orange haired youth looked up, she already knew what was happening. She ran as quickly as she could, the young man could only drop his blade and make an attempt to protect himself with his arms from the impact that was impending. She used her full force to move the man, which she hit with her body and pulled him close to her into an embrace, so that he would follow her to the direction she was headed and out of harm's way. The action was followed but a hard thudding slosh as the branch made impact with the muddy earth. Not a second afterwards there was a loud poof accompanied by a cloud of orange smoke. She looked down wearily, only to find she had a mess of orange fur pressed against her body. She pulled the creature away from her and held it at arms length. "So the mighty demon . . . " she trailed off for a laugh she could no longer contain. "is a kitty cat?"