Disclaimer: I do not own either Senran Kagura or Bloodborne whatsoever, as both are own by Marvelous Entertainment and SCEA respectively. This story will be an after story based on Senran Kagura: Arkanum made by sledgehammer963. This will also be rated M just in case. Auther's Note: I had intended to make an origin story fully on the group, but I'm unfortunately running out of time, so this story will be focused on the leader of the story and the origin story. Other than that, enjoy!
Senran Kagura: After Arkanum – Ange Ark Nova – Chapter 0: Prologue Part 2: Origin: Past to Present Part 1.
Hunters. Those turned into monsters with the blood of Yōma, those who were once human. Those accursed goddamn monsters. I hated them. I always have hated them. I. Hate. Every. Single. One of them. They are the reasons that our lives, every human life, are in ruin. They lie, they steal, they kill, they hate, they destroy, they devour. But most of all…they turn us…they took us…every single one of us, away from the people…we love. The same as me…when I lost everything…dear to me…
Years ago:
I was born a human, dirt poor, with the only family that I have was my mother, Alicia. We had nothing, stuck in the streets, doing anything and getting anything that we can to survive, getting any food for us to eat. We were always hungry, always scared and alone, with no one to help us. But…at least we still had each other to rely on. She was always there to take care of me, even if the world was cold and cruel to the both of us…
But one day…those monsters, those so-called hunters…they found us…! Just as we were trying to get food for us to eat!
"Well, look at what we have here!"
"These two people looking for food, eh?"
"Well, aren't you a beauty, miss!"
"And look, she's got a kid. Ain't that cute?"
Those men, those disgusting monsters…back then I didn't know who they were, but…the way they dressed, the way they carried their hideous weapons, the way they reek of blood, and I just knew that they were very…very bad people. I just hated them. But…I was so young back them, there was no way I could defend myself, let alone protect my mother. Hell, I didn't even know what they wanted to do with my mother, but I knew it was something bad. And, even though I knew I was too young, too weak, too scared to do anything, I…I wanted to kill them, just to protect my mother.
"Hey, why don't we try the little one first?"
"NO!" my mother screamed at them, using herself to shield me, "LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE!"
"Well, well, would you look at that. A parent trying to protect her kid."
"Ha-ha, isn't that nice?"
"Well, alright then, since you ask for it, missy, why don't you come and have fun with us?"
"Yeah. If you come along and 'entertain' us, we might leave your kid alone."
"I-I…I…I-"
"LEAVE US ALONE!" I screamed, as I picked up a rock and threw it at one of those monsters, right in the right side of his head.
It didn't even faze him, let alone made him staggered by it. If anything, it just made his head bleed, as blood flowed from where I had hit him, and he didn't look like he felt any pain. He just chuckled.
"OH-hohoho, you've done it now, little brat."
Suddenly, everything went so fast, I even didn't know what was going on or what happened anymore. I was…just so scared that I didn't pay attention to what had happened to me or what had happened around me. All I remembered were the pain that I received from the beating I got from them, and all I heard was the sound of my mother screaming and crying as she was being restrained. All of it…all of it was just blank to me. Before I knew it, I was on the ground, all beaten up, not even moving and inch of my muscle. I didn't even have any strength left to get back up. There was the sound of laughter and my mother crying, begging me to get up, but I just couldn't move to get up and fight back. Then one of those monsters grabbed me by my red hair and stared at my golden eyes with his menacing red ones, and a smug look on his face.
"Pathetic." he said smugly, "A poor little girl who can't even fight back. You're weak, you're so fucking weak! I'll bet nobody loved you and mommy enough to help you, because of how weak you two really are! You weak, pathetic, dumb, BRAT!"
The sudden pain from my hair forcibly pulled made me screamed out loudly and cried in pain, but that stopped when he slammed me back down on the ground hit me hard, forcibly making me face the dirt that dirtied my face and hair. He lifted me up again, forcing my lifeless eyes to look at him again. I couldn't respond to him in anyway because of how weak I felt. In my weakened state, and through my dull and lifeless golden eyes, all I see were smugness and the evil laughter of those disgusting monsters like they were the superior beings, better than humans, and my mother crying and stood helplessly and watched as her only daughter was being beaten by them. I…I hated this. I hated them! I hated these monsters! I hate them! I HATE ALL OF THEM!
By my anger, and with what little strength that I had, I gave them an angry look and then spitted at his face, and growled angrily at those bastards hurting us, "I…hate…all…of you…!"
"Oh?" that monster said smugly, wiping off the spit off his face like it was nothing to him, "Is that so? Well, kid, I don't mind at all, because, well…I hate weak human beings like you, too." He began drawing his face closer to mine with a now psychotic look on his face as he then said almost wickedly, "But don't worry, I'll make sure that you'll not just hate me and all of us, you'll be scared of all of our kind so much that you'd wish you're already dead. By giving you a very. Slow. Painful. Death." Then slowly, he began to snicker as he then added, "And when we're done with you, little brat, I'll make sure that your mommy will get our full. Good. Attention!"
He began to laugh manically after saying that, and it made my eyes widened in fear as I feared what he meant was not a pleasant things, and just thinking what horrible things that these monster will do with my mother boiled my rage even further, so much so that, with so much rage and adrenaline, ignoring the fact that I feel exhausted, I angrily launched myself towards the one grabbing me and bitten him in the neck, biting into his flesh and making the monster bleed, making him scream out in utter pain from what a child like me was doing. With what strength that I had from my adrenaline, I grabbed onto him to not let go and I kept on biting the bastard in the neck in order to make this monster bleed. I was sure that I heard screams from this monster and startled noises from the others, but I didn't care. I didn't even care about the taste of blood in my mouth. I just wanted him to die! Die, die, die, die, die! Die and not hurt my mother!
Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! JUST…DIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!
I didn't know how long I had struggled to hold on to this savage, how long I kept on biting him to make him bleed to death, or how long the screaming and struggling to get me off of him he tried to do lasted, but before I knew it, I was grabbed onto from behind and I was forcibly thrown off of him, getting me off of him, but resulted in me tearing off parts of his skin that I was biting from his neck, and I landed onto the ground.
When I slowly got myself up off the ground, I turned and looked up to see that the monster was screaming crying in pure agony as he held onto his neck for dear life, as blood was being splattered out everywhere, making him losing blood. He turned himself around to face me, giving out an angry and murderous look on his face, before he began to talk towards me. I spitted out the flesh to tore out of his neck from my mouth and returned the angry look on his face with my own. He grabbed me by my shirt and lifted me up off the ground so that he could move his face towards me.
"Why…you…little…BITCH!" he screamed that last part to me, "You're so…fucking DEAD when I'm done with you! Forget killing you slowly, I'll just fucking kill you right fucking NOW if I have to!"
"NO!" I heard my mother screamed, as the others held her down, "PLEASE, DON'T KILL HER, PLEASE! PLEASE!"
"SHUT UP, WOMAN!" He screamed at my mother, before looking back angrily towards me and snarled, "You think you're so tough now, huh?! You think what you did made you better than me?! Do you wanna DIE so badly?!"
"S-Shut up…!" I managed to say, glaring at him, "I…I don't care…what you monsters…do to me…but…you…you will NOT hurt my mother…! I…don't care if…I'm weak…I…will…kill you if you…hurt her…!"
The bastard merely growled at me as he said menacingly, "Oh, yeah?!" Then he drew out a pistol from his holster and aimed it straight towards my forehead as he shouted out angrily, "Well, NOT IF I START KILLING YOU FIRST, YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SH-! AAAAAGGGHH!"
Suddenly, before he could even pull the trigger, something had been thrown out of nowhere and knocked the gun off his hand, startling him and dropping me back down on the ground. When I turned and looked at what knocked the gun away, I saw that what hit the pistol off was…a shuriken? Then suddenly, a sound of wind was heard before suddenly there were sounds of pained screaming before a sound of slashes were heard and their screams died out, and I turned around to see that, one-by-one, the monsters, including the ones holding my mother hostage, were being brought down and killed by a warrior, a very fast warrior, or more specifically, a shinobi. A ninja.
The shinobi, a man, had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began cutting down the monsters one-by-one, aiming and cutting down the monsters anywhere from head to toe. He was moving so fast that even I couldn't even keep up with what he was doing until his foes were already down onto the ground with wounds that were severely cut so deep that they died instantly, with most having their body parts cut off, and some were even decapitated. Now, there was only one left, the one I had bitten the skin off his neck, as he began to panic and backing away from the shinobi, who now stood in from of him, in complete and utter fear, as the shinobi began to approach him with his weapon, the longest katana sword that I ever seen.
The monster, out of fear, brought out a shotgun to shoot down the shinobi, but immediately, the shinobi had cut it in half, along with cutting off his arm that was holding it, making him scream as he bled from where his arm once was. The monster then tried to use his other weapon, a halberd, with the only arm that he had, before the weapon was swiftly cut in half as well, along with his other arm. Now he was disarmed and bleeding from both sides where his arms once were, trying desperately to think of something to get out of the situation. But before he could think and react in time, the shinobi swiftly stomped his foot on the ground where the pistol was dropped, making the pistol bounce and fly before it began falling to the ground, and quickly grabbed it and aimed it at the monster, pulled the trigger, and fired it straight to his forehead, killing him instantly. The monster stood where he was for a few moments before he fell forward to the ground, now completely lifeless.
The shinobi looked down at the now dead monster before looking the pistol he was holding, then sighed and said as he threw it away, "They're so uncivilized…"
Even after all of it was over, I merely stood where I was, surprised and amazed of what the man, the shinobi, did to those monsters who tried to hurt me and my mother. My mother came to me and embraced me in a hug and she softly cried, happy and relieved that I was alright, that I wasn't killed by them. I returned the hug, glad that my mother was alright, as well. Then I noticed the shinobi approaching us, putting his sword away back into its scabbard, before kneeling down to us. and when he did, he gave us what was the gentlest and kind smile that he ever gave to both of us.
"Are you alright, miss?" he asked my mother.
At first, my mother didn't say anything in response, as she held onto me in a protective manner, as we still didn't know whether we could trust the man or not. But, when I looked at him, when my golden eyes met his blue kind ones, I could see that this man, this savior of ours, was not a bad man who came to hurt us, but rather a kind and compassionate man who came to help us, to save us from our suffering.
"It's okay." he gently said to us, as he brought out his hand for us to reach, "I won't hurt you two. Just take my hand."
Unlike the monsters that tried to hurt us, there was no threats, no venom, no evilness in his voice, but kindness, love, care, and compassion in his voice. And I could see that there was no drive of selfishness nor arrogance in his soul, only righteousness. Most of all, he was…trustworthy. And seeing that, my mother and I brought our hands and reached out to the man and held his. The feeling of his hand felt…warm and firm. We both looked at the shinobi, and could still see the same kind smile that he had, before he said to us that would change our lives, "Come with me, and you'll be safe with me."
Sometime after, we were both brought in to his home, a very large home that showed his wealth, fame, power, everything that showed made him rich with everything expensive that he owned. And he had people that lived with and worked for him as his servants, cleaning the house and preparing food to eat. Speaking of, the shinobi had led me and my mother to the dining hall where food was prepared for a feast. We sat at the table and grabbed and eat whatever food there was on the table as we were both hungry from starving so much. We probably looked like idiots for eating desperately, but the man didn't seem to mind us, as he seemed to understand that we've been in the slums starving without any food to eat. We ate and ate as much as we could before we were satisfied with what we've eaten, and the man, the shinobi, once we were done eating our fill, began to explain everything to us. He told us everything about the shinobis, who were supposed to cease to exist at the end of the Edo Period, still exist today via in secret within the shadows, still taking on the work of espionage, subversion and assassination, as even in modern times the need for shinobi still exists. Although the shinobis of today's era were both divided into two different sides; the good shinobis, who fight for the light side and for the hope of the world alongside the Japanese government to maintain peace and order, and the evil shinobis, who fight for the dark side and bring crime, pain, and destruction throughout the world, killing anyone who would dare try to oppose them for whatever evil goals that they have. Their employers are primarily politicians and corporations, and most who employ them merely as tools to satisfy their own greed. As a result, Evil Shinobi are responsible for crimes throughout Japan, and the government moved to confront them. This spawned the creation of Good Shinobi schools to combat Evil Shinobi who break the law. The Good Shinobis are Shinobis who work under the government to further national interests. They do not use their powers for personal gain, and will always help other good shinobis. Good Shinobis are trained in a specially designated academy. Graduates are then sent on missions by the national government. Most missions involve protection, espionage, and other various tasks of national interest. They're sometimes also asked to do dirty work like assassinating enemies of the state, so the label isn't as clear cut as it seems. However, despite that, they did so for the right reasons and for the greater good for the world. In short, they were heroes of Japan. The Evil Shinobis are Shinobis who work behind the scenes, typically for corrupt businesses or politicians. They are trained at clandestine schools to mercilessly to perform any task at the client's request, no matter how illegal or dirty. Though a client's orders are absolute, Evil Shinobi are generally so devious that it's not uncommon for them to turn on the client. In truth, they act only in their best interests. Nothing that they do is for the good of everyone, and they are one of the most villainess people of the world. There are also Renegade Shinobis, or Rogue Shinobis, Shinobis, either good or evil, who have been exiled from the shinobi world and are marked for death, but those weren't necessarily important.
Despite being at war with one another, however, they did have a common enemy they fight against: Yōma, a type of parasitic demon born from bloodshed between shinobi. If the blood within a Shinobi Barrier, a battle space created by shinobi to keep out civilians, flows freely enough, it can break through and emerge into the human world. It is the duty of a Kagura, the highest rank of a Shinobi, to face off against Yōma on the front lines, and under shinobi law, only those who have graduated from school are allowed to be told about their existence. Although, there are some of the few who're exceptions to it. But despite their power and skills as powerful shinobis, not all of them manage to kill the parasitic monsters and make out on missions alive, as some, if not sometimes even more, die in action. However, there is also another reason; another group, a group that are far worse than regular humans: no, beings that were no longer considered human as they are part Yōma, part monsters, and use the power of those monsters as if they were their own, beings that kills both humans and Yōmas alike, the former by murderous ways, the latter by devouring their flesh and blood for their own survival. And they were considered the worst beings in the whole world, known as hunters. And they were just like the ones who tried to kill me and hurt my mother.
Hunters, they are monsters who were once human who possesses Yōma blood for power and destruction, killing Yōma to devour for their nutrition and energy, and use their most horrid and underhanded methods to kill shinobis, and many of the shinobis that those monsters killed were from the Good Shinobis, those who were trying to protect the world. No one even knew where those monsters even came from, but there were rumors that many of those hunters came from another world where all hunters originated from called…Yharnam, a mysterious and grim world that is ravaged by an unknown plague and infested dangerous beasts and demented citizens. Their reasons for coming to Japan was also unknown, but they were here in our country doing whatever they wanted against the Japanese laws nonetheless, attacking innocent people, using Yōma for food, and killing the Good Shinobis who were doing right for the world. They were also those who turn and become one of them. And what's worse, many of these hunters even work alongside the Evil Shinobis because of their common goal of eradicating all of the Good Shinobis in order to get away with everything they want to do, going against the laws and order of the Japanese government. They even use dark powers and ninjutsu arts that are forbidden from shinobis to strike down and kill anyone that gets in their way, sometimes even controlling them to use under their command, to use against the very people who were trying to make the world better for everyone. The hunters, they were the worst kind of people, monsters. Far worse than the likes of Evil Shinobis, going against the shinobi laws and breaking the code, using forbidden techniques to do as they please, controlling and manipulating others to work for them, making everyone all around them suffer until they die by their hands because they were stronger and they were weaker. Just as those monsters tried to do to me and my mother, because we were weak people to them.
As I looked at the man and listen to him explaining everything to us about the Good and Evil Shinobis, and the monsters known as hunters, the Yōmas, everything he knows hidden within the shadows, I could see that he was not just explaining it all to us in details, but he was also expressing it, and it was an honest one, speaking from the experiences that he had with the Evil Shinobis and hunters, but most of those experiences he expresses…are more from the hunters, those damned monsters themselves. He told me and my mother about how those hunters kill the good men, raping the young women, and terrifying the innocent children, invading and attacking from cities to cities, doing as they had pleased with the world. He even told us how many of his friends, who were also good and honest Good Shinobis like him, were also either victims of their mercy or were killed by those monsters. And they were all good people, too. All of them who had families and loved ones, and those savage monsters took them all away from the good man who had saved us both, and the families that loved them. After hearing all of that story, after hearing everything I heard from him, it made me angrier, it made me hate them even more! So much so that I was tightening both of my hands into fists until it felt as if my hand was bleeding from the nails, and I didn't even care if my hands bled! Hearing everything about those monsters, I hate them even more, and I wanted nothing more than to kill…EVERY. SINGLE. ONE of THEM! I HATE THEM! I HATE ALL OF THOSE HUNTERS! THOSE DAMNED YŌMA INFESTED MONSTERS! I WANT TO KILL EVERY SINGLE ON-!
"ANGE!" I heard my mother shouted at me, making me snap out of my rage.
I looked up from my lap with wide eyes to see that my mother was looking at me with a scared and worried look on her face, as if she was seeing something wrong with her daughter that was being filled with rage. I looked down to where she was looking, and saw that both of my hands were bleeding from the long and sharp nails that was cutting almost deeply into my hands from gripping my hands into fists too hard. Seeing that, my mother hurriedly went over to me and took some papers and wrap them around my hands to stop the bleeding. I looked up to the man, as he showed his concerns on his face, but smiled as if he understood my anger. He turned to one of his servants and told them to clean up the plates and dishes on the table and that dinner was over. I merely sat and looked at the man before being told to go to the room me and my mother will be staying for the night.
That night, and with my mother asleep on the bed beside mine, I stayed up and was sitting on the edge of the bed as I couldn't sleep at all, not after hearing everything and learning everything about the world of shinobis, that there were both Good and Evil Shinobis secretly at war with one another, one fighting for the light and the good of the world, for peace and justice, the other fighting for the darkness and the evil of the world, for destruction and injustice. And what was worse than that…was that they were also working alongside those savage, Yōma infested monsters who were no longer considered humans. I hate those evil shinobis who're doing wrong to the world, who treat those below them as nothing more than weak beings. But the ones that I hate even more…are those damned hunters. I hate them so much that I want to kill every one of those damned abominations! I want…no…no, I don't want to destroy them…I…AM going to destroy them! ALL of THEM! And I know there is one way just for me to do so. I…I'm going to become a Good Shinobi! Just like the man who saved us.
With that thought in mind, I went out of the room to go and learn how to become a shinobi in order for me to be able to become strong enough to kill all of those monsters. I first started with the books, where I found a library that had every book about everything about shinobis, including ninjutsu, stealth, skills, techniques, abilities, sabotaging, everything that I needed for me to learn in order for me to become a shinobi. However, no matter how much I read, no matter how much I learn from the books, and no matter how much I tried to do from what I learned, no matter how much I tried to understand…in the end, I couldn't become a shinobi, gained nothing from any of the books; didn't help that I was still a child, much less scrawny, not even fully developed into a young adult yet. In the end, it only made me frustrated, frustrated to no end, and I almost felt like giving it all up right now.
"You're not gonna become a shinobi that way, little girl." I heard someone say, and I turned around in surprise, only to see that it was the man, my savior, who was standing and leaning against a book shelf, all with that playful smirk on his face.
"O-Oh…hello, mister." I said, as I blushed in embarrassment. He must've been watching me going through the books until I was getting frustrated. Oh, how embarrassing.
"Hey, it's alright, don't be embarrassed." said the man, as he knelt down to be at my level of height since I was still a small child, before he asked me, "So, tell me, why are you reading books about shinobis in the middle of the night? Shouldn't you be in bed with your mother?"
"I-I…I…I-I uh…" I tried to say something, anything, but…there were just no words that could come out of my mouth. I didn't even know what to say to the man. I was just too nervous from embarrassment to even say a word.
However, before I could even say anything to him, he caught on quickly on what I was doing as he asked me with a kind smile on his face, "Do you wanna become a shinobi? A Good Shinobi, just like me?"
For a moment, I looked at the man in complete and utter surprise that he had caught on with what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be, before looked down and muttered out for him to hear, "Y-Yes…"
"And…can you tell me why you want to become a shinobi?" he asked me.
I looked up back at the man who waited patiently for my answer as to why I wanted to become a Good Shinobi like him, before I said to him as I looked at him with conviction and determination on my face, "Because…because I want to kill every one of those monsters, the ones who tried to hurt me and my mother, the ones who tried to kill us!"
"Monsters…you mean the hunters?" he asked, and I nodded, before he asked, "And why do you want to kill every one of them?"
"Because…" I said, as I gripped my hands into tight fists again and showed him my angered look on my face, showing my hate and resentment towards those monsters, "They hurt people…no, they kill people…all the good and innocent people…people who they see as weak…they take away everything from those good people…even you, mister, when you and the Good Shinobis are good people who're trying to make the world a better place for everyone! They're Yōma infested, monster infested people who aren't human beings anymore! They just go and do whatever the hell they wanted, and making everyone in the world suffer, those like me and my mother suffer, those who're too weak to even defend themselves! They kill people, and they eat Yōmas for only power! And what's worse…they even work alongside the other very bad people, the Evil Shinobis, who're also doing the wrong things for the world! I…I hate them! I hate all of them! I WANT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE MONSTERS TO DIE!"
I screamed at that last line in pure anger, pure hatred, pure rage. I was expressing everything that I felt about them, the Evil Shinobis, but most of all…those hunters, those Yōma infested savage monsters. And my hatred and rage for them was all real. And as I began to calm myself down, I could see the man smiled at me in understanding. He placed both his hands onto my shoulders before pulling me into in embrace, placing me into a hug as he patted my back. Perhaps it was a way for him to calm me down a little bit further. After that, he let me go so that he could look at me.
"What was your name again?" he asked, "Ange, right?"
"Mm-hmm." I nodded, "I'm Ange."
"I see." he said, "Ange, exactly how old are you?"
"10." I answered.
"I see." he said, as he gave out a sad look, "So young…to having to go through with the harsh world outside, and all alone with your mother at that. It must've been very difficult for you, living out in the slums, and life must've been so hard for the both of you, even after your encounter with the hunters." He looked back at me and then asked, "Tell me, do you have any other family members besides your mother?"
I shook my head and answered with a sad expression, "No. I don't have any other family. My mother's the only family I have since I was born."
"Not even a father?" he asked me.
I shook my head again and said, "No. I don't even have a father."
"I see." he said. We both remained silent for a moment, before he smiled at me and said, "Well, Ange, you do now."
"H-Huh?" I said, surprised and confused, "W-Wait, you mean…?"
He nodded at me with a smile and said to me, "Ange, I want you to be taken in as my own daughter, and your mother as my wife. If you become my daughter, then I will teach you and train you to become a Good Shinobi like me. I'll train you to become a shinobi like me, so that you'll be able to fight and protect yourself and others from hunters. So that you and any other good people won't have to be hurt by them ever again. Do you want that, Ange?"
I looked up to the man in shock and awe as he was offering me a chance to become a shinobi, to become something in order to protect the world from those monsters. But most of all…he was offering me a chance to be his daughter, and him as my father. I just…I just couldn't help but smile at him, happy that he would help train me, so I said to him, "Yes, I want that, sir! No…father!"
The man, now called as my father, was startled a bit from what I just said to him, before he smiled and laughed before he placed a hand on my head and then said, "Alright then, Ange. Welcome to the family of Good Shinobis."
That day…that was the day that I started to become a Good Shinobi.
About two years had passed since then, and my mother and I become a family with my new father, who married my mother after falling in love together, and from him, I had learned many things of becoming a shinobi; stealth, running, climbing, hand-to-hand combat, ninjutsu, shuriken and kunai throwing, sword fighting, everything that I was taught in order for me to become a Good Shinobi, a shinobi of light. And from my father, I had also learned about the laws of the shinobi world, about order and discipline, about what is needed to be done fighting against the Yōmas, the Evil Shinobis, and/or hunters who disrupts the peace of the world, about staying hiding in plain sight and never compromising anything regarding the shinobi worlds and who not to involve such as civilians, about who to trust and who not to trust when interacting with people, about obeying any orders given to the Good Shinobis in order to keep the world safe without question, everything that I needed to know. Despite starting my training at the age of ten when normally a child from the shinobi family takes a lifetime to learn from birth, I proved myself to be a prodigy, mastering everything I had learned from my father, because I paid attention and listened to every word that he told me. he was my idol, my role model, everything that I want to be.
Sometime later, when we were at a festival at the conventional center for Good Shinobis only, protected by only Good Shinobis, my mother and father and I were wandering around the festival, enjoying our time together as a family. We went to see many of the festivities, attractions, games, many fun activities that many children from the Good Shinobi families could do for fun. It was fun, peaceful, and exciting festival. Even I had a lot of fun in those attractions with my family with me. For me, it was one of my happiest moments of all. However, there was one attraction on that day that did got my attention.
At the very center of the festival, there was an attraction that had a deep blue crystal stone that was placed on the pedestal, and few people in line were taking turns touching the stone crystal and waiting for something to happen but saw nothing happening, before the next person tried. Curious, I went over to the attraction to see what it was all about with my parents following me when they saw me went over to the attraction. Once I came close to it, I noticed a stone tablet that was placed next to it that had inscriptions on it. And although it was old, I could make out the words that was written.
It said, "The One Chosen Guardian of Light who touches the Stone of Selection of Power shall be the one who shall quell the darkness that has spread throughout the land of man, to repel and destroy the darkness that terrorizes the world of man and bring balance and light to the world. By placing the hands onto the Stone of Selection of Power, the one of pure honest soul and of pure heart of light shall be selected as the Chosen Savior of the world, and thus, with the Destined One at the Chosen's side, shall be the one who will cleanse the world of darkness and shall spread purity and peace to the world of mankind. O, Chosen One, into thine hands is thy destiny to save the world from the evil that have spread darkness throughout the land of man, and with the Destined One at thy side, thou shall save and purify the world from darkness, cleanse the world to eternal peace and tranquility, and bring light and balance to the world of man."
Wait…t-those words…their meanings…c-could it be…? I looked up to the people that were in line, even the smaller children, placing their hands onto the stone one, person at a time, to wait and see if the Stone of Selection of Power would shine or not. However, none of them seemed to have been successful as the stone did not shine brightly at all, indicating that not one of them were the Chosen One.
"Interested, aren't ya?" I heard someone said, and I looked to a man who was in charge of the attraction coming towards me before kneeling down to my level of height, "You know, that stone there is a REAL beauty! Why, this stone was found at the shrine that was hidden at the depths of the darkest cave along with this old tablet next to it and thought it was valuable. After reading this old tablet, we decided to make an attraction for it, and with permission from the shinobi council, we've been keeping it in our hands ever since."
"I see." my father said.
"Um…mister," I said, "Is it true? Is what the tablet said about finding the Chosen One is true? That the one who touches the stone becomes a hero who will save the world?"
The man chuckled and said, "Well, kid, no one really knows whether the prophecy is true or not since people here have been trying to make the stone shine, and so far, the stone hasn't been shining like the legend says at all. But, hey, at least everyone's trying. So, kid, you wanna give it a go?"
"Huh?" I said, unsure, "Me?"
The man chuckled and said, "Don't ya worry about being the chosen or not, kid. It's just an attraction for people at this point. You know, just for fun."
"O-Oh, uh…okay." I said.
"Would you like to give it a try?" he asked me.
I turned to my mother and father, who both looked at me with smiles on their faces, as father said to me while my mother nodded, "Go ahead, Ange. Give it a try."
I smiled at them with the biggest and happiest smile on my face, and I turned back to the man running that attraction and nodded eagerly to him, and he chuckled at my eagerness. However, before that could even happen…
KABOOM!
An explosion suddenly happened, and everyone at the festival began to panic and scream while running away for their lives, all while my father covered and shielded me and my mother as some rubbles spread from the explosion, before he turned around to see what had caused it. Once the dust had cleared and when I looked up, to my shock and to my pure anger, it was them again! Those damned savage monsters called hunters! They were attacking the festival, causing chaos and havoc, scaring many men, women, and children who were all attending the festivities, destroying every attraction that they could find, and killing the Good Shinobis who were trying to protect everyone! And I…I just where I was and watched it all happened right in front of me as there was nothing that I could do about it, as if I was only just a helpless child that I was, while my father shielded me and my mother to protect us from it all.
Then, just as those monsters, those savage hunters, were almost getting closer to us, father pushed me and my mother away while he drew out his sword and shouted to us, "You two, get out of here while you can! Find shelter and get into hiding, now!"
"Eh?!" I said, "B-But, father…!"
"Dear…!" said my mother, "W-We-!"
"GO!" he shouted before turning around and left to go fight the hunters attacking the festival. So, without any other choice, we both ran to find shelter to get to safety while my father went to help the other Good Shinobis fight against the hunters who were attacking and destroying the festival. We followed the rest of the innocent people who had children to find a safe spot until the attack was over. However…
"HELP!" I heard someone cried.
My mother and I looked and saw another woman crying with tears in her eyes as she looked distraught. She was an older woman who appeared to be the same age as my mother, and she had wavy shoulder length silver hair with one strain of hair on top and bright blue eyes. She wore a blue dress with a white vest and white high heeled shoes. She was looking around frantically while calling out to people who running past by her for help, but no one bothered to listen to her as they were all afraid of what was happening now, worrying only about the safety of themselves and the people who were with them.
"PLEASE, HELP ME!" the woman cried, calling out to anyone to help her, "PLEASE, HELP! HELP ME, PLEASE! MY DAUGHTER! SHE'S STILL OUT THERE! PLEASE! SOMEONE, HELP ME! HELP ME FIND MY CHILD! HELP, PLEASE!"
I gasped from I had heard from the woman and knew immediately that she was a parent who had a child, just as like my mother who has me, and her child is still out there in the field, lost somewhere during the break in of those monsters. I looked back to where the attack was happening. Her daughter was still out there, scared and lost, and no one was willing to go out there to go and help the woman find her, only worrying about saving their own lives. Then I looked back at the woman, still crying and begging for help.
"SOMEONE, PLEASE!" she begged and cried, "HELP ME! MY CHILD IS STILL OUT THERE! HELP ME, PLEASE!"
I looked at the distraught woman crying and begging for help with no one willing to help her, until I couldn't take the scene in front of me anymore, and I turned to where the battle was taking place, and where her daughter was likely still out there, and I decided to go out there to find her as I let go of my mother's embrace and ran off, even ignoring my mother's plea to come back. I had to find the woman's daughter! I wouldn't let the woman or her child suffer the way we did, or even worse than that! I knew that as a child, there was no way that I could fight against and then kill those monsters on my own even with training, but I could at least defend myself from them until more help arrives. I had to find her and protect her before it was too late! So, I ran and ran to go look for her.
As soon as I stopped running, I took a look around at my surrounding, and I found myself around the place where I was before, just before the disaster had happened, as everything around me was already in ruins, and the fight must've moved somewhere else. I looked around the area from left to right to find her until I heard a sound of soft crying, and I turned around to my right and looked to where the sound was coming from, and it was coming from one of the ruined attractions. With caution, I slowly and carefully moved to where the sound of soft crying was coming from, slowly and quietly moving forward so that I wouldn't alert and scare whoever was crying. By the time I got close to it, I took a look to find the sound of crying by moving around the ruined attraction, until finally, I had found her, the girl who was crying. And when the girl looked up to see who it was, I saw that the girl looked just like her mother; wavy shoulder length silver hair with one strain of hair on top and bright blue eyes. She was about the same age as, if not a year younger than, I was. Her eyes widened as if in shock to see who it was and was about to gasp until I brought my finger to my lips, signaling her to stay quiet. I then looked around to see if there was anyone else around, only to find that, saved for the smoke and explosion that was happening far from us, there was no one else that was around us. Once I saw that we were in the clear, I slowly and carefully began to move towards her to get close to her to grab her and try to get her out of here.
As soon as I had gotten close to her, enough for me to reach out and to grab her and make a run for it, I knelt in front of her and gave out the best reassuring smile that I could make and said to her quietly while in a calming tone, "Are you alright? Are you hurt? Do you need any help?" I moved a bit closer to her so that I could reach out my hand for her to take as I said to her reassuringly, "It's okay, I'm here to help you get out of here. Just take my hand and I'll get you out of here."
The shook her head no as if she was still afraid of me, as her body shook in fear while trying to slowly step away from her, before she said fearfully and quietly, though I could already hear what she said, "P-P-P-Please…j-just…stay away…p-p-please, I…I-I want my mom! W-Where's my mom…?"
"Shhh." I said to her to calm her down, "It's okay. I'm not one of those bad people, so I'm not going to hurt you. And don't worry, your mother is safe, out in the shelter. Just come with me and I'll take you to her." I reached out a hand for her to take as I said to her, "C'mon. Take my hand. I'll take you to her safely. I promise."
Upon hearing my reassuring words, she slowly brought her hand out and began to reach to mine to take before finally, she grabbed hold of my hand and I pulled her close to me, and we stood face-to-face, as I smiled at her while holding onto her hand tightly for safety.
"My name is Ange." I introduced myself, "What's your name?"
"M-Me?" she said nervously, before she then said, "M-My name…my name is Mizuki."
"Mizuki…" I said, "I see. What a wonderful name." I turned and took a look at my right side as I heard an explosion coming from far away, as the fighting was getting almost closer, before I looked back at Mizuki held her hand tightly and said, "We have to go now! It's not safe here! C'mon!"
"W-Wait!" Mizuki stopped me, making me turn to look at her questioningly, before she pointed at somewhere and said, "W-We can't leave! T-The stone!"
"Huh? Stone?" I said in confusion, before I turned and looked at where she was pointing at, and to my shock and surprise, there on the ground was the Stone of Selection of Power. It must've fell down onto the ground at some point during the chaos and panic.
"T-Those monsters…" said Mizuki, "T-They said that they were looking for that stone…I overheard them say it while they were looking around a-as I was hiding…w-we need to take it…take the stone with us…because if we don't…"
I gasped at that and said as I realized, "So that's what they're after…! They must be afraid that once the Chosen One has been found among us, then it would be the end for them and that they'll be destroyed! And…if they get their hands on it, then…!" I shook my head from the terrible thought of what would happen if they have the stone, before I turned to Mizuki and said to her, "Okay, then. Mizuki, you stay here and wait for me, okay? I'll go and get it. Once I grab it, we'll get out of here, so try not to move anywhere, okay?"
Mizuki nodded and said, "D-Don't worry, I won't."
I nodded back with a smile before I turned and slowly went and moved to get to where the stone was to grab it. Once I close enough, I went and reach for the stone and then grabbed it and picked it off the ground before I looked at it and, after a long period of time of waiting for something to happen, I sighed in disappointment. When I had picked up the stone, I was almost hoping that the stone would somehow select me as the Chosen One, the one who would bring balance to the world, but it looked like I was not the right one as it seemed that I was not the one of pure honest soul and of pure light. But then I suppose it's no surprise. Then, I turned around and was ready to head back and bring Mizuki with me. But before I could even return to Mizuki and bring her with me back to the shelter…
WHOOSH! CRASH!
A body was sent flying passed by in front of me as if thrown by someone before the body was crashed into one of the ruined stands. I stood where I was shocked from what just happened for a moment before I turned and looked at the body that was thrown, and I gasped in shock as I saw that the body that crashed was a male Good Shinobi, and immediately, I could tell that he was already dead as blood was pooling out of every part of his body and his body was not moving a single muscle after crashing into the stand, as well as his eyes was rolled to the back of his head and woods were stabbed all over him.
I nearly screamed at the horrific scene that was right in front of me before I heard a sound of someone landing onto the ground, and I turned to see it was my father, looking tired and bruised, but was still standing on his two feet, before a few more Good Shinobis joined him. Father saw me and Mizuki, who quickly went over to me, and was about to ask what I was doing here before quickly turning back to the front as we suddenly sensed the hunters were approaching our way. There were two of them, one was the more muscular one and the other was about taller than the average size of an adult. Both had weapons on each hand; the muscular one had a large buster-sized sword and a prosthetic arm with a large cannon attached to it, while the other one held a long and sharp razor saw sword in his right hand and a military German pistol in his left hand. Both wore dark clothing with dark-silver armors attached to them. And we all knew that they were dangerous people, so we had to keep our guard up. Father and the other Good Shinobis readied their weapons again, while I covered the stone held tightly in my hand and guarded Mizuki who covered behind me.
The taller one was looking at us as if examining us and the situation, before he looked at me, or rather, what I was holding in my hand, and then smiled as he turned to me and said, "Young miss, would you be so kind as to hand over the stone that you have in your hand? Because if you don't…"
"The stone…!" I heard my father muttered, "So that's what they're after…!"
I held the stone much tighter as I wrapped it around my arm and said with sneer and a death glare, "Over MY dead body, MONSTER!"
That angered the muscular hunter as he was about to do something, before he was stopped by the taller hunter as he raised his hand as if halting him, before the taller one said, "Young miss, I really don't want to hurt you because you're merely a child, so I suggest you hand the stone over. You don't know the power that it possesses."
My father stepped up to shield me and asked with a hardened look on his face, "And what if we don't WANT to?"
The taller hunter sighed and said, "Then, I'll have no choice but to take it by force."
Mizuki whimpered behind me and hid behind me and held my shoulder tightly as if her life depended on it, and she looked with those fearful and tearful eyes as if begging me to protect her. I turned to look at her before I gave her the best reassuring smile that I could make and said to her, "Don't worry. It's going to be alright." I then looked back at those savage monsters and said with a look of sheer hate and determination, "I will NOT hand it over to the likes of scum monsters like you! If you want it, you'll have to kill me first!"
The taller hunter looked at me for a moment and after he saw that I was serious, he sighed to himself and said while pushing up his glasses, "Fine. I really didn't want to do this because you're merely a child. But since you refuse to comply…you leave us with no other choice." He looked at his fellow muscular hunter and gave him a nod as if signaling him to go on ahead.
The muscular one gave out a grin before readying his weapons and readied himself to attack. As soon as he did, my father and the remaining Good Shinobis who were fighting with him readied themselves to fight back.
"Ange, hurry and take the girl with you an get out of here, now!" my father told me, "Don't let these monsters take the stone! Go, NOW!"
I nodded and immediately, I took Mizuki's hand and began running away as fast as I could, away from the fighting that was already happening behind us as soon as possible. I looked back for a moment to see that we were already running further and further away and that father and the remaining Good Shinobis were fighting and holding of the muscular one and the taller one off for as much as they could, before I turned back and kept on running with Mizuki running with me as we both held our hands tighter, not letting go of each other for even a second. As we kept on running, I looked back at Mizuki, who had a scared and worried look on her face while looking back, scared of whether or not they were coming after us before looking back at me. I smiled at her for reassurance, telling her that we would be alright, before we both looked back in front of us as we kept on running. Then, by the time we ran further away from the fighting, I saw that we were getting closer and closer to the shelter, and I saw that both of our mothers were there, waiting for our return, and then calling out for us as soon as they saw us. Seeing that we were almost there, we looked at each other with smiles and hope on our faces, before we turned back and kept running as we were almost there.
"Keep running!" I said, "We're almost there! Almost…!"
CRASH!
However, just as when we felt we were about to make it, a powerful crash came right in front of us creating a shockwave and blowing us away, making the both of us screamed as we were pushed away from that shockwave and landed on the ground as rocks and dust was spread out everywhere, with the last thing we heard was our mother screaming our names.
There was the sound of ringing in my ears which was slowly fading away as I was trying to get myself back up as the dust was clearing, and I looked at Mizuki who was also getting herself back up before I looked in front of us to see that it was the muscular hunter from before, and I gasped in shock from him chasing after us all the way over here that way. The muscular had already caught up to us. He must've gone passed my father and the rest while the taller one was distracting them. He got up from his landing spot and saw us with a smile on his face before facing us with his weapon. I quickly got myself back up and drew out my short swords to prepare myself to fight against the monster right in front of me while Mizuki stood behind me. I knew that as I child, I was outmatched and I wasn't fully ready to take on dangerous hunters like him, but what other choice did I have? I could not bring myself to abandon Mizuki as her life was also on the line, as I was the only shinobi left who could fight and try to protect her. And besides that, I…I wanted to kill that damn hunter for ruining everything here at the convention! I had to make him pay!
The muscular one laughed at me as I was getting into my fighting stance, readying myself to fight him, before he said to me, "Oh, how cute! Do you really think you can you beat me? What can a small little girl like you possibly do against me?"
I gritted my teeth in anger before I turned my head to Mizuki and told her, "Mizuki, go on and get to the shelter! I'll deal with this damned monster and kill him!"
"Eh?! B-But-!"
"JUST GO, NOW!" I yelled, before I began to run and charged up to the monster in front of me with full fury and sheer anger, before I then jumped high into the air and began to land down upon him, weapons raised above me and about to strike him down. And with all my might, I swung down at him for a strike above him, and by the time I swung my sword down and crashed into him, a shockwave was made causing a large blow of dust burst from below to blow out. Dust was everywhere so I couldn't see what had happened when I struck down, but by the time the dust cleared, I gasped as I was shocked from what just happened. The muscular hunter blocked my attack with his buster sword, and the only good that I did was creating two small dents on the sword.
"Well, well, well." said the muscular hunter as if he was almost impressed at what I did, "For a little girl, you're pretty strong."
I gritted my teeth and growled at him in anger, before he shouted as he pushed me away with his sword, "But NOT STRONG ENOUGH!"
I quickly moved and back flipped away from his swipe attack before I put my swords away and quickly created hand signs for ninja arts and shouted, "Ninja Art: Smokescreen!" I then blew out smoke from my mouth as smoke began to form around him covering him in nothing but blackness, before I landed on the ground and drew out my swords again and made a hand sign and shouted, "Ninja Art-!"
But before I could use another ninja art at the monster, the smoke suddenly cleared out from a sudden strong wind as it blew to me, causing me to quickly cover my eyes before I was blown away by that the strong force of the wind and I landed on the ground. I quickly got myself back up to see what happened before I saw and realized what he did. He swung his buster sword to clear away the smoke that I had made to cover and distract him with.
"Hmph!" he smirked, "Five seconds was all you bought, little girl."
I glared and growled at him before I drew out kunai knives and shurikens and threw them at the bastard monster, only for him to deflect them all effortlessly. I kept on drawing and throwing out more at him before I suddenly ran out of them.
"Well, you've got some fight in ya, kid." said the muscular one, "I'll give you that. You did put up a good little fight." I got myself up from the ground and charged at him with my swords to stab him with before blocked my attack with the flat of his blade and continued, "Too bad you're still just a little kid, and your fighting spirit isn't strong enough!" He then grabbed me by my shirt and lifted me up of the ground and raised me high, making me panic and screamed while shaking and struggling violently to get him to let go.
"It's nothing personal, kid." said the muscular hunter, "We just need that stone from you and take it to our boss who wants that stone. We don't want it to be in the wrong hands now, do we? So, just hand it over I'll let you go."
I growled angrily at him with a glare and shouted, "NO YOU WON'T, YOU DAMNED FUCKING MONSTER! YOU'RE LYING! I WON'T HAND IT OVER TO THE LIKES OF YOU SCUM!"
"Oh?" said the muscular hunter, "Well, aren't you a little stubborn one." He then sighed and said, "Look, kid, I'm not supposed to kill you because you have the stone with you, but my partner didn't say anything about FUCKING you up." He brought me closer to him so that he could reach for my pocket that had the stone and said as he reached to my pocket to search for it, "So, you have a count to ten before I…w-wait…wha…what the hell?!"
Just as he placed his hand into my pocket to grab the stone, he felt there was nothing inside of it as it was suddenly gone while searched around my pocket, any of my pockets, for it. even I couldn't feel the stone hidden in my pocket at all. Could it be that…it must've dropped out of my pocket during our fight against each other?
"What the fucking HELL?!" the muscular one shouted in frustration, "Where the fucking hell is the STONE?!"
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" I heard someone shouted, and I looked at my right and saw Mizuki with the Stone of Selection in her hands, while looking at the hunter holding me angrily, before shouting angrily again, "LEAVE HER ALONE NOW!"
"M-Mizuki…!" I said with worry.
The muscular hunter looked at Mizuki with the stone in her hands before he dropped me onto the ground and turned his attention to Mizuki, who I could see was shaking fearfully as he was approaching her, and all I could do was just sit and watch as I was suddenly too weak to even move my body, and all could do was scream out, "MIZUKI! RUN! RUN, NOW, MIZUKI! RUN!" But Mizuki did not do what I said as she stood there shaking fearfully as he was already in front of her. I screamed out again, "RUN, MIZUKI!"
The muscular hunter chuckled and said, "Well, aren't you a brave one? Or maybe you're just a fool with a death wish?" He then lifted up his buster sword up high and said, "Well, either way, unless you hand over the stone, you're going to die here, by my hand!"
Mizuki looked at him with wide horrified eyes for what was about to happen to her, shaking her body even more fearfully as the inevitable was about to happen to her. And just as the muscular one raised his sword above to strike her down, Mizuki looked away fearfully, waiting for what was about to happen to her, and all I could do was scream out, "MIIIZZZUUUKKKIII!"
But then suddenly, just as the muscular hunter was about to strike down with his sword, the Stone of Selection started to shine brightly, shining in a bright blue light that started to nearly blind us from the bright glow that was happening, and we were all shocked from what we were seeing, even the hunter who was about to kill her was shocked from what he was seeing that he stopped. Mizuki opened her eyes and looked at what was happening to the stone that she was holding onto as it was glowing and shining brightly from her hold on it, and she looked upon the stone with pure astonishment.
"N-No way…!" said the muscular hunter, shocked and in pure disbelief from what he was seeing, "That's…that's impossible…!"
Mizuki looked onto the stone for a moment before looking up to the muscular hunter in front of her with a look of determination and then, as if she suddenly knew what to do with it, she raised the shining stone up above and facing it to the hunter as the stone began to glow and shine brighter and brighter, bright enough that it was blinding for everyone to see, though before the light blinded me completely, I could see that as soon as Mizuki raised the stone up high, the muscular hunter began to panic from what she was doing, and the last thing that I heard from the hunter was, "N-N-NO, WAIT! WAIT! WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! WAIT! WAAAAAIIIIITTTTT! A-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
By the time the light died out and everything was clear again, I managed to open my eyes to see what had happened before I gasped in shock, because what I saw right in front of me was just shocking and amazing. What I saw…was the muscular hunter gone from sight saved for the boots and the buster sword stuck on the ground and the cannon prosthetic arm lying on the ground, and the stone in Mizuki's hands still glowing and shining brightly but to a weaker extent, and I saw that even Mizuki herself was shocked from what just happened and what she just did. How she had done what she did to the hunter, even I did not know myself. However, one thing was certainly clear to me.
"Mizuki…" I said in astonishment and realization, "It's you…you're the Chosen One!"
I then heard footsteps and turned and saw my father and the other Good Shinobis had arrived just in time to see what had transpired and what was happening now as they saw the stone was glowing and shining in Mizuki's hand. And by the reactions that they made when they saw what was going on, the same realization had hit them that Mizuki was the Chosen One. I then looked up to see the tall hunter from before from farther away from us as he was watching what was happening on our side, and he had a look of shock for a moment before it changed to that of disappointment and turned around to leave. By the time the threat was over, the Stone of Selection of Power had stopped shining, returning to normal. Regardless, though, everything was finally clear. Mizuki was the Chosen Savior of the world, the one who would end the darkness and bring light and balance to our world.
A few days had passed since then, and my father and I, as well as the surviving Good Shinobis, had brought Mizuki and her mother with us to the Shinobi Council, where they were judging and testing Mizuki. From what we know so far, she and her mother knew almost nothing about the world of Shinobi as neither of them are Shinobis and they believed that Shinobis had long since faded away in history, but are at least descendants of families of Shinobis. However, because of their lack of knowledge that Shinobis still existed in the shadows, they had little to no training as Shinobis and are nothing more than normal people. Still, if they're descendants of Shinobis, they still have the blood of Shinobi in them and Mizuki could still be trained. At least, that was what I had thought, but…
"I don't think the council will allow the girl to be a Good Shinobi." I heard one of the surviving Good Shinobis said, "I mean, sure, she may be the Chosen One and she has the blood of Shinobi, but she's still just a kid."
"Yeah, I agree." the other one, a female, said, "I mean, how old is she anyway? 9? 10?"
"Nah, I heard she's actually 12 years old, man!" a third survivor said, "At that age, she'd probably be way too old to train to be a shinobi like us."
"Yeah, you're right." said the first survivor, "Children from shinobi clans are supposed to be trained during their birth until they're fully developed into well trained warriors. At the age the kid is now, I doubt the council will allow anyone to train the kid."
"Plus, with after what happened today, I don't know if she's willing to do anything to protect the world." the second one said, "She'd just seen too many horrific things going on, she'll likely be consumed by fear."
I looked at them with wide eyes when I heard what they had said, realizing what they meant. Because it was true. Despite having defeated and destroyed the hunter, Mizuki was still scared of what happened, and even after all of it was over, Mizuki was still shaken up by what happened. But…even still…
I heard my father stepped up to the rest of the survivors and said, surprising me and everyone else, "She won't be consumed by fear, and she won't have to. Because the girl and her mother will be taken care of by me and my daughter."
Hearing that made me looked at him with pure and utter shock. Everyone else who were present were also shocked with what my father had said.
"Wait, hold on, are you serious?!" one of the survivors said.
"Yes." my father nodded, "I intend to take Mizuki as my student. To study and work as a Good Shinobi."
"Wait, hold on!" the female survivor said, "You already have Ange as your student! You can't just take on two students! That would be against the code!"
"Yeah!" the third one said, "The council wouldn't approve of that!"
"Perhaps," said my father, "But even so, that girl IS the Chosen One, the one who will save the world from the darkness. And if she's going to save the world from those that intends to destroy the world, Yōmas, Evil Shinobis, Hunters, then she will need to be taught how to be a Good Shinobi, a shinobi sworn to fight for the light. And I'll take her in as one of my students, without the Shinobi Council's approval if I have to."
"What?!" Everyone shouted.
"You can't be serious?!" "Are you crazy?!" "That's going against the rules!" "You're breaking the rules!" "You shouldn't do that!"
"Look, I know and understand all of your concerns." my father said, "But look, the hunters and Evil Shinobis are all getting worse and worse by the day, you've all seen it yourselves. And if this keeps going on, there will be no end to this fighting that is going on between us and them. If this fight keeps on going, it would soon lead to our manpower to dwindle and tired out, and eventually, it would lead to an end for all of us. Desperate times calls for desperate needs, and right now, this IS indeed desperate times, and our desperate need is right in the council room. And although she may be just a child now, she is the key to ending this war with the Evil Shinobis and hunters. After all, my daughter had seen what had happened to the hunter that intended to end both of them."
I nodded to my father in agreement, before he said with a somewhat goofy smile on his face, "And besides, what I'm going to do isn't breaking the rules! More like bending it!"
Suddenly, we heard the door opened, and we turned around to see that it was a shinobi council member, who had his hands behind his back and said, "He's right. And while I won't condone with his unorthodox plan, I do have to agree that the situation is dire."
"Councilman Shiraishi." My father bowed, "I take it that Mizuki's testing is over?"
"It is." said Councilman Shiraishi, "And although the child is still too old for her age to be trained as a shinobi, and although she lacks any knowledge and understanding of the situation that's going on, the girl has proven herself by showing her determination to help put an end to all of the chaos happening in the outside world."
"So then, does that mean that she will be trained then?" my father asked.
Councilman Shiraishi sighed before he nodded and said, "As you've said, desperate times calls for desperate needs, and we are indeed in desperate times and the girl who is the Chosen One may be who we need to put an end to the wars against the Evil Shinobis and hunters altogether. Otherwise, this war will never end, and there will not be any peace for the world. IF the prophesy is to be true, then the girl will be the one who will end it all. So yes, the girl will be trained." He then raised a finger and added, "But, under one condition."
"Of course!" father nodded, "Just name it."
"The girl, Mizuki, must be placed in proper care and protection under, not just yours, but our jurisdiction. Specifically, under few of the children from different shinobi families, shinobis-in-training, who will be watching over and protecting Mizuki on behalf of the Shinobi Council." said Councilman Shiraishi, "Which will also include your child, and mine."
"Care and protection?" father asked.
"After what had happened during the hunters attack, and discovering that the child is the Chosen One, there is a likely possible chance that Evil Shinobis and hunters will come after the girl and will try to capture her and use the girl for whatever dark plans and benefits they may have for her." said Councilman Shiraishi, "And they will likely try to lie and manipulate her into doing whatever biddings that they may have. And we cannot let that happen, not to the poor girl who had just learned about the shinobi world. Losing our Chosen One, our only chance of putting an end to those Evil Shinobis and hunters, would be a complete disaster for all of us. However, if Mizuki were to be placed under care and protection from our children skilled enough to protect her, no one, not even the hunters would ever dare to approach her. Also, your daughter, Ange, WAS the one who had witnessed Mizuki being the Chosen One, and it would make sense for her to be a part of the Good Shinobis who will protect her."
For a minute, I just couldn't believe it. I was going to be a part of the Good Shinobis my age who will protect Mizuki! If I'm a part of it, I could keep Mizuki safe, and keep her away from the monsters who would dare try to harm or manipulate her.
"Mm-hmm." My father thought about it for a moment before he nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah, that would make sense. We can't have that happening. Alright. I agree to the condition."
"Good." Councilman Shiraishi nodded, before he turned to the door and began leaving to inform the other council members.
Walking out of the door, I saw Mizuki and her mother approaching us, and so my father and I began to approach them. I even saw that Mizuki was now wearing the Stone of Selection of Power as a necklace. As soon as we got close to each other, father patted me on the back with a smile and told me to have a talk with Mizuki while he speaks with her mother about the situation. Once he and her mother were gone from sight, it was only me and Mizuki, who looked at me and asked me, "Ange? What's going to happen to me now?"
I smiled at her before I held her hand and said to her, "Don't worry, Mizuki. The council has given us permission to take you in and train you. We're going to protect you and keep you safe, and you will become a Good Shinobi like us. I promise."
"Ange…" she said.
"Don't worry." I smiled, "I won't ever leave your side. We'll always stay together, Mizuki."
Three years had passed since then, and we were both much older, and as we both grew up together, we became much closer to each other and our friendship with each other grew, and we even learned so much together during our training together as shinobis. We were both already best friends. No. More than that; we were both like a family now, like sisters. In fact, we may as well already be sisters together, because father had also made Mizuki's mother, Miyori, his second wife after we had taken them in to our home, and of course, my mother was okay with the arrangement as both of our mothers get along well and they empathize with each other so much being mothers of one. We became a big family, together.
And Mizuki and I had been through a lot together over the last three years: we talked together, we played together, we studied together, we learned together, we trained together, we cried together, we comforted each other, we looked after each other, we fought through together, we even graduated from our Shinobi Academy early together. We had done everything together. We were like real sisters. Oh, and of course, we even made dear friends with our Good Shinobi squad, the ones who were assigned in protecting her, the Chosen One, as well as go on missions against Evil Shinobis and hunters, together. We had fought against every Evil Shinobis and hunters over the last three years together, and many of our missions were all successful every time. Well, nearly every time. Let's just say that there were some…misleads and distractions along the way. Being the Chosen One, everyone in the shinobi clans loved and respected Mizuki so much greatly, some even worshiped her, even the Shinobi Council members themselves, while others somewhat acted as if she was no big deal and treated her normally. Although, sometimes when it felt like being the Chosen One was getting to her and taking a toll on her, Mizuki would be in an uncomfortable state, and often times would question whether or not that she was doing the right thing for everyone in the world. I as her sister had to watch over her, to reassure her that what she was doing for the world was good, and assuring her that me and our squad mates would always be there for her. There were hardships, happy times, sad and painful times, but we got through all of them together.
And now, one of our current missions was to find her Destined One, the one who would help Mizuki put an end to all Evil Shinobis and hunters throughout the world. Apparently, like what happened with Mizuki, the Destined One would be found if the one touches the stone and the Stone of Selection of Power would shine brightly, to that of the color green, and the Destined One, which should be a male apparently, had to be one of pure honest soul and of pure heart of light like Mizuki. Or so we had heard from the man who once owned the stone for his attraction. To almost everyone in our squad, that sound almost cliché, but also romantic, like that of a romance novel. Even I thought so. So far, we had tried and kept on searching for the Destined One among the Good Shinobis, but so far, none of them were successful and none of the ones we found touching the stone was the Destined One. However, despite the unsuccessfulness of finding her Destined One, we didn't give up any hope of finding her Destined One.
Our squad of Good Shinobis, as of now, consisted of me, Mizuki, Kazuki, Umeko, Wakana, Yuina, and of course, our leader of our squad, Akane Shiraishi, the daughter of Councilman Shiraishi. Kazuki was our childhood friend and was the second oldest in our squad and the only male in our squad. He had blonde hair that goes mostly all the way up and has brown eyes. He was the older brother type of teammate who watches over our squad mates as if they were his siblings, and he had a friendly and social personality. Of course, neither of them would tell me, but I could tell that during our time together, Kazuki and Mizuki would be in a secret relationship with one another, and although Kazuki was not her Destined One, they both loved each other very dearly, and so far in their relationship, as far as I could tell, they had only gone through with holding hands, hugging, and kissing, but not all the way with each other, likely not to risk losing Mizuki's purity should the time come to find her Destined One, if Mizuki starts to have romantic feelings for the said Destined One. It was likely that their relationship with each other would last until her Destined One was found. Umeko was the childish, clumsy, and cheerful one of the group. She had short orange pig-tailed hair and bright blue eyes. Umeko was the youngest of our squad and the type of girl who would always smile and stay positive for everyone even when the situation was grim and dire. She even cheered up Mizuki once, assuring her that everything would be alright. Of course, she was also the type to believe in fairy tales, specifically ones that involve romance, like the prophecy. Wakana was the calm, elegant, and mature member of our squad. She was the one with long straight black hair with a long yellow ribbon on her left side and green eyes. She was also the childhood friend and older sister of Umeko who she grew up with. She was the type of person who would remain calm and composed through every situation, even going as far as to calm us down when we were angry or scared, or even breaking off fights whenever we argue with one another. Although, she was also the type of person who knows when to back down whenever someone already made up their decision, even going as far as to stop us so we would not interfere. Yuina was the loud mouth of our shinobi squad. She had long brown hair that was styled in a ponytail and red eyes. Out of all of us in the group, she was more of a loud mouth and the tsundere of the group. She was the type who would constantly complain when things don't go the way it should and would constantly argue with us, although mostly towards Kazuki, who sometimes treats her like that of a child. Nevertheless, she still deeply cared about us and would take care of things for us when we couldn't. Finally, we had our leader of our squad, Akane Shiraishi, who was both powerfully skilled and charismatic in regards to the battlefield and the politics of the Japanese law and order. She had long wavy reddish-violet hair and violet eyes and was the oldest in our squad. She was the one who brought the whole team together, and the one kept all of us together. She was intelligent, strong, brave, resilient, unrelenting, charismatic, strategic, but most of all, she was the greatest, kindest, and most loyal leader that we had. Not once did she ever questioned her objective and followed the plan giving either by us or by herself, nor did she ever once questioned her orders given to her by the council or her father, because she knew above all else that she was at her core, not just a shinobi, but a warrior and a soldier. Even now, she kept herself focused as a warrior and a shinobi in order to lead us to victory against all the obstacles that we faced during our missions together. She was also basically the big sister of our team, watching over us and keeping all of us safe from the Evil Shinobis and hunters, especially to Mizuki, who she developed a deep trust and a strong friendship with. We didn't function well as a team at first, but as time passed, we eventually became a better and capable team. As a squad of Good Shinobis, and teammates, and as friends, we have been through a lot together.
Our current mission now was to find and rescue the new shinobi council member who had been captured by members of the Evil Shinobis and hunters. Her name was Leo, and from the description of her, she was a young woman who has fair-skin, very long platinum blonde hair with a rose decorated on her head, and medium orchid-purple eyes. She wore a white shirt underneath her yellow long-sleeved blazer with a red tie tied around her neck, a yellow pencil skirt that goes to around her knees, white leggings, and yellow high-heeled boots. She was the youngest member of the shinobi council who replaced one of the council members after he had stepped down from his position. I know because Mizuki and I had met her once, though we never fully interacted with one another to have conversations other than for business. And aside from Akane's father, she was also the one who would give out missions to us whenever the other council members were busy with something else. However, even though she was part of the council, despite how she showed trust in our team, Akane and I for some reason could not trust her, not one bit.
Anyway, we had arrived to the place where Leo was being held hostage at and observed the surrounding area. It was a large empty sixteen-story building heavily guarded by Evil Shinobis, with two guards guarding the front door, and three walking and pacing around while looking around their surroundings, being on patrol and keeping their guards up. And judging from the lights inside the building, there could be more inside.
Once we had finished observing, Akane gave out her orders, "Alright, everyone, you remember the mission: we go and sneak inside that building where councilwoman Leo is being held captive. We'll need to go into the building by using stealth only, and only knock out the enemies inside without being noticed, and do so quickly and quietly. We only need to find where Leo is first and rescue her to get her out of the building, and safely return her to the council, so avoid any and all fighting if you have to. If any of you get caught, panic, chaos, and then conflict will come out and everything will go out badly. We can't get into any fighting without risking the council member's safety, so, everyone, please be careful. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" we all said.
"Good." Akane nodded, "Now, we'll be splitting into three groups: Umeko and Wakana, you two take the left side entrance of the building where the security is less secure. Kazuki and Yuina, you two will go to the right side of the building where you'll both go in through the sewer where it is mostly empty and less used. Ange and Mizuki, you two are with me to the back side of the building, where we'll go in through the window to the empty storage room on the third floor if it's opened. We'll then meet up with each other once one of us has Councilwoman Leo in our hands. Are there any questions?"
"No, ma'am!" we all said.
"Good." Akane nodded before she commanded, "Now, let's move out!"
With that, our squad split into three teams; Umeko and Wakana, Kazuki and Yuina, and me, Mizuki, and Akane. Once we had split up to go and enter the building through different directions, Mizuki and I began following Akane to the back of the building, where we had found an opened window where it was exactly at the third floor. Once we had found it, I brought out a long rope from my bag before tying it to a sickle, twirled it around for a bit for momentum and then threw it above to the window as it went through and landed on the ground. I then pulled it back until the sickle got caught into something. I pulled it back a few times to make sure it was strong enough to hold, before I looked at the others and nodded to them as they nodded back. The three of us began climbing on the wall up to the window carefully and quietly until we made it inside one at a time Akane going first and leading the way while me and Mizuki followed.
Once we had gotten in, we then readied ourselves with weapons in our hands. When we heard voices coming from the other side of the room, Akane brought her finger up to her mouth to signal us to stay quiet, and we did as we were told, before she signaled us to follow her, and we quickly and quietly did so. Akane moved to left side of the door while Mizuki and I moved to the right.
"Man, this whole thing sucks!" we heard an Evil Shinobi said at the door, "I mean, you think jobs these days wouldn't be so hard to come by!"
"Hard times, man." we heard another Evil Shinobi said, "Everyone's hurting."
"Not the 'good guys', apparently!" we heard the first one said, "They're always everywhere!"
"Nah, man, I've been dealing with them for a while." we heard the second one said, "Sure, they ain't hurting, but they as shit ain't what they used to be. What, with the whole Japanese government and all that bullshit."
Those fools. They must be referring to us Good Shinobis and how we've been dealing with the world! Those bastards, they dare think they know best, when they don't know the first thing about us or what they've done to our country! I'll make them regret saying that!
I looked at Akane who nodded to us and Mizuki and I nodded back at her before looking at the door.
"Yeah, they're a real pain in the ass." said the first Evil Shinobi, "But hey, as long as killing them keeps us paying."
We knocked on the door, grabbing the guards' attention, before stepping back as the door opened, and the two Evil Shinobis stepped inside and closed the door behind them. Once they had done so, we swiftly moved in and attacked them from behind, beating them up to a pulp. Mizuki and I knocked out the first Evil Shinobi, while Akane began interrogating the second one, as she slammed him onto the wall and shouted angrily and giving him an intimidating look, "How many men are here?! TALK!"
"F-Fuck you, bitch!" he shouted back, "Y-You're fucking crazy!"
Akane growled at him before throwing him over and onto the floor, where he groaned in pain from landing onto the floor, then Akane grabbed him by the mouth and said intimidatingly, showing him that he was serious, "I am NOT going to ask you again! Do you understand?!" She then let go of his mouth and drew out her kunai and added, "I will SLIT your throat if YOU don't tell me what I need to hear! Now, last chance!" She pushed the kunai further into his neck and said intimidatingly, "HOW. MANY. MEN?!"
"O-Okay, okay, okay! Okay!" he relented after feeling the skin of his neck being cut, "I-I'll talk! I'll talk! Uh…well, there's…s-six in the next room over. Uh…two…at the entrance. Uh…several more…gah, look, this place is HUGE, alright?! I-I don't know where else."
"And the councilwoman?!" Akane interrogated, "The woman going by the name Leo, where is she?!"
"Leo?" he said, "O-OH, y-you mean her?! Uh…well, she's…she's at the top floor! Uh…b-being held at the main office room!"
"Where is that?!" Akane questioned.
"H-How would I know, woman?!" he said, "I-I'm just a grunt doing my job! T-The boss never tells us anything!"
"Don't you dare fucking lie to me…!" Akane growled.
"I-I'm not, woman!" he cried out, "T-That's all I know, I-I swear!"
"Akane," Mizuki stepped up and said, "I think that's enough! If he's telling the truth, then there's no need to interrogate him any further. And besides, we don't have much time left. We need to hurry and find Councilwoman Leo."
"Mizuki…" I said.
Akane looked at Mizuki and thought about it for a moment, before she relented with a sighed and looked back at the Evil Shinobi and said, "Fine. But if you lied to us and led us into a trap, I'll come back for your ass and have your head for that!" Akane then got up and kicked the Evil Shinobi in the face, knocking him out unconscious. She turned to both of us and said, "Let's move out. We need to find Councilwoman Leo and get her out of here."
"Right."
"Yes, ma'am."
We opened the door and swiftly sneaked out of the storage room to go out and moved on swiftly and quietly, making sure that no one notices us nor our presence, sneaking pass by guards who were on patrol, and sometimes knocking them out to unconsciousness on the way. Eventually, we found an operatable elevator that would no doubt take us to the top floor, so we quickly and quietly went in and quickly pressed the button that would take us to the sixteenth floor of the building, before the door of the elevator closed and we waited.
"Hey, Onee-chan." said Mizuki, referring to me, "Do you think the others have made it in by now?"
"Who knows?" I said, "If they have, then we'll surely be meeting them soon. If they made it to the top floor before us, then it'd be likely they've already saved the councilwoman already. Why, are you worried about them?"
"Mm-hmm." Mizuki nodded, "I know they're strong and capable enough to handle themselves as shinobis, and I know they wouldn't carelessly get themselves in danger. But, I just can't help but worry for them. Especially for…"
Mizuki became silent as to not say anymore, but I know immediately what she was talking about, or rather, who she was talking about. I smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder and said to her for her to hear, "Don't worry. I'm sure they'll be okay. Especially…well…who you're worried about. They're shinobis, and they can fight against any enemies they face. And besides, we've known each other well enough that we can defeat anything and anyone if we work together. So, don't worry about them, I'm sure they'll be fine."
"Onee-chan…" said Mizuki, as she looked at me smile at her in reassurance, before she smiled back and said, "Okay! I believe you, Onee-chan!"
I nodded to her before looking back to face the front and stayed focus, and from my glance, I could see Mizuki did the same.
Once we had finally reached the top floor of the building, the elevator door opened and we got out of the elevator. Then, we began searching around the area and looked through from rooms to rooms that we could find, but all of them were empty saved for the abandoned desks and broken chairs, even old modern machines that have longed been left to ruins to the point that they were unusable. Eventually, we had found the office room that we were looking for, and we slowly and cautiously opened the door to enter the room. There, at the front and center of the room, we found the councilwoman that we had been looking for: Leo. She was exactly as she was described from the description, and she was being bounded in a chair, arms bounded on the armrest and her legs bounded on the floor, meaning she couldn't move out of the chair even if she struggled. Despite that, though, she still looked pristine and elegant, and she looked as if she was napping despite the situation that she was in.
Once she heard our footsteps, Councilwoman Leo yawned before she opened her eyes and smiled at us approaching her, before she said both calmly and relieved, "Ah, the Shiraishi Squad. Thank goodness, you're all here. You came to save me."
Once we were close enough, we both bowed to her in respect.
"Councilwoman Leo." Akane bowed, "We're glad that we've found you."
"Are you alright?" Mizuki asked.
"For the moment, yes." Leo nodded, "Thank you."
"Just hold on, Councilwoman Leo." I said, "We're going to get you out soon. Just hold on tight."
"Thank you, but I'm afraid my escape will have to wait." said Leo calmly, "It seems that you will find yourselves a little…preoccupied."
"Hmm?" said Mizuki, confused, "Preoccupied with what?"
Then suddenly, as if answering our question, two doors were slammed opened, alerting us and making us turn around to see who it was, and almost to our surprise, at the stairs to the alter that leads to another room, it was the tall hunter wearing glasses that Mizuki and I had met back at the conventional center three years ago. He still held a long and sharp razor saw sword in his right hand and a military German pistol in his left hand. And until now, we never got the name of that hunter, but we eventually learned that the hunter's name was Albrecht. Accompanying him were two Evil Shinobis. The two Evil Shinobis stood where they were guarding the door while Albrecht began walking down the stairs from the alter he came from.
"Well, guess that answers the question." said Akane, as she drew out her long twin katanas from her scabbards.
"Yes." I said, as I drew out my longest katana blade (about eight-foot), the Masamune, my family heirloom given to me by my father, out of my scabbard, "But this time, we will finish him off, together."
"I was just about to say that." Mizuki smiled at me, before she drew out her long straight blue sword and readied herself to fight.
"Well, well, well." said Albrecht, as he began approaching towards us, "Shiraishi's daughter, I'm not surprise to see, but I never thought I get to see you two again. The last time we met was…three years ago, was it not?"
"Hmph." I scoffed at him with a sneer.
"And I never thought I get to see the Chosen One again after what had happened to my old foolish partner." Albrecht added.
"Don't fight him." we heard Councilwoman Leo said to us, "You should go and get help, you're no match for him. He's a powerful and dangerous hunter."
Akane turned to Councilwoman Leo and said with a smirk, "Councilwoman Leo, please fear not. We've dealt with powerful and dangerous hunters before, so this is basically our specialty." Akane turned back to face Albrecht as she stepped up in front of us to lead the fight.
"Your weapons, please, ladies." said Albrecht, as soon as he got close enough to us while pushing up his glasses, "We don't really want to make a mess of things in front of the councilwoman now, would we?"
"Enough talk, old man." I said, as I got into my fighting stance, "We've let you go once before three years ago. But now, we're not going to let you get away this time, Albrecht. We're ending you, here and now!"
"Hmph." Akane smirked, as she got into her fighting stance, "I couldn't have said it better myself."
Mizuki nodded with a smile before she got serious and went into her fighting style, sword held upfront with two hands.
Albrecht sighed and said, "Alright then, if you girls insist…" he took off his glasses and threw it away before he got into a fighting stance and said, "Come at me!"
Akane smirked before she signaled us with a nod, and Mizuki and I charged at Albrecht to attack him, with Mizuki charging at him from right to left, while I charged at him from left to right. With quick speed, we both began to strike at him to both his sides, aiming our weapons at him, but Albrecht was quick enough to counter both of our attacks, with him blocking my attack first before he parried with Mizuki's attack. Still, we kept on attacking him on both his sides, even while kept on blocking our attacks and defending every opening that we could find. We even dodged and blocked his bullets from his German pistol that he fired with before going back to attack him, putting him on the defensive again. Then, our weapons clashed and grinded against his, sparks flying everywhere as we held our ground and pushed our swords against his.
Albrecht chuckled and said, "Come now, you two! Is that the best you can do?! I'm almost disappointed! All you're doing is holding back against me!"
I growled at him before I smirked and said, "That's the point!"
"We're trying to hold you back!" said Mizuki.
"Hmm?!" he said, confused by what we meant before he realized too late as he said in shock, "Wait, WHAT?!"
Up above and with a yell, Akane was twirling and spinning around her body as she was falling down with her swords out and aimed directly down towards and above Albrecht, who looked up with a shocked expression, before he quickly pushed me and Mizuki away to try and block Akane's attack quickly, only to end up failing as he couldn't stop her spinning attack and, out of reflex, only used his pistol to block her incoming attack, which ended up being destroyed and cut into three broken pieces as a result. Once Akane destroyed his pistol and landed on the ground, she moved herself forward and went for the upward vertical striker, aiming and striking him on his left side, which led to him getting two cuts from the strike of her two swords, and making him screamed in pain as blood to splatter out from his left side.
Albrecht stepped back away from us as blood was coming out from the wounds that he got from the strike Akane made. He took a look at the wounds he received and was surprised to see that not only was he wounded, but also received different affects from the strike of her two blades, one being burnt hot while the other being frozen cold, with the latter being close to getting his left arm ripped out and making his arm unable to move, let alone usable. That was the effects of Akane's twin katana blades, Hi no Ryuu and Koori no Ryuu. Two dragon katana blades of fire and ice.
"I see." said Albrecht, as he held his wound while looking at us, "So the two were merely a distraction just for you to be able to hit me from my blind spot once my guard was down. Very impressive. Unfortunately, tricks such as that can only work once, so what can you do now? You can't hope to use the same trick twice now, would you?"
Akane shrugged and said, "Nah, not really. Like you said, tricks can only work once. Still, it's like I thought: two fighters, you can handle on your own, but three or more than that? You get easily overwhelmed. I guess hunters like you haven't been properly upgrading your weapons nor your fighting styles lately, or let alone past a few years, if your poor lack of improvement says anything. You must be slacking off a lot, old man."
Albrecht chuckled and said, "So you've noticed. Yes, I'll admit, I haven't been improving much since I've been dealing with, well…businesses, you might say. But I can still fight against you children," he stabbed his sword onto the ground and went and grabbed his now useless arm before he said, "Even if it means I have to lose an arm for this!" Then, with all his might and with a yell, he ripped and tore his whole left arm off of himself, which resulted in more blood coming out where his arm used to be, making him screamed in pain for a moment before, with the dark power of corruption as a hunter, he managed cover and heal himself to stop the bleeding, and he was left panting to catch his breath because of how much power he had to use. The scene alone left us shocked for a moment before we got back on our guard as he looked at us with a smirk.
"Oh, don't look so surprise, girls." he said, "It doesn't matter if I lose an arm or two. I'll just get myself a new arm with cybernetic reconstruction once I'm through with all of you! Guards, get them!"
Upon his command, two Evil Shinobis came and jumped off from the alter and landed behind us, making me and Mizuki turn around and faced them, before they drew out their weapons and got into their fighting stances.
"Okay then," said Mizuki, as she got into her fighting stance, "Let's go!"
"Mizuki, wait!" I halted her, "Let me handle these two Evil Shinobis. You go and help Akane defeat Albrecht."
"Eh?' said Mizuki, "Are you sure, Onee-chan?"
"Yes, I am." I nodded, "This is the only chance that we have to defeat the hunter Albrecht once and for all! If we don't do this now, we'll never get another chance like this again! And besides, as the Chosen One, you must be the one who has to end all hunters! Now go!"
Mizuki took some few times to think for a moment before she nodded and said, "Okay! Please, be careful, Onee-chan!" She then went off to help Akane fight against Albrecht.
I turned and faced against the two Evil Shinobis in front of me before I readied my sword and charged at them. With quick speed, and as fast as lightning, faster than the eyes could see, I began clashing my sword against theirs' as they tried to attack me from wherever openings that they could find, only to end up failing as I was moving so fast, they barely had enough time to strike me down, as well as the fact that my sword was too long for them that they had to back away and dodge the attacks I was giving them with my sword. Eventually, I was able to cut them down and finish them off one by one by cutting each of them in half until they were both down onto the ground. After I was sure that they were done for, I went off to go back to help Mizuki and Akane defeat the hunter Albrecht. And I only stopped to see that Akane was knocked back away by him as she landed onto the wall before landing onto the ground and was now unconscious, before she was then caught into a debris. And Mizuki was the only one left fighting against Albrecht at the top of the alter. I growled before I hurriedly came over to where they were and then charged at the hunter, blocking his attack and protecting Mizuki before he could even lay a scratch on her. With a yell, I pushed him back away from her before I began clashing my blade with his, before Mizuki quickly got back up and returned to the fight as she clashed her sword with his as well. The two of us eventually got him close to the edge of the alter before parrying his sword away, giving us an opening to kicking him back off, knocking him over and making him fall off back down off the alter. We both nodded to each other before we both jumped off the alter and landed on the ground surrounding Albrecht, and then went at him with our blades to strike him down, only for him to quickly block and parry both our attacks with just his sword and one arm. We kept on attacking him as he kept on dodging, blocking, and parrying our attacks, until our weapons were clashed together with his, sparks flying between our blades again. We pushed our weapons against his as we held our ground, as me and Mizuki glared at Albrecht who glared back at us.
"Is that the best that you can do?!" he told to me, making me growl angrily at him, before looking at Mizuki, "Or you, Chosen One?!"
Miyuki couldn't help but flinched at his question for a bit before steeling herself again and tried to push back.
"Hmph!" Albrecht smirked and said mockingly, "Foolish girls…I can sense great fear in both of you! You have fear, you have hate, you have anger…but you jut don't use them, do you?!"
That comment alone made me angry, angry enough to forcefully pushed his sword away and then kicked him away from us, making him stagger, before I went and charge at him as I began clashing my long katana with his sharp razor sword, and I was gaining the advantage due to the fact that I was moving much faster and I was hitting much harder than before because of my sheer rage, as well as the fact that Albrecht had the disadvantage due to the fact that he only had one arm and couldn't hold on to his sword as much longer as he could anymore, let alone be able to support himself in a fight, or even counter against our attacks any longer than he could. And with all my power and rage, I continued delivering blows after blows to weaken his defense, making him stagger every time my strikes broke through his defenses. Soon enough, once I created an opening by moving his sword away from him, Mizuki dived in and went for the sword rain attack, which was thrusting at Albrecht multiple times with her thrusting strikes at light speed, making him screamed in pain as blood began to splatter everywhere from the areas where Mizuki had struck. Then, just as Albrecht raised his sword to try to strike down and finish her off, I quickly went up and blocked his attack with my sword, turned my back against him and grabbed him by the arm before I then swiftly cut his whole arm off, making him screamed in pain as his last arm was cut off, before I quickly let go of him and kicked him away. Then, with all her might, Mizuki went and struck him at his stomach, finishing the fight once and for all. Albrecht, after seeing Mizuki had finished him off, gasped and then spitted out blood before he got onto his knees, after Mizuki pulled his sword out of him, and too weak to even continue moving anymore.
"D…D…D…D…D-Dammit…!" he managed to cough and wheeze out, "T…T…To think…that…that I…I-I would…b-be bested…b-by two l-little girls…I met…f-f-from…three years ago…a-and by the…the…Chosen One…n-no less…!"
"It's over, Albrecht." said Mizuki, "You've lost."
We heard Councilwoman Leo chuckled and said to Mizuki, "Yes! Well done, Mizuki! Well done!" Then said to me, "You as well, Ange."
I nodded to Councilwoman Leo before looking back at Albrecht, who was already too weak to fight back anymore. I then turned to Mizuki and said, "We should end him now."
"Hmm?" said Mizuki, "Are you sure? He isn't going to fight back anymore."
I nodded to her and said, "Defenseless or not, he's still an enemy to the Good Shinobis and to the Japanese society in its entirety, like all the Evil Shinobis and hunters are. He's too dangerous to be left alive. And if we leave him alive, he'll only cause more danger and more harm to everyone than good, and he'll harm people until they either die or become one of his kinds. We can't let that happen again, for everyone's sake. Besides, he'll only get in the way."
Mizuki contemplated for a moment before we heard Councilwoman Leo said, "She has a point. You should finish him now while you still can, Chosen One. Please, end this hunter."
Mizuki looked at Councilwoman Leo then me for a moment, before looking back at Albrecht, who looked like he was waiting for his end to come. Then, after some time thinking, Mizuki nodded before approaching to Albrecht, then she took out her Stone of Selection of Power held around as her necklace and brought close to him as the stone itself began to shine brightly. Mizuki closed her eyes and raised the stone up high as it began to shine even brightly than before into bright white light, blinding the whole area so much I had to cover my eyes as it happened. Eventually, the light had died out, allowing all of us to see again, as the light from the stone was growing dimmer now, and we saw that where he was before, Albrecht was gone from sight. Mizuki sighed tiredly before almost tripping and falling, before I caught her in my arms quickly.
"Mizuki!" I said worriedly, "Are you okay?!"
Mm-hmm, yeah." Mizuki nodded while smiling tiredly, "I'm okay. Just a little tired. Thank you, Onee-chan."
"Alright." I said, "Don't push yourself too hard."
"You both did well, Mizuki." said Councilwoman Leo, "Like Ange said, he was too dangerous to be kept alive."
I went over to Councilwoman Leo to undo the bindings on her chair while Mizuki said, "Yes, but…monster or not, he was still an unarmed man. I shouldn't have done that, it's not the right way."
After I was done setting the councilwoman free, I got up and turned to Mizuki and told her, "Perhaps, but he was still a hunter, a monster, either way. Letting him go would've made things worse than it already has. Besides, hunters like him don't care about what's right or what's wrong. They don't care about anything or anyone. They don't even care about the Evil Shinobis who works for them. They only care about themselves. Albrecht was no exception."
"She's right." said Councilwoman Leo, as she checked her wrists, "Besides, it was only natural to kill him. He attacked and killed people at the convention center, and you two wanted revenge. It's not the first time. Remember what he and his partner would've done to you and your friends and family had it not been the fact that you became the Chosen One in the beginning?"
Mizuki thought for a moment before she sighed and nodded as she said, "Yeah. Yeah, you're right."
We then heard a sound of a door opening, and we turned around to see that it was the rest of our teammates.
"Kazuki!" Mizuki happily said, before coming over to him and the others while we followed.
"Hey." Kazuki smiled, "Sorry we're late. Did we miss anything?"
"We finished off Albrecht in our fight, you just missed it." I said, "What the hell kept you all?"
"Oh, uh…hehehehehe…" Umeko laughed nervously, "Well, you see…uh…"
"We've been busy." said Wakana.
"With what?" Mizuki asked.
"They headed this way!" we suddenly heard someone shouted, as well as sounds of footsteps approaching, which answered our question.
I sighed while rubbing my temple and muttered to myself, "Goddammit…!" I then looked at them with a deadpanned expression and said, "Let me guess; you got caught?"
Their nervous smiles and laughter, as well as Kazuki scratching the back of his head while Yuina looking away with an embarrass blush, was all the answer that I needed to know, and I sighed and said, "Well, I suppose getting out from there now is out of the question. We need to find another exit."
"Yes, we should leave now, before the Evil Shinobis arrive soon." said Councilwoman Leo.
"We can head to roof of the building." said Wakana, "I found the stairs that leads to the roof. That may be the only exit that we can go to. And, after that…we may have to jump off the building, all the way to forest area where they may not be able to find us in the dark."
"WHAT?!" Yuina shouted, "Are you crazy?! You want us to jump off a building where it might lead us to death?!"
"Well, it's not like we have any other choice." said Kazuki, "Besides, would rather stay here and fight off all the hoards of Evil Shinobis that may as well lead us to nowhere to escape, or worse, die?"
Yuina was quiet for a moment before she said, "…Okay, yeah, that's a good point."
"Exactly." said Kazuki, "We're already at a disadvantage at this point, so we can't stay here."
"Right." I said, "We should move."
"Hold on!" said Mizuki, "Not without our leader!"
Mizuki went over to the unconscious Akane before she began moving the debris away, before Kazuki, Umeko, and Wakana came over to help her.
"Everyone, there's no time!" said Councilwoman Leo, "We need to escape the building before it's too late!"
After getting the debris off and checking for her pulse, Mizuki nodded to Kazuki and told him to carry Akane, before she turned to the two and said with a smile, "She seems to be alright! She's still breathing!"
"Oh, great, yay!" Umeko cheered.
"Oh, thank goodness." Wakana sighed in relief.
"C'mon!" said Councilwoman Leo, "Leave her, or we'll never make it in time!"
"Her fate will be the same as ours." said Mizuki, as she got up, "Let's move!"
"Right!" the three of them said before they began to head off to find the exit one by one.
"H-Hey, wait up!" Yuina shouted as she followed, "Don't leave me behind!"
Councilwoman Leo sighed and said to me, "She really does care for everyone she loves, doesn't she?"
"Yes." I said, "Yes, she does." I turned to her and said, "We should go now."
Councilwoman Leo nodded to me in agreement before we went off to follow everyone. Once we had found the stairs that leads to the roof of this building, we began running up the stairs as fast as we could until we finally made it and exited out the door, with Kazuki leading us out before he closed and shut the door tightly, then placed three metal rods to block and hold the door, preventing it from opening, as well as breaking the security code to keep the door electronically locked.
"Okay, that should hold." said Kazuki, "Now let's get out of this place."
We went to the edge of the roof of the building and looked down and saw how really high we were, before looking over to where the forest area was at, which was almost pretty far away from this building.
"Y-You're kidding, right?" Yuina paled, "We're suppose to jump here to over there?"
"Not like we have a choice." said Kazuki, "Besides, who knows how long it'll be before the Evil Shinobis get here."
"He's right." I said, before I took out a ball and said, "if we don't do this and escape now, we're finished. If nothing else, I'll use this to help us land safely."
"Wait, what's that?" Yuina asked in bewilderment.
"It's time!" I said, "Grab whoever you can and hold on tight!"
"W-Wait, what?!" said Yuina as she began panicking.
Umeko went and grabbed onto Wakana, Kazuki held onto the unconscious Akane, Councilwoman held onto Mizuki, and Yuina looked around in panic and confusion before I muttered, "Oh, for fuck's sakes!" before I grabbed her held onto her tightly, and then, simultaneously, we back away from the edge before we began running towards it in order to jump off it.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Yuina panicked as she held onto me tightly, "Wait, wait, wait! Don't do that! There's no telling what's on the other SIIIII-!"
She began screaming as we all jumped off the edge of the building and began falling towards the sea of the dark forest, strong wind blowing into our faces as we fall. Once I saw a clearing far ahead of us, I quickly threw the ball to that clear area until it hit the ground puffed out into dark smoke, and once the smoke was cleared, it revealed itself to be a very gigantic pillowy cushion, about as large as an inflatable castle, for us to land upon. And landed upon, we did. Once we were close to landing, one by one, we landed on the pillowy cushion before we bounced off and safely landed to the ground.
Yuina was still screaming herself out as if she thought we were still falling until I said, "Yuina, you can stop screaming. We're down already."
"Huh?" Yuina stopped screaming and looked around her surroundings, seeing that we did land safely, before she quickly let go of me and yelled, "JEEZ, WHAT THE HELL, ANGE?! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?! WE COULD'VE GOTTEN KILLED ON THIS ON! IF NOT FOR THAT BIG PILOW, I WOULD'VE SEUED YOU EVEN IN DEATH!"
I sighed before I gave out a deadpanned expression and said, "You're welcome, Ms. Tsundere."
"Hey, c'mon, at least we made it." Kazuki calmed Yuina down, "We got the councilwoman and we managed to escape, so it's…mission accomplished. Right?"
"Yeah, if barely." I said while rolling my eyes.
We heard a chuckle coming from Akane, who had just woken up from her unconsciousness, and said jokingly, "And another happy landing we had today."
"Akane!" Umeko said happily upon hearing our leader woke up, "You're awake!" And all of us gather around Akane, happy and relieved that she was awake and alright. We took some time to chat and share some laughter together until it was time for us to head back before dawn rises.
By the time we had returned, we were already greeted by the members of the Shinobi Council. Councilwoman Leo went to speak with them to reassure them of her well-being while we stayed and waited as Akane stepped up and face us.
"Alright, everyone." said Akane, "I'm going to go and make a report to the council about our mission today. And since now that the mission is over, you can all go on and have a few weeks off, starting today, until the next mission comes next for us. So, in short, you can go and do whatever you want and have fun! Dismiss!"
"Yes, ma'am!" we all said, then we began to depart to different directions to whatever we wanted.
Akane went off to meet up with her father and the council member to give out her report about our successful mission, Umeko, Wakana, and Yuina went off to go and buy some sweet treats that they saw in one of the commercials before the mission began. As for us, Mizuki and I were about to head back home to see our family again. Before we could, however, I noticed Mizuki was looking at the direction where Kazuki had went to go somewhere else, and she looked as if she wanted to go with him. I smiled at that, seeing as how their relationship with each other was growing by the day. I went o Mizuki and placed a hand on her shoulder, getting her attention as she turned to me, before I shook my head, signaling her to go on after him, as I said to her, "Go on, Mizuki. Go and meet up with him."
"Eh?" said Mizuki, "A-Are you…sure?"
I nodded with a smile and said, "I'm sure. I'll let our parents know that you're with him." I signaled her again to go on and said, "Go."
Mizuki smiled at that and said to me gratefully, "Thank you, Onee-chan."
With that, Mizuki went off to meet up with Kazuki. I watched them from far away and saw that, as soon as she had caught up to him, Mizuki and Kazuki began conversing with each other. They were both smiling and laughing together as they talked to one another before the two went off together, and they held hands together as they walked off to where they were going. I smiled them as I watched then walked off together in hand until they were gone from my sight, before I then began walking off to return home.
When I got home, I was greeted by my mother who came over to me and brought me into an embrace as soon as she saw me home, and I lovingly hugged my mother back as I said, "I'm home, mother."
"Yes." said mother, "Welcome home, Ange."
We stayed in our embrace until it was time to let go. I then noticed another pair of shoes, a pair of sandals to be precise, that didn't belong to any of us next to ours, and I assumed that we had a guest at our home, so I asked her, "Do we have guest at home today?"
"Yes, we do" my mother smiled, "In fact, our guest is at the living room talking with your father and Miyori right now."
"Oh, really?" I asked, "Can I see who it is? Who is it?"
"Come." said my mother as she signaled me to follow her, "I'll show you who it is."
With that, I followed my mother to the living room where my father and Miyori were, talking to an old man sitting at the couch across from the couch they were sitting at. The old man sitting at the couch and talking to my father and Miyori…he looked really familiar. By the time I got closer and got a better view of who it was, however, I immediately recognized him as Master Hanzo, one of Japan's, if not the oldest, world-renowned Good Shinobi and the founder of a shinobi academy named after him, Hanzo National Academy. When I saw him, I just couldn't believe my eyes. To think that Japan's renowned Good Shinobi would come and visit us!
"Ah, y-you're…you're Master Hanzo!" I said, surprised, before I quickly and immediately bowed in front of him, "My goodness, I am SO sorry I did not recognize you earlier, sir! If I had known, I would've gladly welcomed you!"
"Ah, you must be Ange." Master Hanzo smiled, "Please, no need to be so o formal. I was just here to come meet with your father to discuss something important. Oh, and it actually happens to involve your younger sister."
"Mizuki?" I said, "Oh, I…I see."
"Speaking of which, where is Mizuki, Ange?" my father asked, "Wasn't she supposed to be returning home with you?"
"She left to go and have some fun." I answered, "It was a rough mission we went through and our team leader gave us a few weeks off so Mizuki left to have some fun. I gave her permission to go."
"I see." said father.
"Not to worry, though." I reassured, "Kazuki is with her, so she'll be fine."
"I see." said father, "Well, that's good to hear."
"Mm-hmm." said Miyori, "I just hope she returns home for dinner soon."
"She will, Miyori." I reassured, before I began to yawn and said, "I should go and get some rest now. We had been up all night throughout our mission and haven't had the time to sleep. I'll go to my room now."
"Alright, Ange." Father nodded in understanding, "We understand."
"Get a good rest, dear." said Miyori.
"I will, thank you." I nodded with a warm smile on my face.
"We'll call you when dinner is ready, dear." my mother said to me.
"Thank you, mother." I nodded before I went off to go to my room upstairs, before I then stopped for a moment and turned to my family with a warm and loving smile on my face and told them, "It's great to return to see all of you again."
They smiled back at me knowingly before my father said to me, "It's good for us to see you return too, Ange."
I smiled and nodded them before I turned around and left to go to my room to take a rest.
Back then, I had no idea what was about to happen behind me, of what was going to happen when Master Hanzo arrived to our family's home. I…I should've known then…I should've known that Master Hanzo was actually on the side of Evil Shinobis and hunters and was trying to manipulate us. I should've stopped him…no, I should've gotten rid of that bastard old man when I had the chance! I should've killed him right at the spot had I known that he was a traitor to the Good Shinobis from the very beginning! I should've finished him off! If I did…if I did, then my whole family, my dear friend and sister, Mizuki! They…they would've still been with me today! But alas, I turned a blind eye and let my guard down…it was already too late, and everything became ruined right in front of me.
Meanwhile, at the office that belonged to Councilwoman Leo, the woman in question was having a discussion with Councilman Shiraishi and his daughter about a different matter after having finished with the report about their latest mission, and it was not a very pleasant discussion as Akane slammed her hand on the table hard and said almost shouting, "You're out of line, Councilwoman Leo!"
"Oh?" said Leo calmly, while taking a sip of her tea, "But I'm totally serious. Don't tell me that you think it's such a terrible idea."
"It IS a terrible idea!" Akane argued, "I mean, for God's sake, putting Mizuki into the Shinobi Council?! She's not even old enough, let alone knowledgeable enough, to know about politics! She's only just a kid!"
"I have to agree with my daughter on this matter, Councilwoman." said Councilman Shiraishi, "And besides, in case you forget, she's the Chosen One, one who's meant to save the world from the chaos and destruction caused by Evil Shinobis and hunters, not to be a part of politics in the council! She's needed out in the battlefield!"
"Perhaps," said Leo, as she placed her cup on the plate, "But I believe that the child can learn more about the world if she were a part of the group that controls everything and maintaining order from the inside of the government. If she's a part of the Shinobi Council, not only will she have a better understanding of what's going on, but also learn how to find solutions on her own to the crisis that's happening."
"And you honestly think it'll help Mizuki change the world better?" said Akane, "No, I disagree with you! What Mizuki needs to do is fight, against the enemies that're all growing by the day! That is what Mizuki is needed for, fighting against a war with those savage monsters that are doing more harm than good to everyone! And besides, she's already learning so much about the outside world already with our help, my teammates being at her side!"
"And you really think that's good for her?" Leo countered, "You, guarding a savior and having her see what the evils that the enemy have caused to everyone in the world? And besides, being the Chosen One doesn't mean it's all about fighting! And if she's the one who's going to bring balance to the world, she'll need to learn how to do so by changing from the inside, not just fighting in a war that's never ending as of now. Or better yet, finding a solution WITHOUT needing to fight against the enemies."
"Again, you're starting to get out of line, Councilwoman!" Akane argued, "It doesn't matter what you think, we're NOT going to make Mizuki part of the Shinobi Council!"
"Agreed." said Councilman Shiraishi, "She's far too young to understand about politics. That would be too much for her!"
"There's always a chance to learn more." said Leo, "And as Councilwoman, I suggest we do so in order for Mizuki to learn."
"I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE!" Akane yelled as she slammed her hand on the table hard, causing a large dent to be made, as well as Leo's cup of tea to fall off the table from the impact. Akane looked at Leo angrily before she took a deep breath and calmed herself down and then said, "Mizuki is TOO young and is NOT ready for the world of politics! Mizuki is needed for battle, and not politics! Her job is to save everyone in the world, not to sit around and twiddle with her thumbs! We're not saying this out of disrespecting Mizuki, it's the truth!"
"From your point of view, perhaps it is." said Leo, "But from mine, I do see that as disrespect."
"And what does that mean?" said Akane.
"Precisely what I mean." said Leo, "Your lack of faith in the girl in help changing the world, that is something that I find disrespectful from you and the other council members."
"What?!" said Akane, before readying her fist to punch her, "Why you…!"
"That's enough!" Councilman Shiraishi stopped his daughter by grabbing her arm, before he stepped up front to face Leo and said, "Councilwoman Leo, we will continue this discussion in another time. In the meantime, I will speak of this to the other council members and see what they think of your suggestion in bringing the Chosen One into the council. The council will decide what to do."
"Of course." said Leo, "I'm sure they need to know as well."
"We're done for today." said Councilman Shiraishi, "Let's go, Akane."
Akane sighed and said, "Right…"
With that, the father and daughter Shiraishi left Leo's office and left the woman to her own devices. Once the two were gone from her sight, Leo smirked before she took out her cellphone, made a call, and said to someone on the line, "The plan is set."
Out in the hallway, Akane and her father were walking on their way to their next destination. Akane was completely silent, having the most difficult time struggling to think about what Councilwoman Leo was even thinking about the matter of putting Mizuki into the Shinobi Council. Finally, she spoke out her honest thought, "I don't trust that woman. Not one bit."
"Believe me, dear, you're not the only one." said Councilman Shiraishi, "I'll speak of this matter to the other council members. You go on and rest, then meet up with the rest of your squad tomorrow. They'll need to know of this."
"Right." Akane nodded.
Then, the two parted ways walking off to different directions.
Meanwhile, at the corner of the city building where no one would see, Mizuki and Kazuki were together in an embrace and making out with one another as their lips were pressed against each other. The two had been kissing each other for quite some time as soon as they found a place where they could be alone and no one could see them. Their make out was slow and gentle, as they kissed with love, gentleness, care, and tender. Then, after they were done kissing, they both looked at each other with smiles on their faces, before embracing each other in a hug.
"This moment was SO worth the mission together." Mizuki sighed happily.
"Yeah." Kazuki agreed, "So worth it."
"Kazuki," said Mizuki, "I really wish we could stay like this forever."
"Yeah." Said Kazuki, "Me too." Then, he let go of her and said with a sad look on his face, "But I think we both know that we can't."
"Kazuki…" said Mizuki.
"Look, believe me, I want us to be together forever." said Kazuki, "But, you're the Chosen One, one who's going to save the world from Evil Shinobis, hunters, and Yōmas and bring peace, light, and balance to the world. And you need to find your Destined One. I'm not that guy, I'm…I'm just me, a regular shinobi like everyone else. And our relationship with each other can't last forever. Eventually, once we find your Destined One who will help you save the world, we'll…we'll have to end this relationship of ours. We have to end this eventually, for the sake of saving this planet from the monsters around the world. We have to, you know that."
Mizuki looked at Kazuki and for a moment, she could see that he was serious with her on it, and although she didn't like it, she sighed and nodded in agreement and said, "You're right. You're right, Kazuki. We can't keep doing this forever. But still, I…I just wish…that…"
"I know." said Kazuki, "Me, too."
Kazuki looked to the sky and saw that the sun was already setting for the evening, that it was time to return home soon, so he looked at Mizuki and said, "We should go back home now. Our families are probably waiting for us."
"Yeah." said Mizuki, "We should."
"You want me to take you home?" Kazuki offered.
"Mm-hmm, thank you." Mizuki nodded, "And, Kazuki…I love you."
Kazuki smiled at her and said, "Yeah…I love you too, Mizuki. Always have and always will."
Then, the two held hands and began to walk on their way home together.
I was at my bedroom, meditating to stay focused and clear my mind of things. That was until I heard the sound of the door opened and footsteps coming into my room-no, our room. I already knew who came back.
"Welcome home, Mizuki." I said without needing to look at her.
"I'm home, Onee-chan." said Mizuki.
"So," I gave out a small knowing smile, "How was your day together with him?"
I could tell that Mizuki was blushing, before I heard her answered as she was changing clothes, "It was nice."
"Did he treat you very dearly?" I asked.
"Yes." Mizuki answered, "Yes, he did."
"Good." I said.
"Um…Onee-chan?" said Mizuki, her voice sound quivering, "Can I…ask you something?"
"Of course." I said, "What is it?"
"Well, I've been thinking," said Mizuki, "After this whole war with the Evil Shinobis and hunters is over, and after we save the world and bring peace, what will we do afterwards? What will we do once we save the world and bring light and balance? Will we…will we be able to live in peace and maybe live on with our normal lives?"
I stopped meditating as I opened my eyes and thought for a moment, before I gave out my answer, "Well, in all honesty, even I'm not sure myself. But, if that does happen, I'd imagine we have to try to stick around, and make sure that the peace that we've made is maintained and protected. That way, no chaos, war, and destruction would ever have to arise ever again. We have to do so, maintain and protect the peace, for it is our duty as Good Shinobis to protect this world. And…after everything that has happened to us, to all of us Good Shinobis, I doubt that we can go back to our normal lives, and even if we could, I doubt it would last very long. We can never go back to being normal people again."
"O-Oh, I see…" said Mizuki, while wrapping around herself in a towel, ready to go and take a shower.
"Is it because of Kazuki?" I asked, while I looked at her from my right side..
"Mm-hmm." said Mizuki, as tears were starting to fall from her eyes "I…I…I just…I want to be with him forever. I wish that we could live out normally after the war is over. I wish that we could be together, loving each other, be with each other, hold each other close, get married and have a family together, and even grow old together. I wish…I wish we could be normal people so that we'll live normally together. But…but…"
I turned around and faced Mizuki as I gave her a sad smile and an understanding look on my face, showing her that I knew how she felt. I then got up and went and gave her a hug, allowing her to cry on my shoulder while I patted her head in comfort, as I told her, "I know how you feel, Mizuki. I really do. I wish you could have a normal and happy life with him, as well. Unfortunately, this is the life that we live in. As shinobis, it is our duty to fight against those that would conspire against the peace that we are trying to bring to our world. And it's because we are shinobis, we have to go out and fight in the battlefield, and if we're not careful, we could die at any time fighting against them. And that's what you're afraid of, aren't you? Of not just you dying on the battlefield, but of all of us, including Kazuki, dying in battle."
Mizuki sniffed a little before looking at me and nodded before she answered, "I'm grateful that you and everyone else are willing to protect me because I'm the Chosen One, but…at the same time, I'm scared, Onee-chan. I'm scared of what would happen if…if you and Kazuki had died, if any of our friends had died. If you did die, then I…I wouldn't know what to do, or how I would keep on living."
"Mizuki…" I said.
"Whenever I think about you and the others, whenever I looked at you and the others, I thought about the times that we had shared together." said Mizuki, "The fun and happy times, the sad and hard times, the comforting times, all the times that we shared together. And I cherish every waking moment of it all, and…that's what made me scared of losing you. Because if I lost you, then I'd lose the moments that we shared together, and…it would be too painful for me to bear. I don't want to lose any of those times, with the others, with Kazuki, or with you. And, I'm not even sure if I'd be able to sleep, knowing that I lost all of you. I'd…"
I held her in a hug again and rubbed her head in comfort as I said to her with a determined tone, "Don't worry, Mizuki. I won't let that happen. I promise you that. If anything happens, I will make sure I will protect you-no, not just you, but all the precious moments that we share together, including our friends and teammates. And I'm not just doing this because you are the Chosen One, but you're my sister, and sisters look out for one another."
"Onee-chan…" said Mizuki.
"Everything precious to you will be protected." I said to her, "I promise, I will make sure of that."
Mizuki smiled upon hearing that and hugged me back and said, "Thank you, Onee-chan."
We stayed together in our embrace for a few moments together, before it was time for us to let go, and I said to her, "Alright, go and take a shower now so we can go to sleep. We'll go and have some more fun for the rest of our off times. We do have the rest of our few weeks off after all."
"Mm-hmm." Mizuki smiled before turning away to go and take a shower, while I turned to go to bed, before I heard her called me, "Onee-chan?"
"Yes, Mizuki?" I said, without turning back.
Mizuki was quiet for a minute before she asked, "Speaking of sleep, if…if I somehow ever die at some point in time, how would you have slept knowing that I'm gone from the world?"
I thought about it for a moment before I sighed and said, "Not well, I'd imagine. But thankfully, it hasn't happened. It won't happen, and it never will. Because I won't let that happen."
It took a few moments before Mizuki said her goodnight to me and closed the door to take a shower, leaving me in the dark for a while before I decided to go back to sleep.
If…if only…if only I had known…what would've happened next. If only I'd known what was to come at that time, I…I would've kept my promise to Mizuki, and never let what happen happened to her.
Meanwhile, at the office of Councilwoman Leo, the woman in question was on her phone talking to someone on the line.
"Yes, everything will be going according to plan." said Leo, "Once we've set the plan into motion, we will make sure that their "Chosen One" will be on our side. Yes. Yes. Don't worry. You just leave everything else to me…Johnathan."
So, what do you guys think? Please, be sure to leave a review for me on what you guys think of the story! I hoped you all enjoyed it. Don't be shy and don't just read the story, REVIEW and tell me what are your thoughts of the story! This is the first part of Ange's origin story, the next one will be the second part of Ange's origin story, and after that will be a preview for what will happen next, which will be the Gallowglass Arc. Unfortunately, I will not likely be able to do the rest of the members of Gallowglass and Ange's followers' origin stories since I've wasted too much time focusing on Ange's origin story. I think I'll let my friend sledgehammer963 decide how their backstory goes. And sledgehammer963, if you'd like to be the first to review this, now would be a good time.