Chapter 4
Slasher
Murakumo has been in her room for about 4 weeks now. Since she's become like this, she's afraid to come out and use her power uncontrollably. No one knows why she's been like this, but Shiki's become very, very worried about her. She's tried hundreds of times, begging for Murakumo to come out, but the shy brunette refused. She cannot let anyone get hurt anymore.
And here she is: beginning of the fifth week, curled up into a ball on her bed, drawing Manga non-stop just to keep her mind off of what happened weeks prior.
Her mind struggles to focus on the paper in front of her. She can already feel her hand grow unsteady, the smooth black lines she attempted to draw coming out as squiggles.
"NO!" she cries. With an angry yell, she balls up the piece of the paper and furiously throws it in the trash. She buries her face in the bed and sobs, soaking the sheets with her tears. She can't concentrate on anything, or even think straight. This power is driving her to the brink of insanity…
"What's wrong with me! Ahhh! My head... hurts...!"
She rolls around on the bed, her eyes shut tight as her muscles clench. She wants to scream, but her mouth won't allow her. She doesn't know what a drug addict feels like, but she can imagine she's feeling something similar. It's pain... terrible, excruciating pain... as if her body is trying to command her to leave her bedroom. She knows what her dark desires are telling her: KILL... KILL... KILL... she tries to fight it with all her might!
"NOOO! I WON'T HURT ANYBODY ELSE!" she screams.
She struggles and fights with all her might... but it's not enough. Five weeks was too long: too long without her blades tasting innocent flesh. It doesn't matter what Murakumo thinks anymore: the power has taken over, and the power will dictate her actions.
The crystal glows as Murakumo dons her mask and grabs her weapons. She leaps out of the window, shattering the glass with no concern for her health. With eyes full of bloodlust, she begins to search for the next victim to use her terrifying power on.
"I'm, like, tired of waiting! I want to see Muracchi now! Can you PLEASE help me, like, get her out of her room?"
Two voices are talking as they approach the door to Murakumo's room.
"It may not be safe to see her right now. She needs to get that power under control on her own, before she has any social interaction."
"But I miss her! Muracchi, like, wouldn't hurt me! R-right?"
"Who knows…"
"Hey, did you hear breaking glass just now?"
"It sounded like... a window!"
"MURACCHI!"
Without asking permission, Murakumo's door is kicked down and the two voices reveal themselves to be Shiki and Haruka. Shiki had come to once again try to get her girlfriend out of confinement, and Haruka is here too because she felt responsible for everything Murakumo was going through.
Shiki put her hands to her cheeks and squealed at the broken window. "AHH! Oh no! Where could she be?!"
Haruka puts her hand to her chin. "Perhaps the power took her over, and now she's looking to fight! Oh boy... I'm gonna need a lot of sedatives."
Shiki, stricken with grief and anger, was looking to take it out on someone. So she turned to the mad scientist with angry tears.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" she screams.
Haruka hangs her head down. "Look... I will take responsibility for giving Murakumo this power. But SHE made the choice to seek me out. I didn't fill her head with ideas. Murakumo is going through a crisis right now... and you're the only one who can snap her out of it, Shiki."
Shiki wipes a few tears. "Muracchi is a gentle soul. She'd never want to hurt people! Why... why did she want extra power? Whatever's going though her head, I'm gonna stop it!"
Haruka grabs her hand. "Then follow me! We'll stock up on sedatives at my lab, then go after her!"
**MEANWHILE**
Murasaki is taking a walk with her teddy bear in her arms. It's basically an empty woods and there are dark clouds rolling in as she looks up at the sky. Turning to her bear, she says, "Bebe-tan...it looks like it's going to rain. What do you think?"
The bear doesn't say anything, but to her, it's like it's talking to her.
"I bet. I don't...mind rain. It feels...nice...and comfortable..."
She closes her eyes and breathes in the fresh air and sits down on the grass as she takes in as much of the peace and quiet as possible. However, something's disturbing her shortly after, which is frustrating. She can hear some sound of blood curdling...a female screaming like that perhaps. She stands up abruptly, afraid of what might come for her.
Murakumo just smiles as she approaches the purplette with her cleaver in her hand. Murasaki backs away further.
"St-stay back!" she begs. "I-I don't know what you are or...who you are! This is just..."
Murakumo doesn't listen and raises her cleaver to strike at her, but Murasaki jumps to doge it, rolls back to her feet and holds her teddy tightly in her arms.
"Murakumo-san...you've become...so evil...I can feel it..." Murasaki says. "I don't know...what to do about that..." She summons her three shuriken in her hair, one huge one in the back and two smaller ones in the front. "But if it's a fight you want...it's what you're going to get!" She transforms into her shinobi form and prepares for battle.
Murakumo grins and gets into her shinobi form herself. The two charge at each other and Murakumo gets the first hit by punching her a few times then shoulder charging her hard, sending Murasaki rolling back after falling, but stands right back up. She spins her shuriken fast and swings it with her hair back and forth, but miss completely as Murakumo jumps over her and slashes her from behind. Murasaki turns around and tries to strike at her again and this time, it lands a few hits on her, but it doesn't faze her. Murakumo charges at her, grabs her by the neck and stabs her with her cleaver a couple times before sliding it upward just half way with the purplette screaming and then kicking her hard to keep distance. It doesn't really kill Murasaki, but it still hurt. The violet haired girl stands up, gritting her teeth, refusing to give up.
The purplenette looks down at her black dress: it's got several slash marks. At this moment, she realizes something is very wrong with Murakumo. She's trying to cut her for real! If not for her lightning fast reflexes, she'd be bleeding right now. She'd have to stay on her guard... and somehow get that cleaver away.
Murasaki twirls around, using her momentum to swing her blades with extra speed and power. The two tiny blades soar forward and strike Murakumo's cleaver head on, but she merely swipes them aside and closes distance. Murasaki squeals as she stumbles backwards, dodging several murderous slashes from the meat cleaver with the intent of splitting flesh. Murakumo is relentless, like a zombie who only knows how to move forward.
But she forgot about one blade... the big shuriken! That is Murasaki's trump card as she whips it out and delivers a vertical slash to Murakumo's torso. She is unfazed, but her outfit is split directly down the middle.
Murasaki presses forward now. She collides with Murakumo's meat cleaver with one small shuriken, then doubles up with the other one to push her back. With Murakumo's hands occupied, she's left wide open to the third big shuriken which soars forward and almost swipes her horizontally across the stomach. Murakumo leaps out of the way just in time, but she accidentally drops her cleaver. This is Murasaki's chance!
Murasaki unleashes all her shuriken at once, bombarding Murakumo with a three-way assault. But the masked girl won't quit: she dodges the blades and continues to move forward, regardless of the risk.
Suddenly, the big shuriken soars directly for her head... but she vanishes into mist and reappears behind Murasaki, grabbing the purplenette by the throat.
"AGHK!" Murasaki gasps as the wind is choked out of her. Murakumo raises her high and then slams her onto the ground hard. As Murasaki lays there and coughs, the masked girl once again grabs her meat cleaver and raises it high.
"N-NO! STOP!"
Murakumo suddenly stops. It's like... she can still hear the purplenette's voice! But Murasaki isn't chancing it. She immediately takes advantage of the pause and kicks Murakumo away, getting back up to safety. She raises her shuriken, and prepares to defend herself once again. Murakumo is already looking at her again with bloodlust.
Murakumo gets up and grabs her chin as she makes a cracking noise with her neck while turning her head back and forth, scaring Murasaki. It might have sounded it felt great from the pain she's taken, but it clearly isn't enough. Murasaki charges at her with her two shuriken spinning at full speed and catching her off guard. She lifts her up high with them and then throws her off with her clothes being ripped off in the process. Murasaki starts to charge again, but Murakumo blocks it, making the violet haired girl stumble back from the impact.
Murakumo uses her cleaver to slash Murasaki again, swinging faster than she can move, up, down and upward, sending the violet haired girl up high. Murakumo jumps and downcuts her, making her fall hard and fly up from the impact. Murakumo kicks to the side to keep her in the air and slashes her diagonal, hitting her as well. Murasaki rolls to her feet and quickly uses her two shuriken to hit her overhead. They hit her on the chest, shredding the rest of her clothing. Murasaki pulls back and does it again from the stomach area and then pushes Murakumo off to keep distance. However, Murakumo just gets up and grabs her again, stabbing her again, slicing her half-way upwards and then kicks her hard.
Murasaki rolls back to her feet and uppercuts her, making the brunette fly up, losing her cleaver, making the blade face down and stick to the ground. Murakumo falls face up on her back, but only for a moment. Murasaki pants hard as she takes a deep breath and then exhales hard to catch her breath. It isn't over yet as she sees the brunette stand up with bloodshot eyes showing. She approaches Murasaki and clenches her fists, making her body glow white. Her wounds are closing up quickly. As quick as light, Murakumo gives her a bear hug, knocking the wind out of Murasaki and then tosses her away. She clenches her fists again, making the chain around her glow. She grabs Murasaki, choking her and then tosses her away again.
Murasaki struggles to her feet, clutching her head in pain while Murakumo stretches out her arms, like nothing happened to her. The violet haired girl has no idea how strong she is once she unleashed her healing powers and strength. Murasaki is about to attack again when Murakumo twists her head, making a sickening cracking noise and the atmosphere around her turns blood red. However, Murasaki is able to move just a little by moving her hair and hitting Murakumo, canceling out everything and the violet haired girl can move again.
Murasaki charges at her with her shuriken, hitting her from overhead and then to her waist and then kicks her away. She then spins 360 degrees, letting her three shuriken land a hit on her three times, making Murakumo spin and fall, but not before some force of light knocks Murasaki back and the bruenette falls flat on the ground. However, lightning strikes from the sky and Murakumo rises up again, much to Murasaki's surprise.
Murakumo clenches her fists, making her body glow white again, closing up her wounds. Murasaki spins her shuriken at full speed again, but Murakumo jumps over her to dodge her devastating attack. Murasaki turns around as Murakumo twists her head again.
Murasaki is on trembling legs. She's trying so very hard to survive... but the masked girl is too relentless. She keeps getting back up. Her power is limitless!
"O-onee-chan... p-please help me..." Murasaki whispers softly. A few fearful tears stream down her eyes as she prepares for the savage Murakumo's next attack.
"GRAAAAAGH!" the masked girl growls as she charges forward and swings her cleaver with all her might. Murasaki raises her shuriken to block it, but the masked girl's raw power knocks her backwards. Murasaki lets loose her big shuriken to block her progress, but even it gets swatted away. She has nothing to stop the masked girl as she rushed forward and hits her in the stomach with a flying knee.
"OUUUUF..." Murasaki wheezes, dropping to her knees.
"GRAAAGH!" Murakumo growls as she delivers a boot to Murasaki's face, finally grounding the purplenette for good. The timid shut-in tries to get up... but she's spent. Even the simple task of breathing seemed arduous for the energy she had expended just trying to fend off the crazed killer.
"Huff...huff...ah... I have...nothing... left... haah..." Murasaki wheezes. She's so tired, all she can do is go limp and cry at the inevitability of her death.
But Murakumo doesn't want to kill her just yet. She wants to have fun with her defenseless prey. With an evil chuckle, she grabs Murasaki by the foot and lifts her high,
"AAAAH!" Murasaki squeals. She flails around, trying to break free in vain.
SLAM!
Murakumo brings her defeated foe crashing to the ground once, producing a pained squeal.
SLAM!
Another slam follows, with an even more agonizing scream afterwards.
SLAM!
Murasaki is crying and close to begging for it to end. Thankfully, the masked girl shows mercy and sets her down. She bends over and picks up her cleaver, raising it high and preparing to bury it in the purplenette's head.
Murasaki is blubbering and wailing at this point, making no effort to hide her tears or her fear. She's not only scared... but she feels miserable for having to die when she never really accomplished anything in life.
"It's not fair..." Murasaki sobs. "I just... want to hold Bebe-tan... I want to see my onee-chan again... I want to eat pizza and ramen... I want to find love... p-please don't kill me..."
Just as Murakumo prepares to swing, a familiar voice pierces her dark veil.
"MURACCHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
Murakumo stops immediately as her head swiftly turns back to see her girlfriend and Haruka come running. Shiki looks from the cleaver to the fallen Murasaki, who is just crying and shaking at the same time. Lighting strikes from the sky and thunder rumbles as rain starts pouring down. The blonde then looks over at Murakumo, who almost kills an innocent girl like Murasaki. Her clothes are almost all gone except for her black underwear still intact. Now Shiki can see what Haruka was talking about.
"Muracchi!" Shiki cries as she runs up to the brunette and rips off her mask. "What...what have you done!? Like, I'm soooo pissed right now!"
"Sh-Shiki...I-"
"Look at what you've become! Haruka told me everything! You wanted extra power just because you've lost confidence in yourself? That's just crazy!" The blonde is crying because of this. "M-Muracchi...please...don't do this anymore..." She hugs the brunette. "Please stop this right now. I want my old Muracchi back...the one who's kind...gentle...and just loves….everyone!"
Murakumo can feel tears stream from her face. Endless, heavy tears streaming from her eyes. She begins to realize that she almost killed someone again. This is just devastating, not only to hear Shiki crying, but from the fact that she's turned into an evil villain once again. Murakumo hugs Shiki tightly, sobbing her heart out.
"I-I-I-I'm so sorry, Shiki!" Murakumo sobs. "I'm so sorry I hurt so many people! I regret everything!"
Haruka sneaks up behind Murakumo and strikes her neck with her sedative. Murakumo gasps from the needle coming in contact with her neck and then the honey-blonde pulls it away with a wink.
"Glad I did it while I could," Haruka says.
Murakumo's vision goes blurry... and then... dark.
She wakes up in a strange bed. The sunlight is shining through the windows... it's morning still? Or maybe... she slept a whole day and this is a new morning?
"Wh-where am...I... ah..."
She looks up: everyone is standing around her. Haruka, Shiki... and the people she hurt. Homura, Yomi... and Murasaki.
"Y-you're all here..." Murakumo says softly. Tears are already starting to fall.
"I brought them all here to hear what you have to say." Haruka explains.
"Yeah! Maybe you should, like, tell them something, Muracchi!" Shiki berates.
Murakumo looks at their scared faces; all three of them are looking away from her.
"Homura, Yomi, Murasaki... I apologize, with all my heart. All of this is because I was selfish and greedy. I felt weak, because I was being defeated in combat... so I went to Haruka, and she helped me get stronger. But I lost control of the power... it turned me into something bad. It turned me into a monster! I'm... I'm a monster…!"
Murakumo closes her eyes and lets out the most pathetic wail as her tears flow like a waterfall. Yomi, Homura, and Murasaki, even though they're angry, can't help but to feel sympathy for her. Just hearing her cry melts their hearts, and makes them want to just hug her. Of course, none of them approach her still.
Haruka is finally the one to lean down and hug her. "Murakumo... I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have encouraged you the way I did. This is all partially my fault, for giving you that awful power in the first place. Will you forgive me?"
Murakumo hugs her back with a sniffle. "Y-you don't have to ask. I don't deserve to be asked for forgiveness. I'm a terrible person…"
Shiki leans in and hugs her as well, planting a kiss on her cheek. "You're not terrible! You're just, like, misguided! But everything's okay now, right Haruka?"
Haruka nods. "Yes. I've made you a NEW potion, to flush the power out of your bloodstream. I have it with me right now."
Haruka presents Murakumo with a glass vial, full of blue liquid. The masked girl wastes no time snatching it and gulping it all in one go. Suddenly, she gets out of bed.
"I-is it over? Am I back to my normal self?!" she pleads, grabbing Haruka's shoulders.
"N-no... it will take some time to finish going through your body. But it will be gone soon, I promise. You'll be just regular old Murakumo again."
Shiki throws her arms around the masked girl. "The Muracchi I love~!"
Murakumo hugs her back and then they part just long enough to share a kiss.
"...Please tell me you forgive me."
Shiki smiles. "I forgive you... but you should really ask them for forgiveness, not me."
Murakumo turns and faces Homura, Yomi, and Murasaki, who have all been strangely silent. Maybe they still don't know about her yet.
Murakumo breaks the ice by extending her arms for a hug. "Please... forgive me..."
The three of them stand there, reluctant. Their eyes dart downwards, then back up, then back down again. None of them are eager to make a move.
Finally... Homura takes the first step. "I forgive you, Murakumo!"
Homura throws her arms around the brunette and they share a hug of reconciliation.
Yomi is the second to hug her. "I can't stay mad at you, Murakumo-san! You're too sweet!"
While they stand there and hug, Murakumo looks over at Murasaki. The purplenette looks away, a sad expression on her face.
"...Murasaki-chan?"
The purplenette sniffles a few times and walks away, leaving her hanging. Suddenly, Murakumo is sad again...
"M-Murasaki..."
Haruka puts a hand on her shoulder. "She'll come around. What happened is still fresh. She needs time to recover."
Murakumo reaches up to wipe a shed tear. "Okay..."
Days pass, and turn into weeks. Weeks become months. Pretty soon, the whole ugly mess becomes a distant memory. The story of the time Murakumo drank a strange potion and grew into a terrifying monster was a tale that all the ninja girls swore a silent oath never to bring up again.
Murakumo continued to win, and she continued to lose. But no longer did she have a lapse in self-confidence. From now on, she believes in her own natural strength, because she knows the consequences of getting too greedy with power. Instead of doubting herself, she trains twice as hard and pushes herself to become greater on her own, without artificial help.
"Ahhh! I can't go anymore!" Shiki slumps to the floor, defeated. "Whew! You win, Muracchi. I'm pooped!"
Murakumo walks over to her with a giggle, extending her hand. "Have I gotten better, Shiki-chan?"
Shiki takes her hand and gets up. "Yeah! You, like, have never looked better! I'm so proud of you, Muracchi~"
The two of them share a passionate kiss, and Murakumo revels in her victory. She's not happy that she won... she's happy that she used her own strength. The only one that can make her unstoppable... is herself.
A/N: And that's a wrap everyone~! Moral of the story…well…it says it right here! Jojo-san and I worked on this one, so long and detailed reviews are very much appreciated…for one last time that is~!
Have a nice day!