That night I dreamed of the past…
The smell of death filled the air as I stood in the battlefield soaked in my enemies' entrails. I took the parts of my hair that had fallen loose and fixed them in their hold. Blood dripped from even its roots. The warm rain steamed the cold ground as I looked to the one I sought.
"Battosai!" I screamed out, my voice echoing over the fallen bodies. A young man, barely older than I, looked to me as he used a foot to remove his sword out of novice samurai. "Hitokiri Battosai, I challenge you to a duel!" The man flipped his red hair back. Other soldiers began to give us space. They respected the battle between manslayers. I stared intently at the legendary Battosai, and swallowed hard. I wasn't sure if I could beat him. We began to circle each other like Alpha wolves fighting for the right of the pack. He examined my duel chasa-katanas carefully.
"I have heard of you," he stated, "The Hitokiri Kattari, the only female manslayer. An assassin after an assassin, a bit ironic isn't it? Are you to try to take my blood?" Hatred boiled inside me, how dare he mock me? A flash of the slaughtered children swept through my mind, a flash of my father crucified. For those deaths, I would kill the Hitokiri Battosai. I knew I had to be strong enough.
"I will take your head." I said with a growl. Somewhere in the adrenaline, whispered my demise. The samurai took the first move with a fast slash. I easily dodged it and brought my second blade around for the counter, which was just as easily parried. I twirled like a dancer hitting with both blades. He simply pushed them away forcing me to back away from the counterstrike.
I breathed hard, as I looked into his eyes, they were like no other. They were gleaming a dark red; shinning with the thrill of the battle, and hungry for another kill. I bit my tongue trying to choke back tears of rage. With another flash of the disfigured children, it burst.
"You shall murder no more!" I cried out and came down with both blades. He moved out of the way and swung. Blood sprayed into my eye as the sword spilt open a gash from my cheek to my ear. I hit the ground, and rolled away from him before shooting to my feet. Tentivly I touched the painful wound, and cursed. I had lost one of my swords. I was at a great disadvantage, but my anger blinded me.
"I will cut you twice as deep!" I roared and charged at him, I wanted nothing more than to destroy the Hitokiri Battosai. He easily stepped aside, with a catlike grace and brought his katana across my back. I cried out in pain and frustration as I hit the ground, losing my last chasa-katana. I rolled onto my back, helpless and writhing in pain. I had never been seriously injured before, and was paying for my cockiness now.
Frantically I shoot eyes around me; the body of one of my friends lied dead nearby. The cry of the Battosai brought my attention back, as he was coming down on me. For the fallen, I refused to die.
Rolling quickly toward the dead samurai, the ground shook under me as the Hitokiri sunk his blade deep into the Earth. Without stopping the flow of my roll, I grabbed the fallen soldier's Katana, and flew to my feet, bringing the blade up with me in a blind slash. The world seemed to stop at that moment.
The rain picked up as the Battosai stood in shock, almost a different man. Blood ran from a vertical wound on his face. I panted in disbelief, I had actually hit him. The pain from my back was distant as I stood petrified; he was the invincible warrior, the crimson fluid that ran down his face proved him mortal. He slowly brought a hand to the gash to touch it ever so slightly. I watched him withdraw it and stare in amazement at the fingers covered in his own blood. He almost seemed in awe at his own mortality.
Shouts began to rise, shattering my trace a frantic calls of my name reverberated through the battlefield.
"Kattari! Hitokiri Kattari!" a familiar voice cried out, "Please help us! The rebels have taken the town! We have to move back to the barracks!" There were innocent people in that town that were going to be slaughtered. I knew I had to go, and yet I stood face to face with my goal, my kill. I forced myself to take a couple steps back, still staring at the bewildered Battosai.
"Hitokiri Battosai," I said with a shaky voice, bringing my hand up to the wound on my own face, "I will challenge you again someday. Until then this wound will remind me to train harder for that day. Next time, I will make sure one of us dies."
My eyes opened to Sakura blossoms falling gently upon my face. I sat up, and traced the old scar on my cheek.
"After all this time, I still can't kill you," I whispered into the new morning, "and now you've become two people in one body…"