Haru Matsuo walked home from school that day shortly after the bell released everyone. The work he had remaining was hardly of concern, as the equations and stories that day had all been hammered into him ten times before. It was too bad that he had to keep his head down in the corporate world. More money and a fuller lifestyle were tempting, but over time it would attract too much attention and people would be sure to notice. Still, Haru was a wanderer at heart, moving around never really bothered him. For the eight hundred years he had been alive, there was no place that he could recall as his home aside from the vast area of Japan he explored.
At the moment, home was an apartment on the top floor of a ten level apartment in the city. Heights were enjoyable as far as he was concerned; it incurred a since of safety and vision for the young man, not to mention the workout coming of ten floors of stairs. The keys were in his pocket somewhere, he thought. It's the same place they've always been, but once he found the crease in his tan pants, it was a twist and a push on the door and he was in.
The two room apartment lay silently waiting for him; everything is as it was. He scanned the limits of the area seeing the box which held all his personal belongings when it was time to move again. The door was closed behind as Haru kicked off his shoes and opened a window to the outside world to let in the remaining luminescence of the day. The rest of the apartment glowed with an emptiness that indicated how little he really had to worry about. Save for one item in particular.
Matsuo made his way to the bedroom, or at least that's what he used it for. The futon lay on the ground off to the side where he felt the most spaciously comfortable. It wasn't where he left it. Of course it had a mind of it's own, but hide and seek was a game he looked forward to each day. It wasn't back in the main room or the closet. Unless it could turn invisible, in which case he should watch his step, it could only be in one other place.
Under the cover of the futon, his metallic beauty was reviled. It was a good sized sword glistened in the light. "You get cold in here Tsushiken? I think I saw you shiver." Anyone seeing the sight of him would probably label him a deranged psychopath on the spot, but it was no shock to Haru that the double bladed sword spoke back at him.
"Shut up you twit. I wanted to know if you could sense me, and of course you failed." A condescending tone rang in my head for a few seconds.
"Perhaps if I gave a damn, I would have spent the energy to search you out. Besides, it's more fun that way." Haru pulled the sword from it's comfortable sheath to examine it. It never cased to amaze him how the sword looked unlike any other. From it's golden hilt, the blade consisted of two parts. The half facing inward at present was opaque with the other half, facing outward, transparent. Each side was capable of cutting, but Matsuo knew that it wouldn't be necessary given its characteristics. Towards the tip of the sword, two semicircles formed a full moon between each blade. Only he and the deadly weapon knew the implications of their relationship.
"You done staring? I think I might be blushing…"
'Tsushiken and his sarcasm.' "At least you can laugh"
"Not so," the sword vibrated in his hand. "You simply need to enjoy the moment."
"Yeah well there are too many moments to enjoy."
"Perhaps you should take a view of the big picture then. For the life you once lived, this is like one big second chance. You shouldn't be so negative, or else you'll surely be destroyed as you almost were once." Of course that bastard blade had to remind him, and it was he that put him in this situation in the first place. Living for almost eight hundred years seems like torture compared to death. Humans lived short live compared to demons, but even demons had companions that could live as long as they. It's like being stuck on the beach watching everyone sail off into the distance, left only with the regrets of the past.
It was time to move on.
"So Tsushiken, what do you say we go for a little stroll now that it's almost dark?" He laughed.
"I thought you'd never ask. Are we going out to slay demons Matsou?"
"I wish, but I figure that any demons still around have accustomed themselves to society and aren't much of a threat." The silence the filled the air felt like a nudge on the shoulder. "I'll keep my eyes open," I answered once more in a high pitched voice, and he answered with a hum of satisfaction that I could feel in the blades grip. 'Time to go then,' I thought while trading in my grey button down for a loose gym outfit consisting of a sports jacket and matching black pants. Loose clothing always proved to be better for these little outings. Once I had the holster on my back with Tsushiken inside, it was just a short trip to the roof.
Keys and other personal items stayed in the apartment where they wouldn't end up lost in the streets. I remembered on time that I spent half the day looking for my room key on the road. Think first ask questions later, is my motto after all. It was a cloudy night tonight allowing better concealment. Couldn't have people freakin out. '…is it a bird? is it a plane? No silly, it's some cosplay character who had to take things to the next level…'. 'Only thing left to figure out is which way to go,' I thought. City travel gets to be boring after awhile, so why not explore some wilderness for the night.
The forest wasn't far off, maybe a hop and a skip away. 'Why not make it fun,' I thought before alerting our departure. "Ready Tsushiken?"
In the most sarcastic voice he could muster, "would it matter if I said I wasn't…?"
"Probably not," and with that I sprinted towards the edge and hurtled the two of us over the side.
It was a few wind whipping seconds before we would break ground to the single floor building below. "Ooo… this is exciting…" That bastard sword, always wrecking the fun. "Ready?" he asked almost pointlessly.
"Always!" The store below was rapidly approaching, but it didn't matter. I could feel an excess of power flowing through me that I directed to my legs and eyes.
A young lady about to walk in to the Wac'Donalds with her boyfriend noticed something speeding towards the building. She pointed up and screamed as it came down, but there was no sound of impact detectable. Then a second later something flew past out of site to the east. She couldn't utter a word but only fainted at the sight in her companions arms. "Ayumi, are you alright! We can go somewhere else if you'd like."
By then, Matsuo was long gone from the loft and now stepping gracefully off of trees and buildings in the direction of the quickly approaching woods. "You know you could be more conspicuous right?"
"Sure, I just can't help enjoying the feeling of skydiving without a parachute." Each step was a flash of indigo light under his feet. It was an amazing feeling to be jumping with such great ease and speed. Who knew where he was going, but it was happening fast.
Kagome looked up from her studies sensing a presence neither good nor evil. It was coming from the city towards the shrine at an alarming rate. The strange thing is that the energy consisted of both demonic and spiritual power. She quickly decided to take action, running downstairs, telling everyone to stay where they were. In another five seconds she was outside sprinting to the well house that kept her bow and arrows ready just in case. It would only be a few moments before the presence was right over the shrine, but she was ready with an arrow nocked in her bow.
…meanwhile…
"Do you sense that aura Matsuo?"
"Well yeah, we're right in front of a shrine. There's probably some old priest that lives there." Tsushiken didn't buy that however. There was a more than respectable wealth of Miko energy that defended the shrine, and something else.
"You might want to go around Haru…" That caught him of guard. Tsushiken was suggesting they go around the shrine despite what they were both capable of. It was a serious slap to the face that only made Haru more curious about it.
"Nah, we'll be fine. Just wait and see… I'll jump right over it."
"Idiot," the sword mumbled, only coming out as an itch on his back. The temple was in sight by now, bringing a smile to Haru as he prepared to step over the huge overhang at the entrance.
Kagome readied her arrow for flight at the top of the stairs, the creature was in plain sight. 'Just a little closer' she thought; then realized his trajectory. "Oh wow, this should be good." She lowered her bow to witness the magical moment where her charms would be put to the test. Like a self fulfilling prophecy, the fool stepped right on the wooden entrance setting off the trap she placed for demons who made contact with it. The scream she heard was clearly a mans. 'Poor guy. He didn't stand a chance.' The body once balanced on the structure fell limp from it down to the surrounding bushes.
With the threat seemingly eliminated, she placed her arrows and bow at her side to discover what was left, but partway down the stairs she heard an angry mumbling coming from the bush. Bow ready once again Kagome stepped closer to see what she had made contact with.
"I told you to go around you moron." Tsushiken was enraged and rightfully so.
"Well you could have been more obvious than, 'you might want to go around'" Matsou mocked the sword. "Really, how hard would it have been to say 'IT'S A TRAP!' You don't need to go around being all mystical and vague all the time"
"Alright then. Get out of here before you get an arrow to the chest."
"What?" Suddenly, Kagome broke out from behind the bush just in time to see something disappear down the street.
"Damn," she muttered. 'A new mystery. I didn't know there where demons still that strong in the area.' This left her with only questions to what this new person or demon was all about. Hopefully time would tell. Not sensing his presence anymore, Kagome resolved to return to her family and homework. There was a big test tomorrow, how dare those annoying demons get in the way of her studies. 'It was a shame that InuYasha couldn't be here,' her heart pondered. She doubted she would ever see him again.
Sorry if the description of Tsushiken was a little vague. I'm not great at description, but I do have a surprise.
Link on my homepage! Check it out! I decided to design the sword on a computer as well, so you can see what I imagined up for it. (It's so much better than my description)
Thanks for reading!