Chapter 2- Bloodlust

After showing her skills in combat against a skilled shinobi like Gyoubu Kasumi, Akabane was sent on her first mission with Okoi as her accomplice. Their task was basically to act as a roadblock to any intruders from the Iga. Akabane's 8ft long scythe made her a very formidable opponent. Even her eys are said to have the ability to kill a man's will to fight, not with beauty but with fear.

Okoi eventually became her best friend and helped clean her up after she was found half-dead outside the village. Akabane traded her faded white shirt for a sleeveless white hakama with her family symbol decorating the back plus a bandaged chest and core area. Her baggy black pants now had cloth bandages and shinguards for protection, and her old rusted armor protecting her arms and shoulders was replaced by samurai-style silk and steel with long, drapping sleeves covering her armored forarms to conceal kunai and other weapons.

In the time she has been living in the village, Okoi too has grown a strong bond with Akabane and often has a drink with her once and a while. Akabane and Okoi are almost alike in a way. Both are very tomboyish and well-endowed but Akabane more skilled as a kunoichi yet is not as energetic; plus Akabane's hair is shorter and has two long hair tails in the back that fly in the spring breeze like sashimono (samurai battle flags used to both represent family in battle and act as a body identifier).

"You know, you're a very pretty girl," said Okoi, Akabane turned to her friend looking at her with her sharp pointed eyes. Akabane also sported a single scar shaped tattoo decorating the left side of her face for added intimidation. Yet her main weapon of fear is her eyes which have the same dagger-staring glare as the Iga kunoichi Hotarubi, "but you have scary eyes plus you look like a demon or something with that black mark on your face,"

"It's funny you say that...," Akabane retorted with a touch of evil in her voice, "'cause I am one,"

"Eh?!" Okoi was in shock looking at the evil look in the kunoichi's eyes

"Ha ha ha just fooling with ya', Okoi-chan," She chuckled lightly punching Okoi in the arm and puffing tobacco smoke from her long, ivory pipe with a tobacco chamber in the shape of a dragon's head.

"That's not funny, Akabane-chan,"

"Well, I thought it was," Akabane layed her scythe at the base of a large oak tree and rolled back and forth around in the grass like an ink roller on a printing press while she was still smoking like a chimney, "so, what kind of man is this Gennosuke? I mean I haven't been back in these parts since my childhood, so my memory is a little hazy,"

"Well, how should I describe him...? Okoi said laying down in the grass next to Akabane,"he's a quiet and a very fair sort of man, if you ask me..., he's a very skilled ninja and he likes to play his flute once and a while, it's very beautiful,"

Meanwhile in the Iga Territory of Tsubagakure, a messenger has just returned with news of Akabane's presence in the Manji Valley. The very existance of a single Kageyasu has stirred up uneasiness among Ogen-dono's best, "Hmm...so a Kageyasu clan member still breaths? This presents a problem," said Tenzen

"If this shinobi is of the Kageyasu, then this person is no better than a Kouga!" said Azuki, "we must dispose of this hinderance at once,"

A snid grin came across Tenzen's face, "And so we shall, just as the Kouga, the Kageyasu will be no more,"

Akabane rolled about until her ear touched the ground, "I sense a presence coming form the north, fast, their are five of them, c'mon Okoi-chan, let's head up to the trees," Akabane watched from the cover of a bunch of thick oak leaves. Just as Akabane sensed, three Iga shinobi come out from the forest; Chikuma Koshiro, Hotarubi, and Azuki Rousai.

"There's no one here, I thought I sensed a presence on the road,"

"Hmm....maybe your age is catching up to you, old man," Chikuma joked

"Okoi-chan, get out of here and warn Hyouma-sama," She whispered

"No, i'm your friend, i'm sticking by your side," Okoi said defiantly

Akabane slowly smiled, "So be it,"

"Besides I want to see how you fair against an enemy,"

Akabane's body faded and disappeared into the breeze with her scythe at the ready. She flowed in circles around the Iga intruders chuckling a rather evil-sounding snicker, "Who are you, show yourself!" Chikuma demanded

"My, my, aren't we a cheerful mood?" Akabane said presenting herself to the Iga. Her large scythe and tattoos made her look as if she was a servant of one of the Ten Kings of Hell. She got into a fighting position with the bladed chains of her scythe dangling like the hands of a ravenous demon.

"Give a path, wench!" Azuki shouted using his stretching abilties to attack the formidable Kageyasu shinobi.

"As a roadblock, i'm introduce myself, i'm Akabane Kageyasu," She said dodging Rousai's kick easily with her wind technique and baring her blade against his neck. She flowed up to a nearby tree branch and grinned with a glare that reflected a touch of insanity. The chains of her scythe swayed and chimed in the wind like the bells of hell, "now hit me, if you can,"

"I'll finish this quickly..."Koshiro tried his Kamaitachi against her to no avail,

"Heh, heh, heh, foolish boy...why attack me with that which I can control?" Akabane swirled her body into his attack and slashed Koshiro across the chest with her scythe,

Chikuma was cringing in pain from the deep but not fatal wound, "You....you bitch,"

"Now leave our lands, for next time we meet, i won't just scratch you oh no...i'll take all your heads and eat your kidneys!" Akabane vowed to the Iga as a warning. The ninja fed from from the road and vowed revenge.