Chapter 46

Tomo realized she had made a mistake about two seconds after she entered the large, dark creepy forest, which was seemingly devoid of people except for her and one strange killer. This was a time when she could have chosen to go and get Kimura.

"Tell me child" said the voice of the figure. It was a bit deeper then she was expecting. "Are you a ninja? Or a ninja in training?" asked the voice.

"I-in training" said Tomo, gulping slightly. She could sure use some of the demon power now…but of course she didn't feel it coming.

"Drop your weapons pouch to the floor and move away from it. Get rid of all weapons, or I'll rid your body of your head."

She complied, stepping away from the weapons on the ground. She watched in surprise as the man jumped down from the trees. He kept his distance.

"I ask you to leave this place" said the man. "If you are in training, I ask you to take your two compatriots and leave…abandon this lifestyle and live your life."

"What?" asked Tomo, caught be surprise. Why was this killer talking to her about this.

"Don't you see?" asked the man. "Ninja only bring death to this world. They kill fathers, mothers, and children to follow their orders. They fight wars, carry out assassinations. That body out there belongs to a corrupted ninja who kills for money."

"You aren't really one to talk about killing" said Tomo, trying to slowly step back, out of the forest, away from the man.

"I have only taken the lives of my fellow ninja" said the man. "Yes I am-well, I was a ninja myself. And now I must carry out my final personal mission, so that I can help this world."

"What are you talking about?!" she asked.

"I would recommend leaving this town as soon as possible. I have no intention of harming any ninja in training, as they are young and can change. But if you leave now, you can guarantee your teacher a few more weeks of life."

Tomo went to say something only to find the man leap up into one of the trees and suddenly disappear from view. She waited for a moment, wondering if a killing blow would come.

Nothing did.

Tentatively she walked to the weapons on the ground. She reached down to pick them up, but nothing happened. Quickly she shoved them into her shuriken pouch and sprinted out of the forest. That man…he hadn't seemed angry or crazed. He almost seemed sad. Why did she always have to come into contact with the crazies?

"And he talked about Kimura!" she suddenly said out loud. She only considered him Kimura, not "teacher". She started to run back towards the town. It wasn't like Osaka would be out here anyway.

Munro walked over as the girl moved around in her sleep. The girl seemed to be in the middle of a nightmare. He knew that sometimes the toxin could take anywhere from days to months to work…and now it was having an effect on this girl. He smiled to himself. He could have his very own protégé. One with tremendous power, created from someone who had been sent to stop his current leader.

He turned away from her, pouring a glass of cold water. The girl was sweating a lot in her nightmare. He found it amusing. She certainly wasn't anything to look at, not tall or muscular or particularly beautiful. But he felt a tremendous difference in her spiritual power compared to when he had first met her along the empty alleyway. She felt strong now. If she could match this power he felt, he knew she could be far stronger then he was.

He had had no intentions of this happening- he merely wanted the ninja to become aware of Iroto to make things a bit more…interesting. But here she was. He guessed it was just lucky he'd experienced this before. He had watched a reserved tranquil friend awaken from a fevered sleep, a completely different person. Yet part of the original person had remained…practically two people. That friend had gone on to murder five people before mentally breaking down and jumping into a river. The results differed among people. He was certain that whatever happened from now on would be fun.

"Where…where am I?" asked a weak voice. The girl woken up.

Munro turned around, holding up the glass of water. He handed it to her, the girl drinking the water quickly.

"Who am I talking to?" he asked.

"Who? My name…my name is Ayumu" replied the girl. "What am I doing here?"

"You were ill, you collapsed. I brought you back here to take care of you. Because you had helped me with my lead. So the least I could do was help you."

"Tell me…tell me is this town corrupt?" asked the girl. "Is it true about Iroto?"

"It is all true" replied Munro. "Iroto is an evil man, and this town follow his every word. This town is evil."

"Evil" said Ayumu. "Evil must be destroyed, wiped out. I must get rid of evil."

"I completely agree" said Munro. "And I want to help you in this noble cause."

"Noble?" asked Ayumu. "Noble cause?"

"Yes noble. Who else your age would take on these troubles to help the world?" asked Munro. "Who else would do such things?"

Ayumu nodded. "These troubles must be destroyed. And I feel-I feel strong. I feel like I can do something."

"That's good" said Munro. She was different now. This girl had awakened under the toxins potent spell. All he had to do was give her a helping hand to lead the way to destruction. After all he didn't like to be a figure in control.

"We must destroy Iroto" said Ayumu.

This was going to be so much fun!


Sakaki stood a short distance from the building where she was staying. She kept on looking around, keeping a watch out for Kimura. The man had said for them to meet back here at this time, but he was running late. She wasn't expecting Tomo to turn up any time soon, but she expected Kimura would shortly.

She kept her head low as a few people passed by her.

"Who's that girl" asked one of them.

"Some stranger" muttered the other in reply. "She turned up a few days ago with someone else. I reckon they're bad news."

"It's all bad news" stated the third and final member of the small group. "We've got the mayor being killed, the attack on Iroto's factory. Iroto is the only man we can trust in this town."

"Hopefully they won't let anymore strangers in until this is all worked out."

"Hopefully they won't go easy on strangers just because they don't live here" said the second person to speak. "They shouldn't get any special rights just because they come from another village."

They continued to talk as they walked by, Sakaki trying to stay so far out of the way she was in danger of vanishing into the wall. Although she didn't like to admit it, she didn't like this place. She was looking forward to leaving, returning home. Hopefully soon.

"I see Tomo is as good a timekeeper as usual" muttered Kimura as he joined Sakaki. "I wonder how long it'll be before she turns up."

"Did you manage to find Osaka?" asked Sakaki.

"Yeah, she's just hiding around the corner" said Kimura sarcastically. "Nope, haven't found her. Tomo and she are probably busy trying to buy food or something at this moment in time."

"But what if Tomo hasn't found her?" asked Sakaki. "She's missing somewhere out here. And this place has at least one killer running around."

"This is Osaka we're talking about" said Kimura. "Given her complete lack of speed, I doubt she managed to get very far away from here."

"But what if she is in trouble?" asked Sakaki. "What if she needs our help?"

"She is a well trained ninja student. She has the ability to take care of herself." Kimura paused, looking down at the ground for a moment. "Can we stop talking along these lines?" he asked.

"What?" asked a shocked Sakaki.

"Several months ago Yukari made me promise I'd take care of all of you. However I don't even have to think about that. I've spent quite a lot of time with you girls…and well you are kind of like family now. I don't want to dwell on the fact that Osaka could be in trouble."

"K-Kimura-sensei" said Sakaki tearfully, easily moved.

"Ah Sakaki" said Kimura. "How about a hug? A nice tight embrace?"

Sakaki stopped being moved and took a few steps back.

"Oh well. I still mean what I said about you three…but you can't blame a guy for trying to get some physical contact as well" stated Kimura.

"Hey did Kimura act freaky again?" asked Tomo as she came to a quick halt, having been sprinting.

"Did you find Osaka?" asked Sakaki.

Tomo shook her head. "No I couldn't find her. But I ran into that killer guy" said Tomo, in a tone that suggested it was like meeting an old friend. The fear she had felt was long forgotten.

"What?" asked Kimura.

"Lets go inside and I'll tell you about it" said Tomo. "There are too many rude people out here" she said, giving a look to a group who eye the trio suspiciously.

"Ok, but you'll have to be quick. After this we'll go and look for Osaka again" said Kimura as they pushed open the door to the building.

The figure in black placed his sword down on the ground and turned to face the hills that rested behind the town. Though it went against his plans, though the person wasn't one of them, he knew he had another task to do. When this was done he could return to his mission…though he knew the mission would take a very long time.

He picked up his large sword and began to make his way towards the one known as Munro.