Moons: -sigh- School will be starting soon. Is it just me, or is all the back-to-school shopping worse than the actual going to school? I don't know, I just find shopping very annoying. Also, all those separate areas in stores reserved for school supplies that all colorful and filled with crayons and shiz kinda scream 'Summer's ending! Haha!' DX

Hold my hand in the dark street for if you do I know that I'll be safe.
Even if I'm far away and alone I can be sure that you'll find me there.
This I know. You draw me close for a while, so quiet.
You tell me everything. If I forget what you say
then you'll come to me and tell me again. Yes you'd tell me once again.
But what happens when I know it all, then what should I do after that?
What then?

~Misa no Uta (Misa's Song), Death Note

'Breathe....damn it, breathe!'

Air zoomed back into his lungs. His mouth opened widely, taking a deep breath to keep him alive. His eyes haven't opened yet. He was so tired. He just wanted to sleep.

'No! Wake up! Prove you're not dead!'

He ignored his thoughts. The eyes stayed shut. He felt alive enough. He could tell he was slanted, facing downhill perhaps. He could feel around. He wasn't wearing a shirt and he had bandages around his chest. He was laying down on something soft. It felt strange, not like a carpet or bed. It wasn't that smooth.

He just barely opened his eyes. It was brown. Fur? He reached out his hand to catch it-

'Oh god! I don't have a hand! No hand on ether arm! My whole right arm's gone too!'

His eyes opened fully and confirmed the fear. The left hand was gone at the wrist. He couldn't see any part of his right arm. He looked down and realized that about half his shoulder had gone with it. Both ends were covered by a wrapping of bandages.

"Shit...!"

"What's wrong?"

The boy leaped forward at the new voice. It was unknown to him; it sounded deep and knowledgeable.

He was now laying facedown on wild grass. He was defiantly on a hill, but that wasn't important now.

He rolled himself over. A massive grizzly bear towered above him. It seemed much bigger than it actually was due to his current position. A metal mask cover most of it's head. He started hyperventilating a little. He didn't believe he stood a chance against that thing.

The bear turned it's head in a confused manor. "Oh, did I scare you, Sora-kun?"

"How the hell could you not freak me out?! I wake up on top of you! And how the hell did you know my name!?" Sora screeched.

"Calm down!" The bear just barely raised his voice. "Someone told me your name. And you should be resting. You have no idea how lucky you are to be alive now."

The bear took some steps back. "Now just relax-"

"How the hell do you expect me to relax!? A talking bear-"

"GGGGRRRAAAAAWWWW!!!"

Sora jumped again. The bear's roar ended and he sighed, "Forget me. There's someone else you should see."

He turned his armored head downhill. At the bottom of the hill there was a river. A massive figure stood at river's edge, gazing into the waters lost in thought. 'At least he's human.' Sora thought, relieved.

He made his way down the hill to the man, "Oi! Who are you!?"

The man remained silent. "What's up with you?" Sora asked when he didn't get an answer.

The giant of a man sighed, "Two days..."

"Huh?"

"If I had been just two days earlier," He continued, "I could've saved yah." He slowly turned his head to look at Sora. The face looked so much like Sora had seen it before. He thought back, people he knew, people he was supposed to remember. The torturer's face showed up, but he quickly shook it out. Then,

"Brom...?"

Brom smiled, "It's good to see yah after all these years, Sora-kun. I'm amazed yah still recognize me. That's great!" His face hadn't aged a bit. His beard was shaved off, but other than that he was exactly the same as he was four years ago.

Sora fell down again. "It is you..."

"I promised I'd come back, didn't I? I just wish I wasn't so late."

Sora just stared speechless at Brom, like he was still taking it all in. "I'm sorry it took me so long. I promise I'll teach yah all about Jashin-sama. But first, you must have some questions. I'll let you ask one, then me ask you, and so on. You deserve some answers, and I'm a little curious myself. Go ahead and go first."

Sora finally snapped back to reality. "Um, yeah? Who was the bear? And how did he know me?"

"Kanemaru. He's really a softy, believe me. The bears can be summoned after you sign their scroll of agreement or whatever, but they call themselves 'noble and honorable warriors'. Real goody-goodies. Luckily, Kanemaru believes I'm good enough and is loyal to me. Not much of a killer, but he comes in handy. I can summon him when ever I need him.

"When I found you for example. He carried you out of the country for me."

"I'll have to thank him for that later. That reminds me." He bowed his head respectfully. "I can't thank you for getting me out of there."

"I just wish I was sooner. It would have made a huge difference."

"No kidding." Sora said quietly, "Your turn to ask a question."

"Alright then." Brom replied. "Do you know why you're not dead?"

"Er, I'm lucky I guess."

Brom shook his head no. "Lucky is right, but lucks not enough to keep you alive." He looked the kid in the eyes. "Immortality."

"Immortality? Can that even exist!? It's a myth stupid shinobi warloads go after!"

"Wrong." Brom told him, "Sora, you're an immortal."

"I'm a-" Sora stopped mid-sentence. "That's crazy!" He snapped, "Immorality's a myth! You honestly believe that people can't be killed!? That I can't be killed!"

"How does one get stabbed in the heart and lose most of his blood and still survive to stand before me today?" Brom asked.

"What are you saying...?"

"You got your heart run through with a blade. I found you flat on the ground, not moving. I took your body out of the country, but then I felt around your neck. You had a pulse. How could you have a pulse without a beating heart?"

At that question, he shoved Sora's chest. Sora cried out in pain.. There was sharp pain in that area.

"I- I-"

"Don't you remember Sora?" Brom asked, "It looked a lot like you were tortured."

"Torture...!"

"Waz the matter Sora-chan~?" He looked to his side and saw himself. 'Twin!?' "You can't remember the torture~?" The double slurred.

'Stay away from me!

"I can help you-"

Stay away from me!

He charged. The blade came forward and into his chest.'

Sora gasped as it came back to him. "I died!" He whispered, "Dear God, I died!"

"It's alright Sora." Brom told him.

"Yeah Sora-chan~" Twin spoke from right next to him. He leaned closer so he was right next to Sora's ear. "It's alright. Hehe, you can remember his face?"

The face was dark-toned and strong-looking. He was in his mid-twenties. He had light brown hair spiked up in the back. He had small brown eyes that were the same shade as his hair.

"I'll never forget his face." Sora said aloud, to both Brom and Twin. "Cause when I see him again, I'm going to know everything about Jashin-sama and I'm going to give him the most painful death possible."

He looked in the river. His refection stared back at him. Slowly the reflection shifted and burred at small details until his saw his brother. "Ichigo deserves the same fate." He continued, "He stabbed me in the back like that without even giving Jashin a chance. He just saw one kill and turned me in." His voice was dark. "I'm kill that perverted hypocrite and make him suffer." He stared back at the reflection. He hated the sight, the family resemblance between them.

Twin snickered as he faded to nothing beside Sora. The Ichigo in the water blurred and slowly reappeared as Twin smiling back at him with fangs. "Sora?" Sora blinked and he was staring back at his reflection. "Y-yeah Brom?"

"It's okay to be immortal. Hell, it's the greatest blessing you can receive! You're immune to death!"

"... I feel like a freak." 'Seeing things that aren't real' Sora added to himself.

"Immortality had nothing to do with that. They saw you as a freak just for worshiping Jashin-sama." Brom pointed out. "Hmm... guess that makes me a freak too. I'm also immortal."

"You are!?"

Brom smiled softly. "If I wasn't, I would died over ninety years ago."

"Ninety!? But you look like you're, i don't know, thirty years old at most!"

"Oh, there's so much for yah to learn." Brom sighed, "For starters, immortals age normally until they become er, uh... about twenty-five or so. Then it slows way down. I don't know how much, but a lot. I was always younger than I looked, but- haha- this kind of youth is insane!"

Sora stared at the other immortal wide-eyed and said nothing.

"Sora," Brom became serious again. "When did you go through the ritual?"

"Ritual?" Sora thought back. What ritual? "I went through it with you, remember?"

"You did?"

"Yeah, when I was eight and we first met. I made my vows to Jashin. Don't you remember?"

Brom thought for a bit before saying, "Yeah. Yeah, I remember that. My bad." 'It's not right. It makes no sense...'

"You want to know how to kill the proper way?" He asked. Sora nodded, yes. "Alright, come on." Brom stood up. "Oh," He added, "I guess I'm your teacher now. So call me Sempai, okay?"

"Alright. Brom-sempai."

Before following him, Sora took one last look at the reflection in the water. It was just his imagination, he told himself. There was no Twin. Nothing.

With help, Sora had managed to get a new shirt and red jacket- a small gift from Brom- on. The jacket had to be fully zipped or the right side of it would fall off what remained of his shoulder. The river was miles behind them now. They were in the forest and Brom was sacrificing.

Sora took in everything he saw in his head. First Brom cut his arm and let the blood fall to the ground. He scraped the blood around with his foot and formed Jashin's circle. He took the man's blood and licked it. His skin was now a creepy black. White markings ran across his face in a skull pattern, and came down his limbs like bones. When he stood on top of Jashin's circle and stabbed himself, the man was injured too! When he cut himself, both him and the man bled!

The man, Brom's victim, was on the ground trying to hold himself up. It was failing. He was a shinobi with a leaf headband attached to a bandanna around his head. A quick stab with the katana in the leg with a few twists of it made the nameless shinobi fall over flat. "How's it feel down there!?" Brom laughed. The leaf shinobi made a whimpering sound. "Haha. That so? Well I've had my fun. Time to end it."

He put the sword up to his chest. "See yah in the afterlife- not!" The katana went through the chest. The leaf shinobi never moved again.

"It's okay Sora. He's dead." Brom called. He laid himself flat. "Tell me when the thirty minutes are up."

Sora jumped down from the tree he had been hiding in. After the half hour, Brom's black and white color faded to his normal tan. "You're done. What was that?!" He asked, "It was amazing!"

"Jujutsu: Shiji Hyoketsu (Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood)." Brom answered.

He explained, "It's a jutsu used to kill in the Jashin way."

"-But I'm not a shinobi." Sora interrupted.

"You don't need much training to learn it." Brom continued, "Basically, it turns you into a living voodoo doll. You ingest the target's blood and your skin transforms to resemble a skeleton. As long as you stay on Jashin's symbol that you put on the ground with your own blood, you'll be unstoppable."

"So why'd you put your self through all that pain? It didn't really seem like you had to do that."

"It's entertaining to feel the pain they go through. It's as simple as that."

"Doesn't seem that simple."

"You'll think differently once you get used to it."

He pressed his palm on the ground and summoned Kanemaru to his side. "Yes?" The bear asked. He was in full armor this time. It covered not just his head, but his entire body. "Before I attacked him, this ninja sent out a message calling for help. I'm surprised they haven't shown up yet, but if they do guard Sora." Brom ordered the bear.

"Hai!" Kanemaru said moving closer to the kid.

"What!? I-... yeah, I get it. No hands. Whatever." Sora groaned.

"You know what. I change my mind. You two go ahead without me." Brom said, "I'll catch up. Kanemaru, you know the destination."

"I remember it." Kanemaru said, "Come on Sora, this way." Sora shrugged and asked, "Where is the destination exactly?"

Kanemaru answered, "Yukigakure (Village Hidden in the Snow)"

Moons: -looks over chapter- This is probably the most boring piece of crap I've ever written. -thinks back- Okay, there have been more boring, but fact is this is most likely the worst chapter yet. It's more of an explanation chapter than action chapter. I promise there shall be action in chapter 6. ^^

So, not bad? Not good? Lobster? Review and you get magical soda pop! You know you want it: It's free!