Tenchu Fan Fiction ❯ Sparrow ❯ What Lurks In The Shadows ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

It was an especially fine evening. The late summer air was warm and a soft breeze was blowing rustling the leaves of the trees that lined the outside of the tax collectors mansion. Haru Tadashi sighed softly and shifted his grip on his spear. Several of his friends had gone into the village a mile down the tree lined road to drink sake at one of the inns and perhaps visit a brothel. He’d been invited to join them but declined after he was offered the gate post for the evening. Guarding the main gate of the mansion always paid a little extra and Haru was badly in debt. It would have been a beautiful evening for a walk along the river bank with his friends or one of the beautiful geisha that offered their company for the right price. A price he couldn’t really afford anyway he told himself with another sigh. Turning his head he let his eyes sweep the open clearing before him slowly. The high walls surrounding the mansion compound were lit by the flaming braziers stationed at every twenty feet, the clearing was brilliantly alight. At the far end of the wall movement caught his eye and he turned his head to see another guard, Miki Harada coming from his patrol. Miki raised his hand in greeting and Haru returned the friendly gesture. “Nice night.” He called. Miki nodded and scanned the tree line slowly, one hand resting on his sword hilt. “All quiet?” he asked approaching Haru’s station slowly. Haru nodded shifting the spear to his left hand. “Has been all evening.” He replied. Miki nodded and turned back the way he’d come. “Give a shout if you see anything suspicious. Don’t go investigating alone; these woods are full of bandits, ninja and other beasts of darkness.” Miki warned as he rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. Haru nodded thinking he wouldn’t be stupid enough to investigate anything without someone there to back him up. Turning his eyes back to the road the sound of a soft thump drew his attention back to the corner Miki had just disappeared around. Frowning he tightened his grasp on his spear lowering the weapon into the guard position and listened intently. There was no sound. Slowly Haru moved from his spot at the gate towards the corner. “Harada-san?” he called softly. “Are you there?” Silence. Haru snapped his spear up defensively and looked around. There were no other guards in sight. Swallowing slightly he approached the corner with great caution and peered around it. There was nothing but the shadows cast by the compound wall. Stepping further around the corner Haru squinted. “Harada-san?” he asked softly stepping forward, his left foot collided with something on the ground. Haru looked down at the prone figure of Miki Harada stretched out against the wall, his throat gaping open, face contorted in agonized fear. He had a split second to realize he’d made a terrible mistake before the kodachi’s snapped around his own throat and he felt fire rip through his flesh as his throat was cut. He garbled dropping the spear and staggering forward as the blood gushed from his already dying body. Falling to his knees he had a momentary glimpse of the full moon rising through the trees before he sagged onto the dirt beside Miki. Haru stared into the eyes of his dead comrade thinking that perhaps he should have gone with his friends after all. The guard landed on the ground with a soft thump and was dead a split second later. Ayame turned flicking the blood from her blades and slid them back into the sheathes at the back of her belt. Behind her Rikimaru was shaking his head in agitation. “you made too much noise with the first one…” he whispered through his mask. Ayame turned her head with a snort and brushed her bangs from her eyes. “Please. They’re dead so what does it matter? Let’s do this.” She started along the wall moving swiftly and silently in the shadows, her counterpart following behind her. “if you had killed the first silently then there might have been no need to kill the second man…” Rikimaru whispered as he boosted her onto the wall and then hoisted himself up to crouch alongside her. Ayame tossed her hair, brown eyes scanning the courtyard slowly picking out the locations of the guards below. “it doesn’t matter now, they’re both dead so let’s get on with this already. you go right and i’ll go left, right?” Rikimaru sighed knowing he wasn’t going to get anywhere with her and nodded his head. “right, we’ll meet on the roof of that storage building..” he whispered pointing to the peaked roof near the main house. Ayame ducked her head in acknowledgement and darted off running in a low crouch along the wall. Lifting his eyes towards heaven for a sign of patience Rikimaru turned and darted the other way. The guards were remarkably inept, he thought as he drug the dead corpse of one into a nearby bush, taking care to conceal the man properly before looking around. These weren’t samurai however and had no real allegiance to the tax collector, these were hired men. Taking out his grappling hook he swung the cloth covered claw onto a nearby roof and climbed up swiftly darting along the tile in silence. Crouching on the end he peered down two guards below him in conversation. “So, did you have fun with that geisha last night?” “Yes, she was very….entertaining..” “Did she let you try some of her wasashi?” “No, that would not have been….polite..” Rikimaru rolled his eyes in disgust and looked towards the shadows surrounding the other buildings for Ayame. No sign. Rising he moved along the edge of the roof towards another within jumping distance. No sense killing if he didn’t have to. Preparing to make the leap he stopped short as a figure landed on the roof he was just about to jump towards. Startled he crouched down and looked at the slender figure of a young woman. She was dressed in a short blue tunic, a red scarf wound around her throat and a katana across her back, her black hair was cut short and shaggy and she crouched as well. Turning her head she rose, her back to Rikimaru and started along the roof away from him, pausing at the edge she turned and looked straight at him over her left shoulder before she flipped off the roof vanishing. Shaking his head Rikimaru vaulted into the air and sprinted silently across the roof to peer over the edge where the kunoichi had leapt down from. Two guards lie dead in a pool of still oozing blood but there was no sign of the girl. Sitting back on his haunches he scanned the compound again and caught sight of Ayame landing on the roof of the storage building nearby. Three leaps later and he was crouched alongside her. “there is another ninja here. perhaps more.” He said softly. Ayame wiped the blood off her blades and sheathed them before resting her forearms on her knees and looking at him. “another ninja? i think your eyes are playing tricks on you.” “no, i saw her quite distinctly.” He said as he moved along the roof’s edge checking for straggling guards they might have missed, besides the two who were still conversing several hundred feet away, oblivious that all their comrades were dead. “her?” Ayame asked creeping alongside him with the grace of a cat. Rikimaru nodded. “it was a kunoichi. i’ve no doubt.” Ayame frowned looking around more intently. “does she work for the tax collector? a hired blade?” “no. she killed two of the guards after she dropped off the roof. i lost her afterwards.” “hm…..maybe we’ve got competition for the tax collector’s life.” She said with a faint scowl. Rikimaru noticed and lowered his head smiling faintly behind the cloth. Ayame elbowed him hard. “knock it off, i’m not worried about competition for –me-“ she hissed. “let’s get this over with before it becomes a ninja convention.” Without another word she leapt from the roof and flipped over the wall as a bowman was making his way down the narrow passage between wall and house. Her knees clamped around his head and with an agile twist of her hips she broke his neck and sent him spiraling into the dust on his knees, his head wrenched all the way around, eyes staring skyward in a grotesque fashion. Rikimaru landed beside her with a grunt and boosted her onto the low roof before following her up. They darted alongside one another towards one of the attic vents at the top of the roof and wiggled inside the small space into the blackness beyond. The stench of blood was thick clogging her nostrils as Ayame stood surveying the trail of corpses. There was one lying dead on the stairs they had just descended and another right around the corner in the storage room. Across the room another guard lay half in the next room, a broken shoji draped over his prone form. Two guards near the staircase leading to the upper floor had their heads caved in, kneeling within three feet of each other. This was all too familiar. She followed Rikimaru at a silent run up the stairs and along the hallways moving deeper into the mansion and following the trail of death towards the private chambers of the tax collector. They heard an agonized scream from just outside the collectors doors and Rikimaru threw them open brandishing his katana, Ayame at his side her kodachis at the ready. The tax collectors limp body slid off the edge of the girls katana slowly and fell to the floor in a bloody heap. Flinging the blood off her sword she sheathed it before turning to face the two who had interrupted her mission. Recognition flashed in wary brown eyes as she and Ayame looked at one another. Ayame lowered her kodachis slowly before sheathing them entirely. “It’s been a long time, kid.” She said. “What are you doing here?” Rin replied watching Rikimaru, who still had his sword drawn. Ayame elbowed him and he reluctantly sheathed it stepping back to watch the hallway. “We had a mission to kill the tax collector. Why are you here? I thought you stopped working for Ogin.” Rin shook her head crossing her arms loosely under her small breasts. “This isn’t for Ogin. I’m still cleaning up remnants of the Kuroya, this man helped support them financially and allowed them to use the village as a recruiting base.” She said. Ayame brushed her bangs out of her face and nodded in understanding. The events of a year ago when Rikimaru had still been missing were fresh in her mind. Vividly she recalled this girl’s grief and determination. “We should get going.” She said stepping back towards Rikimaru. Rin nodded and darted to the open window crouching on the sill. “Hey kid…” Ayame said. Rin turned to look at the older woman. “Be careful, alright?” Rin nodded and was gone out the window into the night. Turning to Rikimaru she sighed. “Let’s go home, I want a bath.”