Chapter: 4



“So, tell me what you wanted to tell me about this thing.” Miyori had sat down and wasn’t wasting any time. The swordswoman sitting in front of her was sipping her tea calmly, unphased by the dirty look she was receiving.  “When I was under Red Moon’s influence, I learned of eight other blades, each with a similar power.” She has a serious look on her face when she places her empty cup on the table. “The one you’re restoring is the purest blade of the nine, the Piercing Star. It was said to rival the Red Moon in power.”
Miyori’s eyes widen. She was certain she had one of the blades; that was why she called Kirei, and why her friend had freaked when she saw it. But the Piercing Star? “H-How sure are you? How sure are you that this is that sword?”
“I’d say I was pretty sure, seeing as how I was one who helped break it.” Nima pours herself some more tea. “It’s a long, complicated story, and I don’t feel like telling it.”
“I won’t pressure you then; I know a few things about complicated stories.” Miyori gets up and walks to the door to her workroom. “Trust me, there are things about me not even my best friends know, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Nima looks up from her drink, and at the woman standing in the doorway. “So it’s about the aura I felt from you earlier?”
That had cause Miyori to stop in her tracks. Nima continued. “It’s just like his, you know. But there’s something different about yours, like you’re attuned to a different source of power from the rest of your family.”
Miyori slowly raises her hand to the door handle to slide it open. “I’ve had issues with my family; I’d rather not bring them up unless you’re willing to bring up your own past.”
“Fair enough.” She sips some of her tea. “I will not pursue the matter further.”
She sets the cup down and walks to where there was a futon set on the wooden floor of the common room. “I should get some rest; I’m still kind of feeling dizzy from the fight this morning, and it’s getting late anyway.”
She lays down and pulls up the blanket provided to her. “Oh, and Miyori? One last thing before you go to fix the lieutenant.”
The swordsmith turns around. Nima looks over to where the girl was standing. “Thank you for letting me stay here. You didn’t have to do this.”
“I didn’t want to, but you were hurt, so, human decency, y’know?” Miyori slides the rice paper door open, and then slides it shut behind her. Nima rolls over and stares at the ceiling. “I just hope he can’t track the energy she’s letting out. If he can…” She didn’t want to think about it. Time, however, was short, so she and the other swordswoman would have to leave by the time the moon quartered in a couple of days.




“I’m going with you.” It was around noon the next day and Miyori had fixed and reattached Kirei’s arm earlier that morning. She currently had the two in her common room to tell them the news.
Kirei stood up. “You can’t be serious! You’re just going to pack up and leave this? I know you hate it here, but what about your unfinished projects?”
Miyori just sat there. “Y’know… I… they aren’t important, the only important things I have are two swords I’m working on, and I can bring those with me. The broken blade will take awhile, but we can stop by any random smithy and I could use their tools. The other one… I need something special for it that I can’t find around here; if I go with you two, I might find it.”
“Can you be ready in ten minutes?” The two looked over at Nima, whom had finally joined the conversation. “If you are to join us, we need to be heading for the port at Umi-shi. It’ll be just before dark when we get there if we leave in the next half hour.”
“Jeez, always in such a hurry. Why is that? Running from somebody?” Miyori gets up and walks to a nearby door. “I just need to grab the swords and a change of clothes, meet me out front in about five minutes.”
Nima throws her cloak over her shoulders. “We’ll be waiting.”


About a quarter mile out from Kashi, Nima tells Kirei to stop; Miyori had set down her pack and was looking back to the small village that she had called home for the past few years. She had to admit, the girl looked sad that she was leaving, but she’d be back when she was done with helping Kirei. Even so, she could tell that just up and leaving still left its mark.
“Miyo-san? Are you alright?” Nima asks the girl. Miyori picked her pack up and slung it back over her shoulder. “Yeah, just thinking. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”
“Alright. We need to make it a bit farther before it snows again. The winters here are terrible for us non-Surrians.


The group continues forward, unaware that they were being watched from the trees. A man wearing mostly white, and an arctic camo vest, was following them closely with a pair of binoculars. He reaches into one of his vest pockets and pulls out a radio transmitter. “Masaru no Jin, reporting: Yeah, you were right, she’s on the move. The way she left like that, something really spooked her.” He listens to the reply. “…Her?! I don’t think we need to bring Mako-… Understood, I’ll tail them halfway and report in before I turn over surveillance…” he pockets his radio. “Wow, if the big guy wants to send her to watch them…”



In a secret location on the Daimuran continent lay the Masaru village, home to the Masaru clan shinobi. The village itself was mostly carved out from the mountain, but whatever wasn’t implemented into the sheer rock face that created the northwestern border of the village, was built using the native trees of the forest for support. At first glance, it’d seem like a simpler village for a simpler time. That could not be any further from the truth.
A small girl – if one had to guess how tall she was, they’d guess just under a meter and a half – was skillfully dodging various thrown weapons without so much as breaking a sweat. She catches a spare kunai and throws it back at the machine that launched it at her, destroying it. “Come on! You can do better than that!” She dodges two more knives and starts throwing her own, digging into the pockets of her camo green vest for any kunai she could find. Two of them hit drones, the third hitting its intended mark.
“Agh!” a man in the same black garment as she was, except with full facemask and no vest, was pinned to a tree by the crotch of his pants, not even daring to think about if the girl’d been the slightest bit off in her aim… or should he be thankful that she was?
“Enough!” a voice called out, and the girl stopped in her tracks, not before catching one last knife. An older man wearing a similar outfit to those training –with blue bottoms, a white top and a blue haori – made his way onto the field.  He points his cane in tree guy’s direction. “Kenji, you must work on your physical skills, not relying on your contraptions, though their use is beneficial.”
The girl is snickering as she watches, unaware that the old man had gotten behind her. Before she realizes, she’s eating dirt. “And you, Makoto, need not be so arrogant. I understand you are by far the youngest of this village to earn the title of ‘Masaru’, but you need not let it go to your head. Control your ego, young one.”
The man turns back towards his observation area. “When you clean yourself up, report to my chambers; all top level Masaru will be there.” He walked off leaving the two ninja in the field.

Being summoned to the Shin-masaru’s chambers, while not a big thing for higher level Masaru such as herself, required Makoto to dress a bit more formal. She, as well as the others in attendance were wearing their white outfits, but were wearing golden ceremonial sashes, and yellow battle vests with them, all but one with silver kunai in their left breast pockets. They were knelt in two rows in front of the old man, all of them bowing their heads to the floor. The old man takes his seat and sets his cane up to be supported by his side table. “You may rise.” The ninja do so, and stand with their hands behind their backs.
“I have called you all here because I am moving the village into high alert status. I felt I must inform you all as to my reason for doing this: An old adversary of ours has returned, and his presence caused our ally in Kashi to flee. Makoto, I want you the intercept the watch out there and trail Nima and her companions. I need you to ascertain her exact reasons for leaving the village. Everyone else will stay behind and guard the village in case he decides to attack us directly. Dismissed.” All of the lesser nin bow respectfully and file out of the room.
“Makoto, halt.” She obeyed the order, unable to stop the chills from running up her spine. “You do not have to leave just yet; today is the day of your Coming of Age, is it not?”
She turned around, fell to her knees and bowed her head to the floor. The Shin Masaru chuckles lightly at this. “You were always strict when it came to proper procedure for a youngling. Despite the vast difference in our rank, we are now equals as people.” He reaches into one of his sleeves and pulls out an engraved Kunai; its silver edges purposely dulled. On one edge was her full name with title, and on the other was writing for “true woman.” He holds it out for her as she raises her head. “Come, receive this honor, Masaru Makoto.”
She does as is told, and examines her gift. It was true that, despite her petite size, she had survived for 21 revolutions to the day that she was brought into this world. This type of decorative weapon was only given to Masaru who had been 21 years or older when they completed their training; it was almost unheard of for a Masaru to be accepted any time before their 18th annual as the training was long and arduous. Makoto placed the object on the barren spot on her uniform where the other wore theirs and promptly bowed how she had before, her forehead touching the floor. “Thank you, Masaru-sama”
The shin-masaru, again chuckled. “Old habits die hard I see. Go now, complete your mission.”
“Hai!” Makoto gets up, turns on her heel and promptly removes herself from the chamber.


Nima knew that they were being tailed. She didn’t need a damned sword spirit to tell her that, but she did silently thank it for increasing her sensory reactions. With how quiet he was being, there was no doubt that it was a Masaru, specifically a lower ranked one; he had yet to learn how to mask his aura. She had no doubt the Kirei could very well also be aware of him, especially if she had kept up with her training since the war. That woman could tell an ambush from a mile away, before the ambushers knew they were going to ambush someone.
Not that it mattered. The Masaru were probably just wondering why she left the village as quickly as she did. If they’d suspected what she thought she knew, they’d send one of their best to help protect her very soon.
“Kirei, we should find someplace to rest for the night, the sun will set soon, and we need to prepare for our dinner.”
“I guess you’re right.” The swordswoman motions for her friend to stop for a second.  “Over there looks good.”


The group had decided to stop for the night, Kirei deciding to lead them away from the nearby river; if common sense says to go where there’s water, common sense also says that’s where people will search for someone first. They eventually set up camp outside of a small cave, partly because it was shelter if it rained, and partly because Nima claimed she was a decent mycologist. Kirei and Miyori decide not to even bother with that and decide to try their luck either fishing or foraging.
About an hour later, the group returned to their makeshift camp and started dinner; Kirei had to make sure Nima didn’t do anything to the fish that she had caught, because if memory served she was banned from cooking even rice.
After some time, they decide to turn in for the night after restarting their cooking fire. Nima had sat down next to a tree, and the other two had laid blankets closer to the warmth of the flame.
“So, how close are we to the city?” Miyori set her pack down and was digging around for the sleeping bag she ‘knew’ she had packed.
Nima looked over to the trees, and she noticed a different aura than the one from before, a much fainter aura than before, she could barely tell it was there. “Well, looks like someone else assumed the watch, and he’s definitely a higher level than the last guy. Knowing their tactics, I can assume we’ve made it halfway.” “We should be about halfway there; we made pretty good progress today for going on foot.”
She looks over to the other swordswoman. As if she knew what was going on, Kirei pointed over to the woods where Nima sensed the faint aura, and wordlessly, Nima responded with a nod. Kirei picks up her sword and gets up. “Miyo-chan, watch our stuff, I wanna go talk with Nima for a bit.”
“Watch our stuff? From what, squirrels? You know how I feel about those damned things!”
“… Not gonna touch that one. Let’s go, Nima.”


The two make their way into the cave and stop when they’re sure Miyori can’t hear them. Kirei sits down on a rock and crosses one leg over the other. “So when did you notice him?”
Nima follows suit, sitting cross-legged on the cave floor. “I noticed the one before. It seems like they want to protect me from something, in this case a certain someone.”
“Fun.” Kirei looked back out to where Miyori was prodding the fire, watching as she threw on another log.
“You know she likes you, right?”
Kirei hadn’t even had time to comprehend the question she just heard from her companion, she instantly fell from her makeshift seat.  “You mind running that by me again?”
“It’s easy to tell, the way she just left everything for you. The way she tended to your injuries before mine the other day. I just don’t know how far those feelings have gotten.”
Kirei climbed back up on to her rock and sat down. “I think you should keep out of things that don’t concern you. You assume too much…”
Nima giggles. “Hey, I only said that she likes you, I didn’t assume you liked her back. You just told me yourself.” She gets up and walks to the mouth of the cave, leaving behind a very red swordswoman. “Don’t worry about it; I won’t sell you out just yet. I’m going back outside, that fire’s looking pretty warm right now.”
Kirei looks at Nima. That woman had some nerve just assuming things like that. But at the same time, she had to admit, Miyori did feel like family. Definitely more than a friend.
Nima sat down next to Miyori, and the swordswoman watched as the two conversed amongst themselves. “I… I don’t know what to think about her just yet…”
She shook her head of those thoughts, and removed herself from the cave so she could join her friends.