Fan Fiction ❯ Soul of the Blade ❯ Flight of the Wind Runner ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: Tencho

“That's him!” an assassin whispered loudly to his comrade behind a dead cherry blossom tree. “Yeah. He's the one. I'm sure of it! The Legendary Wind Runner!” they said pointing explicitly at a man sitting in an open field. “I can't believe it's actually Tencho Hamasaki, The Legendary Wind Runner!” A long moments silence ensued and was broken by a whimpering voice of one of the assassins. Through his shaky voice he managed to utter, “General. I…I'm…sc…scared.

“Don't let his title get to ya',” another started. “We can take em' down! Remember he slew 1,000 of our best forces! That man is pure evil. And plus there's a bounty on his head for 50 million yen! The sky looks as empty as the eyes of those who were helplessly slaughtered by this man.” The assassin pointed his eagle-like eyes back to the man.

The man pierced his sword into the ground as blank white snow sprinkled on top of him.. This man known as Tencho Hamasaki, the Legendary Wind Runner. He remained kneeling in meditation unaware of the troubles that lie about him.

Out of the midst sprung a bounty hunter with an 8 foot long chained sickle wielded. “Kyah!” He screamed as he flung it at the steady ronin. Tencho quickly rose to his feet spun around, drew his katana (long sword) and slashed the sickle back at the bounty hunter. The chain spun around and wrapped around him as the sharp end of the weapon chucked into the hunter's lower rib. He lay dead. Tencho listened patiently. He had ears like a bat in the night sky and the eyes of a hawk.

Tencho, with his back facing the assassin slowly turned his head and gave his foe a malignant look with a hollow expression. As if he was staring right through him. The dark gloomy and foggy background forced the illusion as if Tencho's eyes were glowing.

The assassin stumbled back, intimidated. “I-I'm not scared of you!!” he stuttered and drew his blade. Tencho kept his posture and expression as the assassin ruthlessly charged. His capes and garbs flying and dangling in the wind as he gained speed. Tencho remained well poised. As the assassin neared Tencho lowered his stance and got ready to unsheathe his sword. When he was in close proximity with his foe, Tencho quickly drew his sword, slashing swiftly at an incredible rate. At first it appeared as if nothing had happened until the bounty hunter slashed his sword at Tencho. As the sword was just a few inches from Tencho's face, it broke steadily into pieces.

In awe, he stumbled back once again, “I, Habimaru, shall never be defeated!!!!!!” Habimaru drew another sword from its sheathe and attempted another slash but Tencho dashed backwards and reared into a new stance. He arched his back and lowered his knees, spread his legs far apart, pulled up the sleeves of his gi (traditional samurai robes worn mostly by wanderers), stretched his left arm out forward and raised his sword above his head pointing his target, Habimaru. “Graaaaaaaggggh!!!!!!!!!” Habimaru foolishly charged at Tencho ready to attack. Tencho yelled, “Shining Blade!” Now not only did Tencho's eyes seem to glow but so did his sword. Tencho ran at Habimaru at an enormous rate leaving a trail of dust behind him. Habimaru tried to attack Tencho but Tencho thrust the saber through the unguarded stomach of Habimaru. Blood spurted through his back and trailed down his mouth as he looked down at the bright white katana pierced through him. He began to mumble some words but they were unheard. Tencho jerked his blade back out of Habimaru, wiped his blade clean with the shirt of the slain Habimaru, and sheathed it. Tencho began to strut down the path that faced the summit of the moonlit night sky.

Suddenly a masked woman leapt out of the bushes. She was wearing a blue kimono (traditional style of Japanese clothing). She unmasked herself revealing a soft astonished expression. “I am amazed at your skill samurai. They're impeccable. I wish I could shadow your swift smooth movements.”

“Why is this? You wish to be a homeless, haunted, blood-thirsty savage murderer?” Tencho retorted hastily.

She giggled. “I am Kasumi Yatsumi. You are?”

“Tencho”

She smiled. “Tencho is it? I like that name. As a child I longed to be a swordsman like you. I wanted to have the power of the blade in my hands. I wanted to feel special and feared wherever I went. But I lost it all.”

“How?”

“Well you see, my father owned this dojo. The Yatsumi School of Swordsmanship. He was so successful until his school was raided and burned down by a gang called the Shukenji Gang. My father was killed in the process so I had to make a living on my own. I had no one to train me in the martial arts because all schools were closed until further notice because of this crude act performed by those villains.” Tears began to squeeze from her eyes as she fought to hold them in. “I only wished to be able to get revenge on them but I couldn't because I was weak. I was useless against them. It pains me to think that they got away. They got away with their demonic act! I want revenge but there's nothing I can do. Nothing at all.”

Tencho began, “You're taking the wrong turn Kasumi. Believe me.” Kasumi kept her solemn soft smile. “Please come to my house. I don't want you to stay out in this cold.”

“Thank you.”

“Tencho. I need your help. Will you be willing to do the task?”

Tencho turned his head and faced her. “It depends. What's your request?”

“I would like to give this necklace to my friend, Himiko at Higashi Castle. She's a cook there. I can't get in anymore since the recent raids of that gang unless I have proper certification of approval. She always wanted this necklace as a gift but now that I have the money I got it for her. Will you please help me? I'm sure you can sneak in.”

Tencho turned and stared at the castle in disappointment. “I won't need to sneak.”

Kasumi looked at Tencho with a flustered look. Then she looked in the direction in which he was peering. She gaped in horror as she saw the castle in flames and the gates burnt down.

“Quick let's move.” Tencho grabbed her hand and sprinted to the diminished castle. As they reached, two guards were running into the courtyard to stop the raid as they met eyes with Tencho and Kasumi.

“Hey!” they yelled and turned around and started towards them. Kasumi hid behind Tencho's back as he drew his bokken (wooden sword) slowly. The first guard horizontally sliced his sword at Tencho who dodged, did a back flip, kicking the sword out of his opponent's hand, then ricocheted from the ground toward the guard and whacked the guard's chest making sure not to kill him. The second guard came from behind and attempted an overhand chop with his sword but Tencho jabbed him in the gut with the handle of his katana and he fell unconscious.

“Lady Kasumi!” Tencho hollered at her. “Stay back!”

She followed the instructions and stayed back and watched the massacre that the gang of thieves laid upon the guards; the flames rising and falling and devouring all in its path as if they had a mind of their own. As she stared a little harder at the raiders, she noticed something very familiar. Their uniform looked recognizable, as if she'd seen them somewhere before. Then she remembered what the flaming-wolf sign on their uniform meant. They were part of the Shukenji Gang. She let out a deep shriek but quickly covered her mouth with her hands. The gang was setting off dynamite here and there and huge chunks of the castle were being destroyed. They had about 12 people in the courtyard including their leader and a man that didn't seem to fit in. This must have been their main army. Their side armies were actually inside of the castle, laying siege on the inside as well. Tencho darted towards the main group of bandits and noticed that they wiped out all of the guards.

“Stop brigands!” He yelled at them. They all turned their attention facing him.

The leader turned facing him and swiped his cape. “Move, peasant, or be killed. This is none of your concern.”

His crew began to join in. “Yeah! Let's take care of em for ya boss. He doesn't look too tough!”

“Be careful boys. Looks may be deceiving, but go for it. Let him die fearing the name Shukenji!!”

The brigands swarmed around Tencho who gently curled his fingers around the handle of his sword, ready to unsheathe it. He kept a stern confident look on his face. The bandits looked to it as an insult and began to attack, watching out for fire in their paths. The flames danced around Tencho like he was a God and gave him a demonic radiance, one that could strike fear into the eyes of a titan. Tencho drew his sword at the blink of an eye and blocked the first attack. A second strike came from behind but Tencho dodged and let him gash a hole in the head of his comrade. “ Raaaaaauuuuugh!” The squad hollered in rage like a band of hooligans and stampeded towards Tencho. The gang leader stood behind flames closely observing the match. He noticed Tencho's dexterity, speed and power. He noticed Tencho's sharp attention span and quick thinking. He admired it. The bandits continued to savagely swing their swords at Tencho but missed every time. Tencho was embarrassing them in front of their master; making them look like fools. Until he heard a loud shriek! It wasn't from Kasumi, who hid behind a burning rock, but it came from the kitchen. He could see wild flames bursting through the windows like the tongues of dragons. A bunch of brigands ran out, hollering and laughing as they held a sack of gold in their hands.

The leader called out, “Retreat! This is a man of much skill. Now is not the time. Maybe another time we'll slay him and his friend.” He bowed and grinned slightly with eye-to-eye contact with Tencho. “We'll meet again…Legendary Wind Runner.”

Tencho sheathed his sword, told Kasumi to hold her ground and raced to the kitchen. He found a one dead woman on the ground that had obviously been stabbed. He stared sympathetically at her as he saw her nametag that was stained with blood. He wiped away the blood with his thumb until the writing was legible. It read “Himiko Eichirro.” He quietly gasped and his sympathy grew. The sympathy wasn't mainly for Himiko, but for Kasumi. He pulled the necklace out of his pocket gently and placed it around Himiko's neck and fled the room. Kasumi was waiting outside for him. “What were you doing?”

“Taking care of some unfinished business.” Tencho dared not notify her of what he just saw. If he told her she wouldn't be able to fight back the horde of tears. He just couldn't tell her.

“Where's the necklace? I must give it to Himiko.”

Tencho lied, “ Ummm, I think I lost it in the blazes when I went into the kitchen. I'm sorry.”

“It's alright. Really.” She cupped her hands and bowed her head. “Let me take you to my residence. Please make yourself welcome when we get there.”

“Thank you. I am grateful.”

“Wait.” A voice called out from behind them. It was that man that didn't quite fit into the scene. He was wearing neither royal armor nor the Shukenji gang uniform. “I am Menji Ketshomaru. You were pretty okay out there, samurai boy. What's your name?”
“Tencho Hamasaki and this here is Kasumi Yatsumi.” She bowed solemnly. “Pleased to meet you. So tell me, what is it that you want?”

Ketshomaru replied. “Nothing of course. I'm no bandit. I just wanna' help you out. You know, like a partnership. How about this? I'll give you some really valuable information on Master Tomoyama Shujirei.”

Both Tencho and Kasumi looked at him confoundedly. “Tomoyama Shujirei?!”
Ketshomaru smirked. “Heh. He's the leader of that mischievous gang. He has insuperable ability and is undefeated. No one in their right mind would want to take him on. Heh Heh Heh. You know what else, he has a weakness. I know because I was in his ruthless gang once. I was his top fighter. I was kicked out because of giving out information on him and his gang. They planned to execute me but I took out half his band and fled here and stayed here in the castle until Shujirei comes then I would ambush him and kill em'. Heh heh heh. My plan failed thanks to you guys. I suggest you don't fight em. You'll be wasting your time.” He turned around and began to walk away. He tilted his head back and added, “Oh yeah, that weak spot of his, don't even bother, he doesn't have one.” He kept on going, laughing tremendously as he went.

“Hold it right there!” Tencho ordered. “You might prove to be useful yet. Would you like to come with us to the residence of Kasumi Yatsumi? I hear she has lots of good food.”

“Food!!?????” Ketshomaru had drool dripping down the sides of his mouth and licked them up with his tongue. “Count me in!”

“Great.” Kasumi jumped to her feet. “Let's get on our way now!”

On their quiet walk Ketshomaru broke the silence and brought up a subject. “Hey Tencho, I've heard of you before. Your picture is posted on every tree and every store building in town. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. I see you're quite infamous around here.” Tencho remained silent, trying to ignore him. “So Tencho, tell me, you were the one who killed 1,000 soldiers?!”

“What if I am?”

“There's no way that you did! It's just not possible, you know. No human being could slay 1,000 soldiers! That's so cool! Maybe you can teach me to do that? It would be so cool. I bet you feel like a million y-“

Tencho halted him mid-sentenced. He gave him a vicious look. “Ketshomaru. You have no clue. I'm cursed! I slaughtered 1,000 people! You have no clue what happened. So don't even try to tell me what it was like. I couldn't control myself! Now everywhere I go people attempt to murder me or flee from me. I can't even buy goods without being staring into the eyes of fright right before me. You have no clue what it's like being stared at like a monster.” He toned down to a sadder voice. “I'm not a demon. I'm a human like any other person.”

Ketshomaru looked deeply at Tencho, “Hey, sorry pal. I always wanted to be able to do something as cool as that, you know. No offense. So tell me, if you hate killing so much, then why did you do it in the first place? Tell me what happened.” He waited for a reply. The bitter cold didn't allow him to speak easily through his throat so he believed he wasn't heard.

He began to repeat himself until Tencho opened his mouth and started. “Well, it all began from a battle between Lord Tamahome against Lord Genji. I was fighting for Lord Tamahome. Unfortunately, my choice was a faulty one. Tamahome was slain and his army was brutally defeated. Only a few of his soldiers survived. That included his two greatest generals, my friend, General Jiro Hoguchi and me. We found refuge in a forest that looked pretty much haunted. Every tree in there was dead and there were at least 4 corpses around us as we hid. Everything about the forest screamed “death”. We thought we were safe so Jiro set out to go find some water. Everything was fine, we found the water, we had food. We had no troubles until we heard a footstep. At first I began to think it was Jiro's. But as my eyes wandered, they began to lead me to a more accurate answer. Lord Genji. His armor was tattered and worn and his sword was cracked. At first I couldn't believe until I saw his face. It seemed to glow as his grin slowly widened. He drew his sword and pointed it to the face of Jiro only centimeters from stabbing him. He told us to join his army or die and that he could make us wealthy and live like lords. I refused and began to wonder if I should easily just kill him. I drew my blade but that was a big mistake that I made. In the backdrop I began to see things move. As I examined harder and strained my eyes, I was able to make out those small images. They began to look less like an army of small rocks, and started to make out the images of the entire army of Lord Genji or at least what was left of it. Immediately the soldiers moved up closer and grabbed Jiro, tied him to a tree and put a sword right under his neck. He asked me again to join, this time with more force. I hesitated a moment and looked around to the mouth of Genji and Jiro. I saw Jiro's lips moving saying “Don't join, don't worry about me.” I couldn't just stop not worrying about him. I couldn't. The next dumb thing that I did was that I jumped to my feet, drew my sword and cut off Genji's head. I hadn't realized what I had done at the time until I remembered Jiro! I shouted back to him and started running his way. The armed forces gave me a disgusted and petrified look and stabbed the sword straight through Jiro's neck as the blood spurted in their faces. I came to a halt. It was as if time had stopped. Tears began to pour from my eyes. They burned my cheeks as if they were acid. I felt a sudden rush through my body. I felt an urge to slaughter all 1,000 of these people. All of them! The clouds began to move extremely rapidly and I chanted, “I'll kill you all!!!!!” They smirked and charged at me. I held my ground as rage began to swirl around me. My eyes glowed all white and my pupils became the same color. Heavy winds began to start brewing suddenly. The winds kept getting stronger until they started blowing the soldiers back. The samurai kept trying to stumble to their feet but the winds pinned them down. When they managed to rise to their feet, heavy rains began to pour and a terrible lightning storm spontaneously began. Lightning bolts began to strike the soldiers down one by one and killed about 20 of them. The winds didn't calm, they began to grow even wilder and started to blow trees miles away. Suddenly I flew! I came straight off the ground and began to hover about 6 feet in the air. The samurai continued at me. I was still furious. I could never forgive them! They killed Jiro! My best friend! I drew my sword and began to spin in circles while levitating. “Boom!” All of a sudden a tornado fell from the sky as I was spinning with my sword thrusted out and it landed on my sword. My speed picked up and I spun faster. Soon a tornado formed around me with wild winds; everything was swirling up and getting sucked into the tornado and were sliced into pieces within. The tornado ended and the so-called brave samurais (or at least the survivors) began begging for mercy and pleaded for forgiveness but as long as my tears kept flowing I kept screaming - and killing. I began to run in there air at an incredulous rate almost too fast too catch by the human eye. They couldn't hit me, but I certainly could hit them. I zoomed by cutting off all of their heads and slashing and dicing each into pieces. Every one who tried to escape as struck by lightning. There was nowhere to run - and nowhere to hide. I was possessed by evil. I wanted to stop but I couldn't. I was trapped in the darkness and it was fogging up my heart and brain. I didn't stop murdering the soldiers until they were all dead and cut up into at least three pieces. I finally came to a stop. My mass-murder ended. I looked around myself and examined what I had done. 1,000 people dead. All 1,000 of them had families. All 1,000 of them had dreams and desires. All 1,000 of them deserved an opportunity in life. So why did I kill them you ask, Ketshomaru? Simply put, revenge. That's as simple as it goes. I looked at my sword; it was black. Black like night when the demons come out; black like sorrow, like agony; black like death; black like my soul. I couldn't even see a reflection of my face in it. And the blood on my sword resembled the face of Kagemura Anji. The one who had killed 800 people in the village of Sagahara was the same thing on my palms. The face seemed to give me an evil grin. I knew I was cursed. Anji cursed me. Now anytime I get angry, I kill, and slaughter and feel no remorse, no emotion. I feel content. Well, that's how it went. I wanted revenge for my friend, but I ended up losing more than I gained from it.”