The Peach Spirit

The Old Knife

Taro's sword being the river sword is sort of a reference to the river that carried the giant magic peach in the momotaro story.

Enjoy.

xxxxxXxxxxx

In the middle of a forest and surrounded by trees, Taro stood with a serious expression on his face in front of his sword that pierced the earth. The ominous blade radiated dark aura that called for the peach boy, wooing him in with dreams of vengeance and victory.

The peach boy instinctively approached the sword, the river blade's alluring dream overpowering his will power. The peach boy stared at the pitch black blade with glowing eyes, hesitation holding him back for a second before his hand gripped the handle of the sword.

Immediately, pitch black aura shot out of the sword and swirled around the boy like a hurricane. Taro flashed an eerie smile as the sword's grudge, his OWN grudge started to consume his heart. But out of nowhere, a silver blur dashed towards Taro slamming into his stomach. The boy quickly let go of the sword and held his stomach in pain.

"Zao! What the heck?!" Yelled Taro angrily as he clutched his stomach in pain with his eyes closed. "You don't need to hit me THAT hard!" The manic silver dog didn't reply and looked away without so much as an apology.

"I told him to do it!" Exclaimed a bronze furred monkey with blue skin who was hanging off of one of the nearby tree's branches. "Taro, I've personally watched enough horror movies to know a bad sign when I see one. We ain't fighting NOBODY until you can control THAT...thing."

"I agree with Zuzu, for once." Added a golden pheasant with an elegant pose while crossing his wings. "Unlike my fabulous and delightful laughter, THAT smile was BLOODY TERRIFYING! And I'm sure SOMEONE who is definitely NOT me has completely soiled a few bushed in fear. I mean, just look at how terrified Zao looks!"

Zao, ignoring his companions accusations, turned to Taro and spoke firmly. "Practice or I break the sword." The dog's expression showed no lie in the canine's statement.

"C'mon, guys. Aren't you overdoing it a little?" Asked Taro putting his hand on the back of his neck with a grumpy expression. "You've been watching me 24/7, hiding my sword from me and making sure I only touch it supervised. That's a little overkill if you ask me."

"Because you keep trying to get to that thing all the time and it's creepy." Replied the pheasant, Zi, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "It's costing me my beauty sleep."

"Nobody cares about your beauty sleep, Zi." Taro blurted out grumpily before his eyes widened upon realizing what he had just said when Zi gasped in shock. "Wait- I didn't mean that!"

It was too late, however. The tears decorated the pheasant's eyes as he struggled to hold in the pain Taro's words had caused him. Throughout the sobs, shaking and tears, Zi was only able to utter one word. "What?"

"I- I didn't want to say that. I would never!" Replied Taro in a panic as he pet Zi on the head, trying to comfort the bird. "It just came out of nowhere like I was- was-"

"Possessed? That's why you need practice." Zuzu cut in narrowing his eyes with his arms crossed. "We'd be dead, damned and reincarnated ten times over before we let our buddy get corrupted by some crummy curse!" He said before Zao nodded in affirmation. Taro froze as he took in his companion's words. His lips quivered as he struggled to hold back his expression against the wave of warmth that washed over his clouded heart.

The peach boy paused before donning a determined expression and slowly approaching the sword to once again attempt to overcome its influence.

"Zao, give me all you've got this time."