Sayuri whirls around, her hair whipping around her head like smoke. She peers into the darkness, trying to make something out. She had felt it, someone or something is watching her, her gut informs her of that much. Sometimes, no matter your gender, or culture, or race, or any other type of trivial human prejudice, sometimes, certain things just run deep in your blood. For Sayuri, it means the heightened senses of a ninja, even if her raw skill hasn't been honed by a sensei.
Sayuri gazes and gazes and gazes into the darkness until it starts to suck at her soul, until it starts to feel as if she doesn't exist anymore. She's staring at nothing, she's becoming nothing, and for the first time in a long time, she begins to feel a twinge of fear of the dark.
Sayuri takes two slow steps back, still entranced in the nothingness, when she hears the slightest sound. The sound of invisible footsteps. The pale moonlight isn't much to go by, but there is no mistaking the figure that materializes from the darkness. A child of the night is borne before Sayuri's eyes. A tall, lean figure, cloaked in the color of midnight, steps towards the girl dressed in the weak color of the moon. He approaches slowly, confidently, unworried about the prospect of her running away. If she chooses to do so, a possibility he very much bets on, she won't get far. He's never seen her before on his night patrols, maybe she recently moved into clan territory.
Sayuri's eyes slowly rise to meet those of the man standing before her. He's almost a head taller, and all she can make out of him is the color of his eyes. They are the only light within him, it seems, the silvery color of water under a full moon. They're cold as they bore into Sayuri, picking her apart and freezing every inch of her. His eyes are the kind a girl could get lost in, and Sayuri is no exception.
He has to confess, he is impressed that this new girl hasn't run off in fear at the sight of him. He's even more impressed that she has the courage to stare him down right here, right now, in the dead of night, on a dark street, unarmed and completely vulnerable. He raises his hand and wraps his fingers around the hilt of the katana blade strapped to his back. Sayuri's eyes follow his hand's ascent to the weapon on his back, a tingling sensation of fear, a forewarning of danger, settling in the pit of her stomach. She should run, she scream for help. She doesn't.
He freezes, leaving the katana in its sheath. This girl, this child, has the audacity to look him in the eyes just as he is about to perform his first kill. She has the complete and utter boldness to make him feel guilty for what he is about to do, for performing his rite of passage. His whole life amounts to this moment, if he can't make an easy mark now, how will he be able to defend clan territory? Or avenge his sister? Who the Golden Vipers so ruthlessly murdered?
But then again...What kind of ninja kills the innocent anyway? Where is the honor in that? He lets his hand fall to his side. She would be too easy a kill, anyway. Still, he has to kill someone to become a full ninja, it's the code of his clan. Perhaps he can find someone more deserving of death tonight. His code commands he kill someone tonight to prove himself a true assassin. His heart demands he make sure the girl remains safe from any other dangers lurking in the dark. His mind knows that both will leave him with a guilty conscience.
