Title TBA

Chapter 1

The rain fell hard, soaking everything along the dirt path that led somewhere, but he didn’t care really to where it went. His long silvery hair clung to his face, the ends of it turning gray naturally. Water poured down his face, washing away the blood that streamed from a wound just over his silver eye. In one hand was a long blade, the other was wrapped around his waist, crimson seeping through between his fingers. The other weapon was sheathed at his hip alongside the empty sheath for the second sword that he clung to.

He couldn’t recall where he’d come from, only that he didn’t want to go back. In addition to that, what kept him moving despite the downpour was the fact that he knew there were men after him and they weren’t far behind either. So, he kept going, moving his tired body as quickly as he could. The black cloth that covered his upper body had slipped open at some point and underneath the heavy material was a lighter cloth that clung to his small, but lithe frame tightly. The black, stretchy material curved along his upper body, up to his neck and then out under the sleeves of the other shirt over that.

Adjusting the ribbon that held it all together, he tried to pull the kimono closed, but it refused, water-logged as it was. Finally, he just ignored it and let it be. A few feet more and he stopped completely. Turning his head from left to right, his silver eyes narrowed, jaw tightening as he listened to the sounds of the rain that just barely covered the rushing footsteps of the men that followed after him. Letting go of his waist he reached down and drew the second sword from it’s sheath slowly.

Once it was free, he was surrounded by a group of eight men, all dressed in tight black suits that marked them from one of the ninja clans. Hired most likely by that man. Turning slightly, Sasura looked over his shoulder to the ones behind him and then all the way around, eyeing each one of the fighters carefully. Though he wasn’t really in good shape to take them all on at once, he didn’t have a choice. Coming out of it unscathed was an entirely different story too. He took a slow breath and straightened as best he could.

The attack came rapidly. First from the left, then the right. Sasura moved quickly, dropping down and deflecting the swords with both of his quickly. He twisted his body, doing a sort of cork-screw as he threw all the blades up and out away from him. Knocking the group back a step, Sasura streaked to the left and ran his blades through the first ninja. Hardly stopping, he pulled free and whipped around to take the next man. The other ninja’s didn’t wait to see what would happen to their comrade.

They came back at Sasura, forcing him to begin defending himself. Several throwing stars cut through the rain right at him. Sasura moved, turning his blades to deflect the three that were thrown. However, to do that he was vulnerable to the other ninja’s around him. Twisting as best he could, Sasura missed most of the ones that would have been deadly, but still sustained quite a few injuries from the blades. Wincing in pain, he dropped both swords to each side and cleared a path for himself with a hard twist of his body. As he completed the circle, the swords stretched outward on either side of him, dealing their own damage to the ninja’s that surrounded him.

A few dropped from being too close to Sasura and the blades. Panting hard, he turned and faced the remaining ninja’s. He found himself locked in a one on one fight with a rather large ninja. The man was taller than Sasura and definitely more muscular than he was. As he fought, he desperately tried to keep track of the other few that remained, but the one he was fighting demanded all of his attention if he wanted to live. Pain flooded through Sasura’s back as three throwing stars embedded from his shoulder down.  Coupled with the jarring hit of the ninja in front of him, Sasura lost his blade to numbed fingers.

The ninja sent him sprawling to the mud with a powerful backhand to his jaw. Sasura moved slowly, trying to crawl away and gain some distance as the world around him was starting to grow dim with all of his blood loss so far. The ninja’s sword went through his upper arm, pinning him to the ground. A choked cry escaped him, but didn’t last long in the torrent of rainfall. Fingers gripped his head and pulled back, lifting Sasura slightly out of the mud that clung to him. The gray haze of mist wavered in and out of sight as he stared down the street he’d been traveling upon. The ninja that held him knelt down to whisper in his ear as he brought Sasura’s discarded blade to the boy’s neck.