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"About time..."

I muttered as the monster fell to the ground dead. Looking up to see Yukimura approaching me, offering his hand, I would smile and take his hand. "Ahh, thank you, Sanada-san." I got up, dusting myself off. "Your offer is kind, but I don't think I need it at this time..." I spoke as I looked down at my leg where I was stabbed. It was deep, and it hurt like hell, but... I figured the rice cake could be saved for a later time.

I would sheathe the whip sword on my back, grabbing the dual swords and conjoining them once more, holding it to my side. I would salvage whatever loot I could possibly take from the creature Yukimura and myself had killed, equipping it to myself and feeling my strength further boost. Afterwards, I would follow behind the others, weapon at the ready just in case.

The blades retracted thankfully, but the monster started to pull a friggin' Kenshiro on me! I did my best to block all the hits to the side and face with my gauntlets, though admittingly the half damage on my face made me worry a little less. If I managed to get an opening, I would send my gauntlet-clad fists underneath the monster's chin at its sweet spot, attempting to get it the hell off of me. If successful, I would reach down and grab the whip sword, putting it and sword form and attempting to stab up at its chest again in conjunction with Yukimura's attack.

Stealth training, huh? I definitely wasn't a ninja or any kind of assassin, so taking out ten people sounded like it was going to be a difficult task. To hide in the shadows and strike at the proper moment to ensure success, and I wasn't allowed to be discovered whatsoever. None of the targets were allowed to be killed either, which worked for me.

Gauntlets literally on hand and my sakabato at my side just in case, they would serve me quite well on this night. I moved around the castle slowly, peering around a corner and spotting a guard headed in my direction. I waited there until the man got close enough, where then I would jump out and slam my fist directly into his face. This sent the man falling to the ground in a slump, and I would grab his legs and drag him into a vacant room next to me, propping him up against the wall in the dark. I took his armor and helmet as a disguise before leaving the room and proceeding with my task. One down.

There were several sources of light, but in the dark of night none would be able to tell my weapon was a sakabato unless they were extremely close, nor would they notice the difference in my gauntlets until it was too late. And it was as such as I walked through the garden, I noticed a soldier near a bush. I walked up to him, pretending to be friendly and he returned that same friendliness. I felt bad when I punched him in the face, knocking him out too. I dragged his body behind the bush, hearing a couple guards in the distance. "Huh? What was that?" "Let's go check it out."

I stood and took the place of the other guard, standing stoically and at attention, making sure the helmet hid my face. Soon the two other guards approached, seeing me standing there. "Oh, it's only Kurashima-san. You didn't see anything around here, did you?" I shook my head, and the guard commented "Ahh, Kurashima-san. Ever the man of few words. We'll leave you to it." Phew, lucky. As the men began to walk away, I would swiftly draw my sakabato. In two strikes, their bodies would fall to the ground as well. Sheathing my sakabato, I dragged them behind the same bush, they would be laying next to each out. Would make for some hilarity when they awoke confused. Four down.

At this point, I was just really glad the task didn't require me to kill the guards, but I did feel bad for all the deceit and underhanded tactics. Nevertheless, it sure beat fighting ten at once head-on, even if that was more honorable. I would leave the garden, traveling down the hall at a brisk pace as I pretended to patrol it. Turning the corner, I ended up bumping into another soldier. As he began to apologize, I headbutt him and knocked him out. I watched as he fell to the floor as I began to rub my head in pain, thinking it seemed like a badass thing to do at the time. Regardless, I dragged his body underneath a bench along the wall. Five down.

As I saw three more men walking along the other side of the courtyard, and figured that I would try something new. Channeling light energy into my hand, I would toss a great ball of light flying way across the courtyard. The men saw it and began to chase after it, soon catching up to it. I ran up behind them while they tried to examine the light, and I brought my sakabato down on the back of one of their helmets. Before the others could react, my blade would fly up and smash into both of their faces. I sheathed my weapon and dispelled the light energy. Eight down.

I found myself quite liking my new light powers, but I couldn't use it too much if I didn't want to get caught. Walking through the castle halls, I found the last two men conversing on the far side of the castle. I walked up to them, and when they noticed me I gave a friendly wave to which they responded with. "Did you hear the latest gossip about Kuroshima? He sat in dog poop and didn't realize it for three hours straight!" They laughed. I glared. Light energy channeled into my fists and I smashed both of them in their faces, the light effectively nulling their helmets for a direct hit. Ten down.

I sighed in relief as I began to leave the castle grounds. These stealth stuff was pulse-pounding. I wondered how the Hojo did it so often. Regardless, my mission was done. But now what?

As my blade bounced off of the thing's neck, only one thing ran through my head. NICE FIRST ATTEMPT TO USE THE SWORD, HUH? The bastard jumped up and I felt a sharp pain in my leg, realizing he had stabbed me in the thigh. I imagine my face was like this before I yelped in pain. And then the fucker slapped me with the weapon he stole from me. HE SLAPPED ME.

Falling to the ground in pain, I would grab my demon blades, detaching them at the hilts before sending those blades into the opening in his chest. I planned to impale both his heart and the other side of his chest before twisting the blades inside of him. I needed to kill this thing fast, before I suffered too much injury. If successful, I would pull the blades out and stab him again for good measure.

In response to Takehiro talking about his good luck again, I kind of just wanted to...

I would stand a ways behind Yukimura, weapon at the ready just in case something popped out to attack him. If all went well though, I would follow behind them without a word.

Happy birthday, Scotteh! I suggested the Dex bonus to Brandon since I didn't want you swinging with a measly 4 Dex, haha.

As for your gift from me, you get one free Sheep-Sheep throw! Woooo!

>_>

"Eh? Take...hiro..." My voice trailed off, seeing Takehiro walk in looking completely geared out like he had just run an epic dungeon or something. Fully decked in armor, battle axe on his back, and earrings to top it all off. He had the time of his life while we were afraid our lives were out of time.

"That's cool... we almost died." I said a little grumpily, catching my blade as Yukimura tossed it back to me. I murmured a thanks as I followed along, sticking close to Katsumi as I equipped my fancy new whip sword and tasset. We were being led by possibly the most badass man in Japan now. Maybe his good luck would rub off on us.

"It's, uh... the nice looking building facing the sea, it's near a fountain past all the stalls."

Hopefully she wouldn't have much difficulty finding it. It was the first place I had found when I first arrived here. I figured I would do as she said though, as offering to stay and help her get things together, I was worried I would just slow her down. It sounded like she was concerned for my own injury.

"Yes, Tsukino-san. I will see you there." I bowed my head, trying to hold the pain back. I would make my way back to the inn, finding it not too far from where I had run into Seiko.

Entering the inn, I would make my way to the room Katsumi was in. I would take a deep breath before entering, hoping she wouldn't get mad at me for moving around.

"Katsumi-chan. How are you holding up?" I spoke as I entered, hoping she was feeling better.

So much for my heroic charge into battle. No sooner had I arrived had a whip wrapped around my leg and sent me flying up into the air, straight into...

"SAAANAAADAAA-SAAAAAAAAAN!!!!"

Our chests collided painfully, and I felt all of the air leave my body. Crashing to the ground, I coughed, trying to catch my breath. There was also a pain in my lower region, and I feared that my descendants would be nothing more than a mere dream at this point.

The Rider began to reform his body, and I had never seen a dead guy look so angry before. "OH COME ON!"

Yukimura tossed me my weapon back, which I was thankful for. Struggling to my feet after that initial collision with Yukimura, I would take a short moment to regain my composure before aiding him in his attack. While Yukimura attempted to impale the skull, I would slash at his spinal cord, attempting to cut him in two yet again. If successful, my blade would come back around to stab into the rider's hand and impale it to the ground before he could get another whip off. If unsuccessful, I would detach my blades just in case he pulled one of them away, attempting to defend myself.

"The knife was... kind of plunged in deep..."

I chuckled nervously. I shouldn't have been walking around, especially since it was a strain on me right now. Breathing was awfully painful, and as I followed after Seiko, I was trying not to exasperate the pain too much. I'd imagine if it weren't for the bandages around my torso, I'd be at risk for bleeding all over the place. Barely a month out of home and I got stabbed.

"But I'm not as concerned about myself..."

Katsumi was first priority.

Upon his question, I pondered for a moment. What made me weak in the beginning... "It was my own failure to protect the woman I love. I was harsh on myself, telling myself I failed her and failed to uphold my own ideals. So I hid behind the mask... literally, and figuratively."

I looked back up to the light as I spoke. Was this really my spirit? Or something more?

Light me grabbed my own hand, and suddenly we began to float. "Izanagi...?"

Before I knew it, we had disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing in a world of clouds. Were we up in the sky? At this point, I wasn't too afraid, it didn't seem like I would fall anyway...

My light self began to speak to me, and I looked up at him, sort of shocked. "My sudden strength...? I wanted desperately to protect the people around me, and... I realized that if I held myself back because of my own doubts, I could never achieve such a thing. I needed to be stronger, I needed to match the strength of my own will."