Unexpected Revenge
By Sarun
CHAPTER ONE:
Revenge and Regrets
A girl walked alone down a deserted forest path. It wouldn't be long now; Kyoto was just over that last hill.
She smiled nervously to herself as the city of Kyoto slowly came into view. Pressing the sword she carried against her chest with both hands, she took a deep breath.
Finally, the time has come, Misao Makimachi. You'll regret ever crossing paths with us.
It had been a long time - far too long, in her opinion, but the time had finally come for her unexpected revenge.
Making her way through the empty streets of the city, a sudden cold breeze blew past. Stopping to draw her cloak around herself more tightly, she froze at the sound of approaching footsteps.
It was a police officer, obviously on night patrol. Taking a nervous step backwards, she accidentally stepped on some twigs, resulting in a loud cracking sound. "Who's there?" The policeman called out, raising his lantern.
A girl came into view in the dim light. She looked about fifteen; with dark brown hair and a cold look upon her pretty face.
"What's that you have there?" The policeman caught sight of the sword in her hands. "It's illegal to carry swords, you know! Hand that over right now, or I'll have you arrested!"
The girl frowned. He had nothing to do with her, but she had come too far to be caught now. There was no other choice.
In the blink of an eye, she drew the blade, holding it at her side. "If you want it, come and get it."
The policeman walked towards her, placing his hand on his police saber. "I don't have time to play games, miss. You're under arres-!"
A brief second later, his head flew off in a flash of blood, and rolled to a stop on the street. The rest of his body collapsed in a heap.
She lowered her sword, gazing at the lifeless body in front of her.
The girl pulled out a note from her pocket, which she placed on the policeman's back, securing it in place with a shuriken.
"I wasn't planning on leaving the note like this" she muttered under her breath "but it'll work better".
Sheathing her sword, she calmly continued on her way.
"NO!"
It took Misao a moment to realize she had been dreaming.
"It was a dream, just a dream…"
She plopped back down onto the bed, wiping away the sweat on her forehead. Once she had clamed down slightly, she tried to recall what had happened in her dream.
It was a about that night. The night almost a year ago. There was no doubt about it, she had sent he forest clearing, the burning torch… she had had the dream before.
But this time it had been different. In this dream there was a dark figure…somebody threatening…and…had wanted to hurt…no kill her.
Taking a deep breath, she scolded herself: "Stop it, just stop it…It's in the past…"
Still, she knew perfectly the barrier of time between past and present gave little protection.
Misao blinked in the early morning light as she walked down the street. A gentle breeze started up, making the sakura trees sway and several pink blossoms were carried off in the wind.
She snatched a few blossoms out of the air with ease, and then looked at them in her hand. She smiled, thinking of Aoshi.
Ever since Aoshi-sama had come to fetch her from Tokyo barely a week ago along with Omasu and Ochika, Misao had felt a new sense of hope, hope that Aoshi-sama had feelings for her as well.
Aoshi-sama had been spending most of each day in the temple, as usual, but that didn't dampen her hopes.
Okina had sent her out to the store to buy some tofu. When she arrived at the store, she found a large crowd gathered in the street, with police officers trying to move the crowd.
She pushed through the crowd curiously, hearing bits and pieces of conversation:
"He must have been attacked during the night…"
"His head was cut clean off the neck"
"Who would do this?"
Misao made it through the crowd and gasped, slapping a hand to her mouth.
A decapitated policeman lay in the street in a pool of blood. His head was a few feet away, with an expression of pure fear on it.
Misao saw a bloodstained piece of paper suck to his back with a shuriken. She read it from a distance, and paled with silent terror.
To the one responsible for the death of Tsuna Hanawa:
I have come to avenge the death of my brother.
I'll find you.
It took Misao about half a minute to realize she wasn't breathing.
Breathe…she told herself...breathe
Her mind blank, Misao took a few steps backward, then turned and bolted through the crowd, not even bothering to apologize to anyone.
Nothing's happened…this isn't happening…No…No…NO!
Running through the main street, Misao tried uselessly to suppress the rising feeling of panic in her chest.
Misao made it to the Aoiya, and luckily didn't run into anyone inside. She dashed up the stairs and shut herself in her room.
Her heart was beating hard against her ribcage as she stood in the far corner of the room, breathing in heavy, long breaths. She placed her face in her hands, eyes wide and fearful.
She was the one responsible. Tsuna Hanawa… She was the one the note was meant for.
I never meant to kill him. It was an accident…I never meant…
But…her thoughts contradicted themselves…but I did cause his death.
Misao slammed her fists against the wall. Then she sank to the floor. Hugging her knees to her chest and shutting her eyes as hard as she could…she remembered…on that day, a little over a year ago…she had just turned fifteen…
Returning from another assignment, Misao walked through the forest, sulking and disappointed that she hadn't found any news of Lord Aoshi or the rest of the Oniwaban in the city she had traveled to.
She came out into a clearing, and was surprised to see a small village. It was getting rather late, so she decided to stay at an inn for the night. She had just about enough money.
As she approached the inn, she walked past an elderly woman in tears.
"…Again…why…is this happening to us?" the woman sobbed as she walked past.
The woman was too upset to speak, so Misao left her alone. In the middle of the road, a large group of people were arguing loudly, eliminating the need to eavesdrop.
"What are we going to do next? The police are still ignoring us!" a woman argued loudly
"I say we set up a trap for him" a young man suggested
Another man shook his head. "There aren't any men here in the village who could match him in skill. Besides, remember that anyone who has stood up to him has ended up badly hurt."
And the arguing continued.
An old man tapped his walking stick loudly, so that the arguing stopped and they all turned to listen.
"Our best hope seems to be hire someone to defend us."
"But elder, where would we find someone like that in a poor area like this?"
The village elder shook his head sadly. "As to that, I have no idea."
The villagers resumed their arguing. The elder started walking away slowly.
Misao ran over to him.
"Excuse me sir, could you tell me what happening here?"
He looked over at her, and his eyes widened in surprise as he took in her appearance. He ambled over to her, lowering his voice to a whisper.
"You're a ninja, aren't you miss?" He asked quickly "Oniwaban, for sure. I know that uniform."
"Uh…yes…I am." She answered, taken aback by the question.
"Come, please come quickly." He took Misao by the hand and led her towards a house in the middle of the village.
He opened the door and motioned for her to come inside. Once she was inside, he slid the door shut and turned to face her.
"Miss, would you be willing to help us?"
"Huh?" Misao blinked.
The old man took a deep breath. "Please sit down."
He sat across from her, his hands clutched in worry. "I am Kazuma, the leader of this village. Recently, our village has been robbed several times by a bandit named Tsuna Hanawa. He has not killed anyone yet, thankfully, but he has badly injured many men that tried to fight him. Now all the villagers are afraid to face him and we have not received any help from the police. If he continues to rob us, we shall all be in grave trouble. I beg this of you, if you can defeat him, we will be willing to give you whatever you ask."
Misao's eyes narrowed. "I'll accept. I haven't met any man who could beat me yet. What can you tell me about this bandit?"
The old man thought for a moment, then answered: "Not much. I believe he is around sixteen years of age, and he fights mainly with a katana, but also carries around some smaller weapons like shuriken and is also skilled at empty-hand fighting."
Misao nodded. "Do you know when he will strike again?"
"Yes. Last time he was here, someone overhead him say he was coming back tonight."
"I'll defeat him." Misao said and stood up defiantly. "As a member of the Oniwaban group, I can't let this sort of thing happen!"
"Agreed then!" The village elder nodded. "It is better if I say nothing to the villagers; we will need this to be a surprise."
That night…
Misao hid in the branches of a tall tree, waiting. The old man had said that the bandit always struck at around midnight. It wouldn't be long now…
A shadow ran swiftly across the ground. Misao leapt down from the tree and followed. The figure stopped in front of a house. He reached out to pull the front door open, his other hand reaching for a sword slung over his back.
Misao threw three kunai at him. They landed neatly in a line across the door. He jumped back and stared at her.
"Who are you? Answer me!" Tsuna looked barely older than her; he had shoulder length dark brown hair that was tied in a loose ponytail.
"My name is Misao Makimachi and I'm here to stop you from robbing these villagers anymore!"
He laughed out loud. "Hah! That's funny. Whatcha gonna do?"
He drew his sword and lunged at her. Misao jumped out of the way easily onto the roof of the house.
"You'll have to do better than that, Tsuna!"
Tsuna glared at her angrily, and then leapt up onto the roof beside her. Misao barely dodged his katana that time.
She held out another fistful of kunai. She jumped back down onto the ground. Tsuna jumped down as well, but bolted past her into the woods.
"Come and get me if you can, Makimachi!"
Misao ran after him. He's not getting away...!
She ran through the forest, following the sounds of his footsteps. She came into a small clearing in the middle of the woods. An old shrine was in the middle of the clearing, a lone torch burning in the front of the shrine.
Tsuna was nowhere in sight.
Misao felt a sudden sharp pain in her arm. She jumped out of the way as more shuriken we thrown at her.
Ducking behind a tree, she saw two shuriken were embedded in her upper arm. Gritting her teeth in pain, she pulled them out one by one.
She ran out from behind the tree, breathing heavily. Blood was flowing down her arm, but she didn't care.
"Come down here, you rat!" she screamed into the woods.
She sensed someone coming up behind her, and turned in time to see Tsuna come up behind her with his sword raised.
Misao ducked out of the way, and threw one of her kunai in his wrist.
Tsuna cried out in pain, dropping his sword. He stopped and pulled out the kunai.
He ran at Misao, aiming a punch at her face, but Misao blocked it. Her kick hit him right in the stomach, knocking the air out of him.
Tsuna jumped backwards, towards the shrine. Misao threw more kunai this time. Tsuna dodged them all.
Tsuna had managed to pick up his sword again, and repeatedly swung at Misao. Misao kept jumping backwards until her foot hit a rock, causing her to fall onto her back.
Tsuna quickly pinned her down, and held his blade horizontally over her neck. Misao was forced to grab the sword by the blade with both hands to stop him from pushing it into her neck.
Misao's hands bled as the blade cut into the palms of her hands. She had to use all her strength to hold the blade, and it was fading. Desperately, she tried to think of what to do.
She did a rapid headbutt, and Tsuna recoiled, hands over his aching forehead.
Misao jumped to her feet, and in rage, did her Kecho kick, right into his chest. Tsuna was knocked of his feet.
The next few moments appeared to happen in slow motion. Tsuna flew several feet backward, right into the shrine. He landed hard against a wooden beam, which broke when he hit it.
When the beam gave in, several large beams of wood came falling downwards from the ceiling. Tsuna was at the foot of the broken beam holding a hand to his side, trying to get to his feet again.
Tsuna saw the beams falling towards him; he let out a yell – right before they landed with a crash right on top of him. His yell quieted almost instantly.
She walked cautiously up to him. He seemed to be pinned down by the wood, lying on his back, his eyes wide and staring blankly. He breathed in short, ragged gasps, a trickle of blood going down his chin.
"You okay?" Misao kneeled down beside him. He didn't seem to have any visible injuries. Tsuna seemed unable to speak. His hand made weak motions to push off a wood beam across his chest.
Misao managed to yank it off. She froze.
A piece of wood, as thick as her arm, protruded from his chest. The area around it was covered in blood; more was added to it with every pulse of his heart.
He glanced down his chest for a few moments. With a grimace, he lay his head back down on the floor. As she watched, his chest became still as his eyes slowly closed.
Misao was frozen to the spot, her eyes wide with fear. Comprehension slowly dawned on her.
He – Tsuna - he was…dead…killed.
Somehow managing to get to her feet, she took a small step backwards, then another, and finally turned and ran away through the woods.
Misao heard footsteps approaching outside her door, and rushed to hide under the covers of her futon.
"Misao?" Omasu's voice came from the other side of the door. "Did you get the tofu?"
"Uh…no, I don't feel very well right now." Misao faked a few coughs.
"Oh, alright then. I'll get it for you, don't worry. I'll tell Okina you're not feeling well."
Misao waited until the sound of her footsteps disappeared, then sat up in the futon and hugged her knees to her chest.
She also had made him promise not to tell anyone that she had done it, that she had never meant to kill him.
The village leader promised not to tell, none of the villagers would know what had happened.
Misao had had her wounds bandaged by the village doctor, and she set off for Kyoto a day later.
She had never told anyone what had happened. She had told Okina the marks on her arms were from thorns on a tree she had climbed.
Now, a policeman was dead because of her. Now, Tsuna's sibling, whoever that was, was after her for revenge.
Misao stared out of the window at the blue sky. The guilt over the incident had eaten at her for a long time. Sometimes she even woke up in cold sweat, after repeated nightmares of the scene, which ended with her hands being covered in blood.
She had forced herself to push it all into the background; pretend it had never happened at all.
She definitely couldn't tell Okina and the others, it would be admitting she had killed someone, lied to them and they would get try to take the matter into their own hands.
How would Aoshi-sama or Jiya react if they knew? The unwelcome little voice spoke again.
She took a deep breath and fell back onto the futon. She would have to face this by herself
There was no other way.
Yone Hanawa sat at the end of a secluded alley, gently polishing the blade of her sword. Her older brother's sword, actually.
It had belonged to him; she had taken it after he died a year ago.
She had watched his last fight with that Makimachi girl from a tree in the woods. I wasn't fair that he had died…Tsuna had never killed a single person in his life.
But that girl…it was Misao's fault he had died.
After the fight, she had buried him in a remote location in the forest, where no one would disturb his grave. She had sworn on her life that she would kill that Makimachi girl.
After his death, she ran away, far from that place. Swearing to get stronger, she had spent nearly a year honing her skills and practicing everything her brother had taught her about fighting.
And now, the time had come. Revenge would be hers.
Yone stared out at the blue sky.
It won't be long now, brother…
Yone returned to polishing the blade. She held it up to the light, and gazed at her reflection in it.
The sooner she attacked the better.
It's my first fanfic - hope I'm doing okay
- Sarun