Nikushimi

Allright, here it is, the second chapter. I've decided to shorten the chapter lengths to be more like the first, so as to put them in little incriments, almost like short stories within one main story. If you guys would rather I post longer versions, let me know, and I'll either edit more into the end of this one or just make Chapter 3 extra long. In the meantime, just read and enjoy:



Chapter 2- Seven Swords


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-crunch-


The shredded remains of the man- though they bore no such resemblance -fell to the forest floor in a bloody heap. All around it, red. Everywhere, red. Red. Red. Red. Red. There was no possible way to count the dead, nor any such manner to confirm their identity as "human". The only figure still standing swung a large object out to his right, spraying a line of blood across the dirt. Dark, jagged scales protruded through blood-stained bandages along the breadth of the weapon, betraying its identity- that of the feared man-eater sword, Samehada. The owner of this terrible blade sloshed through the surrounding gore without batting an eye, no longer interested in mutilated carrion; his attention was on continuing his journey. The beady white eyes of this ominous shadow stared dead ahead as he walked, while all around him, a dense mist began to set in. After a few more paces, the phantom-like entity came to an abrupt stop, sensing danger nearby.

"...Show yourself..." the wielder of Samehada commanded in a low growl, gripping tightly around the handle of his instrument.

There wasn't a reply. A few more seconds passed, and still, he waited. Finally, he heard a twig snap on the forest floor some ten meters behind him. Moments later, a horrific figure burst from the mist, twin blades gleaming as he brought them down.

"URAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

In a flash of metal colliding, the ambush ended. The assailant tumbled head-over-heels into the dirt for some fifteen more feet before coming to stop on his abdomen. This person wore the standard gray uniform of the Mist Jounin, though there were several variations in the uniform he wore. Long brown hair draped around his shoulders, all the way down to a large black sack that he had strapped around him. Casually, the other figure rested Samehada across his shoulder, bearing its impressive weight without any signs of strain.

"Raiga." the figure growled, vexation notable in his tone, "You complete idiot. What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Furiously, Raiga shot up to his feet, facing down the demon with profanities by the dozen. Strangely enough, it took only seconds for him to break down into a blubbering mess, tears streaming down his cheeks as he charged at the apparition for what seemed to be a hug. The figure politely rejected the gesture with a casual sidestep, forcing Raiga once again to eat mud.

"Do you want to die or something?"

"KISAME-DONO!!!" Raiga howled, jumping up once more to face the figure's back, "I WAS SO WORRIED!!! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU WERE GOING TO GO KILL SOMEONE!!!"

"Yeah. The more I think about it, the more I agree with my choice." Kisame retorted listlessly, plunging Samehada down into the dirt.

Before he could stroll off to find a place to sit, Kisame found himself face-to-face with a snot-nosed, wet-cheeked Raiga, who was screaming his head off about the usual trivialities he screamed his head off about.

"IT'S NOT JUST THAT!!! YOU DIDN'T JUST KILL SOMEONE, YOU KILLED THE DAIMYOU!!! THE DAIMYOU!!! THAT GUY HAD SO MUCH PROTECTION, ATTEMPTING TO TAKE HIS LIFE IS VIRTUALLY SUICIDE!!! I WAS AFRAID I WOULD HAVE TO GIVE YOU A FUNERAL!!!"

The hysterical lunatic's words were boisterous, annoying, and steeped in loud sobbing that brought Kisame twice nigh to the point of ripping his skull out through his mouth. Luckily for Raiga, a third prescence quickly made itself known.

"What the hell is all this commotion I'm hearing? It's grating on my ears."

"Z-Zabuza-dono?!" Raiga managed to gasp between sobs, wiping his eyes on his forearm.

Standing on a small boulder above the other two, a shinobi could be seen silhoutted against the moon. The mist was parting, revealing more of his features, including the traditional Mist Jounin uniform and the mask of bandages over his mouth and neck. Strapped across his back was a large blade rivalling Samehada in size, its handle gripped by the mighty right hand of the one called "Zabuza". His eyes, small and sinister, locked directly on Kisame and Raiga, the latter of whom took a step back.

"Oi, oi, Zabuza-kun..." Kisame interceded, "Keep this maniac on a leash, would you? I'm sick of being harassed out of nowhere."

"What am I, his keeper?" Zabuza spat back, jumping from the rock and landing into a crouching position, "Even if I was, that schizophrenic psychopath needs more than a leash."

Even in the receding mist, enough light was kept out to conceal the features of Kisame. He stood a head above the other two, nothing but a horrifying shadow in the night. Yet when the mist parted further, a flash of moonlight hit the shiny surface of his teeth, revealing his mouth arched into a grin.

"Never afraid to tell me off, eh, Zabuza-kun?" he snickered, reaching out into the light to take hold of Samehada again, "Well, I have a feeling you'll give me quite a rant when I tell you what I just got finished doing..."

Kisame's hand- his skin toned a surprising light blue -grasped firmly the handle of his scaled blade, pulling it back towards him and into the shadows. It was after this that he looked up and met the newcomer's gaze with his own. Zabuza's eyes narrowed into near-slits as this happened, much to Kisame's surprise. He hadn't expected that reaction until after he had told him the events leading up to the murder of the Water Country's Daimyou.

"I know all about it." the wielder of the gigantic cleaver sword snarled, his tone deep and unyielding, "Kisame, I thought we had agreed not to cause any commotion. This is too early in the game to turn 'rogue'; our initial target was the Mizukage, yet you go and butcher another important political figure on a mere whim. Do you realize what you've done?!"

"The Mizukage's a waste of time." Kisame replied calmly, shrugging his shoulders as if to dismiss the issue, "His power's been diminishing for years. The Daimyou was the one with the real control of this country at his fingertips."

Zabuza issued a low growl, expressing openly his discontent for the impersonal and uncaring nature of Kisame's speech.

"That's true, but with him gone, who do you think has all the power now?"

Kisame fell silent. Before Zabuza's chastising glare, even the infamous Kaijin could only come to the obvious realization in silence.

"With the Daimyou dead, the Mizukage can now sieze control of everything that was his. All his resources, all his assets, and every bloody one of his men. They'll form an army and hunt you to the ends of the Earth, and if you leave us, there goes our chance at assassinating the Mizukage and taking over."

"Ranmaru!" Raiga cried, covering his ears like a scared child, "Don't listen to their horrible words, Ranmaru! RANMARU!!!"

"Would you get the hell out of here?!" Zabuza barked furiously, sending a jolt through Raiga's entire being.

"Uh...uwah..." the swordsman whimpered, his eyes watering before his voice inevitably and predictably shot up several decibels, "RANMARU!!! RANMARU!!!"

In a fit of hysteria, Raiga turned on his heels and shot away into the woods, disappearing from sight. The sound of his voice, and of the name "Ranmaru" could be heard for considerably longer, but eventually faded into the distance. Continuing after that was a long, awkward silence between the two remaining shinobi.

"...Who or what is a 'Ranmaru'?"

"You expect me to know? He's been screaming that name since the first day we let him join the Seven Swordsmen."

The duo once again observed a short period of silence. The moon poured out more of its light through the forest, the changing angle of it providing for increasing amounts of its rays to get through. The two of them couldn't help but think back on their days in that group, days that had ended only months ago. It brought back pleasant memories of endless, government-sanctioned slaughter.

"I think I might actually miss being in that little 'gang'... It was a sweet deal we had going."

"Yeah." Zabuza replied with a stoic voice, a rarity in any situation, "But you know, it wasn't entirely our choice to disband. The Mizukage would've terminated the group at some point; we were no longer necessary as part of the Mist's military. We would've been denied our love of killing, at the very best, we might've made it into the mainstream military, but the rules and regulations that are set for all of its shinobi are not limits that you or I would do well to obey. The true spirit of the shinobi is dying, Kisame. Without question, our choice was the only one that could lead to survival."

A faint gust rustled the leaves above, sending ghostly whispers trailing through the forest around them. After a while, Kisame hefted his gargantuan sword and placed it across his back, securing it on the clip around his own Jounin uniform.

"How stupid. As if I need a kid like you validating my life choices." the blue-skinned swordsman muttered with half-disdain and half-denial as he turned to leave, "Anyway, we are here. We are surviving. Whatever the future holds-"

"The future holds death!" Zabuza bellowed, stopping the complacent warrior mid-step, "Living is not enough. Surviving...is not enough. There will always be threats to our survival no matter where we go, no matter what we do, and always...always...we will have to fight. Unless we end it here and now! That is the reason we conspired to eliminate those obstacles that stood in our path! Don't you get it? If we don't crush our enemies with the whole of our might, our battles will never end until the day one of them brings death! We will never be free!"

Utter silence choked the forest in a grip of iron. Not the thinnest of leaves stirred out of place. All life seemed to have forsaken this unholy site. As the moon's light reached its utmost illumination of the woods, Kisame turned back towards his enraged cohort, quelling the man's intense glare with one of even greater imposition. His features now shone fully in the milky light of the moon above, contorted with furious loathing.

"That's why you're still a kid, Zabuza-kun." he snarled wrathfully through pointed teeth, striking deep gouges of fear in the man who stood opposing him, "You're so jaded by your own fear that you overlook the most obvious flaw in your logic: For us, there can be no survival...without battle!"

Zabuza gulped, stricken with such fear and awe that he came close to losing his balance. All at once, a terrible pain arose in his gut, and it was all he could manage to stifle the sensation and remain on his feet.

"Let the battles come. Let them send every man from this country and the next until Samehada has tasted the blood of every single one of them! You think any force, great or small, can stand in our way and keep us from our passion? They are the very fuel for that passion! To meet endless hordes of opponents and drive them to their knees... To cut through legion after legion until you can no longer differentiate between your own blood and your opponent's... This is the very definition of our 'freedom'!"

A branch shattered under the sole of Hoshigaki Kisame as he made his exit into a now-encroaching mist, leaving Zabuza to observe his fleeting shadow with pensive quietness. On the young man's face remained an expression of defeat and regret. Within his heart, within the beating heart of a warrior that resided in his chest, he felt true regret, and even contempt for his own words. A fool... That's what he was. Nothing but a hypocrite and a coward. For all the fighting he loved, for all the times he had forsaken his own life and safety to indulge in unrestricted combat, he was still only a human, and in the prescence of a true warrior like Kisame, unfit to be standing off the ground. For the first time in his life, his emotions clamped down on him like a trap, and he fell to his knees in despair...




<To be continued.>

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Bow to the King.