Into The Shadow III [Plot/Training]

Visiting the bridge while staring at the flowing river every night seemed to be his current routine activity at the moment. He didn’t know why he loved going to this place but something about it made him feel a little bit of peace. Perhaps it was the cool wind of the night? Or the sound of streaming water…? Or perhaps the breathtaking view of the moon up there? He couldn't tell, but he knew he was attracted to how silent this place could be.

The one eyed man would take out his flute from behind his blazer and stare at it for a second, an old hobby of his… It has been a long time since he played the flute or at least… he finally had this urge to play it again. The man would bring the flute to his lips before slowly blowing it, feeling the inside of the flute with air as his fingers made their way to control the melody. The sound coming out from the flute was not something he played before, nor he heard from somewhere else. He just… let his fingers move, producing music on their own. He poured his heart into the melody he produced, a sad, but full of hope sounding melody, although he couldn’t really describe what he was feeling at the moment other than...a longing feeling.

“Beautiful melody as always…”

Tenma stopped playing his flute, his body tensed up upon hearing the voice coming from behind him… He recognized the voice, never expecting to meet her in this country. As he turned his back, he saw a lady cladded in a white colored kimono decorated with some black gradation at the end of the hems, her shiny raven colored hair which she always let loose like that… “Master Ouka, it has been a long time, isn’t it?” Tenma beamed the woman with his usual bright smile as he slipped his flute back inside his blazer.

Ouka smiled brightly towards Tenma as well before stepping forward slowly before running with a full speed before jumping towards the man, attempting to give him a hug. Well, the swordsman would catch her before she could wrap her arms around him, chuckling at the behavior of his mentor that was still the same. “You never change, Tenma! Let me give you a hug, it has been a long time since the last time we met!”

Listening to the nag really brought back the memories inside the one eyed man’s head, she was one of those people who taught him a lot of stuff. Basically Tenma felt like he owed the woman for all the things she had done for him, however… how did she find him…? “Well, you never change as well, Master. Have you found a husband yet?” Tenma would let out a laugh right after he said his words, expecting Ouka to shoot him with a glare, “I am just joking though, don’t be mad.”

With an annoyed expression, the woman let out a sigh. “What are you doing here, Tenma? Still going on your little adventure?” The woman would take a step back though, tilting her head, “Or perhaps you have some kind of business with one of the clans?”

Tenma smirked upon hearing her words, “Just curious about this country since they finally opened themselves up to the outer world. How about you, Master? Visiting an old family?” He knew that Ouka originally came from Kina country, although he was not sure about her origin, which clan she came from, her family name, and all of those things. His mentor was a pretty private person and Tenma didn’t really bother to find out more actually, since he didn’t really open up to her as well.

“Mhm, you can say so. Also… why don't we test your skill? Let’s do the usual thing, shall we?” The woman would let out a murderous intent as she showed Tenma her usual sultry smile, showing how excited she was to be able to test her former student. Didn’t want to lose, the one eyed man would chuckle before releasing his own murderous intent, “I will be the ‘It’ then, Master.”

Tenma would start counting as he closed his eyes, letting the woman find a place to hide. This was their usual game, a ‘tag, you are it’ game. A method proven to be very effective to be as sneaky as shinobi, essentially training you to be a real shinobi actually.

The woman wouldn’t choose a hard place to hide herself, she would choose a place that was not too far from where Tenma was at the moment. But she was sure that he would have a hard time finding her, well, of course, since she could mask off her presence. Would it be considered as cheating? No, of course not, it was the matter of being smart. Although… the woman would look down towards the ground with a cold stare, muttering to herself with a very low volume, only letting herself to be the only one to hear this. ‘It seemed he had gotten stronger… as expected from chaos… how amusing to see that he had finally found his sister… but couldn’t do anything to even reveal that they are siblings.’

“Alright.” Tenma said with a loud voice, notifying Ouka that he was done counting those numbers and would start the search. He didn’t think he would do this game again in Kina… then again, it might be good to improve his skill now. The man would look at his surroundings, studying it before finally taking a step forward. He would start slow, taking his time.... He didn't want to rush this, it was Ouka that he had to find so he couldn’t be reckless.

WC: 962/2000

As usual, playing tag with Ouka was really a pain in the ass. Tenma would say it again and again, that the amount of slyness and the intelligent that this woman possessed was truly no joke. It had been hours ever since the swordsman started to look for her whereabouts, but everytime he felt her presence and jumped into the area, he found no one. With a sigh, the one eyed man closed his eye, trying to concentrate, trying to feel his surroundings. He wondered to himself though, if he was really getting stronger after all of those things he experienced...or was he only lying to himself? What if he wasn't as strong as he thought… ‘Well, that would be bad, right…?’ He mocked himself as he opened his one eye before trying to give himself a determination.

The one eyed man admitted he was more focused now, more concentrating with one goal in his mind, to find Ouka. He forced a certain thought into his own mind to make him more into it, actually doing this tag playing thing with his best effort. Either successfully finding her in the game or keep staying inside the bubble, stuck with his current self. It was not like him to feel like that honestly, he never usually felt down like that. Yeah he felt stuck at the moment, but he wanted to be stronger, he needed to be stronger for her… no matter what it would take.

With a silent, quick step, Tenma managed to track down the woman who was actually hiding not too far from where he was at the moment. With a quick movement, the man was just going to tap the woman but too bad...she stepped back with a sly smile carved on her face. “You have to do it better than this, Tenma.” Ouka giggled as she jumped back and started to run away from her pupil. But the swordsman wasn’t going to just let her get away that easily after all the effort he spent just finding her. He began to chase after the woman with a full speed as well, not letting her hide anymore until he managed to trick her at some point by masking off his presence and tapped the woman’s shoulder. “Got you, Master.”

Ouka grinned, amused because Tenma was definitely getting good at this, he managed to lessen the time he needed to actually track her… “Good job. Tomorrow… I will be the ‘demon’.” She said with an excited smirk, before patting Tenma’s shoulder with her fan. “Alright… Why don’t we go get some food and drink now? We have a lot to catch up, don’t we? I insist, I have been soooo lonely without you.” The woman would speak with a cute voice, teasing the swordsman as she wrapped her arm around Tenma’s before dragging him along with her to this nearby oden stall.

“So how have you been, Tenma? You never even send me any letter, I am sad.” Ouka pouted as she poured the sake into her cup, not even letting Tenma to pour it for her before chugging the whole liquid into her mouth. The one eyed man could only sweat, he remembered that the woman could be very stubborn for a matter like this, so the best thing he could do was to let her do what she wanted and smiled until the end. His chopsticks would lift up the boiled radish and bring it to his lips, biting it carefully because it was still very hot. The woman would rest her head on Tenma’s shoulder though after she finished with her second cup of sake, “Hey, don't you feel tired of wandering sometimes?” She would ask as she stared at her empty cup, fiddling it with her fingers.

“Not really, I have my own thing that I want to accomplish, so being tired is not an option.” Tenma would answer before he brought his own cup to his lips, drinking the sake in one go, “Are you tired?” He asked back to the woman, didn’t bother to push her away from resting her head on his shoulder. Ouka pulled her head away from Tenma’s shoulder before resting her chin on her palm, eyes still looking down towards the empty cup she was fiddling. “Maybe…” She muttered under her breath, but she wouldn’t give Tenma the chance to respond about it by starting to pour some sake to his cup. “Let’s drink until we drop!”

---

As the next day came, they wouldn’t really waste any time. The woman would start to count to begin the training. The one eyed man would haste, he would be mimicking the way Ouka hid as well, although this time, he wouldn't pick the place that would be too near to where the woman was standing at the moment or it would be too easy.

Masking his presence… breathing steadily as he hid… but he would still be able to observe Ouka from his hiding place. Tenma wondered to himself though, every time he tried to do that same thing that Ouka did in every tag, he wondered why she was still able to find him easily, without efforts… So now, he would still follow her method and used his own way as well… not letting the woman read him at all.

Time passed but it seemed that Ouka was having a hard time to find Tenma, amusing… or could it be that she was just playing around… Well, the man would never know… “Tenma… you did give me a hard time to find you, eh?” Ouka laughed in amusement as she got closer to the man, “Found you… finally.” She said as she swung her fan towards the man, trying to attack him. Tenma would let the fan graze his arm actually, and didn't bother to run away. “I am getting better at this, don't you think?” He smiled as he took the demon role again before starting to count to let Ouka hide. As a week passed for the training, Ouka mentioned how fast Tenma learnt all the things he needed to improve his skill, applauding him for his achievement proudly.

“Well, now that you are getting better at this, it would be the time for us to go our separate ways again.” The woman put her hand on her hip, tapping her chin with a finger lightly. “It is too bad you don’t want to come and stay with me for the time being, we could have had some fun together though.” Ouka frowned before she wrapped her arms around Tenma, giving her student a hug.

“There there master, you really should...you know….” Tenma laughed at his teacher before carefully hugging her back. “Thank you for the training though, Master Ouka… I really appreciate it.”

“You know…” Ouka rested her head on Tenma’s chest, “If you ever feel tired… come find me.. Alright? I will take care of you.” She would say before she pulled herself from Tenma, unwrapping her arms from the man’s body. She would smile, although it had a hint of sadness embedded within it. “Well then, goodbye until we meet again in the future.” She said as she walked away from Tenma, before disappearing into the shadow, nowhere could be seen anymore.

---

“The more I see him… the more I want him for myself…” Ouka muttered to herself as she began to write something on a blank paper.

Dear Lamia,
Code Name : Chaos has shown me a truly marvelous growth, although I can see that he has more control of his bloodthirsty side right now… I will observe him more, please send me details about Code Name : Echidna as well… So when the time is right, we could finally give them their final stage...
Regards,
Fenrir

WC: 2267/2000

(Assassin B to A)