The Dream Shifter

Chapter 124

Chiharu spun around expecting that her first attempt would fail and planned for the position that he would move to. The ninja came to a stop at his evasion, but was left in a momentary shock to see Chiharu fluidly following up her strike. 'I've got him! I read him perfectly! This is it grandfather!' There was a hint of a pleased smile that pulled across her face as her sword quickly came to striking. The blade left an arc through the man's entire mid section still holding surprising across his face. Chiharu straightened herself up taking a measured breath while her eyes began to turn for her next target.

A flash of blood sprayed into the air as Chiharu staggered forward suddenly feeling a sharp pain in her shoulder. 'What's going on?! Is it the other guards?' While she struggled to recover her balance she turned her head trying to analyze the situation. Across the hall at the doors to the Head of the Higoshi Clan stood the same three guards remained unmoved. 'It wasn't them? Who?' Chiharu tripped her foot a little still caught off guard by the pain.

There was a swift breeze behind Chiharu that formed into a shadowed figured. "Confused, child?"

"What?!" shouted Chiharu spinning around toward the voice only to be too late. Another quick flash dug into her lower back knocking her balance off and almost bringing her to the floor. Blood was slowly dripping down her back gluing the fabric to her skin. 'How's he still alive?!'

The man appeared behind her once again with Chiharu having only a second to react to the impending blade aimed to pierce her though her back into the heart. His blade sank into skin drawing an annoyed disgusted expression from him. Chiharu stumbled away from the man slamming against the wall for support as she painted it with her blood. 'She's got good reflexes shifting her body enough to avoid the fatal blow. No matter, she's at her limit.' He revealed his own short sword that he had been using with lightning speed and precision against Chiharu. "You thought if you could keep me from using my Clawing Lightning that you could win didn't you? I don't need it to take someone like you. My speed will be enough."

Chiharu coughed in pain feeling the deep wound that penetrated into her back. She had been fortunate to have missed both her lungs and heart, but it still howled greatly. Her labored breathing fought with the pain that she fought to remain in control. "Speed? That another trick of yours?"

"No trick, child. It's natural speed. We told you the world was no longer the same. Normal humans haven't a chance!" He charged straight for Chiharu going for the final blow with his sword, but Chiharu rolled to the ground and out of the way. It did not sway his move as his eyes followed her movement and reacted quickly changing his line of attack.

An arch of blood sprayed from a shallow wound at Chiharu's thigh. She forced down her shock at the ninja's agility to keep herself going. All she could be allowed was a defensive position falling back with each swing made at her. Despite her best efforts every single attempt she made to avoid a wound failed leaving her littered with shallow wounds across her body. 'I think…I'm starting to see his movements…somehow…' Chiharu rested on one knee from the most recent of the vicious assaults.

The man narrowed his eyes as he was taking a moment to read the situation from what had happened. 'I keep missing…how? It's just a normal child! Even trained I should be faster, but my accuracy keeps getting worse!' Confusion started to settle into his mind as he grew frustrated with his continued failure. It was starting to feel like the fight was becoming evenly matched the further he analyzed the movements. 'This child can't be my equal! It's not possible! It's just a kid!'

Chiharu tried to calm her breathing that had become out of control. She was concerned with how much longer that she would last at the pace she was going. The fights that she had been in had always been very one sided in her favor with the exception of her grandfather and Tamotsu. A prolonged battle was not what she was accustomed to let alone real combat. It was going to have to end soon for her. 'I have to end it, but I don't know how. He's too fast for me to even land a blow.' Chiharu clutched the hilt of her tanto preparing for her final act.

The ninja noted the change in demeanor of Chiharu and lowered himself back into an attacking stance. He would not allow her to make a fool of him any longer. This would be the end of it. There was not going to be anything that he would hold back.

Both charged at one another with the man trying to use his speed to get around Chiharu for a back attack once more. Sparks flew from the clash of the two blades as Chiharu managed to catch up with his strike. He backed off and disappeared trying for her once again, however she was able to match him. It fell into quick and rapid collisions of metal sparking and chipping from the force being brought to bear with weapons not intended for such powerful strikes. Chiharu was keeping pace with the man and feeling as though she could do a little better. She went for an offensive strike, but missed him taken off balance by the increase in speed not having become accustomed to it yet.

The man turned about preparing to strike Chiharu, but could not find her where he was expecting. "What's going on?" He searched around through the hall desperate to find Chiharu with sweat starting to build in the mounting tension. Even if Chiharu was moving quickly he knew that she had to come out eventually, but it concerned him that there had not been an attack yet. It felt as though she was nowhere in the hall. He started to back away trying to hold himself into defensive position for any direction that she might be coming at him from. "Something's wrong here…"

Everything was black. 'What's going on? Where am I?' Chiharu tried to look around the hall that she thought that she was in, but all she could see was endless darkness that was pure. It felt empty and yet too full for her to stay. 'Is this another one of that man's tricks?' She tried to move and felt as though her legs were acting while it did not seem that she had changed her position. There was no way for her to tell if she was actually moving forward in the directionless space that surrounded her.

Chiharu blinked her eyes suddenly feeling like she was seeing a light. The light grew stronger expanding in front of her until an image appeared like a portal for her. She could see the man that she had been fighting with his flank completely opened to her. The feeling that she had at that moment as she reach through was one that could not have explained. It was like a reflex or instinct within acting on its own. Her sword hand stretched out to the portal and pressed through. The whole moment felt distant like she was a third party watching as the ninja jumped away holding his side bleeding. 'He's panicked? Bleeding, but how? What just happened?' Chiharu tried to focus back on herself to break out of the disembodied feeling that she was having.

The view that she had of the ninja suddenly changed with her almost staring at his feet looking up at him like she was on the ground somehow. Her instincts took over again and reached out towards the image. Another arc of blood came off the man from his leg as he leapt back looking cornered. 'Am I doing that? Is that me? How is this possible?' Chiharu started to panic herself as she could not answer any of the questions that were flying through her mind. The strange magic that was being worked in front of her was threatening to destroy everything she understood. Her rational mind could accept what was happening. She tried to run towards the image hoping it was an exit.

"Is this that child's doing? Does the child have powers too?" the man questioned as he frantically searched about for Chiharu still confused to how she was able to wound him without him seeing her. It had been all happening too fast that he afraid she might be far faster than he could imagine. As he turned to check his flank Chiharu appeared coming towards him out of the wall with her tanto held out. In his state he could not react quickly enough forced to take the sword's blade through his chest. He slowly collapsed to the ground unmoving as Chiharu rested on him breathing heavily.

Chiharu turned her head up and looked around quickly trying to get her bearings. "I'm back! And he's…" She looked down the hall towards the three remaining guards that appeared to be shaken from the sudden reversal in the situation. The sword jerked free unceremoniously from the man's body echoing through the corridor snapping the remaining guards out of their paralysis.

"The kid took down Takeo!" stammered the guard on the left that appeared ready to flee.

The guard in the middle punched him in the face for his cowardice. "It's our job to protect this door regardless of who it is!"

"Right and the kid's already injured!" said the right guard. It seemed to be their signal to pull out a fully-automatic machine g*n each. The clicking from the guns flicked Chiharu's eyes up reading the situation. She disappeared the moment that the guards opened fire with a heavy stream of bullets that could only riddle the far away wall. In the seconds after their guns sounded off the directions changed as blood sprayed out from their bodies before collapsing to the floor from multiple wounds. The last of the bullet casings bounced on the mats as Chiharu re-appeared facing the sliding door.

Chiharu threw open the doors with her arms spread out. Her breath was heavily paced still and her body only held together by adrenaline. Across the large lightly furnished room sat in a meditative position was the middle-aged man that she had been seeking. "Yoshikazu Higoshi! I've come to take your life!"

"Hrmph!" he said barely opening his eyes towards her. The look of disinterest was heavily set in his face. "You, a child think you can kill me! Burn in hell!" His eyes suddenly glowed red sharply before the entire air in the room seemed to be blown out followed by massive waves of heat that burned across Chiharu's face. She felt as though there was a force pushing her back struggling to keep her balance. A moment later everything ignited at once into fire.

The windows blew out with flames shattering them instantly. Immediately after, the roof over the room exploded upwards into the night sky destroying everything in the room. An enraged flame towered over the mansion pushing into high canopy of the forest itself. Even after much of the initial blast calmed, there was still a threatening force blowing out from the epicenter as Yoshikazu Higoshi appeared unharmed by the fire. He looked about the settling flames that began to recede from their unnatural ignition. "Escaped huh? Tch!"

Appearing out of the ground deep in the forest away from the forest was Chiharu with Tamotsu over her shoulder. She looked back at the fire that illuminated the dark trees. "I failed tonight… But this won't be the end…"

Morning arrived for the Chinen Estates leaving a deafening silence through the mansion. The death of many of the men had left the remaining feeling uneasy. It was no longer certain if they would be able to defend from would be attacks. Their only comfort was knowing that their night raid had left the Higoshi Clan in disarray and at an equal loss of men, but there was still a third clan. The Kenkyusha Clan was the strongest of the three clans and with both of the weakened positions of the other clans the threat of attack from them was without question. A new ninja war was feared by everyone in the household.

"Tamotsu…" said a heavily bandaged Chiharu. Chiharu looked down at his body resting in his futon. She had managed to only get him out safety from the failed mission. All of the men that she had lost were running repeatedly through her mind torturing her last nerves.

Tamotsu stirred from his sleep and opened his eyes to see Chiharu next to him. "Lady Chiharu…you're safe…"

She nodded stiffly back to him. "Yes, but the mission was a failure and I've allowed my men to die and you to become injured because of my incompetence as a leader."

"Enough!" Tamotsu coughed sharply from the strain, but forced himself to control his body's pain. "You have failed no more than I have in keeping you safe from harm."

"…I'm still too weak to avenge my grandfather's, but I'll become stronger Tamotsu. Strong enough so that you don't have to protect me. Strong enough so that I can protect my men!" Chiharu's face hardened in determination as she looked down at him. There was an eased look that came across Tamotsu as he relaxed in his futon.