Chapter Three: The Nightshade

Sitting beneath the ancient, ever-blooming wisteria was a scene that would have prompted Shinsei to take a photo, had he been there. With the curtain of wisteria flowers overhead creating a sweet fragrance in the air and gentle shade, Hatamori Chie sat with her precious sketchbook on her lap. A pencil in hand, she traced the outline of the vision in her mind on the rough paper, that of her beloved Akatsuki Shinsei.

She looked upward into the violet canopy as she remembered the events of her visit to him in the hot spring last night, and she blushed. She had never been more nervous in her life, but the motto she lived her life by was to always be true to herself, no matter the cost. She could not deny in herself the desire to give her body to him, so she would not, and did not. Even then, there was one hesitancy. She had not planned the caveat she gave in the spring afterward, the one about intercourse.

Some wounds would not be healed by time alone, it seemed. One day she was sure she would find the courage, but not just yet.

She didn’t allow herself to dwell on those darker memories. As she continued to sketch the likeness of her beloved, her mind filled with the reminiscence of their meeting. The two had met about a year before their first date, and it was in an online game of all places. The truth would have been embarrassing to say out loud, but they were roleplaying. Shinsei, Chie, and a third person with the username of MoonlitDance spent many sleepless nights wrapped up in each other’s stories. This latter person was by far the best of the three at writing, but she suddenly stopped replying one day, and Chie hadn’t heard from her since.

Once the roleplaying was just Chie and Shinsei, things changed. They didn’t want to lose touch with each other like they had with MoonlitDance, so they exchanged each other’s IDs and started doing more long-form narrative roleplaying via their a-mail accounts. But it didn’t stop there, they started exchanging messages about their days, about their opinions about local news, and even some deep conversations about philosophy and politics.

But it was Chie who made the first move, after all, she would always be true to herself, and once feelings for her friend began to arise, she would not deny them. Love had hurt her once before, but she knew that allowing herself to isolate for fear of a repeat would be far worse. She didn’t even give herself the opportunity, and she told him about her feelings right away.

Once she did, his response was to ask to meet up in real life. That was one of the happiest moments in her life.

She grinned just remembering their first date. The way he looked and acted then, it was simultaneously exactly what she imagined and nothing like she expected. That date cemented her feelings for him, and he continued to only get more and more wonderful as the days went by.

She finished the sketch and stared at the page, but she frowned. It was a pretty accurate, if stylized, representation of him, but something didn’t quite feel right about it. She tilted her head back and forth and even looked at the page from different angles, then searched her memory of his features to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything obvious. She hadn’t. So, what was it?

As she concentrated on the image, the scent of the flowers blooming above made her feel a little light-headed, a little dazed. In this state, she had a strange thought that came out of nowhere.

This is how he is, but not how he will be. This is only the beginning.

Then she felt something strange. A sensation outside of herself. For a brief moment, she could feel the tree behind her, could sense the world through its roots, extending in every direction for hundreds of feet. The roots of the strange tree mingled with the roots of the trees off in the distance, deep within the woods that surrounded the boarding house. She could feel the vibrations of the forest animals as they walked along the forest floor, she could feel the cries of the cicadas as they vibrated their wings on the tree bark, she could feel the birds resting upon the branches and singing to one another.

And she could feel a person. Someone was in those woods, and they were not moving, just standing in one spot, looking directly at the wisteria.

The haze cleared immediately, and Chie looked off to the treeline, her brow furrowed. When she did, sure enough, she spotted a silhouetted figure shift behind one of the trees.

She closed the sketchbook slowly and stood up, her eyes never leaving that spot. Then she began to move, walking toward the woods and leaving her sketchbook behind in the shade.

“Auntie Setsuka?” she called. No, it wouldn’t be her, she was in town picking up groceries. It might have been Reiko or Shinsei, but something told her it wasn’t. Yuui had left this morning on a trip to a neighboring town, so it definitely wouldn’t be her.

Chie’s heart was racing as she crossed the treeline, and she swallowed hard, tensing herself in preparation for the worst.

Nobody was there. She was alone.

She panned her view across the area, she was sure she’d seen somebody, and she felt them, too. Then again, was that real? Maybe she had just daydreamt the feeling.

Trust your instincts. This thought came with the wind, carrying the scent of the wisteria behind her, and it pierced through all others. That strange haze came back, but not as strongly as before. Her senses were sharp this time, but she was aware of the roots again, and the vibrations in her surroundings. She felt the vibrations of footsteps, rapid, approaching her from a blind spot.

“Gotcha!” a voice yelled, and the sound of a blade slicing through the air rang out.

There was no chance to react, the blade in the hand of the assailant would easily rip through the air and pierce the neck of the ordinary girl, sending a spray of blood onto a nearby tree. The spine would be severed instantly, the resulting shock being enough to euthanize Chie before she even turned her head to see who had approached her. A quick, simple, and silent ****. This is what the assailant had hoped for.

So, imagine if you will, the shock the assailant must have felt when the girl’s hand—like lightning striking in a storm—caught the arm that held the blade before it even had the chance to come close. The ordinary girl with blonde pigtails dressed in cutesy frills was suddenly glaring at her attacker with a serious expression. Her fierce green eyes were filled with determination and focus, like a wildcat hunting its prey.

The attacker only saw this visage very briefly because the retaliation came just as fast as the defense. The grip on the assailant’s wrist was surprisingly strong as she was pulled off-balance, and a single blur of movement was all she witnessed before Chie’s foot was planted firmly on her stomach. The **** of the blow was enough for her robes to tear open, exposing bare skin beneath, as the assailant was sent flying through the air.

But it didn’t end there for the hapless attacker. Even as she was soaring through the air, she tried to maintain visual contact with her prey, but found herself only peering into a flurry of leaves dancing where the girl once stood. She could only assume one thing, and she had no time to do anything but assume.

She spun around in place, bringing her wakizashi, as well as another she held in her other hand, into a defensive position. This, as it turned out, was a wise move. Chie was standing right in the attacker’s trajectory with a kunai in hand, held out to stab her in the back. The spin successfully deflected it, however, and the assailant was able to regain her footing and jump away from Chie to put some distance between them.

“What the fuck!?” she exclaimed under her breath. This girl who had just moments ago been happily drawing under the shade of a tree like a worthless child, and who looked like she didn’t even have a single muscle in her flabby form, just countered a surprise attack, moved at the speed of lightning, and nearly put the assassin herself on the chopping block in the span of maybe two seconds at most.

“Who are you?” Chie asked, now able to get a better look at the attacker, not that it did much good. About all she could tell was that she was a woman of average height and light-skinned under her dark purple shinobi robes. A hood was drawn over her head, and a mask covered her nose and mouth, concealing most of her features from view. Chie couldn’t even get a good look at her eyes as the attacker was making a conscious effort to hide them from view under the lip of the hood.

All that Chie knew for sure was that she was a kunoichi, her clothes were definitely made of concentrated magic, just like her own. It was a mystic shroud, and only those with shinobi training knew how to manifest one and make it look identical to clothing. If the woman hadn’t been using a mystic shroud, Chie’s kick would have done much more damage, and it wouldn’t have torn her clothes at all.

The assailant did not immediately reply, instead sheathing one of her wakizashi and beginning to make signs with her free hand. A strange green glow covered her face for a moment, then she answered, “You should have just accepted your **** while you had the chance.” Her voice was indistinct, probably altered by the magic she had just used.

She was taking a lot of pains to keep her identity hidden, Chie noted, but didn’t really understand why. The kunoichi wasn’t bothering to keep her face out of view anymore, but even though Chie could see her eyes clearly, she just couldn’t commit what she saw to memory.

“I have to admit, I’m pretty surprised,” she continued, “I had no idea you were a shinobi like me. I had you pegged as just some airheaded bimbo.”

Chie knew this for what it was, an obvious taunt designed to make her slip up. But Chie was resolute, it would take a lot more than something like that to dig under her skin.

“Leave,” Chie said. “You’ve failed your mission.”

The attacker shook her head, “You’ve already seen too much, you were much better off sitting under that tree and pretending you didn’t notice—”

In the blink of an eye, Chie was gone in another flurry of leaves, now standing mere inches away from the assailant, her kunai coming in for a rapid thrust. It was a close call, but the mystery kunoichi managed to bend backward to avoid the attack and do a somersault to put distance between them again.

She didn’t get a chance to breathe, though, as a series of shuriken were sailing through the air after her. As soon as she could manage, she deflected the projectiles with her blade.

What the hell is going on here? the mystery kunoichi wondered to herself, trying not to panic. The intel she received told her the only one she needed to worry about in that house was the landlady and the silver-haired one, but this girl was way more skilled than she let on; not to mention fast.

She decided she needed to gather info, if for no other reason than having more to present to her superiors. When her feet were back on solid ground again, she concentrated, inhaled and exhaled, then focused on the blonde bitch. If she really was fighting a shinobi, the assailant would be able to sense the presence of the Guardian Spirit who granted her magic power.

Nothing. Fucking—what? She sensed absolutely nothing coming from Chie, no spiritual presence whatsoever. That could only mean one of two things, either she was such a high-ranking shinobi that she had the power to suppress her spiritual presence, or she was an initiate who hadn’t even formed a bond with a Guardian Spirit yet.

She thought the latter much more likely, otherwise the assailant would already be dead, but it still didn’t make much sense given how good she was. The assailant had genuinely never seen someone move so fast, nor kick her hard enough to rip her shroud open, without the aid of a Guardian Spirit before. It was possible this girl was just naturally capable of using magic, but that didn’t seem quite right either. She clearly knew some magic, she probably summoned her shuriken using a spell, but true innate casters were on a whole other level, and she wouldn’t need shinobi training at all if she had that ability.

“Alright, clearly I need to take this a little more seriously,” the assailant muttered and began signing with her free hand again. A green spectral mist began surrounding her body and forming into a long, translucent serpent. “Say hello to my Guardian Spirit, Kakuyo, it will be the last you ever see.” The form of the spiritual creature faded, but a faint outline could still be seen twisting and coiling around its master.

Chie watched this display cautiously, she had no idea what the mystery shinobi was planning, but it couldn’t be good. Chie knew what her own strengths were, and true attack power was unfortunately not one of them. She could easily overpower an ordinary human, but when compared to other shinobi she was sorely lacking in that department.

“What’s the matter?” the kunoichi prodded, “Why don’t you summon yours? Are you just that confident in your abilities? Or could it be,” she feigned a gasp, “you don’t even have one, do you?”

Chie’s brow furrowed slightly. That comment hurt a little. She could easily handle the character assassinations, but the shinobi had touched on a genuine insecurity of hers. This actually was the reason her attack power was so lacking, typically guardian spirits and their spells were what granted shinobi such power.

“In that case you really are better off just giving up,” the kunoichi laughed haughtily. Then she signed something else with her hand and the spectral form of her guardian became more prominent.

Chie knew what this meant, she was about to use its power to launch an attack. She got herself ready to move and retaliate.

“Medusa Fang!” the kunoichi announced. The serpent unhinged its jaw and a bright green light flashed at the back of its throat.

Chie felt the air pressure shift around her. She leapt into the air, and just in time. She saw a razor-thin bright green beam fire from the snake’s mouth and pass through the exact spot her head had been a split second ago. When she jumped, she did so in a large arc so that she would land a distance away. Once she reached the apex of her jump, she threw a series of shuriken down at her opponent.

These attacks were easily deflected, but Chie hadn’t really expected them to land. What she wanted to know is if the technique she just used left her **** afterward, and this didn’t seem to be the case. At this point, she was beginning to think her best bet was to wait for someone else in the house to notice the battle and come to help. She considered just trying to move closer to the house itself, but she didn’t want to endanger Shinsei nor reveal to him that she was a shinobi.

Chie’s feet touched the ground once again, and she gave her opponent no time to breathe as she threw another series of shuriken. To her surprise, she was throwing them into thin air. Blinking, she scanned the area, Left, right, then finally up, and that was when she spotted the kunoichi coming down to attack her from above, the glaring sun right behind her.

Chie didn’t have time to get out of the way, she just lifted her arms and tried to weather whatever the woman had coming, the light from the sun was making it difficult to tell what she was going to do.

Had she been able to see the kunoichi, she might have expected what came next. The assailant shouted, “Medusa Fang!” and only then did Chie realize how instrumental the sun had been in this woman’s plan.

She tried to move out of the way, but this time, the razor-thin beam of light shot right into Chie. There was no pain, but more importantly, there was nothing. No feeling whatsoever, and her movement ended abruptly right there and then.

No! she thought to herself. She was paralyzed, completely frozen in place, only able to move her eyes, she couldn’t even breathe. Her heart was beating, for a wonder, but she was otherwise completely helpless.

The kunoichi landed in front of Chie, and her wakizashi blade gleamed darkly in the sunlight, and she watched in slow-motion as it flashed through the air toward her neck. This was it; she would die here. Curiosity was what drove her here to investigate, and it would kill her. She should have just waited for Aunt Setsuka to get home and then told her about it, she shouldn’t have taken the risk.

Help is coming, the scent of wisteria on the wind told her, and she could feel the vibrating footsteps coming in the distance.

A bright flash of neon blue light filled her right-hand periphery, and she wasn’t the only one who noticed. The assailant’s eyes widened, and she looked over to the source just in time for it to be upon her. A ball of superheated blue fire blazed as it struck her, burning a hole right through her robes and exposing a breast.

The kunoichi screamed and the **** of the impact knocked her away from Chie. And as it turned out, the paralysis wasn’t permanent, it only lasted for about three seconds. Chie did not hesitate, ignoring the muscles that angrily burned for oxygen as she dashed toward the source of the flame.

“Stay the fuck away from my sister!” Reiko’s voice roared as another blue fireball was flung past Chie’s shoulder and toward the kunoichi who managed to dodge this one.

As soon as Chie reached her older sister, the pain she had been ignoring caught up to her and she doubled over, panting through gritted teeth as her whole body felt like it was on fire for a few seconds.

“Chichi, are you okay?” Reiko asked, coming into view with a concerned look on her face.

Chie waved a hand, the pain was already passing, “I’m okay. Be careful, she has a technique that will paralyze you.”

“Oh, that’s a dirty trick,” Reiko resumed glaring at the mystery kunoichi. “You’re outnumbered, and our aunt will be home any minute. You better get the fuck outta here before I burn your soul to a crisp with my spirit flame.” Reiko further emphasized this threat by making the cyan-blue spectral form of her nine-tailed fox Guardian Spirit, Yokonai, manifest around her, as well as a number of other floating blue flames that could be easily launched at her foe. “And you don’t even want to know what Aunt Setsuka will do to you if she finds you.”

The kunoichi was panting heavily, free hand covering the hole ripped in her robes by the last attack, and she seemed to be running the numbers in her head. Clearly, she didn’t like her odds, because she grunted in frustration and then vanished in a blur of movement, leaving no trace behind.

Chie and Reiko spent the next few seconds scanning the environment for any trace of their opponent, the former using her sharp senses and the latter attempting to detect the assailant’s spiritual presence. Reiko heaved a sigh of relief when it became clear that that the kunoichi had truly retreated.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Reiko asked, a lot more panicked now, immediately squeezing her younger sister in a tight hug.

Chie smiled in spite of herself, Reiko’s warmth was immediately making her feel much better. “Yeah! Thanks so much, Reirei, you saved me!”

After a few more seconds of passionate cuddling, Reiko asked, “What the hell just happened?”

Chie shook her head, “I don’t really know. Somehow, I sensed that kunoichi loitering around here, and I came to look.”

“You shouldn’t have done that! Especially not alone. You don’t have your Guardian Spirit yet; you need to be more careful.” She scolded, echoing Chie’s own thoughts just moments ago.

Her gaze lowered to her own feet, ashamed.

Reiko sighed, “I’m just glad you’re safe, and it doesn’t look like she left any bruises or cuts. That’s good. They’d be hard to explain to Shinchi.”

Chie looked up at her sister sheepishly.

“Oh, I just can’t stay mad at you!” Reiko relented, her tone shifting completely. She wrapped her arms around her sister and began fondling all of her softest bits with her hands.

Chie giggled, happy to feel a sense of normalcy again. Her heart, hammering away in her chest, was starting to calm down. She then gazed back out over the battlefield. It was like nothing had ever happened. Chie nearly died here and nobody else who looked would be any the wiser. It was totally barren of any signs of struggle or of the kunoichi.

Or was it? Something grabbed her attention, something glinting on the ground among the leaves.

She managed to pull herself out of Reiko’s wandering hands and approached the object.

“Chichi? What is it?”

Chie picked it up and turned it over in her fingers. It was an amulet on a leather chord, with purple gemstones lined up in a star-shape with a pentagonal golden pyramid in the center. She showed it to her sister who just shrugged.

“She must have dropped it when my fireball hit her. If it’s still here, then it’s definitely not part of her mystic shroud.” Reiko said.

“We should show this to Auntie,” Chie said.

“We’ll fill her in as soon as we can be alone with her,” Reiko agreed. “She’ll be mad at you, though.”

Chie looked at her feet again and nodded, knowing it was true.

“C’mon, I’ll sneak you some ice cream before she gets back.”

The promise of sweets perked the younger sibling right back up, and the two went back to the Boarding House. Before they arrived, though, Chie looked back over her shoulder. She couldn’t shake this ominous feeling she had. She was worried, not just for her safety, but for Shinsei as well.

Once Setsuka had arrived back home, sensing that something was going on, the elder Hatamori pulled her two nieces into her office to go over what had happened. The pair explained everything they knew and showed the strange amulet to their aunt.

“Oh,” Setsuka furrowed her brow, “that’s not good. You’re sure this came from that kunoichi?”

“I think it did,” Chie said, but then added, “I guess it could just be coincidence, though.”

Reiko shook her head, “I trust Chichi’s instincts.”

Setsuka rubbed her chin, thoughtfully, “Me too, frankly. Chie’s intuition is sharper than any blade out there.”

“Do you know what it is?” Reiko asked, nodding to the amulet in Setsuka’s hand.

She nodded, “This is the emblem of the secret shinobi cabal, Nightshade. But I don’t understand why they would be stalking our house. They know I’m here; they wouldn’t dare try anything.”

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as the group digested this information.

Finally Setsuka spoke once again, “I have a contact with Nightshade in town, tomorrow I’ll go to them and try to get some answers.”

“Isn’t our new roommate coming tomorrow?” Chie asked.

Setsuka nodded, “It shouldn’t take me too long, I’ll leave you in charge of showing her around the place.”

“What about me?” Reiko pointed to herself, puzzled.

“I’ll have a special job for you, join me in the bath tonight and I’ll go over it.”

Reiko nodded and the two sisters went to leave the office, but Setsuka stopped Chie, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Once Reiko left, Chie looked sheepishly at her aunt, “I’m sorry Auntie, I shouldn’t have gone to look on my own.”

Setsuka had a stern look on her face, but relaxed it a little, “I’m just glad you’re safe and that you understand how stupid that was. How do you think Shinsei would feel if you got hurt?”

Tears were welling in Chie’s eyes as she imagined the idea, “I know,” she replied, her voice cracking, “I’m just so dumb and useless, I can’t even get my own guardian spirit.”

She felt herself embraced by Setsuka, “Oh, Chie-chan, none of that is true. Finding a guardian spirit that suits you is going to be difficult, but it’s not impossible. And you found that amulet, without it we wouldn’t even know who was stalking us. I just want you to be more careful and think these kinds of situations through next time, okay?”

Chie nodded, keeping her face buried in her aunt’s chest for a little while.

“And you should be proud that you managed to hold your own against a full-fledged shinobi at all. That’s impressive, and I’m proud of you for that, at least.”

Chie gave a muffled thanks and then hiccupped.

Setsuka smiled and then sent her on her way too. Afterward, she sat down at her desk and turned the amulet over in her hands. Nothing made sense to her about this, so her contact better have answers.