A storm was blowing in; the sky was dark, the air damp, and a chill wind gusting in from the sea. The water was rough and choppy, and in the distance, there were white capped waves rolling over the horizon. The gulls had flown south some time ago, and other than the sound of the surf and the wind, there was only silence.
In short, it was perfect. Rujia was a few miles out from her humble Minka-style house, fully geared for her own protection, though not on duty. It was technically a free day for her, but with the few people she could call friend still on duty or on other errands, she was alone for the day.
"You're never alone, girl. Don't you dare go trying to forget about me now."
Okay, well. Not alone, exactly. "Okay, you're not wrong Sukoru, but you're in my head. Your always in my head. You might as well just be another me at this point. Or like my...what do you call it. My conscience?"
The voice in the back of her mind chuckled at that. "Well, someone's got to be. Spirits know you've hardly got one of your own...hmmm. That's some storm blowing in, there. Perhaps another spirit draws near...though if that's so, I sense it's none-too-happy. If that is the case, there may be problems further on."
He was right. Maybe. Many of the local beasts were tainted in one way or another, and, knowing the right signs, one could infer from how the environment responded that the spirits were less than happy with their presence. Perhaps that was why Rulastinia was always so dark and damp, infested with a plethora of beasts as it always was. Maybe if they were all culled, their dark little corner of the world would brighten up a little. The thought made her smile.
Not the thought of things calming down, to be sure. More the thought of what it would take to attain it. Fighting the beasts was always a rush for her.
"Always the bloodthirsty little girl, aren't you?"
"Hush, you. What is that ahead...? It looks like there's a- it is! There's a ship!" What was a ship doing in Rulastinia's waters? Surely it wouldn't be Nhoplan trying a different tactic, would it? No...she couldn't make out many details from this distance, but she could tell there was only the one boat, and it hardly looked outfitted for war. There wasn't much trade this time of year, not that many people made the attempt to even come to a land that most swore was cursed. Who in their right mind would be in these waters?
Someone unprepared, it looked like...she could see a swarm of black around the listing ship. The Suturigoi looked as if they were having a field day, hovering around the craft.
Rujia sighed, and lifted her half-mask from the hook on her belt, and clipped it to her gorget to secure it over her mouth and nose, donning the guise of a snarling beast. It was time to hunt, it seemed...not that she minded that part. But it was so far away! Getting to the beach wouldn't be so difficult, but she was hardly going to try and swim and fight. Someone on the boat would have seen land now, surely...perhaps some of the sailors would have made for the shore? It would be her only option. But first, she had to make to the beach.
"Better get moving, then. Use the wind, it'll-"
"I know, thank you Sukoru! Now shut up and let me do my thing, would you?"
"So angry! Very well. Make haste!"
Her head finally, blissfully silent, Rujia dashed forward, summoning the wind to gust from behind her to speed her onward. Her feet were swift, sure footed and agile as she picked her way across the landscape. Leaping over rocks and bounding around boulders, the distance became shorter with each and every step. Within minutes, the shinobi had come close enough for the beach to be within sight. She could no longer see the ship...or, rather, she could see it, or at least parts of it, washed up on the beach, large waves pushing them onto the shoreline. She could also see bodies.
And, of course, the Suturigoi swarming them. Rujia huffed as she slid the uchigatana at her back from its belt, saya and all, and held it at her right hip. She widened her stance, one leg ahead and to the left, one behind and to the right, and lowered her body.
The demons hadn't seen her yet. One, certainly, never would.
Once again summoning the wind, she compressed it into a spherical configuration behind her, small and tight. And then, once it was compressed enough, she released it in a single direction; from behind her, wind exploded forth, propelling her forward at speed. The wind whistling in her ears, Rujia kept her sight on a single target in front of her as she rushed forth, her feet a mere inch above the sand as she hurtled toward her chosen quarry.
In a single fluid movement, she drew her sword just before she would fly past the bat-like demon. With a twist, she turned her body into the swing of her sword; the silver edged blade made contact with the tainted flesh of the creature and seemed to pass clean through it. The thin edge of the uchigatana sliced into and through with little resistance, the lethally sharp blade combined with the force of her wind-propelled horizontal iai-strike cutting cleanly through the Suturigoi's midsection.
Continuing forward, Rujia threw her feet ahead of her, angling herself slightly to kill her momentum on the broken piece of the craft in front of her. Allowing her knees to bend with the impact, she then kicked off, reversing her trajectory entirely and, twisting in midair, angled her blade forward. The bat-like creature hadn't even fallen yet; it was still turning toward its attacker, mouth wide as it began to screech in rage, unaware that it was already dead.
Her initial cut was so clean, she couldn't even see it. Her next one, however, was much less so. The beasts call was suddenly cut off as the silvered blade separated everything above its nose from the rest of its body, and her knee impacted its chest, sending the upper body flying free from its legs to crash in a heap some distance away.
Landing and quickly finding her feet, Rujia took her right hand from her sword and made a fist, focusing on the storm in her heart. She could feel it there, buzzing and vibrating, yearning to break free.
She let it. First, there were sparks, blue and bright. Then there were arcs, leaping off and across her fingers. And then, when she raised her hand above her head and opened her fist to present her palm to the sky, there was lightning; a cage of light and fury burst into existence around her, bolts of violence ripping through her surroundings. Beyond the light, Rujia could just see the dark forms of the other Suturigoi flying towards her, eager to tackle her and tear her to pieces, to feast on her blood and turn her to naught but dust.
"Sukuro!"
"You'll have everything you need! Do it!"
Rujia smirked under her mask, the light from the cage of bolts reflecting in her eyes. She grabbed hold of the storm within her, raging without.
And then she pushed.
The cage turned into a wheel, deadly arcs of electricity arcing outwards, the spokes of the wheel like spears of light. The Suturigoi stopped in mid flight, lances of electricity piercing their forms, wracking their bodies and contorting their muscles.
And then it was over. The light disappeared and, all around her, Rujia could hear the sound of multiple bodies hitting the earth simultaneously.
Rujia grabbed her sword again, ready to go on the defensive, prepared for another attack when there couldn't possibly be one. When only the sound of the waves met her ears did she relax, straightening and sheathing her sword.
She let her breathe out in a whoosh, her skin feeling hot, the inside of her skull itching. The storm in her breast became tranquil yet again, its furious pounding lessening into a stable heartbeat. "You...may have given it a little much," she mumbled, stretching her arms as her muscles fought to contract against her bones.
"Any less, and you wouldn't have gotten them all. Plus, you missed something. Look down."
"Look down? What, at this guy?"
Lying face down on the wet sand was a man, garbed in clothing that was...well, outlandish would be a good way to describe it. She stuck her foot out and dug it into his ribs, pushing hard and rolling him over. She expected a corpse..surely the Suturigoi had already killed him.
And then the man groaned.
"Oh."
"Oh shit."
"He's-"
"Alive."
"...what do we do?"
