Embrace the Wind

Embrace the Wind


Notes/Summary: A “coming of age” sort of story, for a character not enough people pay attention to. Please be kind in reviewing this fic, and see if you can guess which character the story is about before the end of the first part. To all those who have read my other YYH fics, I hope you enjoy this one just as much!

EDIT: Good lord, I'm such a dumbass. I marked this fic as completed, but it's actually only complete in as much as I've finished writing it. By "WIP"--as I've now marked it--I actually mean that the fic has yet to be uploaded in its entirety. I need to finish editing all the chapters to make them worthy, but then I can get to uploading the rest of this sucker.

Thanks for your patience, and please review.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The venerable storm demon, Arashi, lifted the child from its mother’s arms and held it up to gaze at it intently. The other sky-clan demons waited in anticipation for their leader to either bless the newborn—or condemn it. This was a world where infants who where deemed unfit to survive were often destroyed. It was a cruel world, where only the strongest lived, and the weak were savagely dealt with from the moment they saw the sun. This was the Makai, and the sky-clan demons would not tolerate weaklings in their midst.

Arashi smiled at the infant, then turned his stern gaze upon the rest of the gathering. “The child is one of the strongest I’ve seen. He will be an asset, not a hindrance. His youki is that of wind.”

The gathering of powerful elemental demons roared their approval, and the infant’s mother gave a small sigh of relief. Her baby would live. She reached to take her baby son back from her clan leader.

Arashi moved to deliver the babe back to its mother’s arms. Then, a small frown formed upon his craggy face. All at once, the frown became a thunderous scowl. He lifted the child to his eye level once more. The child laughed and waved its arms. The storm demon’s expression was terrible. “WHAT TRICKERY IS THIS? THE CHILD’S SPIRIT ENERGY IS THAT OF A HUMAN!” he bellowed.

The baby’s mother trembled in fear. She had felt the soul of her child as it had grown within her body, and she had been afraid. It had indeed contained the pure essence of a human. “Please,” she pleaded, “He’s only an infant! You said yourself he was strong, what does it matter if his spirit is not that of a demon? Please my leader, I beg of you, spare my baby!”

A lightning demon spoke up. “The child’s soul is ningen! He will betray us one day, when he learns to hate us as humans do!”

Another, a rain demon, seconded his fellow’s concern. “He will destroy us if given the chance!”

“Kill him before he gains the cunning of an enemy!” cried another.

“Kill him before he betrays us!” roared a thunder demon.

The baby’s mother grew frantic with terror. Her frightened indigo eyes darted this way and that, searching for help, but no help was to be had. All were against her, against her infant son whom had never done anyone harm.

Her gaze fell upon the face of her child, who was now screaming in frightened confusion. A fire blazed within her. The demoness leapt forward and snatched her baby from her leader’s arms, then whirled and fled.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pursuit was immediate and fierce. The sky-clan demons clung doggedly to her trail for days. At last however, she escaped into a region of the Makai where the clan would not follow her. It was the dark land where the infamous ninja demons known as the Shinobi prowled the shadows. The sky-clan demons were afraid of the Shinobi and their powers, and dared not enter their lands.

The she-demon stopped by a tall, black oak to rest. She could have fled for far longer than she had, but she was grateful she had not been forced to do so. She began to nurse her baby, all the while glancing nervously about her for signs of attack. The shadows covered the land as far as her eyes could see, and a great loneliness settled upon her heart. She was in exile now. She had broken clan law, and could never return to her people.

She turned her attention back to her son, who was contentedly suckling at her breast, unconcerned now that all the excitement was over and done with. A smile reluctantly found its way to her lips. He was a beautiful child, and pride swelled in her heart as she looked upon him with love.

The infant left off nursing and instead simply stared up at her. His large eyes were indigo like his mother’s, and he had a baby’s mane of downy red hair. The she-demon’s own hair was a less shocking hue, a dark blue that matched her eyes.

A sound made her long, elfin ears twitch, and she was on her feet and ready to flee in an instant. She found herself faced with a tall, imposing demon with shimmering black hair, and obsidian eyes set in a handsome, fine-featured face.

The demon’s stare was intense. He swept his gaze first over her, then over her child as well. His eyes locked with the she-demon’s own, and when he spoke, it was as the ethereal whisper of the wind. “Why have you come here, woman? And why do you carry a newborn babe with you in a land such as this?”

She trembled, but her voice was strong. “I come here for protection. My clan pursued me, for they wished to kill my son. I knew they would not follow me here.”

“It was foolish for you to trespass here as well. Do you know who I am?”

“No,” she replied steadily, “You’ve not given me a name to know you by.”

“My name is Kyoufuu. I am the Wind Master of the Shinobi. You cannot comprehend the mistake you have made in coming to this place.”

She lowered her eyes, fear sending little tremors through her body. “Then kill me, but swear you will spare my child. I will not lose him to death before he has learned to live.”

Kyoufuu studied the child, and it stared back at him with wide, but fearless eyes. The baby grinned at him, and waved its tiny arms until a light breeze surrounded the three demons. The little one laughed, immensely pleased with itself. Kyoufuu smiled. “I will spare you and your little one, for I see that he is strong. He would not survive without a mother in any case.”

“What is to become of my baby and I?” the demoness asked quietly.

“I will not be the wind master of the Shinobi forever. I will need one such as your son to carry on in my place. I will teach him the ways of the Shinobi. As for you, you will be responsible for teaching him all the things a young demon should know.”

The woman gazed into her infant son’s face. The child smiled broadly at her, pure joy radiating from the little one’s entire being. “Then I will stay here and raise my son to be a powerful demon. He will be a Shinobi.”

Kyoufuu took the she-demon’s hand, and led her away to meet the Shinobi sect, and begin her new life.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A young red-haired demon soared laughing away from his teacher, caring nothing for the lessons and everything for the sky. The child wanted to stay amidst the clouds all day and forever after, if only he could have found a way. But he was only flesh and blood, not the air itself, so he contented himself with spending all the hours he could in flight.

The boy’s name was Jin. He had been born into a clan of powerful sky demons, and had been condemned by that same clan for reasons he had never learned. His mother never spoke of it, and his mentor, Kyoufuu, didn’t seem to know.

“Jin, you insubordinate brat, come back here at once!”

Jin sweatdropped. Couldn’t those cranky adults find something better to do with their time than pick on him? He sighed, and began to descend to earth once more. When his feet touched the ground, he stood still and stared at his toes, waiting for the lecture he knew would come.

It came with a vengeance. Kyoufuu loomed over his pupil, his obsidian eyes bright with anger. “Do you have any concept of what your disobedience will cost you one day? There will come a time when I will be Wind Master of the Shinobi no more, and you will have to take my place. What will you say for yourself when that day comes, and you have failed to learn all that you must? I will not be your teacher forever, and you must take my teachings to heart if they are ever to benefit you! You must carry on the ways of the Shinobi master of wind after I die.”

The boy winced. As much as he disliked being made to learn, he loved his teacher like the father he had never known, and the thought of disappointing him rankled deeply. He knew the life expectancy of a Shinobi was short, and the thought of losing Kyoufuu before he had learned all he could from his beloved mentor always brought him sharply to heel. He humbled himself as much as his youthful pride would allow, and answered his teacher. “I’m sorry Kyoufuu sir, I’ll try harder t’ behave myself, and learn the ways o’ the Shinobi.”

The tall, ebon-maned demon could not help the small smile that found its way to his face, at the sound of the little one’s apology in that odd accent of his. He knew the boy loved him, and in truth, he had grown quite fond of the youth as well. “Only keep your feet upon solid ground long enough for me to get a word in edgewise, Jin. I don’t wish for you to grow up not knowing the full extent of your power. You have potential beyond that of even myself, which is why, one day, you will exceed me as a Shinobi. Now, we have much to do today, and I should very much like to get started.”

The young demon groaned, but made no further complaint. He showed more patience than was normal for him by standing still long enough to actually learn a few things about changing patterns in the wind—before taking off again the moment he had learned it to test his new knowledge.

Kyoufuu let him go this time, recognizing a fiery freedom of spirit in the young demon. If Jin were suppressed all the time, that free spirit would die, and the Wind Master didn’t want that.

His senses caught the approach of a storm, and he extended his power to determine what sort of storm it might be. It was a small hurricane, just barely formed, and it was sweeping inland quite rapidly. At first he thought to call his pupil back to earth, but something gave him pause. Perhaps it was time the child learned what being a true master of wind entailed.

Jin soared high into the afternoon sky, heedless of anything but the wide open space he now occupied. He searched with his young power for the patterns Kyoufuu had told him were there. Immediately, his senses created for him a “map” of the diverse winds, each pattern becoming clearly defined in his mind’s eye. One pattern seemed to be shifting more rapidly than the others, and he stretched his perceptions to discover what it was.

A swirling maelstrom of wind, such as he had never seen before, came barreling in from the east. The sheer power of the storm frightened the boy, and he turned to flee back to the safety of the solid ground. All at once, an unknown feeling within him stirred, and he slowly rounded to face the oncoming hurricane. Somehow, the wild winds no longer alarmed him. Rather, they intrigued him. A pull, an irresistible attraction, held him there in the sky, until at last, with a roar, the storm enveloped him.

The winds did not throttle him as he had expected. They seemed instead to wrap themselves about him like sinking into an ocean. The storm moved, it breathed with the essence of a living thing. It charged the young demon with a static feeling and whipped his ember-red hair about his face.

A joy Jin had never known flooded his entire being. He wasn’t just up in the sky anymore; he was a part of it. The tempest had become an extension of his spirit. He reached out with his budding power and drew the winds to him, twining them about his small form like an invisible cloak. He loosed a wild laugh and began to spin, faster and faster until the winds had formed a cyclone with Jin as its center.

Kyoufuu stared in mild wonder at the fire-haired youth amidst the elements. Jin had not only mastered the newborn tempest, he had all but become it. At so tender an age, the boy had discovered what it had taken Kyoufuu many more years to realize: that a true wind master could only delve into his full potential when he formed a bond with the winds and made them a part of himself, and himself in turn a part of them. He is more a creature of the wind than even I, he thought. What reason would his people have had to condemn him to exile or death?

“He has become what you wished him to be. My son is a master of the wind.”

Kyoufuu turned to regard Soyokaze, Jin’s mother, and the she-demon he had come to think of as a sister. “Not yet Soyo. He still has much to learn, and you and I must teach him.”

She nodded, then turned her indigo gaze back to her son. She could sense the jubilation from her child, and it made her smile. He has the right to feel happy. No child should have to feel despair or hate, as many that live in the Makai do. I wish for his happiness always. With that hopeful thought in her heart, she retreated to the base of a black oak to rest.

She frowned as she sat beneath the tall tree. She had been more and more tired as of late, and it worried her. She had never been very strong, not since the time when as a young girl, she had fallen seriously ill and nearly died. Perhaps it is the season, she thought. The heat of the Makai’s summer has never been kind to me.

A gust of wind, and her son tumbled unceremoniously next to her in a heap. His ecstatic giggling did not cease for some minutes as the giddy feeling of his newly forged bond with the wind settled within him. “Did ye see me mother? Did ye see?” the little one gushed in his foreign-sounding tones.

“I saw,” she told him with a smile, “I’m very proud of you, my son.”

She winced as her child threw his arms enthusiastically around her neck, but returned the embrace with love. A sudden drowsiness seemed to overtake the fire-haired youth, and he snuggled into her lap and fell asleep. She smoothed her son’s wild red mane, listening to his soft, even breaths as she thought about things past, present, and future.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Several years had passed since the day Jin had discovered his bond with the winds. He was no longer so much a child, but neither was he an adult. He stood balanced precariously on the line between early youth and adolescence. He might have crossed over to become the latter any time he chose, but he wished to hold onto what childishness he still possessed. The reason for this was simple: he now had only himself and his mentor to rely on.

His mother had lived for two years after he had found his place amongst the clouds, but she had failed to foresee the illness that eventually took her life. She had gotten sicker and sicker, until at last her failing strength had given out. Jin had grieved for only a short time before accepting that she was gone, and that she would not want him to waste his life wishing she could return. His heart had grown stronger because of his loss, and he had kept the part of him that smiled and laughed and loved to play alive, so that she would always be with him in some way.

“Jin, it’s time.”

The fire-haired youth flashed his mentor a small-fanged grin. He had waited a long time for this. Today was to be the day he met the other members of the Shinobi sect. He had seen them only once before, when he was only an infant, and so this would be his first official meeting with them. Also, and he had learned recently that he was not the only new member. There were others too, though most of them were somewhat older than he.

“Are you ready Jin? They are waiting for us.”

“Aye, I’m ready as I’ll ever be, sir.”

“Then let’s go.”

The two took to flight and traveled northward, to where the meeting place was to be. Upon reaching it, Jin looked down and saw several others standing there, obviously waiting. Kyoufuu descended, and after a moment’s hesitation, Jin followed.

Kyoufuu extended his hand to firmly grasp that of another Shinobi, a man of medium height with weathered brown skin. “Well met, Resshin. How has Fate been treating you?”

Resshin, whom Jin gathered was the Shinobi master of earth, smiled wryly. “Fate treats us all the same, Kyoufuu. You know that.” The master of earth had a solid, rumbling voice, one that Jin thought perhaps he liked.

“Yes, and she is often cruel,” Kyoufuu responded, his obsidian eyes reflecting amusement. “But tell me Resshin, how does your pupil? Last I heard of him, he was a bullheaded, arrogant, good-for-nothing who would be lucky if he ever caused a minor earthquake at the height of his abilities.”

The earth master chuckled, his rumbling voice rolling pleasantly. “Yes, he was that. But Risho has improved quite a bit since last you heard of him.”

“Kyoufuu,” a lyrical voice queried, “Who is the boy with you? Is he the pupil you so fervently sought?”

The raven-haired demon graced with a smile the small, light-blue-haired woman who had spoken. “Hyousetsu, it is good to see you again. This is Jin, my student. He has shown great promise in mastering the element of wind.” He gave Jin a slight push forward, and the youth dutifully bowed and gave respectful greetings.

“It’s a pleasure to meet ye miss.” the redhead murmered shyly. He’d never experienced shyness before, because he had never met anyone before that he could recall not knowing.

Hyousetsu laughed, the sound like shaken silver. “You needn’t call me ‘miss’ dear boy. I’m hardly so young as to deserve such a title.”

Her good-natured mockery only served to embarrass Jin all the more, and his face turned the same brilliant color as his hair. Kyoufuu and Resshin both had a good laugh at the younger demon’s expense.

All at once, Jin found himself gripped roughly by the shoulder and spun about. He now faced a huge demon of severe expression and obvious aggressiveness. The future wind master gulped, and wished suddenly for a hole in the earth which he might sink into.

“KYOUFUU, YOU CANNOT SERIOUSLY EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT THIS PUNY COLT IS YOUR DISCIPLE. HE HASN’T ENOUGH STRENGTH IN HIS ENTIRE BODY TO MATCH A SINGLE HAND OF MY OWN STUDENT.” the demon thundered.

“Noumu,”the Wind Master admonished quietly, “His strength lies within, where it will serve him best. He is powerful, and his physical prowess will mature as he does.”

“I agree with Kyoufuu,” the final Shinobi master interjected, “Sometimes it is what we cannot see that proves to be most surprising.”

“Well spoken Genkaku,” Resshin proclaimed in his bear-like rumble.

At last, things settled down, and Jin was formally introduced to the Shinobi. Resshin, the earth master, Hyousetsu, the ice master, Noumu, the master of mist and fog, and Genkaku, the master of disguise. All had been taught by masters of the same powers who in turn had been taught by masters of their own, who had also passed down the ways of the Shinobi and the powers that made them the feared and respected sect they were.

Each master had his or her disciple with him or her. Resshin had taken it upon himself to teach an ambitious demon named Risho. Hyousetsu was passing along the mastery of ice to a young demon by the name of Touya, whom Jin took an instant liking to, despite the other youth’s chilly demeanor. Noumu had been training a hulking brute named Bakken, whom, in contrast to Touya, Jin decided he really didn’t like much at all. And lastly, Genkaku’s student was a rather strange fellow named Gama. Jin wasn’t sure what to make of this last of his peers, and by the impression he got from Genkaku, that was a good thing, seeing as Gama was the future master of disguise. Aside from Touya, all were significantly older than Jin, and none of them seemed particularly friendly at first meeting.

The masters left their students to get acquainted, and went elsewhere to discuss their own matters. Jin was abandoned without a word from his mentor, and stood staring and being stared at by the other students.

It was Bakken who spoke to him first. By the first words out of his mouth Jin learned to dislike him. “You’re kind of runty for a Shinobi, ain’t you?”

Jin bristled. “Keep talkin’ t’ me that way an’ ye’ll learn right quick just how tough I really am, as I’m not one t’ stand an’ let myself be insulted by the likes o’ ye!” he barked, surprising the hulking demon with his sharp and swift speech.

Bakken stared at him for a moment, then turned to Gama. “Did you understand a word the runt said just now?”

Touya sighed, as though pitying the brute his limited intelligence. “I believe he asked you not to judge him by his size, for he is not to be taken lightly,” the young ice demon explained. He spoke slowly and in a monotone, as though he were explaining something to a child, and that something were far beyond the child’s comprehension.

Jin offered the ice apparition a fanged grin. That wasn’t precisely what he had meant, but it was close enough. Touya did not grin back, but there was a minute quirking of the corner of his mouth, which indicated amusement.

Gama chuckled at Bakken’s angered expression resulting from having been talked down to by a demon half his age and less than half his size. Touya was even smaller than Jin, and extremely cool-tempered.

The future Master of Disguise regarded his newest fellow with interest. He had never seen a demon of Jin’s like before. “What exactly are you?” he queried.

Jin blinked in confusion. “What d’ ye mean ‘what am I?’ I’m a demon same as ye’re one an’ that’s how I’ve always been.”

Gama shook his head. “No, I mean what sort of demon are you? I’ve never seen one quite like you before.”

Jin cocked his head to one side, almost like a bird trying to get a good look at a shiny stone. “Well I don’t rightly know what sort o’ demon I am though I suppose I know at least where I came from. My mother an’ I used t’ be part o’ a clan ye see. They were all sky demons, like me.”

Risho, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke. “You used to be part of a clan you say? And you actually remember who your mother was? You have more of a background than the rest of us, I dare say.” He leaned in so he was eye-to-eye with Jin. “Pray tell, why exactly did you leave this clan of yours?”

The words took Jin by surprise, and the young flame-hair stepped away from the future earth master. “I-I can’t say as I know why. I was too young, only a wee infant at the time.”

Risho smiled unpleasantly. “Really. Well there must have been a reason for your mother to flee to Shinobi lands. Was there anything wrong with her?”

“No! She was a respected member o’ our clan!” Jin protested, angry at the hint of accusation in Risho’s voice.

“Well then,” the raven-haired earth demon said smugly, “If it wasn’t her who got herself and you exiled into ninja country—the case rests that there must be something wrong with you.”

“Risho! Your words are uncalled for!” Touya exclaimed, his glacial mask cracking with anger for a moment.

Jin felt as though he had been slapped. His mother had never told him why she had been forced to escape into these lands. But he had always suspected it had less to do with her and more to do with him. He recoiled when Risho smiled that unpleasant smile again, fighting his urge to simply fly as far away as he could and leave the older demon’s sneering face behind.

Risho’s smile broadened. He enjoyed watching people squirm that way. In any case, he could always say he was only “toughening the newcomer up,” and then no one would have anything to say about it. “Well,” he pressed, “Can you think of anything that might be the matter with you? Some fault perhaps, that would have been detrimental to your clan? Come now, if it got you and your mother exiled, it might be bad enough to prohibit your becoming a Shinobi. We don’t want any one in our sect who has a…defect.”

Jin looked at his feet, unwilling to meet the cruel gaze that bored into him. “I don’t know. My mother never told me anythin’,” he murmured. His face burned with humiliation, and he continued to stare at the ground.

Touya decided he’d seen enough. His cold, silvery-blue eyes blazed eerily bright, and a chilly mist began to swirl around his feet. He directed the mist toward the earth demon, and caused it to creep up and around Risho’s legs. With a thought, Touya made the mist become solid ice.

Risho yelped, burning cold suddenly encasing his legs all the way up to his thighs. “Touya!” he raged, “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

The ice apparition gave him a stare utterly devoid of emotion. “Your twisted little game of ‘bully the new ninja’ has gone on long enough. Let him be now. Unless of course, you want Kyoufuu’s wrath breathing down your neck.”

Risho was furious at the younger demon, but made no reply. He was a firm believer in that revenge could wait a long, long time, and could then be exacted at just the right moment later on.

Touya released him, and turned to Jin. “Pay no attention to Risho’s cruel words. He only says those things to try to intimidate people.”

Jin shook his head. “No, he’s right. There must’ve been somethin’ about me our clan didn’t like, else they wouldn’t o’ sent my mother an’ me away.” He looked at his hands, and shrugged helplessly. “Only, now as I think about it, I can’t seem t’ figure out what it is.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with you,” Touya replied. “And Hyousetsu says I have a keen perception of others.”

Jin managed a small smile. “Well if she says so, I guess it must be true.” But he was not convinced.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Years went by, and soon it became apparent that Bakken would no longer be able to call Jin so much of a runt. The redhead was nearly as tall as his mentor now, a good height to look down at people from if he ever needed to. Along with his size, Jin’s power grew until he could sense a shift in the air currents a few hundred miles away. His bond with the winds became stronger with time, and he nurtured it deliberately by spending every spare moment amongst the clouds. When he was in his element, he felt free, and he wanted that feeling to last forever.

But there is a time in every existence when something happens that is so catastrophic, it changes a person forever. For Jin, this might have been the death of his mother, had it affected him more than it had. Alas, Fate decided that even this was not enough, to mold the wind demon into what he would have to be when at last she had need of him in her grand scheme. There were many things Jin would yet have to learn if he were to become what he was destined to be.

Change came in the form of a hoard of renegade demons. They were more powerful than intelligent, and thus were deadly enemies. The attack descended upon the Shinobi without warning as huge numbers of demons, large, ugly brutes wielding massive weapons, invaded the valley in which the ninjas dwelt.

Resshin sounded the alarm, and the masters and students together sprang into action. The battle was fierce, with immediate deaths on the side of the invaders. None of them cared for the losses, seeking only to destroy the Shinobi.

“Jin,” Kyoufuu commanded, “Now is the time to test the full strength of your abilities. Show the invaders why the Shinobi are to be feared!”

The ember-haired demon launched into the sky, feeling the earth fall swiftly away beneath him. He reached out with his power and drew the winds to him, no longer in play, but as a call to destruction. The winds shrieked their terrifying joy, and sought to shred to pieces all in their path as Jin sent them spiraling back toward the earth in the form of a gigantic cyclone. A group of invaders bellowed in terror and scattered under the onslaught, some escaping to other parts of the battlefield, many others not faring so well.

Kyoufuu had no time to bask in the pride he felt for his student. All around him the battle raged, and he dared not take his eyes from his enemies. He hammered them one after the other or in large groups with destructive blasts of wind.

Resshin fought not far from his side, the mighty earth demon making the ground shake violently as he sent their enemies tumbling to the core of the planet, or else spearing them brutally upon great jutting spikes of rock and earth. Risho too employed his power to aid his master, creating fissures much like Resshin’s and closing them up again once they had served their deadly purpose.

Hyousetsu’s graceful form was a whirlwind of ice and snow as she fought with her powers of lethal cold. Touya was a fatal blur at her side as he used weapons of ice to destroy the enemy.

Genkaku and Gama bewildered the invaders and then slaughtered them with their toxic makeup and spells, and Noumu fought alongside his pupil Bakken within a dense cloud of fog.

The fight was nearly over before it began. Things should have gone flawlessly, and should have been entirely one-sided. But Fate had other plans, and she was a cruel mistress indeed.

Jin had only just descended to earth to aid his mentor in the fight, when Fate extended her hand.

It all seemed to Jin to occur in slow motion. His feet touched the ground. An enemy charged him, massive club raised to crush him. He swept the demon away with his power. Then, through the roar and din of battle, a sharp whistling sound caught his sensitive ears. It occurred to him in the last seconds that the invaders had brought an archer with them—and then the arrow struck. But it did not strike Jin. Warm blood soaked through the redhead’s airy clothing as his teacher slumped, mortally wounded, against him. For a single, horrible instant, Kyoufuu’s deep obsidian eyes met his own, and they were full of pain and loving kindness and the heavy sorrow that comes with the regret of parting too soon. Then those eyes closed forever, and the Wind Master fell solidly to the ground, never to rise.

Jin felt the scream building within him before it was released. It exploded from the depths of his being, ripping its way from his throat like a living thing. It was part shriek of sorrowful denial, and part hellish roar of rage. His eyes blazed a fiery azure, and his aura tore visibly at the earth and air around him. The winds howled his grief as well, whipping the wind demon’s vermillion hair about his face and ripping loose all the greenery within several yards of his violently trembling form.

His rage-filled gaze found a glint of steel that might have been the point of an arrow. He let the maddened winds sweep him into the air, and propel him toward the demon that had become his first and foremost object of hatred.

The archer was of a different race than the demons he accompanied. He was a hired man, quenching his thirst for money and blood with this battle. He was unprepared for the whirlwind of fury that crashed into his hiding place of a large boulder, and tore it asunder. When at last the debris cleared, he found himself not five feet away from what seemed to be Death himself.

Death was plastered in blood from chest to waist, with flaming-red hair and scorching azure eyes, and Death floated above the ground like an angel from anywhere but heaven. Death spoke, and the black hatred in his voice made the archer quake with terror. “YE COWARD!” Death screamed a banshee’s scream of hate. “YE KILLED HIM! HE WAS EVERYTHIN’ TO ME AN’ YE KILLED HIM! I’LL MAKE YE PAY FOR HIS DEATH WITH YER OWN!”

Jin knew nothing but the all-consuming rage in his heart. He had lost his teacher, his mentor, his beloved surrogate father and his friend. And someone was going to pay. His right arm lifted and he summoned a mighty wind, hell-bent upon making the murderer suffer as he was slowly ripped to pieces by the elements—

“If I ever get home Mik, I swear I’ll never kill anyone out o’ anger as long as I live....”

Jin shuddered, feeling as though he had been doused with a bucket of ice water. A voice in his mind, a voice that sounded too much like his own, had stopped him from killing the demon before him. His feet touched the earth once more, and he found his legs would not hold him. He sank to his knees, wide-eyed and staring at nothing at all.

The archer was bewildered. Death had transformed into a shivering young demon with tears in his large, blue eyes, not the least bit fearsome in any way. Fear gave way to scorn, and he leisurely fitted an arrow to his weapon and drew back the bow. “You’re not gonna kill me, you little bastard. I think I’m gonna kill you.”

He never fired his arrow. A javelin of ice thudded into his chest, and he managed a surprised grunt before he fell dead to the unforgiving ground.

Touya rushed to the wind demon’s side, concerned that Jin might have already been struck by a weapon of some kind. No injuries were apparent. The redhead’s clothing was saturated with blood, but none of it was his own. The ice demon hauled Jin to his feet through no small effort; the wind demon was pure deadweight as shock began to set in.

“Hyousetsu! Kyoufuu is dead, and Jin may be dying! He’s in shock, and I don’t know how to help him!” Touya cried desperately. His mentor extricated herself from the fight and was at his side in an instant.

She peered into the wind demon’s vacant, teary eyes. “He is fading. His youki is declining rapidly.”

“What can we do?”

“Transfer some of your youki into him, and keep him warm. I must fight. Stay with him here.”

She leapt away to finish the fight with the others. Touya did as instructed, at least as far as he was able. It was difficult to keep someone warm when the youki you were feeding into them was that of ice. Still, it seemed to work for the most part, for Jin stopped shivering and simply lapsed into unconsciousness.

The battle ended as swiftly and brutally as it had begun. What remained of the invaders fled, and most certainly would never return. The Shinobi gathered around Touya and the unconscious Jin. Resshin grieved at the news of Kyoufuu’s death, as did the others.

“Poor lad,” the earth master rumbled softly, placing a weathered hand briefly upon Jin’s head, then withdrawing it. “I wonder how this will change him.”

“He will not have much time to grieve. The Wind Master is dead. His pupil must take his place. Jin will have to be strong,” Hyousetsu intoned.

“If he survives this, Jin will be stronger than Kyoufuu ever was. He will be a powerful Shinobi,” Genkaku mentioned, a hint of prophesy in his words.

“BAH,” Noumu interjected. “IT IS ONLY DEATH. THE SHINOBI HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MESSENGERS OF DEATH. HE WILL GROW BEYOND THIS, AND THINK OF IT NO MORE.”

“And will you think of Kyoufuu no more as well, Noumu? The Wind Master was your friend. Do not take his passing so lightly,” Hyousetsu admonished, her tone not quite sharp.

“Enough,” Resshin thundered sternly. “We have no time for bickering amongst ourselves. We have our students to think about. They have all done well, and deserve a rest. We should find somewhere away from this carnage to let them sleep.”

It was thus that the Shinobi moved on, further into the land of darkness. There they would remain, forever in shadow, lest the whole of the Makai seek to destroy them.

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Please Review! I know you're out there; I can smell your fear. XD Hope you enjoyed the fic so far, and there's more where this came from.