The Burning of the Lands, the Naga had called it.
In a small ditch, two others lay silent, sleeping lightly, and the man in black moved to them, noiseless. Of the two, one was dressed in black as well, his sleeping hand resting on a long bow. The other was in dirty robes of dark red, designs of fire etched across his sleeves and hood.
"Sun's down," The man said quietly, "Eight hours," and shook the two from their slumber.
"Gaijin," Muttered the man in red, "would it kill you and Tashiro to try sneaking around on at least six hours of sleep?" He rose, patted the dust out of his robes, and fished a long staff from the grass.
The other man readied his bow and slung it over his shoulder, "Asako Sano-sama," He said in a deep voice, "You are free at any time to leave us to find this cursed castle ourselves..."
Sano rose and gripped his staff, "No, Tashiro." His tone was suddenly serious, lacking the slight sarcasm it held a moment before. "I must take you and Amadan to the abandoned fortress at Mori Kage."
"Why?" said the man in black, Amadan. He slid his two swords from his obi to cross on his back as they prepared to travel on foot for the rest of the day.
"Why?" Sano repeated, following behind Amadan as he led them through the thin forests. The had entered the southern central regions of the Phoenix lands the night before, and would be near Mori Kage Toshi by dawn. Sano laughed to himself slightly and continued, "Why did you obey the command of the Daimyo you do not trust, Dragon? Why did you agree to help Tamori-sama with his plots involving my Clan?"
"It was for a greater good, Sano," Amadan said, althought both Sano and the Scorpion Archer, Tashiro, could hear the ever-so-slight doubt in the gaijin's voice.
"Indeed," The Phoenix said, "And you did these things without question, did you not?"
Amadan nodded, not looking back at him, "Hitomi is my Daimyo, Tamori was my sensei. It is not my place to question them. But you have not spoken to Tsukune-sama since the Day of Thunder, and the Asako are still without a leader."
"You are right, Amadan," Sano brushed aside a branch and crept up to the Dragon. Amadan turned his head to see an otherwordly light in Sano's eyes for just a moment.
"So who commands you," He asked.
"Shiba commands me," Sano said quietly.
"Nariko told me the Asako are insane," Tashiro said quietly, his eyes deadpan beneath his hooded mask. "But then again, she was a Togashi."
The three men shared a quiet laugh as they moved through the woods. An odd group, Sano knew that Shiba watched over him, and was probably laughing at the idea of them travelling together. A Scorpion junshin bushi, a gaijin Dragon who has been travelling as a ninja for six months now, and a Phoenix holy man.
They stood in silence, staring at the old fortress, not knowing why they were so enthralled by its outline against the rising sun.
"Sano?" Amadan finally asked.
"Go." Sano said, planting his staff firmly on the ground, indicating his part of the journey was over. "Go." He repeated, "Alone."
"No." Tashiro said, turning to the Phoenix. "I will walk with him."
"Alone." Sano said again, firmly. "You will take these steps alone, Togashi Amadan." With that, he bowed low to Tashiro and Amadan, then turned back to the woods. Moments later, Tashiro stood alone, watching Amadan walk towards the castle.
As he neared the fortress, the saw a small bridge going over the moat. It was makeshift, made hurriedly from crudely cut planks of wood. Amadan bent down to touch the wood when he reached the edge of the moat. The wood was new, perhaps cut yesterday. The Dragon stood and looked up to the towering castle before him, and Shiro Mori Kage seemed much less abandoned suddenly.
"I did not think I would see you here, gaijin." Amadan's attention was brought back down to the ground by a voice from the other side of the moat. A familiar voice.
Amadan glared at the three figures standing on the opposite end of the bridge. They were garbed as the gaijin was, in all black, their faces concealed, and in their hands were the thin blades of the ninja.
What have I stumbled upon? Amadan tought to himself. He remembered Aramoro's words, telling him that others were attempting to wrest the shadows themselves from the Scorpion, and he remembered the oath he had given the Bayushi.
Behind him, he felt a movement, and knew three more awaited his attempt to escape.
"Quietly, false Ninja." One of them spoke. "We do not wish your death, only your cooperation."
Amadan lowered his stance and placed both hands on his daisho. "Never. I am Shosuro Kage, and it is my duty to rid this Empire of your and your traitorous shadows."
The three other ninja laughed erriely as their leader removed his mask. "Your name, gaijin, has been taken prematurely from me." Amadan stepped back as he saw the face of the Shosuro sensei he had thought dead. "I rather liked being called Shosuro Kage myself." He snapped his fingers and the five ninja advanced on Amadan. "Subdue the false one."
Silent as death, and perhaps just as fast, a figure rose from the waters near the bridge. Clothed in full black, the man nocked two arrows with blinding speed and let them fly. Everyone on the bridge froze as two of Shosuro Kage's ninja fell over dead, arrows in the eye of one, the ear of another. A half a breath later, the archer felled the last three ninja, and only Amadan and his former sensei stood on the bridge.
"We are the Scorpion," Bayushi Tashiro hissed from the river. "These shadows are ours, traitor. You only hide in them." Tashiro stood on the riverbank and leveled an arrow at Kage. "They are our home."
"He's mine, Tashiro," Amadan almost growled. He placed his left hand on the hilt of his katana. Tashiro lowered his bow and watched the exchange. "You did this," the gaijin said, walking slowly toward his former sensei. "You gave your oaths when you took the name Shosuro Kage, traitor. You were to protect Rokugan from the shadows that existed even outside Scorpion influence."
"And I betrayed them," Kage said, his smile seething with evil. "You don't know what power lies in the true Shadow, my student. But I can teach you," he slowly slid his leg back into a defensive stance. "My master was pleased to hear the reports of your death were false. Ever since you were sent to my side so many years ago, they knew of your power, of your ability, and they coveted it." He held out his left hand, as if beckoning the Dragon to follow him. "You were my best student, and Goju-sama will thank me for bringing you to him."
"Never." Amadan said, and pulled his daisho free, swinging rapidly at the ninja. Shosuro Kage fell back under the assault, impressed by how quickly his student had progressed in the arts of bushido since he had left the Shosuro dojos.
On the other side of the moat, Tashiro watched, and never heard the two men in black seemingly walk from the long shadows of dawn and strike him from behind. The Scorpion archer fell to the ground, unconcious.
Amadan had pushed Kage all the way to a small door on the side of Mori Kage. "You will pay for your crimes," he said as he swung his katana smoothly at Kage's head. The ninja ducked and rolled back, standing in time to catch Amadan's backswing on his ninja-to.
"A Kitsuki said that once," Kage said, throwing a feeble counter at Amadan.
"Be silent and die!" Amadan nearly yelled, taking the ninja-to on his wakizashi, and slamming Kage in the chest with his shoulder. The ninja was knocked through the small wooden door. The Dragon quickly leapt into the doorway, landing in near total darkness. The only illumination in the entire stone hallway came from the broken door.
Kage was nowhere to be found.
"You have failed, Dragon," Came Kage's voice from behind him. Amadan spun on his heel and swung his katana torso level. The ninja stood and blocked the attack with his own blade. Behind Kage were two more ninja, but they wore no mask. They didn't need masks, for they had no faces.
Amadan felt something strike the back of his skull from behind, and he rolled with the impact, swinging his katana into the air as he dropped to a knee. Kage swung at the Dragon, and he blocked with his wakizashi again. A chain snaked from behind the Dragon, and Amadan saw it wrap around his off-hand, and he was jerked off-balance. He fell, dizzy from the blow to the head, and dropped his blades when he hit the ground.
The last thing he saw was a circle of faceless men standing over him.
"Togashi Amadan," Shosuro Kage said to his master in the shadows, and the men who brought the gaijin in left.
Kage's master smiled, and narrowed his eyes at the large water kanji on Amadan's back. "So it is true," he whispered, "The blood of two gods flow in his veins, Kage. You have done well."
"Two?" Kage asked. "He has the blood of Togashi, sama... what other is there?"
The other man smiled wickedly, and turned to leave. "I know much about the young gaijin. Many things he doesn't even know about himself." He laughed lowly, then said, "What of the Bayushi samurai?" "He has been left near the home of his ancestors, as you ordered." "And his memory?" "As you instructed, sama, he will remember no details of what has happened here." The dark man nodded in satisfaction. "He will remember only that his companion was swallowed by the shadows. Perhaps we will not need to destroy the Scorpion if we make them fear us..." He closed his cold eyes in thought, then said "Have the mistress brand him. Complete his training. He has much to do."
Kage simply nodded, "Hai, Goju-sama." He turned to look back to the center of the chamber, and made a motion.
A woman stepped from the shadows, a long iron in her scarred hands. Her smile matched the darkness that emenated from the tool she carried. She circled around Amadan for a moment, then stared at his tattoo. Then, her eyes narrowed, and she took up the iron and began her work on Amadan's chest.
As Kage left, he shut the door to silence the screams.