Operation Mist Catchers - Ishaya's log. Day 44.
Intuition.
I have mastered the art of relying on this.
It has seen me through tough situations.
I had a hunch.
Just an inkling something was amiss.
That hunch grew into suspicion.
The suspicion grew into doubt.
What brought me there?
Intuition.
The way he moved.
Miniscule inflections in his voice.
Eyes are the mirrors unto the soul.
In those windows, I saw deception.
Intentional? I cannot say.
Did he intend all this time to take the ninja for his own?
Was it a spur of the moment decision?
Did the kunoichi plant the idea in his mind?
Turn him against me?
Against the Mugen Tenshin?
It mattered not in the end.
I suspected something was going to happen. It could not have been clearer to me. With absolute devotion to my task, I took up an early morning scout's crouch in one of the dense trees - a crouch I'd not used for some time, it felt good - and waited.
The morning hours ticked away into the afternoon. Still I waited.
And then I spotted them.
Intuition.
He carried her. Unbound. Free. Carried her as if she were an equal. As if he were her rescuer.
As if?
He was.
He had taken up her cause, instead of ours.
I saw not an ally and an enemy approaching.
No.
I saw two enemies.
It mattered not how long he had served with me. With the Mugen Tenshin.
He was now a traitor. And as such, he must die. Such is our code.
Kasumi is alive merely because I allow it. Because I will bring her back as a trophy of my accomplishment. Of my ability.
Mirimudo?
He was not for much longer.
A fantastic tracker he was. But while I may have been using scout's tactics, I was no scout he was dealing with.
Often times, when you get to the high level of skills that myself and Mirimudo possess, you forget your roots. What brought you here. You tend to rely on those higher tactics.
You think yourself invincible. You think yourself more skilled than you are.
You forget things. Small things. Easy things.
Things that are your downfall.
It is why I continue to practice the basics. So I do not forget where I came from.
He held the ninja, her head resting comfortably against his chest.
He passed under my perch.
I struck.
In much the same way I had originally caught Kasumi by pouncing on her from a great height, I took Mirimudo as well. Except I did not use a simple elbow this time.
Balancing a kunai in one hand, I soundlessly leapt. I came down with great force on a completely unsuspecting Mirimudo. My kunai aimed straight at the back of his neck, my momentum carrying it through him as the first six inches of the point blossomed out his throat on the other side.
He made no sound. He had no time. The steel's journey through his throat took but a tenth of a second, and even before it had gone through him all the way, he was dead.
Kasumi fell from his arms with a cry of surprise and an "oof" as she hit the ground beside his corpse. She looked at him in shock before looking up... in fear.
"No...!" she managed to get out, before I snap-kicked her in the face, whipping her head back fiercely. It dazed her, long enough for me to pick her up by the hair. I pulled her up to her feet, holding her. She was weak, her legs having a hard time supporting her even with my assistance.
I drew back my nunchaku, and aimed for her stomach. She let out an inhuman howl of pain that drove the wind from her lungs, as she doubled over.
Hooking her neck, I dropped backward, snapping her downwards with a DDT. Her beautiful face impacted a tree root, cutting her again and drawing blood. She was limp at this point. She had absolutely nothing left. Her final hope of salvation lay dead before her, at my hands.
Flattening her out on the ground face down, I put her arms over my legs and squatted on her back. Instead of putting my hands around her chin, though, I hooked my nunchaku around her neck, and pulled tight. She choked and gasped, pawing uselessly at the cord around her throat.
I had every intention to kill her. I bore down hard, twisting the nunchaku.
With the last air I was ready to allow her, I heard strangled words.
"I give... I give myself... hckackhach..." She bagan to fade as the hand symbolically tugging on the cord of my nunchaku dropped to the ground.
Had I... had I heard what I thought I had?
I released the choke hold. She gasped for breath, trying to drink in all the oxygen as if it were a limited resource.
"Repeat those words."
Kasumi nodded.
"I... give myself... to the Mugen... *cough cough*... Mugen.. Tenshin... I... take you as my... my family.. my life..."
I could scarcely believe what I was hearing. She was pledging to become a member again.
This was it. This was the moment.
We had do-
No. Not we. I had done it. There was no longer a "we". I needed to remember this.
I had broken her.
I had dominated her.
I owned her.
She had pledged to become a member again. How can anyone say it was anything else?
I smiled. This was... different. It wasn't a wicked smile. True, it was borne of wicked practices, but... for the first time since I was a child, I smiled a genuine smile. I was... I was pleased with myself.
Why should I not be? I not only had the talent to oust Ayane as the heir to the Mugen Tenshin as I knew I did, but I had her half-sister to boot. I was certain she could be used as leverage in some fashion.
"Very good, Kasumi. I accept you as a member of the Mugen Tenshin clan."
I helped the young ninja to her feet. She had to lean against a tree to stay upright.
I was not finished.
"My peers however, must vote on this."
Kasumi looked startled. "Wh-what? What do-"
Her question was left unasked as I spun around, wheel-kicking her in the face. She collapsed to the ground, unconscious again.
I hoisted her body up, slinging her over my shoulder with some difficulty as if she were a sack of flour. I began the march back to Mugen Tenshin territory.
As for Mirimudo, I left his body in the forest. He would be stripped to the bone by predators before nightfall, and his bones would be torn apart or bleach in the sun.
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This concludes the diary entry series of The Mist Catchers! Thank you very much for your patience as we hammered out these posts. It was fun to write, but alas, that is it? Does Kasumi get away from Ishaya and the Mugen Tenshin? Is she welcomed back... or is she murdered for treason? I'm afraid you will have to imagine that yourself. ;)