The Kuro Ude's Story

Kneeling down in the rain-soaked streets of Sector East, the man looking up at his captors with eyes full of pleading sorrow. "I'll get the money, Mr. Komamura! I swear! Please, I-I-I have a wife and kids! Please! Just give me some time! Please! Please!" Kenji looked down at the man from beneath his umbrella. The pitiful man was of Chinese descent, and ran a noodle kiosk on the corner down the road from the Sakura Gardens tea house.

"Nothing I can do, Xao. Boss wants your debts cleared or your head. You'll be giving her the latter I'm afraid." This prompted a series of harsh sobs and groveling, his face planted firmly in the soaking street. Eventually, Xao sat back up, looking Kenji in the eyes once again.

"I'll get the money soon! I swear! I'll have it before she even knows it was missing! Please! I'll get it! I swear on my children, I'll-" This prompted Kenji to harden his gaze, grabbing the man by the front of his white smock.
"Your family has nothing to do with this, Xao. Just accept what you have coming, bow your head and try to die with some semblance of dignity." With that, Kenji released the whimpering fool, who slumped into a position that spelled his despair. Looking up once more, his eyes pleaded, but his mouth refused to move. Kenji held his hand out, as if beckoning one of the men behind him to hand him a firearm. Xao's eyes lit up a bit, feeling at the very least fortunate that he would die a quick death.

However, the Kuro Ude backed away from their lieutenant, crossing their arms and staring down at the silent Chinaman. He looked about each of them, confusion etched across his face. Suddenly, in one quick and fluid motion, Kenji's arm had extended, his mana-powered katana in his outstretched hand. Slowly, Kenji sheathed the weapon, and watched as Xao fell over, the top portion his head tumbling off.

"Pick him up and dispose of him. No need for the cops to get involved." With that, his men nodded, splitting apart to clear a path for Kenji as he departed the scene before moving to scoop Xao off the street.

Around the corner of the Eastern Street, a lithe female was curled up on a pile of flat rocks. Despite how peaceful, albeit uncomfortable she looked; rage seemed to radiate from her form. A light red aura appeared around the area, almost as if it were protecting the unknown woman. Anytime anything neared the area, the shield fluctuated, setting the intruder on fire. This happened even though it was currently raining and even the drops seemed to completely miss her resting frame. Reddish locks covered part of her lightly tanned face and her closed eyes. A black star tattoo was partly visible beneath her long hair as was the red wife-beater she happened to be wearing. Beneath her was a black hooded jacket, cushioning her toned frame ever so slightly. The jacket seemed to bleed into the black hip hugger jeans in addition to her black combat boots. After spending so much time gazing at the fair maiden, one might begin to wonder if she was alive or dead. Giving the state of the current location it was quite easy to believe her to be deceased. However, at the arrival of other forms, more importantly at the sound of someone begging, the slender digits upon her right hand began to twitch.

Someone’s here… Someone I can destroy… Someone that might know why I am here… Someone that might know something… Guess I have to wake up. UGH.

Stretching out the entirety of her athletic 5’8 body, Mataiya slowly opened up her fiery red eyes and glanced around. Leaping off her bedrock bed, the agile twenty-one-year-old shifted her attention towards a building that overlooked the street, wondering if there was a better view from up there. She couldn’t tell who exactly the others were, and that annoyed her. Snatching the hooded jacket off the rocks, she slid it on, not bothering to zip it up. Between where her tank ended and her pants started was a tattoo of black roses that were intermixed with wire in the shape of a heart. The majority of the tattoo covered her stomach, which was otherwise bare of all other forms of decoration.

Callahan strode towards the fire escape ladder, purpose evident in her gaze. Luck was on her side because it was still in good shape. Climbing up slowly, she made her way to the top of the building. Humming beneath her breath, ‘Taiya was happy when she reached the top and glanced down at the street below. She couldn’t exactly hear what was going on, but someone was kneeling on the ground and it took her a few minutes to realize it was raining all over her. Had it been pouring earlier? She didn’t really know, but figured it had been, but that didn’t really matter. Shifting her attention back towards the male, Mataiya leaned forward a little more and took note of something in one of the men’s hand seconds before the begging fellow had his head lopped off. Well, part of it, at least. Blinking and absolutely confused, she decided to follow the sword wielding fellow and do some investigation. Heading back towards the fire escape, she shimmied down it and walked onto the street, following behind the only male that was leaving the scene.

What in the heck did I stumble in on…?

Quietly, they approached the room Mataiya was staying in. A group of nine assassins, clad in the Kuro Ude's signature Shadow-Walker armor. The leader of the group signaled the others to remain still, as he peered into the keyhole. He couldn't very well make out what was going on within the room, but they knew the layout of the apartment already. Armed with this knowledge, the leader ushered his men to gather around him.

In a moment, the door was kicked in, the nine assassins filed into the room with swords drawn, ready to take Mataiya's life. <"Kill the girl, now!"> one of them shouted in Japanese. All of them trained their weapons on the girl, rushing to spill her blood.

Mataiya was probably having the best sleep of her life, which of course meant something bad was about to happen. While she was asleep, the redhead learned long ago how to remain vigilant and perhaps that was what had kept her alive all these years. Being a loner, she learned it was impossible to remain awake for long periods of a time, but sleeping didn’t come easily to her because of all the enemies she managed to create through different conflicts. At some point, her body took over or it might have even been her extra-sensory abilities, but something took over and allowed her to sleep while being aware of any danger that was nearing her location. It never failed and even while she slumbered and danger approached, she was subconsciously aware.

By the time her door was kicked in, Mataiya was awake and had slid beneath the bed after grabbing her backpack that was filled with weapons. Carefully and silently putting on her arsenal that consisted of a couple of guns, a sword, and several daggers, she narrowed her eyes angrily. Of course, that wasn’t the best place to hide, but for now, it would work. Undoing the pack, she pulled out a dagger and laid silently, waiting for someone to come close to her. She had no idea what had been said since she didn’t speak Japanese, but logic dictated it wasn’t a good thing. As soon as one of the intruders stepped beside the bed, the pyro snaked out a hand and cut through the man’s ankle. Leaping out from beneath the bed, knocking it over in the process, she pulled out her sword, snapping into action.

Figuring this was yet another test, Mataiya was determined not to fail. A plethora of attacks happened and she managed to stab the sword into the head of the man who had dropped to the ground screaming thanks to her cut. Ripping the blade out, she turned to the others, to keep from being stabbed from behind. The battle was growing gruesome and although she was getting nicked here and there, somehow she managed to keep from being seriously injured. Twirling, she sliced off a nearby assassin’s arm, not caring as blood gushed from what was left of the stump. Kicking the male as he twisted and screamed out in agony out the window, she didn’t even have to watch to know what happened to the individual as he landed in a loud scrunch.

It didn’t take long before she was surrounded again and in what room she had on the floor thanks to her bed being flipped up against the wall, she dropped down to the floor in a slight crouch. As they rushed forward, she spun around like a top, swinging, slashing, and cutting any appendage growing close to her. She managed to take out the majority of them and was much like some hellish samurai sword-wielding toy gone crazy. Popping back up to her feet, she snapped a hand towards one of the remaining males, grabbing a hold of his arm tightly. Fire suddenly pooled from her body almost effortlessly towards the man she was holding. Even as he tried to get away, she sent the fire all over his frame and even shoved him against another, watching as they burned to death. Finally facing the final intruder, she narrowed her eyes, ignoring the feeling of blood running down parts of her body.

As he rushed her, she did a somersault over his head, landing behind her opponent. Mataiya immediately brought her sword down in a slashing swing across his back. The force was enough to spin him around and although he managed to cut across her side, her arm took the majority of the hit. Luckily, it wasn’t enough to sever her limb from her body, because that would have massively sucked. Mataiya went in for the kill, shoving her blade deep into his abdomen. Twisting her sword around before pushing upwards, she shoved him backwards, yanking the blade out of his body. Not even wasting a second, she rammed the tip into his face, burying it deep. The two men that had been burning laid dead nearby, the flames having already dissipated entirely,

“That was fucked up…”

After the screaming and the bloodshed had subsided, Kenji rounded the corner into Mataiya's room, a group of Kuro Ude trailing behind him to retrieve the bodies (or what was left of them) that Mataiya had created. Kenji commenced a rather dull series of applause, looking straight at the girl as she panted for breath.

"Well done, girl. You may yet make a valuable addition to the team." He looked around at his men, who had managed to remove the bodies very quickly. They would be disposed of posthaste, and then they could continue. "We'll send a cleaner to get rid of all the blood tomorrow. Get some sleep, you've got a big day ahead of you."

With that, he snapped his fingers, the armored cleaning crew following his order and taking the bodies far away from the apartment. Kenji followed, striding down the hall to the elevator. Stepping inside, he awaited the car to reach the bottom floor. He contacted the Madame through his comm. link, informing her of Mataiya's success in dealing with the would-be assassins.

After that, he walked through the front door, into the night.

Mataiya popped her back, stretching out as Kenji and others, which she figured were the Kuro Ude sauntered into her room. In fact, the redhead was sure that this was her second trial and Kenji clapping pretty much sealed that thought. Keeping her visage pretty blank despite slight annoyance, the young female only shrugged at his applause. He was still weird as hell though she was now completely sure that if she didn’t win, they would kill her. Luckily, there was only one trial left, but who knew what it would be since this last trial escalated immensely from the first one. Well, it was what she wanted and she couldn’t turn back now.

“Sounds fabulous, Kenji. I look forward to the last trial.” Her voice remained absolutely neutral and she faintly smiled. All she wanted to do was sleep, but that wasn’t an option apparently.

Waiting until he and the others had left her room, the bodies being carted out as well, Mataiya closed her door, locking it with a heavy sigh. The room stunk like blood and burned hair and she was coated in the crimson stuff in addition to other parts of the body. Stripping out of her clothing, she moved into the bathroom, taking her weapons in with her. Stepping inside the shower, she placed her weaponry beside the tub before flipping on the water. Hissing when the liquid hit her injuries, she closed her eyes and let the blood run off her body. Once numb, she grabbed shampoo and conditioner in order to wash her hair before doing the same with her body. Finally nice and clean, she moved back out, wrapping the towel around her body and one for her hair before moving back into the bedroom with her weapons. Shoving the bed back down, she climbed on top of it, glad all of the blood coated the bottom of the box springs and not the actual mattress.

“…Balls.” Closing her eyes, she fell asleep, her bag of weapons right next to her.