Day 25 - Toshi no Aidanikawa

Shadows move, flicker, tearing open the boundaries between light and dark and fading them into nothing at all. Three men stand at the edge of the road, their faces empty of all features save their grinning smiles. Shark's teeth erupt from bloody gums, and flesh tears open into horrible smiles. These are the sons of shadow, the children of the night.

These are the ninja.

Hitomi is alone, her obsidian hand clenching into a fist about the hilt of her katana. "I know what you have done." The accusation is bitter.

They hiss in laughter, their long tongues flickering beneath the starlight. "We have done nothing more than set them against themselves." The face shifts, becomes Daidoji Uji, becomes Tsuruchi, Agasha Gennai, and Ikoma Tsanuri. It moves again, and other faces--less recognizable--flicker across its empty features. "We are the ones who lose the missives, who send the armies, who suggest the oni, and bring out the evil that hides behind the shining face of 'honor.' And you think that the pitiful sacrifice of your death can destroy us?"

"Destroy, Goju? Not as such." She smiles. "Nonetheless, your time is ending."

"Oh, no, Hitomi-chan." The thing swells into the form of her brother, and the lady of the Dragon screams in rage. "Our time has just begun. When you cry out in pain on the day of your seppuku, you will look up at your second?and there will be no face. Remember that, when you die in shame as your brother did."

Hitomi's sword moves faster than the sun's first rays, but it is too late, and she stands on the road alone.

Source: posted to www.wizards.com/l5r on 2/15/00