The grass crumpled under the weight of the two shinobi brothers as they scurried through the forest, their legs working hastily in a pitter-patter motion. Their footsteps were relentlessly quick, weaving through the dense thicket and across the uneven path, going ever deeper into the forest until they were completely swallowed by the isolated wilderness. The cover of night and the remoteness of the untamed nature was a shinobi's best ally after a mission was complete, a perfect environment to exercise caution and lose any possible pursuers - even if they moved at the speed of a cheetah. Every step was meticulous; both boys made sure to not leave any significant imprint in the soil or create too much noise in their thuds. The sound of their sprint was obscured by the hum of the leaves against the cool night flow while their scent was masked by dirt they had kicked up in the air. Right now, it was as if they didn't even exist - ghosts in the wind.
Hours went by. Neither spoke to the other. The only thing they did was run. As disciples of the Uzui Clan, there is never a guarantee of safety once you have crossed into enemy territory, therefore it was of the utmost importance to always be moving and changing positions to keep your opponent guessing. Neither brothers confided in the other during their sprinting - they simply kept going at break neck speeds without even stopping to catch their breath. Indeed, their bodies were made to withstand a marathon of this caliber. Every day, in the hot sun, they'd run for hundreds of miles as the sun cooked their bodies and water was made scarce. At this point in their lives, this was what they were bred to do, so their bodies moved almost automatically to the rhythm of their childhood memories.
Shinjo Castle was an twelve-day long journey from the Uzui Manor. For them, assassins trained in speed and relentlessness, they could reach the destination in just eight if they took minimal rest breaks and slept solely when it was necessary. They would be in enemy territory for quite awhile, trespassing on Lord Fuzikura's domain until about two days of running, where they reached familiar soil. Until then, they had to remain vigilant.
However, their chances of being discovered were virtually zero. That was because they were Uzui Clan shinobi, the most lethal and exceptional assassins on the planet. No one could compare to their prowess, their knack for survival, their indomitable will to do what is necessary, the ease at which they dish out death, and the training permanently embedded in their psyche that has molded them into becoming the ultimate apex predator.
Right now, Tengen and Akihiro were the kings of the land.
..................................................................................................
Tengen was wading in the water, rinsing himself of that night's sins.
The sun had come up but the water had not yet become hot due its high heat capacity. Its cold temperature carried over from the night and was now hitting his body and shocking his system. His black robes had been set out to dry on the rocky banks while he continued to wash his chest and arms.
The location was calm and peaceful. It had been two days since he and his brother ran non-stop from the scene of their crime. While they were almost superhuman in every aspect, even shinobi need to take brief stops to gather their strength again. After all, most people would have collapsed from exhaustion after a few minutes of running at their maximum speed, so it was quite a feat for this to be their first break after running for as long and fast as they did. Tengen and Akihiro had been dead-focused on escaping Shinjo Castle; at the time immediately following their act of arson, their minds made all other thoughts superfluous and unnecessary, thinking only to keep putting as much distance between them and the castle as possible.
The rest was well-earned in that regard. Moderation is another crucial aspect to survival, after all. The two of them had picked a nice location to settle down for the time-being and also wanted to catch some much needed shut eye. To aid in their body's recovery, Akihiro was off collecting berries for the two of them, eager to put his gathering skills to the test for his big brother, who he felt closer to after pulling off the most dangerous mission of their lives together. But while Tengen's body physically existed in the stream of the river, he himself was somewhere else.
His mind was numb. His body, being beat by the river, was numb. His face was frozen blank. Thoughts swirled in his head like a whirlwind of misery and grief. He could remember it vividly; the screams he caused as he exploded the barracks sky-high. He remembered them being silenced by the falling debris, crushed under the roar of the fire. He remembered the desperate cries for help as many were trapped under rubble. He remembered the shock on the guards' faces as he ran past them, desperate to save their companions and put out the inferno he had created. Smiling faces full of cheer contorted into howls of anguish and horror as an assassin summarily decided to end their lives in a blaze of pain.
The guilt was not new. None of the feelings he felt were new, in fact. He always carried these emotions, from the time he spent awake during the day to the insomnia he suffered that caused him to toss and turn in cold sweats at night. Every time he slit someone's throat, he remembered the sensation of dragging the blade across their tendons and arteries, ripping flesh and oozing black blood. He remembered the feeling when he stabbed a man in the heart from behind and heard him give out a light gasp before crumpling to the floor, lifeless. He remembered every life he ever took and the look of fear in their eyes as they were scared to die. The lives he took this time shouldn't be any different, just another grain placed on the sandhill of sorrow.
But this time, it was too much.
He gazed at the flowing water beneath his waist and let out a whimper. Tears flowed down his cheeks.
He was scum. Trash that deserved a fate worse than death.
Regret. Despair. Self-hatred. The river could never wash it all away. He wanted to die. A memory came to his mind, a vivid picture of Suma's crying face as she lamented about the time she first took a life.
_________________________________
I just feel so guilty....
I wish I never did it.
__________________________________
How foolish had he been to preach empathy to his wives, as if he was any better than a common killer. Here in this stream, he deserved to the most painful death imaginable. He was a sinner, and despite how the clan forced this mission upon him, his actions were still his own. If only he had never killed in the first place, then he wouldn't have nightmares. His victims would still be alive and able to go about their lives before he ruined them.
.......
The water looked so pretty....
"Tengen! I brought us some chestnuts and fruit to eat! Sheesh, talk about a nice stash." Akihiro had returned, holding in his arms an impressive haul of bite-sized sustenance provided by the abundant nature around them. His little brother eagerly looked over towards his role-model and found an empty gaze staring back at him. The time for tears was over. It was time to eat.
Akihiro sat down and shared his haul with Tengen. The two ate it silence, one with vigor and the other with lethargy. Once the light meal was concluded, Tengen put on his robes and went off to be alone amongst the trees, much to his brother's confusion.
Amongst the privacy of the woods, Tengen just wandered aimlessly until it was time to move again.
...........................................................................................
Night had returned and the two of them were already on the move. Day three of the journey back home was well underway, and after this it would be just five more. It continued like usual, with an eerily laser-focused concentration on moving through the terrain. They were well beyond any signs of civilization or human life, having only the sound of the nocturnal nightlife as evidence of life in this vast land of bark of vine.
Everything was proceeding smoothly. They were hundreds of miles away from where they initially started and well out of Shinjo Castle's line of sight. While they didn't stop moving, they were distanced from any danger and slightly lessened their pace to run at three-fourths of their total sprinting speed. Still fast, but not as intense. However, something had changed since then that Akihiro had definitely noticed, and that was the fact that Tengen's demeanor and airtight running stance was appearing to be more slumped and downcast than before.
Akihiro had a flair for the dramatic and lived his life to the fullest, always experiencing the present in its entirety and leaving the past in the past. Yes, he had just killed dozens of people, but it was done simply because it was his mission. He did not hate the enemy - he just accepted the fact that he had to kill them. For him, the lives lost didn't really mean anything to him so long as they were lost in service to the clan. Instead, he was ecstatic to get back to the manor and complete his next mission, where he would report to his father and finally receive his admiration and the Clan's approval. Giving back to the hand that feeds him was his mantra. He assumed that his brother was the same.
However, he was beginning to realize that this was not the case. Tengen's smile was gone.
He hasn't said a word since that night nor did he even mutter the word "Flashy" once. Akihiro was hot-headed and a little one-note, but he was not completely oblivious to the change in behavior evident in his beloved older brother, the talented shinobi swordsman that he looked up to. The fact that something was bothering him made Akihiro himself feel bothered in turn. He was uncomfortable with this feeling and detested it with a passion. So, if he clears the air and sees what's on his older sibling's mind, maybe he can help him. He looked at him for a bit, frowning and not knowing what to say. Tengen, in contrast, was entirely focused on moving forward. He gave Akihiro no thought, nor the past, nor the future, nor his wives, nor his father. He thought of only one thing: pure, unadulterated self-hatred.
"...Hey. Um, hey Tengen."
There was no reply. Could he even hear him right now?
"Tengen. Hey. Hey Tengen."
-?
Tengen heard his brother calling out to him. Oh, that's right. He had to make sure he was in the present for his brother, which meant he couldn't keep wallowing in his self-pity all night. What might he want from him? He turned his head and looked at him, giving him the affirmation that he was listening. His brother, a little unsettled by this being the first time he looked like he was somewhat alive this whole time, hesitated to ask his next question. However, he cleared the lump in his throat and finally addressed the glaring issue before him, "So...is everything okay? How have you been holding up these past few days?"
At this point in time, he wasn't capable of lying to his brother and saying everything was fine. But, it would be odd to dump all his trauma on him right here and now. Somewhere in the middle, he crafted the perfect response. "I'm....I'm just going through a lot." His eyes returned to being dejected, obviously revealing that he was depressed. He was not in the mood to involve his brother in his woes. Instead, he mustered up the best smile he could and followed up his answer.
"Sorry to worry you, Aki, and thanks for asking. I'm fine, really."
Akihiro was far from satisfied with his answer. He knew something was amiss. However, prying any further would be rude and inconsiderate. If his brother didn't want to talk about it, it's best to let him have his space to sort out his emotions.
"Oh....okay. Sorry to ask, heh." Well, that's all there was to it, he guessed.
The two kept moving with the soft breeze of the night caressing their faces. Tengen Uzui and Akihiro Uzui ran side by side at their own brisk pace, undergoing high-intensity cardio beneath the canopy of the massive and branching wilderness trees. While the rest of the world was asleep, the two of them were awake together under the serene starry sky. The environment around them was calm and beautifully tranquil. There was no chaos or bloodshed to be had. In fact, Tengen had finally just realized that he was pretty much in the middle of nowhere with only his dear brother at his side as his travelling partner. It felt like the two of them were off in some distant locale, perusing nature at their leisure instead of racing to report back to their warlord father that they had just committed mass murder. The manor was still days away, after all.
For the time being, it was just them, which somehow put Tengen in a sentimental mood.
He thought back to Akihiro's question. Despite him being a shinobi, he could tell that his brother's question was genuine and well-meaning. It really meant a lot to him, actually. The entire time Tengen had known him, Akihiro always acted with a propensity for theatrics and was kind of self-absorbed in that aspect. He was always looking to stand out and one-up himself so that he could catch up to the rest of his siblings, so this usually meant a lot of goofing around and childishness. Akihiro seldom saw Tengen as anything more than a rival to surpass, or so he thought. But now, his sincere concern for Tengen had reminded him that he did in fact care about him and wouldn't just notice him being depressed without speaking up about it. Because of this heart-warming display of sibling affection, Tengen all of the sudden felt the urge to share with him his troubles.
He blew air of out his nose and spoke with an earnest tone.
"To be honest, Aki, I'm actually not doing so well."
The response he really wanted. Akihiro focused his eyes on his brother and listened to him intently.
"I've....I've been thinking about the person I've become and the lives I've taken. It sounds strange, I know, but lately I can't stop feeling like a terrible person. I feel like every day, with every new mission I take, I become more and more of a disgusting, heartless monster and I can't understand one simple question. Why? Why am I doing this? Why am I just blindly doing what I'm told and killing people one after the other? Is it for father? The clan? Do I do it because I know I have to?"
Akihiro was wide-eyed. He was completely taken aback by the things his brother, the person he looked up to the most after his father, who he assumed was the Clan's favorite, was saying to him. Was he always thinking like this? Did he always harbor such strong feelings of self-doubt? Such words came as a huge surprise to him. Still sharing, Tengen continued.
"I've come to the realization that I am an awful human being. I can't keep going on like this. I wasn't sure about how to feel about this before, but all the people I killed at the castle really made me see plain as day how horrendous my actions were. I kill because I'm told to, then I hate myself for it and do it all over again. It's just a cycle of crap, really. I do everything because dad tells us too, but quite frankly I'm sick of it. Something has to change."
He went silent, simmering in his bitterness with a frown. Akihiro was completely overwhelmed by his admission. This before him was how his brother really, really felt deep down. His entire perception of him had just shifted so fast, and now he wanted to clarify what he meant.
"Something has to change?" Tengen was withholding something crucial that Akihiro desperately wanted to uncover. What was his brother planning to do? He had to know. Please, tell him. "What do you mean?" Silence. Tengen carefully thought about how his brother would react, but he decided to give it a go after significant deliberation and pondering. First he had to assure himself that this was what he really wanted to do.
But now he was ready to finally share his answer.
"I'm going to restructure the Uzui Clan." Akihiro stopped dead in his tracks, skidding to a halt and bewilderingly gazing at his brother. Tengen did the same and looked back at him, his eyes burning with fire but showing modesty in its pupils. Silence.
"Re.....structure....it?"
He may be regarded as a madman, or a traitor, but he had to be honest to his brother about his newfound goal. "Yes. I'm going to completely change how everything works, and the first step is going to be ensuring peace."
Akihiro let out a small, low gasp. Tengen, taking this as a window to elaborate, further explained to his scared brother.
"Aki, I don't want there to be any more bloodshed on our behalf. Look at the devastation we've caused, the terrible things we've done in the past! It's all so unnecessary, and for what? The time of the shinobi has long been over. We're obsolete. We don't need to exist anymore, killing people and doing dirty work for bastards with no regard for human life!"
He stepped forward, coming closer to his nervous brother. He needed to make him see the futility of it all. He may as well commit to what he's about to say.
"Aki, our father - our entire clan - has treated us like we were goddamn weapons since the moment we were born. We've never been allowed to have dreams, to have a normal life, or do anything we ever wanted, ever! It's always training and then more killing. Our own brothers have died because of their selfish actions, and they don't even care! Aki, this can't keep going. You know, as well as I do, that this is plain wrong. How can our own family do this to us?!"
"...." He was dumbfounded. Akihiro's mind spun rapidly. It felt like everything his brother was saying went directly against what his father taught him. He could barely speak. His older brother's rant was causing an internal rift inside himself where he had to either validate what he was saying or reject it entirely. He didn't want to do either.
Half-heartedly, he mustered the composure to ask a question.
"Are you.....going to kill father?"
Tengen scowled and furrowed his brow. For a brief second, it looked like he was about to say yes. Akihiro could see it in his eyes, the unfathomable animosity his brother felt in the depths of his soul for the man known as their father. He was ready to hear him say yes, and then he could safely regard him as radical and run away. Any second now, yes, he'll have an easy out.
Tengen looked to the ground and muttered his reply.
"No."
No?
But he just talked about betraying the clan. Then what the hell is he actually going to do, then?
"I have no desire to kill our father." Akihiro was trying so very hard to comprehend his brother. Tengen continued.
"I'm not going to kill him. But I am going to talk to him when we get back. I'm going to talk to him about everything I just said, and I'm going to ask him to step down and let me take over the clan."
"Are you insane?!"
"Aki..."
Now it was his turn to respond to everything Tengen had just shared with him.
"Make him step down?! How? How in the hell are you going to do that? He's our father! The leader of our clan and the most powerful man alive! You're going to talk to him about reform?! Are you serious? He's provided for us since the day we were born. You can't just go against him like that! Think of the consequences! The punishment he'll give you if you speak out of line! Please, Tengen, be reasonable here."
Tengen winced. "Aki, I know he's our father and I know how much he's done for us. That's means it's all the more important to tell him directly about how I feel and see what he says. I have to tell him that everything he's doing is wrong, and then maybe I'll be able to peacefully assume leadership without anyone getting hurt."
Akihiro shook his head. "I can't believe this." Upon hearing his brother's resistance, Tengen grimaced. He knew Aki would never have been on board with any of what he had to say, but he still wanted to convert him to his side. His brother was just too blind to see how he was merely a puppet on a string, controlled by their father's every whim and desire. He was being willfully oblivious to it all in hopes of impressing father.
"You're-You're crazy, Tengen. This is way too much." He was beginning to panic. His brother, a full blown trai-
"AKI!"
Firmly, he grabbed Aki's shoulders and pulled him closer. Now their eyes were mere inches away from each other. Seeing the fear and confusion in his brother's eyes, Tengen realized just how shocking this all was for him. He empathized with him and softened his gaze, intimately connecting with his brother. Akihiro stopped squirming and suddenly became deeply focused on him.
"Aki. Please....."
Akihiro witnessed something surreal.
His brother had dropped his mask and was being completely vulnerable in front of him. He looked to be on the verge of weeping, but he didn't let any tears fall. This restraint contorted every wrinkle on his face into a deep-rooted pain.
"Aki....."
He held him closer.
"I need you to understand. I need you....to be with me on this. If we do this....none of us will ever have to die again...."
...
The two shared that moment with each other for what felt like eternity. Akihiro took in the rawness of his brother's plead, the hurt he was going through and the desperation in his confession.
"We wont have to kill anyone anymore, or get whipped just for showing our sadness..."
...
He felt his arms relax. The tensions he felt in his body eased and he looked to the ground in speechless defeat. His brother was telling him this because he needed someone to hear him. He needed someone to support him. Tengen was telling him this because he loved him.
"Please...."
...
Tengen released his grip on his brother and stepped back, staring miserably down at the forest floor. His jaw was clenched like an iron vise. It was the best he could do to maintain his composure.
"...."
It was painful to admit. Excruciating, even. But in the darkest depths of his conscience, Aki always knew - always had eating at the back of his skull - that no matter how enthusiastic he was, or how hard he tried, his father would never love him. It was a painful truth to confront, but here in front of Tengen, who was being brutally honest with his feelings to him, he finally had the courage to admit that to himself and come to terms with the feelings of worthlessness he felt.
This realization and admittance that he would never be enough to please the people around him came as a huge cathartic wave of relief to him. Everything he had done up to this point - putting on a cocky smile, acting competitive, making himself out to be the best - was done in part to hide the fact that he was never truly appreciated for who he was. He was never given praise or commended for his hard work - it was always the opposite. Being ignored. Being rejected. His own father, at the dinner table, never once looking at him at all.
His goal of being adored by his family was impossible and self-harmful. But here, his real family had always given him the affection he yearned for. Tengen always reciprocated his passion for life and humored his many ridiculous challenges, acting as a kind and cool older brother for all these years. They were forced to undergo hell together, but Aki always felt warm, like everything was ok, whenever he was near him. He was the only person in his life who showed him tenderness and respect, so much so that he always relished every time he got to talk with him during a training session or when he got back from a mission. He was always there for him when he needed him, and this time he knew something. That now, it was his turn for him to be there for Tengen.
To dismantle the old way of doing things and create an environment that fostered love and acceptance. If this was his older brother's goal, his only source of love in the world, suddenly it didn't seem too bad....
"Tengen...I-"
His words were cut short.
Aki gasped, the breath being knocked out of him and the sensation of pain vividly emanating from a point of origin on his back. He stumbled forward, sucking in air as he tried to make sense of what just happened.
Tengen was speechless and blankly stared at his little brother who had just yelped in pain. Wait, he actually heard something before that. It was the sound of a projectile slicing through the air and letting out a loud shing as it hit his brother. He recognized that sound.
With pinpoint accuracy, a kunai had found its way into Aki's back. And now, Tengen's ear tuning into his surroundings, more were coming.
They were under attack.
"AKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
His eyes darted frantically around. Automatically, he drew the katana on his back and deflected the incoming kunai aimed at his vital spots. Aki, still shocked and realizing that he had been stabbed, was struck once more in the shoulder before kicking into survival mode and dodging the rest. With a hoarse throat, he shouted out to his older brother, "TENGEN RUUUUUUUUN!"
The two shot out into opposite directions, mustering the strength in their calves and their innate shinobi instincts to run as fast as they could into the thicket of the woods. As long as they stayed moving, they would be a difficult target to hit.
Tengen, now separated, had donned his mask and hood while rapidly scurrying across the forest floor. His mind raced with dread as he worried about his brother, but he had to focus. The next attack was already coming. From the dark canopy, three more kunai had been hurled at him, aiming to gouge his neck. With great reflexes, he flipped out of harm's way and darted between trees to use their large trunks as cover. If not for his unrivaled hearing abilities, he would already be dead. The trajectory of the blades thrown at him were so precise that he realized he was dealing with professional assassins, ones heavily skilled in stealth and throwing accuracy.
No matter how fast and erratic he ran, it seemed his hunters were always nipping at his heels. More kunai were being thrown, each harder to dodge in the chaotic and unfamiliar terrain he was forced to sprint and stumble through. Reaching in his pouch, he grabbed a gunpowder pellet and hurled it at the dense tree-line above him, causing it to explode in the direction of his attackers. He had hoped this would slow them down and be more cautious as they chased him, but he did not stall them in the slightest. In fact, that next second he narrowly dodged a fatal kunai by sloppily rolling out of the way. He can't shake them no matter what he does.
He had to hurry up and lose them and help Aki. He was already badly wounded and being chased by high-caliber trackers - meaning it was up to him to save his little brother and get him out of here. The longer he was chased, the further Aki got away from him. He needs to act quickly.
Ahead of him, he caught a view of something he could use to his advantage. There was a deep ditch that he could use as cover and confuse his enemy. Running straight for it, he pulled out a smoke bomb and slammed it onto the ground, causing an eruption of white smoke that blanketed him entirely. In this slight moment of distraction, he slid into the ditch a few feet ahead of him and ducked his entire body into it.
He's being hunted. The enemy has the advantage in surprise and position, as well as numbers possibly. If Tengen wants to effectively put an end to this threat, he needs to kill them and find his brother.
His heart was pounding, but he put his ear to the wall of the ditch and listened intently for a brief moment. It had taken some time, but the initial surprise and panic of the attack had finally decreased some. Now, he had to hear the sound of the forest and listen. Listen to any slight disturbances in the canopy. Listen to the ruffling of the leaves. To the sound made by his attackers as they jumped and landed from branch to branch.
Yes....
They were getting closer....
Listen closer....
.....
.....
....
*pit pat*
*pit pat*
There were two of them.
Tengen sheathed his sword and readied a kunai. Keep listening....
....
...
..
NOW!
He shot from out of the ditch and into the air. With the quickness and accuracy of a viper, he flung his blade into the darkness and heard an audible gasp as he hit his mark. The assaulter choked on his blood before falling from his branch from up above, his body clad in all black robes coming into view as he hit the forest floor. The kunai had embedded itself into his jugular and now he was finished. The battle wasn't over, though, as the second assailant shrieked in dismay as her ally fell to the ground dead. He heard her voice hurl a curse at him, full of grief and sounding shrill, as she launched herself towards him with a katana drawn in her hands. It was a woman, also clad in black robes with a mask and hood to obscure half her face. Tengen immediately drew his sword and parried her lunging strike, pushing her back with a shove from his shoulder. She was wide open and beginning to recover from the parry, about to bring her sword down on his torso. With lightning-fast reflexes, he slashed her horizontally across the belly and kicked her with enough force to crash into a nearby tree before she could strike him. The sound of his heartbeat was deafening him and his arms were shaking uneasily, but he did it. He dispatched the enemy as adrenaline rushed through his body.
Now's not the time to stop. He had to find Akihiro quickly.
Sheathing his blade and about to take off, he heard a faint moan from the girl he had just slain. Looking over to where she was, he noticed her body was slouched down against the tree with her head hanging low. She was still alive. Judging from her injury, she'll be dead in the next few moments. However, he was finally able to get a good look at the one who was hunting him. Regarding her with an alert gaze, his mind finally had some time to process and think. Here he was, with his brother in the middle of nowhere, and somehow they were both ambushed - and not just by any assassins, but by skilled shinobi that had completely got the drop on him, which was not an easy thing to do. The only explanation was that they were sent by Lord Fuzikura, who wanted revenge and found out about their existence, but how on earth did they find them?
Curiosity and a need to know got the better of him. Carefully, he approached the dying girl until he got close enough to see her chest heaving weak and shallow breaths. Her eyes, although glazed over, struck him as familiar for some unexplained reason. They looked human and vulnerable. Scared and alone. In her dying moments, her eyes lingered on him and showed just how vulnerable they had become in this intimate moment before everything went black. Strangely enough, she also appeared to be young, as if around the same age as Akihiro. The robes too were similar to his own -
Oh dear God.
He hurriedly crouched by the dying girl's side and slid back her mask and cowl. The face of the girl underneath sent shivers down his spine as his stomach sunk into despair.
It was Himeko.
"No. No No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! NO! HIMEKOOOOOOO!"
Immediately, he took off his own mask and hood to show his face to his mortally wounded sister. He frantically took her hand, beseeching her to look at him.
"HIMEKO! HIMEKO, PLEASE! IT'S ME! IT'S TENGEN!"
Her grey pupils weakly looked at him and scanned his eyes. Near death and suffering massive blood loss, her vision was hazy and her mind was delirious. But, on death's door, she recognized his voice and face.
"T-en-gen....."
"HIMEKO! OH GOD, WHY?! PLEASE DON'T DIE! PLEASE! HIMEKO STAY WITH ME!"
Her body was already shutting down. Feebly, she responded to her dear brother.
"T-en-gen.....I-m.....so sorr...."
As her voice trailed off, her arm went limp.
She died with Tengen cradling her hand.
The shock hit him like a freight train. Staring at her lifeless body, he had just saw her die. Watching her grow still, he gasped at the realization.
"NO! HIMEKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! PLEASE DON'T DIE! GOD! PLEASE!"
The floodgates had opened and Tengen was sobbing pitifully over her body. Why was she here? What cruel act of fate was it that made him kill his sweet little sister and so brutally at that? It was if the very gods in the sky were against him, forcing him to suffer the most devastating loss imaginable. Every day, he did his best to strive as a shinobi for her safety, so that she may be given a more peaceful life with less dangerous missions; he had grown stronger in order to guarantee her a long life of ease and happiness. But now, he had seen it - the tears that had streamed down Himeko's cheeks as she faded from this world. Tengen had seen how she reacted upon seeing his face, knowing she was immediately filled with anguish and shock. The sadness in her corpse's eyes made it painstakingly obvious that she died full of regret at the fact that she was trying to kill her own brother. Now, without even being allowed a moment to handle his grief, he came to another awful realization. He had just killed his own sister, unable to tell it was her until her dying moments due to her disguise. That meant that the other one......
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no
Leaving her side, he sprinted over to the body of the shinobi he had killed before. There, unmasked and already a corpse, his brother Tsuda was laying sprawled out on the forest floor with a knife in his throat, his eyes vacant and mouth gurgled with blood.
It was as if Tengen had been thrust into a nightmare.
"TSUDAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The very forest of darkness had now become a hellscape, where Tengen's most dreaded fears were becoming reality. His siblings were dead, and he killed them. Calling out into the darkness, he called for Akihiro. He called for Kokumaru. He called for Shingen. He wailed the names of his two deceased siblings.
But there was no answer. The forest emptily echoed the sounds of his desperate cries as he was forced to reckon with the dark truth that he had just murdered his own brother and sister.
Crying, Tengen stood there alone, drenched in blood and misery.