As the Shadow Valley received its first willing visitors in a while, inside the Kage Clan village connecting to it through an ancient gate, things went on as normally as they did any other day.
They had no idea what was coming, smiling and going about their business as usual.
Things were as busy as always in this part of the village, the place where merchants and vendors did most of their buying and selling. While the main square was wide enough, and busy with people coming and going, a few things stood out to anyone who happened to find themselves walking through it.
The first thing no one could ever miss was naturally the giant gate that protected the village, guarded from the inside by soldiers of the clan who stood atop a tall tower to the side of it.
Towards the middle of the main square, a bell hung in a small open structure that was only as wide as a small room. Anyone could access it from all sides for moments of emergencies, but it was mainly instructed to be used by the guards only.
The last thing to stand out was a door-like structure that looked differently than all the other buildings in the clan. Most people just ignored it completely, unless they had to deal with it for one reason or another.
Amidst the busy rush today, a one-legged man in his early middle-age years trotted along the center of the village. He used his crutch as a support under his left armpit, right above the sword he always carried with him on that side. His face was starting to show the wrinkles of time and experience, while his black hair was tied in a very short ponytail behind his head. Some gray strands had even begun to invade his sideburns..
As the logo on his loosely worn haori indicated on his back, he was the sword instructor of the Shadow Sword Style School. Carrying his sword with him was in part a kind of advertisement for his dojo, even if the village rarely had any incidents where he would need to use it.
But he knew better than to trust that sense of security, the past was still engraved on him after all.
Even though his little daughter walking next to him always offered her shoulder to lean on, he would never accept it.
If he couldn't walk on his own, he would still not burden anyone with his inability, no matter how many times they would ask or try to help.
That was just the kind of man Munisai Kage was, the kind of father, the kind of teacher.
Fortunately for him, it had been over a decade since he had lost his left leg. Even though he had gotten used to walking with a crutch on his own, a day didn't go by that he didn't regret his decision back then.
If I hadn't lost it… I might've been able to save her, to save them... Instead, I couldn't do anything…
That was his first and last thought on a daily basis.
"Father! Look at this! Doesn't it look similar to the one Mother used to wear?" His daughter, a mere 12 year old girl, asked him enthusiastically as she held out a lavender-colored ribbon from a vendor. "Could… Could we please get it?"
Her blue eyes shined with excitement as her short black hair swayed back and forth just before her shoulder length. She wore a modest white kimono with golden patterns trickling all over it. The purple belt, the Obi, wrapped it all tightly around her small slender body.
Munisai glanced at his daughter, her smile as bright as her mother's once used to be. After holding the lavender-colored ribbon for a moment and handing it back, he couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips back at her beaming face.
"Of course, Jun. I promised you I'd buy you one thing from the vendors to celebrate, but go ahead and pick a few that you like. You've earned it." Munisai gently encouraged her as he patted her on the back, pushing her to indulge herself a little.
Then he raised his head to look behind all the available products.
"How are you doing today, Hayashi? Is business going well?" He strengthened his grip on his crutch and took a step closer to the cart to give the owner a proper greeting.
"Oh, Munisai! Welcome! You know how it is, those Keymen are always raising their prices and we have to somehow adapt. Considering we can only trade within the village, it's becoming more and more difficult to make a living out of this, I tell you." Hayashi took the greeting, and met it with a long rant about the current state of trade. He was a man well into his middle-age years, apparent by the wrinkles on his face and forehead. His once dark blue hair was on the verge of losing the war to the gray invasion.
At his age, Munisai was used to this sort of back and forth by now. Vendors always complained and gave someone else the blame for raising the prices of their products.
"Perhaps we should talk to Her Majesty the Shadow Queen, and have her address this with them, our clan won't be able to keep going if they take what little we have left. I'm sure Mister Hideyoshi is aware of this as well." Munisai said as he watched his daughter pick out ribbons and put them back down.
"It's always funny how nonchalantly you bring up talking to the Shadow Queen, Munisai! Do you think any of us has a chance of that? She only gives you the time of day because you're the Sword Saint! Everyone knows that she has always liked-"
"Hayashi, let's put that aside for now. How much for each of these ribbons?"
Before Hayashi could finish his sentence, Munisai quickly cut him off. This talkative vendor was about to let Munisai's daughter think her father was being treated differently because of his previous status. Even if she knew how well he was respected in the clan, it didn't bode well with Munisai to have other people think of her father as more special than anyone else in the village.
Because when it came down to it, he was not.
"Oh, I couldn't charge you more than market price, Munisai! Which ones did you like, young lady? I'll make you a good deal, you can have three for the price of two, what do you say? A total of 10 Keys!" Hayashi leaned in, rubbed both his palms together and quickly changed his grumpy and complaining attitude to adapt his merchant spirit. He made sure to quote the price in the universal currency to keep the blame away from himself.
"Um… I think I'll just have this one after all. It has a nice color…" Jun said hesitantly as she held the lavender-colored ribbon from earlier and gave her father a guilty look.
"Look what we have done, Munisai! We must've scared little Jun by our conversation! Things are not so dire, dear! I'm sure your father is willing to buy you a few extra ribbons! What do you say, hmmm?" Hayashi said boldly and leaned in further, almost toppling over his own stand. His grin stretched the limitations on the corners of his mouth as wide as they could go.
"Jun, are you sure?"
Munisai had a better understanding of his daughter, and naturally knew she would only say what she said because that's what she wanted. He had already told her she could get more than one ribbon. If that's what she had decided, then that meant that was just the one she wanted to have.
Her hesitance and guilt wasn't because of the prices of the ribbon, but its color and who it would remind Munisai of.
Of that, the father was sure.
"Yes, father." Jun said firmly, this time having made up her mind and fully accepted her father's resolve.
He wouldn't be bothered by the ribbon, even if it reminded him of his late wife. On the contrary, he seemed happy to have that reminder.
And of that, the daughter was now sure as well.
"Then-?!" Before Munisai could get to paying, a sudden sense of unease sent cold chills down his spine.
The shadows?! Something is wrong!
He quickly turned his head around to face the gate, feeling a great disturbance behind it.
"No…! Everyone get down!!" Munisai covered his daughter and shouted loud enough to alert everyone around him.
However, before they could even get to processing what he was talking about, it happened.
The gate exploded.
The tower in front of the gate holding the two guards got blown away as a violent, swirling wave of shadows whipped through both gate and tower to reach the center of the main square.
Munisai quickly raised his head to look toward the ancient gate, causing his eyes to immediately constrict into tiny needle points.
He couldn't believe it, the gate that stood strong for centuries had been blown away… and by a wave of shadows from outside the village no less.
But most of all, what made his entire body tremble was…
This aura…
He had a very bad feeling about this. His phantom pains were acting up again.
Tremors shook the ground. It wasn't but a few seconds later that the screams started. People immediately began fleeing away, far from the gate and the main square.
"The gate has been destroyed!"
"Run away! Before the monsters come in!"
Even Hayashi abandoned his stand and ran for his life. There was no time to think about money.
The first priority was survival.
"Jun, stay hidden here and wait for me, do you hear me?" Munisai turned and looked his confused daughter in the eyes.
"Okay!" Seeing her father's resolve, she responded without a moment of hesitation.
As Munisai took a step forward, she eagerly watched her father, slowly and carefully moving his crutch toward the bell in the center. Even though he wasn't a guard, he still took immediate action.
What is going on?! How did this happen?
As Munisai tried to make sense of the situation, the two guards who were previously stationed on the tower caught his eyes. One was now completely unconscious, while the other was struggling to get back up. It was obvious to the Sword Saint neither of them would be able to stand up and defend the clan anytime soon.
As he made it to the bell in the center, he grabbed the rope tied to the clapper in the middle, hanging still as it had been for a while now.
I have to warn them! I can't let them get hurt!
Resolving himself to take action, Munisai tugged on the rope and pulled the clapper to the side with all the power he could muster.
GONG!
The sound of the bell rang in the surrounding area.
GONG! GONG!
The people running for their lives began to hear it too.
GONG! GONG! GONG!
Munisai and Jun kept hearing it, hoping it would alert anyone else around to flee, but instead they were met with something they didn't begin to expect.
From the rising cloud of dust covering where the gate used to be, a small figure started to step out.
A figure so small, it could not have possibly been the one to cause all this damage.
"?!"
It was a kid. A lone boy with black disheveled hair, emerald eyes, and bloodied bandages all over his limbs. He was somehow still holding onto a chest box under one arm, and a katana with a blue wavy pattern on the blade in the other hand.
A kid?!