CHAPTER 1:
...Reunion..


Koto Sparring Ring - Afternoon

Kazuki crossed his arms as he watched the various spars taking place
around him, his auburn eyes studying the fighters' techniques and low
brow insults as the winners basked in glory, the losers suffering not
just defeat, but humiliation from friends as well. The nukenin 
smirked, finding such a place to call a second home. The majority of 
his fellow cohorts were here at present with him, taking in the sights 
and sounds of combat in enjoyment. For once, things seemed as calm as 
could be. Or so he wished...

"Kazuki? ...Kazuki?! Have you been listening to any word I said?"

"Er, no...sorry. I was daydreaming, I guess. Gomen ne."

Achika frowned, annoyed that he had paid little attention to her 
important information. Although at times she was on professional 
grounds with him; she found herself slip once or twice and worry for 
his safety in battle. Even Kazuki at times thought her to be stiff in 
emotions, but dismissed such thinking upon her realization of her 
occupation as a doctor...and her attractive figure. 

"I said, 'how are you doing'? You're just standing there like a statue 
with your arms crossed like that, I wondered if you were alright.", 
she said; calming down after catching his attention.

"Genki desu. It's been a slow day so far. I'm waiting for Gaira and 
Hazuki to return back here from Kafuin Temple, so they can catch a 
glimpse of me in action."

"Who are you planning on sparring?"

"Anyone who's interested in being bacon-crisp...", Kazuki said with an 
impish grin. "I was surprised that I defeated that purple clad 
kunoichi, Kazane, earlier. She nearly had me down till I pulled off 
Kaen Geki for the finish. I'm still bruised from the match."

Achika, having heard enough of his boasting, poked him in the side 
jokingly and walked over to grab her possessions from the nearby 
table. Glancing over her shoulder, she couldn't help but smile at the 
thought of testing the firebrand in a spar; proving to him why she was 
nicknamed among others as "Dr. Daggers". "I'll surely surprise him 
then", she thought with a slight giggle. But before the doctor could 
emit a witty comment in return of the ninja's gloating, Kazuki's shout 
broke her thoughts.

"Achi~~~ka!! Look out!", Kazuki yelled as he dived toward her to shove 
her out of the way of the incoming spheroid descending upon them 
diagonally from the skyroof. 

The watery object had burst upon impact of the table where Achika once 
sat, splitting the furniture in two. Kazuki narrowed his eyes as he 
realized the source of the water bubble. "Achika...make a run for the 
door. I'll cover you!", he whispered.

Heeding the command, she dashed to the door while the nukenin fired 
off a quick blast of flame toward the attacker as he rose from his 
hiding spot. "SHAKUNETSUKON!"

The slient water ninja merely formed a large bubble shield over his 
person, snuffing the fireball from ever making contact. Kazuki didn't 
bother to fire another blast as he sprinted towards the door behind 
Achika, glancing over his shoulder to the attacker behind him. 
"...Kushiyama Forest, Achika. We'll lose him there!"

Leaping swiftly down to the floor, the ninja dressed in white gi 
attire had entered the fray. He was the onin assigned to eliminate 
Kazuki for violating the clan's code of leaving to rescue another. 
Dubbed nukenin, one had to be chosen to assassinate him before the 
rebel had escaped the area. That chosen one was Kazuki's own older 
brother, Kazama Sogetsu. Though Sogetsu knew of Kazuki's plan to save 
their younger sister, Hazuki, it was still an offense to leave the 
clan. Therefore, he had to complete his assigned mission. "...You are 
becoming quite the pain in the rear, little brother.", Sogetsu mused 
quietly under his breath as he calmly stepped out of the door in no 
apparent rush.



Kushiyama Forest - Evening

"...I..I think we lost him."

"Kazuki...? Was that your brother?"

He nodded in return to Achika, catching his breath as he leaned his 
shoulder against a tall bamboo tree. "I didn't think he'd find me 
already. 'niisan is truly relentless in this hunt."

Achika sighed at her friend's predicament as she lowered to a sit upon 
a large rock near a bush of sprouting bamboo. "What do we do now, 
Kazuki? Your brother might find us here any minute now, Gaira and 
Hazuki are probably wondering where we are, and you're still injured 
from your previous fight with that Kazane!"

"We'll hold up here for now. If Sogetsu arrives, I'll confront him", 
he replied as he lowered his eyes, looking down upon his left hand 
flexing tightly into a clenched fist. "I've got to convince him and my 
clan that my absence was for a good cause...my imouto-chan."

"And you think that reason enough to persuade the grandmaster into 
accepting such forgiveness?", was said in quiet reply.

"I hope so, Achika.", said Kazuki - unknowing of whom he was speaking 
with.

"Then you truly are ignorant for believing such...little brother.", 
Sogetsu spoke as he hopped from a grappled spot on the higher elevated 
bamboo only meters away from Kazuki. "You know that your case will not 
be taken lightly before our leader, ninja exile."

"Oniisan! How could you be so heartless? I tried to keep our own 
sister from harm of Amakusa and you still threaten my life?!", Kazuki 
growled under his breath, eyes fixated upon the oinin before him.

"You know the rules of our clan. They are to be obeyed, not broken."

"Those rules are wrong, oniisan!!", cried out Hazuki as she ran up to 
the area of the two, followed by Gaira and Kazane. "Kazuki came to 
help me! Why couldn't you understand this the first time you two 
fought after Amakusa's defeat?"

"Imouto-chan...stay out of this.", Sogetsu replied as he turned his 
back to the nukenin. "Kazuki has broken one of the sacred laws of our 
clan...and he shall be dealt with accordingly."

Gaira scratched his head in confusion, still puzzled as to why the two 
found reason to fight anyway. They were brothers, and together they 
should---

"Dealt with? I'm not some common criminal, big brother!! Why can't you 
see this?!"

"Why can't you realize how much of a pain you really are? This is 
growing quite old."

"Bakayarou!", Kazuki yelled angrily as he lunged out to grab Sogetsu. 
The attempt failed however, as the older brother sidestepped the brash 
one, leaving him to fall against a bamboo shaft, bits of leaves and 
debris descended down while the trunk vibrated from impact.

"Still slow as always."

Growling deeper, Kazuki pushed off the tree and glared back upon his 
kinsman as his hand reeled back to grasp the sheathed ninja-tou behind 
him. "...fine. You want me elminated, so be it. But I'm not going down 
without a fight!!", he yelled as he dashed forward, swiping "Suzaku" 
at his torso in a quick, diagonal slash form. 

"Kazuki!! No!!", Hazuki shrieked afterward at the sudden attack.

Sogetsu, wincing from the strike, staggered back a couple paces; 
watching his precious vitae drip slowly upon the grassy knoll. Looking 
on towards the impending battle, Achika flashed a look of disapproval 
to Gaira as Kazane crossed her arms over her chest as the dramatic 
quarrel continued. "Kazuki had better win this time ...I don't think 
Soggy's going to be as nice this time 'round.", Gaira muttered to the 
doctor in his heavy tone.

Narrowing his eyes to slits, Kazuki resheathed with a quieted metallic 
click. "It's time for you to feel the pain you've caused me."

"Pain?", Sogetsu scoffed as he rose into his stance. "You have no 
idea." Drawing his own blade, the white-clad ninja dashed in a blue 
streak to eyes that watched, striking the younger to the wounded side 
from their last encounter. Kazuki stumbled back a step before falling 
to the grass wincing as sharp pain racked his right side of his waist 
once more. Gasping in astonishment of the sibling rivalry, Hazuki 
stepped in the way of the two while Gaira hoisted his cannon-ball 
sized rosary, "Nanmu Amida Butsu", in wariness. 

"Sogetsu! He's been hurt enough today! You're gonna kill him!", Hazuki 
pleaded.

"I swear...if you kill either of them while they're still under my 
protection, you'll be dead before you can leave here.", grumbled Gaira 
in response.

Smothering a yawn at the senseless chatter of the two, Sogetsu slid 
is blade back into the cover of the saya. "Yare, Yare...."

Weakly, the fire ninja moved Hazuki aside. "Imouto-chan...I've got 
this one."

"Kazuki! You can't! Not in your condition!", declared the younger 
sister. Kazane slipped a gentle, yet firm hand upon Hazuki's shoulder, 
keeping her back. "Don't worry. I doubt neither of them will kill the 
other.", the kunoichi voiced quietly.

Ignoring his sister's plea, Kazuki engulfed himself in flames as he 
slide kicked Sogetsu into the air. Coming in at a horizontal angle 
with a cross chop of his sword, he shifted with an upward swipe into 
the air, then jumped after him; finishing the Rikudo Rekka maneuver 
with a fiery downward slash to knock him back to earth. Sogetsu 
smirked all the while - as if enjoying the attempt before landing 
harshly to a knee. A mere second later, Kazuki landed as well, in 
stance.

The calm and collected ninja looked back up with his unchanged 
expression, speaking in his usual, composed mannerism. "...all brawn 
and no brains. A shame actually." Sighing, he stood back to his feet, 
sheathing his blade. "Saa...."

"Yeah...well, I've got heart. Some thing you've obviously lost, big 
brother...!"

"Sou desu ka?....Gekkou...", huffed the elder as he raised his right 
hand upward,  a vertical pillar of water ascended beneath Kazuki, 
throwing him straight into the air. The attack flung him back down 
against a bamboo shaft upon its completion, snapping the vegetation in 
two. "...perhaps I should stop going so easy on you..."

Hazuki clenched her fists, muttering under her breath to knock some 
sense into both of her brothers. This whole fiasco was aptly trying 
her patience to its limits. Though in the meantime, Kazuki readied 
himself once more before pushing off of the broken tree. He sprinted 
towards his target, slashing in a wide arc to Sogetsu's torso; a fiery 
trail left in the blade's wake. The swipe singed an ash mark 
diagonally over his chest, causing his gi vest to be reduced to fallen 
shreds. Kazane's eyes marveled at the sight of Sogetsu's rather 
appealing physique exposed, lost in a speechless stare.

"...cute.", remarked the water ninja before leaping briskly into the 
air, narrowing his eyes onto his target. In mid-descent, he grabbed 
his younger brother's shoulder and shoulder-threw him with ease into 
another bamboo shaft, snapping the plant in multiple places. However, 
as Sogetsu uttered "Shizuki" afterward, the Burning Explosive ninja 
immediately recoiled off the ground with direct repeated kicks to his 
opponent's jaw; Kazuki's own teeth gritted while Guren Kyaku thrusted 
him into mid-air.

"Getting old and slow, 'niisan.", Kazuki smirked upon landing. 

Gaira, despite finding the fight interesting enough, muttered aloud to 
the others watching. "Maybe they'll stop after repeatedly beating the 
snot out of one another..." Sneering at the enormous monk, Achika 
pelted him with a small pebble to the shoulder. "It hasn't worked 
yet", mumbled Hazuki. "...they've been stubborn like this as kids - 
and I'm the youngest!"

"Well...you're a female...and they're males. That explains everything, 
don't you think?", said the solemn Kazane.

Breaking the conversation, Sogetsu fisted his right fist before him, 
then gracefully three three water spheroids at his brother, spinning 
him into the side bushes. Changing his expression for once in the 
battle, a smug grin rose upon emotionless features. "Sore de dou desu 
ka?"

"...warui..", winced the nukenin in response; yet in retaliation, 
Kazuki leaped in with a weak-hearted downward slash from the left 
shoulder to the right side - leaving no more than a scratch on his 
brother's flesh. Gaira sighed at the failed attempt, remembering 
hearing this turnout before from Hazuki. "...he's letting his 
concentration slip once again." Hazuki nodded in agreement, looking 
aside. 

"No more games...", Sogetsu inaudibly muttered before moving in with a 
horizontal slash across his waist, sending him sprawling back to a 
knee against a side bamboo shaft. He stepped before Kazuki with his 
eyes lowered upon his sibling in disgust. "I am offended that I have 
to fight someone with such lack of talent..."

Both Hazuki and Kazuki growled at the sound of that, their anger 
toward their elder grew more intense now as the fire ninja's own 
flames increased in vigor, crackling about his form. Standing quickly 
with a second whiff of stamina, he yelled out loudly with his arms 
extended, hands fisted and his feet planted firmly in the soil. "BURN 
IN HADES' FLAMES!!!"

Before Sogetsu could even realize what hit him, the Burning Explosive 
Ninja had flared up a wide burst of fire in the form of a towering 
inferno, its flames swirling straight up into the heavens; as a 
demonic likeness of Stana himself seemed apparent within the fire. The 
luminescence caused the entire bamboo forest to shine and heat up in 
temperature before the inferno ceased; Enja Kakusei completed. 

Kazuki slumped down to his knees in exhaustion, his inner power spent 
from such a massive strike. The surge of energy released by detonation 
of Hades' fire weakened him from raising to his feet. Yet Sogetsu was 
no where to be found. Had he been incinerated within the inferno? 
Could it be that he had done the unthinkable deed of killing his own 
flesh and blood...his own brother? Kazuki blinked at the horrible 
thought of it all as he hung his head - not just in weariness, but in 
shame. Though such thoughts were answered with a mere reply from 
above.

"Your tactics bore me...", Sogetsu announced as he stepped from the 
side. "Fuugetsu-ZAN!!"

Without warning, the water ninja dashed forward from the left side 
with seven constant slashes of his blade to his brother's abdomen 
before spinning around once to summon an erupting Gekkou water geyser 
to fling him straight into the air. Eyes widened, the bystanders of 
the fight could barely believe what happened. They watched in uneasy 
fright as Kazuki flew upward in a tailspin before landing upon the 
ground with a bone breaking, sickening thump.

"...masaka..!", said Taki as she blinked watching the younger Kazama 
brother lie there with a slight muscle spasm at first to an unmoving 
collapse of unconscious. Hazuki sprang from her standing spot and ran 
to her fallen brother, quickly kneeling at his side. Tears streamed 
down her cheeks as she placed a delicate hand upon her brother's blood 
ridden chest. "Kazuki!!!" 

Nonchalantly, Sogetsu stepped only a couple feet away from the group, 
performing "Chiburi" - twirling his water soaked sword once to fling 
the blood off and sheathed it back into the ebony saya. "Shobauri...", 
he mused while shaking his head at the sight. "Should I kill him now 
and end MY misery? Or do I leave him to die on his own?"

Hazuki could not hold herself back any longer of the confined anger 
within. Her crystalline-like teardrops lined her cheeks as she glared 
up at her eldest brother. Leaving Kazuki to be tended by Achika and 
the quieted Kazane, she stormed over to Sogetsu with her hands fisted. 
"How the hell could you do this to our own brother?!"

"Simple...he walked into all of my attacks.", the azure-haired ninja 
replied apathetically to her. "...Thus, he lies on the ground. Broken 
and bleeding."

Hazuki's lip trembled once at the uncaring words spoken by her own 
family member and immediately swung her right fist at his jaw with all 
her might, decking him once in hopes of amendment. "Kono yarou!!", she 
yelled in crestfallen grief. "There!! Now you walked into MY attack!"

Sogetsu's head whiplashed sideways before reeling back to gaze upon 
his sister, his left hand rubbing his jaw at the pain of the hit. He 
fished about his mouth with his tongue before spitting aside a bloody 
molar. Gaira grinned sheepishly at Hazuki's comeback, holding back 
once more before challenging the eldest Kazama to a similar duel. 
Sogetsu however slipped his hand upon the hilt of his ninja-tou, 
resting it their in warning to her. "You test my patience...not very 
wise, imouto-chan."

"I've been doing that for a long time, oniisan! Are you going to kill 
me too, Soggy?"

"Do you realize what will happen to me if he lives or his death is 
faked? Do you?"

"................."

"I do." , Achika murmured in interruption. "...they'll kill you."

"At least someone understands...", replied Sogetsu as he gazed back to 
Hazuki. Grabbing what was left of his gi vest, Hazuki looked up at 
him, still emotionally mixed with anger and panic striken grief. "You 
don't have to kill our borther over it...!", she said; shaking him 
lightly.

"Do you see me killing him? Is this not the perfect opportunity to 
finish him off?"

"...so...so what should Kazuki and I to do?", Hazuki responded as she 
hung her head down a degree or so; sniffling as she wiped her eyes.

"You go and you live. But go away...far away from all of this."

"What about you, oniisan?"

"Nevermind me.", Sogetsu sighed as he turned away from her presence; 
striding in a direction that would take him away from the bamboo 
forest and the others. Kazane, questioning the oinin's decision, 
responded quickly. "Going to run? How...brave. But I suppose it's the
logical thing to do in this case."

Sogetsu moved a branch aside as he continued on, answering Kazane as 
he lowered his eyes upon the destiny that awaited his choice ahead. 
"As long as the clan thinks he's dead...I'll be alright." 

Lowering his gigantic prayer beads to a sashed-rest upon his broad 
shoulders, Gaira turned his eyes back upon the fallen nukenin and the 
doctor mending his wounds. He rubbed the back of his neck, giving a 
skeptical look upon the idea of Kazuki's health. Somehow catching the 
monk's thoughts due to Gaira's expression, Achika glanced up at him 
reassuringly. "He could be worse...but I think a couple days of rest 
will do him a world of good..."


· End of Chapter 1 · 


Kazuki64's note: Wow...finally put it to storyformat than dialogue. As 
you can see, the storyline takes place right before SS64 - after 
Amakusa's defeat. This'll probably end up becoming a multi-chaptered 
tale; ending in a much more exciting conclusion. Who knows what 
Samurai Spirit will make a cameo appearance or what'll happen to the 
Kazama clan. Just keep checking back here each update to see the 
different chapters.