Ronin

Sorry about how long it took me to post this new chapter. Lets just say that a lot of it was influenced by new experiences! Anyway, here she is, I hope you enjoy!

Sincerely, Darc

Chapter 3

Seizan gazed at the demon slayer, almost stunned. She was exceedingly gorgeous, with shimmering, silky, shoulder-length sable hair wreathing her pale, delicately stunning face. Her eyes were what were most enchanting about her, for they were large and catlike, and they spoke of years of experience in many things, not just slaying demons. She had the body of a goddess, slim, lithe, with gently flaring hips and perfect breasts, all concealed in tight-fitting black leather armor. "Y, you're Naoko?" he stammered as he sheathed his katana.

She walked up to him and smiled. Upon her forehead was what looked like a tiara, but it wasn't. It was more of a headband with a jewel that hung delicately from it to just above her eyes in the center of her forehead. "Yes. You're the ronin everyone is talking about, aren't you?"

Seizan smirked. "Heheheh, I guess my reputation precedes me. . . ."

Naoko giggled, her voice delicate, yet possessing that certain sense of hardened emotion that the skilled warrior acquires after so many battles. It was indeed unnerving for the ronin to stand near the beautiful demon slayer and understand that she indeed possessed the powers that made her the most capable demon slayer in all of Kashida. "So, I'm glad that I assumed Onikage isn't your birth name"

"No, it isn't. . . ." he said straightforwardly. "So, you're the best demon slayer in Kashida, huh?"

Naoko smirked. "Yep. There hasn't been a demon created that I haven't been able to take down with my trusty kasurigama!" She pulled out her weapon of choice, a 3-foot long sickle attached to a two-foot long wooden handle. Wrapped around her waist was what looked to be a really long, finely woven metal chain that had a spiked metal ball on one end and attached to the scythe-like weapon on the other end. "I named her Ni-Ten, or Two Heavens. She's been the reason I've survived for so long in battle!"

"My, that's some weapon you have there, demon slayer," Seizan smirked teasingly. "Anyway, shall we embark to the Honden of Chaos' End?"

"Lets!" she said as she tucked her weapon back behind her into her sash that held her tight-fitting black armor in place.

The morning mists were thick enough to cut with the blade of a knife, it seemed. "So, Naoko," Seizan began, "where are you from?"

Looking over at the ronin, she shrugged. "Here and there. I never stay in one place for long. . . ." She smiled, chuckling quietly to herself. "I've been on the road so long I don't remember where I started. . . . I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry over that. . . ."

Seizan nodded, smirking at her airy-fairy way of talking. "I hear you there. . . . It's becoming hard for me to remember where I began as well. . . ." Resting his left hand on the hilt of his katana, Seizan gazed up through the hazy fog, seeing the brilliant sphere of the sun filter through it like moonlight penetrating ink-black smoke from a battlefield forsaken by peace. "This mist is certainly thick. . . ." he said to himself as he sniffed at the salty air.

Naoko nodded, walking easily through it with a fluid grace that bespoke of many years of training. "Yes it is. . . ." she said indifferently as the two warriors made their way through the village's entrance, out onto an earthen path that led over the horizon. "So, Seizan," the woman began as the two made progress in the early-morning mist, a gentle zephyr caressing the sides of their faces as the walked forth towards the Honden. "Tell me about yourself. I'm curious to know who I'm working with."

Smiling, despite himself, Seizan shrugged. "There's not too much to tell. I was born in Edo twenty-four years ago, began training in the many arts of combat at six, and became a samurai in Lord Miyamoto's legion at twelve. After eight years of serving my liege, he vanished into thin air, leaving us all behind. Since then, I grabbed my sword and started walking away from Echigo and haven't looked back since." He sighed and gazed up at the clouds, drifting lazily over head as he swiped his sable hair out of his eyes. "I find a certain beauty . . . a solace, if you will . . . in the solitude of the road. I could never find that when I was Miyamoto's Hatamoto." He gazed back at his beautiful compatriot. "So, what about you, Naoko? Why have you taken up the blade?"

Shrugging, she walked beside him in silence, her eyes pensive as she gazed forward into the distance, watching the river off to the side of the road flow serenely with them, cherry trees lining the banks. "I never really thought about it. . . ." she admitted truthfully, listening to the sounds of the water sloshing and gurgling in its progress down the side of the road until it curved towards them. Crossing the old wooden bridge, she smiled. "It just seemed like something to do at the time. My family, the clan Shinamori, has always trained demon slayers. Ever since its conception over a thousand years ago, my family has always protected Kashida from oni ever entering past the forests to the western border, where Echigo lies." Seizan nodded, understanding what she told him. "Of course, the oni have long since wished the clan Shinamori's downfall. . . ."

"Wow, your lineage must be quite deep, gentle Naoko," Seizan said as they continued forth, their feet padding softly in the moist earth. "My family has a less reputable origin. The clan Akiyama have always been servants to their lords. It was for this reason that I became a samurai, I believe. I was so overwhelmed by my family's lack of recognition that I feigned to be from the clan Nobunaga to join Shirai Ryu and master the art of swordsmanship. . . ."

Naoko nodded. "Wow. It must have been quite a challenge, trying to convince the Shirai masters of your lineage and abilities with the blade!"

Laughing heartily, Seizan shook his head. "Not as hard as you'd think, my demon slayer. I had trained so many hours in the forest outside of the town of Shirai that the inquisitors of Shirai Ryu were of little consequence. They were actually quite slow compared to me, though they had better training. Therefore, after defeating the initiator Hotaromaru, I was taken in to be taught in the Shirai Ryu way of combat. Spending two years perfecting my blade techniques on sparring partner and oni alike, I enlisted in Miyamoto's army for hire. I guess I've always been something of a mercenary." He winked at Naoko, who smiled and nodded.

Laughing, she smiled and said, "Aren't we all?" She then looked forward into the wispy veil of fog and sighed. "It is a pity we live in times of such war and fear. . . ."

Nodding, Seizan gazed down at the earthen road. "Yes it is. . . . I've had to fight so many times that it was almost overwhelming. I should have died so many times before, yet I still clung to life like a vice from the demons themselves!"

Feeling a zephyr gently pass by as though a wayward specter, she nodded. You're soul is one of a poet, Seizan. It is rather hard to believe that you're one of the deadliest hired assassins in all the land. . . ."

Seizan shrugged, gazing upward and seeing the sphere of the sun through the fog, thick enough to reflect all the harmful radiance without blacking it out completely yet thick enough to see it clearly without going blind. "I just did what I could, Naoko. There's nothing overwhelmingly special in that. . . ."

The woman demon slayer smiled. "And modest, too!"

The rest of the day was passed in silence.

The moon just rising over the horizon as Seizan and Naoko set up camp. Gathering wood for a fire and then barricading it with rocks, Seizan collapsed in front of the warmth and started prodding it with a stick. "So," he began, initiating a new conversation with Naoko, "what was your worst battle against the oni?"

Naoko was gazing deeply into the fire, the reddish yellow flames licking a skewered boar they had killed earlier that day until it was hot enough to eat. "I never thought about it. . . . Luckily I haven't run into any demon that masquerades like a human. That sort of demon is always the most powerful of the oni. But, I'm sure you already know that," she said ominously. "There was a demon not more than three weeks ago that I had to face. Standing at a height of twenty feet with spikes and metal-coated skin, I nearly died trying to stop it. All those around me did die from its long, razor-sharp claws and fire breath and I had suffered a grievous wound to my side.

"Trying to not black out from the blood loss, I took Ni-Ten and, twirling the sickle through the air, I threw it at the beast, holding onto the end of this chain and, making sure not to miss my target, insulted it by calling it carrion for the worms. It walked right into my trap as I pulled back on my kasurigama. The sharpened blade cut off the oni's right leg and made it fall to the ground, blood and fragments of bone scattering everywhere. After that, it was easier to bring the beast down, so blinded by its rage at me calling it a zombie."

Nodding, Seizan smiled. "Of course. Demons of that size are pretty much down for good when you knock them down. It's because of their wings that make them so vulnerable when landing on their back."

Giggling, Naoko asked, "How do you know it landed on its back?"

"Because something of that size is very ungainly, and besides, your sickle cut off his leg from behind, didn't it?"

Nodding, Naoko sighed. `Obviously all your years of travel and battling have made you cleverer than you seem!"

Prodding the fire with the stick again, Seizan shrugged. "I'm not sure whether that is a compliment or an insult. . . ." He grinned and then said, "But, then again, it's the truth."

Smiling, Naoko stretched, arching her lithe body and moaning in delight as Seizan heard the sound of her spine cracking to the tension. He couldn't help noticing her pert breasts being thrust out against the tight black leather of her uniform. Sighing, she sat back up and cricked her neck. "Ahh, it hurts so good!" she said humorously as she took out a boot dagger and prodded the roast boar, the incision drawing warm blood and fat from roasting over the fire. "Looks like it's almost finished cooking. . . ."

Seizan gazed over at the boar and sniffed the air. "Give it a few more minutes. You always want to cook pork well. . . ." Unsheathing his tanto from within his robes, he took it out and began picking at his nails with the sharp blade. "Camping out like this brings back memories. . . ." he mused as he gazed up at the vast expanse of the night sky high overhead. Littered with billions of tiny stars, the heavens were reminiscent of a grand velvet cloth of the deepest navy imaginable, strewn with many opalescent diamonds of all shapes and sizes. The moon had yet to rise high above the mountains to the west, casting an ethereal glow among the snowy caps of the mountains themselves. Bathed in the radiance of the night, Seizan had never seen the sky look so inviting.

Naoko nodded. "Yes it does. . . . Memories of a past beyond remembrance. . . . Truly we live in odd times, don't we?" Seizan nodded his agreement. "So, tell me about your years under the command of Lord Miyamoto of Echigo."

"The one thing I truly remember about him was his presence of command. Each order he gave to me, I could sense how powerful he was. It was truly a spellbinding experience to fight alongside the Sword Saint. . . ."

"Wow, I can imagine. I heard tales of his feats in battle when I was a little girl, though they seemed so unbelievable that they must have been fairy tales. . . . It is why I named my kasurigama `Ni-Ten.' After all, Lord Miyamoto was famous for his Two-Heavens sword technique, wasn't he?"

Seizan chuckled quietly, nodding his head. "I figured it was because of that. Ni-Ten is a very famous technique. Only the strongest and brightest warriors ever advance very far in it. Hell, even I had difficulty when training in it under Lord Miyamoto. I am much better with my own technique, the Shirai-Onikami technique." Seeing her look of confusion, he smiled. "It is a fusion of my old Shirai Ryu tutelage and the techniques I picked up in the heat of battle. It is a combination of power, defense, and extreme speed. Mention Shirai-Onikami in Edo or Kyoto and you will be feared. That much I can guarantee."

Naoko smiled, giggling gently. "I can believe it. After all, you're the infamous Onikage the Manslayer! Anyway, continue your story! I'm eager to hear more!"

Nodding, Seizan closed his eyes, as though trying to see what had happened clearly. "After becoming Lord Miyamoto's Hatamoto, he and I became what you might call war buddies. Though Lord of Echigo Province, the man loved to fight alongside his soldiers. No matter the danger, we looked after each other, guarded each others backs. He was much more skilled than I, though, and he would be the one to bail me out of a hopeless situation if ever I got lured into one. It is how I became known as Onikage. . . ." Taking his tanto and slicing off a large portion of the boar, he set it on a plate to his right and let it cool. "As could be expected from any battle, he was unable to get to me from time to time, and those were the most desperate times of the battles we fought. He had slain many adversaries with his two katanas and still, outnumbered perhaps six to one, there seemed little hope that we would make it out of the battle alive. The first time I had to bail myself out was against the overlord Aoshi Morikawa, lord of Kai Province. Enemies closing in on us, I was wounded grievously in my right side. Lord Miyamoto fighting off thirteen enemies at once, he was far too busy to try and save me. Nothing left to give for wound was too deep and the blood loss too dire, I kneeled down, expecting them to slice me to pieces. There had to be at least fifty enemies surrounding me. I tell you now with no ego that had I not been wounded so deeply, I would have been able to stay their hands until Lord Miyamoto could help, but that was not the case.

"On the verge of bleeding to death, I felt some . . . divine presence lift me to my feet and give me strength enough to destroy my foes. Their attacks after the presence lifted me up seemed so slow, so . . . awkward that I thought I had strayed into a dream, a last dream before death. My sword guided by the divine presence, I slew them all, every last one of them in a battle-mad frenzy. After their dying screams subsided into drowned gurgles from blood in their mouths, all my strength left me and I collapsed amongst them."

"Wow!" Naoko said, mesmerized by the ronin's ability to tell the story. "That sounds like one hell of a battle!"

"It was," Seizan continued, "Lord Miyamoto thought for sure that I had been slain, for the blood from my wound was everywhere, making it look as though I had died. Therefore, he lay a rose next to my corpse' and left. I awoke about two hours later, my wound healing before my eyes. Traveling back to Miyamoto's castle, I went to see him and enquire as to how the battle went after I passed out. I also took his rose to him and gave it back to him. Seizan! You are alive!' the man said eagerly, bowing to me. I had thought you were dead!' I laughed and told him that I had merely passed out. I saw how you slew those enclosing you, my warrior friend! Your skill was most impressive when killing them off. There had to be at least sixty men attacking you! I've only been able to slay that many just one time, long ago!' I smiled and sat down after being offered a seat at his table. I just did my part, my lord,' I told him. Nonsense! My bravest warriors would have shuddered at that number! You fought like a demon, afraid of nothing! I saw it in your eyes before you collapsed.' Smiling, I said, Your compliments are too much, my lord! I just fought to protect you!' At that, Miyamoto laughed. Silly warrior, you deserve a drink!' he looked over at one of the maids. Bring us some warm sake!' he then looked back at me and said, From now on, your nickname will be known as Onikage the Manslayer! For in your eyes during that battle, they weren't the eyes of a mere human. They were the eyes of the most fearsome oni ever sired!'

"Ever since then, I've been known on the battle field as Onikage, or Demon Shadow. Through all the battles I fought with my lord, I'll tell you one thing, Naoko. Those stories of the Sword Saint you heard as a little girl don't even come close to what he truly is like in battle. He is far stronger than any story you've ever heard about him. I've seen the most unworldly things on the battlefield, but he was one of a kind. It was as though he was born for the sole purpose of war. A perfect warrior. . . . If he was still around, you probably would never have heard about `Onikage the Manslayer' for in my eyes, I am but an insect in skill compared to the man. . . ."

The crickets from within the forest of cherry trees chirped their songs to the moon as the smoldering ashes of the fire dwindled to nothing more than burning embers. The moon high in the sky by then, only Seizan was awake, his ears tuned to any movement in the groves around them, any scuffling of the foliage. Besides the almost hypnotic sound of the crickets echoing off the trees, there wasn't a sound to be heard, no rustling of the wind moving through the cherry trees, no animals around them stirring. Sighing in contented relief, Seizan leaned back against a boulder he and Naoko moved to act as a chair around the fire. Funny, how the moonlight of such nights can resurrect such memories, he thought to himself as he gazed at the smoldering embers within the fire basin. Father . . . . . I wonder how you are doing now, if you're still alive. . . .

The sound of a twig splintering ricocheted off the trees and hit Seizan as though a well-placed right hook. Turning his head toward the noise, he stealthily got up and drew his katana, prepared to defend the encampment. The moonlight filtering through the leaves of the cherry-tree forest made it hard for him to see what was out there, but then again, he surmised, it made it harder for him to be seen as well. Creeping low to the ground, his sword drawn and at the ready, he scanned the forest for any sign of movement. None came until he heard another creak, the sound of a foot crushing a dried leaf to shards in the forest floor. Moving towards that sound, he lunged at the creature making the noise, pinning it against a tree with his blade pressed against its throat. "Who are you?!" he growled, making sure the being couldn't escape.

Upon further observation, he instantly withdrew his sword and sheathed it. "Hi. . . ." the being said, her voice musical and rich. It was Ryoko, her platinum-blond hair tipped in black wreathing her exquisite face, which looked a bit stunned from Seizan's attack. She wore a white kimono with crimson trim tonight, the silky crimson fabric shimmering delicately in the gentle moonlight.

"Sorry. . . ." Seizan whispered as he brushed her off. "I'm a bit on edge tonight. . . . Are you alright, Ryoko?"

The woman oni nodded, her eyes gazing deeply into his. "I am fine. . . . How art thou?" she asked delicately, her voice barely more than a whisper. She seems more depressed tonight than usual, Seizan thought as he brushed a stray strand of her platinum hair out of her eyes.

"You don't sound fine, lover," Seizan said caringly, making the beautiful woman sit down with him. "What's on your mind?"

Hearing Ryoko sigh, Seizan comforted her, caressing the side of her snowy-fair face with his hand gently. "Seizan . . ." she began, not sure what to say. "I . . . I'm alone. . . ."

Smiling towards the beautiful demoness, Seizan shook his head. "No you aren't, love. You still have me, don't you?"

Ryoko closed her eyes, sighing deeply in Seizan's comforting embrace. "I feel so alone, so . . . horribly alone and lost. . . ."

Holding her tightly, Seizan kissed her ear and whispered, "I am always here if ever you need me, my beloved Ryoko. . . ."

Ryoko gazed back at the ronin, a look in her eyes that he had never seen before. It looked almost like a cross between intense passion and uncontrollable lust, even a hint of an emotion that he thought to be love. And then, before he could analyze her further, she brushed her sensuous lips against his, her hands making their way into his kimono and caressing his taut stomach, slowly moving downward. Opening his kimono and undoing his sash, she undressed him to his simple loincloth and sword, both of which left his body quickly. Grasping his hard seven inch cock in her dainty hand, she slowly rubbed the long member up and down, making Seizan shudder in ecstasy. Gazing lustfully into his black eyes, she licked her lips and forcefully pushed him against the tree, making him groan in excitement. She then nibbled upon his stomach flesh as she slowly descended toward his steel-hard dick, first dipping her soft, silky tongue into the crevasse of his navel, then descending completely onto his short sword of lust.

Teasing him first by dragging her tongue slowly over the phallus to the glans, she licked the underside of his hard member and tasting his salty precum. Inhaling the musky smell of his scrotum and anus, she almost swooned with lust as she took the head of his cock in her mouth, sucking and licking it for all she was worth. Swirling her tongue around and around it and making him groan in ecstasy, she fondled his scrotum with her delicate left hand and clawed his chest with her right. She gazed up at him and saw how his face looked, making her own desire increase a thousand fold. He looked like he was in heaven, his eyes rolled back and his mouth open, drawing in breath in gasps and moans as his fingers entwined in her silky platinum hair. Pulling back and his cock slipping out of her mouth, she grinned and said, "Dost thou wish to take me, Seizan?"

Gasping for breath after the incredible blowjob, he gazed down upon his demonic lover, his hands still entwined with her hair, cradling her head. He nodded eagerly, having yet to fuck Ryoko since they first met two nights ago. "Yes, lover. I would very much like to give you the pleasure that you've given me these last two nights!"

Smiling lustfully, she licked the head of his rock-hard mansword one last time, reveling in the taste of his precum and then got up off her knees. Seizan undoing her obi and letting the sash fall to the ground next to his own pile of clothes and his sword, he opened her kimono to find that she had worn no undergarments. The moon bathing her pale flesh in a gentle light, Seizan marveled at how stunning her body was. Nice firm, pert breasts that were at least a C with tiny pink nipples and the rest of her body nearly made him cum right there from just gazing at it. Seeing her rock-hard, nine-inch long clitstick throb as though wanting release, he slowly caressed it, making her moan in delight. She gasped and whispered with a tangible sort of longing, "I need you inside me now, lover!"

Not wanting to disappoint his lover, Seizan removed her kimono and knelt down behind her, cupping both her beautiful, tear-shaped ass cheeks in his hands and spreading them wide. He licked her anus tentatively, savoring the delicious flavor of her love-nest and provoking a moan of desire from her. His tongue circling her anal canal and slowly pushing inward to ream her, he reached up and cupped her balls and cock, feeling the powerful veins in her love organ pulse forth as a caged animal waiting to be released. She groaned in ecstasy, arching her back to push his face deeper into her succulent cheeks as he tonguefucked her ass while jacking her hard penis off. "I want thee now, lover!" she moaned, her voice hardly more than a whisper. "Take me! I beg of thee!"

Unable to hold out wanting to fuck her any longer, he licked her ass hard one more time and then got up, rubbing the head of his cock against the slick, pulsating entrance to her core. Teasing her mercilessly, Seizan sawed his cock up and down between her butt cheeks, making her scream for release. Then, he plunged in, the bulbous head of his cock entering and making her gasp in ecstasy and arch her back to get more of him inside her love gate. "Oh god, Seizan! Thou art such a great lover!!" she moaned in lustful abandon as she started gyrating her hips to get him all the way in to the hilt, balls deep. Feeling her insides contract around him, he shuddered with desire as his hands snaked their way up to caress her beautiful breasts, the nipples hard from the chill wind that was always present there. Nibbling on her earlobe, Seizan withdrew slowly from her anus and thrust back in roughly, making her cry out in agony and ecstasy.

"Is this what you want, beautiful demoness?" Seizan whispered as he thrust inward again hard, pressing her against the tree for support and his other hand snaking down to jack off her cock, which was leaking precum by the ounce onto the forest floor. He bit down on the side of her neck softly, making her moan and reach back to caress the side of his face. Her eyes rolled back into her head, he thrust upward into her anus again, a sexy slap echoing from the contact of their hips. She screamed and came all over his hands and the tree, ounces upon ounces of the delicious love-juice caking everything in front of her. Still hard, he kept masturbating her, using her cum as lubricant. His other hand rubbing it into the taut flesh of her soft stomach and giving her goosebumps, Seizan kept fucking her as hard as he could, knowing he too couldn't hold out much longer.

Their hips making a delicious slapping sound from their fucking, Seizan exited her anus by accident and sawed in between her ass cheeks again, making her squirm with desire. Resetting himself, he slapped her ass as he continued to fuck her as hard and fast as he could, jerking her shesword back and forth. Moaning in lust, he could no longer hold out and came what felt like his guts up her ass, making her cum from the explosion inside of her. Gasping and arching her back, she screamed in release, her hard cock spewing more of her fluids upon his hand and the tree she was holding on to for support. After a minute or so, both collapsed to the ground, a sticky, sweaty, dirty mess.

Leaning back into Seizan's embrace, Ryoko gazed deeply into his eyes. "I . . . I think I am falling in love with thee, Seizan. . . ." she whispered as she kissed him and cuddled close, wrapping her arms around him.

Holding her close to his beating heart, Seizan smiled, not knowing what to say to that. Words just didn't seem appropriate for such a time. He kissed her on her pale forehead and cuddled with her, feeling her sultry flesh press against his and making him almost high from the rapture. Feeling her hand caress the side of his face along the cross-shaped battle scar, he gently took her hand and held it to him, closing his eyes and feeling warmth like nothing he had ever felt before. Opening his eyes, he met her gaze and sighed, taking her in his arms and deeply French-kissing her. Gently pulling back, he caressed the side of her face and whispered in her ear, "Please don't leave me alone tonight. . . . I don't want you to go. . . ."

She smiled and kissed him back. "I won't. It is a promise." She then snuggled into his embrace, pulling his black kimono over the two as a makeshift blanket and fell asleep in his arms. --------------------------- Here ends chapter three. As always, questions and comments are most welcome and even encouraged! After all, there's always room for improvement, right? If you wish to contact me, contact me at arboc969@hotmail.com