Death and Birth [Raikaru]

[Tekato Shimura]

Tekato saw the figure too. They slowly walked over to the where they saw some kind of figure when the lightning flashed. He couldn’t make out what it was but it seemed to be a humanoid figure, though it seemed taller than most humans and thought thought it could be a large man who was looking for a fight. Tekato drew a kunai in case they were going to fight someone. As they drew nearer to where they saw it his night vision began adjusting and horror shot over his eyes when he fully realized what the figure was, or rather who the figures were. His mouth dropped in disbelief and tears began swelling in his eyes immediately. He dropped his kunai and fell on his knees looking up at his father Fadaro, his mother Ayami, his older brother Akira, and his eight year old baby brother who just entered the academy all with ropes, one end tied to a tree, the other end a noose around their neck… keeping them suspended in the air all in a neat row across 4 branches. Each of their faces had expressions of fear and pandemonium. There were slashes all over their bodies, a stab mark in his mother’s neck, and one of his father’s arms was twisted in the completely wrong direction. Whoever did this did not let them die quickly, and the hangings were not to kill them but to show them off to Tekato and Raikaru. He ran up to his father and hugged him at his legs and screamed “Father!” He buried his face in Fadaro’s bloodied lower pant leg. “Father come back!” He kept repeating “Come back! You aren’t dead! Come back! You can’t be dead!” Until finally he took his buried face away and looked over at his younger brother Hiro who he held so dear to his heart and recalled giving him piggy back rides and having so many great times with him. He began recalling memories with all of his family members. His face became emotionless as he let himself drop to his knees once again and looked straight ahead into the woods. “This can’t be real… Is this Genjutsu?” He looked over at Raikaru, who was holding his littlest brother, tears streaming from his face. He could see that Raikaru was screaming, but Tekato could hear nothing, all his senses focused on one thing, his family. “No… it isn’t. This is real.” He heard a thud on the ground behind him and he slowly turned his head to look, his despair too great to act quickly. His eyes widened as he looked at the figure in more detail. It was a man holding two bloodied swords. He was wearing a pitch black hooded robe. His face was hidden completely under his hood.
“They died for a worthy cause.” A deep ominous voice rang from the figure in front of them.
Tekato immediately filled with anger and hatred because he knew this man killed his family. “What are you talking about?! What cause could this possibly be that would make you kill them! I’m gonna kill you!” He screamed at the top of lungs and Tekato and Raikaru charged at the hooded man at the same time with their kunai. Just as they were about to slash at the hooded figure he vanished and reappeared behind them causing both to stumble to the ground. They both got up and charged at him. As they charged he started talking, but they kept running at him.
“You are worthless to kill now… become stronger and live your lives to avenge your families, then you will be worth my time.”
Just as they were about to hit him, he ended his sentence and vanished causing Tekato and Raikaru to fall on their faces again. He tried to get up but collapsed and rolled onto his back. It began pouring rain and Tekato and Raikaru’s vision began to fade into blackness as rain hammered down on his face. The scarring image of his dead family was the only thing he could imagine as his consciousness slipped away.

[End]