Let's Dance on the Sword's Edge

There is a compound that lies in the countryside. So old that no one quite knows who the earliest of its masters might have been. It sits vacant and abandoned to the eyes of any wayfarer who might pass by. Its grand halls are empty, its roofs broken, its walls worn. All traces of its former glory and grandeur are gone with the seasons. It's the only visitor for ages, a solitary stranger who walks its grounds in the night.

She comes because this place is a curiosity. She comes to ponder the stories that built these grounds and its scores of rooms. She comes in search of the ghosts who might reveal their tales to her. Because she is a being that likes stories, who is enamored with ghosts, and the idea of a good ghost story is simply far too delicious to forego.

But night after night, she comes, wanders through these grounds, finds nothing and nothing. It’s as she suspects—ghost stories are always more stories than they are ghosts. It’s a bit of a disappointment, she must admit, but—oh, what else could there be to uncover here? It’s like a guessing game. A puzzle. An expedition. A good book. It’s a bit funny, she thinks, because she’s found that humanity isn't nearly as interesting as the traces that their lives leave behind. The things they’ve created that far outlive their paltry mortal existences. The inanimate records that prove they’d once walked these grounds as she does now. There’s a mystery behind these things since they don’t speak. They don’t tell her a thing, leaving it all upon her fantasies and imaginings to illuminate and interpret.

"You have become nothing more than folklore," An ushered whisper fell on deaf ears. Zarina Hyūga took one final glance at the remnants of the compound before leaving the place in her wake. A once established clan, now, no more than just a memory.

Soon after her secretive visit, she found herself in the establishment that is known as the Advanced Training Facility. There, she will meet with her sparring partner, Kouga, a swordsman of the Leaf Village. Luckily, he had agreed to meet her here via letters sent through the mailing system. They were both capable with their weapons, but it was time for the test to be brought. While it was indeed a fight, it was more of a lesson to see where they can improve in both their capabilities. Plus, she liked Kouga, his personality wasn’t overbearing like Onabi’s or reclusive like Xena’s. She knows he will give her honest, yet constructive criticism as she would for him.

“Now, just to wait,” Zarina softly spoke to herself as rest her backside upon the cool wall. 

TWC: 456