Bounty Hunters

"I don't get it, nii-san. Why is the family of that priest important?"

One of the bow wielding men with rough, angular features sighed heavily with annoyance as he answered his younger brother, "Kotaro, that Sakurai priest had absconded with a lady of the Fujiwara clan. You know how powerful the Fujiwara are. They wouldn't have fallen so far out of favor if they could have married that lady off to one of the imperial family or one of the prominent backers of the Minamoto clan."

Kotaro, the younger brother, was upset about being sent on a fool's errand. He didn't understand politics and couldn't be bothered to care about problems he couldn't put down with his bow. Yet, here he was, in the middle of a mountain range far from the battlefields he dreamed of, and he couldn't complain to the lord whom his brother accepted the commission from. All he could do was voice his complaints and question his brother for his reasoning.

"Lord Fujiwara needs is to find that woman. With her, the Fujiwara clan will have a pawn to play in the game for control of the capital… or this new shogunate," Masaki added.

In truth, Masaki didn't care why the Lord Fujiwara chose him to lead his band of brothers to pursue the priest's family. He was in it for the money, much like his other comrades. Yet, he knew his brother was infatuated with the glory and adrenaline rush of the battle.

He wasn't the type of mercenary to take up bounties for easy money, like Masaki, but Masaki has brought him along as Kotaro was an excellent tracker. He would need him if their target fled.

The five of them trudged along through the trees, while Masaki thought of the last lead he had gotten. According to the bandits they ran into last month, that priest had been living deep within these mountains.

He didn't take their words at face value but was reconsidering that now. As the village he had heard about was quite isolated.

He hadn't heard of it before, and no news of it leaves the mountains. Which made it plausible that the priest had been able to hide out here for the last decade or two. Or at least, until the priest surfaced in the Mt. Fuji area and was killed.

A fog had started to roll down the mountain. Tendrils of the mist weaved between the trees as it submerged the area and made pushing forward more difficult for the bounty hunters.

Their field of vision dropped markedly within seconds, which elicited curses from Kotaro as he stumbled. A decaying log had given away under foot and he staggered to the side, hitting a tree.

WHISH!

All five of the mercenaries were instantly on alert. "Enemy ambush!" one of them shouted. Quickly echoed by another who drew his tachi as he hollered, "We're under attack!"

Kotaro had the blood drain from his face as he realized that it was his luck to have stumbled. An arrow had just whisked by where his head had been just a moment ago!

Naito's illusionary fog made it easy for him to choose between closing in or remaining at a distance as he picked off his targets. Though his first shot missed, he had quickly loaded two more arrows on the string and drew back.

THWUCK! THWUCK!

The twin arrows found their mark. One of the mercenaries took an arrow in the arm, while his partner next to him wasn't as lucky. The man fell back grasping at his neck, where rivulets of blood gushed from the severed artery that the arrow tip had found at his unguarded throat.

Masaki ducked behind a tree as he peered around at the mysterious fog, looking for the attackers. His tachi's cold, metallic edge gleamed dangerously as he unsheathed it. "This damned fog!" he cursed.

THUD!

A black fletched arrow embedded itself in the tree trunk he had temporarily taken cover behind.

Kotaro's bow twanged as he returned fire, but no impact could be heard. He had seen a shadow moving a moment ago and tried his luck.

However, as he had seen one shadow, they began to multiply. "We're surrounded! COWARDS! Every one of them!" he roared.

The fox smirked as he heard the bellows of the archer. He was clever enough to know not to reply and give his position away, but on top of that, he had manipulated his illusions masterfully.

With the fog, he was able to mask his location as well as Ryuka's, but he also confused his quarry by giving them false targets. The best part was that the mercenaries had fallen into his illusions without knowledge, so they would not be able to extricate themselves before they fell here.

The mercenaries continued to shoot arrows into the fog at the shadowy shapes that changed positions, but despair was evident on their faces.

"Fall back!" Masaki ordered, but as soon as the swordsman turned his back, an arrow struck him in the shoulder.

Kotaro rapidly let loose arrow after arrow as he followed his older brother, but his frustration was evident. He scowled in anger as the other archer with them took an arrow in the thigh, while they pulled back.

The fog swirled near the ground as Ryuka released a blade condensed of wind. It flew low, slicing through ferns without resistance and claimed the legs of the other swordsman, who had escaped Naito's arrows to this point.

"Ahhh!" the man screamed as he fell over. A red mist blossomed from the impact as blood was scattered in the dissipating wind blade.

Yet, the man's screams didn't last long as another pair of wind blades raced through the fog. The first claimed the swordsman's head, while the second struck his metal plated armor with enough force, that the headless and legless corpse was flung into a tree next to the retreating Masaki.

WHAM! Creeeeak-!

The tree rocked back from the impact, but its roots held. It didn't come tumbling down, but it was enough to scare the wits out of the remaining three!

"Retreat," Masaki mumbled, then found his voice enough to scream, "RETREAT!"

The second call to retreat didn't come fast enough before another shriek could be heard. The second archer fell over with another bloody mist lingering in the air. His severed foot was but a pace behind his corpse, and a pair of arrows had adhered to his back.

Resentfully giving up the fight, Kotaro grabbed his older brother by his uninjured arm and dragged him away. They needed to escape!

There were too many attackers in the fog and at least one of them had unnatural means. He couldn't see the attack. It just came!

How were they supposed to fight against that?! Wasn't this just a bounty his brother Masaki had taken on? Weren't they just supposed to be looking for some old woman to capture and drag back to her clan?

A lot had happened within the passing of a minute. The mercenaries were trekking through the woods to some solitary village in the mountains. Then they went from being beset upon by fog to being ambushed.

What Kotaro and Masaki did not know, was that their conversation had been overheard. As they climbed the mountain side, Naito had determined them to be a threat that needed to be eliminated. Yet, he didn't outright kill the brothers, because he was considering interrogating them for more information.

Obviously, they knew about old man Sakurai and the past that Ryuka and Naito did not know. Likewise, they probably had information on what happened to the priest.

On the other hand, Naito knew that he could not let these guys leave the mountains. They needed to stay here forever.

The air swirled around Ryuka as she was about to send off another cascading pair of wind blades, when Naito said, "Stop. I'll take care of them. You stay here."

She looked up to see Naito's hardened expression as he turned to give chase.

The fog was thick and impenetrable to the bounty hunters, but it was just a haze for Ryuka and Naito. When the fox opened his illusionary domain, he had designed it in a way that she could clearly see the men attacking. Yet, as he left, the haze thickened, and she could not see through it anymore.

Weighing the options, Naito made his choice within seconds. Even if they had more information, they were not the only individuals privy to it in this world.

'They were just given enough to do their job,' he thought.

Loading the bow, he drew back the shot with as much strength as the weapon could handle, then released.

THWUCK! Crash!

Kotaro fell forward with that black fletching of the arrow sticking out of the back of his skull. Masaki was shocked and stumbled to the side, looking in horror at his fallen younger brother.

A voice sounded from behind him, and he swirled about to look at the source of the terror.

"I guess the old priest Sakurai is dead. At least he has gotten to be reunited with his wife," Naito spoke as he nonchalantly stepped forward. An arrow was already notched, and it's dangerous tip greeted Masaki's face.

Seeing the young face with blue eyes and that silver hair, Masaki muttered, "...demon."

Then, he was no more.

The corpse fell with an arrow firmly lodged between the swordsman's wide eyes. Naito nudged him with a foot before turning away. All five corpses simultaneously erupted with foxfire, eliminating the possibility of the mercenaries returning as vengeful ghosts.

Naito had only gone a few steps before he turned around to retrieve their weapons. They would come in handy, he believed. However, he left the armor as they would be too inconspicuous, and not to mention, heavy for carrying back with him to the village.

The animals of the forest would find the corpses later, and the predators amongst them would remedy the task of disposing the bodies. So, Naito felt at ease with leaving them.