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The sun was rising as Sensei and Mitch walked out of the cave and back into the forest.  Mitch knew that they had come from the right, but he wondered if they could just skirt the mountain and avoid the forest altogether.  He didn’t want to have to go through that again.  He also worried about what the Tengu had said, about it protecting Mitch the whole time and them not being able to make it on their own.  Mitch didn’t doubt his abilities to get through, or Sensei’s where he at full health, but he wasn’t.  He had helped with the demon, but he had also been hurt in the fight.  Mitch didn’t want to make him fight any more than necessary.
 

“Sensei, you know the area better than I do, which way should we go?”  Mitch had thought that he could do this with out involving Sensei, but he just couldn’t do it alone.

“We should head west, there is a road that cuts through the forest there.  We really angered the local demon population when we built that.”  Sensei, when speaking in terms of humans and demons, always referred to humans as ‘we’, as if Sensei and Mitch were in part responsible simply because they were human. 

“Then west it is.”  Mitch looked up at the rising sun and turned around to head west.  Sensei followed closely but left Mitch plenty of maneuvering distance.  Even though they were currently following the path along side the mountain, they were still next to the forest and it’s infestation of evil.
 

Mitch walked as he had for the last several days, with his sword drawn in his right hand and his crossbow loaded in his left.  Sensei followed with his sword sheathed and an arrow knocked in his yumi or Japanese bow.  Sensei’s bow differed from a European long bow, such as Ryan’s, in several ways, the most prominent two being that one, the bow is asymmetrical with the handle near the bottom; and two, that you rested the arrow on the right hand side of the bow, not the left.  Sensei had a quiver attached to his right hip so that he could draw the arrow like the samurai would have done from horseback.  It was small so it didn’t get in the way any more than the sheath of his sword did on his other hip.

Mitch tried not to look back at Sensei any more than he had too, he didn’t want to appear as though he doubted his abilities and was worried about him.  Sensei saw this and decided not to comment on it.  He was grateful for his students concern, but Mitch had bigger problems to be worrying about right now.  Sensei didn’t want to add to Mitch’s stress as it was obviously tearing at his sanity already. 

They walked on in absolute silence.  Mitch had been concentrating so hard on getting Sensei back alive that he hadn’t thought about what to do after.  After what seemed to be hours the mountain turned more obviously south, meaning that if Mitch wanted to continue west as Sensei had asked, they would have to leave the safety of the mountain side.

Mitch paused, took one last deep breath of normal air, and stepped into the engulfing evil that was the Aokigahara forest.  The sheer malice of the place swept back over Mitch like an ocean wave.  He felt is spirit beginning to waver instantly.  Even though light was still coming through overhead, Mitch felt surrounded by darkness, he could only imagine the effect the forest was having on Sensei. 

Mitch continued to walk on, tightening his grip on his sword and crossbow.  Precious seconds became minutes, minutes became hours, and Mitch grew more tired with each passing minute. 

“Mitch, were you planning on stopping to eat?”  This was the first that Sensei had spoken since the decision to go west.

“Oh, of course, here sit down.”  Mitch felt anger at himself for not having thought of that sooner.

“Relax, it’s okay.  You’re busy trying to get us out safely and that’s what’s most important right now.”  Sensei smiled warmly as he unwrapped a granola bar. 

Mitch looked at their water and food supplies, they where running low on everything.  Mitch handed a second granola bar to Sensei and stood up off the uncomfortably hard earth. 

“Did you eat Mitch?”

“Sensei, your starting to sound like a TV mom.”  Mitch hadn’t eaten anything, and he wouldn’t until the next time they stopped. 

Sensei pocketed the wrappers and stood up to leave.  Almost as soon as he stood up he fell back down again, Mitch fell with him, knocked down by the same tremor.  Mitch and Sensei looked at each other, both knowing what it was that caused the small quake.  More would soon follow, they were being hunted by the goblin giant. 

Mitch and Sensei hid in the forest on opposite sides of the path.  Sensei
knocked an arrow while Mitch readied his crossbow.  The tremors grew in violence and got closer together, it would be there any second.  Just when Mitch thought it would be in sight, the tremors stopped.  Silence reigned once again in the forest.  The silence was interrupted by a groaning noise behind Mitch.  He turned in time to see a tree come completely out of the ground, pulled by two massive green hands. 

Mitch dove back on to the path as the goblin giant replanted the tree right where Mitch had been standing.  An arrow passed by Mitch’s right ear and imbedded itself in the tree between the giant’s thick fingers.  Mitch looked down at his crossbow and knew that it would do no good, he had seen The Lord of the Rings, arrows didn’t even seem to phase the cave troll until Legolas shot two of them through the trolls skull. 

Mitch dropped his crossbow and drew his sword, all though he had no idea what good it would do against the tree-wielding giant.  The gigantic goblin stepped fully into the path with its tree held in one hand at its side.  The Tengu hadn’t lied, the giant was easily ten feet tall and it looked like two thousand pounds of solid muscle.  It wore a large leather vest open to expose overly developed abs and pectoral muscles.  It still had all the normal features of a goblin, the large ears and nose, but all were big enough for other goblins to hide in. 

The goblin giant turned and threw the tree towards the area where Sensei had been when he had fired the arrow.  It crashed against the trees and fell to the earth.  Mitch lunged towards the giant and swung his sword towards its Achilles tendon, which was at about Mitch’s knee height.  His sword sunk in about one foot and stuck there. 

The giant roared and fell to one knee.  Mitch yanked at his sword but it wouldn’t budge.  The oversized goblin turned toward Mitch and backhanded him, Mitch went reeling to the ground five feet behind him.  Sensei fired another arrow, this one landing in the giant’s left bicep.  The goblin giant turned fiercely to stare at this new threat.  Sensei fired again, hitting the giant in the chest, it paid no attention to the new wound, its focus was solely on Sensei.

Mitch stood up and looked at his sword, still stuck in the giant’s ankle.  He noticed that Sensei had its full attention and took his small window of opportunity and went over to his sword.  He placed both hands on the handle, one foot on the tree-trunk sized leg, and gave one giant tug.  Mitch tumbled to the ground, his sword in hand. 

The giant turned to face Mitch once again.  It reached around to its back where it had strapped a large battle-ax.  Both blades are the length of Mitch’s sword, and the handle was as tall as Mitch.  Luckily the giant had trouble standing up so it remained on its knee leaving it only eight feet tall.  It raised the ax high in both hands and chopped downward at Mitch.  Mitch rolled away and came to his feet.

The giant brought the ax up and cut down again in a slow labored movement.  Mitch had plenty of time to jump out of the way.  This slow dance of death continued, each time the giant swung Mitch moved to the side and slightly inwards, getting closer and closer.

Sensei knocked another arrow and let it fly striking the giant at the base of its skull.  The goblin giant roared in pain, Mitch moved in to strike.  He thrust his sword into the giant’s stomach where its leather vest opened.  The giant, only angered further by this, swiped Mitch aside with an open backhand. 

Mitch soared through the air and hit the solid trunk of a nearby tree.  He sat and looked dazed as the giant removed his sword from its stomach, place it on the ground, and in one swing of its ax, break his sword in two.  Sensei appeared over the giant’s shoulder, his own sword unsheathed.  He jumped on the giant’s back and reached around to slit its throat. 

The giant dropped its ax and brought both hands up to its now bleeding neck.  Its eyes were wide in pain and horror as it sank to both knees now and fell on its back, struggling for breath.  Sensei and Mitch kept their distance until the slight movements finally stopped and the oversized goblin body succumbed to its demise.

Mitch walked over to his sword, the break wasn’t clean, there where small fragments and pieces scattered by the quake of the giants fall. 

“What will I do Sensei?  You gave me that sword on my fifteenth birthday.”  Mitch had relied on that sword for ten years, and now it was broken beyond repair. 

“This may not be such a bad thing after all.”  Sensei’s voice was faint and his eyes where vacant.

“What do you mean?  My sword is shattered.  How can this be anything but a bad thing?”  Mitch wasn’t angry at Sensei, but it was hard to keep the anger out of his voice.

“Are you familiar with the legend of Oni ketsueki?”  Sensei turned to stare at Mitch whose eyes still could not be torn from the shattered remains of his katana.

“No, but what does any legend have to do with me and my sword?”

“You’re not letting me finish.  It is said that in the beginning of time, the gods forged a blade for the humans to use in the fight against all things evil.  It came from the purest metal, forged in the heat of Amaterasu, the sun goddess, and quenched in the blood of demons.  They called this blade Oni ketsueki or demons blood.  They then presented it to the humans who used it well for centuries, until it was lost almost a thousand years ago in the battle of Dannoura during the Genji revolt.  In that battle the Emperor died and his sword was lost to the sea, never to be recovered by humans.”

Mitch now looked up from his sword and turned his full attention to Sensei and the tale of this blade.

“What the history books won’t tell you is that water demons found the blade and brought it to the headquarters of all things evil in Japan, this forest.  Here the demon rulers sought to destroy the sword but failed in all attempts, so they hid it in the heart of the forest and vowed to keep it from human kind.”  Sensei looked at Mitch in excitement, waiting for Mitch to understand what he was trying to say.

Mitch looked puzzled at Sensei.  “You want to go looking for this Oni ketsueki to replace my sword?”  Sensei nodded, a smile spread across his old face.  Mitch went over their options, they were running short on supplies, they should just head for the road that Sensei told him about leave.  But Mitch needed a new sword, and to have a sword forged by the gods to destroy evil would sure be nice. 

“Okay, let’s do it.”  Mitch sighed slightly wondering what they would do for food and water, but Sensei was so happy with their new quest that it didn’t matter.  “Does the legend happen to say where in the forest it is?”  Mitch knew they didn’t have time to go on a wild goose chase through the whole forest. 

     “I already told you, in the heart, the center of it all.”  Sensei looked very pleased with this answer, but it told Mitch absolutely nothing.

     “And where might that be?”  Mitch raised his eyebrows a little and spoke in a slightly annoyed tone.

“If I’m remembering right, we’re not that far off.  It should be just north of us really.”  Sensei looked up at the tree branches that formed a roof over the forest paths. 

“And which direction is north?”  Mitch was growing tired of this game. 

“To the right of the direction we were heading.”  Sensei stated simply. 

“So then lets start heading north.”  Mitch picked up his crossbow and helped Sensei retrieve some of his arrows.  Then they both turned off the path and headed north. 

Mitch felt unarmed and very vulnerable with out his sword.  He still had his crossbow and his knife and wrist-mounted crossbow, but a samurai’s sword was part of their soul.  He felt like part of him died with his sword.  Mitch walked on sullen and gloomy.

Sensei walked beside Mitch now since they were off the path and could navigate through the trees next to each other just as easily as in single file.  He noticed Mitch’s despair at the loss of his sword, he understood and could sympathize with him, but he didn’t understand why Mitch wasn’t more enthusiastic to be looking for Oni ketsueki.  It was the chance of a lifetime, to have a sword forged by the gods and quenched in the blood of demons.  There’s no telling what Mitch could do with such power under is control. 

Eventually Mitch broke the silence.

“So what can it do?”  Mitch asked, he was afraid that it would be just another sword except it was indestructible or something.

“Well no-one really knows.  Some say that it will kill a demon simply by breaking the skin, some say that it renders its user invulnerable to all things evil.  Some legends get more extravagant.  It can change shape into any weapon or item, shoot pure good out its tip at a demon, or even fight on its own after its owner falls in combat.”

“What do you think it can do?”  Mitch wanted to get straight to the stuff that seemed more likely to be true about it and maybe think about the more out there myths later.

“Well, I don’t know.  I’m fairly certain that it won’t fight on its own or it wouldn’t have been taken captive, and I doubt its shape changing abilities.  Beyond that I really don’t know any more than you do now.” 

“So how do I get it, do I have to pass a test or is it like Excalibur and it will pick me?”  Mitch was sort of mocking the cheesiness of what was going on, but he really did want to know.

“I’m not sure about that either, I am sure that it will be heavily guarded either way.  So maybe its just if you can get to you get it.”  Sensei shrugged as he said this to emphasize his lack of knowledge in this part of the legend. 

“Great, so we’ll know that we’re getting closer when we start getting attacked more and more heavily.  I’m so glad I agreed to this.”  Mitch’s sarcasm didn’t sit well with Sensei, but he let it pass.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine with out your sword.”  Sensei tried to sound supportive with out seeming, how had Mitch put it earlier, like a TV mom.

They walked on in silence for a while, they came across paths and ruts, small pools of lava and puddles frozen over with ice.  All of this is part of the experience of hiking through Aokigahara forest.  They came to a line of statues that seemed to go on forever in both directions, most likely the line curved to make a circle.  They both knew they were about to enter the area surrounding the sword, they looked at each other, tightened their grips on their weapons, and stepped past the line of ancient sentinels. 

The ambush came instantly.  A small horde of goblins surrounded them, staring at Mitch and Sensei like ravenous wolves look at two small deer.  Unfortunately for the goblins, these deer fight back. 

Sensei and Mitch fired in opposite directions, Sensei dropped his bow and drew his sword, Mitch leapt at the nearest goblin and tackled it.  Mitch landed on top of the goblin and rolled off forwards.  He came to his feet and turned, now standing out side the circle of goblins with the nearest ones facing him.  What the goblins hadn’t noticed was that as Mitch rolled, he picked up the short sword that the goblin had dropped. 

Two came at him from the right, he moved farther to the right past them and cut the head off the one farthest to the right as he did.  He thrust the sword through the chest  of the next closest and began the slaughter.  Sensei parried and cut leaving a trail of goblin bits as he went.  The small band of evil creatures were no match for their combined skills. 

One snuck up behind Sensei and raised its sword to strike.  Mitch grabbed a hand ax from the ground and threw it.  It imbedded itself deep in the goblins bald head.  The fight didn’t last much longer.  Sensei picked up his bow and Mitch’s crossbow while Mitch stocked up on short swords and axes.

“I hope these things get harder.”  Mitch smiled, no longer quite so gloomy after their small victory over the goblins.

“Oh don’t worry Mitch, they will.”  Sensei on the other hand had stopped smiling, now concerned about the task at hand.  He knew that it would be hard and that many had died trying, but he had never been there and felt the pressure of fighting for the most guarded object in all of Japan.  “Okay Mitch, ready for the next one?”

“You bet I am.”  Mitch had put away his crossbow and held an ax in each hand.  They walked on and came to another row of statues like the first row,  this time they walked through with out any hesitation.

The ambush did not come however.  Mitch looked around, looked at Sensei, and stood still.  Sensei looked at Mitch and finally started walking forwards again.  Mitch caught up with him and walked next to him.  They approached yet another row of statues.  They seem to mark each level of the journey towards the sword. 

When they came to the statues they realized that the statues were different.  All the others had been worn away by time and the elements, but these seemed to be brand new.  They were in the shape of small creatures that looked half human and half dragon, they had wings and tails, but they had stood on only two legs and had definite arms.  Their faces also differed from dragons in that they had horns but no snout, they had flat faces with a flat nose.  Mitch and Sensei looked at each other and spoke at the exact same time.

“Gargoyles.”

As they spoke the gargoyles came to life.  All in view of Mitch and Sensei leapt from their stone perches and spread their wings.  They stood at around four feet tall and were rather skinny, but unmistakably powerful.  Sensei fired at the nearest one, which was only about two feet away, and drew his sword once again.  Mitch hacked the head off one with an ax and moved on to address this new challenge.

The gargoyles used no weapons but were dangerous nonetheless, they are extremely strong and  very quick.  They also have very hard very sharp claws on each five-fingered hand.  Sensei fought with ease as he had a reach advantage on them with the use of his sword.  Mitch on the other hand had only short weapons and therefore had a little more difficulty. 

He still had both axes and was using them expertly, even though he had never been formally trained in their use.  One jumped on Mitch’s back in an attempt to knock him over.  Mitch threw an ax a farther gargoyle and reached up to grab this one by the horns.  He found its horns while it tried to bite through his leather jacket unsuccessfully and pulled it over his shoulder.  He stuck his other ax in its chest and drew two short swords to continue the fight. 

A particularly large gargoyle bear hugged Sensei from behind, pinning his arms to his sides.  Sensei kicked the gargoyle he had been fighting in the face, using the new enemy to keep from falling.  He then turned his sword around in his hands so that he now held it in a reverse grip and twisted violently to loosen the gargoyles grip on him, at the same time he thrust his sword into the larger gargoyles stomach. 

This group of evil creatures was also no match for the combined might of Sensei and Mitch, and they soon were free of gargoyles.  Mitch recollected his axes and nodded to Sensei signaling his readiness to move on.  Sensei put a hand up to stop Mitch, he needed to rest, if only for a moment.  Sensei sat on the cold hard ground and surveyed the carnage all around them.  After a few minutes he was ready to go. 

He and Mitch stepped past the stone platforms that had once held the gargoyles and prepared for the next assault.  The next area seemed somewhat darker than the others yet the trees were even less dense.  Mitch looked at the ground and realized that the shadows on the ground seemed to be moving.  Sensei notice too and they both looked up in time to see a flock, easily numbering in the thousands, of eagle sized bats swooping down at them. 

Sensei and Mitch both dropped to the floor and covered their heads as the bats swooped and flew back up to avoid the ground.  Mitch rolled away and got to his knees in a crouch.  Sensei followed right away.  Mitch looked up at the impenetrable ceiling of bats.  They had nothing that could fight those things in that amount.  They couldn’t possibly fight all of those creatures at once.  Maybe they didn’t have to.

Mitch searched his pockets and found what he was looking for.  He brought both hands up together and squirted into the air a stream of lighter fluid.  Sensei saw the matches that Mitch had placed on the ground next to him and grabbed them.  Sensei struck a match and threw it into the flurry of overgrown bats.  Mitch ran out of fluid just in time as one bat after another caught fire, and each one that panicked and ran into the others just caught more on fire.

Mitch stared up at the flying inferno and then noticed that Sensei had left, Mitch understood why as burning bats began falling from the sky.  Mitch ran as fast as he could while in a crouch to avoid the fiery creatures of the night.  He met Sensei at the next ring of statues and they both stepped past. 

“Mitch, is that really you?”  a soft female voice spoke.  Mitch felt like he had heard it before.

“Son, can it be?”  This time a male voice, and Mitch knew he had heard that voice before.

Mitch looked straight into the faces of both his parents.  They looked just like they did that day at the beach.  His mom had long flowing blond hair and soft blue eyes like Mitch’s.  His dad was the exact same height that Mitch was, had green eyes, and dark brown hair that he combed back. 

Mitch dropped both axes and stared at his parents.  He didn’t know what to do, how could his parents be here, they were dead, and they died in California not Japan.  Mitch grew dizzy and almost fell.  “Mom, Dad?”

Sensei fired an arrow into the heart of Mitch’s father. 

“NO!”  Mitch screamed.  He whirled around to see Sensei knocking another arrow.  “No, stop it.  These are my parents.  What are you doing.”  Mitch reached out to grab the arrow from Sensei who did not resist.

“These are not your parents Mitch, they’re just demons.  Shape shifting demons put here to confuse you and then kill you.”  Sensei looked coldly at Mitch, disheartened by how easily his former student had been fooled.

“No.  They can’t be.  And you killed my father.”  Tears of rage came to Mitch’s eyes as he glared at Sensei.

“Your parents are dead Mitch, remember the beach?  Remember the demon in the water, and the screaming your mother did as she and your father were consumed by the demon and the waves?  Please Mitch, try to remember.”  Sensei had not yet changed expressions as he pleaded with Mitch. 

“NO.”  Mitch said this word with extreme finality as he drew two short swords. 

“Mitch, I didn’t kill your father, the demon did.”  Sensei didn’t know what to do if Mitch attacked.  He couldn’t kill Mitch, the whole journey would be for nothing if he did, but if he merely injured him, then he wouldn’t be able to fight as well in the challenges to come.

“Mitch, avenge your father honey.”  His mother spoke calmly and with out emotion, Mitch didn’t notice this lack of emotion, he had been sucked into their world of deception. 

Mitch glared at Sensei, he seemed to hesitate, not know what to do.  Should he listen to his mother, or his Sensei, neither had ever lied to him as far as he knew until now.  Mitch turned and looked at his mother who nodded reassuringly at him.  When he looked at Sensei again all reason and sense had left his eyes.  His spirit had been too worn down by the evil in the forest, and it had caved.

Mitch roared and charged at Sensei.  Sensei did the only thing he could think of.  He drew the arrow back, and let go. 

“NNNNOO!”  the scream was cut off and Mitch turned to see his mother, shot through the heart with Sensei’s arrow.  She fell to both of her delicate knees, and fell to join her husband.  As Mitch looked tears sprang forth.

“Mom, Dad, no. Why, why did you leave me again.  Come back.”  Mitch knelt and wept by his mother’s side.

Sensei had another arrow ready incase this hadn’t brought Mitch back yet.  He slowly approached.

“Mitch?”  Sensei asked quietly.

Mitch appeared not to have heard him.  “Why mom why, why did you go.”  He held his mothers head against his chest, and as he wept, her and Mitch’s father began returning to their normal state.

Mitch didn’t notice until he felt the horns on his mother’s head appear.  He dropped its head and looked down at what had once looked like his mother.

“See Mitch, they weren’t your parents.”  Sensei lowered his bow and went to stand next to Mitch.  “Mitch, are you going to be all right?” 

“Ya, of course I am.”  Mitch wiped the tears from his eyes and cheeks as he stood up and retrieved his dropped weapons.  “Thank you for taking care of that for me.  And I’m sorry for attacking you.”

“Don’t worry about it, I would have done the same thing to you.”  Sensei smiled at his own joke to try and help Mitch cheer up.  “We need to get a move on it.”

“Okay,” Mitch looked back at the bodies of the two shape shifters, then turned and followed Sensei to the next row of statues. 

“You good?”  Sensei glanced at Mitch as they stood before the barrier.

“I’ll be fine, let’s just go.”  Mitch’s voice was rough and quiet as he spoke.

Sensei stepped through, followed by Mitch.  They stood in a brightly lit circular clearing about thirty feet in diameter, in the middle on a small stone platform was a sword stand and a sword.  They both knew that they had found Oni ketsueki, but neither moved.

“Well, isn’t there some kind of trap here too?”  Mitch looked over at Sensei who stared relentlessly at the sword.

“I don’t know, I thought there would be, but maybe we made it through all of it.”  Sensei was totally entranced by the sword.  It’s handle looked from that distance, to have been wrapped in black leather, its sheath was black with the end closest to the handle wrapped in ray skin that was lightly lacquered, and the mountings were a gleaming silver. 

“Well that’s what we came for, we might as well go get it.”  Mitch took one step forwards and then stopped.  As soon as he had stepped out a large demon appeared between them and the sword.  It looked kind of like a Zarack, only it wore no armor, it had large wings, had hooves for feet, and stood at least twelve feet tall. 

“If you think that your getting this sword, than you are sorely mistaken.”  The demon said in a deep grumbled voice, it almost sounded like James Earl Jones.  “Although you have made it farther than most people who come looking for it.  I am afraid though, that your journey ends here with me.”

“Not today.”  Sensei released an arrow and muttered something under his breath.  In mid air the arrow caught fire and when it landed in the demons chest it exploded.  Apparently Sensei knows more than Mitch thought.

Mitch threw both axes and drew his swords as Sensei knocked another arrow.

“Mitch, don’t be an idiot, run and get the sword.”  Sensei fired another arrow that he enchanted to explode.

“But..”

“Just go.”  Sensei didn’t look at Mitch, he was focused on the demon.

Mitch ran forwards past the demon.  It stood up and threw what looked like a bolt of pure black lightning at Sensei.  Sensei dodged the bolt and fired another arrow.  Mitch saw Sensei draw his sword and was then enveloped in white light. 

Mitch looked around, he was in a smaller circle inside the clearing.  He was five feet from the sword, surrounding him and the sword was a wall of white light.  He looked again at the sword.  It had a solid hand guard carved in the shape of a demon from whose mouth came the sword blade.  The sheath looked simple, like black lacquered wood with a little ray skin on one end.  Mitch looked closer at the ray skin and realized that it was demon skin, not ray skin. 

He reached his hand out for the sword and his hand passed right through it.  He tried over and over to grab the sword but couldn’t. 

Sensei dodged another bolt of black lightning.  The demon’s chest was bleeding from the three exploding arrows he had sent at it, but it seemed unaffected.  Mitch’s axes still stuck in its legs and caused it to bleed slightly, but still no affect.  The demon looked like he was creating yet another bolt, but the black energy took the shape of a very large sword.

It stepped and swung down.  Sensei jumped to the side in order to avoid the strike. The ground where he had been was broken and turned black by the evil energy.  The demon lifted his sword over his head, turned it over so that it pointed straight at the ground, and thrust it downward.  The strike created a concussion wave that shook the ground knocking Sensei over and causing him to drop his sword. 

The demon stepped toward Sensei and put one hoofed foot down on his chest pining him to the ground.  “Did you really think that you could beat me?  When I’m so obviously more powerful than you?  You humans disgust me, first I’ll kill you, and then I’ll finish off your little friend.”  The demon raised his sword above his head for the final blow.

“I didn’t think that I could beat you,” Sensei spoke in heaving words as he forced them out of his compressed chest, “but I do think he can.”  Sensei nodded towards the area where the sword had been.  The demon turned to see Mitch holding Oni ketsueki.

“Hi.”  Mitch cut down in the air in front of him, but from the tip of the sword shot pure white energy cutting the demon in half from head to hoof. 

Mitch sheathed his sword and walked over to help Sensei up.

“What took you so long?”  Sensei said weakly as he stood up.

“Well my parents showed up again.  They told me that the only way I could have the sword was if I meant to kill them with it.  It took me a while to grasp what was happening, I guess that happened because that was the hardest challenge for me.  If I had had problems with the gargoyles I would probably have been attacked by gargoyles.  In the end I grabbed the sword and killed my parents.”  Mitch shrugged like it was nothing, but Sensei could see that it must have killed Mitch to attack his parents.

“Well I’m glad you did.”  Sensei clapped Mitch on the shoulder and walked across the clearing. 

They walked west for the next few hours in silence until they came across the road that Sensei had mentioned so long ago.  They managed to get a ride to the Mt. Fuji museum where they called a cab.  Three hours later they were in Sensei’s apartment eating and drinking actual food for the first time in as long as they could remember.

The next morning Sensei drove Mitch to the airport.

“Well thanks for coming for me Mitch.”  Sensei looked at Mitch and smiled slightly, the kind of smile you give when you’re pretending you’re happy.

“No problem, and thank you for everything.”  Mitch smiled the same smile.  They bowed and Mitch turned to board the plane. 

He found his seat just fine.  Sat down, turned on his mp3 player, and fell asleep before they even took off.