The sun blared down it’s angered rays of light upon the dull sands of Cairo. It’s unforgiving heat only drew more inhabitants of the city to the shadows for some shelter and the rare chance of a cool breeze. The sight was accompanied by the groans and grumbling of slave and master alike, cursing who or whatever dared to anger Ra on this day. In lue of this, many offered prayers and incense to his shrine before making their way to bustling market.
However, in the deepest shadows of this ordinary day, there was a stranger. Clocked in the darkness itself, only the stranger’s eyes visible to keenly watch the scene before them unfold, was a young man. He was barely visible if one looked down the side street and up on one of the multi-room houses. He was pressed against the mud brick wall and roof as he searched the street. His clothing was foreign, black as night and tightly covering any recognizable features he had. The man’s black hair neat and long, yet just short enough to be held back by a strip of cloth. The metal plate on his forehead was marked with a strange symbol that spoke of his linage.
Breathe; I must be cautious. Szeth stilled his breathing as his hands flew to his side. There were slots on his belt that held two sets of shurikens. From his left, Szeth pulled out one to look it over again. It had four straight points with a subtle green hue to the metal, on each end was stamped a Japanese character (kanji). It was from this set that he had travelled back through the passage of time to this strange place. Perhaps it had been his brash decision that caused his hand to choose the wrong set or merely his emotions that wished for a moment to give him silence from the task ahead of him.
All he knew was that he had chosen these instead of the other pair. Szeth removed one shrunken from his right side. This one was the same design, same giant green hue, but with a different kanji on the ends. One subtle difference changed his course of direction for the moment. The shrunken were back in their place and as quickly as they had appeared as Szeth refocused his attention to the street. He wasn’t meant to be here but maybe, he’d find some peace of mind before returning to the tiled roofs of his hometown.
As the ninja staked out this past market out of curiosity, he saw an apprentice, whom was called Aphobis, helping his teacher in setting up their shop on the side of the main street. The young man seemed eager to learn the way of haggling and selling their merchandise to passing shoppers. The jewelry they laid out looked well made for a simple merchant. Szeth found the designs, or what he could see of them, to be quite bizarre. Some kind of bug and hellish birds, the metal looks similar to the craftsmen back in my time.
Szeth watched as Aphobis cried out in a strange language to a passerby, successfully bring them to their little wayside display. A simple life with no excitement while remaining in one place. The merchant and customer seemed to discuss some of the products which Aphobis displayed for his master. Some others even drew near as the merchant raised his voice to draw customers in. A flash of excitement in Aphobis’s eyes was barely visible to the keen-eyed Szeth. It was picturesque display to the clocked male. A mere dream for Szeth who was raised in the shadowed and bloody ninja arts.
Yet, this was why he lived, to project the ones who lived simply by the works of their own hands. The ones who supported the town in which they lived, the ones who gave produce and kept the economy running. They were the pillars of society. But, sometimes corruption under the surface threatens that delicate balance and thus, ninjas like him existed in Japan. Szeth had decided. A blink of the eye, he was gone from his hiding place. Across the roofs to the alleyway where he landed without sound, the mice didn’t even flinch upon the stranger’s descent.
The light from the sun glinted across the shuriken as Szeth whipped it out before him. It spun through the air, the kanji gleamed before a soft humming noise was heard to Szeth’s trained ears. The blades merged together and grew bigger until it formed a wide circle before him. The reflection of the night sky over his hometown was captured within its blades. Szeth jumped through, the ring vanishing with a sharp zing before he caught the shrunken behind him.
Szeth landed soundlessly on the roof below. It is time for justice.
An Open Window 