I don't know what this is or where it came from. I just kind of sat down and wrote it. If that makes any sense... I'd like to know what you think of it though.

“Pennies”

The blood shimmers in the moonlight, glistens in the dark rain. It makes my fingers sticky and red. I wipe them on my pants, leaving invisibly dark smears on the black fabric. I tentatively look around, making sure no ones watching. I am alone.

I raise a finger to my lips and begin licking the dark red blood from them. It tastes like a penny, metallic and dirty. A shadow moves on my left and I hide, gripping my blade with damp and bloodied fingers.

I wait but see nothing. I stand cautiously, looking in as many directions at once as I can manage. Then it happens. My vision goes black and I feel my body moving on its own, in ways it couldn’t before.

I smell the ninja, hiding on the rooftops, waiting for me. I leap and land beside her, feeling her surprise. I lash out wildly, cursing my lack of control. She dodges easily and moves back a few leaps, studying me. I feel her gaze running over my slight form, dismissing sightless white eyes, lingering on my blood stained hands.

“My clan.” Her voice is steady, firm, controlled. I wonder how she can manage, how she doesn’t go insane. “You…” She pauses, her breath coming faster, her heart rate rising. I smell her pain, her fear, her hatred. She controls herself well; her voice is calm again when she continues. “You murdered them. All of them.”

I feel myself laugh, though I don’t find it funny. “Almost.” The voice isn’t mine, but it comes from my mouth. I’m used to it.

I see a vague outline before me as my vision begins to return. The episode is passing, ending, leaving me weakened, drained.

The ninja wears black and the gray-green color of her clan. The rain plasters short silver hair to her skin, and the moon gleams off her sword when it shines through the clouds. She stands ready, and her black eyes show a determination she always lacked before.

I hold my red hand before my face, studying it. I ask her how it got there and she wavers. I look around, widening my eyes and ask her where we are. Where’s daddy. Tears fall from her eyes as she rushes to me, believing everything.

“It’s okay.” She whispers, stroking my hair. “It’s all over. But…” She holds me in a firm hug, a little too tightly. “But you killed everyone, Aya.”

I let out a sob, and she can’t tell it’s fake. I look up when I shove her sword in her gut. “I know.” I remember killing them; they fell like pennies.

I gently lick my sister’s blood from the blade and leave. The rain stops and the clouds part. I lick her blood off my fingers in the silver moonlight. It tastes like a penny, metallic and dirty.

I thought she might be different, but I was wrong.