The day had all the makings of paradise as morning dragged on towards noon. A spattering of thick white clouds hung high in the sky, providing intermittent shade as they drifted unhurriedly in front of the sun and past it. The sky was otherwise a dazzling blue, a shade suitable to turn the deep oceans green with envy. Almost reaching its highest point for the day, the sun remained fixed in position above the clouds and beamed down upon all life with a warm golden glow. While the sky had often caught Kageru’s attention, this instance saw her gaze fixed solely on the rich rolling field she’d discovered in the deeper mountains. The grass was tall and uncut as it stretched out towards the higher peaks on the horizon, reaching up towards the sun but dotted with pinks and yellows and blues of the wildflowers woven through out the greenery. There were trees as well, monolithic towers of ancient pine and elder oak, which served as a over-large picket fence standing in observation on the periphery of the sizable meadow.

Chosuro Takado had been in attendance for all this splendor, the isolation and the solitude giving her the precious moments she required to remove the heavy mask her family had placed on her. It was a time when she did not have to be Kageru, and could instead be Takado; a girl she somehow dreamed did not live the life of an assassin, thief, and saboteur. Takado was just a quiet girl who enjoyed the afternoon sun, and the verdant bliss of nature surrounding her. Even here, however, there were reminders of her true nature, the reality of the assassin she had been born and shaped to be. Even now a single spider had spoiled Takado’s fun and given her mind anchor enough to sink back into the bleak darkness of Kageru.

The spider was an impressive beast, of that there is no doubt. Time and nature had sculpted it into a stalking beast to be feared by any of its known prey. It was mostly focused on easy targets, prey which stood no chance against it, but it was known to hunt for birds and rodents, small snakes and even lizards with uncanny thickness to their scales. The hairy beast had the 8 typical legs of its species, but it used them to prowl its territory as readily as any human. Its body was covered in a thick coat of varied shades of gray. The hair over most of its body was as black as a stormy midnight though along the knuckles of its legs and striping its bulbous back were lighter shades even reaching towards a stark snow white. Its body was a form to cause nightmares, for some, but to see its face was to know true horror. Eight eyes dotted its face, and while the number was bad the lack of consistency to size. Among the 3 eights, 4 were tiny things barely more than shiny black dots on its face, while two others were glossy red orbs just slightly larger. The last two were the worst. They were simply massive, dominating much of the spider’s face with two large black hemispheres which honed in on even the subtlest motions around it.

Kageru towered over the 8 inch wide spider with absolute stillness, a sense of calm covering her thickly than was natural. The spider trudged onwards, scuttling its way in a determined path over twigs and stones in its unceasing pursuit of something to eat. For her it was a special animal, because the Spider is both the emblem and the namesake of her own clan. The Shigumo clan likened their own existence to the spider, both a master of stealth and killing, and a merciless killer which doesn’t think twice about any life form to fall in its web. Even the colossal spider before her now had a web, even if it only used it to mark a trail. Most may think back warmly on their own family, but it is just like the spiders to react so poorly to their own ilk. Even that ironic thought did nothing to move her lips, no smile or smirk dared to tug at the ice still lips on her pale face. Instead she remains perfectly at ease with the world, the natural state of any ambush predator.

The tarantula was a monster that had no need of the web its smaller kin enjoyed. Instead of lurking in wait with a trap it was an active hunter, using its powerful legs to leap long distances and pounce on its prey like some diminutive panther. Spiders were in fact such fine predators that Kageru was still making a mental checklist of their great prowess when the combat quite suddenly began. She was not taking completely off guard, the buzzing of insect wings breaking through the quiet of the clearing with no warning at all. She manages to restrain herself, though her arms naturally tensed to reach for her weapon. Before she could have drawn it, however, a wasp of unthinkable design swept in from above and slammed into the spiders back in a perfect surprise attack. Unprepared the spider is knocked flat against its belly from the force, and for a moment it seemed to be over. The wasp’s backside pointed down and pushed attempting to sting the wasp through its coat of coarse hair.

In a flash the two were in a struggle, the spider’s thick hairs allowing it to block the stinger from making contact with the spider’s bulky flesh. The tarantula jumped once and cleared nearly two feet, though the hook like feet of the wasp kept the wasp stuck well to the arachnid. The insect was something to be marveled at, for in appearance it was as dreadful as the spider. The monster had a small body only two inches long, but six long and powerful legs far oversized for its body. It almost had the reach of the spider, easily six inches across if counted by its legs. Like the spider the wasp was black, though its body was glossy and armored in a single rounded plate of externalized bone. It was tough as nails, and though the spider was far stronger, the wasp was like lightning next to a tornado. The spider gave another heave and reared up the back four legs, flipping the wasp off of it and preparing for battle.

The spider turned around on the spot, its legs scuttling quickly to place the wasp within sight. Without hesitation it leaps towards the wasp though the insect’s blood red wings lift it effortlessly into safety. It could have escaped with easy, just buzzing off into distant skies, but it did not. In the same motion it rose with it again falls and slams its body down on the spider. The spider wouldn’t be fooled twice and blocked the assault, a thick black and grey front leg kicking up and out and knocking the wasp of course. From there it became an embrace, the spider rushing forward but the wasp meeting it head on. Where there spider bites, the wasp pushes deeper, forcing its way away from the massive venomous fangs seeking to impale the bug on its spear like tips. The wasp’s legs are fewer but they are quickly to use after the wasp is almost fully beneath the spider. It rises up and pushes the tarantula back, and soon the two are wrestling for their very survival.

The wasp seemed like it should have the lower hand in the situation, both beaten in size and overall strength, but it had initiated this attack in spite of such obvious short comings. The very fact that the species was given the name Spider Hawk, though, told a different side of the story. Four legs pressed on two but the wasp would not yield, and the covering of chitin plated wings and carapace gave the spider’s mouth no purchase. Kageru was transfixed easily on the fight and focused in on each small motion in the fight. The wasp was simply amazing in its proficiency with dealing death, and like the spider both seemed to exhibit none of the emotion and panic stricken upon those locked in combat to the death. While small, the wasp was tireless and brutal, biting at the spider’s body and shredding through the coarse hairs with little effect.

Both ended up with their legs interlocked, two legs from the wasp being pushed around by four legs on the spider. Both vied for dominance in the struggle, and for what seemed like minutes there was no obvious winner. The wasp could do little just biting against the bristling legs of the spider, and the spider came close but never seemed to manage to sink its fangs through the wasp’s tough shell. Both were pushing on the other, trying to upend them and expose a vulnerable portion of underbelly, circling endlessly like two frantic dancers. They didn’t cover much ground but both of the animals were highly mobile, pushing to the side and compensating to the pressure of the other by scrambling sideways. For the tarantula the objective was simple, just over power the wasp and pin it down; then deliver a killing bite while the wasp was rendered motionless and without defense. For the wasp it was a more complicated matter, and one which apparently required timing.

In the blink of an eye the wasp had its moment, and the motion was almost too fast for Kageru to follow. The spider tried to thrust forward to knock the wasp back, however the insect lifted skywards and narrowly escaped the oncoming death. Before one could blink it was on the spiders back and clinging with all six legs while its backside plunged up and down trying to find flesh with its stinger. The wasp had the sudden advantage, but it held it for only a moment. The spider thrashed for a moment like a wild stag with its horns caught in the branches and managed to shake the wasp off its back. Another pounce and the two were once more engaged in the same tug of war they had locked themselves in for the preceding fight.

It was somewhat remarkable how the two fought, not a simple catch and kill as it looked like from a distance. The two circled and wrestled, they tested each others defenses and endlessly sought out some weakness to exploit. They both showed cunning and determination, and an uncanny knack for the sort of warrior mentality many shinobi throughout the country aspired to attain. Even her family seemed more emotional than the bugs, for they actively drew pleasure from the act and art of killing. The two beasts locked in the fight seemed completely devoid of such things, mindless in their pursuit of the kill, and completely lacking in hesitation or conscience. It was pure instinct which pushed them onwards, and instinct which told one to survive and the other to win.

The wasp wasn’t here to kill and eat; it was after something much more vile. The venom a wasp carried was unlike the spider’s venom. Where the spider would kill quickly and dissolve the flesh of an animal into a soupy mix of blood and liquefied organs, the wasp’s venom did nothing but paralyze. But locking into the spider’s nervous system and completely destroying it, the wasp’s venom would place the spider into a completely paralyzed state, and leave it alive in a prison of its own body. One could only hope the spider would win to prevent the gruesome fate which awaited it, but Kageru could not help but find she was siding with the wasp. It was smaller yet no less determined, and some part of her knew that her hatred of her own family also played a large part in her growing impatience with the large spider.

The two continued to battle endlessly, circling each other in their battle waltz and seeking out a moment to kill the other. As quickly as the fight had begun it seemed to come to its conclusion, and in a deft stroke the spider lunged forward with its greater bulk, and pounced atop the wasp. The wasp was helpless, doomed in that very moment, but Kageru moved to intervene. With one hand she knocked the spider aside, next to no effort required to brush it off the wasp like so many dead leaves covering a corpse, while her other hand snuck into her ninja pouch. Faster than the spider and faster than the wasp, both of her hands pulled out a foot long length of ninja wire and used it to pin the spider physically to the ground.

The tarantula could do nothing, and for the smallest moment a tiny smile curled the corners of Kageru’s lips. It struggled an waved its legs frantically, but pinned by human muscle and metal wire it was doomed to a fate worse than a simple death. The wasp had taken to the air, and though it buzzed near the ninja, it did not attack her. Instead it returned to the spider and sunk its stinger deep in the wasp’s fleshy and mostly hairless underside. Like that it was over, and Kageru sits back. The movement of the wire causes the wasp to flutter for a moment, but it returned to sting the spider again. From there it would only get worse for the tarantula. Over the course of about a minute all motion in its limbs stops, its fangs stop willing and the entire spider falls motionless.

To most it looked dead, but Kageru knew better. Along with delivering venom, the wasp’s stinger was an ovipositor. About a dozen tiny eggs were pushed through the needle like stinger and embedded themselves beneath the surface of the spider’s skin. The victorious bug dug a hole about 9 inches deep, and then pushed and pulled on the spider until it was buried. There it simply left it, with the eggs growing within it. The spider still had air, and its previous meals would keep in alive for the next few days. It would serve as a paralyzed incubator until its death, and would be most likely still alive when the eggs hatched.

From there its death would be agonizing as a handful of newborn wasp babies made the spider’s insides their first gruesome meal. After eating their way out of the spider they’d set off into the world to seek out their various lives. It was a strange thing Kageru had done. In most cases she simply didn’t care about the outcome of someone else’s fight, but in this one she had intervened. Her mind drifts some as she watches the wasp set about burying the spider, quietly considering the implications of her actions.