Smokescreen: A Collection of Vignettes

Chapter 1

Tomas was always playful when they were together. Whenever he'd return from a mission and greet his beloved, he would sweep her off of her feet and spin her around. He'd often trick her into looking for something that wasn't there so he could sneak a sweet kiss on her cheek. Or he'd take advantage of her ticklish spots and have her in fits. Sometimes, he would bring her a flower and tuck it into her violet tresses. Most of the time, though, those days would end with her over his shoulder and hauled off to their bedroom. It was those moments, admittedly, that she looked forward to. She loved the feel of his powerful body on top of hers as they danced in their bed. She loved that warm, intimate connection that they would have. It made it even better when his natural scent rubbed off onto her. It let everyone know who she belonged to.

The young woman sighed. Those days were few and far in between because of his duties to the Shirai Ryu. She didn't mind, though. It just allowed her to treasure and replay those rare days with Tomas. When they did meet, they spent every moment that they could. It didn't matter what the time was or where they were. If they had moments in between his training sessions, they would sneak away into a private corner or some closet they could find. It was in those private moments that they got to break down and act like teenagers in love, giggling at how close they came to getting caught by Kuai Liang and Harumi.

Now, she didn't see him at all. Ever since the barrier between timelines had broken down, he had been busy chasing everyone's dark doubles and that left him little time for his wife. It didn't bother her much as she had taken up his duties as the second-in-command of the Shirai Ryu. Someone had to run the compound, after all.

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Sakura often patrolled the compound in the evenings. She loved the silence and the cool air. Very rarely anything happened at night ever since young Hanzo attacked Tomas. She sighed. Since he was brought to the Shirai Ryu, he had proven to be a hard-working young man and quite the martial artist. It did worry her, though, about the anger that seethed beneath the skin. She wasn't sure what caused his anger, but she hadn't wanted to push him. Besides, she had every confidence in Tomas and Kuai Liang that they could tame and redirect that anger elsewhere.

As she walked, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. She grasped her husband's katana tightly as she continued her walk. She refused to be intimidated. Using her thumb, she released her weapon from its sheath, warning the intruder that she knew they were there.

"You might as well come out." Sakura called out.

The intruder made himself known and Sakura's eyes widened.

"Tomas?"

The ashen-haired man slowly approached her, his eyes wandering over her. The young woman dashed over and halted when she saw the copious amount of blood all over him. His hair was matted down in the stuff, streaks of gray hair standing out here and there. Half of his body was just soaked in red. Sakura checked him over to see if she could find any obvious injury, but something in her mind was calling out to her to back off and she wasn't one to ignore her instincts. As she slowly backed away, 'Tomas' pulled her back in and tilted her head upwards, gently stroking her face. That was when she saw that this wasn't her husband. Her violet eyes widened.

"Something wrong, Cherry Blossom? You seem...spooked."

The young woman pulled away from him and distanced herself immediately, unsheathing her weapon. Now that she was away from him, she was able to inspect him a lot more closely and, damn, the red flags were so obvious. Beneath all of the blood was a kind of armor that her husband *never* wore. Also, despite his profession, he *never* came home with such a large amount of blood on him. Sure, there would be stains here and there on his uniform, but it was often in small amounts. The one sign that she had picked up on, however, was the look in his eyes. They weren't the kind and gentle gray eyes that her beloved possessed. They were the eyes of a murderer. A monster.

"You're not him." She hissed.

"You're right." He agreed. "I'm someone much better."

The doppelganger suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared behind her.

Oh, Sweet Elder Gods.