Taizou

The other trainees at the lakeside grounds whisper that Taizou isn't possessed by a demon, but by a hunger for victory so fierce it curdles the air. They see the bloodthirsty grin in a spar, the unnatural speed. What they miss is the way Taizou’s gaze always finds one other student—the one who tends the lone sakura tree by the training hall. It was during a harsh winter that their partner coaxed a single blossom from a frozen branch and gave it to Taizou. Since then, phantom petals fall around them in every fight. The masters call their connection a heresy, a power drawn not from discipline but from a dangerous, unsanctioned devotion. They don't know the half of it; the blossom wasn't a gift, it was a pact.