New faces may not always be friendly... "Shidomori-sama!" The red-scaled boy skidded to a halt before her and bowed. "Hagane-kun, what is it?" She blinked, still focused on the conversation with Aoi and Tsukino moments before. "You... you need to see her." "The Visitor?" She titled her head in a smile, as he blinked in awe, wondering how she knew. "Please come with me?" he nodded and motioned for her. She shrugged and followed, up the hill and through the fortified fence that led to her house. The guards bowed as she passed and she followed Yureitsia through the garden. He led her to the third guest room, and he nodded quietly, opening the door for her. An oddly familiar voice sounded on the other side, but the language was not her own, but the ‘English' she had heard from Shuji's companion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Oh, another meal is it? I don't get how you people can live on such small meals but I-" She blinked. Standing at the door of the room she had been staying in since her arrival was... She shook her head and blinked, it was as if she was staring at a mirror. The other version of herself was equally shocked as she turned to the Red-scaled one that she had seen at first. "Nandeska kore?!" she hissed at him, making him duck. "W-wakarimasen, Shidomori-sama..." the rest of his words were too low and fast for her to understand, but she assumed he was explaining her arrival. "Fune wa doko?" the ‘other self' asked. The Red's reply mumbled quickly as he kept his head down. She sighed and nodded, "Yoroshi. Kairo." "Hai," he bowed fully and then hurried off. The other one stepped inside and closed the door. She nodded and bowed her head, imitating the others, "Hello." An eyebrow perked, and the bow was returned, "Hero. You, en-gurish?" "English? Yes. You speak English?" The other ‘self' shook her head, "Atashi wa, U-su-ya-mi. Wakaru ka?" she tapped her chest as she punctuated the word in the middle. After a moment she nodded, "Ah! Yes!" "Anta ka?" She gestured to the still seated Englishwoman. She nodded, "Rosaline Ashdrake, Captain of the ‘Wanderer'." Another bow and she smiled. Usuyami shook her head, "Iiya... Namae." She pointed to herself, "Usuyami," and then followed with the gesture to the other. "Ahh... Rosaline." "Rosarin," She nodded, and then looked at her closer... noting that Rosaline's eyes were not green, but a stunning violet. Beyond that, they were indistinguishably alike. "I take it you're the one in charge?" Rosaline asked, either not realizing that she wouldn't be understood, or not caring. "Nanja?" Usuyami blinked, confused. "You," she pointed to her, "in charge?" she adjusted her seating pose to look authoritative, a trick she had learned from being captain. "Aaaa... SO-ka! Hai. Atashi wa Daimyo desu," she nodded. "I'll... take that as a yes." She smiled and nodded back. Usuyami laughed. She found it amusing that she could communicate with this other version of herself with only a few gestures between them. She would have to teach her Ipponese. She nodded, "Anta wa fune no taicho?" "Uhhh?" Rosaline blinked. "Fune," Usuyami nodded, pointing to the small model of a ship her father had built when he was younger. She followed that with the same posture Rosaline has used for authority and nodded, "Taicho." Rosaline blinked and looked and then nodded, "Ah, yes, I'm the captain, er ‘taicho'?" "So desu... Mmmm..." Usuyami rubbed her chin. "Matte kudasai?" That one Rosaline knew. She had had that said to her, and it meant to stay put, She nodded and bowed a bit, still slightly shocked over the encounter. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Usuyami slid the doors of her quarters open, stepping in, still awed by meeting someone who could have been her twin. She shook her head to clear it, the whole encounter was simply too strange for her. It was a few minutes later when the doors slid open again, and Tsukino helped Aoi in. Usuyami gasped and stepped over, helping as they carefully laid Aoi on the futon, helping her sit up a bit. "Thank you, Tsuki-chi." The cobalt vixen nodded bowing politely as she backed up and headed out. Aoi stopped her, "Tsuki-chi... remember what I said." She nodded and smiled; But Tsukino simply blushed and bowed excusing herself silently. Usuyami blinked and looked to Aoi, "and what exactly did you say?" Aoi grinned a bit, laying back with a sigh, "You'll see." Usuyami huffed and laid herself in the futon alongside, "If you weren't injured, I'd tickle you until you told me." Aoi smiled and scooted closer, "you'd be tickling me for a LONG time then... for we both know how well I can keep a secret." Usuyami snickered and kissed the Kyujin she had spent her life with, "Mmm, and just who trained you how to keep secrets, again?" Aoi smirked and nosed her love, "it was your father, actually." "Oh, you!" they laughed and cuddled, careful of Aoi's injured leg. After a few moments, Aoi sighed, "We have some time to spend here before you must leave, yes?" "Mmm, I should leave soon, but I can spend a few more days here. This is my home, after all." She smiled softly and licked at Aoi's cheek, curling up close to her, exhausted from the day... ========================================= "So, there I was, twelve bandits around me, the town in flames; but I wasn't scared." The gathering of girls all squealed in excitement, having been listening to the wandering samurai for nearly two hours. The stranger had come to the inn from the cold north, and in the wet season, the small inn hardly had any customers. "Well what happened?" the youngest girl asked, tugging at his sleeve. "I'll tell you," he grinned, red scales glinting in the candlelight as he stood. The girls all leaned back a bit as he growled and then thrust his arms into the air, "I –roared- at them and beat them senseless! The bandit leader challenged me then, and we fought up on the dam that kept the town from flooding. He was an expert swordsman, but I put a stop to him too!" More cheering squeals of excitement erupted from his audience as he embellished with gestures and poses, "the town was still on fire, and it was SO bad that they couldn't put it out... so I shouted at them to run for high ground, and I cut the ropes on the dam. Once the dam broke, the rush of water put out the worst of the fires, and the town was saved!" He laughed a bit flopping back to sit down. The girls all swooned and huddled around him again, one of them rubbing his shoulders, "Oh, my! Master Rihatsu, you are such a hero!" He blinked and laughed, "A hero? Me?" They all nodded, and he snickered, leaning back in the embrace of so many women, "Well, if you wonderful ladies insist, who am I to argue?" They all laughed and the merriment continued far into the night. It was after the sake had run dry and the travelling samurai that had come to the Four Forest Inn was well asleep with four of the girls, that the doors opened again, and five large, hooded men stepped into the lobby. "Hello gentlemen, what can I do for you at such a late hour?" the mama-san smiled, her teeth yellowed with age and too much pipe-weed. "You have young boy here, samurai. We here to collect him." The first said as he pulled back his hood, revealing his ochre fur and dark stripes. The old kibajin woman blinked, tilting her head, "you're not from here, what could you want with that young samurai?" "He kill my men, we come to return favor," the large foreign feline growled. The old woman sighed, "so sorry, I'm not about to have any bloodshed in my Inn. You will have to wait until morning." "We take him outside. You tell which room." The male snarled, long fangs glimmering. "So sorry, my girls are with him sleeping, if you wake them, it will disturb the whole inn, and I'll lose many customers." The foreigner nodded to another of his band, who dropped a large sack on the table in front of the woman, she perked a long eyebrow and opened the sack, gasping at what it contained. Gold coins, a vast number of them. Not the wide stamped ‘ryo' of Ippon, but a smaller, thicker coin, emblazoned with strange symbols that were remarkably similar to Ipponese Kanji. She pursed her lips and then nodded, "third door. Left hall. Do be as quiet as you can?" The foreigner bowed oddly and then nodded as the males softly tramped down the hall. The scuffle was minimal, a muffled snarl and then a dull smack, followed by silence. Several moments later, the men came back through, carrying the samurai's belongings, and a large wrapped bundle that could only be that same samurai. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Wake!" the voice snarled as a thick foot connected with Rihatsu's ribs, jarring him back to life. He coughed and curled up, getting his breath back after the heavy impact. "Wh-what?!" he snarled, coughing still as he struggled to his knees, looking for his attacker. He saw them clearly after a moment. Five males, all dressed in long silks with collared vests over the sleeved robes. The largest and closest, likely the one who had kicked him scowled down at him. "Good. Stand. Not kill while sleeping." He growled, arms bared, unlike his companions. They all wore their black hair pulled back in long braids, and the orange and black furred one held his tail wrapped around his waist as if it were a sash. "Who... are you?" Rihatsu hissed as he stood up on shaky legs. A heavy impact on the side of his head sent him spinning back to his knees. His eyes recovered in time to see the leader's foot touching the ground again. "My name Shai Ti Chen of Mequon. Those men you killed today were mine." Rihatsu coughed and laughed a bit, "Killed? I didn't kill them... I just beat them up." "You flood town, all men drown," the foreigner snarled, "Now I take revenge from you." Rihatsu blinked and then huffed, "All right, fine... they drowned... you realize they were attacking the town? Hurting innocent people?" Shai scoffed, "town insult me. Men teach town that I not to be insulted." Rihatsu blinked, and then stood. Once on his feet the Tiger lunged again, but this time the impact was stopped by Rihatsu's arm as he grunted under the blow, "Well then, you're the one who I should have beat up then. Shame you were hiding." The tiger snarled and pulled his leg back, unfolding his arms and nodding, "Not hide from boy like you. Come! We fight!" Rihatsu was up and in motion before the tiger finished speaking, but his attack was parried expertly, and the tiger made to bash his head in. the pair stuck, grappled and twisted for the better part of ten minutes, neither landing a solid hit, but plenty of grazes and glances. They squared off, eyeing each other closely as they breathed hard and heavy. Rihatsu took a breath in and nodded, "Time to finish this..." "You take words out of mouth," Shai tightened his stance and lunged, palm leading as he followed with his knee. Rihatsu didn't block, he spun past the attack, leaping at the last second and crashing into the pile of loot the bandits had gathered, and as he rolled away he gripped his sword in his hand and rushed. Shai turned at the last moment, and caught the blade along his armguards, but Rihatsu followed through and added a kick toppling the larger tiger and standing on him, blade at his throat. "Yield!" Rihatsu commanded. "You cheat," Shai hissed angrily, "use sword in Man's fight." Rihatsu scowled, "I said Yield!" "Never," Shai spat defiantly. The other Bandits were gathered around but they knew not to interfere. Rihatsu frowned, "Go, then. Leave Ippon, and never return. Then next time I see you, you will die." Shai shoved the smaller lizard off and waves his men away, "Next time you see me, you no have chance to cheat." He strode away after his men, tail lashing about angrily. Rihatsu watched after them and looked to his blade thoughtfully, "Humph... ‘Cheating'..." =========================================== Sunlight shone through the treetops, casting dappled light across the forest. Birds chirped and watched as two figures stepped and swung their swords in measured unison. The larger Jirajin smirked as he glanced to his left at the smaller human who was focused on her kata. He smiled a bit and changed forms, noting how she gave a soft yelp of dismay as she corrected herself. "You must be adaptable, Hikamori," he spoke calmly, changing forms again as he turned his facing and moved. She followed, half a step behind, silently fretting over the randomness of the changes. "Combat is not about what you are doing, it is anticipating your opponent's actions... so that when they strike!" Steel rang on steel as she parried the sudden attack reflexively, looking at him in fright as he nodded, pleased by her reaction, "you will be prepared." "Y-yes sire," he panted, still uncertain of how much he actually meant to attack her or not. He stepped back and sheathed his blade with a smile, "Let's have lunch." She watched in awe and confusion as he shifted from the stoic, almost stern manners he took when they practiced; to a smiling, carefree fool of a samurai who was more interested in food than the possible dangers around them. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked, holding up a set of rice balls. She nodded and sheathed her blade, stepping over and sitting down on the blanket they had set up. "You still haven't told me where we're going." He blinked and made a muffled questioning sound as he swallowed, "I didn't? Oh... well, we're going to Tetsumo." "Where is that?" she blinked, confused nibbling her lunch politely. "Hmm... I'd say another week and a half of travel... maybe two weeks." She coughed and Shuji groaned as he ended up with rice on his face, "Two Weeks?! That's a long ways off! What are we going there for?" "We're meeting a friend, and I have to get a message to my clan, to have them prepare the army for an attack on the Gasaran." He finished his rice ball after picking the rice off his face. She nodded and lowered her head a bit, "So it's really going to be war, then..." Shuji sighed, "One way or another, I'm afraid. I'd rather it be on our terms than theirs though." Kasumi looked at him, "I don't want to die." He blinked and nodded, setting his last rice ball down, "Neither do I." "Does it frighten you?" she asked, tilting her head and looking through her eyebrows at him. He shook his head, "It's not fear... but more that I actually enjoy my life to the point that I'm not ready for it to be over yet." She blinked and frowned, "what does that mean?" He laughed, leaning back slightly in mirth, "it means exactly what I said. There's plenty more in life that I haven't done yet. I'd like to do those things before I die." "Oh." she thought to herself for a moment and then looked at him, "What kind of things?" He blinked and leaned back farther, relaxing, "Hmm... Well I know my Clan would like to see me wed... so perhaps starting a family... I sometimes imagine what the lands beyond Ippon are like too... Maybe I'll see them sometime." Kasumi eyed the samurai who had taken her in and found herself thinking in directions she wasn't sure if she should be thinking or not. He was still such a mystery to her. She slowly ate her food, adding up all the things that made him in her head. Smooth scales framing his brilliant eyes and accenting his handsome features. The long, silver-white hair he normally kept tied back, he'd left loose, so it draped over his strong and sculpted shoulders. She noticed how at his shoulders and down his arms, his azure scales, like all jirajin's, became thicker and more pronounced. His hands were spread out, propping himself up along straightened arms. His chest was firm and toned, the white swath of thicker, unscaled skin visible to her, as he had left his dogi off for their practice. She jumped and averted her eyes, quickly taking a large bite of her rice ball when he looked her way and caught her staring. "Hm??" he blinked, wondering what she was staring at, but she blushed and shook her head dismissively, focusing on her rice ball. He chuckled softly and shrugged, leaning back again, but not taking his eyes off her. She didn't notice, which he was thankful for. He marveled at her adaptation. She took to the role of Samurai as a fish takes to a pond. He smiled more, seeing her in the colors of his clan, and his mind wandered a bit, imagining what she would look like in something more ladylike. "Did I get some on my face?" she asked suddenly, breaking him out of his daydream. "Eh?! Oh, sorry... I was just... wondering why you cut your hair so short," he had to work to get the fib out, but it was easier than he'd thought. She had caught him staring at her. She blinked, not expecting that. Absently running a hand through her trimmed hair she blushed, "W-well, I don't know... it always got caught on things when I was..." "Running from getting caught with something that wasn't yours?" he grinned tauntingly. She huffed and glared, "I only took what I needed to live!" He shook his head, "I know, I was just taunting you. There are thieves who steal for sport and profit, and there are those who steal out of necessity. It seems a bit ruthless to fault the latter, doesn't it?" She pursed her lips, mollified and sighing. After a moment she looked over at him, "There's more to being Samurai than being able to use a sword, yes?" Shuji blinked and nodded, glad for the subject change, "quite a bit, I would say. What's on your mind?" "Well, I... I've always seen samurai as being violent, short tempered, selfish, and arrogant," she looked a bit angry at her description, "you've managed to upset that idea, but I wonder what makes them become like that?" "Authority, usually. Many samurai these days tend to abuse their authority. They become hungry for more power, and tend to look for ways to oppress those beneath them to make themselves feel more superior," he frowned, angered by the idea. "But there's much more to it than that. A Samurai's first duty is to his liege. It is the duty of the liege to look after the farmers and merchants; so his samurai should attend to that." Kasumi nodded thoughtfully, seeing the ideal in her head as it was explained to her. "Of course, there is much more to it than that. The Second duty is that of perfection in all things. Samurai are meant to lead by example, in setting perfection as their goal, a Samurai will inspire those around him to achieve the same," he nodded shifting to sit up. "I haven't met many perfect samurai," she groused, eyeing him. He laughed a little, "Well, my grandfather believed: ‘True perfection is unattainable... But it is the effort one puts toward such a goal that in the example we should set.' I rather like that saying." She smiled, "It's a good one." Shuji stretched, "Mmm, beyond that, the rest is up to the individual samurai. What you choose to pursue is your choice, but if you remember those two things, everything else follows." She blinked, "It's really that simple?" "Well, at the core, yes. There are all kinds of other rules and manners, but that's all based on situation, and who you're near... even then those fall into those two concepts." He smiled and nodded, finishing the last rice ball after. She nodded and thought a moment, but then he suddenly reached over and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her close and snarling. She struggled and shrieked, pushing away from him, but he held on tightly. Beating against his chest after a moment she complained, "L-let go! Stop!" He did as she said and let her go, earning a glare and a smack across his face, which did little more than make her hand sting, "I don't think I deserved that... Look behind you." She blinked and rubbed her palm, turning around a bit and gasping at the spear- stabbed rat clad in black cloth with a short stabbing sword. She scrambled back, ending up in Shuji's lap as she quailed from the body, "W-W-What?!" "Assassins..." Shuji hissed a bit, pulling his spear from the body with a sickening ‘slurp' of blood and viscera. "Likely this one's been searching for us for a while. The Gasaran must be getting word of our alerting the clans to their offensive." She shuddered and curled up a bit, "I... I've never seen someone k-killed..." Soft hands wrapped around her shoulders as Shuji held her gently, not speaking, but holding her softly. After a moment of contact she turned from the corpse and buried her small face against his chest, trembling. He blinked and gave a soft sigh, encircling the smaller female in his arms, remembering his first experience with combat-related death. "It gets easier," he whispered softly, "it does get easier..." he sighed and ran his fingers over her hair, remembering that despite her talent, she was still not yet completely Samurai.