SIII: Seven Swords Saga [ IC / Started / Not Accepting ]

[.:Blu:.]

OOC: [url=http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/topic/294258-siii-seven-swords-saga-ooc-not-started-not-accepting/]http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/topic/294258-siii-seven-swords-saga-ooc-not-started-not-accepting/[/url]


[center][size=7][b][u]SIII: Seven Swords Saga[/u][/b][/size]
[size=5][b]CHAPTER 1: THE RETURN OF A HERO[/b][/size][/center]


[spoiler=Chapter 1 Synopsis]A traveling swordsman named Yudai arrives at the Fukai town of Obatoshi in order to seek out a carriage that would take him to the nation of Ryujin. There, he encounters a young woman named Mori, who believes Yudai is the man who killed her father, and Kokoro, who accidentally gets caught up in between the two. Soon, the three travelers will find themselves working together to help the desperate people of the town. Meanwhile, Takeo, a young man from the Kimura clan, continues his pilgrimage to become a man when he is suddenly dragged into helping a young woman to rescue a convoy of slaves.[/spoiler]



A cool breeze blew through a quiet, lush valley of green. The expanse of land seems to go on forever. Even if you were to stand on the highest of the mountains located within this valley, you still wouldn't be able to see the cutoff of green land. The only way to describe it is to call it an "ocean". Located almost in the exact middle of the valley is a small town and at the very back of the town is a manor, complete with its own pond and garden. Embedded into the rocky soil on top of a hill overlooking the town is a sakura tree, or otherwise known as a cherry blossom if one is so inclined as to call it so. A young man who looks around eighteen or nineteen years of age sat leaning against the tree; resting in his arms is a young woman of about the same age. She looked so comfortable in his warm embrace - an embrace that only lovers share. His eyes are closed, taking away his sight, but his other senses are working at maximum capacity. He can smell the aroma of the new Spring's sakura petals as they are carried forward by the gentle breeze as well as feel the gentleness of said breeze on his pale-toned face. He can also smell the wonderful, sweet aroma of his lover as well as feel her warmth.

"Do you remember where I said your name came from?" the young woman asked, breaking the silence.

The young man opened his eyes and looked at the woman. "I believe you said it came from the hero, Yudai Kamiyama, right?" he asked.

She nodded once. "Because like him, you're my hero." she stated.

Somewhere, a worn carriage made for transporting people suddenly rolled over a rock, causing the carriage to shake and lifting the people sitting inside off of their seats, even if only slightly. One of the passengers is the young man who was seen with his lover. The bump had woke him up. Unfortunately for him, the blissful time with his beloved was only a mere dream. "Ugh..." the young man grunted a little as he had just abruptly woken up. He looked over to his right and saw a boy about ten years old staring at a gigantic sword with awe and amazement. Seeing that, an amused smirk formed on the young man's face. "Impressive isn't it?" the young man asked the boy. "Yeah! Do you actually fight bad guys with it?" the boy asked in a innocent, childish tone. "I do. I've defeated many bad guys with it- Whoa!" The carriage suddenly shook again; this time coming to a stop. The young man's sword also happened to fell out of the carriage as it stopped.

"Alright, we're here folks! Obatoshi, town of the famed Gitama wishing well!" the driver, a fat man of fifty-two years of age, of the carriage boisterously and happily exclaimed as he looked through the opening of the carriage. As everyone exited one by one, the driver walked back to ensure that everyone was fine. The little boy from before jumped out of the carriage and pointed to the giant sword of the young man. "Mister, here's your sword!" the boy said before attempting to pick up the sword but couldn't even produce the slightest budge. "Whoa now, don't hurt yourself there kid. Let the adults do the heavy lifting." the driver said before also trying to pick up the sword. He, too, found it an impossible task to move the weapon. "W-What the heck?! How heavy is this thing?!" the driver asked as he ran out of breath. "Please, allow me. It is my sword after all." the young man said as he picked up the sword with no problem and secured it onto his back.

"What in the- You must be really strong to lift that monster of a sword. Are you some kind of strong man street performer or something?" the driver asked.

"No. I'm just an ordinary traveling swordsman." the young man replied with a calming smile.

"Well you got a name swordsman?" the driver asked.

"Yudai... My name is Yudai." the young man replied simply.

"After the hero huh? That's a good name. Well, see ya around Mr. Great Hero." the driver bid farewell. Suddenly, a loud, roar-like sound filled the air and frightened everyone standing at the carriage. "I-Is that coming from a yokai?!" the driver asked nervously.

"Sorry... That was my stomach." Yudai explained with an embarrassed smile. "Do you know a place in town where I can get something to eat?" Yudai added.

"Uhh yeah, not too far in you'll find an inn. You can get food there." the driver replied, his eyes were still wide from the roar loud of Yudai's stomach.

"Thank you." Yudai simply said before leaving into town.

"Such a strange hero..." the driver joked to himself.

As Yudai made his way through town, he couldn't help but notice the gloomy atmosphere. The street market in any town should be a lively, noise-filled area but the opposite was true here. In fact, there were barely anybody out on the streets. All of the vendors seemed depressed and hopeless; they weren't even trying to get Yudai's attention in order for him to buy something from their supply. "(I've never seen such a desolate market before...)" Yudai thought as he glanced around without directly staring at any vendor. It seems he didn't want to draw attention to himself either. Not long after, Yudai arrived at the inn the carriage driver mentioned. "Senbazuru Inn" was painted on a wooden sign hanging vertically on the front side of the inn. The name roughly translates into "One Thousand Origami Cranes Inn". Inside, Yudai was greeted by a rather ghastly-looking, male innkeeper. "Welcome to Senbazuru Inn. Would you like a room?" the innkeeper effortlessly asked. "I'm actually looking for food-" Before Yudai could completely finish talking, the innkeeper pointed to Yudai's right. "Thank you." Yudai replied before walking to the portion of the inn that serves as an eatery.

Unlike what he had seen so far, this portion of the inn was a bit more livelier with people actually communicating with each other over food and drinks, most notably sake or Japanese rice wine. Yudai sat down at an empty table and was soon greeted by a waiter. "What would you like?" the waiter asked impassively. "Umm, I'll take one order of everything." Yudai replied, much to the slight surprise of the waiter. "You got the kane to pay for that?" the waiter asked rather rudely. "I believe so." Yudai responded. The waiter didn't ask anything after that and simply walked to the kitchen. Some time later, Yudai's whole table was filled with food. Yudai looked amazed at his eyes scanned the food on his table several times. Without speaking, Yudai began chowing down with the ferocity of a tiger. The people around him looked shocked at the pace of which Yudai was eating at. "I'm surprised he hasn't choked and died yet..." one man sitting at a table just a few feet away said to his buddy. "He'll probably die after eating all of that food..." the buddy added.

Suddenly, a small group of roughly dressed, rugged-face men entered into the eatery, about four. All of them carried katanas so they were either swordsmen or bandits, probably the latter. The leader of the group looked at Yudai with an annoyed expression. "Hey you, that's my table." the man said as he approached Yudai. Yudai looked up with a mouth full of food and swallowed. "I see. I'm almost done so if you would be so kind as to wait for five minutes." Yudai said. Hearing that, the man spat out the stalk of wheat that he held in his mouth and removed his cheap katana; stabbing it into the table. "I don't think you heard me. This is my table." the man reiterated his position. He then looked over the table and noticed Yudai's humongous sword. "Don't tell me you can swing that big thing around. Thing's probably so heavy that you can barely hold it." the man stated.

"I would advise that you remove your sword from the table. The property isn't your's to abuse." Yudai said in a noticeably serious tone.

"You're really starting to piss me off. You know what? In fact, I wanna teach you a lesson in respect right now. Let's have a duel, that is, unless you're too scared sh*t-less to accept." the man said.

Yudai stood up out of his chair, picking his sword up along as well. "Very well. Accepted." Yudai replied to the man's duel challenge.

Outside on the streets, a crowd has gathered consisting of the patrons of the inn's eatery. A circle was formed in the middle of the crowd of people; Yudai stood on the right side while the rough-looking man stood on the left. "You're brave for not backing out, but that also makes you incredibly stupid. Now I'm gonna show you who's the boss around here." the man said. A clam and composed Yudai simply stared at the man without letting out a single word of reply. This only annoyed the man more. "You piece of- GAH!" the man let out a shout as he rushed at Yudai with his katana held to his left and near his face. Instantly, Yudai could discern that the man was an amateur in swordsmanship due to the way he held his katana so loosely. With only one hand, Yudai plunged his humongous sword forward so that the blade is placed under the tsuba of his opponent's katana. Then, in a singular, fluid motion, Yudai brought his sword upward; causing the katana to be pushed up and out of his opponent's grip to which it then landed onto the ground a few feet behind the man.

The man stopped in his tracks and blinked his eyes as he didn't felt the katana's handle in his hands. "What the hell...?" the man asked with a confused expression before looking at his hands and noticing his katana was missing. "Where'd my sword go???" the man asked. "Boss!" one of his men called out from behind him. As the man looked over, he noticed his underling had his sword. "Hey, what the hell are you doing with more sword??? When did you take it from me??? I remember clearly that I had it in my hands!" the man exclaimed out of confusion. "T-That guy hit your sword out of your hand!" the underling explained as he pointed to Yudai. "R-Really?!" the man asked. He then turned his attention back onto Yudai. "You son of a b*tch, how did you manage to do that-" the man stopped himself as he saw Yudai slashing his sword towards him. "(Oh sh*t! The momentum of the sword is gonna slice my head off! I'm done for!)" the man thought as he closed his eyes; two tear drops can be seen at the opposite corners of his eyes. Just as Yudai's sword neared the man's neck, it stopped its movement.

After a moment, the man opened one eye and noticed the sword had stopped, prompting him to open up his other eye as well. "I-I-I'm alive...! I'm alive!" the man exclaimed. "Uhh Boss..." one of the man's underling called out as he pointed to the man's trousers. Looking down, the man noticed that he had just had an accident of the watery kind. "I-I pissed myself!!!" the man shouted out. Without worrying about Yudai, the embarrassed boss of the group of men pushed himself out of the crowd and ran off, leaving Yudai as the winner of their duel. "A-Amazing... And with just one hand the entire time..." a local muttered.

Yudai spun his sword and placed it once again onto his back. Suddenly, a breeze blew through the town and as it hit Yudai, his cloak was pushed back; revealing the fact that Yudai only has one arm.

-Meanwhile-

Near the border of Fukai is the town of Suzamari, a town whose economy is in somewhat of a hole - a deep, deep hole. However, that seems to be the trend as of late for the towns, villages, and cities of Fukai. Ever since a new emperor has taken the throne, relations with the nation of Kogane has soured, almost leading to a complete economic collapse of Fukai. While things may have improved over the past three years or so, Fukai is still in a position of owing huge amounts of debt to Kogane and with the new emperor's reckless spending, Fukai may be on the verge of collapse. If that happens, Kogane could be in the position to take the huge chunk of the continent for themselves. For the meantime however, there seems to be a major social issue, especially within Suzamari. The town has become a sort of rest stop for convoys carrying slaves. Due to the poor economy, the local government cannot provide an adequate amount of soldiers to regulate an important law that exists within Fukai's borders and that is absolutely no conduct of slave business whatsoever.

Unfortunately, slave business is being conducted on a daily basis within Suzamari. On one of Suzamari's poorer districts, a convoy of slaves are being guarded by four swordsman. The convoy held five slaves, all of whom seemed malnourished and on the edge of death. Each one of them had their wrists and ankles shackled. "So you heard?" one guard asked another. "Heard what?" his fellow guard replied. "Basically there's some new emperor in Ryujin. People are going wild over him; saying things like, 'he's our hero,' and 'he'll be the one to unite Kodaina.'" the guard stated. "Who gives a sh*t. That's not our route anyways so it won't affect our work." the fellow guard replied. "HEY!" a voice called out from afar. As one of the soldiers looked forward, a rock made impact with his forehead. "OUCH!" the guard called out. Suddenly, blood flowed down the side of his face from where the rock had hit him. "Who the hell did that???" the guard's friend asked.

Suddenly, a [url=http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz46/wirespy/Mei_zps4c67bdf5.png]young woman[/url], dressed in rather poor clothing made for moving comfortably in, leaped down from the roof of a small house to confront the guards. The only weapon she carried with her is a crude slingshot along with a bag of rocks. "Let those people go NOW!" she shouted fiercely. "You b*tch! I'm about to gut you!" the bleeding guard returned the fury. The young woman's hands were shaking as well as her legs, although it was less noticeable. She definitely was scared of these men but she had an important cause - she wanted to save the people in the convoy. However, with her strength alone against the strength of four trained guards, the odds are leaning to her either getting killed or made into a slave herself.

[Hotaru987]

"Thank you for the ride mister." The young, green haired girl smiled up at the carriage owner. "If it wasn't for you I would have been lost for days." The carriage owner laughed, but there wasn't any good will behind the laugh. That and the dark glint in his eyes proved that this man wasn't just a good semeritan. "Yes, yes the ride, but I went out of my way to help you so I think some compensation is in order." Silently the girl looked at the man, who's grin faltered thinking that maybe he crossed the line. His eyes darted to the sword resting on her hip and swallowed nervously. Suddenly she smiled, "Of course, silly me! How much?" The man coughed, "Uh, 100 Kane." Anyone would have been able to tell this was a scam, but sadly the woman was none the wiser as she happily reached into her money pouch and handed over the 100 Kane. His eyes widened in disbelief at his easy swindle, chuckling greedily. "There all 100. Again thank you for the ride, and safe travels." With those words she entered the town.

There was only one person that could have gotten cheated so easily, Mori Chisana. A young woman, with unnatural green hair and eyes. Always wearing a carefree smile, and there seemed to be a sort of air-headed aura about her. Perhaps that was the reason for her attracting so many swindlers. "I never knew such things were so expensive out here in the world." She came to a stop when she felt something bump into her. It was a child. "Are you alright little boy?" The boy just stuck out his tongue, then ran off without a word. "Hm...Such a strange town." Mori looked around, noticing the lack-luster state of the town. "Nothing like home, but guess every place is different." An unpleasant grumble passed through her. She placed a hand over her stomach, then looked around for a place to grab a quick snack. Spotting a fruit vendor she walked over. "Hello, how are you this fine morning."

"What do you want?" The lady answered lazily. However, that wasn't enough to dampen Mori's mood. "Yes, I would like to purchase 3 of your apples. How much will that be?"

"25 Kane."

"Alright, one moment-Oh!" Reaching for where her pouch usually rested she noticed it was missing. "Now that's strange..." Looking back at the woman she said, "It seems that I have lost my pouch." The woman suddenly glared, looking all apathy from earlier, "If you have no money then get lost." Mori sighed sadly, "Yes, I feared that was the case. Well, have a nice day." She walked away still holding onto her growling stomach, and now wondering what could have happened to her money. "Did I drop it somewhere?" She muttered, unfortunately for her, that boy from earlier had some very sticky fingers. "Ah, well. I'm sure I can find some work to get more money." Before that could happen, though, she stumbled upon a crowed gathered in the middle of the street. Coming closer she peered between the opening of two men. Within the circle were two guys, one was pretty young looking probably around her age. There was a large blade resting on his back. "Can a person even wield such a large sword?" She muttered before looking at the other guy. He was very rugged looking, with a simple katana and an arrogant air about him.

Mori tapped one of the men on the shoulder, "Excuse me, but what is going on?"

"That man just picked a right with that kid. Unless he knows how to use that sword he's gonna get sliced up." Mori nodded at the explanation, "Oh..." She like the rest she stood by to watch the results of the fight. Though, after a few minute it was clear it was more of a joke then an actual fight. The man who started the fight was hilariously outmatched, being defeated by the kid who only used one arm to wield his impressively large sword. In the end the man ran off desperately trying to his his embarrassing accident. "Wow, he's really good..." A breeze passed through the town, blowing back the boy's cape. Mori froze as she stared at where his left arm should be.

[i]"You're father...He was killed, by a skilled one-armed swordsman."[/i]

"Hey...H-hey! You!" She shouted angrily, shoving her way into the middle of the circle. With her left hand she drew her sword, "I never though I would find the one person I've been looking for in a place like this but-" She readied herself to attack, "-I'm not going to let you get away with what you did to my father!" She ran in intending to cut him down. Though she was years too early to be hoping for that. While Mori was indeed quick, any warrior could see her inexperience. Her swings were slow, and had too much wasted movement. Her stance was very weak, and one could see she was already becoming tired.

[Shradow]

Kokoro yawned in the morning sun as he walked towards the town in front of him. He preferred to live out in nature, but he was low on supplies that nature could not provide as easily as a town marketplace. It had been awhile since his last visit to a town, which was a shame, as Obatoshi, the name of the town as he learned it from a dilapidated sign on his way in, was a rather solemn town. Most of the towns and places he visited filled him with excitement and wonder, but this place was a real downer. He saw few children outside, and even those he did see were not playing or having any fun at all. There was an odd silence, a lack of dogs barking or even birds chirping.

Upon his visit to the marketplace, things weren't any better. He got what he needed, but there was no conversation besides him asking for the items and the vendors telling him the prices. The money was exchanged in silence, but that was fine by Kokoro. He put everything in the small bag at his side, which seemed too small to hold everything, but did not bulge in the slightest once everything was inside.

"Rope. Check. Salt. Che--"

Kokoro's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden yelling from another part of town. Nothing interesting had yet happened in town, so his curiosity of course got the better of him. It wasn't hard to find the inn where the sound came from; there was a large crowd gathered, which was especially odd, given what he'd seen of the town so far. At first he couldn't find a way to push past the crowd to see what everyone was watching so intently. After a time, though, people started to notice Kokoro. Or rather, they started to notice the large halberd held on his back that was taller than him. Immediately wary of it, they stepped aside, allowing him easy access to the center of the crowd.

What he saw was a swordsman's duel, at least the end of one. A brutish-looking fellow had soiled himself while the other combatant, a young man, stood triumphantly while wielding a sword even larger than Kokoro's halberd. "Large sword." he said to himself matter-of-factly. A breeze revealed his lack of an arm from underneath his cloak, which garnered a raised eyebrow from Kokoro. His own interest clear on his face, he was about to walk up to the swordsman, when suddenly a green-haired woman jumped out of the crowd, wielding a sword of her own. She looked inexperienced, and based on the state of the previous ruffian, the one-armed swordsman was overwhelmingly skilled in comparison, as if that wasn't obvious enough by the way he wielded such an enormous sword.

Kokoro decided to step in. He quietly walked to intercept the two, his mind focused for magic and a hand on his halberd in case things got rough.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

A strangely happy tune could be heard echoing throughout one of the streets of an assumedly empty town. With nobody in sight a young red haired man thought it'd be appropriate to whistle to himself. This young man, more formally known as Takeo Kimura, enjoyed the time he had to himself. It allowed him to act as he wished. Although he still found it to be counterproductive to his main goal. Takeo had been traveling for maybe a month now in random directions but it was becoming evident that this journey of self discovery was a difficult one. "[i]It's been a month already and although I think I've gotten better at making an angry face I don't feel like I'm any closer to becoming a man.[/i]" It was then that when turning a corner he stopped humming and jumped back.

He noticed four older gentlemen and jumped back to evade their attention. Fearing that they may have noticed him and his more woman like tune he glanced back at the four and then moved back behind the safety of the corner. They appeared to not have notice him but he noticed something strange. "[i]Those four men...I feel an odd aura emenating from them...it's as if they're radiating pure manliness. Of course! I know what I must do! I must become their apprentice! I'll ask them to teach me how to be a man![/i]" Takeo proceeded to turn the corner as casually as he possibly could.

After turning the corner but not even before he took a single step forward his attention, like that of the four guards, was taken by a single rock and then by that of the one that had slinged it. It was none other than a young woman most easily described as being quite pretty. Takeo, being alarmed at why such a thing would unfold, decided to make a quick observation of the rest of the environment. Nothing was really noticable except for the convoy carrying approximately five people in horrible condition on his first count. The same number proceeded to show up on his second. "[i]Oh geez, maybe I should turn back now. I rather not get into a fight. If I go over there they'll think I'm a friend. That girl should just run now.[/i]" Takeo could see the girl's legs shaking but it was apparent that she wouldn't run. He in turn let out a deep sigh.

The guard previously hit by the stone very quickly got aggressive. He made no more haste in charging after the young woman and even to somebody like Takeo who was standing a pretty good distance away could see what that man may do to her. In times like this though heavy emphasis must be put on "was." Takeo dashed ahead and in the nick of time caught up the the angry buffoon a foot before he was close enough to the young woman to actually swing a fist. With a hand placed on the man's shoulder and a foot on his ankle before he could raise it off the ground for another step Takeo momentarily stopped the man's movement. Of course, surprise was also a pretty big factor in all of this. "You're supposed to be a man?" Takeo then proceeded to pull on the man's shoulder and slam his knee into the back of the man's knee. The man tumbled back and with the thud that could be heard after his head hit the ground it could be easily assumed he was unconcious.

The other guards seemed somewhat shocked but due to their training very quickly caught their cool. "Ah, so that dumb broad actually got some reinforcements, eh? But it's just you isn't it? If there were more of you there wouldn't have been much need for a surprise attack like that and more people would have shown up by now."

Unlike his new apparent partner in crime, Takeo was actually somewhat skilled in hiding the fact that his knees were shaking and he was kind of sort of really scared. "[i]Ah, crap. I just had to. These guys look tough. But I can't kill the act now. I might be able to just scare these guys off. Better than having to fight anyday.[/i]" A wicked grin popped onto Takeo's face as he turned to the three remaining guards. It was a grin that begged for somebody to just try to bash it in if they had the guts. "Nice observation, capatin obvious. Wanna point out something else I wasn't hiding from ya? Oh, what am I kidding? I clearly don't give a sh*t and would rather stop hearing your voice altogether. I'd recommend ya make it easy for yourself and walk away. Now that's an option or do you wanna be lying on the floor in a pile of your own filth? It should be noted that if you go for the latter I'll try to take you out so that you land in a provacative position with your buddu here. Actually, I'll start encouraging that option. It sounds hilarious." In his head Takeo kept repeating, "[i]Please pick the former.[/i]"

Taking temporary ignorance of the guards he looked back at the young woman. She seemed somewhat settled down but it still seemed like she could tell that her problems were hardly over. "So what the hell do you think you're doing? You must be one hell of a dumbass to think you could bring a slingshot here and expect to do anything. Luckily for you, sugartits, I happened to be walking by and get to play the role as the deus ex machina in this sh*tty story you call life." Taking what seems like a more casual pose he rested his hand on the handle of his wakizashi. "[i]Please do forgive me for the things I have said to you.[/i]" It was then that she actually seemed to look over his rude mouth for a second to yell, "BEHIND YOU!" at the top of her lungs. Takeo simply shrugged and said, "Yeah, I know," before jumping to his side and pulling out his wakizashi as he did so in order to to dodge the guard's downward slash and quickly counter by cutting at his side with the wakizashi. "He smells even worse up close."

The guard dropped his sword and fell to the ground, coincidentally onto the first man making them look like they're 69ing. "Oh, come on. Not in public you two." The other two weren't having any more of this self proclaimed bullsh*t. Frtunately, neither was Takeo. He threw his wakizashi into the air before quickly evading the slash from the third guard. Before the third guard could make another move Takeo had already pulled out his bow and arrow and aimed it at the man's head. He didn't actually have an arrow along with it but the man was too stressed none the less to really notice. The final guard, believing this was his oppurtunity since Takeo could only fire one arrow and no matter who it hit the other would quickly dismantle Takeo, made his move but stopped not even a foot later when the wakizashi dropped in front of him and plunged into the ground. "Two left. Perfect. I suggest you two each take a friend and run off. Don't worry about Captain Obvious for now. I didn't cut too deep. He still just lost a lot of blood pretty quickly and fainted." The two quickly obliged and ran off each with a friend. One of the two could be heard complaining about blood getting on him all the way until the turned a corner.

Now that the fight was essentially over Takeo returned the bow back to its position on his back and pulled the wakizahi out of the ground before returning it to its sheath. "[i]Oh god oh god oh god. I'm still alive somehow.[/i]" He turned back to the young woman before saying, "Hey, are you oka-I, uh, I mean I assume I can actually go now or do you plan on jumping off a cliff next? It seems this suidice attempt failed after all." It was for a moment but his real personality and cheerful smile leaked out before he returned to the fake a**hole persona. "[i]Totally saved that one.[/i]"

[.:Blu:.]

Just as Yudai was about to leave, a rather angered voice came up from behind him and caught his attention. Yudai looked back to see a young, green-haired woman with her sword drawn. Even though she seems to be directly looking at him, Yudai couldn't tell that she was speaking to him. The green-haired woman then mentioned that she would never thought she'd find the person she was looking for here and how she won't let that person get away after what they had done to her father. Unsurprisingly, Yudai was still very much confused as to who she was speaking to. Yudai turned his head to one side then to the other to see if there were anyone standing near him. However, there appears to be no one besides himself. Yudai finally decided to just ask the woman who she was speaking to. "Umm, excuse me Miss but are you talking to me-" Yudai's sentence was cut off when he noticed the woman charging towards him with her weapon ready to kill. The woman brought her blade down in a swift slice, however, Yudai merely turned his body to the side and avoided the attack altogether.

The determined woman wasn't finished yet unfortunately as she continued her assault with more slashes. Luckily for Yudai, she was very inexperienced when compared to himself. Her slashes were all poorly executed and so he was able to evade all of them without much effort. "M-Miss, please. I don't understand why you're trying to cut me down. We can talk if you would just stop." Yudai pleaded. After a quick while, the woman was already tired and her attacks diminished to the point that even a child could dodge. Seeing no choice but to stop her efforts, Yudai grabbed her hands as she attempted another slash and relinquished her grip of her sword, causing it to fall onto the ground below. "Enough." Yudai merely said as he stared directly into her eyes. Entering into the circle from the crowd of people was a man with unusual features including tanned skin, bleached white hair, and alluring red eyes. To the seasoned traveler, these features belong to none other than members of the Kokoro clan - a clan residing in a specific part of Kodaina's largest desert whose members are widely known to be exceptional at utilizing magic.

Having watched the situation, the man decided to step in to stop the fight. Yudai looked up and noticed the man; he even recognized the man as part of the Kokoro clan. By the manner the man was walking in, Yudai believed that the man wanted to join the fray. "I have no intentions in fighting you too Kokoro man." Yudai said, referring to the man by his clan's name. Yudai's attention was quickly drawn elsewhere as the crowd suddenly began to disperse. "(What's happening?)" Yudai thought as he looked around to see all the locals running off. "ALRIGHT, ENOUGH WITH THESE SHENANIGANS! IT'S TIME TO PAY UP!" a loud voice came from behind Yudai. Turning around, Yudai saw a group of seven men armed with swords and one man who, judging by his clothing, appears to be a government official. The official looked around with a frustrated expression. "Come on out you pathetic peasants! It's time to pay the Kane you owe your government!" the official voiced.

A little boy attempted to run pass the government official, only to be stopped when the man grabbed the back collar of his garb and held him up. "Where the hell do you think you're running to? Where's your parents? There late on their taxes!" the official yelled at the boy. Suddenly, the boy's mother and father came rushing out from behind a fruit stand and stopped in front of the official. "Mommy!" the boy called out. "Shuya!" the mother replied as she attempted to grabbed the boy back, only to be stopped when one of the official's guards stepped in front of her with his right hand placed firmly on his weapon. "Please, we already payed you all the Kane we had two days ago. We don't have anymore at the moment." the father pleaded. "Oh is that so? Guess what? THAT ISN'T MY PROBLEM!" the official responded hostilely. "If you don't pay what you owe me- I mean, what you owe the government, I'll just have to take your kid as collateral. Maybe I'll make him into a slave to work the silver mines." the official added with a cruel smirk.

"Put the boy down." Yudai suddenly said much to the official's surprise. "Ehh??? Who the hell are you? You don't look like my superior. In fact, you look like just an ordinary bum. How dare you order me around!" the official responded. "You're the kind of person I really detest. A corrupt government official who takes no regards toward your people's well being yet you force them to pay copious amounts of taxes." Yudai said before taking his sword and pointing at the official. "You don't deserve to be in a position of power." Yudai added. "Arrgh, guards, kill him and his two freaky-looking friends! Make an example out of them of what happens when you question your government!" the official commanded. On cue, four guards surround Yudai and the green-haired woman and the other three guards surround the Kokoro man. Yudai then looked to the green-haired woman. "My humblest apologies Miss. I didn't mean to force you into this situation. I thought they would only go after me." Yudai said before turning over to the Kokoro man. "The same goes to you Sir. My apologies." Yudai added.

-Meanwhile-

"(Damn it, I shouldn't have rushed in like this. Now I'm probably gonna die, or worse...)" the young woman thought as she regretted her actions. It should be noted that she didn't regret the fact that she was attempting to save those slaves in the convoy but she merely regretted rushing in without actually thinking of a plan of action. The guard who had been pelted by the young woman's rock was now charging at her with the intent to deliver payback. Unfortunately, the woman was too afraid to even move her legs. "(Come on legs, MOVE!)" she thought to herself but to no avail. As the guard neared her, the young woman closed her eyes and clenched her hands tightly. Moments later, the woman heard a masculine voice saying, "You're supposed to be a man?" As she opened her eyes, she could see a young man standing in front of her and the guard who had charged at her was on the ground several feet away from them. "(H-He saved me...!)" the woman thought, awestruck.

The young man directed his attention to the other guards and taunt them with a creative series of rude, cocky sentences. However, all of it was inaudible to the young woman as her mind only focused on the young man standing in front of her. Needless to say, she was still very much surprised. Once finished with the guards, the young man, who was about her age, turned back to her and explained how idiotic her plan was and how she was fortunate that he was here. All of that of course was packaged in a rather crude manner and also included a rather offensive nickname for the young woman. By now she had snapped back into reality and had heard the "sugartits" line. Her face quickly became red with a mix of embarrassment and anger, however, her reaction to that would have to wait as a guard came rushing towards the young man. "BEHIND YOU!" the young woman exclaimed to warn her rescuer of the incoming danger.

In an impressive display of combat, the young man made quick work of the guards and told them to run off while they still can. After which, the young man turned back once more to speak to the woman. At first it seems that he was about to ask if the woman was okay however it quickly turned into something entirely different. But for one moment, the woman swore that she saw him flashed a smile; a very sincere and kind one at that. "(That was odd...)" she thought. Suddenly, she remembered the "sugartits" thing and her face grew red again. "H-Hey! What was that 'Sugartits' thing about?! I don't appreciate that kind of nickname!" she scolded. The red finally diminished from her face but she kept an unhappy frown. "Well I guess I should thank you." she said as he frown quickly became a smile. "I'm Mei. Thanks for saving me." she said. Mei then turned her attention to the slave convoy. As she approached it, she took out a picklock and swiftly opened the steel bar cage door, freeing the slaves.

Mei also unlocked each slave's shackles. "We're not safe here. Those guards are probably getting reinforcements so we'll have to take these slaves to my hideout quickly. I don't believe you would want to encounter more of them so it's best if you come along temporarily." Mei said before she walked off with the rescued slaves. It seems the young man had no choice but to follow her as well considering the fact that he doesn't know these streets very well. A little bit later, the group had arrived at a small shack close to the town's exit. There, Mei showed the slaves and the young man a secret tunnel which they could use to escape from the town. She also gave each slave a good supply of food and water for the journey to the closest friendly town. After the slaves had left, Mei turned to the young man. "Look, I'm sorry that I got you involved. I have a habit of rushing into things without thinking first. But again, thank you for your help." Mei said.

Mei began to fidget her fingers nervously. "Umm, I know I'm not really in the position to be asking for your help after what you have just done, but you're exactly the kind of help that I'm looking for. You see, there's another slave convoy that's making it's way to Suzamari and I need help to rescue the slaves that are being held captive on board. O-One... One of them is my little sister..." Mei explained. "Please. You have to help me! We were separated by slave buyers and ever since then all I could think about is trying to rescue here. My chance is finally here and what I need now is someone capable enough to help me fight back against those convoy guards." Mei added, almost shedding tears in the process.

[Shradow]

Kokoro sighed inwardly. Another bout with corrupt government officials, he'd certainly had his fair share of those during his travels. It was in human nature to crave things like power and wealth. His first priority was the boy being held by the collar by the leader of the group. Kokoro pulled out a match his bag, and with a snap of his fingers, it caught alight. He flicked it towards the lead official lazily, and it rested upon the ground a couple feet away from the official. The official smirked at it and then laughed.

"Heh, a match? What do you expect to do with--"

The man was cut off as, with a wave of Kokoro's hand, the fire from the match suddenly flared to a large size and caught itself on his glove of the hand that held the boy. Surprised, the official let out a yelp and waved and patted his hand against his leg to put out the fire, dropping the boy in response. With the other guards surrounding Kokoro and the others, the boy was able to run to his mother, who both quickly dispersed with the rest of the crowd. The mother turned around and nodded at Kokoro in recognition, mouthing, "Thank you."

The official finally put out the fire and said with a growl, "What are you guards doing?! Kill them! And make the white-haired one's death especially painful!" He blew on his hand afterward, his glove extremely singed and the slight smell of burnt skin in the air. He looked in the direction the mother and son had run off in. "Those two haven't heard the last of me."

Kokoro grabbed his halberd from his back. Surrounded by enemies in such proximity, magic would not be enough. He made a show of twirling it skillfully around in one hand like a baton. [i]​"The battle against the psyche is as important as the battle against the body."[/i] he thought. He wasn't the strongest fighter, but his technique had unnerved enough foes in the past. A fight is never the best option, but Kokoro was not one for diplomacy, so scare tactics were a good option. "Come." In such a fight, the important thing would be to have freedom of movement, and the attack of the guards would give him the perfect time to retreat to a better position. He quickly glanced over at the other two who were surrounded by the other four guards. He had little worry about the one wielding the large sword, but he hoped the green-haired maiden would not hamper him.

One guard was not phased by his halberd and pulled out his sword, charging at Kokoro in a reckless fashion. His swing was wide and easily avoidable, so Kokoro quickly sidestepped several feet, and with a quick backswing, knocked the sword from the guard's hands. Now outside of the circle of guards, he backed a few feet away and faced the three guards. The unarmed guard tried to reach down and pick up his sword, but Kokoro quickly controlled the wind to lift the sword and bash the guard on the head, knocking him unconscious with the hilt of his own sword.

"Give up now." But neither of the guards listened, instead trying to attack him from both sides. As they closed in, Kokoro held his halberd by the tip of the handle, and quickly spun around in a circle, smacking the guards aside with the flat end of the blade as he spun. Dazed but still awake, the two guards quickly picked up their unconscious comrade and tried to run back to the official, only for him to knock them both out with a couple of punches. "Absolutely useless! You four, at least take the two swordsmen!"

[Hotaru987]

Much to Mori's displeasure she was easily, and quickly stopped by the one armed swordsman. Grabbing her hand in a tight grip as she intended to strike. Mori let go of her blade in surprise, and was ready to yell when he said it was enough while peering into her eyes. Mori went silent, but glared heatedly at the man as he turned his attention to another guy walking towards them. Calling Kokoro man, which seemed like an odd name to Mori since she didn't know her opponent was simply referring to him by his clan. He had yet to release her wrist, which was probably best since she would have reached for her sword again. However, her anger would have to be put on hold as some men appeared, one of them wearing clothes different than the rest of the towns people. Other than him there were seven other men. He began yelling something about the people having to pay Kane to the government. Things took a turn for the worst when a little boy and his parents got into the mix.

The one armed swordsman then spoke up - finally letting Mori's arm go - saying that people like him who abused his power were the type that he hated. [i]'Just what does he think he's doing?' [/i]Mori thought as she quickly picked up her sword. Suddenly the large man ordered his men to kill the one armed swordsman and his freaky friends. It was then the Kokoro man threw a match at the man's hand making him yelp, and let go of the boy who was then able to run off with his parents and out of sight. Before she knew it four men had her and the man surrounded. He apologized for getting her and the Kokoro man involved. Mori just scoffed, "Don't think I'm going to let you off just because you're helping these people. Once this is done I'll get my revenge." She looked at the two men in front of her, and got ready. It probably showed, but her earlier face off was the first time she ever fought against someone.

Mori made the first move, and just like earlier her strike was easily avoided with a simple side step. The man laughed, "This one here doesn't even know how to handle a sword. Listen here dolly, you'd be more useful as a bed warmer than a fighter." Though Mori didn't know what he meant she didn't like the way it was said. "Shut up! Just watch I'll take both of you down." Mori attempted a horizontal attack, but the man effortlessly blocked it. He leaned in close, "Aww, did the little girl get mad." He taunted before kicking Mori onto the ground.

[i]'O-ow..That hurt.' [/i]She stood back up, holding out her sword in determination.

"Just give it up little girl. That useless katana isn't going to save you." The second man said. Mori glared, "It's not a useless blade!" Though Mori wasn't normally an angry person, she was however exceedingly stubborn and after being riled up earlier she wasn't about to back down. Let's call it a one-tracked mind.

Completely forgetting about the first guy, she ran for the second one slashing down with her left hand. Again it was dodged, but this time as her left hand came down she released the hilt letting it fall into her right hand and quickly turned her momentum the opposite direction and slashing upwards with her right hand. With that she managed to cut the man's face before moving back. Mori was breathing hard from tiredness, but smirked, "Ha...H-how's that for a useless blade you stupid mongrel."

The man touched his face and growled, "You wench! You're gonna pay for that!"

"Just try it!" He rushed her, swinging with the intention of decapitating her. Mori's quickness was her saving grace as she barely managed to dodge the attack. Not relenting, he went for a stab. "Ahh!" With a surprised shriek, she clumsily tried to knock the sword away but her timing was terrible. Instead she was hit in the shoulder, causing her to stumble backwards. The first guy then came in knocking her sword out of her hands. "He-ugh!" She was cut off by the same guy reaching out and hoisting her up by her throat. "L-let...Me go.."

"I don't think so sweety. You have quite the mouth on you, but I think I know a better use for it." He squeezed tighter and Mori could feel herself slowly losing consciousness.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

With the guards dispatched the young woman instead of mentioning her name right away decided to comment on the sugartits line. Even though Takeo wasn't really much better in those regards and will probably end up kicking himself for his lack of respect later on at the current moment he wasn't really sure how to react. He was pretty sure his one liners would get people to shut up right away. Or attack him. He always hoped they'd shut up and not attack him but the world is filled with violent people. Luckily for him though she spoke up again and thanked him before giving her name to him. "[i]Okay...uhhh...Mei...what would be a cool manly response. Ooh, I got it.[/i]" Takeo simply scoffed before properly replying. "My name's Takeo."

It wasn't much longer until Mei had not only unlocked the convoy but also freed the slaves from their shackles. "[i]She might be a little bit too good at that.[/i]" Soon afterwards she was recommending that they all leave the premises. "Heh, if they were anything like those weaklings I can handle them no prob." Of course even with that lie stated they ended up leaving anyway with Mei leading the group to freedom and even through tunnels in order to reach said destination. "[i]Tunnels...hideouts...jeez, she really is too good at this.[/i]"

It wasn't a whole lot longer until they reached the outskirts of the town and Mei sent the slaves on their way along with some provisions for each of them. With the newly freed slaves gone Mei turned to Takeo. It didn't seem his job here was done just yet as there were more slave convoys that needed saving and one of the captured people was Mei's sister. With Mei bursting into tears Takeo let out another one of his commonplace sighs. "[i]I rather not have to fight but...[/i]" He glanced at Mei for a second. "[i]Can I be a man and just allow something like this to happen?[/i]"

Takeo took a step towards Mei while showing his natural a warm smile. "Hey, it's okay. Please stop crying. I promise..." He lifted up his hand in order to wipe away some of the tears off Mei's face. When they were wiped away he was back to his manly facade. "That I'll own those motherf*ckers and we'll save your sis." He began to walk past her but stopped only after a few steps. He then looked back at Mei and said, "Wait, which way are they?"

[.:Blu:.]

After Yudai had apologized to the green-haired woman for dragging her into their current predicament, she proceeded to reply, stating that she will still seek her revenge after the situation was dealt with. "Revenge...?" Yudai asked quietly in confusion. Thinking in his head, Yudai failed to remember any incidents that has happened so far in his current lifestyle that would drive someone to seek vengeance against him. The only possible, though highly unlikely, scenario would be that this green-haired woman is somehow related to the rugged thugs from earlier. However, there are way too many flaws that prevent the theory from even being plausible. Yudai could only hope that after this situation has been resolved, the green-haired woman would be composed enough to at least discuss the problem that she seemingly has with him. Another issue then crossed Yudai's mind and that is the fact that this green-haired woman is quite terrible at swordsmanship; facing off against trained swordsman will prove to be quite a major problem for her. Despite being her enemy, though of no willingness of his own, Yudai decided that he should help the woman in her bout. Unfortunately, that would have to wait as Yudai was quickly confronted by two of the four guards.

"H-Hey watch out! That big sword of his is gonna be a problem!" one of the guards stated to his battle partner. "Humph, I bet it's just for show. No one can adequately wield such a huge sword in battle. It's just an intimidation tactic!" the other guard confidently assured his ally. Yudai did not say even a single word in response to the guard's suggestion that his huge sword is just a bluff. No, rather Yudai prefer to prove them wrong with action. Both guards charged at Yudai with their swords raised. Reading them with relative ease, Yudai simply held his sword in front of himself, with the flat side facing forward, in order to block the guards' horizontal slashes. As expected, the guards attacked exactly how Yudai predicted which resulted in both attacks easily being blocked. Having blocked the guards' initial attacks, Yudai pushed back with his weapon, causing the two guards to stumble back and almost falling onto the ground. Without warning, Yudai attacked in a vertical arc with his sights set on the more cautious guard. As Yudai's sword made impact with the guard's sword, the force behind the attack was great enough to send the guard colliding into his buddy and causing both to fall onto the ground.

"Get off of me!" the skeptical guard from before shouted as he forcefully pushed his friend off of himself. Both guards quickly got back up onto their feet and into defensive stances. Angered and embarrassed, the skeptical guard let out a sort of battle cry before attempting to charge at Yudai once more. However, in one blinding fast sweep of his sword, Yudai was able to slice off half of the blade of each guards' sword. It took a moment before the guards realized what had just occurred and to which their eyes widened with shock. Yudai proceeded to finish off his opponents by knocking them unconscious with the flat side of his sword. Looking over to the green-haired woman, Yudai's eyes widened as he saw one of the guards strangling her. By the looks of things, she seems to be on the verge of falling unconscious. Reacting quickly, Yudai swung the flat side of his sword straight onto the guard's head; the force of which instantly neutralized the guard and sent him plummeting onto the ground along with the green-haired woman. While Yudai retracted his sword, the last guard seized the opportunity to charge at him; ready to impale Yudai's exposed midsection.

Unfortunately for the guard, he had underestimated Yudai's speed even with such a massive weapon. While retracting his weapon, Yudai instantly switched over to a horizontal, slashing attack which collided with the guard's sword and sending him flying back towards the government official. "AHHH!" the official shouted as he saw the incoming guard that soon collided into him and knocking both onto the ground. The force of Yudai's swing was powerful enough to knock the guard unconscious, as already demonstrated with the other guards, however, the official was still very much conscious and quickly got up off the ground. Over on the Kokoro man's side of things, he had easily defeated the guards as well; he had even helped the little boy escaped from the official's grasp. With all of the guards defeated, the locals exited their hiding spots and looked at the official with vengeful eyes. Scared for his very life, the official ran off towards the opposite direction. Yudai now turned his attention to the green-haired woman. "Are you alright?" Yudai asked, concerned. Just second after, the crowd whipped up into an excited frenzy as they surrounded the three heroes who rescued them from the corrupt official.

"Thank you for getting rid of that official! We wouldn't have any idea what he would have done to us if we didn't pay him! You three saved us!" one local shouted. This was followed by a barrage of praises and appreciative comments which took Yudai by surprise. When the crowd finally settled down, what seems to be the town's head came up to the three warriors and bowed. "You three have saved us from being turned into slaves. Will you be kind enough to tell us the names of our newly-found heroes?" the elder asked. "My name is Yudai." Yudai responded. "After the hero huh? You surely live up to the name." the elder stated. He then turned his attention to the other two. "And what are your names, kind heroes?" the elder asked.

-Meanwhile-

Mei was thoroughly surprised when Takeo wiped her tears. What was more surprising was how gentle-sounding Takeo was, as if he was an entirely different person. She couldn't help but blush when Takeo did that. Even more admirable was that Takeo agreed to help her. "Y-You will?" Mei asked softly. As Takeo walked outside, Mei stood there and stared at him. "(Just what kind of person is he...?)" Mei wondered. To Mei, there is a strange, alluring air about Takeo. One minute, he is a foul-mouth, cocky individual and the next minute he is gentle, kind, and thoughtful. What kind of word can be used to describe this person? It was simply puzzling to Mei. Just then, her train of thought was stopped when Takeo asked which way will they be able to find the slave convoy. "O-Oh, right!" Mei uttered before running outside. "I heard the convoy is traversing on the Serpent's Pass south of here. It's not too far actually." Mei stated. Though she may have spoke with a casual tone, there is absolutely a reason to be cautious and fearful about heading to the Serpent's Pass. The Serpent's Pass is a long route that stretches from Ryujin to Fukai and it is the main route for all kinds of criminal activities ranging from slave convoys to bandits and much more.

Only desperate people would think about traveling on the Serpent's Pass. Either that or well-armed groups which is exactly why a slave convoy would be going through there. However, Takeo and Mei are only two individuals and Mei isn't even considered a fighter. Despite that, Mei believes in Takeo's combat capabilities and that is the only reason why she felt safe to ask him to help her out. "Dusk will be arriving soon... Perfect. We'll be able to sneak up on the convoy under the cover of darkness." Mei stated with a confident smile as she looked back at Takeo. Later on, evening had arrived and Mei managed to lead the two of them to the slave convoy's camp. Admittedly, they were lost for quite some time trying to even reach the Serpent's Pass. Eventually a kind old man directed them there. Takeo and Mei took position behind a couple of large boulders to stay hidden from any of the slave traders. The campsite consisted of several tents all set up in a circular path so that they surround the central campfire. The convoy itself is placed a few yards away from the campsite, out in the cold and more importantly, away from the campfire's light.

As Mei looked over, she noticed that there wasn't a single guard or slave trader in sight. "Hey we're pretty lucky. I don't see a single person guarding the campsite. Alright, I'm gonna go in first and sneak pass the camp." Mei stated. Once again, Mei appears to be rushing in without thinking. At least she was more cautious however. Soon Mei was able to reach the convoy, avoiding the fire's light the whole way there. As she looked into the convoy, Mei noticed all of the slaves were asleep, but even more important than that, she saw her little sister. "(Yui!)" Mei thought. Acting quickly, Mei picked the lock of the convoy and opened the cage door. "Yui!" Mei whispered loudly. His whisper was loud enough to wake up her sister and the other slaves but the sound fortunately did not reach the camp. Once Yui saw Mei, her eyes lit up with pleasant surprise. "M-" Yui was about to excitedly shout her older sister's name but was smart enough to stop herself despite being the excitable age of seven.

As an alternative, Yui ran up to her sister and gave her a big hug with both girls shedding a little bit of tears. "I've missed you so much Yui." Mei whispered. "Me too." Yui responded. However, their happy reunion was cut short when one of the slaves in the convoy removed the cloth that was wrapped around his body and revealed himself to be a guard. "Found ya!" the guard smiled deviously. The guard proceeded to threw a bamboo shoot near Mei and Yui that soon exploded and released a cloudy mist. "Gotta love this new black powder substance huh?" the guard said, referring to the recent invention that was traded into Kodaina from a continent neighboring it. The cloudy mist soon caused Mei and Yui to fall unconscious. "That and sleeping gas." the guard added to his previous sentence as he took the cloth from before and placed it onto his mouth and nose to prevent himself from breathing in the released gas. The other slaves in the convoy stood up and walked out from the cage; they also turned out to be guards. "Now we can return her to Yoshida." one of the guards said about Mei, his muffled voice still audible.

[Shradow]

While Kokoro handled his three guards, the swordsman with the large sword was cleaning up just as quickly. During his own fight, Kokoro noted a few swings of the enormous blade in his peripheral vision, and was surprised at the speed of the swings. After his fight was over, he looked over to see the other four guards taken out just as easily. The citizens of the town then came out of the woodwork, eyeing the remaining official with vengeance. He was out of sight before Kokoro had even replaced the halberd on his back.

With the crisis averted, the townspeople cheered and rejoiced with great vigor. After a time someone who appeared to be the elder of the village requested for their names. The one-armed man finally identified himself as Yudai; one with the same name as the legendary hero. Once he was turned to, Kokoro simply replied, "Kokoro Hanzō." with a slight bow. He then glanced over at the green-haired maiden, who seemed as relieved to be out of that mess as some of the townspeople. However she still looked angrily at Yudai, as if there was unfinished business between them.

Kokoro had merely stopped in town to pick up some supplies; he had never expected he'd end up saving a whole town from enslavement. He preferred quiet solitude to the hustle and bustle that was taking place at the moment. Living most of his life in the desert, things were simple. Oftentimes Kokoro found himself alone with his thoughts and his magic. It was nice. It was another reason he liked to travel, he could be alone with the many wonders of the world. He had befriended some people in his travels, but he never stayed with any one person or group of people for very long.

The hero treatment didn't really appeal to him, as even all of his duties in protecting his own village were only that. They were something that needed to be done, just like any other job. Nothing worth mentioning. Perhaps he might get a chance to leave early, but he knew with the town in a happy air once again, things would become interesting, and thus the chance at further wonder brought an involuntary smile to Kokoro's face. He once again glanced at the other two, and his smile faltered a little. These two were still a mystery to him, and he had a feeling their intertwined paths would not unravel anytime soon. He would need to consult with his own thoughts in silence sometime later.

[Hotaru987]

The darkness was quickly closing in on all sides of Mori's vision, and she could feel her struggle against the guard coming to an end. Just when she was about to give up air rushed back into her lungs. She coughed as black spots danced in front of her vision but slowly vanishing until she was able to see clearly. When she did she noticed that both of the guys she was fighting were already dealt with, her savior being the very same guy she tried to kill earlier who at the moment was asking her if she was alright. Before she could consider giving an answer the towns people broke into excitement as many people exited buildings and surrounded her and the other two men. Some shouting thanks and praise for their 'heros'. In the middle of all the praise an old man walked out from the crowd. Back in her small village they had something called the village elder, so maybe this guy was their elder. He certainty looked old enough for the part.

He thanked them for saving their town, and asked for names. The man she attacked earlier introduced himself as Yudai. Named after the great hero that he father often told her stories about when she was little. Well it didn't matter, she still had some unfinished business with him. The guy with white hair was called Kokoro Hanzo. The elder then looked to her waiting for her to introduce herself, "O-oh, I'm Mori Chisana. It's nice to meet you." She greeted with a smile, showing a completely different attitude than earlier when she was attacking Yudai.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Hearing about the difficulties traversing Serpent's Pass, Takeo gulped. "[i]So that means that not only will the convoy be filled with guards but also that there might be bandits around as well. Why is it me that had to deal with this? I don't want to fight all those people. I'm not even sure if I can.[/i]" Even with all this self doubt Takeo kept up his facade and followed Mei anyway even if it was evident that she wasn't all that sure of the way either. It may have taken a while but Takeo and Mei were eventually able to reach their destination and took cover behind a few large boulders.

Takeo climbed up to near the top of the large boulders and poked his head over in order to assess the situation. "This is odd. There appears to be no guards out. If bandits attacked they'd be wiped out fairly easily. That or with where the convoy is placed their slaves would be stolen. Are they really such dumba**es? It might be a good idea if we sit around for a little bit longer and keep watching. Right, Mei?" When no response came he looked around. "Mei?" He poked his head over to see Mei just now reuniting with her sister. As touching a moment as this may be he made an observation that took too long to make. Yui appeared to be the only child in the group. And from what he could see all the other 'slaves' were particularly large. "It was a trap." That was when the guards sprung up and revealed themselves. It wasn't much longer until the two sisters were captured. "They put an aweful lot of work into capturing one slave...this whole thing is strange...could it be that they're after me as well?"

Takeo jumped back off the pile of boulders while still making sure to have cover. "I can't do this..." He began to walk away from the whole scene but simply stopped. "No. It's running away I can't do." He turned back and took out his bow and a single arrow. "A direct assault just won't do. There's too many of them and I simply don't have enough of what it takes. Keep it simple. Less is more." He let out a sigh before firing an arrow into the air. "Trying to be a man is a real pain." The arow flew high up into the air only to fall back down. Even though it had lost its speed its descent allowed it to pick some of it back up. Unfortunately a random guard happened to move to the location in which the arrow fell and was hit in his right shoulder.

It was then that chaos would ensue. Hearing the screams of pain from the one guard the other guards began to run around picking up their weapons but they were unable to properly get into battle station seeing as how they had no idea where the attack had come from. They were looking all around them but couldn't see a thing. It was simply too dark and there were too many places to take cover from. Takeo knew that he'd need to take advantage of all of this. "Well look at what we have here! Seems a few mothaf*ckas decided it'd be wise to step onto our turf! Don't these dumbsh*ts know how dangerous it is around here?! There are bandits holed up round here that just love to pillage some b*tches and they just love surrounding those they steal or murder." Takeo, after yelling all that, then proceeded to laugh as insanely as he could. "Actually, I'm getting kind of bored of f*cking around with y'all. How 'bout you just leave dem slaves here and we'll let you all live. That or we'll let you guys in on our arrow hell. It's actually kind of cool. Wanna see it?"

[.:Blu:.]

Hearing the clan name "Kokoro" gave the elder a pleasant surprise. "Ah, so you are of the Kokoro clan. This is the second time in my entire life that I've laid eyes on a member of such an elusive and reserved clan." the elder mentioned. He then turned his head over to the green-haired woman who introduced herself as Mori Chisana. "Chisana huh...?" the elder allowed the name to simmer in his thoughts for a moment. "I'm sorry... That name sounds somewhat familiar..." the elder said before turning his attention elsewhere. "Are the three of you traveling with each other by any chance?" the elder asked. "No. Actually, we've just met." Yudai answered. "I see... What a shame. And I thought that I've stumbled upon a band of heroes, traveling Kodaina to unify it from the forces of evil. Hahaha, I guess I'm just reminiscing about the olden days of people like Yudai Kamiyama. Heaven knows we need heroes during this miserable era we're living in. Oh, sorry. There I go rambling on again hahaha." the elder laughed things off before turning to face the crowd of people behind him. Despite the elder calling the things he had said as mere "rambling", Yudai is inclined to agree with him. After traveling for a good two years or so, Yudai had seen what Kodaina is like without unity and it surely can be called a "miserable era".

"Listen up everybody! Thanks to these three brave warriors, our town is safe from that corrupt man who has repeatedly threatened to turn us into slaves! I say tonight we have ourselves a celebration in honor of our rescuers!" the elder announced which was then met by uproarious applause and cheering. As the crowd continued to display their excitement, the elder turned back to Yudai, Mori, and Kokoro. "Please, you three must stay the night for the celebrations. It will be a good morale boost for this town." the elder pleaded. "Of course." Yudai replied while giving a single nod of agreement.

-Meanwhile-

After an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Yudai, Mori, and Kokoro, the government official retreated to his manor which resembled a pagoda in some ways. The main building, the pagoda-like structure, resided in the very back of the manor. The manor grounds is set in stone and is reminiscent to the grounds within the enclosed walls of a palace. Finally, there is a large stone wall that surrounds the manor; the front of which has two gigantic wooden gate doors. Worst of all, this entire manor was probably funded with the kane of the townsfolk under the official's reign. Within his home, the official had taken refuge in his main office and was currently pacing back and forth behind his large desk; the rhythm of his movement suggests that he is infuriated with what had happened to him. Suddenly, a group of men entered into the room - the same group that had pestered Yudai when he had first arrived. "So you finally decided to show up huh? You idiots! Where the hell were you???" the official shouted at the group. "S-Sorry my lord but we had a run-in with some pesky swordsman." the leader of the group of thugs replied.

"A swordsman...? Was he carrying a huge sword or was it a woman with strange green-hair? Or maybe he was an infuriating little rat with white hair???" the official demanded to know. "T-The first one! He had a humongous sword!" one of the lackeys answered. "So it was from that group... DAMN IT! I want their heads!" the official exclaimed angrily as he kicked his table. "You encountered them too my lord?" the leader asked. "Of course I did you numskull! Those inferior rejects of humanity dared to defy me! ME! Lord Fukuzuma!" the official shouted. "So how are we gonna get revenge on them?" the leader asked. Suddenly, a thought came to Fukuzuma's mind. "Hehehe... We still have [i]those two[/i]." Fukuzuma smiled devilishly much to the dismay of the group of thugs.

[Evening]

Later on in the evening, the celebrations have already begun. It was a festival, held in the honor of the town's new heroes. Everything was extremely different than how it was in the morning. There was a lively atmosphere with vendors selling food, trinkets, and whatnot, children were running around playing, and the town's men celebrated over a bottle of sake. Even if you weren't doing anything in particular, it was still pleasant to merely observe the festivities that were happening. Yudai had just finished about twenty or so dishes of various foods; leaving the men, women, and children who were watching him in complete awe at such an inhuman feat. "Thank you for the meal." Yudai said as he gave a grateful bow. It had been quite some time since he had eaten such delicious food and in such large amounts. In fact, Yudai might even be feeling full for once. Picking up his sword and securing it onto his back, Yudai decided to browse the markets to see if there was anything to buy. However, the sight of Mori caught his eyes. He still had unfinished business with her, at least from her perspective. Though he had done a good job of avoiding Mori so far, Yudai decided that it was finally time to take care of things once and for all and to clear up any confusion between the two of them.

Yudai walked over to Mori who, by now, was alone. "Hello there Mori, if you would allow me to address you in that way. It seems we need to clear the air of some misunderstandings." Yudai stated.

Meanwhile on Kokoro's side of things, like Mori some time before, he was surrounded by children who had taken an interest in his unusual physical features, most notably his white hair, tanned skin, and piercing red eyes. They continuously asked questions like where he was from or why does he look different from them. Fortunately, the town elder arrived just in time to relieve Kokoro of his troubles. "Alright children, run along now. Our hero is tired and is in need of some rest." the elder said. Though a tad disappointed, the children proceeded to run off and continue their play. "I apologize if they were any trouble to you. They've never seen a man of the Kokoro clan before. Anyways, I must be going as well but here's a bottle of fine sake that I was fortunate enough to have bought. I'm too old for such things and the other two seem occupied with something else. You look like you would enjoy a good drink." the elder said as he set the bottle down and continued on his way.

-Meanwhile-

The tactical and clever Takeo knew he couldn't just rush into the fray without first inducing some sort of chaos. And so with that notion in mind, Takeo fired off a arrow directly into the air and at somewhat of an angle. Despite the arrow coming to a stop once it reached its highest point, it quickly picked up speed as it descended; of course that was a matter of simple physics. Though Takeo wanted to induce panic, he'd never expected the arrow to actually hit something, but that was exactly what happened. As the arrow continued its descent, one of the guards was unfortunate enough to walk to a spot right beneath the arrow and quickly, and painfully, lodged itself into the guard's right shoulder. Instantly, the guard began screaming in pain, alarming the other guards. This was more than Takeo required, but it's not like he was going to complain about it; it helped him after all. Taking advantage of the panic, Takeo assumed a different, more crazed, personality than his regular facade and proceeded to address the panicking guards. After taunting them and giving a wonderfully crazed laugh, Takeo told the guards to hand Mei and Yui over.

"D-Damn you... Ugh...!" the guard with the arrow in his shoulder uttered before succumbing to the pain and falling unconscious. The other guards thought their friend had just died and their panic levels shot up even higher. "M-Maybe we should surrender the slaves." one guard suggested. "Y-Yeah, there's no reason to die over this!" another guard agreed. Everything was working out perfectly for Takeo. "F-Fine! We'll hand them over! Just let us go!" one of the guards shouted in agreement to the terms set by Takeo. It was quite a fortunately stroke of luck for Takeo because now he wouldn't need to engage them in combat. Suddenly, a sharp pain was felt on Takeo's nape and mere seconds later, Takeo fell unconscious; a small needle can be seen on Takeo's nape as he lie there. A figure, hidden by darkness, approached from behind Takeo and placed one foot onto his back. "Tsk, tsk, do I have to do everything by myself?" the figure spoke in a slightly high-pitched, masculine tone. "Y-Yoshida-sama!" one of the guards uttered in surprise. "Honestly, you slave traders are pathetic. Look at that one. Is he dead?" Yoshida asked, referring to the guard with the arrow in his shoulder.

One of the guards checked and noticed that he was still breathing. "He's only unconscious." the guard answered. "Humph, well kill him. And then bring the two girls along with this one to the hideout." Yoshida commanded as he tapped on Takeo's back with his foot before walking away.

[Morning]

Morning had now arrived and the criminal activities within the Serpent's Pass has dwindled as the criminals await for dusk once again. Criminals prefer to work under the cover of darkness on the Serpent's Pass, especially slave traders. And during the day, they take refuge at their established hideouts. Takeo, Mei, and Yui had been moved to Yoshida's hideout which consists of a large camp next to a cave which has been converted into a sort-of makeshift prison to hold the slaves. Next to the camp is a large area that has been made into an arena where the slave traders and guards can pit wild and dangerous animals against one another in deadly fights for entertainment. This kind of hideout can be considered a pretty standard setup on the Serpent's Pass and more hideouts like this can be found all over the place. Mei had the misfortune of being held in Yoshida's personal tent - the largest tent within the entire camp. She had shackles around both her wrists and ankles, and the chains that are connected to the shackles are wrapped tightly around a large wooden pole, immobilizing Mei completely.

Suddenly, a [url=http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz46/wirespy/YoshidaIcon_zps60870819.png]man[/url] entered into the tent. It was none other than the leader of the slave traders himself, Yoshida. A devilish grin framed his face as his eyes scanned Mei all over. "I can't believe you would even think about escaping me. Why would you do such a thing to me, your husband?" Yoshida asked with an innocent act. "You're not my husband! You're just a slave trader who murdered my family!" Mei revealed. "But don't you see? If I hadn't killed them, our love would've never blossomed this much." Yoshida stated. "You're pathetic." Mei insulted. Hearing that, Yoshida broke into a crazed laugh. "It's always such a treat talking to you my dear! Don't worry, you'll come to love me soon enough. I just need to get rid of one last factor that's keeping us apart. You do know what I mean right...?" Yoshida asked. Mei's eyes widened with fear after hearing that. "DON'T YOU DARE HURT YUI!!!" Mei shouted.

"Well I need something to feed my tigers with. I think she'll make an excellent meal if not anything else hahahaha!" Yoshida laughed as Mei clenched her fists tightly.

-Meanwhile-

"Are you okay?! Wake up, please!" the voice of a young girl emanated in Takeo's mind. It was Yui, Mei's little sister, who has been ushering Takeo to awake. After some time had passed, Takeo managed to woke. "Are you okay?" Yui asked, concerned. Looking around, it seems the two of them are being held within a steel cage located inside of a cave. It was the cave prison mentioned earlier. Yui was quite nervous and scared because she doesn't know where her sister is being held. Furthermore, she has no idea what will happen to her and the young man who inside the cage with her. Just then, two guards arrived in front of the cage door. "Which one did he say again?" one of the guards asked. "The little girl." his friend replied. The first guard nodded before opening the cage door and walking inside to grab Yui. Her shackles made resisting a struggle and so the guard could easily pulled her out. "H-Hey! Where's my sister?!" Yui shouted. "Shut up." the guard simply said before slapping her and making her tear up. Normally any seven year old would cry but Yui is tougher than most children at her age, but still, it was quite painful.

[Hotaru987]

After saying her name the elder repeated her last name, saying that the name sounded familiar to him. However, before Mori could question him further on the topic he was quickly addressing other matters. [i]'I wonder....Did dad pass through this town too? It's possible...He said he traveled to lots of places on his journey!' [/i]Even so, Mori still had a few words (and maybe a sword) with Yudai. Though that would have to wait since the elder suggested that their be a celebration to honor them for helping to liberate their town from those earlier men. With that being said all the towns people went to work on getting the celebration started, and Mori quickly turned on Yudai to finish their earlier bout. However, he was no where to be found. "Now where did he go? I'm not done with him ye-"

"Ms. Mori do you want to play with us?" "Yeah, can you play with us?" Please?" "Pretty please Ms. Mori." All at once the young samurai was surrounded by little children hoping to occupy one of their savior's time with games and fun. One of the kids held a round ball in her hands, all of them looking up with hopeful eyes. Not the type of person to be mean, especially not to children, she smiled, "Oh, alright! But just for a little while!" The children cheered, and they all went off to kick the ball around with Mori joining them. It had been a while since Mori last played a game like this, the last time was playing a game called Kimari with her father before he left. Quickly the morning turned into evening and the celebration was in high gear. Everyone was happy, and the emotionless state of the town earlier that day seemed nothing more than a distant memory.

Mori was really enjoying her time there. The food was great and the company was comforting. Though through out the festivities she found herself slowly becoming agitated. The reason behind her agitation was none other than Yudai. All day he had done nothing but evade her. Whenever she tried to close in on him he was already gone. While in her search she noticed Kokoro being surrounded by children all having taken an interest in him. She laughed a bit before continuing her search. After having been given the slip quite a few times Mori decided to give up for the night. "Maybe he already skipped town. I hadn't spotted him in a while." The only thing she didn't understand is why would he try to help these people? If he was a murderer then he shouldn't care about helping others. She sighed only to hear Yudai speak to her from behind.

"Hello there Mori, if you would allow me to address you in that way. It seems we need to clear the air of some misunderstandings."

Mori frowned, "No you may not address me that way. I don't appreciate someone like you addressing me like we're friends, when we're not." She turned to completely face him, "And there is no misunderstanding, you are the man who killed my father I'm sure of it! That right there-" She pointed to his missing left arm, "-Is all the proof I need! I was told that my father was murdered by a one-armed swordsman and you fit the bill." She put a hand on her blade ready to draw it.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Takeo began to make him self comfortable as he watched the guardscompletely freak out. "Heh, this was too easy. And I didn't have to fight anybody either. Although I do feel kind of bad for that guy I hit. I thought just the arrow coming down to startle them would be enough but I guess I can't complain." It was then that he felt a sharp pain and his eyes widened to match the surprise and pain. "How?" He looked behind him to see a man with an incredibly devilish smile. Takeo returned his own angry glare at him. Before succumbing to unconciousness Takeo muttered, "You bastard..." What happened to him after that was completely out of his control and knowledge.

It didn't seem to be until morning that he was finally going to be woken up. With him finally beginning to slip into conciousness due to Yui's pleas the first thing Takeo managed to mutter was, "Five more minutes, mommy..." It was soon after that his eyes actually opened and he could see Yui. Answering her question he replied, "Yeah, just a little sore. I've slept on rough surfaces before but they still somehow managed to make this as uncomfortable as possible." He then noticed how scared Yui was. He let out a sigh before smiling at Yui and patting her on the head. "Hey, it'll be okay. Your big bro here will save us. Yui too. I'll make sure of that. Good job for being so strong. Just keep it up for a little bit longer."

Two guards decided then would be the best time to make their own appearance. They made no hesitation in grabbing Yui. "What the hell are you guys doing?!" Both his and Yui's questions were disregard with a such a simple phrase commanding their silence but then the guards went too far when they slapped Yui. "What the f*ck is wrong with you?! She's a little girl!" Fighting appearing to be the only option, Takeo tried to go after them but it was futile due to the chains that kept him locked into place. "God dammit..." He looked up at them with an angry glare. "If you're taking her you better take me too."

[Shradow]

Kokoro enjoyed the festivities the best he could, partaking in the food and games held about. Everywhere he went people were thanking him and asking him questions, and the vendors at the marketplace from whom he bought his supplies even tried to return his pay as thanks for saving them, though of course Kokoro turned them down with a smile and a quiet wave of the hand. There was one young woman who even offered to bear Kokoro's offspring, which he chose not to respond due to a reason besides his quiet nature. The town was lively and exciting now, but at the time, all Kokoro wanted to do was find a quiet place to calm down and gather his thoughts. He saw an exit to the town leading to the forest path, which he thought was perfect, but before he could make an escape he was suddenly surrounded by children. A barrage of questions soon followed, but they all came so quick and with such frequency, all Kokoro could do was smile awkwardly in response. Thankfully the village elder came to his rescue and shooed away the kids, even offering him a bottle of sake.

Kokoro graciously accepted it with a slight bow. The elder went back towards the center of town, while Kokoro turned back towards the exit. He looked down at the bottle of sake in his hand, "Later." and quickly dropped it into the bag at his side. As he left he once again noticed Yudai and Mori together, a stern look on Mori's face. He'd have to consult with them later, once he'd consulted with himself. He quickly darted into the forest, before anyone else showed up to interrupt.

Upon reaching a clearing far enough from town, Kokoro sat down underneath a large tree, placing his halberd on the ground next to him. The lights of the village were dim in the distance and the sounds of the festivities were drowned out in the sea of trees. Even the insects were quiet where he sat, as was usually the case during his meditations, so the atmosphere was perfect. He assumed his meditation pose, sitting with his legs crossed and his hands on his knees, bowing his head and closing his eyes. Suddenly the world around him was no more and all that surrounded him was the darkness in his own mind. In a flash, all of the memories of his recent encounters came into focus, adjusting themselves and replaying.

As things faded away, Kokoro opened his eyes wide; but if you looked into them, you would not see his crimson irises, only two shiny surfaces, like little mirrors. He heard a voice, but it was muffled and unintelligible. Yet in the clearing Kokoro could see two ominous figures, their details covered in shadow. They charged at him, and just as they struck, Kokoro left his trance, permeated in a cold sweat. His breathing was heavy and his hands shook, with a feeling he was unsure. Kokoro quickly gained his composure, but the fact he had to at all was anything but good. "Bad news." Quickly gathering his halberd, Kokoro set out back to the village in a sprint. Looking down at his bag, he thought with a groan, [i]"I might have a use for this soon."[/i]

[.:Blu:.]

Yudai's friendly tone was quickly met with a hostile response from Mori who forbid him from calling her by her given name as to not confuse them as friends. Mori then proceeded to accuse Yudai of committing a rather shocking crime: the murder of her father. Hearing that, Yudai's eyes widened, naturally because of the nature of what he had just been accused of. Mori backed up her claim when she pointed to Yudai's missing left arm and stated that she was told her father's murderer is a one-arm swordsman before gripping her sword with the intent to kill Yudai. There was a moment of silence as Yudai's friendly smile quickly vanished from sight and a serious demeanor formed. "Truthfully, I, myself, am not even sure whether what you've said is false or not..." Yudai surprisingly confessed. Yudai turned to look at the empty space where his left arm should be occupying. "I have no memory of how I came to lose this arm nor do I have any memories of the events that may have transpired prior to that. So whether I'm the person who ended your father's life or not is a mystery even to me I'm afraid..." Yudai explained, a hint of regret and sorrow can be perceived from his words.

"However," Yudai gave a pause as he turned back to face Mori, staring straight into her eyes without hesitation, "I can assure you, as the person who is standing in front of you right now, I did not kill your father. Unfortunately, I can't say that about the man I was from my past. But despite whatever the truth may be, I cannot allow you to kill me... not yet." Yudai said, his stern eyes exuding an overpowering will. "For I am in search of who I truly am and until my identity is made clear, I cannot die. I refuse it. The one who saved me from death... I owe this duty to them. But when the day comes when I discover who I am, and if that person truly is the murderer you sought, you may take my life without intervention...!" Yudai declared without a single moment of hesitation. The stare of his eyes and the tone of his voice, both of them seem perfectly genuine. It was truly remarkable. Most people would attempt to preserve their life in this kind of situation but Yudai promised his life over to this woman whom he barely met if it meant closure for her ordeal. "If you will, please trust in what I have said..." Yudai stated before turning around and walking away. "But if you wish, you can come along with me on my journey as a means of preventing me from escaping the oath I have made to you..." Those were Yudai's last words on the matter as he proceeded to leave Mori to her thoughts.

Suddenly, a loud noise filled the air followed by a scream from one of the town's women. The noise sounded like one of the wooden vendor stands being destroyed. Yudai's attention turned towards the path of then noise. Without a single word or thought, Yudai charged towards the origin of the noise. As Yudai ran forward, men, women, and children can be seen hastily running in the opposite direction. "Well aren't you a pretty one? Hehehe..." the leader of the group of thugs from this morning snickered deviously as he groped a young woman who appears to be in her mid-twenties. "P-Please let me go!" the young woman pleaded but was ignored by the deviant. He and the young woman stood next to a destroyed fruit stand with his group of lackeys standing nearby. Behind the group was an absolutely monstrous cage in terms of size; the contents of which are hidden due to an equally massive, scarlet-colored cloth draped over it. Fukuzuma, the corrupt official, is then seen walking to the front of the cage. "You indecent bastard, let that wretched wench go and focus on doing your job before I have your head!" Fukuzuma scolded the gang leader. "R-Right! Yes my lord!" the gang leader responded as he quickly complied with his boss' order.

As the young woman ran off, Yudai arrived at the scene and is displeased at the sight of his newly-made enemies. "Hey! It's that swords-" the gang leader's sentence was cut short as Fukuzuma slapped him across his face in order to shut him up. "So you finally showed up you little sh*t!" Fukuzuma greeted Yudai as the gang leader can be seen rubbing his face in the background after having been slapped by Fukuzuma. "Huh? Where's the green-haired wench and that insufferable, pathetic white rat???" Fukuzuma asked, his voice noticeably had more disdain when he mentioned Kokoro. "Why are you here? We gave you a chance to leave this town." Yudai said. "Hahahaha! You really think I would really just up and leave prime real estate like the town of Obatoshi??? You are such an idiot! This is my town and these people are my slaves! But you! Ohhh, you, the green-haired weirdo, and that white rat! You three won't be slaves, you'll be DEAD!!!" Fukuzuma shouted threateningly.

"You've terrorized the good people of Obatoshi for long enough. It's time for your reign to permanently end...!" Yudai stated as he drew his massive blade. "Hehe, so you think I just came here empty handed huh? Jinsei!" Fukuzuma shouted in command, referring to the gang leader by his name. "Yes sir, my lord! Release them!" Jinsei respectively gave a command to his lackeys. Working together, the group of lackeys divided into two smaller groups to pull down the large drape that had covered the cage. They then quickly dispersed, fearful of what may happen if they are in the way of the entrance. As the moonlight hit the cage, two massive, ominous figures can be seen from within; their features disguised by the shadow created within the cage. Not long after their reveal, a tremendously powerful roar was let out by one of the figures within the cage. The power of the roar was such that it acted like a wave of energy bursting outward from the cage and causing the same effect as a powerful gust of wind. Yudai held his sword in front of his face to shield him from the powerful burst. "(Just what are in that cage...?!)" Yudai thought, a bit unnerved by the raw power of the roar.

"Hehehe, behold! My secret weapons!" Fukuzuma exclaimed. Suddenly, the cage door was bust opened and sent flying outward towards Yudai. Reacting quickly, Yudai leaped to the side and just narrowly avoided the huge steel door. "(Damn, if my sword was any heavier, I probably wouldn't have been able to evade that.)" Yudai thought about the close call. Now, exiting the cage were two [url=http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz46/wirespy/lantern-oni-194290907f_zps0e8ebe87.jpg]oni[/url] of massive proportions; these ones in particular are approximately fifteen feet tall and weigh close to a ton each. Oni are yokai infamous for their monstrous size, overwhelming strength, and brutal nature. Even skilled warriors are unnerved when met with the thought of facing one of these brutes. Fortunately, oni are usually not very bright or fast, and those two factors may be things Yudai can exploit. One of the oni turned to face Fukuzuma. "Hey master, if we kill this guy then we get to eat right?" the oni spoke in a low-pitched, crude tone. "Yes, yes, yes! Just kill him!" Fukuzuma exclaimed. The oni turned back to face Yudai. "I'll squash you puny swordsman then I'll get to eat." the oni said. "I'll squash him too then I'll get to eat." the other oni added.

-Meanwhile-

Met with an irritating response from Takeo who demanded the guards to take him along with Yui, the guard who was holding Yui gave her to his friend. "You take the girl to the arena. This loud-mouth, piece of sh*t needs to learn how to keep his trap shut." the guard stated. Hearing the words "the arena" swiftly instilled fear into Yui whose eyes had widened with despair. "T-The arena...? Where all of the animals are forced to fight each other...?" Yui asked quietly. The guard who was holding her heard what she had just asked and an evil grin came to his face. "That's right. Guess what? You're gonna be live food for the tigers, hehe." the guard said remorselessly. Yui's eyes widened even more after hearing those twisted words. "NO! NO! LET ME GO! PLEASE! I WANT TO SEE MY SISTER!" Yui shouted as she struggled in the guard's arms. "Will you get her out of here? The b*tch's annoying as hell." the guard who was supposed to be carrying Yui said to his friend. "Right. Have fun with him. Just don't get too carried away and accidentally kill him. Yoshida still needs him to be able to function when he's a slave." the guard carrying Yui warned before walking off.

The guard left with Takeo smiled intently. "This is gonna be fun. Try to stay standing while I bash the living hell out of you okay?" the guard said as he walked ominously towards Takeo. In shackles, Takeo's movements was completely restricted accept for being able to stand up and maybe walk a couple of inches. The guard began his "fun" with a hard knee strike right into Takeo's abdomen. He then followed up with a powerful hook to the left side of Takeo's face which proceeded into a flurry of quick punches to Takeo's stomach. "You enjoying this loud-mouth?! Cause I sure as hell am hahaha!" the guard exclaimed as he continued assaulting the helpless Takeo. After finishing his barrage of punches, the guard continued to deliver punishment when he grabbed Takeo's face and slammed the back of his head straight into the cave wall which has got to be the most painful of the blows. Fortunately for Takeo, his beating was about to come to an end when a loose piece of the cave wall fell off and impacted the worn shackles around Takeo's wrists, breaking them. The piece of wall then hit the ground right next to Takeo's feet. Unaware that the shackles around Takeo's wrists had been broken, the guard launched another fist at Takeo's face.

On the camp grounds, Yoshida had instructed his men to secure Mei to a wooden pole near the arena where she could get a prime view of the action. Within the arena itself is a wooden pole with a rope hanging down at its highest point. The rope is to be used to dangle Yui from so that feeding her to Yoshida's tigers would be that much more entertaining for him. The twisted and crazed slave trader was already on the scene; his throne-like chair is placed next to the pole that Mei is secured to. "So how's the view my dear?" Yoshida asked with his devilish grin. "If you so much as touch one hair on Yui's head, I'll-" Mei was quickly cut off by Yoshida. "You'll what? Kill me? Hahahahaha! Just enjoy the show and shut up like a good wife should." Yoshida stated as he took a sip of his premium sake. Suddenly, the guard carrying Yui arrived on the scene. Seeing her little sister, Mei gasped. "Yui-" Once again Mei was cut off from speaking, but this time around, a guard forcefully shoved a piece of cloth into her mouth. "Mei!" Yui shouted with tearful eyes. One of the guards was about to shove a cloth into Yui's mouth as well but was stopped by Yoshida. "No, don't. I want to hear her precious little screams when she is ripped apart by the tigers, hehehe." Yoshida stated.

Even Yoshida's men were unnerved by that last statement of his. "What happened with Bontsu? He was supposed to be carrying the little girl here with you, no?" Yoshida questioned the guard who had carried Yui to the arena. "He chose to stay back in the prison to punish the red-haired slave for talking out of line." the guard answered. "I see... Bontsu has always been quite terrible when it comes to following orders huh? Cut his ears off when you see him. He doesn't seem to need them anyhow." Yoshida brutally commanded.

((So Desu, just some advice for your next post, maybe you can have Takeo interrogate the guard for the location of your weapons and such. Either that, or if you think of a different way to stumble upon Takeo's weapons then just go ahead with that.))

[Shradow]

On his way back to the village, Kokoro was taking swigs from the bottle of sake. Serious premonitions like the one he had sometimes left him with headaches, and this one especially needed the relief of some alcohol. He knew that he would not have a tough morning the day after, so he figured it would help, though he hoped no one in town had any pet ferrets, as the last time he ran into one of those after drinking, things weren't pretty. He had just finished the bottle when he heard screams and various loud noises coming from the direction of the village. The two ominous figures flashed in his mind. "Looks like I'd better hurry it up!" With a slightly wobbly sprint and the occasional hiccup, Kokoro made it back to the village while managing to keep from running into any trees. He fumbled his way past a flurry of fleeing citizens as he made his way to the center of town, where the commotion was coming from.

It was not the happy sight he had left the village seeing. There were some smashed vendor stands and lots of screaming, all in response to a group of people Kokoro had not planned on seeing again, especially after a drink. The official had returned, this time with more men, and most surprisingly, two enormous oni. "Wow, look at those big fellas!" Kokoro noticed Yudai and Mori in the crowd, and quickly went over to see them. "Oh, hey guys, what'sh going on? So, you see those big big guys over there? Yeah, I was having a procephy... a propechy... a, a vision about them earlier, at least I think it was them, I don't know what other two big shcary guys it could've been, and what do you know, here they are!" Slurring his way though the sentences, he laughed to himself afterwards. "And Mishter Tax Man is back, too! Hey, how's your hand doing? Is it leaving you a little [i]hot[/i] and bothered?" he called over to Fukuzuma. If one looked they could almost see steam coming from the officials ears as his face reddened with anger.

Kokoro grabbed the halberd from his back, almost dropping it. "So, so, so, are we fighting these guys? I think they're being bad, and people don't usually scream when happy things are going on." He scratched his head for a second in thought before continuing, "Well, there ish that one thing that married couples do, but that's not a good example for the situation going on right now, I think." He giggled to himself and hiccuped. He managed a couple of steps forward before tripping over a rock and falling on his face. He stumbled back upright and, realizing he still had the empty bottle of sake in the hand not wielding the halberd, he quickly dropped it into his bag. "Okay, I-I think I'm ready now." He hiccuped again.

[Hotaru987]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Mori was sure that she revealed Yudai's true self as the murderous villain that she suspected him to be. His smiled had dropped from his face to be replaced by seriousness. At Mori tensed. He was going to attack her now and she would need to be prepared. However, his next words surprised her.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3][i]"Truthfully, I, myself, am not even sure whether what you've said is false or not.[/i].[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Mori glared, "You lie! How can you not know!?" He then revealed that he had no memory of how he lost his arm or anything before that. Because of that he didn't know whether he really killed her father or not. He then continued saying that the man he knew himself to be now would not have killed her father, though he cannot say the same for the man he once was. Finishing he tole her that he was in search of who he really way and that he owed it to the people who had saved him from death. He couldn't die just yet. What he already said left a great impact on Mori. He never denied her claims but he didn't exactly own up to them, he just simply acknowledged them. Yudai''s final words to her had her frozen in utter disbelief.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3][i]"...But when the day comes when I discover who I am, and if that person truly is the murderer you sought, you may take my life without intervention...! If you will, please trust in what I have said...But if you wish, you can come along with me on my journey as a means of preventing me from escaping the oath I have made to you..."[/i][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Mori could do nothing but watch as he walked off. Her hand dropped to her side and all at once her knees became weak. She leaned against the wall one hand on her face as she stared at the ground confused. Even if she desired too she couldn't attack him now. How could she after what he had said. She should have been angry, and still charging after him demanding that he told her the truth. It was too convenient that he didn't remember. It had to be a lie but...She shook her head as she remembered the look in his eyes. How was he that he could sound so regretful for something he couldn't even remember? And his last words...[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]"Ugh, it's not fair!" She shouted, sliding to the ground, "How can he say something like that and then leave. How can he so easily give me his life? This should be what I wanted yet...Why do I feel so awful?" It would have been easier if he just denied it and attacked her. That would have made it so much easier. "Dad...What should I do...I'm so confused." Mori dropped her head while holding onto her necklace, her hands shaking in desperation for an answer.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3][i]"Hey dad what would you do if someone came here to attack you?" A young green-haired girl asked the older man, who stood there practicing with a very familiar looking sword.[/i][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3][i]The man suddenly stopped, chuckling at his daughters question, "Can I ask why you're asking such a question, Mori?"[/i][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3][i]"Just answer the question daddy!" The child Mori shouted before pouting cutely. "Alright, alright." Her father came a sat next to Mori laying his sword on the ground. "If that were to happen I guess...I would listen to them. See why it is they are coming to attack me and see if we could work something out. Perhaps I did something to him and hurt that person. And if I did I would want to make it right no matter what."[/i][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3][i]Mori gasped, "No way! You can never do anything bad daddy!"[/i][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3][i]He smiled, "I'm glad you think so but, the truth is, is that even someone like me can make mistakes." He placed a hand on Mori's head, and stared in her wide green eyes, "We're only human Mori, and there is always another side to every story. Always remember that."[/i][/size][/font][/color]

[font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#000000][size=3]"Another side to...Every story..." Mori mumbled while staring at the necklace in her hands. Suddenly there was a scream from the direction that Yudai went. "Wh-what's going on?" She hopped up off the ground running towards the noise. It wasn't hard to find Yudai with all of the commotion surrounding the event. When she arrived she noticed the same guy was there from earlier. He had some new friends with him and not only that but two huge monstrous like creatures. "Wh-what are those?" Mori asked not ever having seen an Oni before. Before she could be answered Kokoro appeared walking strangely and speaking with a very weird speech pattern. "Um..I think Kokoro is sick." [/size][/color][/font]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]He drew his Halberd but seemed to have some problems holding on too it at first. "Is he ok to be here?" Though she didn't know much about him she was really worried about his well being. Because at the moment he didn't look too well.[/size][/font][/color]

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

After hearing Yui's quick explanation of the arena Takeo's eyes quickly widened. "No...no...just no....You Sick Bastards! Don't Do This! Please! There's no way she could ever deserve this..." They seemed to simply ignore Yui and Takeo's pleas as one of them carried Yui off. The other one though decided it'd be best to stick around and have a little bit of fun. Luckily for Takeo he was a guy so this guard's "fun" would be gained through violence. As the guard walked over to him Takeo simply glared very angrily at the approaching man. "Come at me, bro."

The guard started things off with a nice blow right to Takeo's stomach to which Takeo replied with copious amounts of coughing. It didn't end there though as the guard began to deliver a series of punches. It wasn't long until Takeo's face was covered in blood and although his head being slammed into the wall certainly didn't help his condition it did help his position. The shock caused a loose rock to fall and break his shackles. Now that he was free Takeo ducked down to avoid the punch and quickly tackled the guard to the ground.

Once he had managed to bring the guard to the ground and asserted his dominance in this situation he pulled the guard's katana out of its sheath and brought the blade to the guard's neck. "I hope you don't mind but I have some girls to save. So let's make this quick and have you tell me where my weapons are. And then it'd be nice if you point me to the general direction of the arena. Actually, how about just where my weapons are. I think I can smell booze and animal sh*t." The guard nervously pointed into the distance. "Thank you." Takeo then punched the guard in order to knock him out and ran off.

[.:Blu:.]

Mori soon arrived on the scene and was taken back at the sight of the two gigantic oni. Having never seen them before, Mori proceeded to ask Yudai what they were but before an answer could be given, Kokoro arrived in what appears to be a drunken stupor. "It's you! It's that insufferable white-haired rat that I mentioned!" Fukuzuma shouted as he pointed at Kokoro. From his reaction of Kokoro's appearance, one could discern that he is the one Fukuzuma has the biggest grudge with. Kokoro then mentioned to Yudai and Mori about a prophecy he had and how the two oni are related to it, or at least that's what Kokoro believes his prophecy was about. "(A prophecy...?)" Yudai thought. He had never heard about members of the Kokoro clan having prophecies before now. Or maybe that was unique to only Kokoro Hanzo? Either way, Yudai has developed an interest in this ability of Kokoro's. It may be of help in seeking out Yudai's true identity. Yudai's train of thought was abruptly stopped when Kokoro addressed Fukuzuma; teasing about the state of official's hand. Fukuzuma quickly turned red with anger and it seems as if steam was about to come bursting out of his ears. "Damn you, you bastard! I want him DEAD! Smashed dead!" Fukuzuma shouted the latter part to his oni minions.

Seemingly ignorant to Fukuzuma's boiling rage, Kokoro continued his confusing and slurred way of speaking. He stumbled about as he giggled and hiccuped before proceeding to remove his halberd from his back only to come to the realization that he was merely holding onto his sake bottle. Dropping the sake into his bag, Kokoro then said he was ready to engage in combat. Unaware that Kokoro was actually drunk, Mori asked Yudai if Kokoro was sick then later asking if it was alright for him to be here. "He's not sick, merely drunk. I can smell the sake from here and it's a rather strong one." Yudai explained the cause for Kokoro's erratic behavior. "This might be a problem..." Yudai stated, referring to Kokoro's drunken state, with a large sweat drop on his head. Yudai turned his head around to face Mori. "You have to get Kokoro out of here. In his current state, there's no way he'll be able to fight and, my apologies for saying this, but you won't be able to take on an oni by yourself with your swordsmanship skills. I don't want to have to see you nor Kokoro die so please..." Yudai pleaded with Mori to leave him to face the two monstrous yokai alone.

"Trying to flee huh? I don't think so! Jinsei!" Fukuzuma commanded. Suddenly, Jinsei and his lackeys circled behind Yudai, Mori, and Kokoro in order to prevent them from escaping. Despite being a skilled swordsman, even Yudai wouldn't be able to hold his own against two oni while looking out for Mori and Kokoro's well-being. "Kill them now!" Fukuzuma shouted to his subordinates. On cue, one of the oni attempted to kill Yudai where he stood with a crushing blow from its kanabō or spiked club. Reacting quickly, Yudai parried with an upward-facing, horizontal slash that, when colliding with the kanabō, stopped the oni's attack in its tracks. Both weapons were scrapping against each other as their respective owners attempted to overpower the other. The two grinding metals caused sparks to fly into the air. The oni seemed calm but Yudai, on the other hand, seemed to be really struggling trying to hold the oni back. "(I-I can't hold back its weapon for much longer...!)" Yudai thought.

"What are you doing just standing there you big, dumb yokai??? KILL THAT WHITE-HAIRED BASTARD!!!" Fukuzuma demanded to the second oni. Without responding back, the second oni simply complied with Fukuzuma's request. "I want food." the simple oni uttered before launching his kanabō towards Kokoro in a vertical arc. "Move Kokoro!" Yudai exclaimed as he continued his struggle. Meanwhile, Jinsei and his group of thugs face off against Mori. "Well aren't you an unusual-looking woman? Heh, oh well, a broad's a broad, right? So how about you surrender and come with me instead of going down the death route? Huh, whaddya say?" Jinsei basically asked Mori to become his bed-mate if she doesn't want to die. After Mori's expected refusal, Jinsei gritted his teeth at the response. "Wrong answer lass. Boys, get her!" Jinsei commanded to which two of his four subordinates rushed towards Mori with their swords. By how they were holding their weapons, it's pretty safe to say that they're amateurs, actually even less so. It looks like this was they're first time even holding a weapon. One of them got to Mori first and attempted a diagonal slash. "Mori!" Yudai called out in concern.

-Meanwhile-

Seizing the opportunity, the bloody-faced Takeo tackled the guard onto the ground, removed his katana from its sheath, and held it to the his neck, threatening him with the possibility of death if the guard did not provide the information he wanted. Scared for his life and even more fearful of how painful a slashed throat would actually be, the guard pointed into the distance. "T-The weapon's tent! T-That's where you'll find your weapons! P-Please don't kill-" before the guard could finish pleading for his life, Takeo delivered a hard punch to the guard's head; effectively rendering him unconscious. Lucky for the guard that he didn't ended up with a slashed throat even though he obviously deserves one. Soon, Takeo stumbled upon the weapon's tent as pointed out by the guard and due to some well-timed, stroke of luck, the weapon's tent was unguarded. Inside Takeo will find his bow, his quiver full of arrows, and his wakizashi lying on a table along with an assortment of various swords and spears lined on a rack.

At the fighting arena, the guards who were supposed to be patrolling around the weapon's tent found themselves having to watch a little girl of seven being torn to shreds by tigers. "Damn, the smell of booze and animal sh*t is really strong." one of the guards complained as he attempted to hold in his breakfast. "Ah you'll get used to it." his partner replied before the two of them approached Yoshida sitting upon his throne-like chair. "Yoshida-sama! I don't mean to go against your orders but shouldn't we be guarding the weapon's tent?" the weak-stomach guard asked. "Hmm? So you choose to disobey my orders and ruin my enjoyment of this lovely morning?" Yoshida asked in reply. "N-No Sir! Please forgive my speaking out of line." the guard quickly apologized and gave a respectful bow. "Humph, I suppose I can let you go this one time seeing as how you're new around here." Yoshida stated. "Thank you Yoshida-sama!" the guard thanked before walking away, leaving his partner standing there. "Cut off his lips for suggesting something to me..." Yoshida ordered to which the guard bowed and walked off.

By now, Yui has been secured into place by the rope that's tied to the wooden pole within the arena. There she dangled, swinging from side to side. "P-Please, let me and my sister go!" Yui said in a shaky voice as tears ran down her cheeks and onto the dirt ground below. Mei, strapped to a pole next to Yoshida, attempted to cry out her precious younger sister's name while she, too, shed tears, but due to the cloth that was wedged into her mouth, it only came off as muffled sound. It was such a hopeless and heartbreaking sight to behold. "Finally, it is time! Release my beautiful tigers and let them feast hahaha!" Yoshida commanded. A large cage located at the opposite end of the arena was then opened; its lock pulled off by a guard utilizing a rope from outside of the arena itself. Immediately, three ferocious white tigers charged out from their cage and hastily rush towards Yui. As the fastest tiger reached its prey, it leaped up in order to grab it but failed its attempt. Fortunately, Yui was dangled high enough to be out of normal reach of the tigers jumping height. However, with enough motivation for food, the tigers could easily jump high enough to reach Yui; it was just a mere matter of time.

"Come now my beauties! If you want your meal, you'll have to do better than that!" Yoshida urged his tigers on. The sick bastard was enjoying the spectacle a little too much. Even his subordinates found it difficult to watch, and it hasn't even reached its most gruesome part. Mei wanted to close her eyes and look away but she couldn't bear to take her eyes off Yui. She wanted to hold onto the glimmer of hope that the tigers had not reached Yui yet. "AHHHHH!!! Someone please help me!!!" Yui screamed, utterly terrified for her life, but her screaming only made the tigers hungrier and the show that much more entertaining for Yoshida to watch. Takeo is the siblings' only hope left.

[Shradow]

As expected, Fukuzuma was furious. There was lots of yelling and orders being given, but Kokoro wasn't really paying attention. Just then, one of the oni swung its large club at him. He vaguely heard a warning from Yudai. Right before it struck, Kokoro stumbled to the side, avoiding the strike, while seemingly dropping his halberd on the other side of the kanabō. He then started leaning against the kanabō, now stuck in the ground from the failed swing. "Heehee, now look at the size of this thing. Everything'sh bigger with you guys." Confused by the Kokoro's odd behavior, the oni only looked at him in confusion, unaware of something creeping up behind him. Unbeknownst to the oni, Kokoro's halberd was moving through the air behind its head. Kokoro face had a dumb, drunken smile on it, but his eyes glinted mischievously.

"Gotcha!" Kokoro exclaimed as he brought down his halberd with his wind magic. However, the oni's skin was tough, and Kokoro's aim wasn't exactly perfect at the moment, so the blow glanced off the top of his head and, swerving to the side, merely lopped off one of the oni's horns. It roared in pain and surprise, and started attacking Kokoro with a flurry of swings. Kokoro managed to avoid them all, with mindless meandering seamlessly melding into fluid, albeit drunken, movement. "I've had my fair share of drinky drink before, you don't think I wouldn't be able to manage this much, do you?" He continued moving around like a silly rabbit, giggling like a school girl.

While he distracted one of the oni with his antics, he quickly grabbed his halberd and threw it in Mori's direction. It slammed into the ground blade first, right in between Mori and one of the goons trying to attack her. "Now, don't you know it's not nice to attack a lady? Didn't you parents teach you any manners?" The halberd began to move again, positioning itself beside Mori like a fighter in a fighting stance. "Allow me to offer you my *hic* services." He then looked at the oni he was still combating, his eyes oddly serious. [i]Things will have to end quickly. If I concentrate on either front too much, I'll leave either myself or Mori open. The best I can do is buy time with the oni by avoiding its swings while I try and help take care of the goons.[/i] He then looked over to Yudai, who was struggling with the other oni. "Good luck over there, guy! Haha!" The serious moment gone, Kokoro lapsed back into his drunken humor.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

With Takeo giving his all into the sprint towards the weapon tent it didn't take very long at all to get there due to his naturally impressive speed that's been passed down in the Kimura clan for many generations. Luckily for him his weapons were all in plain sight but that's to be expected really. They would have just recently been put there so they weren't likely to be buried in other supplies. Now that he had his weapons he looked around and just thought it'd be a waste to leave all these weapons lying around like this but they weren't weapons he was exceptionally adept at using. Bow and arrows along with small bladed weapons had always been more of the specialty of the Kimura. Now he would probably just light it all on fire but that'd seem like a waste. No, they'd probably have some other use.

Takeo eventually slapped himself back into action and began sprinting again towards the arena. "God dammit, now is not the time for so much thought. I need to take nothing but action like what a true man does. I can think when I'm dead. Okay, that doesn't make sense but I didn't think much of it. Just said it. I think I've already gone one step closer! Wait, I'm thinking too much aga-" As he let his nose guide him and his thoughts were scattered Takeo wasn't paying attention when he ran straight into the wall of the arena. "Ow ow ow...maybe I should learn to pay proper attention first." It was then that he heard Yui's screaming. "Looks like I'll have to save that lesson for another time as well..." He proceeded to run into the arena.

The tigers' hunger grew more and more and it seemed like one had finally reached the point that it'd gather the strength to jump up and take Yui down. The tiger punced roaring a very murderous roar at that but only for silence to quickly stumble upon the arena as the tiger plummeted right down to ground before it could even scrape a single square inch of Yui's body. A single arrow with a fading green glow was stuck out into the head of the tiger. A perfectly placed shot that led to instant death even for this ferocious beasts. Out of the same entrance that the tigers entered from Takeo, holding his bow in his hand, decided he'd make his own debut. "I guess this is meant to be my grand f*cking cliched as hell last minute save entrance."

The tigers noticed that there was new prey that not only was actually on the ground but also seemed to have more meat on the bone. The two tigers charged in which Takeo simply smiled. "What's with those looks in your eyes?" He proceeded to quickly pull out an arrow and fire it from his bow right into the leg of a tiger that had managed to get somewhat close to him. The tiger fell down and because it had already put so much power into its charge it slid for a ways right in front of Takeo. Takeo then proceeded to pull out his wakizashi and stab down onto the tiger's head. Blood splattered onto Takeo's face as he said, "It's almost as if you think I'm the prey."

Takeo slowly stood back up and looked at the other tiger that had stopped. "My name is Takeo Kimura..." He pulled out another arrow as he just let that information sink in a bit. Although they were a small clan it didn't mean they weren' well known themselves. There weren't many clans that could be compared to the Kimura clan's skills when it came to hunting. And what is hunting other than another word for killing? There would likely be at least a few men in that arena that would recognize that name. Some are likely to fear the name just based off of what was seen. The tiger on the other hand stopped caring as soon as its stomach once again began to growl. It pounced only to be quickly brought down by another arrow right in between its eyes.

With the tigers now disposed of Takeo walked over to Yui He didn't know what she may think of him for what he just saw but it didn't matter. He shot another arrow at the rope holding her and then caught her as she fell. "I'm sorry I took so long." He let her stand on her own two feet and smiled at her while also patting her on the head. "There's still other slaves around, right? All the guards seem preoccupied here so there shouldn't be anybody stopping you from freeing them. I then want you to tell them that they should go to the weapons tent and take whatever they think they can use. I then want you to go into hiding for a bit, okay? Make sure you cover your ears too. You've already been through enough." Takeo looked up at the man he assumed must be the mastermind seeing as how he was the only one who had a huge enough ego that he thought a throne would suit him and he was the only man smart enough to know his attack the previous night was all a ruse. "Sup?"

[Hotaru987]

After informing her that Kokoro wasn't sick but simply drunk Mori frowned. [i]'Drunk?....But...What did he drink?' [/i]Mori was deeply confused, but now didn't seem like the time to be asking questions. Instead she faced their current problem, though she knew she would be little to no help. Though she hated to admit it she severely lacked skills in swordsmanship. It painfully obvious during her last bout with both Yudai and the henchmen from earlier. Only to further her embarrassment Yudai pointed out the same thing, causing her to look down in shame. She had tried to kill him once and threatened him twice now. Mori was constantly perplexed with how he could find the time to worry about her. Before much else could take place her, Yudai and the currently drunk Kokoro were cut off from behind forcing them to stay. Guess they didn't want us running away. One of the large Oni creatures suddenly charged for Yudai who managed to block the attack, though he looked to be struggling. The second Oni went after Kokoro. Mori wonder if he could handle himself but her worry was cut short when a group of men cut her path off. Guess she should be worried about herself rather than others. Out of the three of them she was easily the weakest.

[i]"Well aren't you a strange looking woman. Heh, Oh well, a broad's a broad, right? So how about you surrender and come with me instead of going down the death route? Heh, so whadda say?"[/i]

Mori tilted her head, not catching what he implied at all. Even if one would explain it she wouldn't get it. "If I remember correctly that guy called you Jinsei, right? Well, though I have no idea what yo mean by that, there is no way I'm going to surrender to a low-life like you." She drew her sword standing at the ready, "Even someone like myself can take the likes of you down." Mori hoped that she was actually able to back it up this time, because so far she was 2-for-0. Obviously Jinsei wasn't pleased with her answer, and order two of his men to attack[i] 'Alright, focus....You can do this Mori. Just be ready...and you can counter.'[/i] She attempted to prepare herself, but as the attack neared her, and she readied to dodge Kokoro's blade suddenly appeared landing in the ground between her and the one who tried to attack her effectively blocking the attack. "Ah, what the..." She looked over at Kokoro in awe that he was also trying to help her. The sword began levitating then stood beside her as if there was an invisible fighter. "Kokoro...."

Knowing she had help she turned back to the thugs determined to defeat them, and hopefully quickly so that Kokoro's blade can return to him. "Right, you guys are going down." She rushed in with an upward vertical strike on the same guy that just tried to attack her.

[.:Blu:.]

Yudai's worries were swiftly alleviated once he noticed Mori and Kokoro were fine. Yudai was quite surprised by Kokoro. Even drunk the man was still capable of fighting. Furthermore, his ability to control his halberd without actually holding it was quite a sight to behold. This was the work of magic, and Kokoro is a battle sage. "(Remarkable... He is a product of a remarkable clan...)" Yudai thought about Kokoro. Seeing as how Kokoro is helping Mori with her situation, Yudai can now turn his full attention onto the oni that stood before him. In an impressive display of strength, Yudai was able to knock back the oni's kanabō. The oni's eyes widened seeing its weapon being forced back. "But you're so puny..." the oni said, referring to Yudai's size compare to itself. Yudai did not give a verbal reply. The fiercely determined look in his eyes was all that the oni needed. Acting faster than the oni, Yudai gave a diagonal, downward slash across the oni's torso; causing a small amount of blood to burst into the air. "Ugh! That hurts!" the oni complained as it was slashed. The oni then responded to Yudai's attack with a downward, vertical slam of its kanabō.

Leaping to the side, Yudai was able to evade the attack but only by a small margin. While the attack may not have hit Yudai head on, the force of the attack created a small tremor and once Yudai had landed, it cost him his footing and stability. Yudai knew he was in trouble and quickly placed his sword in front of him to use as a shield. The enraged oni launched its club towards Yudai, and if he hadn't shielded himself with his massive sword, the blow would've shattered numerous bones. Fortunately Yudai had anticipated the oni's attack; so when the kanabō collided with Yudai's sword, it merely sent Yudai flying back quite a distance instead of causing serious injuries to him. With that said, Yudai did unfortunately crash into one of the vendor stands. "Ugh..." Yudai gradually picked himself up. At the same time, the angered oni made its way towards Yudai seeking to crush Yudai into a fine dust as revenge for Yudai's earlier attack. "Hahahahaha! Tremble at the absolute power of my yokai! None of you are leaving here alive!" Fukuzuma overconfidently voiced. "I will crush you for cutting me." the oni said as it neared Yudai.

Jinsei's underlings stopped at the very sight of the floating halberd that had embedded itself into the ground in front of Mori. "W-What the hell was that???" one of them asked, unsure of what he had just witnessed with his eyes. "T-That weapon was moving on its own! Is this the work of a yokai???" the other lackey questioned. Both were inexperienced warriors, or so they would like to be called, who seems to have never heard of magic. "You idiots! The white-haired guy is the one causing the weapon to move! It's not no spirits or yokai! He's just using magic!" Jinsei shouted. "M-Magic?" one of the lackeys asked. "I see! He's a sage!" the lackey added albeit the realization was only half right. Kokoro is a battle sage - a warrior who utilizes both a weapon and magic. "You two! Go join the fray!" Jinsei commanded his last two underlings. They nodded their heads and quickly rushed into battle; their sights were aimed on Mori. Meanwhile, Jinsei stood back and watched the proceedings. He didn't want to get hurt and embarrass himself in front of his boss. Instead, Jinsei would wait for an opening made by his underlings before striking. This way he would avoid getting attacked while also looking competent in Fukuzuma's eyes.

Back onto Kokoro's front, the oni took back its kanabō seeing as how its first attempt at killing Kokoro had failed. "Why did you dodge? Now it will take longer for me to get food." the oni complained. "You stupid oni! Stop wasting time and kill him already! I can't stand the sight of him!" Fukuzuma shouted as he became more and more irritated by the fact that Kokoro was still alive and not a mass of bloody flesh on the ground. "Hold still." the oni told Kokoro as if it expected him to comply with its request. Suddenly, the oni gave Kokoro quite a surprise as it began swinging its kanabō at an absolutely amazing speed. No oni should be able to attack at that kind of speed yet this particular one seem to have quite a gift. With each attack that missed, the oni's kanabō made impact with the ground and causing small tremors. Finally, one of the tremors caused Kokoro to lose his balance and fall onto his back. This was the oni's perfect opportunity to strike. "Now you die." the oni said before launching a downward attack to crush Kokoro.

-Meanwhile-

Yoshida's seemingly perfect morning was interrupted by an unexpected guest: Takeo. Impressively, Takeo took out all of the tigers with his incredible prowess in archery. Not only that, Takeo revealed to everybody watching that he is of the Kimura clan - a small but feared clan known for being the ultimate hunters in all of Kodaina. It came as a shock to everyone, including Yoshida. "T-That guy's from the Kimura clan?!" one guard asked, surprised. "H-He must be! Look at how well he's utilizing a bow!" another guard replied. As she saw Takeo, Mei's eyes filled with tears of joy. He was here to rescue her and her little sister. Yui's eyes widened seeing her rescuer is the same man who she was locked up in a cell with not too long ago. Yoshida's eyes narrowed; he was extremely irritated by this sudden turn of events. As the last tiger was dispatched, Takeo freed Yui from the ropes that had bound her. Takeo apologized for coming late, but Yui merely shook her head in disagreement and proceeded to hug Takeo. "Thank you Big Bro..." Yui softly said. Takeo had now instructed Yui to go save the other slaves and then go into hiding while Takeo dealt with the rest of slave traders and guards that were present.

"Please save Mei." Yui requested. Takeo then looked to Yoshida who he had deemed to be the man running the whole operation and let out a single, "Sup?" Enraged and defied, Yoshida gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly. "You have to the gall to ruin my splendid morning...?" Yoshida asked rhetorically as his anger continued building up to a boiling point. "Kill them..." Yoshida commanded. Upon his command, all of his guards and slave traders removed their weapons and surrounded the arena. There were about twenty men, armed and dangerous. Yui had no where to run off to. Seeing how scary Yoshida's men looked, Yui hid behind Takeo and held onto his sleeve. "What do we do now?" Yui asked Takeo.