Description taken from Todd, because it's awesome:

A field just beyond the creek. Though it wasn't easily seen at first, what with all the trees around. While the small river ran down the mt, through the forest, and lined the side of Edokyo, the Field fit snugly as it was pitted in a few acers between the mt and the forest. Forest covering a little over 1/2 (the front and right) of the scenery... Mt covering a little over 1/4th. The Field, itself, was pretty big. A bit bumpy in appearence with a solid dirt road going down the center of it into the woods beyond, it was also dotted with pieces of fence that ominusly didn't block anything important. In the Center of the Field is a large tree (not something that can easily be cut down). And a small storage shack was built near the mt's side to hold gardening supplies.

People came here occationally - some even practiced fighting here. And the cops usually never bothered coming around this area.

Sure it took a while, what with her present injuries, limp, run from the cops, momentary stop at a bar for sake, getting lost in the directions of the note and having to kill the random passerby after making them reread it for her, etc, Ame finally makes it to The Field of DOOM!

Using her abnormally long sheathed tachi as a walking stick, Ame limped into the damned field, looked around expecting a dead Hiko or at least a little blood somewhere, and saw nothing. There were no corpses, at least of the guy she was looking for. Oh sure, there was some random bloody writing on a bolder talking about how to properly eviscerate Amethyst - long and forgotten from the Hi Tsuki age - but since Ame couldn't' read it, it didn't matter.

"Oi, did I take a wrong turn somewhere? Dammit, now I need to find someone else to read this damned thing."

*Koji looks upon the field while sitting on a tree branch eatting an apple. He sits there pondering about his "obstacles" Ame and Aki, wondering why his former master Hiko choose them over himself. But as soon as he was about to come to the solution he hear ruffling in the tall grass field, he then hears a female's voice that he very much knew...it was Ame. He then sliced a piece of the apple while smiling.*

Oi, lil sister.

"Sister? Who the ******? I don't have a ******ing broth-" Before Ame could finish her unknowingly sexually explicite question, she stops. The camera dramatically pans around her until she's in the foreground and Koji is in the background on that damned tree of his, holding that damned apple of his.

Just as dramatically, Amethyst points at him... If she hadn't swallowed her previous words, this would have come out far more coherent and cencored, "... ... ... You."

*Koji stares upon her battered and bloody body and smirks a little bit.*
Hmm, you are the infamous Ame, oh yes I can tell.
*He jumps off the branch and takes a step forward*

"****** you! Go back to the grave!" Ame swore at Koji, immediately unsheathing her sword. Since stepping backwards with a limp would be a bitch and running at him would hurt the same, she takes a two hand stance. She held her tachi in her left hand and sheath in her right, crossing them at an X in front of her. Good leg was in front of her, back leg behind in the classic karate 'cat stance'. And if you get none of this, she's standing there defensively with her sword and sheath crossed in front of her, waiting for the bastard to attack first.

"Where Hiko?"

Such language, u were taught better than that. Hell, I know you were taught better than that because I was taught the same HA.

*Smirk while he continues to walk towards her. He puts away his throwing knife that he used to slice the apple with, then he looks up at the sky while sighing.*

Wonderful night eh dear sister? You are the first of his gifted children.

"Cut the crap with the sibling shit and tell me who you are, where's Hiko, and why the ****** you're wasting my time. Do you want to die that badly?"

Clearly Ame wasn't having the best of days. All she really wanted right now was to curl up in the corner of some sake shoppe (probably owned by some skitzo bomb freak named Reiji, since it's free there when he's not around), and drink herself until she's magically better... Or at least until she magically forgets about what happened in the last eon.

Until then, Koji blocked her way. She felt like she had to say something else... Such as, "And Hiko's not my father, dammit."

You really don't know how many people have threatened me with that death threat. *Smirks and locks his eyes on her*
Then again, they never left my sight alive either hehe. But enough about me back to you and your concern about that note you received. Master Hiko isn't here because that note was my way of trapping you here so I can get rid of you. So once your out of the picture I can go after the last pupil, Aki. *smiles*

"Wait a damned second. You're telling me that I broke out of a fortress after fighting off five some medically messed up women to get the note read by a few dousin people (that, mind you, are dead right now), towing myself on a bad leg and little time halfway through Edokyo just to find that Hiko is still alive somewhere and ******ing fine?!" Ame seeths for a long moment...

Then drops her guard and turns to leave. "****** this, I'm going to get drunk."

*He sees she turns to leave, but he spots her limping badly so he runs up behind her and kicks her bad leg out from behind her.*

Now where do you think your going dear sister?

*Kicks her on the side*

Let's have a little CHAT! *laughs evilly as he watches Ame grasp and moan in pain. He gain pleasure out of her suffering so much that he picks her up to her knees by yanking her hair*

(Note for those who are recording this, the GMing last post was something asked for during a night when I was tired. End Note)


Ame tried to storm away best she honestly could with the messed up leg. Little did she know that psychopath behind her would come up and remove the leg from the equation by kicking it out from under her. She swore something fierce, then was kicked in the side even harder. With an effective moan and a coughing fit that lasted a few seconds, Ame soon learned that she was going to have a bad day today.

Where was Hiko when you needed him?

Oh, scratch that, Ame still hates men.

Even more so now when the asshole grabs her hair and lifts her by it.


She opens her eyes... Rolls up the necessary ingredients, and lets loose a blood-spattered loogie straight for that area right between Koji's eyes. "****** off and go back to sucking your mother, you worthless sack of shit." Was her next line of the day.

The bloody mess smeared on his face was from possibly one of the most disgusting mouths he had come across. As he wiped the bloody snot infested mucus from his face he gave a devilish grin towards her.

"Now that well cost you"

He grabs her throat and begins to raise her in the air as he chokes her.

There wasn't much Ame could do with this one. She didn't intend to loose her other leg to this freakshow, and all of this choking was doing nothing for her train of thought. Before long, despite how much she grabbed at Koji's choking arm, her vision developed random spots, then went towards the white side.

Ame was dieing.

She did what came as a last resort type of deal. Releasing his wrist in what would have easily been seen as a moment of weakening, the baikokudo reached for her waist, felt around for the sword hilt, and - a small moment after finding it - unsheathed her sword with the blade directed towards some area of her attacker. Since the blade is a good 3 feet long, the distance Koji's arm length was had no direct conflict with the blade that now went towards his midsection.

Peace of mind. Clarity. The slow dissipation of mental turmoil into ethereal strength. Flowing like a tranquil stream, moving with the gentle breeze. Finding unheard of strength through isolated training.

Hayate could only think of the field to be the perfect place to do such things.

He walked for a long while, hoping to find a secluded area to unsheathe his sword and push himself. Perhaps the ronin could even work towards what he's always wanted to work on; creating his own unique technique. That would be an action that would elevate Hayate to a 'master' status of sorts. Doing a technique is one thing. Creating your own, takes an entirely different level of expertise....

Instead of being able to do such things, Hayate walked on to a completely different scene.

A strange man, choking a badly wounded woman. Such an image would make any good-aligned protagonist instantly spring onto the scene to save the day. Hayate, however, froze. Because of the woman being choked.....

Amethyst!

Hayate ran forward, unsheathing his sword. It would still be a few moments before he could make it up to them. What a perfect way to start off a re-union.

The wandering blade of Ame slashed at his heavy leather vest, tearing it open revealing a layer of lightweight chainmail. But the wild wandering blade finally slashed his forearm which made him hiss in pain and he throw her away from him.

"You damn bitch!!"

He suddenly hears a voice coming from a far, I didn't know of the man as of yet but his attention moved back to Ame with his hunting knife in hand he walks toward Ame.

"I'm gonna gut you like a fish"

Ame Slices around at something, but can't tell what she hit or even if it made any blood come out. She flailed around like a fish without water before the jerkoff went and threw her back in.. to the grass, anyway. Flailing in a small spazm at the landing, she soon went around to finding out how to breath again. Something about having her airways temporarily crushed that made breathing a real effort.

Now he's talking about gutting her, but she can't tell. Breathing was a much bigger nessesity at the moment.

"Carp." Ame coughs out amid much swearing and coughing. [edit: pun, yes, that is a pun. Feel free to ignore.]

Once able to breath actual air again, she goes about trying desperately to righten herself by stabbing the sword (that she's still holding onto) into the ground and using it as a crutch. Her one badly maimed leg is still badly maimed. That and her lightheadedness made it that much harder to achieve this.

She doesn't notice Koji coming up to kill her in this space of time. She also doesn't hear Hayate coming at them.

Hayate quickened his pace upon seeing Ame's thrashing.

This looks bad....

Normally, Hayate would have been the type to calmly walk forward unto the scene to say some sort of strong words before slicing the enemy to ribbons. However, the situation unfolded itself to ensure that no such theatrics could ever take place.

Instead, Hayate focused himself. His body was in as good of a condition as it would ever be. Concentrating his energy into his blade, Hayate let loose a quick cut. It produced a sharp wind-blade that went flying at a high speed straight towards Ame's assailant. A novice samurai technique, one of the first skills Hayate (and most warriors of the sword for that manner) picked up on.

While the ronin guessed that such an attack would probably be easily dodged or countered....at least it would prove to create some sort of distance between Ame and her attacker.

Koji grinned with a jester like smile, his eyes widened to the point where his pupils have shrunken. He suddenly noticed a change in the wind and he matrix dodged the attack making it slice the tree next to Ame and Koji. Koji jerked his head back towards the reckless hero.

"Ah fresh blood, how delightful hehe"

He then kicks Ame back down and unshealths his extra long ninto and points it toward the on coming hero.

"Well hello stranger, and whom might you be?

There wasn't much the heroine, um, that is.. the evil woman could do at this time. She tried to get up, was kicked, and nearly fell back down on her own sword. This just wasn't her day. First she storms a mansion and gets picked upon by 5 jackass bitches all because she wants a note read... Then she follows the note all the way over here for who knows how long while being chased by police and killing random people to re-read it for her, now that she's here she's getting her ass kicked in once again.

She laid there, grabbing for her ground-stuck sword, and trying to make the best of her time by being out of it and randomly swearing.

Hayate stopped running. He was close within range upon the trio now. Narrowing his eyes, holding his sword steady, he spoke out.

"....who I am is of no importance. Such information will be of no use to you in your journey into the afterlife.".

He stood tall, still, and cool. Much like a hardened ronin warrior of old tales would. Both eyes locked onto this seemingly sociopathic assaulter of Ame. He held out his sword and stood in a calm combat stance.

Of course, Hayate was completely unaware of the fact that he was still in his works man clothes. While he wasn't necessarily a waiter, he was still dressed like one from the Sake Shop. Blue robes with white box patterns lining the trimming wouldn't help Hayate be any more intimidating to his new foe....

Koji began to laugh at Hayate because of his attire, he was donning a waiter's uniform.

"I can not believe you look like that, I mean seriously come on now....a waiter!
HAHAHAHA"

He the locked stares at Hayate and paced in from of Hayate.

"Hmmm your face seems to match what Aki described. Well let me introduce myself to you, I am Koji Koishi, former disciple of Hiko Izayoi and Kuro Toushin, Government Spy for Enma Akusai."

"You know Aki you ******? Did you kill him?" Was all Ame could utter out. And it took her a long time to do it. She resumed trying to get up or at least get away from the asshole. But her pride was hurt and voices in her head kept telling her how to kill him instead.

Get up, grab the sword. Use your body to take his weapon and put your sword right in his neck. Twist... Then let go of Shin'i and put your fingers in his neck... rip his spine out. The voices were saying.


Meanwhile, someone far off - barely if at all noticable as the fight Koji was having was probably pretty involving. The someone seemed interested, but didn't care to approach.

Under normal circumstances, the formula for playing the hero would have gone as follows.

The hero would step in, introduce himself politely, say some stern-sounding tough guy lines, and then shout for the dasmal in distress to run away. Of course, she would not run, but instead stand on the side lines holding her breath and getting all tearey-eyed. Then a fight would ensue, heavily skewed in the hero's favor. Once the hero wins, the DiD would come running up to him, giving a warm embrace.

A sex scene would follow, with the hero leaving in the middle of the night to 'ride off into the distant sun set'. Then the music would play, the credits would roll, and everyone would go back to their homes.

Only...such things weren't necessarily invented yet. And Hayate was no hero. Nor was Ame a defenseless over-sexified dasmal in distress. Nor was Koji Koishi some mere push-over bad guy.

Even if Hayate had yelled for Ame to run away, he knew that the woman was in too much of a worn-out condition to follow. Even if she was in prime health condition, her pride would prevent her from taking such actions. At best, Hayate would just have to lead Koji far away from Ame as he could, in hopes of the woman drunkenly stumbling her way off to safety (as she normally does).

Looking down, Hayate noticed his attire, and in a rare moment, actually showed a look of shock.

Eh?! I forgot to change my attire?! So careless....

Shaking his head, the ronin narrowed his eyes.

"....so. You're on familiar terms on who I am, then. As you introduced yourself to me, it would be impolite for me to not follow same. My name is Hayate, former samurai of the Hebbi no dojo, disciple of Anzai-sensei."

Hayate gave a small bow.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave....eh Hayate?"

He begins to circle Hayate, observing him

"You don't seem like a member of the Hebbi no Dojo or a samurai of any kind. The so called "older brother" of Aki eh how touching. So that would make you my distant brother hehe"

Stands in between Hayate and Ame, then draws his blade at Hayate.

"Do you spoil my fun? I have a sole mission to accomplish."

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

"You will have to accept my sincerest apology, then. Though the individual you are currently assaulting isn't necessarily helpless by any means....."

Hayate tightened the grip on his daito. The blade sparkled for a brief moment in the moonlight.

"...It is clear that she is in no condition to defend herself. If your 'mission' involves hurting her any more then she already is, or ending her life....."

The ronin raised his head, calmly staring Koji into the eyes. It somehow seemed menacing, despite the man's current sake shoppe attire.

"Then I will have to go about taking yours.".

Seeing as how time was against him (each minute that passed ensured Ame's condition worsened), Hayate immediately rushed forward to attack. The ronin rushed forward at an intense speed, kicking up a small dust cloud behind him, slashing his sword quickly down at Koji in the vicious, but focused, manner only a skilled samurai could.

Koji saw and heard that "Hero Aura" upon him, but was not phased by it at all. Because the more time he stalled with Hayate the quicker Ame's life flickered away.

He steadied his stance, in between Ame and Hayate but Koji knew all too well that if she is away from him too long he wouldn't be about to complete his agenda.

Suddenly, in a flash of light Hayate stormed at Koji like a wild forest fire. Fierce, wild but yet they're was a control to the reckless looking attack toward him. Koji was many things but cocky was the one thing he was known for and as Hayate kicked up the dust to divert any visual Koji stepped back once then jumped over Ame behind him and threw her at Hayate as a human shield. Koji then rushed up toward the back of Ame, who is in front of Hayate, and attempts to kick her to jolt Hayate off balance.

Hayate did not intend for the dust cloud to happen. The small cloud just occurred from the ronin's burst of speed. But it did serve to give him a slight advantage....until Koji employed a tactic rightfully maintaining his title of 'bad guy'.

As Hayate was swinging down his blade, he caught glimpse of a nearly comatose Ame hurtling towards him.

Such dirty tactics!

Hayate twisted his sword quickly to the left, making sure that it did not hit the woman he was intending to save. And within the split second of this action, Hayate had come to a decision.

Amethyst. Forgive me.

Quickly spinning around, Hayate swiftly kicked Ame in the part of her chest he suspected was the least damaged. The laws of physics would predict that such an action would send a character flying towards the side, and that's what Hayate was hoping it would do. Though the sake-loving woman would probably give him an earful for this later, at least it would throw her from a far away enough distance for the two men to fight.

Of course....in order to do this, Hayate had to do some quick maneuvering. More importantly, his kick-action made an attack on his opponent impossible. Creating a good opportunity for Koji.....

Ame was getting ready to retreat while the pyscho was busy with Hayate over there. She edged away slowly. Dammit all Ame was in pain, but edging away slowly seemed like the best thing to do.

Next she knows, a huge hand comes down and grabs her robes. "The ******?"

And she's thrown at Hayate. "THE ******!?"

After this she's kicked in mid air and can't do anything about it.



Monumental pause...


Next thing she knows, Ame is sent sprawling in an explosion of dirt, leaves, and bark, into a patch of trees a ways off. Her landing gave off another explosion of debris... But at least she's alive!

Once Hayate kicked Ame out of the way Koji connected with flying kick to Hayate's lower torso. Koji landed on his hands and feet then stood up and looked at Ame on the ground.

Koji laughs uncontrollably, "OMG looks like you did a better job in damaging her than I did with just a kick XD

Koji then snapped back into reality and unsheathed 4 Kunei blades and had then lined in between his fingers while his O katana in his other hand. Koji maneuvered a zig zag rush towards Hayate, he then placed 2 kunei blades in between his teeth while he threw the other 2 at Hayate.

Hayate didn't have enough time to dodge or counter. The best he could do was tighten his teeth and brace for impact. With the kick fiercely burying into his lower abdomen, Hayate slid across the ground with speed.

Damn it!

The sharp pain spread out all across his body, but many the years training at the dojo taught Hayate how to deal with it. Forcing himself back up to his feet quickly, Hayate spotted two flying kunai blades spiraling through the air. Having fought Aki many, many times before, Hayate quickly swung his sword to deflect them away. It seemed every opponent he encountered favored projectile knives in one fashion or another.

Narrowing his eyes, the ronin locked onto Koji. He followed the fast zig-zag pattern closely.

Those kunais were only the start. He'll start chaining a more advanced attack using them soon.

He wheezed. The sting of that kick still lingered in his chest. Hayate took in a deep breath, tightened the grip on his daito, and focused his mind. Quickly, he swung his sword down hard in three quick slashes. Each one was the novice-level generic sonic-wind cut that most warriors of the sword knew....but each slash was aimed in a different direction. One dead center, the other curved to the right, the other curved to the left. Doing such a maneuver so quickly was another mark on Hayate's ability as a skilled samurai.

While not expecting the attack from doing any significant damage, Hayate knew it would make Koji's possible combo with his kunais far more difficult to do. The ronin also ran forward, hoping to close the distance as fast as he could, as his main strength came from pure melee.

Koji smiled at the skilled ronin, "You better start taking this seriously" yelled Koji as he confronted the 3 slashes head on. Koji did a diving roll in between the 2 side slashes and deflected the 3 dead center slash. He then spots Hayate roaring towards him like a lion.

Thou Hayate was a very cunning and and focused opponent, but Koji was creatively open minded and smart in tactical defense. He advanced toward Hayate just close enough to shine his blade at the moonlight towards Hayate to attempt to blind him while Koji prepares his sword to convert into his secret whip-blade.

A subtle, but bright enough gleam entered Hayate's vision, just as he was about to prepare for another fierce strike.

Not good....

Hayate retracted suddenly. A bright line now blinking within his peripheral vision. Though he was able to close his eyes in the moment of the distraction, there was still a bright line etched across his focal point of vision. In between the flickering, glaring beams of post-flashiness, Hayate could eye Koji messing around with his sword.

"....as you wish.".

Knowing that his eyes were temporarily hampered at the moment, and knowing that Koji did the action in an attempt to buy time to do whatever it is he was going to do with his sword, Hayate decided to use the time to close his eyes. Clearing his mind for a few brief seconds, the ronin conceptualized the tall grass of earth. The temperance of wind, and the deadly viper that strikes through with rapid bites into much larger prey.

Advanced Hebbi no dojo Technique no 39 - Rampage of the Earth Viper.

Quickly leaping into the air vertically, Hayate swung around his sword in a very quick manner. He slashed wildly, quickly, sporadically, but with an odd sense of focus. Moments afterwards, the ronin flew back downwards, landing a bit away from the spot he was originally standing. Within the first few seconds of the technique, nothing happened.....

.....and then the ground, in random directions around Koji, all suddenly burst open. Jagged rock shards flew up from the force of energy Hayate directed into the ground in random patches around his opponent, sending many sharp shrapnel of the earth high up into the air, to fall down all around Koji.

The closer Ein got to the field the stronger she could feel a conflict going on. She hastened her steps as what looked like 2 fighters appeared in the far distance.

It would be a short time before she would be in range to use her Sei-Ryu style technique that unbeknownist to her, Hayate might recognize from the fortress.

"too late rookie" said Koji as he whips around his whip-blade, suddenly he noticed the ground shooting up random shards of the earth.

~cleaver greenhorn heh~

He then looks at Hayate and smiles from ear to ear. Koji uses the earth shards as leverage to bounce off them, but Koji then had a quick thought so then everytime he bounces off of them he kicks them and whips them at Hayate. He then lands near the edge of the field next to a lake that leads to the Kuro Mountains and turns his head at Hayate with a psycho killer look.

'Use your techniques carefully, Hayate. You never know when you're opponent will use them against you.'

He couldn't help but remember that voice of a mentor, long gone. Koji was able to dodge and weave in between the attack with relative ease. Worse yet, he was able to kick the sharp shards of earth straight back to Hayate. Ironically, though, the way Hayate was trained to dodge projectile attacks was by having sharp rocks and jagged stone hurled at him at a high speed. Years ago, Hayate would have gotten cut up and bruised badly in the face of this attack - and he did during the Hebbi training - but now his body moved more fluently.

.....it would have been embarrassing....

Hayate jerked and dodged quickly between the quickly-kicked shards of his own attack. Coldly focusing on Koji, he began to make calculated assessments of the man's strengths and potential weaknesses....

For me to have been harmed by my own technique.

A huge, jagged spike of earthy death came hurtling towards Hayate. The ronin slashed through it, breaking open the large piece of rock. Smaller shrapnel flew off to the side behind Hayate, as the ronin calmly stood to meet Koji's sociopathic, murderous stare. Hayate's eyes were cold and collected.

....and suddenly, in the back of his mind, Hayate felt as if someone else was approaching them.....

Holding his sword outwards, Hayate paced, staring down Koji. The man had a new weapon - a blade whip - and Hayate anticipated on how his opponent was going to use it.

The murderous look in Koji's eyes were soulless and cold like a mid-summer nights moon. His shadow casted a demonic aura over Hayate, but something else began to peak Koji's interest.....the woman coming towards them.

"Hmm the blood of one satisfies hunger but the blood of many satisfies starvation" he said as he licks his lips and whips his whip-blade twice.

"I haven't got all night, greenhorn", Koji yelled as he began pacing to Hayate slowly, swing his whip-blade in one hand. He suddenly threw one of his kunai at Hayate but what Hayate doesn't know is that the single kunai is actually 2 kunai.

As Ein got closer and closer she was able to make out details of the 2 fighters. It then dawned on her that one of them was wearing a Sake Shop uniform. She could have done a few things.

A. Run around the back of either of the fighters to get a better look at the other. (a bad idea since it would provoke either of them)

B. Attack the ground between the 2 of them. ( a better idea as it would disrupt the battle, but would probably draw her in)

C. Watch from the trees. (a decent idea except for the fact that the trees are on the other side of the 2 combatants.)

She decided on doing something different. She decided on combining B and C.

When she got within range she drew her Kodachi. In the same motion as the drawing motion she spoke in a calm voice. "Claws of the Blue Dragon." A blue light was emited from her blade when she slashed the air. The light spun in a cresent shape towards the ground between them. It didn't land dead center between them but to the side close to where Ein would be.

She would keep running and hope they would follow her to the trees. She could try for an advantage with using the trees for cover.

Even if I didn't have the concentration of a samurai, I can sense the seething force of destruction dwelling within this man's soul....

Hayate took in a deep breath, and held up his blade. Many thoughts raced into his mind on which technique he should use next. Given enough time, Hayate might be able to defeat Koji, or at least take him out of commission for awhile.

If left unchecked....this monster's lust for blood could potentially harm more people. This is something I cannot allow to happen, or else-

Before Hayate could finish his thought, a bright blue arc of ki energy flew towards the ground between him and Koji. The ronin quickly jumped back, holding his sword steady. Suddenly, Hayate felt an odd sensation wash over him.....

Why do I feel like I recognize that attack?