Naga whistled as he walked along the empty road. He was headed to the one place he thought he'd be accepted. His rucksack hung limply from his shoulder. Naga had been walking for what felt like days and he was beginning to tire. He had come all the way from Kazenomachi to get away from his past. He didn't have to run but the young adult preferred avoiding conflict. "Huh?" he mumbled as he ran into what felt like a wall. He looked up to see a large wooden door, standing at least ten or twenty feet high, in front of him. "Why in the hell is that here..." he thought aloud placing his hand against the dark surface. Not only was the door tall but it was equally thick. Naga sighed and reached to his side for his katana. "This will never do." he told himself swiftly unsheathing the blade. It flashed silver twice in the sunlight before it was returned to its home in a matter of seconds. The door creaked momentarily before falling in a mass of lumber. With the remains of the once great door now scattered around him, Naga continued on through the entrance, brushing his thick dark hair from his eyes absentmindedly. Upon walking into the area a feminine scream could be heard, "What happened to the door!?" it said. "A blonde girl came running from what looked like a storehouse in a purple leotard. "Oh, sorry about that. It was in the way." he answered plainly looking at her. Miu Furinji frowned, "In the way!? You couldn't have just knocked like a normal guy huh?" she yelled furious. Naga took a step back cringing, for a pretty girl she was incredibly fierce. Miu sighed and regained her composer. "Who are you again?" she asked him with a curious look, "My name is Naga. I'm a weapons master, I thought I could join the dojo here." he replied looking around. There was a tree nearby with puncture holes along the sides of it as if someone had repeatedly nailed something to it. Nearby there was a pond and a post protruding from the ground. There were various other buildings scattered around the area. "Um we already have Shigure, but I'm sure the Elder wouldn't mind!" she yelled excitedly heading for the nearest building. Naga let his rucksack fall to the ground as he waited. He could hear people talking nearby as he sat down crossing his legs in the process. He held his katana lightly in the palm of his hands. It was black and shined faintly in the light. Hearing the approaching footsteps he swiftly sheathed his blade. "Hello there." a deep voice boomed from behind him. Naga turned to see a large intimidating man. He was blonde and had a long beard. The elderly man was dressed in a green robe. "Hi." he answered the man rising to his feet. "I hear you would like to join Ryozanpaku." he stated looking at the young male before him. Naga nodded and locked eyes with the Elder. The old man smiled, "Miu has probably informed you of our other weapons master, Shigure. We'd be glad to have another of course but I think it'd be entertaining to see how you fair against her too!" he stated bellowing out a laugh. Naga raise one of his eyebrows in curiosity, another weapons master? He was the greatest weapons master he knew besides his teacher. "Shigure, come here for a moment please" he asked looking beyond Naga's head. There was a woman standing on the wall surrounding the dojo. She was in a pink kimono that reached about halfway down her thighs. Her hair was dark and held by a bow. Her eyes were grey and appeared to hold no emotion. She dropped down gracefully and approached the Elder. "Naga, this is Shigure Kosaka. She is our current weapons master, why don't you two have a quick sparring match!" he beamed at the two twenty three year olds. Naga looked nervously at the woman before him. He didn't very much the idea of fighting with a female, even if it was just a sparring match. Nonetheless, he felt like he needed to prove himself to the man before him. "But Elder...I might...hurt him." she replied glancing up at the blonde man with cold eyes. "No worries! Naga claims to be a master himself so I don't think he will be very easy to harm." the Elder smiled down at the slender woman. "Alright...let's go." she said walking towards one of the various buildings. The blonde man stroked his beard as the two young adults headed into the sparring room. He headed after them with Miu in tow. She walked along behind her grandfather excited to see two weapons masters spar.

Shigure stood across from the man named Naga and took her stance. He didn't seem to be muscular like Apachai but was still very well built. He wore an outfit similar to Kenichi's but it was black and one of the sleeves looked sawed off. His eyes were focused and steady. He had a katana sheathed next to his waist. Behind his back were a set of tanfa held to him by his belt. If he was the weapons master he claimed to be he would have much more than those two hidden away on his person Shigure thought as she watched him. Miu and the Elder had made their way into the room and were now sitting along the edge of the room. Shigure moved slowly as she observed her opponents moves. Naga had grabbed the tanfa from behind him and was moving towards her. Shigure sidestepped and moved behind him as he took his first strike. She reached for her katana and swung at him fearlessly. Naga turned on his heels and flipped his tanfa around in his hand deflecting the blade. The stoic woman stepped back and regained her hold on the blade on her hands. He was fast, she observed. No one other than the Elder should have been able to stop that attack. Naga took another strike at the slender woman barely missing as she once again dodged his attack. Shigure dodged to his blind spot and swung her katana once again. He raised his tanfa to block the attack, but the effort proved useless as she cut straight through. Naga flinched reflexively as his hand went to his side. Shigure was sure she had caught him off guard this time as she felt the urgency in his movement change. Naga was not going to lose here he told himself as he quickly unsheathed his katana. His blade clashed against Shigure's as sparks flew about the room. Shigure strengthened the force behind her blow to prevent herself from losing her weapon. They stood there with their katanas locked as Miu and the Elder looked on in interest. Naga's black katana bore down onto Shigure's with intense strength. The Elder continued to stroke his beard as he watched the two masters sparred relentlessly. Naga jumped back to refrain from using all of his energy in one attack. Shigure flexed her fingers as she stepped backwards. Naga's eyes never moved from the figure of the woman in front of him. 'She's fast that's for sure.' he told himself as he looked her over. At this rate it could take all night the young adult realized as he switched his hold on his blade. He held the blade sideways in his left hand with the blade facing outwards. Shigure looked momentarily confused before returning to her emotionless expression, she had never seen anyone hold a katana in this stance. She took up a defensive position as he charged towards her. Naga approached the woman quickly holding his blade wielding hand in front of his face. He kept his body close to the ground to keep up speed. Shigure kept her eyes on the man as he continued to approach at top speed. Naga swung his blade along the air from one side of his torso to the other. Shigure held her katana with confidence as she prepared for the oncoming clash. Naga pushed more force behind his swing as he plowed through Shigure's defenses. Her katana clattered to the ground as Naga's blade made its way to her slender neck. Naga stopped less than an inch away from her soft skin. He sheathed his blade and bowed to the woman before him. Shigure looked stunned as she raised her slender fingers to her neck. It felt like he had just torn threw her flesh but she was perfectly fine. The Elder rose and approached the two. "Very well. It seems as if you're just as strong as our Shigure!" he bellowed clapping his hand down onto Naga's back. The young man lurched forward at the force behind his friendly notion. Shigure stared intently at the well-built man before her. She spent her life surrounded by men, save for Miu. Apachai was like her childish older brother, Akisame her father, Kensei was perverted beyond words but he was still family to her. Sakaki and Kenichi were like brothers to her as well. She was perfectly fine with being around them, men in general were not different to her in anyway until now. Naga made her feel funny. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and her cheeks were a bright shade. Shigure's frown deepened as she leapt up onto the ceiling beams. Miu watched as her friend made her retreat, "That was odd..." she uttered as she went over to her grandfather. "Just let Miu here give you the proper paperwork and then you can move on in" Hayato Furinji smiled as he left out of the door stroking his beard. Naga followed the heavy chested blonde into another room, wondering where the woman in the kimono had gone. He finished signing everything in a matter of minutes, and walked to his designated room. Someone had mounted a wooden board above the door for a name plate. He took a short kunai knife from his rucksack and carved his name into it. 'ナガ日本刀' it read (Naga Nihonto). He put the knife back in its place and headed into his new quarters. There was a slide door closet on one side of the room, in the left corner there was a bed draped in white sheets. There was a window in the opposite wall, with a small shelf beside it. He moved to the shelf and sat his sack next to him. He then reached meticulously into it and pulled out three objects placing them tenderly on the wooden shelf. The first was a rusted shuriken that his teacher had given him, the second was a picture. There were three people in it, a woman with bright red hair and pale skin, a man with dark hair and eyes, and between them was a smiling young boy. Naga smiled at the old picture of his family. The third object was a heavy metal ball. It was something he used to play with growing up. It didn't have much meaning to anyone else but it was one of his most prized possessions. After looking at the objects on the shelf for a few more moments he tossed his bag into a corner. Naga walked over to his bed and looked it over, there was a simple flat wooden frame with a thin mattress lying atop it. He frowned and lifted the mattress from the frame and tossed it leisurely across the room. He left the thinnest sheet on the frame and sat down. He never much liked sleeping on beds and things of the sort. He always ended up sleeping on the floor back at his old dojo in Kazenomachi. He suddenly felt the presence of someone else in the area. He looked up at the rafters in the ceiling to see a woman's silhouette standing above him. "Shigure, why are you hiding up there." he stated as she dropped down in front of him. "I...was not...hiding." she replied looking at the man before her. Her eyes trailed from his face down his body. His neck was thin but strong, his collarbone clearly visible. Shigure felt the pounding in her chest increase as her eyes made their way to his barely visible chest. Naga looked confused as he watched the mysterious Shigure roam his body with her dark eyes. A pink tint had crept into her cheeks as she continued to gaze uncontrollably. Shigure didn't understand what she was doing she had never felt this way before and the sensation was new and peculiar to her. "Do you need something?" he asked the stunning woman before him. "No." she said before making her exit. Naga sat still on his 'bed' thinking about what had just occurred. "That was...odd." he said to himself before making an attempt at napping.

Shigure headed for the kitchen after leaving Naga's room. She still didn't know why she had done what she did but she was sure Miu could explain it to her. She leapt across a gap in the floor before a flash came from beneath her. The dark haired beauty never flinched as she slammed her foot into the face of the forty-two year old beneath her. Kensei Ma winced beneath the force of the impact before muttering aloud, "Why do you treat me so Shigure?" Shigure continued her trek disregarding the old perverts comment. She could Akisame and Kenichi off to the side. Kenichi was busy lifting two of Akisame's Buddha statues why the latter ruthless lashed his whip at him. Apachai Hopachai and Shio Sakaki sat on the porch playing Othello. Apachai looked up shocked to see Shigure walking so freely among the others, "Apapapapa! Shigure, you want to play Othello with Apachai!?" he asked the slender woman excitedly, "Not now...Apa...I'm busy." she replied to her friend as she turned into the kitchen. Miu stood over the sink scrubbing the dishes clean. "Oh, hi Shigure" she smiled at the older woman. Shigure nodded before sliding the door closed behind her. Miu looked at the weapons mistress before removing her hands from the soapy water before her. She wiped her hands on her apron and approached her. "Is something the matter Shigure?" she asked her friend with concerned eyes. Shigure told her what had happened her tone unwavering. "Am I...sick?" Shigure asked her in monotone. "Not at all Shigure! I think you might be in love!" Miu beamed in happiness, "Love?" she asked the blonde. The word wasn't entirely new to her, she knew that she loved everyone in the dojo. But she never felt this way around the others, none of them made her heart jump around in her chest. Miu observed the look on her friends face with a smile, Shigure was usually completely calm and composed. It wasn't like her to seem so flustered. "It's okay Shigure just don't think about it too much. It just means that you like being around Naga is all!" she assured the pink clad woman. Shigure nodded before looking up at her blond friend, "Thank you...Miu. "She thanked her friend. Shigure rose to leave and slid the door back open causing the mass of men to fall into the room. Shigure looked down blinking at the pile of bodies before her. "Where you all eavesdropping!?" Miu yelled angrily at the boys. Apachai and Kenichi began to mumble their apologies in complete unison save for Apachai's occasional 'Apa's. Sakaki and Akisame stood and looked around as if they had done nothing wrong leaving Kensei to feel the wrath of Shigure once again as she carelessly threw her shuriken downwards toward his face. Miu glared at the men with fire in her eyes as Shigure absentmindedly kicked the defenseless Kensei Ma in the face several times.

Naga rose from his resting place groggily he hadn't been asleep long when several yelling voices had intruded upon his dream. "They sure do argue a lot here." he mumbled to himself as he drug his slender hand through his hair. He had been having a particularly good dream from what he could remember. He stood and walked out onto the grounds. Miu was chasing the ones called Sakaki and Akisame around with a rice spoon yelling something about eavesdropping. Shigure was kicking Kensei repeatedly as if she didn't notice his pleas for mercy. Kenichi and Apachai were following Miu yelling their apologies. Naga scratched his head in confusion before approaching the woman in the pink kimono. "Shigure, I think you might be hurting him" he told the woman placing his hand on her shoulder. Shigure flinched at the sudden contact and looked down at his hand. Shigure's eyes lingered on him as he repeated his sentence. She finally registered his words and allowed Kensei to get back to his feet. Kensei barely had a scratch on him but that was to be expected of a grand master. Shigure continued to stare awkwardly at Naga's hand before making an excuse to leave. Naga watched her leave with an intrigued look on his face. Now that he had actually taken the time to look at her he could see just how beautiful she really was. Her hair framed her face perfectly and her lips pouted in the most attractive way. Her eyes weren't so much scary as they were extremely distracting. The deep gray color made her them stand out against the milky tone of her skin. The gait she walked in made it seem as if she was floating just above the Earth's surface. Her steps seemed carefully thought out and planned as her gracefully legs moved in rhythm. Naga continued to stare after the beautiful woman as his breath hitched in his throat. Miu momentarily stopped her frantic chase of the two large men to look at the two. Shigure was walking quickly towards the dojo entrance with a bright pink tint coloring her cheeks, Naga stood frozen in the kitchen doorway with his mouth hanging open slightly the both of them were clearly love struck. Miu subconsciously tapped the rice spoon against her chin trying to think up ways to get the two masters closer. Soon a smile had spread its way across her face and she was running off to find her grandfather, leaving a confused Akisame and Sakaki behind her.

Hayato Furinji sat in his own room reading through a book of his. He was so indulged that he hardly notice his granddaughter's presence. Miu approached her grandfather with her most effective puppy dog face and sat in front of him. He continued reading for a few more moments before glancing up at his relative. "Yes Miu?" the Elder spoke warmly setting his book aside. "I was just wondering if we could all go to Furinji Island again! I mean its okay if we can't it's just Kenichi hasn't been getting in many fights later and we have Naga here now and it would be rude to just throw him into the swing of things and..." the girl mumbled slurring her words together. "Very well Miu. Go and tell the other's we leave at dawn." he said placing his large hand atop his granddaughter's head.

Naga sighed in relief as the blond girl bounced out of his room. She had told him that the entire dojo would be going out to some place called Furinji Island tomorrow morning. Now all he had to do was lie in wait. He sat back against the wall and watched the rafters above him. There was a gray mouse sitting atop one of them, it had a pink bow tied tightly around its tail. It seemed to be watching him. Naga observed it for a few moments longer before retiring to his bed, it was at least eight or nine o'clock by now.

Shigure sat still on the roof as she waited for her friend, Tochumaru to return from his excursion. She didn't need to ask where he went because she already knew. The slender woman leisurely crossed her legs and looked up at the night sky. There weren't many stars tonight she observed. The small gray mouse had soon appeared next to her squeaking excitedly, she allowed the furry rodent to climb up onto her shoulder and speak directly into her ear. She nodded as Tochumaru squeaked and squealed. When he stopped and looked back at his friend Shigure finally spoke up, "The island?...are you...sure?" she asked him looking into the mouse's small round eyes. Tochumaru nodded and crawled back down into the ceiling rafters. The only thing he was concerned about was seeing if Miu had left anything out for him again.

Naga yawned and rose from his stiff bed, he had slept moderately well. Shigure had completely filled his dreams he realized with a jump as he stood. It was still dark, meaning they probably wouldn't be leaving for at least another hour. Not bothering to put a shirt on he grabbed his katana and headed outside. He spent the next half hour aimlessly slashing his sword through the air. It felt nice, he thought, as he moved the blade swiftly between hands. He had learned the hard way that if you thought too much about the weapon it would eventually become useless. He viewed his katana as an extent of his arm. He could punch and kick all at the same time. Naga continued to whirl his blade around in the palm of his hands. He flipped his hold on it, once again holding it backwards and horizontal in his left hand. He moved at an almost ninja like speed as he slashed it across one of Sakaki's training posts. The rope on it split before falling all the way off. "Better..." he told himself as he saw the small nick he had left in the wood. He sheathed his katana before turning to head back to his room. The sun was beginning to rise which meant they would be leaving soon.

"Akisame! We aren't picking up speed it seems!" the Elder bellowed from behind the wheel of the Seketoba. Akisame looked up at him holding a pair of binoculars loosely in his hands. "It appears our little engine that can't is beginning to tire." he replied heading below deck. Kenichi was on what appeared to be an ellipticalpedaling with urgency, beads of sweat pouring off his head. Kensei stood above him reading one of his 'special' magazines. "Come now Kenichi we'll never get to see Miu in a bikini at this rate" he cooed to his disciple. Kenichi pedaled even faster with the thought of the well-endowed blonde in a two piece filling his mind. Akisame approached the two, "At this rate we'll not arrive until nightfall!" he called absentmindedly taking his whip from a place of concealment. "Ah! Not the whip!" the pair yelled in unison as Kensei joined the disciple on the elliptical behind him. The Seketoba began to pick up speed at astonishing pace, Apachai and Miu held on for dear life on the top side of the vessel. Shigure stood atop the crow's nest paying the others little attention, her kimono whipped around in the wind as she looked out over the water. Naga stood near the bow of the ship with his back to the water, observing his new friends. Apachai and Miu were screaming in hysterics as the boat reached a new top speed, Sakaki was muttering in drunken slurs as he threw another sake glass overboard. Akisame could be heard cracking his whip below deck, much to the dismay of the two accompanying him. The Elder stood at the wheel bellowing out laugh after laugh. Naga smiled and joined in on his laughter, his new companions were different but no less frightening he realized.

"Come on Kenichi lets go swimming!" Miu called to her friend as she drug him across the sandy beach of Furinji Island. "I'm coming Miu just hold on!" he replied frantically attempting to get his clothes, all except for the swimming trunks he wore under them, off before they hit the water. Apachai sat along the beach singing his own tune, "Take the sand, build the mound, break the mound, build the sand! Sand sand sand sand sand sand sand! Apapapa!" he sung patting a small hill of sand. Shigure stood atop a cliff with her bow and arrow staring intently at the sea. "Naga! Why don't you go and help Shigure catch some fish!" Miu stopped her assault on Kenichi to observe the two. Naga sat on the beach in his shorts cleaning his katana tenderly. He glanced up at Miu before sheathing his blade. He looked up at the weapons mistress atop the cliff wondering how she would see something from way up there. He watched her as the water's surface rippled. She unleshed a rain of arrows on the ripple, soon at least six or seven small fish resurfaced. "Okay, Miu." he smiled up at her leaving his beloved katana in the sand. He approached the water's edge and took a set of shuriken from seemingly nowhere and watched the surface intently. Soon an eager fish jumped its way out of the water and Naga reflexively flicked his wrist. The pointed star-like weapon pierced the fish's scaly skin and killed it instantly. He continued this process for around another half hour. Between his shuriken throwing and Shigure's arrows they had killed a total of twenty-four fish. Akisame and Sakaki retrieved them using a net while Naga meticulously pulled his shuriken back from their flesh. Shigure was soon back on the beach to look at their catch, some of the fish had long deep gashes from her arrows. Others had smaller more precise puncture wounds from Naga's shuriken. He had aimed the small weapons so perfectly, she thought to herself. Each one had hit its mark squarely in the heart. Kenichi had removed the arrows from the aquatic animals and returned them to her. Shigure put them back in her quiver before heading back into the forest. Naga watched her leave observing the way she walked in the process. Miu frowned as she watched the pink clad woman leave, "She's really making an effort it seems" she mumbled, "But this is Shigure...she doesn't have much experience with these things I suppose" she finished as she chased after her. "Shigure!" she called to the master. "Yes..Miu" she replied stopping in her tracks, "Why don't you ask you know who to go with you!" she whisper yelled observing how close the dark haired Naga was. "You know...who?" she replied confused, "Naga". "Naga? Okay..." she muttered awkwardly breaking her normal uncaring face. Shigure turned on her heels and approached the second weapons master. Naga looked awkwardly at her, their heights being barely different. Shigure came up to his nose and he still found her to be intimidating at times. "Come...with me." she told him staring at him. Naga looked back to see that Akisame and Sakaki had finished with the nets and were now staring with wide eyes at the two. "Okay, where are we going?" Naga asked her, Shigure furrowed her brow and just began walking back into the forest. Naga shrugged and continued after her grabbing his katana from the sand along the way. Shigure walked along a trail in the forest for about ten minutes, following its twists and turns until she came to a large opening. It was a wide area. The ground was rocky and covered in large boulders. "Stop...we're here." she replied as Naga stopped just short of her. He had been watching her gait for a while now and almost walked head first into her when she stopped. "Where is...here, again?" he mumbled looking around the clearing. Shigure turned to face him, "It's the arena...we're having...a rematch." she replied her hand falling to her waits and resting on the hilt of her katana. Naga thought she was joking, although that was unlike the stoic Shigure, until he saw the flash of sunlight on blade. He barely had enough time to raise his katana, sheath and all, to shield himself. Shigure's blade bounced back from the contact, causing her to reflexively jump backwards. Naga swiftly unsheathed his sword and held it tightly in his right hand. Shigure had landed atop a particularly large boulder with her blade in hand. Naga couldn't deny she was beautiful as her hair blew about in the wind. Shigure stared intently at him, she hadn't taken him seriously the last time they dueled. That was a mistake that she told herself would not be made again. She watched his movements slowly observing his stance as well as the way he held his sword. He had his free hand in front of him as if to block the attacks. He had his katana held in a fist sideways with the blade pointing towards his knuckles. It resembled the stance of a karate master but she didn't know very much about him. His eyes were narrowed and analyzing as if he was trying to plain out her possible movements. After careful consideration she decided that only her strongest and fastest attacks could even get her close to hitting him. There was a move that Kenichi and the others called the Kosaka Slash that might work. She launched herself from her perch raising her katana high, she flipped it once in her hand before bringing it down on Naga. Naga reacted by throwing his fist downward causing his blade to side swipe his opponents. Shigure moved with the motion of her sword and fell to the ground, she recovered quickly and rolled back to her feet. Naga flexed his hand as he felt the wave of pain go through it. 'That hurt a lot more than expected...it was a quick slash but the strength behind it is amazing' he thought to himself as he changed his stance. He held his free arm behind him now to allow more free movement. He had been on the defensive up until now but it was time that he fought back. He ran quickly to the pink clad woman before side stepping her when he was no less than a foot away. He was in her blind spot, but he didn't stay there long. Her eyes had kept up with his fast movements and he barely evaded getting cut by her sword as she reacted. He moved behind her once more and flipped his sword, Shigure didn't have time to move as she felt the back side of his blade come in contact with her back. 'He's trying...to avoid hitting...me' she thought to herself as she lurched forward. She reflexively brought her hand down and flipped out of the way. She landed on her feet and turned back to face Naga to find a set of at least fourteen shuriken headed for her. Shigure dodged out of the way quickly, leaving them to head for a nearby rock. Naga smirked as he watched the mistress of weapons 'dodge' away. He had aimed his throw at the rock not Shigure sensing that the grand master of weapons would move out of the way. The shuriken hit the edge of the boulder and bounced back in the direction that she had dodged. Shigure looked over her shoulder in shock, and quickly ducked the pointed projectiles. They barely missed her, a few of them had serrated her chain mail and parts of her kimono. Naga didn't let up on the woman as he approached her once more and slashed fiercely downwards. She blocked the attack but the force of the two katanas clashing caused them to fall freely from their respectful owners hands. Naga locked eyes with Shigure and used his variation of the butterfly kick to send her back. Shigure did as he expected and moved backwards to avoid getting kicked. She couldn't reach her katana...but Naga could. She watched on in awe as he picked up both of the blades. Duel wielding was a skill that was hard to master. She could do it with ease but not many other masters could do so. Naga held his sword in his right hand, the back of the blade lay across his chest. Shigure's katana, which felt incredibly light in his hand, he held it above his head with his left hand. Shigure reached into her kimono, pulling out a kusarigama. Naga narrowed his eyes and looked the weapon over. The chain and sickle weapon looked extremely dangerous but easily evadible. Shigure swung the weighted chain end above her before throwing it to entangle the duel wielding Naga. He expected her to do so, and had thought his actions over carefully. The only way he could see to evade the weapon was to break it, and only one of his attacks could break it. His teacher had called it the 'Nihontō no arashi'. The Nihonto Storm. He slowed his breathing as he heard the heavy chain grow closer. The sound of air splitting around it clearly evident in his ears. Shigure watched on as he stood unmoving with the two katana at his sides. Naga began twirling the single edged blades in his hands, slowly increasing in speed. Shigure was wondering what kind of attack this was as the swords seemed to circle around his body in a storm of flashing silver. The whirring sound was enough to make one's ears bleed. Shigure herself was beginning to find the sound painful. Shigure felt the chain tighten in her hand before going limp, then it tightened again and became limp once more. Shigure looked down to see the length of the chain had gotten considerably shorter. Naga continued his assault on the strong chain, the speed of his strikes was almost hard to see. It had taken him seven years to master this technique. The first time he used it he had nearly chopped his own hand off. It required the master to be able to practically juggle two swords about his body in a circular motion. Not only that but it had to be done in a way that when they were tossed the katana would always travel in a slashing motion, which meant that if you didn't always catch the hilt of the blade you could end up tearing yourself apart. The end result, if done correctly, is that the user is protected by a shield of swords. If moving, it became a lethal storm. Eventually the kusarigama had been reduced to a three foot chain and sickle. Naga decided he had drug the duel out long enough and prepared to finish it. He knew that it was unlikely that Shigure had moved from her spot but he couldn't be sure with his eyes closed. The Nihontō no arashi was not something that one could just stop, he could both slow down and hope that Shigure didn't counterattack while he did so. The second was he could use the dismount technique he had created. He kept his eyes closed trying to recall the appearance of the battlefield and pinpoint Shigure's location. He tracked it down to a boulder somewhere on the left. He turned his body towards it and continued swirling the two katana about before catching the first in and sending it reeling towards his target. The black blade, that had the speed of the gods behind it, lodged itself deep in the rock formation sending tremors up through Shigure's body. In the blink of an eye, before she could react, the second had done the same. She looked down in shock to see her katana lodged in the boulder as well, parallel to the first. The area was quiet before a quiet low shake could be heard. It grew to a quake as the large boulder fell apart causing Shigure to stumble and fall. Naga used her stumble to his advantage dashing forward and grabbing the two weapons before they could fully hit the ground. After that he launched himself on top of the weapons mistress holding the blades at a scissor angle. "You lose. Again." he told her dropping the katanas on the rocky ground. Shigure could feel her heart rate increasing at the closeness of the other master. His breath heated her skin as she looked up into his eyes. Naga stared back at her, there was something about her eyes that made him smile. Her dark hair fell perfectly over her cheeks, and her lips were still in that beautiful pout. Naga was already just inches away from her, so what he did next wasn't that shocking. He pressed his lips tenderly against Shigure's. She was initially shocked and didn't know what to do. She had spent enough time watching Kenichi read his 'How To...' books so eventually she caught on and began to kiss him back. Her lips were soft and smooth under his own, Naga thought as he caressed her neck with his hands. The two kissed each other with their lips moving in unison before the dark haired mistress of weapons parted her lips allowing Naga to deepen their kiss. She moaned quietly into him as his tongue explored every inch of her mouth. They roamed each other's mouths hungrily as the sun scorched hot above them. "Apapapa!" a surprised Apachai Hopachai yelled as he happened upon the two. Naga immediately parted lips with Shigure and jumped to his feet. "Apachai sorry! Apachai didn't mean to! Apapapa!" the muay thai master yelled covering his eyes. Shigure rose to her feet and looked at the embarrassed expression on Naga's face. Why had he stopped, she wondered. She couldn't understand why Apachai's appearance had changed anything. "What's...the matter...Apachai?" she asked with her normal stoic expression. "Apa?" Apachai mumbled not understanding his friend's question. Shigure awaited an answer that never came as Apachai ran back to the beach looking utterly confused. She then returned her attention to Naga who had busied himself with his katana. He was examining the blade closely as if he had never seen it before. Shigure was confused, what had she done that made them act so different. Naga snapped his head up and turned looked back in the direction of the beach. "There's something going on out back there." he said narrowing his eyes. Naga didn't want to chance a look at the woman next to him after what had just happened. He returned his katana to it's sheathe and headed for the tree line. Shigure was still incredibly confused, as she picked up her own blade and took to the trees.

A/N:

Hey guys! This was the first fan fic I made for anything EVER. I just thought it would be nice to publish it, should I finish it?

Anyway I don't own anything other than Naga!

R&R?