Afro Kunoichi - The Red String of Fate

by ShishoDawn

Lately rumors have been floating around Japan of a warrior…..no….a kunoichi, a female ninja with The Touch of Death and a distinct fighting style. And she's out for blood...

Afro Kunoichi: The Red String of Fate

Chapter 1

Hanaya – Wildflower

A/N: Hey guys, it's been a minute since I've written a fic and have had this story in my head for some weeks now so I've decided to put into action, or rather, into words! I love Afro Samurai (wish it was continued) and I'm trying to span them out in 5 chapters similar to season one of AS so the chapters might be kinda long depending on the flow of the story that chapter is taking place in. While this is heavily based off of the anime and movie this story takes place in a different universe, its similar to the AS universe because the setting is taking place AFTER AS: Resurrection and has the same futuristic/feudal Japan feel. But city names, prefects, and places are creations of my wacky imagination. Fighting styles also, while I drew inspiration from actual fighting styles and their names I don't actually study them so the things I didn't know I filled in with more imagination haha. Hope you guys enjoy the story! 3

Summary: Lately rumors have been floating around Japan of a warrior…..no….a kunoichi, a female ninja with The Touch of Death and a distinct fighting style. It's said that she's more powerful than even the Afro Samurai himself. Most think that she is his counterpart in every single way, down to the afro that sits proudly upon her shoulders. Except that she is even more deadly…..but then again, it is rumored than anyone that ever set eyes upon her never lived to tell about it…..

The sun sat low in the sky as the cicadas sang their evening serenade of summer time. Everything seemed to be serene as the trees swayed with ease, bowing down gracefully to the power of the wind.

But if someone were walking downstream by the path that lay near the river just east of the Red Light district in the Hiraido prefecture, they would hear more than just the song of the birds in the trees or the babbling of the brook that lay just a few more meters past the tree line.

Thankfully nobody was around, because they would see a magnificent and at the same time heart sickeningly horrible battle scene. Normally these types of things are the things of magic legends, but sometimes fact is stranger than fiction.

A thin but tall girl who appeared to be made of nothing but the hair that sat atop her head with a whisp of a lean body beneath it had a tall and burly man slumped over her shoulder. At first glance it would appear that he was leaning on her as if hugging her, but through his back protruded a sharp and finely made blade. It was apparent that this man was dying, and that girl with the unruly hair had been his murderer.

The man panted, his breaths hindered by the blood that was quickly filling up his lungs, diaphragm, and upper respiratory organs. The blood that seeped out of him coated her front and glistened on her blade.

Even through the thick coating of blood that hid the care and polishing that went into the metal one could tell that it was a sword of great craftsmanship. That meant only a swordsman, or woman, of great skill and knowledge would be able to wield it and use it properly.

"Ku…noi…chi…" the man choked out, anger evident in his voice as it came out in a growl but the thick liquid that was still seeping out internally from his organs was hindering his speech and range of motion as her sword held him paralyzed in its death grip.

"No," she spoke cutting him off, "I don't have time to sit around and listen to you rant some more. You thought you were going to beat me, but you see now you were mistaken. Now, I won't ask again. Where is he?" she whispered fiercely as she moved the sword about half an inch to the right, causing the the man to scream out involuntarily as more of his tissue ripped and the internal bleeding began to speed up even more.

"He…last I heard….he had left his perch on the mountain to go fight some crazy bitch who had resurrected his dad or some crap…." He coughed out as blood began to seep out of his nose and mouth a rapid rate. If it wasn't for his code of honor, he wouldn't have told this broom-stick of a girl a damn thing.

She had heard stories of the Afro Samurai trading his sword in for the use of carving wooden figurines of the victims he'd slain instead of fighting, but she didn't believe them. It seemed as if he wanted to atone for his mistakes and cleanse the blood that he had once bathed in that now penetrated through the marrow of his bones down to the depths of his very soul.

'Hmph….I guess I am the embodiment of his redemption. Because he's taken away what was meant to be mine…..and now I'll never be able to honor my mother. I can do nothing to make her killer atone for what HE took from ME!' she thought to herself as she could feel the urge just to be able to lay eyes on this fabled 'Afro Samurai' just so she could spit on him.

"And?" she said as if the man were slow of thinking, it was clear that she was growing thing in the patience department.

"I heard he won….seems the bastard just won't die. But I don't know where he took off to….the word around is that either he's still traveling to his little mountain perch or he's settled down somewhere else." The effort to finish that sentence alone causing for Kenshi to sag from the exertion as the rate that he was losing blood was finally beginning to take its toll on his body.

"Ugh…you're making a mess." She laughed in a condescending tone as she felt the warmth of his life force drip down her back and pool at the belt around her waist.

"Just wait until I-"the man tried to bark out. "Or what Kenshi?" she said in a sickening teasing voice, her head tilting to the sided in what looked to be amusement.

The bells that were attached to the kanzashi sticks poking out of her wild mane of hair seemed to jingle in laugher along with her as the rustling of the trees seemed to whisper the man's name in death, "You certainly aren't in the position to be make threats right now." a bit of her anger coming through her voice as she resisted the urge to plunge the sword in all the way to the hilt.

Not only was this her first job as a kunoichi for hire (plus a little personal, but not any longer now that she knew what she needed to know) but this man had made her life a living hell ever since some bastard name Setsu killed her mother when she was around 6 fours old.

Kenshi had recognized exactly just who she was and how deadly she had grown over the years she had gone missing from the bustling city. He never suspected that the girl he used torture with his harsh words and even harsher touch would be his downfall. She would make sure that this Afro guy would take her just as serious.

Nothing would stop her from finding him and making him understand the chain of events that his reckless thirst for revenge had caused. Who knows who else he'd killed, orphaned, or pissed off since his last quest for personal penance?

Maybe she was crazy, or maybe she just had a deluded view of justice for the way she thought punishment should be dealt out. But she knew she had to do something because she had nothing but her honor, to herself and to her mother.

"Well this little chat was fun, but wasting my time any longer with you will hinder me from completing my true objection. Hopefully….I won't have to see your face in hell. Now THAT would really be the true meaning of eternal suffering." she spoke sarcastically to him as his hand rose up to grip her shoulder.

"You bitc-" he began but the force of her blade ripping from the flesh of his midsection stole his breath along with the last bit of life he was clinging to, the gaping wound left open to bleed out.

She moved to the side as she closed her eyes and his body slumped to the ground without the support her small frame had provided. After pulling a small blue rag out of waistline and wiping her blade off she placed it upon her back once more with a slight sigh.

"I was trying to make this as clean as possible." She muttered under her breath as she walked away, trying to stomach stench of death that clung to her from the blood that now bathed her entire right side.

She was told at the hidden village she'd graduated from training at just two weeks ago at the age of 19 that her jobs would get more efficient as she gained skill over time, she hope they were right…..

TWO YEARS LATER…..

"Hanayaaa!" the high pitched call of the teahouse owner that the thin woman in question had unwittingly begun to work for echoed behind the bar area where she was sweating over a fire turning multiple rows of eels on their sticks. It was only for the night and she was glad for that.

Somehow she had gotten tricked into this time consuming job by hearing that the owner of the teahouse in Kinta, a prefecture in the city of Honogawa, was in need of someone that was fast with their hands and handy with a blade.

Thinking that was code for someone in need of an assassin or, kunoichi in her case, she answered the call only to end up wrestling eel out of a wooden tub then cleaning and grilling them to perfection for patrons of the renowned Jinkushi Teahouse.

"I would've kept walking past this stupid teahouse had I known this is what I would be doing." She muttered under her breath as she could feel the heat rising up from the fire rising to get trapped beneath her outrageous amount of hair which was causing her to sweat even more as she leaned over the fire to coat the eel in an even glaze of teriyaki sauce.

The precision and swiftness of her hands would be much better put to use fighting the Afro Samurai, not catching and grilling eel!

Sure she was supposed to be a cold hearted kunoichi and Hanaya had a bad habit of doing what she wanted to do despite who disapproved or not, but when the owner had pleaded and begged for her help with those pitiful eyes how could she say no? Plus the extra pay and free boarding for the night was a nice silver lining to this hot and fiery ball of a cloud.

Her master had always told her that her soft heart would be her downfall.

At least she didn't have to work the whole night, she would have time to go out and search the city for the Afro Samurai, who was still in possession of the No. 1 headband, which everyone was in awe of. Personally she had no interest in the headband nor did she want it, which was why she wasn't going after No.2.

Her prize was the headband wearer himself, No.1, Afro Samurai. She would challenge him on the grounds of honor, which is something she would know he would understand. He would have no choice in the matter and she would bear down on him like the slicing wind of the typhoon seasons.

"What's taking those eel so long? We got two orders of Unadon, and don't burn them this time!" the man squawked as he scuttled past her to place drinks on a partron's table.

"Lucky I don't burn you, you old four-eyed, wrinkled-face, dried up prune of an-" she continued to mutter as she whisked the first row of eel off of the fire and placed them into their premade bowls of rice and vegetables, too focused on trying to finish her task quickly to notice the said man she was insulting was walking up behind her. "What was that missy?"

"Unadon is finished!" she chirped sweetly with a smile, hiding the annoyance that was bubbling underneath the surface. She had a feeling the old man knew he was aggravating her and was being an ignorant coot just for the hell of it.

He leaned over the two bowls, inspecting them with a critical eye before finally placing them onto a carrier tray.

"Well, at least you got THIS bowl of Unadon close to perfect. I'm glad you're only working here for the night, go ahead and call it quits. Things are slowing down now." He spoke as his eyes seemed to glisten with a hint of mischief behind his spectacles before he turned and entered the eating area of the teahouse. "You can pick up your pay from Lina." He called over his shoulder as an after thought.

"Why that…..ungrateful old man!" she couldn't help but grate out through clenched teeth when she stormed out towards the side entrance that was for employees only.

"See if I ever pull the good Samaritan card again." She huffed as she undid the top three buttons that held the neck of the Chinese style dress closed, welcoming the breeze that hit her skin when she made it outside.

She was only forced to wear it because it was 'standard Jinkushi uniform' but she had an inkling of an idea the only reason female employees had to dawn such ridiculously skin tight dresses was because they were used to draw in more clientele. "Hmph. Talk about a marketing strategy." She mumbled in annoyance as the slits that rose up to her hip bone barely felt appropriate.

She figured she had a bit of time to kill before tonight's search considering she hadn't taken a day off searching since her first mission as a kunoichi. Looking around for a suitable spot to get a drink with a bit of the money she had worked hard to earn she spotted a drink vendor a about 40 meters down the street from her that looked suitable so she made her in that direction.

Pulling out what appeared to be a white cigarette from her chest area when she got there she used one of the torches to light it. After inhaling deeply she closed her eyes, letting the buzz of the banned plant she was smoking ease her frazzled nerves.

'It's been two years and still no sign of him. If I don't find him soon….I'm going over the border into the Southern Districts.' she planned out in her head, acting as if she were unaware of the stares and glances from men that were passing her on the street and the patrons sipping sake and other spirits from the vendor due to her state of dress.

It wasn't as if she were the kind that relied solely on her looks alone to get what she wanted, but women in that area that dressed as she was were usually of one variety and attracted all sorts of attention.

"Hello there little lady, what's a pretty thing like you doing all alone?" said a man that had decided to move from his seat across the other side of the vending seating area to sit next to her. She had sensed his eyes on her the instant she had sat down to order her drink.

"Sorry hun, but I'm not interested." She spoke as politely as possible with a small smile from the smoky cloud that now seemed to enshroud her like an aura, it wasn't as if she would dislike a bit of male company and in fact she had forgotten the last time she'd felt wanted by anyone let alone the opposite sex, but now was not the time for that. She was on a mission.

As long as Afro walked the earth she was destined to see to it that his reign of bloodshed ended, even if it meant the end of her own life.

The dark haired man seemed shocked for a moment as if he didn't know how to respond to her outright, albeit polite, rejection. Peeling her eyes away from the man beside her she scanned the room once more, motioning for the bartender to send a glass of sake her way.

Then as if her hearing zoomed in on it automatically, as if on instinct, she'd heard it: "Yeah but the funny thing is….they said when they confronted Afro and even had attacked them with their weapons, he'd done nothing but disarm them and then, he just went on about his way. He didn't kill them." She heard a bald man say that was seated directly to her left at a table with another bald man in similar clothing.

"Afro?" she whispered without thinking as she exhaled the smoke that she had been holding in her lungs as her body felt soothed in a cocoon of warmth as the effects of the herb mixed with sake. "Huh?" asked the man that was still trying to gain her affection, thinking that she was speaking to him.

She guessed they were a part of some local militia or something from the looks of their hair and clothing as she scanned them from head to toe with more than a millisecond to spare.

"Thank you, sir." She purred politely after she had received her sake from the bartender, ignoring the man next to her who had somehow started babbling on and on about his accomplishments, trying to gain her acceptance of his company for the night. But she was too busy using one of many skills that she had worked hard to train to pay attention to him.

Eavesdropping was certainly a valuable skill to have in the kunoichi world. Her master at the hidden village had helped all the students there increase their sense of hearing while also enhancing their memory skills so they could remember what they heard word for word after just hearing it one time.

The many years spent there, putting her body through hours of rigorous exercises and tribulations, blurred together every time she tried to add them together.

"No way man! He let them live?" the man's bald companion had exclaimed in disbelief as his buddy nodded with sagely wisdom.

"I shit you not! I think Afro is really done fighting. I mean, I'd lose interest in fighting if I was No. 1 too….there's no one to compete with!" he had exclaimed drunkenly, not even realizing how loud he was being due to his liquor consumption.

"No, no, no. That's not why he quit fighting." The other guy, sounding just as drunk as the other one, challenged his friends' statement. Hanaya resisted the urge to roll her eyes….these guys seemed to be too drunk to know anything about the Afro Samurai or is whereabouts.

"It's the curse of the No.1 Headband….the life of bloodshed and constant battle must be taking its toll on his soul." The man said, his voice taking on a sudden serious tone and an unwanted chill traveled down her spine.

She couldn't help it but her heart was beginning to pound inside her ribcage as she listened in on the conversation. She never imagined that this would happen from a random decision to go for a drink; this is how she knew that the red string of fate tied her to this Afro Samurai. From the moment of her conception in her mother's womb she knew this is what her life was meant to be and in a way it infuriated her.

This was the first time in months that she'd heard word of the mysterious samurai and most times it was only a rumor about a rumor, so the story she heard was like a distorted version of the original story spoken by the very first person.

Half the time she felt as if she was chasing castles in the sky or half-truths mixed with half-lies, something though was different. This time….it felt as if she was right on the verge of something.

"Well it makes sense right? Gin said they had ran across him about 5 days ago in Chiye's Forest, everyone knows that's the only way to Mount Kurin. I'm telling you man, that dude is really serious about having a life of peace." The guy said as he tipping so far back in his seat to drain the last of his sake out of his cup that he ended up falling right back into Hanaya's lap.

"Whoa there mister….be careful, can't have you drinking yourself into a coma now, can we?" she spoke with a smile as her voice held all the innocence and energy of an eighteen year old woman. Or course she didn't talk like a school girl nor was she eighteen anymore, but she had to learn different social mannerisms for different situations in during in her training.

Yes, there were many faces that Hanaya could choose to wear. If she wanted she could pretend to be anything and anyone she wanted. See part of the art of the kunoichi was being able to adapt to any and every situation.

Whether it is a battle of wits in a social debate or a test of physical strength, a kunoichi wasn't truly a kunoichi until they mastered many levels of training and forms of combat.

"Hehe…I'm sorry ma'am. I must've had a bit too much to drink….you know, ya kinda remind me a bit of that Afro guy…." He hiccupped as he tilted he chair forward only to slump onto a drunken stupor onto the floor at her feet. "Oh my…" she trailed off as if surprised.

"Excuse my friend miss, he's had a long day today. Here let me get him out your way." The other bald guy had offered with rosy cheeks as he swayed to his feet, signaling his level of intoxication.

"It's ok, I got him." She said confidently with a giggle, knowing that if he tried they'd end up with two men getting in the way and she'd be damned if she'd be hold up babysitting two drunken strangers.

Her day had pretty much already been ruined by working at the teahouse all day, the only thing bright side of that the hefty pocket of change she got for the hard work.

Hanaya knew she couldn't waste any more time in this city, she would have to cash a rain check on the old man at Jinkushi on the free room. She had a samurai to catch!

"Here, hold this." She said handing her roll-up spliff to the dark haired man that had been annoying her all night then without another word she lift the guy up onto her shoulder then sat him down on a bench that was right next to the vendor as the man could now be heard snoring heavily.

"Wha-how did you? What kin-"the bald man babbled as he couldn't believe his eyes had seen such a scrawny lick of a girl lift such a muscular and stocky man, and with ease. It seemed like everything she ate went to her hair alone, he noted, as she watched her afro sway in the wind. Now that he thought about it, the way she carried herself was different from most women.

To an untrained eye, it was barely noticeable.

She may be dressed like a teahouse or brothel worker at the moment, but she had the mannerisms and air of an empress almost. "You aint no ordinary girl, are you?" he finally spoke his conclusion out loud after a few seconds of liquor induced pondering as he took in the smoldering fire that lay hidden in Hanaya's eyes.

She stared into the man's eyes as the fireflies began to make their appearance in the early hours of the night. The sun had fully set and darkness was now upon them. Normally anyone able to see through her front was someone she had to kill, but not in this case.

Yes, he could see that inside her heart was the spirit of a strong warrior.

But she never got a chance to reply as the man who she had given her spliff for safekeeping had suddenly begun to choke and cough very violent. "And this ain't no ordinary cigarette! Or at least one I've ever smoked." He said after he'd gotten his breath back as he pounded his chest with his fist.

This time she did allow the corner of her lips to lift in a snarky little grin, "Well, that would make sense because that was not tobacco. If you excuse me, I must be on my way now. It was a pleasure making your acquaintances this evening." She spoke politely after she'd finished off the last her sake. Then winking at the men she waved goodbye and headed east away from the drink vendor, which was in the direction of Chiye's Forest.

She heard the guys sigh, swooning as if they were school girls themselves, both of their eyes pinned to her retreating silhouette.

"Pfft. Men…they're sooo predictable" she muttered under her breath as she pulled out another white spliff, lighting it on the last torch before she exited the city and ventured into the darkness of the traveling roads.