His fixed gaze never wavered, always watching, always calculating. One could tell by looking at him that he was a fierce warrior with a powerful resolve. Nothing could stand in his way or defy him and the only person he ever needed to look after was himself. Companions would only hold him back and weaken him. His only drive in life: to kill. In the beginning of his travels, any samurai he encounteredwas a worthy opponent and a welcome challenge to him. After a while, worthy opponents became less numerous as he grew stronger and soon he was unable to find any desirable challengers. It wasn't long before his name was feared among the lowliest samurai and peasants; Kyuzo.
He worked as Ayamaro's bodyguard only so he could search for the perfect opponent and the ultimate battle in which he could fight at his full capability and be forced to push himself to either kill or be killed. He did not even consider his partner, Hyogo, as his equal. Although they treated each other with a reverential indifference, Hyogo never fully trusted Kyuzo and often wondered how loyal he really was. As samurai, he had a better understanding of Kyuzo's actions than the merchants had and thus knew how to handle him better than the merchants did.
Because Hyogo had a relative understanding of him, Kyuzo respected Hyogo and followed Ayamaro's orders of cooperating with the gun-man samurai. The day the young lord Ukyo saw the priestess Kirara in the city and became obsessed with her beauty, Ayamaro ordered Kyuzo and Hyogo to trail her and her group and report back to him. They did as they were ordered, but Kyuzo left and followed them a second time. There was an old samurai with them andKyuzo believed hehad found the perfectopponent he was looking for.
A/N: Ok, so here's the start of my new fic. My mom got me the first volume of this series for Christmas and I absolutely fell in love with it. I now have volumes 1-3 and should have 4 and 5 by the end of the school year. I can't wait to find out exactly what happens, but in the meantime I shall speculate. This particular story is about Kyuzo. So far, up to the point in the series that I am, not much is known about him so I'm going to indulge myself in developing him for the purpose of my story. Just as a heads up I'll tell you that I plan to delve into Kyuzo's mind and without changing him too much, transform him into someone he himself never thought he could be. I don't know where exactly I'm going with this at the moment. The idea just popped into my head and I was bored so I started writing. This is just a simple little prologue but if you like it review it please. Reviews make a writer happy, and all you other writers out there know this. Domo arigatou!