Hello. This is my first ever Samurai 7 fanfic. I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai 7, nor its character. I do own the people not in the show however.
It was dark. Everything was dark. There was no light, no sound, she couldn't feel. Was this death? Was she dying?
Slowly, as her mind began to think these thoughts, it slowly became less dark.
She could feel. She was on a mat, a thin blanket on her form. She was in pain, not excruciating but a dull pain that had probably come from the previous fading. She was injured, she was healing. Her wounds had been bandaged, she wasn't bleeding. She wasn't bound, which meant she probably wasn't a prisoner. This was good.
She soon could begin to hear. She could hear people. Quiet chatter around her, about what she didn't know. She heard the words village, Kanna, Nobuseri, samurai. Her hearing became clearer as she continued to come back to consciousness.
Finally, she opened her eyes. A hard task to say the least, her lids felt like weights over her eyes and she would have just given up and kept them closed if it was in her nature. The dim light of a fire hurt her eyes, but the dark orbs slowly come into focus and she glanced around. Someone was there. A girl, probably younger than herself, dressed in red and blue stirred a pot over the tiny fire that lit up the room. A small girl, no more than a child, giggles and chatted with someone who looked like a robot lying on his side. He grumbles at the young girls teasing. They don't seem to notice that she's there.
"Oh, you're awake." The older girl says, pausing in her stirring and moving over to her. "Komachi, go get Kambei." The little girl salutes the other and scurries out. "Here," The young woman says producing a cup, "Can you sit up?" She does, struggling a little to do so, but takes the cup and drinks. The water feels good on her dry throat.
By the time she has finished her water, two men walk in. One is older, with dark skin and hair. The other had blond with light skin and eyes. She watched them sit down beside the bed roll her now sat on.
"My name is Kambei. Do you know where you are?" She thought for a moment.
"No." She replied, because she didn't.
She remembered a battle. She remembered all the blood, the smell, the corpses. She remembered running, running to catch someone. She remembered fighting, as if her life had depended on it. Had it? It had, hadn't it. She remembered falling. Falling from a great height, from a cliff cut in two by their swords as they fought, she fell into the ice water below. She remembered sinking. Down, down, down, like the icy hands of the water and death were pulling her down, the arctic water stinging her wounds as they pulled her before she went numb and darkness came. Then, she was here. In this place that looked modest, and relatively clean, yet not to the standards of a hospital that she was sure she needed. It looked like an abandoned shed. Where this was, she did not know. She doubted this was hell, so she knew she wasn't dead.
"Do you know who you are?" The man asked and she thought again.
"Yes."
"Can you tell us your name?" She paused. Not to think, but to consider telling the man questioning her.
"Mai," She answered. After all, what did it matter telling him the name of a dead woman, or at least everyone probably knew that name thought she was dead.
"Well, Miss Mai, could you tell us how you ended up on the bank in the condition you were in?"
"I fell." She didn't lie, he didn't need to know.
"Hm, must have been some fall. Jagged rocks below, I take it? That's probably what caused slashes, hn." Her eyes shifted to the second man, who questioned her with a tone that said 'it's ok, lie. I already know, so whatever you tell me won't matter anyway.' Therefore, she didn't answer.
"Well, despite the fall you took, your injuries were not that bad. You probably washed up on the bank where we found you not long after falling. You're lucky you didn't drown."
"Thank you," She said flatly and with little sincerity. What was she thankful for? To be live? To have been saved? No one could save her, her life was already over. What was the point in saving a dead woman?
"Well don't get all greatful or anything! After all it's not like we did anything 'cept save your life! No thanks needed there!" A loud man in red armor said, sounded kind of angry.
"If you were looking for thanks, you shouldn't have wasted the bandages." She said flatly again, and the loud red man blew angry steam out of his spout. He took a breath, preparing to yell at her, but the first man spoke.
"Kikuchiyo, contain yourself. She doesn't have to thank us if she doesn't want to. We didn't help her for praise." The loud red man, Kikuchiyo, blew steam out of his spout again and spun around on his but to face away from them, muttering. A small girl, Komachi, went to his side to comfort him.
"Why did you then?" She asked, her first question to her apparent 'saviors' this whole time.
"You looked in need of it." Kambei, obviously the leader, answered.
"You just help complete strangers out of the goodness of your heart?" Mai asked, curious and bitterly. No one ever helped others out of the goodness of their hearts. Someone always wanted something.
"These men are noble samurai, Miss. They help people. They're coming to help our village." A young woman said. She scoffed a little.
"Samurai are dead." She said, causing a few surprised reactions from those around her.
"Well, I can assure you, we're still alive and kicking." The second man, with the lie-to-me tone, said, "Kambei here and I were fighter in the great war. I'm Shichiroji, by the way, but tell me my dear. What makes you say that the samurai are dead?" He asked, continuing to speak. She deduced that he did this a lot, something she didn't care for.
"Personal opinion," She replied.
"Was it Nobuseri that attacked you? Is that why you think that?" The man, Kambei she gathered, asked. Everyone in the room perked up at the mention of Nobuseri, an interesting thing she thought.
"Nobuseri didn't attack me." Mai stated.
"Would you mind telling us who did? I'd like to know who would attack such a beautiful woman like yourself." The blond, Shichiroji, said with a smile.
Mai gasped a little, and a hand flew to her face. She hadn't noticed until that moment that the lower part of her face was bare. Where was her mask? Had she lost it in the fall? No, she took it off before the fight. She suddenly felt very naked and exposed.
"Oh, please don't be alarmed. It was I that bandaged your wounds. None of these men saw you." A young woman said, taking her sudden change as embarrassment over having to have her stomach, arms, and thighs bandaged and the prospect of being naked in front of strange men.
She had her own clothes back on, since they had nothing else to put her in. The black outfit, Kirara believed, was more relieving than a person of apparent modesty should. It looked like a dress of sorts, solid black, and clung to her frame. It had been hard to remove when Kirara had had to take it of to tend her wounds. It was back less, though her front was completely covered up to her neck. It went to her ankles, but had very high, predominant slits up the sides and short shorts that clung to her shapely rear but did little to cover her legs. She had worn black leather boots, that had gone up to her knees, but had been removed and not put back on. Long, black, finger less gloves that went up to her bicep hand been on her arms, which had also not been put back on. She looked like an assassin. Which, judging by the several shuriken throwing knives in various pouches, kukri style dagger, and yugata style sword they hand found her with; it wasn't out of the question.
She didn't say anything, just sat there. "We will let you rest. Even though you have been unconscious for some time, sleep is the best thing for healing." Kambei said, getting up to leave and everyone followed. "We will be outside if you need anything," He said, or try to escape Mai thought as she was left alone in the small room.
She took a deep breath, calmed herself, and focused. If she closed her eyes, and listened very hard, she could hear them talking outside about her.
"So what do you think sensei?" A new man, young by the sound of his voice, asked.
"I don't know Katsushiro. She didn't say very much." Kambei said to the younger man.
"What do you think we should do with her Kambei-dono? She was packin' a lot of weapons for just one person. Let alone a girl person." A new voice stated.
"Are you saying girls can't fight?!" A tiny, child like voice asked. Komachi, she guessed.
"No, no, no, I'm just saying that. It just that usually people that have that many weapons plan to use them. She could be an assassin, or a bounty hunter. I heard from some gossip in the last village that the bounty on us has gone up, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was all a trick to have us drop our guard." The newer voice said again.
"Heihachi-dono is right, Kambei. Did you see the way she acted when she realized her face wasn't covered? She must have had a mask along with those weapons. She could be an assassin or a bounty hunter, or better yet a spy. She said Nobuseri didn't attack her, but that doesn't mean that she works for them; or for Ukyo for that matter." Shichiroji said calmly.
"Not Ukyo's style. He prefers to keep his women as whores, not as spies." A new voice, monotone and even, spoke. How many was that now? Eight?
"Be that as it may, we really can't just leave her somewhere. She hasn't really done anything yet. Maybe, for now, we should give her the benefit of the doubt." Another new voice said. Nine?
"Great way to get us all killed." The monotone voice said again, and there was a laugh.
"I'm not saying let's give her precious information or make her part of the team or anything. I'm just saying let us be civil. Why treat her like a criminal if she really isn't one?" The newest voice said.
"Gorobei is right," Kambei spoke up again, "We can't just leave her, and we don't know if she has done anything wrong. We'll take her with us. We can drop her off at the next village that's a few days way. We'll have to keep an eye on her while she's here." Mai thought she heard the nods of approval from the others, or at least she didn't hear anyone object.
Mai opened her eyes. So, seven samurai and a total group of about eight had saved her. Well, they said they weren't going to kill her, so that was a plus. That didn't mean that they wouldn't change their minds though.
She paused for a moment to self check. She felt fine. Her wounds had practically completely healed. They had taken fair care of her. She narrowed her eyes a little and sighed. Lying back down, Mai stared at the room of the small shed above her. She needed to leave, but she could wait. A few days and they would be in a village. If she didn't cause any trouble she could get there easily, resupply, and be on her way. She could do that. She could be patient.
There is the first chapter. I hope you guys liked it. Please send me your thoughts or opinions, I would really like to hear them, and I'll try to update soon!