Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai 7 or any characters affiliated therewith. I only own Miyuki.

This chapter is dedicated to my friend Jessica. The reader who loves a good story.

Memo: This is my first fanfic so please don't kill me if I get a lot of things wrong. I haven't seen the whole series yet and I'm just drawing mainly from my imagination and whatever I have seen of the episodes. I am planning to write a whole story based on the Nobuseri waging a new war on Kanna. I am also going to do something supernatural in the story but that comes later. I'm going to set the time after the end of Samurai 7 and this time, Kirara is still the water priestess and all the samurai are alive. (Yay!) XP sorry if you don't want that but thanx for reading anyway X3 3

Forward: Miyuki Ogawa is an 18-year-old girl who lives in Kanna village by herself. The 7 samurai are already there and when she finally saw them all together, she saw one young samurai that she couldn't stop thinking about. Miyuki has long, straight, dark brown hair that stops at the middle of her back, and she wears the same clothes as all the Kanna village girls. On with the story!

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It was around noon and Miyuki was on the cliff overlooking Kanna village chopping wood for Kirara and herself when she finally couldn't take it anymore. She wearily sat down on a rock and took out a rice ball she had made for lunch. Miyuki sighed as she ate and thought about the samurai.

"He'd never look twice in my direction," she thought sadly, " I'm just a mere farm girl. And I'm not pretty like Mikumaru-sama Kirara… He'll probably fall in love with her…"

Everyday Miyuki remembered how the samurai had glanced at her when she first saw him the week before. Something about the way he smiled at her made her heart pound and his face haunted her dreams every night. Suddenly a voice penetrated her thoughts.

"Hey, what's a pretty farm girl like you chopping wood out here all by yourself?" said the voice.

Miyuki looked up, startled and shy, and saw the samurai she liked. He wore all brown except for a black vest and a pilot cap with goggles on his head. His whole being seemed to radiate happiness and Miyuki couldn't help but flash a small smile. Brushing her hands off, she stood and bowed to him.

"Hello Great Samurai. Please forgive me but I do not know your name. What brings you up here?" Miyuki asked.

He returned the bow and rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.

"I saw you from Lady Kirara's house. And please don't call me 'great samurai'. My name is Hayashida, Heihachi. What's your name?" He replied.

"My name is Ogawa, Miyuki. And the reason I'm by myself is because I live alone. My father was killed when he tried to rebel against the Nobuseri and my mother…" She couldn't go on.

She clenched her teeth and looked at the floor, desperately trying to hold back the tears in her eyes.

"…It's ok. You don't have to tell me…" Heihachi said understandingly.

He walked toward Miyuki and drew his katana. She froze, thinking he was going to hurt her, but he walked right past her. Miyuki breathed a sigh of relief and she was also surprised as a loud splitting noise tore through the air next to her. She tentatively looked to her right and saw that Heihachi had split a piece of wood perfectly in half with his katana.

"He could have cut me in half with his katana if he wanted to," She thought frantically, "Why is he using it to cut my wood?"

Suddenly, Miyuki burst out, saying, "Oh, no! Please Great Samurai! You don't need to do this for-"

Heihachi cut her off, replying gently, "I thought I told you not to call me that. Just call me Heihachi. And it's ok. I want to do this for you. A pretty girl like you shouldn't do this alone."

The kind young man smiled at Miyuki and her face turned pink.

"If you insist… I guess I can't stop you…" She managed to say quietly.

"Just sit down and take a break Miyuki. I'll do the rest." Said Heihachi.

Miyuki followed his orders and sat down. He started to cut the wood while telling her about all the things he knew about rice.

"Did you know that rice is said to be protected by 7 kami? It's a gift from heaven. And Kanna's rice is one of the best I've ever had." He said, apparently very happy. Miyuki thought it over a bit before replying.

"If the rice is protected by 7 kami, then maybe you and the others are the kami sent to protect it." She said pointedly. Heihachi paused, mid-swing, and thought it over.

"Hmm… You know, I never thought about it that way. You're right. Maybe we are the kami who protect the rice."

By now Heihachi had almost finished cutting the wood and it was late afternoon. Miyuki stood up as she thought of a way to thank Heihachi for cutting her wood for her.

"I should be getting the wood to Kirara now. Thank you for all your help Heihachi." She said, bowing very low to him again. Heihachi looked embarrassed again but he shrugged.

"No problem. You want me to help you carry it?" he asked. Miyuki shook her head.

"Oh, no. You've done so much already… I couldn't ask you to do more. And here's something for cutting the wood." Miyuki said, reaching into her lunch and pulling out a rice ball. She held it out to him and he smiled wider.

"Hey, thanks. I love rice, as you can probably tell." He said reaching out to take the rice ball. As he took the rice ball, his fingers met Miyuki's and she felt something shoot through the length of her body at his touch. She looked up at him, startled.

Miyuki could see his face had a surprised expression and she wondered what he was thinking. In that split second, her mind raced.

"Heihachi… he's so handsome… I know it's rude to stare, but I can't stop… why am I feeling this way?" she thought. Suddenly, there was a coughing sound behind Miyuki. She and Heihachi whirled around to see the youngest samurai named Katsushiro standing there, looking very embarrassed.

"Um… Heihachi-dono… Sensei wants to see us all about plans for fighting the Nobuseri. It won't take that long, so you can come back here…" he trailed off.

Heihachi tried to calm himself after nearly being shocked to death by Katsushiro, and replied, "Ok Katsushiro. I'll be right there."

Katsushiro nodded, looking glad to go away. Heihachi turned back to Miyuki.

He sighed and said, "Looks like I won't be able to help you with the wood. But maybe we can talk again later tonight?"

Miyuki nodded. "I'll be ok. My house is down there." She pointed to a small house at the bottom of the cliff and Heihachi smiled at her again and gently took her hand. Miyuki blushed even more this time.

"As soon as I'm done with Kambei-dono I'll go right to your house and then we can talk. Ok? Wait for me Miyuki." He said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze, before he turned and walked away, eating the rice ball as he went. Miyuki put the hand Heihachi had held over her heart and smiled to herself.

"Heihachi… of course I'll wait…" she thought, "Ai! What am I thinking!" She wanted to pull her hair as she watched Heihachi's retreating shadow disappear down the cliff. But eventually she just sighed and started to walk to Kirara's house with the wood on her back.