Ah yes, the time of knights and castles, ballista's and cannons. The time of myths and legends, when they were strongest. So great that the time of weak weapons that compare to our modern day ones, actually won wars, don't you think? Well let's go visit that time, and watch the life about a man named Shiko, who apparently never knew his last name, did he even have one? He lived in a little village to the far east of any castle or kingdom, yet it was a free village, it was still as poor as any. Shiko didn't know his past, as an infant. All he knew was that he was an orphan, he never knew what happened to his parents, he never found out. He was raised by an old man, who knew very well, the art of the ninja. So, before I give you the rest of this mans life, how about we go and see exactly how he lived his life .. .. or exactly how he is still living his life.

Shiko, age 15, he had just woken up and already Granda had work for him busting into his room, grabbing Shiko some clothes, "Get up boy, it's time to help Granda move some things," he said with a scratchy voice. "Why do we have to move crap every day Granda?" He said groaning, as he pulled the covers away, sitting up. "Because," he said, "Granda doesn't like being old," he said with a laugh as he put the clothes on his bed. Shiko rolled his eyes and shook his head, getting up out of bed and putting his shirt on, "Hey what is it that you do again Granda?" He said curiously. "Again? I told you before? Eh .. I have forgotten again, " he said laughing, "I practice the art of ninjutsu, balance, patients, and good attention, now come on Shiko hurry up," he said walking out of the room, shutting the door. Shiko laughed, smiling, probably the last time he would smile. He continued dressing himself and out of his room, passing the kitchen, he decided to grab himself a slice of bread for a quick breakfast. He ate it as he walked towards the front door, he put some sandals on and turned to the back door. When he got to the back door he started to think, just before grabbing the door knob. 'Ya` know, it might be pretty cool to know that fighting stuff Granda practices ..' he pondered as he turned the knob and walked outside, shutting the door behind him. Granda was standing on a stump with one leg, "Hurry up boy, put the rocks back around me again." Shiko sighed, but remembered what he thought about again, "Hey Granda, I was wondering, " he said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Do you think I could learn this ninja stuff?" He felt nervous, not knowing what he would say, picking up boulders and carrying them. "Well, I have already been teaching you patients, and strength. I suppose I could teach you some moves, that would be pretty cool right?" He laughed, trying to pertain to the young boys humor. Shiko laughed, sitting a boulder next to him. "Sure, what can I do? I watched you do some things, but I never stalked you .." he laughed some more, starting to breathe as he picked up another boulder. "Do you want to jump off a wall? Or climb up a wall?" He stood there, waiting for Shiko to reply, as he shut his eyes to be calm. "Teach me to do both maybe?" He asked curiously, hoping for a yes. "Alright then!" He hopped down from the stump, "Been a long time since I taught anyone, " he continued, "It would be fun to make another boy annoyed," he said as he laughed but he stopped as he place a hand on his back and bent a little. "Eh, I am obviously not as young as I used to be .." They both laughed as they walked towards the house. "Come, let me make us some tea before we start". "Alright, thanks Granda" he said, as he pondered, 'this is going to be great!'.
And yes, here comes that cheesy line, 'but little did Shiko know, that his life had just begun'.

Shiko, now age 18, he had been training for 3 years with Granda. He knew a lot about the art of a ninja, but he wasn't a great ninja yet. Though he still thought he could beat anyone, so he became very cocky. But after so many years, he didn't notice that Granda had gotten weaker, and older. Just when Shiko was 10, Granda was over 65 years old. It's amazing to think all the old people back then were so skillful, right? Well at this time of Shiko's age, I will sit you on the day that, when other ninja beginners had also been trained, Granda had been challenged by other beginners, and looked down upon other teachers. Let's see what arises today, on this hot windy day hmm?

It was morning, but Shiko and Granda had moved to an open area, a good place to train more. Unfortunately, Granda or Shiko weren't exactly friends with everyone there. When they arrived, it was already hot, the wind wasn't helping as much though. Granda had said to Shiko that when they got there, he should go hit the dummies. Shiko had ran over to one of the few dummies, there weren't many obstacles and such because it was built by all the poor ninja beginners. Granda had just sat down when the other teachers had come to 'greet' him. "Ah, well, if it isn't Granda, shouldn't you have passed on by now, you old man?" One of them said, as another spoke, "Yes, you are too old to be teaching that boy anything, the ways have changed now, you should stop, " they were merely making fun of Granda, getting him mad. Granda shook his head and gave a weak laugh, "Well it just shows that I am stronger than you all, I doubt you will live beyond your forties, you all are too weak to realize true strength." The others looked at him with great anger, it showed on their faces. They called for their trainees, as they all weren't too happy with what Granda had just said. Granda also called over Shiko, "Yes, Granda, what?" he said excitedly, a little tired as he breathed slow to calm his breathing. "These ones are not too happy with me Shiko .. .." He said with a weak voice. The others looked like they were going to kill Granda, the teachers said to their trainees to fight Granda, none of them disobeyed. It was four, just as the many teachers. Shiko stood in front of Granda, balling his fists, "You will not harm Granda!" he exclaimed. The trainees didn't care, then wen at Shiko, throwing their fists and kicks. Shiko blocked only a few of them, he hadn't trained like that before. After a few minutes, Shiko had beaten only one of the trainees down, the others had gotten him. Granda stood up, "Now this is not right, you have no reason to do this!" He stared at the teachers, not the trainees. The teachers laughed, and one of them spoke, "Alright, let's continue with Granda, shall we?" They all agreed, the trainees did as well. And went at Granda. As skilled as Granda was, he was still weak because of his age. He got the trainees down, easy enough to smack some kids. The teachers didn't take that kindly, and came in right behind the trainees. Hitting Granda, he couldn't block them all. Eventually Granda couldn't counter them, he was being beaten, Shiko laid on the ground, bleeding and watching. Granda fell to the ground, but the teachers didn't stop, the trainees regaining ground. Granda began to cough up blood, the teachers were trying to kill him. "Granda no!" Shiko yelled, but he couldn't do anything as the trainees had started kicking him in the stomach, face, chest, anywhere else they could hit. The teachers stop, noticing Granda not breathing. Come on, let's leave." One of the men said. They all left, leaving the training area. Shiko crawled to Granda, with every last bit of strength he had. "Granda ..please, don't die." Shiko had started to cry. The man who raised him had just been beaten to death in front of his eyes. Some of you may not understand this, but Shiko had lived with Granda for 13 years, he learned everything from Granda. Shiko cried until standing up, and lugging Granda back home. He laid Granda in his bed, crying into the covers. He later cleaned Granda up, wiped the blood from his mouth, and cleaned his face and body of scuffs and bruises. He slepted one more night in the house he lived in for so many years. The next day, he woke up, not being woken up by Granda, he was confused, but he remembered again what had happened just the day before. He almost cried again, but he stopped himself. He got up out of his bed and looked for some clothes. He dressed himself in an appropriate way and packed some things to take with him, as he was going to leave. He couldn't stay here, for the other teachers and all would come to the house, most likely to finish Shiko. Then burn the house more than likely. Shiko walked to the door and put his sandals on, then picking up the rest of his stuff he walked out the door. He wondered passed all the streets, the markets. He didn't wave nor look at anyone, because no one in the village liked him or Granda. He had to leave because there was no way he could get a job here and live on, he would have to go to the next village that was near.

After several minutes, he finally found himself at the gate of the village. He looked at towards the sky, sighing, "What was so wrong with Granda, he was just an old man…" His head leveled, looking toward the outside of the village, through the gate. He looked down and started walking, leaving the village. He looked at all the trees, the fields, he looked at everything surrounding the village outside of the gate, but he never looked back there. The next village was awhile away, maybe a day or two worth's walk, but he had to struggle through it.

Several days later, Shiko had taken his time walking there, for more than two days, total was about almost four. What had happened was that he passed an apple tree and stayed at it for awhile; he even packed him a dozen of them. When he finally arrived at the village, he could hear sounds of people yelling, cheering and everything. The next village he was going to was a bustling bright highly economic village. The surrounding fields were rich of nutrients and claimed by farms. It was barely even ever hot though the sun was always above it. He walked in, strolling by as people tried getting his attention, trying to sell him chickens, onions, wheat, and everything you think could be worth back then. He turned to a vender which was doing great business, but low on apples. Of course, it was a great opportunity for Shiko. He rushed to the man slugging over a sac full of apples, "Hello sir, you seem to be in need of some apples…" he opened the sac, revealing all the delectable ripe red apples, and the man peered in. "They look yummeh boy, where'd ya pickem'? Whatever, you don't exactly look like yer from around here. Here's a little something for helping me out…" the man took a tiny cloth bag from his shirt and handed it to Shiko, "There boy, now off with ya, yer scaring my customers!" He gave a laugh, supposedly the insult was actually a joke. Shiko took the bag and looked in it, then he was amazed and confused all at once. What Shiko held in his hand was exactly 1 pound. Why in the world would the man give such a kid 1 pound? It was unreal, and Shiko kept checking to see if it were real. He quickly thought to himself, 'you know I better not put a hole in my pocket, this is going to help me get a living here…' He thought to himself until he started to walk toward an Inn. He walked inside, seeing the hustle and bustle of it until walking to the front counter, "Um excuse me… I'd like to rent a room for awhile. And could I possibly work here?" He sighed, looking up at an old man with a scruffy mustache and beard. The man looked at him inquisitively. "Alright boy, the room is about two groats a night. I don't think you have that, and yes, I have been looking for a boy to wash the dishes, the misses and I barely have the time to do it." He leaned on the counter, staring at Shiko. Shiko pulled out his little bag and quickly pulled out enough pence equal to two groats and handed them to the man. Shiko watched as the man looked at him confusingly but accepted the groats. "So you want a job here boy? Well get ready, your room is the one upstairs, at the end of the hall. Tomorrow I'll put you to work in the kitchen. So be ready, I'll wake you up early. Go on, go see your room." The man said kindly. Shiko nodded and turned toward the stairs at the far end of the Inn. He looked at everyone, 'well I guess I'm going to be here awhile, I hope things work out…' he thought to himself as he slowly crept up the stairs. At the top there was a long red royal-looking carpet with lace. "That sure is fancy…" Shiko said to himself as he walked on it to the end of the hallway where a light shown in from the odd window. He turned to see an average, bolted up and wooden door. He put his hand on the handle and pushed it open, inside was a small bed, a desk, it wasn't a great room, just small, seemed like it was mostly used for quick travelers who only wanted to stay a single night. He walked in and shut the door behind him, gazing at the designs and colors of the room, the tapestry next to him, the light shining from the window gleaming across the wooden floor. "Alright, I guess I should unpack!" He dropped his stuff and jumped on the bed, getting cozy up under the blanket. Before he knew it he was sound asleep, walking for almost a week and then plopping in a soft bed can really hypnotize you. And like that, his life in a new village, look 'boss', and everything else new started.

Shiko, age 22

(This document may be completed later, but as a reminder, this story was completely forged from actual, full on, continuous roleplay. Since then, I have not had another roleplay partner(s) to continue this. I do hope in time, I can)