Hiya. The idea was easy to form, but the story was exasperatingly difficult to brew in the head. The dialogue just won't formulate, argh! And I think this is the first time I got close to preparing the whole 5 chapters before posting even one chapter. The rest of the chapters still have gaping holes in them, and I'm not the best at battle scenes, so comments and suggestions are welcome. Golly, sorry for ranting like this!

The usual. Ain't mine. Except this story. This IS mine. Hope you like.

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"Rookies," he shook his head.

The newcomers had not spent an hour inside the base, and already he was annoyed at them. They were loitering around the open grounds, chatting loudly, criticizing the facilities, and teasing the regular soldiers.

The dark-skinned swordsman with dark wavy hair was on pretty good terms with soldiers on their base, but rookies always irked him. They thought they were good. They thought they were smart. They thought they could defeat any mecha samurai that came their way. They thought they owned the base.

He hated rookies, because he knew he used to be like that. He hated being reminded of the fact, every time a new batch of recruits joined them on the base.

As in this case. The commanders got this idea of joining the swordsmen with the cruiser pilots on a few missions. The swordsmen were his batch, already a few years in service, and all signs of rookie-ness already eliminated. But the pilots, according to reports, were almost new. They had only been in one or two fights prior to the current assignment, and mostly in the sidelines. This group of pilots was still too full of themselves, too confident, too brash.

"Don't be so harsh," his friend said. "Everybody already fought a few battles before coming here."

"I suppose."

His friend jabbed him on the side. "Shimada, you're too serious about everything."

But as they were talking, an argument between pilots and swordsmen was slowly erupting into a big brawl. Both ends were calling each other names each side resented. Fists were already clenched. A few weapons had been drawn.

At the center of it all was a blonde-haired young man holding a stick the length of an arm. He was rather thin but not lanky, and was as tall as the rest of the squadron. He was weaving across the increasingly heated crowd with a confidence that bordered on self-importance.

The group of swordsmen parted as they saw the dark-haired young man enter the fray. "Who started this?"

The swordsmen all pointed at the blonde-haired young man. Even the pilots pointed at him as the source, also feeling that aura of leadership around the dark-haired swordsman.

"Stop this nonsense right now," he said. "You are guests on our base. Do not make us show disrespect."

"And who made you our general, to talk like that?" the blonde-haired pilot grinned and asked.

"We do not want a fight, so please stop haranguing our men."

"I don't want a fight, either," he said. Then he added, "But I do want to see if you guys are as good as people say you are."

Many of the young men placed hands on sword handles. One even stepped forward. "Shimada, the cruisers just filled them with hot air. Let me put this airhead in his place!"

"I'll show you who's full of hot air!" the blonde young man said. "Who's your best swordie? Lemme have a go."

Now all of the swordsmen placed hands on their swords, and some of them drew them out. The one called Shimada, however, raised a hand and silenced the assembly. "Stand back," the dark haired swordsman stepped forward himself and drew his sword. "The boy is mine."

"BOY?" the blonde one drew out the staff to its full length. "I'm 21, and I'll show you who's a boy!"

"Don't do it, Roji!" one of the blond man's associates warned. "That guy's the best in his regiment!"

"Oh, really?" he smiled and pointed his staff at his opponent. "I'd like to see."

One of the men of the regiment raised 2 coins. "Two silver pieces says Shimada takes him down!"

The blonde's friend suddenly retaliated. "My two pieces says your swordie won't last a minute against Roji!"

"You're on!"

Soon shouts and bets circled the two young men, while they sized each other up and circled. The blonde held the staff in front of him with both hands. The other man re-sheathed his sword but kept his hand on the handle, in preparatory stance.

"Well? What are you waiting for, boy?" Shimada asked.

"What are YOU waiting for?" his opponent asked back.

"Have it your way," the swordsman said.

He ran forward and drew his sword at the very last moment, swinging it back and forth across the staff to slice it. But he only heard a succession of clangs. His opponent laughed as he twirled the staff in front of him, swung down over a shoulder then swung up at the ribs. Shimada fell back and panted.

The pilot returned to preparatory stance with the staff in front of him. "Special-grade steel. Light but strong. No sword can slice it. Cool, huh?"

Shimada swung the sword across to hit his opponent's chest, but met the staff in mid-attack. He quickly swept up and hit the pilot above his left ear, forcing the younger man to back away two steps. The swordsman tried a direct thrust, but the pilot held the staff like a bat, brushed the sword aside, and swung at his knees, making Shimada buckle over.

He jumped back, twirled the staff over his head, gave another sudden swing to the side of his opponent, and finished with the staff diagonally at his back. "Had enough?" he challenged.

"Is that all?" Shimada grinned and charged in.

Roji planted the staff on the ground then jumped over Shimada's head, with enough time to trip him again. The swordsman swiped at the pilot's feet. The pilot jumped and swung straight down to the swordsman's head, but was blocked by the sword handle. He jumped a few feet away.

"You're still not good enough!" Shimada said.

"Don't underestimate me!" the blonde young man shouted and drew out the blade at the end of his staff.

He ran with a straight thrust of the spear at the swordsman. Shimada immediately blocked the blade with his sword, only inches away from his face. But in a split second the blonde pierced the sword and sent it flying, charged in and knocked the swordsman to the floor. He quickly stood up and thrust the spear inches away from his opponent's face.

"Impressive," the opponent said, panting and dotted with cold sweat.

"Thank you," the blonde smirked.

"For a boy."

"WHAT?"

The blonde took his hands off his spear and drew fists, driving one of them straight for the swordsman's face. He was only pulled back by his friend, while his opponent was also pulled back by his comrades.

"Be glad he pulled me away," the one called Roji threatened his opponent.

Shimada asked to be released, and showed a smaller blade with a smirk. "Be glad I didn't stab you."

Any more verbal jabs were stopped by a long-winded "ATeeeeeeeeeeen-SHUN!". The men formed two groups of four rows, the swordsmen apart from the pilots.

A group of middle-aged men in smart uniforms walked in front of them, and the young men saluted. The men stopped at the center, and one man stepped forward. This man began to speak in a loud voice, so all four rows could hear.

"Gentlemen, you have been assembled here to create a new force against our enemies. Over the course of this war, we have noticed the increase in mechanical samurai versus the numbers of samurai who utilize Yakan "kettles". The swordsmen will soon be unable to fight on their own against these robots. Thus, we will now begin to employ more cruisers in our defense. These cruisers will be manned by the pilots we have assembled here, some of the best in their class. Train and perform well, gentlemen. Your performance will be the benchmark for the widespread use of this system within our clan."

All of them felt the honor being bestowed on them, and the responsibility being given. "YES, SIR!" came the resounding reply.

"A pilot will be paired with a swordsman," the commander announced. He pointed to a board near him. "Find your numbers, gentlemen. We will assemble tomorrow at dawn for training. That will be all. Dismissed!"

The soldiers eagerly crowded around the board with their names and numbers. A few of them quickly found their partners, and immediately fell to chatting with each other. The blonde young pilot and the swordsman named Shimada calmly let most of the troop finish and thin out away from the board. When finally only a handful of people stood in front of the board, Shimada walked up to the board himself, and began looking for his name.

It was an easy task. He was placed in the first unit, thus his name was on the top of the list. First to fight, first to die, but also first to honors. It was a great position. He quickly looked at the name of the pilot who would share in that honor with him. Someone named Shichiroji. He shrugged.

But…the blonde annoying boy had been called Roji…and the rest of the pilots had already left. Only one was left near the board and scanning the list. The blonde annoying boy called Roji.

Shimada's eyes widened in disbelief, as he looked at his opponent. "I am paired with HIM?"

The blonde pilot had also noted the list, and saw the dark-haired samurai. He smirked at him. "Well, what a coincidence! Howdy, new partner." He extended a hand. "The name's Shichiroji."

"Hmph," and the other man turned his back on him and walked away.

………………………….

Argh, that spear fight was hard to imagine (faints). And Fai-san could do better than that, the few times I've seen him use a staff (faints again…).

Here's the basic story of why this story exists. Some of you know I'm on a mission to create at least one story for all the seven guys. There are only 2 left to make for. But, egad, this is the toughest one to make so far!

For this particular guy, I figured I can only do it when the partner is present, because I know the partner better. Also, a Japanese fanart site has incredible pictures of what Kanbei possibly looked like as a rookie soldier, and Shichiroji as a young adult with hair down (Awww….YEAH.). They served as the inspirations for this story, which I guess already has many Japanese counterparts (if the K/S project members have anything to say about it, hehe.). This is my take, without plagiarizing anyone's work. Finally, Samuraiko's impressive work did help me pin down Kanbei's characterization. Hope you like and keep reading.