(A\N: Hello. This is Hanjimono and this is my first Samurai 7 fanfic. I hope you all enjoy it. It does involve an OC as a main character but she will not be a romantic interest to any of the male characters unless you all want her to. Otherwise she will merely be another warrior joining the seven samurai in their mission to protect the village of Kanna. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!)
The Jade Teahouse
by Hanjimono
Prologue:
The three Kanna villagers couldn't help but feel intimidated as they walked through the crowded streets of the city. Komachi clung to her sister's skirt, eyes darting around in a mixture of wonder and fear. She stumbled over her feet as she stopped to stare at the goods in a vendor's cart and was pulled by her sister who had kept going with hurried, nervous steps.
Rikichi swallowed, shifting the rice pack on his back in discomfort. The smells of cooking rice and fish filled his nostrils, as well as the scent of foods he'd never seen or smelled before in his humble life as a farmer.
"Water priestess…" Rikichi began uncertainly, eyes darting around to the other inhabitants of the city as well as other travelers who were pushing past them without a care, their faces indifferent and rather cold. Some of them glared at them threateningly, or sneered. And he didn't quite like the way some of the men were eyeing Kirara.
"Yes?" Kirara's voice was faint, and she was staring up at the large sky-scraper-like buildings that loomed above them.
"H-have you found anyone yet? Any samurai, I mean?" He finished hastily, even as he lurched away from the bulking form of who he believed was a blacksmith, with his face covered in soot and arms that could easily crush Rikichi without much effort.
"My thoughts are muddled here." Kirara confided. "But there are so many people…surely we can find some samurai willing to help."
Rikichi shot her a doubtful glance but merely nodded. "Let's begin asking then." He spotted a man with a sword at his hip and swallowed, trying to muster some courage as he walked up to him and began his plea.
By this time Komachi had let go of Kirara's skirt and was standing a few feet to her right as her sister kindly pleaded with a rather ugly man for assistance. And he smelled. Komachi wrinkled her nose as she opened her mouth to tell him so when he sneered and spoke.
"You shouldn't ask for help if you're not willing to pay, little girl. I have more important things to do than charity. I am a samurai after all." And then he walked away.
Komachi gave an affronted gasp and got ready to shout at him when a hand was placed over her mouth. She looked up angrily into the eyes of her sister, who was shaking her head.
"Don't make any trouble Komachi. You promised you would help if you came along."
Komachi nodded sullenly, gaze a bit guilty. She merely let her eyes drift through the bustling crowd in interest. She let out a small gasp as she spotted a small shop with a glass window. Inside were little china dolls wearing elaborate silk kimonos. Their faces were painted white with little red lips and cheeks. Their hair was tied up in a bun with little flower ornaments and Komachi could only stare at them in awe.
A little girl walked out of the store holding one close to her while smiling brightly as she followed her mother towards the market. Komachi couldn't help but feel a little jealous. In Kanna village they had so little. They couldn't even pay for anything except with rice. She had never had a doll, especially not one so beautiful and fine as the ones in the window. She suddenly felt strange and out of place surrounded by all these people. She was a stranger here, a forgeiner in her own land. She had never grown up with dolls or toys other than little homemade things. She'd never had a silk kimono or a pretty hair ornament.
Her childhood had been stolen by the Nobuseri, along with her village's rice and women. Her moment of sadness was broken, however, at the thought that soon they would be able to save their village and defeat the Nobuseri with the help of the samurai. Then they would have enough rice left over to sell. Then she could buy a doll and a pretty kimono like the other girl was wearing. And she would be happy. Because young children see happiness in posessions like little trinkets and silks rather than family and friendship and love.
Her spirits brightened, Komachi then turned her attention to the many food stalls lining the street. Her mouth began watering at the seemingly endless mounds of food that covered the stalls. Several restaurants lined the street and she could see servers walking inside with large trays of steaming meat and vegetables. Her stomach growled and she gave a small moan.
"After we finish do you think we can get something to eat, sister?" Komachi asked, turning around to give her best pouting face, but her sister was not there. She whirled around again, searching the crowd desperately. Where had Rikichi and her sister gone?
She began to panic as she ran past a large group of people in an attempt to get out of this street and onto the larger one nearby. She could surely find her sister and Rikichi there.
"Don't make any trouble Komachi. You promised you would help if you came along."
Komachi sniffled. She had promised she wouldn't do anything bad and now she had gotten herself lost! If she hadn't been looking at the dolls in that shop window she wouldn't have gotten lost in the first place.
She stopped herself from crying, however, by scrunching her face up and giving a determined grunt. She would help her sister by finding samurai! Then she could get the samurai to help her find her sister and Rikichi and everything would work out perfectly! Now all she needed to do was find one.
She began slowly walking down the little street, scanning anyone that looked remotely like a warrior.
Too fat, too old, too ugly…She mentally checked them off, her annoyance and despair growing. He looks too scary, that one is so bony he looks like his arms would fall off if he held a sword!
After twenty minutes of evaluating samurai she began to have serious doubts that one: they'd ever find any samurai to help them defeat the nobuseri, and two: that she'd ever find her sister and Rikichi.
What if I'm kidnapped!? She wailed, sniffling once again. This time the tears ran down her round cheeks and fell to the dirty floor near her sandals. She rubbed her eyes quickly, trying to stop from crying when a pair of black slippers entered her line of sight. Their outline was blurry due to the tears in her eyes, and she furrowed her brow in confusion. Slippers? They looked well worn and tough, but they seemed out of place.
She slowly looked up into the face of the owner of the slippers and gasped.
He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen.
His dark hair was cut short on one side, the ends just brushing his ears, while on the other side it hung to his left shoulder. He wore a pair of red-tinted glasses and was giving her a look of cool amusement. He was wearing a cream colored cloak with a traveling pack slung across his back and she could see the hilt of a sword peeking out from behind the pack.
A samurai! She thought excitedly, even as she smiled up at him shyly. "H-hello…"
"Are you lost?" His voice was soft and low with a hint of a strange accent. She merely nodded, rubbing the last few tears from her face.
"The two villagers are this way." The man jerked his head in the direction of a side street. "Come." Komachi nodded excitedly, dashing after the femininly-handsome man. They entered the crowded street and the man pulled Komachi closer to keep her from being trampled.
"How did you know who I was with?" Komachi finally asked, feeling more like her usual talkative self now that she knew she was safe—and with a really cute guy too!
"Your clothing." The man commented. "You are wearing the same color and style of clothing as the two others. They were carrying rice so I suspected they were farmers."
"You're right!" Komachi nodded. "We're from Kanna village and we're looking for samurai to help us protect our village from the Nobuseri."
The man raised an eyebrow. "You are hiring samurai to defeat the Nobuseri? Isn't that dangerous?"
Komachi nodded as they continued walking. "Hai! But it's ok, because we'll have the samurai to protect us!"
The man nodded but said nothing more, his gaze thoughtful before they came out onto a large pavilion with a fountain in the middle. Komachi spotted her sister and Rikichi by the fountain, both looking frantic and worried as they asked the people around them if they had seen a young girl wandering around on the streets.
"Sister!" Komachi yelled, running over to them. As soon as Kirara saw her she ran to her and knelt, gathering her in her arms. She out a shaky breath as she tried not to cry. "Never do that again, love. I thought we'd lost you."
"It's ok!" Komachi grinned. "I was found by a really cool samurai! He helped me find you. We should ask him to help us!"
"What samurai?" Rikichi asked, looking around.
"The one with the red glasses. He's right—" Komachi looked in the direction she had come from and frowned. Her handsome samurai was nowhere to be seen.
"…I guess he left…"
(A\N: Well? I hope you all like it so far. I am hoping to get the first chapter out soon if readers would like me to continue the story. My chapters are a lot longer than my prologue, usually twenty pages or so. This one was short merely because it was the prologue. The first chapter will begin a little later in the series, after Rikichi, Kirara, and Komachi have met Katsushiro, Kikuchiyo, and Kambei (though Kambei hasn't agreed to help them yet). Anyway, I hope you all like it so far and please give me some feedback.
Until next time, Hanjimono)