It was a strange, almost mystic day, in Meteor City: it was raining. Casually, that day, there was a man wearing a samurai outfit walking in those fetid streets, under a plastic umbrella. The smell strangely didn't appear to affect him.

So it's raining in a place like this, uh, he thought, impressed. Global warning must be the real thing, uh.

At that precise moment, a thunder fell and illuminated an alley. The samurai coolly fixed his gaze in said alley and opened his eyes, shocked. Some meters away, there was a child lying unconscious under a pool of his own blood.

Without thinking, he went quickly to his side and kneeled, taking his head in one hand and turning it around to see his face.

Damn, he thought. Whoever hit him left him in a grave state.

The kid, fortunately, was breathing with normalcy.

The samurai examined him in search of any clues of him being someone known. That didn't seem the case. The kid couldn't be more than thirteen, with his small stature and youngish facial features. He was extremely pale (though the samurai thought it could be because of his state), a redhead with long hair tied in a braid. He was also wearing some sort of traditional Chinese blue uniform and had an umbrella with him. All those factors only served to paint him as just some random, innocent, kid, who was very unlucky.

The samurai found himself at an impasse. At that precise moment he was in a mission to find things within the city which could prove to be useful for his group, not to save some poor kid's life. The samurai sighed and scratched his head in aggravation. If he abandoned that kid, at that moment, he would surely die. There was no one apart from him who could take care of him. And even though he was far from being a good person, he didn't feel like abandoning that kid. Maybe it was because he was punctually in Meteor City, which surely hit home for him. Or maybe it was because he saw himself lying suddenly in that depth of despair. Whatever it was, at that moment, he made a choice that would make a big change in his life.

The first thing Kamui felt when he woke up was an acute headache that felt like a migraine. The second thing was a strong foul smell. Overall, he felt like shit.

"Aagh…"

"Oh, you woke up," a voice, near him, came out of nowhere.

Kamui made an attempt to open his eyes, slowly, so the light wouldn't hurt him more. He felt as if his head has someway been taken care of, with some bandages interlaced awkwardly on it. With a little more energy, he raised an arm and covered his nostrils.

"What is this horrible smell? Did Kagura crap all over the place?"

He heard a soft laugh at his side.

"I don't doubt that type of smell must be horrible, but no. This is actually what this city smells like. It's the home for all kinds of putrid wastes."

"That sounds similar to my home, but I know for a fact this is not my home. Even where I live there's no such putrid smell. Maybe you and all the citizens here have a thing for crapping themselves?"

Once again, the stranger laughed, this time louder. "Kid, that's some sense of humour you have there. So you're saying this is not your home; but if that's the case, I'd like to know how you came to appear here. When I found you, you were half-dead." Kamui noticed the seriousness in which he said the last statement.

"I have a fight with my father," he answered the samurai, with no trace of emotion in his voice.

The samurai looked stunned at the revelation, but Kamui wasn't seeing him.

"Kid, he almost had you there."

To the samurai's astonishment, the boy suddenly smiled. "I took his arm, at least."

"…Kid, you're something else, aren't you?" Said the samurai, not knowing what else to reply.

For the first time, Kamui rolled on his side to take a look at his saviour.

"Enough with 'kid'. The name's Kamui."

"Kamui, eh? That's a nice name. I'm Nobunaga." And then he made an annoyed sound. "Thanks to you I had to abandon my mission. I hope Chrollo doesn't punish me."

"Chrollo? Who's that?" asked Kamui not at all guilty about the samurai's situation.

Nobunaga stopped looking annoyed to glance at Kamui with curiosity. "Oh, he's my boss, basically. I'm part of a group of thieves called The Phantom Troupe." He then looked at Kamui to grasp his reaction.

Kamui didn't look impressed at all. "Phantom Troupe? Seriously? That's a very dumb name. And are you actually thieves? Pirates are way cooler!" He exclaimed the last bit with fervour.

Nobunaga's jaw slacked at his unexpected reaction. He also turned a bit red at the preposterous proclamation. "Ehhhh?! What did you just say, kid?! Did you just call us dumb?! You just called us dumb. I can't believe I've just saved the life of someone who, apart of not thanking me, calls me dumb!"

"Uh, you really took it personal, uh..."

Nobunaga sighed after his little outburst. "Why does everyone think pirates are cooler? I can be a pirate if I want..." he said gloomily.

He really took it personal, thought Kamui, sweat-dropping.

"Anyway," said Nobunaga after regaining his posture. "Why do you think pirates are so cool?"

Kamui gained a childish happy expression at the question. "Because they're the most free people in the whole Universe, and they have ships, and they never stop having adventures and getting stronger."

Nobunaga noted amused that the boy's eyes were practically shining in passion.

"I want to become a Harusame pirate and become stronger than anyone else," said Kamui with a determination that stunned Nobunaga in his place. However, he also heard something that catched his attention.

"Did you just said 'Harusame'? What type of name is that? At least 'Phantom Troupe' has a meaning! Harusame could mean 'noodles' for all I know! I know 'Phantom Troupe' sounds dumb, even though Chrollo thought was cool at naming us that way, but yo can't compare 'Phantom' with 'noodles'!"

Now was Kamui's turn to turn red. "Shut up! At least they are pirates and not simple thieves!"

"Oi, oi," said Nobunaga, this time with a very serious expression. "Who said we're simply thieves? We're more than that. We're the most known and most feared group of, not only thieves, but also assasins, in the world. You should show some respect, brat."

Kamui deadpanned. "Never heard of you."

Nobunaga clicked his tongue. "Of course, you're a kid. A rude one, also. Anyway-" he turned to look at Kamui with a calculating expression. "You mentioned before you tried to kill your own father. Are you maybe from a family of assasins? Like the Zoldycks?" (If that's what it is, I hit gold, he added mentally)

Kamui raised a brow. "Never heard of the Zoldycks. And yes, I'm actually from the Yato clan, the most fearsome warrior race in the universe. I'm actually surprise you didn't recognize me. Are you a human? Tch, just where am I?" He asked the last question with a glare, that almost intimidated Nobunaga.

Nobunaga didn't truly know if he liked where this was going. "A human? Of course, It's like you're insinuating you're not... and now that I think so, when you said 'universe' and 'Harusame'..." Nobunaga wasn't slow. However, he understimated Kamui just because he was a kid. He thought that maybe it was just the way the kid talked, or the thought of children being very creative and imaginative with their tales. But now he realised, the kid hadn't made up anything. He actually believed what he said. The kid, Kamui, was actually insinuating he wasn't Human...

"Kid, are you saying you're an alien?"

Kamui looked thoughtful. "It's Kamui, not Kid. And yes, I guess I am to you." Then he looked excited. "Is this planet Earth? Seriously, how did I end up here...?"

...but an Alien.

Nobunaga's face darkened at the prospect.

I have to call Pakunoda.