Chapter 1

Narration's POV

"All that I see belongs to me, all that I desire shall be given to me and all who oppose me shall be executed!" these words were spoken by a young Emperor Tokugawa at the beginning of his rule in the Shoji era of Feudal Japan. For 20 long years his greed and thirst for power drained the life from the once great nation. Anyone not fortunate enough to reside within the upper class of the land was stricken by harsh laws, unreasonable taxes and crops all but wrenched away, barely leaving any left for themselves. Enraged at the terrible conditions they were forced with; the denizens of Japan tried to fight back, plotting assassinations to rid the land of the tyrant ruler. However, every attempt at the Emperor's life was halted by his two youngest but strongest generals; Hattori the Crimson Flare, said to be able to generate flames from his sword that both rends and sears flesh and Masamune the Blinding Flash whose speed is unmatched throughout the land. It is said he is able to kill dozens in a single moment in a blur of dark blue. Both declared prodigies after becoming the highest ranked generals at the ages of 18 and 17. Crestfallen from every attempt thwarted and in fear of the Emperor's sadistic executions, the people soon abandoned their attempts to rid this blight from their land and chose to live under the harsh tyranny of the nicknamed Demon Emperor.

This is where our tale begins, at the turning point of a new age. The winds of change have begun to blow and with them comes the hope for salvation.

One dark and wintery night three figures pant heavily as they move as quickly as they can through the dense forest, large rucksacks tied to their backs as they shiver against the arctic winds that sting their exposed skin. Leading is a girl about 17 years of age with long red hair tied with a red ribbon and adorned in a pink kimono

"We have to get out of this wind!" she called back to her companions

Close behind is another girl about 16 years of age with short black hair and is adorned in a green kimono

"What if they catch up?!" she exclaimed tightly gripping the hand of the third companion

"Where can we go?!" asked the last trying desperately to hold back tears to avoid them freezing to her skin

The last was also a girl barely the age of 15 with blonde hair and adorned in a light blue kimono

"They went this way!" a man's voice shouted from a short distance away

The three whirled their heads around at the direction it came from, terror etched onto their faces before sprinting as hard as they could through the thick snow with the sounds of men shouting creeping steadily closer. Her mind racing the pink clad woman tried desperately to come up with a plan to through off their pursuers

And only one had the best chance of working

At a small clearing she stopped and turned to her friends

"Listen" she said urgently "I want you two to keep going, I'll try and distract them so you two can escape"

"No way!" exclaimed the girl in the green kimono

"What if you get captured?!" the blonde haired girl asked "You'll be forced to-!"

"Even if that does happen" the red head said "I'd rather be the one caught then have both of you suffer the same fate"

"Then let me come with!" the black haired girl pleaded

"No" the red head responded "I need you to keep Miyako safe"

"But Momoko!" Miyako started

"No buts!" she exclaimed "Now go!"

She gave them a little shove and took off into the forest

Miyako's POV

Before I could say anything I felt myself being pulled along by my arm deeper into the forest

"Kaoru!" I cried "We have to help her!"

"It's okay Miya" she said not stopping or turning to look at me "She's the smartest of all of us, I'm sure she'll be fine"

I was the youngest and admittedly a little naïve, but even I could tell she wasn't even convincing herself. I was so tired and scared and cold and it was starting to slow me down

"Come on Miya" Kaoru said tugging my arm "We have to keep moving"

"Sorry" I said panting before I stopped "I can't run anymore"

After a moment of thinking Kaoru moved her rucksack to her front side and kneeled down with her back to me

"Get on" she said in a manner that meant she wouldn't take no for an answer

I climbed on her back and she took off running again. She always was the fittest of us all but even she won't be able to do this for very long. Not long after we heard a man shout something that caused our hearts to sink

"We got one of them!" he said "Keep looking! The others can't be far!"

"Kaoru!" I said tears starting to form again "They got Momoko!"

"I know" she said not stopping

"What should we do?!" I asked full on sobbing

"For now keep moving" she said

Before long we came to a rushing stream too deep and fast to wade through. After looking up and down the steam Kaoru spotted a fallen log

"We can use that to get across" she said making her way to it

She tested her weight on the log and it creaked, showing obvious signs of age

"It won't hold us like this" she said letting me down "If we move slowly like this it should hold"

I nodded and, holding her hand, began to slowly walk across the log with her. As we got half way the shouts of men began to grow louder and in a moment of panic we moved too much and the log started to break. Making a quick decision I pushed Kaoru to the other end and scrambled to where we started

"Miyako!" she cried "What are you doing?!"

I wiped the tears that started to form again

"They won't be able to cross this stream!" I explained "I'll only slow you down! Hurry and run!"

"NO!" she yelled tears budding for her too "I CAN'T LOSE BOTH OF YOU!"

Through all the fear that was rolling through my heart I managed a small smile

"We'll be fine Kaoru" I said with tears streaming down my cheeks "So please, live free for the both of us"

Tears were falling down her face too and the men shouting were getting closer. I watched with that same smile on my face as she clenched her hands into tight fists and ran away as quick as she could manage

I turned as the armed soldiers came up behind me

"Here's another" the leader said

"Captain" another soldier said "The other seems to have used this log to cross the stream"

"Yes" the captain replied "And with as strong as the current is we won't be able to chase her"

"What should we do?" the soldier asked

"We'll return to the Emperor with the two we caught and tell him the last was attacked before we could catch her" he answered

"Yes sir" the soldier said as he picked me up and set me on his horse

'Be safe Kaoru' I thought to myself as the weariness from the chase began to catch up with me and I started to fall asleep

'For both of us'

Kaoru's POV

I trudged through the snow holding my arms close to me to try and retain any of the warmth I managed to build up from all the running. Despite my efforts the cold begin eating at me again and each step was like walking with stone legs. The cold had also robbed me of my emotions; the fear of being caught, the sadness of losing my two best friends, the anger at the Demon Emperor and the crushing loneliness were all swallowed up by the cold until I became a walking statue. Eventually all my trudging caused me to trip and fall face first into the snow, all attempts to get up were met with not a single muscle moved

'Got to… get up' I thought wearily as my vision began to darken 'Need to… keep moving'

But it was no use, from the cold and my exhaustion my body was little more than a doll someone had dropped in the snow

'I'm…. going to die' I thought eyes slowly closing

Right before my eyes shut I could've sworn I saw a person step into my fading view, but before I could properly register it I finally fell asleep. As I dreamed I could feel an odd sensation of being held by a pair of strong warm arms while I breathed in a scent that I couldn't place but was very pleasant.

And above all else I could make out a color; dark green, like the forest on a clear summer night

Me: And Done!

Nar: Wow, I haven't seen you crank out a chapter that fast since Hell's Gates

Me: Yep, just goes to show what happened when I get motivated

Nar: Indeed

Me: So if you couldn't tell, Hattori is going to be Brick's name in this story and Masamune is Boomer

Nar: As for Butch?

Me: Still working on that

Nar: You know how stubborn she can get

Me: I can be stubborn too

Nar: But you're too lazy, after a while you just stop caring and let her have her way

Me: Sadly. It's not even a big deal

Nar: Still, best leave it for another time

Me: I guess

Nar: Well then, R&R!

Me: Enjoy Life!

Both: AND LATER DAYS!