Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion belong to Gainax and Hideaki Anno. The name Samurai of Legend belongs to the online text-based samurai game.
Samurai of Legend
Chapter 1: Gin!
Shinji looked around the city of Kamakura carefully, it did not seem that different when compared to other towns he'd accompanied his father to in Japan. It was hard to believe that the first true Shogunate was based in a city that did not look that distinct in Shinji's eyes.
As he wandered the streets he felt the stares he, or more precisely his sword, was getting. He cursed his sentimentality for the hundreth time, but it had been his father's sword and he was loath to leave it behind for some looter to take. He took a long look at the sword himself, and the scabbard which was made of cherrywood painted black; along the sides a dragon had been carved into the wood, winding and coiling its way to the top of the scabbard where it's head held its jaws wide open as if holding the sword itself in its body. As if that wasn't flashy enough the whole dragon was painted gold.
Only four people had ever seen the sword: his father, the traitor Fuyutsuki, his mother and himself; only he and his departed father had ever held it.
Shinji walked around trying to find the more shady parts of the city; right now he was in the brothel district. This being definitely not what he had in mind, he sighed and decided that enough was enough as he entered a nearby brothel intent on asking for direction; hopefully he'd stumble on a Yakuza who could direct him on how to find the hired swordsmen in the town.
He looked and suddenly his eyes fell on a pair of men. While they were inconspicuous enough, he knew them to be Yakuza simply by the fact that the more irrating looking one had a piece of his left little finger sliced off; obviously he had done something wrong and had to slice it off as penance. Shinji approached them fearlessly; the two men looked up at Shinji and waited, expecting a bow that never came. Instead they found themselves gazing into eyes full of disdain and disgust. The fact that Shinji was holding his head higher than usual and was making a show of looking down on them, did not make the following exchange any easier.
"I'm looking for...hired hands, and I expect men of such," Shinji gave a short snort, "stature as yourselves might know where to find them" he said the word stature with as much disgust he could muster.
"What do you want kid? We can't help you!" Sliced Finger told him with a sneer.
"Surely, petty gansters such as yourselves know where to find assassins," Shinji was slowly losing his temper with the man.
"Petty? I'll show you petty! you have 10 seconds to scram kid, or I'll take your head off myself," Sliced Finger told Shinji.
Instead of responding, Shinji drew his swords. He quickly pointed the longer katana at the throat of the silent Yakuza with his left hand whilst hooking a leg on the torso of Sliced Finger and pointing the shorter wakizashi sword at the back of his neck.
"I'll ask again, where do you find assassins," he asked the silent one.
"WHY! YOU LITTLE BASTARD! I'LL GET YOU FOR..." Sliced Finger was silenced by a foot in the face, Shinji looked up, slightly surprised at the smiling face of the silent Yakuza. Slowly Shinji unhooked his leg from the man's body and let him slump to the floor.
"Please, excuse my partner's behaviour, I don't understand his problems myself. First he set this meeting place when we could have gone somewhere more acceptable," the man said.
"I would expect a Yakuza to threaten me with his gang," Shinji commented idly.
"I'm not a Yakuza. I'm more what you would call a spy, I work as a hired hand for this gang, spying on the other gang of the city. Please sit.," he motioned to the now empty seat of his partner.
"who are you?" asked Shinji.
"My name is Kaji Ryoji, and I'm a spy, as I have already said, but it seems I have lost my source of income." he said this with a brilliant smile, and took out a pipe and started to smoke it "And who might you be?" he asked pleasantly.
"I am Ikari Shinji, leader of the Ikari clan," answered Shinji.
"My, my, I have heard of your clan, and the reason why a daimyo would be wandering the brothels of Kamakura alone. My condolences," Shinji simply waved the man's words away. But he couldn't help but sense a double meaning in them. "Anyways, you seem pretty good as a fighter so, why do you need an assassin?" asked Kaji
"I don't," responded Shinji, "I just need to know who the strongest swordsman in this city is."
"Ah, that would be Gin," he responded.
"Gin?" asked Shinji; he thought, "silver? Could it be?"
"Yes, no one knows his real name, all we know are the fact that his eyes are blood red and that his hair is of a brilliant silver. He's usually found wandering around the beaches, especially the ones that have a view of Mount Fuji" answered Kaji.
"Thank you, that is all I needed to know, Kaji-san if you need work then wait for me at KotÅku-in at dusk in three days," he told Kaji
"Very well, I will be there. That is, unless the Yakuza try to kill me. Despite being a raucous idiot that guy is a pretty high ranked man," he answered, Shinji glanced in disgust at the knocked out man.
"Maybe I should finish him off?" he wondered aloud, hand on his sword.
"Ah! no, no, please, if you do that they'll never get off my back." said Kaji with a somewhat nervous chuckle while rubbing the back of his head. Shinji glanced at Kaji with ice cold ocean blue eyes and he could have sworn they warmed a bit before reverting to their steely look. He gave a quick nod, donned his hat and walked bristly out of the building. After he walked out of the brothel district he stopped and glanced at the sky, with a slight smile he thought "now to find you...Gin!"
Shinji wandered through the city in the general direction of his hotel, lost in thought and not really paying attention to his surroundings, until he heard a whistling sound. He quickly drew the dagger that he kept fastened to his wrist and threw it to deflect a knife that was racing toward him at high speed. With not even a second to stop and think he found himself having to perform a quick jump back to avoid having a sword disembowel him.
He looked around hurriedly trying to catch a glimpse of his assailant. His opponent identity was hidden due by a scarf that was wrapped around the lower and upper parts of his head. All Shinji could see were eyes but he could not even get a clear view of them in the darkness.
He then realized that his own features were hidden, so he briefly wondered how the hell this assassin knew his target. It mattered not, for the assassin quickly charged at Shinji, his sword trailing behind him as he ran. He leapt into the air, doing a flip before attempting to break the young daimyo's sword with a downward kick. Shinji, however, knew this move well and flipped backwards to evade the kick.
"He must be using a style related to the Ikari-ryu," mused Shinji. He charged the mysterious attacker, his sword held at his side. His opponent's blade flashed as the assassin aimed a slash at Shinji's throat. Shinji quickly kicked his own feet from under him, using his momentum to let slide under the attack while he made a stab at the man from his low vantage point. His arrack was blocked by the assassin's scabbard before he skilfully flipped away.
As the two men continued to exchange cuts and slashes, all of which were deflected by their flashing blades, they both were too caught up in the fight to realize that their style were all but identical. Shinji, wanting to interrogate the man, was holding back some of his skill but the other was aiming for a kill. Suddenly the assassin charged at Shinji, his blade held in front of him as he made a thrust at Shinji's face. Shinji swiftly ducked feeling the sword impale his hat, sending it flying away in pieces. He was hardly concerned with the loss of apparel as he finally found his opening.
He quickly dashed from his crouch and was about the stab the man in the abdomen before his scream of, "WAIT!" delayed him. Shinji did wait, expecting this man to come clean and beg forgiveness. He wasn't prepared for what the assassin did next, he got on his knees and kow-towed to Shinji.
"Please forgive me, my lord," said the man, "I did not recognize, I humbly apologize."
Shinji walked forward warily and yanked the man up from the ground to his knees. He grabbed the scarf covering the man's head and yanked it off revealing the face of...
"Kaworu-nii-san!" exclaimed Shinji.
"Please, my lord, do not adress me with such familiarity, it is improper. I am just your mere cousin," he said in response, "regardless, we should discuss these matters in private, your hotel, perhaps?" asked Ayanami Kaworu, Rei's brother and Shinji's cousin. Shinji simply nodded and led the way to the hotel.
A/N:In case you're wondering, yes Kaworu's name was changed but that was to establish that he was Rei's brother. Also like Rei he was raised as a son by Gendo and Yui and therefore like a brother to Shinji. and no, he won't be betraying shinji at all in this fic. sorry to disappoint. Thanks to all of you who reviewed, especially Hououza and thanks to Crazyninjapenguin for the beta.