Return of the Samurai Seven
A/N: Here is the second chapter. Hope you like it. Once again I do not own Samurai 7.
(Recap)
After 6 years, Katsushiro had returned to Kanna village to pay his respects. However, before he could tell Kirara his real reason for his return, a group of over fifty masked samurais invaded Kanna and injure Rikichi. As for their reason for invading, the leader says all he wants from the village are the men.
Episode 2: The Invasion
After hearing the reason from the leader, the farmer wondered what could he mean all he wants are men? Katsushiro prepared to take out his sword and faced the leader.
"What is it you want with the men of this village?" Katsushiro asked the leader.
"What I want is none of your concerns boy. All I can tell you are that there is a mission we wish to fulfill and what we need are men that know a taste of manual labor." He continued to speak. "It is time you farmers did something useful with your lives, you will come with us now or we will take you by force."
All the farmers cowered in fear. Before the bandits could reach the farmers, Katsushiro stepped in their way unleashing his sword.
"You will not be abducting anyone form this village so long as I am here." Katsushiro yelled.
What caught the head samurai's attention was the sword Katsushiro was holding.
"Tell me something boy. That sword you have in your possession. That wouldn't be the same sword belonging to Shimada Kambei." He asked.
"How do you know my sensei?" Katsushiro asked.
"Sensei, if Shimada Kambei had a student, then that would make you Okamoto Katsushiro of the seven samurai."
"So you've heard of us. If that's true then yes, I am his student and I carry his sword as recognition as his disciple." Katsushiro said.
"Well, despite being his student you won't stand in our way. However, you will prove to be more useful these pathetic farmers. You will either join us or we will take you away along with the other farmers." The leader demanded.
"You must be a fool if you think I will ever join you." He said.
"Then you leave us no choice. MEN ATTACK THE VILLAGE. TAKE ALL THE MEN YOU FIND." The leader shouted to the other bandits.
On his command, all the masked bandits raided all of Kanna village started rounding up all of the men. Katsushiro unleashed his sword and started colliding with the bandits.
"KIRARA, GET EVERYONE TO THE STOREHOUSE NOW. I WILL HOLD THEM." Katsushiro said to her as he was slaying a few bandits.
"But Katsushiro, what would happen to you?" Kirara replied.
"I'll be fine just, make sure everyone get to the storehouse now." He asked.
Kirara nodded in reply. Kirara then met up with Komachi.
"Komachi go find Sanae. Help her carry Rikichi to the storehouse." She asked.
"What about you?" Komachi asked.
"I will try to see if I can help Katsushiro. Now go." Kirara said.
Komachi then left for Rikichi's house. When she got there, she saw that he had regained some consciousness.
"K-Komachi wh-what is going o-on?" Rikichi tried to speak.
She then said, "No time to wait. We have to get to the storehouse, the samurais that attacked you are here."
Both Sanae and Rikichi widen after hearing this.
"They're here. What do those bandits want?" Sanae asked.
"They said all they want are the men. That's why we have to get to the storehouse now." Komachi said.
Sanae nodded and then turned to Rikichi. "Can you stand on your feet?"
"Ye-yeah al-little," he said as he was getting on his feet. He had the strength to stand, just not the strength to walk on his own. Soon Komachi and Sanae grabbed both his arms to help him walk.
Komachi then said, "Okay, storehouse here we go." Then they left.
They soon arrived at the entrance to the storehouse. They saw that only the women and children of the village were there.
"Hey look, its lady Komachi." One of the villagers said.
"Yeah and she's brought the elder and his wife." said another villager.
"But where's lady Kirara?" said another villager.
Komachi then saw Shino among the farmers. She walked up to her and said," Shino what happened to the men?"
Shino looked down at the ground and said. "We were too late. They're gone. They were all taken along the way. Yohei, Gosaku, Mosuke, and even my father, there gone." A few tears escaped her eyes when she said this.
"They also took my husband." One of the female farmers said.
"And my daddy," said one of the children.
"Mines too," said another child.
Komachi was looking at every women and child. They had the feeling of loss and regret. She has seen this reaction once when the Nobuseri had kept on invading their village and everyone was to afraid to fight back. She got down and placed her hand on a child's head. "Don't worry everyone. Katsu is fighting the samurais now and we'll get the others back." Komachi said with a reassuring smile.
Just as things couldn't get worse. "Hey look. I told you there was one more of that farmer here." It was a dozen of those masked samurais. They found the storehouse and everyone started to fear for their lives.
"How did you find us?" Komachi asked.
"Oh please girl. We're highly trained samurai. It's not like any of you farmers had a chance of outwitting us." One of the samurai said. "Now if you value lives, then you would come with us." They unleashed their swords.
Rikichi then spoke, still in pain for his last encounter. "It's true. W-We may be j-just plan farmers. We may not compare to you samurai. But this village is our home and so are the people that settled here. We will never surrender to you bandits."
Everyone was surprised to see this outburst from Rikichi, especially Komachi and his wife. They understood why he wouldn't give up their village. For years they have suffered because of the Nobuseri and now that they've finally gained their freedom through the seven samurai, Rikichi wasn't going to let any other bandit ruin it.
"Nice speech, but I wasn't talking about your lives. After all our orders were to capture all the men of this village alive." The masked bandit said. "However, our orders weren't to capture all the women and children. Meaning we can do whatever we want with them." Rikichi then gasped. What could they possibly do to the women and children?
"Now I'll say it again, if you value their lives, then you will come with us now.
They couldn't believe this. They were willing to go this far to getting the men by killing women and kids.
Rikichi knew he had to make a choice. He was the elder after all so he had to be wise. If he didn't surrender then he will be captured and his wife, the women, and kids will be dead. If he did surrender, then they will be saved.
Letting go of Komachi and Sanae's grip, he stepped forward. "Everyone, I want all the women to go inside the storehouse. As for me, I'm going to stand down." He said and everyone was in shock after hearing what he said.
"Rikichi what do think you're doing. You can't expect everyone to just let you give yourself over to those bandits." Sanae said trying to convince him out of it.
"I know I'm just being selfish. But if it means that you along with all the other women and children get to live, then I'm fine with that. And we mustn't abandon hope just yet. I promise we won't be separated for long." Rikichi said.
Sanae didn't know what to do but then she remembered that she gave herself to the bandits in order to protect Rikichi and their village. And now she sees that Rikichi is doing the same to save her and everyone else.
"Please Sanae, you have to trust me." Rikichi asked.
Sanae then gave her answer. "Okay." She said as she watched her husband turn himself over.
"Wise choice, I can see why you're this village's elder." The bandit said as he grabbed him and threw him to one of his colleagues. "Now put him with the rest."
As they rode away, tears completely escaped Sanae's eyes. She dropped to her knees and started to cry; feeling sorry that she still couldn't do anything to stop. Everyone felt sorry for her. Even Komachi as she consoled her but knew what to do.
Back at the village square, Katsushiro stuck down over half of those masked bandits. As he fought, he noticed a large line. It was the men of the village, they had all been captured. Before he could rescue them, he was stopped by the bandits' leader.
"My you are certainly one of the strongest samurai I've ever seen. I can see that Kambei was wise to pick you as his student." He then pulls out his sword. "However you're skills are inferior compared to me." He's then gets in a battle stance with only using one arm to wield his katana.
"We'll see about that." Katsushiro said.
He let out a battle cry and then charged towards him. Both their swords collided. The kept stepping back as his sword blocked Katsushiro's slash. Then seeing an opening, he kicked him away from. As the leader tried to impale him, Katsushiro regained his balance then dodged it. He then tried to attack the leader with a series of well-aimed slash. However no matter how well-aimed his slashes were, he just kept using his sword to block them all. Katsushiro then started breathing hard.
"What's wrong boy, tired already. I thought we were warming up."
By those words Katsushiro couldn't believe it. He was giving it his all and yet to him he wasn't even taken this seriously. He then decided to get the katana away from the leader. As Katsushiro gripped tightly he then thrust forward and continued to collide with the masked man they to find an opening. So he saw it and used the bottom of his blade to loosen the man's grip and then swings his sword away. Before Katsushiro could deliver the final blow to him, the leader unleashed a concealed dagger from his gauntlet. He stabbed Katsushiro in his lower torso. When he removed it, the young samurai landed on the ground holding his wound in pain.
The leader then stood in front of him. "I'll admit you have potential. But regardless you're still a child with much to learn."
"KATSUSHIRO," someone yelled and it was Kirara.
"Kirara you have to…." Katsushiro tried to stand but was still in pain.
"Relax girl the wound I gave him isn't fatal. But it will be if he is not treated soon. Now it's time for you to die." Before he could strike him, Kirara stood in between them.
"I won't let you take him." She said not wanting to leave him.
"Kirara what are you doing?" he asked.
"I promised you that I'd stay by your side as you journeyed to become a samurai. The day you left all I ever regretted was not going with you, to be by your side. And so we would fall together. I'm sorry we weren't able to spend more time together." Kirara said as she was prepared to protect him.
"Nice words girl but if you wish to die beside him, I will be more than happy to grant you your request." The masked samurai said preparing to strike them both down.
"Wait, I'll go with you. Let her go and leave this village alone forever." Katsushiro said.
"Katsushiro don't…" before Kirara could convince him Katsushiro then interrupted.
"Kirara I'm the one who should apologize. For so long all I ever thought about was that I shouldn't have left you. I said I closed off my heart, but I could never get you out of my mind. That is why I came to Kanna to see you again." Kirara was surprised to hear Katsushiro's true reason for his return. Somewhere inside she was glad that he hadn't stopped thinking about her.
"But I won't be gone long. I believe that I there will come a time when all of us will be saved and we can be together once more." Katsushiro said to her. Kirara was confused by what he meant. As she kept thinking about how they would be saved, she noticed him eyeing Kambei's sword, she now understood what he meant.
"Do we have a deal?" Katsushiro said to the bandit.
"I will, so long as you don't try any pathetic attempts of escaping." The leader said.
After he grabbed him, Kirara, Komachi, and the other women and children watched as all the men of Kanna were all taken away. Shino then walked up to the 2 priestess.
"What do we do now? They are all gone. Not even Katsushiro was able to beat someone like him." Soon the kids started crying out loud. Kirara then stepped forward to them.
"Children remember the stories I told you about of the seven samurai." Kirara asked and the kids nodded.
"Now it is time for those samurai to save our village once more."
To Be Continued….
A/N: Hoped you all liked the second chapter. Like I said in the beginning, I will be adding four new samurai to replace the ones that died. Also I'm not use to writing samurai battles but I'll try to get better over time. Please review.