Disclaimer: Soul Caliber, Soul Edge and Soul Blade is property of Namco/Bandai

Chapter Two: Snow Flower

Tokushima Prefecture.

The ship had arrived at the harbor on schedule. The mid-summer heat hung heavy in the air as the sun blazed down on the harbor workers and pedestrians from high in the early noon sky. After docking, the ships' passengers were called to exit while the crew made preparations for the next group of travelers. Among those exiting was a woman unlike any other. From first glance, it was obvious that she was not native to Japan. She had pale, milky white skin that looked as soft as flower petals. Her long, glossy blonde hair was styled similarly to the geishas except for the loose blonde tresses spilling down her back. In short, this young woman's beauty was more than capable of stealing any man's breathe away.

"This heat..."the woman said as she strained her hazel brown eyes, trying to adjust to the brightness of the sun.

The young foreigner raised her umbrella and walked toward a bustling part of town in hopes of finding someone to help her with an 'unusual' situation. She thought back to days before dire circumstances had forced her to take this journey in search of help. She began to recall when she and her master lived their days in relative peace, something the foreign beauty could not find until her master took her in. As the young woman became lost in thought, she seemed to have not noticed that, from the shadows, she was being watched. Three sets of eyes watched the beautiful girl with as much disdain as lust. Shamelessly, the three shady locals ogled her every movement. The way her multi-colored yukata, decorated with white and fading into purple, clung tightly to her body, accentuating her every curve. The way her hair was tossed about by the summer breeze coming in from the ocean. Indeed, these three men were hunters who had identified their prey for the evening.

"Quite beautiful, isn't she?" the first, seemingly the leader, inquired.

"Yeah...I can just taste her now." said the tallest and more muscular of the three while licking his lips.

The last of them watched the young foreigner in silence. He watched how her hips swayed seductively, as if beckoning to him.

"Maybe we should introduce ourselves?" the leader smirked as his subordinates nodded in agreement.

After finally making it into the city, the beautiful foreigner stopped to survey her new surroundings. The city was surrounded by mountains that stretched up so high into the sky, like a child reaching for her mother. Even though she had never known her parents, the thought of a child reaching for a mother had always brought about certain loneliness. Her master was the only family she'd ever known and, as a child, she was looked upon with much disdain because of her appearance. He was the only one to ever treat her as a person and so, she was fiercely loyal and grateful to him. That is why she must not fail. She has to succeed for her master's sake.

"You must be new here, right?" said a voice from behind her.

The young woman was unfazed by the fact that someone had snuck up on her, turned to face three suspicious looking men.

"Didn't mean to startle you, Miss...?..."

"...Setsuka." she replied simply.

"Well, Ms. Setsuka, perhaps my men and I could be of assistance since you don't seem to be very familiar with this area?" offered the leader of the trio.

Setsuka placed her cheek into her palm and narrowed her eyes at the three men before her. Though true, she didn't know much of the area, she refused to waste time on the scum who'd been watching her since the moment she'd exited the vessel she'd arrived on. The tall muscular man began to move toward the beautiful blonde but stopped in his tracks due to the way she cut her eyes at him. Something about the way she looked at him took away his courage.

"Maybe we should leave this one be?" the muscular man whispered to his leader as he retreated backward, not wanting to anger the woman.

"Don't be ridiculous! She obviously needs assistance and we'll provide it, right?" the boss said, motioning to the youngest of the three to circle around the foreigner.

"I don't have time for this..." Setuska sighed from underneath her umbrella as she was surrounded from all three sides.

The youngest of the trio struck first, charging at full speed toward the foreign girl. In a blur of motion Setsuka's hand shot forth, grabbed the wrist of her assailant and twisted the extremity counter-clockwise, causing the impatient fool to spin and crash into the ground in front of her.

"Rraaaagh!" the man howled as Setsuka applied pressure to his already twisted wrist, instantly breaking it.

The pained howls of the young man soon drew a crowd as people stopped to observe the assault.

"Foreign bitch!" the trio's leader boomed as he drew a dagger from its sheath hidden in his dirty green dogi.

"I was wondering when you'd play that card..." Setsuka teased, smiling as if she'd already known about the hidden blade.

"Shut up!" the lead thug barked as he dashed toward the blonde beauty with all his might, closing the distance in an instant.

The lookers-on gasped collectively as the foreign girl side stepped the silver arc of the thug's downward slash, then ducked the horizontal attack with the same ease.

"Araaaaagh! Stand still you bitch!" the trio's lead man commanded in frustration as he continued to strike at Setsuka, though unsuccessful.

The tallest of the trio watched in awe as the foreign girl made sport of his boss. Her movements were so graceful and she moved with such dexterity that she appeared to be dancing instead of fighting for her life. In truth, the tall man in the dingy white dogi started to realize that his gang was truly outmatched.

"That's enough, Kota!" boomed the muscular man, finally, stepping in front of his boss.

"Stand aside, Benkei! I'm going to… teach this foreign bitch a lesson she'll… never forget!" huffed the gang's leader, still trying to catch his breath and exhausted from over exerting himself.

"No, Kota. If you continue with this foolish pursuit, she will kill you!" Benkei shot back over his shoulder.

"What about what she did to Masamori? She broke his wrist…" hissed Kota, looking back at his fallen subordinate.

"Calm down and take a good long look at her for a second. If you haven't noticed, you're heaving to catch your breath while she's barely breaking a sweat!" reasoned the tall muscular man.

Kota had regained enough of his composure to heed his muscular subordinate's advice. He looked intently at his opponent's young beautiful visage. Benkei was right! The foreign woman had been moving as much as he did yet, showed no signs of fatigue. Her gorgeous continence stayed as calm as it had been before the assault began. Whoever this Setsuka was, it was clear that she was as dangerous as any of the three of them…maybe even more so.

"We…we apologize, lady Setsuka! Please forgive our behavior!" Benkai begged as he dropped to his knees.

"Hmm?" the beautiful blonde tilted her head at this request.

"Please, if there is… anything you need to… know about Tokushima, do not hesitate… to ask us!" Masamori implored painfully, following Benkei's lead and clutching his broken wrist.

Setsuka watched the crowd of gawkers slowly disperse as the third of the trio went to his knees, following the lead of the other two. She had thought about asking someone from the crowd about warriors she could hire but had immediately decided against it. The eyes of the audience seemed more interested in seeing her get hurt or killed then helping her. If she was still the fragile girl she once was, she probably would have let them kill her just to stop the prejudice against her. Setsuka was, however, not as weak as she once was therefore she didn't care for the opinion of the Japanese people of her.

"I need to find warriors."