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 7: Worries

Journal Entry 7

That girl is really something; she surprises me every day. At first I thought she was just a spoiled brat, then I found out she was an arrogant but kind girl, and now I've discovered that she's a very caring person who's trying to prove her existence. She may not admit it, but I know that the secluded life she has been forced to live leads her to want people to recognize her skills as a warrior, her beauty as a woman and her worth as a person. According to her, I'm the first person to have done that.

On another note, I almost kissed her! And then Kaworu walked in. I wonder if I should be angry or relieved at that. Anyways, it seems that everything is working out; we have a talented archer and a talented spearman who have now joined us. Asuka went out to meet Kaji somewhere and Mugen and Jin are training with Kaworu and Aoba. I must admit his Naginata skills are very impressive; I wonder if he's as good with a Yari. Here comes Kaji, but Asuka isn't with him I wonder what's going on.

End Journal

Shinji got up from his seat on the felled tree and tucked his journal entry into his kimono before lifting his sword and walking towards Kaji. It was the first time in three days that he had seen him, since he and Asuka had left.

"Yo! Shinji, what's up?" greeted the smiling unkempt spy as he approached him.

"I'm good, where's Asuka?" Shinji inquired, looking around for his friend.

"I sent her on a mission," Kaji told him with a wink and a smile, "she went to gather intelligence one of Tokugawa's army camps!"

"W-What?" stuttered Shinji paling considerably.

"Yeah, she's supposed to go in, find out how many soldiers there are, approximately, find out where they store their weapons, and their gunpowder, and find out where the chief stays," Kaji said, nodding happily before taking his pipe and putting it in his mouth and drawing on it contentedly.

What he failed to notice was Shinji shaking with rage at what he had just heard; Kaworu noticed, however, and started to rush forward but he was too late. Shinji's blade flashed in the late afternoon as he drew and slashed in a single, lighting fast stroke before replacing the sword in its sheath. Kaji gasped, the pipe was flying from his mouth; he watched it split in half as he fell back on his ass. Shinji approached him menacingly, his left hand shaking as his knuckles turned white from the grip he had on the sword's scabbard.

"You...You're joking right?" Shinji asked him, his voice eerily calm compared to what his body was portraying.

"N-No, She's gone there already," answered Kaji shakily.

"You've sent a girl, who's been trained as a shinobi for four days to spy on one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's camps? Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of Oda Nobunaga's strongest allies?" Shinji spoke softly, he grit his teeth and drew his sword, holding at Kaji's throat. "ARE YOU INSANE!?" Shinji latent anger suddenly broke out; there was a clearly a malevolent look in his eyes as he took a step toward the man.

"N-No, Shinji, w-wait, I told the camp captain not to hurt her if she gets caught," stuttered Kaji, eyes fixed on the menacing blade in front of him.

"Right, of course, but the camp captain didn't tell his men because that would defeat the purpose of the test" said Shinji, a cold-eyed scowl about his face.

"y-yea..." answered Kaji.

"WHAT IF THEY KILL HER ON SIGHT, YOU MORON!" Shinji fumed, bearing his teeth. He swung his sword in high arc towards Kaji's head, but instead of meeting the soft flesh of the man's neck, his sword screeched as it impacted the cold steel of another sword.

"My lord, we should at least give him a chance before resorting to such measures, let us wait for Asuka, if she does not return then you shall carry out the punishment that is fitting the crime," spoke Kaworu as he struggled to hold back Shinji's sword.

"Move Kaworu!" cried Shinji, shooting his friend a deadly glare. Kaworu didn't budge "I SAID MOVE, DAMN IT!" he out right screamed this time, his hands furiously trying to bat back the other's sword.

"My lord," said Kaworu, trying to calm the other, "Shinji, please, this isn't right, you need to calm yourself. Would father have done something so hot headed if he were in this position."

"Always remember Shinji, think through what you do and if possible, always plan everything before acting" Shinji heard Gendo's voice. As these words, along with Kaworu's, washed over him, Shinji withdrew his sword and placed it back in its sheath before tucking it into his obi.

"If she gets hurt, Kaji, I'll make you wish not only you, but your entire bloodline had never existed," he whispered harshly to the shaking Kaji.

"U-understood!" said Kaji shakily, he looked over at Kaworu as Shinji walked away and opened his mouth.

"No need to thank me, I only stopped him because we need you later on; if he kills you we lose an asset, frankly, I am disgusted at how you put that girl in such great danger with so little training," sneered Kaworu before leaving a defeated Kaji slumped on the ground, Shigeru and Mugen tried to cheer the poor man up with little success.


"Where is he?" sighed Kaworu, frustrated, walking through the streets of Kamakura in search for his lord. Shinji watched him pass by as he hid in the alleyway, before heading in the opposite direction.

"How could Kaji endanger Asuka like that? It's too early to be sending her to spy on some Tokugawa camp! At the very least thank god it's not some other daimyo's camp, like Ishida or Oda. Tokugawa has a lenient approach to prisoners, not like those who still use rape as a means to torture. Oda really is ruthless, I hope he gets his due soon. I'm sure he will!" Shinji mused whilst walking calmly through the streets. Lost in his own thoughts, Shinji bumped into a man that was walking down the street.

"Oi! Why don't you apologize, little brat!" the man yelled at Shinji, Shinji looked up at him with a sneer.

"Shove it, fool" he said.

"You bastard I'll teach you to insult me!" the man snarled as two men came up to him and stood at his side. Shinji shifted his saya in his obi so that the blade of the sword was pointing towards the ground and, in one swift movement, drew the sword from the saya and traced it across the first man's chest. He followed this with a quick flick of the wrist and an adjustment to the sword's trajectory and cut the man on his right across the neck. Finally, he spun on his heel and swung the sword at the neck of the third man, stopping it barely an inch away from his skin. The halt was so sudden that flecks of blood were sent from the sword onto the terrified man's face.

"You wanted to teach me something?" Shinji asked coldly; the man shook his head in fear before turning tail and running away as fast as he could. Shinji stared down at the second victim, watching him grasp at his slit throat as he choked on his own blood. The blood-letting managed to quell some of the anger that was still broiling around in his chest. Eventually he took pity on the man writhing on the floor, stepping over him and shoving the sword straight through his heart, killing him instantly. He flicked the blood off of his sword before slowly replacing it in its saya, and once again he shifted the sheath in his obi so that the blade was pointing upwards. Shinji started to walk away when he heard someone calling his name.

"My lord! My lord!" Kaworu yelled as he ran towards Shinji.

"Shit," Shinji cursed softly before turning to see Kaworu approaching him.

"My lord, you need to get to the campsite, quickly!" Kaworu said whilst tugging on Shinji's sleeve.

When they arrived at the campsite, Shinji's eyes widened at the display before him; right there, in perfect formation stood fifty swordsmen and in front of them, a laughing Asuka joking at something with Kaji. Shinji slowly approached the congregation, still not able to grasp the situation.

"Jin fetched me as soon as they arrived, that's why I've been looking for you," said Kaworu.

"Th-that's our old mon, that's my clan's mon!" exclaimed Shinji as he stepped into view of the warriors, who, all at once, kneeled in front of him, the banners that were hanging off the lower ranks' backs snapping in unison at the sudden movement, "how?"

"Well, I stumbled upon these guys when I was getting back from that mission Kaji-san gave me, and I recognized that symbol from before Kaworu had that new one made. Of course they weren't in full armor then. Anyway, I asked them who they were and they said that they were ronin, former retainers of the Ikari clan, now without a master and I told them you were here. So we came here, but they insisted on dressing for the occasion," explained Asuka with a smile, Shinji nodded.

"Wait in my tent, Asuka, then you can give me your report" he said, and she nodded, Shinji turned to the swordsmen.

"My lord, we apologize for not being here for you through these tough months. The only thing that has stopped us from spilling our own guts was the uncertainty concerning your death. No one had actually seen you slain so we decided to wait until we knew for sure before we killed ourselves. We are all glad for that decision," the man at the front spoke, "I am Hyoruki Toshizo, of the Hyoruki clan, we have been your family's retainers for the past twelve generations, and I am glad that we shall remain as such, at least for an additional one." He bowed to Shinji.

And so it went, all the retainers introducing themselves as well as how long their clans had served his. He nodded at each one but only kept special note of the three members of the eldest retainer clans: Hyoruki, Kitabi Sojiro, and Nanae Sanosuke. He even allowed the common samurai to introduce themselves to him, even though being of such low ranks they never expected him to remember their names. Shinji told Kaworu to prepare them adequately before entering his tent. He rushed over to the idling Asuka and gathered her up in his arms, hugging her as close to him as he could without actually hurting her.

"You idiot! Do you realize how worried I was? You've trained for barely a week and you decide to accept that fool's mission to go spy on Tokugawa?" he spoke into her ear, trying to contain his emotions.

"It's all right Shinji, they weren't gonna get me, I was trained by the best, even if it was for a short period of time," she reassured him, "I'm not gonna get killed by people like these soldiers Shinji, it's okay."

Shinji just held her for a while, before finally letting her go. When both their blushes had died down, he demanded to hear her report and was surprised at just how thorough it was. It included where everyone ate, where the food was prepared, where they slept, how many soldiers, where the captain slept, where he ate, where he worked, everything, even a map of the camp. After she was done, Shinji sat down at his desk and started making a financial scroll. Now that he had troops, even if there were only 50, he needed to keep track of expenditures, from stipends to food expenses. As he slaved away at accommodating for the new arrivals, Asuka fell asleep in her little corner and Shinji finally felt content for the first time in days.

THE END!...just kidding, haha

sorry for not having updated sooner but I got ill (yea, in summer, damn AC) and not only that, but I had to deal with physio therapy appointments and I have to get an MRI for an ankle problem, plus ive been slaving away at work, so i found very little time to write. The only I had was spent watching the whole series of D.N.Angel (in 2 days) instead of writing, cuz apparently illness, gives me writer's block, so now I finally got some inspiration.

Some facts(correct me if i'm wrong)

I've no idea wether or not Oda or Ishida used rape for torture,

In the context of my story, retainers are not like ordinary samurai, they are the samurai that hold position of importance within the castle, and are more important then the ordinary footsoldiers and such. So a retainer would be like all 5 of Shinji's generals, now that there's three more, their duties will be explained in chapter 8. So these guys are valuable, if they fall in battle it sucks for Shinji, not the same as the nameless samurai who owns a 50 koku piece of land and who's only basic use is to kill other nameless samurai. Of course there's also the Ashigaru(peasants) but they'll come later.

one last note, those who might not know: the obi is the belt made of cloth that holds the kimono closed as well as holds the swords of the samurai. Also, the saya is the sheath or scabbard.

Beta from CrazyNinjaPenguin