Hello again! This is a deleted scene from the movie, in case you were wondering. I really thought it would enhance the characters understanding of the samurai (or at least the drama ^.^) by adding this. I know I said that we would see Katsumoto soon, but I got kind of carried away by the story so it may be a while longer, sorry. I promise though that I too am eager for Katsumoto and Ariel to meet so I will be posting it by Monday. Please enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 9

Ariel had no idea why she had agreed to come along on this silly outing. Yes she did. After yet another sleepless night she had found Mr. Graham at her door. He had apologized profusely to her for being out of line the night before. He had pleaded with her to go out into the streets of Edo with him as it would be a good way to learn the ways of the Japanese. She had felt just curious enough, (and bad enough) to agree. Currently she was wondering how watching all these Japanese men walk by in bowler hats and suit coats was going to teacher anything at all about Japanese anything. There was the occasional man or woman in what she was told was traditional dress, or kimono, but this had nothing to do with the samurai or how she was going to best them in battle. Ariel sighed and leaned more heavily against the rather large crate she was standing beside with Nathan, and tried to get a decent breath past the corset she was so tightly woven into. Zeb had taken extreme care to make it as tight as possible and if she wasn't slightly smaller than when they left America, she would have passed out by now.

As it was, she couldn't help looking at the two Japanese women Mr. Graham was currently photographing, with envy. Their kimono seemed light as air compared to the horrible stays and boning of her day dress, not to mention the 3 petticoats and pantalets. Ariel felt awkward and out of place on this small crowded street. The men in western dress would tip their hats admiringly, like at home in New York, but most of the Japanese people that passed would stop to stare like she was some creature at a traveling fair. One of the pretty women Mr. Graham roped into taking a picture had come over and touched the folds of her skirt while muttering some words in her language. Thankfully Mr. Graham had noticed and steered the girl away before explaining to Ariel that the girl though that she was shaped like the dress and that she had no legs. She was surprised, no legs in deed. Ariel caught the girls eye and raised her skirt to show the girl her ankles and the beginnings of calves. The girl looked surprised and then smiled exposing a set of totally black teeth. Ariel smiled back startled, but Mr. Graham just laughed and told her that it was a custom for girls from prominent families and geisha, to paint their teeth black so they would look so yellow against the white of their painted faces. Geisha was another one he had to explain to her.

When Ariel turned back to Nathan, she grimaced when she noticed the flask resting loosely in his hand, but just as she was about to say something she noticed a commotion from the adjoining street. Two men in western dress had blocked the path of another man. This man was very alien to Ariel. He was dressed in some strange garb, it was totally blue and it came out at the shoulders making his upper half look like a triangle. His hair also was very strange. It was ebony black, but it was tied in the back and the tail of it came up to rest on the top of his head. He was looking at the men in a state of obvious disbelief and more than a little anger. Mr. Graham whispered,

"Samurai…"

That would explain the swords at his hip, thought Ariel.

Though she didn't understand much Japanese, it was obvious that the two men were making fun of the samurai. He was not happy. All of a sudden the samurai moved, and in one clean swipe of his sword, he cut of one of the men's heads. There was instant anarchy in the streets with everyone scrambling to get as far away from the samurai as possible. Ariel watched in a state of horrified fascination as the samurai calmly straightened, sheathing his sword, and continued walking as if nothing had happened.

Mr. Graham rushed to her side and tried to get her to back away and bow, but Ariel didn't listen. In fact, she moved out further into the street so the samurai would have to pass by her. She watched as he advanced toward her down the street, staring at him blatantly. She could hear Mr. Graham's panicked squeaks from rather far behind her as the samurai drew nearer. When he was a few feet away, he looked up and noticed her gaze. His dark hostile eyes swept over her, and as he passed beside her, it seemed for a moment he would stop and confront her, but then he broke their eye contact and continued down the street.

Ariel was stunned. So that was a samurai? He was so cold cutting down that stupid man in the street and showing no emotion but anger. Nathan ran up to her and spun her around by the shoulders. What were they supposed to do against a foe like that?

"What the HELL do you think you were doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

He shook her around like a rag doll and then pulled her into a hard embrace. When he drew away, he gentle rested his hands on her cheeks,

"What would we do without you, huh?" She gave a small smile and patted his hand lightly. Ariel shook her head and snorted,

"Without me Nathan you would get yourself into even worse trouble than you already do. " Nathan started laughing which made her eyes widen in surprise. It had been alone time since she had heard him laugh. Maybe things weren't as hopeless as she had thought.

Scary Ujio is so fun! I almost want to write a story for him too! There are so many well developed characters in Last Samurai it makes it easy for an author. I'm working on chapter 10 already so check back soon. Bye-bye!