I own none of these characters. I also fear I don't own the comics staring some of these characters and thus have not read them thoroughly. So, I am mostly drawing from what I've learned online. Please correct me gently if I get something wrong. I could very well bow to your expertise. I am, however, also drawing from the cartoon versions of these characters from the episode of 2003's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" series with them in it, which I "have" seen all the way through a few times. I am drawing from how some of these characters are missing from that episode and creating a story reason why.

Usagi raced through the underbrush dodging it better than he might have at the height of his Samurai days serving Lord Mifune. He'd had a lot more occasion to run through forests since then. The angry voices of Gen and Tomoe called after him, but he raced on hoping they wouldn't follow. Tomoe wouldn't. Gen might …

Gen might have fended off any kunai that flew at him just fine, but … if he had not. Usagi came to a small clearing, just large enough for him to swing his longest sword in its widest arc. He drew both his blades free and glanced around. "I am here."

"So, you are."

Usagi glanced up and to the side. He knew the voice came from the tree branches above his head and to his right. He saw nothing but those branches, when he looked, however. The scent of Komori came from all around him, but he heard them far less. So, they must be keeping very still. That was good for now, for those he left behind and for himself. "Why did you wish to speak with me alone?"

"I wished to make you an offer, Ronin. Will you walk on and let us get to our work, and spare yourself death tonight? We will not leave any other guard alive behind you. Your reputation as a Yojimbo will remain intact."

Usagi glared. His voice came out low and tight. "Why would you even ask me that?"

"The last time my clan attacked one you protected, my daughter was killed."

Usagi's eyes widened. "Kazehime?"

"Yes."

"You are her father, the head of the Komori clan? You are here with them now?"

"I no longer have a daughter to lead my people in our missions. So, yes, I am here now, as are you. I did not except that. It complicates things."

Usagi looked down at the ground though he still held onto his swords. "I see."

"I do not blame you for her death. She should have struck you and anyone else down in the way of her target without hesitation. She always did so before."

"I believe you." Usagi sighed. "I did not want her to die that day …"

"I heard that you did not act as though you did. Whether or not you are to blame for her death 'that' day, your finding and caring for her when she fell from the sky in a storm gave me and my clan several more months with her than we otherwise would have had. You should be rewarded for that."

Usagi's ears lifted and eyes widened as they stared at where the voice was coming from. "You 'do' wish to spare me, while still completing your mission to kill lord Noriyuki!"

"We are to capture and bring the lord of the Geisha Clan alive to he who has challenged all the ninja clans to do so, offering his favor to the clan that succeeds. I 'hate' the thought of losing that to the Neko Ninja Clan. It would be as much a shame to us as being a clan favored by a powerful lord would be an honor to us."

Usagi's eyes widened and mouth dropped open. He looked up toward where the voice came from. "'All' of the ninja clans have thus been challenged? 'All' of them feel the same way?"

There was a small paused before the voice replied, "I thought you knew. Tomoe Ame hired you and Murakami Gennesuke because she heard of it somehow, did she not? Someone warned her?" The voice paused again, and then went on with a humorous edge. "Unless, she hired you 'without' telling you?"

Heat flared up under Usagi's skin. His thoughts poured from his mouth before he considered whether or not he should speak them. "We offered our services 'today' 'to them!' We were short of money! I had a gift to buy! Lord Noriyuki has always been generous to us!"

"To you, he should be, considering he would never have been declared Daimyo by the Shogun in Edo had you not saved him before. Consider your good deed to the lord of the Geisha Clan thus rendered long ago. The next ninja-clan leader will not be so kind to you, Miyamoto Usagi. Unless you have nursed all their daughters through fevers before?"

"No …" Usagi was staring straight ahead trying to process the new information dropped on him. The Neko Clan, the Mogura Clan, and the Komori Clan? All of them were after lord Noriyuki, when he was nearly as far from his palace as possible while still hugging the borders of his lands in a caravan?

More words from the Komori Clan's leader came from the tree at him. "As I said, if it is not the Komori, it will be another clan who slays Tomoe Ame and carries off Lord Noriyuki. 'We' will get him to the one who wants him fastest. We can fly him to the meeting place. He will not have to suffer long in fear and dread among us. If you love him, let us take him, not the Mogura who will transport him underground for days away from stars and sun or the Neko who will take days to get him anywhere also, probably bound and gagged. They may even drug him. Also, we decapitate, not stab, those we slay, a much quicker death for his guards. You, though, may flee. So, Miyamoto Usagi, what will it be?"

Usagi was not truly pondering this offer, but he remained silent just the same. He was busy resigning himself to the fact the Geisha Clan was likely lost, as was Lord Noriyuki, and Tomoe Ame. Perhaps, Gen might survive.

"Ronin, have you decided to live or die tonight?"

"I …" Usagi tried to bring his mind back to the present. He could not leave Tomoe and Noriyuki to their fate as the Komori Clan leader suggested and live with himself. If he went back to join Noriyuki's guard, if the Komori Clan even allowed that, "and" they fought off the Komori together, the Neko Clan would ambush them later. If they survived the Neko Ninja's attack, the Mogura Clan would ambush them still later. And if any of them survived that, the remainder of the Komori Clan could return and finish them all off. Leonardo … I do not think I will be making it to your Christmas celebration after all … forgive me.

"Ronin. If we wait much longer, the Neko Ninja Clan will be on Noriyuki's caravan before we return. I. Do. Not. Like. Losing. To. Them."

Usagi sighed. "I have a counter-offer to make you."

"What kind of counter-offer could 'you' make 'me?'"

Usagi swallowed. "I know it is against the code of the Ninja to speak the name of the one who hired them, but I can guess this one myself."

"And what has the name of who hired us have to do with your offer?"

"If it is who I think it is, he wants my head as well …"

Silence fell over the clearing for a long moment, then the tree seemed to speak again. "Are you offering me your head to give to your enemy to display in exchange for 'us' not taking Lord Noriyuki to the one who wants him alive? You would allow a bitter foe to boast of besting you in that way? What of your reputation as a nearly unbeatable warrior defiant of those who hate you and hated your lord?"

"I have already saved Lord Mifune's head. I said just today I would protect Lord Noriyuki's life. Though, I do ask the favor of you allowing word to spread of how my enemy received my head."

"That might keep your reputation intact, but not my clan's. Nor do I think my daughter would like this bargain. Honoring your generosity to her was the reason I sent for you tonight, Ronin. This 'bargain' of yours misses the point."

"I will die defending Lord Noriyuki and his guard if you insist on attacking them, Kurokaze! And we will be sure your clan pays dearly for the Lord Noriyuki's capture! Your clan members can die for Lord Noriyuki's capture alive 'and' my head, or I can hunt you all over Japan to avenge his capture by your clan if I survive! Or, you can have my head without a fight! My head with no lives lost to your clan is surely a bargain! Which shall it be?"

There was a long pause. Then the Komori leader spoke. A touch of humor seemed to have entered his voice. "I do not wish you hunting me forever that is certain," the lightness fell away into dark ruminations, "but neither do I want my daughter haunting me in your stead. The ninja clan's power depends on two things, Yojimbo, their number and the abilities of each member. We lost much when we lost her. I do not wish to lose more tonight. But a ninja clan's wealth depends upon their reputation. They must deliver what was asked. However, your head was in demand long before Lord Noriyuki's capture was, and you offer it to me freely."

The voice stopped, but Usagi remained silent as the conversation seemed to be going where he'd tried to guide it. Soon the dark voice went on again. "I 'can' say you never saw us before we took your head. You had unsheathed your swords knowing we were around you, but had not raised them yet to strike. For, you saw no one to swing them at before one of us had killed you with a single stroke from behind. This should heighten our reputation as ninja while saving yours as a sword-master who never lost a 'fair' fight, and a Yojimbo who never ran 'away' from those threatening one you'd been hired to protect. My clan decided having your head without a fight was good luck and a gift compared with fighting the combined swords of Tomoe Ame and Murakami Gennesuke. Besides the one waiting for your head had been waiting a very long while for it. Why make him wait any longer than necessary?"

Usagi sighed, shut his eyes, and bowed his head. "That will be the truth, if not the whole of it, if I do not look at the member of your clan who takes my head from behind."

"So, you accept my offer to your counter-offer then?"

"If you do indeed agree to my demands in exchange, then yes."

Silence fell again. "Bare the back of your neck … Samurai."

"Give me your oath, first, not to harm Lord Noriyuki or his guards tonight 'after' you take my head!"

"On my daughter's memory, my clan will not leave this place with 'both' your head 'and' any part or the whole of Lord Noriyuki's body living or dead. If we leave this place with your head, it will be the only prize we take tonight. We will have no reason to harm Noriyuki's guards if we will 'not' carry 'him' off afterward. We will not even show ourselves to them again tonight. They can find the rest of you in the morning when we've all left and give it whatever honors they see fit."

Usagi took a trembling breath. Then, he knelt, doubled over at his waist, and stretched out his neck.

"We'll have to spread your body out later to make it look like you were standing when we cut it off."

"I am fine with that." The Ronin swallowed. I'm sorry Katsuchi, Gen, Leonardo, Tomoe, Noriyuki. I'm sorry, but this is the best I can do as a Samurai and Yojimbo right now … Getting an entire ninja clan to leave without a fight, without killing any of you, is more than I could do alive at your side. I hope you 'do not' join me soon anyway. Though, I wish I could leave with a better guarantee of that."

He felt the touch of metal on the back of his neck, and froze, but did not shiver. He closed his eyes and waited. Nothing. A laugh rolled over him. "You are as brave as they say, Yojimbo."

The metal's touch lifted. Usagi did not raise his head, though, before claws slipped under his chin and lifted it for him. A wrinkled face with large, triangular ears above it grinned down at him. "For now, go back to lord Noriyuki and see if you can whittle down the Neko and Mogura clans when they attack. Why should my clan take him now and have them chase after 'us' later? Let them break themselves and lower their numbers upon the swords of Tomoe Ame, Murakami Gennesuke, and Miyamoto Usagi. We can have this talk again later if you and Noriyuki survive those battles, or not at all if you fall instead. I can always get your head and your current employer's whole body from another ninja clan that succeeds in taking both, and I will not have my daughter's ghost haunting me for spilling the blood of the one who nursed her back to health. A good bargain for my clan."

Usagi swallowed looking back up at him. "I did not kill her, Kurokaze. That was another member of the merchant's escort. We both froze when we faced each other that day, and then she fell at my feet dead. I am sorry."

"So, I heard, and now believe. Go, 'now,' Usagi Yojimbo!"

. . .

Tomoe Ame, huddled on her lord's roof, and Gennesuke towering above the other members of the guard first saw and heard Usagi moving back through the forest toward them with less grace than usual. Noriyuki's personal guard called out to him first, her high pitched voice breaking through the air. "Usagi!"

"Usagi!" The lower voice of the bounty hunter traveled toward him with its owner. The Ronin stepped out into the light of the stars and moon and paused as he looked up into the furious face of his friend. The rhino glowered down upon him. "What do you have you to say for yourself, Ronin?"

Usagi sighed deeply before he answered. "Gen, I think we are going to be earning our money over the next several days."

God Bless

ScribeofHeroes