I did not create any of these characters, save the goat kid and healer. The others came from the creativity of Stan Sakai. Since I do not own, do not dare pay me for this work, but simply enjoy and appreciate Stan Sakai's work too.

Usagi saw the ninja leader. He knew him from his height and the ornamentation on his sword hilt. The latter was easy to miss, but visible if you looked for it. The ninja turned. Usagi knew the element of surprise would be lost the moment he saw "Willow Branch" was unsheathed. So, he leapt.

Usagi raised his sword while flying through the air. The neko sprang back. Usagi still scored a cut to the ninja's right arm. The neko drew his own blade and fell to one knee. Usagi's sword came down. The neko brought the flat of his up and caught the strike. The ninja's eyes narrowed. "What is this, Ronin?"

Usagi's voice and expression were wooden. "You attack and injure my friend, threaten the lord of this land, lie in wait for my traveling companions, and yet ask me that now?"

Usagi leapt away. Two swords from two Neko Ninja stabbed the place where he'd just stood. They landed in a crouch and stared at him. Their leader stood and looked over the distance between them. "And now you will die."

Usagi looked to his right. Then he ran. He leapt onto a barrel, jumped from it to the top of a booth, and leapt from there onto the roof of the healer's building.

Inside, the healer and his assistant looked up. The sound of Usagi's wooden shoes on their tiles filled the goats' ears. They glanced at each other. Gen groaned but did not awake.

Usagi continued to run. The ninja watching from that roof and others nearby gave chase or loosed arrows at him. He raised his swords to deflect the arrows and kept running. He leapt from that building to the one behind it. There, he turned left, and ran that direction. He leapt over alleyways between buildings. The ninja followed. Usagi began to yell as he ran.

Moments later, the goat healer peeked out the door facing the part of the village now cleared. He motioned to his assistant. The kid ran the way Usagi had pointed him toward earlier.

More and more ninja left their posts as guards to chase after and cut off Usagi. After running to a section of the village he could not imagine the goat kid passing through to go the direction he had sent him, Usagi leapt down into an alleyway. The ninja followed.

He turned and faced them one or two at a time in the narrow space wounding and knocking them down before fleeing again. Four ninja waited for him at the end of the alley. He brought both his blades forward. He blocked those coming at him from the first two ninja guarding his way out. Then, he pressed into the block and jumped up using the firmness of the crossed blades to leverage himself into the air.

One ninja sent a chain after him that wrapped around his ankle. He curled into a ball and made himself fall backward. As he neared the ground, Usagi rocked forward again and landed on his feet. He brought "Willow-branch" up and struck the chain holding him. It broke.

Then, he brought both his blades up to catch others coming at him. He blocked, pushed up till he stood on his feet, and kicked out. Then he dodged through a gap and ran on.

More ninja landed in his path. He blocked their attacks. He ran by, leapt over, and struck out at them. He avoided only one area of the village in his fights and flights, the portion the goat kid would leave the village through.

Finally, over twenty ninja surrounded him. While he crossed blades with some, chains flew out from others. They wrapped around his arms and pulled them out. Others wrapped around both his legs and pulled him down. Then the ninja leader came and stood over him. Usagi looked back up at him.

The necko's lower right arm was wrapped in bandages. Yet, he stood at nearly his full height over Usagi. Only his head tilted slightly down to look at him. "And what was that supposed to prove?"

Usagi spat back up at the ninja, "I am not cowed by you like these villagers without weapons, whom you would help other cruel masters' rule!"

"Then, you shall be cowed." The ninja leader made a few motions with his fingers in the air. Ninja holding canes came forward. Others turned Usagi over onto his stomach. Blows reigned down. It did not last forever, though it certainly seemed to to Usagi. When it ended, the ninja leader spoke over him. "And now, you will be an example to those villagers you spoke of earlier."

Usagi was dragged to the same street he and Gen had entered on. There, he was chained to a stake by his wrists. Only then were the other chains removed.

He was left aching, trying to even his breaths, and straightening his face. He wished to do nothing to bring the villagers attention to him. If they did look at him, he wished them to see only endurance with dignity. One thing he listened for and did not hear. He overheard not a word spoken about a goat kid.

. . .

Tomoe Ame watched the seemingly motionless form of her lord with worried eyes. Then her brow creased. What is keeping Usagi and Gen? Why have they not returned? It has been hours.

Then she heard the voice of another Samurai walking the perimeter. "Halt! Why do you approach our camp?"

"Please Samurai! I was told one in your group was hurt! I have come to help and warn you."

Tomoe Ame stood and looked back in the direction the words came from. What was a youth doing here? She called out, "Guard him at his sides, two of you, and allow him to approach!" She unsheathed one of her blades to keep it at her side and between this stranger and her lord Noriyuki. A goat kid wearing a satchel slung over his shoulder came up to her accompanied on both sides by Noriyuki's Samurai.

He stopped and bowed. His voice stammered a bit, "Please, Tomoe Ame Sama, I was sent to tend your wounded and to warn you."

Tomoe Ame's eyes widened. "Warn me of what?"

"The village I came from is filled with Neko Ninja waiting for the Lord Noriyuki to enter it. Is he safe here?"

Tomoe Ame's mouth fell open. Then she spoke, "And what of Miyamoto Usagi who journeyed with us and the Bounty Hunter Murakami Gennesuke?"

The goat kid hung his head. "The Bounty Hunter was hurt. My master treated him. Miyamoto Usagi made sure my escape succeeded by distracting everyone."

Tomoe Ame's mouth fell open again.

. . .

Noriyuki felt something wet and cold touching the back of his head. He tried to open his eyes. When, he succeeded late afternoon light made him squint. Then he saw a goat kid not any older than himself looking down into his face. The strange face spoke, "Samurai, he is awake …"

Another face joined the goat kid's in his vision: Tomoe Ame's. "My Daimyo, you have awoken!"

"Uhhh … Tomoe Ame, what happened?"

"You are safe," she continued gently. "We were attacked by Mogura Ninja but all of us survived. This young healer's apprentice came from the village we were headed toward to serve you."

"Will we be there soon?"

Tomoe Ame's brow furrowed slightly. "No, my lord. This goat kid says the village is filled with Neko Ninja waiting for you to come there."

The panda sat up. He winced and waited a moment before speaking again, for his head was spinning. He tried to relax and breathe deeply. He was taught to stay calm and serene, even if he felt overwhelmed, before those he did not know well. When he felt a little better, he rubbed the back of his neck and asked. "But, with the great Miyamoto Usagi, Murakami Gennosuke, and you with us, and all our other Samurai, can't we free the village from them ourselves?"

Tomoe Ame sighed. "My lord, Usagi and Murakami Gennosuke are now prisoners themselves in that same village."

Noriyuki sprang to his feet. He made a fist. His face creased with rage. "Then we must rescue them!"

What do you think now?

God Bless

ScribeofHeroes