The afternoon was warm and pleasant, and the wind was strong with the alluring aroma of the many cherry trees that had begun to bloom. This was Shinobu Maehara's favorite spot, and even while she was hanging the morning laundry out to dry she enjoyed the moments of solitude that it offered her. She especially enjoyed the view, she could see most of Hinata from atop the roof of the Hinata Sou, she only wished that Keitaro could be there to enjoy it with her. She blushed as thoughts of Keitaro went running through her head, she knew that Keitaro and Naru were together but she couldn't stop from thinking about her beloved sempai. At that moment, something out of the corner of her eye broke her chain of thought; she turned slightly to get a better view. Someone who she did not recognize was making there way up the stairs, which let to the Hinata Sou. This stranger was a giant of a man, standing over 6 ft tall, an obvious foreigner from that fact alone. His steps were slow and measured as if he knew exactly where he was going but was in no rush to arrive there. His body was extremely athletic the curve of his well formed and muscular arms clearly visible under the short sleeve silk black dress shirt that he wore. His light brown complexion was rarely seen in Japan, but it reminded her of the paintings of Aztec warriors which she had seen in class once before. Before Shinobu could examine this stranger any further, he stopped dead in his tracks half way up the flight of stairs. Shinobu gasped as the stranger turned to face her, gazing deep into her eyes. Shinobu fell silent as she gazed into his obsidian black eyes, which looked almost glass reflecting everything that was shown before them, yet were deep and powerful like behind them was a soul which had much wisdom which he was eager to share. Shinobu was alarmed that she found herself blushing as the stranger flashed a attractive, lopsided grin, but found herself far more surprised that she returned the smile and added a wave as she smiled to the man on the steps. "Who are you!" someone screamed from just outside Shinobu's field of view. Although she could not see the owner of the voice she knew exactly who it was. Shinobu turned slightly to get a better view of the action and was not surprised to see Motoko standing on the steps right above were the stranger stood, his eyes now glued to Motoko that same lopsided grin still there. Motoko stood in her favorite red and white training uniform, her ever- present katana held in her hands, the rays of the sun bouncing beautifully of its smooth metallic surface. Before the stranger had a chance to speak, Motoko once again spoke in a large booming voice, "It does not matter who you are, you are not welcome here!" She screamed raising her sword high into the air in preparation for one her many attacks, Shinobu turned to see the stranger and was surprised to see that he had not moved from where he stood but hand simply placed his one large black suitcase gently on the steps beside him and continued to smile at Motoko. Shinobu could see that Motoko was blushing just as she had when she received that smile, but Shinobu knew that not even that would stop Motoko from attacking the man in loose black jeans and a pair of black motorcycle boots. In the blink of an eye, Motoko let out a powerful scream, lunging towards the man in black with inhuman speed, her katana flashing violently as it flew through the air creating a powerful cloud of dust as it sliced through the air faster than Shinobu could see. Shinobu found herself making her way rapidly down, frightened at what damaged Motoko might have caused to the man. Unlike Keitaro most people did not simply get up and walk away from so powerful an attack. Shinobu made it to the steps of the Hinata Sou before the cloud of dust had settled and found that she was not the only one that made her way down to witness the remains of the battle. "I sure hope that Keitaro is all right, who else am I going to leech money of?" commented Kitsune as she took a very large sip from the bottle of beer that she held in her hand. "Don't worry Keitaro is immortal, nothing can hurt him." Answered Su as she danced around Kitsune, Haruka, Sarah, and Keitaro's sister, Kanako who had somehow come to have both her cat and the pet turtle perched on her shoulders. "But that isn't Keitaro!" Shinobu screamed as she went to meet the others. "What do you mean it's not Keitaro?" Haruka asked the young Shinobu as she slowly puffed away at the cigarette that lay slowly hanging from her lips. "NO, it's not." Shinobu responded some of the fear betrayed in her voice. "Then who?" Sarah asked as she tugged on Shinobu's favorite short gray skirt. "I guess were about to find out." Kitsune added as she pointed towards the cloud of dust that had slowly begun to fade away as they had stood there speaking. "Where are Keitaro and Naru, anyway?" Shinobu asked after noticing that the two were absent from the gathering. "They left early this morning without saying anything." Kanako commented, a bit off handily. "There probably somewhere eloping or something." added Haruka as she continued to stare at the disappearing dust clouds, hoping to get a glimpse at this mystery guest. "That's just not possible!" screamed Mottoko from among the clouds and now no one dare to speak for as the dust finally vanished they all saw exactly what Mottoko was speaking of. Shinobu had feared that the stranger may have gotten very badly hurt by Mottoko's furious attack, but to all there surprise, the stranger had not moved an inch from where he stood. Still standing perfectly straight that lopsided grin still on his face as if nothing had happened. They all gasped in unison drawing all the oxygen from the air around them. Not only had the stranger not been hurt by Motoko's attack, he had somehow managed to raise his left arm and catch Mottoko's blade even before it had a chance to connect. The only other person that any them had seen stop Motoko's attack like that had been Keitaro and even then it had been a case of pure dumb luck. "Keitaro was right." The stranger spoke for the first time; his voice was deep and powerful like the song of lone wolf as it howled at its mistress moon. "But you are a bit on the slow side of you don't mind me saying." He added after a moment of silence. "I'll show you slow you stupid man!" screamed Motoko in response her face red with anger and embarrassment. Quickly releasing the sword Motoko shifted her weight from her left to right foot using that momentum to swing her right fist with deadly speed towards the stranger's face. Once again the stranger blocked her attack with amazing ease. He also managed to turned Motoko's blade around and know held mere inches from her soft supple long neck with the precision and calm that only comes from years of training and dedication. " What is going on here?" asked an all too familiar voice as it made its way up the steps. It was the voice of Keitaro it seemed that he had arrived just in the nick of time. The stranger quickly turned to face Keitaro who had now been joined by Naru who stood right behind him. Both Keitaro and the stranger smiled at each, recognizing each other in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately in that split second, in which the stranger let his guard down both Su and Motoko where able to connect very powerful kicks to his head. One did so out of anger while Su was trying to hit Keitaro and instead hit the stranger. It only took a few seconds for the stranger's head to slam hard against the concrete and it took even less for him to loose consciences.