Chapter 3: The meeting

To reviews: o.o eep! Sorry about messing up colors and stuff, Kelli-chans being an idiot and won't let me watch her DVDs of Sojiro- so I can't see the colors and stuff. And I'm too lazy to go on goggle… to those who don't like the formatting or whatever- sorry, I think… but I'm not going to change anything just to please you. This is how I write. I'm not writing this to please anyone, I'm writing it because I want to- and because I feel the need to share my writing skills with others. (Did that make me sound vain…?)
Enjoy all loyal readers, for this might be the longest chapter yet! And, I'm sorry if it might seem a little rushed at the bottom, but I was hurrying in the middle of A.D . And it was right at the end, so I had to rush to finish it. When I get more time I'll make it better.
Disclaimer- See past chapters.

Boring.

That was the only way Sojiro could really describe guard duty. No one came up to Mt. Hiei- he and the Juppen gatana were the only ones on this god-forsaken mountain. He sighed, but never once let the smile leave his face. It was almost as if the boys face was stuck in a smile, never to frown. Suddenly, a movement to the right caught his eye. Turning his attention on it he saw a young girl, the thief from before he realized, climbing…no, jumping up the mountainside. His smile faltered the tiniest bit, ok, so he'd been wrong.
"Oh well," he mused out loud to himself, "I guess I'll have to go deal with her then… what an easy battle…" The Tenken sighed as he too began his climb up the mountain.
Upon reaching the girl's destination, a log cabin he'd never known to be there, he unsheathed his sword to wait the right moment to attack. Before he got too far however, the thief exited the house, glaring at him, dagger in hand.
"Who are you? What are you doing on my property."
Sojiro's pleasant smile seemed to confuse the girl, as she raised an eyebrow as if asking, 'Are you sure you're right in the head?'
"As far as I'd known… the mountain belonged to no one."
The thief scowled,
"That's not what I meant!" It was obvious she was frustrated with how lightly he was taking this.
"Leave now and I might not have to hurt you."
This made Sojiro chuckle, a little girl like this hurt him?
"Hanako! What's going on?" came another girl's voice.
Hanako rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"Get back inside Yuki!"
"I don't want to!" retorted Yuki as she appeared in the doorway. She glanced at Sojiro, then did a double take.
"Oh! Who's this? Your stalker?"
Hanako twitched,
"No he's a bunny rabbit!" She retorted sarcastically, making Yuki's eyes light up.
"Oh how cute!"
Han slapped a hand to her forehead.
"…Why me?"
Sojiro chuckled,
"I suggest you leave now before I am forced to remove you myself."
Hana and Yuki looked over.
"A girly-man like you take on us?" Asked Yuki, snorting.
"Ha! That's a laugh!"
Sojiro continued to smile, a hand going to his sword.
"Now than, if you insist on being stubborn…"
Hanako instantly went into a defensive position, dagger pointed at Sojiro.
Yukiko frowned,
"How rude…" She muttered, slipping her hands into her kimono sleeves and grasping two Ninja, or Diamond, Stars.
"I don't usually like to fight, but if you do not remove your person from this house, I'll be forced to use-"
"Yuki! Just shut up already!"
Yuki pouted slightly, before finally going quite.
Hanako turned back to the boy… but he had disappeared.
Yuki frowned, confused,
"H-huh? Where'd he go? Hey! Show yourself, and fight us like man!"
"Look out Yuki!" Hana grabbed her twin, flinging her to the ground.
A sword sank into the floorboards on the porch the pink-haired girl had been standing only moments before. Sojiro came into few seconds later, looking a little surprised that Hanako had noticed the attack.
"I must admit, you've got skill! Maybe this won't be such a bad match after all!"

Yukiko scrambled to her feet, brushing dirt and grass off her kimono like crazy.
"Gyahhh! Get it off me! Get it off me!" She wailed, lower lip quivering.
Hanako ignored her twins pleas, and focused her attention on the Tenken.
"Or maybe you're not as fast, or strong as you believed."
Sojiro's smile faltered a bit.
"I know I am strong, Shishio-sama trained me to be what I am today- a strong fighter."
"Humph. And how would Shishio know?"
"Shishio knows everything."
Hana rolled her eyes,
"Right, well, whatever. You're still weak to me."
Sojiro's smile came back, irritating Hanako.
"Stop smiling like that you idiot!" she cried out, disappearing from view.
Yukiko's eyes went wide,
"Oh wow… this is going to be a very difficult match…"
Sojiro stood frozen on the ground, eyes closed and ears open.
Suddenly, the rustling of clothes met his ears. Grabbing his sword and turning quickly the Tenken was able to block an attack from the side.
Hana pushed off Sojiro'' sword with her dagger, flipped, and landed on her feet, facing him.
"So, you've got some skills too, I suppose." She said coldly, while Yukiko clapped, smiling.
"Great job Hanako! You can beat this little boy for sure!"
"I highly doubt that." Came another man's voice. Yukiko turned to see who was talking… and shirked.
"A-a-a MUMMY!" She squeaked, tackling Hanako.
Hanas eye twitched towards Shishio.
"Wh-what is thing!?"
Shishio twitched in annoyance at being called a mummy, but turned his attention to Sojiro.
"I heard you were having a fight, so I came to enjoy the bloodshed… how long have you been fighting?"
"A total of 2 minutes."
Answered Yukiko, still hiding behind Hanako.
"You know… it doesn't work to hide behind someone who's a FOOT SHORTER THEN YOU ARE!"
Yuki squeaked and jumped away from Hanako,
"Scary…" She looked back over at Shishio, then at Yumi who came up behind him.
"Oh… should I make some more soup…?"
"IDIOT!" Hanako brought her hand around and slapped Yukiko over the head.
"They're not here to eat, they're here to kill us!"
"But… why would they do that?"
Hanako gave this clueless Yukiko a look. Yes that's right- a look.
"…Remind me how you're my twin again?"
"Well, when we weren't born our embryo thingy split into two and-"
"THATS NOT WHAT I MEANT!"

Yukiko sweatdropped and smiled sheepishly at her sister.
"Well…"
"You're very skilled, for a girl." Came Shishios voice suddenly, making both girls turn and look at him.
"Eh?"
Shishio smirked,
"How would you like… to become my next apprentice…?"
Hanakos eyes grew wide.
"Wh-what?"
"Think about it- you could get revenge on whoever you wanted…"
'Whoever… I wanted?" Hana thought back to their father, about how he'd abused them so many times.
"...alright. Fine. But on one condition…"