Author's Note: Um… I'm surprised? There's not even a page full of Samurai 7 fics! Granted, I thought the anime was good, great voice actors too- and I find after watching the entire series in one night that not many people are even writing about it?

So, in my semi-conscious state, I'm going to write a fic for Samurai 7! I'm sorry, people who're waiting for my Bleach HitsuHina fic… the first chapter's done, just need someone to edit it… I'm just too hyped by my new fic right now… I'll write the second chapter as soon as possible!

Disclaimer: If I owned Samurai 7, then Kyuzo would not die, and would be the main character…and Katsu- chan will be with Kirara! And, until then… I DON'T OWN IT.

A Samurai's Way

By: Hyourinmaru

Chapter 1

The sun's fiery hot rays scorched the rough terrain below. Light breezes swept through the desert, swirling up grains of sand into the humid air. Rarely is there men seen wandering through these parts of land, as it is impossible to go through the desert before nightfall- where many rumours confirming of monsters and beasts waiting for an unsuspecting wanderer to fall victim to their evil plans. Yet, across the distance, a small speck slowly formed, growing larger as time passes.

A small vehicle(1) quickly sped through the terrain, unintentionally disturbing the sand in its wake. Its occupants, two males, sat diligently, looking ahead of the vast wasteland in front of them.

The younger male, not yet to be called man, was squirming in his seat, silver eyes bright of what adventures would befall in his journey with his companion. He wore a light green shirt underneath his beige jacket, black jeans and brown gloves. He had a kodachi(2), tucked securely in his belt, and was absentmindedly brushing his purple locks from his face. He looked at his acquaintance, who was silent through the journey.

"Katsushiro- sensei, are you really going to train me to be a samurai?"

His teacher looked a bit startled by the abrupt question, but nevertheless answered.

"If I wasn't, you'd have been back home with Mai already. Haven't we'd gone through this many times already? I have half a mind to go back now."

"But you couldn't, remember? You HAVE to teach me, otherwise Mai onee- chan wouldn't keep her part of the deal. Besides, chichue doesn't think I have the potential to be a samurai. I don't even have the potential to be the heir of Kiri. Might as well become a merchant living in the streets."

After the war against the capital and the Nobuseri(3), anarchy has fallen apart, and many people have tried to rule, forming distinct countries. Yet, a samurai by the name of Fujitaka Ran(4) firmly believed in uniting all those countries into one single country. Two years later, he conquered many countries with the help of Katsushiro and many other supporters, naming the newly formed country 'Kiri'. Fujitaka became the emperor of the new country, and appointed Katsushiro as the General of Kiri. Thus, a new era has come: with the new anarchy and changes in lifestyle, poverty has started to end.(5)

Katsushiro shook his head at his younger accomplice. "You know how your onee- chan is, no matter what, she's never going to be the Empress of Kiri. Not to mention your chichue's always busy with trying to conquer the rest of the countries."

"Then why can't we stay at Kiri? If anyone knows I'm the son of the Emperor, they'll try to kidnap me!"

"Rei (6), that's why we're getting out of the country. You need to learn how to defend yourself, and first experiences are great learning opportunities. Not to mention Umei– dono is pretty mad at your last joke. I think he's going to resign being your sensei soon."

"Keh, he deserved it! I saw him picking on Hayate- san(7). You said what comes around goes around, sensei!"

Katsushiro scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "So I did, didn't I. But that's not how you interpret it-"

"You even said that samurai help the weak. Well, Hayate- san is weak, with his mysterious incurable illness, it is my duty to help him. Not to mention it wasn't that big of a joke anyways."

"Sure, if you call setting his clothes on fire not that big of a joke. You're not even trained as a samurai yet, so you're considered to be the weak."

Desperate to change the subject, Rei asked, "By the way, Katsushiro– sensei, where are we going?"

"We're heading towards the sea, but we're going to have a pit stop at the Kanna Village."

Katsushiro and Rei are heading to the Kanna Village! But why? What could possibly be the deal Katsushiro had with Mai? All these questions will be answered on the next chapter of 'A Samurai's Way'.

Author's Notes

Yea! Finished the first chapter!... Basically, it's just a little intro of what's changed (or what I've changed) in this chapter, so not much action thus far. Well, there's loads of OCs… so I'll give you guys a profile of them… maybe next chapter… but I can still kill them off, so don't worry! The chapter is bit short, but I'll try to lengthen them, just that it's going to mean longer time with the updates. And yes, it's hard to try to keep Katsushiro in character… BUT the whole capital fight thingy in the last couple of episodes sort of changed him, and he did went through a couple of other wars and stuff afterwards in this fic, so… change in attitude is alright! And don't mind the title, I have no idea how that came to be, but it's alright, it's just a temporary title for now.

(1) Um… like those glider thingies in Samurai 7 that the shikimorikubo have… by the way, the name sorta reminds me of Morikubo Shoutarou, the guy who did Nara Shikamaru…

(2) kodachi: short sword, between a wakizashi and katana in length… it's what my little handbook says… a katana is 25- 30 inches long (so… an inch is about 3 cm… 75 to 90 cm long, me guess…) and a wakizashi is a short sword… doesn't say how long though…

(3) Nobuseri meaning bandits… well, that's what it was translated in the subtitles… blames them?

(4) Fujitaka Ran is Mai and Rei's father… Rei has never really learned the art of becoming a samurai because his father's always busy, and instead becomes sort of a spoiled brat… but his heart's in the right place, he loves his sister… and tries to protect her. Maybe I should give a profile about them later.

(5) History, pure history. Chinese history, actually, but history nonetheless. Any guesses who I'm talking about? He's pretty famous, and I'm shamelessly basing this fic off of it… although I have no idea how Kiri came to be... I don't know how to name countries, so Kiri just came to mind at that point… unless, of course, anyone has any better ideas? And, don't say that the name sucks, it was ready to be the country of Urusai…

(6) Originally, he was supposed to be called Kaoru, but Rei seems a bit better, since his sister's name is Mai (I might kill her later, if you guys like Katsushiro and Kirara to be together, I have no objections… seriously, I only have a bit of an idea on how this is going…)

(7) Gekkou Hayate… one of my favourites in Naruto… and he was killed… but he's not going to be murdered… just going to live until that 'mysterious incurable illness' kills him… which is still better than getting killed and having your body be pecked by crows…

So… after you've read, review, and if it sucks, tell me how it sucks, not 'your fic sucks' and sign it as anonymous, cos it's just annoying… but then again, I'll have a review… hmm… the pros and cons of it… but yeah, please review, I'll like to know if I should continue it or not.

Hyourinmaru