CHANCES ARE . . .

(X MARKS THE SPOT)

By: TREASURE

CHAPTER 1

The streets of Edo were dark. It's 1878 and Thomas Edison was still working on the improvements of the electric bulb on the other side of the world. Candles illuminated houses. The glow of the burning stove in the middle of the living room serves as an added illumination and gives of warmth to its occupants.

She had been half running, half walking for more than five hours. Her feet and legs were hurting from the long and stressful travel she was making. Not to mention the cold wind that engulfs her every step, but in contrast numbing her from her cuts and bruises.

She needed a place to stay, but where? Aside from her bokken, she could offer no payment for a room in an inn, nor anything for a piece of rice ball. A few more steps and she could feel her legs were getting wobbly like gelatin. She's trying to catch her breath on that chilly evening.

'A gate! I think this will be fine. The roof and the walls could cover me from the wind and dew!' She sat down in the most comfortable spot she can find against the gate. She tucked her legs inside her hakama and her arms to her gi, then she shuts her eyes.

'Hanya! Be alert! I can sense someone is around the dojo!' The master grips his kendo tight as he forewarned Hanya.

'I don't feel anything different or amiss!' Hanya protested. He sometimes thinks that the master is getting paranoid.

'The ki is very faint, but I know that there is someone around here who doesn't belong!'

The master walked nearer the dojo gate, and instead of opening it, with his godlike speed, he leapt over the wall and landed outside with the faintest thud.

'A beggar?' The master mumbled to himself as he examined the sleeping person, reclining at the dojo gate. He could see the rumpled clothing had matched the rumpled hair of what he could make out as a young girl.

She had dirt, grime and grease all over. Her arms that had fallen outside her gi, were full of cuts and welts. 'She must be twelve or thirteen.' He guessed. But one more thing that caught his attention was the large cross scar on her left cheek.

03082005