A/N: Ha! I'm on a schedule, finally!

But, I guess I should warn you all. My laptop is doing some funky stuff, and I'm going to have to send it in to HP. :/ I'll be sending it out on September 8th or so (since that's when this quarter is over for me), and I'll probably be without it for two weeks. I'll try to get some more of it written out and on a jump drive so that I can keep on schedule with both this and my newer stories (as well as those I have in the making), but it IS possible that there will be a couple weeks I just won't be posting.

Sorry in advance, but it has been doing this for awhile, it's only now getting more frequent. And my warranty ends in December, so I'd like to get it taken care of while it's free. ;)

ANYWAY, hope you enjoy this next installment!

Word Count: 1,187

Onigumo: The Bandit

"Oi, Onigumo!" One of the men—Onigumo had yet to learn his name—called him over and eyed him, and his rather small gathering of supplies from the last village they had plundered. "You got the whole section closest to the forest! What's with that puny amount of items ya' got there? I know you're good at this; we've all seen you in action!"

There was a small stretch of silence as Onigumo weighed his options on whether or not to tell the truth. Before he could reply, however, another one of the men piped up.

"Onigumo, you know you're never gonna get anything if you just pick the families without kids!" This was the voice of Takashi, who happened to be the one man in the group that Onigumo had gotten along with from the start. He, for some odd reason, understood him without needing to know anything about him.

Of course, the reason he joined this group of bandits was because they didn't ask any questions—it was the total and complete acceptance that he'd lacked from his peers all his life. The only people who had ever accepted him were his parents—and, since he'd decided he hated them, going back to them was certainly out of the question.

"I…know," Onigumo finally said, and Takashi slapped a hand on his shoulder and chuckled.

"You're young yet; you'll learn, kid. The families aren't gonna appreciate you not stealing from them because they have kids—they're only gonna hate you for raiding the village in the first place. Take what you can get and enjoy getting everything in life for free!"

Onigumo felt like that might've been the worst advice he'd ever been given—but he took the advice to heart, anyway.

A few years later

"Oi, Onigumo!" Takashi's voice carried through the village, and Onigumo sauntered over towards the male, his arms crossed as he waited for him to continue. "I found another one, what do you want me to do with 'im?"

Onigumo's eyes followed the direction of Takashi's pointed finger, and soon rested on a young boy with a dirty, tear stained face and a trembling demeanor. "He looks weak," he commented lightly, but then he bent down and studied him. "You. Are you an orphan?"

The boy timidly nodded, and Onigumo smirked—he never smiled anymore. The years had not been good to him; he had friends and stole for a living, but it was a harder life than one would expect. He had buffed up quite a bit, but one wouldn't know it to look at his face. He looked about ten years older than he was, and his cheeks and eyes were sunken.

"You think you have what it takes to join our little entourage? We can't offer too much; we sleep under the stars and take what we can get, but we can offer protection." Takashi could still hardly believe that the 'kid' that had become their leader could have such a different personality around children—especially orphaned children. In the years that they had been together, Takashi still didn't know Onigumo's story—but he suspected that he had been an orphan.

He would've been very surprised to know just how good Onigumo had it before running away.

The boy looked between Takashi and Onigumo, and then let his eyes fall on the rest of the entourage—who all happened to still be plundering his village. After a few moments, he slowly shook his head, turning fearful eyes onto Onigumo to see what he would do.

"Alright, then," Onigumo said with a sigh, placing his hand on the boy's head momentarily before standing up and looking at his friend, the boy running away as soon as his hand had moved. Each fresh rejection played a part in the hardening of Onigumo's heart, though he appeared unaffected by each and every one of them.

"Looks like we're done here." He lifted up the bag he'd accumulated from the village and turned to walk away, never calling to his followers. As soon as they realized he'd started to leave, they all gathered what they had plundered and rushed after him, catching up with his pace fairly easily.

"What about that village over there?" Takashi pointed almost excitedly to the village that was just up ahead, then looked towards his leader and friend for a confirmation. At a small nod from Onigumo, the rest of the men ran forward, though Onigumo neither slowed nor quickened his pace. He knew his men would leave the largest hut in the village for him.

Upon Onigumo's arrival, the rest of the men had already gotten the most of what they could out of the huts, and Onigumo scoured the one they had left for him. He gathered as much as he could: carvings, trinkets, utensils, jewels, grains, rice—anything small that he knew would sell well. He'd already sold what he had taken from the village just a few days ago, and though the money would last him awhile, this was his living. At best, the money he made as only used to get into unsuspecting people's homes, and then take from them what he could before they awoke.

Weak villages like this, though, gave him no reason to disguise himself or his men. They were bandits, and here they would take by force anything they could get their hands on. The only villages they were sneaky with were the villages with well-trained men protecting them. These days, most of the trained men were taking part in the wars, so that left Onigumo's life much easier.

He let out a small sigh as he gathered the last of the things, throwing the bag over his shoulder. Before he exited, however, he put on a smirk, his gait now shining of confidence rather than brokenness. His men never needed to know.

"Onigumo!" His eyes fell on one of the newer men, who had lined up all the orphans in the village. He'd seen what Onigumo had done in the last village, and though he didn't understand it—he wanted to impress him. "What do you want—"

"Do what you want with them; I have no business here any longer." Turning his back on the situation once more, he waited for the men to follow them.

Takashi's surprise lasted only as long as Onigumo faced them, and as soon as he turned to walk away, Takashi followed. He couldn't say he knew what was going on in Onigumo's mind, but he could understand why he had given up on asking the orphaned children to join them. Not one of them had said yes; they all chose to live in poverty. He, for one, was relieved that Onigumo had grown out of that stage.

Onigumo never let his chin drop as he marched forward; he was not going to allow himself to feel the pang of rejection again. Not from his men, not from his parents—and certainly not from some kids he didn't even know.

Their group would be stronger without children following them around, anyway.

End Note: Please review, and I hope you enjoyed~!