Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai 7. All I own are Akinari and some other OCs.

Important Note:

Updates will be very slow until my laptop is fixed. Until then, I'm using an old computer.

Chapter Nine: Traitors; Preparations Continue

Katsushiro was on the ground, panting. It was almost as if his mentality had broken off a shard of itself and he was trying to recover. Kirara and Shino were there, too, along with her father. A Yakan and its owner laid on the ground, covered in oil and blood. Though I felt a small rush from the scent, I kept calm, keeping myself in check. Heihachi and Kiku came to the scene. Kambei came shortly after. The man quietly walked towards the emerald-haired boy, with a stern look on his face. He looked at the dead man, then to the blood splattered Katsushiro. Kambei back-handed the boy, and the kid fell back. The sword in his hands went flying, and nearly hit Shino and Manzo if they hadn't moved.

Kambei picked up the blade, looked at it, then to the 2 villagers. He said nothing as he walked away.

"Sensei!" called out Katsushiro.

"Kikuchiyo," the man ignored the boy,"Take care of that scout."

"Me?! Katsu is the one who cut him down, though!" No response from the man in white. "Ugh... For crying out loud, that guy is a slave driver." Kiku reluctantly put his sword down, and proceeded to make a grave.

Heihachi grabbed Manzo off the ground and started to head towards the village.

"Come on," he said, in a cold tone.

I felt very afraid. I've hardly ever seen Heihachi act like this. That cold tone and serious expression is totally the opposite of his cheerful, jovial self.

"Great Samurai," said Shino," Please wait!"

"Now see here, young lady." I flinched when I saw the look in his eyes. It was full of hatred and spite. "I can't keep myself from wanting to cut this man down..."

Manzo struggled, trying to get out of Heihachi's grasp, but to no avail.

"Hey! Stop!" called out Kiku, pausing in his digging.

"Oh please, Great Samurai! Forgive my dad! I'm begging you!" The girl was on the ground, bowing, desperate to save her father.

"The girl is asking you nicely," said Kiku, coming over,"Let him go."

Heihachi glared at him.

"You should do what Kambei ordered you to do." He then put up his normal expression, but it wasn't all happy-go-lucky. "Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything bad to him."

With that, he walked away, Manzo in tow. The man pleaded to Heihachi to forgive him, but I knew it was futile. Shino and I ran after them. As the girl and her father begged to have him forgive the traitor, I stayed a few steps behind, silent. There's nothing I could say or do right now. We soon arrived at the village, and we walked past where Kyuzo was teaching archery. All the yelling and pleading made everyone pause and look at us, wondering what was happening.

Soon, we arrived in the middle of the village. A crowd gathered, and Gorobei ran towards us. The Village Elder came shortly after him. Heihachi threw Manzo to the ground, and Shino ran to him. The traitor crawled to the Elder, desperate for help.

"What's going on?" asked the old man.

"This man sold us out to the Nobuseri!" answered Heihachi. Everyone was surprised. Kyuzo arrived, along with Shichiroji and Rikichi.

"What's happening?" asked Shichiroji.

"Manzo has betrayed us," said the Elder.

"What?!" Rikichi went ballistic, and grabbed Manzo. "How could you do this?! Manzo!"

"We all decided to hire the samurai, didn't we?!" asked a villager.

"I never agreed to it..." said Manzo.

"What're you taking about?!"

"What did you just say?"

"Whether they're samurai or Nobuseri, they're both equally dreadful!" yelled Manzo. "Anybody who had a sword is going to be nothing but unreasonable to us!"

Rikichi let go of him, roughly. "What're you talking about?! The samurai are going to save the village! I can't remember how many times they saved us in the city!"

"B-But they said they're going to get rid of the bridge along with the houses on the other side!"

Everyone went in an uproar at that.

"Is that true, Great Samurai?" asked one of the villagers.

"It's so we can fight the Nobuseri," explained Shichiroji,"There's nothing else we can do."

"I know how you're all feeling, but the samurai have something in mind!" said Rikichi.

"Those guys don't understand!" cried Manzo. "Having us leave behind the fields handed down to us by our ancestors is the same as telling us to all die! How's that make them any different than the Nobuseri, Elder!"

"I hate to admit it," said a man,"but I gotta agree with what Manzo is sayin'."

"Yep, yep," said the man next to him.

"Why, you...!" Rikichi was about to punch the living daylights out of them.

"Are you sure we didn't do anythin' we shouldn't have? When they find out there's samurai here, they're gonna come kill everyone in the village!"

"Yep, yep," said his friend.

"Rikichi, you understand, don'tcha? You know how we feel, losin' somethin' precious to you to the Nobuseri."

Rikichi looked down, not knowing what to say.

"And so," said Heihachi, closing his eyes," you betrayed us to the Nobuseri, thinking that you could get them to at least spare you, is that it?"

Heihachi opened his eyes, angered, and he walked to Manzo. He was about to unsheathe his katana to kill him, right then and there.

"Heihachi," said Shichiroji,"There's no way we're going to be able to fight if you do this. Let's see Kambei's view on the matter."

"That man will forgive anything, but that makes him too lenient! There's no telling when someone who betrayed us once will do it again."

But what about you, Heihachi?

"Yeah, but-"

"This is a war, isn't it? If it's war, then it's only reasonable to dispose of the traitors."

"It is certainly reasonable," said Kyuzo, speaking for the first time since this whole thing started.

Heihachi took another step, and nearly took out his sword if I hadn't stopped him. I gripped his hand, preventing him from unsheathing the sword and killing Manzo. He glared at me, and I nearly faltered. I kept my fake courageous mask on.

"Let go of me, Aki," he said coldly. I glared right back at him.

"No, Heihachi," I tightened my grip on him," I'm not letting you kill him."

"But he betrayed us!"

"I know that. But like Shichiroji said, we should have Kambei decide it. "

"So you're siding against me?"

"I'm not on anyone's side here! Look, if the little bastard does it again - if Kambei gives him another chance - you can kill him."

Heihachi was about to say something, but we heard Kiku yelling.

"HEYYY! Move it! Move it!"

Kiku charged towards us, the villagers getting out of his way to avoid getting hit. Once he got close enough, he hit his sword on the ground. There was a shock wave, and I let go of Heihachi to cover my eyes when dirt was kicked up.

"That idiot!" I heard Gorobei say,"He's been warned about waving his sword around in the village!"

I noticed that Kambei was here. He stopped Gorobei from going over to Kikuchiyo. He said something, but I couldn't hear it.

"I knew something like this would happen," said the cyborg,"Are you all here to hold some court on Manzo?" He walked to the man. "Or are you here to pass judgment on him? You want to sentence him to death?!" Kiku walked up to Kambei and Gorobei. White smoke blew out. "Listen, you guys! You don't know the first thing about farmers! If you kill Manzo, I won't take it lying down!" He pointed at Heihachi when he said that.

"What?" said Heihachi.

"You bet I won't!" yelled Kiku angrily,"Ask any farmer! Not a single one of them will blame Manzo for what he did!"

Kiku looked around at the villagers. He spoke of how the villagers, Nobuseri, ,and the samurai. The villagers were too cowardly to shed their own blood for their land, so they turned to samurai to do the dirty work. He said that if we were to do a thorough search, we'd find things that would contradict the villager's situation of having nothing for themselves. "The farmers, the samurai, and the Nobuseri are all just corrupt!"

Kiku made a noise that sounded like sobbing. Everyone was quiet as he cried, his back turned away from us. Kambei walked to him, and said," Kikuchiyo, you come from a family of farmers, huh?"

Everyone but me were surprised at this fact. Kiku was a farmer, before he became a cyborg. Back then, Kikuchiyo looked like your average farmer. He never fought unless he had to, though. The only thing that stayed the same was his over happy, childish self.

"Kiku, is that true?" Komachi asked, walking up to him with Okara.

"What? Disappointed with me?" said Kiku.

"Not one bit!" The girl smiled brightly. "In that case, you can help us harvest the rice!"

"So then, it's true?" asked Kambei.

Kiku looked at him in surprise.

"You knew?"

"From the first time we met."

"Well excuse me for being a farmer. I thought that if I became a samurai, I'd have a little better time of it."

"Have you had 'a better time of it'? Being a samurai?"

Kiku grumbled, then said," No way!"

"That was pretty cool, lackey!" said Okara, her eyes sparkling. She was blushing, too.

"Hey!" Komachi spoke up,"Kiku is my lackey! You can have Aki!"

Oh, thanks, Komachi. I feel so loved.

"That makes 8 of us," announced Kambei. Kiku has finally been officially recognized as part of the team. " I don't mind having a samurai with the heart of a farmer. If you don't know who you are, you'll never be able to see the samurai within you." He then looked at Manzo, and called out his name. The man panicked, and begged for forgiveness. Shino begged Kambei not to kill him. Kambei was calm, and asked,"Manzo, do you treasure your land?"

"Yes!"

"Then think about whether or not this land is yours right now. If you treasure your land, then fight for your land. If you treasure your daughter, then fight for your daughter. Maybe thinking about how onw is going to survive is proper for you to do as a person... On the other hand, know that those who only think about themselves are the first ones to ruin themselves. Don't forget that what we are trying to do to carry on here is a war. I don't think of you as a farmer, but a soldier of Kanna Castle. And as a soldier, you can understand why we are abandoning the other side of the bridge, right?"

Manzo looked down.

"Once the Nobuseri are wiped out, you can always rebuild your house again. But if you betray us a second time, I will kill you myself."

"R-Right!"

"So, we're soldiers, huh?" asked the Elder.

"Any objections?"

"Nope. That's all right with me."

"Is that all right with you?" Kambei looked toward Heihachi. He reluctantly agreed. Kambei then stood up. "What are you all doing then? We've already wasted an hour! Get back to work!"

"Stop," I grabbed Shino's hand," You're going to put in too much. It'll be too watery. Remember, it has to be like a paste."

"Oh! Right, sorry."

I continued to mix the liquid I had in a bowl. I was using the drug dart I got back in Metal City as a basis to work on to make this drug the medics never released in the Great War. I was surprised to still find the notes in my notebook, since most records of it were destroyed.

I was aiming to make a sort of booster, where if injected, the burden of fatigue and pain would temporarily vanish. You'd be able to fight as if you were in top form, but the side effects would hit you almost instantly after the drug wears off. The strain on your body would be too much to bear, so you'd simply fall into a deep sleep for hours. If you overdose, then your heart will beat too fast and stop. Because you'd feel no pain, you may be suffering from any injuries obtained in battle without realizing it.

Though the risks outweighed the benefits, I was determined to make it. Could be handy, you know? For now, I won't let anyone use it until it was perfected. I'll test it on myself.

"So, Sir Samurai, how do you know so much about medicine? Do you get injured a lot?" asked a girl.

"Not really, nowadays. Back in the Great War, I started out as a medic. Towards the end, I started to fight as a soldier along side my Master."

"Master?"

"Well, he was my teacher. He taught me nearly everything I know ever since I was little."

"Really? How old were you when he started teaching you?"

I thought for a moment, before saying,"I think when I was around 6-years-old... Hey! You're spilling some!"

The girl looked down, and gasped.

"Ack!" She tipped the bowl back up, and blushed. "Sorry..."

"It's okay. Just remember to pay attention to what you're doing."

"Yes, sir!"

After working some more, along with a few failed attempts (they came out foul-smelling), Katsushiro walked in.

"Akinari!"

I looked up from my successful concoction.

"Yeah, kid?"

"How are things here? I'm reporting back to Kambei."

"Progress is going well, I guess. Tell him that we'll have enough medicine to last awhile."

"Got it."

Katsushiro left. An hour later, we got another visitor.

"Hey, everyone!" It was Komachi and Okara. "We got food!"

I smiled, and took one rice ball. The two girls then gave out the rest to the women I was working with.

"Hey, this is pretty good," I complimented.

"Thanks! We helped Sis make them!" exclaimed Komachi. I noticed a rolled up cloth on her back.

"Hey, Komachi, what's that?"

"Oh! I almost forgot!"

Komachi climbed on top of a stool, and rolled out the cloth.

"Look! Look!"

Six circles were in 2 vertical rows of 3, with another circle at the top above the middle blank space of the top 2 circles. A triangle was at the bottom of the circles, along with the kanji for "Ta".

"Is this our flag?" I asked.

"Yup! The "Ta" is from tanbo! Rice paddy! That's us! The white circles are the samurai! Kambei is the top circle, since he's the boss. The triangle is Kiku, since he's a farmer, too!"

"That's a pretty good flag!"

"Thanks! Okara helped me come up with what shapes to draw!"

"It was nothing," said Okara, being modest.

After the girls left, and I did some more work, I decided to call it a night. Before I headed back to the uninhabited home I was sleeping in, I went to look for Kambei. It didn't take long to find him by the fortress at the waterfall. He stood with Shichiroji.

"Akinari? Shouldn't you be asleep for tomorrow?" asked the blond.

"Yeah, but I have a question for Kambei."

"What is it?" Kambei looked my way.

"I apologize, but I have another request. I was wondering if I could set up a couple of traps starting tomorrow morning. I couldn't help but notice that we have multiple blind spots in the area, where we wouldn't be able to detect the enemy in certain weather, or the only way to actually find them is if we moved some positions. To have a better advantage, I suggest that we should set up traps there. If the enemy comes in, they'll be incapacitated when the trap hits."

"That sounds like a good idea... What sort of traps do you have in mind?"

"Primary explosives."

"Explosives?!" Shichiroji stared at me in shock from my bluntness. "How would you manage that?"

"While I was out picking herbs for medicine, I found some old Nobuseri corpses here and there. I took a look inside, and found unused explosives that were in this large container it held."

"Hmm..." Kambei closed his eyes in thought, and opened them again. "You have my approval. Just be careful."

I grinned, and bowed.

"Thanks! I'll start early tomorrow!"

I was in bed, trying to rest, when I heard Heihachi come in. Pretending to be asleep, I heard the sound of clothes rustling, and Heihachi laid down on his futon. My back was turned to him.

"Aki... I know you're still awake."

I turned around.

"How did you know?"

"You're breathing isn't slow and calm enough to show that you're asleep." There was a silence, until he said," I scared you earlier, didn't I?"

I didn't bother to lie to him. He can tell whether or not I was.

"Yeah..."

I heard him sigh.

"Sorry... But you know how I feel about traitors..."

"I know... I just wish wish you didn't look so scary! Though, then agai-" I stopped myself. "Y-You know what? Never-mind! Let's just leave it at that, be friends again, and go to sleep!"

"What? What were you going to say?"

"Say what?"

"Aki! Come on! I'm curious now!"

I snickered.

"Good night, Hei-chan!"

"But-!" I turned around, my back to him, and closed my eyes. "Oh, alright... Good night, Aki."

For some reason, my thoughts wandered to the past, years ago, during the war. Mentally shaking my head, I ended the thoughts.

"I really need to get my mind straightened out..."

End of Chapter Nine