A/N: Stuff happened (Stress & problems not a good combo), I got distracted (been playing SMT:IV and Avalon Code), and I lost motivation for this story. Still not giving up on this though.

Anyways, I finally finished Ch. 10! Ch. 11 in progress.

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

Chapter 10: Day of the First Attack

I woke up early that morning. Though I really wanted to go back to sleep, I forced myself to get ready. Heihachi was still asleep when I had left. Outside, the fog was thick, and the sun hadn't even risen yet. After stumbling around a few times, I got used to it, and got through the fog with ease. In the forest, I made my way to the Nobuseri corpses I found. Now I have a problem.

'How am I going to carry that huge box?'

My answer came in a form of a certain mechanical samurai.

"Hey, Aki! What're you doing up so early?"

"Kiku! Good timing. Can you help me out?"

"Sure! What seems to be the problem?"

"See this huge metal box?" Kiku nodded. "Think you can carry that for me while I work? I need to set up traps incase the enemy come in from our blind spots."

Kiku shrugged.

"Alright. Got nothing better to do."

"Thanks, man! Oh, and be careful with it! The explosives might go off if you drop 'em."

Kiku put down his sword by a tree, and then lifted up the box. He followed me as we headed close to the bottom of the gorge. Starting from the bottom, we both set up the explosives as we worked our way up. After a certain point, we stopped and moved to a different location. We used up 3 of the 6 boxes of explosives available. One and a half of boxes of explosives for the rocky cliffs, and the rest scattered throughout the forest, a good distance away from the fields. For some of the traps, I set up a sort of trip-wire, so maybe those Yakans can be eliminated.

Kiku was faster than I was when we were setting the traps up, so we finished way earlier than I had anticipated. When we were done, I had Kiku carry the remaining 3 boxes out of the forest and into the village by the shed we were using as storage for weaponry. After I washed my hands by a nearby stream, Kiku and I headed to our posts on the side of the cliff.

"Hey Aki, here!"

Kiku handed me some rice balls and munched on his own. My stomach growled.

"Thanks for the food, Kiku!"

I picked one up and started eating. I didn't eat all of the rice balls though, so I gave the rest to Kiku. We heard foot steps from above. It was Rikichi, and he seemed to be carrying a sword. Kiku left to see what's up, leaving me alone for a few more moments. I have a gut feeling that the Nobuseri will come soon. Um... Would 'women's intuition' be that feeling? Or am I just being paranoid?

"Oh, hey Akinari! We didn't know you were here."

I turned around, and there was Gorobei and Shichiroji.

"Morning, Gorobei, Shichiroji."

"Morning!"

"You know, you can just call me 'Shichi' for short."

"In that case, call me Aki."

"I heard from Kambei that you set up some explosive traps," said Gorobei,"You're done already?"

"Yup! Kiku helped me. We had 6 boxes, but we only used up half. I'm saving the rest for later."

"I see... Would they work, though?"

Immediately after saying that, a loud BOOM! was heard. I pointed in the direction of the forest.

"Does that answer your question?" I asked, grinning. Gorobei quickly took a wooden block and hammer, and then sounded the alarm. As everyone got into position, more explosions were heard. "I feel so proud...!"

Shichi handed me the binoculars, and I saw my work. Many Yakans were eliminated, but the larger Nobuseri that flew higher made it past my traps. Still, at least their numbers got down. I gave Shichi back the binoculars, and the 3 of us went up to where the archers would be. Kyuzo, Kambei, and Katsushiro were there as well.

"Akinari."

"Yes, Kambei?"

"Good work. There were more enemies than we planned for, but your explosives helped bring down their numbers."

"Happy to be of service!"

Kambei smirked. He then instructed that Kyuzo, Gorobei and me stay with the archers while he, Shichiroji, and Katsushiro check up on Heihachi and the ballista. As time passed, everything gradually went quiet on the enemies' side. Looks like the enemy still got past the traps.

"This is no threat!" announced the Nobuseri from their harvesting fortress,"Put down your weapons and come across the bridge one at a time! We may forgive you for killing our men!"

I heard a yell.

"Fire the ballista!"

The sound of a hammer hitting something was heard. I saw a piece of the cliff some distance away fell, with a rope attached to it. Suddenly, a huge pointed tree trunk came flying at the enemy. It flew upwards, but gravity brought it down. Right into one of the 2 harvesting fortresses. The Kanna villagers cheered, happy that we eliminated it. Though, their celebrating came to a halt when one of them pointed out a series of Yakans headed our way.

"Th-They're coming!" yelled Manzo.

"Don't panic," said Kambei, quickly walking over with a bow and a quiver of arrows. "Man your stations and ready your bows!"

"Can I use my gun?" I asked quickly.

I can use a gun, but with a bow and arrow, I suck.

"Of course! Now go!"

I ran to the edge of the line of archers and stood my ground behind the short wall of rocks. As the archers unleashed a flurry of flaming arrows, I shot down the Yakans that managed to dodge them. The fire made the arrows more effective against the Yakans, and it also took out the bridge. Kambei ordered everyone to continue their assult when the archers paused, staring in awe at the scene. The Yakans fell down the gorge, along with the lit up bridge. We all stopped shooting when no more enemies arrived.

"They may be Nobuseri," said Gorobei," but after taking arrows and bullets and falling down there, they won't be giving us any more trouble."

I looked around, and saw that the villagers were exhausted. Figures. It was their first battle.

"Hey!" Kiku came running over. "WE DID IT! WE DID IT! YEA-!"

Kambei suddenly sliced off the cyborg's head. I felt my left eye twitch in irritation. Everyone was shocked at what Kambei just did.

"Get me some rope," said Kambei.

"Y-You just-!"

Some static was heard from Kiku's head. "HeY! WhY tHe hell did you Do ThAt?"

His voice pitch wavered. I can't believe Kambei actually managed to slice off his head right off cleanly.

"We're going to infiltrate the other harvesting fortress. The villagers will offer some of us samurai as prisoners, while the rest will hide the bales of rice."

I sighed in relief.

"Oh. For a second there, I thought you went crazy..." I said. "So who's doing what?"

"Gorobei, Katsushiro, Kyuzo, and Kikuchiyo's head will be offered. His body, along with Heihachi, Shichiroji, and I, will hide in the rice bales."

"But what about me? What do I do?"

I stared at the man curiously.

"Don't think ill of me," I don't like where this is going,"But I need you to cross-dress."

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!"

I ran through the village in my new outfit, towards the rice fields. I now wore the typical Kanna Village attire for girls, except the top covered my mid-driff. Finding the top was the reason why I'm now late. I had to look obviously like a girl to the enemy, yes, but I didn't like showing that much skin. It made me feel bare. I slowed down my speed when I got close to the crowd enough. The Nobuseri's foot soldiers were surrounding the village men, as they collected the rice bales and took the 'captured' samurai.

"WAIT! DON'T KILL THEM!" I yelled, in my feminine voice.

The mecha looked at me, and I stood still once I was close enough.

"Who are you? Are you the one who brought the samurai here?"

"Yes... and I now regret that decision," I tried to show no hint of lying as I spoke. "Please, Nobuseri! I beg of you! Don't kill the villagers! We've realized our mistake, and wish to continue serving you! If you attack the village and kill us all, you'd only show how power hungry you are to the world! Please, I'll even offer my life! Where's your sense of honor?"

I let out an actual shriek when the Nobuseri nearly killed me with its sword, the large slab of metal landing in front of me. Well that was embarrassing... I really hope everyone thinks that was part of the act.

"Shut up. Men, take her away."

Two foot soldiers came and grabbed me, taking me in the direction the others were held. I was transported to their harvesting fortress, and got separated from the others. Kiku's head was brought along with me, hanging on a stick with a piece of cloth cradling him. I was in a red room, with the two foot soldiers on my left and right. Three yellow mechas, Benigumo, stood in the large room.

"Where are you taking us?" I asked.

"To the capital, of course," said one of the mechas,"What they want there are rice and women."

"Then all of the women that you've taken away so far are there?"

"They're grateful, too. They're much more happy in paradise than in your dirty, run down village."

I glared at them.

"How can you say that they're happy when they're separated from their families?"

"You'll find out for yourself soon enough. Give it some time and you'll love it, too."

The Nobuseri opened the dome wall behind me. I looked outside, and realized how high up we really were. The fortress flew towards the gorge, and then decended rather quickly. I realized that I had screamed. I nearly fell over, but the soldiers gripped me by the arms.

"Take us back up," said the Nobuseri, and we ascended from the gorge and out of it.

'Okay Aki, you're not gonna die. This isn't a vehicle, or a boat, or anything. Just one of the enemy's small base. That flies.' I flinched at the thought. 'It's just a base, it's just a base.' I thought that over and over again, trying to calm my nerves.

I looked behind me once again, seeing the village in my sights.

"This is the last time you'll ever see your village. Take a good look. Kanna Village won't be around any longer."

I did my best to glare at the Nobuseri.

"Wha-! I-I thought we made a deal!"

"I never agreed to that, didn't I?" I muttered out a curse. He's right. He never did agreed. "Now be a good girl and stay quiet."

After a few moments, loud sounds of something mechanical were heard. I looked outside and saw that we were losing altitude.

"What's wrong with the engines?!" asked the Nobuseri,"At this rate, we're going down!" He turned to a Yakan. "You there! Go check it out! Hurry!"

"Yes sir!"

In mere seconds, the Yakan came back, dead. Its sword was embedded in its body, and it fell apart when it hit the floor.

"Who's there?!" asked a soldier.

Kiku's body walked up the stairs.

"HEy!" Kiku's broken up voice sounded from his head. "Body! What tooK yUo so LonG?"

His body waved, completely ignoring the enemy trying to cut him down. He punched them away, then ran towards us. Kambei and Shichiroji appeared shortly after. Several more Nobuseri mechas appeared though.

"The Raiden Squad is here!" the blue mechas announced.

"You've showed off quite a bit for us, but this is where it ends!" said the yellow mecha.

Kambei smirked. Out of no where, Gorobei broke through the ceiling, and dropped down behind me. He took out the two guards that held me.

"We're not done yet!" he said.

"Let's rUn Wild on thEm!" yelled Kiku.

The yellow mecha became angered, and ordered the attack on us. Gorobei got me down from the high pillar I was just standing on, and handed me one of the enemies' swords.

"You O.K. there, Aki? I thought I heard you screaming earlier."

I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. I was that loud?

"Say nothing about this," I stood up, and took Kiku's head from him. "I-I'm going now."

I ran off towards Kiku's body.

"Heads up, man!" I tossed the head to him, and cut down some enemies.

"Ha ha. Very funny. Thanks though!"

The next few moments seemed to just fly by in a blur, only seeming to pause whenever I focused only on my own fight. More and more Nobuseri attacked. Hei-chan was the only one who wasn't here, most likely trying to find us. I looked at the sword Gorobei gave me, and took a deep breath.

'It's just me and the enemy,' I thought,' I'm back on the ground- no, I was never in the air inside of a flying fortress.'

Four enemies surrounded me, thinking they'll be able to defeat me. I was in my battle stance now, ready to draw my sword upon them. The guardsman to my left quickly stepped towards me, his sword raised, and I unsheathed the blade. In two quick slashes he was down, along with the one from behind, and my sword was sheathed again. I spun around, unsheathing the katana yet again, and attacked the other two when they attempted to strike me. One brought their blade down, in an attempt to cut my right shoulder, but I dodged to the left. I took their brief moment of being exposed and attacked their side. I used the momentum in my attack to quickly dodge the other enemy. I spun, and beheaded the man when he thought I was finally injured. Blood pooled from the corpse, and I ignored the stinging at my side. I was too slow in that dodge, and unfortunately got myself cut. I tightened the sash around my waist to help stop the blood flow, and continued to attack the enemy.

Adrenaline rushed throughout my body as I fought off every one of my opponents who dared to face me. Blood and oil stained parts of my clothing, and I grew tired. It also didn't help that I was on a falling air ship. Still, I had to keep going.

I heard explosions, and finally realized that the fortress was going to bring us all down if we didn't escape. The tug on the back of my clothes snapped me back to reality, and I was lifted in the air by Kikuchiyo, dropping my sword in the progress.

"C'mon, Aki! We have to go!"

Kiku shoved me towards the fallen tree Shichi used as a makeshift bridge. I quickly crossed it, following right after Katsushiro. Kambei, Shichiroji, and Kiku crossed right afterwards. We all stood on the side of the cliff, and watched as the Nobuseri's harvesting fortress fell into the ravine, and exploded. Black smoke rose up from the remains.

I fell to my knees and let out a sigh. Heihachi looked at me.

"You all right, Aki?"

"I never want to do that again..."

End of Chapter 10

A/N:Bleh... Bad chapter is bad... ;w; sorry