Alexisa slowly made her way to the door and pushed her ear against the wood; she knew that they were probably laying in wait for an attack, with the way that Genrou made his wonderful entrance earlier in the night. She moved to the side with the handle and was about to open it when Genrou flew up the stairs yelling.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU"RE DOING!!"
Alexisa did not have time to respond since the door flew open and out poured 10 bandits. They quickly surround them and glared down at them.
"So what is your big plan?"
"Well it's scrapped now thanks to YOU!"
"What do you mean thanks to ME?"
"Well your big mouth got us into this mess. You figure a way out."
"Looks like we interrupted a lover's spat here boys."
"WHAT!?" both yelled in unison.
The bandits took their lapse in concentration and began to attack them. They split their numbers evenly for an unfair fight of ten to one. Genrou quickly knocked three of the bandits that had attacked him out cold and turned to face the others that advanced on him. Alexisa stood in the middle of the bandits and tired to think of a way to deal with them quickly before her leg started to give her problems. Two bandits came at her at once and she side stepped them and hit the across the shoulders blades and they dropped to the ground out cold. The remaining bandits seeing two of their comrades being knocked out by a girl all advanced on her trying to overwhelm her. Alexisa dodged their attacks and blocked punches left and right; she managed to knock two ore bandits to the ground by kicking their feet out from underneath them. She stood up looking the last six bandits in the eyes, her leg was starting to pain her now and she knew she had to think of some way to end this soon or she was going to black out. She took a moment to glance at Genrou to see him deal with the last two of the bandits that had circled him. The next thing she knew she was on her back looking up at six men looking down at her.
"Well boys, think we should teach the little missy here, to respect the bandits of Mt. Reikaku," said one of the men as he got a nod of agreement from the other five. Two men started to kick her in the ribs while two held her arms so she could not fight back to try to protect herself. Every kick that Alexisa received she cried out in pain. The next thing she knew the kicking stopped and her arms were free.
"Hey kid, you ok?"
Alexisa opened her eyes to see Genrou above her. She moved to get up but a sharp pain in her left side was intruding on her getting up. "Yea, just peachy," she said finally getting to her feet after a few minutes of pain.
"Can you hurry it up, there's bond to be more bandits coming," said Genrou from inside the door.
Alexisa looked up at him and smiled weakly. She fought against the pain and walked after him.
"Now do you know where you are going?" asked Alexisa as she followed Genrou through the halls.
"Of course I know where. Just keep up will yea." Yelled Genrou as he continued to walk through the halls. Alexisa tried her best to keep up with him through the pain in her side but as Genrou turned a corner he suddenly stopped.
"What you get lost or something?" asked Alexisa as she turned the corner and she ran into his back. She hit the floor she saw why Genrou had stopped suddenly. The hallway was filled with bandits and one of them was holding a fan.
"Look who we have here boys. If isn't Genrou," said the man holding the fan.
"God, damn you Eiken. If you didn't have that fan you would not be so cocky. You basted," yelled Genrou as he charged at Eiken.
"REKKA SHIN'EN," yelled Eiken as flames shot forth from the fan.
Genrou was forced to leap out of the way of the flames he landed back near Alexisa.
"Got to get that damn fan from him," said Genrou as he pulled the talisman from his shirt. "Wolves come forth." Wolves sprang forth from the paper and lunged at the men in the hallway.
Alexisa watched the wolves attack the men and then she saw Genrou leap into the group and tried to grab the fan out of Eiken hands, but he was knocked back and he hit the wall opposite her. He hit the wall hard and she knew that he was not going to be getting back up anytime soon. She looked towards Eiken, he was laughing.
"How can you laugh?" asked Alexisa as she slowly got up on her feet. "How can you do that to one of your comrades. Laugh after he gets hurt," said Alexisa as she looked at Eiken directly in eyes. "A man like you has no right to hold that fan," said Alexisa as she charged towards Eiken. Her leg and side were bursting with pain but she knew that this might be the last chance to get the fan out of his grasp. She was able to knock him to the ground, and the fan came loose in the fall. She fell to the ground about 10 feet away from the fan she tried to crawl towards it but the pain in her leg would not allow her to, so she just laid there hoping help would come.
"Alexisa," she heard someone say as she lifted her head up to see three familiar faces come around the corner.
"Hey guys, about time you showed up."
"What is going on here?" asked Hotohori as he cleared the corner to see Alexisa lying on the floor.
"We need to get that fan back," said Alexisa to Nuriko who had made his way over to her.
"Hey Genrou, look," said Kouji pointing to where the fan now lay.
"Hi there buddy, you missed all the fun."
"Sorry, had to make Eiken think that I was following him."
"Yea, sure," said Genrou as he got up and made his way over to the fan. Lucky for him Alexisa had forced their attention on her and their backs were now toward him. He slowly made his way over towards the fan trying not to attract any unwanted attention on his part. Genrou moved slow ad he was just a few feet from the fan, he just needed their backs to be turned for a few more seconds and he then would have the fan back in his hands. The distance closed and he grasped the fan in his hands, smiling as he raised it in the air.
"Hey, Eiken did you drop something?" asked Genrou as he waved the fan in the air.
"Why you basted that fan belongs to me!" shouted Eiken once he noticed his mistake.
"Well Eiken looks like I am the leader of the bandits, just like the old boss wanted in the first place," said Genrou, as he looked Eiken in the eyes. "You got a problem with that?"
"No, course not."
"Good," said Genrou as he looked over to where that girl lay.
"Nuriko, how is Alexisa?" asked Miaka.
"Not good, that leg of hers is badly burned and I think she has a fever. We need to get her to a doctor," said Nuriko picking up Alexisa in his arms.
"Wait a minute, this girl was the reason that I was able to get the fan back. Stay here till her wounds heal. I'll have one of my boys head down to the village and fetch a doctor," said Genrou as he made his way over to Nuriko.
"You will?" asked Miaka.
"Yea, sure. Hey you," yelled Genrou pointing to the nearest bandit. "Go down to the village a fetch a doctor and make it fast," Genrou said. "Here follow me I'll take you to a room," said Genrou as he led them down a hall. "Here use this room for now, I'll have some food and blankets bought up for you as well," he said before heading towards the door.
"Wait. Do you know if anyone here has a red symbol on their body? Is it important that we find him. Is there anyone here like that?" asked Miaka
"No I don't think so," said Genrou as he closed the door.
Nuriko walked over to the bed and put Alexisa down on it. Alexisa moved a bit but she did not wake.
"Do you think we can trust them?" asked Hotohori.
"I think so, he seems to be trustworthy, and Alexisa did help him," said Miaka sitting down on the chair next to the window.
During the next few minutes there was a knock at the door, the door opened to reveal the doctor. He was an older gentleman with big bushy eyebrows that covered his eyes. In his hands was a bag even though his hands were old and wrinkled one could tell that his hands were made for healing. He walked over to the bed, and looked down at Alexisa.
"Can you please leave the room so I can tend to her wounds," said the doctor as he took some items out of his bag and placed them next to Alexisa bed on the small table. Nuriko, Hotohori started towards the door when they noticed that Miaka had not moved from her seat by the window.
"Miaka," said Hotohori turning towards her.
"I don't want to leave."
"Don't worry young lady, your friend is very strong, she will be fine as soon as I am able to start my treatment. Will you please leave and allow me to?" asked the doctor as he turned towards Miaka.
"Yea, sure," said Miaka as she got up and walked towards the door.
Genrou wondered down the halls, thinking about that girl. 'Alexisa was that her name. She helped me when she did not even know me.'
"So Genrou, Are you going to tell them?" asked a voice that bought him out of his thoughts.
"Tell them what Koji, I just got back and this is where I am supposed to be," said Genrou stopping and looking at his friend.
"Alright, but remember that old boss knew about Tasuki, he also said that you better do the right thing or I have permission to beat the shit out of you," said Kouji as he continued to walk down the halls.
'Boss, of course you wanted me to do the right thing. What if I don't know what the right thing is,' Wondered Genrou as he continued to wander the halls only to find his back to that girls room.
"Hey," said Miaka when she noticed him coming towards them.
Genrou looked up to see the girl's companions in the hall.
"How is she?" asked Genrou as he came closer to them.
"The doctor said she is strong and that we should not worry. I wanted to thank you for letting us stay here. My name is Miaka," said the girl that had greeted him. "That is Hotohori, and Nuriko," she said pointing to the other two that were sitting in the hall.
"Name's Genrou. I'll see that some food is bought up to you all. It's the least that I can do since you friend helped me," said Genrou walking away from them again. He walked around the fortress trying to clear his head and talking with some of his men that were very glad that he was back in charge. He stopped at the dining hall and he grabbed a roll and then grabbed some other food for the girl and her friends.