Naga whistled as he walked along the empty road. He was headed to the one place he thought he'd be accepted. His rucksack hung limply from his shoulder. Naga had been walking for what felt like days and he was beginning to tire. He had came all the way from Kazenomachi to get away from his past. He didn't have to run but the young adult preferred avoiding conflict. "Huh?" he mumbled as he ran into what felt like a wall. He looked up to see a large wooden door, standing at least ten or twenty feet high, in front of him. "Why in the hell is that here..." he thought aloud placing his hand against the dark surface. Not only was the door tall but it was equally thick. Naga sighed and reached to his side for his katana. "This will never do." he told himself swiftly unsheathing the blade. It flashed silver twice in the sunlight before it was returned to its home in a matter of seconds. The door creaked momentarily before falling in a mass of lumber. With the remains of the once great door now scattered around him, Naga continued on through the entrance, brushing his thick dark hair from his eyes absentmindedly. Upon walking into the area a feminine scream could be heard, "What happened to the door!?" it said. "A blonde girl came running from what looked like a storehouse in a purple leotard. "Oh, sorry about that. It was in the way." he answered plainly looking at her. Miu Furinji frowned, "In the way!? You couldn't have just knocked like a normal guy huh?" she yelled furious. Naga took a step back cringing, for a pretty girl she was incredibly fierce. Miu sighed and regained her composer. "Who are you again?" she asked him with a curious look, "My name is Naga. I'm a weapons master, I thought I could join the dojo here." he replied looking around. There was a tree nearby with puncture holes along the sides of it as if someone had repeatedly nailed something to it. Nearby there was a pond and a post protruding from the ground. There were various other buildings scattered around the area. "Um we already have Shigure, but I'm sure the Elder wouldn't mind!" she yelled excitedly heading for the nearest building. Naga let his rucksack fall to the ground as he waited. He could hear people talking nearby as he sat down crossing his legs in the process. He held his katana lightly in the palm of his hands. It was black and shined faintly in the light. Hearing the approaching footsteps he swiftly sheathed his blade. "Hello there." a deep voice boomed from behind him. Naga turned to see a large intimidating man. He was blonde and had a long beard. The elderly man was dressed in a green robe. "Hi." he answered the man rising to his feet. "I hear you would like to join Ryozanpaku." he stated looking at the young male before him. Naga nodded and locked eyes witht the Elder. The old man smiled, "Miu has probably informed you of our other weapons master, Shigure. We'd be glad to have another of course but I think it'd be entertaining to see how you fair against her too!" he stated bellowing out a laugh. Naga raise one of his eyebrows in curiousity, another weapons master? He was the greatest weapons master he knew besides his teacher. "Shigure, come here for a moment please" he asked looking beyond Naga's head. There was a woman standing on the wall surrounding the dojo. She was in a pink kimono that reached about halfway down her thighs. Her hair was dark and held by a bow. Her eyes were grey and appeared to hold no emotion. She dropped down gracefully and approached the Elder. "Naga, this is Shigure Kosaka. She is our current weapons master, why don't you two have a quick sparring match!" he beamed at the two twenty three year olds. Naga looked nervously at the woman before him. He didn't very much the idea of fighting with a female, even if it was just a sparring match. Nonetheless, he felt like he needed to prove himself to the man before him. "But Elder....I might...hurt him." she replied glancing up at the blonde man with cold eyes. "No worries! Naga claims to be a master himself so I don't think he will be very easy to harm." the Elder smiled down at the slender woman. "Alright....let's go." she said walking towards one of the various buildings. The blonde man stroked his beard as the two young adults headed into the sparring room. He headed after them with Miu in tow. She walked along behind her grandfather excited to see two weapons masters spar.
Shigure stood across from the man named Naga and took her stance. He didn't seem to be muscular like Apachai but was still very well built. He wore an outifit similar to Kenichi's but it was black and one of the sleeves looked sawed off. His eyes were focused and steady. He had a katana sheathed next to his waist. Behind his back were a set of tanfa held to him by his belt. If he was the weapons master he claimed to be he would have much more than those two hidden away on his person Shigure thought as she watched him. Miu and the Elder had made their way into the room and were now sitting along the edge of the room. Shigure moved slowly as she observed her opponents moves. Naga had grabbed the tanfa from behind him and was moving towards her. Shigure sidestepped and moved behind him as he took his first strike. She reached for her katana and swung at him fearlessly. Naga turned on his heels and flipped his tanfa around in his hand deflecting the blade.The stoic woman stepped back and regained her hold on the blade on her hands. He was fast, she observed. No one other than the Elder should have been able to stop that attack. Naga took another strike at the slender woman barely missing as she once again dodged his attack. Shigure dodged to his blind spot and swung her katana once again. He raised his tanfa to block the attack, but the effort proved useless as she cut straigh through. Naga flinched reflexively as his hand went to his side. Shigure was sure she had caught him off guard this time as she felt the urgency in his movement change. Naga was not going to lose here he told himself as he quickly unsheathed his katana. His blade clashed against Shigure's as sparks flew about the room. Shigure strengthened the force behind her blow to prevent herself from losing her weapon. They stood there with their katanas locked as Miu and the Elder looked on in interest. Naga's black katana bore down onto Shigure's with intense strength. The Elder continued to stroke his beard as he watched the two masters sparred relentlessly. Naga jumped back to refrain from using all of his energy in one attack. Shigure flexed her fingers as she stepped backwards. Naga's eyes never moved from the figure of the woman in front of him. 'She's fast that's for sure.' he told himself as he looked her over. At this rate it could take all night the young adult realized as he switched his hold on his blade. He held the blade sideways in his left hand with the blade facing outwards. Shigure looked momentarily confused before returning to her emotionless expression, she had never seen anyone hold a katana in this stance. She took up a defensive position as he charged towards her. Naga approached the woman quickly holding his blade wielding hand in front of his face. He kept his body close to the ground to keep up speed. Shigure kept her eyes on the man as he continued to approach at top speed. Naga swung his blade along the air from one side of his torso to the other. Shigure held her katana with confidence as she prepared for the oncoming clash. Naga pushed more force behind his swing as he plowed through Shigure's defenses. Her katana clattered to the ground as Naga's blade made it's way to her slender neck. Naga stopped less than an inch away from her soft skin. He sheathed his blade and bowed to the woman before him. Shigure looked stunned as she raised her slender fingers to her neck. It felt like he had just torn threw her flesh but she was perfectly fine. The Elder rose and approached the two. "Very well. It seems as if you're just as strong as our Shigure!" he bellowed clapping his hand down onto Naga's back. The young man lurched forward at the force behind his friendly notion. Shigure stared intently at the well built man before her. She spent her life surrounded by men, save for Miu. Apachai was like her childish older brother, Akisame her father, Kensei was perverted beyond words but he was still family to her. Sakaki and Kenichi were like brothers to her as well. She was perfectly fine with being around them, men in general were not different to her in anyway until now. Naga made her feel funny. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and her cheeks were a bright shade. Shigure's frown deepened as she leapt up onto the the ceiling beams. Miu watched as her friend made her retreat, "That was odd.." she uttered as she went over to her grandfather. "Just let Miu here give you the proper paperwork and then you can move on in" Hayato Furinji smiled as he left out of the door stroking his beard. Naga followed the heavy chested blonde into another room, wondering where the woman in the kimono had gone. He finished signing everything in a matter of minutes, and walked to his designated room. Someone had mounted a wooden board above the door for a name plate. He took a short kunai knife from his rucksack and carved his name into it. 'ナガ日本刀' it read (Naga Nihonto). He put the knife back in it's place and headed into his new quarters. There was a slide door closet on one side of the room, in the left corner there was a bed draped in white sheets. There was a window in the opposite wall, with a small shelf beside it. He moved to the shelf and sat his sack next to him. He then reached meticulously into it and pulled out three objects placing them tenderly on the wooden shelf. The first was a rusted shuriken that his teacher had given him, the second was a picture. There were three people in it, a woman with bright red hair and pale skin, a man with dark hair and eyes, and between them was a smiling young boy. Naga smiled at the old picture of his family. The third object was a heavy metal ball. It was something he used to play with growing up. It didn't have much meaning to anyone else but it was one of his most prized possessions. After looking at the objects on the shelf for a few more moments he tossed his bag into a corner. Naga walked over to his bed and looked it over, there was a simple flat wooden frame with a thin mattress lying atop it. He frowned and lifted the mattress from the frame and tossed it leisurely across the room. He left the thinnest sheet on the frame and sat down. He never much liked sleeping on beds and things of the sort. He always ended up sleeping on the floor back at his old dojo in Kazenomachi. He suddenly felt the presence of someone else in the area. He looked up at the rafters in the ceiling to see a woman's silhouette standing above him. "Shigure, why are you hiding up there." he stated as she dropped down in front of him. "I....was not...hiding." she replied looking at the man before her. Her eyes trailed from his face down his body. His neck was thin but strong, his collarbone clearly visible. Shigure felt the pounding in her chest increase as her eyes made their way to his barely visble chest. Naga looked confused as he watched the mysterious Shigure roam his body with her dark eyes. A pink tint had crept into her cheeks as she continued to gaze uncontrollably. Shigure didn't understand what she was doing she had never felt this way before and the sensation was new and peculiar to her. "Do you need something?" he asked the stunning woman before him. "No." she said before making her exit. Naga sat still on his 'bed' thinking about what had just occured. "That was...odd." he said to himself before making an attempt at napping.
