Detective Kane and The Samurai Sword Fight

The Other Three Contestants

"How did you know?" returned the man." No one is supposed to know the contestants participating in the tournament!"

"It is quite simple." She took his hand and showed him the scar which was present in between his thumb and index finger. "A scar like this only comes from a sword, this cut has come from your early years of training when you were learning to unsheathe a sword, sometimes, when one puts the sword back in the case, one cuts in between their finger and thumb, leaving a scar."

"Who are you?" He questioned in shock of her.

"Detective Kane, homicide investigator of the first division." She replied, with an aura of pride.

The man realised who she was.

"I don't know why I'm surprised, I've seen you in the papers and your deduction skills are said to be as good as Sherlock Holmes himself." Samantha just stood there with a smile; a lot of people always complimented her intelligence and abilities of deduction.

"Thank you and good luck," she said.

Samantha decided to return to wandering around and noticed one other gentleman, who was very muscular with broad shoulders. His hair and his moustache was combed to a simple and decent looking style. He also had the scar of training on his left hand. Samantha approached him and wished him good luck, the man looked back in confusion, but after realising who she was he replied with:

"Thanks Miss!"

She continued to wander to find the final contestant, there were many people present, making it difficult for observation. Samantha eventually became thirsty and when to the coffee bar, which was located downstairs.

She arrived at the coffee bar and saw two males talking and one female who looked particularly lonely. She was quite tall with pale skin and ginger hair; she was wearing a golden watch and an unusual looking amulet. As she was taking sips of her drink, Samantha noticed the training scar on her right hand, meaning she was a left handed swordfighter. She approached her and tried to start a conversation.

"Hello" Samantha said softly, trying not to alarm the fighter.

She waved back. Samantha noticed a lot of lipstick smudges on her shirt.

"Are you ok?" she said, noticing that she was slightly shaking.

"Yeah, Thanks," she said in a whisper.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck in your matches today." Samantha whispered back.

She looked back as she was just pricked on the back.

"How-?" she began.

"Samantha Kane, Detective of the Metropolitan Police in the first division." Samantha said, gleaming.

"Thank you" she said.

Samantha rose from her seat and proceeded her way to the dojo. She noticed Katie speaking to the host of the tournament, Mr James Davies. He was a cheery man with broad smile and short size with streaks of grey hair amongst his black hair. He was wearing a smooth black suit, with a bowler hat to finish the set.

After a few minutes, Katie approached Samantha.

"You've figured out the other contestants, right?" she asked. Samantha was surprised that Katie knew.

"You're the best detective in the city; surely you noticed the training scar on people's hands." Samantha nodded.

"Right, don't tell me, I want it to be a surprise," Samantha nodded once more and Katie walked off to Fatima, Aisha and Stephanie, who were calling her.

    Samanthadecided to step outside and have a cigarette since she was bored. When she leftthe dojo and made her way downstairs, she noticed that the woman that she spoketo earlier was still there. Samantha saw the label on her duffel bag, whichread: 

                                                                                 Whitney Spencer

Iaido Team of the South

She crossed Whitney, and made her way outside. Once she went outside, she felt the breeze hit her. It was quite pleasurable. She lit her cigarette and took a couple puffs. A few minutes later, Samantha spotted four men carrying a very well made sword in a glass case. Its pommel was a large ruby covered in silver, its hilt was encrusted with rubies and its guard was solid silver. The steel blade was shining as it was being carried.

"Looks good init?" Said one of the men carrying the sword.

"Yeah" Samantha replied with, in awe of the sword.

"It's the Chinese Long-Sword, you know, the one that was all over the newspapers." He continued.

Samantha realised with sword he was talking about.

"It's the prize for the winner of the Iaido tournament, pretty cool init?" he finished.

Samantha immediately imagined Katie swinging the sword around at incoming enemies as the Defensive Duo were battling against hired assassins.

Samantha decided to return inside to catch up with Katie, to tell her about the prize. When she entered the building, she saw that Whitney had left the coffee bar, Samantha thought that she had left to get changed and ready so she made her way to Katie who was in the changing rooms.

Katie had just finished putting on her set of Iaido Gi, and was tying her belt.

"Nervous, but I think I'm ready to go" Katie said, putting on the protective armour." I just hope I win."

Samantha remembered to tell Katie about the sword.

"The prize for the tournament winner is the sword that was on the papers." Samantha said.

"What?" she replied in shock, "The Chinese Long-Sword? The one with the rubies?"

"That's the one."

"Whoa" Katie said, grabbing her sword forcefully and making her way out.

Samantha knew that this would make Katie try harder since the Chinese Long-Sword was a privilege to have, and Samantha knew that Katie wanted the privilege to wield that sword freely.

Samantha made her way upstairs, into the dojo and took a seat. As she sat down, Mr Davies made his way to his podium and began to talk, "Welcome, Welcome to the Iaido Tournament, I am the lovely presenter, Mr James Davies, but you can address me as James, and I'll be commentating the matches as they happen. I would like to say that the matches will begin in five minutes, so I would everyone to switch off their mobile devices and to put out any cigarettes." He shot a look at Samantha, who has just lit a cigarette. Reluctantly, she put it out and threw it away.

"Now then, we shall wait until the contestants are ready."

Samantha got comfortable and waited.