The Shogun and the Samurai

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Hidden eyes trailed after the lanky man as he strode through the slums of whatever busy town he had happened to wander into.

He tugged at the collar of his yellow and black kimono, uncomfortable with the heat and humidity of the place, even though the moon was rising in the star spangled sky.

To him, it was strange at how suddenly the climate could change per region. But then again, his home kingdom was set in a mountain pass a few months walk from the one he had so recently come to be in. It was only warm for two months out of the entire year.

Never had he experienced such humidity, though.

The man adjusted the nodachi strapped to his back; a habit of his whenever he felt unwelcome eyes on his person.

How long had they been staring at him?

With a sigh, the lanky man stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the eyes staring at him from every shop and every building.

"Is there something on my face?" He called out jokingly with a bemused smirk. He rubbed his jaw and well-trimmed goatee with a dark skinned hand for emphasis, but when no person answered his question he just snorted slightly and turned to continue on his way.

"Oi, samurai!" It was a feminine voice that called out to him. A harsh one at that.

Turning to the source, the lanky man raised an eyebrow at the woman calling to him from what appeared to be a restaurant.

Her hair was pink and her cheekbone pierced. A bit odd, but nothing he hadn't seen before.

"Yes?"

The woman glanced down the road a few times before looking back at the man.

"You better get lost before the Shogun's men arrive."

The samurai's eyebrow arched even further. "Oh? And why's that?"

The woman's eyes darted around once more before she answered in a hushed tone. "The Shogun takes any samurai that wanders into his kingdom and forces them to work for him. I hear he pits them against each other like dogs for his own amusement."

Her eyes suddenly darted to the moon and she hissed out a curse. "You better run, samurai!" She growled, shutting all the windows of her restaurant. "You're no match for the Shogun's men!"

With that, she shut herself in, leaving the dark skinned samurai staring at her windows in bewilderment.

The sound of footsteps on the dirt road forced his gaze forward.

Three men, all rather large and strange looking were walking towards him.

The leader of the three wore a monsterous kabuki mask that covered his entire face and coarse blonde locks cascaded down his back. At his sides he carried twin butterfly swords.

The tallest of the three wore all black and carried a large battle axe on his back, while the smallest had blue deadlocks and was covered in scars and stitches.

"Hey you. Samurai." The masked one called out. "What's your name?"

The lanky man smirked casually and lazily gripped the strap of his nodachi, all the while silently assessing the three possible foes.

"Law." He drawled lazily. "And yours?"

The masked man pointed to himself, then the others. "I'm Killer. This is Heat and Wire. What is your business in this kingdom?"

Law shrugged and ran a hand through his feathery black hair. "Just passing though."

He watched as Killer's head tilted up in a show of authority, but his hand open out in a friendly gesture.

"Any passing samurai is invited to feast with the Shogun. You look tired from your journey. Allow us to escort you to his palace."

Law's eyes narrowed and his grip on the strap tightened slightly as he remembered the pink haired woman's words.

"A feast with the Shogun, you say?" He asked cautiously "Well, I'm honored."

"As you should be!" It was the blue haired one- Heat- that spoke this time. "You look tired and hungry. This will give you the chance to relax."

It was true he was indeed hungry. Starving even. His last meal had been the previous morning. And he was tired as well...

After a quick debate in his head, Law finally decided to go with the three men, but with caution. If anything seemed amuck he would run for it.

"Very well." He finnally answered, relaxing his stance and renewing his smirk, though his hand never left the strap of his sword. "Lead me to the Shogun."