Taiyō left his home village two weeks ago at this point. His travels have gone well, soldiers began patrolling the roads south of the Imperial City more often after the Princess came through. He assumes this has led to a decrease in banditry in the area. Which is for the best, the sword he purchased is almost entirely for show, he's never received any training in any way to fight. He doubts a complete novice like him stands a chance against men who've likely fought all thier life.

He's not far from Yama no Toshi at this point, he thinks only a couple more weeks. Being out here alone has been a experience. The quietness of nature makes it easy to think, and every way he turns is a gorgeous view. He still has to be cautious though, if he gets seriously hurt out here all alone, he'll probably die far before anyone finds him. That'd be such a lame way to die, he thinks to himself.

Taiyō reaches a bridge going over a river with white rapids.. As Taiyō crosses the bridge, a man skulks out from the foliage ahead on f him, blocking his path. Taiyō, startled, turns around but another man is now behind him at the foot of the bridge. Both men are very openly carrying weapons on their hips.

"What do you want!?" Taiyō shouts to the man in front

"Nothing much, just give us all your valuables and we'll be on our way." The man says with a sneer

"I don't have much." Taiyō responds

The man eyes him for a few seconds. What Taiyō said wasn't a lie, all he has are the clothes on his back, his sword, and his traveling supplies. The man sighs.

"Very well, just toss me that sword on your hip and we'll be out of your hair." The man says with a smile

Taiyō considers this for a few seconds... His sword isn't worth his life. Taiyō unstraps his sword's sheath from his belt and throws it at the foot of the man in front of him.

"Thank you kindly.... Such a shame you're now unarmed" The man says drawing his weapon

Taiyō curses under his breath. Damn cowards, he thinks. Both the men run towards him, so he only sees one way out this situation. He jumps off into the rapids below.

He tumbles into the river, submerging himself. The current is even more powerful than he had assumed and he has difficulties straightening himself. Eventually, with a lot of effort, he's able to get his head out from under the water.

After taking the time to look around for a few seconds, it doesn't seem like the men wanted to follow him into the river. Smart of them, one wrong step and Taiyō himself may have drowned.

After letting the current take him for around half an hour, Taiyō makes his way into the shore to his left, which should be the northern shore, with a bit of effort.

"Close one...." He says tired

"Yeah, it was."

Taiyō quickly pushes himself up, one of the men from earlier walking towards him with his weapon raised.

"Hey man, it doesn't have to be like this." Taiyō pleads "What does killing me accomplish?"

"It's the removal of a witness, if you make your way to a town you'll surely tell the guard... And then we'll have to leave this area and go on the down low for a while. It's just business, nothing personal."

The man lunges at Taiyō, attempting to skewer him with his sword, but Taiyō was expecting that and steps to side, barely avoiding the blow. Taiyō charges he men as quickly as possible, trying to close the difference to make the sword obsolete. This works, as Taiyō tackles the smaller man down to the ground and holds his sword at bay.

The man punches Taiyō with his other arm, Taiyō drops his elbow onto the man's sternum in retaliation. This attack knocks the wind out the of the man, causing him to drop the sword. Taiyō continues his assault, punching the man against the temple. This knocks him unconscious, but Taiyō's hand throbs heavily in pain, which he assumes is from a broken knuckle.

Taiyō stands up from the unconscious man. A mixture of adrenaline, quick thinking, and luck is the only reason he survived that encounter. Had the man been stronger than him, that would've never have worked. Fortunately, Taiyō is a rather tall man and years of hard labor have made him muscular.

He scoops up the man's sword and heads deeper into the forest. He figured heading back to the road would be suicide, there are bound to be more bandits along it awaiting easy prey like him. Such cowards, those who prey upon the weak are the lowest of the low to him.

He makes his way through the forest cutting through the brush with the man's sword as he makes it way. The wakizashi however isn't designed for this, and does the job poorly. Taiyō doesn't know exactly where he is, his map ruined by the river's water, but he knows he just needs to head north at this point. He'll likely see the mountain his destination is built upon soon.

As he walks, he notices blood on the ground nearby. This concerns the young man, but he continues onward. He stumbles upon the eviscerated body of what he assumed was a deer. It's fairly fresh, barely a few hours old.

"Must be a pack of wolves in the area, gotta be careful then."

Taiyō keeps on walking, but the sound of a howl catches him off guard. The howl isn't a wolf's though. He's heard many wolf howls late at night, this is different. Every thing in his body is telling him to run. So he does.

Taiyō breaks off in a sprint, and he notices the sound of something chasing him. He thinks to look back, but that thought quicky leaves. He knows what's chasing him.

Another of those monsters!, Taiyō thinks to himself. This isn't good. If it's the same thing as before, there's no way he's outrunning it. Taiyō tries to think of a way out this, but is blanking on anything. A bandit is one thing, but a monster like this is beyond his capabilities. How is he... Then it hits him.

Taiyō quickly makes his way up a tree, almost falling due to his careless speed. Once safely up in a branch, Taiyō looks down and sure enough he was right. It's the same reptiaillian canine like creature that Hiroshi had saved him from. Without him, he doesn't know what to do...

The creature attempts to climb up, but Taiyō thrusts his sword down and stabs it's paw, causing it to fall down. It growls furious, making Taiyō shake from the fear.

It runs off, Taiyō thinking he's safe, releases a sigh of relief. However he hears the creatures loud steps and it's grows. Taiyō looks in the direction of the noise and sees it heading directly for him....

"It can't be...."

The creature slams it's full weight into the tree and it shakes heavily, almost causing Taiyō to fall from his branch. Not Good, he thinks. The creature runs back and does the same thing, again the tree shakes but this time Taiyō hears the sound of a crack emanating from below. Not good, he thinks. It leaves again and this time it slams into the tree and a loud crack reverberates through the forest and the tree begins to fall backwards.

"Not good! Taiyō yells

The tree falls onto the ground with a crash. Taiyō doesn't feel anything broken, but knows that might now last long as within seconds the creature is on top of him. It tries to clamp it's jaw in his neck, but Taiyō thrusts his sword into the creatures gaping maw with all his might.

The creature reels back in pain, giving Taiyō the opportunity to get off the ground and make some distance between himself and it. Taiyō knew his sword couldn't penetrate the thick scales of the beast, but it doesn't have scales inside it. His attack seems to have only angered the creature, as within a short time, it's charging at him again.

It's pounces onto him, and tries to bite onto him but Taiyō grabs the creatures head trying to stop it from ripping his throat out. Taiyō's life flashes before his eyes. He thinks his luck has run out, this is it. He's going to die.

Almost as if cut by an invisible sword, a splatter of blood shoots out the side of the creatures neck, a deep slice left afterwards. The creature reels in anger and turns it direction towards the source of attack, Taiyō doing the same.

Standing there with sword in hand, a man only a few years older than Taiyō is there. He's wearing a lamellar chest piece with on shoulder pad on his left shoulder, and wrapped just below his brown hair is a red bandana. On his face is a nonchalant look and a sly smile.

The creature charges at him, and the man quickly jumps back as it swipes at him with it's claws. It goes again, but this time the man swings his blade and cuts the creatures paw off. This causes it to yelp in what seems to be actual pain.

The creature looks down at it's now dismembered leg, and snarls in angle toward the man, slobber flying out of it's mouth.

"I'LL KILL YOU" The creature releases in a horrifying inhuman voice

"Oh? You're one of the ones that can speak? Good. Now tell me, how does that arm feel buddy!?" The man yells with a laugh

"DIE!"

It's stampedes towards him, slowed down by it's limp. The man raises his blade upwards, grasping both his hands firmly on the hilt of the uchigatana. This lasts for a few moments before the man releases a deep breath as he swings at the air. A wave of wind flys from the blade towards the creature, cleaving it's face in two, causing the beast to stumble as it runs and flip over onto the ground.

Taiyō is left speechless as the man sheathes his uchigatana with a flourish. That was... Amazing. Hiroshi hadn't done anything he could describe as supernatural, but this man just launched wind with his sword! The man begins to walk off, whistling.

"Hey!" Taiyō shouts to him

"Yeah, what's up" the man says turning to face Taiyō, who's still on the ground.

"You're a Sohei, aren't you."

"Yep."

"C.. can you teach me?!."

The man stares at Taiyō for a few seconds.

"Maybe? It depends what you have to offer me."

"What I have to offer you?"

"I'm not going to teach you for free... For now, just come with me!"

The man walks over to Taiyō and pulls him off the ground, dusting him off. He then begins walking off eastwards. Taiyō, confused, follows him.

"Names Hayate, who're you bud?"

"Taiyō."

"Good name. Why are you out here all alone?"

"I was heading to Yama no Toshi, but got sidetracked trying to run from some bandits."

"This close to the city huh? Well whatever. Why are you heading there?"

"I was told there was a place nearby where I could be trained as a Sohei."

Hayate stops for a second and looks at the ground. He then snaps his fingers.

"Very well, I'll train you if you help me with my work."

"Your work?"

"Yeah, I'm a bounty hunter. The imperial guard pay well for the heads of known bandits. That's the reason I was traveling south. I sensed an Akuma in the area though, and figured I should deal with it."

"I'm not sure if I'd be of any help."

"Any idiot with a sword is deadly. And with how long you lasted against the Akuma, you're no idiot, plus you're a big guy. That does give you an advantage."

"I'm not sure...."

"Just follow my lead and you'll be fine."

"Wait, right now?"

"Yeah. Now that I know they're in the area, finding them shouldn't be too hard."

"The forest is so large though?"

"Ah, don't worry. I got a knack for stuff like this."

The two walk through the forest for over two hours. Looking at the sun, Taiyō knows they are heading westwards, back to where he was attacked. Taiyō notices Hayate perk up slightly, as a smile grows across his face.

"There's a camp close by" Hayate says in a whisper after bringing Taiyō close "Looks to be about six men."

Six men? Even with the him being a Sohei, he doubts their ability to take on that many people.

"Are you sure?" Taiyō returns, also whispering

"Yeah, it's actually less than I'd thought it'd be. We'll be fine, just watch my back and I'll watch yours."

Taiyō reluctantly gives the man a nod. He's still very unsure of this, but figures he should trust in the power of a Sohei. Hayate adapts his walk into a much slower walk, almost like an animal on the prowl. Taiyō does his best to mimic this and follows suit.

Hayate is leaned against a tree hiding, Taiyō close by, doing the same. The man peers around the tree slightly and pulls himself back after a few seconds.

"Yeah, six, directly ahead. Looks like they're cooking, so that's good. I'm going to grab their attention. This is your first test, assist me in whatever way you can. Do well, and I'll teach you."

Taiyō nods. Hayate steps out from the tree.

"Ah, hello you fine gentlemen!" Hayate says

"Who the hell are you!" Taiyō hears one of the men yell

"Will you guys come peacefully or...." Hayate says before being cut off by a ruckus of sound "Looks like it'd be the fun way then. Fine by me!."

Taiyō hears the sound of steel clashing from behind his tree. He peers out and sees Hayate effortlessly fighting off three of the men. Another of the men is behind Hayate, near Taiyō's hiding spot, readying a bow. Taiyō quickly charges the man, suprising him and pushing him down. While he's down Taiyō stomps his head against the ground. He's not getting up for a while, Taiyō thinks.

Hayate seems fine even agaisnt the three men. Taiyō is amazed by how quickly he fights. Dodges, attacks, parries, and counters all done at speeds he didn't even know where possible. Had there only had been one man, Hayate wouldve killed him in a near instant.

The other two men who aren't engaging with Hayate notice Taiyō and begin to approach him. Taiyō notices it's the two men who accosted him at the bridge, one of them having a bad bruise of the side of his head. That man is eyeing Taiyō with murder in his eyes. Taiyō swallows as he draws his sword from it's sheath.

The two men try to quickly close the distance between them, but Taiyō maintains it. Caution is the only way he'll survive this, throw it to the wind and he's as good as dead. One of the men thrusts at him but he jumps back, barely dodging the strike in time.

Unfortunately, the bruised man took advantage of Taiyō being mid air and tackles him to the ground.

"This time, it is personal!"

He attempts to stab Taiyō with a knife, but he raises his knees directly into the man's groin, illiciting a scream of pain. The other man attempts to slash at his head, but he raises the incapacitated man in front of the slash. The man screams in dismay as he hears the sound of steel cutting through flesh on the other side.

He pushes the man off of him, grabs his sword and rolls off to the side pushing himself off the ground. The man, who just cut his comrades back, is already upon him and tries to send him to the same fate. Taiyō deflects the blow with his own sword, pain radiating into his already hurt hand.

The man attacks once more and Taiyō blocks again, but this time the pain in his hand causes him to loosen his grip, the sword flying out of his hand. As the man raises his sword again, attempting to cut him down, blood splatters across Taiyō's face as the man's head slides off his neck.

Standing behind the man is a blood covered Hayate. Taiyō guesses while he was busy fighting, Hayate finished off his opponents. The man looks at the unconscious archer and the man who's back had been sliced open. He then laughs.

"Good work, my friend."

"So, will you teach me?" Taiyō says weakly, exhausted

Hayate considers for a few seconds.

"Yeah, why not. I think you've proved yourself well enough. I'm going to deal with these bodies, for now get some rest. We'll get started tomorrow."

Taiyō does as he's told and lays down on one of the bandits beds, driftring off to sleep.

The next morning, Taiyō awakes to Hayate snoring nearby. Taiyō goes up to him and rouses him from his slumbwe.

"What do ya want..." The man says annoyed

"You said we'd start today."

"I know I did, but I didn't mean first thing in the morning... Damnit, I'm already awake I guess. Let's go."

He gets up and walks over to a box of weapons that the bandits had procured.

"First things first, we need to find a weapon that suits you better."

"Suits me better?"

"Yeah. First thing I noticed about you, is that youre tall. That's an advantage you can use. However using a wakizashi is counter productive to that. So I'm going to try and find you a longer weapon."

After a few momments of digging, Hayate whistles and says "Here we go" and pulls out a simple Nodachi, handing it to him. Taiyō inspects the sword, it's much longer than any sword he's used previously, the blade of it being a meter and a half in lenght. Counting the handle, it's nearly as tall as him.

He grips the handle with two hands and does a test swing. Despite it's lenght the sword is much lighter than he assumed and it slides through the air with ease. Yet, he knows that the weapon packs the power to easily cleave an unarmored man in two.

"I think this'll do." Taiyō says

"Yeah, me too. Before we start any specific Sohei training though, I want to get you trained in combat first. This will probably take a while, are you ready?"

"Yes!"