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scene two, the first encounter
All the samurai of the land came to train in the tall grass fields on days like these, and often times they easily could draw crowds in the hundreds... mere civilians standing on the hills surrounding the fields, watching them at work. Their long swords cutting with ease through the grass, as their movements were both fluid like water and rough like the bear.
To many, it was an incredible sight... but despite all the training, there was one samurai who stole the attention by hardly doing anything at all. He showed up one day, seemingly from the sunrise itself... a lone samurai carrying a sword on his back and a traditional Chinese farmer's hat over his head.
Some of the samurai stopped their training, turning their attention to this foreigner to their lands as he so casually made his way over a vacant hill, quietly walking onward into the tall grass. The crowds were silent as more and more samurai turned to watch the lone figure stride forward; his eyes never leaving the ground... his lips never moving--much less twitching.
Because of those times, it was considered as disrespect if you did not acknowledge a fellow samurai... it was, in a sense, a challenge for any to face him. Yet as he walked, none stepped forward... for many understood he meant no harm. Yet as with all men who hold that understanding... there is a fool who choses to remain ignorant and take that disrespect, bitterly clenching it in his fists and drawing forth his sword in defiance to the newcomer. The others watched on in silence as a single samurai stepped forward, sword drawn, and glared down at the silent newcomer.
"What is your name? Tell me it so I know the man who choses to disrespect me so!" shouted the brazen young samurai, watching this newcomer's every movement.
The samurai, as far as we know, protected the emperor during the start of this time period. He wore his title as protector proudly, always looking to better himself in order to raise ever higher up the ranks. This samurai's name was Gua Xing nu, though his fellow samurai prefered to call him 'Galen'. The nicknames samurai gave each other during the Shadow Age remain a mystery to us--we know neither their meanings nor the purpose of not calling the samurai by their given name... but this is neither here nor there.
The newcomer's voice broke the prolonged silence after the question; "You need not know my name... you need only to let me by."
"What fool would challenge a royal samurai?" muttered Gua to himself, watching as the newcomer attempted to make his way past him. Gua reached his sowrd out, pointing it for the newcomer's throat, "You may not pass through these lands, foreigner, you are not welcome here."
"It's... funny," he replied, "I was under the impression that the emperor encouraged new samurais to enter his land. As a matter of fact..."
"Enough, draw your sword if you wish to stay, for you must face me to have that honor!" Gua yelled, pushing the tip of his sword ever-closer to the samurai's throat.
It was over before it ever even began, as both civilian and samurai alike gasped in wonder. The new samurai flew like the dragon, his sword drawn in an instant and plunged through the shoulder of Gua. Blood would spray forth from the wound, as the newcomer withdrew his sword and slung the blood off of it, the stunned Gua standing in silence as he slowly turned his head towards the fresh wound, blood pumping down his arm.
His eyes closed slowly after that, as he allowed the pain to overtake him... refusing to give his foe the priveledge of hearing him scream. Gua was a proud samurai, but when the sword cut through his shoulder, he'd already known to give in.
There were others, of course, who remained ignorant as well.
"Aggressor! How dare you wound the emperor's samurai?! How can you claim honor when you attack a man so swiftly that he has no time to prepare?" cried a closer samurai, whose full name was Ao An tan. Records indicate that he too had a nickname amongst his fellow samurai, and that it was 'Ethan'. He was a legend amongst the samurai, but he was also very brazen... and it was because of this that he so irrationally charged for the newcomer to the land.
The story says that when he charged for this newcomer, however, thunder rumbled in the clear skies above. This new samurai turned his head to face the legend, and the very moment the two locked eyes it was the legend who slowed to a halt before him. With his eyes closed softly, the new samurai plunged his sword forward once again, hitting the precise same area in the shoulder as he had with Gua.
It yeilded the same results, as Ao's shocked eyes wandered to the pumping wound on his shoulder, his hand shakily coming up to clutch it before he fell to the earth, passing out from the pain.
It is believed that the Wandering Samurai had found a method of making his opponents pass out with a single stab of his sword... it was, of course, a non-lethal blow, however it did enough damage to render the injured arm useless for months before it completed healing.
This was the first of his feats that would make the Wandering Samurai famous, for in taking out a samurai who protected the very emperor of the land in one solid, unblocked strike was an amazing accomplishment. There were simply some things no samurai ever dreamed to accomplish, so when the Wandering Samurai did so... it opened up the gateway for others to stand up against the power-hungry samurai of the lands.
His first month in the land was perhaps the greatest of them all for the land itself, because it was a sign that everything would soon improve again.