Me and Narazu woke up in a village, in Crab lands I think,
never can tell they all start to look alike after awhile.
	So like I was saying, Me and Narazu woke up in this village we
were travelling to Yasuki Yashiki to talk with an employer, we're
ronin you see, and the Yasuki tend to pay well for mercenaries.
	About a month ago a messenger had found us and informed us
that a major Yasuki daimyo wanted us for a job.  Well we were headed
off to go see him right away, cause Yasuki lands were in the opposite
direction that those magistrates that were chasing us were, so it
seemed like the thing to do.
	"Oi, Akunin I think somethings up."
	"Eh, what do you mean Narazu.  I'm in the middle of
something," Narazu pointed to a group of Crab bushi up ahead of us,
"You don't think they're after us, do?"
	"Can't say.  At least they don't look angry," Narazu replied
optimisticly.
	"I suppose we should go talk to them," I said more for my own
sake then expecting a reply, "Hey, would you happen to know if we're
near Yasuki Yashiki?"
	The Crabs turned and glared at me, I think I hit a nerve.  "Oh
yes, you're very near it.  What do you want there?"
	"We are to meet an employer there.  Has anything happened?" in
my experience the only thing worse than an angry Crab, is a Drunk
angry Crab, "The employer I'm looking for is called Yasuki Burei."
	At that the Crabs stopped glaring at me and talked amongst
themselves for a few minutes and just as me and Narazu had figured out
the quickest way to get away from the Crab patrol they replied, "We
know where Yasuki Burei is.  He doesn't live in Yasuki Yashiki
anymore.  Follow us."  So we followed the Crabs.  They lead us down to
what looked like a military base.
	"Um, excuse me.  Am I to believe that the Yasuki we're looking
for is a soldier."
	"Nope, he's a merchant," those Crabs always right to the
point, no guff.  Still the fact that a Yasuki merchant-lord who
currently lived in a military camp was a touch disheartening.  I was
starting to think this wasn't a simple extortion job.  I like simple
extortion jobs, you go in beat up some merchants, maybe some eta, get
the money, go home.  An honest buck really.  But this, this was
starting to look like, cringe, a military posting.
	We had reached the tent where this 'merchant' resided.  It
looked like an armoury, polearms rested on racks all about the tent.
Then the merchant arrived.  He looked more or less how I envisioned
him, portly, well dressed, and surrounded by guards.  "You would be
Akunin and Narazu I believe?"
	"Yeah, that's us.  I'm Akunin and this," motioning to my
comrade, "is Narazu.  We are here seeking work from one Yasuki Burei."
	"Excellent, let us get right down to business then," he leared
at us.  When a merchant lears at you, especially a Yasuki one, you
were in trouble.  You had past the point of no return, he owned you.
"I need you to do a job for me.  I have been authorized to give you
fealty upon completion of this task.  Now if you'll..."
	"Hold on a minute!  What exactly is this job that we'll be
given fealty for?!" I interupted.
	"As I was saying if you'll follow me into the next room I will
tell you what it is you are to do," and without further ado he walked
into the next room, we followed him.  The next room had a large
central table which had a map on it, and cushions surrounding the
table.  "We are here," he pointed to the map were the figure of a crab
was, "the Crane are here," he pointed to the crane figure, which I
noted was sitting on top of Yasuki Yashiki, "and a group of bandits
are here," he pointed to a mountainous region near Sunda Mizu Mura,
"We want you 2 to go deal with the bandits."
	I blinked.  "Just the 2 of us?  No support?"
	"Yes.  Thats right"
	"Are there many bandits?" I asked perplexed.
	"We believe so.  We have no troops to spare if thats what
you're getting at."
	"Right then.  Now that we know this we either get to go do it
or you'll kill us, right?"
	"Ah, you've done this before," the Yasuki seemed quite happy.
I hate merchants.

	So there we were, leaving the Crab camp off to fight some
bandits.  The Crab were even so thoughtful as to refuse any payment
until we returned with proof of the dead bandits and gave us an escort
to make sure we went to the right place.  How the bandits opperated
out of such a barren area was beyond me, personally I've always found
that banditry worked best out of forests and ditches.
	The Crab escort left days ago, unfortunately neither me nor
Narazu knew how to leave these mountains. So we decided that if we
come across the bandits before we get out of the mountians we'd get
rid of them, otherwise these mountians bordered Crane, Sparrow and
Scorpion lands so I think we'll manage.  As is the norm with us the
second we come up with a good idea, it goes wrong.
	The bandits attacked.  Actually it was not so much an attack
as surrounding us with drawn weapons and telling us to drop our
valuables.  "Ha, jokes on you we don't Have any valuables!" Narazu
should learn to keep his mouth shut, must be the Mantis in him.
Anyways the bandits didn't like our response, so they rushed us.
	Me and Narazu weaved and dodged our way through the bandits
attacks.  "Hey now.  No need to get so pushy," I said as I tumbled to
one side as an ono cleaved the air where I had been.
	"Akunin!  You think we should honour that decision of ours?"
Narazu shouted in between dodging swords.
	"Suppose so.  Not much choice really.  Oh well," before I
finished talking Narazu had already lodged a knife into one bandit's
face and driven another into the chest of another.  The other bandits
seemed shocked at this so none noticed it when I cut one down with an
Iaijutsu strike and decapitated another on the back swing.
	Upon further inspection there seemed to be only 12 bandits
present, hardly enough to be a threat to the Crab.  "Narazu keep some
alive!" I belowed over the clamour.  There were now only 6.  Narazu
whipped out a tonfa and cracked one of the bandits in the side of the
head.  The rest of the fight was over so quick I have trouble
discribing it.

	**************************************************

	"Hey Akunin.  I think he's coming round," the bandit Nakazu
had cracked across the head earlier came to clutching his head.
Nakazu loomed over him with a knife held by the bandit's neck.
	"Welcome back to the land of the living.  I suggest you assist
us by telling us where your friends are," I leared at him, hand on my
katana, "my friend here can keep you alive for hours.  Its not very
pretty," I smiled as I moved closer.  Nakazu pressed the knife close
enough to draw blood, for effect, I think.
	"A-a.  D-don't kill me!  I'll tell you what you want to
know!!"
	"That's good," I replied smiling devilishly.

	"So this is the place," I said looking at what I must admit
was one of the more impresive bandit hideouts I'd ever seen, and I've
seen more than most magistrates.  "Well, best get to it."  I knocked
on the door.  A minute or two went by.  Then the doors rumbled open,
revealing a large group of bandits and their towering leader.
	"Akunin they have an Oni," Nakazu stated flatly.
	"Yes... I see."  I mouthed to Nakazu, "I don't think we can
take an Oni."  Nakazu noded.
	So we did what works best.  We ran.  The bandits, predictably,
made persuit.  So did the Oni.  "I think we can get the bandits
dispatched before the Oni catches up!" I shouted to Nakazu.  He nodded
and spun around and threw a pair of knives into the bandits, felling
two.  I pulled out a handfull of shuriken and started throwing them.
	18 of them managed to get past our barrage.  They charged us,
I drew my sword and batted aside a pair of yari, closed the gap and
started cutting them down.  Narazu was busy with a tanto in one hand
and a tonfa in the other.  Narazu, as usual was drawing most of the
attacters and had become quite injured by the time all the bandits
were dead.  "You know Akunin that Oni should be here soon," Narazu
grumbled as he proped himself up against a tree.
	"Yup, you should bandage those wounds," I replied turning
around, "Ah, here he is."
	"YOU KILLED THEM ALL!  I SHALL KILL YOU FOR THIS INSULT!" the
Oni roared.
	"He looks pissed Nakazu, think I should use The Sword?" I
asked.
	"I don't know," Nakazu answered looking at the Oni carefully.
	"WHAT!"
	"You don't want me to use The Sword."
	"Yeah, trust me it gets ugly when he uses The Sword," Narazu
pipped in.
	The Oni took half a step back shifted his eyes from one of us
to the other, "THIS IS RIDICULOUS.  YOU BOTH DIE, NOW!" the Oni rushed
at me.  I drew my katana from its saya before it had its arm cocked
back and the Oni's head was on the ground before its strike landed.
"THAT KATANA...."
	Flame flickered down the blade.  "Yeah, would you believe some
monks had this wasting in a shrine.  Its a good thing I stole it.  The
monks got in the way so I had to kill them, but what are you gonna
do," I said with a smirk.
	"I AM DEFEATED BY SUCH PEOPLE?  IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE...." the
Oni finally died.
	"Thought he'd never die," Narazu said tieing off the last
bandage, "So we going back to the Crab?"
	"I don't know.  I think we'd end up doing this whole Oni-
killing thing more often."  I pulled out a sack.
	"What about an alternate payment."
	"I don't know.  How much do you think we can get for this," I
said puting the Oni's head in the sack.
	"Few hundred koku to the right Crab."
	"Well, why are we sticking around here.  Theres all that good
loot in that bandit base," I said with a smile.