Yarikawa - 1500 AD

A mysterious man enters the gates of the village of Yarikawa. He wears a sort of samurai gear, the sort made for agility and speed. He carries a katana slung across his back, it's guard black and white in colour.

People stare at the man as he passes by them, many stay away from him.

The man soon reaches a tiny shop, the shop-keeper notices him.

"Aah, welcome. Is there anything you'd like to purchase?" Asked the shop-keeper.

"Oh.. Uh, no. I'm looking for this man, and my client told me you'd know where he is." Said the man, his voice young yet alert.

The shop-keeper was a bit intimidated by the man's katana.

"I see, then could I see whom you wish to find?" Asked the shop-keeper.

"Absolutely."

The man reaches into his bag and pulls out a sheet of paper, a man's picture is visible on the sheet. The man hands it to the shop-keeper and once he sees the face, he's shocked.

"You're looking for Ryusei?"

"Yes, I have some business with him. Do you know where I could find him?" Asked the man.

"I see, he's currently out of town , Sir. I sent him to get the goods I had ordered for my shop, he'll be back in a few days." Replied the shop-keeper.

The man raises one of his eye brows.

"You resemble Ryusei alot, are you two related?" He asked.

The shop-keeper gives him an awkward smile "Why yes! I am Ryusei's older brother, my name i-"

"Huh, older brother? I was informed that Ryusei was an only child." The man interrupted the shop-keeper.

Beads of sweat started to run down the shop-keeper's face, he's nervous, he doesn't know how to respond to what the man just stated. He didn't think the man would be that well-informed and made up that lie to throw him off.

"Ahh, well y-you see.. " The shop-keeper tried to formulate a sentence, only for no words to come out.

"Go on." The man smirked and spoke.

The Shop-keeper was at a loss for words, he had been caught. He thought of running away from this person.

"Thinking of running, are we?" The man snarkingly asked.

With no words spoken, the Shop-keeper rushed out his shop and away from the man. "A response would have been polite." He said and immediately started running after the Shop-keeper.

The Shop-keeper ran and ran, he bumped into people and pushed away those in his way, hoping to escape from this person, stumbling over carts, crates and boxes loaded with supplies and what not. After running for sometime he looked around to see if the man was still pursuing him, he did not see the man around.

"Hehe, seems like I was too fast for him." Commented the Shop-keeper.

"Really?" The man suddenly appeared behind the Shop-keeper.

The Shop-keeper turned around and saw him and yelled, he started to run away once again.

"Seems like this guy has no manners." The man spoke and started to walk in the direction the Shop-keeper was running.

The Shop-keeper had been running for what seemed to be minutes, he was now outside of Yarikawa, at his house.

"Seems like the man stopped chasing me. Hahaha, what a fool." The Shop-keeper said as he entered his house.

He slides the door only to see the man, sitting on the floor, eating an apple. He looks at the Shop-keeper.

"Oh, you arrived, Took you long enough. Seems like this game of cat and mouse has gone on for quite some time, so what do you say we wrap this up, eh?" The man asked as he threw a bottle at the Shop-keeper, knocking him out.

Sometime later.

The Shop-keeper's eyes started to flutter open, he was waking up. He fully opens his eyes to see himself hanging from a tree right above a fire. He starts to scream.

"AHHHHHH, HELP ME! SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP ME!"

"Oh shut up. No one's going to be able to hear you here, we're far away from Yarikawa y'know." The man spoke, he'd captured the Shop-keeper and tied him up with rope and hung him from the tree above a fire.

"P-please let me, I-I'll do anything you tell me to do,I'll answer anything you a-ask of me, just l-let me go, please." The Shop-keeper pleaded with the man.

The man finished his rice balls and spoke "Anything, huh? Then could you tell me the answer to this?" He pulled out a scroll and layed it down on the floor, he snapped his fingers and a mist-like projection appeared.

"W-what is this?" Asked the confused Shop-keeper.

"You tell me."

The mist started to turn into dead bodies strewn across a floorboard, 2 children and 1 woman holding the 2 dead children in her own lifeless arms, blood oozing out of their lifeless bodies. The Shop-keeper looked horrified at what he was seeing, but as he looked closer he could make out the faces of the mother and her children, he knew who they were.

"I-I don't k-know w-who they a-are." The Shop-keeper lied, he knew who they were, and who did this.

"Lying, are we?" The man replied.

"Ryusei did this, and by the look your face, you know that too, don't you.. Ryusei?"

The Shop-keeper's face went pale, he started to sweat even more, the man knew who he was.

"W-what do you want?" Asked the now identified, Ryusei.

"Well it's not me who wants something to do with you, it's the person who's wife an children you killed." Said the man.

Ryusei gulped, he knew he was in trouble and there was no way out of this.

"Please, it was just for some money. I was ordered to kill the-"

"Oh, I know. I already killed the man who asked you to kill them, but my client also wanted you to die." The man interrupted him again.

Ryusei had no way out, no one to turn to, they weren't even in Yarikawa anymore so screaming for help was useless.

The man pulled out his katana from its sheathe.

"Hey, at least you might have a chance to go to heaven.... Or maybe not, who knows?" The man joked.

"Oh yea, when you see your family in hell, tell them Takamura sent you." Said the now identified, Takamura.

This enraged Ryusei. He knew Takamura, a boy who his family had hurt and wronged greatly, but now he knew who had killed his family.

"TAKAMURA, YOU BA-" Ryusei's words were put to a halt one the blade sliced through his neck, allowing his head to fall into the fire and burn.

"Huh, well I didn't even need to say shut up."

Takamura remarked.

He took out another scroll from his bag, and swiped at it after he opened it.

A mist erupted from the scroll and formed a face.

"Ryusei has been killed, like you asked me to." Takamura spoke.

"Well done, that puts an end to the man who took my family away from me. Come back to the Red Temple. You can claim your payment there." The face spoke and went back into the scroll.

"Didn't even wait for me to reply." Takamura put the scroll back in his bag and start to walk towards the Red Temple.

His job, completed.