Wherever the wind takes me...

[YAMAMOTO RYOJIRO]

It was a captivating morning in the lands of Iyo. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The sun was raising itself from it's bed on the horizon, scaring away the pestering clouds surrounding her in the process. The trees fed off her radiance, and the birds were singing songs of happiness and joy.

While this was going on, a man named Ryojiro Yamamoto was walking up a hill. Ryojiro was pleased when the sun began to hug him. The rays of light sat on his straw hat and traveled down his garments as he continued walking until he was bathing in the sun's rays. It wasn't everyday that he was able to witness such a beautiful sunrise.

Iyo is truly something special. He said.

As Ryojiro walked through the countryside, he was fascinated by the various different crops that he saw as he passed by. He saw children playing gleefully while the adults were collecting their harvests of sugar cane. Not too far away, he saw green tea crops. He was surprised, since he never seen these crops could grow together in one area. However, what surprised him the most was the amount of rice crops in the area. After walking for about a mile, he found himself surrounded by rice crops as far as the eye could see.

It seems that rice is the specialty of the people here. Ryojiro said.

Ryojiro kept walking until he saw a large tree to rest under. He sat under the tree, and he took off his straw hat. He pulled out his pipe and began to smoke from it. He had a long night, and he thought it was time to get some rest. Ryojiro looked into the horizon, and he contemplated quietly.

[AKAHANA CHIYO]

Hidai walked the long path of the Iyo countryside. He was not a man to care for such small things. Others would stop and gaze upon it lie a wonder. He merely shook it from thought and walked his face with no trace of emotion. With the morning sun rising he sighed in disgust, he himself preferring the dark. Finding mornings long and boring.

With all this going threw his head he had forgotten he had not eaten since yesterday afternoon. What reminded him was a disgusting growl that came from his stomach. With that the aching pain that followed it. Although feeling all this he did not show it one bit. Gaze coming upon a hill top watching a man sit as another man came down the path. A disfigured dirt path that had seen many travelers in its day. The man coming down the road was a farmer taking some food home he had just gathered from the market up the road.

The farmer was halted by Hidai, sword at throat. Not his katana but instead he had drew his wakizashi as a threat never unsheathing his katana first. "W-what do you thi-" Before able to finish the mans throat had gushed red silk. Hidai sighed whipping the blood from his wakizashi than sheathing it back. He found 5 yen and a bag of rice on the man along with a doll which must have been a present for a daughter an also a letter. Hidai put everything into his kimono top and than looked at the body "pitiful..." speaking as if he knew the man.

His head did not move only his eyes shifted up to the man upon the hill. It was a silent warning to stay out of Hidai's way while he got ready to go back on his way. The last thing he wanted was some guy wanting to play hero.

[YAMAMOTO RYOJIRO]

Ryojiro was contemplating quietly into the horizon until he heard the sound of a blade going through human flesh. He shifted his attention down the hill. He saw what seemed to be another ronin and a farmer.

He knew something was wrong when he saw blood gushing out the farmer's neck. He then saw what had done the deed. He saw the ronin clean the blood off his wakizashi . Ryojiro did not think that the farmer did anything to deserve death. Ryojiro's suspicions were confirmed the moment he saw that ronin take the small amount of yen the man had, along with a bag of rice and a doll. The farmer seemed to be on his way home, until his life was abruptly cut short.

Ryojiro was not sure if the ronin killed the farmer due to need or just for his own entertainment, but after thinking it further, why bother trying to figure the man out? There was no real reason to kill a family man, be it for pleasure of need. The man down the hill turned his attention to Ryojiro after he had pillage the sad soul. By the look on the man's face, not only did he not care of the man's death, but he was trying to scare Ryojiro away. It would seem, after looking at the the ronin, that the reason that he killed the farmer was mostly out of disdain for him. He thought the farmer was inferior. Ryojiro was not phased in the slightest by the man's attempt to show superiority. Ryojiro always hated men like the one staring at him.

That man emits only disdain and lack of emotion. Ryojiro thought.

Under normal circumstances, I would just kill him without explanation, just like he ended that man's life. I don't try to hear their foolish explanations for their actions, for they just are a combination of empty words and false resolve. Ryojiro continued.

But today, I guess I can change the pace. Ryojiro said to himself.

Ryojiro rose up from the comfort of the grass below him and began to walk towards the ronin. He was eager to see the ronin's reaction.