By Da Wolfie Gal

Miyamoto Usagi sat with his friend, Gennosuke, stoking the small campfire they had built. A fish was staked above the fire, sending a heavenly aroma to the stomachs of the two hungry samurai. Gennosuke, or Gen, had been complaining about the lack of excitement on their journey and Usagi had listened with patient amusement.

"You know, Gen, there are plenty of places for you to find excitement. The local inn looked rough enough for a few brawls," Usagi informed his friend with a grin.

"Yes, but fighting with locals, no matter where, is the same. Once you've defeated one local, you defeated them all." Gen, threw a small, dry twig into the burning flames. Neither warrior looked directly at the fire, too wary of enemies around them to risk an unclear vision from staring at a bright light for too long. Both had an overabundance of enemies, as well as friends.

After eating, both samurai lay down, intending to rest after a hard day's walk. The stream nearby bubbled along merrily, soothingly, lulling the warriors to sleep. Yet they did not sleep long. Usagi awoke first, the sounds of merry shouts penetrating his slumber. The shouts of encouragement he heard was followed almost immediately by the sound of an injured animal.

"What is that infernal noise, long-ears?" grumbled Gen, sitting and stretching lazily.

"Someone is mistreating something. Hear the sounds of distress?" Usagi tied his shirt back into some semblance of order and placed his swords in their customary positions in his belt.

"I suppose you're going to go play hero now?" asked Gen grumpily, but also readying himself.

"You wanted excitement," reminded Usagi, gazing into the woods where the sounds continued, growing louder and closer by the minute. "Here it is." Gen grunted in acknowledgement and the two warriors headed to the disturbance.

A tokage came tearing out of the darkness, ki-yi-ing in pain and fright. Blood dripped from various wounds inflicted by the three drunk bullies that followed it shortly afterward. Usagi felt his muscles tighten. These weren't ordinary drunks; they too were ronin, masterless samurai. It seemed they had nothing better to do than to torture a small animal.

"Hah!" cried one of the ronin, dog-like in appearance, throwing a rock at the cowering creature. The tokage eeped and ran behind a tree, peeking around to discover the whereabouts of it's tormenters. Since Usagi and Gen both had a soft spot for the lizards, they both knew a lot about them. Usagi judged this tokage to be a female. The scratch marks on her stomach showed that she had children who liked to claw at her as she fed them. Gen judged the tokage as young and possibly once a pet.

I believe she understood that you didn't like her," Gen told the trio.

"You might want to leave her alone now. She won't bother you again."

The trio looked from Gen to Usagi and began to laugh uproariously. "Why should we listen to you? You mean nothing to us!" The one who spoke was ugly; scars from battle marred his face and hands, which were clawed like a fox's. Several of the scars looked like burns from fire or acid. Usagi nodded to the tokage. "Maybe I like her and wish her for a pet. Either way, the fun's over and it's time you moved along."

"Says you, friend. We say the fun is just beginning!" The small, fat feline samurai who spoke rushed at Usagi, who pushed him using the charging warrior's momentum into the tree directly behind Usagi. The samurai groaned and sat down heavily, but was not unconscious. Usagi immediately turned from him, though, pulled his katana to fend off an attack, leaving the wakizashi in its place at his side. The sound of clashing swords rung through the quiet wooded area.

The tokage, sensing that Usagi and Gen were her allies, attacked the tree-felled samurai, biting the mercenary's arm. Moving quickly, she then bit the warrior's leg, continue this until the ambushed samurai managed to grab the young creature's tail and throw her away from him.

Angry that he had been made a fool of so easily by such an unknown person, the samurai grabbed Usagi from behind, allowing his friend to begin beating Usagi. Belatedly, Usagi realized that these samurai no longer cared for honor or the code of bushido. His own humiliation at being subdued so quickly engulfed him, but his natural spirit broke through, causing him to struggle. The blows from the other's fists were causing him to grow weary and the blows were creating bruises and scratches that seemed to take a lot of energy and fight from the warrior rabbit.

Gen had been faring much better, despite his opponent's skill. Gen had no reason to believe that his opponent would fight honorably, and after a few moves that would have caused a samurai to be condoned as dishonorable, Gen began to fight dirty too. Seeing an opening left by the overconfident samurai, Gen took advantage of it, thrusting his katana's blade sideways, slicing the fox-like opponent's arm clean off. The fox screamed in pain and fell over, bleeding copiously into the dirt.

Gen turned at the sound of Usagi's grunts and struggles. In horror, he saw he was too late to stop Usagi being tossed into the fast moving stream. Usagi surfaced immediately, but the current was too swift for him to fight it in his beaten condition. Usagi's attackers, believing that their comrade had disabled the other interfering person, were slowly turning to their companion, only to find Gen rushing at the them at full speed, katana raised high and screaming his battle cry.

The large rhino had them hacked down in a heartbeat. In Gen's anger, the stood no chance of surviving. Gen did not stop but continued running along the streambed, followed by the frightened tokage. She eeped and whined as she raced beside Gen. Usagi's head bobbed in and out of the water, calling to Gen to help him.

"Long-ears, I'm coming. Keep swimming!" shouted Gen. He tripped over the tokage, got up and continued running.

The tokage raced further ahead, eeping furiously, determined to help her saviors. She knew something dangerous was ahead and though she wasn't an intelligent animal, she understood that rabbits didn't swim very well. And rhinos barely swam at all.

Usagi was having enough problems keeping his head above water in his weakened state, let alone trying to swim to shore. He had some confidence that Gen would think of something quickly. The roaring sound in his ears though, he soon realized, wasn't water rushing into them. It was water rushing even faster ahead of him.

Gen had managed to gain ground in front of Usagi and was grimly determined to grab his friend as he swept underneath a bridge. Gen stumbled onto the rope bridge, swearing under his breath at the skimpy contraption. The tokage tried to follow but couldn't keep her balance well enough to feel safe. She stayed on land and eeped encouragement at the rhino.

Gen could see Usagi up the river a short way. Anchoring his legs in the rope, he swung down, water splashing his face and getting his upper body drenched from the river surf. Usagi saw what his friend intended and began to work his way over for Gen to grab him as the current rushed by. Usagi almost made it. Gen had his hand for a second or two. The strong current was stronger than the stubborn rhino and the tough white rabbit disappeared past the bridge.

Gen disentangled himself, reached the bank and followed the already charging tokage. The waterfall ahead offered no help and only grief, Gen saw. In despair, the rhino watched as his friend's long white ears disappeared over the waterfall. Perched precariously on a rock outcropping, tokage and warrior searched the surf below for any sign of an emerging, drenched rabbit warrior. They saw none.

Gen sighed forlornly, jumped from the rock to the bank and quickly made his way down to where the waterfall turned into a quiet, peaceful stream again. There was still no sign of Miyamoto Usagi. "Ah, young one, where could he have gone?" The tokage whined, a piteous sound that wrenched at Gennosuke's heart. "Surely his body at least would surface. A warrior such as him deserves better than a watery grave, if he is indeed dead." The tokage sniffed around, much like a dog, giving Gen the impression that she searched for the lost samurai's scent in which to prove the death false.

After long moments, she seemed to find none and became despondent once more. Gen camped there the night through, keeping an eye on both banks, still hoping. When morning broke, however, Gen knew no hope. The tokage followed him as he traveled on, both heavy in heart. "Well, young one, I hope you don't mind a name. Since he fought so bravely for you, it is only fitting you bear his legacy. Come, Usagi, let's find some food and a temple to offer a prayer to our departed friend." The two walked to the nearest village Gen knew of, heavy of heart and soul.

"I wonder how in came to be in the water?" The two woodcutters, monkey-like in appearance, dragged a white rabbit, looking as if he were part of the warrior-class, complete with katana and wakizashi. The samurai groaned and coughed water. "Are you okay, ronin?" asked the wood-cutter, nudging his wife away in case of danger.

"Ronin? I am ronin?" The warrior looked confused.

"I guess so. What is your name, ronin?" the woodcutter asked uncertainly.

"I'm unsure, but Miyamoto comes to mind." The warrior automatically reached for his swords, confident that they would be there, like good friends always are.