Kou was not surprised by Kazuma's silence. He did not need friends, they made you weak.. made you hesitate, made you regret. Although she was nice in her fashion, with that young hopefully face that saw the world in one shade: A giant shining ball of happiness. Deep down she knew as well as all did that the world was not kind, nor was it cruel. The world simply was.

Kou quietly listened not wanting to interrupt Kana. He nodded showing he was paying attention to her, as honestly he did not mind talking about such things. Two days would be long if everyone in the group wished to play the strong silent type, which was over-rated "What would you do with this freedom Kana-chan? How would you eat? where would you go? how would you survive? Women in this world can have two jobs. You can become a Geisha, or you can, pardon the crudeness, work on your back. Is that freedom? If that is, than I want no part in it."

But he wouldst comment on friendship. To not be alone, he would never admit it but that was a blow to the stomach. He had honestly never had a friend, as Samurai children never had time to make friends. They spent their time training not socializing. If he wasnt training his body; he was sitting in a small room with an ancient man training his mind. Friendship was in stories, friendship was what happened to other people; it was how the miserable peasants survived their day to day lives relying on each other and foolishly believing they would be rewarded for the hardships they endured in the next life.

Thankfully his brooding was interrupted by a new entree into the conversation, Ankoko. He almost gowned in annoyance when he realized he was the one type of man he despised. The stupid brutish kind. "If you kill merely for the reason to kill, can you even be considered a Man? or are you merely an animal?" Kou replied. It was a simple question but he doubted the brutish man could comprehend it, although at least his Japanese wasn't too bad.

"Good? Evil? There is no such things. You are merely deluding yourself in believing yourself independent. Lets for amusement sake decide Good and Evil do exist. What is Good? What is Evil? Is evil surrendering towards your basic human instincts of fear, desire, greed, and rage, and than acting upon them? If so than what is Good? is it facing down your basic instincts with compassion, sympathy, charity, and Justice? Raising above yourself for the betterment of the common man? for if that is the definition than you are evil and so am I." It was simple philosophy, one argued over over by thousands. and it is something that would always be argued over. He paused before turning his head and smiling back at the brutish man "It is said that those who are evil believe themselves to not be. If what you say is true, than that saying perhaps is true"

"We are all animals, Kou-san, each and every one of us," Kazuma said, after a long pause. "If you refuse to accept new views on things, then how can you better yourself in your own interpretation of reality? Forgive me, but I shall not speak if you choose to undermine everything I say and others say, Kou-san."

There were many things Kazuma would have liked to say, but so far, everything anybody had said to Kou-san was twisted and broken by Kou-san's response. They were getting nowhere in their conversation at all, and Kazuma was growing frustrated by the evident ignorance Kou-san was portraying. It was fine that one had a different opinion, but if they were stubborn and didn't actively listen to another's opinion, then they were ultimately defeating themselves.

"Freedom is the ability to act on one's choices, nothing more, nothing less," Kazuma murmured, more to Kana than anybody else, but it was in answer to everybody's questions. He lapsed into silence, concentrating on the road. He didn't want to speak any more, for he would grow even more frustrated with how Kou-san reacted to everything, that he would end up doing something that he regretted. So, he chose just to listen.

Ankoku nodded to Kazuma-san's words, "Yes, all of us animals. Some of us in denial, I think." He directed at Kou, "Do not pretend to know why I kill, Kou-san, and why are you now repeating what I have only just said? That good and evil are false, illusions that the great majorities of people use to make their causes and beliefs seem more noble, or more terrible. I do not claim to be any better than anyone else, simply different." Yajuu snorted as if in disagreement, but didn't look at any of the humans, just kept trying to pull Ankoku further ahead of the group.

"And as for my independence, where is the delusion? What binds me? Aside from Yajuu, I have no companions that I throw away my freedoms for. And I do not stay in any one place, ever. I move from here to there, whenever I want, and wherever I want. If some fool tries to stop me while on my course, I will cut him down. When I am hungry, I take food. When I am thirsty, I take water. When I am with lust, though I try and find one that is willing first, I take a woman. Unless you mean to imply that it is our physical needs and desires that imprison us, than I am the epitomy of freedom." Ankoku smirked back at Kou, whom he had pulled away from by the large wolf, "I do what I choose. I am like every other animal. Of course, I am not choosing to be pulled away from you now, but I do choose to stay with Yajuu. Therefore it is by choice that I am made dependent. An independent choice to become dependent, no?"

Ankoku was actually enjoying the clash of words with Kou, and it was obvious on his face. Clearly he wasn't the dumb brute that he had been mistaken as.

“That is the point of being human Kazuma-san. To control such basic animal urges and not to surrender to them.” He enjoyed Kazumas weak views. He would have made a terrible politician, so it was well he was a ronin. In his youth there was nothing Kou enjoyed more than philosophy, his brother was always the better warrior.

“My Kazuma-san, all I hear is you denying my views. What I do is take your views and debate over them countering them with my beliefs. You refuse to defend your own, which is your weakness not mine.” He continued. Kou did not do this to undermine others it was simply a way to past time which was working well as the day had past further, and soon it would be time to make camp.

He turned to the dumb brute that seemed to be as slow as originally viewed. It was not a man, the mutt had more humanity in it, and it even smelled better. “I know why you kill Ankoku-san. You are like so many others I have met. You are nothing special. You fight because you know nothing else. I have met many of your kind, but tell me can you be human and have freedom? No. You are not a human, you are an animal. You show no control over your base emotions, you let them rule you because you are in love with the tiny pleasures of life. That simple animalism is a chain all on its own. You have no goal in life, you have no purpose. You are not living; you are merely a mockery of life.” He smiled softly, “Tell me how it feels to live a shell of a life?”

His steps were always even. He laid his hand on his blade because he knew people like Ankoku. They were stupid, and he would take no chances with him. He had no doubt he had a very good chance of killing this Ronin, but also knew that he could lose. He would not fight unless Ankoku showed aggression because Kou had nothing to gain from the horrible smelling brute.

Ankoku turned around, walking backwards to face Kou-san, "Again you call me 'animal', and again, I am in complete agreement. Please cease in repeating the same lines in variations, for I have already admitted to it. I am not human, and I have freedom, maybe not your idea of freedom, but I have it nonetheless. And clearly you deny being an animal, you think yourself human? You think yourself free? Because you are not humane, deluded Kou-san, because the humane have no cares for such fleeting and futile things as you, and value human life. I am not humane, nor human, at least not often..." Anymore., he thought to himself, then Ankoku spun around, trailing behind Yajuu, now at the front of the group, next to Kohaku-san, and continued, "And I fight, Kou-san, because it is all I have ever known, and when I tried to escape it, tried to become 'human', and make a home, violence came to me. My home was taken, along with all the things, and the other one within. And so I slaughtered those responsible. Certainly, I come from a warlike people, the Mongols, in a land where the crops are plowed with the weaponry of the victorious and watered by the blood of the fallen, but that is why I came here, to these lands, only to find that this place was no better than the last."

He turned to face Kou-san again, "I am in love with the tiny pleasures in life, but you are in no position to criticize that, or else why would you care so much for gold and so little for human life? As for goals, yours is nothing magnificent, for it is only your next payment. Is that life? Are you living? Or are you the mockery?" Ankoku had a crazed smile on his face, his dark eyes glinting in the setting sunlight, "You ask how it feels to live a shell of a life, even though you already know the answer." He said, a finger raised at Kou-san, "So how does it feel?" Ankoku had long since noticed the hand on the blade, but knew Kou-san would not draw, because he was so foolish as to only fight for payment, and there was none to be gained in an attempt on Ankoku's life. Kou-san would probably not even be able to fight for pride.

In truth, Kana had started to melt away during the conversation. She was not interested in interjecting, as doing so would only make others disagree without real reason. Everyone had their own way of living from what she could tell, and now Kou-san and Ankoku-san were in the middle of baring their teeth against one another for it. She trailed behind the two, as she had slowly backed up during the conversation, and she was studying the both of them while their backs were turned.

Again she realized how huge Ankoku-san was, and she had no idea what in the world a Mongol was. Kou-san, although smaller, looked more steady, and very sure of himself, he was a quiet storm in the face of an angry wolf.

Kana sped up her pace to come up next to Kou-san's side, the side he kept his sword on. "Kou-san, I think that it is better to simply let this matter drop is it not? Ankoku-san has his way of living, and you yours. Can either be considered wrong if you are still standing? While we're at it, maybe we should keep it that way." Kana had gently place her fingertips on Kou's hand, as if urging him to let his sword go for now. The last thing they needed was for a fight to take place while they had yet to begin their mission. But from what Kana did not know, their journey would begin much sooner, as eyes were watching them from the side of the dirt road.

Kana let her hand fall back to her side as she looked to her left, she felt odd, why was that robed person looking so tense, as if about to strike? She could not see his face, it was hidden by his hat.

Kana decided to ignore, it, an unwise choice, as he suddenly leapt up, taking Kana by suprise and holding a knife to her throat, but not grabbing a hold of her. He simply stopped her moving forward, and she certainly stopped. He was keeping a safe distance apparently. As on the other side, a couple of his 'buddies' leapt up as well.

"A couple of them look like they have cash at least." One of them commented. they were ambushers. "Draw your swords and I cut the lady's throat."

“My my Anokou-san did I hit a sore spot?” Kou said with a soft smile. “I did not know animals could get touchy, but I suppose this has been an enlightening couple of hours.” It amused him, like an animal it paced around, but he did not fear such people. In his profession dealing with their types was an everyday occurrence; truly the ones you had to watch were the young foolish ones. He had never once said he didn’t have anything of that, that he didn’t lead a shell of a life, he merely didn’t mention it.

Kou looked to the side at Kana who had appeared and it mildly shocked him that he would let so much of his concentration rest on the mutt that he would forget his surroundings. He felt her fingertips gently skirt across his hand clenched around his hilt, and he slowly relaxed his hand “Perhaps you are right Kana-chan.”

Kou watched as the girl was taken captive quietly deciding the best option, and he glanced at the ambushers. He had to act before the brutish mutt acted with his usually low intelligence of hammersmash. He reached into his kimono slowly to show he wasn’t drawing anything and pulled out a pouch. “15 ryos for the girl.” His voice was calm and even. 15 Ryos would be more than these people have seen in their life. They probably attacked hoping for a few silver Bu’s

Hachiro looked up at his companions and continued to alow them to move ahead of him, widening the gap a bit, and then continued his inspection of the clouds, idly counting off the seconds until he could meet his newest employer.
(sorry for the short post/lack of posting but this char has no interest in whats been going on sry)

"As I suspected, Kou-san, you are incapable of an intelligent response once the tide has been turned on you." Ankoku said with a smirk, "Apologies, Lady Kana, for dragging out this conversation." He said courteously, and then he noticed Kana glancing at a robed man on the side of the road. His naginata was always in his hand, and his grip tightened, he smelled more men than one.

And then they revealed themselves, with haste, as the first man they had seen took the Lady Kana captive, and all the others circled around.

"A couple of them look like they have cash at least." One of them commented. they were ambushers. "Draw your swords and I cut the lady's throat." Yajuu snarled, leaping towards the cowards, but Ankoku kept his feet firmly planted, causing Yajuu to be pulled back in mid-air.

Kou-san slowly pulled out a bag of money, saying calmly, as if he was in control, "15 ryos for the girl."

Ankoku just smirked, showing his teeth to the bandits, eyes still glinting wildly, Even if they accept the payment, they will all die now. "Yajuu, shhhhh..." He said in a barely audible whisper to the snarling wolf, pacing from left to right in front of Ankoku, staring down the one with the blade to Kana's throat. "I know, I know." He giggled a little then, and placed his helmet on his head, then pushed his face-mask into place. It was done now, and that meant he would not remove them until blood had been shed. He pulled his hand, the one holding Yajuu's leash, back, so that it was only inches away from one of the two Tanto's on his back, which the bandits could not see. Again, Yajuu lunged forward, snapping at the air as he was held in place by the leash. "Yajuu, not yet!" Ankoku snarled in his homeland's tongue, "Lady Kana is at risk now, you must be cautious." The only words that any of the others would be able to understand were 'Yajuu' and 'Lady Kana'. "I will throw a Tanto, to kill the one holding her captive, and release you, once they have made a decision in regards to their payment." Even though the others could not understand what Ankoku was saying, the disgusted tone of voice would be clear enough for all to read.

Watching from the sidelines, Kohaku's eyes were dark. But he made no move to help Kana.
She was a samurai's daughter. She knew how to fight.
If she had listened at all to the training that he had given her as a child, she would be able to get out of this. And with relatively little bloodshed.
Compared to what would happen if Kohaku now drew his sword.

In truth, Kazuma had kind of zoned out of the conversation completely, choosing to examine his surroundings. It was rather too quiet for his taste, not even the birds were singing at the moment. Something was not right, and he began to draw his yumi from its protective tube. Unfortunately, he was too slow and Kana was already taken captive. Cursing his lack of haste, he let the bow lean against his body, half out of its tube. It seemed Kou-san was trying the diplomatic approach, and Anokoku-san was beginning to take action. A solution better than theirs was already formulating in his head, and he decided to act without hesitation.

"You said nothing of bows, my friend," Kazuma murmured to the robed man, immediately confusing and distracting him with that random comment. In the split seconds he had, he kicked his yumi into his hand, while also kicking dust into both the man and Kana's eyes. The tube fell off as he caught the bow, already nocking an arrow and aiming down the shaft. With very little effort, Kazuma pulled the arrow back and released it, hitting the bandit in between the eyes. Needless to say, all motor function on the man's part ended abruptly, so even in death he wouldn't be able to slit lady Kana's throat.

Knowing the others would be able to make short work of the remaining bandits, Kazuma nocked another arrow and went to Kana-san's side. "I'm sorry I had to do that, Lady Kana," he said, staring around defensively.

Ankoku hadn't expected anything at all from the now silent Kazuma, and was surprised when he spoke, more than anything, but saw what he was planning on doing with his yumi. As his arrow flew through the air, Ankoku released Yajuu, who went sprinting past Kou-san, and simultaneously drew out a Tanto and threw it into the throat of the man that had been standing next to the robed one. Yajuu leapt onto another who was far too slow to counter attack the charging wolf, and was knocked to the ground and quickly had his throat torn apart. Ankoku then proceeded to spin around Kou, his naginata Hateshi slicing through the air, and then dropped to a knee, removing a man's leg at the knee, and then stood erect. He looked down at the screaming man, then planted the tip of Hateshi into his chest.

Blood spurted upward, and Ankoku laughed in a frenzy to himself, but spun around as he heard a man rushing towards him, katana held high. Ankoku quickly slipped the hilt of his naginata between the charging bandit's legs, then flipped the cretin clear over him. He landed with a loud thud, but quickly recovered, back to his feet, and tried to swing at Ankoku, who deflected the blow with the hilt of his naginata, held at an angle, so that the bandit's blade would slide diagonally down to the ground, and then spun the blade of the naginata about, causing it to cut through the man's arm, completely disconnecting it from his body, and the blade continued into the man's torso, stopping halfway through. Ankoku lifted his naginata in one hand, with the body hanging limply on it, then drew it closer and kicked off the extra weight. There was blood trickling down the front of Ankoku's armor, and Yajuu was leaping onto another of the fools, when he started to laugh again, quietly at first, and then progressively getting louder.

Kohaku made quick work of the single bandit that bothered to come at him. He sighed quietly, closing his eyes and shaking his head.
Only fools attempted to steal from a well-armed party such as this.
"Thank you, Kazuma-san," Kohaku murmured, bowing to the man, totally unconcerned that the battle might still be raging, "Are you alright, Kana-chan?"
He gazed stoically at his daughter. But there was a light laugh in his eyes.
They had acted so quickly... as though Kana couldn't defend herself.
What lady under Chinatsu-dono wouldn't be able to defend herself?

Hachiro raised his eyebrow at what had happened and waited for the group to begin walking again, apparently unconcerned, and in fact he was not. The bandits had held themselves poorly and posed almost no threat to the group, Hachiro had not bothered with them and unless one of them attacked him directly he would remain patiently waiting until they could continue their journey.

Genkaro had decided to remove himself from the conversation. Kou and Ankotsu were having a lot of fun, it seemed, doing their arguements, calmly insulting one another. He would not buy into that, he would not start arguing back and forth, pointlessly. Neither was likely to listen to the other too much...

His hand tightened on his Katana when the bandits sprung out, but had little time to do anything before the others acted. He cursed himself for being so slow, but he did his part in helping evicerate the bandits. Too lost in watching for something completely different, Genkaro had missed the bandit's entirely.

This man’s head must be stuffed with bean curd, at least that was what Kana had thought; for her hand was lightly touching the hilt of her Daitou, and she knew how to get out of this situation easily. But she was taken aback by the diplomatic approach that Kou-san was taking, and she glanced at the bandit’s stomach, it was thin. Perhaps he was one of the starving that Kou-san had spoken of. She felt a moment of empathy, but remembered quickly that the sharp point of a blade was at her throat, she would be sure not to cut into his shin’s too deep, just enough to knock him down. She smirked as she could hear Yajuu getting angry, how touching.

Too bad the dirt beat her, literally. Kana coughed and shook her head as dirt hit her eyes. She backed up as the men she was with took care of the situation on a matter of moments. They were impressive, moments it took to blink and rub dirt from one’s eyes, and already these individuals had taken care of the bandits. It appeared she and her father had chosen wisely.

“Oh that’s alright Kazuma-san, you were just trying to help. Yes father, I’m alright. Goodness it seems we chose right when we chose all of you. Though…” Kana laughed a little, “I was about to fix the situation…but I guess it was unnecessary with all of you around. I could barely believe how fast you guys went. You too Yajuu!” She patted him as he walked up to her, muzzle bloodied. “I would ask to spar, but I think your weapons are for killing rather than play.” She noted.

Her gaze however, darted to one of the bandits who had hung back, he had been playing dead apparently, because he had been laying on the ground. Now he was gone across a patty and into the trees. Kana's eyes narrowed, "That, was not an ordinary bandit was it?" As to what it could mean, Kana had no clue, but the man was long gone now, and so they could not further investigate.

Kazuma whipped around to fire at the fleeing man. The size of his yumi, Shimizu, was about two feet taller than he, which meant a much farther range than long bows from other lands. Patiently, he assessed the distance of his target, waiting for the best possible moment to release the arrow. Just as the fleeing bandit crossed the threshold of maximum range, Kazuma freed the arrow. The arrow flew true to the mark, but only embedded itself in the man's calf. The man stumbled and fell, but got back to his feet after a few moments and disappeared.

"Damn, at least I hit him. Should've used a poison tip," Kazuma murmured, before turning to Kana-san once more. "I did not act because I thought you were incapable of handling it yourself, my lady. I did it because there was zero chance at all that you would be harmed. Also, something tells me we'll be seeing that man again, possibly. And we'll know him by his limp from now on."

Chuckling, Kazuma put Shimizu back in her case, then walked over to the bandit he shot in the face. Placing a foot on the dead man's chest, he pulled the arrow from the body. Finding it suitable for reuse, he placed it back in the quiver, and scanned the landscape for any further threats.

"We will most definitely see that man again," Kohaku agreed quietly, glancing around at the others, "Are all unscathed? It is coming into the time of night when attacks like this are common. Perhaps we should set up camp and get some rest?"
It would be best, perhaps, to sit down, have something to eat. But Kohaku doubted that he would actually sleep at all.
That one of the bandits had not truly been a bandit was unsettling. If they were a spy for the enemy, then the lord who had slain his lord would soon know that Chinatsu-dono was gathering forces of her own.
The factor of surprise may just have been lost.

Hachiro positioned himself near Kohaku in a way that indicated he wished to speak, waiting politely for an opportunity to do so. When Khaku suggested setting up camp with an open question Hachiro accepted that opportunity to speak, "If I may, I have some small skill in tracking and judging by the wound delivered by that man by Kazuma he will not make any great ammount of speed in his travels, I would enjoy the opportunity to gather that man up and return him to our group that you might question him, or I may eliminate him if you have concern about him reporting to someone." Hachiro waited patiently for a response and calculated the chances of him catching the man and returning before dawn, they were good.

Ankoku absently distanced himself from the others, standing off the road, opposite the group, wiping Hateshi, his naginata, down with a rag. Then Yajuu trotted over, looking up at Ankoku expectantly. Ankoku chuckled a little under his breath, then kneeled to wipe Yajuu's bloodied muzzle, rubbing him behind a flopped over ear with his other hand. Then, after satisfactorily cleaning Yajuu, he removed his mask and helm, attaching them to his sash as they had been before. He left the blood on them. Ankoku hadn't bothered to chase after the final coward, but instead went and retrieved his thrown tanto, wiping it off and then sheathing it. "I could eat." He remarked blankly in response to Kohaku's inquiry.

Hachiro, though it would be rude, decided not to wait for his employer to respond and headed off at a quick trot in the direction the last man had been. Hachiro quickly found the mans trail and began following it, desiring to return the man alive to the camp as rapidly as his skill would allow.