"Listen to me now you bunch of slack jawed, dill diggers! From now on, you do not have a family. You do not have a Mother. You do not have a Father. I am your daddy, and this is your new family, and what a worthless family it is! Do you understand me diggers!." A rather large man, black in the skin, rough in the face, and sharp in the tongue yelled at the new recruits. He wore a military uniform, plate mail covering every part of his body minus his head and a hefty curved sword at his side.

"My name is Captain Jack Allawa. You drongoes may come to call me Captain Blackjack. Am I understood?!" He yelled at the group. A resulting Yes Sir came back to him. His mouth curved back into a wicked smile. He then began to pace the lines of men stopping at a young man, seemingly about seventeen in age. A scar ran down his right eye and the beginnings of a rough brown beard tugging at his chin. At his sides hung a Saber and a Katana. "What is your name digger? And why are you here?" He asked

"Captain Blackjack Sir! My name is Yuri Honoo Sir! I have no reason to be anywhere else Sir! My family's all dead and I want to put my skills to some use! I have come to die in battle honorably Sir!" Yuri called off to the man. Blackjack smiled at the fire in the man's eyes. "Settle down Blaze," He said referencing the fire in the man's eyes, "you'll get your shot..." He said continuing down the line Barking at a recruit here and there.

"Dipstick! If you are going to use both them damn swords, you got to learn to use them equally!" Blackjack said popping Yuri on the left arm with the blunt side of his sword. While he wouldn't admit it just yet, the fellow was very good with the swords. Room for improvement yes, but still very good for a rookie.

"You have got to get your left arm faster! If you don't that saber just might as well be a thin ass shield! Now AGAIN!" He said getting in a stance with the sword above his head. Blackjack had picked four of the recruits and was working with them on their fighting skills. The other three was a Indian fellow named Martin, a foreigner with an odd accent named Daniel who called Blackjack a "Bloodeh wanka", and a strange Spanish woman named Isabelle. He had finished with those three, who were now sitting under a tree nursing their bruises.

CLACK! The sound of swords meeting filled the air. Blackjack had came down hard towards Yuri with his sword, and Yuri had managed to block it with his right arm and began to come around with his left. Blackjack just positioned his sword in time to block the left as well. "Ah, very good. But..." Blackjack popped his sword out of the blade lock and whacked Yuri across the face with his hilt. "DON'T GET COCKY! Never let your guard down you damn digger!" He yelled at Yuri who was now on the ground nursing a bloodied nose. Blackjack stood above him shaking his head. But he was proud of this fellow, he blocked a blow that would have broken a normal man's arm and almost got Blackjack. They might be ready for the skirmish...

"Quietly... Wait til they pass." Blackjack said crouching in the brush. Yuri was beside him behind a tree trying to conceal his body. Nearby, there were Isabelle, Daniel, and Martin as well as the entire regiment. They were watching another regiment of soldiers in dark uniforms move up the road unawares. This was who they were facing. Yuri didn't know what they were called, or why they were fighting. Yuri only had one goal, kill and be killed honorably.

"Alright gents, ready... On my mark." The whispers of blades and other weapon leaving their sheaths filled the air for a moment, then a rumbling yell broke out. "MARK!" The entire regiment flew from the cover of the trees and broadsided the enemy. Yuri lost sight of his comrades as he went into a blood rage, decapitating one soldier and blocking a strike from another. Soon, all emotions except that of anger filled Yuri.

He was unstoppable, his immense grief and anger guiding his blades. He blocked the swords strikes from two opposing soldiers, and flipped the sword away from one and killed him. However, the one on his left took advantage of his off hand and cut him down his chest. Yuri fell to his knees and prepared for the killing blow that was sure to come. Instead he noticed that a throwing knife had pierced the soldier's neck. He looked behind him and the girl, Isabelle stood with a hand outstretched from throwing the knife and a smile on her face. Then her eyes grew wide and the smile fell. Yuri turned back around and was met with a large fist to the face. He blacked out.

When he awoke, he couldn't tell what time it was. Just that it was cold, he was alone, and that he was face down in the dirt. He righted himself and looked around him. There was corpses everywhere, but he didn't see his regiment or the enemies. "They.. Must have left me for dead. Hell, I would have too." he said rubbing his chest. While it wasn't deep, it was still painful. He stood, sheathed his weapons and clutched his chest and set off on his way. To where? He didn't know.

Much later, he came to see a temple in the distance. Wounded, tired, and lost he felt elated and plodded his way on to this temple. He managed to get within sight and saw that there was already two girls and a priest in the door way. He waved a hand towards them and took a step. This was his last step however and he collapsed, letting his tiredness take him. He secretly hoped that the Priest or the girl had seen him...

"Why!" Yuri yelled sitting up in a cold sweat. "What?" he said groggily looking at his surroundings. "Where?" He said once more as he noticed he was in a temple of some sort. That's right, he remembered the temple. He must have collapsed outside and someone must have brought him in. His hand went to grab the saber at his side out of habit, but grabbed nothing but air. "How?" he asked, noticing that his shirt was missing and the cut on his chest was bandaged. His hand went over his heart where his tattoo lied. The tattoo was an upside down spade with the words "For luck" under it.

He clumsily rose to his feet and began to carouse the halls. After a bit of wandering he came to a room with the girl that had brought him in, a smaller, younger girl, and a monk looking man. "Eh, 'Ello..." He said leaning heavily against the doorway, covering his wounded chest with an arm. "None of you would happen to know weapons -and shirt- are? It's a blue one with the symbol of a hawk inside a halo? It's my regiments symbol... Ah, my name's.. Yuri?" He said anxiously.

"Nonsense... I feel fine." Yuri said as he slowly slid down the door jam into a sitting position at the base. "Well, maybe not spot on.. But still." He said as he realized his new sitting arrangement. "What's my story? It's an awful one love." He said to the girl. "Let's just say for now that I am a soldier in the army under the Hawk Division. My Captain is a Jack Allawa. We were on an ambush mission against the enemy, some fellows in dark armor. Well, the ambush apparently worked out fine for my regiment, but not so well for me. I had gotten cut -clearly-" He said pulling his arm away from his wounded chest. "And punched the hell out." He finished rubbing his face. He just remembered why it hurt.

"At any rate I came too, and noticed that I was the only living thing on the field, began walking, and before I knew it here I was. My story before the army is a bit... more sad." He said with great pain in his voice.