Dear Diary,
Today was cloudy but bright. We have been traveling for hours and man am I hungry. We may not have money but we gotta figure out how to get more food...even if it does mean scavenging for berries or hunting.
We came across a village that had a few odd jobs available for us, but we ran into a little snag when entering the village. This snag was in the form of a lucky bounty hunter named Orokana Kaho...

"Are we there yet? I'm starving." Fuu groaned.

"Once we reach the village we will not have enough money for a meal so we should focus more on what job we will do once we get there." Jin explained.

Mugen raised his arms, cradling the back of his head. "It seems like we are always doing odd jobs. We've spent more time working than we have actually looking for your smelly-samurai!"

Fuu stamped her sandal against the ground. "He isn't smelly, he smells of sunflowers!"

"Sunflower, Schmumflower, same diff!"

The three stood outside of a village, their path blocked by someone sitting criss cross on the ground.

The individual looked battered and bruised. A dark ring was forming around one eye and the rest of their face was dirty and bloodied. They wore a blue and yellow yukata that was pulled off partially revealing bandages around the torso underneath. By their side was a large iron club with a daruma doll charm attached to the handle.

Seeing as how the only path into the village was blocked, Jin stepped forward, "We are trying to get to Maro village. If you would please move so that we may pass..."

The stranger, who was looking down at the time, shot up and gave Jin a demented grin.

"I will move but first you have to show me your goods. Even you, little lady."
The stranger stood. They were only taller than Fuu but shorter than Mugen and Jin.
"Hand over your weapons and you will get them back after you pass me."

The stranger was about to take a step forward when dizziness from their injuries overcame them and they stepped back. Holding out their hand they beckoned them to hand over their swords.

"You first, spectacles!"

Jin placed his swords in his hands and tried to pass.

"Rogue samurai Jin, you killed your master and caused chaos in multiple cities... Nice glasses."

"How do you know my name?"

"Lucky guess. The name's Orokana Kaho." they said as they tossed the swords to Jin once passed.

"Afro, you're next!"

Mugen tossed his sword to Kaho and tried to pass.

"Vagrant Mugen, you have caused quite a bit of trouble indeed what with the sugar cane boat and all." Kaho smirked.

Mugen gave Kaho a dirty look and tried to pass before being stopped.

"I said ALL weapons." Kaho warned, holding out a calloused palm.

"I don't know what your talking about. I only got one unlike four eyes over there." He shrugged.

Dizziness overcoming Kaho once more he leaned on the iron club before swiftly swinging it at Mugen.

Mugen ducked and gave Kaho an opening to grab his knife. However this also gave Mugen an opening to take back his sword.

"For a kid you sure can swing that club..." Mugen thought he spoke too soon because suddenly Kaho was struggling to pick the weapon back up.

He struggled for a bit, set it down, grabbed his shoulder, and knocked it hard against the club's handle. He breathed a sigh of relief and brought the large club up off the ground with ease.

He swung the club again causing Mugen to jump back. Kaho swung the club at his torso. Mugen jumped and kicked off the end of the club. Mugen raised his blade, aiming for the neck. Kaho dodged just barely and earned a clean slash along the cheek.

Kaho lunged at Mugen with the club making him jump up again and the secon the one foot hit the ground, the club made hard contact with the back of Mugen's leg. Mugen was almost flat on the ground, all Kaho had to do was set the heavy end of the club on his chest.

Kaho grabbed the knife and sword, tossing it to Jin, then he lifted the club and held out a hand to help Mugen up.

Mugen smacked away the hand, cursing.

"Move along, Afro I don't want anymore trouble from you!" Kaho pointed at Fuu. "You, girly! Here!" He pointed to the wall against the city entrance. "I see that your friends like trouble, well now you got it. Hands on the wall!"

Fuu glared at the two men waiting for her inside the city.

Kaho then proceeded to give Fuu a thorough "pat down." He smirked when she started whimpering in embarrassment. Kaho's hands passed her shoulders moving around front to her chest and lingering there too long for her taste. Moving down to her hips, her near empty coin purse was tossed to the two men along with her sword.

Kaho backed up and gave her the same demented grin from earlier. "Have a safe trip!" He said, waving almost too cheerfully.

They began walking, weirded out by that experience. They just barely heard the last of what Kaho had to say.

"Oh and good luck with your sunflower samurai, Ms. Fuu."

-$åmûräî Çhâmplöø-

Making their way through the small village Fuu finds work as a temporary waitress. Jin and Mugen are left helping out at the inn where they will stay until they have enough money to continue their journey.

The inn that allowed them to stay at was a pretty big place. It had a hot spring in the back and plenty of rooms. It would be perfect if the inside didn't look so crappy.

The inside of the inn was trashed. Thugs constantly broke in and made the inn their temporary hangout. Only three rooms were mildly trashed so Mugen and Jin stayed in one room closest to the hot spring, the owner stayed in a room farthest from the entrance, and Fuu's room was towards the middle of the building.

All Mugen and Jin had to do was guard the inn owner for as long as they stayed without trashing the place anymore than it already was.

Back at the restaurant, Fuu noticed that almost all of the customers were merely travelers, passing though. Even the other employees were hired temporarily. Pretty convenient huh.
After she was done for the day, she received her pay from the owner. The owner was a little old lady.

"You're gonna be back tomorrow right, Luu?"

" Yes ma'am and its Fuu-"

"Ok see you tomorrow, Suu." The old lady half waved and shuffled back into the shop.

Fuu walked down the road with coin purse in hand."Just a few more days of this and we should have just enough to keep us tied over until we reach the next town...Luu...Suu? Ugh. Its fine, Fuu. She is old and probably senile and- HEY!" A large man with messy brown hair had snatched the coin purse out of her hands and pushed past her.

'Are you kidding me!?' Fuu started after the guy and heard footsteps sprinting behind her.
'looks like I'm not the only one who is after this guy'

The person running behind her suddenly dashed ahead in a blur of blue and yellow with a giant iron club in tow. The blur was moving so fast, it managed to pass the thief and stopped a few feet in front of him.

The club was swung at his head and the purse snatcher attempted to dodge it by back flipping. Big mistake. The swift club was brought down on his leg. The spikes on the club only making it easier for the leg to get crushed.

Kaho picked up his club and kicked the severed piece of leg out of his way while the criminal screamed in agony. "What a baby." Kaho scoffed, picked up the coin purse, and started digging around in it.

"Hey that's my-"

"Ah Ms. Fuu. I thought I told you to stay safe, not get mugged as soon as you arrive in the city...though I suppose that would be the kind of luck that the fates assigned YOU with." Kaho tossed the coin purse to Ko, picked up the club in one hand, and dragged the thief away by the ear.

"Uh...thanks."

"No need to thank me. Its my job. This guy had a bounty on his head. I am merely collecting it." Kaho then walked off with the screaming bandit dragging behind.

'What a strange guy...' Fuu thought to herself making her way back to the inn. She opened up her coin purse, expecting it to be empty 'What kinda jerk goes through a stolen purse anyway?' but found that the purse was twice as full as it had been when she left the shop. 'Woah...more like what a nice guy! I can't wait to tell Jin and Mugen about this!' Fuu thought excitedly, rushing back to the inn.

Upon arriving at the inn, Fuu heard clamoring coming from one of the rooms. She rushed to see if a hooligan had broken in without Mugen or Jin's notice. Fuu peeked around the door frame only to find Jin and Mugen, swords drawn, arguing about something.

Before either of them could strike a blow on one another, she tossed her coin purse between them. And the two stared down at it.

Upon further inspection the two realized that there was far more money in the purse than there should have been.

"Hm. I didn't expect you to be the pickpocketing type." Mugen stated.

"Pickpocket? No way! I would never-"

"Then how did you get this money?" Jin counted the coins.

Fuu shifted her weight to the other foot. "Its a funny story actually..."

She told them how she got the extra money and they were a bit skeptical.

"You sure this ain't bogus money?" Mugen asked.

Jin was also suspicious. "Why would a bounty hunter give away their money?"

"Guys! Can't we just accept this as a sign of our luck taking a turn for the better?"

The two doubled over in laughter. Jin wiped tears from under his glasses and Mugen tried to speak between chuckles,
"Our luck- Turning- For the better?"

Fuu pouted. "Aw c'mon our we haven't been THAT unlucky...okay well at least I haven't...okay so we have had pretty sucky luck, but until this backfires lets just enjoy it, alright! How bout we get something to eat?"

All three stomachs grumbled in unison.