Me: As you can tell, this is about Kyuzo and my OC, Azami. I'm not going to talk about outfits much in this story, because I go into crazy detail, sorry about that. If you look up rpg heroine creator, you'll see where I got her outfit from. Why use that? Because it looked so awesome on her. Criticism is accepted, just don't go too far please.

Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai 7, only my OCs.

Her panted breath rung through the air as her tiny feet ran across the grass through the forest. She kept running, ignoring the pain in her lungs begging her to stop. She couldn't stop, they would get her. It was too risky to even try. She desperately wanted to turn and see if they were still following her so she could stop and catch her breath. We're they even still on her trail? She glanced back and gasped, they were close. Too close. She needed something, anything if she was going to lose them. She looked down, trying to remember what her guardian had told her.

'Study your enemies strengths and weaknesses and use it against them.'

What weaknesses? Besides her guardian, they the second strongest things she knew about. They have strong metal armor around them, with one big weapon. Meaning it must be hard for them to move or fight against a pull. Possible difficulty in speed...

Water. That's what she needed.

Turning her head left and right seeing if she could find a river or lake, her pace was starting to slow down. They would catch up with her any second, where is a river when you need it? Then she heard it, rushing water. Hope gathered in her chest as she ran faster towards the sound of the smooth waves, dodging every tree and bush in her path. She stopped and gasped. Oh no... she thought. They were right in front of her, their red eyes staring down at her through their visor.

"You were hard to catch, you little brat. Now come with us, we're taking you to the Capital."

She kept her wide eyes on them stepping backwards slowly not daring to look away. The river was right in front of her, she was so close to getting away from them. Why did she need water? Not only would water soothe the burning in her lungs, but it's a know fact machines can't swim well. There was only two, the other one met face to face with a tree. If she could get through them, it would be smooth sailing. There was at least two small openings she could take, never in her life has she been happy to be so short. Quickly, she weaved past them and jumped into the river. The splash of her body colliding with the water echoed in her ears until she heard the muted sounds of the water flowing. Opening her hazel eyes she saw the blurs of the water and the wisps of her pale blue hair floating weightlessly. Realizing that she was wasting precious oxygen she instantly shot up through the water, gasping for air.

"I see her! Don't let her get away!" One shouted.

The two mechas were flying right above her trying to pull her out of the river. One managed to grab her arm and started pulling her up. Using all the strength she had left, she pulled it down with her. He immediately sunk down to his watery grave.

"You little shit!"

The other shouted at her in rage and flew down to her. She quickly dove under the water, barely dodging the sword he struck down. He pulled his sword back up and shouted in fury.

"You can't stay down there for long! Once you come up, I'll slice your head in half!"

She gasped and swam faster with the current leading her down stream, but soon she couldn't breath and shot her head up again. But he wasn't there, in fact, he was now sinking under the water. He must have got to close to the river,she thought, it probably pulled him down. She turned her head and stared wide-eyed at what was in front of her.

A waterfall.

Beating her small arms through the water, she tried to swim towards land. The rippling water was getting faster and faster with each stroke she took, her heart beat following along. Panting, she got closer and closer till she was at the edge and closed her eyes as she fell to her watery death.

Or at least, would have.

Somehow, in someway, she wasn't falling anymore. Was she dead? Had her god collected her soul? No, she opened her eyes checked her pulse. It was still there. She sighed and looked up towards the sky only to meet two brown eyes of a man. He grinned at her. He had tan skin with a scar on his face and strangely, white hair.

"Hello there little miss, don't you think swimming here is a little dangerous?" She continued staring at him. She nearly died, what was so funny about that? He set her down and took of his coat handing it to her. She gladly took it, slightly nodding her head.

"Thank you." She said in a small and shy voice. It was strange how he talked to her as if they'd known each other for years, it was hard for her not to shake under his tall gaze. Her guardian always told her not to trust other people, especially one with a scar like that. She took 2 steps back from looking at in fear. His smile faded but quickly came back after he knew what she was looking at.

"Don't let this old face fool you, I use to be a samurai, now entertaining is what I do!" He grabbed a green leaf and showed it to her, then with the flick of his wrist, it disappeared. She stared in wonder at him and in shock. How did he do that? She'd seen some pretty messed up stuff before, but this was weird. He bended down to her height and grabbed something behind her head and pulled out the now orange leaf.

"Ta-da!" She swiped the leaf from him and studied it closely, how did he do that with a flick of his wrist?! Was he a wizard?

"Gorobei-dono!

They both turned their heads towards the sound of a voice calling to one of them. She suspected him, since her name wasn't Gorobei. The man had teal hair and eyes to match. He carried a sword which scared her, so she hid behind the older man. He smiled and patted her head reassuringly.

"Don't worry, he's a friend." The teal haired man stopped and panted.

"We were wondering to where you went, you just ran off."

"Sorry, but I had to save this little lady." He looked down at her in wonder.

"What happened?"

"Don't know, guess she fell into the river."

"I'm not stupid. I was chased by some mecha idiots." She snapped. The little girl didn't like to be looked down on. The two men looked down at her in surprise, Gorobei just laughed.

"Looks like she's a little spitfire. Why were they chasing you?" She shrugged.

"Well, let's take you to our camp. Komachi will be happy to have a new friend."

"Komachi?"

"A little girl, probably about your age. She would like some new friends."

"What's a little girl doing in a camp full of samurai?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She glared at the ground. Well played old man, she thought to herself.

"I was at my camp, but I wandered off a little bit..."

"A little?" She signed in annoyance.

"Okay...a lot." He laughed.

"No worries, you'll get to meet some people who will keep an eye on you." She raised her eyebrow. Keep an eye on? What does that-

"Ah!" Gorobei picked her up by the waist and set her on his shoulders.

"P-Put me down! Please!" He laughed again.

"Why?"

"I don't know who you are or what you do. Even though saved me, how do I know you didn't do it just because it was the right thing to do? And you,"

She pointed at the teal-haired man.

"What is your name? I can't possibly stay around you two if I don't know you." She back-flipped off of Gorobei landing perfectly with her arms crossed. Both men looked at each in shock.

"Well, how about we talk you back to our camp and explain everything?" Katsushiro offered.

"Fine, but what our your names?" Gorobei face-palmed himself.

"How rude of me! I, as you probably already know, am Gorobei. This is Katsushiro. May I ask you your name?"

"Akane Chiyo."

"Chiyo, very pretty name. Lady Chiyo, would you like a piggy back ride?" He bowed at her making her giggle.

"Yes, I would." Chiyo gracefully hopped on his back. The three of them quietly walked through the large green forest, seeing all kinds of animals and flowers. Occasionally stopping when Chiyo saw a cute animal or a pretty flower. Gorobei and Chiyo shared jokes and making conversation asking about what's their favorite color, what do they love to do and all that. Katsushiro on the other hand was getting annoyed.

"We shouldn't take things so lightly, there could be more mechas out here. We need to hurry."

"Katsushiro, we'll be fine."

"How do you know?"

"Katsushiro. Ever heard the expression, 'stop and smell the roses'? Relax. Besides, I think we're already here." He turned and saw Kirara waving to them with a smile. A small group of people from what Chiyo could detest. A man with blonde hair held a long red rod in his hand, another blonde sat in a tree facing the other direction of the camp. A redheaded man chopped wood with his sword, the slices were perfect every time from what she could tell. How many samurai were there? There was two blondes, the redheaded man, Katsushiro, Gorobei...5?

"There you are! Where were you too?" Katsushiro bowed sadly.

"My apologizes, Lady Kirara. I went to go get Gorobei." A little girl with brown hair and brown eyes ran up to them with her hands on her hips.

"Why'd you run off like that? Kiku and I were worried!

"No I wasn't!" A big metal man ran towards her. 6?

"Were too!"

"Whatever Sprout!...Huh? Who's the kid? Sprout is more than enough company..." If it were possible, Chiyo's vein would have popped.

"Excuse me?! It's unbearable to be around you idiot!"

"What did you just say?!"

"You heard me! Or are you deaf too?"

"Why you little-"

"Kikuchiyo! Enough." Chiyo turned a saw a man, probably in his 30s, with tan skin and brown hair walking towards them. He wasted no time with each step he took, making him look very strong and wise, stating authority; Chiyo guessed he was technically the 'leader' of the samurai group. She silently prayed there was only 7 samurai, and it looked like he was the last one.

"But-"

"No more." He knelled down in front of her, looking her straight in the eye. She would be lying if he didn't scare her, but suppressed a shudder and stood tall looking back at him.

"What is your name little one?"

"Akane Chiyo."

"Chiyo. Why are you alone in the forest?"

"I wasn't alone. I was...traveling with my guardian. I wandered off the trail and those mechas started chasing me."

"Hmm...Do you know where your guardian is?"

"Probably looking for me. She's a good tracker, she'll find me easily."

"SHE? What makes you think that?" Kiku interrupted.

"She's apart of an Omashu, and will kick your butt!" Everyone froze, especially Kyuzo who was polishing his swords.

"She's an assassin?What's a little girl like you doing with an assassin?" Shichiroji asked.

"Well...My father hired her to protect me."

"From what?"

"I...prefer not to talk about it." She looked down sadly. Kambei nodded and stood up.

"I understand. Where's your camp at Chiyo?"

"Uh...," She looked around then pointed somewhere in the woods.

"It should be west from here. I think."

"Would you like me to escort you there?" Heihachi asked.

"Really?...Okay. But...Can some of the samurai come with us? I'm too...nervous to go with just one samurai."

"Sure!"

He smiled down at her, making her giggle a bit. Kambei, Kyuzo, Shichiroji, Heihachi, Kiku, and Gorobei all walked with her towards her camp, leaving Komachi, Kirara, and Katsushiro to watch over the camp. While walking through the large green forest, Kyuzo stopped.

"What is it Kyuzo-dono?" The strange man unsheathed his swords.

"An ambush." Chiyo silently gasped and hid behind Kambei. 8 Iron bin soldiers sprouted up from bushes and surrounded them. All of the samurai stood in an attacking position, but before anyone could make the first move, a blur of black shot up from a tree and into the sky. Chiyo instantly grinned and came out from behind Kambei.

"Azami!" The 'Azami' person quickly jumped in the middle of the fight and sent out 8 knifes going straight in each of the iron bin soldier's red visor eyes, using a rope like material she jumped from mecha to mecha tying the rope around the knifes. Using all her strength, she pulled them towards her and took out a sword with a jade handle slashing each of the mechas in half. She put her sword back in it's sheath and turned. Her hood was up so it was hard to see her face. She walked gracefully up to Chiyo and put her hands on her hips. Chiyo looked down in shame.

"Sorry, Azami. I didn't mean to run away." Azami sighed and pulled down her hood. Long black hair in a ponytail fell down to her ankles, and piercing forest green eyes looked down at her in annoyance.

"...As long as your okay, it's fine. But don't do that again. Do you know how worried I was? I looked like an idiot looking for you."

"I'm sorry..." Azami glanced at Kambei and the others with eyes narrowed.

"Who are they? You seemed to cling to that man."

"Yeah, these samurai helped me!" Azami looked up with her eyebrows up.

"Huh, thank you. I'm forever in your debt," She bowed.

"My name is Akari Azami."

Me: Sorry it's long, but hoped you liked it! Fav and Review! I couldn't upload Azami's image, so go to my profile, it'll explain what she looks like.