There was some truth in his voice, but yet I didn't want to believe that he did not kill Master. He didn't look like some blood thirsty animal, nor did he sound like he was that vicious.

I put down my swords slightly and put my guard down a little.

"If you are innocent, then why do you still stand like you are ready to fight me? And what if I have a slim believe in what you say?"

This time, he was the one with the smirk on his face.

"Just because you put your swords down, doesn't mean you won't turn around and attack me. And like I said, believe what you want, I did no harm to your Master; the only thing I did take besides food was this…" he pulled a small pouch out of his pocket and tossed it to me.

I bent down, picked it up, and looked inside. To my surprise, there were only a few chunks of golden rocks, and a worthless ring. I started to laugh.

"You realize there is nothing of worth in here, those rocks are just that, rocks and you couldn't get rid of that ring if you paid someone!" I tossed it back at him and hit him square in the chest. Turning around, I shook my head.

"You aren't much of a thief. There were things in there that were worth twenty times what you stole. Now, sir, if you would be as kind as to tell me what you know before I DO decide to turn on you again."

I turned my back to him. The dull thud of his sword's point hitting the ground told me that he had made up his mind.

"I guess you're right on the thief part, but, I'm not sure if you actually deserve to get the information I possess. Maybe this other ring I took might be of some value to you… in exchange for those swords of yours, I just might give it back."

Hearing the sound of the ring hitting his palm as he caught it, I turned towards him.

________________________________________________________________________

He had indeed taken another ring, but it wasn't from the house… it was my mother's ring. Before I left the house, I had put it around my neck; but now both the ring and the chain were traveling through the air and back to his hand repeatedly.

Seeing the vexed look on my face and my hand gripping both swords tightly, he sighed and grabbed it from the air.

"If you want it back that badly…" He hung his head and walked over to me with his hand out; I could tell he was smiling slightly.

He stopped in front of me, offering the loot to me.

"Go on, take it. It's not like I could get much for this either."

"You're being awfully kind to me, and I'm sure you've got something up your sleeve…"

Before he could pull back, I took it and started to walk away. Now I was the one with the smile. I could tell that he was planning something and didn't get a chance to pull it off from the disappointed mutters that came from behind me.

"The only thing you will ever get from me is a piece of dried meat… but only if you tell me what you know." I kept my back turned to him as I pulled some from a bag I had on my waist. Immediately after I got it out, I heard a loud rumble from his stomach.

"But madam… I assure you that I wasn't going to do a thing to you… and I'm sure you could be a bit kinder as to give me the food before I tell you?"

As I turned to look at him again, I saw the sad, pleading look on his face. I hung my head just as his stomach started to grumble again.

"I don't see why I should, but…" I ripped it into two pieces and gave him the smaller piece.

"Thank you!" He stuffed the piece of meat into his mouth. "Ok… I think I can remember… what information I… have now."

"Finally…" I shook my head then gave him a mean look, telling him to hurry up.

He rubbed his stomach and sat down with his legs crossed. "The man you saw running away from your place is the leader of the Shadow Clan… the only way you can get near him is to be part of it. I don't really know why he came this far to fight your 'Master'… I kinda take it he wanted those swords of yours…

"I guess he's been looking for them for some time… and pretty much the only reason I was able to into his little group was because of my sword." He stood it up on its tip and spun it around. "He said something about getting all seven of them and then combining them into the 'all powerful' sword of something."

"… that helps some, but where can I find him?" I was getting a little irritated with his attitude.

"That's a bit of a problem… I don't exactly know where the base is, and I'd say that he went back there… I've only been to a few of his meeting places, which aren't the best places to ask."

"Well… running around avoiding getting attacked isn't my way of dealing with problems, nor is avoiding certain people because they are dangerous. Thank you for your help, but I can handle this my self." I pulled the rest of the dried meat from my bag and threw it too him, then I started to walk away.

He stuffed the new piece into his mouth and started chewing "… you know… you're not… going to find any info… on where the base is…"

He chewed a few more times then swallowed and rubbed his stomach "But… if you take me with…"

I cut him off before he could finish "No, I refuse to allow some lazy oaf to follow me around and mooch food off of me."

"Heyyyyy! I'm not a moocher! I was just hungry…" he crossed his arms and started to pout.

I sighed and kept walking. "You need to learn some manners before anyone will take you with them."

"What? I have manners…" he got up and stumbled a little, trying to follow me anyway. "Believe me… I can be civil if I have a reason…"

I turned and looked at him. "I think that being around some one of the opposite sex requires you to be civil."

He didn't seem to have anything to say to that, so I started to walk away again, but, as unfortunate as it seemed then, he continued to tag along.

________________________________________________________________________

By the time we found any type of civilization, it was pitch black and there were very few stars in the sky. The village we found was pretty small and spread out… at least the people weren't dead bodies.

I found a bar that might have someone sober enough to give information. Turning to my new follower, I said, "I don't care what you do, obviously, but don't get in my way."

As he was scratching his head, I headed into the pub. The smell of wine, ale and mead was over powering. There were men arguing over who got to hassle the waitress next and who has the money to pay for another drink. I didn't see anyone in the main part that would be coherent enough to get straight answers from.

I walked to the back of the room and saw a hooded man sitting by himself. I walked over to him and stood next to his table. "I need some information."

The man looked up, his face told me that he had been around and he knew what he was doing. "That depends on what ya need young lady… and how much money you have."

He looked me up and down and noticed the swords on my back. "You may have those things, but you're new, I doubt that you can use what information I gave you to their fullest. You've got to prove that you can fight before you'll get anything from me."

He went back to his drink, sipping slowly and ignoring me.

"I don't think it is wise to make me prove anything. I can get the money you ask for, but I won't waste my time fighting."

He peered at me from under his covering and snuffed. "I don't do this often, but I also do not put up with persistent annoyances… considering my morals against turning down a pretty lady, I will give you what you want… for double the price."

I nodded slightly in agreement. "What is your price. If your knowledge is not what I want, I expect my payment to be returned to me."

He thought for a few moments about my offer, "I accept on one condition. I will only give back half of the money… I do need to make a living, you know."

He stood up; he must have been two feet taller than me; and looked down. " I will give you the information you are looking for… for eight hundred; you are lucky that you caught me on a good day. I will be waiting for you at the Inn down the road; if you do not show up with the payment in two days, you will have to find someone else."

Without waiting for a response, he walked out of the building without paying for his booze. None of the harlots seemed to care, as if he was never there. He seemed to be powerful, but I didn't think of him that highly.

________________________________________________________________________

I went outside and found my new follower standing next to a post picking at his teeth and checking out the women walking past.

"I do have some use for you. I need some money. You're better and getting it than I am, if you want to continue to follow me without another fight, you will do this for me."

The stunned look on his face showed that he didn't see why he should. "Wait a minute… I never said I was following you. I was heading this way to visit some friends of mine. They live on the outskirts. I just happened to meet one out side the pub." He waved to someone behind me, but I could tell that he didn't know them.

"Ok, fine, you can pay me back for the for the food and trying to steal my ring. I need eight hundred in two days." I crossed my arms and looked at him sternly.

"Who'd ya make your deal with?? I could of gotten you a cheaper bargain than that!" he shook his head. "Maybe I don't want to help you…"

"It was some tall guy in black garb… and I didn't see you trying to be of any help, so I can tell that you don't want to help me."

"Hmmm… so you're why he actually left that place… I've never actually seen him walking around during the day…"

"Wait a minute…. You know him? Then maybe if you talk to him and tell him our troubles, then we might be able to get rid of some of that debt…" I didn't even get to finish my thought when he cut me off.

"Hey, I'm not going to ask him that, besides, he may be my friend, but not that good of one… it's also not my problem. I'm fine with where I am."

This pissed me off, he should have known that if the guy wanted the sword, he'd kill him for it, no questions… and he was going to kill me if I wasn't careful, too.

"Fine with it? When he wants that sword from you, he won't hesitate to leave you bleeding to death; you should know this better than me. Right now, I need this so I can stop him from killing me or anyone else. I can't believe that you think you're safe where you are." I couldn't stand the sight of him anymore, I had to get that money before my two days were up.

He gave me a stunned look as I started to walk away. "Okay, okay, I'll help… but you have to tell me one thing… I need to know your name to in order to."

"… My name is Sonya… you don't need to know anymore. Now, if you would go and help out, I would be grateful…." I continued to walk and decided that I would go somewhere to find something decent to eat since he had eaten all I had.

It wasn't much of a surprise to see him following me from the corner of my eye.

"You didn't let me tell you my name; it's Masume Takeda." He paused for a moment, "Oh, and I don't think the food is worth that much… but that ring sounds like it's worth a hell of a lot more to you than I could sell it for. "

I turned my head to look at him, "Yes, I would have to agree about that, but either way, unless you get him to lower his price, we'll have to come up with that eight hundred gold soon… or find someone else that might know something…. Unless you know something more than what you told me."

When I stopped and gave him a serious look, he frowned. "I don't know anymore about that stuff… but I can tell you something about that guy," he started walking again, "First, he goes by the name Yokufukai Sen. He's a rouge wizard that makes a living assassinating and selling people what they can't get from anyone else. I'm sure he does know about what we need… he also might be interested in something that you have… I've picked up a few talents from him, and I kinda get the feeling that ring of yours might be pretty special to more than just you."

This time, I was the one following him, what he was saying interested me, especially the last part about my ring. Considering that I had never met a wizard, let alone one like Yokufukai, I actually was a little afraid of the sound of his description. I knew there was something about him, but I didn't actually think he did anything but snoop around and hide in the shadows.

"What do you mean my ring might be 'special' to more than just me?? I don't get it, how would you know?"

"Like I said, I just get the feeling it might be, I ain't sure what kind of special it would be… we'll just have to ask him that too." He headed towards the Inn and went inside. I guess he was going to talk to Yokufukai right away.

I sighed and went in after him. There was no point in standing outside; who knows what he'd keep from me if I didn't go with him.

________________________________________________________________________

It took awhile to find out where he was staying at the moment because the owner of the Inn didn't seem to like Masume being around his place, nor did he like the business Yokufukai kept; he didn't even want me to go inside. The place was big, dark, and not very clean, the smell was horrible; it wasn't hard to figure out why Yokufukai did his work there.

"Why are you going to see him now? You said you're self that you can't get much out of him."

Once again he turned to me, but this time he put his hand over my mouth. "Keep it down; these people don't like loud women… except for when they're screaming."

I nodded my head; I wasn't ready to be some filthy guy's wench. I quietly followed him to the room we were told to go. I hoped that we wouldn't have to go through many more places like that.

We entered the room; the only light was from a few scratches on the small, blacked window. The air was full of dust and smoke, and it was hard to see where Yokufukai was.

"What is it, I doubt very much that you have the money I asked for." he didn't even look at us. He was sitting at a broken down table that was propped up on a few planks of wood; mixing some liquids together.

"Well, if you don't want to get it, then I guess we'll leave." Masume smirked some and crossed his arms.

"Ah, I thought I smelt your fowl odor. So you're helping that woman. I take it that you're in the same trouble as her, and I have a feeling it's about those weapons of yours. You're not going against him with just you and her, are you?" he finally looked over to us; his eyes were like ice. It felt like he was searching my soul and mind for the reason behind my search.

"I can see that you are willing to sacrifice your own soul to stop him, but it's not like you two can do anything alone. Although… you are not the only ones that possess the ability to weld those swords. I suggest you go find the rest of them before you try."

He went back to his experiment. I stepped forward and decided to interrupt him again, but Masume tried to stop me. I shoved him away and said what was on my mind.

"Wait… you know who can hold them, right? How are we supposed to know who they are with out you? I don't think we can find them on our own."

He stopped once again and stood up. "You really think I can possibly keep up with two young rats like you? Do you even know how old I am??" he began to laugh at me.

"Well, if you go around prying into other peoples' business and killing, I don't see why you couldn't." I crossed my arms and glared at him, trying not to smirk.

I got another laugh out of him. "I like your spirit, but that doesn't mean anything... although... like I said before, I can't turn down a pretty lady." He put out his hand and a tall staff with a crystal and a curved blade at the top appeared in a puff of smoke; I saw why it was so damn stuffy in there.

I looked at Masume and gave him a smile telling him I knew what I was doing; he growled in response. When I looked back at Yokufukai, he was smiling slightly and shaking his head.

"She's got you by the throat, kid." He laughed again and motioned for us to move aside. After a swipe of his hand, his belongings were gone and he was ready to go.

Masume frowned some and hung his head; he moved so Yokufukai could go first and waited for me to go in the middle.

As soon as I walked out the door, I ran into a drunken pervert who was waiting just outside to grab me. When he moved his hands up to grab my chest, I shoved my elbow into his Adam's Apple, making him gag and grab his throat instead.

"You should ask before you touch you filthy swine." I wiped off my hands and continued to the exit of the animal farm. I noticed all the men; including Masume and the old wizard; with their mouths hanging open… except for the owner, who was running over to the man who was now on the floor.

"I think we should leave now… I don't think I'll be welcome here again…." Yokufukai grabbed Masume by the arm and pulled him out of his shock and the Inn.