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"Samurai Rei" (Radat) "Aaaggh," I groaned, handing off the last of the cargo I had to some merchant's strongman. The merchant came over and handed me a pouch. My pay. I poured it's contents into my palm and counted every single potch. I would've said that I trusted him only as far as I could throw 'im, but I figured I could toss him a good fifteen feet, so I contented myself with simple mistrust. He turned to leave but found he couldn't, mainly because I had his shoulder in a deathgrip. "What do you think you're doing," I asked him, both incredulous and agitated. The merchant paled considerably, whether from fear or because I was cutting off circulation to his left arm I wasn't sure. He sputtered, "Y...you can count?!" God, I hated people like him. Nowadays, everyone judged each other by looks and I was sick of it. I was thinking of something fairly mean to do to him when he started shouting for his strongman to help 'im. I glanced over at his "friend" and saw that he had wandered off and was currently accosting a young woman in a kimono. I let the merchant go and, with a little shove, sent him on his way. Sighing, I walked over towards the hired man and the lady. Apparently, the woman said something he didn't like because he roared (quite impressive considering he was about a head taller than my 6'2" build). He looked like he was going to get violent with her so I called to him, "Hey, guy. Leave her alone, she's half your size!" He turned towards me glaring, but as soon as he recognized me, he looked away and mumbled, "Um, sorry...uh, I betta get goin'." He stalked off quickly in the direction his employer had headed. I guess he'd heard of me before, my brawling reputation was well known in these parts. Anyway, I turned to the lady I had "saved". She was staring at me like she wanted cut me to pieces with the sword (that I'd just now noticed) at her side. "I could've handled that. My honor demands that you and I duel," she told me evenly. I stared at her, "Excuse me?" To answer me, she drew out her katana and took up a fighting stance, sword held out in front of her two-handed. The only thing that saved me from becoming The Headless Sailor was that I stumbled and fell backward over a coil of rope. She hefted her blade and swung downward, splintering the dock two inches to the left of my head. Desperately, I kicked her legs out from under her and rolled to my feet. I knocked her blade out of her hands with my oar (I had Rederick repaired and I carried 'im everywhere since all that kobold Mafia business). She stared at my oar, which was now hovering six inches above her face. Still recovering, I only managed to say, "What's YOUR problem, Lady?!" Her shoulders sagged. "I admit defeat," she said. She pulled herself to her knees and told me, "You have spared my life. I swear eternal fealty to you, Milord." She bowed to me. "What? Um, no problem. You don't need to, um, serve me or anything," I replied unsteadily. The lady samurai looked rather shocked at what I'd said and she whispered, "Then I shall have to commit Seppuku (ritual suicide)." "WOAH! That's not necessary. You can serve me," I told her hastily. She stood up, brushing off her kimono and sheathing her blade. "My name is Rei Shosawa, Milord," She said, looking me in the eyes. "Um, my name is Amada Numori, call me Amada. And none of that Milord stuff please," I muttered, still trying to get the hang of what was happening. She nodded, "As you command." This was great. Now I had to support someone besides just me. At the moment, my finances were such that I could barely pay my expenses and have a little profit to show. Any profits I might have made in the near future were absolutely non-existent now. I couldn't ask her to leave, she'd made it perfectly clear what that would mean, so I was stuck with her. To make matters even worse, I'd have to take her to my home. No one went inside willingly, not even me. The place was the epitome of a pigsty. It's not that I'm disorderly so much as I avoided housework whenever possible, which meant that stacks of dishes and various particles of clothing abounded everywhere, seemingly, breeding at an alarming rate. I amused myself with thoughts of burning the place down as an alternative to, you know, CLEANING. "Er, I guess you can stay at my place," I told her. I led her to my house (more like shack, actually) and we went inside. I chuckled, trying to hide my embarrassment. "This is my house. You...you can take the bed. I'll sleep," I said, pausing. Where would I sleep? I didn't have another bed or anything so I compromised, "I'll sleep on the floor, I guess." "No master! You take the bed, I shall sleep on the floor," Rei objected. "Nah, it's not like I haven't done it before. I order you to sleep on the bed," I responded gallantly, knowing that tomorrow morning I would regret it. She bowed and said her thanks. Rei got into the bed while I tried to devise a suitable sleeping spot for myself. I ended up with a blanket made up of the least dirty clothes that were laying around and a pillow made out of a casserole pan with a couple of shirts for padding. Bearable, but far from comfortable. "Goodnight Master," Rei said quietly. All this "Milord" and "Master" stuff was gettin' to me, but I was too tired to get into it right now. "Goodnight Rei," I replied. It took awhile, but I did fall asleep after an hour of failing to get more comfortable. Next morning... Two little red eyes stared at me as I groggily struggled to wake up completely. My brain tried to find a word to connect to the small furry creature standing on the floor next to my head, peering up at me. I blinked a couple of times before it hit me. I rolled away as quickly as humanly possible from the rat and slammed into a wall. I HATE rats. "GAH," was all I managed to say and I said it loudly. Rei bolted in from the other room sword unsheathed. She looked around the room and asked me, "What is it, Milord?" My eyes were locked on the dirty, little, plague-carrying rodent that had shifted it's attention to a crumb of bread on the floor. "How did THAT get in here," I gasped/asked. She glanced at the rat and inquired, "Do you wish that I remove it, Master?" I nodded mutely. Rei walked over and plucked the rat up by the tail and carried it squealing out the door. As long as I could remember, I had been deathly afraid of rats. I couldn't explain it, it just had always been that way. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. Rei came back in and sat on the floor. I figured this was as good a time as any. "Thanks. Just call me Amada, none of this Master or Milord stuff. Please," I asked. She simply said, "As you wish, Mast...Amada." I sighed, this could take awhile. Later that day... I was leaving the tavern after securing another contract. It was an odd one too. I was going to go rescue some old guy's daughter from a horrible beast or something. All of that would have to wait for tomorrow though, it was getting dark outside.
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