He shook his head again. That last thought left a sour note in his head. He didn't think what he did was wrong, although he was without a doubt in the very small minority in that respect, it was just necessary. They probably deserved better, but if they'd only let him leave it wouldn't have had to happen the way it did. But that was wrong too. He had to do it, whether they would have allowed him to leave or not, it would have wound down the same path wouldn't it? He had chosen the life of a mercenary, and to one man he needed to demonstrate the lengths to which he was able to go.

The thoughts faded out of his head as his eyes shifted to Hanzo's hut. That's where it was, he could almost feel it resonating in the air. His gaze drifted once again, and this time ended up at the two sentries standing out by the entrance to Rokkaku. One of them was clad in a light blue, and Kage recognized the jet black raven hair that was cut into a flatop right away. His name was Hisao, Kage had grown up with him, as much as Kage could grow up with anybody, in his stay at the hidden tomb. The other one Kage didn't recognize. He was only twelve or thirteen, and was dressed in a dark purple suit.

His eyes continued to survey the grounds. There were a few people outside, but not many, not enough to see him going in or out of the tiny hamlet. But he would have patience, after all, it was a virtue, and the time would come.

So, with that final thought, Kage left.

A knock at the door. Kage pulled out of his psuedo-quasi sleep with startling speed. Who the hell would be knocking at his door? He had told the innkeeper not to be disturbed. He sat up, and looked at himself. He had no shirt on, nor did he have his gloves or mask on. He looked at the wounds on his body, for what could have the thousandth time ('how many times have I looked at them?', he thought with morbid curiosity). They were healing a lot slower than he had hoped they would. Another knock, this one more impatient, rapped at the door to his room.

He got up slowly, deliberately, as he caught sight of his uncovered left hand. He let out a sorrowful sigh. It took some getting used to, not having all of your fingers. He lifted the hand to eye level, and bent the four fingers that remained on his left hand. Disgusted, he wondered what it had been like to bend all five of them. For some odd reason he couldn't remember. It must have been a lot like bending the fingers on his right hand, but wasn't it a little different?

If he kept thinking like this, he was going to go insane. The knock again, only this time it was bordering on a pounding.

He put the rest of his suit on, then his gloves, and finally hitched up his sword, taking his time as he did so, Kage hurried for no man. He began to walk towards the door, leaving his shroud where it lay, and pulled out his blade. He opened the door a crack, and peered at the man on the other side. The man wasn't very tall, standing at only 5'8" or so, and was a little on the pudgy side. He had black hair that was slicked straight back, and contaminated by gray streaks on both sides, just above the ears, adding some age to what looked like a childish face.

The man pushed boldly through the doorway, catching Kage a little off guard, and walked into the room. He looked around for a moment, then turned back towards the ninja, analyzing him from head to toe. A bemused smile on his face, the man finally spoke up:

"Not exactly what I was expecting." His eyes shifted to the sword in Kage's right hand. "You won't be needing that" he said, his eyes meeting Kage's for the moment. Kage didn't listen to what the unnamed man said, and raised the sword a little. "You are the man known as Kage, correct?"

Kage didn't answer at first. He looked at the man. He didn't seem too dangerous, but Kage was never one to take risks. He pointed the sword at the man's heart and said simply, "Who are you?"

The man got a frightened look on his face at Kage's unsaid threat, and tried to back away, but Kage's sword remained on his chest. He raised his hands, trying to show that he was harmless, and stammered out, "I-I, I mean, my name isn't, um, isn't important." The man tried to regain his composure, but his eyes betray his attitude, plus, Kage could smell the fear on this man, it was so thick he could have cut through it (along with the man's chest if he wanted to) with his sword. "My lord is in need of your services." The blade came down, and the fat man uttered a sigh of relief. "He needs you, along with some other men, to go on an expedition for him. He'll pay you 50,000 potch, and you can keep anything you find on the way with the exception of one item."

"What?"

"I don't know, you'll learn the rest when you get there."

"Where?"

"Zexen. You'll meet up there with the other men, and my master will fill you in"

Kage stared at the man, he didn't like the fact that this person's so-called master, knew where to find him, he didn't like it at all. "How did you know where to find me?"

The man smiled, "My employer is a very rich man with an infinite number of resources, he can track down the invisible man"

Kage re-sheathed the sword and sighed, that answer did little to quench his anxiety. He gave the man a slight nod, and it was the unnamed man's turn to sigh once again. Kage really didn't want to do this, he wanted to grab his rune. But Kage had never been one to turn down a job, and wasn't going to start, besides, the rune would wait, this would not. 'I guess there really is no rest for the weary' he thought dully.

Gilbert and Worm finally arrived in Zexen. The horse was pretty tired from the journey and Worm was as well. Infact, Worm seemed to be sweating quite a bit. And instead of talking, he was panting.

"We're...he're..." Worm managed to get out inbetween breaths.

"Gilbert!!" a quite familiar voice shouted. Forthoro came running out of their cabin, arms wide open.

Gilbert hopped down from the carraige and embraced his loving wife.

"I was so worried about you! Did you eat okay? Were you hurt? How were the soldiers at L'Rennouille?"

Gilbert smiled down at his wife and just embraced her again. Words weren't necessary.

Then, breaking the nice little moment that the two of them had created, a man in an all white robe approached them. He was somewhat short and fat, and had a very ugly grin on his face. "My Master wishes to see you, General Gilbert," he said.

Gilbert raised an eyebrow, "I'm no longer General."

The ugly man's grin grew wider, "Come with me."

"Now wait just a second!" Forthoro started to say to the man.

"30,000, Mr. Gilbert. 30,000. Shall we go?" the grin seemed more broad every time he spoke. Gilbert's eyes widened, 30,000? Wow! Just think of what I could do with that cash!

"Forthoro," Gilbert said reluctantly, "er...can you come here for a second?"

"Sure honey," she said sarcastically as she approached him. "Are you serious? You're not going to go with this man are you? You just got back!"

"I'm sorry," Gilbert said, looking down at his feet, "but I think I should. 30,000 is a lot of money, I might be able to simply buy Zexen with that kind of money." Gilbert laughed at the thought.

Forthoro, however, was not quite so amused by this situation. And one could understand why. But, Forthoro was never one to argue, so of course, after a good five minutes of bickering, she let her husband go. Gilbert and the man in white began to walk to the other side of town.

The morning had arrived early, in this hot dead land there was no cool morning air, just the same dusty hot air that greeted them every morning. Not that it made any difference, he was probably going to get himself killed in this expedition he had been dragged into. Lord Fraunces sometimes seemed goodhearted but other times he was very odd, he seemed to really like Grenseal and Sydonia but usually called them the wrong name or simply 'Hey you!'.

It wasn't long until the noble mentioned before as Lord Fraunces entered the room and looked Grenseal over, seeing that the Toranian knight was fit and dressed to go he hurried him along to where Sydonia stood. With no time for words they walked outside, three other men were waiting as well. The first man was about six feet tall and dressed in the clothes typical for desert travel. The second was shorter, he wore clothes of Harmonian style he had a large axe like weapon hung over his back and a patch over his right eye. The third wore clothing Grenseal wasn't familiar with, in our society it would be what we would consider a brownish leather cowboy outfit, but for the people in this world, it was something never seen.

The shorter one from Harmonia brought them six strange creatures, Grenseal was familiar with these were very rare and expensive travel animals that he, Alen and Teo had used before and during the Gate Rune War. They were different though, these creatures were much like camels in our world and capable of going long distances without water. They were veramels, unlike the verrions that are nearly extinct in Toran Republic. Each one of the six men present boarded them, Fraunces getting a special one with a nice oriental blanket laid over the back of the creature. The other creatures had simple fur blankets over the creatures bodies, once they had all gotten steady and prepared on the veramels they took off at a quick yet steady rate. Fraunces rode in between Grenseal and Sydonia to fill them in on the mission.

"Heh... how much do we get paid?" Sydonia had asked after Fraunces had filled them in on all the people already there on the mission.

"Each Merc is paid umm.. your currency is Potch, no? It would be 50,000 for Mercs, which you two are acting as, 35,000 for the Adventurers and 40,000 for the miners"

"That sure is a lot of money for a job, just half of what your paying each person could set a man for life" Grenseal commented "And why do you need us? I would think you would have had plenty already with that pay"

"Yes, but... unfortunately, one of my mercenaries was killed by one of the criminal lords" Fraunces said quietly "So I will use you two to replace my loss"

"Heh" Sydonia said simply, "I'm honored"

Neither of the three asked any more questions, overhearing the other three with them however, Grenseal was able to find out their names. The Zexenian garbed man was known as Rooster, the Harmonian was called Three, because of the three fingers he was missing on his left hand, and the 'cowboy' was named Trine. They all appeared to know each other and kept their voices down and the conversation as discreet as possible.

This didn't bother Grenseal as much as Lord Fraunces did, somehow he didn't feel that this man was trustworthy. Even Sydonia kept his distance and remained even more solitary than usual. They stopped at a tiny town on the way and replaced their creatures and continued on. These creatures were fresher, and much faster than the previous ones, so the trip went by a lot quicker.

It wasn't long afterwards they arrived at the massive expedition site. Lord Fraunces was greeted by a tall man dressed expensively like his master was, he said a few things quietly which seemed to anger Fraunces at first but then later calmed down, laughed and patted the man on the back. The two entered the cave talking, as did Rooster, Three and Trine who likewise went in. Seeing little choice Grenseal and Sydonia followed, leaving a few selected outside to wait for the future comers.

Kage revelled in the darkness that consumed him at every glimpse of the eye, as he waited for the approaching footfalls to reach him. He wasn't sure how many people were coming, but he was positive that it was at least five. The loud thumping of the mysterious men's feet striking the rocky ground echoed throughout the silent mine. He could hear people whispering back and forth to each other every once and a while, but wasn't able to make out what was being said. Although, at one point, a single voice rang out above all of the others, and to Kage, it sounded distinctively like the voice of Lord Fraunces himself.

Kage had met the rich man previously, some two days ago. He had stalked across the roof, slithered into Fraunces room through the window, then waited for two hours for the man to show up. When the nobleman finally did enter, Kage introduced himself, nearly giving his contractor a heart attack.

There was three reasons for the dramatic meeting, all fairly reasonable. The first was to get the details of the mission, which Fraunces provided in excess, and very politely. The second was to collect his money, after his last two contracts, he wanted to be paid beforehand. The third was more...personal. Kage had always stressed the side of caution, in his line of work it was a must, most of the time he wasn't dealing with the nicest people on the planet. He didn't like doing business with people he didn't know, it could turn disastrous. So he met with Lord Fraunces to get a feel for the wealthy individual, to see what he was like, how he acted, and how he carried himself. Most of the time Fraunces seemed very much on the level, telling Kage everything he needed to know and then some. But some of the time there was something very off about the ninja's employer, and though Kage didn't know it, he and Grenseal would have the same impression of Fraunces...he wasn't trustworthy. He constantly seemed to be hiding something, he would drown Kage in particulars, then cut himself off when he was getting to close to something he didn't want said. Fraunces had this way about him when he discussed the mission, a kind of smirk that said, "I know something you don't". Kage didn't like it.

Kage collected his money (but only after a little bickering and complaining from Lord Fraunces), and told his employer he would meet them at the mine. Fraunces intervened once again, requesting that the mercenary go with him and his entourage, but when he turned to look at Kage and see what his answer was, the ninja was nowhere to be found. Just then a light breeze jutted through an open window causing the curtains to blow back and wave at the philanthropist. Fraunces sighed and closed the window. He was the only one in or around the house to know the ninja had been there.

The men were getting closer. Kage looked down at the top of the men's heads and saw that they were only some five to six feet away. "Time to make my appearance" Kage whispered to himself, and without another word he jumped down from the ledge he was standing on. He landed on his feet with a soft thud, less than a foot in front of Lord Fraunces. He saw three men reach immediately for their weapons, and Kage smiled to himself. Fools. If he wanted them dead, they would have never had time to reach for their weapons.

"It's okay, it's okay." Lord Fraunces said, holding his hands up to the three men behind him, attempting to show everything was alright. "Like those theatrical entrances, don't you Lord Kage?"

"Just trying to show that I could kill you anytime I want, in case you're planning to do something foolish." Kage responded flatly. The ninja's eyes scanned the men he had just intersected. Lord Fraunces and another man Kage did not know led the group. Behind them were three more men. Kage actually knew who one of them was. The man with three fingers missing (oh how Kage sympathized with the man now) was from Harmonia, his name was Three, if Kage wasn't mistaken, and apparently (Kage had never actually met the man) was quite deadly with his axe. The other two the ninja didn't know, but when he glimpsed the clothes that the man he would later be introduced to him as Trine, the stoic mercenary nearly burst out in laughter. Behind these three were still two more people, and Kage placed them immediately. The first was Grenseal, the second, Sydonia (Where the hell were you when I could have used you?, Kage asked the strange bandit in his head.)

"Well, glad to have you with us Lord Kage, we'll be getting started very soon, we were just scouting the location" Lord Fraunces said, but Kage wasn't listening, he was still looking at Grenseal.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kage questioned.

"Hello, Kage. I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you here, should I?" Grenseal greeted his former Liberation War comrade. "As to how I got into this, well, that's a long story."

"Heh, hiya doing Kage?" Sydonia said, introducing himself to the two man conversation. Kage glanced over at the bandit but didn't reply.

"Well, now that everyone's been introduced..." Lord Fraunces began to say, "we've got a few more people to wait for, but after that, we shall get started."

None of the three former members of the Liberation army made any response. They listened to Fraunces re-brief the mission, which almost everyone had heard. Later, they heard some other things that probably wouldn't have thrilled the mercs had they heard beforehand. Apparently one of the old miners had encountered a giant canine-like beast that killed off the other miners, the old man being the only one to escape. While they were listening to Lord Fraunces more and more mercs, adventurers, and miners arrived, unloaded, and took places in the crowd.

When Gilbert and his new 'friend', whose name was appearantley Rutnik, got to the other end of town where there seemed to be a mining site of some sort. Gilbert let his eyes search through the people, and as if his eyes were like missles, they locked onto a man in yellow. "You!" Gilbert yelled as he un-sheathed his sword.

The man turned and saw this. "Heh, been a while." Sydonia, who was obviously the man in yellow, leapt into the air to avoid Gilbert's charge. Gilbert felt someone's hands reaching for him, and he swung around, stabbing the man in the chest.

Another man, in some typical travelling clothes, and with a green flowing cape behind his back un-sheathed his sword as well. "Stop this insanity! What are you doing?" the man yelled.

"Who are you?" Gilbert said with narrowed eyes.

"The name's Grenseal. That's my friend Sydonia that you just tried to kill, and that man you did kill was one of the 'boss's' workers"

Gilbert re-sheathed his sword and walked over to the man who looked like he was in charge. He held out an open hand, "Money."

The man looked shocked, but then seemed to re-collect himself. "Ah yes, the cold-blooded mercenary, Sir Gilbert. You get the money, after the job is done, my friend."

Kage smiled at that.

"Very well," Gilbert said, "what is it we're doing? And who exactly are you?"

The leader smiled, "My name is Lord Fraunces, all you have to do..." and Lord Fraunces went on explaining what to do to Gilbert. Gilbert payed little attention, and just thought about what he could do with 30,000.

After everyone once more heard the breifing, it was late, fortunately the whole crew had assembled. When Lord Fraunces saw that night had taken it's toll, he informed everyone that they would begin at the crack of dawn, as their was still some mining that was going on through the night.. So they were taken to the temporary sleeping area where each man (and some women) was given the neccesary gear. Although not all accepted them, and informed the men they were perfectly capable of doing it on their own.