Zamza had come up with several plans for 'protecting' Slade (at least until Zamza killed Slade himself). He had thought about ditching the two mystery men on the way, but Zamza disregarded the thought almost as fast as it had occured to him. If he actually did manage to lose the two men, it would only last for a short while, Kage would eventually catch up with him and kill him. Zamza was more sure of this than anything he had ever known. He didn't like to say it, but Kage was the best, and most efficient fighter he had ever seen, and that included Master Forge and Morgan.

On the day they had left Greenhill, the trio had been attacked by five bandits whom demanded all of their potch and valuables. Before Zamza had lit Tekken adn gotten halfway to the bandits, Kage had taken out four of the five men, while Fuma disposed of the last one.

Kage moved with a speed Zamza had not known existed in a human. A second after the leader of the bandits finished speaking, Kage had gone to work. He whipped out a couple of, what Zamza thought looked like stars, and threw them at the two bandits on the end. The 'stars' must have been extremely sharp, because it too only on of them to drop the two bandits to the ground. The 'stars' had implanted themselves in each of the bandits throat.

The projectiles had yet to hit their unfortunate targets when Kage charged at the other two bandits. He withdrew his blade, and, as he reached the first bandit, made a large slash running from the bandits right shoulder, and down his torso diagonally. With his momentum carrying him down and to the left, Kage implanted his blade in the earth, and spun twice to his left, positioning himself directly behind the leader of the bandits. Without any warning, Kage snapped the man's neck with a sickening *crack*.

After Fuma finished his man seconds later, Kage simply removed the slain men's potch, and the trio continued on their way.

This little exhibition of Kage's fighting abilities once again showed Zamza all he needed to know. Kage was not the kind of person you wanted to get on the bad side of, and if Zamza tried to ditch him, he just might do that.

[Later that night]

Zamza stirred. He rolled around; it was no use. He would drift into a light sleep, but he couldn't go under any further. He couldn't quite make it to that mystical land where everything was beautiful and nothing hurt; that land of charm. It wouldn't happen this night he was sure, he had way too many things to think about.

Zamza opened his eyes and wasn't the least bit surprised to see that the golden rays of light from the sun had yet to streak across the pitch black sky. He sat up, and saw Fuma, either already up or still awake, sitting on the other side of the fire, which was currently burning low and in need of some more firewood. Kage, was nowhere to be seen.

Zamza coughed. "Where's Kage?" he asked groggily through a parched throat.

"He went out scouting, make sure nothing unexpected was coming." Fuma said plainly.

"Why did he do that? It's not like we couldn't take out anything that came across us. He should really be getting some sleep." Zamza retorted.

"Kage is an extremely cautious man, that's what makes him so dangerous" Fuma replied.

"How long ago did he leave?"

"Just a few minutes ago."

Zamza considered Fuma's statements. He needed a plan, but to do that he had to learn more about who he was travelling with. He needed to know about Kage specifically, what his weaknesses were, than maybe he could think of a decent plan. He doubted Kage would give those answers himself, so that meant Fuma was probably Zamza's best chance, and Zamza really wasn't sure what kind of answers he would get from him.

Zamza decided to start easily, Fuma wasn't as smart as Kage, but he wasn't exactly an idiot either. "Why do you and Kage dress in such a peculiar manner?" Zamza inquired, hoping Fuma wouldn't just altogether ignore him.

"We are ninja, once of the tribe of Rokkaku, and this is how we dress." Fuma replied.

Ninja? What the hell was that, Zamza wondered. "So this tribe, you guys are violent? Take lives indiscrimminatly?" Zamza said with a half smile on his face, hoping it came out lighthearted, as he intended it to be.

Fuma laughed as if Zamza had just cracked a funny joke. Had he still belonged to Rokkaku, he might have been offended. As it were, however, he saw it as rather funny. "No, no, no. The tribe is actually very peaceful. They usually stay out of the affairs of people outside the village. Most ninja live and die in obscurity, never leaving their tiny little hamlet. Myself and Kage, however, no longer belong to the tribe."

"So it's just you two who take life without reason then?" the words shot out of Zamza's mouth. He hadn't meant to say them, but they had escaped, and they sounded rather harsh. He hoped Fuma would let it pass, the question was more with regards to Kage than it was to him anyway.

Fuma chuckled once again. "No, I myself will only take a life if mine hangs in the balance. In fact I'm only with Kage right now because he promised he would give me a new home, apparently their is another ninja clan comprised mostly of exiles and people who didn't like Rokkaku." Fuma was off the subject, and he realized it. He continued, "As for Kage though, he's a different story altogether. He's probably killed more people than all other ninja combined." Fuma didn't really believe this, but with only a few ninja ever leaving Rokkaku, he figured it could be possible. "He doesn't do it indiscimminitly though, he always gets paid, and the people he kills usually deserve it as well."

"He's a merc?" A part of Zamza was actually a little surprised by this.

"Yup."

"Why did he leave Rokkaku? Was he exiled like you?" Zamza continued to survey, he was determined to find out what made Kage tick.

"Nobody knows but him, and maybe Hanzo, the chieftain of Rokkaku. All anybody knows is that he just decided to go." Fuma stated flatly.

"Do all of you fight like that; like him?" Zamza continued.

"No, Kage is probably the most talented ninja. Hanzo's about the same." That would be a good fight, Fuma thought when he finished his sentence to Zamza. "Kasumi is pretty good, as am I."

"So...what, Kage doesn't have any weaknesses?" Zamza asked, hoping Fuma wouldn't consider why he was asking it.

Fuma pondered over the last question for about a minute. For a while, Zamza was positive Fuma wasn't going to speak up. Finally, after what seemed like a millenium, Fuma spoke.

"I wouldn't even think about that Zamza. If you try and double cross Kage, he will find you, and then he will kill you. I mean you no offense, you're probably a damn fine warrior in your own right, but Kage was born for fighting" Fuma said, smiling lightly as he said it. "Put Kage in a battle, and he's at home. When a person has the skill and abilitiy which Kage does, they have no weaknesses, only better strong points. He isn't the most powerful man in the world, but then again you don't have to be very strong to run a man through with your sword. I have met very few people who would be able to tangle with Kage and live, even fewer who could possibly win, and I'm sorry to tell you Zamza, but you aren't in either group."

Zamza thought about it. Unfortunatly, he would have to agree with Fuma, Kage would probably kill him in a heartbeat. He understood, Kage had no weak points in battle, but what about off the battlefield? There's no way Kage could be perfect in every aspect of life; it was impossible. Zamza would just have to be a little more clever, that was all.

Zamza glanced at the rune on his right hand. Suddenly he was taken back to Greenhill with the giant griffon as his ally and, Slade, their opponent. Zamza rememberedthe amount of power the rune had given him. It was more than it had ever given before, and Zamza was clueless as to how he did it. The flame had just roared out of his rune. It was almost like...like the first time he used it in his village. All he could remember about that was the houses burning and the villagers saying that he was to blame. For a long time after that he considered them wrong, his rune had never done anything like that. But now,...now, he thought that they could've been telling the truth...that he did set the village on fire.

Zamza began to run his finger over his rune. The rune felt like no other, especially a single part of it, but every time he touched it, he felt a boiling in his blood, like the rune was calling out to him. He couldn't explain it, and so far, neither could anyone else. There were no answers to his questions, which had caused him to be even more curious about the rune.

"Zamza, what are you doing?" Fuma asked, slamming Zamza back into reality.

"Huh?" was Zamza's only reply.

"I said, W-H-A-T A-R-E Y-O-U D-O-I-N-G?" Fuma stated once again, as if Zamza were a two year old.

"Oh, er...just looking at my rune." Zamza said sheepishly, a little embarressed.

"Oh, what kind of rune is it?" Fuma asked, curious as to what kind of rune could make Zamza zone out like that.

"Um...well I don't know if it has a name, but I call it the Fire Dragon Rune." He replied, a hint of pride in his voice.

"Fire Dragon Rune? I've never heard of it. Where'd you get it?" Fuma inquired once again.

"I found it about fourteen or fifteen years ago near my village. It was just sitting there so I took it and had it attached. Strangely enough, now I can't have it removed." It was Zamza's turn to chuckle. "I'm trying to find out if anybody knows anything about it, but nobody's told me squat since I've had it. I know that it was manmade, but that's about all. I would like to find out where it came from, and, who made it, things like that. Even greater than that though, I want to find out what it's potential is."

Fuma had to admit, he was intrigued. A rune that an apprentice runemaster couldn't distinguish was rare enough, a rune that nobody could identify or know a little bit about in 15 years was astounding.

"Can I see it?" Fuma asked, looking at Zamza.

Zamza shrugged, why not? It couldn't hurt any, but he wasn't going to exactly hold his breath either. He walked over to Fuma and showed him his rune, expecting Fuma to know nothing about it, just like everybody else.

Fuma studied the rune. It didn't look like anything out of the ordinary. He could see why Zamza gave it the name he did, on it there was a dragon releasing a huge wave of fire through it's mouth. He agreed with what Zamza had said and that it had been made by a person, the texture was different from an elemental rune, and he could tell that just by looking at it. It could have been made by the dwarves was Fuma's first thought, but for some reason he doubted it, just a gut instinct.

"What do you think" Zamza asked, a little anxious about what Fuma had to say. Fuma, however, didn't answer.

Fuma just looked for a second. The rune was definitly different. It had a color that he had never seen on a rune before, and Fuma began to run through the list of people he had met in his life who could have possibly made this rune. Suddenly, he was tempted to touch it. He didn't know what it was, he just wanted to touch it. Fuma traced his fingers around the flames. To his great surprise, that part of the rune was very hot.

"Is the rune always like this? This hot?" Fuma asked

"What the flames? Yeah, yeah, it's gotten to the point where I don't even notice it anymore, though" Zamza answered, wondering when Fuma would be done looking at it, his whole arm was starting to get a cramp.

'Hmm...that's weird', Fuma thought. He had never heard of a rune that constantly stayed hot like that, not a fire rune or even a rage rune, nothing held that kind of temperature all the time. It wasn't excruciatingly hot, but keep your finger on it and you began to feel the heat.

Fuma replaced his finger on the rune and began to once again trace over the rune. He moved over the flames once again, and eventually made his way to the outline of the dragon. This was where the really odd texture was. He began to run his finger down the dragon when he snapped his hand away like he'd been slapped, his hand caught in the cookie jar.

"What is it?" Zamza asked, his eyes giving Fuma a questioning look.

"It's, uh, n-nothing." Fuma replied. Yeah, it was nothing. There's no way that what he thought he felt was actually what he felt. It was impossible. He had never heard of anything like it.

Yeah, it was nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing. His mind was just playing tricks on him, that's all. He had stayed there for such a long time, it was only natural that his mind manifest something with which he was familiar. It just wouldn't make sense that he felt what he thought he felt.

Fuma took another careful glance at the rune. Zamza was right, there was definitly something unique with that rune. It was different alright. Fuma was getting ready to turn his head, when he noticed something. Most people would've missed it, and it was possible that maybe Zamza still had yet to see it, but he was ninja, and they were trained for this sort of thing.

He stared until his eyes began to hurt. It was barely visible, but he was sure he was seeing correctly. It was something that made him reconsider that he may have touched what he actually thought he touched. Under the dragon's head, and just before the flames began, was a symbol, one which Fuma knew quite well, in fact. On Zamza's rune, was the insignia of the Dragon Knights.

Fuma didn't tell Zamza what he saw on his rune. He wanted to wait for Kage to get back and discuss it with him. Fuma wasn't sure he knew what to think. He had never heard of the Dragon Knights ever making runes.

Fuma nearly had a heart attack when he heard heavy breathing and turned to see Kage right behind him. It was about time!

"Take it easy Fuma, it's just me, I'm not gonna hurt you" Kage said, throwing a confused glance towards Fuma.

"Yeah, not unless the money's right, huh Kage?" Fuma said sarcastically. Kage shrugged, Fuma had him there.

"Hey, listen" Fuma started out, he wanted to talk low, so Zamza wouldn't hear him. "I need to talk to you about something"

Kage looked at him curiously, then shook his head. He pulled Fuma towards some trees because he took it Fuma didn't want Zamza to hear. "What is it?" Kage asked.

"Have you ever heard of the Dragon Knights making runes?" Kage shook his head. "Zamza's got this rune, and he didn't know what it was, and he's been looking for answers for like 15 years, so I took a look at it." Kage gave him a look that said, 'come on, come on, I don't have all night'. "Well anyway, when I felt the rune, I could have sworn I felt a dragon scale. At first I thought I was crazy, but then I saw the Dragon Knight's symbol on the rune."

"So what's the big deal?"Kage asked, more than a little perturbed.

"I just wanted to see what you wanted to do, because I've never heard of them making any. Should I tell Zamza what I know?" Fuma asked.