The Tenken, a name that was as famous as the description of the person who claimed the title, most noteably for the vibrant blue hair that depicted him. Shin Shiden, The Tenken, calmly rode into the small cizokian town of Hagami.

To Shin it was nothing more then a hole in the wall, some back water town that laid on the borders of Cizok. He couldn't imagine the two men that had been dispatched here would have a problem completeing their mission.

In making no attempts to hide who he was the people of Hagami began to talk amongst themselves. Whispering the new comers identity and his purpose. Unknown to him the two men that he had sent had been defeated in combat and in their final moments they had revealed that they in fact were working for the Tenken.

Shin dismounted and lead the horse to a water hole, it was at that moment the smell of blood filled his nostrils. It was possibly the most familiar scent to him, one he was capable of identifying at a distance. Hand on the Shiden Blade he looked in the direction of the smell.

About a hundred yards in the way he had been riding his eyes caught sight of a sight that would disgust anyone with a weak stomach. The heads of the two men he sent were atop spikes infront of the gate that lead to the lords house.

"That answers one quesion." He muttered to himself as he casually made his way in that direction. He purposely walked slow so that everyone in the town would know he was there, they would know and fear the Tenken. Walking slow also provided two other purposes. The first being that Lord Ashigua, Shins target, would know his remaining hour was upon him and that there was nothing he could do to stop Shin and the second purpose was to draw out the people that had been able to kill his two men. They had not been masters, but were experienced enough to take on any number of farmers or regualr militia that a town such as this held.

A slow smirk played across the features of Kensaki Kashou as he faced the window of his room on the second floor. The crowd parted before a young man with blue hair and a sword, muttering to themselves in obvious fear. "Finally" he thought to himself, "someone worth my time." They hadn't been bad really; not really. Certainly far better than any he had expected to see when he had taken this accursed job as a babysitter for the fool Ashigua. A fool who paid well, he reminded himelf. Despite their obvious skill, however, he knew the two who had come to kill the old man were lackies, and that killing them could mean a real fight. It now seemed that his hopes had been realized as he watched the lone swordsman slowly approach the manor.

Suddenly, he laughed softly to himself. There would be no need to go into this fight with no information. If the weaklings that Ashigua kept as soldiers were worthless in a fight, they could at least give their lives to show him a bit of what this man was capable. Laughing again to himself, Kensaki called for the guards...

Shin made it about halfway down the street before anyone dared to stand against him, and he was dissapointed when his first challengers appeard. Shock troops, barely above the common people in Shins mind. Not only that but there were only two of them.

They had chosen to attack his back, a smart choice when tactics were involved but against Shin it hardly mattered the direction in which they choose to assault him.

He waited until the two were a few meters behind him, they were loud enough to the point it seeemed as if they wanted to be heard. Luckily for Shin he didn't turn because at that point two archers appeared over the top of the wall, both loosening already knocked arrows at him.

With the speed and skill that only someone like the Tenken could produce he brought forth his katana, the Shiden Blade, still in it's sheath. With percise surreal movements he deflected the first arrow to his left while leaning to the right and then immediatley reversed his stance and deflected the other one to his right.

It was at that point that Shin turned, the swordsmen were actually spear wielders and were closer then he had anticipated. The fight had went better then he could have planned! Both men were on the ground, the deflected arrows barried into each of there chests all the way to the fletcher.

Not one to let his guard down Shin went for the spears each man had been wielding. He proped one man into a sitting position just in time to catch another two arrows that had been aimed for him.

Taking the mere couple seconds to act Shin gathered up the spears and let them both fly, one after the other. The spears weren't meant to be thrown but it worked, one spear took a one of the men on the wall in throat the other struck the bow rather then the wielder, but broke it in the process.

With three of the four dead and the fourth running towards Lord Ashigua's home, no doubt to warn him, Shin couldn' t help but feel a little cheated. Those were not that the people who had killed his men, these were troops sent to keep him busy. Shin surveyed the area to make sure no more soldiers were hiding in the shadows before he made his way towards the gate again. Lord Ashigua would die this day.

As he watched the soldiers he had sent attempt their pathetic assault on the swordsman, Kensaki almost quivered with anticipation. The man was even better that he could have hoped for! Still, something tugged at the back of his mind, but he could not put a finger on it. Dismissing the thought as quickly as it had come, he turned away from the window and started on his way downstairs. Kensaki was half way down the stairs when it clicked. Blue hair. There could only be one man with blue hair that could be good enough to deflect arrows like that.

Suddenly the main door to the manor crashed open to admit one of the soldiers he had dispatched to meet the man, wild eyed and staring. "The Tenken!! Its the Tenken!! Hurry, we must gather up Lord Ashigua and flee!! We must....!!"

The tirade stopped as soon as it had begun, the man going wide eyed as his eyes focused on the source of his pain, the jet black sword that had suddenly bloomed from his chest. His eyes followed the blade and up the arm of its wielder resting finally upon a pair of cold, dark eyes.

"While I appreciate the attempt to warn me, I've already pieced that together. Perhaps in the next life you will remember not to retreat until a retreat has been called." With that, Kensaki slid his sword free, flicking the blood from the blade with his wrist and sheathing it. At another time in his life, Kensaki may have even felt sorry for the dead man at his feet, but now he only had thought for the battle ahead. Unconsciously, he licked his lips, starting for the door as he wrapped himself in the Void, feeding all emotion into a single flame. He had to be cold. Hard. When dealing with a man like the Tenken, there were only two ways it could go, and both ended with a man bleeding out his life on the hard packed street.

Kensaki walked through the open door and out into the street. The man known as the Tenken was only ten paces away. "So, I set a trap to catch a wolf and end up with a lion for my efforts" he intoned wryly, staring calmly into the other mans eyes. "It seems only time will tell whether fortune has smiled or frowned upon my efforts."

Several things raced through the Tenkens mind as he crossed through the gate onto the Lords property, the first and foremost was the fact that something had to have killed the men he sent. The second being that he couldn't believe someone of his skill was forced to take on a task this far below his station.

But, they had already been paid for the job, and so he had no choice but to finish it. His left hand rested on the hilt of the Shiden Blade as he dew neared the estate, his fingers tapping against it in rythym, Shin was obviously bored with this duty.

He could feel the presence before he saw the man behind it. A warrior, a single man, with a warrior spirit that was noticble to Shin. While he wasn't yet skilled enough with the technique to sense any more the man was obviously more capable then the men he had sent, leading him to one conclusion.

Shin was purley buisness at the moment and frankly besides the fact that the man, who stood aounrd half a foot taller then him, seemed to be a note worthy warrior Shin couldn't care any less about what he was saying.

"So, you are the reason I had to travel to this rat infested town?" Shin shook his head, it seemed the Lord had been able to conjur up a decent defense. Shin stopped walking at about ten paces from the man, bordem was obvious in his eyes.

"Well you may have found a lion. But what contest is it for a lion to kill sheep and now be faced by a cub?" Shin didn't take up any particular fighting stance at that moment in time, he stood normally with one hand to his side and the other still resting on his hilt.

The insult rolled off Kensaki with little effect as deep in the Void as he was. So, the man was trying to put him off his guard? Or was he truly that sure of himself?

"I know whom I face, if by reputation alone, so I believe it is only fair that I introduce myself. My name is Kensaki Kashou. For the moment, this manor and those who reside here are under my protection. I did think that Ashigua was being more than paranoid to pay my price for protection, but apparantely I miscalculated the nature of his crime against your employers, if they were willing to dispatch one such as yourself."

With that, Kensaki slowly unsheathed his sword, tossing the scabbord to the side. The blade seemed carved from shadow, light seeming to be drawn into it rather than reflected from its surface. As the blade left its sheath, a faint humming noise began, quickly escalating to an oscillating, vibrant sound that resembled some form of song. Kensaki let the blade drop to a 45 degree angle behind him, raising his left palm in front in the Star of Fate stance.

"Do you hear it? It is a sound few have witnessed. You may consider yourself fortunate, for you have heard Darkstar's funeral song. For whom does it sing?"

The mans name meant nothing to Shin, he had never heard of it before nor had he heard any stories about a warrior that would fit his description. What did interest Shin was the weapon that the man carried, and the song it produced. While he himself had never seen the weapon there were stories about a blade forged by a master smith that could sing beauitufl and deadly songs.

There could only be one weapon out there like it, but how did this no name swordsmen end up with a weapon like that? Shin still didn't draw his own blade, he stood perfectly still, staring past Darkstar to Kensaki.

The way the man talked was creepy, he talked about his sword like it was a person. There was something off setting about Kensaki that Shin couldn't place, there was an confidence in his actions and in his tone of voice that Shin hadn't heard from many of his challengers for some time.

"You cross blades with the Tenken." Shin referred to himself by his title, sliding his left foot back and rotating his hips so his left side, his sword side, was away from Kensaki. "Not a wise move."

Finally, he placed his right hand just under the hilt of the Shiden Blade, palm open wide as if he was bearing a gift that he was preparing to give. This was an Iaijutsu stance, by far Shins most deadly and famous of stances.

Even while wrapped in the cold confines of the Void, Kensaki couldn't suppress a small chuckle of pure mirth. These were the moments for which he lived, his reason to survive. Only victory or death awaited, and Kensaki had long since resigned himself that he would one day end on the point of a sword. It was simply unfortunate for the Tenken that he had no intention of that being today. Of the fact that the blue haired swordsman had used not a hundredth part of his skill to dispatch the four men Kensaki had sent at him he had no doubt. But he had a few tricks up his sleeve as well, or, at least, Darkstar did.

Kensaki pushed his features into a smirk. "I'm not sure that I've ever been considered a wise man." He appeared to contemplate, as if trying to remember just such an incident. "No, no I'm quite sure that I haven't. Patient, though....patience I have in droves. I'll just wait here for you to recover whatever it is that's keeping you from living up to that reputation and killing me where I stand."

Shin very quickly disected his opponents stance weighing the benefits with the cons. It was defensive by nature. 'So I am supposed to attack.' Shin told himself just before Kensaki told him so.

"Very well."

At ten paces away Shin bent his knees, lowering himself to the ground and in doing so he lowered his center of gravity and gave himself a wider base. Shin would start this fight off with something special.

With no warning Shin iniated the fight with Kenkaze, a long range slash. Ten paces wasn't very far however and the attack wouldn't come as slice but as a gust of wind capable of cutting his opponent hundreds of times with what would be compareable to paper cuts. Individually they would do no more then sting but a bunch of them combined with the dust and dirt the gust brought with it was enough to topple a grown man.

Shin followed behind his attack, dashing forward at the same speed he had been using agasint the shock troops earlier. With his sword now out of it's sheath he prepared to alter his course incase Kensaki dodged the inital attack and intercept him with a powerful single handed slash from right to left aimed at his opponents mid-section.

Kensaki had less than a split second to assess the several threats now facing him. If he had had time, he might have smiled, for the Tenken used a tactic that he had mirrored many times using his Shindou Nami, launching a ranged attack, thus forcing your opponent to dodge and leaving him open to the real attack. Using Shinsoku, Kensaki dodged the air attack, quickly moving to his left, then, planting a back foot as if to reestablish his stance, he pivoted to face the space he had just left. Now it looked like he had anticipated Shin attacking directly behind his air attack, making him seem to believe that he had avoided the true danger. However unready he appeared, on the other hand, Kensaki was anything but as he awaited the true attack that would come within the blink of an eye.

It was not really a mistake, but it gave Shin all he needed to completely understand part of Kensaki's style. It was different in stance and how he applied it, but there was no mistaking the technique he just used, Shinsoku.

Shin had a move identical to it, matter of fact, Kensaki was a practioner of the style that Shins family had stole the move from. The only thing that threw Shin off was that this man used a sword and the style was not one for using weapons.

As such, the follow up attack never came. Shin stopped in his movements just before he would have inniated the slash and watched Kensaki carefully. Only a sword and halfs distance from him Shin lowered his guard and stood from his stance.

"Singing Palm, Shinsoku." Shin stated flatly as Kensaki repositioned himself. "Your stance is different from theirs, slightly, and you use a sword. A taboo of theirs, if I am not mistaken."

It seemed Shin had put the fight on hold for a moment. Was this man style similar to the truth of the Shiden Style? Or had the Singing Palm changed their edicts over the past few years? Whichever it was Shin obviously knew the Style and move Kensaki just used, which might bring up the question.. how much more did he know about it?

It was not the first time, nor the hundredth, that Kensaki was glad that the Void allowed him to suppress emotion, or else his face would have registered an unmistakable expression of shock. Not only had the Tenken not fallen into his trap, but by watching one movement--one!--he had identified both the technique used and the style that formed the backbone of his own Kensaki Kashou style!

With all of the modifications Kensaki had made to the Singing Palm--even his execution of Shinsoku barely resembled the original!--it should have been impossible for this man to pick it out by watching an entire fight, much less by seeing one movement! What else did this Tenken know that he was holding back? He would just have to find out, despite the part of him that whispered urgently in his mind, calling for blood, for the talking to end, for the killing to start.

Kensaki schooled his features into a slight smirk, turning to address the Tenken.

"So you are familiar with the Singing Palm? Most interesting." Kensaki sounded amused with the situation. "And you are familiar enough to know that the use of weaponry is forbidden to its practitioners. I wonder how one such as yourself could have come by such information, knowing as I do how tight lipped members of the school are when confronted by those who wield a weapon? Most interesting indeed."

As he spoke, he slid his front foot back, straightening out of his stance. With a flick of his wrist, Kensaki silenced Darkstar's sweet, deadly melody, coming to rest with the sword point grounded beside his right foot, leaning slightly on the blade. A skilled observer, however, might notice that despite the relaxed posture, Kensaki was balanced perfecly over his still planted back foot, somehow seeming poised for battle.

Shin was not about to reveal 'how' he knew of Kensaki's secrets, to do so would be to unravel the truth behind the Shiden Style. He did however mirror Kensaki's arrogant smirk. It would be like looking into a mirror.

"I am the son of the most skilled duelest in Cizok, raised from birth to wield the Katana." Shin raised the Shiden Blade before him, gripping it in both hands and holding it horizontally so he was peering over the top of the blade. It wasn't an answer to any of Kensaki's questions, it wasn't even relevent to the conversation but Shin felt like doing nothing more then flaunting what he believed to be his superiority.

He came forward yet again, fully aware of Kensaki's stance and that he wasn't as defensless as he appeared. He brought the sword down in a powerful arc from head to toe. It was time to see what Kensaki could do with that sword, Shin moved at about the speed Kensaki had demonstrated with the use of Shinsoku.

This wouldn't do. This frontal assault, so direct, so predictable, could only mean one thing. The man was testing him, probing for weakness. He had already risen to the bait once, using his Shinsoku far too early; he would not make the same mistake twice.

In an instant, Kensaki was falling backward, a startled expression on his face, his left hand reaching toward the ground below him, the point of his sword scraping backward, as if in a desperate attempt to find purchase. Suddenly, just as his left hand touched the dirt of the street, Kensaki's features hardened, and he pivoted, pushing off with his legs and using his grounded hand and the point of the sword as fulcroms, propelling his lower torso upward to catch the Tenkens blade between the platforms of his right sandal, while at the same time aiming a vicious kick at his opponents exposed throat with his left. Upon closer inspection, Kensaki's sandals, which at first glance appeared to be made of wood, were plated with steel on the underside, as if made for this very purpose.

By the time the Tenken realised what was going on the Shiden Blade was already locked within one of the sandals. Shin was forced to release the blade completely to use his forearm and knock aside the kick aimed at his throat.

Shin had not expected that manuever! The kick caught him off guard and now he found himself without a weapon and back peddling quickly out of range for anymore possible attacks.

Interesting, the man knew a trick or two Shin told himself. 'If I would have been any slower the fight would be over.' He rubbed his left arm, the one that had been used to deflect the majority of the kick...it would be black and blue for some time after this fight.

Shin didn't show emotion however, he refused to give the slightest hint on if he was worried or not. Now unarmed he began to bounce back and forth on the balls of his feet, very lightly almost as if he were floating hands held in front of him, similar to a western style of fighting that was foreign to Cizok, boxing.