Samurai Wannabe: Chapter 2 - New Friend

Chapter 2

The sun blazed finely in the cloudless azure above and I was left dragging my tired body ahead. I admit that my idea of walking to the Capital (where the aspiring samurai can attempt to be recruited) was quite foolish. I'm usually much smarter than that, honest.
    It had been a day plus a few hours before I noticed a horse-drawn cart behind me. I stopped and waited, hoping that this was my lucky break, and lucky I was. The cart pulled up alongside me and stopped, the plump man sitting at the helm of my rescue had rosy red cheeks and a merry smile upon his face. He wore a hat of straw to block the sun out of his eyes; something that I was quite envious of.
    "Hello there traveller!" he said, tipping his hat slightly, "where might you be going on this fine day?"
    "I am going to become a samurai." I posed as I said this, smirking. Surely this would be something that everyone would be impressed about.
    "A samurai?" the man said, his tone thoughtful, "you ain't goin' fer that thing about marryin' the princess, are ye?" This damage to my ego made me lose my composure somewhat, something the cart-driver picked up on immediately. It seems I didn't even have to open my mouth in order to give him my answer. "Yer gonna have te hurry and get enlisted then. I just so happen te be on the way te the Capital myself, if you wanna ride along with me." I didn't give him a chance to change his mind, quickly accepting his offer and hopping beside him at the front of the cart. Getting off my legs felt wonderful after the amount of walking I had done, and I notably sighed. The man chuckled before setting the horses off in a trot once again.
    We exchanged many pleasantries on the way. I learnt that his name was Yasuhiro Hibiki and that he had just finished transporting goods from the Capital to somewhere down south (the Capital lies in the dead centre of the lands and my own town lies far south of it) and he was now on his way back. He expressed interest in my life, but I didn't speak much of it. The only parts of real interest were the recent events that spurred me to become a samurai, and I felt too embarrassed to discuss such things with him.
    We were a few hours into our travels when Yasuhiro suddenly stopped the cart, looking ahead as his previously rosy cheeks drained of colour. I turned my attention from him to what he was looking at to find some menacing figures in thick brown clothing that obscured their identities mounted on intimidating black horses. Neither I nor Yasuhiro made a single move as they approached; we simply stared. They eventually arrived and dismounted, making it clear they were wearing Tekko-kagi. The most massive (and most intimidating) thug of the bunch - presumably the leader - approached us while his, 'friends,' stayed back. He flashed us a smile and we got to see his lovely pearly whites. Well, I say pearly whites; there were several that were different metals and two that were simply bits of wood fashioned for the same purpose: not a pretty sight.
    "Good-day to you, my fine gentlemen," he said, his voice a low and gruff as voices can be, "what is it you have in this cart o' yours?"
    "It is nothing of much interest," Yasuhiro replied, "I have delivered anything of value to a town south of here already."
    "Is that right? I guess I'll just have to have my friends take a look at that then." He waved his finger and his minions set to the task of rummaging trough Yasuhiro's belongings. I empathised with Yasuhiro, I really did, but all that empathy vanished, however, when the whinnying of a horse alerted me and the bandit leader to Yasuhiro, who seemed to have set free one of the horses while everyone was preoccupied and was quickly becoming a smaller and smaller figure on the horizon. He didn't even look back. Asshole.
    The bandit leader chuckled, seemingly finding the whole escape all rather amusing. "He was quick to abandon you to save his own skin, wasn't he? Too bad for you."
    One of the underlings appeared from behind the cart. "Sir! There isn't much of anything we can use. Just some vegetables, a copy of the news about the princess and a wooden katana."
    Once again, the leader chuckled. "Didn't have much to call his own then? Seems this was a waste; how frustrating. Kill the idiot."
    At his command, the bandits encircled me, tekko-kagi at the ready. I was ready to prepare to beg for my life when I heard a grunting sound. The sound of someone who had just been hit. We all looked over in the direction leader to find a ludicrous sight. The leader was slumped over and standing above him was a smiling little boy.
    The boy was very short and looked very young. He was sporting jet black hair which stuck out in all directions, a stark contrast to my slicked back golden locks. He had innocent blue eyes where I had green and a large smile where I held a dejected frown. This boy seemed my polar opposite in every way. It seems he was also my polar opposite in smarts, as he simply smiled as he watched the minions and I stare at him with a jaws to the floor.
    Eventually, one of the bandits eventually found their guts (which, with their leader incapacitated by a ten year old child, they seem to have lost) and shouted: "Hey kid! What did you do to our boss?"
    "He was mean, so I punched him!" the boy beamed as he spoke, as if the act was a big accomplishment.
    There were worried murmurs among the group; anyone who could put their leader out of commission with one punch was certainly a formidable opponent. Eventually they finally reached a consensus and turned towards the child before charging at him with reckless abandon.
    The following is something that, had I not witnessed it myself, would have thought ridiculous. With the strength of ten warriors and the reflexes with which he could likely catch an arrow, he proceeded to fight all of these foes with his bare hands until they were all either unconscious or had fled in terror. Once the boy's work was done, he approached me and his smile widened, another thing I thought impossible.
    "Hey mister!" he said, "are you ok with leaving your cart behind? One horse ain't gonna be able to pull it on its own." I simply nodded, stepping off the cart. He quickly removed the bonds tying the horse to the cart and motioned for me to get on. I did as he suggested and he followed suit; mounting the horse in front of me and taking hold of the reigns.
    "The name's Mizuno Hiroki!" he said, though his voice was loud, "are you, perhaps, on your way to the Capital?"
    I nodded.
    "Great! Off we go!" With that, the horse began to trot, taking my adventure forward with a new person in tow. I knew that this kid was in possession of some amazing abilities, but five minutes with his loud voice left me with a headache.
    The one thing on my mind at the time: why me?