"This…wasn't…part…of…the…plan!" Kazuki gasped, rolling to the right, barely avoiding being trampled under the hooves of a samurai's horse. His lower left leg, which had been pierced through by a samurai's arrow earlier, protested loudly and painfully to him as he did so. Ignoring the throbbing ache as best as he could, Kazuki spun and came to his feet, and then channeling his anger, let loose a great wave of flame with a knifelike slash of his arm. The samurai's horse, frightened and singed by the fire, reared up, screaming, and threw its rider from the saddle. But Kazuki did not even have time to laugh as the samurai landed unceremoniously in the rough arms of a tree, for three more of the man's comrades were already galloping towards him, swift death flying from their drawn bows.
      "Sonofa…!" He muttered, leaping awkwardly out of the line of fire, doing his best to escape becoming a human pincushion for the samurais' arrows.
      He couldn't believe their misfortune. Tokugawa's men were obviously very serious about eradicating Lady Nozomi's Lin Kuei kidnappers, and unfortunately for the Kazama, these samurai were devout believers in the old adage "The only good ninja is a dead one." The mounted soldiers were indiscriminately cutting down both the Kazama and the Lin Kuei alike - actually, it looked more like they were just killing Kazama to Kazuki, he hadn't seen a single Kuei ninja yet. Of the original eighteen of them that had set out, he was sure not more than six or seven remained alive, including him. The irony was not lost on Kazuki; the Kazama had come to kill the Kuei and had found themselves getting butchered instead. He didn't give a damn about Sogetsu's welfare (in fact, he almost wished Sogetsu's body lay dead somewhere at this very moment), but he dearly hoped their younger sister, Hazuki, was still alive…
      A metal chain sailed through the air, tangling around the rear legs of the horse of one of Kazuki's pursuers, and both man and beast went down in a jumble, bones snapping. Kazuki grinned and waved backwards in gratitude to his older cousin, Miko, for the help. She smiled back and winked, but then her smile vanished as she toppled over, three arrows protruding from the back of her lifeless body.
      Kazuki snarled, tears in his eyes, as he turned to face his attackers - he couldn't hope to outrun or out maneuver them with his bad leg anyway. Both advancing samurai had discarded their bows, as they were now too close for them to be effective, drawing their katana instead. Murder in their eyes, they bore down on him, swords poised for the kill. He waited till the last possible moment, and then leapt directly at them, his body exploding into an all-consuming fireball of rage.
      "GRAAAAAAAH!!!"
      The samurai screamed, their clothes igniting in flames from Kazuki's blazing attack. They fell from their mounts, frantically rolling on the ground in a futile attempt to beat out the fire that consumed them.
      Kazuki gasped, he had landed badly on his torn leg, and the agony was nearly unbearable. His head was spinning and he was growing feint from the blood he had lost as well.
      Through weary eyes, he finally saw one of the Lin Kuei in the distance, a woman, running as yet another samurai chased her down and closed in for the kill. Suddenly, she changed direction, her feet sliding on the wet grass, darting directly back towards the mounted soldier, but instead of attacking, she only continued to run by the surprised samurai, her hand caressing his horse's shanks as she did so. To Kazuki's horror, the animal immediately started to turn black and rot before his very eyes, its flesh becoming slack and putrid. The horse collapsed like an overripe fruit, trapping the samurai underneath it, who cursed loudly and screamed in horror at what had become of his steed.
      "What the hell?" Kazuki gasped in disbelief as he watched the woman disappear again into the thin foliage surrounding the river's edge. Could all the Lin Kuei do things like that? If so, than maybe the Kazama had best leave them alone…
      But this last thought went unfinished as unconsciousness finally stole over Kazuki, his body slumping as the one-sided battle continued on without him.