Story I meant to write earlier and just never got around to, related to The Man in the White Kimono

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"Someone please help! I was just robbed!", a frantic woman ran down the village streets. She was in strange attire, it wasn't of the same culture as the others. Strange symbols dangled on her earrings, she wore an interesting golden crown upon her head and various bracelets and rings all resembling snakes and beetles. Her clothing was a tan color that robed her from the neck down. Her skin is more tan than normal.

The Man in the White Kimono was passing by when she approached him. "Please, sir! He took a family heirloom! It's irreplaceable!", she said to him.

"Calm down. Take a deep breath. Now, what can you tell me about them or what you lost?", the man asked, calmly.

"Well...it was a golden necklace with a scarab pendant made of turquoise. My family is Egyptian but we've been traveling for quite some time. My father was told the best fish were here, so that is why we came.", she spoke. "The man was small and bald-headed, he had a scar on one side of his neck. And he had an odd accent that was speaking to him."

The samurai nods. "That's all I need to know. Where can I find you if your necklace turns up?", he asks.

"There is a plaza down this road. I need to wait for my family as they have gone shopping for supplies, so I will be there. Thank you...", she speaks, and turns in the direction of the plaza.

The samurai continues on, his ears alert. He picks up fragments of conversations as he walks, of muggings, robberies, and theft recently in the area. Generally rare goods are stolen, things uncommon in this land.

While walking, he hears someone speaking to him. "Hello there, friend!", a shopkeeper says to him. The samurai turns to greet him. "Hello. What can I do for you?", he asks. He notices various odd things about the street stall, including strange items seemingly glistening in gold and diamonds. In addition, the samurai immediately notes the man is bald and has a scar on one side of his neck.

"Well I see you are a swordsman using the ancient mystical weapons of the ninja! Please, may I see what kind of shuriken you use?", the shopkeeper gets right to the point.

The samurai, without speaking, removes one shuriken from his belt and shows it.

"Ahhh...good quality. Though it appears you have worn it down some. Tell me, are you looking for a shuriken of extreme value?", the shopkeeper asks him.

Returning his throwing weapon to the belt, the samurai responds, "It depends, what makes this shuriken so special?"

"Oh you will not be disappointed, my good sir! It is a rare find indeed - one of the possessions of the legendary assassin Ryuu.", the man says enthusiastically, and then shows him a strangely decorative box containing a worn shuriken with a dragon etched in the side. "He put a curse on this very shuriken - that it would never fail to hit its target until the day it did not trust its owner, for which then whoever threw it would meet their death!"

Clearing his throat, he continues, "Of course, I doubt such a skilled ninja like you would ever fall victim to the curse. So what do you say? Would you like to take this rare, one-of-a-kind shuriken with you on your travels?"

The samurai was a slight bit irked that the shopkeeper continued to refer to him as a 'ninja'. But he kept his calm and spoke, "Unless you have a fair price on it, I'm not really interested."

"A fair price, you say? Well, only for the best, quality items, my good sir! A mere 80,000 yen for this beauty will be more than enough to pay for its exceptional value.", the shopkeeper spoke.

"80,000 yen? For a piece of metal? You must be joking! The most I've ever seen a shuriken be sold for is 750 yen. I think I'm done here...", he begins to say, but then considers something, "However, there is something else I'm looking for. Do you have any turquoise jewelry? I am a collector."

"Ahhh yes, I do have a piece of turquoise that is quite unique...", the shopkeeper began, and fiddled around in the back of the stall before turning and showing a beautiful turquoise pendant. The stone is etched in a strange way to resemble a beetle, and it hangs on a flat gold necklace.

"I'll make you a deal on this one...say...40,000 yen? You won't find another like it for that price.", the shopkeeper offers.

The samurai smirks, "How about...", he begins, and then unsheaths his katana and with a quick movement has the blade to the man's neck, "...you return all the items you stole?"

"Wh--this is an outrage! You're trying to rob me, aren't you?", the man questions in anger.

Onlookers approach, wondering what the ruckus was all about. At once, one of them shouts, "Hey, there's my tiger's eye ring!", another also shouts, "And I see my Dad's dagger, the one in ivory there!". Several others also identify an object they had lost. The samurai can verify this because he overheard them talking about these items that were stolen on the walk over.

The woman from before came to see what the commotion was about, and immediately identified her necklace. Authorities were also on the scene, and as they approached, the samurai removed his blade and sheathed it. Eyewitnesses told them everything, and identified their stolen property. It was also discovered that he had been selling the stolen items for overpriced rates. The man was immediately taken into custody.

"Thank you, I thought I had lost this necklace!", the Egyptian woman says happily. The samurai nods, and begins to walk off.

"Wait! Sir? You did us all a huge favor! Don't you want some kind of reward?", one of the commoners asked.

The samurai stops, and is about to refuse the offer, but he asks, "Does anyone know who owns this shuriken?", pointing to the one on the shop's table, the so-called 'Cursed Shuriken of Ryuu'. The villagers shook their heads, and the man reaches over and takes it. "This will be more than enough for a reward.", he says, and bowing, he walks away.

Eventually he stops at a small park to rest. Taking out the shuriken, he inspects all the details of it, including the intricate markings. He does not know if it was truly cursed or not, but with another shuriken for his training, he was eager to test out this new shuriken.

End