NOTE: This has mad SPOILERS that I haven't bothered editing out, mostly about upcoming chapters. I took this from my file which has the master info about everything from the comic in it. Many times, I couldn't draw something the way the script called for. I write tons of stuff that never sees the light of day. The bad spelling, grammer, and whatever else included within is pretty bad. It's also full of inconsistency. Enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE:
"Keito of the 4-Leafs"

We come upon a girl, she is walking down a narrow path, armed with two swords and carrying a parcel on her head. We don't know she's a girl yet, we see only her shadowed face and her feet and her swords.
"It is a time of violence, and strife, the end of one age and the beginning of the next. A time of upheaval and of great change." We don't know when the comic takes place... late kamakura, early muromachi... or whatever that time period after was called. The beginning of the feudal age. Maybe, then again maybe not.
"Many have taken to doing desperate things, just to survive. Some have forgone their honor, their families, their loves."
"Some, have just... gone, like so many before them."

The feet pause at a small gate in a wall. On the other side is a lovely overgrown garden full of flowering plants. We then see that the traveling swordsman is a woman, a ronin samurai girl who is wearing a woman's obi and hakama pants. She 'ooos' at the pretty flowers and lets herself in, nimbly scaling the wall.
We see her leave her parcel on the wall, she pulls herself over.
"Some of them... are mysteries to all."

On the other side she wanders a bright garden of red and white flowers. As she pauses to smell one, closing her eyes. When she opens them again three swords are drawn on her.

Title Page: Keito of the 4-leaf Clovers
Keito being held in a room, she's tied up, and frowning. We get a good shot of her here.

"Who are you, foolish girl?" questions one samurai. This is Mashiro, the shorter, older plumper samurai.
"Don't you know you trespass on Lord Hatsuyuki's estate?!" questions another, this is Tomi. He's tall, lean, and has fox eyes.
"To trespass means death!" says mashiro.
"I'm sorry, very sorry! I didn't know, I'm just a foolish girl as you said. Please, have mercy on me, I am traveling to meet my husband in the north." She bows, but secretly grins behind her hair.
Another samurai enters, the personal yojimbo of Lord Hatsuyuki, Kontetsu. He hold up her swords.
"You were heading east." He's not fooled.
"Ah.... aheh, I get lost easily," Keito mumbles and giggles nervously. She's a bad liar.
"That is not the clothing of a wife."
"Ah, yes well, he is my future husband-"
"Why do you carry the weapons of a warrior? he asks.
"Ah, well a girl's gotta protect herself," she says, her polite speech falling away. She has a kansai accent, it seems. Which probably translates into Bostonian.
"you don't talk like a wife either..."

"This is a fine weapon, too fine a weapon for a mere, unescorted girl. Talk, little one. I know why you are here!" "Confess and your death will be swift!" Mashiro again.
"Huh?" she's confused. She had no real reason to be at the house. Then something else hits her. "D... Death?"
"What do you know of the Warumaato?" Kontetsu asks, right up at her, pointing his sword at her.
Eyes still wide. "Ah, hmm. Lessee, the Warumaato, you say? Well......oh, like those guys... you know? They wander the countryside and drink, and gamble and feel up women right? Slander people's names and play bad jokes. Yeah. Then they get hung-over."
It's Kontetsu eyes who get wide this time, and slightly confused.
"Do they do that?" Tomi asks Mashiro.
"Maybe, they are the worst kind of honorless scum-"
"Not..." he sweat drops, "Not warumono, Warumaato!" He gets angry. Warumono translates as something like 'wino'. Warumaato translates as something like 'walmart'.

"I am the yojimbo of this house! The elite master Kontetsu Hiiro! I can see through any lies! Are you not one of the spies of Lord Hebi?"
"Sorry, I've never heard of this Warumaato, or a Lord Hebi."
He looks her in the eye. She truly has no clue. Kontetsu can see through lies, and sees only Keito's confusion.
"*sigh* Then why did you lie and say you did?"
"You... were holding a sword to my head," she smiles sweetly.
"She's not one of them. However, you can still not go free." He leans closer.
"You are hiding something, that much I can tell."
"Everyone has secrets," she smiles.
"Who are you then, girl? No lies."

"My name is Shirotsumekusa Keito. I am a ronin, I've arrived in this town looking for work while I seek a new master."
The other two house samurai break into laughter again.
"You girl, a warrior! HA!" laughs mashiro.
"Such impudence! To go around and make such claims. You still continue to lie to Kontetsu-san?" Tomi is angry.
Kontetsu is looking at her blankly. "Why did you trespass in the gardens?"
"I... just wanted to see the flowers. That's all." Keito reply's. "What I said isn't a lie. I am a ronin, and those are my blades, the kusanoha and chibi-ha." Grass Blade and Little Leaf, weak ass names for high quality steel.
We see someone is watching this exchange from the shadows, they leave quietly, unseen.

"A ronin is bad enough, but a woman ronin is even worse!" mutters mashiro.
"Women like that are bad luck!" Tomi scowls.
"I have never seen a woman ronin," Kontetsu says.
"Well, there is a first time for everything," Keito says.
"Oy," mutters Kontetsu, he's looking tired. "She's not a threat. Someone bring her out of town and tell her not to come back-"
"Hey, now! That's not very polite!" Keito protests. Kontetsu snorts.
"At least let me stay overnight, it's already getting dark outside!"
"Fine." They start to leave.
"Hey! Wait, can't you at least untie me!"

Later... in the middle of the night, there is a full moon shining down on the household.
Kontetsu is asleep against the door to the master's quarters. The other two are no where to be found. Keito is napping, propped against the wall, untied but locked in the shed. Still no swords. A shadow darts by, over the wall.

Something runs by the shed. Keito opens her eyes, gets up and creeps over to the small window. She sees the shape dart from tree to tree, heading for the house, it's very fast. She frowns and pulls herself up to the window, squeezes herself out of it, and manages not to land on her head on the other side, but it's still not graceful.

She recovers her swords, sitting next to the shed on a plant tending shelf, she straps them on and takes off quickly across the lawn towards where the intruder disappeared to. Mashiro rests asleep against the door.

A shadow falls across Kontetsu, a sword is raised... Kontetsu opens his eyes. A sharp whistle pierces the night, the assassin hesitates a split second, Kontetsu thrusts a knife into the ninjas gut, who drops the sword and collapses.

"Explain yourself, Shirotsu... mi... taka.." he questions Keito, who is standing there. He forgets her name halfway through. She was the one who whistled, she strolls up.
"Shirotsumekusa. I like moonlit walks and dislike ropeburns. Don't-"
The ninja opens his eyes and grabs a handful of dirt, throwing it into Kontetsu's eyes. Not quite dead yet. He curses and the ninja leaps away into the shiden. He comes in through the door and with one nimble leap is upon the shadowy form of the sleeping lord, he raises a knife to plunge-

A sword comes straight through his chest, we pan back to see Keito holding is the sword master. The ninja falls truly dead this time, and a lantern is lit. We see that the 'lord' wasn't the house lord, that it was just a very shaken Tomi in his place. Kontetsu hurries in, rubbing his eyes, pausing at the growing pool of blood on the floor. Keito raises her eyes turns to look to the door of the treasure room.

A man is standing in the doorway in a yufuku. Keito stares at him and quickly wipes and sheaths her blade. No one says anything, no one knows what to say.
He looks briefly to his samurai and back to the girl. "You may spend the rest of the night in the house."
Keito nods, wide eyed.
"Kontetsu, Tsutamomiji, please dispose of that body, won't you?"
"Yes, Hatsuyuki-sama." Tomi mutters... shaken.
"Of course, Hatsuyuki-sama." Kontetsu mutters.
He closes the door. Kontetsu and Tomi turn and look at Keito as Moshiro finally wanders in, out of the loop. "What... huh?"

The Next Morning
Keito is checking her things at the gate. She assumes she's going to be escorted off the property. Kontetsu shows up, she smiles.
"Well, I'm ready to be kicked out!" she says cheerfully. He doesn't look amused.
"Hatsuyuki-sama wants a word with you." He looks, blank.
Keito, still carrying her bag, is lead over to the house. Kontetsu pauses at the door and knocks lightly. A voice reply's enter, and he pulls back the door. Keito places down her bag and enters.

Lord Hatsuyuki sits on a tatami mat, the remains of his breakfast infront of him. He is dressed in official looking robes, and looks calm, serious, and a bit tired. He tells her to sit. She does.
"You trespassed on my garden, then slay a shinobi who would take my life."
"To allow my host to be murdered is uncourteous," she answers.
"You are a strange girl," he replies with a slight smile.
"So I've been..." She shrugs. "Yes."
"You're well trained in sword technique. That sword you carry, the blade has an unusual pattern on it. Four leaves..." He pauses. "I must ask, why a lone woman, unmarried and unescorted, is wandering the countryside with the weapons of a warrior. A girl who trespasses without fear, is short on manners, and who slays shinobi without second thought, calling herself a ronin."
Keito is scowling just a bit. "I wonder also..."

"...I wonder why a shugo's gardens are ill-tended. Why his samurai are rude and paranoid. Or why shinobi hunt him from the shadows."
"Why no one in this town seems to believe that their lord wishes to carry on living," she adds coldly.
He frowns. "You have a sharp tongue. Care to answer any of my inquiries?"
"When mine will not be answered in return? No."
"Why have you come here, to my lands?"
"I'm looking for work, a worthy Shugo to serve. I stumbled upon your house by accident-"
"I do not believe you."
She frowns. "Then you'll just have to kill me."
Tense silence.

He softens. "It seems that you have many secrets, but your sword technique is not one of them. It's base, unstructured even, but that's what gave it away. I've seen quick maneuvers like that before, those precise slashes, but that was long ago and far away. No one here practices a style like that."
"It's a style that has fallen out of practice, it requires a light sword. Speed over strength," Keito replies.
"You have talent as a swordswoman. Although your manners could use improvement. You have clearly been on the road far too long." He states. "Last night was the fourth time a warumaato shinobi has been sent for me. This was the first to be slain. I have made an example of your unique talents."
"I'm glad I could be of service," she says. She has a blank look.
"I could further use your talents in warding off further attacks. Would you consider becoming one of my samurai till this little problem is cleared up? You will be given a stipend, of course, to match the others."

"I don't believe that your yojimbo and the other house samurai would appreciate an insect like me in their midst." She says this with a slight smile.
"Well, I am in need of someone to take care of my gardens. Since you had such a fondness for them-" A pause.
"I accept your generous offer, Lord.... um...."
"Hatsuyuki Akisame."
"Yeah. Oh! Forgive me, my name is Shirotsumekusa Keito."
He nods. "Keito-san. Welcome to my household."
She smiles a slight, sideways grin.

We get a nice cut away to a head on a stake outside the town. Two horseman, (later revealed to be Kamaharu and Suntetsu) are staring in fury at the results of their failed effort. They ride off.
"He won't be so lucky in the future."