House of Five Leaves

Akitsu Masanosuke is a samurai without a master—a swordsman whose skill is beyond reproach and whose loyalty runs absolute. Yet his timid, unworldly nature has proven his undoing, and one lord after another has dismissed him from service. With no income and nowhere to turn, the hungry, desperate ronin accepts a strange new offer: to serve as bodyguard to Yaichi, the effortlessly charismatic head of a band of outlaws who call themselves the "Five Leaves." The gang's dark dealings trouble Masa deeply, sitting uneasily on his conscience. Even so, he cannot help but suspect that Yaichi's true motives are something other than what they appear to be. However heavy his misgivings, Masa is drawn ever deeper into the world of the Five Leaves—and the further he goes, the more these devious, mysterious outlaws captivate him.