I need help with characters meeting.

[Eksii_J]

Hello, writers of Gaiaonline. I would like to ask you for some help with my story.

I'm writting a story about ancient Japan, and the main character is a 12 years old boy, who travels through entire land. He searches for bandits, who once attacked his village, killed his parents and stole his fathers' precious swords. He also wants to find some swordsman, from whom he could learn how to fight and defeat those bastards.

Second main character of my story is a travelling, masterless samurai, who was thrown out of dojo, because he killed his own teacher by unfortunate accident. One day he meets the boy and the two of them become friends, and later samurai decides to make him his apprentice.

Sadly, I don't know how to cross their paths. I mean, I have no idea for their first meeting. I have watched many samurai mmovies, anime series and cartoons, I have read dozen books about samurais, but I still can't find my inspiration.

Please help me, I would like to finish first chapter for my friend's birthday, which is coming soon.

[Kairi Nightingale]

What time period are you using exactly? Maybe they could both get caught up in something relating to a major event at the time.

Just from what you told me though, the first thing in my head is that maybe the kid heard rumors about some bandits in an area and decides to check it out on the off-chance that they are the same ones he's after. And the ronin was hired by a village as a mercenary to exterminate them. Or maybe he's trying to rescue someone who was kidnapped from the village. (They don't have to be the same bandits as the kid is looking for. On the other hand, they could be if you want them to do something to tick the ronin off too, pushing him into helping the kid out of spite or sympathy. Obviously most of them would have to get away and move on though, if you choose that direction.)

[Eksii_J]

Kairi Nightingale

What time period are you using exactly? Maybe they could both get caught up in something relating to a major event at the time.

Edo period, the times of Tokugawa's shogunate. The story starts in early autumn, a couple years after Shimabara Rebellion, to be exact.

[AkaNoHanaz]

How about this. The man who unfortunately killed his teacher was banished from the town and now was forced to move away, with this the samurai is now wandering village by village and you can put a plot twist that he had one of the boy fathers' sword that he stole from one of those "bandits" he met along the way. Blehh it will be better if I give a example but ya. XD.