You're My Joy
Disclaimer: Zoids Chaotic Century was authored by Michiro Ueyama. I merely burrowed his work's characters.
Chapter 1: Reward
A secret village in a middle of Nagano's cool forested highlands known by only a few persons, and mostly members of the ruling imperial family. A messenger came into the head family's house bearing a message from the daimyo. The daimyo was asking for the village leader's help.
"Dad, are you going out on a mission?" asked a four year old girl to her father.
"Yeah, Maria. The feudal family received a mutiny threat that is going to take place sooner or later and they need our village's help." replied the man to his. He had a spiky, black hair and a red mark on his cheek.
"Do they already know the person behind the threat?" Maria asked.
The father nodded in confirmation.
"Dan, would you be coming home tonight?" his wife asked to him.
"I don't think I can come here tonight, but I will return as soon as possible." He retorted to her.
Then a cry came from one of the rooms. The woman then got up from her mattress and went to where the cry was coming.
"Karen, I'll go get our son." said Dan to his wife. He then picked up a baby boy from that room. Even though he was just three weeks old, everyone in their village always mention the same thing. The boy looks very much like him, but with the rounded shape of his wife's face.
"Darling, don't you think he is your very image?" Karen asked her husband.
"Yeah, Van certainly looks like me. I wish have more time to spend with you and our children." Dan replied to her.
"But I really have to go now." he added.
"Matta mitte, Dan! Take care." she replied to him.
"Dan, be careful son." a fifty-four year old elderly man told his heir.
"Oyasumi nasai, Karen and take care of the children." he responded. "Don't worry, otoh-san. I'll be fine." he retorted to his father.
"Ike, minna. We still have a bigger fish to fry." Dan then said to his subordinates.
The platoon of ninjas headed out to the city and upon arriving at the feudal family's palace, the ninja master wasted no time in meeting the feudal lord.
"Atsushi-sama, what would you order me to do now?" he asked to the daimyo.
"Dan, thank God you came in time. The Iteza clan has waged war against us and we need the help of your tribe in order to defeat them." Atsushi retorted to him.
"Don't worry, I have gathered the best chuunins and jonins in my village for the battle. We will always faithfully serveo you and your family." he assured to his master.
Watching over the fortress, Atsushi's watchers rushed to him immediately to report what they had seen.
"What is it, Hayato?" Atsushi said to his servant.
"Atsushi-sama, the Iteza troops are now closing in! Prozen-dono is with them!" retorted Hayato to his master.
"My hunch is right after all! So General Prozen is the leader of this rebellion!" The daimyo muttered.
"Atsushi-sama, rest assured that traitor would be fall!" the ninja master said to his lord.
"The Byakutaka tribe has prepared for this! It will be great battle!" Dan thought.
"Don't worry, Karen-san. I will make sure I will come back alive. This fight is for you and our children, especially Van. I don't want our son to be left fatherless at an early age." he thought again.
At the town a few kilometers away, a war has been waging between the ruling daimyo's family and his rebellious general' clan. The ninjas allied with the ruling daimyo's family arrived just before the oppresive forces reached near the palace's perimeter
"We totally outnumber the Lynette family by four to one. We can easily depose them! Yelled by man with a long, silvery hair. "Our army will now finally rule this land!" he added.
"Atsushi-sama, escape with your family now. Our own troops will escort your travel. I don't want you to get you involved in this!" Dan mentioned to his master.
"No, Dan. I will fight along with you and your men. I already told my wife and my children to go somewhere safe especially now that our youngest child was born just a week ago." Atsushi replied to him.
"Isami, take care of yourself and our children, especially Fiona. I don't want you to get caught in the chaos that's now brewing!" the daimyo remembered saying to his family as he led them to the carriage earlier in the evening.
"But dad, what if you get killed in the battle?" his two older children said worriedly.
"Don't worry, Hotaro, Rhys. I will ensure you I will return as soon as the war is over!" he assured to them.
"Alright! Take care of yourself!" Isami said in return.
The carriage passed through the castle's back door. In order to conceal their identities, Atsushi told his loved ones to wear ordinary people's costumes. From a distance, the Lynette family members heard the battle cries of hundreds of soldiers. They are making their way through the equally terrified townsfolk.
"Fiona, please don't cry sweet heart. Your father will make sure we will make it thru this siege." Isami said to her baby trying to comfort her other two children.
"Something isn't right! Why did the daimyo's soldiers retreat when we opened the castle's gate? This is the only instance they didn't face the invaders." The grey-white haired man thought to himself.
"Prozen-sama, our spies had seen the family of the daimyo heading to the edge of the city!" said a lieutenant to his master.
"Just as I had thought! They would try to escape by using the back gate of the castle! The rebellious samurai general thought.
"Akagi, order the samurai to block the escape route of the feudal family!" Prozen ordered his general. "They shall not escape!" he clarified.
Inside the palace, the renegade soldiers and the samurai were currently fighting with the rest of the daimyo's soldiers who had a hard time fighting them. It seems the rebels had the upper hand when all of the sudden, Atsushi and his shinobi allies launched a surprise counterattack.
"Bastards, do you expect me and my soldiers to face you without any help from our ninja comrades?" he yelled at them.
One by one, Prozen's men began to fall to the Atsushi and his Byakutaka ninjas. Most of them were either killed by Dan's subordinate ninjas or paralyzed by poison dipped shurikens. The remaining samurai of Prozen were about to keep on fighting when Akagi ordered them to stop the battle and follow him outside.
"Where do you think they're going? I think they finally decided to back out now." Atsushi told Dan.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that. I'm going to chase them, Atsushi-sama!" The ninja leader retorted to his master.
"Prozen-sama, I had ordered the samurai to follow the feudal family but only a few of them were able to do your command. Most of them had been downed when they were confronted by daimyo along with his ninjas!" Akagi reported to his lord.
"Why is that?" Prozen questioned
"What I'm trying to say is there were some ninjas who helped him." Akagi answered in fear.
"What! You mean Atsushi have ninjas fighting in his side?" Prozen furiously said to his lieutenant.
"Yes, Prozen-sama." Akagi responded.
"Why didn't any of our patrollers told us anything about that!" said Prozen, obviously enraged.
"It seems our spies never suspected that they would be ninjas in the palace." The lieutenant responded.
"Fools! Your spies are stupid and worthless!" The general yelled in rage.
"But master, the remaining samurai are on their way to the feudal family. I'm sure Lieutenant Hardin and her comrades have already slain the daimyo's escort troops." Akagi said humbly.
"What was that? Did you say Lieutenant Hardin and her fellow spies are also escorting the Lynette family along with those loyal soldiers of Atsushi?" Prozen asked to his personnel.
The lieutenant only nodded in response to his master.
"If that's the case, then not even the ninjas inside the palace would be able to stop us." The general said as he grinned sarcastically.
True enough, the escort forces were dropping dead at the same time Prozen was speaking to his general.
"Mommy, Hardin is stabbing the other soldiers!" a six-year old boy and a four-year old girl said to their mother in terror.
"What! Hardin, what's the meaning of this?" Isami questioned to the renegade officer and to her comrades as she saw them murder other escort soldiers.
"Isami-sama, I'm just following Prozen-sama's orders. He told me to leave everyone of you as lifeless souls!" the traitor woman said to the daimyo's wife.
"You'll pay for this treachery!" Isami cursed to her as she tried to reach for her sword but was unable to find it.
"Of course I will! Prozen-sama will pay for me! He'll promote me to a general once he became the daimyo!" Hardin responded grimly to her as she displayed the sword that Isami supposedly brought with her.
But just a few hundred meters away, Atsushi's ninja master witnessed the massacre of his friend's longtime servants.
"Now it's clear that Prozen's samurai are in pursuit of Atsushi-sama's family. And it looks like they have spies among the family's bodyguards!" Dan thought to himself as he saw the rest of the feudal troops slain.
"How do you like me to finish you off? Should I start with you, Isami-sama or should I kill your youngest child first? I will surely enjoy seeing Fiona die in my own hands!" Hardin said sarcastically.
"I won't let you get near Hotaro, Rhys, and Fiona!" Isami retorted to her.
"Then die, all of you!" the traitor servant said to her milady.
Just as Hardin was about to strike her katana, a fukiya needle hit her hand and made her drop her sword.
"Nani?" the woman uttered as she looked from where the fukiya came from.
"Those swords are for protecting the members of Lynette family, not harming them!" said Dan yelled at Prozen's lackeys.
"Just who do you think you are?" Hardin shouted at him.
"I'm just Atsushi-sama's best friend and the Lynette family's most faithful servant." The ninja said in return.
"Get him, men. We have to make sure Prozen-sama will take over!" Hardin ordered her troops.
"Let's see if you can!" Dan taunted to them.
As the battle raged between Dan and the traitorous body guards, Atsushi and Prozen faced each other off in a one on one combat. The two men's swords clashed at each other with neither one of them gaining the upper hand.
"Prozen, stop your foolishness now. All of your men have been defeated." Atsushi said to him.
"Why should I? The rest of my troops have gone after your beloved wife and children." Prozen replied to him.
"Kisama! What did you do to them?" the daimyo questioned in rage.
"Let's say I gave them a well deserved rest." The treacherous general answered.
Just as the daimyo was starting to lose his composure, his best friend arrived at their place and brought him a present.
"I wouldn't say that if I were you!" Dan yelled at Prozen.
"Who are you? what do you mean by that?" Prozen asked.
"Isn't this woman a traitor just like you!" the ninja master asked in return. "What's more, your samurai' skills are far inferior to my samurai friends' abilities." Dan continued.
"Don't worry, Atsushi-sama, your family wasn't hurt at all." The ninja said to his master.
"Isami, are you okay?" Atsushi asked to his wife.
"the children and me are just fine thanks to Dan-san." she replied in return.
"Prozen, you and your remaining men should at least appreciate that we haven't killed you. The next time you even try to attack Atsushi-sama and his loved ones, you would find your self in the graveyard after my ninja-ken has been thrust into your heart!" Dan warned.
"You may have won this time, Atsushi but next time, you and your family wouldn't be so lucky!" Prozen shouted at them as he and his troops retreated reluctantly.
After the Iteza army had retreated, the Lynette family and Dan's tribesmen regrouped inside the Palace compound.
"Arigato Gozai Mazu, Freiheit Dan. If it weren't you, family wouldn't be able to escape." Atsushi mentioned to his ninja.
"It's my duty as your friend and servant to protect my master's family." The ninja master retorted to him humbly.
"For that, tell me what reward you want me to give you after all you have done for us." The daimyo said to him.
"Master, your trust in me and my tribe is enough of a reward." Dan replied to him.
"Aside for that?" Atsushi asked.
"Atsushi-sama, I'll let you decide for that matter." The ninja master retorted to him.
"Hey Dan, isn't it you have a three week old son?" the daimyo asked.
"Yes, master. His name is Van" Dan replied.
"What do you say if we engage Van to my one week old Fiona and have them married to each other once they are eighteen years old?" Atsushi offered.
"Atsushi-sama, are you sure about that?" the ninja master asked.
"Of course! Ever since the two of us were kids, you have always protected my parents and grandparents. Once, you had saved me from being mauled by a bear at the Sawaki forest when we were just ten, isn't it?" The daimyo retorted to him.
"Besides, this is the only thing me and my husband can exchange for your help besides the payment for your services." Isami added.
"Thank you, my masters." Dan retorted humbly.
"Dan, don't call me Atsushi-sama. I'm only as high as you are, my dear friend." the daimyo had declared.
"No, please let me refer to you as my master." the ninja master insisted.
"Fine then, but you may also simply call me Atsushi." he has responded in turn.
"So how is your mission, Dan?" Karen asked her husband as she was making Van go to sleep.
"We have succeeded in protecting the feudal family without having one of our men killed in battle, but some of them had been injured seriously." The ninja master retorted to his wife.
"Still, let's be thankful that the group you had personally headed all returned alive here. I'm proud of that you have surpassed me, son." Dan's father had congratulated to him.
"Sugoi yo!" Karen said.
"There is something even greater." Dan replied. "What is it?" his wife asked.
"Atsushi-sama and Isami-sama made a deal with me. They said that in exchange for saving them, he has engaged his one week old daughter Fiona to our son. They said that once they reached eighteen years old, we would have the two of them married to each other." The ninja master mentioned to his wife.
"Sore Honma?" Karen asked again.
"Yes." he answered.
"Dan, for me, this is the best thing that they have given to us ever! I can't believe they have engaged Van to Fiona-Hime." she said to her husband as she embraced him.
"You heard that, Van? You and Fiona-Hime will get married at eighteen. Tonight, we'll have a party for our victory, especially for you." Dan said to his son.
The boy only smiled back to his father in response. That same night, the Freiheits and the rest of the Byakutaka tribe celebrated over their victory without a single casualty.
(That's all for now. I really hope you would like this since it's my first fanfic. I have edited this version and removed every honorifics except for the honorifics used for royal blooded people.)
