Hello everyone, Lioner15 here! Okay, first thing's first: Date is around 32 in this story (I believe his age in the games/anime is 19). I'm not amazing at Japanese history, so I don't know if Masamune ever even had kids. When Date speaks in his wonderful "Engrish", the text will look like this. This will be a novella-type story, so it won't be too long. My updating schedule isn't very fast, sorry. Finally, I will announce who Date married later, so you can all guess until then. Enjoy!


Chieko's pale fingers were barely an inch away from the wooden sliding door. Did she dare?

She pulled her fingers away, only to put them back in their exact place. Away and back, away and back. A vicious silent cycle of what-if that tormented the girl day in and day out. Away and back once more, until finally.

"Masamune-s-sama!" Escaped her dry lips. Even as regret began flooding her, there was no turning back now. "M-Masamune-sama! I request to speak with you!"

The answer she received was the soft sound of the wind carrying up the brown tree branches surrounding herself and the camp. All was quiet like a grave as she waited for her Lord to respond.

"…Whatta ya want?"

Chieko's entirety froze in place, the warm air blowing peacefully around her stunned frame unable to melt her nerves. "Masamune-sama, it's me…" Her voice was low, but she was sure her Lord could hear it."

"Huh? I don't know anyone by the name of 'me'." He responded. A scuffle could be heard from behind the wooden entrance, and Chieko braced herself. "Be more specific."

She nodded and spoke. "I'm Masamune Cheiko, daughter of Lord Masamune Date. Age: twelve years. Rank: Below U-Underling… Description: B-"

"Alright, alright, you can stop now." Her father replied. Due to his tone, Chieko could tell he was more than less happy to see her. Her instincts told her to run, but the stubbornness she inherited from her father fought against it. "I know who you are…the daughter of mine with the scarred face."

"Y-yes…that's me, Masamune-sama…" Chieko couldn't help but trace the mark her father was referring to with her fingers. It was a relatively large brownish mark that looked like mud was ever-presently splattered on her right cheek. The legend of her birth was said that when Masamune Date saw that it was indeed a daughter who was his first-born, he spat upon her cheek. The spit became forever etched onto her skin, making the ugly mark. Chieko wanted to believe the entire thing was a lie, but the soldiers whom had raised her never disbanded the tale when she asked them of it. "May I speak with you? It is of importance."

"I'll be the judge of that statement." He bellowed before Chieko heard his footsteps reaching to the door. He opened it, and at once his only daughter bowed respectfully. He was in his casual clothes; one of his six swords in his hand. "Hm…what are you wearing? It looks most…" Date trailed off and bit his lip, as if he was thinking about something he didn't want to remember.

"It is an outfit I designed myself." Chieko stated, looking down at herself and her attire. It was a deep blue color, like that of her father's armor. One of the sleeves had been ripped off and replaced with a tightly wrapped white band. The bottom had been ripped as well. Black stockings covered her legs. The most important piece of the outfit the twelve year-old had fabricated, however; was the sheath for her dagger. "I only had kimonos, which are definitely not useful on the battlefield. I scavenged these from the other men in camp and sewed them together."

"Oh, well maybe ya can make clothes for all the men in my army then. They could get a bit more fashion forward…" Date said, expressionless. "Regardless, what are you doing here at this hour of night? You should be asleep…"

"I understand that…" Chieko confessed, looking down upon the ground at her father's feet. "But, I just had to talk to you about something. Please, Masamune-sama, let my words be heard by your ears and give them a chance. Every year you turn me away like the last, but I am nearly thirteen years of age and wish to finally talk to you...my Lord…My F-Father…"

Date's face did not change, but it was obvious he was thinking deeply over what to say to the short girl. He cast his single eye over to the dagger in its sheath, sitting nicely on its mistress's waist. That had been the only thing he had ever given her, and it was never off of her body. "Hm…thirteen you say…It's been that much time already…and Japan is still fighting over territory…" He lifted his eye to meet his daughter's. They were as navy-colored as his, and staring into them was like getting lost in a complex blue sea with no beach to wash ashore to.

"I-I don't see what that has to do with it, Masamune-sama, but-"

"Be quiet." He commanded her in another language. While Chieko did not know what he was saying exactly, she had a good-enough idea of what it was and shut her mouth without a second to spare. "I was thinking out loud. Jeez, ya should know of my temper by now…Wouldn't wanna slice ya in half by accident."

Date raised his sword up, but Chieko did not react. "I'm sorry, Masamune-sama, but due to my lack of interaction with you, I have only the stories the soldiers tell me as bedtime poems of you. I apologize anyway, my Lord…"

Date let out an "Hphm" and turned around, facing back to his room. "Alright, I shall hear you out. Follow me."

Chieko bowed very quickly, holding in all of her inner excitement. If he saw any sign of happiness on her face, undoubtable he would turn her away. She had learned that from when she was six. That time she had smiled the entire time, but was still cast away. The next year she learned that stoic was indefinitely the way to go. "Thank you, my Lord…"

"Do ya drink sake?" Date asked his young daughter as he sat down crossed-legged on the mat.

"O-Oh, no. The men who raised me were fully against it." Chieko replied quickly, copying her father's sitting position as exact as she could possibly be. "You should know that, my Lord. After all, you hand-picked them to raise me."

"Just making sure they did their damn jobs right." Date said, a smirk painting his face. He picked up a red sake bowel and raised it to his lips.

Should she? She was so far into her plan now, if she did not continue with it she could blow everything. Chieko could feel beads of sweat drip slowly down her face, and her heartrate increase. Everything was lying on what she said next. "O-Of course…You say I am not important to you. The legends tell people across the land that you have a burning hatred for me. Two days after my birth you bestowed your solders to raise me…I know you are pretending though…"

The One-Eyed Dragon froze in place. Gradually he lowered the maroon-colored bowel and stared up at her. "Oh? How so? What gives you the right to think that…?"

"I have many reasons to believe my statement." Chieko said, her hands shaking ever so slightly from the fear that her assumption was incorrect. "First of all, I know how to read people if they are lying. I visit you each year on the eve of my birthday, the only day you allow me to see you. Each year you said the same thing, and turned me away. I learned that you lie when you bite your lip. It is a form of guilt, I suppose. You implied my outfit was, how I would say, ghastly, but you then said it was 'fashion-forward'…"

Date let out a small chuckle. "Wow…You are one annoying kid. You think just that will prove to me that you are worth something? Just because I said something about those scraps you call clothes?"

"You didn't let me finish…" Chieko said, raising her voice to something that matched the intensity of her father. "…The legends I hear and the you I know are different. People revere you as the One-Eyed Dragon. You are feared throughout the land, as a future Shogun should be…But your soldiers say otherwise."

"Oh, do they now?" Date uncrossed his legs and leaned in a bit closer towards his daughter. "Then tell me, what do they say about me?"

Chieko fought the urge to shout by swallowing her fear and continuing to talk. "Well, anything but that really. Sure, they say you are indeed strong, but they say nothing of the sorts about you being the cold-blooded reptile you pretend to be. You give your men warm beds and food every night. You may have a temper, but that does not make you evil. You are human, as we all are…"

"Hm…What else do you have to say? If I am correct, you still have some nonsense to spout at me…" Date's smug grin was ever so slowly beginning to get bigger and bigger, making Chieko feel like everything she was saying was utterly wrong. "You made sure you gave me to a good bunch of soldiers to raise. They said it themselves, you didn't just give me to them out of some stroke of luck. You handpicked them to care for me…You trusted them to raise me with their lives."

The Dragon burst out laughing.

Yes, laughing.

Chieko stared at her father with wide eyes. Had she been wrong the entire time? Was her past year of planning for this very moment shattered by her overactive imagination?

"Ah, there is the girl who is worthy of being my heir!" Date Masamune exclaimed, his lips formed into a wide, bright smile. "I named ya well, didn't I? I never thought ya'd figure the whole thing out by this age! Maybe sixteen or so, but still, thirteen?! Damn girl…"

"S-So, I was right…? You just did all that see if I was really worth being your heir?" Chieko asked, a smile beginning to form on her lips.

"Yes, you were indeed right." Date said, nodding. "I must admit, I wasn't too keen on havin' a girl as my only heir. But seein' how my wife…well, ya would be my only heir I could have with my love. I wanted to make sure you were worth my time. I named you 'wise child' for a reason. You see?"

"I see." Chieko replied before rising to her feet. "S-So, tomorrow does my training begin? I already know the ins and outs of my dagger you bestowed upon me."

Date put his hand to his chin, supporting his neck. "A dagger in a battle will only get you so far…Tomorrow, we start your sword-training. You'll be using one of my Six Claws as practice."

The brown-haired twelve year-old's jaw dropped. "I-I get to use one of your Six Claws?! Masamune-sama, I cannot use them! They are too sacred for me to use as practice lessons!"

The warlord rolled his eyes. As much as he was proud of his daughter, he was also annoyed at her attitude. There was no doubt in his mind that her thought-process was going to have to be rebuilt from the ground up by him. "It's fine, as ya are from my bloodline. You will spar with Kojuro and I will evaluate how good of a fighter you are. And don't worry-" Date smirked, "He won't go easy on you."


A cluster of soldiers ran to Chieko as she neared them. They poured questions onto her as fast as their mouths could move.

"Did he talk to you?!"

"What did he say?!"

"Have you been turned away again?!"

Chieko smiled. That wonderful, bright smile was the only thing the men needed to have their questions answered.