"It's going to rain," I said, holding up my hand to feel if it had begun yet. The sky was littered with dark gray clouds and there was a soft rumble of thunder in the distance. Weather like this was hard to work in, especially this late in the night. If this war council wielded any information about the assassination attempt, I'm sure that there will be some mission for me. Even though, he'd taken off in the middle of the night without a word and left me instructions to wait for him here.
Footsteps came from behind me. "Afraid of little rain, are you, Katria?" Masamune's voice held amusement. He stopped beside me, that ridiculous grin on his face. Something interesting must have happened for him to be so excited.
I turned my head in the opposite direction of him. "No." Being in Azuchi made me anxious. Nobunaga had a beautiful town and protected it well, but it wasn't home. While we were allies, the tides of war changed easily. One day we could have interests elsewhere and this place would become our enemy.
"Still a lass of few words," Masamune said, locking his hands behind his head. He strode off toward the main gate, knowing that I was right behind him. "You and I are going hunting." To prying ears, it might have sounded like small talk, but he didn't mean it like that. Not with how excited he seemed. There's been little to do around Azuchi and Masamune liked to stay busy.
"Together?" I asked before I could stop myself. He knows that I like to work alone. While I am loyal to him, and have been for many years, working alone is how I operated. That had been part of our agreement. However, he didn't typically stick to any of the terms and recently, I'd begun to let him get away with it.
The gleam in his eye told me everything. "I could always send you to Ieyasu. I'm sure you could teach each other some valuable medical tricks." His stab at me didn't faze me. That threat is getting old. He's never sent me away. Simply because he's usually too bored to not have me around. He finds my unusual medical skills intriguing.
I chose not to respond at all. Changing his mind was hard work, and this late into the night, I hadn't the energy to argue. It's not like I dislike being around him. I'd chosen to be part of the Date Clan. My welcome had been less than stellar for the first year, as the rest of his men thought me to be a bringer of bad luck and death. They had finally warmed up to me, seeing as I'd saved Masamune's life more than once.
"Don't go quiet on me, Katria. I keep you around because I love to hear your voice," He glanced back at me over his shoulder, another flirty grin on his lips.
The truth was that I hated it here. Everything about living in a war riddled country was unappealing. Miki had suggested that Masamune would be easiest for me to work with, but I found his personality annoying. He could switch from this charmer to a heartless warlord in seconds, something I'd learned when I came to him. Gaining his trust hadn't be so easy. More than once had I been on the receiving end of that sword. Masamune could pick out lies easily, except when it came to me. Because my entire existence is one big lie.
After months of being threatened on a daily basis, Masamune finally warmed up to me. And since that day, he'd acted like this. Every day was filled with his sweet words and charming smile, trying to win me over. Whether or not he actually wanted me, or he was just messing with me had yet to be determined. Either way, I hadn't given in. "You keep me around because I'm useful. Let's not make this out to be anything more than that," I replied. It's easier to just shut him down entirely than to play along.
Masamune stopped, making me almost run into him. His hand dropped to the hilt of his sword. "Even after these five years, when you say things like that, it makes me want to get rid of you. Why do you have that effect on me?" He asked, making his threat very clear.
Not that it matters. My skills as an assassin outweigh his brute strength. Should he try to hurt me, I could easily get away, or kill him. "Go threaten someone else, Masamune," I said, walking past him toward the mansion. It's late, and while I typically work at night, when I'm not working, I have to be awake during the day to do other odd jobs for him. "We both know you aren't going to kill me."
The 'shink' of his sword being drawn broke the silence. "Do you know what bothers me the most about you, lass?" Masamune asked, swinging the blade lightly around.
Turning on my heel to face him, I raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Pointing the blade out toward me, almost touching my neck, he frowned. "You don't fear death. Even that informant avoids a blade when it comes near her. I suspect that you wouldn't even block me if I wanted to kill you now."
"I don't care if I live or die," I replied with a sigh. Dying would be preferable to what awaited me back home. Being skewered by a war crazy warlord didn't appeal to me, though. I pushed the blade down.
Masamune returned the blade to it's sheath. "I care if you die. You're under my protection, Katria. So, I forbid you from dying. That's an order. Even if you don't value your own life, I vow to value it for you."
Ugh. This man.
"Do whatever you want," I answered, continuing toward the mansion. That's why I dislike him the most. He wants me to be something that I am not. Those feelings other women get when he speaks to them aren't in my nature. My entire existence is built on being alone. Solitary. My life has no value because I'm not real. Katria Petrov is a made-up name from the orphanage I grew up in. Being made into an assassin was not by choice. So, I don't care if she's killed.
Masamune trailed behind me, quietly. This was a rare moment with him around. This man never shuts up. He's always got some kind of comment to make. But, it seems that my attitude about being killed has struck him into a speechless daze. With how he is, Masamune is probably plotting to get me to change my mind.
After a while the silence irritated me. It was like being followed by a sad puppy. The longer we walked in this awkward silence, more uncomfortable I became. "Are you going to tell me what we're going to be hunting?" This topic I was actually interested in, except for the part that I would have to spend more time with him.
"I thought that would be obvious. We're going to hunt down the bastard who tried to kill Nobunaga," Masamune said, perking up when I spoke.
I groaned. "Why do we have to do that? I'm an assassin, not a detective," I replied. Give me a target, and I can execute a plan flawlessly. However, Miki is the informant. She goes and digs up any all useful information. Doing that kind of grunt work isn't my style.
Masamune titled his head to the side. "What's a detective?"
"Informant. I meant to say informant. That's Miki's job, isn't it? She can find the culprit, and I can go kill them," I said with a shrug. No part of me wants to go on a long trip with Masamune out into the wilderness. We travel back and forth from his fief, and sometimes he drags me out to the battlefield with him, but never on an excursion like searching for another assassin.
He laughed, patting my head. "Must be a Russian term. Listen, Miki is doing her own digging, but it won't be so easy to find them. There's a lead I would like to investigate myself, and it'll be much more fun to have you along." Hooking his arm around my shoulder, he pulled me close to his side, like he hadn't just had a sword pointed at me. "It'll be a good trip for us to get to know each other," he said softly.
Any other woman would have swooned and blushed.
With an eye roll, I pinched his arm to make him release me. "If you want to know about me, you can just ask." Though, it'll probably be a lie.
"I have asked, and you've never told me the truth. We'll be alone for a while, and I'll get it out of you." Masamune still sported that ridiculous grin. It had been some time since he'd tried to pry my past out of me. Recently, I'd begun to think he'd given up, which made it easier for me. Guess I was wrong.
The thought of being alone with Masamune Date terrified me. He's unpredictable. A charmer. A warrior. Sometimes it was hard to read him. Like now, he grinned about being alone with me, like he could convince me to fall in love with him, but underneath it, he was attempting to get information out of me. This trip would be exhausting, always having my guard up. Alone with a man like him is dangerous. One slip and I'd be cornered by the One-Eyed Dragon.
A/N: This story has two companion stories! There's a lot of crossover between them. Clever Canary and The Ties That Bind Us are the two companions!