Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the manga, I just like putting them through hell:)
A/N: Thanks to what-happened-in-peru for editing the first part of this, and I'm sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes as I am writing this really late at night.
"Go back to Okazaki," were the words that stopped me cold.
"Wait!" I yelled, "Hanzo…you're going after Nobunaga, aren't you?"
"It doesn't concern you," was his terse reply.
Before I could stop myself I cried out, "Of course it does! I don't want you to do anything dangerous like that!"
"SILENCE!" That shut me up. "My heart died when Iga was destroyed. Just…forget about me." I could feel my heart breaking into little pieces as he started to walk away but I still would not give up.
"I won't!" I gathered up my courage and when he turned around to yell at me, I kissed him.
"There hasn't been a day where I don't think about you Hanzo, so…" I was cut off when he pushed me away.
"We can't return to those days," he said. He then left me sobbing in the clearing as my heart completely died and I was left an empty shell. Watari found me and convinced me to return to the castle. The following days passed with monotony and I found that the only person who brought any amount of emotion back to me was Ranmaru. As a result he often found himself with a shadow that followed him around constantly.
After two months of this, Ranmaru proposed to me and much to his surprise, I said yes but made it clear that I was incapable of love. I told him that I was already technically married to Hanzo so in order to marry him; either he or I would have to die.
Since me dying would defeat the purpose of what we were trying to do and it would be pretty much impossible to kill Hanzo, we decided to fake my death in a public place in front of Hanzo. It took two more months of preparations and tracking down Hanzo before we were done setting up for my death. In the time taken for this my hair had grown fairly long so we agreed that I would wear a short wig to trick him and to make it harder for him to find me if he found out that I wasn't really dead.
The day came and I was terrified that something would go wrong. I had contacted Hanzo through Mamezo and told him that I had information that would help him take revenge. He agreed to meet me and I got ready to go.
We met at the edge of a market that was on the side of a cliff overlooking the sea. Ranmaru and I had scouted this area before and found a network of catacombs and caves that would work perfectly.
I was leaning against the railing when I felt his presence but didn't bother to turn around.
"So you actually showed up," I said with as much disdain as I could muster, it wouldn't work if he thought that I was still in love with him.
"Indeed, now what is so important that you would make me meet you in public?"
"I just thought that you would like to know where lord Nobunaga will be in three days' time without any guards" The bait was set I just had to wait and see if he would take it. He did. He approached me and spun me around with both hands on my shoulders.
"Are you serious? You would really help me kill your new lord?" I smiled when he did exactly what I had wanted him to do. I opened my mouth to respond when a man ran past and bumped into Hanzo. Hanzo lost his grip on me and I went flying over the railing in a seemingly free fall. Halfway down the cliff face I adjusted my body and landed inside one of the many caves just as Ranmaru pushed a dummy out of the opening making it look like I was still falling.
Once that was done, I pulled off my wig and changed into clothes more befitting for the wife of one of lord Nobunaga's retainers and threw the discarded ones into the ocean as well. I slipped on a pair of geta and grabbed Ranmaru's arm dragging him out of the cave and into the busy marketplace. We went everywhere in the market just looking at stalls and arguing about when the wedding would take place when I realized that I had grown attached to Ranmaru and considered him a very close friend. Once we returned to the castle I was surprised when I was bustled off and dressed in a wedding kimono then led into a room where our ceremony took place. Despite being taken by surprise at the suddenness of everything, I was quite content when Ranmaru and I retired to our room for the night.
"Ranmaru?" I said in a quiet voice.
"Yes?" he replied.
"I was thinking of changing my name, would that be okay?" I asked filled with trepidation.
"Well that depends on what you change it to and whether or not I'd be able to continue calling you Usagi in private" I calmed instantly when I heard his response.
"Of course you can still call me Usagi in private, and I was thinking of changing it to Saisei to symbolize my rebirth as a new person with you"
"Sounds good" he said and we both went to bed.
A/N: So how did you like it? Please rate and review, flames will be used to roast marshmallows!
