Growing up in Ueda Castle, Yukimura Sanada was surrounded by people who said they loved him; his father Masayuki, his brother Nobuyuki, his number one fan girl Kunoichi, and his lord Shingen Takeda.
But he didn't know what they had meant. Kanetsugu Naoe had always fought for love, he preached it, almost as much as he preached honor, but he could never get a full grasp.
Asking around, he was never given a full, complete answer.
Nene swore she loved Hideyoshi Toyotomi and went to all ends for him, only for him to end up in bed with Chacha. Kanetsugu got his hands stepped on, Keiji Maeda lost Okuni to Goemon, Mitsuhide Akechi killed Nobunaga Oda, and Kotaro Fuma raped Hanzo Hattori.
He said love is what makes the world go, but how far does that emotion go? What does it mean?
A gentle breeze flew past the gardens of Ueda, where Yukimura was tending to the overgrown weeds. Sakura petals flew past him, coating the fields pink. Too pink for his liking, but it was none the less a beautiful sight.
He was thankful to be out of his armor, opting for a pair of white hakama pants, without a shirt up top. As always, he wore his red headband, showing the pride of the Sanada for all to see, despite now it was drenched in sweat.
His whole tanned body was drenched in sweat, and it was shiny, with the sun gleaming over him. As he worked, he watched Kunoichi laughing and rolling in the grass with her in-denial girlfriend Kai, maiden of the Hojo, and his other friends working beside him.
He swiped his arm across his wet forehead, wiping the sweat away, when he heard an angry grunt, followed by a growl of,"Excuse me, you're wiping your disgusting sweat all over me."
Yukimura looked up, and gasped. In front of his vision was a goddess. She had a small heart shaped face, big brown eyes, and long, reddish auburn hair that covered her face like a veil.
"Gah?" he snapped, eyes growing wide at the woman. She snapped her fan across her palm and said,"What do you have to say for yourself?" Yukimura's brown eyes danced over her frame. It was rather slender, curvy hips, long legs, but...
...
Flat-chested?
"Well? Are you going to keep staring, or are you going to apologize?" she asked, hands on her hips. Still, she wore the slightest pink hue on her kitten-like cheeks.
"Hai!" Yukimura said, bowing,"I am so sorry, miss!"
Everything stopped.
"MISS?" the woman screeched. "Eh?" Yukimura asked, tilting his head like a puppy. The "woman" smacked his face with her fan and snapped,"I am not a woman. My name is Mitsunari Ishida. My god, stupid and ill-mannered. Why would Lord Hideyoshi ever take in a man like you."
He chuckled, hiding his face in his fan, hiding the blush appearing on his cheeks, and began to walk away.
Yukimura watched the man dance in his light red yutaka, his red hair shimmering in the sunlight, his brown eyes sparkling, and blushed, swallowing his heart. "Lord..Mitsunari!" he said, watching the man walk away.
But he stopped when he heard Yukimura say his name. The shirtless man ran to him, and shouted,"I picked a flower for you, my lord!", but before he could get to Mitsunari, he tripped on his own pants, and rolled down a hill.
Mitsunari gasped, and watched him roll, hiding his blushing face in his fan. "What a silly sight." he said.
Kanetsugu and the others watched in laughter, when Keiji said,"That is a classic sign of love..." "Awww! Yukimura's in love!" Kanetsugu said. Kunoichi stopped mid-tackle, arms still around Kai's waist and yelled,"MY YUKI? IN LOVE WITH WHO?", slamming Kai down.
She glared at Mitsunari and said,"That thing? Oh please, I'm much better than that stupid Mitsunari anyway." "That's Lord Hideyoshi's little boy, I wouldn't say all that if I were you." Kai replied, pulling the dirty weeds out of her hair. "And you'd know everything about Lord Hideyoshi, huh?" Kunoichi asked, causing Kai to blush deeply.
She never did admit to being Hideyoshi's sometimes girlfriend, but they all found out anyway, ensuing much teasing from the jealous Kunoichi.
Yukimura stopped rolling down the hill, when Kanetsugu ran up to him. The brunette sighed, watching his headband dance in the wind, and held his arms over his head. He looked up at the clouds, and said,"Lord Mitsunari is so beautiful, isn't he?"
Kanetsugu started to laugh and said,"Yeah, I guess he's alright. He's a good friend of mine, and he can be very catty. Very woman-like." "Then I can be the man, and he can be the woman." Yukimura said with a dopey-dog smile. Kanetsugu ran his hand through Yukimura's hair and said,"Well...I guess you could try. But he's very stubborn."
"Then I'll try my best, I'll show the Sanada spirit never gives up!" Yukimura yelled, jumping up. He pumped his fist, accidentally giving Kanetsugu an epic shoryuken, and landing on the grass gracefully on his two feet.
"Yukimura..?"
Thinking it was Kanetsugu, and still in epic mode, Yukimura clenched his fist, readied his body and yelled,"Shoyu-reppa!", his whole body turning aflame, as he drove his fist into Mitsunari's chin, sending him flying with him, ten feet in the air.
When they fell to the grass, Mitsunari landed on his back, eyes in swirls, birds dancing around his forehead, when Yukimura finally caught up with that he did.
He gasped and yelled,"Lord Mitsunari!" Mitsunari simply lay on the grass, drool coming out of his mouth, while he sang,"Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow mix!"
"Lord Mitsunari?"
"Meow..."
"Lord Mitsunari?"
"Puurrrrrr..."
"LORD MITSUNARI, I AM SO SORRY!" Yukimura yelled, grabbing Mitsunari's shoulders, shaking him awake. "Mmmm..nyah...ahhh.." Mitsunari groaned, when his eyes opened, and he immediately turned as red as a tomato seeing his closeness to the worried Sanada general.
But that blush quickly turned to fury, when he punched him and yelled,"PERVERT! How dare you try to take advantage of me while I'm knocked out!" Yukimura flew ten feet away, yelling something about being blasted away, when Mitsunari dusted himself off, and walked away, with his arms crossed, and nose in the air.
He walked back into Ueda, the Toyotomi stronghold, as Nene called everyone in for dinner. He couldn't wait to see this. Tonight was Kai's first time at family dinner, and he thought Nene knew about her and Hideyoshi.
"This'll be classic." he said, laughing to himself. His thoughts went to Yukimura and said,"Hum...I wonder if I hit him too hard. Nah, he's stupid enough...stupid, stupid boy."
But he was still unable to keep that damn blush off his face.
Dinner was as exciting as he anticipated, Keiji tried to force mashed potatoes down Kanetsugu's throat, Kunoichi ate like a pigeon, to which Nene forced a turkey down her throat, then proceded to leap over the table at Kai, and rip her hair out.
As Nene ran across the table, the wind knocked Mitsunari's chair down, and he almost hit his head, when Yukimura dashed to save him. Everyone aww'ed when Yukimura held Mitsunari, the latter wearing a blush the shade of his hair, even Nene, who was now drowning Kai's face in a bowl of soup.
It was almost as if time had stopped. Both Yukimura and Mitsunari stared at each other, Mitsunari's face sparkling, Yukimura looking down at him with a heroic look on his face, when Kunoichi flung mashed potatoes at them, yelling,"Like oh my god, you two, get a room!"
"Help!" Kai yelled, when Nene dragged her, by her hair once again, off to a darkened part of Ueda Castle. Everyone shivered, except Kunoichi, who took two steak knives, and chased them, yelling,"First you steal my moveset, then you steal my friend! GET BACK HERE!"
"Phew...at least she didn't catch my Chacha.." Hideyoshi said, sweatdropping. Or so he thought. To everyone's surprise, a long spear, held by a golden string appeared into the room, followed by Nene's squeaky shouting of,"Get over here!".
The spear impaled inside Chacha's chest, and she was dragged from the dining room, down to the same direction Nene dragged Kai to. The men all bit their nails, Chacha screamed, and Nene angrily shouted,"KEEP YOUR DIRTY PAWS OFF MY MAN!"
Mitsunari had finally had enough of the chaos. After punching Yukimura down a corridor, he dragged himself out of the dining room, leaving behind a plate of food, to which Keiji yelled,"Hurry! Someone eat that plate, Nene's going to flip if she finds it!"
"Oh no...I'm too full.." Hideyoshi said. "HURRY!" Keiji yelled, stuffing it down Kanetsugu's throat.
Yukimura watched as Mitsunari's form went down the hall, and stopped at a deck, overlooking the gardens they all worked on earlier that day. It was night, and the wind blew harder, sending the pink sakura petals into the castle. A few landed on Mitsunari's lap, as he sat on his knees, feeling the cool breeze dance around him.
"Yukimura?" Mitsunari asked. Yukimura jumped. How did the sly fox catch him so easily? "Y-yes, Lord Mitsunari?" he asked, walking closer to the redhead. He bended down to sit on his knees, when Mitsunari leaned back, laying his head on Yukimura's lap.
"L-Lord Mitsunari?" Yukimura asked, dumbfounded.
"Do you like flowers?" Mitsunari asked. "L-" Yukimura asked, before Mitsunari interrupted him by letting a few petals loose. "And please, call me Mitsunari." he added, blushing. "Alright...Mitsunari." Yukimura said, looking down at his beloved fox.
Downstairs, the chaos still rang, and they were happy no one could hear or see them. "You know, Yukimura Sanada, you're the most handsome man I've come across since moving here...I'm glad you find me beautiful." Mitsunari said with a smile. Yukimura even blushed and said,"Well...I mistook you for a woman at first.."
"And you still think I'm pretty, even if I'm not?" Mitsunari asked. "Of course, Lo-, I mean Mitsunari." Yukimura said. He couldn't get away from Mitsunari's sad kitten look, and said,"Of course, I like you just as you are.."
Mitsunari looked up at him with a happy face, and puckered his lips together, wanting a kiss. Yukimura leaned down to kiss him, when Kanetsugu ran into the room, face white as a ghost yelling,"Guys, run! Nene's on a rampage! She found a plate still full of food left on the table, and started spanking everyone!"
Mitsunari looked at the closeness between him and Yukimura, gasping and yelling,"Pervert! Don't you dare try to kiss me!", punching him so hard, he fell off the deck, and flew five stories down to the ground.
Kanetsugu's eyes grew wide, when he thought he heard Nene yell,"Where is that Mitsunari? I always told him to eat his vegetables!" "OH MY GOD! HELP ME!" both men yelled, diving off the deck, when a glowing red Nene ran into the deck. Enraged, she dove off the deck, chasing the two, when Yukimura stood up to her, and held out his spear.
"If you want Mitsunari, you gotta get through me.." he said, with determination.
Mitsunari nearly melted. "My hero.." he swooned.
And so Nene kicked Yukimura's ass. Along with everyone else in the castle. After handing out a barrage of spankings and abuse, the ninja eventually passed out by Hideyoshi's feet. He tried to get away from her, but he found himself handcuffed to a chair, crying the night away.
Kai was now bald, thanks to Nene's ripping out each and every follicle of hair from her head, and Kunoichi was in a permanent state of tears, losing her spot to Nene. Keiji sat in a cold bath, thanks to Nene's pulling his trick back on her, and Kanetsugu's cards were ripped to shreds.
Mitsunari lay in his bed, nursing a bruised ass, when Yukimura walked into the room, holding a flower in his hand. "Mitsunari?" he asked. The red fox looked up at Yukimura, who aww'ed at the position he was in; he was curled up like a kitten with his tail wrapped around his body, and his ears flicking back and forth.
"Yukimura?" he asked. The brunette smiled and asked,"Do you like flowers?" "Huh?" Mitsunari asked, when Yukimura spread flower petals all over the bed. He looked at Mitsunari's flushed face and gently bent over to kiss him.
The fox's brown eyes grew wide when Yukimura's soft lips closed over his, and he smiled, blushing into the kiss, returning it with as much frevor as the other.
"I think I've finally found my Prince Charming." Mitsunari said to himself.