From Lord Minamoto's POV
"M'Lord! M'Lord!" I turned around to see my top advisor, Jiro Mezuma running down the flight of stairs that led to the top floor of the castle.
"What is it?" I said a little concerned. I knew that something wasn't right. All of my guards that guarded the castle had been killed, several doors of my home were destroyed, and other damages had been inflicted upon my home. I shuddered to think what Jiro had to tell me.
"Its Fujima. He's been slain."
"What?!"
"Yes M'Lord. He's on the top floor with a huge gash in his head and is lying in a pool of blood."
"He was my top advisor other than you. First Yokohama and now Fujima?! I don't believe it!"
"I'm sorry M'Lord."
"Take me to him."
"Yes M'Lord." I began to follow Jiro up the flight of stairs to see my fallen advisor for myself. Such enough there he was. Sasuke Fujima had met a horrible death with a devastating blow to the head. From the looks of it, it seemed as if Nieci's weapon was what caused it. The first time she just beat him to a pulp, but the second time, she killed him. I had ordered that Fujima get special training from Sargeant Takahashi so he wouldn't fall prey to the girl again, but it seems as if it was of no use. Nieci has become even more deadlier than she already was and a force to be reckoned with. I turned my head to Jiro and gave him a serious look. "We must stop Nieci and Bankotsu immediately," I declared.
"Yes M'Lord I agree, but how do you suppose we do that? No matter how hard we try to go after them, we never seem to be successful of even inflicting damage on those two. The Shichinintai has slaughtered half of your army M'Lord."
"True. True." I put my chin in my hand and began to rub it. My army was pretty much useless and no matter how much training Takahashi gave them, they were still amatures compared to the Shichinintai. Even my used-to-be-weak niece could take out a chunk of my army by her lone self. Bankotsu took out my fourth in command, who was a ninja no less, and Nieci murdered my third in command. If I didn't do something, I would surely be next on the chopping block. And then it hit me! I turned back around to face my top advisor. "Jiro. I want you to send a message to Lord Akiro Sanyo. Let him know that I want to make a deal with him."
"But M'Lord, aren't you and Lord Sanyo bitter enemies? Isn't that why you hired Bankotsu in the first place. To help defend the castle from his troops."
"Precisely my dear Jiro. You see, Bankotsu slaughtered so many of Lord Sanyo's troops that I just know that he is itching to pay the little bastard back for what he did. Plus he himself had a grudge against Mokoto Kasugi. Kasugi used to work for him, but later turned his back on him when he found out that Lord Sanyo was doing treacherous things. If Lord Sanyo found out that he had the opportunity to take his revenge out on Mokoto's daughter, he would be thrilled. So you see Jiro, I'm making him an offer that he can't refuse. And in return, I shall give him back both the Suhitzo and Setsuna Villages that he's fought so hard to win back."
"Excellent plan M'Lord. Now the Shichinintai will have two armies to go up against. Four against approximately four hundred. Its ingenious!"
"Well what else did you expect? Now go and write the letter."
"Yes M'Lord." He bowed before leaving again. I then turned to look back down at my fallen advisor. Sasuke Fujima, your loyalty to me will not be forgotten. Nor will Kane Yokohama's. I will make certain that at the end of the day, I will have the heads of every single member of the Shichinintai.
Nieci's POV
"That victory over Fujima has seemed to get you fired up," Bankotsu said to me with a smirk when we returned to our hideout. We were down at the stream by the house again, as I washed the blood off my hands in the cool, crisp water.
"Yeah, well he had it comming," I replied.
"So whos next on the list?"
"Well other than Hari, we still have to take out Jiro Mezuma and Sargeant Takahashi before we have killed every advisor on Hari's staff. Jiro should be no problem, but you've seen what Takahshi can do. He is no joke."
"No he's not, but neither are you, me, Suikotsu or Jakotsu. We'll take them all out in one sweep." I smiled at his confidence, but still something told me in the back of my mind that Hari would be scheming something. Too many of his men have been killed by the Band of Seven and if he didn't get reenforcement, it would be all over for him. Bankotsu then walked over to where I was and knelt down beside me in the grass. He picked up Fujima's katana that I had taken as a trophy of my prey. He looked the impressive blade over. "You know Nieci, you should use this to help you fight. Just incase you lose your meteor hammer or something." I looked up at him then took the sword out of his hands. I gave it a good look over.
"You really think I can master something like this?"
"Hell yeah. If you can stop Jakotsu's sword you can pretty much do anything. We can start training with it if you want." I looked the blade over once more before I nodded my head. "Good. Come on." He reached down and eased me to my feet as we began to walk off into the distance.