Wow, an actual chapter story? Samurai Warriors has really destroyed me for good, aha. Anyhoo, some disclaimers before I get started...
1. I do not, in any shape, way or form, own Samurai Warriors. If I did, that'd be dangerous. 8D
2. The setting is a time when Hideyoshi has officially established his rule and the country is at peace. The battle of Sekigahara has not happened yet, and errm... all of Hideyoshi's retainers live in one castle in Osaka.
3. That being said, I do intend to be historically accurate nor do I intend to give an explanation as to why or how everyone lives together in the same castle. It makes it easier for me.
4. Yukimura, being Yukimura, usually calls everyone by a title (-sama, -dono, -san, etc.) but for English purposes, I have translated it all into the word "lord."
Chapter One: To be blunt, I never liked you.
Musty, hot weather was never anyone's friend. It especially never made friends with any one of Hideyoshi's retainers, particularly Ishida Mitsunari. The more the weather tried to befriend him (or vice versa) the more lower ranking officers feared to disturb him while he was in his room. Mitsunari's equals hardly stepped into his room as it was and hell knows if they did… well, really they had no clue as to what would happen, and frankly, none of them liked him enough to put up with the drama that could result from such an action.
Those who did like the ill-tempered man never ventured any further than his screen door. Yukimura was always cautious about not disturbing others, so most of the time he just invited Mitsunari to various "bonding" activities outside of their private quarters in which 97 percent of the time ended with Mitsunari suggesting they invite Kanetsugu as well. Kanetsugu usually waited until either one of his good friends interrupted him from meditating or reading in his own quarters. The Uesugi retainer's room matched his personality: very tidy, in order, and considerably more homely than Yukimura's quarters in a scholarly way. The "Crimson Samurai," on the other hand, was very much a plain soul, so no one was ever surprised when they walked into his room and found a very humble living, with almost no homely decorations in sight. Mitsunari's room, however, might as well been one of the great unsolved mysteries of their time.
Even Kanetsugu had never stepped into Mitsunari's room. When asked about it, he answered that he had never been invited, so he never had the privilege. Did he know where his room was located? He smiled, replying that everyone knew, whether they wanted to or not. Mitsunari was a rather important person after all. After casually explaining the location of it, Kanetsugu drifted off at the end of his sentence.
"Something wrong?" Sakon asked.
"Ah… no, nothing. I'm just curious as to why."
"Got some financial papers for him. Lord Hideyoshi couldn't find anyone else within an arm's reach to deliver them."
"I see…"
"Am I going to be eaten or what?"
Kanetsugu wasn't following.
"I heard Lord Mitsunari has been quite an ass lately because of the hot weather. Well, I should say more of an ass."
"I can't say I've seen him outside his room too often lately. I'm starting to wonder what he's been preoccupying himself with these days."
Sakon left a word of thanks with Kanetsugu and excused himself from the room. He contemplated on his luck of being assigned the task to wander in the tiger's lair in a situation where nobody knew whether or not the tiger was hungry, irritated, or just refused to come out and let the sun tan his pale skin. Pulling on the collar of his darkly colored yukata to cool some residing sweat, he cursed the heat under his breath and set out down the hall towards his destination.
It was like any other room from the outside. The sliding doors were plain enough: un-decorated, no voodoo or strange signs written on the paper. It was surprisingly not in a dark, creepy corner or even in a remote part of the castle, away from civilization, but in a common hallway close to many other rooms that people generally accessed. Sakon was starting to wonder if he had found the wrong door.
"Lord Mitsunari! I have some papers from Lord Hideyoshi!"
No response.
"Lord Mitsunari! It's Sakon!"
No response.
Sakon rose an eyebrow and leaned in towards the door to listen for any signs of life. When he failed to pick up anything, deciding it wouldn't hurt if he just left the papers, he slid the door open. At first, he noticed that Mitsunari was actually in the room and nearly jumped out of his skin. However, he quickly realized that no harm was done. So this is what the great Ishida Mitsunari had "preoccupied" himself with this past week.
He was sleeping. On the floor, no less.
Dark blue was Mitsunari's color choice for his attire that day, a very loose fitting yukata with rolled up sleeves and a black sash. His warm chestnut hair, missing its usual golden headpiece, spread freely on the floor. As much as he complained about the heat, his glowing complexion was free from much sweat besides perhaps a slight glisten around the sides of his neck. As Mitsunari lay comfortably with one hand behind his head and the other upon his stomach, Sakon took notice of the absence of his usually glaring eyes and tight, guarded face. Even his mouth was slightly open. The samurai stepped around his superior and placed the papers onto the clothed table taking the opportunity to glance at the strange sight before him.
"If people saw you like this they might start to think of you more as a human being." Sakon said aloud, more to himself than to Mitsunari, who didn't respond except for a small mumble and a slight turn of his body. Eager to make history (at least in the castle), he carefully positioned himself so that he was staring directly at Mitsunari and lightly flicked the man's forehead. He smirked when the victim responded with the furrowing of his eyebrows and groaning. But the best part was still to come, and Sakon waited patiently for it.
Strangely, although people shouting his name outside his door could not even stir him, he was greatly disturbed when anything touched him in his slumber. Begrudgingly, Mitsunari opened his eyes and attempted to focus his vision. The first time, he could see nothing but fuzzy images and strange colors. As his brain processed the information, he was able to come to the conclusion that it was someone's face. Nothing to be alarmed about, he was too tired to care any—
Wait, someone's face?
Fully opening his eyes, his heart nearly jumped as far as he did away from the person in front of him. In fact, in doing so he had almost fallen over backwards as his hands slipped on his own sleeves. About to reach for his fan underneath the table, he was snapped back into reality from his panicked state when the intruder started laughing. Mitsunari actually looked up towards his visitor, who was now standing before him.
"Good morning." Sakon greeted, a satisfied smirk on his face.
"How did you-- when did you--?"
"Through the door and just now." To Sakon, there was nothing better right now than to hear Mitsunari speak in fragments in his presence. He highly doubted that Kanetsugu or Yukimura or anyone else for that matter would ever have the pleasure of hearing such words. Unfortunately, his fun (and glory) didn't quite last for as long as he would have hoped, as Mitsunari was back to himself with a quick brush of his hair.
"Did you always have such manners? Barging into someone else's room without permission—"
"I called your name, shouted even, twice. You can't blame me. Anyway, I brought you papers from Lord Hideyoshi." Sakon stated, pointing out the stack on the table. Mitsunari stared at the pile.
"Just get out."
People weren't joking when they warned him that the heat was not Mitsunari's friend. Not that much anyone else was besides Kanetsugu and Yukimura, of course, but at least they didn't make the man more bitchy than usual. Sakon scoffed.
"Well then, I'll be taking my leave, Lord Mitsunari."
Mitsunari twitched at the title and even more at the sarcasm. "Why do you still insist upon calling me "lord"? I told you I employed you as my equal."
Sakon turned and steadied his gaze. "It's a reminder for me to suppress the urges I get to knock you senseless."
"Excuse me?"
"I'll make myself clear. I respect your abilities and your ideals, but you personally, I cannot bring myself to like. Frankly, I can't see myself as your equal, it would insult my integrity."
With that Sakon shut the sliding doors behind him. Mitsunari could have stood up like he did, cast the whole comment off as another person unappreciative of his personality, look at the papers from Lord Hideyoshi, and settle down for another afternoon nap, but he didn't. It was more like he couldn't. Mitsunari had always respected Sakon. The man always seemed to have so much patience for him no matter what the circumstances and possessed the unique ability to keep him in check with mere words, usually an extremely difficult task. "Friend" was a term he wanted to use with Sakon, the same way he used it with Kanetsugu and Yukimura, but, apparently, he lacked the ability to make such friends under any circumstances other than an oath.
The comment bothered him. So much so that when he delivered the completed paper-work back to Hideyoshi his superior asked him if there were some difficulties this time around.
"It's nothing," was the reply.
That's all for now. Reviews are always more than welcome.