These Things in Life
Chapter 1: The Meeting
Disclaimer: I do not own Sengoku Basara(戦国BASARA).
It was the war that made her this way, her ambition driven for the art of revenge. Will the man she meets change her life forever?
Masamune x OC
War.It brings so much sadness and hatred. There are people who would succumb to revenge, seeking out to kill the ones who had taken the lives of their love ones. In return, the family of the one whom the revenger has killed would seek out for him in return. It is a never ending cycle, war that is. People lose their houses; they no longer have a place to live in. The place they called home has already been destroyed. The people would lose their moral codes and would resort to stealing or even killing themselves as they no longer have the will to live. Life, it is amazing how one would cling onto it despite how one had gone through.
The forest is always filled with danger. An enemy might appear when you least expected. You have to enhance your hearing to ensure that you would not end up being animal food or killed. From far a group of people could be seen gathering at the clearing of a pathway, seemingly waiting for someone to appear. They are the predator waiting for their prey.
"Yuki-sama! They're coming right up the pathway!" A man with worn and tattered blue kimono ran towards the woman. He was quite young around his twenties and he must have seen better days. Yuki would have been interested in that man but she was not like the typical women. She strives for power and does not look forward to marriage prospects. The man waved his arms frantically getting his leader's attention and slowed down once he was in front of her. He panted heavily not used to the sudden activity.
"Why than shouldn't we be getting ready to ambush them?" She smirked evilly thinking about her good fortune, how they would be able to dine on good food for the next few days and a change of clothes. Rich people clothes to be truthful.
Her name is Saitou Yuki, a young and promising woman with a great ambition. She was going to seek revenge upon those who had taken the lives of her fellow villagers.
The people surrounding her grunted in response and quickly proceeded to hide among the bushes and behind the trees.
Saitou Yuki stared at the distance reminding herself of the plan, first they would startle the horse that is carrying the rich feudal lord than they would quickly silence the soldiers by knocking them out. This is done by throwing rocks at the horse followed by hitting the soldiers at the back of their necks when they are to busy trying to calm the raging horse. Other than that, things would proceed as per normal. They had been doing the same thing over and over again for a whole month, stealing that is. Yuki shook her head; they are bandits now they're no longer the villagers of the small Hana Village. It was a peaceful village, covered with flowers everywhere. It is a place where travellers would love to stop by and rest for a night. Their small village which was too small to be taken account to was caught in between a war as a result their whole village was destroyed. Their village once filled with flowers was now in ruins.
Their target came to view and her smirk only got wider, "You guys, we are going to have one hell of a party tonight!"
The sun was setting, the birds flew off the trees heading towards another direction as a group of people approached their supposedly area. From far people clad with blue could be seen riding horses. Sweat travelled down the side of their faces, their arms and legs covered with bruises and injuries. Each one of them carried a katana by their side. A soldier. An army. It is an army that is returning from war. Their clan flag raised high despite having mud and holes on it. A cross junction made their leader hesitate for a moment before resuming their victory back home.
"Masamune-sama, we shouldn't be taking this path back..." The right eye of the famous One-Eyed Dragon muttered softly.
"What's wrong Kojuurou? This path is faster in getting us back. Since we are already in Oushuu we might as well reach back by nightfall." The one eyes dragon replies haughtily as he looked up at the sky watching the sunset. A smoke indicating a camp fire could be seen nearby.
"Well recently there have been cases of bandits..." Kojuurou's sentence was left hanging as the One-Eyed Dragon exclaimed loudly, "Than we shall invite them for a party, won't we?"
Date Masamune the charming yet reckless leader, grinned confidently at his second-in-command. "LET'S GO AND PARTY!" His voice boomed out.
"YEAH!" His army replied with gusto, getting in the mood.
"ARE YOU READY?"
"YEAH!"
"LET'S GO!"
Kojuurou sighed in defeat as he watched the leader of the Date Clan galloped off along with the others following suit. 'I have a bad feeling about this.'
The camp fire raged. The bandits were happily dancing around in circles as they celebrate their new found fortune. The leader Yuki stayed inside the tent wearing her new dark black kimono with elaborated golden hibiscus printed all over the cloth. The cloth, silk was soft against her skin. This made her smile in glee. She sat uncouthly against a large pillow which she stole from the person before. The tea on top of the folded table left untouched. 'Refine tea my ass,' She thought angrily as she observed her once fellow villagers and took in a deep breathe from the thin pipe, a kiseru, coughing in progress. Her eyes leered at the sickening object that is being held up by her thumb and index finger. How could people enjoy this? It tasted awful.
"Yuki-sama! The Date Army is here!" The very same man whom informed her about their target appeared in her tent. His hair was very much dishevelled by the amount of dancing he did.
"Isn't that nice? Tell him to disarm himself before coming into the tent." She spat. 'The One-Eyed Dragon... We have been treading on thin ice just by being in his territory.'
"Yuki-sama?" He gave her questioning look.
"I'll give him a PROPERgreeting."
The atmosphere was tense outside; the bandits were standing in guard position getting ready for the Date Army to pounce on them any moment. Date Masamune stared at the crowd, 'So these little troublemakers are the ones wreaking havoc around my land?' His eyes narrowed as he noticed a man coming out from a tent. 'That tent must be their Leader's. 'He thought wisely as he got off his horse. Kojuurou whom was lagging behind finally reached the destination only to be amazed by the situation. There are two groups which are distinctly separated the bandits and the Date Army. Both parties are staring at each other, not wanting to move.
'For them to have gathered themselves and robbing off people on my land... How distasteful. Their leader must have a lot of confidence thinking that he could get away with this...' Masamune thought distastefully.
"Just what is taking so long?" Yuki asked as she pushed the covers of the tent away to see outside. Both of their eyes met each other, Saitou Yuki's and Date Masamune's, his blue eyes clashing with her unique yellow eyes.
'A woman? What the hell is wrong with the world? Men are working under her? Don't they have pride?'
"Well.. Well.. Well... What do we have here? A party? Why wasn't I invited?" Date asked her, his eyes not straying away from hers, a huge smirk plastered on his face.
"WELL, we never knew you would be back that fast." She sneered, challenging his authority.
He took a step forward forcing the bandits to take a step back. His army exclaimed and urged their Leader not to continue as he may hurt himself. One step leads to another, after some time he was standing in front of Yuki. He stood towering in front of her. Yet this whole time their eyes have never strayed. Date twitched as he noticed the smug expression which was shown clearly on her face.
'Are you challenging me?'He thought silently.
"Masamune-sama!" Kojuurou called out as he got off his horse in a hurry and running towards his leader only to be stopped by the other lingering bandits.
"You're playing dirty!" One of his men screamed. This is followed by a series if accusations and cusses "You're not going to get away with this!", "Who the hell do you think you are?" , "We will kill you if anything happens to him!" and et etcetera.
She looked at the enemies men wearily and shrugged, "To bad for you but you have to unarmed yourself." She stared at the 6 katanas which are by his sides. Three on each side. She shivered as she thought of the blade slicing her. Even though she is a self-proclaimed bandit now, does not mean that she was good in battle. The thought of the sharp blade piercing her skin made her shivered. This did not go unnoticed by the taller man, he laughed inwardly as he observed her. Her hair is tied up in a messy bun. Whether or not her hair was messy or not did not seem important to the man. It was white. It was pure white like the colour of snow. Her skin was pale and her cheeks had a slight tint of pink of it due to the heat. Her kimono hangs loosely onto her small frames. 'How could this small sized girl order those men around?' He wondered.
"Don't make me mad." Masamune spat. 'This girl is much smaller in size than I expected. For her to be this capable of ordering those men around... She must be vicious'
"Oh...? So you're not mad yet?" Her head tilted to the left as they continued to stare at each other. "Well there is nothing I can do right now can I?"
Yuki lifted up the covers of the tent inviting the Oushuu Leader in and nodded to her fellow bandits. The bandits all nodded in response understanding what she had indicated to them. 'Worse comes to worse, we are going to fight against the Date Army to get away,' was what her nod had meant.
"So would you like some tea?" Yuki feigned hospitality as she left hand pointed out to the already poured tea in the tea cup on top of a small folded table.
The One-Eye Dragon narrowed his eyes, 'It was as if she was already waiting for someone.' He stared at the two tea cups suspiciously, not wanting to take a sip from it.
~A few minutes before~
Yuki paused and strained her ears to hear what was happening outside. 'I have so little time now... What should I do...?'
Yuki moved around the room, quick and nimble. Her fingers running through the pockets of her old kimono searching for a certain white powder kept in a small plastic. She had discovered it by going through the clothes of some of those people whom they had stolen from before. She did not know what it is. 'Is this poison? Something bad? Well, I could try using it on this 'One-Eyed Dragon' and see what happens but on what...?'
Yuki's head turned to the unpleasant tea which sat on the table. 'That would be perfect.'
~Present time~
Date Masamune turned to look at the girl. Her eyes filled with anticipation, he frowned noticing this. He moved towards her with one huge stride, his right hand grabbing the hilt of his katana on his left side. His eyes narrowed as he drew his katana. Yuki anticipating him doing so ducked as he slashed horizontally, slashing the tent. Yuki's hair fell out of its messy bun, her long hair swishing to her hips, a part of it chopped off from Masamune's katana. She smirked as she took out a short dagger with an elaborated hilt and tried to reach out to Masamune. Her skills akin to a novice, failed to execute what she wanted to do quickly. Her moves slow in Masamune's eyes, were quickly deflected leaving Yuki with a broken left wrist and a now aching shoulder as he pinned her down with her front facing the hard ground. He carefully slit his katana back into its sheath.
"FUCKING VERMIN LET ME GO!" Yuki screamed as she struggled, her loud voice catching the attention of her fellow bandits. The bandits instead of fighting with the soldiers whom are now drawing their katanas and pointing it at them, the bandits ran cowardly into the forest. They abandoned their initial plan and vows. Yes they did have vows, Yuki had forced it onto them. No matter what, they will not kill and they would always try their best in fights and battles to protect their honour. Once things do not seem favourable they are to always retreat and regroup. Tend to the injured and bury the dead once their enemies had cleared the area. 'They ought to be respected for their courage,' was what Yuki would always say.
"Run! Faster run! This is our opportunity!"
"What about our Leader!"
"Just leave her behind! I never liked taking orders from woman anyway!"
"Ah, just why the hell did they just...?" One of the soldiers with a pompadour hairstyle, Yoshinao, asked as the rest of his fellow comrades stared into the forest. They had left them in a blink of the eye; they had no time to respond to it. All they remembered was, "Just leave her behind! I never liked taking orders from woman anyway!" A couple of them looked uncomfortable just by thinking of their insincerity; the bandits had just left their Leader. The person whom was leading them, their Leader, She was abandoned.
Kojuurou rushed to the occupied tent, worried of his Leader. The soldiers looked around the camp site, examining various items and junk that was laying around. In the tent, the folded table had toppled over; spillage of the tea could be seen on the base of the tent. The girl was pinned down forcefully by Masamune, her hands behind her back held by his strong right hand. He, the One-Eyed Dragon, was sitting on top of her. He used his unoccupied hand to pull her long silky hair roughly, this jerking her head backwards.
"We shall have a little party later, girl." He whispered huskily into her ears.
Yuki's eyes widened marginally, shocked by the man's close contact. He sneered and turned to Kojuurou his outstretched wanting something.
"Masamune-sama..." Kojuurou stared at the scene dumbfounded.
"Kojuurou!" Masamune called out gaining his dazed Right Eye's attention. "Ropes."
"Ah yes! Sorry."
Kojuurou hesitantly gave the One-Eyed Dragon the ropes. Masamune bounded Yuki's hands tightly, not caring whether or not her broken wrist is turning blue and swelling up.
'The least he could do was treat her gentler, she is a women after all.' Kojuurou's eyes was filled with sympathy as he watch the young lady sulk as Masamune pulled her up onto her feet. Her kimono was on the verge of coming off from her small frames. Her obi was loose. He flinched when he noticed her wrist; he will need to tend to her later. No he should tend to it as soon as possible, but he will have to do quite an amount of persuading to the One-Eyed Dragon.
"Don't pity me. I hate people who do that." Yuki spat at Kojuurou who could only blink in response.
'Thunk!'
"Why the hell did you just do that for!"
Yuki tried to move away from the man, Date Masamune, whom had gently knock her head at crown of her head when she had rudely speak to his second-in-command. Unfortunately, she could not move away from him as he was still holding her by the wrist. She cringed as his gripped tighten. Her broken wrist was not helping much. To distract herself from the pain she turned to the man, Kojuurou whom was now taking off his coat to prevent her from exposing herself much longer, and asked him. "My fellow comrades, you didn't do anything to th-"
"They left." Kojuurou looked out of the tent. He hated to tell the bad news to her. Even though he had just met her. Even though she was a bandit. Even though she steals for a living. For the Leader to be abandoned, for the people, her comrades that had no loyalty to her despite her believing in them. He, Katakura Kojuurou, was furious. He would never leave their Leader behind, the One-Eyed Dragon. He would protect him with his life. Did they abandon her because she was a lady? Would it be different if she had been a guy?
"Oh, they left huh..." Her bangs covered her eyes as she looked down onto the tent, "It was about time anyway. So what are you guys going to do with me?"
She glanced at both of the men.
"Hm... Didn't I say that we shall have a little party for you later?" Date Masamune smirked as he pushed her towards Kojuurou, she stumbled and almost fall but thankfully Kojuurou was there to catch her on time. "Take care of her and make sure she doesn't get away. Oh you can tend to her injuries if you want. I am not going to stop you. You would do it behind my back without me telling you anyway with or without permission." With that he waved his arms as he made his way out of the tent.
He was about to leave as he lifted up the covers only to take a look over his shoulders, his eyes meeting with hers again. "Before I forget, what's your name?"
"My name is Yuki... Saitou Yuki."
End of Chapter 1