Why am I hiding from children? Magoichi Saika, the foul-mouthed, lady-flirting leader of the Saika Renegades mused to himself, Oh right…I remember now.
Magoichi was once again, hiding from his two "children" to have some, as he told Gracia, "Mago time." This time always involved the ladies, what happened beyond that…leave it to your imagination. Just note the reason he called these moments Mago time to save the innocence of the young daughter of Mitsuhide Akechi. Also, it made a good excuse to ditch duties from the pint-sized Date lord as it sound almost business like, the keyword being almost, and he knew how to talk fast and weasel his way outside.
Right now, the wandering crow roosted his wings in a village not far from a forest full of beautiful women, corners to hide, anything a renegade could ever ask for. Magoichi certainly found enjoyment spending his Mago time here. The ladies did as well. The men…they weren't as excited as their wives or wives-to-be, though he didn't care about their opinions. One blissful night or two were enough to satisfy him.
Although, right now Magoichi wasn't hitting on a lady, a miracle to be seen. Instead, he found himself wandering the local shops and buying a couple trinkets or food for the road. The money he collected over time from serving Hideyoshi and Masamune eventually piled up to even pay off an entire country if he ever needed too, but ruling countries wasn't his thing; wasting gold on things he'd never use again was. Yeah, argue with that logic later.
"U-um sir, you gave me much more than I asked for…" The female shopkeeper chimed in before Magoichi wandered off too far.
"Hmm? Oh, my mistake. Keep the change, seeing your beautiful face should come at a price!" Magoichi smiled, giving the lady a wink before wandering off deeper into the crowd.
Anyone would lose count how many times Magoichi layed down that line to give someone patronage. Of course, for the guys you'd have a very different revision, but they worked around the same charm and neither had failed to this day. Maybe this Saika renegade really had a heart of gold…yeah, no. The day he was a saint was the day the Warring States were at eternal peace. At least he could do good deeds without getting a second glance.
"MAAAAAAAGOOOOOOO!" Magoichi shivered. He knew that high-pitched voice. It was a face he wanted to avoid, "MAAAAGOOO!"
Before the female ball of sunshine could find him, Magoichi sprinted to the nearest alleyway, squeezing to the far back to hide in the shadows. He wasn't in the mood to have a virgin girl to steal the ladies' attention to him. Oh no. He wasn't done with his thrill ride just yet.
"Mago! Mago! Where'd you go, Mago?" He could hear Gracia directly in front of him, "You promised to show me around today! And you said it yourself, 'I don't forget a pal!'"
…Dang, she was right. He did say that. Multiple times, actually. Curse that girl and her excellent memory. At this point, he couldn't really pawn her off; his reputation as a pal would suffer. Magoichi swallowed the lump in his throat and came out of the shadows slowly, pondering whether or not he was going to regret revealing himself. Most likely he would, but too late for regrets.
"Hello Gracia…sorry I missed ya. I uh…got lost and wandered in this alleyway." Magoichi kept pausing to think of a clever lie, "So, how long have you been here kiddo?"
Gracia saw Magoichi immerge and immediately clung to him like a koala, "Not long! I heard from this nice lady that you gave her a tip and I just knew it was you, Mago!"
Ha, the irony. Being nice cost him his vacation with the ladies. This wasn't the only time his luck decided to work backwards and curse him instead of help him. At least Gracia had a peppier outlook and called him by name instead of idiot, imbecile, etcetera. That reminded him, where was the kid? He frequently sent search parties to find him when he left all of a sudden and he hadn't seen even a flash of the Date flag for days.
"Hey Gracia? Have you seen Masamune around here?"
Gracia's face darkened a bit, though she still managed to answer in her cute way like always, "Masa? No, I haven't seen him at all. Why, were you looking for him?"
"The opposite, actually. He wanted me to do all this work, I wasn't in the mood, so I left for a while to have some…Mago time."
Gracia's smile grew bigger, her grip tightening. She spouted nonsense about wanting to go on another adventure while dragging them both out of the alleyway. Jeez, she got excited fast. Maybe that's what set the Akechi girl from the other girls of her time. Maybe that's why Magoichi enjoyed her company. Maybe that's why Masamune was standing right next to them angrily…wait…Masamune? …Oh no.
"MAGOICHI! HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME FOR THIS…VIXEN!" Masamune began shouting at the top of his lungs, attracting faces of passersbyers, "I thought I told you to give Iyeasu the letter I gave you! Thanks to you, Iyeasu almost had my head if it weren't for Kojuro taking the letter in your stead!"
Gracia began giggling, causing Masamune to switch his attention to who he just called a vixen. She latched onto Magoichi so hard he was having trouble breathing, though he learned to hide it to save their skins. "Masa! You should be nicer to Mago! He's the bestest pal ever, you know!"
"How would you know, huh? I've known Magoichi much longer than you have, woman!" Masamune pouted, arms crossed.
"No you didn't! Magoichi told me so!"
"HE DID WHAT?" Masamune's temper rose again, flames in the background, "M-Magoichi! Is this true?"
Magoichi, wanting to avoid a potential shout-fight, simply nodded. If he opened his mouth, there would be fighting central for hours, days, endless years. Instead, Masamune stood there with a shocked expression on his face, turning around to look away from the two. He kept huffing and puffing like the big bag wolf from children's stories. Why was he worked up about?
"Hmph! As if I care! Magoichi is as dispensable as any of my other retainers. I don't care if he leaves!"
"Teehee! Then why is your face red, Masa? I think someone's jealous!"
Gracia once again hit the arrow in the head. Masamune was indeed beat red and was slowly getting redder by the minute. Now Magoichi understood why Masamune went to personally find him and why he kept getting worked up at the tiniest thing. He, the Lord of the Date, was jealous of Mitsuhide Akechi's daughter's relationship with the crow Magoichi Saika. Heh, who knew? Gracia did, apparently.
"I-I'm not jealous! What would an idiot like you know, huh? HUH?" Masamune raised his voice, prompting Gracia to hide behind Magoichi, "…Um…so d-don't you insult me!"
Magoichi chuckled, dragging himself and Gracia the koala over to the jealous one-eyed kid. He took a step back, though the second time he stayed put. Magoichi removed one hand of Gracia's to put it on Masamune's back, Magoichi doing the same with his own hand. Masamune tensed up at first, but returned the embrace with a scowl and a very obvious blush. Dragons knew no weakness, but affection brought might none would expect.
"So…are we pals, Masa? The three of us?" Gracia giggled, a smile bigger than the ocean gracing all who gazed upon it.
"…Yeah, I guess."