"...my dream? I'm a Kunoichi of Iga! I was born to serve our people; it's my dream when I wake up and I go to bed. Mother, papa and all my friends will be proud of me and happy, if I pour out the blood from my heart. Please don't laugh, Sensei, I really mean it!"
"Oh, Akeginu. You just sound such a perfect little Shinobi."
The day was a haze of wavering trees, and sunlight that stuck to children's eyes. Akeginu gazed up at the lady in white with the quiet smile, the instructor who every trainee in Iga would breathlessly name the most perfect Shinobi ever. They were seated on the veranda, sipping water after kenjutsu practise.
"Hisakawa-Sensei–"
"Still, a pretty dream may remain a dream, if you keep neglecting your work to steal off to the forest with Ide-kun." Akeginu's pale face flushed, but pinches of pride shone in her averted eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Sensei–I knew it was wrong. He just asked, though he was so nervous...he looks a bit scary, but actually he was kind. I feel warm when I look at him now...I don't know if I might be in love...but I'm so sorry, I should've been training!"
"Well. How could I punish a girl in love...?"
"Thanks so much, Sensei! It's the best thing in the world!"
"Better than serving Iga?"
"Well, they're different things..." Akeginu's voice was tiny, but her smile was big; she never saw the dark layers in Hisakawa's eyes, "Anyway, sensei, I told you my dream, so what's yours?"
"Oh, I've had a few dreams. To be a great shinobi...or, sometimes, just to see one more sunrise. Yes, my dream now...it's just to spend a bit longer with you." pushing Akeginu's hair back, her sensei kissed her brow.
"Sensei?" Hisakawa rose, and lessons were over for the day.
A thickset woman called at Akeginu's house the next day to tell how her predecessor as trainee instructor had hung herself out in the forest. It was generally known that Hisakawa's parents had arranged her engagement to a cousin of Ogen-Sama, barely younger than the Clan leader herself. The rumours insisted she'd had a lover, but the half-expected twin suicide among the young men of Iga never occurred. No one really knew why she died, and no one died with her.
Akeginu clung to her mother's hand all through the funeral. She never forgot the men's faces, grim and without sympathy; the only tears were from Hisakawa's parents, who stood on their own to one side. A Shinobi who felt has died, the smoke-tainted air seemed to say, the Shinobi who live feel nothing for her.
"You're going to keep working hard I trust, Akeginu-chan?" Her father looked down past his moustache at her.
"Yes, Papa. From now on, I will work to be the best shinobi I can."
Four years later
"Akeginu-dono. Trained by Hisakawa-dono...a blood-mist user...one major and one minor mission, both completed adequately...Jigoro-dono notes that he's never worked with a more dedicated kunoichi."
"I am an Iga Shinobi, Tenzen-Sama."
In the wide eyes of the Iga princess clinging to Tenzen's kamishiro, the young girl was frightening, despite being so beautiful. Kneeling, the solemn readiness of the hawk ran along her back; no smile moved her blood red lips, and she watched everything under lowered eyelids.
"You have no lover, Akeginu-dono."
"None, Tenzen-Sama." Dark eyes released nothing.
"Take your pleasures where you can, or this life may become unbearable. And it wasn't a question–your rigid and unfeminine attitude invites a solitary existence."
"Tenzen-Sama...I trust you do not speak from experience?"
Little Oboro suddenly jerked away from the Iga commander, as if he had burst into flame. The Iga shinobi around him merely flinched from his furrowed brow.
"...apologies, Akeginu-dono. Your personal life hardly falls under my responsibilities. I should rather have talked of the times you will necessarily use your body to achieve clan Iga's aims. With your current manner, you could barely seduce a common peasant–I fear that such a Kunoichi has very little to give to her clan."
The Shinobi around Tenzen were barely hiding their leers. Oboro trembled at his incomprehensible words, and soft, sharp voice.
A hand rested on her shoulder. Oboro stared round into Akeginu's clear eyes, which seemed to be asking why she was troubled at all.
"I see that this will be an appropriate task for you. Princess Oboro's aunt has fallen sick while visiting the Yasaka shrine in Kyoto to make an offering for her niece's future. I would have thought two chunin an adequate guard, but Ogen-Sama mentioned you specifically. You must reach Kyoto safely, and at some time before the honoured lady passes away, so that the Princess may give her last farewell."
Oboro ran into Akeginu's arms, and bawled onto her chest. With a look of mild surprise, the young kunoichi held her tightly in black clad arms.
The small encourage set out at once. Akeginu easily jogged beside Oboro's palanquin for some miles until they stopped to switch bearers.
"Um..." She turned her head to the tiny hand at the palanquin curtains, "Um, how old are you, kunoichi-San?"
"Fourteen, Oboro-Sama."
"Ooo," Oboro digested this intelligence, "Have you ever, um, um, killed anyone?"
"Only once." Akeginu wondered at the innocence required to ask, "But that's exceptional for a Shinobi as young as me..."
Shaking away dark memories, Akeginu realised Oboro's hand had disappeared. She cursed herself for forgetting the Shinobi maxim; a secret revealed was always a weapon passed to enemies. If the princess was scared of her, it would be difficult to guard her closely. Moreover, to think of such a thing somehow chilled her own heart.
Oboro was quiet and pensive at the inn where they stopped for the night. Obviously it was Akeginu's duty to ensure the princess's happiness, so she ordered a tub of water for a bath, and gave her a drink of weak tea, which she drank cautiously, swinging her legs from her seat.
"Will we be arriving in Kyoto tomorrow?"
"Yes, Oboro-Sama, very late in the day."
"Oh. Then I'll be able to have another bath, and not be all smelly when I see auntie. We'll go around all the shrines together, and I'll tell her to hurry home to Tsubakure–"
The little girl broke off. Her beautiful, luminous eyes fell to the ground. Akeginu racked her memory for anything ordinary little girls enjoyed.
"Oboro-Sama...you must want to look your best when you see your aunt again? Forgive my lack of practice, but if you close your eyes and hold still–"
After five minutes, Akeginu produced a mirror, and Oboro squealed in delight.
"It looks so pretty! I look...um..." She blushed and wriggled, "You didn't seem the kind of girl who would know about makeup and things, Akeginu-San..."
"A kunoichi must know many different things, Oboro-Sama."
"Oh...sorry. I'm the Iga heir, but I haven't talked to many kunoichi. It must've been...really different for you? When you were my age?"
"Well...I enjoyed wearing makeup too, Oboro-Sama. Perhaps I wasn't so different from you as a child...I recall that my heritage as an Iga gave me confidence, and strength through many difficult trials. And now the memories of trials overcome give me confidence for the future. Forgive me for speaking so directly, Oboro-Sama..."
"...how old did you say you were, Akeginu-san? Um, sorry..."
"Don't worry, Oboro-Sama..." Her smile was weary, but still amused, "Tell me how old I look?
"You look...strong."
The two girls were still looking at each other, when one of the chunins pushed the door back.
"Oboro-Sama, Akeginu-san; pardon the intrusion. I simply wanted to remind Akeginu-dono that we will be heading close to Kouga territory tomorrow; even with the non-aggression pact, we should double our vigilance."
"Certainly. Anything else?"
"Is everything well, Akeginu-san? You look a little tired." The young man laid a hand on Akeginu's shoulder, "Me and Kuu-dono were having a drink downstairs; we'd be very grateful for the chance to see you in a kimono–I'm Niishi, by the way..."
Akeginu barely remembered Oboro presence in time to stop herself breaking fingers. Instead, she averted her eyes from the young chunin, and expressed her intention to remain at Oboro's side. Niishi silently departed.
"I think kimono would suit you better, Akeginu-san. But you look pretty in a shozoko..." Turning to her mistress, weights falling from her heart, the kunoichi's smile had no weariness now, "Um. There won't be any Kouga, will they? They sound scary..."
She was so small. Nothing but golden eyes and kindness. As Akeginu swore that her mistress had nothing to fear, she rejoiced to be a shinobi of Iga, for the first time in years.