Bold Italics mean the characters are saying English/Engrish words.

Italics are her thoughts.

Flashbacks are written in 3rd person. Author's Note will now be at the bottom of each chapter.

A young girl's sobs echoed through the walls of Miharu Castle, the sound occasionally struck the hearts of passing servants, though were given strict orders to avoid the source. Young Mego-Hime was accepting her punishment of solitude, Lord Tamura said. His scarlet eyes would sometimes look towards the direction of his sobbing daughter, contemplating on silencing her. Closing his angry eyes, he forced himself to focus on a new strategy; a plan so heinous that it had potential to shake the will of his target – or perhaps kill.

Masamune Date is now eighteen autumns if my guess is correct. He's taken the seating as daimyo through a cowardly tactic – murdering Terumune and his captor. I suppose I should leave it up to Yoshi-Hime to go with her plans first before I make my move…

His talon-like fingers grazed the age stained map before him, dragging it from where his home was supposedly located towards where the Date sat. Domination was essential for a man of his personality. He had hoped that his daughter would have taken her part a little more seriously, though in the end she became consumed by a petty emotion that typical girls became inflicted with. Love. How ironic that her name also meant that, more of a mockery left by her mother as she died holding the crying infant in her tired arms.

Get a hold of yourself, these disgusting emotions that humans thrive on will no longer have a place in your world, Kiyoaki. Once Oshu has submitted before you, you will proceed onward to the rest of the country. During that, you can dispose of your abomination that you used to call a daughter.

Yes. That seemed necessary. Standing up, Kiyoaki moved towards the hallway as skittish servants quickly moved out of his way. He approached the door leading to Mego-Hime's bedchambers, his claws gripping the screen as he pushed it away from the other, the sound forced Mego out of her sobbing as she turned to see her father glare back at her.

"Get up." He demanded, and she obeyed. Clasping her hands in front of her, she looked up at her father through a now tear-stained porcelain mask. Every fibre of her being told her to stop shaking in fear despite knowing what his methods of punishment could be. Solitude, lashing, chained to a wall or all of the above though none were light. Her father approached her, one hand gripping his belt as the other remained at his side. The only sounds in the room were the sound of his armour clanking as he moved and Mego's muffled sniffles. Her head slowly moved to look up at her father's towering frame as he stared back down at her with merciless eyes.

"You failed me daughter, your part in my grand design was to gain his trust, marry him and rot the Date clan from within. But instead, you decided to let your human emotions consume you as you tried to give yourself to him!" he yelled, his voice echoing within the walls of the princess's room. Mego cowered in fear and a soft whimper followed. Still, he continued.

"I've told you countless times to never reveal your face, and still you rebel! Your face is to never be seen from anyone, you are protecting them from the grotesque features you've taken on since your conversion. Did I not thoroughly explain myself!" Kiyoaki turned towards the door leading to the balcony, angrily pushing the door open as he stepped out. In the distance, figures that belonged to the unknown danced about alongside the woods, fields and mountain roads. Demons and hungry ghosts lingered in these parts, Mt. Osore was their domain and the Tamura Clan ruled over this hellish realm.

"Kiyoaki, I'm sorry, but we cannot go through with this alliance…"

"Why not Terumune, my friend? Has something made you think otherwise?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

"What is it then?"

"Your intentions are foul. My son has displayed strong concerns about your daughter, but alas I cannot let this union be. Forgive me Kiyoaki, but the Date does not need any more bloodshed."

Recalling the conversation that went between himself and Terumune Date, the demonic daimyo clenched his fist then turned back to Mego.

"You are seventeen winters now. I've kept you in this room since you were twelve. Your silence, your solitude, it was all a way to teach you daughter. How can I trust you if you continued to disobey me?" he said, his voice slowly calming down as he turned to approach her.

"I'll be leaving the region soon, daughter. Can I trust that you won't leave this place? Can you look me in the eye and say that you'll always be here?" he asked, his hand gently touching the side of her head. The intention was affectionate, but the feeling alone was wooden in Mego's eyes. She nodded her head numbly.

Little did he know that while she sat alone for all those years she had hatched a plan of her own.

"Excellent. That's my dearest daughter." He said, his voice sounding sickeningly sweet as he kissed the top of her head and took his leave.

When it was safe, Mego removed her mask and wiped her face free of tears. Her eyes looked down at the blank porcelain face that stared back at her. Part of her wanted to put it back on her face, out of second nature, to hide what her father always said about her appearance. Grotesque. Was something truly wrong with her face?

"Beautiful…"

That's right. Years ago, Masamune Date himself had said to her that her face was the opposite of disgusting. But that was years ago, her face could have changed since then. There was no looking glass within the castle, no water to give a reflection, no polished metal to reveal the truth. Sighing, she looked towards the balcony, hearing the movement of horses and men taking their leave. Off to conquer the upper areas of Mutsu possibly. Her father would be among those men.

Putting on the porcelain mask, Mego turned toward the door as it slid open as Junko Itsuko stepped in afterwards. Her attendant kneeled before the princess and bowed her head in greeting.

"Lady Mego."

"Good of you to return Junko, you have amazing timing." Mego replied, her voice sounding much happier. She stood up as the older woman followed; she approached Junko as she placed a hand on her shoulder. Junko nodded, instantly understanding what the girl's thoughts were.

"It's time."

"Lord Masamune."

"What's up Kojurro?"

"I'm a bit concerned with how my lord is feeling."

"Oh?"

"Your focus is slipping again, are ghosts of the past resurfacing?"

The young daimyo let out a quiet laugh as he repositioned himself for sparring. Holding only one wooden sword in his hands, he narrowed his left eye at the older man.

"No ghosts have ever formed. You see?" Part lie, part truth. Occasionally, thoughts of a former love would slip back into his mind only to be pushed back by empty lust from a concubine. Red eyes, pink lips, white skin – no, a porcelain mask gave that illusion. Even so, he had seen her face those many years ago, an innocent face of a young girl with sad eyes that spoke of pain. Her black hair would dance even when there was no wind.

Harinago. She was one.

"Don't let it die! Find me again, Dokuganryu! My heart shall always be yours!"

I'll find you again Mego…

Trust me…

"Lord Masamune!" Kojurro's voice snapped him back to reality as he soon found the tip of the wooden sword pointing directly at his left eye. The older man's expression clearly read both of concern and annoyance. Normally the One-Eyed Dragon wouldn't lose focus in something as simple as a sparring match. He watched as Masamune pressed his index finger and thumb against his forehead and shut his one eye tight. Kojurro remained nearby as the young daimyo struggled with his thoughts.

Perhaps there was more. It was only sometime ago that he had successfully unified Oshu but had also injured his right arm in the process, as well as dealing with the burden of killing his own father to become head of the clan. His mother Yoshi-Hime had begun to shun him, completely cutting him off from whom she considered as family. Something about her seemed off, as if she was secretly planning something sinister behind her screens.

"Perhaps we should call it a day, my lord." Kojurro said, putting away the wooden weapons as he nodded to a nearby attendant to bring them tea. He turned back to see Masamune looking up at the sky, his thoughts straying off to wherever they desired. Sighing, the Right Eye silently took his leave, knowing perfectly well that his lord would want to be alone for awhile.

I'm only eighteen. At thirteen I became a man.

No, I am a dragon.

Dokuganryu.

Masamune sighed, and then looked down at his outstretched hands before clenching them into fists.

But what's a dragon without his treasure?

His thoughts were shaken when Kojurro came back with a piece of parchment in hand. He handed the piece of paper over to Masamune who unfolded it open to read it. His eye widened at the calligraphy, different from what he was used to the kanji had a feminine flair to it and the signature itself was a dead giveaway as to who it was from.

"The world has not yet laid down flat, for it has only begun for you.

Please be sure to follow the world of His Highness in the righteous cause.

Please do not consider my safety, I will always carry a dagger and vow to never be insulted.

I am not far but I am not near, though you need not to worry about me.

-The Harinago who will always watch her Dokuganryu."

Masamune felt his stomach knot as he finished reading the cryptic letter. Inhaling and exhaling deeply, he handed the letter back to Kojurro, mumbling to keep it stored in a safe place for future reference. He looked back up towards the sky, his eye desperately scanning for the possibility of an answer to Mego's letter. He looked towards the direction of Mt. Osore, noticing that the usual darkness that lingered about the area seemed less thick.

Old Man Tamura's probably gone to haunt some other ground.

Bastard.

Turning back towards the doorway of his home, Masamune stepped inside as Kojurro followed who then closed the door behind them. The One-Eyed Dragon called upon his elites and Shigezane to hold an emergency council. Once they seated, Masamune pointed towards the map before him.

"Alright guys, we've got a new goal this time." He began, his eye looking over each of his faithful retainers. All gave varying expressions of curiosity, worry and eagerness which prompted the young Daimyo to smirk approvingly. He looked back down at the map and tapped his finger against the parchment.

"This," he tapped his finger again, resting it on the desired location, "is the region of Miharu. And this," he slid his index finger diagonally across from the first location to another that had a tiny image of a mountain, "is Mt. Osore; our second goal." A few men spoke to another through hushed words, some much more worried than before.

Bunshichi, one of Masamune's Elite Four, shuffled in his seat as he timidly looked up at his lord, his Right Eye and his Shield. "Um.. Captain, may I say something?" he asked shyly and bowed. Masamune nodded and waved a hand to allow the worrisome man to continue.

"M-Mount Osore is haunted ground as is the Miharu region, is it not?" The Daimyo smirked and nodded knowing where this was going, Bunshichi struggled with his words as his fellow Elites Yoshinao, Samanosuke and Magobei watched his shaking body.

"Is it really safe for us to trespass on ominous ground? I've heard stories, sir…" he said and forced himself to relax. The One-Eyed Dragon was about to begin when a nearby door slid open and Goemon Ishikawa stepped in and bowed before his lord.

"Took you long enough." The Lord of Oshu said as the decorative ninja shrugged his shoulders.

"Quite a variety of rumours Boss, they tend to take me to too many places. Anyway, I've done my research on the locations you want." Goemon said as he sat himself down. Despite being a ninja, the young man stood out like a sore thumb in comparison to his fellow comrades. A man heavily interested in the performing arts, Goemon Ishikawa was what many called a 'flamboyant individual' due to his long, unruly hair that seemed to be dyed with ink and his face that was always decorated with red lines to give him the look of a demon. A Kabuki ninja; two very different roles of man mashed into one being.

Shigezane smirked as he leaned back on his hands, "So, did you get out undetected or did you run away from a pack of angry girls?" he asked teasingly, causing some of the soldiers to chuckle along with him and Kojurro to scold the young man for speaking out.

"Lord Shigezane, you are to speak when spoken to, is that clear?" the elder man asked sternly and narrowed his eyes at him. All the younger dragon did was merely shrug and kept his cocky smirk on his face. Masamune shook his head and shrugged as he looked back at Goemon.

"So, what did you find?" the Lord of Oshu asked. The room fell silent and all eyes went to the kneeling ninja as he nodded in response to begin explaining.

"The rumours of the land being haunted or possessed are true," Bunshichi and a few other men shook their heads with worry and whispered amongst one another before hushing, "Lord Tamura of Miharu has pretty much washed the land with demonic energy that it's nearly impossible getting through unharmed. However," Goemon shifted his seating then moved towards the map and pointed at the forest sitting at the base of Mt. Osore, "this area is safely guarded by some sort of incantation. It's very foreign from what I gathered, some of the items hung in the tree look like this." He made his two index fingers into a 'cross-shape' for the entire room to see, resulting in more whispers amongst soldiers. Masamune's lips curled into a grin, knowing all too well what the ninja was trying to convey.

A rosary.

Sacred symbol of a foreign God, mainly worshipped by the foreigners known as the Jesuits.

Goemon let his hands rest on the ground as he looked at his leader, "There's a reason for those being there. The army may be completely female, but there is one male residing there and he is rumoured to be a Jesuit. They say he's the son of Louis Frois, but that's about it. The leader is definitely female; I managed to catch a glimpse of her, and her six elites." The more he spoke of women, the more anxious each man was becoming in the room. Though the land was vast, Oshu itself was lacking a healthy abundance of women. Though not obviously showing it, Masamune silently urged Goemon to further describe the leader.

Give me a clue, and I'll figure it out.

I already have my suspicions, however.

Goemon sat back, looking from Kojurro to Shigezane to Masamune. "Their leader is supposedly a demon herself, a harinago if you will. They say she rips the faces off her victims to replace her own repulsive one. It also explains why she wears a mask." The ninja watched as the Right Eye's body tensed slightly, the Shield's eyes narrow and look down at the map and the One-Eyed Dragon's slowly move from being underneath his chin. Out of the corner of his eyes, Goemon could see Yoshinao, Samanosuke, Magobei and Bunshichi all tense up as they saw their superiors act stranger than normal.

Clearly, something was odd about this new discovery.

After the deafening silence, Masamune replied lowly with his left eye narrowed at Goemon.

"Anything else?"

Goemon took a deep breath before looking at Masamune with blank emotion, "They say she dances and sings at night to lay restless souls to sleep. This is only a rumour, naturally." The daimyo nodded then stood up, pointing at the ninja.

"Goemon, I want you to go back there and see if you can get any more information about this army. We'll follow shortly after, you see?" He gave the ninja his trademark smirk while the older man nodded.

"I'll do what I can and report as soon as I'm able." He said, then faded from the naked eye to take on his new mission.

Masamune turned to the others, signalling them that this meeting was over and they were free to excuse themselves. Kojurro, Shigezane and the Elite Four decided to stay behind, however. Magobei moved to open up the door to let the cool summer air through the stuffy room.

"Cousin, can I say something?"

"Go on."

"Goemon said that the land surrounding this little forest village is pretty much instant death, do you think it's safe to bring the entire army?" He crossed his arms as he leaned against a nearby wall. Others couldn't help but feel the same way as they looked one another. Kojurro seated remained nearby Masamune who walked over to this cousin, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm only bringing my best, that includes you, Kojurro and," he turned to look back at the four standing not too far from him, "you guys. So you don't need to worry Shigezane, you see?" He finished with a smirk as their faces were glowing with pride, some of them wiping their faces with their sleeves. An emotional bunch, but loyal nevertheless.

The dragon walked towards the door, letting his hand rest on the door and keeping his back to the men remaining in the room.

"Rest well. We'll be leaving in a week or so." And with that, he took his leave. Leaving the rest to follow suit and to their own thoughts about the matter at hand.

Author's Note: Hey everyone! Sorry I've been taking a while to get things going with this story. Most of my chapter ideas are right from my mind and 50% are unplanned so I'm very happy that a few are enjoying this. This chapter will be focusing on the flashback rather than Mego's POV. I will be switching between both her perspective and Masamune's.

People are probably wondering why Goemon Ishikawa is in this band of men. Because of his near-folktale background, there's actually a number of different stories of how he came to be. He's also my concept which is on deviantART, and is considered to be the go-between of the Date gang. I figured they could use a ninja and there was an Ishikawa that serves the Date, but there's no record that proves he was related to Goemon. I ran with it to put it simply haha.

So I was definitely not expecting this to be as long as it was. Turns out that once I get into detail, I lose track of how long it gets haha. It also looks like this will be a couple of chapters before we get back to the present, is everyone good with that? When we do go back to the present, there may be some possible sexual content considering where we left off. XD However there will be one part in the flashback that will contain sexual content. Next chapter – Mego-Hime and her Army. Thanks again for reading ~!