Yasha was still sleeping when Chika finally told Minha go home as the sun was setting. "He'll be fine here tonight," Chika reassured her, stroking her hair gently. "You should rest up for the mate choosing ceremony tomorrow," she said with a slight smile. Minha furrowed her brow at the comment Chika said that was supposed to be nice. Chika had not heard her conversation with Hayate VIII that he would not give her another coin. She had racked her brain, trying to think a way to get him to change his mind. She looked down at her gloved hands, thinking of how risky the only plan she could come up with would be.

Minha headed out the door, trying to downplay the risk of her plan in her mind so she would not back out of it. She wanted to become the most powerful woman in the clan and to do that, she had to get Hayate VIII to mate claim her.

"You're welcome," Chika called after her.

"Oh, thanks," she mumbled without turning back.

Minha left Chika's place and kept walking through the village until she came to the sparring arena. The best place to find Hayate VIII away from his father was here. He often sparred against others here in the evening to the point where it was rare for anyone to watch him and his sparring partner. Minha walked into the arena, seeing it had been revamped for tomorrow's mate choosing ceremony. 'If I succeed, he'll choose me,' she thought hopefully. She would go down in history of the clan forever. Together, they were going to be the best couple to lead the clan in over a century.

At a distance from the stage set up for tomorrow, Hayate VIII was sparring with another person with equally long blonde hair. Minha moved closer and saw the second person was Aiko. The idea of Aiko being here with him of all people angered Minha. Aiko thought she was better than everyone else because of her stocky build, her fighting skills, and she came from a big family.

Minha crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently, watching the two finish sparring. Hayate had won the spar and was helping Aiko up, pulling her in a little too close to him for Minha's comfort. The two of them stayed still, looking into each others eyes. Minha had enough and cleared her throat loudly. It seemed to send a shock through the couple who looked over and say her standing there. Aiko pulled away from Hayate and shook off his lingering hand on her hand. Hayate scowled at Minha in annoyance.

"I need to talk to you," Minha said with fake confidence as she walked towards them. On the inside, her heart was pounding. She reached Hayate, standing close to him before he took a step back away from here. Minha turned to Aiko and said "alone" as she crossed her arms over her chest. She looked Aiko up and down. The woman looked dirty, sweaty, and her hair was disheveled. Her baggy clothes were practically hanging off of her. Minha felt she would rather die than look so gross in front of Hayate of all people.

"Really? Minha," Hayate huffed, clearly not caring about anything she wanted to say.

Aiko rolled her eyes. "You know how she is," she told Hayate. Minha frowned at her for talking about her with her right there. "Just let her say what ever it is so she can feel good about herself and better than everyone else."

"That's rich coming from someone who needs a shower and new, well, newer clothes," Minha countered.

"If you worried more about learning how to fight and less about how you look, maybe you'd find someone willing to mate claim you," Aiko responded.

"Aiko, just go on home, she won't take too long," Hayate sighed. "And she won't want you knowing how much she plead me to give her a new coin for tomorrow."

"Oh, that's right, you couldn't keep your coin safe. It got 'stolen'," Aiko hissed at Minha. Aiko reached into her pocket, pulled out her own square coin, flicked it up into the air, catch at the last second, and put it back into her pocket with a soft pat. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said to Hayate with a warm smile as she began walking away.

"Run along and get cleaned up. I don't want to have to smell you tomorrow," Minha called after her. 'People really think he'll choose her?' she thought. Minha turned back towards Hayate who was watching Aiko walk away with a happy and dazed look of his face. Minha cleared her throat again.

Hayate snapped his attention back to her. "You're not getting another coin," he said evenly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You haven't even heard me out yet," she responded curtly.

"Fine. This should be entertaining," he said, backing up to lean against the nearby wall. "I'd love to see you try to convince me why I should even consider you as a potential mate."

"You gave me a coin once already."

"I gave lots of women a coin, doesn't mean I actually meant you all are potential mates. It's ceremonial. It would look bad if I only gave a coin to the woman I'm actually planning to chose."

Minha bit her tongue to keep from saying anything without thought. Choosing her words carefully. "What' thing, or things, do you need in order carry on your line?" she asked slowly.

He huffed. "Children. At least two to be safe." He sounded rehearsed when he spoke. "Especially with one cousin exiled and another one a weakling child." He rolled his eyes, but also looked rather serious.

Minha took a steadying breath to gather her courage. She brought her hands in front of her chest, palms up. "Then you should choose a woman for your mate who can guarantee you the blessing of having children." He stared at her dumbfounded, moving his back from the wall to stand up straight. "As many as you'd like if that's how you want it worded." He stared at her hands hard. He seemed to hardly be breathing. "Or find a woman I've already given a blessing to so I couldn't possibly bless her to never have a child." She gave him a cruel smile on the outside, but felt sicken with herself to make such a ultimatum to him.

"I could kill you before you get the chance," he said dismissively.

"If I word the blessing right, she would never know it was my doing."

"You would know and you wouldn't be able to lie to my father if he questioned you," he countered. He seemed nervous now.

"How do you know it wasn't my blessing that is the reason he is so nice to me and my brother? Anxious to protect us and keep are abilities secret. After all, the two of us of rather dangerous if in the wrong hands." She was bluffing as she had not blessed Hayate VII, but based on his reaction, he did not know if she did or not. "He might not even remember if I had blessed him to protect us if I worded my blessing right." She took a chance to make it sound more plausible. "He could outright deny it and would believe it true."

"You didn't."

"You can't prove I didn't."

He stared her down. "What if I made you give me the blessing for many children. Based on early events of today, all I need to do is threaten to kill Yasha and I can a blessing out of you."

"You wouldn't go through with it," she struggled to keep her voice from squeaking. "Your father knows he needs to be kept safe as well because of his similar abilities."

"What can he do?" She shrugged. "Tell me."

"Why should I? What's in it for me?"

"What do you want?"

"Choose me tomorrow."

He gave her a hard look. "I'll give you another coin if you tell me." He pulled a small bag out his pocket. Out of the bag, he pulled another square coin out of his bag.

Taking a risk, she shook her head. "Chose me. Or you'll never been guaranteed to have a child with any other woman you chose beside me. You'll never know for sure why your father is so willing to protect me and my brother. And you'll never know what my brother can do. He's not as powerful as me, but just as dangerous." She layered her bluffs in with truths. It was a big gamble to threaten him like this. It would make him decide whether or not he chose her to be his mate tomorrow, but she felt like it was the last chance she would get to convince him to chose her based on her current situation, so she took it. "I'm your best choice."

To her surprise, he barked a laugh. "You're almost as bad as your father." She scowled at him in response. "Your arrogance gets in the way of your high ambitions. I don't event think my exiled cousin Ichiro would have been mad enough to take your offer." He sighed and stretched his arms over his head. "I didn't even want to give you a coin. My father insisted all noble girls old enough for me got one." He put the square coin back in his pocket. He began to walk towards her, with the intention to walk passed her, but she stopped him.

Quick and slick as she could, she had one glove off and both hands gripping tightly to his forearm. He froze mid step in response, looking down at her, clearly afraid. "What's the matter? Do I scare you?" she asked quietly. She held tight on her grip on his arm, desperately willing him to give her a coin and a promise to chose her tomorrow.

In a nonverbal response, he kicked at her shins painfully. She cried out in surprise and pain. Inadvertently, she dropped her grip on his arm. She made to back away from him, but he moved too quickly for her. Before she could react, he had her arm with the bare hand twisted painfully behind her back. She cried out again. He pulled her closer to himself, pinning her arm between her back and his torso and brought his other arm around her neck. His hand around her arm behind her back squeezed with a vice like grip. She struggled feebly against him, panicking at his sudden display of strength. "Look whose scared now? I've hardly moved and for all your threats, you can't even back them up with ability to fight me off." He tightened his holds against her and then shoved forward and down to the ground. She looked up at him incredulously. "I want a fighter for a mate. Clearly you'll never be one."