Heeeey guys! Back with a new chapter! Exciting isn't it? But first, must say something. Hehe, it seems like some are under the impression that Nobunaga is one of the love interests. Sadly, he isn't. I'm a little unsure how you guys came up with that, but I find it kinda interesting? Honestly, I don't know how to feel exactly, but the thought of Nobu and Anna together, is an interesting idea. Mah, maybe a one-shot or something to the side exploring it? Hm, maybe. I'm slightly curious now, but that's for later. And just to reiterate, Nobunaga is not Anna's love interest. Oh, and I wanna thank GreyMoonHuntress and The Night so much for your kind words! Aaaand now that that's over, it's onto the chapter!

I only own my AWESOME and SUPER COOL OCS!

Chapter Four


I felt my blood rush through my veins as I looked upon the smoke floating up into the dark night sky. The voices around me became little but an annoying buzz and my fingers twitched in anticipation. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins and my heart was racing. I giggled to myself. 'I'm getting way to worked up, as usual.' I thought to myself, but I couldn't help it. Battle...fighting in general, excites me. Makes me feel alive. 'Which leads to recklessness, which leads to you takin' a permanent dirt nap. Calm, yourself now.' I thought to myself sternly and took a deep breath. 'I'm good.' I thought after a moment.

I felt movement and looked to see Toyo dashing off towards the forest.

"I don't know where I am or what's going on! I have no idea whether this is a dream or reality, that's why the only thing I can do is charge in!" He said with a grin splitting his striking features. I grinned and laughed loudly before running after him, ignoring Nobu's exasperated shouts.

"Finally! Someone with the right idea!" I said as I caught up with him. I twitched when I felt eyes on me and casually looked over. I saw something shiny glint before it ducked away. I raised an eyebrow and shook my head. 'Whoever is over there is an idiot.' I thought, rolling my eyes.

My attention was caught by Toyo running next to me. I racked my brain to see if he was ever mentioned before in that book I read. 'Hm, probably not, I mean, was he a high ranking officer or something?' I thought, staring at him intensely. 'He said he was the son of Shimazu Iehisa. Was that someone high ranking?' I bit my lip, unconsciously staring even harder.

"What?" He snapped and I blinked. I gave him a confused look.

"What are you staring at me for?" He demanded and I blinked again, before laughing sheepishly.

"Oh, uh, no reason." I said, blushing slightly as I looked away. 'Great, there you go, being weird again.' I thought, sighing slightly. Minami's voice popped up in my head. 'You'd probably wouldn't be so weird if you just had a filter.' I glared slightly at the trees, but before I could really dwell on it, footsteps approached us.

"Glad you could join us." I said sarcastically, turning around slightly to look at them.

"You're slow, too slow. What's wrong Demon King?" Toyo taunted and I laughed.

"Shut up!" He barked out angrily. I saw Toyo smirk and I laughed again, slightly breathless because of the running.

"I'm already pushing on fifty, you dolt!" He said, panting. I snorted.

"Toyohisa-dono, your age?" Yoichi asked slyly.

"I'm thirty." He said seriously and I snickered.

"Haha, guess we have two old men now." I teased and he glared at me.

"What about you, Anna-dono." I smiled.

"Just Anna, and I just turned twenty." I said smiling, pointing to myself with my thumb. He gave a victorious smirk and I felt my eyebrow twitch.

"What's with that smug look!" Toyo shouted and I heard Nobu mutter,

"His character's completely different from Genji's War records." I snorted but schooled my expression when I saw figures up ahead.

It was the two elf kids who rescued me. They were covered in blood, their own it seems, and they had terrified looks on their faces. I felt rage pool in my gut when I saw men wearing armor chasing them, one on a horse the closest to them.

Toyo ran ahead and ducked when Nobu aimed his gun, shooting the guy on the horse. I cocked my own gun and shot the two flanking the horse while Toyo took out the three behind the others, brutally cutting one in half and clashing swords with one soldier shouting,

"Give me your head! C'mon, give me your head!" The frightened soldier spewed out something in his own language and this made Toyo even angrier.

"I don't understand what you're saying. Speak Japanese!" The soldier spluttered as his sword began to break.

"If you can't speak Japanese, then just die." He stated before chopping the soldier's head off. The two kids backed away in fear as Toyo approached them.

"Weird ears." He said and they flinched.

"You two saved me right, well now it's my turn." He said with a smile and I felt my cheeks grow red. I looked away and bit my cheek. 'Oh my gosh, no, this is not happening. I refuse!' I thought firmly, but I could tell it was a lie. I bit my lip hard before turning back to the scene, only to see an adorably proud look on Toyo's face. I felt my face turn a slightly darker shade and tugged on my messy ponytail.

'Alright. I've dealt with crushes before. This'll go away soon enough. Yeah, yeah.' I thought as firmly as I could before approaching the kids. They still had blood covering their faces so I flipped open my knife. They flinched and I chuckled before cutting off the sleeve of my shirt.

I gestured for them to come closer. They stared at me for a moment before the older looking one slowly crawled over. I laughed softly and raised my hand to wipe the blood off his face. He flinched before letting me wipe his face. I gave him a smile and he gave me a tiny one back. The younger one crawled closer and I did the same thing to his face. I felt someone's eyes on the back of my head, but said nothing.

While I was doing this, Nobu said something about claiming the village, and Yoichi went after the others that were in the forest. I heard Toyo run off towards the burning village and I made sure the kids were okay, before walking with them back. Nobu stayed back, muttering to himself and I let him.

The thrill for battle, however, never left my veins and I patiently waited for my chance to attack anyone on our way. Sadly, it was a 'evil soldier' free zone and we got there with no trouble. I shooed them over to what looked like their older brother and looked around.

I felt hot anger rush through my veins when I saw bodies of young and old elves alike litter the ground. That's when I smelt more sulfur and looked to see the wheat field burning. I frowned. 'Nobu must be behind that. I mean, the fires in the village are nowhere near the wheat fields, and there's no breeze to spread them either.'

I saw Toyo glaring darkly at a man. He looked like the one in charge and I instantly hated his smug look. 'Ah, what a shame. Toyo already claimed him.' I thought pouting. I noticed soldiers getting ready to interfere and acted quickly. I picked up a discarded sword and stood in their way. Why use a sword when you have guns? Well, I don't have much ammo, and I was so not gonna waste it on dipshits like them. I had standards, ya know? Shitty sword for shitty people.

"Nuh, uh, uh. This ain't ya fight." I said, wagging a finger scoldingly at them. They looked at me before sneering. They said something, I don't know what, but the tone was mocking. I let a smirk stretch across my lips as they so wrongly underestimated me. Not that I could really blame 'em. I was barely five feet five and was a woman of all things. 'Of course they'd underestimate me!' I thought sarcastically. Didn't mean that they were right, or that it didn't annoy the hell outta me.

One of them, the front one, was slowly coming up to me. Expecting me to 'flee in terror' I'm guessin'. As soon as he got close enough though, I stabbed the sword though his heart. I watched in satisfaction as the man promptly fell dead and the other soldiers cried out in alarm and anger. I laughed mockingly and placed the sword across my shoulder, looking at them, daring them to come closer.

I could see a few move to come towards me, but one look at their buddy had them scurrying back like dogs with their tails tucked between their legs.

"Tch, cowards." I muttered, before blinking when I heard squelching and the sound of wood hitting bone. I turned around and saw Toyo sitting on the leader's body, smashing his sheath into the leader's head, over and over and over again. I whistled.

"Brutal." I admired, snickering at the soldiers' cries of distress. And it was. By the time he was done, the dudes face looked like he ran face first into a wall ten times, before falling off a mountain and landing on the ground, face first. All in all? Not a pretty sight.

"Phew." Toyo said as he cracked his neck. I scrunched up my nose.

"Ugh, the sound of bone popping." I uttered as the leader begged in his weird language, and judging from the way his face looked, it was something along the lines of 'stop'. Toyo looked at one of the elves, who was on the ground, clutching a young boy. I felt my anger return and I clenched my teeth. 'Bastards.' I thought, glaring at the soldiers in front of me,

I turned back to Toyo when I heard him shout.

"No, you will kill him! You have to kill him. It doesn't matter where we are and who you are, you need to get revenge. This boy is telling you to avenge him!" He shouted, pointing to the corpse of the boy the elf was just clutching.

I watched, slightly amazed, as the elves began picking up weapons. The elf took Toyo's sword and walked towards the leader. Glares of hate were etched onto the elves' faces as they unsteadily walked towards the now screaming man. They drew closer and closer, until they were eventually looming over him.

Then the elf previously weeping made the first strike. This spurred the rest into action as they ones who gathered stabbed and hacked at the man. His screams and whimpers made my rage quiet, as the elves' revenge was carried out. I felt a smile overtake my face as I turned towards the three soldiers left. They gave me a scared look before running off. Before they could get any further, three arrows hit them and they all fell, dead.

"Yoichi!" I said, waving. He gave me a smile, before turning to Nobu. I skipped over to him, and saw Nobu gesturing to a crate while saying to Toyo,

"Please have a seat, you're tired right?" I raised an eyebrow, suspicious but shrugged and plopped into Toyo's right side, resting an elbow on his leg as I leaned my head against it.

He gave me an unimpressed look as a tick mark appeared on his head. I gave him a shit eating grin and stayed right where I was. He sighed angrily before shaking his head and facing forward. I saw Yoichi stand behind me and Nobu next to him from out the corner of my eye. I knew patchy the pirate was up to something, but I couldn't tell what yet. I shrugged. 'Ah well, if it's important, I'll figure it out. Eventually.'