Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai Warriors series. I do own a copy of the game XDD
Pyromystic: Yin Long akan tampil lebih banyak kok, tenang aja ^^ moga2 anda juga suka penampilan dia di chap ini !
Silvermoonarisato: Yaa...siapa suruh dia harus tampil secantik itu ? (baca: Koei yg nyuruh XDD) killed
I'M REAAAALLLYYY~~~ SORRYYYY~~~ ! SUMIMASEN ! GOMENASAI ! DUI BU QI ! kowtow several times while crying
I'm really sorry for the late update because this chap wasn't finished yesterday and I was afraid that I might ruined it even more if I rushed it TT^TT
Anyway, I shouldn't bother you with an Author's note, so hope you can enjoy this chapter ! Happy reading ^_^
Two days after the fight between the bandits against Ina, Ranmaru and Yin Long at the port town, the remaining bandits sent to eliminate one of Ieyasu's vassal had returned to their base. Out of 40 bandits sent to the port town, only 6 remained with the rest either dead or captured. Right now the remaining bandits were gathered at a chamber located in a cavern. The cavern serves as the bandit's base of operation, and is located on a mountain between Owari and Mikawa. The bandits, with the exception of Geki, stood nervouslyin front of their leader. Geki showed no other emotion beside irritation while the other bandits quaked in fear as their leader glared at them from his chair, his anger clearly shown on his face. The large man, almost dwarfing Spear Bandit in size, had multiple demon tattoos on his upper torso that made him even more menacing. He slowly rise from his seat, causing some of the bandits to flinched.
"What do you mean by 'failed' ?" Bandit Leader asked as he stood up. Soon, he looked down at all of his men in front of him, and glared at Geki while other bandits were present in the chamber due to either curiosity or just looking for entertainment.
"F- forgive us Gin-sama !" Spear Bandit begged, "But the Oda's and Tokugawa's vassals were stronger than we thought! And they brought a strange kid with them !"
"So you're telling me that you are thoroughly beaten by a couple of KIDS !" the bandit's leader called Gin shouted.
"Bu- But that kid weren't normal ! He survived a direct hit to his heart !"
"That doesn't changed the fact that you were beaten by some brats !" Bandit Leader shouted, "You disappoint me you useless rat !"
"F- Forgive us, Gin-sama ! Give us a second chance !"
"SILENCE!"
Gin grabbed his weapon, a mace with multiple iron teeth at it's head (1), that were placed beside his chair. He swung his mace to the left with one hand, and the heavy mace crashed into Spear Bandit's body with a bone-shattering force, instantly killing him. Spear Bandit's lifeless body were knocked away into the cavern wall, forcing some of the spectators to move away to avoid collision. Gin was about to do the same to the other bandits before someone stopped him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," the man said, "considering that we are seriously lacking in manpower."
Gin slammed his mace into the ground as he glared at the newcomer. "I can do whatever I want, whenever I want so shut your trap, Kurohara !" Gin exclaimed.
Kurohara cautiously entered the room, seemingly nervous at the bandits inside. "I know about that already Gin-san, but if I let you kill these fine gentlemen then I'll have to rethink my plan," Kurohara said before he turned around and motioned the other bandits to leave, "You may go now, but make sure some of you took care of that body first."
Geki was the first to leave the chamber, with the surviving bandits following behind him. Some of the bandits left while some of the unlucky one were forced to carry Spear Bandit's body out. Soon, only Kurohara and Gin remained. Gin sat down on the chair while Kurohara remained standing. "Some of these mess is you fault ! You told us to be discreet and avoid confrontation, but now you suddenly wanted to attract that Tanuki attention !" Gin exclaimed, "What is your plan in doing that ?"
"I wanted you to be discreet until my crew can raid a trade ship large enough to carry an army before actually hiring some," Kurohara said, "When that is done, I need a distraction to make the Tokugawa looked the other way while my crews and mercenaries took over a major port town on Mikawa."
Amongst the bandits, Kurohara sticks out like a sore thumb. The bandits is either bare-chested, wearing a partial armors, or even a full body armor. Kurohara on the other hand, wore an light armor partially covered with silk, with a haori draped over his shoulder and a pair of black boots. Wearing a noble's eboshi, Kurohara almost looked like a noble or someone from higher status. In actuality, Kurohara is a cunning pirate that roamed the ocean on the south part of Japan. Kurohara is capable of leading a night raid to a trade ship, plunder the entire ship for loot and treasures, then left as fast as they came into the darkness of the night without leaving a single proof that they ever been there. Survivors, if there's any, only saw Kurohara's men, but most people didn't believe them. Poor souls who is unlucky enough to be Kurohara's target called him "Umi no Kage". He had some potential to be a tactician, but unfortunately his greed and love for treasures rivaled his intellect, and his cunning nature made it hard for other people to trust him. In fact, the only reason he provided Gin with weapons, equipment and plans is that he saw some chances of making profit. What did he mean by "profit" ? No one know for sure...
"So you use my gang as a distraction ?" Gin asked, "I thought you said that I can have these land for myself if I followed your plans ?"
"I did, and it's true," Kurohara said, "While my army took care of Ieyasu from behind, the control of the land still fall on you."
"Hah ! That's what I need to hear ! But I have some doubts about one of your underlings, especially the silents one."
"You mean Geki and Nure ? They aren't mine, they just follow me after I found that shipwreck," Kurohara relplied. He had found a shipwreck, a ghost ship to be exact, not far from the coast of Mikawa few days before the battle of Mikatagahara. Inside the ship were several artifacts and weapons, some which is strange even for him. After hearing news of Ieyasu's defeat, he cut a deal with some mountain bandits. Eventually, a large number of bandits, led by Gin, were formed to wreak havoc on Mikawa. Kurohara would gave the bandits weapons, equipment and treasures in exchange that they follow his every order. While the bandits do their jobs, Kurohara had some of his crew to find some trade ships and mercenaries group to launched a sneak attack on Ieyasu's when some of his men is away to take care of the bandits. However, there were two things that Kurohara can't figured out.
The first one is the mysterious Geki and Nure, whose name were written on a part of their clothing, that followed Kurohara, or the artifacts to be precise, after he found the shipwreck. They didn't speak, they didn't listen to any order given to them, and they possessed power and abilities beyond his imagination. Since they didn't caused any trouble for him, Kurohara let them stay despite still having some suspicion about them.
The second one is the artifacts itself. Kurohara had raided many ships, some which included weapons, but this particular one had some unknown things inside it's cargo hold. Like an orb as black as the night that gave him some chills when he held it. The armor he found was also strange, since all of Gin's men that wore them showed an increased in brutality and blood lust.
"Well, can't you do something about them ? I don't like having something like those brats as my servants !" Gin stated.
"Well, if you wanted them gone then do it yourself. You saw their strength, right ? No human being could match that !" Kurohara replied, "Beside, they haven't done anything strange right ? I mean anymore weirder than being silent all day long..."
"Despite their strange abilities, I still finds them annoying !"
"I always believe that if it still had some use, then keep it. If not, dispose of them," Kurohara said, "It is as simple as that."
"I suppose they still had some use for now...but keep it mind Kurohara, one more failure and I will personally cut you down myself !" Gin warned before he left his room. Kurohara stayed behind, looking at the leaving Gin before he broke into a sinister grin. "Cut me down yourself ? You can't even tell that I only use you as a tool," Kurohara said, "Once Ieyasu is gone, you're next..."
– – –
Despite the order to be discreet, some of the bandits still made some commotion. They drunk sake, eat many food, and had some fight to spend their times. While the bandits had some fun outside, the cavern was almost silent. It is so quiet that even the faintest tones of a Koto can be heard from a vast space in the cavern that were used as a storage room. The room was utilized to store some of the things given by Kurohara, at least most of them since the bandits quickly spent all of the treasures in a single night, leaving only some things that they deemed to be "worthless". Amidst the crates of artifacts and other kinds of stuff, the melodious tones emanating from a koto played by a young girl reverberated through the area around the storage. The tones is calm, composed but with some cheerful notes in it.
The girl lay on the floor as she played the koto. She wore a light-weight clothing, covering most of her body while still allowing her to move freely, with prominent dark-blue color. She had a long black hair that reached down to her back. Her bright azure eyes were focused on the koto as her fingers skilfully plucked the strings. A black colored Kanji for Nure were written inside a white circle on her right sleeve.
Nure stopped playing when she heard somebody coming to the storage. She can guess who it was, because there's hardly anyone else but him who frequently came to the storage chamber. Geki practically stomped inside with a frustrated look. Nure looked curiously as she noticed that he is missing his usually hat. Not only that, but he also loose his cloth mask, making the frustration on his face even more clearer than usual.
Nure watched as Geki kicked the ground before he sat on a large crate. She stood up, and picked up a dark, brownish yellow kasa from a crate near her before going towards Geki. She sat beside him, and handed him the kasa while he looked at her in both confusion and curiosity. He took the kasa, and smiled at her which made her smile in return. Geki was about to wear the kasa when he noticed something inside the kasa. He took a small slip of paper that were slipped between two narrow strip of cloth from inside the hat. His right eye twitched as he looked at a drawing of a cute, smiling tiger on the paper. He turned it around and found the sentence: "Geki-nii-chan no kasa". Geki slowly turned his head to looked at Nure, who smiled sweetly to him. Not wanting to disappointed her, Geki returned the paper to it's place before he ruffled Nure's hair, which made her beamed even more.
Nure briefly hugged Geki before she went back to her koto and started playing once again. This time, she played a slow, soothing tones like a calm river stream while Geki lay on the crates he was sitting on and drifted to sleep...
– – –
At the same time, a group of bandits waited patiently to ambushed the oncoming search party that were led by Mitsuhide. They heard several footsteps that were heading to the clearing in front of them, and smiled as they saw the first two infantry that stepped into the clearing. The bandits charged into action, jumping out from their hiding place and revealed themselves to the two infantry. Most of the bandits were armed with bow and arrows, and all of them were ready to fire at anytimes. However, they gravely underestimated their foes...
"Now ! Open fire !"
On order, the two infantry crouched to the ground as multiple Arquebus bullets flew above their heads right towards the bandits. The initial volley eliminated most of the bandits, and sent what's left of them running towards the woods. As they ran, Mitsuhide and some of his men who had circled around the bandits ambushed them.
"Give it up, there is no place to run," Mitsuhide said.
The bandits shouted charged at Mitsuhide with their swords drawn. Mitsuhide sheathed his sword before he delivered a lightning-fast horizontal cut that slashed three bandits at once. He then turned around and does a diagonal slash from right to left to attack a bandit that sneaked up behind him. Noticing that his men had subdued the remaining bandits, Mitsuhide flicked his sword before returning it to it's sheath.
"Gather them in the clearing, and make sure that we had captured all of them," Mitsuhide ordered.
His men does as they were told, and brought the bandits to the clearing. Soon, an infantry reported to Mitsuhide that all bandits that were spotted by the Tokugawa spies is accounted for.
"All of the bandits claimed that they didn't know the location of their hideout," Akechi Soldier reported, "What should we do ?"
"Bring them back to the castle, we should let lord Ieyasu decided what to do with them," Mitsuhide replied.
"Yes my lord !"
The soldier left as Mitsuhide pondered about their equipments. 'These arrows had good quality, and so does their armor...but how did they manage to obtained these things ?' Mitsuhide thought. Mitsuhide picked up an arrow that were dropped by one of the archer bandit. 'They could had stole it from an armory, but there's no clan mark in either the weapons or the armors, and I doubt that they had enough skill and resources to made these...'
"Lord Mitsuhide !"
Hearing someone calling his name, Mitsuhide turned around and saw a Tokugawa soldier running towards him. The soldier bow at Mitsuhide. "I am a messenger sent by lord Ieyasu," Tokugawa messenger said, "He requested that you head back to the castle as soon as possible."
"Did something happened ?" Mitsuhide asked.
"Lady Ina and Lord Ranmaru had returned, and they had been attacked by the bandits."
"What ? Are they hurt ?"
"No my lord, they managed to repeled the bandits away from the town without any casualties beside the bandits. They are reporting to lord Ieyasu as we speak."
"I see," Mitsuhide said, "I'm glad they're all right."
"They also brought someone along, and they wanted lord Mitsuhide to meet him right away."
"Really ? Who is he ?" Mitsuhide asked curiously.
"He is...a child, my lord."
"...What ?"
– – –
The next day, said "child" were currently casting his fishing rod into a shallow stream. Yin Long already knew that he wouldn't caught any large fish, but food is not the reason that he fish right now since he is merely trying to kill some time. Yin Long placed the rod on the ground and supported it with a branch so he can wait for a catch without holding it all the time. The purple-eyed immortal looked to his left. On the ground near him, Kurohebi and Shirohebi is currently repairing his ruined white robe. The purple sash is now tied around his neck, acting like a scarf while the robe is being fixed.
Both snake "repair" the robe by "merging" themselves with it, turning into something similar to a living, moving pictures on the surface of the robe. Kurohebi removed the bloodstain while Shirohebi circled around the tear. Soon, all of the stain completely disappeared and the tear fixed with no trace that it was ever there. To put it simply, the white robe looked brand new.
Both snake emerged from the robe and turned back to their normal form. Yin Long smiled took the robe and folded it neatly, placing it beside him. "Xie xie," Yin Long said to both snakes. The snake seemingly "smiled" as they disappeared, their current task finished.
Yin Long looked back at his rod and saw no movement. He looked to the right at a pair of tied-up river crabs he caught earlier. So far, he had caught 5 crabs. In a row. Yin Long tossed the caught crab after the second one, and started to wonder if the stream only contained river crabs after the fifth one. Yin Long looked around him, expecting a certain trickster to popped out and teased him about it.
Yin Long sighed. "Who ever thought that it would be boring without him ?" Yin Long asked to no one in particular, "And how long does it actually take for Ieyasu to agree with my terms ?"
After the bandits escaped, the Tokugawa-Oda soldiers under Ina's and Ranmaru's command managed to captured most of them. But when one of them asked what happened...
– – – –
"I spotted some bandits hiding in an empty house, and they tried to kill me for that !" Yin Long said, "Fortunately, Onee-chan-tachi rescued me and defeated those bandits !"
"Lady Ina, is that true ?" the soldier asked.
"That is-" Ina was about to tell the truth before Yin Long shook his head, "-the truth."
"I see...then if you excuse me, Lady Ina, we shall secure the captured bandits," The soldier said before he left. Ina and Ranmaru turned towards Yin Long.
"What's wrong ?" Ranmaru asked.
"I would prefer to stay unknown Ranmaru-san," Yin Long answered, "And that is why I have a favor to ask."
"What is it ?"
"If I were to meet lord Ieyasu, I would like to do so on my terms," Yin Long said, "I don't want anyone but you two, lord Ieyasu, and the other Oda vassal in the meeting."
"I don't know if it can be done..." Ina said, "After all, the other vassal wouldn't allow it."
"Then don't tell them. We should keep this meeting a secret, for there are more to this than meets the eye..."
"What do you mean ?" Ranmaru asked.
"I'll tell you when my terms are all met."
– – – –
Yin Long's thought were now focused to that night's event. The bandit's weapons was brand new, not the kind of stuff that can be easily obtained by someone like them. The black-clad young gunman also got his attention. His abilities and proficiency at handling both his weapons and his elemental abilities is not something that could easily be attained by a mortal. "He reminded me of those Si Xiang and mystics back in China," Yin Long pondered, "I wonder if this is what he meant by 'nostalgic' ?"
Yin Long's train of though was cut off by the movement of his rod. He took the rod and began pulling it, and soon enough his catch reveal itself. Yin Long caught...yet another cute, tiny river crab. The tiny crab looked at Yin Long with it's beady little eyes while Yin Long scowled at it. He swing the crab that were still stuck on the hook and flick the rod towards the river. However, Yin Long's impossibly bad aim caused the tiny crab to join it's brethren...in the forest behind Yin Long. Thus, the animals inside the woods got their fourth portion of fresh river crab. Yin Long, oblivious to the crab's plight, stored his rod in his backpack and then wore his robe. He took the crab he caught and began walking towards the town. "I think now is a good time to see if Ieyasu have made up his mind."
– – –
Meanwhile, a pair of white-haired twins were chased by an angry man not far from where Yin Long was. The man kept screaming at the twins to stop and obviously, they ignored his commands.
"Geez...Oji-chan sure is persistent, isn't he Ja ?"
"Ja already told Ji that taking those Onigiri was a bad idea !"
"But Ji was hungry ! And Ja also ate it anyway !"
"Stop you damn brats !" the man shouted.
"Yadda !" both Ji and Ja shouted.
Eventually, the man grabbed Ji by the back of his collar and lift his small frame up. Ji struggled to break free from the man's hold to no avail. "I...got you...now, you...brats !" the man said between breath.
"Hanase yo !" Ji shouted.
"Not till I- Iteee! the man screamed after Ja kicked him in the shin. He abruptly dropped Ji before he jumped around, holding his injured leg while Ja went to her twin brother. The Aizen looked up as the man unsheathed a tanto. "You brats ! You have some nerve, stealing away my lunch like that !" the man said.
"Oji-chan stole those Onigiri first !" Ja said.
"Urusai! I shall show you brats what happened to those who stole from me !" the man shouted. Ji growled as the man raised his tanto into the air, and then...
SMACK!
SNAP!
"IIIITEEEEEEEEEEE!~~~~"
….a river crab smacked into the man's face and snapped it's pincer at his nose. The man-
"Itetetete~~!"
...screamed as he tried to get rid off the persistent crab from his face. The Aizen blinked, before they turned and saw Yin Long walking towards them. The man finally got the crab to released his nose, but it then decided to pinched his fingers.
'Bullseye...but how come I can't do that with a normal weapon ?' Yin Long thought as he approached the man and the Aizen. "Who are you ? How dare you do this to me !" the man shouted as he finally got rid of the crab and threw the poor thing away.
"I don't know what exactly happened here, but I suggest you forgive these kids for what they did," Yin Long stated, "Unless you wanted another pincer attack...pun intended."
"Shut up you brat !"
The man charged at Yin Long as the purple-eyed immortal sighed. Yin Long sidestepped at the last second to dodge the attack while extending a leg to trip the man. He fell to the ground headfirst, losing his tanto in the process. He was about to stood back up when Du She Juan's blade pressed against his neck. "If you really wanted to fight, then go and pick someone your own size," Yin Long said, lightly tapping Du She Juan twice on the man's neck, causing him to flinched every time the cold steel made contact with his skin.
Yin Long pull the spear away, and the man immediately ran away screaming as if a horde of demons is chasing after him. Yin Long stored Du She Juan back to it's place while the twins slowly turned to leave...
"Not so fast."
The Aizen froze, and slowly turned towards Yin Long. "Nan desuka, Onii-chan ?" both of them asked.
"Where are your parents ?" Yin Long asked.
"Ji and Ja didn't have one," Ji said.
"Ayame-chan look after us though," Ja said, "Why ?"
"What else ?" Yin Long asked back, causing both twins to be nervous.
– – –
Much to the Aizen's discontent, Yin Long insisted that they went to see Ayame. They soon reach the castle town and into the busy street. Yin Long can see that the town is still bustling with activities despite the recent bandits attack. Yin Long had visited the town while he was waiting to meet Ieyasu, but soon decided that it was a little bit too noisy for him.
"So...where is Ayame-san anyway ?" Yin Long asked.
"Why do we have to bring onii-chan to her anyway ?" Ji asked.
"Because you got into some trouble, and neither of us wanted it to happened again, ne ?"
"Haaaiii~~~" both Ji and Ja said rather lazily.
"Yin Long-san ?"
Yin Long turned and saw Ranmaru running towards him. "I'm glad I found you ! Lord Ieyasu had agree to your terms, and he is waiting for you along with Mitsuhide-san," Ranmaru stated.
"Can't this wait ? I have something that's-" Yin Long replied...before he noticed that both Ji and Ja had left when he was distracted. He looked around and saw the white-haired twins waving at him before disappearing amongst the crowds. 'Those kids...'
"Is something wrong ?" Ranmaru asked.
"Nevermind...let's go, shall we ?"
Ranmaru nodded, and then both of them went to the castle together. When they got near the castle's gate, Yin Long looked at Ranmaru. "By the way, I haven't asked your opinion yet..." he asked.
"About what ?"
"About my archery skill."
Ranmaru froze, and Yin Long blinked in confusion. On their way back from the port town, Ina decided to rest near a forest after walking for a while. During that time, Yin Long asked if he could borrow a bow and arrows. He claimed that he was curious about Japanese bow, and would like to practice with it. Ina saw the enthusiasm on his eyes, and lend him her weapon.
She immediately regretted her decision after his first shot. Yin Long fired around 50 arrows that day, but no one really counted it since they were busy avoiding some stray arrows. Some of the soldier even contemplate of becoming a monk after some arrows almost end their life, and some wondered just how did someone shot an arrow and managed to made it twirl around and landed behind them ? In fact, Yin Long's aim was so bad...that none of the arrows went anywhere near the target.
"So ? How did I do ?" Yin Long asked.
"You were...erm...good enough ?"
"...it was that bad huh ?"
"Sumimasen, Yin Long-san..."
"No need to apologize..." Yin Long replied, noticing Ranmaru's difficulties at pronouncing his name. "By the way, if you had some problem with it, you can call me with a Japanese name," Yin Long stated.
"Really ? Are you sure ?"
"Of course, it's better than having to listen to you guys trying to spell my name."
"But, what name will you use ?"
"Hmmm...let's see, 'Long' means dragon, and my nickname is the 'Immortal Serpent'...we'll figure something out from there."
Ranmaru pondered about what to call Yin Long. Eventually, a name...or an idiom, came to his mind. "Ryuutou Dabi ?"
Yin Long froze. "...What ?"
"Well, since you have 'dragon' in your name yet you called yourself a 'snake', it just came to my mind like that."
Noticing Yin Long's silence, Ranmaru panicked. "Is something wrong ? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you !" Ranmaru said, and Yin Long held his shoulder to prevented him from bowing in apology.
"It's alright...just call me Ryuuta and forget about that stupid Idiom, okay ?" Yin Long asked.
Ranmaru nodded, and both of them then went inside the castle...
– – –
The strategy room, usually used for meeting between a lord and his vassal, is currently used for another purpose. Yin Long sat on the opposite side of the daimyo's seat, while Ranmaru and a man named Mitsuhide sat on his left side and Ina sat on the right side. Yin Long could sensed a presence on the ceiling, but he decided to ignored it. Right now all of those who present in the room were sitting in seiza position while waiting for the lord of the castle, Ieyasu, to arrive.
Mitsuhide observed Yin Long both in curiosity and in suspicion. 'So he is the "immortal" Ranmaru told me about ?' he thought, 'But is he really an immortal ? And what does he hope to gain by arranging this secret meeting ?'. The shoji slides open, and Ieyasu entered. "I apologize for my tardiness," Ieyasu said, "But I had to make sure that no one overheard anything spoken in this room."
Ieyasu sat, then Yin Long bowed to him. "I appreciate your trust in me, my lord," Yin Long said, "My name is Yin Long, but all of you may call me Ryuuta."
"Ryuuta ?" Ieyasu asked.
"That name is better than the other one," Yin Long said, glancing at an embarrased Ranmaru, "So I decided to use it."
"I see...well then, I am Ieyasu Tokugawa, the ruler of Mikawa. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine Ieyasu-dono," Yin Long said.
"And I am Mitsuhide Akechi, servant of the Oda," Mitsuhide said as he bowed in respect, "It's a pleasure to meet you, lord Ryuuta."
Yin Long laughed. "There's no need to be formal Mitsuhide-dono," Yin Long said, "Just call me Ryuuta. Now then, I already met Ina-dono and Ranmaru-dono, all that's left is the one hiding in the ceiling..."
Yin Long looked up. "Could you came down please ? I prefer to be able to see everybody when I'm explaining something."
Ieyasu was surprised, but nonetheless he gestured to Hanzo to came down from his hiding place. Hanzo obeyed, and he came down beside Ieyasu. "So you are the rumored 'Devil Hanzo' ?" Yin Long said to Hanzo, "It's an honor to work alongside you."
Hanzo (seemingly) glared at Yin Long.
"...I think ?" Yin Long said, "Well then, since we already known each other, I shall tell you my plan on capturing these bandits."
"Ina-dono already told me about the time and location of past attacks, and I found a pattern from their movement," Yin Long said, pointing at all of the crosses at the large map in the floor. "Based on their movement, and from what one of the bandits said two nights ago, I deduced that both the armored bandits group and the other group are all working together."
"Working together ?" Mitsuhide asked.
"To be precise, they are taking order from someone above them, and that someone coordinated their attacks by using information from an inside man."
"Are you saying that one of Ieyasu-sama's loyal vassal is a traitor !" Ina exclaimed, but Yin Long motioned her to be silent.
"I hate to be interrupted Ina-dono...now where were we ?" Yin Long said, "Ah yes, the inside man isn't on the Tokugawa army...instead, they are hiding amongst the villager and townspeople. Fortunately for us, they are quite unreliable so we can use that to our advantages."
"Unreliable ? What do you mean, Ryuuta-san ?" Mitsuhide asked.
"They can saw where an army sent by Ieyasu-dono is going, that's the reason why the bandits could avoid your army," Yin Long said, "But they are inexperienced and untrained so they relied on rumors spread amongst the citizen and their own eyes, this made them easy to be fooled."
"How did you know about that ?" Mitsuhide asked.
"Simple, your men said that, including the one who escaped, there were around 40 men who was in that town right ?" Yin Long asked, and when Mitsuhide nodded he continued, "I counted around 20 men who attacked Ina-dono and Ranmaru-dono, so why didn't they came at them with full force ? The reason is because they thought Ina-dono and Ranmaru-dono only as a couple of harmless girls."
Ranmaru looked at Yin Long with a hurt expression, but Yin Long ignored it. "Now if the escaped bandits returned to their base, their reports would made their leader thought that their informant is not exactly trustworthy."
"I see," Ieyasu said, "Then what is your plan to deal with them ?"
Yin Long was silent for a moment before he draw Du She Juan, turned it into spear mode, and slammed it's spearhead into the map. This act made everybody in the room tenses briefly, but Yin Long was oblivious to it. "Send some army to this area, and it's need to be done as I told you," Yin Long said. Du She Juan's blade landed on a drawing of a village at the foot of a mountain.
"But, we already searched around the mountain before and found nothing ! What made you think that this time it would be different ?" Ieyasu asked.
"The reason why you can't find them is because after you withdrew your army from the mountain, they sneaked in and build their base there. An empty house that had already been searched by a thief is the perfect place to hide your valuables, why is that ?" Yin Long asked.
"Because the thief still thought that the house is still empty as it was when he first searched it, I see..." Mitsuhide said.
"We never thought of searching the mountain again because we found nothing the first time," Ina said, "So since we now know that they are still in the mountain we should send an army there right now !"
"You know, I'm not exactly done yet..." Yin Long said, "If we sends an army now, they would scatter and hide somewhere else. Whoever thought of this is a cunning man, and if we lose them now we would never find them again."
"So Ryuuta-san, what should we do ?" Ieyasu asked.
"Here's my plan..."
– – –
Later that day, the townspeople is still busy with their activities, although some had decided to take a break. Sitting in a bench under the shades of a tree, two men looked rather bored without anything to do. One of them is looking around for a nice girl to have fun with while the other one is counting the leaves above them to spend the time. Their activities were interrupted by the sound of a incoming cavalry group. They watched as an army, with around a hundreds fully armored cavalry in it and carrying the Oda clan's banner, went past them.
"Isn't that the Oda's vassal who came here ? Where's he going with those men ?" a man said after the army left.
"I heard they were going to a village near the mountain, they must had found the bandit's hideout !" a woman commented.
"That many flags, must be around a hundreds of them !"
Both of the men looked at each other, panic written all over their faces. "Quick ! We must tell Gin-sama about this !" one of them said. The other one nodded, and both of them then ran into an alley. They stopped near a bamboo cage containing a hawk. One of them written a message on a small piece of paper before handing it to his partner, who wrapped it with a string to the hawk's leg. They sent the hawk away, and it flew without anyone noticing.
Meanwhile, leading the cavalry unit is Mitsuhide, with Yin Long riding with him while Ina and Ranmaru riding on the either side. Yin Long heard the distinct cry of an hawk and looked up. He saw an messenger hawk flying above them and into the direction they were heading.
"A messenger hawk huh ?" Yin Long said, "They're quite resourceful, or is someone else responsible for it ?"
The cavalry marched on towards the village near the mountain as the hawk flew further and further away from them...
– – –
Outside the cave on the bandit's camp, Kurohara is observing the fortifications around him. He already made sure that the camp is well-disguised, but he had to sacrificed the defenses for that. A single and simple lookout tower were build behind a wooden wall, and both were covered in leaves, moss, and anything to blend it with the surroundings. If an army attack this place, it would crumbled within seconds, and his head hurts when he remembered all of the blind spots that the enemy's spies could use to their advantage. He noticed that almost none of Gin's men is doing their job, instead they lazily joked around and some of them even drunk. In the middle of the day !
"These fools ! Are they asking to be caught ?" Kurohara grumbled. He then heard a hawk's cry and looked up. The hawk that was sent earlier had arrived, and Kurohara extended his gloved left hand for the hawk to land. He took the message tied to it's leg before he sent it away. He read the message, and then ran towards Gin's chamber.
It took a while, and several near collision with other bandits, before Kurohara managed to reached Gin's chamber. Kurohara wheezed and gasped, his hands on his knee to support him, before he lift the message and showed it to Gin.
"What is this ?" Gin asked.
"A...message...from our...informant," Kurohara said between breath. True, he maybe a cunning pirate, but he is seriously lacking in stamina.
"Those fools again ? They already sent a faulty information, what is it now ?" Gin asked.
"A cavalry unit with around a hundred men is coming to a village at the foot of the mountain," Kurohara answered, "They had found us ! We should relocated to somewhere else !"
"Hah ! We should see if the Tokugawa had really found our location first ! Those fools may learned your hawk tricks quite easily, but their information is still unreliable !" Gin said before he walked away, leaving a disgruntled Kurohara behind.
"That fool..." Kurohara said, "Still, the Tokugawa must have a smart man amongst their rank...but how did he figured out my plans ?"
– – –
The next day, Mitsuhide's unit finally arrived at the village. But instead of a hundred cavalry personnel, Gin's spies saw a mere fifty lightly armored infantry with Mitsuhide, Ranmaru and Ina at the front, each of them riding horseback. They also had two carts, each were pulled by horses, behind them.
Yin Long's plan is to have an unit of 50 men wearing full armor on horseback. Each of them carried around 3 to 5 banners, making the army looked larger in number than reality. Yin Long also instructed several trustworthy soldiers to brought two carts, one of which was used to carry provisions, into the outskirt of the town without being seen by anyone. When Mitsuhide and the others reached the rendezvous point with the carts, they stored their heavy armors and covered it with tarp. Then they continued on to the village, hiding most of the horses from plain sight in the forest at the outskirt of the village.
Right now, Yin Long is riding with Mitsuhide. Ranmaru went closer to both of them. "Ryuuta-san, will this actually worked ? What if they aren't fooled ?" he asked.
"No need to worry, Ranmaru," Yin Long said before he yawned, "We only need to act as if we were here to inspect the village."
"Then what ?" Mitsuhide asked.
"A second larger unit is on their way here as we speak. They should arrive tonight if all goes well," Yin Long said, "I need you to wait for them on the foot of the mountain. Ranmaru, Ina and I shall follow their informants to their base, and when we get there we would light up a signal to mark our position so you and your men could charged at the bandits camp."
"It's a great plan and all," Ina said, "But what should we used to mark our position ?"
"When we get there..." Yin Long yawned, "I'll think of something...right now, I'm tired and need to sleep."
Mitsuhide was about to asked more when Yin Long rested his head against Mitsuhide's back and drifted off to sleep...
– – –
Later that night, two men came out from an empty shack. The moon shone brightly in the sky, illuminating the land bellow. One of the man closed the door of the shacks, while the other one nervously looked around.
"Aniki, what if those soldiers attack us right now ? What should we do ?" one of them asked.
"No need to worry, there's just a bunch of them ! We could take them on if they tried anything funny."
"But Kurohara-san said that it's a trick ! That there's a larger army coming this way !"
"Nonsense ! Gin-sama always right ! Beside, what is that sea-brained idiot know about the land anyway ? Now shut your trap and let's go !"
Both men walked away towards the mountain, but neither one of them noticed Kurohebi slithering on the roof above them. Kurohebi's black scales gave an excellent camouflage, making it hard for him to be spotted even under the full-moon. Kurohebi stealthily jumped at one of the man, turning into a painting upon contacts. He hid himself behind the oblivious man's sash, and waited...
On a roof not far from the men and Kurohebi, Yin Long's eyes opened as Shirohebi, who also became a painting in Yin Long's robe, encircled around his left sleeve. Yin Long looked at Ina and nodded. She nodded as well, and gave a signal to Ranmaru. Ranmaru then unsheated his blade and reflected the moonlight to a particular direction.
Waiting on the forest on the other side of the village is Mitsuhide and his unit. All 50 men were back in their armor, and all of them is currently horseback. The reinforcement sent by Ieyasu is en route, and should arrived at any moments. Mitsuhide spotted the glint of Ranmaru's sword, it is a signal that the bandits spies had left their hiding place and is now returning to their base. "Steady men, we shall wait here for the signal from Ryuuta-san and the others," Mitsuhide said.
Meanwhile, said group is now following the bandits duo through the forest but since the spies had a head start, they lost them. Not wanting to risked being spotted, the group decided not to ran ahead.
"What now ?" Ranmaru asked.
"I already had Kurohebi following them," Yin Long said, "Both he and Shirohebi are connected, so we can use them to traced the path that the bandits used."
"So, which way should we go ?" Ina asked. Yin Long extended his left arms forward, observing Shirohebi's movement in his sleeve. "That way," Yin Long said, pointing to a tall grass in front of them. Ranmaru went to it and used his sword to cut it down, revealing a hidden path. The group went further and further into the mountains, uncovering more hidden pathways as they goes.
"I don't know where they are now, but I can tell that they are too far away from us," Yin Long stated.
"Do we lost their tracks ?" Ranmaru asked.
"No, Shirohebi can still sensed it, but we should picked up our pace before it gets cold."
While Ranmaru and Yin Long were having a discussion, Ina stood behind them. She then heard voices coming from inside the forest, far away from the path that the group traveled in.
Kagome kagome...
'It's a child voice !' Ina thought, 'What is a child doing in this place at these times ?'
Ina went inside the forest, leaving Ranmaru and Yin Long who didn't noticed her leaving. She went deeper and deeper until she reached a clearing.
kago no naka no tori wa...
The song continued, and as she walked into the clearing, an eerie thin layer of mist came down. It didn't obscured her vision, but it does made the atmosphere seems eerie. There, Ina saw a young girl in red kimono playing with a ball.
Itsu itsu deyaru? Yoake no ban ni
'So she is the source of that song, but what is she doing here ?' Ina thought as she approached the girl. "Hello, are you lost ?" she asked, but the girl continued to play around with the ball, bouncing it up and down without moving from where she stood.
Tsuru to kame to subetta
"What's your name ? Where are your parents ?" Ina asked. The girl suddenly held her ball, before she turned around and looked at Ina. Much to her shock, she looked just like a younger version of herself! The girl smiled at Ina, but her smile were cold and emotionless which unnerved Ina. Unbeknownst to Ina, a shadow formed behind her, rising higher and closer to her. It's sharp nails glinted in the moonlight as it drew it's arms back, ready to strike it's victim...
Ushiro no shoumen daare?
–To Be Continued–
let's see...yup, it's short and bad...
I'm really sorry to disappoint you readers, I'm truly am TT^TT
Let's hope the next chap would be better...
Haori: Japanese Kimono like jacket. This terms appear on the first arc.
Eboshi: Japanese hat. Usually worn by either a priest or a noble.
Umi no Kage: Literally means "The shadow of the Ocean"
Koto: Traditional Japanese stringed instrument.
Nure: (濡) "Nure" means wet.
Geki-nii-chan no Kasa: Lit. means "Older brother Geki's hat". Nii-chan means brother, by the way
Onigiri: AH COME ON ! Don't tell me you guys don't know what this meant...
Tanto: Japanese dagger/knife
Ryuutou Dabi: 竜頭蛇尾 ryuutou dabi (Literally: dragon, head, snake, tail). It's a Japanese proverb with the meaning: Anticlimax, the beginning is like a dragons head, great and majestic and the ending is like a snakes tail, tiny and pathetic.
Seiza: Formal sitting position in Japanese.
Shoji: A door or partition consisting of a wooden frame covered in rice paper.
Weeew...that's a LOT of terms...Hope I got them all right, if not then I had just embarrassed myself TT^TT
Well, that's all for now, and stay tuned for the next chap !
and don't forget to review as well !
