Disclaimer: As usual I will announce here that nothing to do with Sengoku Basara belongs to me. Both the anime and game are still in possession of their original owners. Any Ocs herein however do in fact belong to me so please do not steal what isn't yours.

When he came to, long unknown hours later, the first thing he noticed was the near blinding pain that shot through his entire body. He felt too warm. The itch of thick linen bandages winding around his torso, one arm and both legs were to blame. In his head a pounding ache throbbed behind his good eye, all feeling in its ruined counterpart was blessedly long since gone. A whimper that he refused to believe came from his own lips summoned a crowd of blurry outlines that must have been his men about him.

"Aniki's awake!"

"Cap'n can ye hear me?"

"Give him some space!"

He tried to raise himself to sit up but his spine screamed in agony, leaving him to fall limply back to the criminally hard bed he lay on. Through still bleary vision he saw a low, thatched ceiling above, the mud brick walls and cloth door that made up the peasant home that sheltered him. How had he gotten here? Just who of his crew had made it out of the sea? Out of the massacre? Where was...was she...where had that over grown ape taken her?

The last thing he remembered were the waves crashing in around him, the cries of a frightened woman calling his name. What a failure he was. His ship was nothing but splintered drift wood, whatever remained would wash ashore to be found by passing villagers and turned to firewood. Though it had returned he had allowed his precious Seto Sea to be defiled by an arrogant land lover who cared nothing for anything beyond his own ambition. And Nana, to whom he had promised protection, had thought to give a new life away from the confinement and betrayal of the world she fled...He repaid her kindness, her selflessness and hard work to his people with weakness. How he hated that frightened and worried look on her face, how he hated himself.

"Where are we?" his voice was broken and hoarse from disuse.

"Not far from Owari, Captain."

"That far? How long have I been out?"

"A long time, we had to make litters and pull the wounded along by the strength of our backs."

Such loyalty, he was not worthy of it. There was no mention of those they had surely lost in the battle, the sea would have claimed them by now and not often did she give back those she took. As clarity slowly returned to his sight so did the noises around him become more sharp and easily deciphered. Those wounded his man had mentioned were outside, no doubt healing far faster than he. It would take time for his own strength to return to full capacity, time he did not have to waste.

"When can we shove off?"

"Not until you're back to yerself again, Cap'n," one of his sailors gestured to the bandages that covered half his body.

"The chimp will be making his move soon, I can't just lay here and do nothing!" One half hearted attempt to lift himself, just bracing on his elbows, left him flopping gracelessly and painfully back upon the hard unforgiving ground.

"But aniki, you ain't gonna be doing much damage like this!" One of the old battle hardened veterans cried as he reached for new cloth to replace one that was now quickly becoming soaked in red from a nasty reopened wound. Thick drops of scarlet blood seeped out from beneath him, staining the straw mattress. It must have been the lacerations he knew would be crisscrossing his back, a reminder from being slammed into the deck multiple times hard enough to shatter the heavy wooden beams. Another set of scars to add to his collection. Two of the crew gently rolled him to his side, cut away the soiled bandages and began to clean the wounds.

"And more like Lady Motochika wouldn't want you hurtin' yourself, think of that." It was one of the younger men this time, barely out of his teens and still somehow starry eyed at the mention of the single woman who walked amongst them. Chosokabe actually found himself silenced. Partly from the throbbing in his back as someone sewed his torn flesh together again and partly at the thought of the hellion his people called their lady. In his mind's eye he could see her, angry eyes glaring down at him, hands on hips and that deadly sharp tongue of hers giving him the scolding of his life for injuring himself like this. Who would have ever thought the he would actually miss being reprimanded? Longing for the shrill tone and fiery words of an angry woman ready to hang him by the ankles from the mizzenmast? It had been days, maybe even weeks since she was taken, who knew if that inferno of a temper had been extinguished during her time in captivity.

"Have we had any word on where she might be?"

The men were silent.

They were never silent.

"Did I stutter? Has there been any word?"

"There's been...whispers we've heard from travelers passin' out of that region." He glared up with his single eye as the man stalled by sharing pleading looks to his crew mates. But it seemed no one else wanted to be one telling him whatever ill news they carried. "They says she's being held by Mori Motonari, sir."

"What?"

"Some are saying they'll be married before the month's out!" It was the youngin' again, his voice high and possessing equal parts concern and fury. Motochika felt the breath rush from his lungs, the blood turn to ice in his veins.

"Marry...? Why would he..." The very thought of it was unbelievable. Mori Motonari was as cold as a dead fish with all the emotional range of a wooden spoon. Never had he sought an alliance through marriage, always preferring to use his crafty intellect to get what he wanted. Nor had he ever shown any interest in tying himself to any other human being in even the most insignificant of ways. And why would Toyotomi give her to him? Hadn't she already been betrothed before the war began?

Then the murky cloud that had hidden Nana's secrets was suddenly blow away like so much early morning mist.

She had told him her intended husband was a distant, uncaring man with no feelings for her or any one else. The very reason she had run from her miserly and cruel brother had not only been his own vile behavior but to escape the marriage that would forever trap her like an exotic bird in a gilded cage. Mori had been that man she had refused to name and now he saw her reason for that omission. Chosokabe knew his own self, he would have never believed her had she come right out with her story. It all made so much sense now. The betrothal must have been kept quite to avoid any of the surrounding provinces from rising up to squash the new alliance before Mori and Saito had a chance to combine their forces. Fact was certainly stranger than fiction. But there was no time to ruminate on the odd outcome and revelations about past treaties.

"By the end of the month, you say?"

"Aye Cap'n, though I can't think of why so soon."

"Because the land of Nana's father lays in a key position to the west while her brothers abuts Mori's own. He wants to start moving in not by force but by creating and strengthening the bonds he traps others within."

Bonds, what a irony. He must have heard Ieyasu speak on the matter and thought to twist the tactic into his own dubious needs. For a moment a memory from not so very long ago came to the surface like a dolphin breaking the waters edge, there one moment and gone the next. Recollection of a promise made to his dear friend, the nature of their own alliance was now looming over him like a specter ready to haunt him for the rest of his days. A dark and sinfully playful gaze flashed before his mind's eye followed by the memory of his hand firmly shaking that of his friends in agreement. Chosokabe shook it off, banishing such thought to the back of his mind, now was not the time nor the place to worry about such things.

"So what do we do then?"

"There ain't much I can do 'till I'm ship shape again, as much as it galls me to say it. But have the men start getting ready for a fight. We're gonna beat that ape into the ground for what he did to my Fugaku and then I'll have Mori locked in a gibbet if he so much as touches a hair on her head."

"Aye aye, sir!" The men hurried out , no doubt to tell the others of his finally waking up but also of their new battle plan. Let them, they deserved their revenge for their ship and those comrades they had lost. Those brave sons o' bitches, he couldn't have a better crew. And it seemed that their loyalty was not solely his own anymore, Nana had begun to worm her way into their hearts as well. She did not deserve what had happened, not a sweet thing like her. He wasn't going to stand for it, not so long as he was still living.

"Wait for me, mermaid, I'm comin' for you."

It had taken time to heal, not only for himself but the number of men injured in Toyotomi's attack. Broken bones needed more than just a few days to mend, infected cuts had to be drained, sterilized and bound against infection. None of them liked holding to an unknown land overly long, they felt caged in, lost and off kilter without the steady churning of the sea below their feet. But there was nothing to help it, they were stuck until the majority of them were well enough to get a move on and defend themselves on top of it. When at last the order could be given to haul anchor the men rejoiced, ready to take on the over sized banana chomping fiend and his minions for what he'd done. That was how they came to be in the land of Owari.

It was a particularly dark night, the moon wasn't to be seen and a pitch black cover of clouds hid the pale light of the stars. Chosokabe looked around at the sailors grumbling around him, they were getting tired. Not that his crew wasn't a tough lot to begin with, they wouldn't have stayed alive this long if they couldn't hold a line on both land and sea not matter how much they disliked the former. What it was had been the days of walking with no visible rest in sight. Many of them were barefoot but even years of hard labor with no shoes could only take so many briar patches and sharp rocks cutting into bare flesh. Those who began with sandals were having to throw them by the wayside as the worn reed soles were stamped away into dust. They needed transportation and soon. Time was not on their side and the path to Toyotomi and Mori was a long one. Such calculating thoughts were cut short when his attention was turned toward a sudden light gleaming through the trees. Orange and red, flickering and the accompanied by the smell of smoke. Someone had lit a camp fire.

He signaled the men to move in closer, silently as the grave. Luckily the tree line surrounding the near by clearing was rather dense, giving them plenty of foliage to hide amongst but still lending a decent view of the small army encamped just beyond. They were all garbed in dark blue, he couldn't make out the sigil of the lord they served as all the banners were laid on the ground or rolled up. Whoever they were they didn't want to attract attention to themselves. Most of them looked like they spent way too much time in front of the mirror in order to pull off some of the outrageous hair styles they were sporting. A bunch of peacocks then? This would be a walk in the park. Waving a hand in signal, he lead his crew out of their hiding places and into the light of the fire, startling the partly unarmed men into attention.

"Good evening, gentlemen, hope we ain't intruding," he greeted them.

Several of the blue foot soldiers questioned one another about his identity but most looked to a solitary man sitting near the fire. Their lord no doubt, he was tall but nowhere near his own height and slight of build. Brute strength did not always win a fight, he was probably faster than a flying fish, all the more to be wary of him.

"We just happened to be passin' through and saw your fire. No need to get all up in arms."

"That's rich comin' from the guy with a gang of thugs behind him," said the leader. He too had only one eye and currently it was glaring at him from beneath his rather ostentatious helmet.

"Now that isn't very polite." Chosokabe said in a voice dripping in sarcasm, behind him the men chuckled as they cracked knuckles and drew blades. "But I suppose you're right, we don't have the purest of intentions towards ya. So about you do yourself a favor and jump ship while you can. Nobody needs to get hurt if you know what's good for you." Their unwilling hosts erupted in a ruckus of indignant squawks, hurling colorful insults their way to which a chorus of cursing and laughing was volleyed back. One in front sporting a gravity defying pompadour deferred to their lord, ready to jump into combat at the first opportunity.

"Well they got some kinda nerve, clearly they have no idea who they're messin' with," the young leader said arrogantly. "Guess they'll have to learn the hard way."

Or the other way around.

"Hang on, what the hell is that humongous weapon?" Pompadour asks as he swaggered toward them, smirking a little at the uneasy looks on their faces.

"Is that, a ship's anchor?" Another man asks, uncertainly and a quiver in his voice.

Oh if they only knew.

"Sorry fellas, I think we're a...oh you ain't gonna like this." Motochika chuckled, enjoying the building tension in the air, relishing the thunder of blood in his ears, that inevitable quiet before a good fight finally broke out. And he needed a good fight, needed it to let off the steam building within him. Trouncing the nameless pipsqueak before him would do nicely. "We're gonna need to borrow your horses for a bit."

Author's Note: Hello again dear readers! I have to say I've been taken aback by all the favorites and follows this this work has gotten recently. While not many by most standards they all do mean a lot to me and I just want to say thanks to all who did. So what did everyone think of this newest installment? Sorry it's a bit later than I intended but school does tend to get in the way of things. Nana will be back with all her fury soon enough but for now I think I'll let Motochika stew a bit more. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, leave a comment and I'll see you all next time!