Warning: This is based off a manga called Sengoku Strays. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend that you do! I don't own anything but my OC, and I will probably end up using artistic license to butcher Japanese history, so I would just like to apologize in advance, and I don't mean to offend anyone!
[Narration]
{setting/stage directions}
"Speech."
'Thoughts.'
"English speech."
—¡–!–¡–!–¡— Scene shift/passage of time.
A whole line of text like this without quotes is a written letter or something similar.
WORDS IN ALL CAPS AND NO QUOTATION MARKS ARE SOUND EFFECTS.
Flashbacks and changes in POV will be labeled.
Unless stated otherwise, the POV will be third person omniscient.
If you ever have any questions, please feel free to ask.
[Kasane's third day in the Sengoku era... also Ayako's tenth day there...]
{Owari, Nagoya Castle}
"Phew!" Ayako said as she stood up and wiped the sweat off her forehead. Ayako had been up since the crack of dawn, cleaning. She only had one place left to do, and then she would finally be done. It was still early in the morning, but Ayako was ready for quitting time, so she could take a bath and see what the others were up to.
"Whoa!" Ayako and Kasane said as they simultaneously bumped into each other while trying to turn the corner on the wooden porch.
"Ah! I'm sorry!" Kasane said as she helped Ayako up.
"No, no, it's not your fault. I should've paid more attention to where I was going." Ayako said. "I'm glad I bumped into you, though. I've been meaning to have a talk with you about something." Ayako said as she picked up the cleaning supplies she had dropped.
"Eh? About what?" Kasane asked nervously, wondering if she was in trouble.
"Oh, don't worry! You're not in trouble!" Ayako said quickly when she sensed Kasane's distress. "Remember how I said that I believed you were from another era…?" Ayako asked.
"Yes…" Kasane said, wondering why she was bringing it up now.
"Well, actually… there's a very good reason why I believe you… I'm actually from the future too… I'm sorry I didn't say anything before, but Nobunaga told me not to until we knew what you were going to do, and I didn't want to say anything in front of the others because Nobunaga is the only one who knows the truth." Ayako said, bowing in apology. Kasane stared at Ayako, stunned.
"Eeeeeh!?" Kasane yelled in surprise. "Really!? … But why didn't you tell the others too?" Ayako rubbed the back of her neck, feeling guilty for lying to all of her new friends.
"Well… you saw how people tend to react to that kind of statement… I didn't want anyone to think I was crazy, so I just told them I 'wasn't from around here' and left it at that. Nobunaga knows because he was there when I appeared… You didn't happen to see a flash of blue light before you ended up here, did you?" Ayako said.
"You saw it too…!? " Kasane said, surprised. "I woke up here after pushing my little brother, Kotetsu, out of the way of a truck! He was holding a weird katana that had a round, blue crystal charm tied to it. I grabbed the sword handle in the confusion, and then I was suddenly surrounded by a blindingly bright blue light!"
"A blue charm!? That's like what happened to me! I was cleaning out a storehouse at my uncle's temple, when I knocked over some shelves. As they were falling on me, a strange bamboo walking stick, that had a round, blue crystal charm tied to it, fell into my hands, and I was surrounded by a bright blue light before ending up here!" Ayako said. "I bet it has something to do with those weird charms! I'll show mine to you later, and we can compare them!"
"Yeah! Oh, but I lost the katana that I came here with… I don't now what happened to it after I was captured by those soldiers at Narumi…" Kasane said, deflating slightly.
"Oh… well, maybe one charm will work for both of us… once we figure out what to do, so that we can go back to the future… but we can ask the lord if a sword like that was found, and taken as loot by one of the soldiers or something." Ayako said. Kasane nodded in agreement.
"Okay!" Kasane said, relieved to know she wasn't in this alone anymore. "… Wait, did you say your uncle had a temple, Ayako-chan?"
"…Yes?" Ayako said, wondering why that was significant.
"You wouldn't happen to be the niece of that cranky priest at Saionji temple, would you…?" Kasane asked. Ayako's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"…Yeah, how did you know?" Ayako asked.
"It was on the news, you're uncle's been looking for you, ever since you disappeared about a week ago." Kasane said. Ayako smiled wryly, and a little sadly as she thought about how worried her uncle must be. She missed the cranky priest.
"I guess I shouldn't keep him waiting, then." Ayako said, putting on a brave face. "I don't know how long it'll take us to figure something out, but we'll definitely get back to them, Kasane, both your brothers and my uncle."
"Yeah, no matter what happens, we'll survive this era!" Kasane said. The two girls grinned at each other and locked arms as a sign of their friendship.
—¡–!–¡–!–¡—
STOMP. STOMP. STOMP. STOMP.
"Oh? What's that sound?" Inuchiyo wondered as he walked around the castle. It was Kasane. She was 'sprint scrubbing' the porch by running while holding a wet rag. After finding out that Ayako was cleaning, Kasane had asked to finish the job for Ayako, since she thought it would be a good way to pay them back for everything they had done for her. Ayako decided not to tell Kasane that she was really only cleaning about one percent of the actual castle, since Kasane looked so happy, and she had already cleaned the rest of it anyway.
"Wow—!" Inuchiyo and Gorouza said in amazement when they and Kuranosuke saw the now clean and sparkling building. Ayako had been cleaning the different buildings in the castle over the last few days she was here, and this was one of the buildings on her list. This was where Nobunaga stayed and held his most important meetings. He wouldn't have trusted just anyone to clean this place… and he didn't, hence, the shock at seeing the place so clean.
"Amazing~! It's all shiny!" Inuchiyo said as he ran down the clean porch.
"Don't run on the walkway!" Kuranosuke scolded him, vein mark throbbing on his head.
"Wow… did you do all this yourself, Kasane?"
"Ah! Gorouza, good morning." Kasane said cheerfully. "Every morning I used to clean up Grandpa's dojo, and it was part of club activities. I've gotten good at it! It's also great for training up your legs. Kasane wrung the wet rag out as she talked.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. My calves used to be so soft and feminine before I started cleaning the temple like this everyday… now my calves are all muscle." Ayako said, wrinkling her nose.
"O… kay…?" Gorouza said. 'Club activities?' He thought, wondering what it was. "Well, the lord will be happy. He likes things tidy. Right, Kuranosuke?" Gorouza said, smiling.
'Yeah, that's because it makes it easier to tell if someone's been trespassing…' Ayako thought.
"Yeah, you'll earn lots of points, meh." Kuranosuke said, reluctantly praising Kasane.
'He's the same as always.' Kasane thought, sweat dropping. "It's to make up for you four and the lord saving me." Kasane said, smiling as she shook the rag out. "This much I can do." They didn't realize it, but Nobunaga had just walked up behind them, accompanied by one of his cats, and was now glancing around, inspecting Kasane's handiwork. "So, I thought I'd give it a go…" Kasane trailed off when they realized who was behind them. Nobunaga frowned as he stared up at the ceiling.
"!!" Kasane said as she flinched, shocked, at finding the very subject of their conversation right behind them. 'When did he get here!?' Kasane thought, going rigid in her nervous state.
"My Lord, good morning." Gorouza said pleasantly.
"Good morning." Ayako said, smiling. She had done an exceptional job cleaning the inside of the building, so Nobunaga shouldn't have any complaints. He was just as picky and strict as her uncle had been, when it came to cleaning.
"I hear the lord's foot steps!" Inuchiyo said excitedly as he ran over, like a puppy greeting his master. Nobunaga glanced at Kasane, and noticed that she was the one holding the cleaning rag, and he had heard the tail end of the conversation, so he knew that Kasane was the one who had done the cleaning outside. He would've scolded Ayako for not doing her work if he hadn't already inspected the cleaning that she had done on the inside. Every nook and cranny was now sparkling and completely spotless, from the floor to the ceiling.
'This guy's Nobunaga…' Kasane thought in amazement. He looked much better in person than he did in any of the historical paintings she had seen of him before. "Yes. I did." Kasane said. They watched in silence as Nobunaga stared at the ceiling again.
"…" Kasane said, not sure what was so fascinating. 'What is he doing?' She wondered.
"The ceiling." Nobunaga said.
"Eh?" Kasane said, confused. Ayako glanced at the ceiling.
"!" Ayako said when she saw the not so shiny ceiling. She usually cleaned everything, including the ceiling, so Nobunaga probably expected everybody to do it now… She had forgotten to warn Kasane.
"Why didn't you wipe the ceiling too?" Nobunaga demanded, giving Kasane a sharp look. Kasane and Ayako both sweat dropped.
"Isn't it obvious…? You don't usually do that as well… and I can't reach." Kasane said, sweat dropping. Nobunaga snapped. He frowned, and his eyes were veiled in shadow as he suddenly emitted a threatening aura.
"Eek!" Kasane said, flinching at the sudden burst of hostility.
"C-Calm down, it's just the ceiling, and people really don't usually clean it." Ayako said quickly. The longer Nobunaga stayed annoyed, the harder it was going to be on Kasane.
"I—I'll do it, I'll do it!" Kasane said. "Just let me borrow a stool!" 'H–He's worse than the captain…' Kasane thought.
"Your usual bed and meals, plus two rice balls." Nobunaga said. Once it had been established that Kasane was 'one of the guys' now, it had been arranged for Kasane to share Ayako's room with her… which was actually only a three-tatami-mat room, so it was more like a small closet, especially compared to most of the other rooms in the castle, but the two girls didn't really mind.
"… Eh?" Kasane asked.
"For what you've done. It's only natural to repay you for what you've done." Nobunaga said, referencing the conversation he had walked in on. "Afterwards, help cook, draw water, do dishes, cut wood, do errands, and maintain the garden." Nobunaga said.
"Gah!" Kasane said, going blue with shock at the huge workload Nobunaga had just dumped on her. Ayako sighed. She knew he wasn't done yet, because Nobunaga was probably giving Kasane the same chores she had.
"See to the horses, repair the mansion, and patrol the grounds. Do all the little things like that." Nobunaga ordered, finally done listing her chores. "No complaining. Ayako does these things everyday without any whining. The only thing I want to hear from you is 'duty completed!', and also…"
'What, there's more!?' Kasane thought.
"When you do something, do it right! If you do a shoddy job, I'll kick you out without hesitation! When you're done with that, bring some food over. And redo the walkway." Nobunaga said mercilessly as he stalked away. Kasane turned to see what he was talking about when he told her to re-clean the walkway. Her jaw dropped. Inuchiyo and Kurochiyo were running on it, and they had left muddy footprints and paw prints behind. Kasane seemed to physically wilt, and she stared at the floor. It seemed she was unable to speak after being caught up in hurricane Nobunaga. Ayako patted her sympathetically on the back. Gorouza looked worried, but wasn't sure what to say.
"Is she dead…?" Kuranosuke wondered out loud.
"Gorouza… Ayako…" Kasane said weakly. "I'll survive… for starters, could you lend me a stool…?" She was starting to enter into her own little corner of woe.
"Ah! Kuranosuke! You can act like a stool and hold her up." Gorouza said quickly, concerned when he saw how gloomy Kasane was feeling.
"Y-Yes, Sir!" Kuranosuke said automatically, snapping to attention. "… Wait, why me!? And come to think of it, how does Ayako usually reach the ceilings, anyway? She's such a midget…"
"It's alright, Kasane. You won't be doing everything by yourself. I usually do all of this, and the guys do a lot of the chores too." Ayako said.
"So, he considers soldiers servants…?" Kasane asked.
"Well, I don't know about that, but it makes sense to me. I mean, modern soldiers do stuff like clean their own latrines and barracks, cooking, and other miscellaneous duties around military bases, don't they? It helps with discipline. I don't think this is much different." Ayako said.
—¡–!–¡–!–¡—
{One very shiny ceiling and several other chores later…}
"That lord of ours… has he always been like that?" Kasane asked as they cooked lunch. The water bubbled as they brought it to a boil to cook the rice in.
"Lord Nobunaga? I haven't known him very long, so I can't really say…" Ayako said honestly as she chopped up some leeks.
"Well, he has been as long as I've known him." Gorouza said, smiling as he peeled a daikon radish.
"I wonder if we can be friends, with him like that. Right now, I just can't tell what he's thinking…" Kasane said, sweat dropping as she watched Inuchiyo trying to wash Kurochiyo, and Kuranosuke scolding him for bringing an animal into the kitchen while it was dirty.
"He might be hard to understand sometimes, and he has a pretty devilish smirk, but he's a good guy, really." Ayako said. "… Though, I think he enjoys messing with me a little too much. He thinks I'm his personal squeak toy or something." It hadn't taken long for Nobunaga to discover that Ayako was extremely ticklish… if only Kuranosuke hadn't poked her in the side when the young lord was passing by…
'!?' Gorouza thought. He knew Nobunaga had accepted Ayako, and that he was able to relax and feel comfortable around her, but he hadn't realized just how playful their lord had been with her. Nobunaga must have become really attached to Ayako. Ayako was such a mysterious girl, to gain the trust of their lord on such a level, in such a short amount of time. "Maybe if you try serving him, you'll find him rather easy to understand?" Gorouza suggested to Kasane.
"Ehhh!? How so!?" Kasane asked. "Oh, and your cooking is amazing!" Ayako was a lean, mean chopping machine, and Gorouza was still peeling the radish. It was one long, thin, unending peel. It took a lot of skill and control to peel a radish like that.
"It's a hobby of mine." Gorouza said, smiling.
"Yeah, I can never beat Gorouza at peeling, but I won't lose to anyone when it comes to flavor!" Ayako said cheerfully. Cooking was one of the few chores she had actually enjoyed growing up, and thanks to the temple's antiquated facilities, Ayako already knew how to cook with an old fashioned hearth… Although, truth be told, Ayako actually preferred to eat the bold, rich, and flavorful Louisianan cuisine she grew up with, to the more mild, but still delicious, Japanese cuisine.
"Wow!" Kasane said, but then she frowned slightly when she remembered her dilemma. "I was never any good at understanding feelings in the first place, but this is worse than usual…" Kasane said, blowing into a hollowed out bamboo shoot to fan the flames of the hearth.
"Wow~~!" They heard Nobuyuki say excitedly from the outside. Gorouza and Ayako turned to look when they heard the voice of their lord's younger brother.
"If people showed what they were thinking, I think I'd be happier. Have a happier life." Kasane said. "Wait… huh?" Kasane turned to look too when she realized that she had just heard someone do just that only a moment ago.
"The castle grounds are sparkling again today! Just as you'd expect from my brother." Nobuyuki said enthusiastically, smiling, and entering the usual 'hero worship' mode he went into whenever Nobunaga was involved.
"Ah, Lord Kanjuuro." Kuranosuke said, bowing politely.
"Lord Kanjuuro." Inuchiyo said, smiling as he held Kurochiyo.
"Oh, Kuranosuke, Inuchiyo." Nobuyuki said, smiling. "Is this more of Ayako's handiwork, or did you two do this?"
"Ugh. No, er, well…" Kuranosuke said, sweat dropping. He still didn't trust entirely trust Kasane.
"Who's that?" Kasane whispered as she, Gorouza, and Ayako, stuck their heads out to see what was up. Nobuyuki heard her, and turned to see who had spoken.
"Oh!" Nobuyuki shouted.
"Eh!?" Kasane yelled, surprised at Nobuyuki's sudden shout. "Don't surprise me!"
"With those strange clothes… could you be the 'weird girl' that Hayashi told me about?" Nobuyuki asked innocently, without any ill intentions.
"Eh!? Weird!?" Kasane said, shocked.
"Don't worry, Kasane, they said the same things about me, at first." Ayako said.
"Oh!" Nobuyuki said, realizing how he had sounded. "That was rude of me! I'm sorry!" Nobuyuki quickly bowed in apology.
"Oh, no, it's no big deal! I am weird!" Kasane said, not wanting him to feel bad.
"Uhh… my manners still aren't good enough!" Nobuyuki mumbled, blushing slightly in embarrassment.
"Don't worry, Lord Nobuyuki, you're still much better than our lord..." Ayako said. Nobunaga usually said stuff like that on purpose.
"What!? You're his brother!?" Kasane said, shocked that such a nice looking person could be related to such a devilish lord. "Wait, did Nobunaga have a brother!?" She whispered quietly to Ayako.
"Yep, several." Ayako whispered back.
"Several!?" Kasane whisper-yelled, shocked.
"I'm Oda Kanjuuro Nobuyuki. I'm two years younger than my brother." Nobuyuki said, smiling pleasantly, unaware of Kasane's inner turmoil.
"Wow~ You're not like him at all...! You seem like a nice guy! You're eyes don't look evil!" Kasane blurted out in shock.
"She says everything she thinks..." Kuranosuke said, sweat dropping.
"I think Kasane pretty much hit the nail on the head, though." Ayako said.
"Haha..." Nobuyuki laughed nervously and sweat dropped, not sure how to react.
"What can we do for you today?" Gorouza asked politely.
"Oh, no... I didn't really come here for anything. The times are hard for everyone now, regardless of the province. If you can think of a way to help out, even if it's small, please tell me." Nobuyuki said, smiling modestly.
"Wow! He's an amazing guy!" Kasane said with admiration.
"The lord's the amazing one!" Inuchiyo huffed.
'Yeah, Nobunaga really is amazing... even if he does have a habit of pissing people off.' Ayako thought.