Chapter 10: Tired

His cheeks looked like puffed up fried tofu, it was hilarious yet terrifyingly scary.

"You still angry?" Toyohisa said with a sigh, his voice tired and chiding. He was still unsure what this man really was, it was certain by now that he was indeed Nobunaga Oda, however there were times of doubt. Especially right now.

"Don't you think it's time to cheer up? You are a grown up, don't act like a child", Yoichi chimed as he popped out behind Oda's behind. "To begin with, you are a former Udaijin, right?"

"To begin with, why are you so angry?" Toyohisa said once more.

Something snapped in Oda's somewhat contained anger, "Of course I'm angry! Why did you create a council system having the elvish elders as councillors?! And why did you leave the power in the hands of that damn council?! You could be King! You could have all the power in you hands!" This blithering idiot was ruining everything he had planned out!

Toyohisa paused a moment before answering him back, "...I'm not good at strategies. I don't know how to read the minds of people", he said calmly but the calmness was accompanied by the chilling realisation that Toyohisa was actually reasoning with him civilly and not with his fists. "Nobu, you have the ability to read into the mind of anyone you want. But you don't know how to read the thoughts they have in their hearts", Toyohisa said his eyes impossibly dark as he stared right at Oda. "Certainly, the 'elves' will follow us for now. We can be kings, emperors, anything we want. But, someday, you can be sure that they will draw their weapons against us. They do will do so while we're asleep in some temple. And when we wake up we will be surrounded by fire and arrows", his voice getting heavier with each word as he rested his hands on his hips. "Do you want to go through another Honnouji? I don't".

This struck something inside Oda as he was taken aback, "I can't read the hearts of people...right", he admitted begrudgingly. "Your words were something I didn't want to hear. But I don't want another Honnouji! I've had enough of betrayals", Oda grimaced as his leaned back. This man was a vagabond to a military genius at the snap of the fingers, so unpredictable and almost impossible to control but he would manage it. Nothing was impossible in this world, or any world.

"I've forgotten that he can be smart", Takeko said quietly as she sat up a little. Toyohisa took a full ten seconds before catching onto what she had said.

"What's that supposed to mean!" He yelled at her. She covered her ears to block out his loud voice. She looked up at him with smile.

"Exactly as I said", she laughed as she covered her ears once again to block out much of the noise. But Yoichi managed to interject a comment before he was able to shout at her.

"By the way, how many reasons did you face?"

Oda took a moment to think about it, counting them at the top of his head, before answering, "Well, let's see. My younger brother Nobukatsy twice and Katsuie and Hayashi, Asai Matsunag twice, Araki, Hatano, Bessho, Mitsuhide and...", his mumbled and with each new name he interjected a almost demon-like voice muttering, 'I will never forgive'.

"That's way too much!" Toyohisa cried out.

"Please take a bath, you stink especially", Takeko said as she pulled out a bucket of water. "You either wash yourself or I dump you in the nearest river", several more elves brought more buckets of water. Toyohisa sat there with a dumbfounded expression, he hadn't expected her to drag him to an empty room for her to have him wash. She pulled out some old blankets and draped them over the open window gaps. The blankets were thick enough to block any peeping eyes, but thin enough to have the light seep through the woven threads. She did the same with door but instead with wooden planks, graciously writing 'Do not disturb' on one of the planks.

She chucked him a spare cloth and a bar of soap, which he managed to drop. She looked around with a pleased expression, "This room will be the bathing room. It is clean enough and with some glowing embers we can keep the water warm long enough for one wash". Toyohisa was speechless for most of the part but when she began leaving the room he spoke up.

"All of this is unnecessary, I can just splash some cold water on myself in the forest", Toyohisa said as he looked around. Takeko narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Thank you for your efforts though", Toyohisa mumbled as he pulled off his vest, throwing it aside. She blinked her eyes in surprise, a smile tugging at her lips yet she relented from doing so.

"Give me your vest and shirt", she said holding out her arms. "I'll wash them quickly and hang them by a fire so they dry faster. I'll do it quickly so they should only be moist when you finish with your washing. You can keep your pants, they are not so dirty". Toyohisa handed her the articles of clothing wordlessly, she scrunched her nose. The smell of blood and sweat was extremely strong, but with some washing it should be fine.

"Thanks", Toyohisa said again. He knew she had no obligation to do anything of their chores; she did their cooking, cleaning and sewing and practically dealt with any of their needs. He almost forgot what it was like having someone tend to their needs, after all they were in a different world now. No-one knew who the hell they were, unless they were another Drifter. He was grateful for her help and he was sure that Nobu and Yoichi were also grateful for dealing with the mediocre tasks. She had been doing it for them for six months after all.

"What on earth are they doing? What are they doing with the bathroom soil?" Shara said in astonishment looking at Oda who was crouched down on the ground, placing buckets full of excrement together.

"Have no idea", Olmine said with a bead of sweat travelling from her forehead, honestly what were they doing?

Oda let out a sinister chuckle, "Take care. Or else you'll be blown up", he said smugly to one of the elves. They didn't know what they handling, but Oda knew exactly what he was dealing with. One wrong move and he could end up into fleshy pulp. "Hey, Shara go to the guys from the other villages. Tell them to bring all the soil they can get from bathrooms, stables, pigpens and alike".

"Why do you want so much shit?"

Before Oda reply to him another elf to him, "Nobu, sir".

"So, how was it?" Oda said turning his full attention to the elf, his eyes trailed down to the matchlock he held.

"I asked the blacksmiths of every village. All of them said that this is a too complex equipment to copy", the elf diligently answered. Looking down at the strange pole, it was similar to Lady Takeko's strange pole but it was a little different.

"I see. Now I realise how amazing the Sakai and Kunitomo guys were", Oda mumbled to himself crossing his arms behind him. "And who can manufacture this?"

"…Probably dwarves. Their blacksmiths are the only decent thing they have", the elf said with hesitance. The elves and the dwarves haven't had a pretty history, when they weren't at each other's throats they were bad mouthing each other.

"Dwarves? I see", Oda said already deep in thought. He let out a frustrated sigh, he thought about how they were to transfer the powder, they needed carriages and horses, that was a given but there wasn't enough horses.

"YAAAAAH!" Toyohisa yelled, he swung his sword with such power that the trees didn't even stand a chance. They gave a groan and after a moment they gave in into their own weight and came down with a cracking crash shaking the forest floor. He turned his attention back to the elves who stood there dumbfounded, not really knowing what to say after seeing such an amazing feat.

"This is Satsuma's swordfight. Think of nothing else but putting everything into the first strike", Toyohisa said in a matter-of-fact tone. Toyohisa mentally sighed, what was he doing with these skinny elves? Their physique was not made for such vigorous activities, and especially not endurance. They also lacked the appropriate attitude. He'd be better off sleeping the rest of the day.

"Uh…uhm…If the first strike doesn't connect…or if the enemy evades, what should we do?"

"Die gracefully. You'll be the first ones to walk the path of death. And this is quite an honour", Toyohisa said with a smirk. The elves stared in shock at him, Toyohisa realising it would be pointless to continue the lesson dismissed them.

"Alright, that's enough for today. You can go back to campsite or go to Yoichi. You guys seem to work better with him", Toyohisa said while waving them off. The elves seemed eager enough as they grabbed their belongings and quickly dashed off back to the campsite. Toyohisa let out a tired sigh, what was he to do now? Take a nap?

There was a slight rustling behind the trees which Toyohisa had his eyes trained on but when he heard the humming of a woman he immediately relaxed. Takao emerged from the thick of the trees triumphantly with a basketful of plants, the forest was brim filled with all sorts of medicinal herbs and mushrooms. She was not so sure about which things were edible or which weren't poisonous but soon after trial and error and some basic knowledge she managed to understand. Also with the elves help she slowly learnt about the forests fauna and flora.

She looked up at him with owl-like eyes,, wide and inquisitive but at the same time rather far and enclosed. She tilted her head to one side and smiled, "What are you doing?" She shook the dry leaves from her hair as she finally made it into the small clearing, she sniffed to smell some sort grassy odour penetrating through the air. It was strong and rather overwhelming, but as soon as she looked to her left and saw the cut down tree she knew what happened. She limped slightly, there was a stinging sensation in her legs but she ignored it. It didn't hurt if she didn't pay attention to it.

"I was attempting to teach the elves the way of the sword", Toyohisa said as he sat on the stump of the fallen tree. He was watched her slink away from the leaves as she sat in front of him just metres away. Toyohisa got a better look at then, her sleeves were dirtied from the earth, her face had small scratches around the sides from the stray branches and twigs and if he noticed carefully he realised she was limping ever so slightly.

"And I suppose that did not go so well", she replied with a mocking smile as she set down her basket on the ground, watching some ants crawl on some blades of grass. She fiddled with some stalks of plants, peeling the sinewy strings from the stalk, boredom plagued her mind and she was tired.

Toyohisa pointed to her leg, he could see some red patches of blood soaking through the fabric. "What happened there?"

She pulled the fabric up to reveal her scrapped up knees, "I tripped", she said simply. Toyohisa only had several seconds to admire her well-toned legs, before before she pulleddown the fabric. "I'll clean it up when I get back", she concluded. Toyohisa nodded absentmindedly as he turned to look away, trying to look disinterested.

Silence encompassed the air around them, they didn't really know what to say but they were quite comfortable with saying nothing. He didn't know when he fell asleep but he did, the sun was still in the sky but soon it would dip below the horison, he could feel the heat from the Rays on his skil begin cooling. And as soon as the shadows began to elongate, Takeko had disappeared into the mouth of the forest leaving Toyohisa by himself once more. The rustling of leaves and crunching of grass was the only indication that she had even left, he cracked one eye open her to watch her slowly disappear into the withdrawn shadows, ghosting among the bushes and trees, her eyes focused on something but he wasn't sure. She left much too quickly for his liking, it would've been better if there something they couldve related to in common but he knew nothing of her and yet she knew everything of him. It was albeit frustrating. He decidedly thought that being accompanied with someone, even if they weren't talking was a pleasant feeling. Although she was a queer she a somewhat interesting companion to be around with.

Future me: I heavily changed this chapter and my OC, so if you read this before then you'll see the changes.

amy yu 1214. deviant art art / Nakano- Takeko - 556940798 (you should ignore this)