Disclaimer: Fanfiction is written by fans after all.
In the end, Ginchiyo decided to take a chance, and dressed in an elegant yet simple and comfortable silk kimono, she made her way to the Northern Gate. The first thing she saw was the pale silver horse. Then she glanced at the rider ,who had his back to her. She quickly appraised the rider, he was dressed in a black robe, distinguishably classy, and with good taste. The man turned the horse, and Ginchiyo half-smiled. "I figured it was you, Mitsunari."
The young commander cantered the horse several paces forward, and he reached out to her. "Lets go whilst the night is still young."
Ginchiyo allowed herself to take his hand, and asked, "Where are we going? The town?"
"Dressed so finely? I should think not. Let us visit the mountains near the borders..."
"We're going to climb the mountain? Mitsunari, I need to be back by tomorrow." Ginchiyo's tone was incredulous.
"We aren't. Stopping by the town at the foot of the mountain should be within our time frame, right? Just relax, I know we'll both need it before the return to our individual clans..." Mitsunari sounded rather disgusted at the ending.
Ginchiyo held her hand over her mouth to stifle laughter, and it came out somewhere between a giggle and a chuckle. This made Mitsunari eye her in disbelief. "H- How long is the journey?" She finally controlled her urges to laugh at Mitsunari's tone earlier.
"Two hours at a decent pace."
- - -
'She sure fell asleep easily.' Mitsunari looked down at Ginchiyo without much expression on his face.
-- -- --
"Hey Mitsunari, how long did you say this journey was?" Ginchiyo was plainly bored.
"Two hours." Ginchiyo frowned at Mitsunari, two hours was what he said, but she could guess his speed was carefully maneuvering it to six. Seeing her expression, Mitsunari continued, "You know high speeds attract unwanted attention, and fast horses bring in good money to bandits, don't you?" He smirked.
Ginchiyo groaned slightly. As well as she knew that fact, the ride was boring her. Emphasized further by the path taking them past a barren stretch of battlefield. "Can't we... pass somewhere with a... view?"
"Not satisfied? Then close your eyes and don't look at the surroundings." Mitsunari was intending some sarcasm in that sentence, but it apparently didn't come across too well, for Ginchiyo leaned into his body, causing him to tense up instinctively.
"I'll take you up on that offer..." She sighed contentedly from the comfort Mitsunari's body provided. It was warm, in the sense that it was both relaxing and soothing at the same time. In fact, it was lulling her to sleep.
Mitsunari frowned in disapproval as he felt her body go limp as Ginchiyo slumped unconsciously. 'How can she be so light...' He watched her for a few seconds. 'Her expression... you wouldn't have guessed she was a samurai. And she's normally so tough and strong, now she looks so... for lack of a better or more suitable word, fragile...'
Mitsunari went silent then, both inwardly and outwardly. Ginchiyo looked so peaceful that it stunned him. 'She has never, in the years that I've known her, looked so much at peace before... or so beautiful- ' He exhaled slowly and smirked at the irony of it all. The stoic and unruffled Mitsunari Ishida, just admitted that Ginchiyo Tachibana looked very much quite the woman.
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A/N: I love the ending of this chapter, but why do I sound like a reader rather than the author? Anyway, R&R, I'll have the next chapter up Friday night when I do get home. Oh and from now on, please disregard timeframes, I clean forgot about it for a while.
