Omg 1,140 views! Like thanks so much guys it really help's me want to write and update more for you guys X3. I love hearing your response on the story seeing as this is my most popular story due to it being the only one my focus is on. But 8 favorites i'm so happy! I am so glade you guys are enjoying it as much as I am about writing it. I am so sorry for the long wait but I will try to put up a new chapter everyday till we catch up to the chapter I am currently writing. But I love seeing so many look at my story X3 so I'll post chapter 13 and 14 to show my happiness.

P.s for the music playlist I am always changing things around. So I will post the song or songs along with the story, if it is set for that chapter that it is that song or songs X3

and Thanks so much! ~ Verto strife

Song

Dead Hearts By Stars

Chapter 13 - A ninja's job

Masamune looked towards the castle and signed. "Home. I hope Yuki does remember his time here." Masamune walked along towards the castle waving and smiling at villagers who walked past. The kids who played around practicing fighting made him miss his times in training when he could always smile and make Kojūrō proud. He rested one hand on his sheathed swords. One day theses swords will clash with other leaders weapons and taste the blood of good men like my soldiers fighting for their clan.' Masamune sighed and noticed the shop he once bought a tiger for Yuki. He stopped and remembered those times. "I wonder if he still has that tiger, probably not since I bought it for him" he softly said to himself. It was nostalgic for him it was just like that day a nice, warm, sunny, the streets full of life, the only thing that was different was that he was all alone. He continued to walk to the castle in a daze faking a smile to hide the empty feeling he had now. 'Yuki I wonder what you are doing right now.' Masamune walked up the stone path to the gates of Aoba castle. The guards let him in and he walked through the halls his head down and the smile faded away. He missed the good old days but they were gone and buried he walked till he found Kojūrō's room. and went it. "Large box huh" He surveyed the room when he heard something amidst he looked behind him nothing seemed abnormal he looked around the room nothing seemed out of place. This feeling of being watched loomed over him. He then noticed the box and grabbed it picking it up gently not knowing what was in it. He walked back to the door when there was a very slight creek in the wood outside the door. Masamune hesitated.
"Who's there?" Masamune asked just in case it wasn't his imagination.

"You're a smart one. Anyone else would have just ignored it." The door opened and a ninja in Takeda colours leaned in the doorway. "Sarutobi Sasuke, at your service. Well, my master's service, but yours too if need be." the ninja said with a smile.
"Why are you here ninja?" Masamune said coldly.

"Originally? To answer a question. 'what is Masamune doing right now, Sasuke'. So i'm here to answer it. Also I was told to look for something in this house, but I can't seem to find it." Sasuke said with a hint of defeat.
"Whom was this question asked by? Sanada or Shingin? Or maybe someone else? What would you need to be looking for in someone else's house ninja?" Masamune asked very coldly as he glared at Sasuke.

"The question came from both Sanada and Singen, actually. Also I don't take third party requests. And I was told if I came across you not to say what it was i was looking for. apparently it's private." Sasuke sighed.
"Well I am just grabbing something for Kojūrō. To answer their question. Then leave If It's so private .If they can't tell me, then they don't need it." Masamune said putting a hand on his swords.

"Eh, you can at least give directions in this massive house. Where's Yukimura's old room? And to justify the privacy, Yukimura mentioned it's embarrassing."
'Something embarrassing and Yukimura's room huh I wonder what it is'. "If it's something from his room it has probably either been thrown away or moved to another room." Masamune said.

"Ah that's too bad. Shingen mentioned it was something very close to Sanada. Oh well. At least I looked. I'll be showing myself out now. Bye!" Sasuke waved and left whistling down the hall.
"Sasuke wait! I have a request of you or um more of a favor to ask of you." Masamune shouted down after him.

"I said I don't take third party requests. But in this case, depends on the request. what is it?"
"If you know, What caused Yuki..mura to change so drastically?"

Sasuke stiffened visibly at the request and suddenly looked very serious. "You're sure you want to know?"
"Yes, It has been on my mind since he attacked.. my group" Masamune said with a very serious tone and expression.

"Okay then. You, uh, may want to sit down for this. This might be… overwhelming, at best." Sanada took a seat on Kojūrō 's bed, and patted next to him for Masamune.
Masamune sat down "What is it?" Masamune asked.

"Where to begin… Well… ever since Yukimura arrived he's been, for lack of a better word, aggressive. Everyone in the staff avoided him, and it wasn't uncommon to hear yelling and the sound of smashing objects. After a few weeks he calmed down, and Shingen decided he was safe to train. They trained him, not unlike your training, but he always seemed to have this darker undertone to him. Sinister, for lack of a better word. We met after his first few days of training, and he seemed to grow attached, as he was much less prone to outbursts of anger. It didn't help that when combat training came around, he always attacked everything with what seemed like an excessive amount of force. Shingen just said he was still mad about leaving, that it'd pass over in his teens. Except it didn't. whatever it was that had bothered him, the focused on it too much, and apparently it turned from anger into outright hatred."
Masamune looked down at the ground then kinda gave a weak laugh "Him leaving really did mess with him a lot huh. I knew he hated me but he took it out on others. He used hatred to train while I used the pain of losing a friend. Well thanks Sasuke, but um I have another question, it's not as hard to answer." Masamune said softly.

"Go ahead. I always suspected Sanada was obsessed, but I think I see the source of his anger now."
"Does he still have a stuffed bengal tiger? Yha it was me that made him hate so much, if you want to hate me to go ahead." Masamune sighed.

"Hey, this is your feud, not mine. I'm not getting between you two. And I don't recall him ever having a tiger when he arrived."
Masamune looked surprised "really he got rid of it that quick, well thanks for the information ninja."

"No problem. Hey, you guys said some of his stuff was scattered around the house right? Maybe he left it here. I don't see what's so embarrassing about a stuffed tiger, to be honest so it's probably not what
I came for."
"Ninja since you told me the information I wanted to know i'll tell you the truth. Everything's still in his room, as I ordered. I'll show you where the room is" Masamune said standing up.

"If you're going to take over as leader, kid, you really need to work on your lying skills." Sasuke laughed.
Masamune glard coldly at the ninja "You want to know where the room is or not ninja" He replied cooly.

"No need to get cold on me kid. lead the way!" Sasuke said, back to his cheerful self as he got up.
Masamune grabbed the box and left the room and headed towards Sanada's old room with the ninja following behind.

"Kinda surprised you're a bad liar. Sanada's really good at it, with his skills, he should have been a ninja."
"I have never needed to lie before. I just leave out details." Masamune replied as he kept walking on.

"I imagine whatever he's left here that's apparently embarrassing, I imagine he hid it well in his room. He probably hid the tiger too."
Masamune's pace quickened when he heard that "really, I still wonder what is so embarrassing that he couldn't tell me, but I could figure he would keep things from me now." Masamune sighed

"the only hint he gave is 'don't unlock the box it's in. What's in there is for my eyes alone, understand?' and that's all the clues I got"
"Ah, well here we are. Sanada Yukimura's room." Masamune's gaze softened but he then quickly shook his head and his normal cold stare remained. He opened the door to let Sasuke in.

"Thanks for helping, kid. You know, You're not half as bad as Sanada painted you out to be." Sasuke stepped into the room and immediately started searching all the drawers.
Masamune stepped into the room and looked around. "I haven't been in here since that day that I told him Takada was attacking." Masamune sighed he felt nostalgic.

"If, uh, if you don't mind this rather personal question, and you don't have to answer if this is uncomfortable, but did you two ever, uh-" Sasuke cleared his throat and motioned with his hand.
Masamune looked over at the ninja a little confused "Ever what?"

" Did you two ever… uh… get together? Bang?"
"You mean have sex. No we only kissed once or twice." Masamune kinda blushed and looked away from the ninja.

Sasuke grunted and said something that sounded like 'I knew it! I knew he was lying!' and continued searching.
"Does he say we did?" Masamune asked.'I can't believe he would say that, even though that idea has flashed through my mind a fews times'

"Not directly, but when I asked him he blushed and was all fidgety. I kinda assumed."
"Ah." Masamune looked around and walked over to the dresser.

"Hey! I found your tiger!" Sasuke held the tiger out, a huge grin on his face.
Masamune looked up from a drawer and a sudden flash of a smile shown on his face.

"And I found the box i'm looking for. Wow this thing's heavy. What's in it I wonder." Sasuke picked up a small, but well crafted, decorated box with a small padlock on the front. Giving it a couple of shakes, there was a bunch of loud banging inside.
"I wonder to, be careful you don't know how fragile it is and you wouldn't want to break something close to him." Masamune scolded

"Yeah… but I came here on horse, and it's a long and rough ride back. I wonder if I can pick the lock and peek… Just to make sure it can handle the ride, of course." Sasuke wondered aloud, a small evil looking grin on his face for a moment. Masamune walked over to the ninja "He said not to look ninja, You should respect that" Masamune growled

"And if I pick the lock and then put it back he'll never know. besides if this thing breaks on the ride back, it's my ass in trouble, you know that right?"
"You should still respect his wishes ninja" Masamune growled giving the ninja a cold look "If it breaks it would be your fault, would it not" Masamune added.

"fine fine, you win. This is probably the only time you'll ever find out what's in his precious little box, but I guess it's your loss. Anyway, thanks for the help. I have to start riding now if I want to get back by dawn. See you." Sasuke yelled as he headed back towards the side of the house and slid down to sneak away.
"Ninja! I have another question" Masamune shouted running after the ninja. Sasuke stopped, tucking the box away in his clothes and turned to Masamune. "Yeah?"
"He said for you not to open it, he never said anything about me not opening it and looking, plus you said before hand you couldn't find the room. I have an idea. If you don't mind listening before you go" Masamune said with a smirk

Sasuke gave a laugh and pulled the box out, putting it in Masamune's hand. "Hey, i'm a ninja. Technically i'm not supposed to take sides anyway, so i'm all ears."
"If you just say you couldn't find the box or room. i'll let you look in the box" Masamune said smiling and pulling out a key from his pocket "Found it in the dresser drawer, i'll take it back to Sanada with other objects from his room tomorrow and i'll take blame for any damage that way no hassle of Sanada getting on to you. Deal?" Masamune said.

"He'll probably send me back with more specific directions or a description. Or he'll just come himself, more likely, but… I am genuinely curious…" Sasuke looked genuinely tempted. "He'll probably tell you to piss off once you get there, but I suppose it will make more sense if you show up anyway. Deal."
Masamune nodded and held out his hand. Sasuke paused briefly, seemingly still having doubts, before quickly taking his hand and shaking on it.
"Well I will see you tomorrow after we see what's inside, don't worry i'll make sure that it was like we never met up" Masamune said putting the key into the padlock and opening the lock. "You open it first. I think it's more of your right to know than mine." Sasuke said after a moment. Masamune nodded and took the lock off the hook on the box and opened the box looking into it curiously.

"What… is it exactly?" Sasuke asked after a minute of silence.
Masamune turned the box more towards the ninja. "Is that a necklace? What's those rings on it? Never knew he was a sentimental guy." Masamune looked at the necklace and then picked it up and looked at it out of the box.

"Another gift from you? You know what it is?" Sasuke asked, still confused as to the symbolism in the necklace.
"I didn't buy this, but he had it when I found him at the river" Masamune said looking at it still.

"Why would he leave something like this behind, I wonder? And how is it embarassing to him? To be honest I was thinking the box was going to have something way worse in it." Sasuke slightly blushed when he mentioned 'way worse'.
Masamune moved one ring away from the rest and looked at it. A small smile creeped along his face. "Don't know why he left it. Maybe cause this one is the one I gave to him the sixth one. Really, like what?" Masamune said said putting a hand one one of his six swords.

"Remember how I said I thought you two banged? I kinda thought he might have been… uh… missing you." Sasuke scratched his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, uh… hey! you've been away a while. Kojūrō's probably wondering where the hell you are, right?"
Masamune blushed a little from the comment. "Yeah well see you tomorrow when I drop stuff off" Masamune said putting the necklace back in the box.

"See you around, kid!" Sasuke turned, waving as he mounted his horse and took off. Masamune closed the box and started his way back to Kojūrō the box in hand.