'Milady…!'

Akeakamai stops in her tracks, angling her body difficultly to peer at the voice from behind. She is accompanied by 3 servants as they carry her necessities from the bathhouse with her to her quarters despite her refusing their services. 'What is the matter, young man?'

Her question seems to faze the youth as he stops dead in his tracks at the sound of her powerful voice. 'A-a message… for milady!' he bows quickly, shutting his eyes as he directs them to the floor and extends his arms.

Akea accepts the scroll he offers and continues further down the passage, excusing the maids of their help. She scans the hand-written text – her eyes widening with every word she processes – and just as quickly the tall document crumples in her shaking hands. Mogami wages war against Dewa tomorrow? The idea was a most preposterous and perplexing one, however the first thing to dawn on her was to write to her husband of this affair. Dewa being interconnected to Oushuu could prove the attack devastating if Mogami truly did in fact mean business… but the Konoe refused to be overpowered by the enemy.

Stomping to her quarters after making the necessary arrangements to meet with Dewa's councilmen, Akea throws on a coat over her white robes and sets off to the wooden chambers designated for the meeting.

'Konoe-dono, to summon us at such short notice…' one of the council member's moan, only to be shocked by the scroll their warlord opens against the table centering the large room.

A cold silence descends above all seven people in the room. They stand around the low table scanning the contents of the scroll – some of the members taking their respectful seats in preparation for the meeting. 'When did this message arrive?'

'I wouldn't know the answer to that question. What I want to ask is why does Mogami's clan plan to strike at such short notice?' Akea massages her temples, taking a seat at the head of the table. 'Did we not appease their demands? Did we not offer them the land they requested for whatever little they had to give us in return?'

A member of the organization raised their hand and the Konoe nods them approval to speak. 'I don't see why this would come across as a problem though, milady. We are indeed prepared for battle – we have been ever since the news of their threat had reached our ears.'

Akea breathes out deeply, placing her hands over her knees. So deep in thought, the question as to how the message even got into the confines of her castle completely slips her mind.

'What action do you intend we take?'

'We are prepared to fight, of course!'

'Hah, don't be so ridiculous, young man. War cannot simply be waged by paper.'

'What do you mean? We could be attacked at any day, any hour even!'

'Yes, certainly we must take action!'

'Please enlighten us, Konoe-dono.'

Akeakamai opens her eyes again, unaware of how much air she had been holding in all this time. She exhales – the action comfortably unbinding her knotted stresses. 'We will ready our forces and prepare to defend what is rightfully ours with our lives.'

'… your wife,

Akeakamai Date Konoe.'

She hadn't imagined signing even a brief letter of attention would be this formal as she could not for the life of her get used to seeing another name beside hers… or rather a name between both her original names.

Akea secures the scroll in the sharp beak of the vulture before encouraging it with a jerk of her elbow to ascend. She watches the giant wingspan of Reiko's form as he disappears into the distance with her note to Oushuu: the letter carrying contents of her whereabouts and the route she would be taking to the very southern tip of the province.

Mogami's men were reported by the scouts she sent out not long before this morning to have been departing both directly into Yamagata and also from Oushuu, where she was certain the one-eyed dragon would take care of that.

She is shortly found by the house servants who help tighten the armor to her body, giving the metal thorough checks even as she walks to the castle courtyard to address her men. She had arranged to depart in an hour's time, and checking the time of day, she was certain any later would result in the enemy treading filth into her province.

Two hours into travelling with her men to the border between the designated provinces where war was intended to take place, the land was barren. Akeakamai – frowning at the anomaly of there being no men in sight within range – orders her men to conduct a perimeter search. Each of them return unsuccessful.

'There's no one to be sighted, Milady,' one of the soldiers announce, shielding his eyes from the sun with his opened palm.

The calm continues as the army stares into the distance as if calculating some sort of mishap. Had her planning gone by unchecked? She was certain more than anything that she was rather punctual… in fact she had moved out into battle earlier than what she had planned, and yet how could this have happened?

'There's…'

No one here.

The realization is like a blow to the gut. It finally dawns on her that the enemy has instead changed course and invaded from below in Oushuu as an entire unit. She mentally curses herself for being so careless, and orders half the men with her to return to Yamagata Castle – the rest ride on with her to the Southern tip of the province into Oushuu.

How could she have been so blind so as to not have predicted this? Yet the question that haunted her at such a crucial time was how did that message get into the walls of her castle in the first place?

Ξ

Date Masamune yawns, testing his neck as he moves his head back and forth, then in a circular motion. His single eye meets the sky, fixated on the unmoving clouds as they recede and darker clouds come into view. The sight allows him to forget if for a moment why he hadn't as yet heard from the Konoe in Dewa for the past 4 days of her absence… dwelling on the subject only made him more agitated and fueled his childish anger.

He was standing a mile away from the gates of Oushuu's castle to await his opponent, not contemplate on his wife's incompetent messaging.

Kojuurou on the other hand had noticed in this past week the growing attachment his leader had grown toward the white cat of his wife's, Sonano. It was an odd thing in particular to take note of, but somehow this cleared his suspicion of him actually missing the Konoe's presence.

'Wake me up when you spot the bird, Kojuurou,' Masamune announced before collapsing back on the fresh carpet of grass beneath him.

'Yes, Masamune-sama,' he acknowledges his leader's request, also somewhat growing despondent to the matter at hand, however, still being alert for activity.

Kojuurou himself had found the entire ordeal a rather peculiar one. Considering the fact that the vulture of his lord's wife hadn't made an appearance as yet in Oushuu set alarms off in his mind. He kept this observation to himself, squinting slightly afar where a rising shadow sprouted at the foot of the distanced mountain.

He tried to fathom what in the world it could possibly be to realize abruptly that the rising mass was in actuality… an army of men. 'Masamune-sama,' he calls – the alarm in his voice forcing the warlord to his feet.

The one-eyed dragon however grins in response to the site of a few hundred men approaching at considerable speed. 'Now this is exactly what I need to clear my head…' he strides slowly towards the growing mass, drawing 3 swords in each hand.

'Let's party!'

A/N: I've decided to update this fanfiction as punctually as possible. Since I'm also currently so into writing, I must take advantage of my inability to stop, haha. Apologies for how serious and unemotional this chapter has been as well, wars and strategies are a pain. Next chapter though is going to make up for all this, I promise. ^^

Reviews are love, gaizu. They keep me inspired to write, so don't be afraid to write some. Even if it's a simple one, it's still something and I'm always pleased to read them.