I took a few deep breaths before gently rapping on the entrance to the princess's room. I'd run all the way there because Ieyasu had a point. The sooner I made myself useful, the sooner I would earn my place. Maybe if and when the warlords started to trust me a bit more, I would be able to get away with asking a few questions.

"Hello?" Her voice reached me, and somehow I was wistful. A girl living as a girl, absolutely normal. How lucky.

"I'm Botan, your new guard. May I come in?"

"Sure!"

I ducked in to see a girl with a garment draped over her lap and a needle in her hand. "So it's true. A princess who helps with the chores."

She laughed. "I'd go crazy if I sat around doing nothing."

"I see." Was now a good time to bring up the thin walls and the dangers they presented? Likely not.

"So…" She shifted uncomfortably. "You'll be hanging around a lot?"

"Yes. But I'm perfectly content to sit outside your door until I'm needed as an escort wherever you'd like to go. I respect a woman's need for privacy."

Relief spread across her face. "I'd appreciate it."

"That's… a pretty kimono," I commented carefully. "The one you're working on." When was the last time I'd worn one? Ah, I missed them. I'd felt pretty before, wearing flowery pastel garments. It had been a good long time since I'd thought of myself as compatible with that word.

"Do you think so?" She grinned with delight. "I was worried because this was a relatively expensive fabric and I didn't want to risk messing it up, but…" Then she laughed. "You probably don't care about this."

"No, I do." I sat down near her. "I've never had a chance to learn how clothes are made." My mother had said she would teach me at some point, but all I knew now was basic mending.

The princess's eyes lit up. "Okay. Just stop me if you have any questions." For no less than two hours, she took me through the craft of sewing. Some of it, at least. The different tools, the difference of technique when making haori versus hakama, kimono or kosode, color pallets, dying fabric, accessories… My head was pleasantly spinning by the end. "Woah. I'm impressed you've managed to stay engaged!" She interrupted herself midway through an explanation of her dream to design fashions and the motivation behind it. "But I'm going down a tangent I really don't need to go down. So what's your story?"

Pillage, destruction, murder. The standard. "I was offered this job just today. I'm here to protect you, is what I was told, but I think I'm here to keep you company as well." I paused. "Because the warlords might become busier soon."

Mai's face fell. "This is the Sengoku…"

"Hm?" I tilted my head.

"What I mean is that, well, I know that this time period, or this period of time is, er…" She sighed. "I don't want there to be a war, but someone did try to kill Nobunaga. Something is bound to happen. I just hope things can stay calm. As calm as they can, considering who we're dealing with."

"Yes." Hopefully it wouldn't come to that, but… Why else would they bother hiring a bodyguard? I needed to change the subject. It wouldn't do to make Mai feel miserable. "Speaking of him… Nobunaga Oda…"

"Yes?" Her cheeks flushed.

"The two of you are in a relationship."

"I-It's… Yes."

"I respect that. It's your private life, and all that. But. Well. That." I pointed to the wall behind me.

Her brow furrowed with confusion. "What?"

"Noise comes through. Understand?"

She covered her face with her hands, and her next words came out in a squeak. "Yes, I get it. Okay. So let's never talk about this again."

"Yep." No wonder she was so embarrassed. From her perspective, she was talking to a man who was a stranger about her sex life, not a fellow woman. Not that the alternative would be any less mortifying. "So let's say, give me a verbal warning when about to engage or knock five times on a hard surface where I can hear and I'll distance myself so we can both be comfortable but I'll still be able to reach you in the case of emergency."

Mai dropped her hands to her lap. "I'm sorry. I'm sure that wasn't… pleasant for you."

I shook my head. "It's fine." Then I paused. It was just the two of us, and Mai didn't seem naturally suspicious like the warlords. "So… What is it like?"

"What?" Her eyes went wide.

"To… You know."

"I don't think that's an appropriate thing for you to ask about." She glared at me.

"Oh. Oh! No no no! That's not what I meant! I meant, what is it like to be in love with someone!" I needed to just shut my mouth from now on.

"Really?" She looked at me, puzzled.

"I've never… been with anyone. In any way. I'm curious," I mumbled. Girl talk about love. This was my first time. It was both horrible and fun, and I was messing the whole thing up regardless because Mai thought I was a man!

She smiled. "It's… nice."

"Nice," I repeated. How underwhelming.

"It's nice, yes. To have someone you can lean on and whom you can support too. To be able to share every part of yourself with them. It's a kind of happiness that feels like…" She paused. "It's wonderful to have earned it. I want to hold on to it forever." Her face fell. "If I can."

"Why wouldn't you be able to?" Yes, I was already rooting for her. She had something I never could, after all. It would be pretty difficult to try forging a relationship without revealing a certain little fact about myself. Why shouldn't she be happy, then?

"It's complicated. But I do love Nobunaga." She gave me an appraising look. "You've never been with a woman?"

"Er, no."

She looked at me for a few seconds, then she gasped. "Unless you like men! Sorry, I just made an assumption."

Hm. Maybe, in case of emergency, that wouldn't be a bad rumor to spread. Especially since it was true. "Yes. I like men."

"Is that… difficult for you?"

"Well, the fact of the matter is that I'm a ronin. We aren't sociable types to begin with." I smiled. "But pederasty is actually a popular practice within the upper class, particularly the samurai."

Her cheeks had become red again, but she spoke calmly. "But you want to fall in love?"

"I…" I hadn't thought about myself or what I wanted. "The truth is that I don't think it's possible for me. So, that's why I got so excited to hear you talk about it. I'm sorry for being invasive."

"I'm sure we can find someone for you!" She exclaimed, and I jumped.

"Huh?"

"I mean, look at all of the eligible bachelors around us! There must be someone who is at least bisexual if not gay!"

"By… sexual? What are you saying?" This conversation had taken so many wrong turns, and it wouldn't do to have her so excited. I was being too forward, not staying guarded enough. Now wasn't the time to be a girl; I had to keep acting as a man. I was Botan, not Sumire.

"Nothing! Nothing at all." Mai frowned. "How about I make you something new to wear? That, I think, would be the first step in attraction."

"I don't want to pursue a relationship," I said firmly. "I'm sorry to have made it seem otherwise."

"I understand. But still… Those clothes look like they're going to fall apart soon. Even if you're single, no, especially because you're single you should still have an image that makes you feel confident." Her eyes lit up. "How about we go into town tomorrow? You can tell me what fabric you like."

"Okay. Okay then." She clearly didn't want to take no for an answer. "But I'll pay for the fabric and compensate you for your labor, of course." That pouch of coins I'd basically stolen from Hideyoshi was going to come in handy.

"Tomorrow, then!" She grinned. "Do you have any ideas about what you might want?"

"I'll leave it up to you, primarily, but if I see something I like I'll let you know."

"A chance to exercise my creativity! I'll take it," she laughed.

"Oh. But I like to keep my neck covered. Maybe you should know that."

"Why? If you don't mind sharing."

"It makes me feel safer in battle." That was true in a way. It did make me feel safer since it helped hide my gender.

"Alright, alright…" She pulled a sheath of paper into her lap. I'd never seen its exact style of binding before, but that wasn't particularly important. Mai busied herself, hunching over the paper and drawing something. I remained contentedly silent, happy to let her work.

When an insistent tapping came at the door, I approached it while signaling for Mai to stay where she was. It was obviously not an attacker, but it couldn't hurt to get in the practice of making sure Mai didn't put herself into any potential danger.

"It's me," a soft voice said. "Mitsunari."

"What is it?" I asked as I slid the door open.

"Both of you are requested to be present at a war council." Even after knowing him for such a short time, I could understand that his grim expression was uncharacteristic. "Please follow me."

Mai cast a worried glance at me before we trailed after Mitsunari. I situated myself next to Mai towards the back of the room while discreetly glancing at the rest of the warlords. They were all just as tense as Mitsunari was. Geez, what had I gotten involved in? Hopefully it was worth the pay, and I was willing to put up with a lot for that.

Mitushide looked at me suddenly while my eyes were resting on him, and he smiled that predatory smile of his. I jerked back to face forward. The man was terrifying. He stood and began to speak, since everyone was now gathered together.

"We've discovered the culprit behind the attack on Lord Nobunaga's life," he announced casually, as if he were describing that night's dinner menu. "A man called Kennyo. The former abbot of Hongan-ji."

"I met him!" Mai gasped, then cleared her throat when all eyes in the room shot to her. "The night I arrived here, I met him in the woods right outside Azuchi."

"What a coincidence," Mitsuhide snickered. "But that's additional evidence of his guilt, even if it's circumstantial."

"That's not all of the news we have, though." A man dressed in blue stood, and the eyepatch he wore clued me in to his identity. Masamune Date, the one-eyed dragon. Yet another person whose good side I needed to stay on.

"Well don't keep everyone in suspense," Mitsuhide urged.

"The Tiger of Kai and Dragon of Echigo are still alive," Masamune announced.

"Respectively, Shingen Takeda and Kenshin Uesugi," I explained to Mai under my breath once I noticed her puzzled expression, trying to contain my own shock. If this were the case, that meant only one thing. War was coming. A big, bloody, tragic one.

I placed my hand on Mai's arm when she shuddered, and she cast a grateful look at me before, to my surprise, taking my hand. She was scared, and I understood that fear even more than she knew. "It will be alright," I whispered. "I'll protect you."

"You." And then I looked up to find Nobunaga Oda's eyes boring into my face. "What is your name?"

"Lord Nobunaga, this is the guard I informed you about earlier," Hideyoshi supplied.

"I was talking to him, Hideyoshi." Nobunaga gestured to me lamely. "Stand up."

Great. This was just great. "Sir," I said quietly, and kept my arms stiffly at my sides after standing. Now it was me everyone was staring at, with largely varying levels of interest. Mitushide looked incredibly amused while Ieyasu was entirely nonplussed.

"Awfully forward of you, to so casually lay hands on another man's woman," Nobunaga commented.

Seriously? Was this the time? I glanced back at Mai, and she shook her head.

"He's like this sometimes. The people here don't understand the concept of feminism. Nobunaga, the possessive thing really isn't attractive," she said loudly. "Leave Botan alone."

He looked dissatisfied, but not angry. Actually, her scolding seemed to work a bit, as he looked properly abashed. And what, exactly, was feminism? Still, it would be better for me to put his mind at ease. "Respectfully, Lord Nobunaga," I began while bowing at the waist. "Someone like yourself would be more to my taste than Lady Mai, if you take my meaning." Well, it was true.

He laughed. "You should see the expressions of the men around you. Very amusing."

I turned. Needless to say, they were all rather surprised. Mitsunari was an exception, as he was pleasantly clueless about the whole matter and wearing his standard sweet smile. Even Ieyasu no longer looked so bored about the whole thing, though his face settled back into its regular scowl when my eyes fell on him. Mitsuhide was grinning at me, and I couldn't help but glare at him before turning back to Nobunaga.

"A war is coming, correct?" I asked.

"Yes." This came as a shock to no one, naturally. "That's why I see fit to ask you to prove yourself." He stood and drew his sword in a clean motion.

Oh boy. "Milord?" I asked, backing away a few steps even as the rest of those sitting flocked to hug the walls in anticipation of something that could potentially become quite messy.

"Things have changed. It's one thing for you to be assigned to protect Mai during a time of tentative peace. It's another matter entirely for you to dedicate yourself to her during a time of war." He pointed his blade at me, and its dangerous gleam matched the sharp light of his burning eyes. "If you want to run from this responsibility, ronin, then now is your chance. If not, then prove to me that you are worthy of protecting my woman."

I couldn't run. I couldn't just leave a fellow woman here alone, no matter what that meant for my safety. There was finally a reason for my skills with a blade to exist that wasn't entirely self-serving. It was my duty, my desire, to stay. There was a question I needed to answer and a woman whose fear still felt hot on my hand.

That said, I drew the weapon from the leather case on my hip. Murmurs trickled among the observing warlords at the sight of it. A tekko-kagi, a weapon with three blades like claws that I wore on my left hand while a short sword was clutched in my right. Why this little bout of Nobunaga's couldn't have been done with wooden practice swords, I had no clue.

I made eye contact with Mai, and she nodded to me. She understood her lover enough to know that this was necessary. She mouthed something to me, and I nodded acknowledgement to her words. 'Be careful.'

Nobunaga crossed the room in split second although there was a rather large distance between us. I could only block his attack with my short sword with my left arm pressed to my right so I wouldn't buckle beneath his strength, feeling the shock of the blow rattle me. I almost felt it in my teeth as I gritted them. The Devil King… I was clashing blades with a legend!

"Now isn't the time to be distracted, is it?" He murmured, smiling dangerously.

He was too strong. I couldn't continue to face him head on like this. I wouldn't be able to stand up to many more blows like that, and I had a lot riding on performing well. Besides, it wasn't as if I hadn't fought foes who were bigger and stronger than I was before. That was the nature of being a woman in a man's world.

He drew back to strike again in a blow that would do a good job at cleaving an opponent in half if it struck. These were the crucial moments. I leaped back, crouched, and swiped my tekko-kagi at his leg. Obviously I couldn't go stabbing him in the leg or I would probably be executed by an already very distressed Hideyoshi or very excited Masamune, but of course I knew he would jump back in time. I gave chase and jabbed at him again, feigning blows to his torso which he of course blocked at every turn. This was the point when most of my opponents died, impaled and then ripped apart or struck with a sword when they were focused on defending from the tekko-kagi. Nobunaga Oda was no ordinary opponent, however. He could keep track of what both weapons were doing at once.

He let out an amused bark of a laugh, most definitely enjoying himself at this point. That was probably a trait I would find common among the warlords. My ears rang as the shrill squeal of his blade scraping along mine announced a particularly deadly counterattack. My torso was open in this position if I was disarmed, and Nobunaga's batting of my sword with almost enough force to knock it from my hands did just that. I threw myself to the floor, recollecting myself fast enough to block another blow from above. I was only able to get to my own feet because I kicked his own leg out from underneath him and he briefly retreated to get his footing back. He didn't give his opponents time to breathe; it was just a battle without end until Nobunaga's victory.

Of course I'd known from the start that I wouldn't win. That was why I didn't go around making enemies with warlords. The goal was just to last long enough to prove that I could defeat a lesser opponent. Still, I was the first one to get tired while Nobunaga seemed to gain energy from battle rather than lose it. It ended when, after taking one more of his monstrous blows, my arms gave out. Nobunaga's blade was at my throat while the tekko-kagi was edged against his arm without biting into flesh, though in real combat my death would have been repaid with nothing but a gouge on his part.

"You're dead," he declared.

"And the next powerful opponent will kill you, with this hole in your arm," I replied.

"Hm." He kicked out with a foot and sent me crashing to the ground by sweeping my feet.

"Was that necessary?" I groaned.

Nobunaga laughed, sheathed his sword and pulled me to my feet. "I've never seen a tekko-kagi used as a primary weapon of choice instead of a katana." His eyes shone with interest. "I'd like to see more."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Also, did this mean I was retaining my job? The way he was slapping my back seemed to be fairly good indication, even though I now had to hide how much that hurt.

"I had been wondering what was in that case of yours," Hideyoshi commented as the spectators rejoined us.

I nodded, retrieved my short sword and cased all my blades neatly and safely. "Yep." I was just glad he didn't ask what was in the extra pouches at my waist, as they were filled with poisons I'd ground up myself and might come off as a wee suspicious.

"Are you okay?" Mai touched my arm.

A few bruises were inevitable, but I would count myself lucky to have escaped from a spar against the Devil King with just that. "I'm fine." I chuckled as Nobunaga seized her by the waist and pulled her to him. An incurably jealous man, it seemed. How very… human of him.

"Tell me your full name," Nobunaga ordered me as he played with a lock of Mai's hair.

"Botan. I've no family name." And no family, that statement implied. The Shinanoki family was almost all gone. I was the only one to remain. Without worrying about semantics, I could say that Botan indeed had no family name. Sumire Shinanoki did, but not my male alias.

He nodded. "You'll be a useful blade. Protect Mai with your life."

"Yes." The pounding in my head and chest faded now that the struggle was over for the moment. We were all going to war, and I wasn't foolish enough to think that I wouldn't be drawing my blades again. Oddly enough, I wasn't afraid. This was something real to fight for, for the first time. If I could keep my life, maybe, just maybe, I would find meaning here.