Okay, I'm updating, please don't hurt me Galhara, haha. To you and everyone else reading this, I have to say thank you!
Anyway, I know what you're here for. I do not own Sengoku Basara
Chapter Four: A Castle Full of Snakes
If Lady Noh noticed my sluggish muscles and actions through the week, she didn't make mention of them, but instead allowed me to practise with Ranmaru, our wooden swords colliding at dizzying speeds. "You have to keep a steady guard." I lectured, well aware of hidden eyes on us.
"Easy for you to say, you've been doing this for ten years!"
"So listen to me and work on your guard."
Dropping my bokken back to my side, I moved to the edge of the training circle, taking a long sip of the water waiting for us. I wanted to retreat back into my room, hide among the covers and just sleep the rest of the day away. Holding my head in my hand, I didn't notice Ranmaru creep to my side, looking at me with an odd mix of concern and humour.
"Getting too old for this?"
"Hardly, just a little warm. Fancy helping me cajole Lady Noh into letting us go swimming?" Giving a thoughtful frown, Ranmaru took a sip of his own water, looking at the open door with a look of longing.
It wasn't so much the fact that we would be far from the castle, seeing as the mountain runoff made for brilliant swimming water, nor the worry that we could be kidnapped and held for ransom as pawns against the Oda, but simply that neither of us were sensible enough to know when it was time to leave the relaxing cool depths and return to the scalding heat of the sun.
Mind you, it had provided Gracia with so many hours of spiteful entertainment, poking any exposed sunburns she saw until Lady Noh snapped at her. And if anyone could convince Lady Noh that we'd be careful, it was Ranmaru. Being the youngest in the army came in handy sometimes, so long as you didn't overdo it.
Unfortunately for me, swimming was not on the agenda, because as we were walking back through the halls, Mitsuhide cornered the pair of us. "Ah, I was hoping to find you two. Ranmaru, Lady Kicho has been asking for you. Off you go."
"Don't talk to me like I'm a kid." All the same, he left, looking apologetically over his shoulder ashe went to see what Lady Noh wanted.
Turning back to me, Mitsuhide gave one of his sickly grins. "Lord Oda has returned and wishes to speak to you, Young Blade." Leaving me in the hallway alone, Mitsuhide carried on walking, heading in the direction Ranmaru had just gone. Glaring a hole into his back, I remained still, but eventually made my feet budge.
Seeing as my rooms were on the way there, I made sure to tidy my appearance and grab my actual, metal sword before slipping my house sandals on. It was all very well and good to train barefoot, but you didn't present yourself as such to your boss, especially when he was most likely tired and short tempered from his absolute destruction of Mino.
Once inside the throne room, I felt Lord Oda's eyes on me instantly, not even letting up when I bowed low. "Ranmaru's training is coming along well."
"Yes my Lord, but he would benefit from an actual teacher. I can only teach him so far."
"Perhaps." Deeming it safe to, I raised my gaze, just as he got up from his throne. "I understand you had Gracia enquire after the Sanada ninja?"
That snitch! "Yes my Lord."
Snorting slightly at the clipped tones, Lord Oda returned to his throne, a fresh jug of sake in his hand. Motioning me closer, he indicated I should start pouring into his cup. Or rather, the skull he was holding upside down. As I did so, his gruff voice began to echo through the hall again. "You're very alike, you and Sarutobi."
The base of the skull now filled, I pulled back on the jug, returning my face to an indecipherable mask whilst Lord Oda drank, and held it out for another serving. "How so?"
"One master for the majority of your lives, and death. Lots of it."
"Then I may as well be compared to his master, Yukimura, my Lord." My tones were the most I'd ever use against him, and Lord Oda knew it, explaining his laughter as he took his second mouthful.
"Ah yes, you don't relish being involved with ninjas, do you?"
"A ninja's loyalty is easily bought. Sarutobi only stays with Sanada for the money, and not for any sentimentality." The snort Lord Oda gave made me look up, the sake running unrestrained through the eyeholes of the skull. Catching myself, I tilted the jug back up, and put it on the floor next to me.
"And you Sayomi? Do you remain here for the money?"
Hard eyes were staring into me, the answer not so much asked for as demanded, with the wrong words ending my life instantly. "It would be a foolish girl who betrayed you, and I do not consider myself a fool."
"Hmm, good answer." Releasing my breath, I returned to standing in front of him, carefully watching his face. That was the trick with Lord Oda, if he looked calm, you were safe. If he looked angry, you either ducked, or hid behind Ranmaru. "What are your thoughts on Azai Nagamasa?"
Azai Nagamasa…his brother in law. A justice obsessed fool who had no ambition, and cared little for the strife surrounding him unless it hit him directly. What Lord Oda wanted me to say though, was another story. "I think he's very…honourable."
"Your silver tongue serves you well, but not around me. Now, what do you honestly think?"
Smirking lightly, I counted the man's various attributes on the fingers, earning a rare, sincere grin from Lord Oda. A small bit of pride rose up in me, lasting long after the smile. "I sent Gracia to run a message for me. My enemies have been idle."
"That's good news, isn't it?"
"On the contrary, I believe they're too busy attending to the political side of warfare to jump to arms." An alliance. My brow furrowed in thought slightly, totting up those with the power and ambition to stand against the Oda.
There was Takeda and Uesugi to consider, the two major forces to the east, the only forces now that the Hojo were gone. "As strong as they are, I don't think that even the Takeda or Uesugi could stand against us. We do have Tokugawa on our side." Now that was a battle I could look forwards to, especially if my…friend was in attendance.
Lord Oda fixed me with a look, before examining his skull-cup. Just as I was moving to refill it for him, he set it on the table next to him, leaving it abandoned as he stood up. "Examine this situation like a soldier not a child. Take as long as you want." Sweeping past me, Oda never halted, his hand merely tapping my shoulder as he went.
Examine the situation like a soldier, not a child.
The words bounced around my mind, even while I stared down at a map, comparing it to the reports I'd pulled from the shelves. To think like a general, I'd even sat myself in the map room, a cup of cooling tea on the table next to me. Faintly I heard another voice, a man speaking softly as though telling a bedtime story.
"Think of their characters; see them as human, if only for the thinking."
The Uesugi, a powerful but old clan who were led by someone powerful enough to call himself the War God and get away with it. Yet they cared little about more than keeping their home province safe, and maintaining a rivalry with the next major clan.
The Takeda, another old name with a similar level of power. This balance meant they were locked in a stalemate with the Uesugi, but unlike their neighbours, they seemed to want to unify the country, even though it was highly likely Takeda Shingen would be dead before then.
With this in mind, I surveyed the map, biting my lip sharply. As far as I could see, even if both clans were to give their all, with the might of both the Oda and Tokugawa against them, any alliance amounted to zilch, zippo, nada.
So why was Lord Oda concerned about his enemies, when there was were few that could-My mind suddenly snapped to Yoshimoto's death, the young man who held the gaze of the Demon King,
"Oh…" I whispered, aware the door had opened behind me. "The Date…"
"What about them?" Ranmaru asked, suddenly plonking down beside me.
"If he makes a charge at us, acting as a vanguard, the combined force could get round Tokugawa and head right for us. But if the Azai were there, we have a viable defence." Pleased with my synopsis of events, I collected the reports I'd pulled out, starting to put them back on the shelves. "What did Lady Nohime want?"
"Nothing," At my confused glance, Ranmaru elaborated, "It was just Mitsuhide trying to distract me so you could have your meeting with Oda. On the plus side, it meant I could ask her about swimming."
"And?"
"It's a no."
Groaning softly, I gestured for the next batch, feeling them pressed into my hand. "Well now what are we supposed to do?"
Hiding in the eaves above Azai's head, Gracia holds her breath all through the impromptu meeting he is having with her new friend, Sarutobi Sasuke. She's lying to herself if she said the amount of information he (and therefore Takeda) has on Oda's plan does not worry her. The Demon Kinghimself has yet to move towards Asakura land, but they already know he plans to.
This just made Nagamasa more of a fool, Gracia decides, wishing she could scoff at his naiveté. Just because he is married to Oda's sister, it doesn't make his friends immune from the Devil King's ambition.
As she shifts her weight, the ninja briefly wonders how she would break the news of Azai's betrayal to her boss, just as her worries come to naught. After Sasuke disappears into the night, presumably to transport the angry refusal into Takeda's ear, Gracia makes her entrance, dropping in between the door and Azai, the sword point hovering an inch from her bare throat as she lands.
"A fine way to treat your allies, Lord Nagamasa." Behind the samurai lord, Lady Oichi raises her head, registering Gracia's face with a light gasp. Nodding a greeting, the ninja moves the tip of the sword away with her finger, instead fixing
Azai with an innocent smirk. "I bring a message from Lord Oda."
"I suppose my loyalty is in question?" Azai snaps, the flash of rage behind his eyes obvious.
"Considering you just had an enemy ninja in your company and he walked out of here alive after talking about an alliance against of all people, your own brother, the doubt is justified. Not to mention your ranting about the Mino campaign."
Leaving the man to ponder those words, Gracia moves her acid gaze, staring calmly at Oichi, who has changed little from their last meeting, the attempt to meld yukata and armour in a strange mix of pink and silver still very prevalent. Unlike Mitsuhide's daughter, Oda's sister seems at ease in a domestic setting, her voice soft and her hair flawlessly groomed into a hime cut worthy of the noblest of women.
Stepping between the ninja and his wife, Azai fixes her with a hard glare. She has entered his house, spied on a meeting and then insulted his loyalty. Really he should look angrier, but that is all part of his boyish charm. "I have no interest in the alliance to encircle Oda, ninja. Now leave before I call the guards."
"Of course Lord Nagamasa. Lady Oichi, I wish you well."
Getting to her feet, Gracia opens the door, but freezes when Oichi speaks again. "Goodbye Tama." Fixing her features back into the mask of indifference, the ninja nods, and then steps outside, swallowed by the darkness once more.
Unknown Source
As it turned out, it was relatively easy to find something to do. Without the prospect of a good long dip to push us out of bed in the morning, Ranmaru and I were completely and utterly desperate for some form of entertainment, and ended up in one of the largest trees in the garden, dangling upside-down from a branch and gauging our chances of hitting the target.
While an average markswoman at the best of times, my arrows deviated at a much wider spread than Ranmaru's, who was giggling at the amount of blood starting to go to his head.
Of course, at that stage we abandoned any pretence of archery, and just dangled, watching our world from this new perspective. Sure a couple of servants passed occasionally, raising eyebrows at our decidedly non-general like behaviour, but ultimately left us to it. "Hey," Ranmaru gasped, jabbing my arm.
Taking a look at his face, and jolting right way up at the shade of red he was turning, I hastily pulled him back to sitting on the branch, breathing hard at my own head rush. Loud shots rang from the other end of the training grounds, the arquebus core reloading at a yell from their leader. Covering my ears as they squeezed on the trigger, I saw Ranmaru do the same, the target they were aiming at most likely decimated from such an onslaught.
Catching his eye, I gestured to the door, receiving a nod in return. No point in talking if we had to pause every five minutes to let them shoot. Searching for the branch we'd used to get up there, I spied Gracia moving across the garden. Pointing her out to Ranmaru, I pressed a finger to my lips. "Is it just me, or does she look like she doesn't want to be seen?"
"Shouldn't she be in Azai's territory? It's a two day journey." Two days on a horse, but if you were tree hopping, that time frame went down considerably. Especially considering who we were talking about. "Maybe she's going to bed?" Ranmaru supplied, "If she's only just reported to Oda-"
"Then why all the cloak and dagger?" I whispered back, slipping out of the tree just as another round of shots went out. Above my head, I knew Ranmaru was shaking his head, probably murmuring about my paranoia.
Even so, Gracia was giving me more than enough reason to be suspicious, no matter how casual she tried to be. Leaving my sandals abandoned underneath the deck, I cautiously followed the ninja, sticking close to the doors in case she turned and I needed to duck into one.
Just as I was beginning to think I might be getting away with it, another gunshot sounded, out of rhythm with the rest of the squad. Jumping sharply, I didn't put my foot down right, and stubbed my toe on a loose board. The small groan of pain I gave was enough to convince Gracia she was being followed, and she quickly turned around, just missing me as I shot into the guest room next to me, biting my lip at the impossible amount of pain throbbing from my toe.
Never one to be pleased by just a passing glance, Gracia turned on her heel, her footsteps coming closer to the door I hadn't closed, the shadow she cast on the screen long and threatening. Just as her fingers curled around the frame, a voice joined her in the hallway. "Gracia, what was taking you so long?"
Closing my eyes, both in relief I hadn't been discovered, and annoyance that of all people I now owed Mitsuhide a favour, I narrowly missed Gracia's answer. "You try sneaking around here, Father. This place has more snakes than a street performer's basket."
"You weren't followed were you?"
"Give me a little credit. I know how to stay out of sight." Grinning to myself, I recalled Gracia's Achilles' heel. The woman had more pride than befitted her station as a ninja.
"So why do you seem so jumpy?" There was another round from the arquebus core, the answer lost in the din. Either way, it was enough to satisfy Mitsuhide, who carried on talking. "What news from Azai?"
"He's still loyal. A bit worried about the attack on Asakura though. Oda's planning to send you for ah, negotiations shall we say."
"Good. And the rest of the plan?"
"So far so good. The men are ready to move at your say so, Father."
I could almost hear Mitsuhide's grin in his next words, "Wonderful. It's going better than I had dared hope."
Just as I was beginning think this was a perfectly innocent wartime conversation between a father and daughter, Mitsuhide froze my heart with mere words. "Soon Lord Oda's plans for the country will come to an end." The rest of the discussion passed with a blur, neither ninja nor general noticing the small shivering shadow inside the very room they were next to.
Even after they'd parted ways, Gracia's suspicion over being followed forgotten, I remained huddled by the door, until the gong for dinner was struck, and I forced myself out of the position.
