Chapter Fourteen: The Death of a Traitor
Yawning widely, I sat up in bed, letting the quilt fall off me. Stretching wide, I automatically winced at the soreness in my shoulders, rubbing the affected area. Ah geez, I'd be lucky if I could attend training this morning. Then again, if the rumours Kasumi had brought back with her after patrol were any indication, the Young Cub and the One Eyed Dragon would be in even worse shape.
With this thought in mind, I began getting dressed, cursing as my strained muscles made the job harder than it had any real right to be. Lady Noh had made getting dressed in the morning into an art, and had tried to teach me the same thing, but for now, I was content just to take my time.
Besides, I grinned happily, opening the screen wide and letting the sun in, today was the day I was free of my shadows. Keeping this hope at the forefront of my mind, I stepped outside, running my fingers through my hair as I walked towards the breakfast rooms.
Or I would've been, if someone hadn't been waiting for me. Dangling her legs off the decking, much like I had been doing last night, was a small figure, wrapped in silks far richer than what suited her. With a smirk half cocked (nothing could ruin today, not even a spirit), I leant against the pillar next to her, nudging the ghost with my foot. "And how may I help you?"
My voice had startled her, which was obvious from her reaction alone. A slight flinch, but she quickly gathered her dignity, leaping up and wrapping her arms around my waist. "It's you, it's really, really you! I wasn't sure the first time, but it's really you!" Once her initial excitement was over, I took a look at her face, noting that she appeared to be just a little older than the last spirit, but perhaps only by a year or so.
"Who else would I be?"
Blinking up at me, the little girl stared confusedly, "You don't remember me?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but was stopped by a call from the breakfast table. "Hey kid, if you want your portion, I'd hurry up, Yukimura's eying it!"
"Lord Masamune, I am doing no such thing!" Torn between groaning and laughing, I turned back, intending to answer the small ghost, only to find her gone, much like before. It was my turn to blink in confusion, looking over my shoulder as I entered the hall, eyes searching the gardens to no avail.
My strange behaviour must've been noticed, because the sound of hashi clinking against bowls stopped until I sat down, moving my gaze and finding that my portion had been left thankfully untouched. "Everything alright, kid?"
"I thought I- I'm fine." Fixing my smile back on, I started on the most important meal of the day, getting an additional burst of pride when I didn't jump at the slight breeze that announced Sasuke's entrance. "I've just received word from one of my ninja core," We all turned at his sombre tone, noting his unusually stiff posture for the early hour. "Tokugawa Ieyasu has been killed."
There was the sound of china shattering, breaking the sudden silence the room descended into. Master Katakura and Masamune glanced at me, the shards of my bowl going unnoticed on the table. Ieyasu…dead? "H-how?"
"It was Akechi Mitsuhide. When Tokugawa formally broke his alliance with Oda, Akechi appeared as the Devil King's proxy, and cut down the unarmed Tokugawa without hesitation." Sasuke glanced at me, giving his apology with a respectful nod. I let my eyes close and my head drop, fists opening and closing in my lap as I bit back the tears.
However, Yukimura seemed to be having a harder time of it, voice taut with emotion, "Lord Ieyasu…such disappointment his loyal retainers must be suffering! Such heartache!"
"Then that means Akechi is not taking part in Oda's invasion of Kyushu." Master Katakura thought aloud, unintentionally reminding Sasuke of something,
"According to reports, it's not just him. Two others have been conspicuous in their absence. Oda's wife Nohime, and an archer named Ranmaru."
That wasn't right… "Oda took Gracia with him?"
"Gracia?" All eyes turned to me, confusion heavily evident. That meant the secret weapon of the Oda was a bigger secret than I'd thought, and I was about to reveal it. Covering my scars with one hand, I gave a swallow, knowing there was no going back from here. "Akechi's daughter, the shinobi that stopped me from killing Sasuke at Nagashino, and the one ninja Oda has an inkling of trust towards, and even that's little."
"So there's three of his elite generals and his freaking ninja still in the land?" Masamune groaned, "Perfect."
Meanwhile, Lord Takeda seemed to have given up on the meal getting back on track, and as the servants cleared the table and my bowl up, he began surmising Oda's plan, "While the bulk of his forces attack Kyushu, it is possible that he dispatched those other four against us, as our forces are still recovering and regrouping after Nagashino."
"Crush the eastern alliance, and take us down one by one." "
In that case," Masamune smirked, either unaware of or choosing to ignore Master Katakura's obvious concern, "Who'll be their next target? Old Man Takeda, yours truly, or maybe…"
"Lord Kenshin," Sasuke finished, looking to Lord Takeda, "I've sent him word."
"Good, then we can only prepare for an assassin in the night, or an attack by day." Nodding, we all got to our feet, the men leaving the room one by one until I alone remained. "Am I to understand you and Lord Ieyasu were close?"
My mind grinded to a startling halt as thunder crashed in the background. Close? I absently touched my lips, remembering the last New Year's and the cheer we'd all felt. Enough that for once it wasn't about whether we were dealing with war or not, it was just about celebrating life. For once, we could act like smitten teenagers. And then there was our promise… "We ar-were friends. You tend to latch onto the people the same age as you." I shrugged, trying my hardest to appear nonchalant. People die, but you have to buck up and move on, praying that the next life lost isn't your own.
Then why was it that an hour later, I found myself huddled outside in the rain, arms wrapped tight as I sobbed? I'd been so happy at the prospect of getting my marks removed, of being able to pick a side for myself rather than because I was raised to, I hadn't given a thought to my friends.
As if Oda would let Ieyasu's treachery go unpunished, especially after what he had done to Tadakatsu-
My eyes may have been leaking, but they widened considerably as I thought hard. As his hold over the land grew more absolute, Oda's patterns were changing. He no longer put every asset into a battle, leaving some behind to continue his dirty work elsewhere, and executing traitors rather than allowing them to survive.
If what Masamune predicted came true, then it was just as likely that I was now a target also. My musing was broken by a loud cry from Lord Takeda, but other than that I only caught a few words, such as dike and water level. Oda had admired the Dragon King's Dike, to the extent that he had sent Gracia to copy plans for it if such a need for one in Gifu arose.
Shortly after, Lord Takeda headed out, yelling instructions for Yukimura to follow with more supplies. So why then was such an admirable defence weakened by a little rain, even while it was still in construction? Lips firmly set in a line; I slowly pulled my sword out, suddenly wary of the empty garden.
Something stank, and I knew it wasn't the rain.
Getting to my feet, I held the blade in front of me, forcing my eyes to remain open despite the torrential rain as I edged closer to the house. As I got onto the decking, heart in my mouth, I very nearly collided with one of the maids coming out of the room, arms full of washing. Her eyes looked at my rain plastered hair and then down at my sword, screaming as she leapt away. "Sorry," I murmured, dropping it down to my side.
"I-It's okay, miss." Bowing low and hastily backtracking, the maid rushed towards the corner, freezing at my next, suspicion filled call,
"Why are you doing the washing in the rain? This storm looks set to last the entire night."
Any real servant would've told me that the wet items would be hung up inside, close to the kitchen so that the heat dried them quicker. And to be perfectly honest, that wasn't the real thing that had tapped at my paranoia.
After all, what maid goes into a meeting room and comes out with dirty laundry?
Having apparently spotted her mistake, the maid released her bundle, not moving as it evaporated into smoke at her feet. As she whirled around, the rest of her disguise disappearing, I was only just able to get my sword up, blocking Gracia's kunai before it lodged into my throat. "You always were too curious for your own good." She snapped, untucking her knife from the back of her sash. "But your nose has finally landed you in trouble."
I didn't dare speak, too fearful l that I'd be distracted and end up dead because of it. Taking my silence with a grin, Gracia began to move closer to me, the wink of her knife hypnotising in its shine. "I should feel cheated, Father gets the Tiger of Kai, Nohime and Ranmaru share the prize of the War God, but all I get is a worthless traitor that Matsunaga couldn't deal with, even after I'd handed her to him. Pathetic."
Our blades clashed a second later; mine the longer and thus more dangerous, but hers the faster. Whenever I parried a blow, I'd only just have time to adjust my angle, Gracia's strikes forcing me further and further back until we were both off the decking, the wet sand providing no edge to stand on.
Dodging yet another slash, I only realised she'd actually cut me after the pain hit, a small bit of blood staining my sleeve, Gracia grinning like a maniac, "I haven't seen you bleed for a while. Even my work on your hand didn't look so beautiful."
"I should've known it was you," I grunted, searching for a hole in her defences, "Anything else you want to share?"
I really didn't expect her to grin like she did, "Just one, Sarutobi should know better than to escort an unknown woman this close to her target."
The seconds began to pass in a blur then, a mess of slashes, grunts and swearing, some Japanese and some Portuguese. Finally though, I managed to knock her knife away, the blade landing too far away for her to grab without risking my sword. That was the good news.
The bad news was that my muscles were starting to ache again, and despite her preference for a short blade in her hand, Gracia was no slouch when it came to hand to hand, or in this case, fist to stomach. Doubling over from the strength of the punch, I couldn't fight back when she swept her foot across the sand, knocking my legs from under me.
The second my back hit the floor, her foot was on my wrist, forcing me to release my sword, which she quickly kicked away. "And Oda wanted me to have help. Now to settle our debt at last." Keeping me pinned with her foot, Gracia produced another knife from her thigh holster, bringing it closer to my face,
"Maybe I shouldn't kill you," She whispered, tapping the underside of my eye with the tip.
When I squirmed, any trace of courage gone, she dug the tip in slightly, halting my movements. "After all, it'd be pretty funny to see you running blind."
"Oda didn't send you." I slowly breathed, receiving a huge amount of relief when Gracia removed her foot, getting back into a standing position.
Considering her hand still held a knife, I was careful to keep my movements slow as I edged myself into a sitting position, not exactly eager to have that thing close to my face again. "He makes examples of traitors, but he doesn't kill them."
"You still believe that, even after what happened to darling little Takechiyo? Neither of you are worth a thing to him now. Oda wouldn't take you back if you begged him." A grin moved across her face, "Mind you, with your family's track record, that really shouldn't be surprising."
Face heavily flushing, I forced myself up, using the momentum and her shock to my advantage, throwing kicks and punches at every part of her body, until for the second time that night, her knife was on the floor, and she was reeling backwards, my foot slowly returning to the floor as she gasped.
I was content to let her reach for something at her side, clenching and unclenching my fists as I slowly retreated to where my sword lay, my knees just bending so I could grab it when Gracia threw the first bomb. Abandoning my weapon and rolling away, I swore at the smell pricking my nose, uninterested in being reminded of what happened at Nagashino, or to see Gracia's poisonous aura.
That's when it hit me, about the same time that the second projectile was flung. It had been Gracia who had sealed away my overactive empathy in the first place, and she was one of a select few who knew about the shadows.
"How long have you been planning this?" I hissed, quickly stepping to one side to avoid the various knives she was throwing. "For how long have you been trying to send me insane?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She smirked, tossing one of her bombs up and down, moving closer with every catch and revealing how different this container was from the ones before it. Her aura was shining with a sickly purple, showing just how much she was enjoying this. "And the best part? I barely had to lift a finger. You were the one who left her bokken behind and got lost in the rain. You were the one who went out with Father Haru and saw the dying woman. You were the one to foolishly risk her life to save a lovesick fool who was never in any real danger. All I had to do was follow and pour the antidote in the right places and watch the results. Oh wait, I'm forgetting something."
Her fingers closed around the bomb once more, unaware of the approaching shadow in the tree behind her, toting a single knife, "And that is?" I snapped, waiting for Kasumi to throw the damn thing and get this over with.
"I told Yamato to wait until the next day before returning home, on your orders of course." There was a dreadful silence then, none of us moving as I processed what Gracia had just said. And in fact, if there hadn't have been, things might've turned out very different.
Instead, Kasumi risked creeping closer, only for a bolt of lightening in the distance behind her light up the area, revealing her shadow to Gracia, who whipped round, arm immediately reaching for another knife to throw.
Unfortunately, Noburo, who'd been creeping over the roof, saw the action and flung his first, missing her neck, but sailing straight through her wrist. The bomb dropped from her usually stiff grip, and before I knew what I was doing, I was running towards her, unwilling to let her die despite everything she had done. Not while I could still beat her to a bloody pulp for it, not while she could tell us everything Oda was planning.
Mistaking the action, Daisuke came out of nowhere, dragging me to the ground with him. "Don't be a fool!" He yelled, covering my head as the vial finally hit the ground, Gracia screaming in agony as the gunpowder mixed with the solution.
Clenching my eyes closed, I turned into Daisuke's stomach, hands covering my ears in a useless attempt to tune her shrieking out. Knowing Gracia, her bombs were filled not just with an explosive punch, but oil that would splash onto any survivors, so that the initial blast would ignite their skin and faces, causing them more pain.
I heard Kasumi yelling for water, and feet slamming against the decking as Noburo hastened to obey the order, the rain slowing to a halt just when it was actually needed. There was frantic scrabbling too, evidently an attempt to quell the flames with sand.
Keeping me turned away, Daisuke pulled us into a sitting position, just as the rest of the vials in Gracia's pack caught, and her screaming went silent but for a low moaning. Shaking off his grip, I turned away from Daisuke and crept closer, just as loud calls came from the front of the house. "Get Lord Shingen and Master Sanada inside, men!"
The trio of ninjas turned at the sound, but a low chuckle came from the pile of burnt flesh still recognisable as Gracia. Just. "Father must've failed. Oh well."
With her smile still in place, her eyes closed for the last time, and the rise of her chest slowed to a halt.
As I stared down at her, the shivering that had been previously kept at bay finally began, teeth chattering as I knelt at her side. She was raw red, but her clothes were practically undamaged, which just made the image more jarring. While the ninjas edged closer, curious about what I was doing, I tucked my finger at the back of Gracia's neck, tugging the small chain's catch into the open, unhooking it and pulling the entire thing free.
Once it was, I balled the crucifix up into my fist, ignoring the searing heat, transferring it into Gracia's before the body became too stiff for me to do this.
Closing her charred fingers around it, I felt the material of her hand protector, untouched by the flames as the other had been.
They weren't part of her uniform officially; she'd actually bought them on a rare outing with me and Ranmaru, her face lighting up as soon as she saw them. The price had been too steep for her to afford, but she was also too proud to go back to the castle for more money, or reveal her rank in an attempt to get them for free. So she'd asked us.
Ranmaru had refused, wanting to save his money for precious things like sweets, but the traders Oda sometimes dealt with weren't expected for another few weeks, and I'd had yet to see anything I wanted in the market, so I'd handed my pocket money over, rewarded with a grin from Gracia as she finally claimed her prize for the first time.
"Here's a promise, Sayomi." She smirked, watching Ranmaru munching on his dango stick, "They're yours when I die." My heart had fallen then; after all, I'd thought her untouchable. But here we were, her dead, and me alive.
With a glance to Kasumi, I silently relayed my wish, and she nodded, helping me ease the right one off before we crossed Gracia's arms across her chest, and transferred her to the stretcher when Noburo brought it. Her knives were collected, and after a moment's hesitation, Noburo held them out to me, seemingly glad when I refused to take them.
The silence around us was suffocating, even with Daisuke's murmured condolences when he clasped my shoulder, watching Kasumi move to help Noburo take her body inside. Nodding numbly, I slipped the glove on, noting how loose it seemed. "This shouldn't have happened." I whispered, looking down in an attempt to hide my thoughts. "None of this should've happened!"
And yet it had. Gracia was only twenty years old, and despite her crimes against me and the rest of Japan, she was still a human being, she still had loved ones. The ninja she spoke about when I had gone to her for advice regarding Ieyasu, eyes glittering as she recounted every detail. And her father…Who knew how he'd take this news? His only child was dead, so soon after her mother's death and the destruction of their homeland.
Was this the world Oda really wanted? A world with no-one left to enjoy its wonder, where even those closest to him turned against each other? Heart pulsing with new determination, I clenched my fist, feeling the material bunch around my palm.
If being a traitor meant stopping that world from appearing, then I'd happily accept the title.
