Chapter Forty-Two: The New Arrival


Staring down his naginata shaft, Hanzo slowly began circling me, his grip occasionally adjusting itself as he pondered his first strike. Finally, he decided to lunge at me with the blade striking upwards, my feet forced to move back quickly, or risk losing my wrists. From there, the lunges got more and more forceful, my blade constantly having to switch from angle to angle to keep up until he got a lucky strike, the blunted edge of the practise weapon striking against the very same arm Mitsunari had, my bokken dropping to the mats as I swore quietly.

"Ha! Told you Hanzo would beat her! Pay up guys."

"Saburo are you seriously gambling with them?" Hanzo asked, actually dropping his own weapon with what he was seeing. "You're supposed to be practising!"

Sitting guiltily in the centre of a large group of children, Asuka and Chihiro, Saburo gave a tiny shrug, still holding his coin purse, "I'm practising my blending."

"Are you hell, now grab your weapon and actually exercise." Mock saluting as he picked his way through the crowd, Saburo glanced at his ill-gotten gains before chucking it behind him, slouching the rest of his way over. The gap he left was immediately filled in, the excited chatter only increasing when he pulled a set of claws from the weapons chest, strapping them over his knuckles before raising them in a fighting stance. Unlike our wooden tools, his were made of an inexpensive metal that would and had bent several times before snapping.

Shaking his head as he bounced on his heels, Saburo looked at the pair of us, "You know, if it weren't for the costumes, I wouldn't even be doing this."

"Yes, because the night truly couldn't be complete without your bare chest being presented to our horror." Asuka heckled, setting the kids off. Shushing them, Mizu couldn't keep the grin off her own face, though she kept it pointed at her fletching.

Everyone over the age of fifteen knew that if Saburo got any closer to hinting about what he really wanted to see, then knowing his luck, one of the kids would repeat it in front of their mother, and he'd suddenly find it difficult to sit down for a while. As it was he was going to be disappointed, because the show we were preparing might have been for the amusement of the little ones, but real weapons were involved, and that meant we had to dress sensibly.

But of course, only a truly sadistic person would tell him well in advance and watch his dreams get crushed this early in the proceedings, right?

Grinning widely, I collected my thoughts, centring on his chest for my attack. Keeping an eye on the wooden blade, Saburo clapped his hands together, anticipating an easy victory. Unfortunately, I had a surprise waiting up my sleeve.

Just as we prepared to move for the kill, Asuka's mother appeared in the doorway, looking around furiously until she spotted her daughter, "Asuka, go grab Nobu from the storehouse." Taking a breath, she finally nodded, "Chiyome's having the baby."

All hell broke loose. Asuka shot off through the door, her feet barely touching the ground, while the kids began to chatter excitedly, Mizu grabbing the twins by the waist before they could follow, "But we wanna see the baby!"

"You will, but your mommy has to…sort him out first."

"Really Mizu?" Saburo had to shout to be heard over the din, but the way he was waving his arms got the message across pretty well too. Raising hers in a 'so arrest me' kind of gesture, she looked round at all the kids, finally placing two fingers in her mouth and releasing a piercing whistle. Almost instantly, the noise cut, everyone turning to look at her.

"I'm positive Chiyome will let you see the baby when she's ready. In the meantime, your parents will probably want you home soon." At the loud groans they all let out, she just put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes, sending all of them running for the door. Only Sora and Tsukiko were left, looking around a little lost.

"You'd be a good mother." Saburo nodded, ducking when the glare was centred at him the intensity rising, "Hey, did Kiyoshi or Daichi have Hotaru with them? I'd better go check…"

"Good plan." Hanzo advised, helpfully standing to one side so he could escape with ease. Waiting for him to go, I gently ruffled Tsukiko's pigtails, scrunching my face up playfully when they both looked up,

"How about you pair come and have a sleepover with us?"

"But we wanna see the baby!" Sora pouted. Rolling my eyes and letting Hanzo take over, I noticed Chihiro signing furiously, Itsuki and Ranmaru looking more concerned with each gesture.

Edging over, I caught the tail end of the 'conversation', Itsuki glancing at me as she whispered, "Babies born at that stage turn out perfectly fine. Chiyome will be fine."

"Chihiro's done the maths," Ranmaru explained, gesturing so she knew I was behind her.

"What's the problem?" I asked, directing the question at Chihiro. Chewing her lip, she placed a hand on her stomach, and then a pair of fingers, moving them to her left. "Baby's early?" She nodded, miming a slice across her stomach, grimacing fiercely.


After tucking the twins away in my room, and Ran and Itsuki were out on a walk, promising to be back before it got too late, I dragged out the last sake flask from the store, plonking it on the table as I flopped back down. Looking at it with a raised eyebrow, Mizu snorted when I held it up, shaking her head,

"You're worrying about nothing. If, and I do mean if, they have to cut the baby out, it's not the end of the world."

"As much as it pains me, my darling sister is correct," Hanzo sighed, taking a cup for himself, "The twins couldn't seem to agree on who was going first, so they've got a line to work with." Ignoring the weird looks he was getting, he just shrugged, "What?"

"Nicely put." I smirked, downing my cup, "So does that mean we're looking at a natural birth here?"

"Apparently." Running one hand down her face, Mizu stared at the flask before finally giving in. Knocking it back in one, she let herself fall backwards, Hanzo quickly leaning across the table to check on her, "I'm going to kill Saburo tomorrow. It will be a nice and fucking painful death I think."

"Huh." Hanzo shrugged, grabbing the flask, "Is this one of the ones I stole off Nobu that time?"

"You were hiding stolen brew in my store?" I folded my arms, smothering the smirk that came when he realised what he'd said. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Be no good." Mizu advised, still flat out on the floor. "Saburo was in and out of this place while you were both gone and I doubt it was for housekeeping."

"Son of a bitch, that stuff was half mine!"

"A third, it was in my store!" Suddenly a thought occurred to me, "Wait a minute, was this when he set you to work with the fermenters? Is that what those bottles were?!"

"That batch had aged beautifully." Hanzo sighed wistfully, answering my question at the same time.

Flicking him playfully, I took a careful sniff of my cup before drinking it in one, "Sorry, it's from town." Screwing his nose up, he nonetheless took a swig, looking up when Ran and Itsuki came back in, cheeks flush. Moving back into a seated position, Mizu sent a meaningful look at me, leaning heavily on the table.

Speaking as he removed his shoes, Ranmaru looked put out when I moved the sake, "We saw Asuka running down the main road, she said Chiyome's had the kid."

"Boy or girl?" Hanzo called, Itsuki poking her head round to answer,

"Little boy." Clapping my hands happily, I squealed slightly, gaining the amused looks of the others.

Looking around at them, I held up my hands, "What? A girl can't get excited about a baby?"

"No offence Yomi, but you don't seem the type." Hanzo pointed out, glancing into the flask. His scowl alerted us that it was empty, and Mizu quickly excused herself to go find another one from their store.

Looking up hopefully as she passed, Ranmaru waited until the door was shut before taking her place at the table, Itsuki filling the empty side. "Now that we're in private, has she figured it out?"

"Hell no." I grinned, leaning forwards, "And so long as no-one opens their mouth, she won't."

Masamune had expressed interest in getting to know the ninjas in the village better, as well as spend more time with Itsuki who had practically pouted her way through his and Master Katakura's last visit, until he promised to start coming more often. Of course, eagle eyed Ranmaru had spotted that a certain dragon's eye had slowly turned towards a certain wild haired huntress before catching himself and looking back at Itsuki, who hadn't even noticed the slip.

Similarly, Hanzo, who knew how to read his sister better than he knew how to climb roofs, had realised that Mizu had been running her finger over her scar as we discussed future visits, something she apparently only did when put in a very certain situation.

Put two and two together, and with the help of Master Katakura, we realised something very important: Dragons love water. "It's there, we just need to push it slightly." Hanzo decided, punching his palm as he did.

"So, how did you guess that just from her touching her scar?" I asked, keeping one eye on the door.

"Whenever she bothers with makeup, she'll spend about half her grease paint hiding it. So when there's none at hand and she thinks there's someone attractive about, she rubs at it." He shrugged, "It's kind of her fault we've got a cosmetics deficiency."

"Wait, I thought it was because of the drag act you and Saburo put on?" Itsuki asked innocently, but the impish smile across her features said otherwise.

Briefly looking at each other, Ranmaru and I quickly faced Hanzo, getting greeted by his very pale face as he quickly began stammering, "Itsuki, we don't talk about the drag act."

"I want to know about the drag act."

"Ran, all the alcohol Nobu could ever brew would never get me drunk enough to talk about the drag act."

"Ooh, are we talking about the drag act?" Mizu asked, waving the two flasks she'd grabbed. While she turned away to slip her shoes off, we all let out a low breath of relief, thanking every deity that the subject had changed before she came into hearing distance.


Taka Yori may have been born about two weeks early, he may have had Nobu's genes, but he was so tiny, it almost hurt. "Careful Nobu, I have a feeling Sayomi's smitten."

Quickly pinching Mizu while Chiyome's back was turned, I knew I'd be safe from her revenge until I set Yori down, and took great glee in cooing to him.

Unfortunately, he decided then and there that he was hungry, his little mouth opening in a plea for milk. Reluctantly handing him over, I tensed myself, wincing when she dug her nails into my wrist. "I could carry him one handed, I bet."

"Don't you dare." Nobu warned, waving a spoon at me threateningly, "I won't have my son dropped on his head until he's old enough to do it himself."

Holding my hands in mock surrender, I glanced towards the screen door, behind which Chiyome and Yori were bonding privately. Catching my longing gaze, Mizu followed it before sighing quietly and getting to her feet. "I'm heading out to practise for the show."

"Mizu?"

"Hey, I was only joking about dropping him…"

"It's nothing." She assured, tone a bit harder than was necessary. Backing up slightly, we both watched her leave, the door practically slamming on her way out. Eyes wide, I looked to Nobu but only got a shrug in return.

Yori's mini wails broke our stupor, his mother poking her head out, "Who slammed the door?" She hissed, trying to calm the baby down.

"Mizu did. She wants to practise some more."

"But why'd she slam the door?"

"Search us," I shrugged, looking at the offending object, "Maybe she's just having a bad day?"

After saying goodbye to the family when the twins came back in, saying I should probably get some practise in for myself, I found Mizu in the Elder's hall alone. Rather than lining up any shots though, she was just fiddling with the feathers on one of her arrows, staring listlessly at her target. Worried, I quickly scanned her form, finding a very special kind of sadness, one that you only really saw in mourners.

When she finally realised I was standing there, for the briefest second, she looked scared, before calmly turning away and clearing her throat. "The floor's all yours, Sayomi, I'll see you later."

"Sure, see you Mizu." Nodding as we passed each other, I don't know who was more thankful, me because Mizu hadn't bitten my head off, or her because I didn't mention the tear stains under her eyes.