A strange tingle on the back of my hand kept me awake, and I refused to give credit to the notion that I was more unnerved by Sasuke's news than the others suspected. Mizu had no such qualms, occasionally shifting about in her sleep, mumbling under her breath. Rubbing the scars idly, I picked out their shape, thinking of the woman who had given them to me.
A low grumbling disturbed my thoughts, Mizu scoffing out a few words, "Go to sleep samurai, it's too late to sit up brooding."
"I thought you were asleep."
"Nah, you were thinking too loud." The shadow on her side of the room straightened up, one arm clearing her face of hair, "Still worrying about what Sarutobi said?"
"What kind of sick fuck steals a body?"
"You just answered your own question." Sitting up properly, I watched Mizu turn her head, having apparently been aiming her conversation at my feet. "Could be something against Akechi though, I mean if someone dug one of my relatives up, I'd be pretty pissed."
"Maybe." It just sat wrong in my mind though. My mind flashed to the crucifix I'd pressed into her fist, and the amount of times I saw her leave the castle in a plain kimono, treading across to the chapel. "Do you think it's because she didn't follow Shinto anymore?"
"What?"
"She converted to Christianity, do you think someone took offence to that?"
Mizu shrugged, tucking her legs underneath her chin as she spoke, "It's as much a possibility as what I said. But taking three years to do it? That's a bit of a stretch."
It was, that was the problem. If you were going to take revenge on someone for anything, no amount of planning would make you wait three years and then do something like this. "There's got to be something we're not getting."
"We'll ask the others in the morning. With any luck, they'll have an idea." With that, Mizu untucked her legs and began getting comfy again, just as I thought to finally ask what had been on all our minds,
"Mizu, what do you think of Masamune?"
"How do you mean?" Her voice held the trace of a warning in it, but she was sleepy, and probably wouldn't act on it until the morning. "He's alright, if that's what you're asking."
"Yeah, but what do you think of him? You know, like me and Hanzo."
The second those words left my mouth, I could've sworn the room lost any trace of warmth. Almost as if forcing herself to stay calm, Mizu sat up again, her glare stabbing into me even in the dark of our room. "I will only tell you this once, got it? I'd barely started to trust samurai when Ishida destroyed the village. As it is, I'm still waiting for Oda's little Blade to turn around and stick a knife in our backs. And then you ask me if I feel that way for one? I'm just going to let you think about that for a while, okay?"
"We just thought-"
"We? Good to know you've all been talking about me behind my back." Nearly slapping myself for letting the word slip, I just watched Mizu settle back into her quilt, not another word passing between us, even when the sun finally came up. Like clockwork, Mizu dragged herself to her feet, grabbing a set of clothes from her shelf before changing and leaving, all without meeting my eyes once.
"Is there a particular reason you and my sister both look like shit?" Hanzo asked, taking the weak slap I gave him without complaint. "Just asking."
"I might have kind of annoyed her." I gave up, bringing my upper half back off the ground so we were facing each other, "I asked her about Masamune."
"Get any dirt for us?"
Breathing out, I fell back onto the mats, Hanzo's hands firmly on my feet the only thing stopping me from collapsing there and then. After a second, I put my hands back under my head, pushing back into a sitting position. "She really flipped out, especially when she found out we were all talking about it. Alright, twenty."
Taking my hands, Hanzo pulled me to my feet, reaching behind him for some water. We'd semi agreed to try and get our muscle mass up, but is was mainly so we could hide from Mizu's glares without incurring the suspicion of the others. Joke's on us, they made excuses too, ones that largely kept them far, far away from the archery range.
While I drank my fill, Hanzo put a hand to his chin in thought, "That seems a little over the top, even for my sister."
"Well, it's what happened."
"I believe you, it just seems strange for her to go off like that." Keeping a careful eye on him, I raised an eyebrow when he furiously shook his head, "There has to be something else, surely."
I really hoped so, since Masamune had looked like a kicked puppy when Mizu flat out ignored him at breakfast, and didn't deign to respond when he called her name to see if she was alright. There was just something about how she'd bitten my head off, almost like I'd snapped her from a dream of her own design, one where Masamune wasn't a samurai lord and she could actually like him. Then, I remembered the last time a confrontation had seemed to be inevitable, "She was crying."
"When, last night?"
"No," I murmured, the image becoming clearer, "Just after Yori was born, we went to visit them and she left after a bit, really tense. Then when I went to practise for the show, she had tears on her face."
"Huh." Hanzo muttered, pouring himself a drink. He swallowed it in one, still considering the matter, "I guess asking her about it's out of the question."
"Unless you know someone with a penchant for suicide you mean." I sighed. The square of his shoulders gave away the concern he felt for his sister more than his words did. It reminded me of how his face had twisted when he saw her scar had been opened again. Honestly, if I didn't know better, I would've easily thought that he was the older sibling, not her.
We let the matter lie for the rest of the morning, but it was obvious we were both mulling it over still, even when we checked in on the others, laughing to hide how nervous we were, and when we reached him, we ribbed Ieyasu mercilessly about the amount of paperwork we found him under.
"Boy am I glad society doesn't like disgraced daimyo or their daughters." I winked, picking a sheet up at random and scanning its contents. "Looks like I'm safe from this."
"Nice try." Ieyasu balled a spare sheet up and bounced it off my skull, "But I'm going to need reports from you two every time we butt heads with Mitsunari."
Looking troubled, Hanzo cleared his throat, "Expecting a lot of that, are we?"
Ieyasu gave a grave nod, "There's still no word from those missing, but anyone who's seen him since I left the Toyotomi report that he's rather eager for my head."
"How eager?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I came across the last few lines of my sheet, "'…The second he saw us and the banner we carried, he charged at us screaming, 'I'll kill you, Ieyasu!' Clearly he believed Lord Tokugawa was present.' Ieyasu, this sounds like Mitsunari's lost it." Hanzo took it out of my hands, reading it for himself with a low whistle.
"That's the problem, I'm not sure he hasn't." Running a hand down his face, Ieyasu looked squarely at us, "And Yoshitsugu…he unnerved me when we were on the same side, who knows what he's planning?"
"Was Yoshitsugu at Osaka when I was? I never met him."
"He's not a people person. Mitsunari was the only one who he really spoke to. Apparently, he's grateful to him for treating him as a friend despite his illness."
Hanzo quirked his head, "Illness?"
"Leprosy." Ieyasu clarified.
My nose wrinkled of its own accord, an action Hanzo mirrored. "As in 'bits and pieces falling off' leprosy?"
Sighing like he'd heard this a few times already, Ieyasu shrugged, "I don't know if that's how bad Yoshitsugu is, but that kind of response is probably why he hates the world in general." Crimson quickly spread across my face, and I ducked my head so the boys couldn't see it. If Ieyasu used his fist like he did his words, then I doubted anyone could stand in his way but his own conscience.
"Anyway, other than to be picked on unfairly, is there anything else I can help you both with?" Ieyasu seemed surprised when Hanzo was the one to speak, "You said you had ninjas? Me and my sister will need access to the equipment and armour they do. She'll also need a look at Osaka, since she wasn't with me when I busted Sayomi out,"
"Wait," Ieyasu blinked, "You got into Osaka Castle? But the architect said-"
"The architect lied. Me and two other ninjas were able to get in, granted, this was after Fuma Kotaro had cleared most of it of guards."
Still blinking, Ieyasu looked at me, taking my shrug with a soft, "Huh." Sending a grin at me, Hanzo winked covertly, just as Ieyasu recovered from his minor shock, "The ninja core store their gear in their own quarters, but I'm sure they'd be willing to share. If not, they can get you in touch with their contacts. As for Osaka, I don't think-"
"It will get Mizu away for at least a week."
"-That you should waste any more time."
Once Hanzo had saluted and left to brave his sister's wrath, I turned back to the warlord, raising an eyebrow, "That was a fast agreement, scared of her already?"
"No, but I don't need a mystical sixth sense to understand that a few days away will give her time to cool her head." Looking back at his paperwork, Ieyasu shook his head, "She's clearly angry at someone, but I think she's trying to turn it inwards, and failing miserably."
"Amen to that." I sighed, finally getting up to my feet, "I'm going to try and get some more training in. Failing that, I'll see how much of Hanzo I can scrape off the walls should Mizu decide she doesn't quite like his suggestion."
Turning my back so he could dive back into his paperwork, I was at the door when he spoke again, "I thought I'd mind more. But he's good for you."
"Glad he has your approval." I smiled, only half meaning it sarcastically. There was a soft snort behind me, but I knew he didn't mean any malice. "I meant that by the way."
"Why is my approval so meaningful? I take it you wouldn't leave him if I didn't?" Turning back round to face him, I let Ieyasu see my smirk,
"If you didn't, I'd stay with him, but it'd be very tense during battles, don't you think?" Conceding my point, Ieyasu held his hands up defensively, letting me slip back into the hallway, realising too late that if Hanzo was going to be gone for a week, I had pretty much nothing to do.
Except start Kotone's training properly.
Standing behind her, I moved her fingers forcibly, finally nodding and stepping away when they were in the right place. "Now drop it." Kotone looked at me confused, but released her grip, letting the wooden stick fall to the floor, taking a step back so it didn't bounce on her toes. "Now pick it up."
"But you just told me to-" Clamping her lips firmly together, Kotone bent to grab it again, thankfully missing the mirth I knew was showing on my face. Tadashi and I had made the same protest when our father gave us the same instruction; both of us convinced he was deliberately tricking us like adults were known to do. The fact that Kotone was near enough eleven years old and was making the same complaint a three year old had did not impact my amusement at all. Really.
Moving behind her again, I began pushing her fingers around again, picking up on the minute traces of annoyance seeping through. She really wasn't going to like this next part. "Drop it."
Her lips began to thin as the exercise carried on. Personally, I was surprised at how long she was lasting, even starting a mental wager with myself until finally she came to the end of her rope, "How the hell is dropping a picking up a sword supposed to teach me anything?" Concluding that I now owed myself a flask of sake with a lot of dango on the side, I gestured that she pick up the bokken again. After a lot of huffing, she complied, once again waiting for me to adjust her fingers, looking round at me surprised when I didn't.
"You've got it." A small sound of disbelief escaped her, my head shaking with it, "Now that firearms are becoming more popular and people are getting better at using them, it's more important than ever that you can grab your sword and use it at a moment's notice."
"Is this how Oda taught you?"
"No," I chuckled, "It's how my father did, in what little time I had with him anyway. It was also how he knew if me and my brother had been eating sweets when we shouldn't have been. By the time we finished, the bokken was more grass than wood."
"You have a brother?" Kotone whispered, looking away with a soft 'oh' when I shook my head.
"Not anymore." The look on my face made Kotone stare at her weapon with a newfound determination, holding it almost painfully tight in her now correct grip. In that moment I realised that I was training another Young Blade, especially in how she blinked owlishly when I tapped her shoulder, suggesting she go get some food before we moved onto the first slashes.
You could've blinded the entire Tokugawa army with the light behind her eyes and smile. Ruffling her hair, I led the way back inside, barely getting my sandals in the rack before she had flung her arms around me, "Thanks for not giving up on me."
"I wouldn't dream of it." I whispered, patting her back.
Leaving my student in Ranmaru's capable hands when I passed him and Itsuki on their way to the hall, I went to find Hanzo so I could wish him luck, coming across him and Mizu in another wing of the castle altogether, poring over the display of weapons together. Spotting me in the doorway, Mizu gave a sniff, slouching off towards the bows and leaving me to approach her fairly bemused brother, "Kotone's onto the actual sword work now."
"That's great, soon we'll have two of you around the place."
"Gods help us then." Mizu scoffed. Opening my mouth to answer her, I clamped up when Hanzo gave a shake of his head, his eyes begging me not to pick a fight. Letting my words come out in a breath instead, I managed a quick nod, planting a smile there instead.
"Anyway, I just wanted to see you off properly, and remind you to be careful."
"I'll treat myself like china Yomi, wouldn't want to leave Ieyasu to comfort you, would I?" Raising an eyebrow, I tried to see if he was joking or not, relaxing when he dropped his stern look for a smirk. Letting me wrap my arms around him, Hanzo returned the gesture, holding me tighter than usual, "I promise I'll be careful, Yomi."
Things had changed, and we both felt it. Hanzo had suggested the scouting mission out of necessity, knowing full well he or Mizu could be sent there for assassination. First blood had already been spilt at Kodokuna, making the war just that little push closer to us. And the first move of our side being to dangle two ninjas at our enemy didn't quite sound like a plan to me, and my idea of a great army strategy was to bribe my soldiers with alcohol if we won.
The three years I'd known him had been kind to me height-wise, making it no harder or easier to turn my head from Hanzo's shoulder and peck his cheek, submitting to the deeper kiss when it came my way. Out of love for my heartbeat, I chose not to mention Mizu's forced gagging from the corner, finally pulling away when my lungs began weeping.
