I woke up to utter hell on earth. Yori was screaming, Kotone was struggling to hush him which only made him cry harder and Hotaru was trying to yell that he was making her head hurt. And that was without Hanzo putting his head out of his door and begging them to shut up from the next floor up. All in all, it was the kind of morning you could actually expect after a night's drinking, and proof that the universe chose its playthings carefully.

Alternating between holding Yori's bottle for him and my cup of water, I blearily nodded to Ieyasu as he passed me to the head of the breakfast table, annoyingly perky as always. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost suspect him of taking advantage of the hangover affecting all four of us. Oh wait, I meant to say three of us, because Masamune certainly didn't have a hangover, no, he was just too ill to come down with the rest of us.

Mizu didn't look so chipper herself. Sure she was chewing carefully on her food, and there was a much smaller cup in front of her than me, but her features were carefully arranged, almost a little too much so. Still, I didn't let that bother me, too concerned with raising Yori to my shoulder and giving his back a few taps until he burped and cooed happily, snuggling into my neck now that he was fed and content. "And Saburo said I'd be a good mother." Mizu smirked, nodding to the smile I hadn't noticed on my face until now, "But it's always you he settles for."

"He settles for you sis," Hanzo butted in, reaching across me for the rice bowl.

"No, he yanks my hair until I feed him. There is a difference." Even so, the throbbing in my head started up when he chirped right down my ear suddenly, Hanzo wincing in sympathy.

Ignoring our discomfort, Ieyasu had kept his grin in place the whole time, "So, the night went well then?"

"Oh yeah, no injuries, no brawls and only one duty shirker the morning after." Hanzo praised, "All in all I think we had a success."

Master Katakura looked slightly annoyed that his boss was being called a shirker, but it was forgotten quickly, since Hotaru's cup got knocked over and he had to pour her a new drink. Mizu might've poked fun at me and Yori, but it surprised me that anyone had yet to mention how close he and Hotaru seemed to be growing. Who knew what a single flowerbed's blooms could cause?

After breakfast, we spent around an hour helping Itsuki and Ranmaru pack up to go back to Oshu, until the only things left to do were a quick ruffle of her hair from Masamune (who disappeared back into his room just as quickly as he had appeared) and a last hug and hunting reminder for Ranmaru, courtesy of me and Mizu respectively.

"They'll be alright." Hanzo soothed, lifting his hand in a weak wave until they were both gone from sight. "I'd like to see the bandit stupid enough to give them trouble on the roads."

"I wouldn't, my stomach won't be able to handle it." Laughing hollowly, he quickly clutched his head with a hiss, following the others back inside and leaving me in the courtyard. Yori squirmed in my arms, only stopping long enough to shove his fist in his mouth. Adjusting my grip, I turned to head into the gardens, looking around as I did.

After a while, I found a patch that wasn't too much in the sun and set Yori down on his stomach, taking a seat as he turned onto his back, giggling with the motion. He was so happy there, almost swimming in the air now that he was free of his blanket. I wondered how long it'd be before he was crawling properly and sending us all barmier than we already were, and made a mental note to ask one of the others about it.

That was…if we had him for that long. Kotone and Hotaru sticking around was one thing, mainly because in time, Kotone would be able to defend herself long enough for help to arrive, and not even Kami would try to stop Master Katakura if Hotaru was hurt. But Yori was a baby; a tiny, defenceless baby, and while no holy deity would stop whatever was coming to the bastard that put a hand on him, the problem was that if something did happen, that was it, no going back.

"Thinking about such a matter won't help clear it." Master Katakura advised, making me jump. When he wanted to, he could be downright silent.

"How do you know what I'm thinking about?"

"It's written on your face, among a few other things."

"Not in the mood for riddles." I pouted childishly, "I'm still feeling that night out."

Taking a seat beside me with a soft snort, Master Katakura followed my eyes to Yori, who was now trying to get back on his belly. For a blissful second, it was silent, but then I sighed, drawing his attention back to me. "Am I doing the right thing?"

Knowing there was more, Master Katakura stayed quiet, letting me finish, "I'll be eighteen tomorrow. That's older than Chiyome was when she had the twins, and that's younger than my mother was when she had me. Both very different women, but for the life of me, I can't understand why they'd have children when there's a war around them. And like Mizu said, I'm responsible for Yori now. But I still don't understand."

Still wriggling, Yori was blissfully ignorant of the conversation behind him, only going still when a butterfly landed on his nose, making him sneeze. With a smile on his face, Master Katakura sat back, turning to look at me properly. "Could you imagine a world without children? There'd be nothing to stop all out warfare then. I've heard many stories of warriors ready to destroy entire villages, only to stop at the sight of a child."

"They're innocent." I whispered.

"More than that, I'd be bound. Take your father for instance, he was ready to betray his own lord to create a better world for your province."

"What about it?"

"I'd be willing to bet you and your brother had a part in convincing him Takenaka's scheme was best, simply by being there." Master Katakura didn't stay long after that, since Hotaru came running to tell him Masamune's 'illness' was giving him extra special grief. But his words gave me food for thought. Three years ago, at Nagashino, Lord Takeda had asked Ieyasu and me to think about the world we lived in.

'For what good is land in a world where not even a blade of grass will grow, or where children wage wars that adults start?'

I hadn't wanted to look at the actual meaning behind his words, still chafing from the insults he'd thrown at Oda, and trying to keep Ieyasu from defecting there and then. But now, I could see he was right, we weren't fighting just to get one over our enemies. We had to win, if only to stop another army from taking our place.


My eighteenth birthday started early, with Kotone creeping in to see if I was feeling well enough to carry on with her lessons. Waving her off with a vague promise, I slowly sat up in bed, a massive grin breaking across my face.

Tip toeing around the room so I didn't disturb Mizu, I grabbed the washbowl and filled it, scrubbing my face before quickly sorting my hair out. Hanzo's present was a perfect substitute for my mother's comb, and I briefly wondered if the bad luck from breaking her comb was gone now that it had been replaced. Shaking it off with a smirk, I set the comb back down and dragged out a pair of trousers to wear.

Kotone was waiting patiently outside when I was finished, holding her bokken in the hold she'd long since perfected, seeing how long she could hold it upwards for. Then, without any warning she brought it down in a slice before returning to her original position. Almost immediately, she brought it down again, her control never wavering.

Bringing my hands together as I approached, a hint of pride crept into my expression as I got closer, until the little flush in her cheeks was practically luminous. "It's not that good."

"No, it's better. I know that I don't have to worry about leaving you while I'm on campaign." Drawing my own bokken, I gave the tip of hers a tap, standing back slightly, "Hit me."

"Huh?!"

"Come on, I won't hit you back." After thinking on it for a second, Kotone eventually fell back into stance, but I could still the hesitation in her eyes. Whether it was because she was scared of me lying or the fact that we'd never sparred before, it didn't matter.

The attack was almost half-hearted, my feet stepping to the side without any sense of needing to. "Come on, you can-" My voice cut out when Kotone smirked, moving from scared to ready without giving me a chance to act. Her bokken tapped into my side gently, but it took me a little while to recognise it before the shock vanished and I was left grinning. "Tricky madam, who taught you that?"

"Taught me what?" She asked, acting confused. Then the smirk reappeared and the bokken moved away from my side, a sheepish blush spreading across her nose. "Did I do it right?"

"Yeah. You did." A piercing shriek erupted from her throat, the sheer joy in her face doing its usual trick of lighting the entire place up…right before we were both the first victims of the morning rain. Grabbing her hand and tugging us both under the nearest shelter, I watched the skies carefully, before shaking my head, "Well, happy birthday to me. My present from the heavens? A rainstorm."

Patting my arm in sympathy, Kotone went in first, shaking out what little rain she had caught as she moved.

The others were slowly beginning to appear at the breakfast table, Masamune looking far better now that he'd recovered and had something in front of him. When I took my seat, some of them looked us to murmur a quick 'Happy Birthday', but for the most part we were concentrating on getting something into our stomachs to soak up any remnants of a hangover.

Once that was sorted, Kotone and Hotaru taking over Yori watching for the day, we all went into the war room, hands resting on our metaphorical beards. "So," Masamune asked, "What's our next move?"

"Magoichi and her men should arrive at some point in the next few days barring more complications. We should look for more allies in the meantime."

"Ooh, does that mean it's time to start calling in favours?" I grinned, "Who've we got?"

Grabbing the largest map off the shelf, Ieyasu rolled one end to Hanzo, who weighed his side down with an ink stone as the rest of us gathered around. "I'm planning to send a message to Lord Takeda, to ask for his involvement. Like I told Magoichi though, he and Lord Uesugi may want to stay away."

"What about Mori or Chosokabe?" Master Katakura asked, "Disagreeable as he is, Mori knows his strategies."

"We also can't trust him." Nods met my statement, "And Chosokabe won't stay on the same side as Mori for long."

"Chosokabe then. Besides, doesn't he kind of owe you guys for springing his men?" Mizu reminded. Snorting softly at the memory of our prison riot, I nodded. "Who else can we count on?"

Staring long and hard at the map, Ieyasu looked towards me suddenly, "What about your uncle?"

"What about him?"

"If Mitsunari's still running the conscription, then it'd be ronin who were signing up." I hadn't thought about that. When I looked up, teeth sinking into my lip, Ieyasu was still looking at me worriedly, "He's the only relative we can't account for."

Of course, he, Masamune and Master Katakura were nobles, and Hanzo and Mizu just had each other to worry about. "I don't…" I swallowed, trying to get rid of the dryness in my throat, "I don't think he'd ally with anyone as loyal to Hanbei as Mitsunari is." But a job was a job, and who knew how much Satoshi had changed since we'd last seen each other?

"I can ask the ninja core to find him if you want." Ieyasu offered, spotting the uncertainty in my face.

"I haven't seen him since Nohime threw him out…" I murmured, "What would I say to him?"

Taking my hand, Hanzo smiled across to me, "Cross that bridge when you get to it. Until then...Who should we go for first?"