Messengers were to be sent out as soon as Ieyasu finished writing the letters, which left us with another clump of free time. But since the armourer had finally caught up with me, I spent the next couple of hours having myself measured, Mizu keeping up commentary as she waited for me, "So, we talking paternal or maternal uncle here?"
"What's the difference?"
"Hanzo told me about your mom. I was just wondering." Holding myself straight so the tape could wrap around my stomach, I fixed Mizu with a look. She'd made herself comfortable on a cushion, twirling one of her arrows in her fingers for lack of anything better to do. If it weren't for the fact that the cushion was made of pure silk, she could've been sitting in one of the houses in the village.
"Did things end badly between you then?"
"He'd just told me the truth about what happened to my brother. For all those years, he let me believe a yokai did it, and then, the week before my first big battle, he spat that at me." The tape moved to my arms, raising one parallel to the rest of my body, "He let me believe that I was special, spared by the yokai, a half peasant princess destined to change the world and have a happy ending." I ducked my head, "Instead I was the spare my mother put her own life before."
"But you're still worried about him?" Mizu asked in her no-nonsense way. At my nod, she softly hummed, "I'll be heading out for a few days to investigate a lead on those missing men. Even the ninja core is starting to get worried." She added at my look, "If you want, I could poke the threads and ask after him."
"Ieyasu already offered, but thanks."
"I don't have an entire army to think about first." Mizu smirked. "It would only take me a little while."
Barely listening to the armourer thanking me as he left with his measurements, I continued watching Mizu's face, deciding her offer was genuine. But her expression shifted into something that almost resembled worry, "There's something else, isn't there?"
In answer, my fingers pulled out the peony necklace, the loop coming over my head to rest in my hands properly. As the heat shifted, Takenaka's voice bounced into my mind, the arrogance still fresh.
The silver is worn by the heir, and is replaced by the gold when their time to lead arises. Satoshi has never been able to wear the gold, and would've surrendered the silver to Tadashi in time.
"He told me he'd make our name great again. Like it was his responsibility. Like he had any right to act like he was my leader." Wrapping the chain fully up, I thrust it at Mizu, "Well, he can take the right. If you find him, give him that and tell him Sayomi Oda sent you. Tell him about how I was so ashamed of him that I never told anyone what my last name was."
"You're hoping to bring him here by pissing him off?" Mizu asked, taking the handful with raised eyebrows.
My frame deflated slightly, a relieved smile coming over my face, "I was hoping I wasn't just coming across as melodramatic. Do you think it'll work?"
"It should."
"Good, I don't think there was anything else I could add to make him angrier."
"Nope, I think you covered pretty much everything." Tucking my necklace into her sash, Mizu gave a half hearted salute, "I'll see you when I see you I guess." Turning to leave, she stopped inside the doorway, throwing her words over her shoulder, "Happy birthday, by the way."
And then she was gone, leaving me alone once more. In the silence she'd left me in, I realised what I'd just asked her to do, eyes going wide. "Mizu!" I called, running into the hallway after her. If she found Satoshi drunk and shouted that at him… Oh Sayomi, you idiot! Looking around frantically, I started running down the corridor, wondering how she'd vanished so quickly.
Later I found out she'd stayed long enough to let Hanzo know where she was going and pick up a few weapons, but other than that, nobody saw Mizu again until the start of November.
My neck felt horribly bare without my necklace on. Even though I'd only had it for a short time, I'd grown used to its weight. Maybe Satoshi would appreciate having it though.
I threw myself into Kotone's training, moving onto to proper spars, not just small attempts to break my guard. She seemed to appreciate the effort, bouncing back from every hit with another try, slowly but surely picking up the footwork she needed, and if she stuck to it like she insisted she would, the power needed for some of the slices would come naturally. Heck, given those few years and she should hopefully discover her own style.
Two days into this new style, Kotone's attention was broken by the newest arrivals to the alliance. Her eyes took in Magoichi and her men with the same kind of reverence she'd once shown me and Mizu, and I'd be lying if I said that didn't sting a little bit. I was just waiting for her to cut off her apprenticeship to ask how to fire a pistol or rifle. After all, they were stronger, and could chase the nightmares away easier.
Thinking on this matter in my room, I couldn't help but sigh, looking down at the letter I had spent days drafting, only for it to now be a colossal waste. After finding out when Kotone's eleventh birthday was from Hanzo, and getting the armourer to make a few sneaky measurements for me, I'd wanted to commission her first sword.
"What're we thinking about, Yomi?" Hanzo broke into my thoughts, sitting down and resting his back against mine with a groan. "Kotone's been looking for you. She said you didn't show up in the courtyard today."
"I didn't think she still wanted me to teach her. Lately she's been entranced by the mercenaries who just showed up."
"Yeah." Hanzo breathed, "That Magoichi woman is pretty distracting." Mouth open in a gape, I got abruptly to my feet, not even caring when he fell backwards with a yell. But then he opened his eyes to laugh, and I realised his trick. Pouting, I gently kicked his arm and moved to Mizu's side of the room, crossing my arms and refusing to look at him. "Aw come on Yomi, I was just joking."
"Maybe you were…" I had the strong suspicion that Hanzo was rolling his eyes, but that was lost when he came up to me and unwrapped my arms, placing his there instead. Leaning back into him, I couldn't help the blush on my cheeks. "Get off."
Hanzo laughed, the vibrations running through my frame, "You've got nothing to fear from Magoichi, I'm sure. Kotone's too stubborn to give one thing up for another. If I know her then she'll…"
What Kotone would do was lost when someone knocked on the doorframe, both of us looking up to see Hotaru in the doorway, "Kojuro said you have to go to the meeting room. He says that lady has bad news."
"Good of you to join us." Magoichi nodded on our entrance. She was as prim and business like as ever, and my bubbling jealousy lightened to a simmer at her face. Whatever she had pulled us in here to discuss, it was too important to risk snipping at her. "I'm sorry it's taken this long to bring this information up, but my men are the first priority. Now that they've rested and been seen to, my mind's here and not with them."
"Understandable." Master Katakura nodded. Taking my usual spot next to him, I rested my hands on the table, waiting for her to continue.
I didn't have to wait long before her finger was pointing at a patch of forest on the map she'd brought with her, "Around here, we were attacked by several men. They did not appear to be a major threat, and were easily disposed of." Somewhere on that road were a few holey corpses then.
"Forgive me, but why would this be important to us?" I carefully worded, not flinching when Magoichi's eyes sliced into me like steel. "It sounds like a simple bandit problem."
"Perhaps. But even bandits who scavenge armour rarely wear the same colours."
"This was organised?" Ieyasu broke in, looking bemused when Magoichi shook her head.
"Not to the extent you're thinking of." Her eyes moved back to mine. The accusation wasn't so much spoken as it was felt, and my eyes clenched slightly, daring her to voice the words. She met my challenge, keeping steady the whole time, "The armour was that of the Oda. All of them."
