Until New Year, the rest of the year passed without much incident. And pigs might fly too. We'd barely entered December, and the first militant plans were beginning to be laid, when someone I never thought I'd see again disturbed Kotone's lesson.

"Left, left, down!" Following my instructions to the letter, Kotone launched an impressive attack, placing just the right amount of concentration on every part of her body and sword. I'd definitely have to get that letter sent off soon the way she was progressing. "Bring her home kid." Barely stopping to nod, Kotone fought to slip past my bokken, finally manging to knock it away long enough to place her 'blade' against my neck.

Relaxing my stance and waiting for her to do the same, I felt the hairs on my neck stand up, all while someone was clapping slowly behind us, not unlike how I had applauded Kotone a few weeks ago. "So, this is the student that ninja told me about."

"Son of a-" My words came out like breaths, a disbelieving smile on my face as I turned.

"Don't go insulting your grandmother now Botan." Satoshi jokingly scolded, somehow managing to seem sheepish.

My throat was starting to thicken up, and refusing to turn around to look at her, I addressed Kotone, "Can you go tell the others I'll be late for lunch?"

"Sure." Stepping around me, she looked curiously at Satoshi, but scuttled past him into the castle proper, leaving me facing my uncle. His hand came up to pull his hat off, and when it was plucked, I came the closest to looking at my father as I had for years. But just seeing him was comforting like you wouldn't believe, and without any prompting or fanfare, I burst into tears.

Satoshi must've panicked because he was suddenly in front of me, trying to say something that in any other setting would've made me laugh, "Botan, kiddo? Come on, I don't want to get thrown out already."

"I didn't think you'd want to come." I managed to hiccup, "Last time…"

"Last time I'd just told you your mother killed your brother and that she'd almost done the same to you. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

You're lying! I hate you!

Botan, I'm not lying.

The yokai killed them, I heard it!

Kid, you were blindfolded-

The echo of my palm against the hand he had offered in peace bounced around, even years later. I'd truly thrown in my lot with Oda that day. And yet he was now saying I'd acted like he'd expected. Spotting my expression, Satoshi put a hand out again, still speaking quietly, "Would you have rather I told you or a foe on the battlefield?" Through my tears, I saw the outstretched limb, taking it with my own shaking fingers. When there was about a millimetre between them, he snatched it and yanked me close, pulling me into a hug. His other arm wrapped around me, and in this cocoon of sorts, I felt free to finish my crying.

When he finally felt me calm down, Satoshi released his grip a little, stepping back far enough to see my face, "I was so worried about you." He whispered, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "When I heard about you and the boy dying, I ran all the way there, hoping to find you."

"I had to hide."

"I know Botan. I know." I hadn't seen at first, but Satoshi's face was terrifically scarred, a line from his left temple to his right cheekbone. Later I would find out that he'd gotten it just after the peace started, defending my honour when someone had described everyone associated with the Oda as bastards. But in that moment, I only saw my failure to keep what little family I had left safe from harm, and knew I had made the right move in giving him the necklace.

Yet as if reading my mind, Satoshi reached into his sleeve for something, holding it out for me to take and making no secret of the gold chain, "Your friend gave this to me. I didn't realise Hanbei gave it to you."

"Yes," I nodded, making no move to take it for myself, "He gave it to me while I was his guest in Osaka Castle. Until then, I thought it was yours anyway."

"Gold ain't my style Botan. I'm no leader, that's why your dad was picked to succeed your grandfather." Without further delay, Satoshi opened his fist and placed the chain around my neck, a relieved smile on his face as he did, "Oda Sayomi, head of the Hiroto clan."

"Hiroto. Hiroto Sayomi."

"And here I thought the ninja was kidding when she said you were just trying to piss me off." Chuckling, I let him fluff up my ponytail like he always used to do, and tuck me under his arm, guiding me inside, "Come on Botan, I'm starving and want to get some decent food inside me before you introduce me to your husband and the kid." His words threw me, and I looked upwards to see if he was joking, going stock still at the expression he was pulling. He was puzzled that I was puzzled.

"What did Mizu tell you?"


"You told him I was what!?"

"Raising a child. Oh don't look at me like that, it's the truth." Throwing my hands up into the air, I silently begged for someone to hurry up and smite her, if only to spare me another headache. Hanzo was sniggering quietly into his fist, and Satoshi was in the hall, holding Yori and examining him while I dealt with Mizu. Said woman seemed more put out that I'd taken her from lunch than the fact I was appealing for divine intervention. "I never said it was your child!"

"Well that's the natural assumption, isn't it?!" Far from cutting into her, my hissing just made Mizu bite her lip, trying hard not to laugh, and that of course sent Hanzo off.

I refused to acknowledge either of them until they calmed down and went back into the hall, arriving just in time. Yori was just beginning to pull the face that preceded tears, and he was back in my arms before he could even whimper. We'd all grown very good at spotting that face. Arms free, Satoshi dug into his belt, pulling out an ancient pipe and filling it, ignoring my nose wrinkling up. His tobacco always made me do that.

"You know, other than his looks, you wouldn't think he weren't yours." He critiqued, scraping the ashes of prior smokes out of the bowl and tucking it into his sleeve. Kami knows where that would end up later. "Whose kid is he then?"

"A friend." I whispered, rubbing Yori's head to quiet him before he changed tactic. "She died earlier this year."

"Ah." Satoshi nodded, and that was the subject closed as far as he was concerned. Or at least I thought it was. "Got a thing about mothers, haven't ya?"

"Don't know what you mean." I huffed. His gaze suddenly became stronger, and like a coward, I ducked my eyes, staring at Yori instead. How long did it take for babies to start crawling, and how long after that before they were running? A maid had jokingly told me to have a net ready for when Yori was mobile, because once he realised he could move by himself that was it, manhunts every other hour.

It was a while before Satoshi finally stopped waiting for me to look up, and by then the room was full of his smoke. Yori, who had been alternating between giggles and grabbing for my hair suddenly got a whiff, his face scrunching up before he coughed, a large sound from such a tiny boy. "You're suffocating him." I scolded Satoshi, gathering up the blankets and scurrying out into the corridor. Once we were far enough away from my uncle and his stupid pipe, I stopped to lean on the wall, sighing in relief, "Kid, I owe you one."