Pinching the bridge of his nose, Ieyasu nodded before taking a hopeful breath, Mizu and Hanzo looking at each other clearly praying their words had gotten through. Approximately one second later, Buddha took those prayers, tore them in half and sent them to the underworld, which coincidentally was the location under debate, "Nope, I still don't get it."

"Nanbu Harumasa was the story our parents used to tell us to get us to behave." Hanzo repeated, forcing himself to avoid looking at the spot marked Mt Osore. "The story goes he uses some wacky incense to raise the dead to serve as his generals."

"Kidnapping bad children might have been an invention, but you won't find a single ninja willing to go near that place." Mizu tacked on the end. "All legends have a basis in truth after all."

Land was the key element here. Even if we didn't get an ally from invading, there were still potential soldiers, and having a place like Mt Osore to go to if we needed it was highly important. The only problem was, none of the ninja core were willing to go near it with a mile long stick.

Still, part of me understood their fear, "I'd rather stay away too, if it makes any difference. I've had enough of 'wacky' incense making my job harder than it has to be." Master Katakura glanced at me across the table, before nodding in agreement.

"Tadakatsu and I will deal with that area then." Ieyasu decided, leaning over to jot something on the map. "In that case, can you and the rest of the ninja core head to Kubota? No incense there."

Mizu blinked at the joke, unsure of how to react while Hanzo gave a flippant wave, "Yeah, we'll take it."

"Which leaves Magoichi and Sayomi to take…?"

I looked towards her, watching her scroll over the options left to us, before she finally tapped a sector. "Utsunomiya's army might pose a problem for ordinary foot soldiers, best get it out of the way now."

"Isn't he the guy with pet tigers?" Masamune murmured, pointing to Amago Haruhisa's province to claim it for him and Master Katakura. While everyone busied themselves with battle plans and target dates to meet, I felt every trace of colour in my cheeks drop right into my stomach, Masamune's question echoing around my skull. I didn't even notice when the meeting broke up.

"We'll set out in two days." Magoichi instructed as she walked out to let her men know what was going on, leaving Mizu to poke my face to see if I was still awake.

Bumping my shoulder, she tilted her head to see me better, "You okay?"

"Tigers…"

"Eh?"

"Tigers."

Staring blankly at me for a good minute, Mizu suddenly realised and shook with laughter, cackling at my expression. I didn't bother trying to shut her up, too preoccupied with my imminent mauling to care. "Come on," She said, taking my shoulders and leading me back down the stairs, "Your armour came this morning while you were out. With any luck it's stronger than claws."

Stammering out an answer, I let her push me back to our room, where sure enough, a wooden case was waiting on my side, stamped with the symbol of the armourer Ieyasu had drafted. Still somewhat frozen, I had to wait until Mizu was crouching next to it with her knife prepared, slipping into the lock on the front with a worrying amount of ease, "I gave the key to your uncle to take care of. Realising my mistake now." Something clicked, and with a triumphant smirk, she was taking the lid off, staring into the depths with awe. "Sayomi, I need some help."

A little thawed now, I came to stand next to her, taking the other side of the largest box and pulling at her word. It was surprisingly light, and once it was free, Mizu could easily hold it without help, setting it down on the floor carefully while I was already leaning into the box again, pulling out several smaller cases, all embossed with the full bloomed peony. "He didn't need to go this far." I whispered, running my fingers across the artwork.

"Well since he has, it'd be a shame to let it go to waste." Mizu decided, reaching in for the last of the cases. Curious, she flicked the catch open and peeked in, pouting a little, "Just the clothes for underneath. Now come on, I wanna see what this looks like!"

She wasn't the only one, and thanks to that eagerness, it wasn't long before I was standing in front of the mirror, looking at the warrior I saw there. The clothes were simple enough, if slightly different to what I was used to. My shirt was red and sleeveless, and tied with a pink belt, while the skirt was a light blue and came down to my knees. Under that were light grey leggings. In fact, the only familiar things at all were the arm-warmers that came to neither wrist nor shoulder, but covered enough to be sensible in a darker blue fabric.

But the armour itself was the real marvel. A steel skirt of sorts made from overlapping plates wrapped around my waist, leaving only a panel in the front on view, and Mizu didn't need to tie the straps too tightly either. The belt also made it easier to slip the breastplate over my shoulders, upper arms protected by petal shaped plates, while the actual body armour seemed to have been made from a mould, and then strengthened several times (as Mizu found out when she tried punching my middle to test it.)

Shaking her hand in pain, the huntress took a step back, looking me over properly.

The final touches were the vambraces and armguards, both a dark silver, and a steel headband that I held for now, unwilling to put it on yet. "It suits you." She nodded at last, "Try moving about."

Like a fool, I spread my arms out and started sweeping them back and forth, trying to get used to the weight on them, while my legs stayed completely still. I felt rather than saw Mizu roll her eyes, before she was behind me, pinning my arms back to my sides, "I meant walk, you dummy."

"I'm not used to wearing armour like this." Every step made the skirt's plates tap against each other, with a not unpleasant sound. "Do you think it'll actually work?"

"Think about it this way," Mizu smirked, untying the shoulder plates before helping me out of the chest-piece, "If it doesn't, I'll happily send your complaint to the armourer."


Mizu was still snoring loudly when I finished packing for the campaign, her unit having the bonus of a later start than us. Tucking both swords into my sash, I crept across the floor, not wanting to wake her any earlier than she had to, and nearly lost the game at the door, when I had to bite down on my lip to stop the sigh of relief.

Of course all my efforts went straight out the window when I opened the door and Kotone fell into the room, snapping awake with a yell. Mizu bolted upwards, looking around for the source of the noise," What the-"

"I could ask the same thing!" I snapped, heart slowly starting to calm down again. "Kotone, it's four in the morning!"

"What?" Mizu whispered, groaning as she fell back onto her pillow. Getting the message, I grabbed Kotone and steered her further down the corridor, slamming the door behind me as I went. I wasn't stupid, I knew what she wanted.

She let out a squeak when I finally pulled us to a stop, turning her around forcefully, "You are not coming with us!" Then my eyes dropped downwards, spotting what was looped into her sash, "I'll kill him."

"He said I was ready!"

"No, you're not. You've only just stopped having nightmares as it is. I won't give you more!"

"Sayomi, please!" Her voice followed me through the rest of the castle, punctuated only by her footsteps and tugs on my arm, trying to stop me, until she pulled the last weapon she had, "You were ten when you first fought! What's a month's difference?"

By that remark we were in the yard, several of the Saica soldiers watching out of the corner of their eyes, wondering how this would play out. Anger growing under their scrutiny, I whipped around, pulling my sword and placing the tip at her throat, making her freeze up instantly. "I was ten, yes, but I wasn't ready for the battlefield. I will not make that mistake with you." The tip didn't waver, even with Magoichi's eyes joining the mix.

"Would you let Ranmaru go if he was my age?" It was so tempting to smack my head off the nearest saddle, and as it was I was pinching the bridge of my nose, "Would you?"
I finally dropped my arm, moving over to my horse, saddling up, "That's different."

"How is it?"

"He's an archer Kotone, that means distance, not strength. And even if he did happen to be your age I wouldn't let him go." Magoichi waved the men on, and they shot past us, Kotone leaping away to avoid getting stepped on.

"Next time then?" She called over the hooves, "Satoshi says all samurai start as pages!"

"Fine!" I snapped, breaking into a canter, "Next time!" We'll see. I added mentally, almost too drained from the argument to think about the battle ahead.

Next time I'd be leaving a full day before the others.