The castle was extraordinarily icy when we got back. Kotone had been practising with Satoshi, but when I went to join them, she glared at me hard before turning back to her spar. Reeling, I continued walking, stopping only to look at Satoshi in questioning. He only shook his head, indicating I should leave.
Hotaru was still willing to have me though. She'd dug up a toy tea set from somewhere, and had apparently been making enough cups to keep the castle watered for the next month, had there been any liquid in them. I dutifully sipped at empty cups for a few hours, and took imaginary cakes to nibble on, while Hotaru caught me up on the gossip, "Masa hugged Mizu before she went, and Toshi told Kotone he'd help her with her sword."
"Really?"
"Uh huh, and Yori won't stop crying unless you let him bite a cold cloth. Is that because he's growing teeth?"
"Yes, who told you that?"
"Toshi did."
"Ah." I nodded, accepting another cup of tea gracefully. Hotaru peeked into her pot, decided it was empty and sighed, such a heavy sound from her. "What's wrong?"
"Kotone's no fun any more. I don't think she likes me any more."
"Of course she likes you-" I started, only to be cut off by Hanzo's head appearing in the doorway, his face flushed and lungs working overtime. He and a few others had been moving in front of the rest of his unit, making it back to the castle ahead of them. What reason did he have to hurry home so fast?
Mizu was pissed off by our new allies, and it was apparently bad enough that everyone needed warning.
If I stated the reason without context, her rage would probably seem petty. But the truth was that just like any samurai treasured their swords, Mizu gave every inch of her available attention to her bow. She had once had a few, but the village burning had put paid to them being any use to her. Every single one of them was crafted by her alone, because only she knew what she needed. Everything from height to draw strength was tailor made, and the amount of effort she would put into them could put the best craftsman to shame. One of the kids had once accidentally kicked a ball in her direction when she was measuring out the string and Kami…I'd never seen them so terrified.
So, what had happened to her last bow, her last piece of home you might ask? One of Satake's men had picked it up to inspect while she talked with the lord, pulled the string too fast, and snapped the entire thing. Mizu, hearing the twang turned, and if Hanzo was telling the truth, they had to wrap business up very quickly before getting her away from the area.
Looking back, I probably should've warned her about their notorious clumsiness.
But since the damage was done, all we could do was bunker down until the monsoon passed, and hope Satake didn't send any emissaries for a few days. Or weeks. In fact maybe he should just stick to bird mail.
We were all ready to face her bravely, all of us prepared for her sure to be short temper, but when the rest of them came back, she was near enough silent. Jiro was left to hand in the report from the battlefield, leaving it with Magoichi since Ieyasu wasn't back yet, while Mizu went straight to our room and fell on her bed. Scared to risk being her first target, I edged out carefully, holding the door stiff to stop it from rattling.
The next couple of days were just as bad. The target range quickly became an out of bounds area, what with Mizu trying damn near every bow in the place to reclaim her bearings. With Hotaru acting as our intelligence officer, the rest of us all sat back, the group growing as people came back.
Masamune and Master Katakura had had similar luck as us, getting an alliance agreement over a battle, while Ieyasu was chased from Mt Osore, clutching a promise to remain neutral from Nanbu Harumasa. As distasteful as we found him, we didn't want Mitsunari getting that wacky incense for his side. At the same time though, Yoritsuna Anegakōji had agreed to join the Toyotomi, and according to rumors, so had Sorin, also known as the runt protected by the Tachibana family.
But we had most of the area warlords at least, and the amount of men we could boast reflected that. If only the problems within the castle were just as easy to fix.
"Have I ever told you how much I hate the month of July?" I scowled, tossing Satoshi my coins as he cackled. He and Hanzo had steadily been working to clear me of my stipend for the month, using hanafuda as their excuse to stay away from the war room or the practise areas.
"Nope, but I bet I can make you hate December more."
"Yeah, not happening." I decided, untucking my legs from the table and leaving them to it. Might as well quit while I was behind. Moving over to the window and poking my neck out, I watched Mizu pull yet another bowstring to her cheek and let an arrow fly. Just like Hotaru had been reporting every time she checked, the arrow fell short of the target, the archer's stance changing to one of defeat. "We have got to get her a new bow."
"Good luck." Hanzo grumbled, looking over his hand. "You know as well as I do she won't accept one that she didn't make."
"Still, it's weird seeing her like this. It's enough to make me wish she was still out for blood."
Had either of us bothered to move, we might've realised our conversation wasn't going unheard, Masamune's hand halting over the chessboard. Instead, I was more concerned with Mizu looking at the bow in her hands as if she was asking it for the secret of life before setting it down and selecting another from her stand. "Well, what does she usually use? Getting that for her has to be a step in the right direction."
"That's just it though, I think she's starting to doubt herself."
"Eh?" I moved my attention to look at him, Master Katakura and Masamune doing the same from the chessboard. "Where do you get that from?"
Chewing on his lip for a second, Hanzo slowly placed his cards down so Satoshi couldn't peek and cleared his throat, "I don't know, it's just…the last time I saw Mizu like this was during the attack on the village. At least before Chihiro was shot."
Something came back to my mind as well, and it was my turn to go cold, "The night Hanbei kidnapped me. He tore her bow right out of her hands with that sword of his. Mizu looked terrified of him."
"Maybe it wasn't of him." Hanzo suggested in a low tone, almost like he was talking more to himself. Glancing at the others, I waited for him to finish speaking, but he suddenly snapped out of his daze, noticed we were all staring and gave an awkward chuckle. "It's nothing, but I'll see if she'll tell me what she used before. Then I guess we're going shopping!"
"Tell me." I asked later, when we were getting ready for bed. With neither Kotone nor Mizu speaking to me, staying on our floor had become a few too shades of awkward. Enough even that sneaking into my own room to get my clothes and running back up to Hanzo's room with them was easier than risking a confrontation.
Besides, if and when Mizu ever made a comment about the room share, we'd know she was back.
Hanzo waited until I had come from behind the screen, directing his words to his reflection, "Mizu wasn't always an archer." He started, giving his hair a comb through that it didn't need. "When we were younger, she was the best knife wielder I'd ever seen. In her hands or attached to her shoes."
I could just imagine that, Mizu fighting up close and personal, not caring whether it was a kick or a punch that ended her problem. "What happened?"
"Her teacher took her and her best friend on a mission. It was two weeks before they came back, none of them would speak about what happened or what the mission was, and my parents told me to leave her alone for a bit. All that I knew was that my sister requested archery lessons, and refused to pick up her knives again. And no matter how much she wanted to forget it, that scar…"
"I always thought that was an archery accident."
"Nah, she just keeps reopening it like that. To tell you the truth, I think she does it to get some semblance of control over it, you know, 'I caused this, no-one else'?"
I couldn't help but glance at my hand, before sighing and putting it out of sight. "She can't keep going alone."
"Well, hopefully she'll learn that." Finally turning away from the mirror, Hanzo pulled a tight smile, taking the hand I had just been looking at and kissing it. "Come on, we should get some sleep."
