Samurai Warriors: Crimson Samurai Chapter 3
The Grey Musketeer, the Black Assassin

"She'll totally swoon over me when she wakes up!" the bare-skinned Magoichi said, wearing only his cotton pants and the round of ammo strung around his body. He covered his rifle with his jacket and got into a provocative position while Kunoichi's arm was around him. Grinning to himself, he pretended to be asleep when Kunoichi drew her left arm close to her mouth when she yawned and stretched her limbs, signaling that she was starting to wake up. Magoichi did his best impression of snoring while Kunoichi got up, unaware of her surroundings.

She screamed, "No, no, no, no, no! Your pervert!" She slapped him as hard as she could, before reaching for her daggers; Magoichi was unable to stop laughing hysterically.

"Don't worry, I was only joking!" He tried to explain before being beaten by the furious Kunoichi. Kunoichi glared at him viciously, "You ever do that again, and I will sever you from your manhood!" She threatened. Magoichi took this seriously, but he couldn't keep from grinning, putting on his jacket and grabbing his rifle, he said, "Well, are we going to go take Tokugawa's head? Or am I going to have to go in alone just because you wanna throw a ninny fit over a mere joke?" He looked at her, charmingly, but to no avail.

"I am going to take Tokugawa's head, there's no 'we' in this!" She replied with agitation, dark circles were under her eyes from the uncomfortable sleep. Magoichi looked at her with a pleading face, the type a puppy has, "Besides what would you gain out of it?!" She questioned him intently. Scratching his chin, he grinned and blushed, "Well, maybe you could hook me up with a ninja girl?" He asked. Kunoichi grabbed her daggers with a death-grip, walking toward the castle wall; hesitantly she motioned him over to where she had positioned herself as she climbed the wall to have a peek over.
"Hmm, this couldn't be any easier." She said with joy, "It appears these guards all drank a little too much sake last night, so that means that we can sneak in through the front door, but that's where the easiness ends." She grabbed him and jumped over the wall, landing gracefully, pointing out the sleeping guards. Still pulling him along, she ran straight toward the first keep, where she bust through it with relative ease. Magoichi took his rifle in hand and began running forward, unaware of the traps that lay in wait for him. "Magoichi!" She whispered loudly, pulling him back she showed him the map of Gifu she had, "With this we can see where traps are, but it doesn't show us how to directly get to the fifth floor of this castle, she said as she leapt over where Magoichi was close to, signaling it being a trap. Magoichi tried to keep up, even when sprinting he was at least ten feet behind her.
By the time that had made it to the end of the fourth floor, their weapons were covered with blood, Magoichi had almost fallen into a collapsing floor that had a clean cutting blade pass over it, nearly felt the pain of being impaled by spikes, and cut to pieces by ninjas. They had almost reached the stairs when Keiji Maeda appeared out of nowhere, "Hey buddy!" He said, waving his pike to Magoichi, who was fatigued by all of his close encounters with death. Kunoichi looked back and forth at Keiji and Magoichi, "Well Mister Magoichi, have fun!" She said with joyous sarcasm as she attempted to go up the stairs, only to find that it was blocked by a door of iron bars, she turned to look back at Keiji, who was grinning back at her holding and twirling around the keys within his fingers.
"Keiji, just give her the keys, this doesn't concern you!" Magoichi said, thrusting his rifle in the air at him. Keiji stared blankly at Magoichi, shrugging it off as if Magoichi hadn't said it.
"Sorry buddy, I can't!" Keiji replied, "Lord Nobunaga is dead, what do you have to gain by killing Lord Tokugawa?" He asked.
"Call it Conviction!" Magoichi replied. Kunoichi stared at him with a look of sheer exasperation, "'Call it Conviction' More like he's asking a ninja girl to get him an easy woman." She said irksomely, quickly she used Kai Ninjitsu to swipe the key and unlocked the door, pulling Magoichi through and closing the wall, "We'll deal with you later!" She said as she climbed the stairs.

Tokugawa turned and faced the unlikely pair, "Sorry, but my master needs your head!" Kunoichi threatened, drawing her blades and running and striking Tokugawa with the speed only a ninja could bear. Magoichi shot off all of the Iga ninjas, thinking to himself, "Where is the leader ninja if there are so many Iga clan ninjas here?" Suddenly it came to him, "That's not Tokugawa!" He ran and assisted her as so many ninjas were about to pounce on her. The Tokugawa that Kunoichi was fighting had lifted himself into the air and shed the body of Tokugawa; it was Hattori Hanzo wielding the infamous Hiryuu, a Kama that was revered to be made by from the claws of a flying dragon. After shooting off the ninjas, Magoichi and Kunoichi had stepped up to fight the master ninja. "This is for Lord Yukimura!" She said as she leapt toward Hanzo, striking his weapon as she tried to strike him, Magoichi made sure that he was unable to use the chain attachment as he shot at it precisely with an eagle's accuracy.
"Vanish into shadows!" Hanzo said as he attempted to strike Kunoichi, but he was shot off balance by Magoichi, Kunoichi turned his attack against him, striking him voraciously. Hanzo leapt to his feet, using his Ninjitsu, he summoned replicas of himself as even more ninjas joined in to fight. Magoichi fired wildly, striking ninjas and replicas, while the ninjas were dying; every replica shot through created another one. Without need to worry of being shot off-guard, Hanzo was now free to use his chain. Magoichi had to figure out the secret to the replicas, he knew that Kunoichi would be killed if he didn't. Magoichi paid close attention to the Hanzo replicas that were swinging their chain attachments, all of the chains weren't reflecting the bright morning light, except for one. "Bang!" Magoichi fired, striking Hanzo, the replicas were defeated, and Kunoichi took this opportunity to strike Hanzo, dealing the killing blow as she cut him across the neck.
"A shadow...never dies..." Hanzo fell to the ground, leaving Magoichi the break to see if Kunoichi was alright. She was slightly injured, Hanzo's blade had struck her across the hip, Magoichi had assisted with the tying a bandage in place.

"Lord Yukimura, please hold on, if you die, I..." She started heading out when she was confronted by Keiji. Magoichi walked up to him, nudging Kunoichi out of the way. Keiji looked at their injuries and forgot his anger, "I forgot to tell you, Tokugawa was headed for Ueda castle, sorry, it slipped my mind." He said as he pulled them out of Gifu and mounted them on horses, "I'll accompany you to Ueda!" Keiji said, as Magoichi eyed him suspiciously; Kunoichi took the lead, not paying attention to the group that she had amassed. "So where'd you pick this one up? Fiery little ninja girl if I must say," Keiji said, riding along beside Magoichi.
"She's not mine, she came to kill Tokugawa, but as Hanzo was here, she needs to get back to Ueda to protect Yukimura Sanada." Magoichi replied calmly. Keiji stared at him, his jaw hanging open, "Do you know who Yukimura is?!" Keiji asked excitement in his voice. Magoichi shook his head, "He's fighting Tokugawa, the only thing is, and he was nearly killed by Hanzo!" Keiji replied, speeding up his horse, Magoichi took a few moments before he understood, his face scrunched, he then figured it out, speeding up his horse as well, trailing behind Kunoichi, who was followed by Keiji.

"Yukimura, Tokugawa's vast army has arrived, you're brother is allied with him! We are seriously outnumbered!" Hideyori exclaimed. Yukimura stared at him, his grip upon his spear tightened with anger, "I know, but we must press on, we must show the Tokugawa that they can not rule and oppress us with the chaos!" Yukimura was forced to lean his spear on the horse; his wound had started to cause him more pain.
"But Yukimura, you, yourself shouldn't be fighting, your injury hinders you abilities, besides it will make you easier to kill, and more of a target!" Hideyori tried to reason with Yukimura, to no avail. "Lord Hideyori, Tokugawa will not let you become a threat, he will kill you!" Yukimura said.
"But he promised my father he would protect me!" Hideyori had begged.

"It means nothing to Tokugawa." Yukimura said, hopping on his horse, grabbing his side with his right hand, picking up his spear with the left. "I'm sorry..." Yukimura said, Kunoichi in his mind, "I love you..."

End of Chapter 3

Note: I wish I had it as easy as those who I write about, if I did, I'd dedicate this to my girlfriend, but "No luck with women either..." Unfortunately I don't have the food that Magoichi had in his opening, but when my pie is ready, I'll dig into it. Don't worry, all of you on the edge of your seats, Yukimura will make it, he has a lot more he needs to do, but what if he doesn't? What if he dies a painful hopeless death? What would become of Kunoichi? Why is Magoichi so aloof? The answers and more in the next chapter.