I really should have just called this Chapter 5, but since it was a side story in manga #11, I decided that this would be like a half a chapter.
Lots of spoilers on Manga #11 and Yukimura's past.
Chapter 4.5: Mizuki
Saizo sighed in frustration as Yukimura made another uncouth remark about the group's current situation and watched as Benitora fumed.
"...Right, it's just his nature to be twisted."
Saizo finally shook his head and jumped off the ledge he had been residing on over the group and fell to the ground in front of Benitora startling him.
"No!!" he cried. "The real Yukimura-sama is not who you think."
He noted the confused looks that he was thrown from the others and continued. "The Yukimura-sama you see everyday was made to be a body of lies."
"The Real Yukimura-sama--"
The very person he was talking about interrupted at that moment, as he snuck up behind Benitora. Saizo watched the exchange between the group wondering if perhaps he had said a bit too much and he began walking away, think that it would be a much wiser decision.
"Shall I tell you about my former self?"
Saizo looked up in shock turning back to watch as Yukimura pulled the sword at his side out, holding it to the moon as if to challenge it.
"So this is a story from the times when I held a sword in my hand," Yukimura started and Saizo narrowed his eyes as he allowed himself to remember, because there were two sides to this story. His and his lords...
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He shifted through the old books littered on the dirty wood floor throwing a few silly titles away out the nearby window and piling a few into certain categories. Next he pulled out the bookshelf near Yukimura- sama's desk pulling out the papers and shirts that had been stashed behind it.
It was Saizo's day for clean-up duty and though he didn't mind it as much as most of the others he did have a strong hatred for how Yukimura kept his room. It was after all the most difficult room to clean in the Sanada household.
He walked over to the closet throwing the clothes on the floor and shut the door behind him. His last area of clean up was around the desk. He picked up one of the books on the desk and grimaced at what he found under it.
Of course Yukimura knew when Saizo's clean-up days were and sometimes he left notes for Saizo as to what to pick up, what not to throw out and so on and so forth, but today it looked like Yukimura-sama had gotten a little more creative.
Saizo found pages upon pages of scribbled pictures and silly sayings. He sighed in exasperation, a hopeless look coming over his face as he picked up one of the pages finding what he assumed was his lords take on what he looked like.
It was a stick figure with a bandana and a pair of kunai in hand. The stick figure was dressed in black and in position to attack; a cloth mask covered the lower part of its face.
Saizo pushed the pages into a pile and set them back on the desk deciding that it wasn't worth telling his lord not to waste so much paper. He picked up a nearby book and threw it over his shoulder.
There was a soft thud from behind him and he looked back to see Sasuke perched on the windowsill flipping through the pages of the book he had thrown with disinterest. "Are you trying to hit people in the head with these?" he asked.
"I didn't notice you," Saizo replied shrugging his shoulders as he took the pile of books he had kept and began stashing them into the bookshelf.
"Your senses aren't very strong," Sasuke noted and Saizo flinched at the reproach.
"I'm busy cleaning Yukimura-sama's room. I haven't been in any real fights since before joining the Juyushi, Sasuke," Saizo said.
"Do you regret taking my offer?" Sasuke asked jumping down from the sill to walk around the room.
"No," Saizo replied, pausing in his cleaning. "I have no regrets. However I would like to know why Kosuke couldn't take clean-up duty, instead of me."
"She is guarding Masayuki-sama," Sasuke said absently, moving further into the room.
Sure...Saizo thought silently to himself as he rolled his eyes skywards while Sasuke wasn't looking.
A rare amused smile came to the other Juyushis' face as he stopped in front of Yukimura's desk. He picked up the first scribble on the pile, which was the one of Saizo.
"Why don't you keep this?" Sasuke asked throwing the page towards Saizo.
Saizo caught it as it floated on the air and cringed at the distasteful image. "Why? Why should I keep it?"
"Consider it a souvenir, from Yukimura-sama," Sasuke replied.
Saizo raised his eyebrows in a look of disbelief before deciding that it was a hopeless battle and folded the paper neatly before storing it in his pocket.
"Tokugawa's forces are beginning to close in on this area," Sasuke said on a more serious note.
"They will attack soon?" Saizo wondered.
"Yes, they're close enough and it doesn't help that Yukimura-sama keeps running off," Sasuke continued looking at the walls to the room gravely.
Saizo nodded, remembering the conversation from earlier that day.
'What do I have to fight for?'
It seemed strange hearing those words. Saizo had never asked such a question before and hearing it uttered from the man that he was supposed to protect made it almost surreal.
"Will he survive?" Saizo wondered aloud.
"We're here to make certain he does," Sasuke replied gravely.
Saizo looked out the window noting that dusk was about to set in...
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Saizo shifted uncertainly at the head of the army hiding in the dark alleys within the city. Masayuki-sama had ordered them to protect what they could of the city, but Saizo knew that if Tokugawa attacked it would be a hopeless battle. They were extremely outnumbered, but he was willing to bet on his good luck.
Tokugawa was going to have a battle on his hands destroying the Sanada family.
In the time since his first joining, Saizo's loyalty towards the Sanada had grown. He was fond of the people here. They reminded him of a time before Sachi...
It was an irrevocable bond and he knew that he was willing to fight to keep it. He refused to allow the same thing that happened to Sachi happen to his fellow Juyushi, to his lord.
Saizo watched as Sasuke came back around to the army and stopped in front of him. He pulled down the mask covering the lower half of his face and pointed out the smoke signs to the east.
"They'll be here in a few minutes. We'll leave most of the men here to guard Ueda castle; the rest will help get the people out of the city. I'm afraid we won't be able to get them all out," Sasuke said gravely.
Saizo nodded his understanding before pulling up his own mask and following the older Juyushi into the town.
Saizo found the first few samurai, already lurking nearby and pulled at his kunai. He killed the first one easily and Sasuke disposed of the others.
"Watch your back," Sasuke warned killing another soldier that had snuck up behind Saizo.
Saizo narrowed his eyes in irritation. "They shouldn't already be this far into the town," he said instead taking out the next samurai.
"Focus on getting the people out," Sasuke replied.
Saizo sighed in defeat before moving towards a group of children encircled by samurai. He disposed of them as quickly as possible and pointed the children towards the west.
"Ahhh!"
Saizo turned to watch a man walk out of the flames towards him. Hands outstretched as if begging to be saved.
Saizo's eyes widened as a Kunai lodged into the mans chest and he looked back to see Sasuke dodging another samurai's blade.
"Don't think twice. The best you can do for those who are dying is to hasten their death," Sasuke said through gritted teeth.
Saizo swallowed hard before turning to aid Sasuke.
The evening progressed like that, with the Sanada racing against time to get the people out of town and kill off any of the samurai.
If Saizo hadn't still been looking around for survivors he probably would have missed seeing the figure of his lord running along the path and he turned quickly to yell at Sasuke, but the older Juyushi was having his own troubles as a pair of soldiers advanced on him.
Saizo shook his head, looking from the disappearing figure of Yukimura, back to Sasuke before finally he ran following the figure in front of him. He jumped back in time to miss getting hit by a falling home and slashed at another soldiers throat as he was intercepted.
Saizo looked up, but Yukimura was already gone, vanishing into the raging flames.
Mizuki...he's going to Mizuki.
Saizo knew the way from having followed Yukimura there before and he began trekking along the ground, but there were obstacles everywhere, from dead bodies to enemy soldiers.
Saizo moved to pull himself up on the first house he saw that wasn't completely on fire and ran along towards the location his lord had gone.
He found him finally not from sight, but by the sudden scream that split the air more truly than the cries of the villagers.
What he found very nearly made him fall off the roof, his lord battling a group of soldiers. It only took him one glance at the girl lying propped against a nearby house to know what had happened.
Mizuki was dead and Saizo's lord was battling in rage. Saizo shifted on the roof regarding the situation when Sasuke suddenly appeared beside him to put a hand on his arm and hold him back.
"He doesn't need our help..." the older Juyushi murmured gravely.
Saizo looked back at the battle in disbelief as Yukimura took out the soldiers and felt suddenly like as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on him.
"...Is he...smiling?"
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Even to this day Saizo never did figure out if the man he called his lord had smiled as he had massacred the soldiers so effortlessly, but he knew that that day had changed his lord completely.
Though the carefree cheerfulness was still there, it was marred in some places by a cold darkness that not even Saizo could penetrate.
Saizo jumped back up to the ledge when he was finished talking to Yukimura-sama after the story and sat back on the ground.
He reached into his pocket suddenly pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. Saizo unfolded it carefully and looked down at the silly drawing he had found all those years ago. He still carried it, much to his own surprise.
Mizuki... Did you know what your fate would be? Sis...Did you know yours?
Saizo sighed before folding the paper in his hands and watching as Yukimura stared at the moon, his own eyes closing to block out the image.
Sachi...