Thanks to all the reviews I'm posting the fifth chapter, thanks a lot guys! Hopefully it won't take long to update the next chapter.
Honor and Loyalty
Chapter 5: Ambush!
"Quite a quaint place Muramasa has, ne Saizo?" Yukimura commented looking up at the squirrel that had taken residence on Saizos' shoulder.
"Quaint," Saizo replied sarcastically as that same squirrel crawled up on top of his head; very nearly undoing the bandana he wore. He sat back against the wall of the room that Yukimura was residing in during his stay and looked through the window at the cloudy sky.
"I sense more of the Mibu in the forest beyond here," Saizo murmured softly.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they were surrounding this entire area, Saizo. Muramasa seems to be their target," Yukimura said looking back at him from the window.
"Are you sure it's not Demon Eyes Kyo that they're after?" Saizo asked, carefully adjusting his bandana when the squirrel jumped down to the ground.
"Who knows? I'm gonna go check up on them, though. They went into the forest a little while ago," Yukimura said moving towards the door.
Saizo rose from his position on the floor meeting his lord at the door.
"I want you to check the area around here. If you find anything make sure to let me know," Yukimura stated before walking through the door.
Saizo watched him leave through the front door of Muramasa's house, followed by Benitora who made enough noise to wake the living dead.
"Hey Yukimura-han, where ya goin?" he asked trailing along.
Saizo couldn't help but flinch knowing for a fact that the person following his lord was also Tokugawa Hidetada. He hesitated leaving Yukimura alone with the man, but orders were orders and so he walked out of the house minutes after them, leaving Okuni-san and Sasuke behind along with the newcomer Botenmaru.
His feet led him quickly to the area of the forest that seemed to give off the worst smell and he jumped up into the trees to walk along them more silently.
It wasn't long before he found a large group of Mibu standing in the forest ground about half a mile away from Muramasa's home.
What are they doing out here?
Saizo crouched in the trees watching as the Mibu conversed in hushed voices below him.
"Are they still following?" Saizo made out from one of them.
"They should be several miles back by now. It gives us time to report to Shinrei-sama," another one hissed.
Saizo was taken aback by the strange name and looked back towards the area that his lord had disappeared in. He felt a suddenly uneasy air come over him before his eyes trailed back down to the group below him.
They were gathering their weapons and securing their masks in place. Saizo pulled back further into the tree branch he resided on, when two of the Mibu looked up in his general direction.
He watched as they began moving away and sighed softly as he pulled at the kunai by his side. He couldn't let them reach Yukimura-sama and began carefully moving down the tree to creep along behind the Mibu.
He moved his first kunai under someone's neck and pulled back, killing him instantly, but in that same second two of the Mibu came around to swing their swords at his head.
Saizo ducked in time, but almost missed the second wave of attacks when more of the Mibu jumped out of the trees above him.
"An Ambush?" he cried.
He moved around making sure to keep his back to the trees to keep from getting attacked from behind, but he was surrounded on all sides.
This was not what he had planned...
"Hey Saizo? Could you use some help?"
He looked up at the branches above his head and found Jinpachi and Kamanosuke smiling down at him.
"Where have you been?" Saizo asked ducking his head as a sword swung at him. It became embedded in the tree and Saizo quickly took the opportunity to take out another of the attackers.
"We've been watching Akira in Kyoto. Didn't Yukimura tell you?" Kamanosuke asked.
"Yeah, but the guy has good senses. He kicked us out and then these guys kept showing up in our path," he continued unperturbed even as Saizo blocked another attack with his newly drawn sword.
"And--"
"Are you two just going to watch?" Saizo interrupted in exasperation.
"You can handle these guys," Jinpachi said calmly lounging back in the tree. "You've fought plenty of times in worse situations than this."
Saizo had to agree to this, but Jinpachi had made one miscalculation. While he had fought in plenty of outnumbering battles, it had always been against Tokugawa's men or hired assassins. These attackers were a lot more skilled and powerful.
He swung his sword out in an arc and cut down three attackers only to have five more take their place.
His eyes picked up the large group moving to get past the forest to where Yukimura was, but thankfully Jinpachi decided to join the fray at that moment. Stopping them in their tracks with the blades on his right hand.
Saizo almost missed the next sword that was aimed at his head, but caught the sword with the back of his. The attacker went down moments later from a shuriken thrown from the branch above him.
"Heh...of course I could be considerate enough to watch your back," Kamanosuke murmured absently.
"How nice of you," Jinpachi yelled back taking out the next group.
The three of them made quick work of the rest of the attackers and Saizo sighed in relief when the last one went down.
"Now, explain what the hell took you so long to get here," Saizo demanded as he sat back against one of the trees.
"Akira is allying himself with the Mibu and giving them Kyos' body. He noticed us watching and very nearly brought the building down around our ears. After that we ran into these guys who were muttering something about Muramasa and Kyo, so we followed the gossipmongers and made it here," Jinpachi explained.
"Allying himself with the Mibu Clan...?" Saizo wondered, frowning in confusion.
"Yep and that ain't all, Sakuya-sama went missing as well," Kamanosuke murmured.
"She probably went to Kyoto," Jinpachi commented.
Saizo nodded his agreement before picking up his weapons and standing.
"I'll report to Yukimura-sama," he said.
"Alright, we'll go seek out Sakuya if we can find her. We won't go as far as the Mibu territory, though," Kamanosuke agreed standing up and stretching. "Try not to overdo it, Saizo."
With that the two Juyushi vanished into the forest and Saizo began to trek back to Muramasa's home.
What was Sakuya thinking going off by herself? And for that matter what the hell was Akira up to? The man seemed to be more of a wild card than Yukimura. Saizo couldn't read his intentions...