Rewrite chapter number 2. I will leave the other authors' credits below, because these are all old friends that helped me a lot in the past. I am still grateful for their advice. I have no clue if they are still on this platform, but I'll honor them nonetheless.

I remember I rewrote this story before thanks to an author called SeyenSay. Gave me pointers and directions for the story and also grammatical stuff.

ProKitty202 , Somniyo and SleepyShuffle are author names my friends used to go by. No clue if this changed. I only still speak with one of them. Despite this I still remember clearly how they motivated me to keep writing. Good old times. Who knows maybe they will see this someday.

Chapter 2

Masamune Date smirked at the crumbling raider before him. A proud man, Masamune could tell. He had a lot of nerve for someone who lived off other people's suffering. How anyone could take pride in plundering was beyond him.

The dragon raised his sword, and swung it down as he cut the man, who immediately curled in pain. The man was the leader of a unit of raiders who attempted an ambush on a fishermen's village.

In all honesty, these raiders could consider themselves unlucky. After all, this was just a small fishermen's village that no warlord or ruler would pay attention to. Even if it was destroyed, any powerful man could just easily rebuild it. Japan was a huge country as a matter of fact. However Masamune was an ambitious man and he would consider himself to be resourceful. Other rulers might overlook this place, but the one eyed dragon knew that because this was such an insignificant piece of land, he could keep all that it had to offer to himself. The village had fish to sell and cattle to keep. While it was on the brink of poverty, they still survived many years by trading whatever little they had. In fact, trading supplies with a warlord such as Masamune Date would only be beneficial to them and vice versa, the young lord had nothing to lose. He could attain everything for a cheap price.

The young lord only discovered this village recently, but he learned fast that the place was an easy target for bandits and raiders, which was a big nuisance to him. As much as he enjoyed seeing lowly criminals throw away their worthless lives against him and his army, it was also a waste of time and troops to be fighting scum.

On the other hand, at least he helped to protect something that could be of value to him in the long run. If that meant that he had to exterminate every single raiding pirate, then he would do just that.

"Don't get scared fools. This kid can't possibly best us veterans!" One of the raiders encouraged his unit. By the looks of his slightly different attire, Masamune guessed he was probably the pirate marauder, the leader of all the units. And kind of stupid, honestly. The dragon of Oshu was aware that he was a relatively young warlord compared to, lets' say, Ieyasu Tokugawa. Though he doubted that most did not know of his name. The crescent moon that his helmet bore was iconic after all. Even pirate scum would know of his name.

"Today is the day!" The pirate marauder encouraged his cronies. "Today we're going to get back what these people owe us! Hurt anyone who dares to defy us!" The man commanded and his underlings obeyed. Their loud screams were filled with eagerness to gain the last possessions the poor villagers owned.

Masamune stood there kind of dumbfounded. Well, maybe it was not too far-fetched to believe that, while knowing the name 'Masamune Date', maybe the raiders simply did not believe it was him in the flesh. After all, he was far from home. Still kind of dumb because his combat prowess should be tale telling, but he decided to not think about it any longer.

A man's voice snapped the young lord out of his thoughts. Cheers and yells got his attention. It seemed that the fishermen and peasants in the village chose to show their courage by showing resistance. It seemed that, despite being commoners with no knowledge of combat and owning little possessions, they were not prepared to readily give up on their homes. Masamune could respect that.

"You can't just destroy and pillage our village!" One of the peasants said. "This is our home. You will have to kill us first!"

The marauder merely chuckled at the peasant's words, his chest heaving while his head was raised high. After that he gestured at one of his cronies. The latter walked instantly to the peasant who had recently spoken.

Masamune's eye widened in shock as the raider had cut off the poor sap's head right off. The marauder had a sickening grin plastered to his face.

"Alright. Then taking everything from this place shouldn't be too hard now should it?" The man grinned, " Now let's get the rest of them too."

The dragon clenched his fist around his sword, his other hand reaching for one of his guns. That marauder.. where did he get that nerve? Intruding and killing as he pleased. Taking people's life for granted was a disgusting thing to do.

As soon as Masamune had drawn his gun, he stretched his arm and aimed, his eye focusing on that rotten face of the leading criminal in front of him as he put his index finger on the trigger.

The screams and protests of the villagers didn't go unnoticed. Rowdy screams made Shiorin wake up. The young woman's heart began to race as she looked around warily only to see people running and fleeing for their lives. Children were crying and desperate parents tried to keep their calm as much as possible.

Somehow, this image made her head throb a little. As she closed her eyes she moved her hand to touch her temples lightly which eased the pain. Once the feeling subsided she got up, looked around to navigate the area. It took her a moment to realize that she had fallen asleep on top of the shop's roof again, an odd habit. The old lady who owned the shop often scolded her for it.

Shiorin sighed. Pirates, bandits, raiders and all kinds of thugs often attacked the fishermen's village. Because it is small and close to the sea they do not receive a lot of help from outside, if they received any at all. As far as she could remember it had always been like that. The old lady from the shop told her that soldiers used to live in this village, but to partake in warfare they had to leave their homes behind. Because the place is somewhat isolated they do not get a lot of visitors, nor do they receive lots of trade opportunities. The village is mostly self-sufficient. Occasionally they would trade with passing travelers or lords, but that was a rare occasion. Also, because the fishermen's village was unnamed, unknown, without any fame to its existence, everything they managed to sell was for a small price only.

They had basically nothing. They lived with so little, yet bandits still just thought of the place as an easy target to fill their pockets with dead men's gold. It was absolutely horrible.

The black haired woman jumped off the roof and made her way towards the commotion. She scowled.

She was grateful that she could at least help defend her home. She became strong. At least strong enough to fend off bandits. She doesn't remember a lot about her past, aside from the fact that her aunt took her in and took care of Shiorin. The girl was always grateful for this because she knew it must be hard to have an extra mouth to feed. The aunt's eldest child, a daughter, Shiorin's cousin, was about a year older than Shiorin herself. When she became of age she left the village to become a soldier.

You see, her cousin was an excellent fighter with amazing abilities. She was strong and brave. Shiorin respected that and in all honesty, it made her want to fight too, though she had no desire to leave her home, unlike her cousin. After the latter left, the young girl decided for herself that she too would fight, but she would fight for her home. This village has always been plagued by bandits, therefore Shiorin wanted to learn how to fight to at least be able to protect what she held dear. She sought help from a blacksmith that was just outside the village. He taught her how to fight and he provided her weapons, but for his services, she would run errands for him. A fair trade.

The blacksmith and his shop were one of the village's only consistent sources of income. The man provided gold for village maintenance, the village provided food and other necessities for the blacksmith to survive. It was not much, but their trade agreement existed for many years and hopefully many years to come.

They didn't have much, that is why it was so important that what they did have, would be protected at all costs.

Shiorin's trail of thought ended as she finally got back into reality. Her black hair danced behind her while she approached the scene. From a distance the womanl could spot the village's gates, where destruction and violence awaited. Apparently the fishermen were dealing with pirates today. She could tell from the garments that the thugs wore.

Another day. Another fight.

Masamune was panting although that sneer never left his face. The pirate marauder had no more men to order around, as a large number of his unit were scattered across the ground. The marauder was also injured himself, suffering a cut in his side. He clutched it while he desperately looked at the young man before him, teeth gritted.

It seemed that the one eyed dragon had the upper hand.

The young lord walked towards the man in front of him. He raised his sword again to put an end to the marauders existence, but then he stopped as he heard a scream behind him. More pirates had appeared, all emerging from the large ship that just arrived at the coast right before the gates.

The marauder laughed, despite being wounded and on the ground. "Do you understand? We have the advantage of numbers so give in now or I'll make you regret your resistance."

The dragon just smirked at this. "Clearly you don't know who you're talking to, do you?" He turned and headed for the ship where more pirates awaited him.

"Attack the garrisons!"

As soon as the marauder had given that order his criminal underlings started to pour in from different directions. Apparently they had been hiding in the other ships that arrived previously. The dragon frowned. He thought he had already cleared those out completely. Not double checking might have been a mistake.

'Shit.' Masamune hadn't thought about the consequences of attacking directly, which wasn't his style really. Well, not always that is. Now he had to hurry to the nearby garrisons to make sure the villagers would stay unharmed, as that is where they had fled while their homes were being plundered and destroyed.

'West…or east..?' He decided to go east.

"We got him now!" As soon as Masamune reached one of the garrisons the pirates closed the gate, locking the dragon up.

The young man groaned in irritation. What a nuisance. He would make them regret it. This he swore. "This is really starting to get annoying. You will be sorry for wasting my time like this. Open the gates!" he ordered, whilst cutting more pirates down, slicing his way through his surroundings, but their number was greater than he initially expected.

This looked like a bad situation. If he didn't do something fast, the villagers would be doomed and not to mention the very few peasants who fought for their families couldn't hold up much longer. They were not soldiers after all. They were just commoners and fending off this many pirates would be too much for them alone.

The one eyed dragon was almost at a loss on what to do. He was outnumbered. Even if he would try to shoot them all, he would simply not make it.

At that very moment, a sudden scream outside the closed gates made him snap out of thought.

Masamune raised his head in confusion, his gaze focused on the direction of where the sound came from.

"Who do you think you are? It's impossible we will be defeated by a—" Another scream could be heard. Cries sounded outside the gate and Masamune braced himself.

Apparently someone was approaching, fighting the pirates taking them down one by one. Reinforcements? That seemed not likely. Masamune did not request any assistance. More so because this was just supposed to be a quick visit and its intention was trade. It was not like the one eyed dragon expected to be dealing with a predicament of this caliber in a place like this.

The young warlord flinched as a loud bang had caught his attention. He kept his eye locked upon a newly formed indentation on the large iron gates. Someone, or something, was breaking through.

A few more loud bangs followed and the indentation became a hole. The large gates bent and broke and were sent flying several meters ahead.

Throughout the newly formed opening, unconscious bodies that belonged to the pirates were sent flying. Masamune had to dodge them as they passed him with great speed. He turned his head to see them knocked out, possibly possessing a few broken limbs now. The young man smirked. It is not that he was particularly stoked about needing assistance, but nonetheless he rejoiced seeing these scum get what they deserved.

Masamune turned back towards the gates and then his amused expression was replaced with astonishment. A young girl walked in warily. Her blue eyes showed determination, but her posture seemed somewhat timid, which seemed odd considering the situation they were in. What was she doing out here?

Normally, the dragon wouldn't really care about anyone standing in his way. However, if she was one of the villagers then her life was in danger. There was no way a tiny girl like her wouldn't be an easy target for these vile pirates.

"You!" He called out to her. "Are you nuts? This is a battlefield!" The dragon didn't seem to realize that the girl in question was the one who sent the pirates flying.

Blue eyes locked with his and she tilted her head in confusion. "Hmm? What are you doing here?" She asked. "Please leave. We are under attack!"

The young man blinked. Who was she talking to? She was looking at him. Did she lose her mind?

Masamune navigated his surroundings. He noticed nobody else around. So this girl did not know who he was? How in the world was that possible? He was Masamune Date, the one eyed dragon, lord of Öshu. Was she seriously this ignorant?

He grunted in annoyance. "Are you talking to me? Do you know who I am?" He gestured angrily and clenched his fist. "As a matter of fact, this is no place for a little girl!"

Shiorin stared at him dumbfounded. Well, this is not the first time someone thought she was younger than she actually is. She was very short for her age after all and it was very likely that she wouldn't become any taller than this. The black haired woman stopped growing even an inch for several years now, it was pretty unfortunate.

Before she could retort to the young man that he was wrong, a group of pirates tried to attack her from behind. Masamune wanted to call out to her, but it seemed like there was no need. Within a split second she sent the bodies flying as if dealing with sacks of potatoes.

He then realized that the one fighting and breaking inside was the girl. Which meant that she was a fighter, capable of defending herself. Not a small feat for any little girl. In any case, there was no time to ask questions, or ponder about what was going on. The one eyed dragon decided to lend the small girl a hand and fought by her side to fend off the remaining number of pirates.

Not before long, both garrisons were cleared and the pirate marauder, their leader, was the only target left. When the two approached him he crawled backwards immediately, trying to flee for his life.

"I am obviously not staying around for you to kill me!" The marauder spat, only for Masamune to pull the trigger of his gun and shoot the man in front of him in the leg. A blood curdling scream followed as the pirate cringed and writhed in pain.

Masamune smirked. "Trying to run won't do you any good."

The pirate sighed in defeat, his whines and sobs becoming slightly incoherent. Shiorin figured he must have been in great pain.

"Return the village's stolen goods at once. You better pay up for the damage you've done as well. Or else."

The man could do nothing but sigh and admit his defeat while heeding Masamune's command.

Said man grunted. He was so displeased. He looked around, destruction and death everywhere. And for what? All because a bunch of incompetent thieves decided to ransack others' properties.

After assisting with the clean up, evening was suddenly here. The villagers had thanked Masamune, and they offered him a reward. He told them to keep it cause they needed it more than he did. He also promised them he would send in help to rebuild the village and rebuild what was damaged.

The one eyed dragon nodded after making the agreement, then turned towards the small girl who had been watching the whole time. He was quite intrigued with the weird strength she possessed. He noticed that while fighting, she causes utter destruction. Whatever her fists connect with, shatters in an instant. Whether it is the ground, a wall, a rock, you name it. As a matter of fact, now he thought of it, she managed to break through iron gates that were 5 times her size if not bigger. That amount of strength seemed inhumane. Did she really do all of that with her bare hands? He did notice the weird glove-like gauntlets she possessed. They were shaped like claws. He asked her about them before. She said that he was correct that her gloves had something to do with her power, however it was not her own raw strength.

Apparently the weapons, the gloves, served as catalysts for musou, an energy type that he himself also used during his battles, albeit differently. The destruction she caused were like musou bursts. Which meant she must have possessed a lot of it to be able to fight like that constantly. Very unusual. He wondered who taught her to fight like this. That would be a question for the future.

Masamune looked down at her, his left eye locked with her blue eyes. "Who are you?" He asked.

She looked up with a little smile. "Shiorin. But you can call me Rin for short."

"What a very odd name. Do you mean Shiori?" The names Rin and Shiori were common girl names as far as he was concerned. The name 'Shiorin' was not.

The small girl turned a little red and huffed. It seemed that he had struck a little nerve. "Shi. O. Rin." she repeated slowly. "Shiorin. My mother named me that. She thought it was cute." Not that she would actually know. This is just what her aunt used to tell her. In all honesty Shiorin herself also thought that her name was very strange/uncommon, but for that reason she also liked it. Most of the time her cousin called her 'Rin' anyway. So did the old lady from the shop.

Masamune looked at her and huffed. He examined her frame.

Her strength, which contrasted strongly with her tiny appearance, was very remarkable. He had to lower his head to look her in the eyes properly, they were a piercing blue. She also had very long, straight black hair. Her bangs partly covered the scar in her face. The gash started from her forehead and trailed down over her nose on the right side, a little below her eye.

She wore a samurai helmet with protrusions of sorts, which could be interpreted as cat ears. It was not unusual for samurai to wear armor that is animal themed. Though it is unusual for someone like her to possess something like this. She wore some padded armor on her shoulders, which only covered the top part of her dress. Her legs were also clad in armor.

A girl in a fishermen's village, dressed for combat. Masamune figured she had to deal with pirates and bandits like she did today more often. He wondered if it had anything to do with the scar on her face.

Her hesitant voice snapped the young man out of his thoughts. "By the way… who are you?"

This caused the dragon to cough, scraping his throat as he stared at her in confusion and also slight surprise. "You mean you really have no clue? Are you that dense?"

Shiorin stayed silent, her eyebrows started to wrinkle as she pondered. The young man next to her started tapping his foot impatiently.

The girl stared at him for a bit longer until her eyes grew wide in realization. The crescent moon. The eyepatch. The guns. How did she not realize sooner that the man who helped defend her village was none other than Masamune Date.

"Masamune?"

The said man facepalmed.

"Oh my… I was right? I should've recognized you right away! My apologies." She bowed.

The man sighed, and waved his hand dismissively. "Never mind. Imbecile."

"Huh?" She looked up at him and tilted her head to the side, which seemed to agitate him further.

He sighed deeply and repeated, this time more loudly, "I said imbecile!" He shook his head. "What is the matter with you? Little kids are not supposed to fight."

She needed to think before she finally realized what he was saying. Was he seriously calling her a kid? Absurd. She knew her height didn't outright tell people how old she was, but she still took offense.

"You don't seem very old yourself!" Shiorin retorted.

"Such impertinence. My age is none of your business. Besides, I am a ruler, you can't compare me to the likes of you." Masamune scoffed.

After a few more minutes of arguing, it turned out that Shiorin was actually older than Masamune, by two years even. The one eyed dragon found this absolutely absurd. How could this girl– woman, this tiny, not even standing at the height of his shoulder, be an actual adult? It was absolutely preposterous.

Anyhow, wondering about the laws of nature would not do anyone any good.

The young man sighed. "Why would someone like you try so hard to defend this village anyway?"

Shiorin looked at the man. "I live here, in this village." She replied. "Somebody has to fight. Until now, many of the villagers have tried to stop these raids, but with little success. The pirates come in large numbers and they keep increasing every visit."

"I see. But it doesn't seem like a huge problem for you. You seemed to handle it quite well. You are strong"

She smiled at his compliment. "Thank you."

The young dragon chuckled. "Despite your small frame, you sure can fight. Not bad."

Then he thought for a moment. Does he know of any warriors out there who possess such a fighting technique? None that he knew of. Such power should be great enough to overthrow large numbers of enemies. That seemed a perfect addition to his conquest.

Shiorin might have potential. She did not seem to have an actual fighter's attitude, but she is able to do it, so Masamune believed that she could be trained and counseled if needed. Furthermore, she seemed to be the loyal type and she also seemed to be very humble.

Loyalty and humbleness were necessary qualities for an underling. Someone like that would also be very unlikely to betray anyone.

He would give it a shot.

"Rin."

She lifted her head up to look at him questionably as he spoke.

"How about working for me? " He asked.

She looked at him for a while. It was obvious she was pondering on what to say.

"Consider yourself lucky for me observing and acknowledging your strength." He tried to convince her. "A chance like this you will only get once in your life"

"Are you serious?" She couldn't believe him. She was just a fisherman's daughter, no experienced warrior at all. She would be of no use to him and most of all, fighting for a warlord meant fighting on the battlefield against real soldiers that fought to their death.

The black haired woman wasn't sure about throwing her life away for this man she just met. It is true that he fought for her village and it is also true that he is a very important person, so outright refusing him seemed beyond her, but she was afraid. Those men out there, those real soldiers, were full fledged, battle hardened veterans. What in the world could she do against people like that?

"B- but what about the village?" She stammered.

Masamune smirked. "Don't worry about that. I will send some of my men here to check in on the village every now and then. We'll keep them from any harm. Also, do not forget that I promised the villagers that my men would help rebuild this place. Do you think the one eyed dragon makes false promises?" The man scoffed. The womanl started to tremble.

'The villagers might be alright… But will I be?' She feared the worst. She could take on pirates. They were just like regular men with swords and weapons. They had no discipline, nor any particular skill. She could take them on with ease. Without fear.

"And?" The northern lord began to tap his foot impatiently.

"I…" She gulped. "No."

He just chuckled which turned into a loud laugh after. He didn't think he heard that right.

She just looked at him, that stern expression didn't leave her face.

When Masamune noticed he narrowed his eye, glaring at her. "What did you say?"

"I am sorry, but I don't want to." She gulped again as her throat felt dry. "You'll have to leave this village without me."

His hands were by his sides as he clenched one of his fists, being agitated to the most. Who did this woman think she was? She wasn't in the position to reject him. She was a mere commoner. The fact that he acknowledged her skill did not mean that she should get funny ideas.

"Listen, I don't think you understand. I didn't ask you, I am telling you to fight for me."

The young woman shook her head. "I- I know, and I said n- no." She turned to leave, although she felt a little stupid. Her legs were quivering and all she could muster was stammering. What if Masamune came after her and shot her out of anger. He would get away with it, she was a mere commoner after all. No one would make a scene if she died.

She sped up her pace and eventually ran away. She stopped near a house as she turned just around the corner. She looked behind to see if he did follow her. Nothing was seen. Shiorin sighed in relief. Hopefully, he will leave her alone now.

Masamune did nothing but just stood there where she left him. He brought his hand to his chin, and started thinking. He wasn't planning to give up so easily. She would take his offer, no matter what. He smirked again as an idea came to mind.

"Just you wait.."