Note I : In this chapter, once again I will mention actual events that took place in the Sengoku period. There is no mention of specific dates in order to protect the flow of the story.

Furthermore, I will probably use certain battles to flesh out the story. The timeline will not be accurate for the sake of the story flow.

Below is a list of events mentioned, with some explanation.

Event 1: There will be mention of Shingen Takeda's death. It is said that he was killed, other sources said that he died of illness. This story tells the latter.

Event 2: The Samurai Warriors franchise makes use of real historic events that actually happen within the games. Some are more accurate than others. I believe that officially, Nobunaga Oda died in a fire at Honnoji temple because Mitsuhide Akechi betrayed him and burned the place down. In chapter 7, I wrote that Magoichi was the one who succeeded in killing off Nobunaga, as this was canon in SW2's depiction.

Event 3: Hideyoshi Toyotomi died of natural causes. By the time the siege of Osaka Castle took place, he was already dead, though he left behind his son Hideyori Toyotomi and his legacy. In chapter 4 of my story, Magoichi Saika said to Masamune Date that he still believes in Toyotomi's legacy, despite that his mate had long passed away.

That is all for this chapter.

Chapter 8

A large number of birds chirped loudly while panickedly, they scattered within the forest skies. A loud gunshot caused them to be in disarray and they all fled the scene which left the area dead silent.

The Date soldier frowned in surprise. He expected the petite woman to squeal in pain, because he aimed his gun at her and shot her. The man blinked a few times, because before he knew it, she was suddenly gone from his sight and no longer standing in front of him.

'Where could she have gone?' He thought to himself while his eyes rapidly searched his surroundings. He purposely picked an open field, because it was hard to run and hide from his sight. There were trees and bushes only to his left. That must be where she went.

Soft rustling confirmed his suspicions. He got her now!

Slowly and carefully, he approached a bush while he kept his aim upon it. "You know," his voice sounded threatening, while he laid his finger upon the trigger. "You can run, but you can't hide." The man was about to shoot, but a sudden noise from above him alerted him. He looked up, only to see the young woman stare at him from the nearest tree. She sat upon a big branch and her blue eyes shrank to the size of peas. She must've been absolutely horrified.

The peasant sure was fast, he gave her that. Apparently, she also had a knack for anticipating her opponents moves. Impressive, but running away cowardly was not useful in the slightest.

With an annoyed grunt, the Date soldier took aim again. He shot at her, his bullet hitting the branch she was on, which caused it to break. Instead of falling off, Shiorin swiftly jumped onto the next one.

'Those movements…' The man squinted his eyes. As far as he knew, she was not a part of any Shinobi clan. Her moves were sloppy, she was just insanely fast. The weirdest part about it was how she used both her hands and her feet to jump. The claw-like gauntlets she wore made her grip secure.

He cocked an eyebrow as he realized something very peculiar.

That woman didn't move like a ninja, nor like a human for that matter. She moved like a beast, on all fours.

When the soldier thought about it, it made sense. The way she was constantly tense and wary, jumping at any thing that startled her, made her seem overly alert. Just like a small beast that could be hunted at any moment. Her attire also seemed to add to the impression. Her helmet bore protrusions, resembling cat ears of sorts and she wore claws on her gauntlets.

At first he did not pay any attention to any of it. After all, samurai wore animal themed helmets all the time. It could be any animal: A fox, an ox, a deer, a wolf, anything. Still, it was slightly confusing, because he remembered that it was said that the petite woman was not a samurai, nor a trained warrior. In the end, she was still only a peasant. Then, to be wearing that kind of armor, she must have had some special reason. How did she get it in the first place?

The soldier interrupted his thoughts as he watched the woman dodge all of his shots. He wasn't fast enough. At this rate she would just keep running. It was starting to annoy him, so he decided to change his approach. He took a deep breath, watching her movements intently, then right as her feet landed upon another branch, he shot at it.

The branch broke off and the peasant fell down from up high. It seemed that she would land head first, but what happened next made the Date soldier's eyes nearly roll out of their sockets.

He could only stare in disbelief as he watched the woman twist her body unnaturally in mid air and somehow she managed to land upon both hands and feet. This only confirmed that this woman must have been a part beast. It is said that only cats always land on their feet after all. Where in the world did Lord Masamune find this woman? Was she not from a fisherman's village? Where did she learn to move like that? He was absolutely baffled.

Nevertheless, as impressive as her evasive skills were, she did not even try to attack him once. There was no point to this training if she did not fight back.

"You can't keep running, peasant." The soldier sounded condescending. "I will still kill you if you are not able to put as much as a scratch on me."

Shiorin shook in her sandals. She was surprised that she managed to move at all in the first place. Her heart was racing and her anxiousness made her body feel very heavy. A single drop of sweat rolled down her face as she gulped hard, pondering on how to move next.

Unfortunately, the soldier ran out of patience. He stopped giving her any time and just started firing rapidly at her, shot after shot. All that the woman could do in response was jump, run and dodge. She could not stop for a moment, because if even one of those bullets would hit, it would be the end of her. Even a grave injury could mean her death, because it would make her useless to the Date army. Surely, Masamune would get rid of her if that would happen.

Eventually, Shiorin had no choice but to fight back. She didn't want to hit the soldier, but she had to stop him one way or another. He left her no choice.

As the soldier shot at her feet in an attempt to stop her from running, she jumped onto all fours once again, using that momentum to swiftly change direction. Within a split second, she charged towards the man, who grunted in surprise. He was about to shoot her right there and then, but in the spur of the moment, he had forgotten to reload his gun.

His hands moved in a panic, but by then it was already too late, she had already reached him. Blue eyes locked upon his own. This lasted mere seconds before the soldier realized that she gave him time to jump back.

Shiorin missed her lunge and her fist connected with the ground.

The Date soldier nearly shrieked. As soon as she had landed her hit, the earth underneath them started to shatter. All that was left was a huge crater in the ground, which grew bigger and bigger as pieces of rock refracted from one another. The man kept dodging all the way back, until it finally stopped. He then tripped and fell onto his butt as he stared in disbelief at the sight before him.

"Y- you," The man stammered. "I– I will report to the lord at once. This session has ended."

Drops of sweat rolled down the petite woman's face. She let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully, she did not injure the man. While she had full control of her ability, she was still worried whenever she had to use it. This seemed like the only way to stop him from shooting at her, and it worked, though she admitted it was kind of reckless of her to attack him at such close range. What would she do if she had accidentally killed him?

What she didn't notice was that from a safe distance, a certain gunslinger was watching them. Magoichi, who happened to walk past the scene, stared in awe at the amount of damage that was dealt. He was grateful that he did not coincidentally get in between the girl and the soldier.

So this power was what Masamune was talking about earlier. Now it suddenly made sense why he went through such lengths just to get her to join the Date army. With this kind of power, overthrowing large numbers of men would no longer be a problem.

Later on, Shiorin was allowed to return to camp and there she waited for Masamune to evaluate the soldier's report on her performance. Apparently, the one eyed dragon was currently not present, as he was meeting Ieyasu Tokugawa so that both warlords could discuss upcoming battle strategies.

Rin did not know much about Ieyasu. Of course, she heard of the Tokugawa clan and of course she knew they were probably the most powerful clan in Japan at the moment. Though, news about the current state of war in the nation rarely reached her village.

All she knew was that the Tokugawa won many battles thus far. The latest she heard of, was that of the siege of Odawara castle. Back then, Hideyoshi Toyotomi was still alive. He and Ieyasu fought alongside one another to defeat the Hojo clan. According to the village messengers, Masamune also lent both armies his strength. It was the first time that Rin had heard of the one eyed dragon and his deeds. As years passed, every now and then a rumor would reach the village. She would never really pay them any heed though, because after all, rumors were just rumors. Also back then she still believed that she lived far away from all of this. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that years later Masamune Date himself would recruit her.

This made her think, why did Masamune need her? He had such powerful allies. The Tokugawa clan had the greatest samurai among their ranks. The mightiest warrior of all, named Tadakatsu Honda, was probably the biggest example. A chill ran down her spine when she thought about facing him as a possible opponent. She hoped that day would never come. Thankfully, it seemed that Masamune and Ieyasu had zero conflicts thus far, so the chance of her fighting the great samurai seemed very small.

Shiorin tilted her head to gaze up at the sky. She sat outside of her tent, because no one else seemed to be around. It was very likely that the other officers accompanied Masamune to the meeting. A sigh left her lips, then suddenly a familiar voice called out to her, "And here I thought you were just an innocent, puny little girl. If someone would have told me a woman that size was able to smash craters underneath my very feet, I would have never believed them."

The petite woman looked up at Magoichi in surprise. "Y-you saw?"

Magoichi nodded and grinned at her. "I sure did. You are something else, Little Rin. Quite frankly, I expected you to barely make it through training with a face full of tears at the very least." He chuckled, teasing his new comrad. After all, now that she has proven her skill, it was only a matter of time before they would be fighting alongside each other. Couldn't hurt to get to know each other a little better.

His teasing earned him a frown, so he huffed and then gave her a gentle pat on the back.

"I'm just messing around. Though, I do want to ask you something."

Shiorin stared at him, her blue eyes full of curiosity and urging him to ask away.

"If you possess this kind of power, how could you possibly be afraid of death?" He looked at her as he cocked his eyebrow. He did not mean to provoke her by asking this, he genuinely wondered what the reason was. She was very strong, he would almost say that guaranteeing her own safety would be a breeze with just her raw strength.

However, he figured that he might be wrong about that, because Rin's frown deepened.

"I just mean to say, it is not common for a human being to punch holes into the ground with their fists." Magoichi explained. "Am I wrong?"

The young woman merely shook her head. "It's not because of my own physical ability." She responded.

This time it was Magoichi's turn to frown. "What do you mean?"

"I use musou." Shiorin explained again. She figured that Masamune had not told his men the details of her abilities.

"Excuse me?" The gunslinger supported his chin between his thumb and index finger as he thought deeply, while he listened to her explanation.

Rin got up and stretched out her arm in front of her, then clenched her fist. "I do not possess supernatural abilities, even if it seems that way." She closed her eyes for a second, took a deep breath and appeared to try and focus on something. Patiently, Magoichi waited and stared at her full of intent, then he noticed that her glove started glowing. It seemed as if some kind of energy was gathering inside of it.

"These," The woman referred to her glove-like weapons, "serve as catalysts." The glowing stopped and Rin carefully approached the man in front of her. She held out one gloved hand, then pointed a finger at it with her other hand. "Do you see the gem on top? It is the core of my weapon."

Upon closer inspection, Magoichi indeed noticed the big gemstones within the backside of her gloves. There was one on each glove. He figured that the gems acted kind of like mechanisms that store musou. Catalysts, huh? Who would have thought such a thing existed. This woman was very interesting. Of course, using musou in battle was not something he was unfamiliar with himself. In fact, a lot of samurai of that time were capable of doing it, but not like this.

"I bet you need a lot of musou for that, don't you? It practically means you need that output constantly if you want to deal actual damage." He looked at her.

For the first time since they met, the gunslinger saw a smile creep upon her lips. A small one, but nonetheless, a smile. She ought to do that more often.

"Not exactly." Shiorin corrected the man. "It is true that I need to keep imbuing them, but I do not need a large amount at once to do so. Also, the claws are handy in a fight too." She pondered whether she should tell Magoichi about the time she scratched a bandit right in the face. In truth, it was an accident. Though she figured it did help to fend him off and it was not a grave injury so thankfully, the bandit's life was not in any kind of danger.

"This is all very impressive. Who taught you to fight this way?" Magoichi asked the shy woman, who started to fiddle with the hem of her dress. It seemed that his compliments made her a little bashful.

"An old blacksmith right outside of my village. He used to be a commander, but he retired and opened up a small shop. He forges all kinds of weapons, but these ones he made for me were actually similar to the ones he used in battle."

Magoichi nodded in acknowledgement. "I see. Though, despite that you have told me all of this, this still does not answer my question. If you are capable of wielding power like this, why are you afraid of death? I figure that in order to wield weapons such as those, you need talent and training. You seem very proficient at using them, so defending yourself should not be hard at all."

Her blue eyes stared at him doubtfully and when he stared at her face, he noticed that her lip was quivering. She was hesitating. "It's because," Rin paused, then swallowed a big lump that seemed to be stuck in her throat.

What would she tell him? Should she tell him about her nightmares?

Within her dreams, there was only darkness and carnage. She always found herself surrounded by a complete pitch black darkness. Then, a deep voice called out to her from a distance, always making her follow whatever direction it was coming from. In the end, it led her to an abandoned house. Behind the door, she would always find unidentified dead bodies drenched in blood. Then suddenly, blood slowly started dripping from everywhere, making its way inside the house through every crack, until she stood until her ankles within a sea of crimson.

It scared her so much. She would always wake up by that point, screaming, or either crying. It was weird because she did not know the people in her dreams, yet she felt as if she did. Within her nightmares, she always mourned their death, but as soon as she woke up, every memory turned vague and the faces she saw were no longer recognizable. No matter how hard she thought about what she saw, she could never remember. It was very frustrating.

Magoichi put a hand on her shoulder which made the girl look up warily and slightly frightened. Her eyes turned glassy and that was when he figured that he digged at something that he shouldn't have. He knew that her past, nor whatever reason she had for anything, was none of his business. Though, he could not help but be curious. He stared at her compassionately and that is when he noticed the large scar in the girl's face. It was partially hidden under her bangs. The gunslinger wore a concerned expression, what a pity for someone her age to be walking around with that. After all, appearance was a very important thing to a lot of women.

Magoichi wondered how she got the scar, but at the same time he also wondered if it had anything to do with her fear of death. Maybe that scar was caused by something horrific that had happened to her. If that was the case, then he understood why she was the way she was.

Despite his curiosity, he decided to not ask her about it now. Instead, he gently patted Shiorin on the head, then turned around. "I got some business to deal with, but try to keep it together, alright? Do not forget what I have told you." Magoichi sent her a smile.

Shiorin just stared at him and nodded. She had to admit, she did not know what to expect nor how to feel within an army full of veterans and battle hardened soldiers. It seemed so intimidating at first, though she was relieved that kind men like Magoichi existed. In all honesty she did not expect him to reach out to her that much. Because he had been so nice to her, she wanted to take his words to heart and believe in herself. Though in all truth, this was not going to be easy.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, lord of Mikawa, was the mightiest ruler in the land after Hideyoshi Toyotomi's death. Thanks to the Date army and their efforts, he had almost completely seized Osaka castle.

The only resistance left were Toyotomi loyalists that still believed in Hideyoshi's legacy. Among them were Mitsunari Ishida, who was Hideyoshi Toyotomi's most important retainer.

Kanetsugu Naoe, a priest and loyal retainer to the Uesugi, even after Kenshin Uesugi's death.

Last, but not least, there was also Yukimura Sanada, an honorable warrior of the Sanada clan.

Together, these three individuals were nicknamed 'The trio of Honor'.

They still formed a threat to Ieyasu, because they were adamant to surrender and opposed to Ieyasu's rule. Despite this, the lord of Mikawa had little to fear, or so he believed. After all, the greatest rulers of their time had already perished.

Kenshin Uesugi died of illness.

Shingen Takeda died after suffering from tuberculosis for years.

Nobunaga Oda had been slain long ago.

All that Ieyasu had to do now was think on how to wipe out the remaining resistance. He already had a plan.

Word got to him that Kanetsugu Naoe would be withdrawing at Hasedo with the rest of the Uesugi clan. Apparently, his goal was to safely make his army return to Echigo, the province which was a domain of Kenshin Uesugi.

Kanetsugu had no more allies aside from the Uesugi clan, save the Sanada and Ishida of course, but The Sanada were still cornered south of Osaka, in Tennoji. Mitsunari was currently residing in Sekigahara, a place within Gifu prefecture.

This meant that the Tokugawa and the Date would currently be in the advantage. Though, Ieyasu figured that it was best to send Masamune out to put a halt to Kanetsugu's escape, thus he ordered the young lord to go intercept the Uesugi troops at Hasedo.

The one eyed dragon smirked and felt kind of eager to get the job done. After all, he truly despised Kanetsugu and he knew that Kanetsugu felt the same towards him.

Kanetsugu hated Masamune, because he believed that the one eyed dragon was just power hungry and ruthless and would do anything to rule. The priest was a man who valued honor and love, two things which he believed that Masamune lacked. He also believed, just like many others, that the lord of Oshu had killed off his own father only for his own gain.

Masamune hated Kanetsugu, because the young lord believed that the priest was pretentious and a hypocrite. After all, said priest always spoke about how he loathed war, but just like Masamune, Ieyasu and any other warlord, Kanetsugu still sent his men to their deaths. In what world did that make the priest any different from the dragon? Did he not do the same just so that the Uesugi could gain power? One needs power to rule after all. To say that he waged war for the sake of love and honor was a disgusting way of masking the ugly truth, in Masamune's eye.

Every warlord, even Nobunaga Oda, even Shingen Takeda, even Kenshin Uesugi himself, the one eyed dragon knew that every one of these individuals fought and gained power in order to unite the land. They wanted peace for their people just as anyone else. To say otherwise would be just plain ignorant. To pretend as if only your own ideals are fair and justified in war, would be insolence.

The priest was nothing more than a hypocritical bastard and for that reason, Masamune was incredibly eager to face him off, once and for all.

Ieyasu noticed the change in the young lord's expression. The young man grimaced in what seemed to be anger.

"I trust you, One eyed dragon."

Masamune got off his seat and bowed, then left the Tokugawa headquarters.

The lord of Mikawa stared at the young man, watching him slowly disappear from his sight. Until now, Masamune had truly served him loyally. However, he knew that the young lord was incredibly ambitious and his army was strong. He should never let his guard down.

With a soft chuckle, Ieyasu continued to explain his next plan of strategy to his troops.

While Masamune was on his way back to the Date camp, his mind was not set on war, even if it was just for a small moment.

It's been months since he last was in Oshu and he missed his wife, Mego. He wondered if she was worried about him, considering he did not manage to write to her. The thought made him scowl. That Mego, she was always overly worried, despite that he told her that no one can stop this dragon from its flight. Her husband's confidence however, was sadly not enough to convince her. She always urged him to take her with him so that she could fight alongside him so that she could stop worrying.

While he understood, he simply could not bring himself to allow it. She was the only person he ever truly loved and cared about. He simply could not lose her. Not ever. He knew that if that would happen, he would break down. Losing Mego was his one and only fear. She was all he had and all that he needed. He would never risk it.

After confronting Kanetsugu in Hasedo, the one eyed dragon would return to Oshu so that he could finally be reunited with his wife.

There was a time where Masmune and Mego disliked each other and this thought made the one eyed dragon chuckle to himself.

Masamune was an ambitious man and he hungered for conquest. Mego was a woman who loathed war because of its destructive nature. Their ideals clashed, which caused them to argue often in the prime of their marriage.

After the couple spent more time together, Mego learned about Masamune's passion for the country and his true intentions. He wanted peace for Japan and she could finally sympathize with his ideals. From there, their love grew and until now, their marriage has been a happy one.

Eventually, Masamune arrived at the Date camp. He hopped off his horse and got ready to gather his generals and commanders to discuss their strategy for the upcoming battle. However, out of nowhere, Magoichi popped up behind him.

Masamune got fairly startled, but of course he would never admit it. "Damn it Magoichi, would you mind?"

The said man just looked at his lord with a frown, then he grinned. "I cannot believe that the one eyed dragon would let down his guard like that."

The dragon scoffed and scowled.

"Besides, you seemed to be quite absent minded. What were you thinking of?" Magoichi asked.

"War." Masamune dryly replied.

The gunslinger chuckled. "I know it's only been about a month since we've met. But I already know you well enough to perfectly state that such a smile on your face is not a consequence of war." Now tell me, is it that little woman?" Magoichi moved his eyebrows suggestively as he questioned his lord.

The dragon growled at his new retainer's stupidity. "What is wrong with you? Do you think I would have any interest in her?" The nerve. In all honesty, he would not even take a peasant as a concubine or a courtesan. That was below him. Not that he needed a concubine when he had Mego.

A deep voice spoke. "Lord Masamune wouldn't resort to lowly females off the streets. He has no need for courtesans. You are aware that he is married, are you not, Saika?"

Both gunmen turned to see Kojuro Katakura, another loyal retainer of Masamune. One could also refer to him as the one eyed dragon's right eye. He is also the very man who advised Masamune to pledge allegiance to Ieyasu Tokugawa.

"Kojuro!" The dragon grumbled, he was about to tell him that he had said too much, but it was too late, Magoichi was already gaping at the young lord with wide eyes.

"You have a wife?!" Magoichi asked in disbelief.

The dragon only glared at him with his remaining eye. "Don't act like you've never heard, fool."

"Well, I have, though you never mentioned. And the thing is, when I actually met you…I just didn't think-" The gunslinger never had gotten such a deadly glare, he could literally feel it pierce through him. If looks could kill…

Magoichi just decided to keep quiet.

Kojuro coughed and cleared his throat before handing Masamune a few sheets of paper, which the latter looked at with a cocked eyebrow.

"The report regarding the peasant woman." Kojuro said. "The soldier who monitored her abilities, Hisahiko Tateoka, has submitted this document."

The dragon took the papers and scanned them quickly, then he smiled at its contents. "Excellent."

Magoichi chuckled and put a hand on Masamune's shoulder. "You didn't tell me though Masamune, that she is insanely strong! Who would have thought that such a small lady could punch through rocks?"

The dragon smirked."I told you to just wait and see. Never doubt me–" Then he cut himself off as realization hit him. "Wait a moment. How do you know? Weren't you supposed to be on guard duty at that time?" The young lord glared at the gunslinger.

"….." There was no reply.

"Magoichi…." Masamune called his name angrily.

That was the que for the one eyed dragon's right eye to see himself out. "If you'll excuse me," Kojuro interrupted. "I have matters to attend to." He explained, then turned around to take his leave.

Magoichi took this opportunity to run after him fast. "Ah yes, I will help you with that."

"Yes, you better flee the consequences imbecile. I'll remember this though." Masamune yelled after them as he watched his retainers disappear from his vision. He sighed in annoyance, then tried to shrug it off. He couldn't be bothered to go hunt them down and accost them about their insolence. He would deal with the matter later.

The dragon just shook his head and went to attend to his own business.

Evening fell and bright rays of red and orange illuminated the Date camp as the previously blue sky slowly changed its color. Shiorin stared up at this phenomenon. She laid in a field of grass, which was only a small distance from the camp. Back at her village, she always used to watch the sky. Normally she would have preferred to do this from a higher spot, such as a rooftop, but this was also not bad at all. Whenever she had the time to admire the world's beauty, it made her forget her nightmares, even if it was only for a small moment.

Her moment of peace was cut short when suddenly the view was blocked by a familiar face. Masamune stared down at her and his face wore an annoyed expression. "I did not recruit you just so you could lay around and do nothing. Such nerve for a woman who claims to fear death more than anything else." His voice was stern.

Rin sat up and started shaking. "N- no, I- I was just…"

The young lord sighed. "Get up."

She frowned worriedly, but scrambled up to her feet.

"Straighten your back and look at me." He ordered her and she complied.

Masamune nearly smirked at the fact that even though she was standing up straight now, right in front of him, he still had to crane down his head to look her in the eyes. He towered over her, despite the fact that he was slightly taller than average himself. The thought of the fact that such a small woman possessed such power amused him. He bet that she would fool many soldiers like this.

"So, I've analyzed your report." He started.

The girl looked at him inquisitively.

"Since you have proven that you are not entirely useless, I insist that you attend the next battle." He told her. "No, I order you to march with us."

That was faster than she had expected. She inwardly panicked. "W- when-"

"We'll leave tomorrow morning." He cut her off, but his voice sounded so strict she didn't dare disobeying him again.

Shiorin nodded but she was terrified. What would she do? Today was just a test. What about tomorrow? What about the other men within the army? What if they died? She couldn't bear the blood or carnage, but she couldn't possibly save them. Could she even save herself? And what about Masamune? She knew he hired her because he witnessed her strength, but what if she was not strong enough? The answer to any of these questions scared her senseless.

Masamune sighed because he noticed her fearful expression coming back. "Look. I know that you probably had a hard time in the past," He paused, his one eye roamed her face until he noticed her scar again. "But you can't keep living there, okay? Look at me." He pointed at his eye patch. "I got my own mark from my past. It haunts me to this day, but all I can do is move forward. And so must you."

He stared down at her but Rin's expression only saddened and it made him groan. The young woman couldn't help it though. Because after all, she didn't remember a thing about her past. All she was left with were nightmares. Of course, she always suspected that her nightmares were connected to her past somehow, but she did not want to think about that at all. What could all that death possibly have to do with her? She did not want to know. She refused to believe it. Besides, if this truly was the case, surely her aunt or her cousin would have told her the truth.

Right?

"I don't know…" Rin's softly vocalized.

Masamune just cocked an eyebrow at her.

"I don't know…why." She continued.

"What? You mean the scar? You don't know how you got it?" The lord looked puzzled when the young woman nodded. How was she not able to remember? She acted so weirdly anxious all the time yet she was totally ignorant about that? The cut was huge after all, not something one would get without noticing. Unless she…forgot?

He narrowed his one eye, then decided it was probably best to not dig further. After all, he couldn't care less about her past. It was none of his business anyway. Perhaps he would learn more about her in the future.

"In any case, Rin. Don't let your abilities go to waste because of your fear. You will only let them win."

His words seemed to confuse her. Them? What did he mean? Though she noticed the bitterness in Masamune's tone and expression.

Shiorin decided not to ask and just turned around and stared up at the sky.

Her first real battle while being part of an army was approaching. Maybe her death would come sooner than she expected it to.

Note II : Hisahiko Tateoka is a character made up by me. He is not an actual historical officer. I just needed a nameless soldier to carry out the task of monitoring Rin.