Dance Of The Blades
Chapter 3: Truth
Chizuru's POV
At that moment, the blankets covering Nobu fell after Heisuke kun shoved it and revealed a shocking sight.
" Are those-"
" Nobu san you're-"
" Unbelievable." Hijikata san frowned. He cut me off!
" Guys, I'd love to chat about this but could you please go back inside then I'll follow after I'm done with my business here. Achhooo! And it's freezing cold out here." Nobu said.
" The kid's right, let's go." Harada san said and walked away. The others followed him while Nobu and I stayed.
" Not a word from you Chizuru now help Achhoo! It's cold." Nobu said to me.
" Oh okay!"
Nobu's POV
We sat silently with the others which are giving off a strange atmosphere.
" You are a girl?" Kondo asked.
" Yes and is there a problem?" I asked.
" How did you not see this coming?" Shimpachi asked Hijikata.
" I don't know." Hijikata said angrily.
" You noticed Chizuru but not Nobu?" Okita sneered.
" Shut up!" Hijikata shouted.
" Is there some particular good reason of why you pretended to be a boy and is Nobu even your real name?" Sannan asked.
" You want to hear the whole story?" I asked. They all nodded which made me sigh.
" To start off, my real name is Nobuna Oda, so partly Nobu is a shortcut of my name. The reason I pretended to be a boy is because of my clan. Two months ago, when I was still in my clan's fortress, I was walking around the hallways, when I overheard a conversation of my aunts and uncles."
Flashback
" So.. about the plan?"
" Not yet, we should wait until the coronation."
" But that's just in two days! We have to make our move and have Ryoshin take over as the heir."
" Does Ryoshin know of our plan?"
" No, I'm still having a hard time telling him since that girl is always with him."
" They're cousins, and those two think of themselves as siblings. What if Ryoshin finds out we're going to kill Nobuna? He'd be furious and refuse to take her place. It's better if we make Nobuna's death seem like an accident."
" Yes I believe that's an effective plan."
" What if we have Ryoshin and Nobuna go out in town, have one of us dressed in a shinsengumi coat and attack her. If Ryoshin thinks that the shinsengumi is behind the death of his beloved cousin then he's surely to command an attack."
" Ah yes, the shinsengumi. If I remember correctly, Isami Kondo was the one who killed Ryoshin's twin. Although, Ryoshin doesn't know that."
" All the more reason for him to pin it on the shinsengumi."
" I hated the shinsengumi, they killed my son in battle."
" That's because he assaulted a boy named Okita, and the damn princess got scared and ran for her worthless life."
" Enough, the plan is to assassinate the heiress, not to put Ryoshin in danger. As we all know, he has intelligence while the heiress has strength. We must avoid war as much as possible."
" Why are we trying to assassinate Nobuna again?"
" The girl does not have what it takes to be the leader of our clan, Ryoshin however, is strategic, wise and sociable. He can handle businesses without losing. He's our only leader, we don't need a worthless princess like Nobuna"
Flashback End
" ... Guess what? I ran away, I don't give a damn if they give the leadership to Ryoshin. All I want is for the clan to be happy and safe. If they believe Ryoshin has what it takes to be the leader then I have no complaints. Besides, it's because of me that my mother died in the first place."
" Oh Nobuna.." Chizuru sadly said.
" You came all the way here disguised as a boy, just to avoid conflict. It's rather brave, you'd rather give up your right to claim the throne than have your cousin lose someone he loves and feel hatred." Hijikata said.
" A compliment from Hijikata, I'm jealous Nobuna." Okita said.
" Actually, I'm pretty sure he hates me now. Apparently I've received information of what happened the day I left. My uncle told Ryoshin that I planned to kill him but my uncle was able to stop me beforehand, and so I fled. That's what gave Ryoshin the idea to hunt me down and kill me." I said.
" You have one twisted life story you know that?" Harada said.
" Oh believe me, my story, is just getting started."
That's right, everything's just getting started. The more days I spend here, the more my life gets interesting.
