Mai
The fierce man before her who'd just proclaimed himself to be the very Devil King of the 6th Heaven, Nobunaga Oda, flashes a more wicked grin at the mention of her name, looking all but incredibly pleased—with whom, though, hell if she knows.
"Mai Mizusaki," He rolls her name on his tongue, fiery gaze roaming all over her, and for a moment it seems as if he's looking for something hidden in it, chanting as if the words alone would unlock a sort of secret. "I see. A good name…"
It doesn't take long at all for Mai to find his approach hardly welcoming at all, grimacing. "I'm glad you approve. Now let go of me," Without waiting for him to comply, she brushes his dirty hand off her and procures some safe distance between them.
For the bare bits she's gathered about him, Nobunaga's grin vanishes in an instant, clearly not used to be rejected in any way whatsoever, yet that's far from Mai's concerns for the current moment. What she truly, desperately needs as of then is to figure out what's going on there, everything else can be put aside. Her head begins to spin, limbs still slightly shaking as the remains of her previous adrenaline die out, not preparing her for a large group then going on their way to them.
"Nobunaga, my lord!" A man in light-colored clothes—still authentic and matching the ancient Japanese style too well to Mai's further panic—arrives at the front of a unit of soldiers, rushing towards them. "You're safe!"
He regards the newcomer with a curious look. "Mitsunari?" Nobunaga tilts his head, "Why are you here? And where is Hideyoshi?"
"Lord Hideyoshi sent me ahead. He should be here shortly," The aforementioned Mitsunari nods sharply, all but respectful. A moment later, he takes on the sight of the burning temple before them, a frown crossing his soft features—a stark contrast from the man beside Mai, in appearance and demeanor alike. "We received information about an assassination attempt. It appears to have been true…" He says grimly, lips pursed tight, "I had my men search the grounds but whoever it was already fled, I'm afraid."
Not a longer moment goes by before he takes notice of her, wariness in his eyes. "If I may ask, who is this? I saw the two of you leaving the temple together."
Nobunaga takes a sharp step aside, "Mai, introduce yourself to my subordinates." He demands once again, pointing at the man called Mitsunari with a nod and waiting for her to comply.
Mai glances sideways at Nobunaga, his attitude already getting on her nerves. She can't even bring herself to care if that man almost unified Japan or what. "I'm sorry, did I miss the part where I became a subordinate or whatever is it to you guys too?" She knows she's being petulant, but in her defense, he'd quite earned it. "Why should I follow your orders?"
"Are you choosing to disobey me?" His glare is sharp as a knife, testing her resolve, and Mai feels her body growing ten degrees colder. Yikes, he really is intimidating!
Nobunaga's subordinate doesn't seem to mind, though. "Please, this is on me. It was rude of me to not introduce myself first," He excuses for the both of them, a compelling smile on his lips as he approaches her, "My name is Mitsunari Ishida. I serve at the side of Lord Hideyoshi, Lord Nobunaga's right-hand man,"
His polite and easygoing manners are like a refreshing wave of clear air, prompting Mai to lower her guard a bit—at least with that particular man, that is. "Very nice to meet you. Mai Mizusaki."
He seems very kind already, which is a much-needed change of pace, and his name sounds quite familiar as well. He's also gorgeous, like the true picture of a model, and Mai's mind drifts a little, imagining how nice it'd be to design an outfit for him.
"I don't know who she is," Sure enough, Nobunaga takes mind of bringing her away from her reverie. "But admittedly, I would not be here if not for her. She woke me up while the temple was being engulfed in flames and saw me to safety." His addition is quite solemn, though, hitting Mai in some odd places.
Mitsunari beams up further, even the more grateful. "Oh, she did!" Without any advice, he reaches out to take her hands in his, not seeming to mind dirtying his clothes. "I can't thank you enough for protecting our Lord's life!"
An apologetic smile makes way across Mai's lips. "Oh, I just did it without thinking, actually."
"But, if I may ask, what brought you here tonight?" It doesn't take long for Mitsunari to give her a real once-over, "You don't appear to be a nun. And your dress is very… unusual, to say the least." He can't seem to help with pointing out, more curious than truly concerned though. "Are you from abroad?"
Right, so he's not technically wrong. "Well, how to phrase it…" Mai tries her best to gather something acceptable, coming up with next than nothing, "To be completely honest, I'm from a different time of yours altogether."
The two men before her just blink. "What?"
She's very aware of how implausible she must sound, but nonetheless, Mai doesn't feel up to making up a lie—not adding up to the fact she's terrible at lying—and most likely letting everything out in the open may be for the best. "Well, yeah. I come from 500 years in the future." She just says, holding their eyes, with as much honesty she can muster.
A full minute goes by in which they stare at her in shock, then disbelief. Naturally.
… And just as naturally as before, Nobunaga's the first to cut down the silence. "She's a storyteller too!" He guffaws, bursting into a short laughter. "Although I've never heard such an absurd tale before,"
Mitsunari seems to be opting for the second most plausible thought. "Oh, you poor thing! The smoke from the fire must have disoriented you, I'm sure." Why, really? None of them are even considering it? Not for a second? But truth be told, she's willing to admit she would have trouble believing it too. "Alright, alright," Mitsunari stops her before she tries to insist further, "Say, why don't you sit over here and get some fresh air? I'll get someone to bring you a change of clothes. Once you've freshened out, you'll surely feel much better."
It's actually thoughtful of the man to notice, but indeed it's true, and her clothes are a wreck—her shirt looking stained to the elbows with soot, and the hem of her skirt even burned out in some spots. Not to mention some shallow cuts and bruises she keeps finding here and there.
Mai kind of gives up for the time being and gives him a quick bow in thanks, accepting Mitsunari's little comfort of taking her hands in his once again, holding them tenderly until a soldier arrives with a bundle. All but polite and reliable, she agrees to walk beside Mitsunari to what looks like an improvised camp nearby, with the ever demanding and imposing Nobunaga right behind their toes—and keeping quiet for once.
Mitsunari leads her to an empty tent and she's too easy to comply, bringing the bundle of fresh clothes with her. Sure thing, she can tell the set looks out to be the real deal, using a small basin nearby to get herself a tad bit cleaner before putting on that lovely fresh kimono—simple and basic, but authentic all the same, doing her best for that small fact not to get on her nerves.
Her wounds, if not truly deep but still several nonetheless, begin to sting, but there's no source of anything close to disinfectant inside the small tent. Do these guys actually have something like that in this time period? Mai wonders for a moment, worrying her lip. However, figuring out there's no real use to keep mulling over that irrelevant thought, she considers better to make it quick and finish changing, lest she overextends her staying.
Opening the flap of the tent, she hums softly at noticing Mitsunari seeming to guard the entrance, his easygoing smile reappearing, nodding in approval. "Come, and wait there with the rest," He guides her along to the center of the hastily assembled camp. "I'll bring you a fresh cup of water to help you clear your throat."
The man is too good for her, yet all good things always seem to come to an end, and once he's gone she's left alone with no other than Nobunaga. Ugh. Why did I even consider coming over, again? Right, these clothes…
His head tilts a little, chin lifting up, "You clean up well," He appears satisfied, although clearly not good at complimenting people, or rather out of practice. Not like she's surprised, however, and very much less so when she notices his fiery eyes lingering on her—prideful to the point of arrogant, and with a certain hunger she can't quite place where it's coming from.
Too troubled with other pressing matters to bring herself to care, Mai opts out for waiting for Mitsunari, keeping her eyes on the entrance, noticing far ahead how the smoke from the temple seems to start to clear. Surely that must be work of Mitsunari's troops, but she's all the more thankful for it, certainly making it easier to breathe then.
As she takes on the cool night air, someone else parts the curtains and makes way inside the camp. "My lord, I see you are well." He first acknowledges Nobunaga, a mysterious aura all over him.
"Mitsuhide?" Nobunaga doesn't sound gladly surprised. "What are you doing here?"
Yet at the mere mention of that name, Mai's eyes shoot straight to him. Wait, what? Does he mean Mitsuhide Akechi? That's the person who betrayed Nobunaga and started this whole incident! And she may not have the best recollections of history, but that fact alone is just one of the few impossible to forget.
He looks out to be pretty much collected, thin lips briefly parting in a smile. "I hurried here when I heard about the attack, but it seems I had nothing to worry about." His voice is low and even secretive as it drifts through the night sky, a ruffle of light silver hair fluttering with the breeze.
"You, worried? Don't make me laugh. I've never even seen you sweat," Nobunaga scoffs, genuinely smiling for the first time—and oddly so, considering he's actually facing the very man Mai knows as his betrayer.
Out of sheer instinct and already having all sorts of bad vibes about him, she takes mind of procuring herself some safe distance from the newcomer, staying close to the table near when Nobunaga stands.
Should I warn him of this guy?
But before she can give that any more thoughts, another person bursts through the curtain in a frantic. "Lord Nobunaga, are you injured?" That one seems the more worried from the very odd group Mai so far encountered, giving him a quick once over.
"Hideyoshi," Nobunaga nods in greeting, flicking his wrist as if placating him, "The only injury I suffered is to my pride in letting my assailant escape,"
Oh, right. Of course. "And now Hideyoshi Toyotomi shows up!" Mai snorts, rolling her eyes in exasperation. She knows she should be already starting to get used to such figures strolling over, but that's naturally looking forward to being impossible.
However, it's as Hideyoshi faces her with a suspicious quirk of his brow when she then notices she's been speaking aloud. "Um, have we met?"
In her defense, it's not like she expected to meet two out of three of Japan's unifiers in one single night. But then again, the whole situation is incredibly crazy to begin with.
"Let her be." For once, Nobunaga unexpectedly steps in for her, prompting her attention. "Her name is Mai and, before you begin, she did save my life."
Her mind begins racing, trying to come up with a quick saying in her defense before most likely returning to be accused of some weird scheming. But for the matter, when Mai had anticipated Hideyoshi to be as baffled as the rest, the one who clearly looks more surprised among them all is, curiously so, Mitsuhide Akechi.
"You saved Nobunaga's life…?" He stares at her wide-eyed, but it doesn't take too long before he switches over into a knowing smirk, his strange and secretive aura making its return. "Well, look at you, but you're such a slender thing. It appears your courage makes up for it, however." Yikes! And that's a very scary smile.
"Mitsuhide, what are you doing here?" Hideyoshi seems to turn his palpable suspicion onto him.
For some reason—yet quickly enough to making Mai assume to be just the kitsune's natural demeanor—he makes it all the more awkward. "I could ask you the same thing. I didn't know you were in Kyoto." Mitsuhide narrows his eyes, a smirk cold as ice quirking up his thin lips, "What about the campaign?"
Hideyoshi blinks twice, clearly baffled. "When I heard about the threat on Lord Nobunaga's life, I dropped everything to come here," Hideyoshi says as if it's obvious—to everyone but Mai, that is. "But I never heard anything about you being in Kyoto."
Their back and forth seems to be just about enough for Mitsuhide, his roguish smirk all but vanishing. "Are you implying something?"
Hideyoshi's eyes narrow into crinkled slits, "Can you swear before our lord you weren't plotting anything… as you always do?" Mitsuhide doesn't answer him straight away, and the tension grows higher and thicker around them all.
Hideyoshi is already suspicious of the man—apparently being all the same schemer as Mai has known him to be from history—and the fact of Mitsuhide Akechi also being infamously known for nothing else than betraying that very same warlord who's been attacked mere minutes ago, that's something that doesn't escape her either.
"All men have secrets in these chaotic times. Are you saying you act with no ambition of your own?"
"Stop being evasive. Confess." Hideyoshi cuts him right away, growing the more upset within each second passing, eyes flaring and hand going straight for his sword. He most certainly looked like another nice one at a first glance, but that reaction just changed Mai's mind about him, apparently not as friendly as his looks suggest. "If I find you played any part on this attack on our lord, Mitsuhide, I'll show you no mercy!"
Out of sheer instinct, Mai feels complied to finally make an intervention. "I don't think it was him!" She doesn't really want to get in the way of what obviously seems like trouble, but as both heads turn to her, blinking in confusion, she's surer she doesn't want any bloodshed either. Besides, it's only fair, right? "I caught a glimpse of the man who attacked Nobu—Lord Nobunaga," She's quick in correcting herself, "But the drape of his clothes was all wrong."
Not adding up to the fact Mitsuhide looks pretty much spotless, that is. As much as she can't really say who that man truly was, it's almost certain it wasn't him.
Hideyoshi, however, hardly seems to care for her opinion, glaring at her, "Mai, was it? Please, stay out of this." He says coldly, "We'll settle things with you later, and learn why you've schemed to get so close to Lord Nobunaga…"
Mai can't help but cast an abashed look at that one, growing offended. "Excuse me? I was there by chance!" She snaps out, "I'm not the schemer here!" Regardless of anybody believing her story—and then again, understandably so—that statement is just very rude.
"Enough, Hideyoshi." Nobunaga scoffs at the bickering couple, staying true to his imposing nature, "Regardless of what brings Mitsuhide here, I am alive and well." Fortunately, that seems to do the job, bringing Hideyoshi to lower his guard and stay put, immediately letting go of his sword.
And looks about right, considering Hideyoshi Toyotomi as one of Nobunaga's most trusted vassals, from what Mai can quickly gather about him. I guess I can start to trust these people are the real thing, then. But the admission doesn't really help in the slightest.
"Now, you two, move along." Nobunaga continues without further ado, turning that very intimidating gaze over her. "I have something to discuss with Mai."
Mai's heart skips a beat—what could he possibly want now? Isn't it enough she'd saved his life, as he just had been practically boasting about for the past hour?
The men step aside for their lord to pass, slowly approaching Mai. "Your bold lies about coming from the future aside, there is one truth, and that one is that you saved my life." He says solemnly, his fiery gaze giving way to a partially pleased smirk. "I'm intrigued by you. You're a woman who carries fortune's favor, of that I'm certain."
Doing her best not to look as intimidated as she is, she scoffs. "I could argue that…" And oh, boy, I do have the past eight years of my life to elaborate.
But he doesn't seem to bother hearing her retorts, Mai's eyes widening as all in a sudden, Nobunaga slips one arm around her waist, possessively drawing her towards him. Whoa, personal space alert!
Her breath hitches, tension climbing up to a point her body doesn't seem to dare to breathe. What's with the guy and that preposterous manner of believing he has everyone wrapped around his finger and eager to eat from the palm of his hand?
"Tell me, how would you like to rule the world at my side?"