AUTHOR'S NOTES: Happy birthday to me. Moving on, this chapter puts a little more focus on some of the other characters. Unlike Kamui's sojourn in Hoshido, however, we're not about to run a chapter for every character before moving on. I think there might be one, maybe two more of these chapters at most before we move on, but from there, I can't really say. Whatever the case, here's a bit more character development, this time from one of our newcomers as Corrin and his army wait for any news from Kaze and/or Anna about the rest of their families. Either way, I'll stop rambling now.
Happy Reading!

CHAPTER 46: The Spitfire Swordmaster

Sing with me a song of Tempers and Trials...

A few more days passed without much in terms of new information, although it had been a while since anyone had seen Anna. Kamui theorized that she might be onto something, and so in anticipation of their little army's next move, she was back to training. At Sakura's request, she also went to training her with bows once again, except that this time as she waited for Sakura to arrive, she was instead joined by a guest who looked all the more suspicious.

"Need something?" Kamui recognized this girl as Sakura's retainer, but hadn't really bothered to learn her name after forgetting it back at Fort Jinya.

"No," Hana replied, "I just wanted to watch your form while you teach Lady Sakura. That's not going to be a problem, is it?"

"Depends on if you try and interfere or not," Kamui riposted, "you know that my offer still stands from the other day right… umm…"

"Hana," she clearly noticed that Kamui was trying to search for the name. "I'm not saying I don't trust you; but the safety of my liege is my top priority. It always has been, and always will be."

"Wouldn't want it any other way," Kamui agreed, "you don't have to trust me, y'know. All you need to worry about is that Corrin trusts me, and I follow his orders. Also, out of everyone in this camp, Sakura is literally the last person I would ever want to do ill to. Of that you have my promise."

"And how well can I trust such a promise?" Hana raised an eyebrow.

"I swear it on the grave of my dead mother," Kamui warned, "and that isn't something I'd ever just say or throw around lightly."

Hana was actually taken aback by this.

"Remember—the queen of Hoshido was also my mother," Kamui reminded her, "I suppose you could take that as a Nohrian insult or something, or you can just take my word that I really don't want to hurt Sakura. Or, I have an offer you might like."

Hana raised her eyebrow, putting her hands on her hips.

"You, me, spar." Kamui continued, "at least until Sakura shows up. I don't imagine you're a pushover by any means. I've seen you with that blade, and it might give me a run for my money."

"Expect no mercy," Hana drew her blade, "for you shall receive none."

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Kamui licked her lips as she pulled out the Dusk Yato. "At your ready, Hoshidan."

Hana was lightning-swift, and while Kamui had plenty of speed behind her moves, hers were more focused on strength due to the well-roundedness of her training. Similarly, she was much more resilient, being able to take far more hits than Hana. Hana evened this out by being much harder for Kamui to hit.

Sakura actually squealed when she noticed what they were doing, but fortunately Corrin had also shown up to find out what the ruckus was about.

"A-are they going to be alright?" she asked, knowing that she should probably not get between them—especially not Hana.

"They should be," Corrin calculated, "Hana knows her limits, and I've never seen Kamui take an injury that she didn't just shrug right off. I'm sure neither one would mind you sticking around to heal them though."

The two of them watched as steel clashed against steel, and a few times, there were even sparks flying with how swift the two wielded their weapons.

It became clear after a while, however, that neither one was going to relent. Corrin knew Kamui better and knew that she was likely waiting for her opponent to call a truce, but Sakura knew Hana better than that, and told Corrin this.

"She never says 'when' either." she warned, "I-I think we're going to have to intervene."

"It seems so," Corrin frowned, before turning towards them. They were certainly talented fighters, but with how many cuts and bruises the two were acquiring from one another, it was clear that they'd be in the medical ward in no time if they kept this up too much longer.

"Hey," Corrin called out, but neither one of them even paused to give him the time of day. "HEY!" he shouted a bit louder this time, repeating himself two more times with no avail.

"STOP IT!" Sakura screamed, and this gave them pause. Corrin took it a step further by clutching his Dragonstone and morphing into the white and grey dragon form he was well-acquainted with. The roar of a dragon helped make Sakura's point really hit home, and both Kamui and Kazahana stopped and stared with eyes the size of plates, both frozen in shock and awe that was only disrupted when blood from a cut above Hana's right eye dripped down and made her blink.

Sakura pointed to Corrin, hoping he would notice and take the hint and say what she wanted to say. Even to her retainer, Sakura was still a bit shy. More than Hana though, Kamui was kind of intimidating to her, especially the way she stood with her sword drawn, a battle-expression on her face, and scars to prove her experience. Corrin morphed back into his humanoid form and took a breath.

"You two aren't gonna quit, are you?" He sighed, a smile creeping over half of his lip.

"I was waiting for her to give the word," Hana and Kamui pointed at each other and spoke simultaneously. Corrin's right hand went straight to his forehead.

"Well, thanks for stopping and not killing each other." he began, "I don't want to sound like I'm trying to ruin your fun here… but I'm going to intervene like this if you two are just going to go until one of you dies of blood loss. Maybe set a time limit or something, sister?"

"That's not a bad idea," Kamui spat out a wad of blood, "nice one, brother."

"Lady Sakura trusts your judgment, Lord Corrin," Hana conceded, "and so I will too."

"That reminds me…" Corrin nodded towards Sakura, who approached the two women, her healing rod in hand.

"Kazahana, you should really get cleaned up!" she suggested. "I was worried for you."

"I was doing just fine…" Hana shrugged, before lowering her voice, "though I'll admit… Lady Kamui's a lot more formidable and fast than I'd expect for a Nohrian. I just wanted to make sure you were being taught by someone who knows what they're doing."

"Kamui's a very talented warrior," Sakura nodded. "I'm glad she didn't hurt you."

"I'd offer to shake your hand, actually," Kamui piped up, "but it's covered in blood and you're not wearing gloves like I am. I'm not afraid to admit when I see a formidable warrior, Hana. You proved to me that you're a talented swordswoman and respectable in your own right for it."

"Oh, I'm not too posh to shake your hand…" Hana rolled her eyes and seized Kamui's hand, though reeled back as Kamui essentially left a grip-shaped handprint of blood on Hana's formerly clean right hand, "ugh… okay maybe I shoulda thought that through a bit better. Still… I'm glad I was wrong about you. I don't think I'm quite ready to let Lady Sakura come here without first coming to spar with you myself again, but I doubt you'll mind."

"You don't ever have to trust me if you don't want," Kamui laughed, "but anytime you offer a challenge, I'll accept. Keep this up and I won't even have time to finish my lessons with Sakura."

After Sakura had mended Kamui's wounds as well as Hana's, she went back to train in archery practice with Kamui, which was much less violent than the spar Kamui and Hana has just had. Hana was about to head down and clean up when she froze and snarled slightly under her breath. Corrin looked at her curiously.

"Mr. Perfect's come to rub in how un-perfect the rest of us are…" she mumbled. Sure enough, Subaki was approaching them, although he seemed more curious about that situation rather than arrogant.

"Gracious, Hana, you're a mess!" Her wounds might have been healed, but the healing rods and staves did not clean off the dirt and blood, "were you ambushed?"

"I had a perfectly awesome spar with Lady Kamui, thank you very much," Hana corrected him, "or perhaps not perfect since only you know how to do that it seems, but you get the point."

"Hana…" Subaki sighed, "we've been over this. Nothing I do is an attempt to prove myself better than you or to take away any attention from your achievements to focus on mine. I simply strive for perfection so I can serve Lady Sakura and Hoshido to the best of my ability. Is that not a noble goal for all of us to aim for?"

"Yeah, well… it'd help if you weren't so damn uppity about it all the time." Hana spat, "Why can't you just serve Lady Sakura like a normal human being?"

"This again?" Subaki took a defensive stance with his hands up, "are you going to go back into that phase where you point out every little minor misstep I make in hopes of dragging me down?"

"Well that would mean you weren't perfect now, would it? So you need to stop promoting the idea to everyone in camp."

"Hana, if people say that about me behind my back, I have very little control over it." Subaki reasoned as Corrin crossed his arms to watch the verbal argument either heat up or fizzle out, "This is rather unprofessional of you as well; and I don't imagine Lady Sakura would be pleased to see her two fine retainers bickering like schoolchildren."

Hana opened her mouth, clearly armed with a sharp comeback at the tip of her tongue, but Subaki cut her off again. "And I did say 'we'. I work myself to perfection all the same."

"But that means…" Hana glared up at him before growling and realizing that this was going in circles. She shook her head forcefully, sending her light brown hair fanning out in every direction before stomping off in a huff.

"How long has she been like that?" Corrin raised his eyebrow as Subaki shook his head.

"She skipped breakfast and lunch this morning," Subaki pointed out, "and I don't imagine her spar, however it may have gone, did much for her mood. She's always getting after me over this petty game of hers and I frankly don't understand it. She clamours on and on about how everyone claims I'm so perfect and how that somehow makes her inferior. I don't consider her anything short of my equal, and she refuses to believe it."

"I've known you a while, Subaki," Corrin nodded, his eyes snapping back to Subaki as he heard a door slam somewhere in the distance, "and you do have that reputation for perfection…"

"Should I strive for anything less than perfection though, Lord Corrin?" Subaki nearly interrupted, "Is it wrong for me to want to do my best?"

"No; not at all…" Corrin shook his head, "I'm kind of trying to figure out what makes Hana tick, myself. She's feisty… but I think she means well."

"She definitely means well," Subaki agreed, "but she's very young, and that fiery personality of hers doesn't look like it's cooling off anytime soon. I've been there and done that. I'm just worried that she's so fixated on my talents that she refuses to see her own any time I show up."

"I see the dilemma," Corrin mused aloud, "obviously you can't not be around her at times, since you're both retainers to Sakura, but there's an obvious friction between you and Hana that you want addressed."

"You know me too well, Lord Corrin," Subaki sighed, "and you know that I see this as imperfection and that it's going to keep me up all night again at this rate. I sometimes envy the harmony with which your retainers get along… did you know that?"

"They've never actually told me how they met…" Corrin pointed out, "or even where they came from. But you've got a point. They seem like they're very close friends. I think I'll talk to Zenzi about this and see if I can get her to get something out of Hana. How does that sound?"

"Well, I don't exactly want people to start thinking I'm incapable of solving even the pettiest of problems without the help of our leader…" Subaki began,

"It's nothing that fancy," Corrin elbowed him, "we're an army, but we're also a team; almost a family of sorts. We help each other when we can; sometimes there are roadblocks or other obstacles that come up in the road. It's our job to find ways past them and keep moving forward. Look at Kamui—she's my twin sister—literally the closest flesh and blood I have on Ferevs, and she and I are like night and day. I guess what I'm saying is… don't stress too much about it. I'm on the job, and I know just how to handle it."

Corrin didn't think that Subaki would just drop the subject, but he nodded approvingly at Corrin's answer and it seemed to lift his spirits just a bit. Corrin cast one more glance over at Kamui and Sakura just in time to watch little Sakura shoot her first bullseye, but then turned back to the castle. He needed to find Zenzi for a talk...

AFTERTHOUGHTS: Kazahana is quite the little fireball, isn't she? I always perceived her as a fiery little piece of work, and some of that wild temper comes from her age. Subaki, by contrast, might still have that "Mr. Perfect" reputation going on, but he's also several years older than her and much more mature. It's not that Hana is Rinkah 2.0 and hates everyone; she's just extremely aggressive, and her prodigious talent and itch for a fight forged a very competitive personality where she incorrectly perceives everyone else's performance as a challenge against her own.
Essentially, giving Hana this flair is one of the ways to help her stand out more; an attempt by me to help the less-developed characters become a little more distinct despite the story not focusing too much on them. Let me know what you think about it in the comments; because there's a very high chance that plenty of other characters will receive similar treatments. I obviously won't be able to give them all equal amounts of time simply because some are more central to the story than others, and some are more developed than others, but I hope to give them all at least one or two quirks or dynamics to make them stand out.