Alright guys, this is the last chapter! Sorry you don;t get to know Yukimura's wife, I didn't really think him and his ships through enough. Anyway, thanks for sticking with me! Signing off foir the last time on this story, -Lioner15

Never had Chieko been so anxious in her life. This was her first real battle. She could die.

Her heart beat skipped over itself as sweat poured off her frame. Intently, she stared at the retreating sun over the horizon. It was nearly time for the attack. As soon as the sun got halfway over the nearest hill, Chieko and her father would run into the battle field. First the troops would need to destroy the camp leaders around the entrance gate to the main castle, and after that the Twilight Ninja would undoubtedly face them, not allowing entry to his Lord's chamber. After that, Kojuro was to duel him while she, her father, and Magoichi continued on to face Lord Ujimasa.

"Nervous?"

Chieko nodded her head slightly. Another reason she was sweating like she had arrived in hell was due to Saica Magoichi being right next to her. Magoichi was to go with the troops and help secure the area; not be in the main force like Chieko and her father were. "Y-You could say that…"

A small puff of what Chieko assumed was a chuckle sounded from the woman's lips. "It's natural. Do not fear death, young girl. The only thing you should fear is the disgrace of your name. If you do great in this first battle, odds are you will become an amazing Lord."

"Thank you for your words." She replied, fixing her dark brown hair so that her bangs would not block her view during the battle. "I shall take them and honor them…"

"So distinguished you are…You really are much different yet same to your mother." Magoichi cocked one of her pistols before returning it to its rightful place on her thigh.

The young heiress was all ears as soon as the word 'mother' was mentioned. "M-My mother?! You knew of her!?"

Magoichi remained nonchalant all through her speech. "Yes, I did know your mother. In fact, we were pretty good friends…"

Chieko grew a small smile on her lips and looked at the female Lord with question in her eyes. "S-So, what was she like!? Did she look like me? I've always thought of myself having more of an appearance based on my Father, but there must be some part of me that reminds you of her on me somewhere!"

Magoichi stared down at Masamune's heir for what seemed like an eternity before she finally said something. "I think…That your actions on the battlefield will show me whether or not you have the genes of your late mother…"

Chieko nodded and clenched her fist. No way would she let the Saica down. "I-I understand! I shall show you all my skills when it comes time to attack."

"Atta girl." Magoichi smiled just a small bit before returning to her usual dark self. "Also, learn not to stutter. Your mother would absolutely hate that."

Opening her mouth to respond, Chieko never had the chance to return her part of the conversation. A loud horn sounded over the horizon and the young heiress turned her gaze back to the sun. It was half-way down. It was time to attack.

Drawing her dagger from its sheath, Chieko gripped it so tightly a vein showed on her small hand. "Let's do this…"

Minutes into the battle, and Chieko was already frightened out of her wits. She had only wounded so far, leaving the dirty deed of exterminating the soldiers facing her to the troops behind. She had lost sight of her father nearly forty seconds into the battle and now had no idea in the slightest where his location was.

All around were the sounds of screams and shouts as friends and traitors were cut down. Every one of them made Chieko doubt herself more and more. How could they all be killing these people so mercilessly!? They all looked like decent men with lives. Now she and her troops were robbing them of their precious gifts of life.

"I'll cut you down, girly!"

The young fighter had to lunge out of the way as an incoming squad leader forced his way over to her. Behind him was his troops, all with smug looks and mad grins. All of the squads Chieko had been commanding just seconds before were out of sight, attacking others. There was no way they could come now and save her. "I-I'd like to see you try to kill me!"

A smirk dressed the man's ugly, chapped lips. His words were so pompous it made her sick. "Ooh, you wanna pick a fight now, eh? I see how it is. Go on, girly! Show me what cha got!"

Inside her head, Chieko heard the words of Magoichi echoing. Do not fear death…fear the disgrace of your name… She knew instantly what to do. "Yes, I do wish to pick a fight with you! I am Chieko Date, and I am your killer…"

The last thing the general did was laugh as Chieko rushed towards him and sliced open his neck. She sidestepped quickly as blood gushed around her. "So…Who wants some too?"

Instead of screams of agony or fear, screams of pissing-their-pants men where sounded. The squad of at least ten men, scared stiff had just been frightened by a small girl. This amused Chieko greatly, and held in her urge to laugh. She needed to stay as menacing as possible to her foes. Her cocky exterior needed to shield away the real her, trembling and desperate inside. "Now, now, don't raise your hands all at once! I will get you all, don't worry!"

More and more yelling echoed from the scared-stiff squad, who all went running due to her frightening appearance. "Wow, you did well!"

Chieko instantly dropped her tough-girl act as soon as she heard her father's voice. "M-Masamune-sama! I-I-I…killed someone…"

Masamune, his face now full of concern for his only daughter, rushed over to her. He examined the blood on her from the man she had slain and stared at her in the eyes. "Chieko…You've never killed before, this is only natural. Stay behind me, got it? I'll keep you safe as well as lead the troops. You recover, okay?"

A silent nod was all the blue-clad girl could muster. Without looking back at the corpse, she and her father ran off. Without even breaking his pace, Masamune would carve through the chests and kill them. This left a safe and steady trail for Chieko, who was still in the shock of her first killing.

Killing to Chieko seemed to come like second nature. She knew the weak spots of humans like she knew the back of her hand. Swiping her dagger with just enough force to steal away the life of her foe was something she practiced on trees since she was able to hold the knife. However; never had she really destroyed life before. Now that the blood was on her hands, she couldn't help but feel terrible over the whole thing.

"M-Masamune-sama!" Chieko called out to her father, who was rapidly advancing faster than she was able to keep up with due to the wound across her torso. "W-What happened to Kojuro and the Twilight Ninja?! Did they duel?"

A curt nod answered her as her father sliced down more and more enemies with his katana. By the number of people and the level of endurance they each had. No longer could just a single swipe kill. More and more men seemed to appear out of nowhere, and Chieko knew that her father and her would become overwhelmed if this continued.

Bringing the hand with her treasured dagger up to her chest, Masamune's heir knew what she had to do. Mercy was not a choice on the battlefield; a lesson she'd just learned in this short time. Lunging to the right of herself, Chieko began her slaughter. The numbers of causalities increased with every swing of the small yet powerful dagger. Masamune watched from afar, his single eye completely focused on his daughter. She was like a graceful demon, slashing effortlessly at her foes.

Once the number of enemies went from over fifty to less than zero, Chieko stood in the middle of the land, unsightly corpses around her feet. "M-Masamune-sama…I did it…"

Instead of her father's words praising her, Chieko was surprised to find that it was actually Magoichi holding her hand and placing the other hand on her shoulder. "Good job letting your emotions go. For a first battle, you are doing more than well…Your mother would be very, very proud of you, Chieko Date."

Holding back tears at how inhumane Chieko felt about herself, she just nodded in response. Blood stained her blue clothes and the entirety of her right hand was dyed maroon red.

"I got her, Magoichi." Masamune said as he marched his way over to the two ladies. "I can praise my own daughter, thank you very much."

The female Lord cast an annoyed look at the Dragon of the West before nodded. "Very well. I suppose you don't want a motherly figure in her life…"

"N-Now, I didn't say that!" Ruffling Chieko's short hair with his hand, he dropped his conversation with Saica after that. "So, Chieko, you okay to move on? The Lord here is beyond ready to be dealt with."

Taking once last deep breath, Chieko responded. "Yes…Yes, let's go. I hate this stench of blood…It makes me feel sick…"

"Yeah, that's something some people can never get used to." He stated as he signaled for them to follow him. "Now, let's go before the enemy has a chance to call for back-up."

"THAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED, MASAMUNE DATE!"

Hearing a string of curses muttered under her father's breath told Chieko everything she needed to know. Lord Ujimasa had called in backup via the Tiger of Kai. Not so far away from where Chieko, Masamune and Magoichi were standing stood Yukimura Sanada and his son, Katsuro Sanada. The two both wore red and carried twin spears.

At the sight of Katsuro, Chieko felt her heart skip. He looked much more experienced than her; broad shoulders, muscles, any type of adjective to describe warrior or hero would fit him perfectly. He seemed to have the same reaction to her as well, as the two children of the blue and red rivals stared at each other in silence for what seemed a century.

"Huh, I didn't expect you to run over here, answering a war call that requested help from the old geezer here." Masamune said, a slight smirk showing at his greatest rival. "Didn't think you'd bring your little pride and joy either."

Yukimura stared at Chieko coldly before answering. "I see you've also brought out your heir…She doesn't look like a warrior, but standing next to her father and mother show me that her strength is hiding under the pale little girl she makes out to be!"

Chieko thought she was crazy. Then she thought Yukimura was crazy. Magoichi…was her mother…? Instantly she began thinking of ways to prove his accusations. The way she studied her last night…the advice she gave...being the best friend of her mother…it all made sense. "M-Magoichi…? You're my…"

Magoichi responded by drawing one of her guns at lightning speed and aiming it right at Yukimura's head. "Listen here," She stated, her voice low and filled to the brim with anger. "Unless you want me to shoot right through your damned face right now, you and your army will back down at once."

"What if we don't wanna?!" Katsuro waved his spears around wildly in the air, like an extension of his arms. "My father and I could easily destroy someone as weak as a mercenary! I could easily kill that girl over there with only my bare fists!"

Chieko would absolutely not stand this mockery. "How dare you!? I have only heard wondrous stories of you, and yet here you are in front of me, Katsuro, and you are a pathetic excuse of a samurai! Do NOT pick on my mother like that! She may be a mercenary, but that changes nothing about her and her ideals! You could NOT kill me with your bare fists, as I am much tougher than I appear! I won't allow you to say these things to me and my family!"

A smirk filled up Katsuro's face and he stifled a laugh. He held his spears up high and stared at Chieko like a hawk would at fresh meat. "What, you wish to fight me? Fine then…Come, Chieko Date, and let's see how tough you really are!"

"NO!"

Both the Lord's children looked up at Yukimura, whose face was full of anger. "No…There will be no fighting. Not now, at least…I am sure you two will grow up to be rivals just as Masamune and I are…but now is not the time. Katsuro!"

"Yes sir?!"

"Lead squads one through six home. I'll lead the rest."

The smirk on the young boy's face instantly disappeared. "U-Uh…Father, why are we retreating!? We need to protect the land from getting taken over! We can't let the stupid dragon take it over!"

"HEY! I'M NOT STUPID!"

Magoichi and Chieko both let a sigh.

Yukimura cast one more irritated glance at his son and bowed his head. "Lord Ujimasa has been dead for countless years. My son and I took over this land, but to not make anyone suspicious of our newly-acquired land, we said that he was still alive this whole time. The Twilight Ninja, Kotaro Fuuma, also joined up with Sasuke in our ranks…"

"I see…A clever ruse that is now officially over…" Magoichi stated, putting her pistol back into its holder. "Naturally, I will sound all over to whatever army we join that the Sanada clan owns more than we all thought…You will only grow more and more hated."

"I am aware of that, Saica, but I will live with it…Until next time, One Eyed Dragon…" Yukimura gave another curt bow to his greatest rival before putting his arm on his son, leading him away.

Masamune bowed his head as well, but didn't say anything until the troops were far off. "Well…Now that the cat's out of the bag, what are you gonna do, Magoichi?"

"Y-You're going to stay with us, right?!" Chieko said, barely able to contain her excitement. Her mother wasn't just alive, she was a bad-ass gunslinger. "I have so many questions! Please, Magoichi…Mother, blend the Saica Mercenaries with Father's army! We could be one big happy family after that!"

Magoichi stared at her daughter for at least five seconds before spitting on the ground. "Not a chance. I fight only for the Saica Faction, not for Masamune's army…However…you are still my daughter…I will come to visit from now on, aright?"

Chieko nodded, tears forming in her eyes. "Y-Yes, that's fine Mother! Maybe you could even show me how to use a gun! N-Not like I wanna replace my dagger with a firearm, but I just want to impress you!"

Wrapping his arm around his only daughter, Masamune smiled. "So, how do you feel being both heir to the Saica Faction and my army?"

Chieko didn't know what to say. She was excited over knowing her mom. She was thrilled to have won her first battle. She was scared she had killed so many men. She was exhausted from the trip. Right now all she wanted was to go back home.

"I…I feel tired…"

News spread like wildfire of Chieko Date across the land. The rumors made her sound like a demoness worse than Oichi. Others say she was just a girl who would be easily murdered in the next battle she was in. In the end, all agreed on one thing.

Chieko Date was The Scarred-Faced Dragon; heir to the One Eyed Dragon.