Chapter 2: Warriors of the Past

"Next".

Takeko blinked her eyes, where was she? She panted as she felt the antagonising pain of her wounds, she stared ahead where a foreign man sat by a desk smoking to what she thought was tobacco. The blood stained sky and rustic landscape was no more but instead she stood in a white pristine corridor filled with countless doors, all different from one another. All she could hear was the scribbling of his pen and the dripping of blood from her wounds, no longer able to hold her own weight she slouched against one of the countless doors.

"Who are you?" Takeko said looking up with some effort at the foreigner. She assumed that this was some sort of intersection to the Land of the Dead, but she had a nagging feeling that it wasn't quite that. Because if she had actually did, then why did she still feel so much pain like a mortal being.

The man did not answer her, he looked up but after that he continued to write down something. To Takeko's surprise the solid door behind her dissolved into a mass of black, she had never seen that before, her eyes widening in shock as she tried to move away but half of her body had already been sucked in. Deciding that it wasn't going to change anything if she struggled she let the darkness swallow her up. She closed her eyes, she did not know what happened but she found herself in a forest, falling back she hit her head on the ground. She let out an involuntary yelp in shock.

It was soft, the grass blades tickled her face as she pulled herself together. She looked around, her wounds continued to ooze blood and if she didn't stop it she would most certainly die, again. She gasped out in pain as she tightened her bandages, they were soaked in blood but it was all she had. She grasped onto a nearby tree branch and steadied herself on her feet. Once her thoughts had become orientated she took her time to survey where she was, taking every detail and sound. Nothing escaped from her eyes. She noticed that the trees that surrounded her were not from her home country, Japan. They were different, perhaps from the western lands. But how? Was she either in one of the westerns lands or were they transported here. But to grow in such a significant amount in a short amount of time, nothing made sense. Deciding that it was best not to think about it too much she returned her attention to her belongings.

To her happiness all her weapons were still with her, strapping the rifle and naginata to her back she began walking to higher ground, it would be best for her to at least know where she was. Perhaps she was in the forests of Mount Fuji, it did seem possible, but the further she walked the less likely it seemed. She re-tightened her bandages with a grunt she tied the cloth around her tighter, restricting the blood flow. She had to thank her sister for the plants which numbed some of the pain but not all of it. She had to hum to herself in order to keep her mind away from the pain of her wounds.

Each step she took sent a jolt of pain across her body, gritting her teeth she pushed the pain to the back of her head. Getting up to higher ground was a such a pain, she never even thought that climbing up a hill could be so painful but then again she had over a dozen wounds on her body. She grimaced at the thought of having scars across her body but she knew she would get over them. Her skin had great healing properties, a lot of cuts she got as a child didn't stay around for long and there wasn't always scars. But she knew that this time there would for sure be scars.

"I told you I am Nasu Suketaka Yoichi, that is me and no-one else. ", a young boy said dully once again. He couldn't believe the gall of this old man, he had repeated the same thing over again and again it had gotten to the point of annoyance. He was so close to shoving an arrow up the old man's ass, he let out a huff of impatience. His blue eyes glinting against the sun, as he gazed at the man before him. The old man smelt of blood but there was also this other smell he couldn't quite identify, but he knew he didn't like.

"And how the hell am I supposed to know you? Your name was Oda Nobunaga right? Who the hell are you?" Yoichi shouted back at the old man, who hell was he?! "What the hell is the Minister of the Right?!" If anyone was crazy that it was the old man, not him. The two males glared at each other for some times before realising that there was no point inf arguing with each other, it got them nowhere and they were just wasting their energy.

"Argh fine, fine! This is just too tiresome", the old man grunted out in frustration, he couldn't care less about who was who now. If this brat insisted that was his name then so be it, he could then be Amatsu Mikaboshi right? He didn't know where he was, he was tired and he wanted to know where the hell was Ranmaru. Nothing made sense anymore, there was this random stone fortress right in front of him and there was this kid claiming to be a great warrior who was from the eleventh century. But he knew one thing for sure, he wasn't dead, this kid was also persistent on the fact that he too had to return back to his battle.

There was a snap of a branch and the sound of someone breathing heavily, Yoichi and Oda drew out their respective weapons. They were in unknown territory with only themselves, in retrospective they were forced to work with one another. Yoichi pulled the string even tighter as Oda cocked up his musket, whoever or whatever was there wasn't going to have a nice surprise.

Takeko stumbled out from the thicket in surprise, she didn't expect flat ground as she fell forward. At the very last moment grabbing onto a nearby branch, preventing a painful fall. She heard something tear, making her cough out more blood. Yoichi and Oda widened their eyes in surprise, they didn't expect a woman, they were caught off guard but the did not lower their weapons. Takeko coughed as she pulled herself steady, blood dripping from her wounds her gaze sharpening onto two men. One old and one young, their weapons aimed at her. She was threatened, so using whatever energy she had she drew out her own. She entwined her arm the pole of the naginata and she steadied herself, she felt blood leak out from her. She was just taken away from the heat of a battle, her mind was hazed. She couldn't quite think straight but all she knew was that if there was enemy she would cut him down.

Oda peered at female, heavily wounded, battle gear, a rifle strapped to her back. But despite all of that there was the feeling of blood lust within the air, coming from her. The stance she took and how she tread reminded him of a wounded animal ready to attack with nothing to lose. Yoichi felt the same, it was easy to tell that the female was an experienced fighter. Both men knew not to underestimate a female, especially one who was fighting to the bone. But a remaining question hung in the air, they all probably didn't know each other so why were they aiming their weapons at each other.

Yoichi took a larger interest, she looked close to his age but when he saw her eyes he knew that they were the same. They were underestimated by age but definitely not talent, he also took note to her eyes. They were a strange colour, it was a metallic copper that shimmered strangely. And for her hair, it was the blackest of black and it when it reflected the suns light it reminded him of the night sky. She was such a woman to behold, drenched in blood with wild cropped hair flying past her neck. She looked like a rabid dog.

"Oh screw this", Takeko muttered tiredly, she couldn't keep herself up anymore. She had practically nothing left to fight for anymore, all she knew was that she was far from home and that she was probably going to die again. She threw down her weapon, "This is stupid", she murmured before falling towards the ground. There was a heavy thudding sound as her body hit the ground, blood slowly pooling around her body. She fell unconscious, she had spent all of her energy and now she didn't know where she was going to end up.

"O-Oi!" Oda cried out as he dropped his own weapon, they could worry about who was who later but there was a wounded person in front of them and most likely another leading clue to where the hell they were at. Yoichi withdrew his own arrow and follwed after Oda quickly. He flipped the woman over slowly, "Shit", Oda muttered, since they were at a distance they couldn't quite see how injured she was. But now at a closer inspection she was practically dying, and without medical attention she would be lost to the both of them. Many cuts along the torso and arms, and a huge gaping hole in the upper area of her chest.

"You grab the legs, I'll take the torso", Oda grunted as they slowly pulled the fallen maiden from the ground. Yoichi took her legs grabbed them, one leg for each arm. The did this so there would be no more tearing of wounds.

"So we're saving her?" Yoichi questioned as they stumbled back to inside of the stone fortress.

"Shut up and just do as I say", Oda snapped.

"So who do you think she is", Yoichi claimed as he poked at her face lightly. She twitched slightly but didn't give much response than that. Their unknown guest was beautiful underneath all the grime and blood, but it took them some time to decide who would be the one to shed her clothing and bandages. Yoichi finally won out because of his age and that Oda was an utter pervert so he knew that he could be tempted to do something more. Yoichi did his best to avert his eyes but it was inevitable that they would have to gaze upon her bare skin.

"How would I know, the only thing we can confirm is that she is with the Aizu domain and there must be some sort of huge war that she participated in. But then again, the Land of Rising Sun was always in some sort of war. Another one just means a new ruler and a lot of dead people", Oda said sarcastically. He chewed on a stalk of grass, he craved for something to smoke but for now the stalk of grass gave his mouth something to do. They had went through her stuff, she wasn't carrying a lot in the beginning so it was hard to identify who she was. They knew she of a high social status, they knew that she was trained warrior, they knew that she of the Aizu clan and that was pretty much it. They both didn't recognise who she was and there was this inkling feeling that she too was also of a different period of time.

Takeko was dreaming, in a far away land where only the dead could reach. It wouldn't be until four days later would she reawaken only to have Oda and Yoichi question heavily.

"I've told you who I am and the date which I last remember", Takeko deadpanned as she scratched her head, "I'm not going to tell anymore because it's not necessary, I don't even know if you guys are real as well. After all, the both of you are meant to be dead", Takeko sighed as she fell back into the makeshift bed, her wounds still hurt her but Oda had enough experience when dealing with bullet wounds so the surgery was a success.

"Nakano Takeko, 1868", Oda murmured as he let out a heavy sigh. That didn't help, it just made them even more confused, each one of them thinking that each other were not real. But if there was thing that was clarified was that they all met the same man, the one in that strange hallway. It gave them better understanding that perhaps the castle which they were sleeping wasn't even from the world which they knew.

"So how do we get back?" Yoichi said absentmindedly, Oda and Takeko both fell silent. They all had a dreading feeling that they were all sent here for a purpose and that it would be quite impossible to go back from where they came from, let alone their own timeline. Oda wanted to go back more than Takeko and Yoichi, unlike those two he still had many more ambitions and unfinished goals. His work was not yet done, but he knew it was much too late for his age. Takeko had already fallen back to sleep, her dreams consisted of her playing her koto.

Yoichi realising that he wasn't going to get any response decided to retire to bed as well, leaving Oda by himself. Oda was left to his own thoughts and most of them were quite cynical.

Shimazu Toyohisa will appear in the next chapter.

Amatsu Mikaboshi - god of evil

The cover picture is my imagining of my OC, Takeko. Drew it myself so if anyone wants to use it you will have to ask me first.