Warning: This is based off a manga called Sengoku Strays. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend that you do! I don't own anything but my OC, and I will probably end up using artistic license to butcher Japanese history, so I would just like to apologize in advance, and I don't mean to offend anyone!

[Narration]

{setting/stage directions}

"Speech."

'Thoughts.'

"English speech."

—¡–!–¡–!–¡— Scene shift/passage of time.

A whole line of text like this without quotes is a written letter or something similar.

WORDS IN ALL CAPS AND NO QUOTATION MARKS ARE SOUND EFFECTS.

Flashbacks and changes in POV will be labeled.

Unless stated otherwise, the POV will be third person omniscient.

If you ever have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Previously:

"Ah! A-Are you okay?" A pigtailed young lady asked timidly.

"… No…" Kasane said, stunned.

"Eh?" The girl said, concerned.

"… No, it doesn't hurt…" Kasane said. As her heart beat rapidly in her chest. Kasane finally took a good look at her surroundings. All of the women in the cell with her were dressed like peasants from ancient Japan, and all of them, including Kasane, had had their hands bound with rope by the guards when they were captured. 'Huh…? Why is everyone wearing weird clothes…?' Kasane wondered.

'I don't know where I am." Kasane thought, starting to have a panic attack. She could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest and hear the blood pumping in her ears. 'Who are these people? Where did Masamune and Kotetsu go…!?' Kasane had broken out into a cold sweat. She clenched her fists… and then, it dawned on her. "All this… Don't tell me… I'm dreaming…?" Kasane said out loud as she looked at the other women. "Th-That's… it… otherwise, it doesn't make sense… The three of us were on our way home from the match… so there's no way I could just suddenly get taken off to a jail like this…! That's right, I'm dreaming… Yeah!" Kasane mumbled to herself as she tried to piece together what she knew. The women with her exchanged worried glances. They were clearly worried about her mental health, but Kasane didn't notice. "Wow! Yep, it's a dream! Phew! Thank God! Haha, really! Here I was getting desperate!"

"Excuse me." The pigtailed woman said as she gently patted Kasane's shoulder. Kasane flinched.

"Eeeek!?" Kasane yelped in surprise, startled.

"Ah… I-I'm sorry…" The pigtailed woman said.

"N-No… I'm sorry. That felt so real, it scared me… What is it?" Kasane said as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart.

"Nothing, I just thought you might be hurt… since you hit your head…" The pigtailed woman said.

"My good health is my best feature!" Kasane said, smiling radiantly.

"Oh, really…?" The pigtailed girl said, sweat dropping. 'But before she was…'

"Humph. A 'dream'… huh. I can see why you'd want to believe that. Since all of us are going to be sold." Another, more mature woman with a beauty mark on her face, said.

"S… Sold…?" Kasane said.

"Yeah. Because the masters here, the Yamaguchi's betrayed the province." Beauty mark woman said.

"…?" Kasane said, confused. "What do you mean?"

"A new lord just recently inherited the position of ruler of Owari, our province." Pigtails explained. "Yamaguchi Noritsugu and Noriyoshi were governors here at Narumi Castle, but… the moment our previous lord, whom was well respected, passed away, they went to the neighboring province and surrendered this territory. Soldiers invaded this land and destroyed our village."

"Destroyed…! Your homes too…!?" Kasane said.

"Not only our homes, but our fields and wells were also burnt. We're allowed to live for now, but that's just so we can be sold off to our enemies and work until we die." Beauty mark said.

"Ugh…" Pigtails sobbed and began to cry.

"Dummy, don't cry!" Beauty mark said.

"…Uh. But Yone… I'm crying… because I haven't seen my little brother in ages, and now I never will…!" Pigtails cried. Kasane's heart throbbed painfully in her chest as she listened sympathetically.

"It's not just Sayo." Beauty mark, Yone, said, referring to pigtails. "Suzu's mom was killed. My little girl was taken away, and I don't even know if she's alive. All of this is that idiot young lord's fault. It's always us common folk who wind up like this." Yone said. "I don't know where that came from… Anyway, you'd better resign yourself. We'll never see our families again—" Kasane fell to her knees in front of them and a waterfall of tears flowed from her eyes. Yone and Sayo were shocked. "W-Wait, why are you crying!?" Yone asked.

"Then… let's go talk to that lord in person." Kasane said.

"… Huh?" Yone said in disbelief.

"Let's get out of here, Sayo." Kasane said, wiping her eyes. "Everyone, let's escape!"

"Wh-What are you saying!? We're in Narumi Castle, which was taken by the Imagawas! Getting out of a place like this…" Yone said.

"But… if we stay here like this, we won't be able to do anything…!" Kasane said. "What if the rest of your family escaped and is waiting at the village?"

"…" Yone said.

"Yone, your daughter… I'm sure she's waiting for you somewhere…" Kasane said as she started to tear up again.

'What a weird girl… and she's wearing such odd clothes too…' Yone thought. "… Fine, just stop dripping all over the place." Yone said, sweat dropping.

"I… I want… I want to see my brother again…!" Sayo cried.

"Sayo…" Kasane said, touched. "Don't worry, I know you'll be able to see him again!"

"But… all of us are tied up." Yone pointed out. "We can't move around, so how?"

"It'll work out… It's gotta." Kasane said, gulping nervously. 'This is a dream after all…!' Kasane thought. "If you set your sights on it, you can do anything!" Kasane yelled and bit into the rope that was binding her hands.

"!" The other women shouted, going blue with shock at such a violently weird display.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

{A few minutes later…}

Kasane had gnawed through her own rope and then untied the others.

"I can't believe it, she actually gnawed through this…!" Yone said, sweat dropping. "Is she an animal…?" Kasane and Sayo were busy trying to figure out how to open their cell. Luckily, the soldier guarding them had a weak bladder.

"But the key to our cell…" Sayo said, wondering how they could possibly get the key from the guard.

"Leave it to me! I'm sure I can get it with a hairpin!" Kasane said, removing one of her hairpins. Kasane bent her hairpin, straightening it out, and inserted into the lock on the door.

CLICK! Their cell door was now unlocked. The hairpin had actually worked.

"Whoa!" Kasane and Sayo said together in amazement as they stared at the hairpin with starry eyes.

"Hairpins are amazing!" Kasane said.

"How come you're surprised at yourself?" Yone said, raising an eyebrow. They all crawled out of the small cell doorway, and were almost home free when the guard came back. It was headband man.

"What's all the fuss about!? Be good and settle d—!?" The guard said as he came around the corner. He stopped short when he saw the prisoners outside of their cell.

"Ah!" Kasane said, realizing they had been caught.

"Hey! Just how did you get out of there!?" Headband yelled.

"Ka-Kasane!" Sayo said nervously.

"Sayo, guys, stay back." Kasane said as she stepped in front of them to face the guard. 'What can I use as a sword?' Kasane thought. She saw a conveniently located stick laying against the wall.

"What's going on! Answer me!" The guard yelled.

"Oh!" Kasane shouted out of the blue. She whipped her hand up and pointed straight up at the ceiling. "There's a rat on the ceiling!" Kasane shouted. Everyone looked up, and the women screamed, afraid of the nonexistent rat. Kasane grabbed the stick while the guard was distracted.

"What…!?" The guard said angrily when he realized he'd been tricked.

"Kusanagi–style unsheathing technique!" Kasane yelled as she attacked. "First art! 'Cloudbank'!" She struck the guard, knocking him unconscious with a single blow.

"A-Amazing! Just what is she!?" Yone said.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

{Meanwhile, outside the compound…}

The women's cheering could be heard from outside the building.

"Hmm~?" A teenage boy, whose wild black hair had been pulled up into a ponytail, said as his ear twitched. "Gorouza! There's some kind of ruckus coming from inside." The boy said, turning to look at his longhaired friend as he spoke, and he dropped the Imagawa soldier that he had just beaten unconscious. They could hear a group of people running toward them. It was Kasane and the other prisoners, but they had no way of knowing that.

"They might've noticed our raid." A short teenage girl with dirty-blonde hair said.

"You may be right, Ayako." Gorouza said. "Kuranosuke, scout the area and report back."

"… Got it." Kuranosuke, a short boy with pale hair, said. Kuranosuke jumped up into a tree and onto the roof of the building next to them. He ran along the roof, and jumped down, disappearing from their sight.

"My, he's light on his feet!" The black-haired boy said as they watched him go.

"Kura-kun's not secretly a ninja, is he, Inuchiyo?" Ayako asked the black-haired boy.

"Ayako, don't let him hear you call him that, or we'll never hear the end of it." Gorouza said, sweat dropping.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

As Kuranosuke was speeding towards them, Kasane and the others continued to run, unaware of the other group of intruders.

'The guards are bigger than me and have armor. I'm at a total disadvantage.' Kasane thought as she ran, leading the way for the others. She realized she could hear someone approaching them from around the corner.

'In a situation like this, it has to be an instant kill…' Kuranosuke thought.

'I'll strike the moment they pass by!' Kasane and Kuranosuke thought at the same time as they both simultaneously rounded the corner and struck. They both stopped their attacks with only an inch to spare before the blows would've made contact. Kasane stared at the old-fashioned gun Kuranosuke had aimed at her, and Kuranosuke stared at the stick she had been using as a substitute katana. "… Huh?" They both said, confused and surprised. It was obvious that neither of them were Imagawa soldiers.

'What?' Kasane thought.

'Huh?' Kuranosuke thought.

'Who's the shortie?' They both wondered.

"… Hey." Kuranosuke said, scowling. "You there… where'd you come from…" Kuranosuke managed to say before he was pelted with several reasonably sized rocks.

"Are you okay!?" Sayo asked. Kasane turned to see the other women were all holding rocks. They were the culprits. Kuranosuke had been stoned unconscious.

"Sayo! Everyone!" Kasane said, touched that they would help her.

"What happened?" Sayo asked.

"I don't think this shortie is one of the castle guards…" Kasane said.

"Aa–ah!" Inuchiyo cried in dismay when he saw the beaten Kuranosuke. "Kura's dead!"

'I'm not dead.' Kuranosuke thought as a vein mark throbbed on his head.

"Damn you, Imagawas!" Inuchiyo roared as he charged at Kasane with his spear.

CLACK! Kasane whacked the spear with her stick, deflecting Inuchiyo's blow.

"!" Inuchiyo said, surprised. "Eh?" He said when he felt himself being flipped. "Aaah!" Inuchiyo yelled as he landed on top of Kuranosuke with a loud thud.

"Oomph!" Kuranosuke groaned in pain as his back cracked. He felt like his intestines were going to be squeezed out of him.

"Yaah!" Kasane cried as she charged at Inuchiyo again.

"Stop!" Ayako shouted as she jumped in front of the two boys, and blocked Kasane's powerful blow with her hanbo. "This is just a misunderstanding. We're not soldiers of Imagawa!" Ayako noticed Kasane was wearing a high school uniform from the 21st century. 'This girl…!?' Ayako thought, surprised. However, she didn't want to talk about time travel in front of the others. She knew that probably no one other Nobunaga would believe her, so she had already told the others that she 'wasn't from around here' and left it at that.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I just got caught up in the moment!" Kasane said, realizing what she had just done. 'Eh… A girl!? And she's a foreigner!?' Kasane thought in surprise when she saw the dirty-blonde-haired and hazel-eyed Ayako. '… No, she looks half Japanese…' Kasane exhaled and wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Get off me!" An irritated Kuranosuke muttered darkly at the dazed Inuchiyo.

"Oh my… exactly what happened here…?" Gorouza asked as he appeared.

'Another one?' Kasane thought.

"Who are you?" Gorouza asked her.

"!?" Kasane said. 'There's two girls…?' Kasane thought, mistaking Gorouza for a girl. He did have a pretty face.

'She's cute.' Sayo thought, also under the wrong impression.

"Eh…?" Kasane said, not understanding what was going on.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

"Hahaha! So, the 'prisoners' rescued themselves!" Gorouza said, laughing in amusement. Once Kasane and the women had explained everything. "Looks like… with the war going on, you Owari women are toughening up."

"It's not that surprising, Gorouza. A woman is like a teabag, you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water. The strength of a woman can carry the weight of the world." Ayako said.

'War…?' Kasane thought. "Um, who are you?" Kasane asked.

"My apologies." Gorouza said politely, smiling. "I'm Niwa Gorouzaemon Nagahide, vassal to a lord of Owari, the lord of Nagoya castle. Same with Sassa Kuranosuke Narimasa, and Maeda Matazaemon Toshiie, he goes by Inuchiyo. This young lady is Himura Ayako Louise. She goes by Ayako." Gorouza motioned to the now conscious Kuranosuke and Inuchiyo as he introduced them too. Ayako smiled and waved hello.

"We're so sorry!" the women said, bowing and apologizing to Kuranosuke for stoning him when they mistook him for an enemy.

"…" Kuranosuke said, as he stared at them, not sure what to say that wouldn't sound too mean. He was rough, but he was a nice guy at heart. Inuchiyo was smiling and fidgeting like an excited puppy.

"We were ordered to come get the prisoners at Narumi Castle." Gorouza explained.

"Are any of you injured?" Ayako asked.

"Hey, hey! How'd you do that, back then? The tuck and twirl!" Inuchiyo asked as he leaned over Gorouza's shoulder.

'They're huge…' Kasane thought as she looked up at the two guys. She had thought Gorouza was tall, but Inuchiyo was even taller than Gorouza was. They looked like giants next to the short, five-feet tall, Ayako.

"Inuchiyo… 'Stay'!" Gorouza said firmly. "No talking." Inuchiyo pouted, but he didn't say anything more.

'Is he trained…?' Kasane wondered, sweat dropping.

"So… back to the matter at hand. You said the Yamaguchis have just betrayed us and allowed the Imagawas to enter?" Ayako said, getting the conversation back on track.

"We aren't going to be able to stop the warriors who are taking advantage of the fighting and causing trouble." Gorouza said, worried about the possibility of violent looters.

"I'm especially worried about the people in the villages in this area…" Ayako said. She was originally from Louisiana, and thanks to hurricane Katrina, she knew how chaotic and out of hand things can get when violent looters started to threaten people and cause a panic.

"Do you expect us to believe that?" Yone scoffed.

"Yone…" Kasane said.

"We don't have anything to do with what's caused all of this, but the common people are always the ones who suffer. This is all because our new lord never conducted himself properly. Can you deny that? Tell me, how are we supposed to believe in a lord like that." Yone said.

'Well… what she wasn't wrong, but… I guess Nobunaga just did too good of a job playing the village idiot all these years…' Ayako thought as the atmosphere grew stormy, and Inuchiyo and Gorouza stared down Yone, who wasn't giving an inch.

"You're insulting our lord." Inuchiyo said, frowning.

"Ah!" Kasane said nervously as she looked between the two sides. Ayako sweat dropped. Yone just had to insult Nobunaga in front of these guys, of all people… They didn't have time for this.

"Wait, hold it!" Ayako said, interrupting what was starting to turn into a Mexican standoff. "Forget that for now, we've got to hurry up and get out of here. We're still in enemy territory."

"You too, Yone." Kasane said nervously, trying to help Ayako diffuse the situation. "Right now, we've got to escape! Once we get out of here, you can personally go and tell him your complaints! I'll go too, okay?"

"Personally?" Gorouza said, slightly surprised.

"Yep! We'll let the lord have it!" Kasane said, determined to make things right.

"I see…" Ayako said, wondering how well that would go over. While it was perfectly normal to be able to complain and say whatever you wanted to and about most government leaders in the 21st century where Ayako and Kasane were from, this was feudal Japan. Most rulers weren't accustomed to being told off by their subjects, and letting them go unscathed. Ayako decided she better keep an eye on Kasane and keep her from getting herself in trouble when the time came.

"Personally… true enough, if you don't tell him face to face, he wont understand. To do that, let's head to the battlefield." Gorouza said. His eyes were shielded by his bangs, so they couldn't see his expression, but Ayako somehow had the feeling he was struggling not to laugh, despite how serious he sounded. He was probably planning something to get back at them for slandering the lord and prove how awesome Nobunaga really was. Gorouza looked back up, his completely serious again.

"Right now, our lord is facing off at 'Akatsuka'… with Lord Yamaguchi Noryoshi." Gorouza said. Ayako smirked.

'So, that's his plan… let them see for themselves what kind of man the Lord of Owari is.' Ayako thought as they all marched towards the battlefield together.

Author's note:

I added a link to my profile that you can copy and paste into your browser that will show you what Ayako looks like, as well as some of the others too. The managka's version of what Nobunaga looks like is much more attractive than the historical potrait I saw of him. No offense intended! ^_^;