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.

The sound of hoof beats could be heard as three kunoichi hid in a tree and waited for their target to come into view. They were the three women from chapter nine, and they had found out from some unsuspecting locals that Nobunaga passed through this forest. The clueless farmers couldn't tell them whether it was for hunting or not, but they at least knew that the young lord of Owari didn't take a lot of attendants with him.

"Yes~! He came, he came~!" Iname said excitedly as she spied on Nobunaga and company through her spyglass. "There's no mistake! It's Nobunaga! Today he's got four... no, five attendants. Hehe! Who should I knock out first? Which one looks strongest?" The longhaired boss sweat dropped.

"This isn't the time to be enjoying yourself, Iname." The boss said. "We're to crush Nobunaga on our lord's orders. Nobunaga is our only target! You fooling around will only be trouble."

"Yeah, yeah, I know already." Iname said, sighing. "Squad leaders do tend to be a high-strung bunch. You're going to lose your hair."

"What!? My hair is fine!" The boss whisper-yelled indignantly.

"And you flipped out when I took just one of your rice cakes. Stingy!" Iname deadpanned. A vein mark popped on the boss's head.

"I was looking forward to eating that! And you just do whatever you want!" The boss said, frustrated. Their third squad member, who had been silent so far, tugged on the boss's sleeve to het her attention.

"Nobunaga... is coming..." The quiet kunoichi said, pointing at the young lord and his posse, who were now directly below them.

"Heh, looks like I got here just in time." A fourth kunoichi said as she suddenly appeared next to the boss and joined them in the tree.

"... Kamiko." The boss said, greeting the new arrival. Kamiko wasn't an official member of their squad, but the boss had thought it would be best to call in some back up, just to be on the safe side, since Nobunaga wasn't the fool that they had been led to believe he was, and the number of attendants he kept close to him had increased. To be honest, she didn't particularly like Kamiko, since she could be a real sadist sometimes.

"About time you got here!" Iname said impatiently. "He said it didn't matter if we killed Nobunaga, right?" Iname asked the boss.

"Yeah." The boss said. 'Kazusanosuke Nobunaga, we'll be taking... you're head!' She thought.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

"Nah~ I got every last one!" Kasane said happily. She had been acting as Nobunaga's retriever and had been collecting the prey that Tenrou found. "Even though they smell a little like blood." Nobunaga had suddenly declared that they were going hunting that morning, and he had dragged whole gang along with him—despite Ayako's protests. She didn't want to go since she wasn't going to hunt, and she was still trying to find a cheap replacement weapon for her broken hanbo, since she didn't have much money... Actually, Ayako didn't have any money because she hadn't gotten her paycheck for becoming a soldier yet, but she didn't want to ask Nobunaga for a loan because there was no telling what kind of consequences it could have for her... he'd probably make her do something utterly annoying and ridiculous in exchange for the money.

'Well, at least Kasane is having fun...' Ayako thought, smiling wryly. Kasane glanced back at the others, who were behind her and Nobunaga. Kasane was hitching a ride with Gorouza this time, since she didn't know how to ride a horse by herself, and Ayako was riding with Nobunaga since he claimed the old horse that she had been riding was 'too loud and clumsy' and that it would scare away any possible prey. It also prevented her from 'getting lost' and returning back to the castle. She tried to argue, but as usual, Nobunaga won in the end.

"This is the first time I've seen a hunt... my ancestors really were sturdy folks..." Kasane said, thinking out loud.

"Well, everyone's gotta eat to live, but I just haven't ever been able to enjoy hunting, due to a past trauma... My dad took me deer hunting with his buddies one time when I was little, but he had horrible timing, because my mother had just let me watch Bambi the day before..." Ayako said, sighing.

"Eh...!?" Kasane said, shocked that her father would do such a thing. She had seen a Japanese dubbed version of the Disney movie once, so she knew what Ayako was taking about. "That's messed up!"

"Bambi?" Gorouza asked, curious.

"It's story about a cute little dear that makes kids fall in love with animals, and want to cherish them, but it's sad because Bambi's mother is killed by a hunter... just like the deer that they all shot in front of me. They didn't tell me what we were doing, so I thought we were just going hiking or something until the guns came out." Ayako said.

"It's just a stupid deer..." Kuranosuke said. Ayako glared at him.

"You've never seen Bambi, and you're a guy, so you just wouldn't understand the trauma of seeing something cute and fuzzy, that you had come to consider a 'friend' get shot right in front of you." Ayako said darkly.

'She's definitely got a screw loose...' Kuranosuke thought, sweating nervously and avoiding her gaze.

"Tenrou really did a great job." Gorouza said, coming to Kuranosuke's rescue by drawing Ayako's attention away from him.

"I did a great job too! I got a rabbit." Inuchiyo said happily.

'Poor little Thumper...' Ayako thought.

"Wait until we get back to eat it." Gorouza said.

"We haven't gone falconeering in a while, too. Though we used to follow our lord around hunting and swimming a lot before." Kuranosuke said.

"Eh? Before? Kasane asked, curious.

'I haven't heard about this before, either...' Ayako thought. "I bet you guys caused all sorts of trouble, huh?" Ayako said, chuckling as she pictured little chibi versions of Nobunaga, Gorouza, Inuchiyo and Kuranosuke. They must've been so cute when they were younger.

"He was always on the move, you see. We had our work cut out just keeping up with him." Kuranosuke said.

"Kura was so slow!" Inuchiyo said, laughing. "He was always tripping over something!"

"Oh, is that true, Kura-kun?" Ayako asked slyly, teasing him.

"Shut up!" Kuranosuke yelled, embarrassed.

"I'll tell you about it sometime." Gorouza told the two girls.

"Great!" Kasane and Ayako said.

"But what about now? Aren't we just wandering around?" Kasane asked.

"You, idiot, now he's the ruler of a province. Do you think he can just wander around randomly like that?" Kuranosuke said rudely.

"..." Kasane said as they all stared at Nobunaga's back. Ayako and Kasane sweat dropped.

'No matter how you look at it, he's still just wandering around...' Ayako thought. She figured it probably had something to do with the mysterious women that had been stalking him and traveling to and from Kiyosu, though.

"W-Well, our lord is an exception." Kuranosuke said quickly, realizing he might've accidentally insulted Nobunaga. However, Nobunaga didn't really seem to care. He was acting as though he hadn't even been listening.

"Well, you certainly can't consider now the same as back then, though." Gorouza said. "Especially since Owari has yet to be fully unified. For instance, there are those who would just as soon do without our lord—" Gorouza stopped when he sensed a sudden killing intent. The boss kunoichi fired three arrows at Nobunaga, and Kamiko threw her kunai at him from the other side. Gorouza and Ayako sprang into action.

FWIP! THUD, THUD, THUD!

"Eeeek!?" Kasane cried as the arrows and Gorouza whizzed past her. She looked up, and saw Gorouza standing in front of Nobunaga, and holding his zanbato up. He had used it to block all three of the arrows "Gorouza!" Kasane yelled, surprised.

"... We don't... know when we're going to be attacked like this." Gorouza said.

"That was close..." Ayako said, exhaling slowly. She was now standing up, crouching on the horse's back, where she had been sitting behind Nobunaga. She had somehow managed to catch the four kunai in between her fingers before they could hit their intended target.

"Ayako!" Kasane said, amazed. Ayako looked just like a real ninja, with the way she had caught the kunai so easily.

"Kuranosuke! The three on the right." Gorouza said.

"Like you have to tell me!" Kuranosuke said as he pulled out both of his guns and fired. "You're too easy to spot...!" He shouted at the kunoichi. They heard a thud as one of the women fell from the tree. "Got him! Go fetch, you stupid dog!" Kuranosuke told Inuchiyo.

"Whee!" Inuchiyo said as he leapt over to their fallen enemy.

"Tch! ...Geez." Kuranosuke grumbled as he reloaded his guns. "Just what the hell is... Uh!" He heard the click of another rifle. "Get down!" Kuranosuke yelled as the quiet kunoichi fired at the others. Gorouza and Ayako quickly pulled Nobunaga and Kasane to the ground, dodging the bullet.

'Eep!' Kasane screamed in her mind. "Wh-Wh-Wh-What's going on...!?" Kasane asked, confused and disorientated.

"Kasane, Ayako! It's dangerous here! Take our lord and—" Gorouza said urgently, but Ayako wasn't having any of that.

"No, I can still fight! I'm staying here with you guys. There's still a fourth one out there, remember?" Ayako said.

"These opponents are different from the farmers you fought the other day, Ayako! You won't be a match for them unarmed!" Gorouza said. "Go ahead and take our lord back to the castle—"

"Urah! You're mine!" Iname yelled as she suddenly jumped out of the bush behind Gorouza. "Ah!" She said when Gorouza blocked her attack from behind with his sword. 'A girl? Besides those two weirdo girls?' Iname thought, surprised. "Move aside?" She said, smiling cutely.

"You first." Gorouza said, smiling back radiantly. A vein mark throbbed on Iname's forehead.

'Why's she cuter than me!?' Iname thought angrily. "Hmph, weaklings... should get outta the way!" she yelled as she lunged at Gorouza, and their weapons clashed.

"Tch, come on!" Ayako said, grabbing Kasane and Nobunaga by their wrists, and pulling them along as she ran.

"But Gorouza...!" Kasane said.

"We'll just get in his way if we stay. He'll be able to fight at ease if he knows we're taking care of Nobunaga first." Ayako said.

"Heh. My, My, and what do we have here?" Kamiko said as she suddenly dropped down in front of them from were ever she had been hiding. The three of them came to a sudden stop as the kunoichi blocked their path. Ayako stared warily at the woman. She was more skilled at hiding her presence than the other three had been. "How cute... you look just like an angel I saw in a foreign painting that a trader had before. I bet you'd look even better with that golden hair of yours died red with your own blood..." Kamiko told Ayako mockingly as she licked her kunai. Ayako narrowed her eyes at the kunoichi and stepped forward, taking up a defensive position.

"What are you waiting for, Kasane? Gorouza said to get Nobunaga out of here." Ayako said calmly as she stared down her opponent. She was facing a strong and possibly mental unhinged opponent, unarmed, but she wasn't going to just back down and let people she cared about get hurt. She had made a promise to Nobunaga, and she intended to keep it.

"But—!" Kasane said.

"Just who do you think you're talking to, Kasane? Don't worry about me, I'll be fine since I'm an 'Onihime.'" Ayako said, smiling reassuringly at the nervous girl.

"Oh? You're going to face me alone and unarmed? You have some kind of death wish, Angel-san?" Kamiko said mockingly, and smirked as she lunged at Ayako. Ayako dodged the attack and started leading Kamiko away from Nobunaga and Kasane.

"I don't know what's going on, but... h-hurry!" Kasane said nervously as she tried to push Nobunaga towards his horse. "Get on your horse!"

"..." Nobunaga said, frowning. Despite Kasane's best efforts, the young lord wasn't budging.

"While Gorouza and them are holding them back, please escape, my Lord!" Kasane said urgently as she glanced around. 'What can I use as a weapon!?' She thought.

"Move it." Nobunaga ordered bluntly.

"Huh?" Kasane said, stunned as Nobunaga stalked past her. "Ah, the trouble's that way!"

"I let the mice find me on purpose." Nobunaga said, pausing to glance back at Kasane over his shoulder. He smirked. "If they're aiming for me, I should at least let them aim."

"!?" Kasane said. 'And again, I don't understand you...' She thought, bewildered.