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.

WHACK. WHACK. WHACK.

"Whoa!" Kuranosuke said, surprised.

"They're at it already." Gorouza said, smiling. Kuranosuke, Inuchiyo, and Gorouza had arrived to begin their sparring practice, and had been greeted by the sight of Kasane and Ayako sparring against a group of guys. They were totally owning them. They also noticed that Ayako had a new weapon. Everyone else was using wooden swords and staves, but Ayako wanted to get used to her new weapon, so they had agreed to let her use it... as long as she didn't use the spiked clubs on them. One of the men tried to literally sweep her off her feet, but Ayako slammed her short staff on the ground, and did a hand stand on top of it, using it as a spring board to push her self up, and flip over, landing on top of her opponent's head briefly, before hitting the guy behind him with her hanbo. He managed to block her, but the force of her blow knocked him off balance, and he fell onto his butt. Meanwhile, Kasane was taking out her own opponents.

CLACK!

"Ah!" Kasane's opponent grunted as their swords clashed, and the force of Kasane's blow knocked him onto his butt too.

"Phew." Kasane said, exhaling as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. She raised her wooden sword again and grinned. "Next!"

"Step right up!" Ayako said, smiling as she twirled her hanbo between her fingers. All the guys were sweating heavily, huffing and puffing as they tried to catch their breaths. They couldn't believe how strong the two girls were.

"It looks like we should give them a break, Kasane... How about we give them a break, and spar with each other?" Ayako suggested, grinning.

"You're on!" Kasane said, smiling as the two girls began fighting. It was a sight to see. Neither of them were giving an inch, and neither of them had managed to land a blow on the other.

"May we join you?" Gorouza asked, smiling, as he, Kuranosuke, and Inuchiyo joined the other men.

"Gorouza! Of course!" Shinsuke said.

"You all have so much energy, to do this every morning." Gorouza said, smiling.

"It's because everyone was so embarrassed at that recent sparring match." Shinsuke said, rubbing the back of his necks bashfully. "Still, Kusanagi and Onihime are really strong. No one's been able to land a blow on either of them. The two girls were still going at it, and it didn't look like either one of them was going to lose any time soon. Just where did those girls get all of that energy?

"Gaahhh! Dammit!" Koheita yelled as he suddenly stood up, still panting. "Another match, please!"

"Sure!" Kasane and Ayako said, smiling at him. The two girls had reached a stalemate anyway, so they had decided to call it a draw and move on.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

SPLASH.

"Have you gotten used to the youngsters around here?" Gorouza asked as he drew more water from the well while Kasane and Ayako wiped their faces with cool, wet cloths.

"Haaa~ This feels great~!" Ayako said, sighing blissfully. It felt good to get the sweat off.

"Yeah! Toukichirou explained a whole lot to me. How they'd gotten off guard, I guess?" Kasane said. She laughed. "Did you know, they were actually a little scared of Ayako before they talked to her? They thought she'd be cruel and blood thirsty because of her nickname."

"It's not that funny..." Ayako said, sweat dropping. "I think they're still a little nervous around me though. Since I look so 'different,' they're more wary of me, but they're cool with you, because you only 'wear weird clothes.' Toukichirou told me it would get better as long as I spent more time with them, though."

"Oh, That's right! Speaking of Toukichirou... where did he go?" Kasane asked. It had been a few days since the mini tournament, and Toukichirou had only stayed for night before setting out again.

"Oh, he went to Mino." Ayako said.

"To Mino?" Kasane asked.

"Orders from the lord." Inuchiyo said as he grabbed the whole bucket of water and dumped it over his head, soaking himself with the cool well water.

"He's going to some place called something-yama castle. I heard this morning, when he was saying goodbye to the lord." Inuchiyo said.

"It's hot out..." Kuranosuke mumbled as he sat on a nearby bench in the shade, trying not to melt. "!" He said when a cool, wet cloth hit him smack in the face. He was too hot to even get mad. The cool cloth felt so good... Kuranosuke peeled it off of his face and held it to his forehead. Ayako was smiling innocently at him... It had definitely been her. "How can you be so energetic when it's so hot...?" Even Gorouza had removed the jacket he usually wore.

"I grew up in the southern part of the country I was born in. It gets much hotter, and much more humid there than this. Thanks to that, I can deal with the heat pretty well, but I'm weak against the cold." Ayako said, shrugging. Gorouza held a hand to his mouth, showing he was deep in thought.

'...Mino?' Gorouza thought. He hadn't been told about this, and Inuchiyo had only heard it by chance... and yet, someone had obviously told Ayako. Nobunaga must really trust her.

"Hmph, anyway, it's annoying, always being left behind. Let's get out of here, doesn't matter where!" Kuranosuke said grumpily.

"... Kuranosuke, are you still holding a grudge over that...? Kasane asked, referring to when Toukichirou had accidentally hit him with some of the weapons in his box of doom when they first met. "You're pretty gloomy."

"Yeah, just let it go, man. Life's too short to waste it on grudges." Ayako said.

"Am not! Don't call me gloomy!" Kuranosuke yelled at them, a vein mark throbbing on his forehead. "I've always hated suspicious guys more than anything else!" His eyes were veiled in shadow as he was sprayed with water. Inuchiyo had started shaking himself off in an attempt to get dry, like a wet puppy. "And don't spray that water all over!" Kuranosuke yelled at him, irritated.

"Really? I think he's a nice guy." Inuchiyo said.

"You're suspicious of everybody." Ayako said. "Me, Kasane, Toukichirou... and that guy that brought a fresh delivery of rice to us yesterday."

"He wasn't the usual guy!" Kuranosuke said defensively.

"Oh, yeah. He was clearly a criminal mastermind." Ayako said, rolling her eyes. "He was an old man who needed help just to unload the bales of rice!"

"By the way, Gorouza." Kasane said, getting his attention.

"Yes?" Gorouza asked.

"Where exactly... is Mino province?" Kasane asked awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. They all stared at her.

'That's right... I've had time to memorize the maps here, but Kasane hasn't...' Ayako thought.

"Hah!" Kuranosuke said, laughing at Kasane's ignorance.

"Gah!" Kasane said, flinching at his reaction.

"Ahahaha! Now I get it! You aren't suspicious, you're just an idiot, aren't you!?" Kuranosuke said smirking vindictively at Kasane, pointing at her, and laughing. "Even kids know that!"

"Gah! It's embarrassing enough, you don't have to make fun of me..." Kasane said, blushing out of embarrassment.

"You shouldn't laugh at others like that. This is why your karma sucks, and you became a victim of Toukichirou's box of doom the other day." Ayako said, scolding him. "Kasane's not stupid, she's just ignorant. She'll be fine once we tell her where everything is."

"As for Mino—" Inuchiyo said as he dried his hair off with a towel.

"Inuchiyo! Will you tell me?" Kasane pleaded. Inuchiyo began turning his head in different directions, sniffing the air.

"It's that way~!" Inuchiyo said, smiling cheerfully as he pointed off into the distance. Ayako and Kasane both sweat dropped.

"No... It'd help if you could tell me in a more normal, human way..." Kasane said.

"Mino province is north of here." Gorouza told her.

"It's where the Saito clan is." Ayako added.

"Oh? I have heard of it though..." Kasane said, getting more confused by the second. 'Saito who...? Wasn't that the name of one of the Shinsengumi...?'

"Hah! No use for it, I'll draw a map out for this idiot." Kuranosuke said, grinning smugly.

"Gah!" Kasane said, flinching at being called an idiot again. Kuranosuke picked up a stick and began drawing a map...or at least that's what it was supposed to be. Ayako thought it looked more like when she had looked at a slide of amoebas, that were all tangled up with each other under a microscope, when she was in middle school. Inuchiyo, Kasane, and Ayako all stared at Kuranosuke's map.

"... I may be an idiot, but I can draw a bit better than you." Kasane said.

"Me too." Inuchiyo said.

"How sad, all that bragging, and this is what he comes up with..." Ayako deadpanned. Kuranosuke was trembling and turning red from embarrassment and anger at being insulted like that.

"... You three..." Kuranosuke muttered darkly. It reminded Ayako of the same tone the wicked witch had used in the Wizard of Oz: 'I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!' Gorouza sweat dropped, and he decided to take over before things got ugly... well, uglier, if you added Kuranosuke's drawing into the equation. Gorouza picked up another stick and began drawing another, more detailed map. He even labeled the different areas.

"This is the gist of it." Gorouza said after he finished drawing it.

"Wow!" Inuchiyo and Kasane said as she, Inuchiyo, and Ayako came over to look at his map.

"Nothing less from Gorouza!" Ayako praised.

"It's nothing like Kura's!" Inuchiyo praised as Kuranosuke continued to tremble with embarrassment and indignation in the background.

"Mino is surrounded by Owari, Mikawa, Shinano, and Oumi provinces. Toukichirou most likely headed out to Inabayama castle." Gorouza explained. Ayako nodded in agreement, letting Gorouza know that he was correct in assuming that. Gorouza nodded back, showing his appreciation for that piece of information and continued his explanation. "As Ayako said earlier, it's the castle of Saito Dousan, Lord of Mino."

'Saito Dousan...? Seriously, who is that?' Kasane wondered. Ayako noticed her confused face.

"Owari is located in what we know as Aichi prefecture, and part of Mino is in Gifu." Ayako explained, trying to give Kasane a frame of reference by comparing it to the maps of modern Japan. "See, this body of water is Lake Biwa, but in this era, it's called Omi Lake."

"Oh, so it's near Gifu? Thanks, Ayako." Kasane said, finally able to understand what they were talking about.

"Gifu?" Inuchiyo asked, a little confused and curious.

"Don't worry about it." Ayako said, not wanting to give away too many spoilers for the future.

"Mino's Saito clan and the Oda clan had long been bitter rivals over their territory. Lord Nobunaga's father, Lord Nobuhide, had also fought with them for many years. However..." Gorouza explained.

"About three years ago, a Lady from Mino married into the Oda clan, which formed the alliance the two provinces have now." Ayako said. Kasane and Gorouza noticed that she didn't look as cheerful as she had before, and Kasane wondered why. Gorouza had a feeling he knew the reason.

"So, we have a truce with them now." Gorouza said, ending Kasane's lesson for the day.

"Oh~ I see." Kasane said, happy that she was able to understand. 'So it was a political marriage? Hm? But who got married to who?' Kasane thought. "But you sure know a lot, Ayako! I thought we were both average in history." Kasane said.

"Well, I know a lot about American History, but the teacher I had that covered this era just made everything sound so boring, that I could practically feel my brain turning into goo. So I just couldn't make myself pay attention enough to learn anything." Ayako explained. "I only remember the women so well because so few of them were mentioned, since women weren't considered as important in this era, and detailed records about them weren't kept."

'Hmm... that just doesn't seem right to me, but then again, women's rights are probably still considered a fairly new concept in the long history of Japan...' Kasane thought.

"What's wrong? Are you hungry?" Inuchiyo asked when he noticed the serious atmosphere around the two girls, who realized they were stuck in a male dominated society, and it would only make their situation harder. They were lucky they ended up with Nobunaga, who didn't care if someone was a man or woman, as long as they were useful and loyal to him.

"But... why Mino?" Kuranosuke asked Gorouza. "If he's looking for those where those women came from, wouldn't the Imagawas be the better bet?"

"I don't have an answer to that, myself." Gorouza said thoughtfully. "What do you think, Ayako? Has the lord mentioned anything to you?"

"Not really... but there's a saying where I come from: 'some friends are just enemies that don't have enough guts to kill you.' Just because they're our allies now, doesn't mean it'll stay that way. The Oda clan and the Saito clan were enemies before, and things like that aren't easily forgotten." Ayako said. They were unaware that two men were approaching them. Inuchiyo and Kasane noticed.

"Ah!" Kasane said as Inuchiyo perked up when he saw who it was.

"—I've only heard that the discord in Mino between Saito Dousan and his son, Yoshitatsu, has become intense." Gorouza continued, not giving Kasane enough time to speak up and warn him, Kuranosuke, and Ayako about the two people who had just walked up behind them. "Maybe the lord is thinking something about that—"

"What... am I thinking!?" Nobunaga demanded, furrowing his brow, and nearly giving the three of them a heart attack when they suddenly heard the stern voice of the very person they had just been talking about.

"Again with the scary face..." Nobuyuki said, sweat dropping.

"My... My Lord!" Gorouza said, surprised.

"Lord Nobunaga...! And lord Nobuyuki." Kuranosuke said, afraid that Nobunaga was mad at them.

"You... You scared me...! How long have you two been standing there!?" Ayako asked, trying to calm down her rapidly beating heart.

"About when you started saying that phrase about 'some friends...'. Nobunaga told her as he glanced at all of them, like a hawk observing its prey. Ayako sweat dropped. So he had heard pretty much the whole thing. "You guys..." He said, addressing all of them.

"Y-Yes, sir!" They said, snapping to attention.

"I have a job for you." Nobunaga said bluntly.

"Huh?" Ayako and Gorouza said. They had thought he was displeased with them, but that obviously wasn't the case if he was still trusting them with a mission.

Nobunaga really wasn't mad at all. He just liked to mess with them. He was actually a little proud that Ayako and Gorouza were able to figure that much out, despite not knowing the whole story, and he was glad to know that Ayako wasn't as naïve as she usually acted. When they weren't fighting, she was usually a cheerful and playful girl, but if you weren't careful, this violent era would mercilessly chew a person up and spit them back out.

"I thought he was mad at us..." Kuranosuke mumbled to himself, relieved.

"A job...?" Kasane asked.

Author's note:

I added in the part where Ayako thought about Saito from the Shinsengumi, because that's the first thought that popped into my head when I read that... even thought I knew it was the wrong era for him. (^_^;) So, I looked it up on wikipedia, and my ignorance was cured... for the most part.